The title Testament is sometimes applied to an ancient patriarch, prophet, or apostle. This epithet is frequently interchangeable with that of Ascension or Assumption. All three titles are valid for the basic scenario—the ascension to heaven or cosmic tour of the hero, with his return to earth to reveal the mysteries in an apocalyptic [last days] prophetic sermon which concludes with a farewell testament. The hero bids farewell to the earth more than once—Enoch being the classic example. Why must he go to heaven twice? To anticipate; in the Abraham literature it is quite clear that his first ascension, departing from a sacrificial altar in the place of "horror of great darkness" [described in Genesis 15] and mounting up amid smoke and flames to heaven, was his own sacrificial death, making his return to earth a type and shadow of the resurrection.
Countless reports have been preserved of individuals declared clinically dead, who tell of being conducted elsewhere by spirit guides before being allowed to return to earth. Whether or not the many instances of such collected by Dr. Raymond Moody are scientifically demonstrable events, the fact is that many human beings have reported them as actual experiences, and there is no reason why this should not have been so anciently. In the earliest Christian account of Lazarus's return from the dead, the Gospel of the XII Apostles (374:136-44), the event is accepted as absolute proof of the resurrection, as also in a wealth of legends about later saints. The place of the theme in the mysteries has been made clear by Widengren, and who does not know the tale of Er the Armenian from the last book of Plato's Republic?
Recent studies of the sacrifice of Isaac dwell on the paradoxical
nature of the event. The hero dies, but he does not die. He is saved at the last moment by the providential appearance of a substitute; yet because it is the last moment and he has allowed himself to be bound (the akedah), he receives full credit for having offered his life, even as does Abraham on the occasion for showing his willingness to sacrifice his son: "... for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou has not withheld ... thine only son from me." (Gen. 22:12) In the Book of Abraham it is Abraham himself who is rescued from the altar at the last moment, and a substitute—the priest himself—is slain in his place; the ancient tradition has it that Abraham willingly suffered himself to be placed on the altar to atone for his own sins. Then there is Sarah, who makes the same supreme sacrifice by her intention to remain true to her husband to the end, risking her life by mortally offending Pharaoh on his other lioncouch, only to be delivered at the last moment by an angel sent in response to her prayers and Abraham's. Some learned authorities among the Jews insisted that Isaac actually was sacrificed, his soul mounting up in the flames after the knife had done its work only to return as an earnest of resurrection. Even without that turn of events, the atoning sacrifice of the Ram in a sense restores him to life.[1]
Nibley elsewhere notes that in a number of early ascension stories when the hero, in this case Abraham, goes up and beholds the vastness of the heavens, he becomes dizzy. He has nothing under his feet; he thinks he is going to faint. He starts raving, etc. It's too much for him to behold. And we have several very early Christian stories where the Apostles ask to be shown Satan and his powers and the great gulf. The Lord advises them, "Don't ask to see that. It will do things to you." Is the payoff a wasted life?
Faust gets nowhere until he repents and comes back to faith again, lives by faith. The angels say finally, "Don't give up, keep trying, keep striving. Don't let vanity carry you away and you can be saved." Not just on the Rhine, but throughout Europe he was a great myth. He was finally able to master all sorts of things. And the earlier Faust is Marlowe's Faust, the English Faust, a great play. They are both great dramas, as you know. At the end of Marlowe's Faust he says, "See how Christ's blood streams through the universe; one drop of it will save me! Oh, my Christ." He's looking at the Milky Way, and he gets carried off. But earlier he says, "There must be the idea of redemption behind this. It must have to do with the gospel plan somehow or other." Meanwhile, they go into all the various corners of ancient mythology to taste all the forbidden delights, etc., to learn the evils of this world. And they find that they are really not much as a payoff. It's a wasted life.[2]
Nibley further teaches that Aristotle‘s doctrine proclaims that in order to understand anything, you must understand the category to which it belongs, what it is like and what it is not like. And that's why God is incomprehensible. Everything else has genus and species. If you understand this earth, you must understand it in terms of other planets. If it is unique like God, you are not going to get anywhere with it. The first thing to understand about this earth is that it's not the first world and not the last. So he says to Moses, Now I want you learn about this earth, but first of all remember it's like many others, "like unto the other worlds that we have hitherto created." An endless line of them. It belongs to a category, it belongs to a species, it belongs to a family, it belongs to other things, and you are in a much larger picture. Why is that so important? As in the case of God, it's the only way we can avoid the absolute, and absolute is absolutely crippling and meaningless. When you say absolute, you have taken care of everything. When you say, "How can such a thing happen?" All you have to say is, "God can do anything," and you've got your answer, which is no answer. The absolute God doesn't answer anything or get anywhere; neither will an absolute earth. And especially the problem with evil.
