el אֵל The Higher Power

Titles and the Name of the higher power EL אֵל


How to read the Names and Titles of the Deity from a Christian Gnostic kabbalah perspective











**Title: El אֵל — The Higher Power as a Corporeal Spirit**


In the Hebrew Scriptures, the term **El (אֵל)** stands as one of the most ancient and significant designations for the Deity. El is not an abstract title nor a generic reference to "God" in the modern sense of the word. Rather, it conveys a specific idea: **power**, **might**, **strength**, and **authority**. Unlike the English word "God," which stems from the Anglo-Saxon "god" meaning "good," the Hebrew El does not denote moral quality. It expresses instead the concept of active, dynamic force. This is confirmed by the lexicon of Gesenius, who states that the Hebrew mind always associated **El** with the idea of strength and power.


The Deity of the Bible is not a formless or immaterial essence. **El is a corporeal spirit**. That is, El exists physically—tangibly—and operates through substance. The traditional philosophical division between "spirit" and "matter" is foreign to the biblical worldview. In Hebrew thought, **spirit is not immaterial**; rather, spirit is made of finer atoms—more subtle than flesh and blood, but no less material. The idea that spirit is composed of atoms aligns with a corporeal understanding of divine substance, supported by both scripture and early interpretative tradition.


### The Power Behind the Name


The pictographic elements of the name El reinforce this idea. The letter **Aleph (א)**, shaped like an ox head, represents leadership and strength—primal energy at the root of action. The **Lamed (ל)**, shaped like a shepherd’s staff, denotes authority, direction, and instruction. Together, the word **El** communicates a force that leads, governs, and executes dominion through tangible influence. It is not the title of an incorporeal being hiding in abstraction, but of a **powerful, active presence** in the world—one that moves, speaks, creates, and reveals.


The Genesis narrative identifies El as **the Possessor of the heavens and the earth** (Genesis 14:22). El Elyon—**the Most High Power**—is the title given to the Deity by Melchizedek, priest and king of Salem. This name implies the existence of other elohim (powers), yet affirms the supremacy of one source: El Elyon, the Highest. This establishes a hierarchy of tangible, real beings, with El at the top. That these powers are referred to as elohim—plural—is consistent with the ancient understanding of **many corporeal beings** participating in the administration of the cosmos, under the authority of one supreme corporeal Spirit.


### El and the Name Yahweh


In Exodus 6:3, the Deity makes an important statement to Moses: *“I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob by the name El Shaddai, but by my name Yahweh was I not known unto them.”* This passage reveals the layered character of divine self-revelation. **El Shaddai**—translated as "the Powerful Ones"—signifies not a singular, isolated being, but a **collective force**, manifesting strength through a plurality of agents. The Deity operates **through elohim**, heavenly powers that serve His will.


However, the word **El** remains singular. It is the name the Deity Himself chose when first appearing to the patriarchs. El conveys not only supreme authority, but **corporeal existence**. El *appeared* to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—not in visions of formless essence, but through tangible encounters, audible speech, and visible presence. The Deity walked, spoke, and made covenant. This implies materiality, not abstraction. The Deity did not simply make Himself *seem* real—He **is real**, and He is made of substance, though not like earthly flesh.


### Spirit as Tangible Substance


In many modern theological systems, **spirit is described as non-material**. But this idea derives more from Greek philosophy than Hebrew thought. In the Bible, **spirit (Hebrew: ruach)** is a force, often compared to wind or breath—not because it is immaterial, but because it is **invisible yet physically active**. Wind is real. Breath has substance. Likewise, spirit consists of particles—**fine atoms**—not perceptible to the naked eye, but nonetheless material.


This understanding is reflected in the earliest Christian and Jewish writings. Theodotus, a Valentinian teacher, declared that **even spiritual beings have form and body**, though they are made of a different substance than the flesh of mortals. The same idea is echoed in the notion that the Only-Begotten, the First-Created, and the angels all have structure. They are not ghosts or metaphors—they are **corporeal beings composed of spiritual material**. Thus, **El**, as the supreme Spirit, must likewise be **corporeal**.


### EL Shaddai and Manifestation in Plurality


The term **El Shaddai** adds another layer. The word **Shaddai** has often been translated “Almighty,” but its plural ending hints at a deeper meaning. It refers to the **powerful ones**, a plural group manifesting the will of the singular El. When Abraham received the three visitors (Genesis 18), these were corporeal beings. They walked, ate, and spoke. One of them identified as Yahweh, but all three operated as messengers of divine power. This shows how **El manifests power through physical agents**, without ceasing to be one unified Deity.


This manifestation of plurality within unity is not metaphysical mystery—it is corporeal operation. El does not project metaphors; He sends **real beings**—agents of His will, made of spiritual atoms. They act in the physical world because they themselves are physical, though of higher substance.


### Conclusion: El Is the Higher Power—A Corporeal Spirit


The title **El** does not point to an abstract God. It refers to **the Higher Power**, a Being who is **tangible, real, active**, and above all, **corporeal**. Spirit is not the opposite of matter, but a finer form of it. El is not invisible because He lacks substance, but because His substance is too fine for mortal eyes. Yet He reveals Himself, speaks, acts, and makes covenant—all actions of a real, material presence.


Understanding El as **a corporeal Spirit** restores a sense of reality and coherence to biblical theology. It grounds our view of the Deity in substance, not speculation—in strength and power, not sentimentality. El is the one true Power—**made of atoms**, yet higher than all. He is the **Possessor of heaven and earth**, the **Most High**, and the **Spirit that moves**, not in metaphor, but in **tangible power**.





 

The Hypostasis of God

---

The Substance of the Father

The foundation of divine reality is not immaterial, but corporeal and substantial. The Deity—the Father—is not formless spirit, but the source of all form and substance. The Greek Scriptures affirm this directly: “Who being the brightness of [His] glory and the impress of His subsistence [hypostasis], bearing up also all things by the saying of His might—through Himself having made a cleansing of our sins, sat down at the right hand of the greatness in the highest” (Hebrews 1:3, YLT). The term hypostasis (ὑπόστασις) here translated as "subsistence" or "person" is key. It means that which stands under—a substance or essence.

Hypostasis and Substantia: Corporeality of the Father

The Greek word hypostasis, and its Latin equivalent substantia, both carry the idea of a real, existing foundation—that which “stands under” a visible image or character. Strong’s #5287 defines hypostasis as “substantial nature,” the underlying reality of a being. Over time, ecclesiastical theology redefined “hypostasis” to mean “person,” obscuring its original sense of substance, essence, or tangible foundation. But Scripture preserves the truth: the Son is the exact impress—Greek charaktēr—of the Father’s substance (hypostasis), not merely His role or personality.

In Zechariah 3:9, the prophetic word says, “Upon one stone there shall be seven eyes; behold, I will engrave the engraving thereof, saith the Yahweh of hosts.” The engraved image (charaktēr) is impressed upon a tangible hypostasis, just as the Son is the visible representation of the invisible Deity. Paul confirms this in Colossians 1:15, “Who is the image [eikon] of the invisible Theos.” But no image can exist without form; thus, the Father-Spirit must be substantial, with body and form, the source and archetype of all bodily existence.

The Divine Nature is Not Incorporeal

Peter writes that we are called to become “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4). The word for nature is physis (φύσις), meaning the inherent constitution or substance of a being. This “divine nature” is not an ethereal abstraction—it is something to be shared, embodied, and put on. Paul describes it in 1 Corinthians 15:42–54 as a bodily transformation:

• Sown in corruption — raised in incorruption

• Sown in dishonor — raised in glory

• Sown in weakness — raised in power

• Sown a natural body — raised a spiritual body

• Sown an earthly body — raised a heavenly body

• Sown in mortality — raised in immortality

This spiritual body is not immaterial, but a new, incorruptible corporeality—like that of the angels (Luke 20:36), who are “made spirits” (Heb. 1:7). Spirit, in biblical languages—Hebrew ruach, Greek pneuma, Latin spiritus—means breath or exhalation, not a bodiless entity. It is a motion outward from substance, and always implies a source.

