The Pleroma as a Place Psalm 89:11

The Pleroma as a Place Psalm 89:11

or

The Concept of the Pleroma Colossians 2:9

The Pleroma is a word used in the Bible it means fullness is a derivative of pleroo and pletho (“to fill, to make full”) 

“Pleroo is an extremely common verb in both NT and LXX. Its simple meaning is “fill”; eg “I am filled with comfort” (2Co 7:4). “The house was filled with the odour of the ointment” (John 12:3).

Pleroma, “fulness”, is associated with this imagery a good deal. “In him (Jesus) dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily” (Col 2:9). “The Word was made flesh, and tabernacled among us; and we beheld his glory....full of grace and truth...and of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace” (John 1:14,16; 

The Greek word for "fullness" is pleroma - the same word is also found in Col. 1:19, regarding how all God’s “fullness” dwelt in Jesus. Although the Lord Jesus had human nature, He never sinned; because He was full of the God’s personality and character. To know Jesus was to know God- for He was and is God’s Son, and indeed the perfect replica of Him in human form. 

Col 1:19  For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness <4138> dwell;

Col 2:9  For in him dwelleth all the fulness <4138> of the Godhead bodily.

John 3:34  For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him.

Jesus being filled with God's spirit or fullness refers to Jesus being filled with God's character and personality, as well as his divine power 

The fullness of the Deity the logos or the anointing spirit also known as the Divine Christ descended (Eph. 4:10) upon the man Jesus at his baptism, and at his crucifixion returned.

In The Nag Hammadi Library there is a text called The Letter of Peter to Philip in this document it has the Biblical understanding that the fullness/pleroma is manifested in Jesus. Jesus himself he says Concerning the fullness, it is I. 

The Letter of Peter to Philip:

“Concerning the fullness, it is I. I was sent down in the body for the seed that had fallen away. And I came down to their mortal model. But they did not recognize me, thinking I was a mortal. I spoke with the one who is mine, and the one who is mine listened to me just as you also who have listened to me today. And I gave him authority to enter into the inheritance of his fatherhood. And I took him . . . filled . . . through his salvation. Since he was deficiency, he became fullness.

The heavenly pleroma is [understood as] the centre of divine life, a region of light "above" our world...  The Christ is interpreted as an intermediary aeon who was sent from the pleroma.

According to this text the logos or anointing spirit is the Fullness which came down at the baptism to fill Jesus with all the fullness of the Deity

The Pleroma of God

The Pleroma of God or the fullness of God refers to his personality, character and divine nature. This divine nature can be described as Aeonian the word Aeon is used to described the divine nature and the place or abode were the Deity dwells see Isaiah 57:15

Isaiah 57:15  For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite.

Yahweh is residing in eternity or as the Septuagint rendering puts it dwelling (in) the aeon. This shows that aeon is the nature of the Yahweh and his dwelling place 

1tim 6:16  Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen.

heb 1:3  Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person (5287 ὑπόστασις hupostasis), and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;

The Greek word hypostasis means substance and always refers to physical corporeal nature. 

God is corporeal because he has substance

2Pe 1:4  Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

Col 1:19  For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness <4138> dwell;

Col 2:9  For in him dwelleth all the fulness <4138> of the Godhead bodily.

God has a substance it is his divine nature and power which is the fullness of his being, he is immortal dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen. 

The Pleroma as a Place 

In the Bible the word Pleroma is used to described the divine nature and substance of God (Col 1:19  Col 2:9) however it also used to describe places and things whatever fills the earth or is contained in it, 1 Corinthians 10:26, 28 (Psalm 23:1 Jeremiah 8:16; Ezekiel 12:19, Psalm 95:11  1 Chronicles 16:32); those things with which the baskets were filled, Mark 6:43 the filling by which a gap is filled up, Matthew 9:16; Mark 2:21 fullness = that which fills, entire contents,

If you where to ask someone what is heaven like they would not be able to describe it.  The best way to describe heaven would be to describe it as the fullness of God's glory or the fullness of God's presence. 

This is how the word fullness was used by the Gnostics to describe the invisible heavens a place full of divine beings filled with the divine nature, glory and power of the Uncreated Eternal Spirit

It is the spirit-world, a world perceptible only by the intellect however it is not a incorporeal world. 

psa 89:11  Thine are the heavens — the earth also is Thine, The habitable world and its fulness, Thou hast founded them.

psa 89:11 Heaven is yours, the earth also is yours;

The productive land and what fills it—you yourself have founded them.

