 Gnosis of the Creed –by Swami Nirmalananda Giri
Chapter Six—Jesus Christ
 Having considered the expression, “and in one Lord,” we are now ready for the qualifying words: Jesus Christ.
Christ In The Kabbalah
“Christ” comes from the Greek word Kristos, which is a translation of the Hebrew term Messiah, which literally means “the Anointed One.” To uncover the deeper meaning of “Christ” (Messiah), we can turn to the teaching of the Kabbalah. In Judaism, the Kabalists are the mystics, and since Christian mystics naturally had some of their roots in Jewish (i.e., Essene) mysticism, the distinction is almost nonexistent. In both the Kabbalah and Christian mystical thought, creation is divided into seven levels. Saint Paul refers to a vision of the “third heaven” in his second epistle to the Corinthians, and the Lord Jesus said: “In my Father’s house are many mansions.”
In The Universal Meaning of the Kabbalah, on page eighty-one, Leo Schaya says this about the various levels: “Araboth, the seventh heaven, or ‘seventh degree of the (divine) throne,’ is ruled by the Messiah, as the Idra Rabbah Kadisha testifies: ‘The Messiah king was destined to sit on the seventh (degree of heaven or “throne”). There are six of them (celestial or spiritual degrees) and the spirit of the Ancient of Days (the principle of all cycles or states of existence), which stands above them, is the seventh (this is the spirit of Yah “who rides on Araboth”), and in the days of the Messiah king “They shall teach no more every man his neighbour,” since this spirit, which embraces all spirits, will make known to each one the wisdom and intelligence, the counsel and might, the knowledge and the fear of YHVH [Jehovah]; for this is the spirit that embraces all spirits.’” Commenting on this, Schaya says: “The spirit of the Messiah is that of the Ancient of Days or of Yah, his real presence in the seventh heaven: this is the ‘spirit of Elohim’ or of the divine immanence, which ‘hovers over the face of the waters’ and illuminates them.” The waters, of course, are symbolic of the primal energy of the universe, of creation. “The form of the Messiah is that of ‘celestial man,’ metatron, ‘seated upon the throne’; and his substance is the pure emanation of avir, the ether.”
From this we can see how truly sophisticated the early Christians were in their esoteric philosophy, which they drew in part from Judaism. Mission And Nature
Schaya further says: “Thus the Messiah is one with the triple immanent principle, Shekinah–metatron–avir.” These terms designate the formless all-pervading; that which is with form; and that which is the breath or the wind, the Ruach, which is the Holy Spirit. “He is the universal mediator who, from the seventh heaven, enters the ‘heaven of heavens,’” for there is something beyond the seven. This is alluded to by Saint Paul when he speaks of the “rest” that is even beyond the Sabbath, the eighth aeon beyond the seven, the “unapproachable light,” the “heaven of heavens.”
So, Schaya says, the Messiah enters the heaven of heavens, “the celestial ‘holy of holies,’ and reemerges from it”–this is very important–“to manifest the divine will to all the created worlds. He it is who performs, in Araboth, the redemptive act in the name of the ‘living God’ and who will perform the same on earth. The mystery of his perfection lies, in fact, not only in the predominance of his uncreated nature, but also in that his created nature is purely redemptive.”
Remember, these are the words of a Jew, not a Christian! Some years ago in the Midwest a Reformed Rabbi preached a sermon about how absurd Christians were to believe that Jesus as Messiah could be both God and Man, yet here we see it stated by Schaya and in the works he quotes. The Christ, the Messiah, is both uncreated and created. Schaya says: “The Messiah precedes, rules and saves the whole of creation.” More About The Messiah
Here is a quotation by Schaya from a Kabalistic book: “When the creation of the universal world began, the Messiah king already was, for he came to the spirit of God even before the world was created.” Then, Schaya continues, “He descends and ascends through all the heavens.” This reminds us of the words of Jesus: “Before Abraham was, I AM,” and “No man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.”
But back to Schaya: “He descends and ascends through all the heavens in order to perform, with the prophets there abiding, the universal saving function.” The book then states that there are the spirits of the prophets, “succession of the prophets who, all of them, bring the Messianic light, but each in a particular form, according to the Sefirothic manifestation predominating in that particular phase or part of humanity.”
That is, man is evolving, changing, as he goes from stage to stage, from level to level, and passes through the states that are pictured on the Kabalistic Tree of Life as the Sefiroth, the Divine Emanations. Since the prophets of Divine knowledge come at different times, they speak according to the level at which they find humanity. They come and prepare the way as the great messengers, the “way-showers.”
But there is a revelation that is more, that is complete, embracing all in its scope. So Schaya says: “It is only at the end of time that the Messiah will himself descend to earth, there to pour out the whole of his grace and enlighten the whole world; He is to descend in the form of two different manifestations: the first time as the ‘son of Joseph’ who has to die, and a second time as the ‘son of David,’ conqueror of God’s enemies and savior of the ‘rest of his sheep.’”