Theodotus on the Corporeality of the Father and Son

The second-century teacher Theodotus affirmed the corporeality of divine beings. He writes:

“Not even the world of spirit and intellect, nor the archangels and the First-Created, nor even he himself [the Only-Begotten], is shapeless and formless and without figure and incorporeal; but he also has his own shape and body corresponding to his preeminence... In general, that which has come into being is not unsubstantial, but they have form and body...” (Extracts from Theodotus, Fr. 10)

If even the First-Created and the Only-Begotten have form and body, how much more must the Father, their source, be substantial and corporeal? As Theodotus adds, “shape is perceived by shape, and face by face, and recognition is made effectual by shapes and substances.”

This corporeality is also affirmed in Genesis 1:26–27 and 5:3, where Adam is made in the image of Elohim, and Seth in the image of Adam. The “image” presupposes a bodily form. Jesus, too, is said to be the image of the invisible Theos (Col. 1:15), but only because the Father-Spirit has form, and the Son bears His visible impress.

The Spirit as Substance

Some argue that “spirit” means immaterial. Yet etymologically, spirit is not a synonym for non-physicality. It means breath, wind, motion outward. The Hebrew ruach, Greek pneuma, and Latin spiritus all mean a radiated or exhaled force—but do not define what the substance of that force is. As with breath or electricity, spirit refers to a type of corporeal substance in motion.

Thus, when the Scriptures say “Theos is spirit” (John 4:24), they do not mean “Theos is immaterial,” but that He is a radiant, corporeal power. He is Spirit in substance, not in metaphor. As Hebrews 1:2–3 states, the Son is the charaktēr of this hypostasis—the visible form of the Father’s substance.

The Father, the Logos, and the Divine Substance

John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Logos, and the Logos was with Theos, and the Logos was Theos.” But the Logos is not a person beside the Father—it is reason, speech, intelligence expressed outwardly. Without Theos, there is no Logos, just as without a brain, there is no thought or speech. Theos is the substance, the Spirit-source, and Logos is the expression. As brain-flesh is the hypostasis of thought, so Theos is the hypostasis of Logos.

Conclusion: Theos Is the Substantial Source of All

The Father is not a formless abstraction. He is the substantial, corporeal source of all being—the hypostasis underlying all character, image, and form. All things are “out of Him” (Romans 11:36), for He is the self-existent Power (El) who says, “I shall be” (Yahweh). As Moses and the prophets affirmed, this One Spirit Power formed beings after His own hypostasis, and thus we may become sharers in divine nature—not as metaphysical shadows, but as incorruptible spirit-bodies like unto the angels, bearing the image of the heavenly (1 Cor. 15:49).

---

Certainly. Here is an 800-word document titled **"The Substance of the Father"**, written from your perspective and incorporating the scriptural and theological points you provided.

---

## **The Substance of the Father**

The Scriptures teach that the Deity—who is self-existent, immortal, and the origin of all power—is not formless or immaterial, but substantial. The Father is **hypostasis**—the foundational substance or underlying essence of all that exists. The Son is the exact impress (**charaktēr**) of this hypostasis, not in metaphor or abstraction, but in **form**, **substance**, and **nature**.

Hebrews 1:3 declares that the Son is:

> **“The brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person (hypostasis), and upholding all things by the word of His power.”**

> (Hebrews 1:3, KJV)

The Greek word translated “person” here is **ὑποστάσεως (hypostaseōs)**—Strong’s #5287. It refers to **substance**, from **hypó** (“under”) + **stásis** (“a standing”). It is the direct linguistic cognate of the Latin **substantia**, from **sub** (“under”) + **stans** (“standing”). Thus, **hypostasis means that which stands under—substantial being, not immaterial abstraction.**

In later theological misuse, *hypostasis* was redefined to mean “person” instead of “substance,” obscuring the original apostolic understanding. But in Hebrews, the **Son is not said to be the hypostasis**, but rather the **charaktēr**—the impress—of the Father's hypostasis. The Father is the hypostasis, the substantial Spirit.

This substantial nature is confirmed by Peter:

> **“Through these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature (φύσεως), having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.”**

> (2 Peter 1:4)

The Greek word **φύσις (physis)** means “nature” or “constitution”—not disembodied essence, but actual *natural production* or substance. The **divine nature** here refers to the **immortality and spiritual body** promised in the resurrection, as outlined by Paul:

> * **Sown in corruption, raised in incorruption**

> * **Sown in dishonor, raised in glory**

> * **Sown in weakness, raised in power**

> * **Sown a natural body, raised a spiritual body**

> * **Sown earthly, raised heavenly**

> * **Sown mortal, raised immortal**

> (1 Corinthians 15:42–54)

This "spiritual body" is still a **body**, not immaterial. It is **corporeal, tangible**, and **substantial**—fit to participate in the divine nature. The resurrection does not transform humanity into vapor or force, but into enduring substance modeled after the image of the Father.

The doctrine of image affirms the corporeal nature of the Deity. In Genesis:

> **“Let us make man in our image, after our likeness”** (Gen. 1:26)

> **“Adam begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth”** (Gen. 5:3)

Jesus, the second Adam, is the express image (charaktēr) of the Father. This relationship of image requires a **foundation**, a **hypostasis**, for an image can only be made where form and body exist. Where no body or form exists, **no image is possible**. Thus, the Father-Spirit is not shapeless. As Theodotus affirms:

> *“Not even the world of spirit and intellect, nor the archangels and the First-Created, no, nor even He Himself is shapeless and formless and without figure, and incorporeal; but He also has His own shape and body corresponding to His preeminence over all spiritual beings.”*

> (*Extracts from the Works of Theodotus*, 10)

The Father-Spirit, when unveiled, is **a bodily form**—a radiant focal center from which all being emanates. He is the source from which the Logos proceeds and by which all things are created. As Paul writes:

> **“There is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things.”** (1 Corinthians 8:6)

The Logos is the thought, word, and power emanating from the Father—just as speech is the expression of intelligence proceeding from the brain. **The brain is substance (hypostasis); the speech is character (charaktēr).** So also, the Logos is the character of Theos. Without the hypostasis (Father), the Logos (Son) would have no basis.

The face of the Father is seen in the Son, as Theodotus affirms:

> *“They always behold the face of the Father, and the face of the Father is the Son, through whom the Father is known. Yet that which sees and is seen cannot be formless or incorporeal.”*

> (*Theodotus*, 10)

Paul also affirms:

> **“And as we have borne the image of the earthly, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.”** (1 Corinthians 15:49)

Image, by definition, entails shape, form, and substance. As Theodotus adds:

> *“Shape is perceived by shape, and face by face, and recognition is made effectual by shapes and substances.”*

Even the Spirit-Elohim, though uncreated in essence, are **formed beings**—emanations of the Deity:

> *“When formed after the model, archetype, or pattern, presented in His own hypostasis, they become Spirit-Elohim, or Sons of God; and are Spirit, because born of the Spirit—emanations of the formative Spirit being ex autou, out of Him.”*

This truth reflects the original order: Theos is Spirit and Substance, and what proceeds from Him—whether Logos, angels, or glorified humanity—partakes of that substance. As John wrote:

> **“The Logos was with Theos, and the Logos was Theos.”** (John 1:1)

The Logos was not separate from Theos in being, but the **expressive manifestation** of His hypostasis. As no brain means no thought, so no Theos means no Logos. The Spirit is not a ghost, nor an abstraction, but breath, radiation—substance moving outward. The Hebrew **ruach**, Greek **pneuma**, and Latin **spiritus** all imply **something exhaled or radiated**, not something immaterial.

