The Pleroma the Waters Above the Heavens
An Opening reading from The Dialogue of the Savior
The Lord said, "When the Father established the cosmos, he [collected] water from it, and his Word came forth from it, and it experienced many [troubles]. It was more exalted than the path [of the starts] surrounds the entire earth.
[He continued] the collected water [above] is beyond the stars and beyond the water is a great fire encircling them like a wall. [Periods of ] time began to be measured once many beings that were within had separated from the rest. When the [word] was established, he looked [down], and The Father said to him, 'Go, and [send something] from yourself, in order that [the earth] may not be in want from generation to generation, and from age to age.'
The Hebrew shamayim (always in the plural), which is rendered “heaven(s),” seems to have the basic sense of that which is high or lofty. (Ps 103:11; Pr 25:3; Isa 55:9)
Genesis Verse 1 In the beginning God created the heavens (Heb. hushomayim – plural) and the earth. (Genesis 1)
If we read the history of the creation as a revelation to inhabitants of Earth we find it informs us of the order in which the things narrated would have developed themselves to our view if we had been placed on some projecting rock and observed the events revealed. We must remember this. The Mosaic account is not a revelation of the formation of the boundless universe to inhabitants on other planets removed from the Earth. Rather, it was given to humans as inhabitants of this terrestrial system. (1)
God existed before he created the Heavens and the earth. God exists outside of time and space in the Bythos or depth.
First of all the Pleroma did not always exist it was produced and formed by the Eternal Spirit this we call the emanation.
(He created the holy Pleroma in this way The Untitled Text in the Bruce Codex)
The word Pleroma means "fullness". It refers to all existence beyond visible universe. In other words it is the world of the Aeons, the heavens or spiritual universe. Bythos is the spiritual source of everything which emanates the pleroma,
The Pleroma is both the abode of and the essential nature of the True Ultimate Deity or Bythos.
The Pleroma as well as being the dwellings place of the Aeons is also a state of consciousness.
What does it mean by "in the beginning" you see some can argue that he means beginning as in God forever and eternal past but if that's the case there really is no beginning with God others might argue well beginning in the sense that when God conceived of creating the perfect sons and daughters of God the human beings whatever other beings he might have created in the universe that was the beginning
When this "beginning" was we are not told. But we are taught that wisdom was revealed in the acts of creation from the beginning. John states that "in the beginning" was the Word or Logos (John 1:1). Logos signifies the outward expression of inward thought or reason. It represents more than a mere word, for it incorporates the thought behind the word expressed. Elsewhere, we learn that wisdom was with God in the beginning, and was manifested in His acts of creation (Prov. 8:22). Hence, all that was done, was done with His ultimate purpose in mind, and not as the result of blind force or chance
atmospheric region or sky
Mat 6: 26 Observe intently the birds of heaven, because they do not sow seed or reap or gather into storehouses; still YOUR heavenly Father feeds them. Are YOU not worth more than they are?
Heavens of earth’s atmosphere. . “The sky” is sometimes meant, that is, the apparent or visual dome or vault arching over the earth.—Mt 16:1-3; Ac 1:10, 11.
After the very first verse of the Bible we are told that there is a body of ‘deep’ water presumably in or around the earth:
Genesis Verse 2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. (Genesis 1)
This scripture also seems to be making a lot of play of the word ‘face’ or surface.
A little further on, God then made a firmament which divided the body of water into two bodies of water, one below and one above it: (2)
Genesis Verse 7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. (Genesis 1)
This atmospheric region corresponds generally to the “firmament [Heb., raqia`]” formed during the second creative period, described at Genesis 1:6-8. It is evidently to this ‘heaven’ that Genesis 2:4; Exodus 20:11; 31:17 refer in speaking of the creation of ““the sky and the dry land. (3)
A typical dictionary definition of the word firmament is ‘expanse’ so this firmament would appear to be an expanse of space or sky surrounding the earth with a body of water on the earth and the other body of water sitting above the expanse of space.