There is a great literature of ascension where the hero ascends to heaven, sees the throne of God, comes back and reports, and leaves a record of it. The ascension literature is a very important part of apocalyptic, and it is very large. You have, for example, the Ascension of Elijah, the Ascension of Paul (all recently discovered among the Jews). You have the Ascension of Rabbi Ishmael who took the place of Enoch. You have the Ascension of Enoch who was taken to heaven. You have the Ascension of Abraham, the Testament of Abraham, the Apocalypse of Abraham, especially the Apocalypse of Abraham. In fact, there's hardly a prophet or an apostle of which we don't now have an ancient record of an ascension, when he went to heaven.
When he goes to heaven in the case of Enoch, for example, which is the most important (that's the classic one), the hero asks his guide (he always has a guide, the Angel Michael or someone else). He goes there and he sees a venerable man sitting on a throne between two gates. Sometimes the venerable man is described as Adam, sometimes as Abel, sometimes Elijah. The judge is weeping and then he laughs. Then he weeps and then he laughs. This is found in some ancient ascension stories. Why does he weep; why does he laugh? Well, he laughs because of the spirits he is able to send (as the judge, he tests them) on to heaven through this door. It's a very ancient theme.[3]
The ascension theme in the Book of Mormon is also quite conspicuous, as it is in the Book of Moses. Now here we have a surprising phenomenon. You notice in Moses 2:1 and 3 what it is. Moses is in the presence of God and he is being given his assignment. And we read in the first verse, however, that he had been caught up. So this is an ascension. There is a great branch of ancient literature that is called the ascension literature that has emerged recently. And we have lots of ascensions here. Some of the most interesting ascensions are in the Book of Mormon. Of course, 1 Ne. 1:11 and following. There is a very important ascension there, where he tells us. What is it? Is it heaven or earth or what? It is an exceeding high mountain and all the rest. It's right in the first chapter, right at the beginning of Nephi, because in the beginning we have a Prologue in Heaven. Well let's look at 2 Ne. 4:25. That's another ascension. He says the same thing there.
"And upon the wings of his spirit hath my body been carried away upon exceeding high mountains. And mine eyes have beheld great things, even too great for man; therefore I was bidden that I should not write them." It's 11:1, because the first chapter does have a real Prologue in Heaven, but if you look at the eleventh chapter of 1 Nephi in the first verse. "For it came to pass after I had desired to know these things that my father had seen [he had been carried away, too], and believing that the Lord was able to make them known to me, as I sat pondering in my heart I was caught away [using the same expression here used for Moses] in the Spirit of the Lord, yea, into an exceeding high mountain [well, did he imagine he saw it? Or did the spirit actually carry him? Notice in 2 Nephi, he said his body was carried up which I had never before seen, and upon which I never had before set my foot. And the Spirit said unto me: Behold, what desirest thou?" (verse 2 ). So here is another ascension. It's not a transformation; it's an ascension.[4]
In other fragments, we read other ideas, all interrelated with ascensions. With the Fall, according to a Hebrew Enoch fragment, Adam tried his best to behold again the glory of the Shekhina, but had to settle in his fallen state for "the circle of the Sun which all behold in glory as the sign of the Shekhina with 6000 prophets circling around it." In the various "Ascension" texts we are taken again and again through the various levels of concentric rings, "the order (taxis) of holy angels in their ring-dances (Chorostasian, lit. standing properly in a ring)." Isaiah is instructed in his Ascension not to worship at any of the six central thrones at any of the chorostaias or singing praisecircles, circles he must pass on the way up, since all the others are simply focusing their praise on "him who sitteth in the Seventh Heaven." Such a mounting up is described by Philo:
The soul . . . is borne ever higher to the Ether and the circuit of heaven, and is carried around with the dances of the planets and fixed stars in accordance with the laws of perfect music, reaching out after . . . the patterns of the originals of things of the senses which it saw here (on earth, while) longing to see the Great King himself.