Thus, when we speak of the Father-Spirit, we are speaking of a **substantial**, **corporeal**, **self-existent being**, who is both the source and pattern of all spiritual form. He is the hypostasis from whom the Logos shines forth, the image from whom all divine forms derive.

---

Let me know if you'd like this formatted as a PDF or adapted into a teaching outline.

The Soul is Temporary

The Soul is Temporary

Next the psychic aeon. It is a small one, which is mixed with bodies, by begetting in the souls (and) defiling (them). For the first defilement of the creation found strength. And it begot every work: many works of wrath, anger, envy, malice, hatred, slander, contempt and war, lying and evil counsels, sorrows and pleasures, basenesses and defilements, falsehoods and diseases, evil judgments that they decree according to their desires. (The Concept of Our Great Power)

I believe both canonical and gnostic text support the teaching that the soul is temporary.

Ezekiel 18:4 & 20:

"Behold, all souls are mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine: the soul who sins shall die."

"The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself."

Matthew 10:29:

"And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell."

Revelation 6:9:

"When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne."

The Treatise of the Resurrection:

"From the savior we radiate beams, and we are held in his arms until our own sunset, our death in this life. We are drawn to heaven by him, like beams, by the sun, and nothing holds us down. This is the resurrection of the spirit, which swallows up the soul and the flesh."

Tripartite Tractate:

"They became flesh and soul, that is, eternally which (things) hold them and with corruptible things they die. "

The Gospel of Philip:

"Adam’s soul came from a breath. The soul’s companion is spirit, and the spirit given to him is his mother. His soul was [taken] from him and replaced with [spirit]. "

Apocalypse of Peter:

"For evil cannot produce good fruit. For the place from which each of them is produces that which is like itself; for not every soul is of the truth, nor of immortality"

And when we heard these things, we became elated, for we had been depressed on account of what we had said earlier. Now when he saw our rejoicing, he said: "Woe to you who are in want of an advocate! Woe to you who are in need of grace! Blessed are those who have spoken freely and have produced grace for themselves. Make yourselves like strangers; of what sort are they in the estimation of your city? Why are you troubled when you oust yourselves of your own accord and depart from your city? Why do you abandon your dwelling place of your own accord, readying it for those who desire to dwell in it? O you exiles and fugitives! Woe to you, because you will be caught! Or perhaps you imagine that the Father is a lover of humanity? Or that he is persuaded by prayers? Or that he is gracious to one on behalf of another? Or that he bears with one who seeks? For he knows the desire and also that which the flesh needs. Because it is not the flesh which yearns for the soul. For without the soul the body does not sin, just as the soul is not saved without the Spirit. But if the soul is saved when it is without evil, and if the spirit also is saved, then the body becomes sinless. For it is the spirit which animates the soul, but it is the body which kills it - that is, it is the soul which kills itself.

The Apocryphon of James

Heracleon: Fragments from his Commentary on the Gospel of John Fragment 40

Fragment 40, on John 4:46-53 (In John 4:46, “So he came again to Cana in Galilee, where he had made the water wine. And at Capernaum there was an official whose child was ill.) The official was the Craftsman, for he himself ruled like a king over those under him. Because his domain is small and transitory, he was called an “official,” like a petty princeling who is set over a small kingdom by the universal king. The “child” “in Capernaun” is one who is in the lower part of the Middle (i.e. of animate substance), which lies near the sea, that is, which is linked with matter. The child’s proper person was sick, that is, in a condition not in accordance with the child’s proper nature, in ignorance and sins. (In John 4:47, “When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went and begged him to come down and heal his child , for it was at the point of death.”) The words “from Judea to Galilee” mean ‘from the Judea above.’. . . By the words “it was at the point of death,” the teaching of those who claim that the soul is immortal is refuted. In agreement with this is the statement that “the body and soul are destoyed in Hell.” (Matthew 10:28) The soul is not immortal, but is possessed only of a disposition towards salvation, for it is the perishable which puts on imperishability and the mortal which puts on immortality when “its death is swallowed up in victory.” (1 Corinthians 15:54) Heracleon: Fragments from his Commentary on the Gospel of John

14 The demons are said to be incorporeal, not because they have no bodies (for they have even shape and are, therefore, capable of feeling punishment), but they are said to be incorporeal because, in comparison with the spiritual bodies which are saved, they are a shade. And the angels are bodies; at any rate they are seen. Why even the soul is a body, for the Apostle says, “It is sown a body of soul, it is raised a body of spirit.” And how can the souls which are being punished be sensible of it, if they are not bodies? Certainly he says, “Fear him who, after death, is able to cast soul and body into hell.” Now that which is visible is not purged by fire, but is dissolved into dust. But, from the story of Lazarus and Dives, the soul is directly shown by its possession of bodily limbs to be a body.

The Scriptures give spirit, soul, and body as constituting all of man.

12 For the word of God is alive and exerts power and is sharper than any two-edged sword and pierces even to the dividing of soul [ ψυχή psykhḗ] and spirit [ πνεῦμα pneuma], and of joints and [their] marrow, and [is] able to discern thoughts and intentions of [the] heart (Hebrews 4). Compare Php 1:27; 1Th 5:23.

The “spirit” (Heb., ruach; Gr., pneuma) should not be confused with the “soul” (Heb., nephesh; Gr., psykhe´), for they refer to different things.

Paul the Apostle used ψυχή (psychē) and πνεῦμα (pneuma) specifically to distinguish between the Jewish notions of נפש (nephesh) and רוח ruah (spirit)

So the soul and the spirit are two different things, and the difference between them is explained by the bible.

7 And Jehovah God proceeded to form the man out of dust from the ground [he made the body] and to blow into his nostrils the breath of life [he put a spirit in the body], and the man came to be a living soul [body + spirit = living soul] (Genesis 2).


1 Corinthians 15:44  It is sown a body of the soul, it is raised a body of the spirit; if there is a body of the soul, there is also of the spirit:--
45  Thus, also, it is written--The first man, Adam, became, a living soul, the last Adam, a life-giving spirit.
46  Howbeit, not first, is the body of the spirit, but that, of the soul,--afterwards, that of the spirit. (Rotherham's Emphasized Bible)

1 Corinthians 15:53  For this corruptible must needs clothe itself with incorruptibility, and this mortal, clothe itself, with immortality.

54  But, whensoever, this mortal, shall clothe itself with immortality, then, shall be brought to pass the saying that is written--Death hath been swallowed up, victoriously; (Rotherham's Emphasized Bible)

Definition: A Body is a physical or spiritual vessel. In other words a human or angelic body.

Definition: A Soul is a human or angelic body.

Definition: A Dead Soul is a dead body

Definition: A Spirit is a character, a personality. It is 'you'.

Human Person = Spirit + Physical Body = Lining Soul (human)
Corpse = Physical Body with no Spirit = Dead Soul (human)
Angelic Person = Spirit + Angelic Body = Soul (angelic)
Second Dead angel = Spirit with Shared angelic Body = Spirit with no individual Soul (angelic).

