Background, continued

Post-Atlantean evolution commenced with the final submergence of Atlantis about ten thousand years ago with the passage of the last ice age. The account of Noah picks up there. The speed of evolution is not consistent from one great epoch to another—I take that to be the meaning of that verse in the so-called Little Apocalypse passages of the synoptic Gospels, “And if those days had not been shortened, no human being would be saved” (Mt 24,19; Mk 13,20)5. Evolution in the post-Atlantean epoch is divided into seven Cultural Ages related to the zodiacal signs starting with Cancer and going through Capricorn. The seven churches in John’s Apocalypse (Rev 2-3) represent these seven Cultural Ages. Each Cultural Age lasts 2,160 years, one-twelfth of the time it takes the Sun to travel the entire circuit of the heavens, 25,920 years—an astronomical fact6.

Moses inscribed the zodiacal twelve in the Bible when, immediately after receiving the first sacraments from Melchizedek, Abraham was first told to number the stars and that his descendants would be like them (Gen 15,5). Thus there were twelve tribes and later twelve disciples7. And John, also recognizing the “twelve stars” of the zodiac (Rev 12,1), brings us back to both the twelve tribes and twelve apostles when the Earth becomes spiritualized at the end of his Apocalypse.

The first two post-Atlantean ages, Cancer and Gemini, were prehistorical (Steiner calls them “Ancient India” and “Ancient Persia,” respectively). The third Age was the Chaldo-Egyptian8. It began as memory faded and writing came into being around 3,000 B.C., the year 2,907 BC, to be exact. This is the Cultural Age of Taurus, the Bull, that we see in Old Testament times. The patriarchs, Abraham through Joseph, fell right in the middle of this Age.

It came to an end in 747 BC with the pronouncement by Isaiah that for long ages we would not be able any longer to see, hear or understand in the spiritual realm (Is 6,9-13). This is the commencement of the Cultural Age of Aries, the Lamb. Christ incarnated one third of the way into that Age—which ended with the Renaissance, the Rebirth, of humanity in A.D. 1414. That is when the Cultural Age of Pisces, the Fishes, commenced. We are approaching one third of the way into that Age now. It is the Age of the Consciousness (Spiritual) Soul in the 4^th column of the chart above.

There are two “feedings” in the Gospels, the five thousand and the four thousand. Matthew and Mark speak of both. John and Luke speak only of the five thousand. At that feeding, there were five loaves and two fishes. John calls this a “sign” (Jn 6,14). The two fishes are the symbol of Pisces, the five loaves for the five thousand represent the fifth Cultural Age, the Age of the Fishes. Christ, the Lamb of God, came in the Age of the Lamb. But in this passage he “lifts up his eyes” (Jn 6,5) and looks out at the future multitudes in the Age of Pisces. The significance of the sign of the fish is that it points to our Cultural Age as the time when humanity would begin to comprehend the Christ. John’s Gospel was written for that Age, as was his Apocalypse. We need to keep this in mind when we interpret the concluding passage about the disciple who would remain till the future time when Christ would come.

This brings us to the starting line for our mission of unveiling Evangelist John.

The first thing we must note is that he intentionally concealed his identity. Scholars widely agree that he is the one called “the disciple whom Jesus loved.” The name “John” was not added to the Gospel until later in the second century—presumably by one of those few who knew its author was called John.

The reason for this concealment can best be understood when we remember that it was John’s Gospel in which Jesus said, “I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth” (Jn 16,12-13).

Scholars have struggled with this passage. For just before this, Jesus had said in John’s Gospel, “All that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you” (Jn 15,15).

First Jesus says he has made it all known to us, then he says that he hasn’t. How are we to reconcile these statements?

What we today assume is that we have been conscious of all Jesus “made known to” us, without realizing that Jesus planted into humanity some things in a conscious way and some in a subconscious, or preferably superconscious, way. When we come to understand this, we will again put back into the Apostle’s Creed the scripturally supported phrase excluded in modern thought, “he descended to the dead,” for we will then understand that something happened in the deed of Christ that planted in all human souls, whether then living or between lives, the seed of spiritual redemption. As Matthew’s parable says (MT 13,37), the Christ was the sower of that seed, but it had to lie dormant in us until the proper time for it to come forth in knowledge of Truth9.