Philo is attempting to combine Jewish lore with the mysteries of Egypt. Pulver notes that the eight-circle is commoner than the twelve and "occurs also in early Christianity whenever it discloses an Egyptian influence." Certainly what is purportedly the first and oldest shrine in Egypt, the Abaton, tomb of Osiris and first place of settlement with its great ring of 365 altars and its three levels, etc., suggests the circle of 365 aeons that marks the place of the Adam of light with its three sides or directions, and even more does the arrangement of the ideal temple in the newly published Temple Scroll from the Qumran Cave I.
Plutarch explains certain mysteries on the authority of the Egyptians on a combination of earthly and heavenly geography which is typically Egyptian: "The worlds are so ordered that one always touches the other in a circle, moving as it were in a stately ring-dance," which takes place surprisingly within a triangle, "the foundation and common altar of all these worlds, which is called the Plain of Truth, in which lie the designs, moulds, ideas, and permanent examples or samples of all things that ever were or shall be." Some have suggested that the three-cornered plain in question is the Nile Delta, and it is not surprising that Plutarch's image of things was Christianized by an Egyptian, Clement of Alexandria: "That which Christ brings forth (is) transformed into an Ogdoad . . . and through three names is liberated as a formed into an Ogdoad . . . and through three names is liberated as a triad . . . . When you bear the image of the terrestrial world then you also bear the image of the celestial."[5]
Blake Ostler has described the ascension literature thus: There are essentially three distinct types of ascension motifs. The first type is the ecstatic ascension through the heavens such as that experienced by the Apostle Paul, the second type is the ritual ascension which involved kings at the New Year rites; the third is the initial calling of the prophet preceded by a theophany, such as a vision of God on his throne. At times the other two types of ascension motifs overlap the prophetic call. For instance, Isaiah's call may represent both Isaiah's personal experience of a vision of God and a ritual enactment of the coronation of Yahweh. There are also two distinct types of prophetic commission patterns. The narrative type of call, such as that of Moses, Gideon, or Jeremiah, involves a "dialogue" with Yahweh in which the prophet voices his reluctance to be called as a prophet but is finally reassured by divine injunction. The other type is classically represented by the calls of Isaiah and Ezekiel, where the seer experiences a theophany before his commission as a prophet."[6] He further describes some of the functions of ascension literature, In the genre apocalypse, the prophetic commission pattern is fleshed out with other elements that became essential to the ascension experience: the visionary petitions Deity on behalf of his people; is overcome by the spirit of revelation; is caught up into heaven; is shown a vision of the throne-chariot; is given a commission to warn others of the impending judgment; and finally is given a tour of the world's history and the heavens. For example, in 1 Enoch (the sections quoted here are the earliest in the Enoch literature, dated to the late third century B.C. by Scholem).
Enoch petitions the Lord for his people (14:7) and is lifted up into the heavens by the winds (14:8); he is then overcome with trembling and falls on his face (14:14); he then sees a lofty throne whereon God is seated (14:18-22) and receives a commission to preach to the Watchers (14:24-16:3) before he receives revelation in the form of vision and audition concerning the heavens, Sheol, and history of the earth (chaps. 17-36).
Similarly, in the Testament of Levi (about 180 B.C.), Levi, grieving over the wickedness of the sons of men, prays to God on their behalf (2:4), is overcome with the Spirit and falls to sleep (2:5), and then ascends into the heavens with the angelus interpres (2:7). As he ascends through the heavens, their contents are revealed to him by the angel (2:8-3:10). In the highest heaven, Levi beholds God on his throne of glory (5:1) and is then given the priesthood and commissioned to teach his sons of the vision (5:2; compare 8:2-9; 14:7-8; 16:1; chaps. 17-18) and the contents of the heavenly tablets (5:4).
Likewise, in the Slavonic Enoch (after 70 A.D.), Enoch sleeps on his bed while he weeps (1:3) and is then visited by two majestic angels who take him into heaven on the wings of the Spirit (1:4-8; 3:1) where Enoch is endowed and sees all the contents of the heavens and the history of the earth (3:2-19:6). Enoch then beholds the throne of God and glory of his presence (chaps. 20-22). Enoch is commissioned to write the history of the earth and secrets of the heavens on the heavenly books (22:11). Finally, Enoch is commissioned to instruct his sons (36:1).
