As reported by New York on February 12, 2024, Avi Loeb, the alien hunter and fellow Ancient Astronaut Theorist from Harvard, had something astonishing to say the other night.
At a gathering of World Minds in New York, hosted by Bill Ackman, and in the backdrop of the Israel-Hamas war, Loeb took an opportunity to riff on a comment from the director of the Museum of Modern Art, who said we should love the aliens. In a call for dialogue among different tribes (unspecified if she meant earthly or heavenly), Paola Antonelli, a curator at MoMA, offered a thought. “Love the aliens!” she said.
Loeb took the idea and suggested looking for hope from above. “My personal belief is that the Messiah will arrive, not necessarily from Brooklyn, as some Orthodox Jews believe, but rather from outer space,” Loeb told the group. The extraterrestrial Messiah’s message, he said, would be to stop fighting over territory here “because there is much more real estate available throughout the universe.”
I don’t know if Prof. Loeb has read the Jewish legends and prophecies about the appearance of the Messiah, but I haven’t seen much there in these texts about migrating into space and taking over cosmic real estate (they are more about connecting us with the already established and populated cosmic realms). Perhaps he has been receiving a new revelation?
Moreover, Loeb does not predict how the Alien Messiah will get here. However, as an expert on the Messiah’s Merkaba Throne, his interstellar, inter-dimensional transportation device, which I revealed in detail in my 2012 book, The Judgment Day Device: A Quest for the Lost Secrets of the Throne of the Second Coming, the Ark of the Mahdi, and the Messiah’s End Time Kit, I have maintained that the Messiah is a Starwalker: a stargate-traveling, time-traveler. His message is about transforming the human race preparatory to our migration into space. This will include a revelation of a free energy device that, ultimately, can be used to open holes in space enabling travel to and from other worlds.
According to Jewish, Christian and Muslim prophecy, detailed in my book, the transformation of humanity focuses on the recovery of this figure’s Throne, which is the complete Ark of the Covenant, a device for opening portals, including the portal through which the Messiah manifests. This device unites these three religions. Its appearance brings peace on earth.
The first chapter of The Judgment Day Device is offered below. I included too many images in the book to post here, but you can get a free copy of the complete book here and watch my video about it here. You won’t fully understand the Event that is about to occur on earth without this knowledge.
I hope you enjoy the first chapter…
IT IS JUDGMENT DAY. THE END TIMES.
While Christians seek signs for Jesus’ second coming, the Jews await the Messiah and Muslims await the 12th Imam (the Mahdi), a powerful ‘device’ with an unearthly power is awaiting discovery by one of them. That device is the ‘lost’ Ark of the Covenant. Typically thought of as the golden rectangular box made my Moses to contain the Tablets of the Law and other items, most do not realize it will be the sign (‘symbol, seal’) of the Christ, the Messiah and the Mahdi when this figure arrives.
Well, the Ark is part of the complete device anyway.
What most Christians, Jews and Muslims also do not realize is that the popular conception of the Ark of the Covenant as a simple golden box is incomplete. The Ark is actually one component of a larger, supernaturally powerful Judgment Day ‘device’. The individuals who operated the Ark/ Judgment Day Device, including Moses, Jesus, and possibly Mohammed, were highly trained initiates who had achieved advanced spiritual consciousness well beyond the average human. This book is a search for the Ark’s missing pieces and its complete hidden function.
A device is a tool, appliance, instrument and a machine, but also a technique, a plan and/or a symbol. As I will show, the Judgment Day Device (JDD) is a symbol for a ‘lost’ or ‘secret’ teaching about human apotheosis or deification. Revelation of its secrets is accompanied by an explanation of heavenly powers, cosmic beings and mysteries, and the secret knowledge of the transformation of the believer into a more glorious ‘light’ body. The phenomena associated with this Device makes clear that it is some form of otherworldly ascension tool. It has the capability of making a human holy on contact and transmuting flesh into light. With it, one can ascend and travel the stars.
This is why it is the most coveted device of human history.
Evidence we will explore reveals the JDD was originally brought to earth by Seraphim, the servant angels at God’s Throne. On earth, it is guarded by a tribe of ancient, righteous, mystic and holy beings, called Rainmakers, who periodically assemble and disassemble the JDD. Today, the Rainmaker works in preparation for the appearance of the Christ- Messiah-Mahdi, who deploys it at the End of Time or Judgment Day to bring world peace.