The Divine Face 2nd Enoch 22 and 39

The Divine Face 2 Enoch 22 and 39

The Second Apocalypse of Enoch is a pseudepigraphic text which describes the ascent of Enoch through ten heavens in the tenth heaven Enoch sees the appearance of god a description of the divine face is given in chapter 22

Chapter 22

In the tenth heaven the archangel Michael led Enoch to before the Lord’s face

1On the tenth heaven, which is called Aravoth,I saw the view of the face of the Lord, like iron made burning hot in a fire and brought out, and it emits sparks and is incandescent. Thus even I saw the face of the Lord. But the face of the Lord is not to be talked about, it is so very marvelous and supremely awesome and supremely frightening. 
2 And who am I to give an account of the incomprehensible being of the Lord, and of his face, so extremely strange and indescribable? And how many are his commands, and his multiple voice, and the Lord's throne, supremely great and not made by hands, and the choir stalls all around him, the cherubim and the seraphim armies, and their never-silent singing. 
3 Who can give an account of his beautiful appearance, never changing and indescribable, and his great glory? 4 And I fell down flat and did obeisance to the Lord  (2 Enoch 22:1-4, the longer recension).^[8]

the face of yahweh is like iron this would symbolise his corporeal substance or divine nature 

the fire would also be  the nautre of yahweh because God is spirit and

 it emits sparks  this symbolises the emanations of the spirit 

For Yahweh thy God is a consuming fire" — A consuming fire will eat up all that it attacks. Yahweh is such to His enemies. See Deut. 9:3. When Israel was gathered at the mount, "the sight of the glory of Yahweh was like devouring fire" (Exod. 24:17).

Yahweh makes his ministers a flame of fire

the description of Yahweh's corporeality

In chapter 39 Enoch reports this theophanic experience to his sons during his short visit to the earth, adding some new details. Although both portrayals demonstrate a number of terminological affinities, the second account explicitly connects the divine face with the Lord's anthropomorphic "extend." The following account is drawn from the shorter recension of 2 Enoch:

Chapter 39
Enoch’s pitiful admonition to his sons with weeping and great lamentation, as he spoke to them

And now, my children it is not from my lips that I am reporting to you today, but from the lips of the Lord who has sent me to you. As for you, you hear my words, out of my lips, a human being created equal to yourselves; but I have heard the words from the fiery lips of the Lord. For the lips of the Lord are a furnace of fire, and his words are the fiery flames which come out. You, my children, you see my face, a human being created just like yourselves; I am one who has seen the face of the Lord,like iron made burning hot by a fire, emitting sparks. For you gaze into my eyes, a human being created just like yourselves; but I have gazed into the eyes of the Lord, like the rays of the shining sun and terrifying the eyes of a human being. You, my children, you see my right hand beckoning you, a human being created identical to yourselves; but I have seen the right hand of the Lord, beckoning me, who fills heaven. You see the extent of my body, the same as your own; but I have seen the extent of the Lord, without measure and without analogy, who has no end... To stand before the King, who will be able to endure the infinite terror or of the great burning (2 Enoch 39:3-8)

this describes God's physical corporeal body

Chapter 44
Enoch instructs his sons, that they revile not the face of man, small or great
1The Lord with his hands having created man, in the likeness of his own face, the Lord made him small and great.
2Whoever reviles the ruler’s face, and abhors the Lord’s face, has despised the Lord's face, and he who vents anger on any man without injury, the Lord’s great anger will cut him down, he who spits on the face of man reproachfully, will be cut down at the Lord’s great judgment.

3Blessed is the man who does not direct his heart with malice against any man, and helps the injured and condemned, and raises the broken down, and shall do charity to the needy, because on the day of the great judgment every weight, every measure and every makeweight will be as in the market, that is to say they are hung on scales and stand in the market, and every one shall learn his own measure, and according to his measure shall take his reward. 

The inner realization of the divine presence, of having met God face to face, and of having succeeded through prayer in attaining the divine favor and blessing that have been sought (turned toward God, face of God, within the presence of God, vision of God, recognition of God, beholden of God). At Peniel Jacob's name was changed to Israel because, as it was explained to him, "thou has striven with God and with men, and hast prevailed," had power with, margin (Gen. 32:28).

To see a vision of God's face is to experience the inner realization of the divine presence, of having met God face to face, and of having succeeded through prayer in obtaining the divine favour and blessing that have been sought within the presence of God.

Extracts from the Works of Theodotus

 10 But not even the world of spirit and of intellect, nor the arch angels and the First-Created, no, nor even he himself is shapeless and formless and without figure, and incorporeal; but he also has his own shape and body corresponding to his preeminence over all spiritual beings, as also those who were first created have bodies corresponding to their preeminence over the beings subordinate to them. For, in general, that which has come into being is not unsubstantial, but they have form and body, though unlike the bodies in this world. Those which are here are male and female and differ from each other, but there he who is the Only-Begotten and inherently intellectual has been provided with his own form and with his own nature which is exceedingly pure and sovereign and directly enjoys the power of the Father; and the First-Created even though numerically distinct and susceptible of separate distinction and definition, nevertheless, are shown by the similarity of their state to have unity, equality and similarity. For among the Seven there is neither inferiority nor superiority and no advance is left for them, since they have received perfection from the beginning, at the time of the first creation from God through the Son. And he is said to be “inapproachable Light” as” Only-Begotten,” and “First-Born,” “the things which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, and which have not entered into the heart of man,” – and such a one shall not be found either among the First-Created or among men, – but they “always behold the face of the Father” and the face of the Father is the Son, through whom the Father is known. Yet that which sees and is seen cannot be formless or incorporeal. But they see not with an eye of sense, but with the eye of mind, such as the Father provided.

12 Therefore the First-Created behold both the Son and each other and the inferior orders of being, as also the archangels behold the First-Created. But the Son is the beginning of the vision of the Father, being called the “face” of the Father. And the angels, who are intellectual fire and intellectual spirits, have purified natures, but the greatest advance from intellectual fire, completely purified, is intellectual light, “into which things the angels desire to look,” as Peter says. Now the Son is still purer than this: “light unapproachable” and “a power of God” and, according to the Apostle, “we were redeemed by precious and blameless and spotless blood.” And his “garments gleamed as the light, and his face as the sun,” which it is not easy even to look at.

15 “And as we have borne the image of the earthly, we shall bear also the image of the heavenly,” that is of the spiritual, as we advance towards perfection. Again he says “image” in the sense of spiritual bodies. And again, “For now we see in a mirror, confusedly, but then face to face”; for immediately we begin to have knowledge. . . there is not even “face” – form and shape and body. Now shape is perceived by shape, and face by face and recognition is made effectual by shapes and substances.

Miracles in the Gospel of Thomas

These are the secret sayings that the living Jesus spoke and Didymos Judas Thomas recorded.

1. And he said, "Whoever discovers the interpretation of these sayings will not taste death."

Some claim that in the Gospel of Thomas Jesus performs no miracles but Jesus’ sayings are the miracles he performs for they are living words that bring everlasting life and that in itself is a miracle that the words he speaks bring eternal life by seeking and finding the correct interpretation of them.

However, Jesus speaks about two miracles in Sayings 29, 85 in Saying 29

Jesus said: If the flesh came into existence because of the spirit, it is a marvel. But if the spirit (came into existence) because of the body, it is a marvel of marvels. But as for me, I wonder at this, how this great wealth made its home in this poverty.

So the first part of this saying can be translated “when” “When the flesh come into being because of spirit, it was a miracle

(85) Adam came into being out of a great power and a great wealth, and he was not worthy of you; for if he had been worthy, [he would] not [have tasted] of death.

In Hebrew the word miracle(s) is derivative of the root “be different”, distinctive, Meaningful, significant. Therefore it means to be different”, distinctive, meaningful, and significant, from the world and this is done by the word of God when believed and obeyed it will change our character and cleanse us form all of the desires of the flesh as Jesus says Jn: 17:17: “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.” and Eph 5:26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, Cp. Rom 10:17; 1Cor 12:8; 2Cor 6:7; Ephesians: 1:13; Eph 5:26; Eph 6:17; Phil 2:16 And so on.