Christianity Is Not New
The foregoing is perfectly authentic, orthodox Christian theology. The Fathers said over and over that Christianity is not a new religion, but the religion that has been known to all of the wise of the world. It is that which has been known to all who through the ages sought and found, saw and entered into “the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.” Saint Paul himself wrote: “the gospel, which ye have heard, was preached to every creature which is under heaven,” showing that the Gospel which Christ brought was not a new thing, but rather a renewal.
The old mystery religions had lost both their insight and former power, and had degenerated into mere ceremonial and festivals. The Jews, too, had lost and forgotten much. Throughout the whole Mediterranean world, the inner fires had gone out. The words and forms were still there, but the life force had drained away and the links to higher life had been broken. Christ then came to restore and renew all. Two Views Of Christ
For this reason there were two views of Christ from the very beginning. One looked upon the Christ, the Messiah, as a political leader who would establish an earthly kingdom confined to the Jews. But the enlightened held a different view. They understood that Christ would be the Lord, spirit in human form. That being so, His kingdom would be spiritual and therefore within, instead of outside in the finite, limited world. Because of this, His kingdom would embrace all men of the earth, not just a select few. He would conquer, not nations and empires, but ignorance, folly, and sin (amartano, the falling short of our divine destiny as sons of God) and bring unity of spirit, rather than unity of earthly governments. “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly,” He said. The True Meaning Of “Christ”
“Christ” cannot mean a finite, historical appearance only. Jesus of Nazareth was an Incarnation of the Christ, of the Messiah, but that brief life of thirty-three years is not the totality; rather, it is a ray of that Light coming to earth so It can be grasped by those who sit in darkness.
Christ Is Universal
Moreover, the advent of Jesus Christ was predicted by prophets of all religions. We have records of prophecies of Christ’s Incarnation that were given in various parts of the world long before His birth. One common theme in all of them was His birth from a Virgin. There was a temple in Egypt dedicated to Her. When the first Christians came into France, they found a shrine in which the Druids had placed an image of the Virgin and Child and worshipped it, telling the people that He was yet to be born and that His followers would one day come to teach them about Him. When Saint Patrick came to Ireland the people recognized him from the predictions given about him by the Druids who had told the people that a new religion would be sent to them. This is why the Bible says of Jesus: “in his name shall the Gentiles trust.” We should keep in mind that it was the Rishis (Seers) of India who came to worship Him at His birth. They could see the star of Bethlehem, but the Israelites could not! The advent of Christ on the earth was much more than the property of one single group; it was a universal event. Why Jesus Christ?
But why do we have the two terms, “Jesus” and “Christ”?
We do not fly to the sun to get its life-giving power, rather its rays come to us, dispelling our darkness and enlivening the world. In the same way, Christ in the Messiah, Jesus, descended to the earth, to man, as a Man, and therefore is communicable to us. It is as Saint John wrote: “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life;…that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us; That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you.”
What “Makes” A Christ?
There has to be an ascent before there can be a descent. There are those who have not only ascended to the seventh heaven, they have gone beyond even that and entered the Transcendent. Having merged with That, all ego, relative consciousness, and ignorance are dissolved. Now the embodiment of Light, “full of grace and truth,” they reemerge and in the fulness of consciousness descend to earth. In each one, as Saint Paul wrote: “dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.”
When the philosopher’s stone touches an object, it is transmuted into gold. In the same way, when we are “touched” by such beings, we, too, are changed “and of His fulness have we all received, and grace for grace.”And such a person is a Christ.
Buddha And Christ
Traveling further East from Palestine, we encounter the term “Buddha,” “the enlightened one.” Christ (Messiah), “the anointed one,” has the same significance. In the dry climate of the Mediterranean world it was the custom to rub oil on the face to protect the skin from dryness and hot winds. Therefore the Psalmist sang of God providing man with “oil to make his face to shine.” To be “anointed” was to be luminous, to shine with the light of God as did Moses upon his return from Mount Sinai, and as did Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration.
Title And Name
Since there have been many Buddhas, in speaking of the founder of Buddhism we say Gotama or Sakyamuni Buddha to distinguish him. In the same way, we use the term Jesus Christ to indicate the Founder of Christianity. Christ is the descriptive title, but Jesus is His proper Name, the name by which He is specifically indicated. “Christ” is universal, ungraspable; “Jesus” is specific and within our reach. Many Christs
Of major importance is the point just briefly hinted at above, that the term Jesus Christ implies that there are other Christs. Whoever ascends the path which Jesus of Nazareth opened by His descent into the world will also become a Christ. This is borne out by Saint Paul when he says: “Not I, but Christ liveth in me,” and “For me to live is Christ.” Through Jesus Christ, Saint Paul had also become Christ–a true “ascended Master.”
The term “Christian,” which means “another Christ,” was coined in derision by the non-believers who where scandalized at the teaching of the Church that we could also become sons of God, as was Jesus. Since the religions of the Mediterranean world had lost nearly all of their mystical understanding (and consequently their spiritual aspiration), no one who worshipped Isis or Apollo believed they could become Isis or Apollo. No matter which deity the people of that day worshipped, they considered it blasphemy to believe in the possibility of man passing to divinity. They just wanted to be sent to the Elysian fields after death, and not be sent to suffer in Tartarus–as do many “Christians” today!