Over the past 3,500 years extraordinary efforts have been made to acquire, conceal, steal and destroy the secrets of the Judgment Day Device. The fact that it has remained lost despite centuries of seeking may be an indication that it will be never be found, has secretly been found or that it was waiting to be discovered in a time like our own, when a great many signs regarding the end times have been fulfilled. It could also mean that it is under the protection of its righteous protectors and will not be discovered until the “guided” one appears.
THE SACRED ARKS
The unveiling and demonstration of this Judgment Day Device and the appearance of the Christ-Messiah-Mahdi is the Event to which all world history is pointing.
It is the last act of the old world and the first of the new.
To prepare to apprehend the complete Ark of the Covenant — the Judgment Day Device — we must know that it is thought of on two levels. Menahem Haran affirms this in his book, Temples and Temple-service in Ancient Israel, noting there are two trends of scholarly thought concerning Ark of the Covenant among specialists in ancient Israelite symbolism. One assumes the commonly held conception that the Ark was a box or chest (that many believe is either lost or presently is located in Axum, Ethiopia*). The other trend is controversial, but is being held by a growing number of specialists. It says the Ark is the Throne of God. There is a huge difference between the two devices. However, there is evidence it is both.
The traditional school of thought says the Ark of the Covenant is, essentially, a tool box or chest. It contained:
the Tablets of the Law,
the Rod of Aaron, and
an omer (measure) of manna.
Described in the Book of Exodus (Exodus 25:10-22), it was made manifest in c. 1450 B.C. by Moses at the base of Mount Sinai according to a precise pattern given by God (Exodus 40). Composed of “incorruptible” setim wood (light, hard, durable) by the highly gifted artisan, Bezalel, the Ark is overlaid with pure gold. It is referred to over 200 times under 22 different names in the books of the Old Testament. The Ark of the Covenant, the Ark of the Testimony (Witness) and Ark of the Covenant of the Lord (Numbers 10:33) are the most common terms for this container.
Two cherubim atop the Ark’s golden Mercy Seat formed an arch in between which the Israelite god, Yahweh, would appear.
The Israelites carried the Ark on poles during their forty years of wandering in the wilderness. When the Jews traveled they were led by the Ark and a pillar of cloud by day (Numbers 10:34) and at night by and a pillar of fire (Exodus 24:17). During this trek the Ark functioned as an all-purpose device:
It was a visible sign and symbol of God’s presence and protection. (Ex. 25:22; 30:36; Aaron: Lv. 16:2; Joshua: Jos. 7:6).
Joshua used it to part the waters of the Jordan River. (Joshua 3:3, 6)
To cause the Sun to stand still (Joshua 10:12-13).
In addition, the Ark served as a palladium, a military device, and symbol of Yahweh’s prevailing, although invisible, presence in the capture of Jericho. (Joshua 6-7).
I am a champion of the alternative and esoteric view that the Ark is the Throne of God (I Samuel 4:4; II Samuel 6:2; Jeremiah 3:16). In Israelite thought, YHWH, pronounced Jehovah or Yahweh, the Old Testament God is imagined on an immense, elevated throne located in the Holy of Holies of the Temple of Solomon (1 Kings 6:23-28; Isaiah 6:1-8), with his feet propped on the Ark of the Covenant, which serves as his “footstool” (Psalms 99:5, 132:7, 1 Chronicles 28:2). This is his Throne.
The “footstool” = the Ark of the Covenant = Throne equation is the key to unlocking the hidden secrets of the true Ark and the Judgment Day Device.
Yahweh normally dwelled in the celestial Sion, the heavenly Jerusalem and city of the living God (Hebrews 12:22). When Yahweh manifested on Earth he first did so in the specially constructed Tabernacle and then a Temple, both of which were built in accordance with a heavenly plan as the “house” or “footstool” of God (suggesting that when the Ark was installed the whole temple becomes the footstool). Both the Tabernacle, the temporary house- temple that housed the Ark during the Israelite’s wonderings, the Temple of Solomon and the Ark of the Covenant are copies of heavenly originals. They appear to be interconnected. ‘On earth as it is in heaven’ can describe the relationship between the three and their source.