The living Jesus=the resurrected Jesus, Jesus also lives though his sayings, and all true believers are the living Jesus. To become the living Jesus, you must empty yourself of yourself and let the spirit that is the mind of Christ (his character) fill you. Dying to yourself so that you can be reborn of the spirit as the living Jesus. We must experience the same conception, gestation, and birth as the living Jesus so that we might be his twin (Mt 3:17 Mk 1:11 Lk 3:22 Ps 2:7 89:27)

The hidden or secret sayings are in signs or signified the sayings, they are symbolical that is why we are told to find the correct interpretation of these sayings. (Cp. Saying 62 Jesus said: I speak my mysteries to those [who are worthy of my] mysteries. What your right hand does, let not your left hand know what it does.)

The Sayings are not intended to be interpreted literally, as the other four Gospels often are, but to be interpreted symbolically, this is confirmed by the opening Saying #0. While a literal interpretation may make sense, only by understanding the deeper meanings of the Sayings can one truly understand them.

In the Gospel of Thomas we are to become the spiritual and the corporeal (tangible) twin brethren of Jesus in logion 13 and the intro Thomas represents what we are to be come the spiritual and corporeal twin brethren of Christ (cp. Saying 108) this is done by knowledge, by knowing the Father and his son Christ Jesus. This can only be done by knowing what the Bible says about the Father and Christ Jesus. And when we truly know what it promises about the Kingdom of God. And when it is written on the heart, it forms the mind or mode of thinking or feeling created in a true believer. This is styled the inward man, the hidden man of the heart, the Real Self, the new man that is renewed by knowledge after the image of him that created him and is manifested in the life of a true believer.

To become the twin brethren of Christ (the Thomas class) we must know everything the Bible teaches about the Kingdom of God and the name of Christ Jesus. And than be baptised into Christ and put on Christ, so that we will be in the image or likeness of Christ. First in a moral likeness of renewed man to God (Col 3:10). And second the image of the son of God into which true Christians are to be transformed into the likeness of the heavenly body the house from heaven, (Phil 3:20,21 1Cor 15:49 Cp. Sayings 29 83 84)

Taking Off A Garment Gospel of Thomas saying 37

His disciples said, "When will you be shown forth to us and when shall we behold you?" Jesus said, "When you strip naked without being ashamed, and take your garments and put them under your feet like little children and tread upon them, then [you] will see the child of the living. And you will not be afraid

forgiveness is a process. It’s more like taking off a garment and putting on another, then taking off a garment, and putting on another. It’s not a simple case of amnesia at all. The good news about the process is that just maybe, there’s something crucial to be learned in what we might see as a unexciting process. That might be why God doesn’t grant an immediate and instantaneous release. Maybe spiritual health comes in the process more than the result.

Here in saying reflects early Christian baptismal practice at the ceremony of baptism a believer goes in to the water naked and when someone is baptised they are baptised into Christ into his death and just as Christ was raised from the dead by the Father even so we also should walk in newness of life, knowing that our old man was crucified with him that the body of sin might be done away with. so The undressing mentioned here relates to When we put off the old man we put on the new man which is Christ or the Christ consciousness the Christ-self.

The Striping naked refers to the "the filthy garments" that is clothed with "the flesh of sin," in which, Paul tells us "dwells no good thing." both morally and corporeal the moral garment we have to take off for ourselves but The corporeal garment is a gift from God. therefore to Strip naked refers to putting off the old man and putting on the new man which is the mind of Christ

37)# His disciples said, "When will You [the living Word] become revealed to us [when will we know the Keys of Knowledge of the higher/inward (spiritual) meanings] and when shall we see You [as you are]?" Yahushua said, "When you disrobe [remove the bonds (raiment) of whatever religion has you spellbound] without being ashamed [anyone who has found Truth and acted upon it can attest to this for these are persecuted and attacked by friends, family and co-workers in order to convince you that by leaving their religion you will surely have your part in the second death] and take up your garments [all of your past denominational/stately religious teachings] and place them under your feet "[the world becomes a footstool at your feet"] like little children [the Elect] and tread on them [subdue their power and influence over you], then [will you see] the Son of the Living One [within yourself and without (in others) for you "shall become as He is"], and you will not be afraid [fear is the fruit of ignorance, once you have the Way, the Truth and the Life none of their intimidation, condemnation or threats will scare you into submission to their will anymore]" 

the Heavenlies in Christ

"God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace" (Eph 2:6,7).

IN THE HEAVENLY REALMS: A present situation -- having access with God (cp Eph 2:4,5,7,18). Our heavenly calling (Heb 3:1), by a heavenly Father (Mat 18:35), through a heavenly word (Joh 3:12), presents to us a heavenly status (Eph 2:6), as we await a heavenly image (1Co 15:48,49), to be a heavenly Jerusalem (Heb 12:22), in a heavenly country (Heb 11:16), within a heavenly kingdom (2Ti 4:18). All this constitutes Christ's brethren as a heavenly people of God!

the Heavenlies in Christ are not luoghi, heux, or places, but STATES

There are 2 types of Heavenlies when he speaks of the heavenlies in which "the spirituals of wickedness" are found he omits the phrase "in Christ Hence, the two kinds of supernal states are characterized by being "in Christ" or not in Christ; which is equivalent to being out of Christ - outside,

Paul tells the saints in Ephesus, that he with them were "blessed with all spiritual blessings" in these heavenlies; in which they and Christ, though the latter is at the Right Hand of the Divine Majesty, and they in Ephesus and elsewhere, were regarded as sitting together (Eph. 1:20; 2:6). A heavenly is a constituted supernal state. It may be Divinely constituted, or constituted by human authority. We have these two kinds of heaven-ies in Paul's letter to the saints in Ephesus. In ch. 6:12, he alludes to the heavenlies constituted by human authority.

The heavenlies in Christ are 3 states answering to the 3 places of the tabernacle of Moses, the  outer court, holy place and the most holy place these 3 places in the tabernacle correspond to the 3 spiritual realm of Olam/Aeon

These apocalyptic temple states answer to the Altar-Court, the Holy Place, and the Most Holy within the Vail of the Mosaic Building. The apocalyptic Altar-Court and the Holy Place are what Paul styles in Eph. i. 3, "the Heavenlies in Christ." They are constituted of "the saints and faithful in Christ Jesus," who are partakers with the Altar, and worshippers therein (1 Cor. ix. 13; x. 18; Heb. xiii. 10; Apoc. xi. 1).

yet the saints, not sinners, who are quickened with him, and raised with him, sit together in both with him, and He with them. Now the solution of this mystery turns wholly upon the meaning of the phrase "in him."

 in Deity the Father, and the Lord Jesus Anointed. The saints are all in this manifestation of Deity. Being in Jesus and the Father, they must be, in a certain sense, where Jesus and the Father are. Alluding to this fact, Paul says in Heb. 12:23, "22  But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,
23  To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,
24  And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.",

But Paul says that Jesus is at the Father's own Right Hand. True; but he also says, that "being justified by faith, we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand." In other words, we have admission to the Father in heaven by faith; and when a person is permitted access to a place, and avails himself of the permission, he is in some sense certainly there; and when there in this certain sense, he is "dwelling in the heaven" in the presence of "the Judge of all."

 entrance into the tabernacle gate is by faith For it is the domain of faith,

How, then, does a sinner come to "dwell in the heaven?" By being "transformed in the renewing of his mind" "by knowledge" (Rom. 12:2; Col. 3:10); that he may discern and do "that good and acceptable and Perfect will of the Deity." In other words, by believing the gospel of the Kingdom and Name; and being immersed into and upon that Name. In so doing, he enters into the Holy Heavenly State. By faith in "the truth as it is in Jesus," and obedience, he puts on Christ, and is therefore, "in Him;" and being in him, he is constitutionally holy or a saint; and sitting together with him in the Most Holy, not personally, or corporeally rather; but by faith. This is his present adoption through Jesus Christ, by which he becomes a son of Deity, of Abraham, Sarah, and Isaac, and a brother of Christ himself (Gal. 3:26-29); and a "dweller in the heaven.