The heavens to the earth the world and the fullness you have founded

There is no distinction here of the word fullness between heaven, earth and the world each one has its fullness. the fullness of the heaven of heavens is its entire contents they are the work of his hands, and the seat of his majesty, and the throne of his glory; the angels of heaven are his, his creatures and servants; a court of celestial beings

Compare Psalm 112:4-6 LXX 

4  (112:4) The Lord is high above all the nations; his glory is above the heavens.

5  (112:5) Who is as the Lord our God? who dwells in the high places,

6 (112:6) and [yet] looks upon the low things in heaven, and on the earth:

Compare Psalm 112:5 LXX 5 (112:5) Who is as the Lord our God? who dwells in the high places, the summits or hills literally the heights of the Most High define the space of his pleroma

There is a third signification (of place), in keeping with which God Himself is called a place, by reason of His containing all things and being contained by nothing whatever, and being a place for all to flee into, and because He is Himself the space which holds Him; for He is that which He Himself has occupied, and nought encloses Him but Himself. I, mark you, am not a place but in a place and each thing likewise that exists; for that which is contained is different from that which contains it, and the Deity, being contained by nothing, is of necessity Itself Its own place Philo, De Somniis, I, xi, 63-64. Likewise, see De Migrations AbraEami, xxxii, 181-182; xxxv, 192>; De ConTusione Lingu'arum, xxvii, 136; and Legum Allegoria, I, xiv, 44.

Here there is a spatial sense to the pleroma

Like Psalm 89:11 and Psalm 112 Genesis chapter 1 also speaks about God establish the heavens 

Gen 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (the entire universe).
Gen 1:1 ¶  In the beginning of God’s preparing (The verb does not necessarily describe creation out of nothing) the heavens and the earth — 

We learn Genesis 1:1 that God exists outside of time and God existed before the creation of heavens and the earth

The heavenly places or the spiritual heavens (pleroma) is the waters above the firmament (outer-space) which is likened to a spread-out curtain.

These spiritual heavens are where Christ sits far above all heavens (Eph. 4:10), that is, far above the physical heavens called outer-space or the firmament which is the limit or boundary.

The Spiritual Heavens are called the Aeon Pleroma

The Pleroma in Gnostic Text

The Pleroma is sometimes compared by allegory to a city, temple tree, and body

The Heavens or 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 Pleroma is also called the ‘emanations of the Father “Therefore, all the emanations of the Father are pleromas, and the root of all his emanations is in the one who made them all grow up in himself.” (Gospel of Truth)

In the Untitled Bruce Codex ms, the Pleroma is described as a temple-city with four gates and a Holy of Holies: “He created the holy Pleroma in this way: four gates with four monads within it, one monad to each gate and six helpers (parastatai) to each gate, ... and an unutterable aspect - to each gate. One of his aspects looks forth from the gate to the outer aeons, the other looks inwards to the Setheus, and the other looks to the height, and the sonship is in each monad. ... The unutterable aspect of the overseer looks towards to the holy of the holies, that is, the infinite one who is the head of the sanctuary.” (Untitled Text in the Bruce Codex)

- The Untitled Text in the Bruce Codex also describes the Pleroma as ‘the body’ of the monad, which is like the mother-city “This is the manner in which they are all within the monad : there are twelve monads making a crown upon its head ; each one makes twelve. And there are ten decads surrounding its shoulders. And there are nine enneads surrounding its belly. And there are seven hebdomads at its feet, and each one makes a hebdomad. And to the veil which surrounds it like a tower, there are twelve gates. There are twelve myriad powers at each gate, and they are called archangels and also angels. This is the mother-city of the only-begotten one.” (Untitled Text in the Bruce Codex)

- 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)

- One may also ‘become full’: “Become full, and leave no space within you empty.” (Apocalypse of James)

Summary

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 the dwellings place of the Aeons is also a a state of consciousness

The Pleroma is both a state of consciousness (the Ideas in the Divine Mind) and the dwellings place of the Aeons

As a state of consciousness the pleroma is the fullness of the Divine attributes. the various means by which God reveals Himself: it is the totality of the thirty aeons or emanations which proceed from God they are aspects of the divine mind

The word aeon means temporal sometimes a spatial concept in addition it is also used for personal beings whether divine or mortal.

The Pleroma the Waters Above the Heavens Genesis 1:7

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.