The Lord spoke to Moses inside the Tabernacle from the Ark of the Covenant. A cloud, the glory of the Lord, filled the place. He used to sit on the kaporet (“atonement piece”) or Mercy Seat (Exodus 25:17), a component made of pure gold which rested upon the Ark. Two golden cherubim were placed on either end of the Mercy Seat. They faced one another, their massive (15 ft.) outstretched wings forming an enclosure. Yahweh’s presence would manifest on a throne between the two cherubim (or Seraphim) and speak from the cloud over the oracle (Leviticus 16:2). He was believed literally to be present. When the Lord left he exited the same way he came.
This cloud was the holiest part of the Ark and makes it apparent that the Ark’s main purpose is to open a ‘channel’ or ‘portal’ for Yahweh.
When Solomon’s Temple was constructed as the Ark’s permanent home a veil was hung before the Ark that separated the ‘holy place from the most holy place’ (Exodus 26:31-33) or Holy of Holies (which we will explore in detail later). Following the ‘on earth as in heaven’ (As above. So below) adage, the Holy of Holies is ‘heaven on earth’. In this sacred space the Lord was literally present.
According to biblical directives, the Holy of Holies and the Ark could only be accessed on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. When the High Priest approached the Ark he did so under the cover of a cloud of incense intended to link him with the Shekinah presence of God (Leviticus 16:13) which rested upon the Ark. The word Shekinah (Divine Presence, Divine Glory) is used to describe this oracle. It is symbolized by a burst of light, a rainbow (arch) or a pillar of light.
From this burst of divine light a humanoid figure would manifest. This is why early Israelite depictions show Yahweh as a human-like figure riding upon a winged throne. It was the vehicle upon which the god descended and ascended.
The most influential text that documents Yahweh as an ‘Ark rider’ is Ezekiel, which describes the being on the Throne as “something that seemed like human form” (Ezekiel 1:26). The prophet goes on to describe this human- like figure in detail, especially focusing on its luminosity. It was covered in fire.
“And above the firmament over their heads there was the likeness of a throne, in appearance like sapphire; and seated above the likeness of a throne was a likeness as it were of a human form.” Ezekiel 1:26
Isaiah also saw a human form on the throne. “In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and his train filled the temple.” Above him stood the seraphim (Isaiah 6:1-2).
1 Kings 22:19 And Micaiah said, “Therefore hear the word of the LORD: I saw the Lord sitting on his throne.”
1 Samuel 4:4 4 “So the people sent to Shiloh, and brought from there the
Ark of the Covenant of the Lord of hosts, who is enthroned on the cherubim; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phineas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God.”
A sensational text featuring the theme of Yahweh as a human-type figure on the throne is the mystical drama known as Exagoge. Written by Ezekiel the Tragedian, this text is only known by fragments of the original recorded by the Christian historian Eusebius. The original play is thought to have been written in the second century BC and is, thus, the oldest piece of Jewish drama available. It is exemplary of the Jewish mysticism widely circulating at the time.
During a vision on Mount Sinai, Moses sees a noble being sitting on a throne wearing a crown and holding a scepter. He beacons Moses to him and hands him the scepter. He tells him to sit on the throne and gives him the crown. Moses assembles this ‘kit’. The noble man disappears. Suddenly, Moses sees the whole earth around and stars beneath his feet. He is in the stars and is treated to a cosmic tour! Moses has beamed from Sinai to the stars via the Ark-throne.
Another text describing an ascent via the throne and the acquisition of illumination is found in the 3rd-4th century Gnostic book, Odes of Solomon, which begins: ‘I went up into the light of truth as if not a chariot (throne); and the truth took me and led me (Ode 38).
It may seem strange to think of the Ark of the Covenant as a throne and an ascension, portal or ‘stargate device’,* but if 21st century terminology is applied, that is exactly what the descriptions of the Ark in use suggests.
Later, we will examine evidence that the Holy of Holies of Solomon’s Temple was more than just an intersection between earth and heaven — God’s ‘footstool’ — it was Yahweh’s actual two-way throne/gateway/ pathway to heaven. Gods and angels descended from heaven and revealed themselves in this sacred space. It was also a place of ascension. Mortals entered this sacred space as humans, stood on the footstool, and ascended to a place of illumination via the throne and were transformed into angels.