An Ecclesia of Christ is, apocalyptically speaking, "the Altar and them that worship therein." They who constitute it have all been "cleansed in the Laver of the Water with doctrine;" and in passing through the water have passed into the Christ-Altar, and become one with it. When they die, they lie under the Altar, or "sleep in Jesus;" when they are slain for the word of the Deity and for their testimony, they are blood-souls under the Altar, crying for vengeance. But while they are living in the present state of tribulation and patience waiting for Christ, they are Altar-worshippers "having access by faith into" the heavenlies where Christ sits at the right hand of Power (Eph. i. 20; Rom. v.

It is synonymous with "the Name," and "them dwelling in the heaven;" for all the constituents of the tabernacle are constituents of the Name, having been all immersed into the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and they "dwell in the heaven," in the sense that "the Deity hath made them to sit together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus" (Eph. ii. 6).


But Christ and the Saints are not only the Name and Tabernacle of the Deity, but they are also, "those who dwell in the heaven."

Paul wrote, we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is aeonian (2 Cor 4: 18). The word aeonian describes those things human eyes have not seen, and ears have not heard, because they belong to the unseen realm of the kingdom of God.

They will receive you into aeonian dwellings (Luke 16: 9  And I to you say: Make you to yourselves friends out of the mammon of the unjust; that, when you may fail, they may receive you into the age-lasting tabernacles.). We have a building from God, an aeonian house in heaven, not built by human hands (2 Cor 5: 1 ¶  For we know that if our earthly tabernacle house be destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.). I am going to prepare a place for you, so that you also may be where I am (John 14: 3).

The natural mind thinks about living in a physical house made of brick or stone. Solomon even built a physical house of stone where God could live. Jesus did not go to prepare a mansion in the sky for his followers to enjoy after they died. Rather he prepared an invisible, spiritual place for them and us to inhabit immediately here and now.

This was and is life on a totally new and higher plane. Physical life is visible and temporary and destructible. Spiritual life is unseen and permanent and indestructible. All this is implied in the word aeonian.

Whoever believes in the Son has aeonian life (John 3: 36) In this and many other verses, we find not the future tense, but the present. Not will have aeonian life, but has aeonian life. Aeonian life is not an infinitely prolonged extension of this life after we die. It is a new, spiritual life which we receive from Jesus when we receive him.

 "The Man Christ Jesus" is a real man. When on earth he was "holy, harmless, undefiled, and sinless," as to character; yet imperfect as to his material nature. He is now perfect - a perfect man "justified by spirit," and therefore incorruptible and immortal - a perfect character or moral nature, developed by Divine power, or spirit, into a perfect material nature. But Christ is also an allegorical man, as Hagar and Sarah were two allegorical women; the former representing the Mosaic Covenant; the latter, the New, or Abrahamic, Covenant. From the days of Moses until the Day of Pentecost, A.D. 34, the whole twelve tribes were constitutionally in their mother Hagar, or the Jerusalem system then in existence, and in bondage with her children. But on that celebrated day a new system was initiatorily developed, the Sarah Covenant, styled "the Jerusalem above the Mother of us all." Isaac was Sarah's son, and allegorically slain, and allegorically raised. The saints are all in Isaac; for "in Isaac shall thy seed be called." This seed is Christ; not Jesus only; but that great multitude also which no man can number. This "One Body" of people headed up in Deity is the allegorical or figurative Christ. They are the children of the promise as Isaac was; the free-born sons of Sarah the free woman. This is their state, without regard to the place or country of earth or heaven, where they might be supposed to be. But, if there had been no literal or personal Christ, there could have been no such Christ-State for Jews and Gentiles. Jesus of Nazareth was allegorically "a number which no man could number." He himself taught this, saying, "he that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit:" and, "Father, I pray for them who shall believe into me (eis eme) through the apostles' word: that they all may be one in us" (John 10:5; 17:20,21). Though few compared with the whole race of man, it is a great company absolutely - a people taken out from all the generations and the nations for the Divine Name. "He shall increase," said John the Immerser; "but I must decrease." Jesus increased, or grew, into a Divine and "chosen generation;" while John has dwindled down into a mere Baptist Denomination, which is either ignorant of, or opposed to "the truth as it is in Jesus."



Now the two places of the Mosaic tabernacle were the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place, which were divided the one from the other by the Vail. Even so it is with "the holies", the true tabernacle which the Lord pitches, and not man (Heb. 8:2). There are the Holy Heavenly State and the Most Holy Heavenly State, divided by the Flesh. The Holy must be entered before the Most Holy can be reached; and to pass corporeally from one into the other, the individual must put on incorruptibility and become immortal; for, so long as he is in mortal flesh he is outside, or rather, an element of the Vail which must be rent; though by faith and constitution in Christ, he is within it.

How, then, does a sinner come to "dwell in the heaven?" By being "transformed in the renewing of his mind" "by knowledge" (Rom. 12:2; Col. 3:10); that he may discern and do "that good and acceptable and Perfect will of the Deity." In other words, by believing the gospel of the Kingdom and Name; and being immersed into and upon that Name. In so doing, he enters into the Holy Heavenly State. By faith in "the truth as it is in Jesus," and obedience, he puts on Christ, and is therefore, "in Him;" and being in him, he is constitutionally holy or a saint; and sitting together with him in the Most Holy, not personally, or corporeally rather; but by faith. This is his present adoption through Jesus Christ, by which he becomes a son of Deity, of Abraham, Sarah, and Isaac, and a brother of Christ himself (Gal. 3:26-29); and a "dweller in the heaven."

But there are heavenlies beyond the pale of the Christ-Body. These are Supernal States in which Paul locates principalities, powers, world-rulers of the darkness of the times of the Gentiles, which he styles "this aeon," and the spirituals of the wickedness enthroned throughout the earth. These heavenlies are constituted providentially or instrumentally by human authority and power after "the course of this world;" and are the tabernacle of "the Prince of the power of the Air, the Spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience" (Eph. 2:2). This Prince-power and Spirit of the Air is Sin's Flesh; whose spirit pervades all sublunary human constitutions, styled "thrones, dominions, principalities, and powers,'' which Paul specifies as ''things in the heaven" or "the Air'' (Col. 1:16). In such an unclean heaven as this, are found the Ten-Horned, and Two-Horned, Beasts, the Name of Blasphemy, the Lion-Mouth, and the Image of the Beast, or False Prophet, the God of the Earth - all things of power, in short, emanating from falsehood and superstition. The dwellers in this Air, or Heaven, are not the Saints. In their days of Apocalyptic prophecy the two witnessing prophets had power to shut this heaven that there should be no rain from it; and as often as they willed during 1260 years, to turn the popular waters into blood, and to smite the earth with all war-plagues (ch. 11:6). The dwellers in this Aerial are the civil and ecclesiastical orders of society; such as, emperors, kings, diplomatists, nobles spiritual and racial, legislators, magistrates, priests, clergymen, parsons, and all of that class, styled by the apostle "spirituals of the wickedness" which reigns in "the Court of the Gentiles without the temple." Between this heaven and "the Heavenlies in Christ" there is implacable and uncompromising hostility. No peace can be permanently established in the earth till one or other of these heavens be suppressed or subjugated: and who can doubt which of these heavens shall be shaken, be rolled up as a scroll, and be made to pass away with the great tumult of war? The heavenlies, or high places, of this world are decreed to Yahweh and his Anointed Body; who, by the thunders and lightnings issuing from the throne newly set in the heaven, shall take the dominion under the whole heaven, and possess it during the Olahm and beyond (ch. 11:15; 4:1-5; Dan. 7:18,22,27). This is the fiat of Eternal Wisdom and Power. The Seventh Vial, the last blast of the Seventh Trumpet, is to pour out its fury upon the Air, the secular and spiritual constitution of which will thereby be thoroughly and radically changed. The things now in the Air will be transferred to "them who dwell in the heaven" in Christ; who, having passed through the Vail of the Flesh which divides the Heavenlies, in the putting on of immortality, will be manifested as the Most Holy Heavenly in Christ; and the Air, filled with their glory, will become the New Heavens, in which righteousness will dwell forever. The Air will then no longer be malarious with the pestiferousness of secular and spiritual demagogues, who "with good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple." The Prince of the Power of the Air will then be the Spirit that works in the children of obedience - the truth incarnated gloriously in Jesus and his Brethren; who, in the highest sense, will be those who dwell in the heaven.