4 Praise him, ye heavens of heavens, and ye waters that be above the heavens. (Psalms 148)

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:

Ps 104:3 Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters: who maketh the clouds his chariot: who walketh 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 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.

Revelation 4 A Vision of the Pleroma Revelation 4 and the Pleroma

A Vision of the Pleroma


Revelation 4 and the Pleroma

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 a state of consciousness

4:1 After these things I looked (when we are spiritually attuned), and behold, a door (a level of heightened awareness. It is only as the Lord, who holds the key, opens the door to the understanding of Heavenly things, that we are able to comprehend them. — Matt. 3:16; Ezek. 1:1; Rev. 19:11. ) standing open in heaven (an opening in the Firmament a way to the Pleroma). And the first voice (the still small voice) which I heard was like a trumpet (which is the seat of our deep intuitive knowing) speaking with me, saying, “Come up here, (raising into our awarneness to the super-conscious heaven that is the Pleroma. the Pleroma is has two different meanings the first the dwellings place of the Aeons the abode of and the essential nature of the True Ultimate Deity or Bythos. the second an elevated state of consciousness) and I will show you things which must take place after this.” (john did not go to heaven he was merely given a vision of Heavenly things. (Rev. 11:12.) "The seer now obtains a higher spiritual standpoint." What the Apostle beheld taking place in heaven has to do with those in covenant with God, those who are even now “in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”)

2 Immediately I was in the Spirit (experience our transcendental state); and behold, a throne set in heaven, and the One (the Allness) sat on the throne (Of the Universe the ruler of this Universe and the Pleroma). 

As soon as John heard this invitation, he entered another visionary state (cf. 1:10). His body remained on the earth, but he saw a throne and someone sitting on it in heaven (cf. Ezek. 11:1, 5).

3 And He who sat there was like a jasper (Sophia) and a sardius (Logos) stone in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne (Justice is "the habitation of Thy Throne." [Psa. 89:14.] ), in appearance like an emerald ( Green, the predominant colour of life. the Divine Being on the throne is described as "like a jasper and a sardine stone to look upon." A phrase like this meets the reader in Revelation 2:11, where the light of the holy Jerusalem is described as "like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal." 
"And the building of the wall of it was of jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass. And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper." (Rev. 21:18, 19.)

4 Around the throne (Encompassing it on all sides — always in mind — never out of sight.) were twenty-four thrones (moving away from the center where the One set on the throne we see twenty-four thrones in a circale ), and on the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, (2 united Israels, 2 sets of 12 apostles) clothed in white robes (purified); and they had crowns of gold on their heads. (fully enlightened perspective)

5 And from the throne proceeded lightnings, thunderings, and voices. Seven lamps of fire were burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God. The 24 elders and the seven spirits of God are the emanation of the 30 aeons 

6 Before the throne there was a sea (the waters above the heavens or the Pleroma) of glass (the Firmament), like crystal (the Universe or outerspace "As the body of heaven in its clearness" (Exo 24:10; Psa 113:6). And in the midst of the throne, and around the throne, were four living creatures full of eyes in front and in back. 

To be "before the throne" means to be in a high state of good judgment. When we are using good judgment, there extends into our future an unlimited area of pure potentialities of good. This is the symbolism of the sea of glass and crystal. The sea stands for unlimited possibilities. Glass and crystal stand for purity.

"Eyes in front and behind" refers to the powers of foresight and hindsight. These are possessed by the four beasts mentioned.

7 The first living creature was like a lion (man’s physical nature), the second living creature like a calf (man’s subjective or emotional nature), the third living creature had a face like a man ( man’s mentality;), and the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle (standing for our inspirations and our intuition).

The four beasts in Rev. 4:7 represent the four main aspects of human nature. They are:

"like a lion"--physicality, the physical aspect of man, the physical body.
"like an ox"--subjective and emotional nature of man, the emotional or heart.
"With the face of a man"--mental or intellectual nature of man, mental or soul.
"like a flying eagle"--inspirational and intuitive nature of man, spiritual or spirit.

We have these four parts of our human nature, and all four are valuable to us, and yet none of them is of the highest. The highest, of course, is spiritual, our spiritual nature. These four beasts do not mean our spiritual nature, but our lower levels of human nature, except for the fourth, which means our inspirations and our intuitions leading us higher into the spiritual. 

8 The four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within. And they do not rest day or night, saying:
“Holy,[f] holy, holy,
Lord God Almighty,
Who was and is and is to come!”
9 Whenever the living creatures give glory and honour and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever,
10 the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying:
11 “You are worthy, [g]O Lord,
To receive glory and honour and power;
For You created all things,
And by Your will they [h]exist and were created.”