THE ANGELS AND THE ARK/THRONE ASCENSION DEVICE
Once we make the connection that the Ark/Throne/Footstool of Yahweh opens, or is, a cosmic conduit, portal, or ‘star gate’, and this is a mode of transport — and housing — for a very humanoid, but ethereal, god (who is not the Incomprehensible Divine Creator of All That Is, but a lesser god), and for transformed humans, we can see that concept is thinly veiled in Judeo-Christian tradition. As we will see, this Ark/Throne/Footstool is one component of the JDD and is hidden in plain sight in Christian art.
The biblical book of Chronicles plainly states that the two cherubim in the holy of holies of Solomon’s Temple formed ‘the golden chariot of the cherubim that spread their wings and covered the ark of the covenant of the Lord‘ (1 Chronicles 28.18). This golden Ark-chariot throne is the same on which Isaiah and Ezekiel, Daniel and John had seen the Lord in glory or ‘glowing rays’ (1 Kings 6.23-28).
Who or what are the cherubim? Though mentioned 90 times in the Old Testament and once in the New, the exact meaning of the word cherubim is unknown. Philo said they should be called “full knowledge and much science” and represented “knowledge poured out in abundance.” These celestial winged beings originally appeared as the guardians of the gates of Eden.
Next, the cherubim appear as the two winged golden beings facing each other on the Mercy Seat of the Ark of the Covenant.
The static cherubim take flight in II Samuel 22, parallel to Psalms 18, dramatically transporting God on the wings of the wind.
He rode upon a cherub and flew And He glided upon the wings of the wind. He made darkness His hiding place, His canopy around Him, Darkness of waters, thick clouds of the skies.
The glorious flying cherub throne, otherwise known as the Ark of the Covenant, in the Holy of Holies was central to the cult of the original temple. Later Jewish mystics living in Alexandria, Egypt (c. 100 B.C. – 1,000 AD) contemplated the throne and speculated about the nature and significance of the throne and its angels. This is known as throne chariot mysticism or Merkavah mysticism.
Mer-kavah (also Merkaba) means ‘Throne-Chariot’ and refers to the chariot of Ezekiel’s vision. Khav or Khab is the cab (car) of God. The goal of the Merkavah mystic was to enter the throne world, after passing through seven heavenly mansions (hekhalot). The highly esoteric literature of these mystics describes the journey to the otherworldly throne of God and his encounter with “the figure in the form of a man” (Ezekiel 1:26).
The Merkavah throne was thought to be the “vehicle” (craft?) “on which God rode in the heavens. (Psalm. 18:10 ) God’s messengers also were thought of as riding in chariots (Palm 6). “Enthroned on the cherubim” was a title for the Lord (Psalm 99:1). Hezekiah prayed, “O Lord of Hosts, God of Israel, who art enthroned on the cherubim…” (Isaiah 37:16). The psalmist called on the One on the cherubim to shine forth” (Psalm 80:2).
In his awesome vision of the Lord’s cab as a flying craft with ‘wheels within wheels’ Ezekiel described the chariot throne as alive, a living (organic) creature (Ezekiel 10:15) or living being. The wheels were whirling and sparkling yellow.
This enigmatic sky vehicle has been (mis)interpreted as a UFO or hardware spaceship. It is clearly described as some kind of living/organic being. The wording of Ezekiel’s description of the living beings within the wheels is enigmatic to scholars. One perspective is: “And their whole body, and their backs, and their hands, and their wings, and the wheels, were full of eyes (Ezekiel 10:12).
Another perspective says the meaning of the word eyes is points of light. This view leaves us with living beings of light on a throne that is filled with light. A human figure sat on that throne of light. He too was fiery or filled with light. “All around him was a glowing halo, like a rainbow shining in the clouds on a rainy day. This is what the glory of the LORD looked like to me. When I saw it, I fell face down on the ground, and I heard someone’s voice speaking to me” (Ezekiel 1:28). This rainbow being offered Ezekiel an open scroll to eat and then told him to address people who would not listen (Ezekiel 2.1-3.11). After eating the (sc)roll, Ezekiel was lifted up by the glory of the Lord (upon his Ark-Throne) amidst a rumbling sound as it rose and was taken to his people (Ezekiel 3:12-15). It appears Ezekiel is describing the Lord as having a living Rainbow Body exactly like the Mighty Angel who gave John the sealed scroll or roll. Further, those who encountered this rainbow light and ate the scroll were transformed by it, suggesting that “eating” the scroll meant integrating or becoming one with the Lord.