Now it starts to get interesting. In verse 8 God now called the firmament ‘Heaven’. Whilst the word for heaven in verse 8 is also the plural ‘shomayim’ it does not contain the definite article as does the heavens in verse 1. OT Hebrew nouns without the definite article attached are likely to indicate a proper name, the ‘Sky’ or atmospheric region it is the element of the heavens that mankind can see.
The waters below the firmament are what formed the seas and the water in the earth’s atmosphere in the form of clouds and rainfall. So the firmament is both the extent of the Earth’s atmosphere or sky and the visible universe therefore the firmament is intended to comprise both of these expanses: (4)
8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day. (Genesis 1)
The firmament may have seemed like a glass dome.
“Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, the middle layer of water solidified,and the nether heavens and the uppermost heavens were formed. Rab said: [God's] handiwork [the heavens] was in fluid form, and on the second day it congealed; thus Let there be a firmament means ‘Let the firmament be made strong*. R. Judah b. R. Simon said: Let a lining be made for the firmament, as you read, And they did beat the gold into thin plates…R. Simon said: The fire came forth from above and burnished the face of the firmament.” Gen. Rab. 4:2
“R. Phinehas said in R. Oshaya’s name: As there is a void between the earth and the firmament, so is there a void between the firmament and the upper waters, as it is written, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, meaning, midway between them. R. Tanhuma said: I will state the proof. If it said, And God made the firmament, and He divided between the waters . . . which are upon the firmament, I would say that the water lies directly upon the firmament itself.” Gen. Rab. 4:3
“But after that he makes the firmament, that is, the corporeal heaven. For every corporeal object is, without doubt, firm and solid; and it is this which “divides the water which is above heaven from the water which is below heaven.” Origen. Homily on Genesis
The firmament is the limit, the middle or boundary between the Physical Heavens and the spiritual heavens called the pleroma
Outer space.
The physical “heavens” extend through earth’s atmosphere and beyond to the regions of outer space with their stellar bodies, “all the army of the heavens”—sun, moon, stars, and constellations. (De 4:19; Isa 13:10; 1Co 15:40, 41; Heb 11:12 These heavens show forth God’s glory, even as does the expanse of atmosphere, being the work of God’s “fingers.” (Ps 8:3; 19:1-6)
The divinely appointed “statutes of the heavens” control all such celestial bodies. Astronomers, despite their modern equipment and advanced mathematical knowledge, are still unable to comprehend these statutes fully. (Job 38:33; Jer 33:25) Their findings, however, confirm the impossibility of man’s placing a measurement upon such heavens or of counting the stellar bodies. (Jer 31:37; 33:22;
Yet they are numbered and named by God.—Ps 147:4; Isa 40:26.
“Heavens of the heavens.
” The expression “heavens of the heavens” is considered to refer to the highest heavens and would embrace the complete extent of the physical heavens, however vast, since the heavens extend out from the earth in all directions.—De 10:14; Ne 9:6.
Solomon, the constructor of the temple at Jerusalem, stated that the “heavens, yes, the heaven of the heavens” cannot contain God. (1Ki 8:27)
27 “But will God truly dwell upon the earth? Look! The heavens, yes, the heaven of the heavens, themselves cannot contain you; how much less, then, this house that I have built!
Yahweh measures the physical heavens as easily as a man would measure an object by spreading his fingers so that the object lies between the tips of the thumb and the little finger. (Isa 40:12) Solomon’s statement does not mean that God has no specific place of residence.
Nor does it mean that he is omnipresent in the sense of being literally everywhere and in everything. This can be seen from the fact that Solomon also spoke of Yahweh as hearing “from the heavens, your established place of dwelling,” that is, the heavens of the pleroma the eternal realm.—1Ki 8:30, 39
. 30 And you must listen to the request for favor on the part of your servant and of your people Israel with which they pray toward this place; and may you yourself hear at the place of your dwelling, in the heavens, and you must hear and forgive.