The Two Aeons Before Creation The 2nd Book of Enoch

Chapter 25, XXV1 I commanded in the very lowest (parts), that visible (physical) things should come down from invisible (spiritual), and Adoil came down very great, and I beheld him, and lo! He had a belly of great light. 2 And I said to him: Become undone, Adoil, and let the visible (physical) (come) out of you. 3 And he came undone, and a great light came out. And I (was) in the midst of the great light, and as there is born light from light, there came forth a great age, and showed all creation, which I had thought to create. 4 And I saw that (it was) good. 5 And I placed for myself a throne, and took my seat on it, and said to the light: Go thence up higher and fix yourself high above the throne, and be A foundation to the highest things. 6 And above the light there is nothing else, and then I bent up and looked up from my throne. Chapter 26, XXVI1 And I summoned the very lowest a second time, and said: Let Archas come forth hard, and he came forth hard from the invisible (spiritual). 2 And Archas came forth, hard, heavy, and very red. 3 And I said: Be opened, Archas, and let there be born from you, and he came undone, an age came forth, very great and very dark, bearing the creation of all lower things, and I saw that (it was) good and said to him: 4 Go thence down below, and make yourself firm, and be a foundation for the lower things, and it happened and he went down and fixed himself, and became the foundation for the lower things, and below the darkness there is nothing else.

Chapters 24-27 of 2 Enoch can be viewed as the climax of angelic and divine revelations to Enoch during his heavenly tour.

The book tells that Yahweh decided to reveal to Enoch the secrets of His creation, which he never explained even to his angels. Further the term "secrets" is applied only to this account of God's creation, conveyed to Enoch by Yahweh himself, "face to face."

The content of these revelations includes the following details:

1. Prior to the Creation Yahweh decided to establish the foundation of all created things;

2. He commanded one of the invisible "things" to come out of the very highest things and become visible;

3. By Yahweh's command a primordial "great aeon," bearing the title the spirit of the Light of creation (Adoil), descended and, disintegrating itself, revealed all creation which Yahweh "had thought up to create;"

4. Yahweh created a throne for himself. He then ordered the light to become the foundation for the highest things;

5. Yahweh called out the second aeon, bearing the title the spirit of the foundation of creation (Arukhas), which became the foundation of the lowest things;



the spirit of the Light of creation (Adoil) could come from a Hebrew translation of the phrases "The hand of God another understanding would be "the light of God" this means that Adoil is the hand of creation or light of creation

Arukhas may have originated from the Hebrew word "firmament" or it is the formation of creation or the foundation of creation the beginnings

both Adoil and Arukhas are personified they are not described as the agents but rather as the objects which are transformed and emanate creation

Adoil and Arukhas, are not primordial beings controlled by God they are aspects of the mind of God or mental powers, unfolding or expanding from its thought or idea to become a reality

From this point on we will call Adoil the spirit of the Light of creation

As for Arukhas we shall call it the spirit of the foundation of creation

by the term spirit we should understand this as a word of command from God: Psalm 33:6, compare Isaiah 34:16

It can also be used of the mind of God

for, "Who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ. 1 Corinthians 2:16

Who is able to advise the Spirit of Yahweh? Who knows enough to give him advice or teach him? Isaiah 40:13

Who comprehends the mind of Yahweh, or gives him instruction as his counselor? Isaiah 40:13

I have also, on one occasion, heard a more ingenious train of reasoning from my own soul, which was accustomed frequently to be seized with a certain divine inspiration, even concerning matters which it could not explain even to itself; which now, if I am able to remember it accurately, I will relate. It told me that in the one living and true God there were two supreme and primary powers--goodness and authority; and that by his goodness he had created every thing, and by his authority he governed all that he had created; (28) and that the third thing which was between the two, and had the effect of bringing them together was reason, for that it was owing to reason that God was both a ruler and good. (A Treatise on the Cherubim)

Before anything existed at all, from the very beginning, whatever exists I created from the non-existent, and from the invisible the visible....For before any visible things had come into existence, I the ONE, moved around in the invisible things, like the sun, from east to west and from west to east. But the sun has rest in it's self; yet I did not find rest, because everything was not yet created. And I thought up the idea of establishing a foundation, to create a visible creation.

"And I thought up the idea of establishing a foundation, to create a visible creation."