Origin, the great early Christian scholar, says Jesus also saw what Ezekiel saw: light beings on a living, whirling throne. We can only wonder if Jesus saw this at his baptism when “the heavens opened and the Holy Spirit descended” (Matthew 3:16) or at the crucifixion, when the heavens opened again (Matthew 27:51). In Christian belief, the splitting of the veil at the crucifixion signified that Christ, by his death, opened a way to God. He opened that which was once closed, completing his work for his redeemed people. Christians have an open door or gate way through Christ to the Throne of Glory.
This illumination from a sixth century Syrian manuscript, the Rabbula Gospels, shows the Ascension of Jesus upon a chariot like Ezekiel saw. As art historians note,* a great many western Ascension images adapt the pattern seen in the Syrian image. This became the common way of portraying this event.
CHRISTIANITY AND THE ARK THRONE
Traditional Christianity basically ignores the Ark of the Covenant-Throne. The reason why is because, according to the writers of the New Testament, the Ark represents the Old Covenant. God’s Temple in Jerusalem was meant to be a ‘place of prayer for all the nations’ (Isaiah 56:7; Mark 11:17); but God would now achieve this through the new temple, which was Jesus himself and his people. Jesus came to replace the Ark of the Covenant and the Old Law. (Mary also came to be thought of as the new Ark.)
Speaking from Mars Hill in Athens 1,500 or so years after the construction of the Ark the apostle Paul addressed the question of Jesus and the Ark of the Covenant, saying that the God who made heaven and earth does not appear in shrines made by man. Instead, the emphasis of the New Covenant is the personal divine presence of Jesus as Christ or Messiah, Immanuel (which means “God with us”) dwelling within and in the midst of his people whenever and wherever they gather in his name. The New Covenant began with Jesus’ first appearance and will come to fruition with the Second Coming. Christians now await a perfect Temple that will come down from heaven just as promised by the Prophecy of Ezekiel.
In the Epistle to the Hebrews (9:3-15), Paul recounts the description of the Ark, the Mercy Seat and the Holy of Holies where the Ark was housed during Yom Kippur as a prefiguration of the Passion of Christ, which formed the New Covenant.
The New Covenant (spoken of in Jeremiah 31:31-34) is marked not by the Ark, but by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the believer (Ezekiel 36:26-27). Therefore every believer’s body and every gathering of believers comprise the temple. Hence, the Third Temple (with the Ark) is comprised of nearly 2 billion living Christians.
Paul illustrates this concept in his letter to the believers at Corinth:
“Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?” (1 Corinthians 6:19)
This idea is related to the belief that Christ himself, having claimed to be and do what the temple was and did, is the new temple (John 2:19), and that his people, as a part of the “body of Christ” (meaning the church), are part of this temple as well (2 Corinthians 6:16; Ephesians 2:19–22; 1 Peter 2:4–5). The result is that the earthly temple (along with the city of Jerusalem and the Land of Israel) and its contents, including the Ark, is no longer of any spiritual significance.
What most Christians don’t realize, however, is that although the Ark is dispensed with in the common Christian mind, it is actually the indispensable symbol/device of the return of Christ.
In fact, the enthroned Christ is shown is riding on the Ark of the Covenant- throne in Christian art depicting the Second Coming. Simply, the Ark of the Covenant is the Ascension Throne of Christ. Well, part of it anyway.
Forty days after Jesus’ Resurrection, when Christ rose from the dead, comes his Ascension. On this day, the risen Christ, in the sight of his apostles, ascended bodily into Heaven (Luke 24:51; Mark 16:19; Acts 1:9-11). Christ’s bodily Ascension foreshadows our own entrance into Heaven not simply as souls, after our death, but as glorified bodies, after the resurrection of the dead at the Last Judgment.