, 39 then may you yourself hear from the heavens, your established place of dwelling, and you must forgive and act and give to each one according to all his ways, because you know his heart (for you yourself alone well know the heart of all the sons of mankind)
In Deuteronomy 10, we find the strongest evidence possible that there is more than one heaven. Verse 14 refers to the heavens in the plural but also references the heaven of the heavens. Whilst concordances and lexicons routinely consider the Hebrew word ‘shamay’ as an unused singular noun, this very rare form of the word for heaven in the OT scriptures does appear in this verse. This to my mind draws this specific word out with the special meaning of God’s home being singularly supreme and above the other heavens:
14 Behold,the heavens (Heb. Shamayim) and the heaven (Heb. Shamay – singular?) of heavens (Heb. Shamayim) is the LORD'S thy God, the earth also, with all that therein is. (Deuteronomy 10)
To further emphasise these points 1Kings Chapter 8 contains the same phraseology and Hebrew grammar:
27 But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded? (1Kings 8)
Nehemiah Chapter 9 but with one added ingredient. Here each heaven comes with its own host. This could be referring to the stars in the sky as well as the sons of God beyond the stars.
6 Thou, even thou, art Yahweh alone; thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth, and all things that are therein, the seas, and all that is therein, and thou preservest them all; and the host of heaven worshippeth thee. (Nehemiah 9)
Psalm 33 paints a similar picture:
6 By the word of Yahweh were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth. (Psalms 33)
1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. (Genesis 2)
Spiritual Heavens.
James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect present is from above, for it comes down from the Father of the [celestial] lights, and with him there is not a variation of the turning of the shadow.
the Father of the [celestial] lights, "Father of spirits" (Heb 12:9); "Father of the heavenly lights" (Jam 1:17
The same original-language words used for the physical heavens are also applied to the spiritual heavens. As has been seen, Yahweh Elohim does not reside in the physical heavens, being a Spirit. However, since he is “the High and Lofty One” who resides in “the height” (Isa 57:15), the basic sense of that which is “lifted up” or “lofty” expressed in the Hebrew-language word makes it appropriate to describe God’s “lofty abode of holiness and beauty.” (Isa 63:15; Ps 33:13, 14; 115:3)
“army of the heavens,” often applied to the stellar creation, sometimes describes these angelic sons of God. (1Ki 22:19; compare Ps 103:20, 21; Da 7:10; Lu 2:13; Re 19:14.) So, too, “the heavens” are personified as representing this angelic organization, “the congregation of the holy ones.”—Ps 89:5-7; compare Lu 15:7, 10; Re 12:12.
12 Is not God in the height of heaven? (Heb. plural Shamayim) and behold the height of the stars, how high they are!
13 And thou sayest, How doth God know? can he judge through the dark cloud?
14 Thick clouds are a covering to him, that he seeth not; and he walketh in the circuit of heaven. (Job 22)
Job Chapter 22 teaches that God’s heaven is above the stars but that He can see through the darkness that covers Him from our sight.
Now while ‘waters’ refers to God’s heavenly hosts or dwelling pleace that is the Pleroma in the symbolic meaning, the literal meaning would be the waters of the flood:
Ge 7:11 ¶ In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.
4 Praise him, ye heavens of heavens, and ye waters that be above the heavens. (Psalms 148)
The allusion here is to the waters which are above the lower heaven, that is, the air or sky and outer space, this higher region where the waters are is a higher heaven called the upper waters or the Pleroma. (5)
Note the Pleroma and the Aeons are called the deep
The Pleroma is also called the ‘emanations of the Father’, the ‘treasuries of light’ and the ‘immeasurable deep’.
As the ‘immeasurable deep’: “After these things there is another place which is broad, having hidden within it a great wealth which supplies the All. This is the immeasurable deep.” (Untitled Text in the Bruce Codex)
The Upper Aeons are spiritual, invisible, immobile and are filled with light. They are described as ‘the Silence’ or a ‘watery light’ and contain archetypal images or reflections of the One. The Lower Aeons are material, visible, mutable and filled with darkness. They are described as ‘fiery’ and contain shadows, copies or images.