In the Apocalypse of Abraham (a Hebrew work dating after 70 A.D.), Abraham encounters the mighty angel Iaoel, who appears in brilliant glory. When Abraham hears Iaoel's voice, he falls to the ground as one dead. Iaoel strengthens Abraham and lifts him to his feet (10:1-5). As Abraham offers a sacrifice and ritual prayers, Iaoel appears, casts Satan out, and Abraham and Iaoel ascend into the heavens on the wings of the sacrificial dove (13:1-14). As they ascend, Iaoel explains the vision of Abraham (15:2-17:4). In the highest heaven Abraham sees the throne-chariot and the glory of God (18:1-14), the secrets of the universe (19:1-20:7), the heavenly council and chosen spirits before their birth (21:1-22:5), the history of the world beginning with Adam and Eve in the garden (23:1-14), a vision of judgment and salvation (24:1-31:8) and the mission of Christ (29:3-9). Abraham is then commissioned to preach the contents of his vision to his posterity (32:1-6).
Finally, in the Ascension of Isaiah (about 150 A.D.), Isaiah is overcome by the Holy Spirit as he lies upon a couch and becomes as one dead (6:10); he is then "taken up" in a vision of the heavens (6:14) by "a glorious angel" (7:2-3). Isaiah beholds a throne with angels on the right and on the left (7:14-15; compare 11:32-33). He is then lifted through the seven heavens by the angel who interprets their contents to him (7:17-8:28). Isaiah's angel-guide gives him a book wherein is written "the deeds of the children of Israel" (9:22). In the highest heaven, Isaiah beholds Christ, who descends through the seven heavens to the earth where he is born of the virgin Mary, put to death, descends to the realm of Sheol, and sends out his Twelve Apostles before ascending again through the heavens to be seated on the right hand of God while the Holy Spirit is seated on the left (9:7-11:33). Isaiah is then commanded to return to his garment of flesh (11:35) where he tells all present of his vision (11:36-37).[7]
Edward T. Jones has noted, The technical term for the experience of visiting heaven is ascension. As Mircea Eliade has indicated, it is "one of the oldest religious means of personally communicating with the Gods." The most obvious and well-known example is that of Jesus ascending to heaven following his death and resurrection. This is a special case, however, and lies outside the realm of this paper. A better example would be his descent into hell to visit and release those souls who resided there. Technically this is known as a descensus rather than an ascension, but basically the only distinction is the direction traveled and the condition of those visited or seen (heaven contains God and other divine beings and perhaps the righteous dead, whereas hell contains devils and other evil beings, as well as the souls of the wicked).
Another example well known in the Western world is that of Paul, who intimated that he had visited the third heaven and paradise and seen there things which were not possible to be communicated to men (2 Cor. 12:1-4). This experience was further developed by later Christian writers who used his name and will be discussed below. Other better-known examples would be those of Enoch and Elijah, who were translated into heaven without experiencing death. The experiences of all these men are duplicated throughout the world, sometimes with great similarities, other times with lesser areas of agreement.
Jean Danielou defines ascension as:
the raising up of a person above the heavens ... and is susceptible of various interpretations, the most ancient being that which was used to describe the elevation of a visionary ... so that he is able to contemplate the heavenly world normally hidden from his eyes.
An old Hebrew midrash states that God gives man a preliminary disclosure of the secrets of the other world in order to allow the righteous to die in peace.
The ascension motif can be divided into three rather distinct groupings. The first is that of the initial calling of the individual to a new consecrated level of behavior, i.e., the prophet or shaman. The second is that of the "out of the body experience" which is so much written about today. This latter has occurred often and is of the type of Paul's experience. The third type is the ritual ascension which kings often underwent at New Year rituals, but which also often involved other individuals. The ritual ascension is obviously not a real ascension into heaven, but may be based upon some such real experience by an ancestor or other cultural hero.
The two types of ascension, the "real" or "spiritual" ("Whether in the body or out of the body I cannot tell" were the words Paul used), and the ritual would appear to be intimately related. There are many areas in which they overlap and deal with the same points.