In Christian Ascension art Christ is shown being lifted into heaven by two angels. He rides upon an Ark-Throne or a Throne symbolized by an arch or bow in a light-filled ‘cloud’ composed of concentric rings that symbolizes a gateway to Sion, linking the concept to the Throne with the gateway.
According to Christian belief, Jesus will return the same way he left (Acts 1:9-11).
The selection of images of Christ on the Merkavah Throne presented in the following pages shows the Ark-throne as the Ascension vehicle of Christ. While these images do not constitute ‘proof’ that Jesus assembled the Ark of the Covenant-Throne, they do go a long way toward indisputably verifying the existence of a tradition that says he did. Retracing this ‘lost’ tradition is a key objective of our quest.
To begin, compare the images of the Ark of the Covenant from 1280, France, with Christ on the Ark of the Covenant/Throne between two Cherubim on the next page. This gorgeous illumination from Gundoin’s Gospel (754) is one of the earliest surviving examples of the cherubim watching over Christ enthroned as/on the Ark of the Covenant-Throne. The chief evidence is the raised wings that covers Christ, the ‘new Ark’. This configuration is a tip-off that we are dealing with Ark-related themes and imagery.
Finally, we can examine the extraordinary throne of St. Mark, the earliest evangelist of Christ. Made in Alexandria, Egypt, the spiritualcenter of gnostic Christianity, sometime between the 4th and 6th centuries, this calcareous alabaster throne came to Venice, Italy in 630.The symbols of the four evangelists, as well as the four living creatures of Ezekiel, are clearly legible on the sides and, on the backrest, there is the lamb beneath a tree from which flow the four rivers of paradise in accordance with a vision of the Apocalypse.
In The Real Messiah, Stephan Huller brilliantly decodes this throne. The iconography strongly suggests the throne is the Hebrew Merkavah or solar chariot and its occupant the tsemach (Gk anatole) or ‘rising sun.’ To me, this is affirmed by the appearance of the seraphim on the sides and back of the throne. It is clearly modeled after the Ark- Throne.
This throne replaces the Holy of Holies of Solomon’s Temple (which we will explore in detail momentarily). In Psalm 45 it is mentioned together with the rod and the oil.
Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: the scepter of thy kingdom is a scepter of righteousness.
Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity: therefore God, thy God, has anointed thee with the oil of gladness beyond thy fellows.
Huller’s analysis is impressive.* The Coptic tradition, he notes, has always maintained an interest in St. Mark’s throne. Mark’s enthronement begins the Christian era in Alexandria. It necessarily is understood to have occurred at the beginning of Mark’s visit to Alexandria, a year after the historical Passion. His enthronement establishes the Alexandrian line of apostolic succession which continues to this day. This line is barely acknowledged in traditional Christianity which prefers Matthew or Peter as the original apostles.
According to a famous statement by Clement of Alexandria in his Letter to Theodore in the late second century Mark is “the “mystagogue,” a mystical initiator, who through his gospel “led the hearers into the innermost sanctuary of that truth hidden by seven veils.”
What Huller believes has escaped most readers of the Letter to Theodore is that the traditional Jewish mysticism understands the divine throne to be the truth hidden by seven veils. The earliest allusion to this concept can be seen in the Qumran fragment 4Q405 15 ii-16 3 but the idea continues to filter through the Merkavah literature and early Islamic texts. The great secret that Clement is revealing to Theodore is that Mark’s true gospel, the one carefully guarded at his Church in Alexandria (ie Boucolia) concludes with the revelation of the divine throne…within. For what are the seven veils but the seven chakras or energy centers of the light body.
Huller provides a commentary on the coronation of the Alexandrian Popes. “Each Pope in their tradition is still understood to sit in a ‘throne of St. Mark and is taken to be a living representative of the Apostle. His coronation is taken to be a mystical event of the highest order transforming the earthly nature of the man sitting on the throne into something wholly sublime.”
The Coptic ordination rite which follows makes absolutely clear that this living representative of Mark is meant to be regarded as an earthly reflection of the heavenly Father. Enlighten him Lord, with the light of Thy countenance, in order that in his
heart may be enlightened from the source of Thy glory, that he may know the hidden mysteries in Truth.