- Called ‘Watery light and life’, ‘water-light’, ‘light-water’, ‘Luminous Waters’, ‘Living Waters’, ‘the Silence’, ‘the silent Silence’, ‘the living Silence’, ‘the Treasure-House’, ‘the Store-House’, ‘the Dwelling-Place’, ‘crown’, ‘the kingless realm’.
- As water: “...the waters which are above.” (Melchizedek), “...the waters which are above matter.” (Apocryphon of John)
- As Living Water: “...the Aeons in the Living Water.” (Trimorphic Protennoia)
- As a watery light and life: “For it is he who looks at himself in his light which surrounds him, namely the spring of the water of life. And it is he who gives to all the aeons and in every way, (and) who gazes upon his image which he sees in the spring of the Spirit. It is he who puts his desire in his water-light which is in the spring of the pure light-water which surrounds him.” (Apocryphon of John)
They will receive you into aeonian dwellings (Luke 16: 9). We have a building from God, an aeonian house in heaven, not built by human hands (2 Cor 5: 1). I am going to prepare a place for you, so that you also may be where I am (John 14: 3). Ps 104:3 (103:3) Who covers his chambers with waters; who makes the clouds his chariot; who walks on the wings of the wind. LXX
3 Who frameth of the waters the beams of his upper-chambers; who maketh the clouds his chariot; who walketh along upon the wings of the wind:
Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters The word here rendered “layeth” — from hrq — means properly to meet; then, in Hiphil, to cause to meet, or to fit into each other, as beams or joists do in a dwelling. It is a word which would be properly applied to the construction of a house, and to the right adjustment of the different materials employed in building it. The word rendered “beams” — hYli — means “an upper chamber, a loft,” such as rises, in Oriental houses, above the flat roof; in the New Testament, the υπερωον, rendered “upper room,” #Ac 1:13 9:37,39 20:8. It refers here to the chamber — the exalted abode of God — as if raised above all other heavens, or above the universe.
The house which covers, frameth and layeth in the upper waters is the Pleroma
The house which covers, frameth and layeth in the upper waters is the Pleroma
The word “waters” here refers to the description of the creation in #Ge 1:6,7 — the waters “above the firmament,” and the waters “below the firmament.” The allusion here is to the waters above the firmament; and the meaning is, that God had constructed the place of his own abode — the room where he dwells — in those waters; that is, in the most exalted place the Pleroma outside of our universe.
It does not mean that he made it of the waters, but that his home — his dwelling-place — was in or above those waters, as if he had built his dwelling not on solid earth or rock, but in the waters, giving stability to that which seems to have no stability, and making the very waters a foundation for the structure of his abode.
1. The earth is at the centre of the model;
2. The lower waters are upon and below the surface of the Earth in the form of its seas;
3. The outer surface of the sky (i.e. the outer edge of Earth’s atmosphere) being above the lower waters which were contained within Earth’s atmosphere either as clouds in the sky or on and below the Earth’s surface as the seas;
4. The heavenly bodies (stars, sun and moon) contained within the visible universe of outer space (the firmament) being above the outer surface of the Earth’s atmosphere; The waters below the firmament are what formed the seas and the water in the earth’s atmosphere in the form of clouds and rainfall
5. The upper waters being above the visible universe. On this basis we must reach the inescapable conclusion that the upper waters are the invisible heavens of God’s domain the Pleroma, outside of the physical universe.
The word Pleroma means "fullness". It refers to all existence beyond visible universe. In other words it is the world of the Aeons, the heavens or spiritual universe.
Bythos is the spiritual source of everything which emanates the pleroma.
The Pleroma is both the abode of and the essential nature of the True Ultimate God.
Profound ..such clarity. thanks for bringing this to us....
ReplyDeleteYour welcome
DeleteThis means even the pleroma do has a start and a end?
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