“And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.” – Revelation 21:27
A 14th century tapestry picturing St. John of Patmos awarded the vision of the New Jerusalem by God (photograph by Octave 444 – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=86993899)
The most famous chapter of the Revelation of St. John describes the ‘new Jerusalem’, a place where the beloved of God find not only love, but eternal peace, and happiness – but only for the few called and chosen. And lording it over the entrance of this wonderful space is a ‘Book’ that contains the fate of those who wish to enter – if you are in it, then your tears will be wiped away (and all the rest – see the King James Version text below) but the ending for those whose names are not written therein is baneful. The conditions of missing out on that wondrous ending is that you are considered by the Lamb to be ‘any thing that defileth’ or ‘whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie’. It is not very specific about what those deficiencies might be and this has given carte blanche to most awful of negative discrimination used against many, for many are called but few are chosen.
If I could change the end of any book,
It would be that they call the Book of Life,
For Life will end for some in that big Book
In continuous exclusion, despite
The promise of an open door, that bars
Itself against those that texts call unclean,
In body or practice, in still doing
Those things it calls a sin 'gainst God and life
Bound within its pages, or talk words outside,
The Book's ken, hence called 'lies'. Is there no joy
That does not bar from entry those against
Whom the comprehension of that shut book
Are thus labelled other to the plan
Of God or 'Man' to be thus in control.
If I would change the end of any Book
It would be that all books would continue
The story the last left unfinished
Because of the making of many Books
There's No End.In unending books there's space
To spare and welcome in that peaceful place.
A modest proposal perhaps, Note that the Biblical phrase ‘of the making of many books there is no end‘ appears as a warning to the young in Ecclesiastes to be wary of multiplicity in bookish authority. I wonder if the refusal of primary texts, or those that claim to be such, and a desire to change their end – whether we mean conclusion or purpose – isn’t our salvation.
With love
Steven xxxxxxxxxxxx
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21 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.
4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
5 And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.
6 And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.
7 He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.
8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.
9 And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife.
10 And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God,
11 Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal;
12 And had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel:
13 On the east three gates; on the north three gates; on the south three gates; and on the west three gates.
14 And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
15 And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof.
16 And the city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal.
17 And he measured the wall thereof, an hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel.
18 And the building of the wall of it was of jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass.
19 And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald;
20 The fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolyte; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst.
21 And the twelve gates were twelve pearls: every several gate was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass.
22 And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.
23 And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.
24 And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it.
25 And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there.
26 And they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it.
27 And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
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