The King James Version of "Amos 3:7 reads: "Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets." The word translated "secret" is Hebrew: sodh, which also means, and in many places of the Hebrew Bible is so translated, council. It refers to a council which works with God in the heavens. Consequently, another translation of this passage would be that God "revealeth his counsel unto the Prophets." In the book of Jeremiah (23:18, 21-22) there is a specific example of this:
For who hath stood in the counsel of the Lord, and hath perceived and heard his word? who hath marked his word, and heard it? ... I have not sent these [false] prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. But if they had stood in my counsel, and had caused my people to hear my words, then they should have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings.
The true prophet is here identified as the one who has stood in that heavenly council (sodh) and heard the words of God, which the prophet was then sent to declare to the people. The false prophets had not stood in that council.
Micah, however, had stood in that council and was a true prophet. He stated:
I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left. And the Lord said, Who shall persuade Ahab? .... one said on this manner, and another said on that manner. And there came forth a spirit, and stood before the Lord, and said, I will persuade him." (1 Kgs. 22:19-21)
H. Wheeler Robinson, in his study on "The Council of Yahweh," wrote that "the council of Yahweh was felt to be just as much a reality as Yahweh himself," and that the experience related about Micah in "1 Kgs. 22:1 "is offered quite seriously as a description of something which has actually taken place in heaven."
More recently Patrick Miller has written that the
conception of a divine assembly around the throne of Yahweh formed a basic element in the Israelite understanding of prophecy. The prophet was one who stood in the council of Yahweh. His task was the proclamation of the will and message of Yahweh as declared in the heavenly assembly.
Miller continued to say that "Jeremiah is very explicit about the fact that the true prophet has stood in the council of Yahweh." Ezekiel and Isaiah also received their callings by ascending into heaven and standing in the presence of that assembly.
In the Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs, there is an account of Levi being set apart as the head of the priestly clan. It is there recorded that Michael the archangel came and took Levi into heaven and presented him before the Lord. The Lord stretched forth his hand and blessed Levi that he and his sons after him would be holy to the Lord and would serve Him in the priestly office.
Another example is that of the calling of Lehi in the Book of Mormon. As recorded by his son Nephi, Lehi had a vision in which he saw the heavens opened and the throne of God, with God sitting upon it. A man was seen descending, who came to Lehi with a book which he bade him read. Lehi was then sent out as a prophet to cry repentance to the people of Jerusalem.
As mentioned above, God often gave the righteous a foretaste of heaven by bringing them up for a look before they died. Virtually all the major personalities of the Hebrew Bible had such experiences, whether they were prophets or not: Adam, Seth, Enoch, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Levi, Moses, Elijah, Micah, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, and Baruch, his scribe.[8]
Endnotes
1. Hugh Nibley, Abraham in Egypt [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1981], 26.
2. Hugh Nibley, Ancient Documents and the Pearl of Great Price, edited by Robert Smith and Robert Smythe [n.p., n.d.], 7.)
3. Hugh Nibley, Ibid., 2.)
4. Hugh Nibley, Ibid., 1)
5. The Early Christian Prayer Circle by Hugh Nibley, BYU Studies, vol. 19 (1978-1979), Number 1 - Fall 1978 61.)
6. The Throne-Theophany and Prophetic Commission in 1 Nephi: a Form-Critical Analysis by Blake Thomas Ostler, BYU Studies, vol. 26 (1986), Number 4 - Fall 1986: 68.
7. Ostler, Ibid., p. 71.
8. Edward T. Jones, “A Comparative Study of Ascension Motifs in World Religions,” in Spencer J. Palmer, ed., Deity and Death [Provo: BYU Religious Studies Center, 1978], 82.)
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Posted by: john | March 30, 2007 at 02:38 AM
I read an article on NDE (near death experience)and OBE (out of body experience)that relate to the visions that the Prophets have seen.
It had to do with comparing the stories of NDE's how often they would be surround by darkness.. then white light.. then the feeling of grand love... then a messenger.. a forgiveness of sins.. and a return to the body.. and a change in their life where most told either no one.. or only those real close to them..
If you look closely at these stories.. then read Joseph Smith's first vision.. there are many many similarities.
So NDE's and OBE's are one of the ways that God and his messengers can communicate with us.. on many different levels.
Posted by: MrNirom | December 19, 2008 at 01:17 AM