These apocalyptic temple states answer to the Altar-Court, the Holy Place, and the Most Holy within the Vail of the Mosaic Building. The apocalyptic Altar-Court and the Holy Place are what Paul styles in Eph. i. 3, "the Heavenlies in Christ." They are constituted of "the saints and faithful in Christ Jesus," who are partakers with the Altar, and worshippers therein (1 Cor. ix. 13; x. 18; Heb. xiii. 10; Apoc. xi. 1). An Ecclesia of Christ is, apocalyptically speaking, "the Altar and them that worship therein." They who constitute it have all been "cleansed in the Laver of the Water with doctrine;" and in passing through the water have passed into the Christ-Altar, and become one with it. When they die, they lie under the Altar, or "sleep in Jesus;" when they are slain for the word of the Deity and for their testimony, they are blood-souls under the Altar, crying for vengeance. But while they are living in the present state of tribulation and patience waiting for Christ, they are Altar-worshippers "having access by faith into" the heavenlies where Christ sits at the right hand of Power (Eph. i. 20; Rom. v. 2).

). 

I

But the Heavenlies in Christ are not luoghi, heux, or places, but STATES, the foundation of which is laid in Jesus Christ - Deity manifested in the Flesh. "The Man Christ Jesus" is a real man. When on earth he was "holy, harmless, undefiled, and sinless," as to character; yet imperfect as to his material nature. He is now perfect - a perfect man "justified by spirit," and therefore incorruptible and immortal - a perfect character or moral nature, developed by Divine power, or spirit, into a perfect material nature. But Christ is also an allegorical man, as Hagar and Sarah were two allegorical women; the former representing the Mosaic Covenant; the latter, the New, or Abrahamic, Covenant. From the days of Moses until the Day of Pentecost, A.D. 34, the whole twelve tribes were constitutionally in their mother Hagar, or the Jerusalem system then in existence, and in bondage with her children. But on that celebrated day a new system was initiatorily developed, the Sarah Covenant, styled "the Jerusalem above the Mother of us all." Isaac was Sarah's son, and allegorically slain, and allegorically raised. The saints are all in Isaac; for "in Isaac shall thy seed be called." This seed is Christ; not Jesus only; but that great multitude also which no man can number. This "One Body" of people headed up in Deity is the allegorical or figurative Christ. They are the children of the promise as Isaac was; the free-born sons of Sarah the free woman. This is their state, without regard to the place or country of earth or heaven, where they might be supposed to be. But, if there had been no literal or personal Christ, there could have been no such Christ-State for Jews and Gentiles. Jesus of Nazareth was allegorically "a number which no man could number." He himself taught this, saying, "he that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit:" and, "Father, I pray for them who shall believe into me (eis eme) through the apostles' word: that they all may be one in us" (John 10:5; 17:20,21). Though few compared with the whole race of man, it is a great company absolutely - a people taken out from all the generations and the nations for the Divine Name. "He shall increase," said John the Immerser; "but I must decrease." Jesus increased, or grew, into a Divine and "chosen generation;" while John has dwindled down into a mere Baptist Denomination, which is either ignorant of, or opposed to "the truth as it is in Jesus."

The heavenlies in Christ are two states answering to the two places of the tabernacle of Moses. One of these states is not yet manifested on earth; the other is. Hence, one may be said to be visible, and the other invisible; yet the saints, not sinners, who are quickened with him, and raised with him, sit together in both with him, and He with them. Now the solution of this mystery turns wholly upon the meaning of the phrase "in him." What is it then, to be in him? It is to be where Paul places the saints in Thessalonica, namely, en Theo patri, kai Kuno Iesou Christo, in Deity the Father, and the Lord Jesus Anointed. The saints are all in this manifestation of Deity. Being in Jesus and the Father, they must be, in a certain sense, where Jesus and the Father are. Alluding to this fact, Paul says in Heb. 12:23, "We are come to the Deity the Judge of all, and to Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant", and so forth. But Paul says that Jesus is at the Father's own Right Hand. True; but he also says, that "being justified by faith, we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand." In other words, we have admission to the Father in heaven by faith; and when a person is permitted access to a place, and avails himself of the permission, he is in some sense certainly there; and when there in this certain sense, he is "dwelling in the heaven" in the presence of "the Judge of all."

Now the two places of the Mosaic tabernacle were the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place, which were divided the one from the other by the Vail. Even so it is with "the holies", the true tabernacle which the Lord pitches, and not man (Heb. 8:2). There are the Holy Heavenly State and the Most Holy Heavenly State, divided by the Flesh. The Holy must be entered before the Most Holy can be reached; and to pass corporeally from one into the other, the individual must put on incorruptibility and become immortal; for, so long as he is in mortal flesh he is outside, or rather, an element of the Vail which must be rent; though by faith and constitution in Christ, he is within it.

How, then, does a sinner come to "dwell in the heaven?" By being "transformed in the renewing of his mind" "by knowledge" (Rom. 12:2; Col. 3:10); that he may discern and do "that good and acceptable and Perfect will of the Deity." In other words, by believing the gospel of the Kingdom and Name; and being immersed into and upon that Name. In so doing, he enters into the Holy Heavenly State. By faith in "the truth as it is in Jesus," and obedience, he puts on Christ, and is therefore, "in Him;" and being in him, he is constitutionally holy or a saint; and sitting together with him in the Most Holy, not personally, or corporeally rather; but by faith. This is his present adoption through Jesus Christ, by which he becomes a son of Deity, of Abraham, Sarah, and Isaac, and a brother of Christ himself (Gal. 3:26-29); and a "dweller in the heaven."