Jesus of Nazareth came to reveal our true nature to us–the nature Saint John wrote about, saying: “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.”
In our essential nature we are even now the sons of God, even now we are Christs. But we do not know what the full revelation of that is, because we have submerged it beneath a veneer of spiritual forgetfulness, like a diamond coated in mud. But when He appears to each one of us in the personal, spiritual event that is the true “second coming of Christ,” we shall behold our own true selves as immortal divine beings in the light that He will shine into the depths of our darkness, freeing us forever from the illusions of “sin” and “death.” For when we see Him we shall see ourselves, for we are one with Him, inseparably. We have been dreaming the nightmare of separation from Him, but “when I awake, I am still with thee,” for “in thy light shall we see light.”
Christian hope is not the hope of physical immortality, but the hope of realizing in truth that “I and the Father are one.” The Gospel of Christ is not the childish threatening with hell and cajoling with promises of heaven that we are plagued with today. Such “Christianity” is imposture of the worst sort. It enslaves and deceives not only the ignorant who accept it, but those who reject it, as well. For those who see its principles as lies are nevertheless convinced that the false system is indeed Christianity, so their rejection of the false at the same time convinces them that there is no true Christianity. Christ then becomes as inaccessible to them as to those who accept the lies. Thus, both the accepters and the rejecters of false Christianity are spiritually harmed by it.
More chapters of the Gnosis of the Creed:
• Chapter One—The Nicene Creed
• Chapter Two—I believe
• Chapter Three—In one God, the Father almighty
• Chapter Four—Maker of heaven and earth, And of all things visible and invisible
• Chapter Five—And in one Lord
• Chapter Six—Jesus Christ
• Chapter Seven—The Only-begotten Son of God, Begotten of the Father before all ages. Light from Light, True God from true God. Begotten not made, Being of one substance with the Father; By Whom all things were made.
• Chapter Eight—Who for us men, and for our salvation
• Chapter Nine—Came down from heaven
• Chapter Ten—And was incarnate by the Holy Spirit
• Chapter Eleven—Of the Virgin Mary. And was made Man.
• Chapter Twelve—He was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate. Suffered and was buried.
• Chapter Thirteen—And the third day He rose again according to the Scriptures. And ascended into heaven. He sitteth at the right hand of the Father.
• Chapter Fourteen—And He shall come again with glory to judge the living and the dead.
• Chapter Fifteen—Of Whose kingdom there shall be no end.
• Chapter Sixteen—And in the Holy Spirit, the Lady and Giver of life: Who proceedeth from the Father. Who together with the Father and the Son Is worshipped and glorified. Who spoke by the prophets.
• Chapter Seventeen—And in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.
• Chapter Eighteen—I confess one baptism for the remission of sins.
• Chapter Nineteen—And I look for the resurrection of the dead. And the life of the age to come. Amen.
1) II Corinthians 12:2 [Go back]
2) John 14:2 [Go back]
3) Jeremiah 31:34 [Go back]
4) “And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.” (Isaiah 11:2) [Go back]
5) “There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.” (Hebrews 4:9) [Go back]
6) Philip Roth writes about this limiting of God in his humorous short story The Heretic. [Go back]
7) John 8:58; 3:13 [Go back]
8) Surely Schaya has this New Testament verse in mind: “And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.” (John 10:16) [Go back]
9) Saint Augustine wrote: “The identical thing that we now call the Christian religion existed among the ancients and has not been lacking from the beginning of the human race until the coming of Christ in the flesh, from which moment on the true religion, which already existed, began to be called Christian.” [Go back]
10) I Corinthians 2:9 [Go back]
11) Colossians 1:23 [Go back]
12) “Behold, the kingdom of God is within you.” (Luke 17:21) [Go back]
13) “Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.” (John 18:36) [Go back]
14) John 10:10 [Go back]
15) “The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.” (Isaiah 9:2) [Go back]
16) Matthew 12:21 (This is a quotation from Isaiah–Septuagint text.) [Go back]
17) Matthew 2:7 [Go back]
18) I John 1:1-3 [Go back]
19) John 1:14 [Go back]
20) Colossians 2:9. For a more complete exposition of this subject, see Robe of Light. [Go back]
21) John 1:16 [Go back]
22) Psalm 104:15 [Go back]
23) “And it came to pass, when Moses came down from mount Sinai with the two tables of testimony in Moses' hand, when he came down from the mount, that Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him. And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to come nigh him.” (Exodus 34:29,30) [Go back]
24) “And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.” (Matthew 17:1,2) [Go back]
25) “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.” (Revelation 3:21) [Go back]
26) Galatians 2:20 [Go back]
27) Philippians 1:21 [Go back]
28) I John 3:2,3 [Go back]
29) “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.” (Romans 8:2) [Go back]
30) Psalm 139:18 [Go back]
31) Psalm 36:9 [Go back]
32) John 10:30 [Go back]
|