With this understanding, we can see that Jesus both “revealed” it then and, through the Spirit of Truth, would bring it into our consciousness at the proper future time in human development10.

The earthly spokesman for this Spirit of Truth in our time was Rudolf Steiner—the true prophet who has indeed been treated like the prophets of old, ignored and persecuted. But he was only the spokesman. The Spirit of Truth can well be considered to be the Archangel Michael—or the Holy Spirit acting through Michael at its right hand.

In our bewitchment with the so-called “scientific” age, and probably starting theologically with Calvin, we have trashed the idea of angels, archangels and all the hierarchies, and lump everything in the spiritual world under the catchall name “God.” Some are beginning in our time to speak again of angels, but more in a desire to go back to biblical language than with understanding of their nature and function. Nevertheless, it is a hopeful sign.

What is clear to anyone who delves into the matter is that the hierarchies, and the archangels in particular, are deeply entrenched in ancient Christian theology, starting no later than with Paul and Dionysius the Areopagite. Official Roman Catholic doctrine even today recognizes the three mentioned in scripture, Michael, Gabriel and Raphael (Raphael is in the apocryphal Tobit). Judaism, Christianity and Islam all recognize Michael as the leader of the Archangels and the one associated with the Sun.

Archangels are, in effect, spiritual rulers within given segments of time, one after another over seven successive regencies, each of 354 years, as determined by a German abbot in the fifteenth century11. Steiner agrees with these periods, saying that the last pre-Christian regency of Michael covered the time of the great Greek philosophers down to the time of Alexander, who prepared the way for Paul’s evangelism in the Greek-speaking world. The early Christian fathers up through Augustine even referred to these as being Christians before Christ.

The first regency of Michael since the time of Christ started, according to Steiner, in 1879 and will run until approximately AD 2233. This is one of several very critical spiritual realities discussed in my writings that show why the time is right for us now to begin to understand John’s Gospel and how it is that Evangelist John has “remained” until Christ has “come again.” The Burning Bush shows that the Second Coming is already underway, having come upon us as “a thief in the night”12.

The prophet Daniel purports to have spoken during the prior regency of Michael when he, in effect, called him the Spirit of Truth saying, “I will tell you what is inscribed in the book of truth: there is none who contends by my side against these except Michael, your prince” (Dan 10,21). In his Apocalypse, Evangelist John refers to Michael as the one contending against the “deceiver” (Rev 12,9). And the Book of Enoch (1 Enoch), so influential not only among the Evangelists but most other leading figures of early Christendom, speaks extensively of Michael and in such a way that his stature as the spokesman for the highest spiritual Truth is clear13.

Surely, when Christ spoke of the Spirit of Truth coming, he was referring to that time when the Archangel Michael would again be in charge of the evolution of human understanding (the time of the Consciousness Soul) when he could bring the Divine Intelligence down to Earth. This was not possible during Michael’s prior regency since the Blood of Christ had not yet been spilled into the Earth so as to become a part of its etheric being.

If we look at what has happened in humanity since 1879 we will see evidence of a dramatic cultural shift in religion, science, and virtually every human discipline. Michael has been working.

But if you will think carefully on what has been said, you will recognize that it is not possible to understand the deeper implications of John’s Gospel except on the basis of two very critical premises.

The first is the true structure of every human being. This is summarized in the chart above. The biblical basis of this is extensive, as indicated in The Burning Bush.

The second is what the Bible calls “destiny” and in the Orient is called “karma.” Inherent in the very concept is the spiritual reality that souls can attain the necessary perfection only through many lives—they must reincarnate. The scriptural support for this is extensively set out in The Burning Bush, and it is there shown that the Bible from beginning to end cannot be deeply understood without seeing it in this light. Even the passage in Heb 9,27 that “ ... it is appointed for men to die once, and after that comes judgment,” seemingly so devastating to the idea of reincarnation, is not contrary to it. This becomes clear when the function of the “judgment” it mentions and the distinction between “the judgment of the Father” and “the judgment of the Son” is understood. Without reincarnation, theology has no real clue as to that distinction14.