But there are heavenlies beyond the pale of the Christ-Body. These are Supernal States in which Paul locates principalities, powers, world-rulers of the darkness of the times of the Gentiles, which he styles "this aeon," and the spirituals of the wickedness enthroned throughout the earth. These heavenlies are constituted providentially or instrumentally by human authority and power after "the course of this world;" and are the tabernacle of "the Prince of the power of the Air, the Spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience" (Eph. 2:2). This Prince-power and Spirit of the Air is Sin's Flesh; whose spirit pervades all sublunary human constitutions, styled "thrones, dominions, principalities, and powers,'' which Paul specifies as ''things in the heaven" or "the Air'' (Col. 1:16). In such an unclean heaven as this, are found the Ten-Horned, and Two-Horned, Beasts, the Name of Blasphemy, the Lion-Mouth, and the Image of the Beast, or False Prophet, the God of the Earth - all things of power, in short, emanating from falsehood and superstition. The dwellers in this Air, or Heaven, are not the Saints. In their days of Apocalyptic prophecy the two witnessing prophets had power to shut this heaven that there should be no rain from it; and as often as they willed during 1260 years, to turn the popular waters into blood, and to smite the earth with all war-plagues (ch. 11:6). The dwellers in this Aerial are the civil and ecclesiastical orders of society; such as, emperors, kings, diplomatists, nobles spiritual and racial, legislators, magistrates, priests, clergymen, parsons, and all of that class, styled by the apostle "spirituals of the wickedness" which reigns in "the Court of the Gentiles without the temple." Between this heaven and "the Heavenlies in Christ" there is implacable and uncompromising hostility. No peace can be permanently established in the earth till one or other of these heavens be suppressed or subjugated: and who can doubt which of these heavens shall be shaken, be rolled up as a scroll, and be made to pass away with the great tumult of war? The heavenlies, or high places, of this world are decreed to Yahweh and his Anointed Body; who, by the thunders and lightnings issuing from the throne newly set in the heaven, shall take the dominion under the whole heaven, and possess it during the Olahm and beyond (ch. 11:15; 4:1-5; Dan. 7:18,22,27). This is the fiat of Eternal Wisdom and Power. The Seventh Vial, the last blast of the Seventh Trumpet, is to pour out its fury upon the Air, the secular and spiritual constitution of which will thereby be thoroughly and radically changed. The things now in the Air will be transferred to "them who dwell in the heaven" in Christ; who, having passed through the Vail of the Flesh which divides the Heavenlies, in the putting on of immortality, will be manifested as the Most Holy Heavenly in Christ; and the Air, filled with their glory, will become the New Heavens, in which righteousness will dwell forever. The Air will then no longer be malarious with the pestiferousness of secular and spiritual demagogues, who "with good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple." The Prince of the Power of the Air will then be the Spirit that works in the children of obedience - the truth incarnated gloriously in Jesus and his Brethren; who, in the highest sense, will be those who dwell in the heaven.

It was against the Saints, who, in the times of the Gentiles, constitute the Name, the Tabernacle, and them who dwelt in the Heaven in Christ, that the Ten-Horned Beast opens his Leo-Babylonian Mouth in blasphemy; and makes war, till the end of the Forty and Two Months of Years. In blaspheming Jesus and his Brethren, he blasphemes the Deity, on the principle laid down by Christ, that what is done to, for, or against, his brethren, is done to, for, or against him. The Lion-Mouth of the Apocalyptic Babylon spoke evil of them in words of the most acrid bitterness. He denounced them as heretics, accursed, the children of the Devil, the spawn of hell - not a blasphemous epithet was there that the pope and his agents did not heap upon them. The prophetic writings, though set aside for the purposes of truth and edification, were resorted to for names of infamy by which to make them odious to those who worship the beast and his image; and the evil symbols and appellations therein employed by the Spirit to prefigure the Apostasy and its "spirituals of the wickedness," this Mouth of Blasphemy applied to the Saints. In this it blasphemed the Deity himself. This principle is well illustrated in Ezek. 35, where a statement made by Edom concerning Israel and their country is styled blasphemy against the mountains of Israel, because it was false. Edom said, as he also says to this day, "these two nations and these two countries shall be mine, and we will possess it, though Yahweh were there." Now, He had promised the land to Jacob, and to him he will give it for an everlasting inheritance. Hence, every saying subversive of this purpose is blasphemy against the country, and blasphemy and boasting against the Eternal Spirit: for, if Edom's purpose of possession could possibly be established, the Deity's veracity would be destroyed, and his character for faithfulness overthrown. "Thus," in making false statements concerning the destiny of Israel, Judah, and their country, O Edom, saith Yahweh, "with your mouth ye have boasted against Me, and have multiplied your words against Me; I have heard: so that when the whole earth rejoiceth, I will make thee desolate." By Edom is here represented what John symbolizes by the Beast and his Image, etc. Hence, to blaspheme or speak evil and injuriously of God's people, and promises, is regarded by Him as blasphemy against Himself.

The Nave, or Most Holy Place, of the Mosaic Tabernacle, which was "the figure of the true," "which the Lord pitches, and not man" (Heb. 9:24; 8:2), was the enclosure containing the Ark of the Testimony, the Cherubim, and the smoking and flaming Glory of the Deity. In the true Holies which the Lord pitches, similar arrangements obtain. The tabernacle Moses erected was built of wood, curtains, gold, and so forth; but the building the Lord erects is raised up of living and enlightened beings, created in his own image, and after his own intellectual and moral likeness (1 Cor. 3:9,16; Eph .2:20,22; Heb. 3:2). These are the heavenlies in Christ" (Eph. 1:3)). The first is the heavenly, or the holy body, consisting of "the faithful in Christ Jesus," in the times preceding the advent of the Ancient of Days. The second is the most holy heavenly body, constituted of all who shall be accounted worthy to pass through the Vail, into incorruptibility and deathlessness; by being clothed upon with the "fine linen pure and bright;" and girded around the breast with the "golden girdle". Thus, we have the ONE BOD in two states - as it is before the Ancient of Days comes; and as it will be after that appearing.

Paul wrote, we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is aeonian (2 Cor 4: 18). The word aeonian describes those things human eyes have not seen, and ears have not heard, because they belong to the unseen realm of the kingdom of God.

They will receive you into aeonian dwellings (Luke 16: 9  And I to you say: Make you to yourselves friends out of the mammon of the unjust; that, when you may fail, they may receive you into the age-lasting tabernacles.). We have a building from God, an aeonian house in heaven, not built by human hands (2 Cor 5: 1 ¶  For we know that if our earthly tabernacle house be destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.). I am going to prepare a place for you, so that you also may be where I am (John 14: 3).

The natural mind thinks about living in a physical house made of brick or stone. Solomon even built a physical house of stone where God could live. Jesus did not go to prepare a mansion in the sky for his followers to enjoy after they died. Rather he prepared an invisible, spiritual place for them and us to inhabit immediately here and now.

This was and is life on a totally new and higher plane. Physical life is visible and temporary and destructible. Spiritual life is unseen and permanent and indestructible. All this is implied in the word aeonian.

Whoever believes in the Son has auonian life (John 3: 36) In this and many other verses, we find not the future tense, but the present. Not will have aeonian life, but has aeonian life. Aeonian life is not an infinitely prolonged extension of this life after we die. It is a new, spiritual life which we receive from Jesus when we receive him.


The dwellings, tabernacles, and mansions are built upon a foundation. The foundation of which is laid in Jesus Christ - Deity manifested in the Flesh. "The Man Christ Jesus" is a real man. When on earth he was "holy, harmless, undefiled, and sinless," as to character; yet imperfect as to his material nature. He is now perfect - a perfect man "justified by spirit," and therefore incorruptible and immortal - a perfect character or moral nature, developed by Divine power, or spirit, into a perfect material nature. But Christ is also an allegorical man, as Hagar and Sarah were two allegorical women; the former representing the Mosaic Covenant; the latter, the New, or Abrahamic, Covenant. From the days of Moses until the Day of Pentecost, A.D. 34, the whole twelve tribes were constitutionally in their mother Hagar, or the Jerusalem system then in existence, and in bondage with her children. But on that celebrated day a new system was initiatorily developed, the Sarah Covenant, styled "the Jerusalem above the Mother of us all." Isaac was Sarah's son, and allegorically slain, and allegorically raised. The saints are all in Isaac; for "in Isaac shall thy seed be called." This seed is Christ; not Jesus only; but that great multitude also which no man can number. This "One Body" of people headed up in Deity is the allegorical or figurative Christ.

But, if there had been no literal or personal Christ, there could have been no such Christ-State for Jews and Gentiles. Jesus of Nazareth was allegorically "a number which no man could number." He himself taught this, saying, "he that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit:" and, "Father, I pray for them who shall believe into me (eis eme) through the apostles' word: that they all may be one in us" (John 10:5; 17:20,21).