Here we have the forethought of God or foresight it is God's plan of creation and also his plan of salvation. the first movement of creation is self-reflective self-conscious thought, the expanding of the thought into an idea to be come a reality

God explains to Enoch how the visible and the invisible come forth from the very highest things.

And I commanded the highest things: “Let one of the invisible (concealed and hidden) things descend visibly!” (spiritual or ethereal)

And the spirit of the Light of creation descended, extremely large. And I looked at him, and behold, in his belly he had a great light. And I said to him, “Disintegrate yourself, O spirit of the Light of creation, and let what is born from you become visible.” (that is the establishment of the spiritual cosmos or the divine realms of light)

And he disintegrated himself, and there came out a very great light.

The word Disintegrate is not a good translation the word means to issue forth or to give birth therefore we should understand Disintegrate to mean an emanation. Another translation says

And I said to him: Become undone and let the visible come out of you.

the great light is the divine light which is without end it is the aeon of light of the upper foundation

The Great Light born from or with another Light!

this is the waters above of the Heavens, the light is the water Psalms 148:4 Ps 104:3

And I was in the midst of the |great| light. And light out of light is carried thus. And the great age came out, and it revealed all the creation which I had thought up to create. And I saw how good it was. And I placed for myself a throne, and I sat down on it. And then to the light I spoke: “You go up higher than the throne, and become solid |much higher than the throne|, and become the foundation for the highest things.” And there is nothing higher than the light, except nothing itself. And again I bowed myself, and I looked upward from my throne.

the primordial aeon called the spirit of the Light of creation, it has been noted that it seems to be identified with the upper sacred foundation that serves as the basis for the heavenly Temple represented by the Throne of God.

The light out of light that is the light expanding and emanating from within the Deity

the great light emanating from within is the pure light or the divine light which is without end. In the divine fullness or pleroma it always comes first into consciousness.

The light is the aeon which is the foundation for the highest things upon which the deity establish his throne

The light is the illumining power it is a heavenly light, such as surrounds angels, or of God. God is light. Yahweh is light Isaiah 10:17, Psalm 27:1; Isaiah 60:19,20.


The seat of the Deity thus serves here as the location from which God supervises the unfolding creation. The Throne plays an important role in the process of creation, being envisioned as the center of the created universes.

God initiates an invisible personified process called the spirit of the Light of creation. the primordial vessel of light is the first creative act of the Deity that gives life to the visible order of everything.

This is the Highest Light-world or Realm of Light.



God summons from the very lowest things this time, so that the spirit of the foundation of creation, both heavy and black, should come out.

And I called out a second time into the very lowest things, and I said, “Let one of the invisible ((concealed and hidden) things come out visibly, solid. (physical) |And| the spirit of the foundation of creation came out, solid and heavy and very black. And I said, to the spirit of the foundation of creation,“Open yourself up, and let what is born from you become visible!” (physical) And he disintegrated himself. There came out an age, dark, very large, carrying the creation of all lower things. And I saw how good it was. And I said to him, “Come down low and become solid! (physical) And become the foundation of the lowest things!” |And it came about.| And he came down and became solid. (the expansion of the universe) And he became the foundation of the lowest things. And there is nothing lower than the darkness, except nothing itself.

the opening of the spirit of the foundation of creation lays the foundation of lower things that is the physical creation

Darkness hides the glory of the heavens or the upper foundation and Light shines on the inferior physical universe

And I gave the command: “Let there be taken some of the light and some of the darkness.” And I said, “Become thickened, and be wrapped around with light!” And I spread it out, and it became water. (the formation of galaxies) And I spread it out above the darkness, below the light. And thus I made the solid waters, that is to say, the Bottomless.

the solid waters are the surface of the physical creation this may also be the Firmament

and I made foundation of light around the water, and created seven great circles inside it, and I gave them an appearance of crystal wet and dry, that is to say like glass and ice, and to be the circuit for waters and the other elements, and I showed each one of them its road, and the seven stars each one of them in its own heaven, so that they might travel accordingly.

the seven spheres contain the mobile celestial bodies

And I saw how good it was. And I made a division between the light and between the darkness, that is to say, in the middle of the waters, this way and that way. And I said to the light that it should be day, and to the darkness I commanded that it should be night. And Evening came, and again morning came, that is the first day.


— 2 Enoch 25-27


Nothing


Adoil -> the great light -> Upper Foundation


waters the Bottomless


Ar(u)khas -> darkness -> Lower Foundation


Nothing