Clement and Origen repeatedly reference the idea that Jesus was only the first of two messianic figures. While Jesus was a meek, priestly anointed one, his purpose was to empty his soul into a candidate who would fulfill the Jewish expectation of a king and judge of the people. This idea manifests itself in the very next line of the ordination ritual where it is declared of the heavenly Father that:
Thou shalt pour forth upon him of Thy authoritative Spirit, thy gnosis which is thine, which he hath received in Thy Holy Church, that it may be renewed in those who please thee in every generation: the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, the Perfect Spirit, the Paraclete, whom thou didst give to Thy holy Apostles and prophets. Give to him, Lord, the rod of thy might which ascendeth in the root of Jesse upon whom rested the seven spirits of God which are reckoned a fruit of truth, a spirit of wisdom and understanding, a spirit of counsel and strength, a spirit of gnosis and piety.
The candidate was understood to be transformed when he sat on the throne of St. Mark. The prayer concludes with the declaration that:
Thou shalt guard his priesthood blameless henceforth, serving thee with a spiritual sacrifice at all times according to the order of the great high priest IC XC through whom glory honour might and adoration is fitting for thee with him and the Holy life giving and consubstantial (homosusios) Spirit with thee now … [ibid p. 118]
As the Coptic Pope sat on the throne of St. Mark he was understood be the living representative of the heavenly Father established WITH Jesus and the Holy Spirit in one body.
This ordination suggests to me that a transmission or transfer of the Holy Spirit occurred via the throne itself. It was, after all made of alabaster, a crystal known to the ancients as a transmitter of vibration. That, or it was the symbols on the throne that initiated the Popes. When they assembled this throne within they made a ‘stand’ for the Holy Spirit.
Symbols of the Merkavah or flying cab throne began to disappear (or be concealed) in later Christian Ascension art. This omission further severed the connection between Jesus and Merkavah/Throne mysticism and the Ark of the Covenant/Throne. In order to discover the true teachings or Way of Christ we must comprehend and then fill-in the Merkavah Throne mysteries.
In the Ascension images from the 12 and 13th centuries presented above the rising Christ is shown face on. The living beings surrounding the Throne are present. However, instead of Ezekiel’s wheeled chariot, now, the rising Jesus rises upon a transparent arch or bow in a cloud that is a‘portal’ or ‘gateway’ composed of concentric rings. This is the cloud by day that is also a pillar of fire that rises from the Ark. The ‘tube’ is filled with stars. It is a tube of light or light tube. The way I read it, Jesus is shown face on in the beam of light or conduit opened by the earthly Ark of the Covenant/Throne and is traveling or ‘beaming’ through it to the heavenly Throne.
By the 14th century most traces of Ark-throne or Merkavah mysticism disappeared from Christian art. For example, Perugino’s Ascension (next page) keeps the cloud/gate of light, but omits Ezekiel’s wheeled chariot or craft. And, he adds Saint Paul. A Florentine illumination from the 14th century has Paul but no angels at all. In Renaissance and Baroque images Christ ascends through clouds under his own power rather than borne by angels. It is possible this reflects the Golden Legend’s firm insistence on self-portation or self-ascension. As John 3:13 records: “No man ascendeth into heaven by his own power and might, but the Son of Man that is in heaven.”
In Legend 72 of the influential Golden Legend, Jacobus de Voragine spells out seven details of Jesus’ Ascension.* First then, he ascended. Secondly, why he ascended, how he ascended, what company ascended with him, by what merit he ascended, where he ascended, and wherefore he ascended. Notably, de Voragine says Christ ascended mightily, openly, joyously and lightly. He was also singing. Mighty is a description of those who have the power of self-portation or self-teleportation. It will appear numerous times in the pages to come. Regarding Jesus’ Ascension de Voragine notes that “it appeareth how that he ascended mightily” and “He styed [climbed] up as a giant with a great pace.” Jesus possessed the power of self-portation or the Rainbow Body. This is why Jesus is called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace (Isaiah 6:9).
The end result of this evolution of Christian Ascension art was the gradual loss of Merkavah mysticism and the Ark- throne (JDD) symbolism and common understanding of its role in the Ascension of Jesus. As noted, one goal of this book is to retrace this symbolism and restore understanding of its role in the Second Coming of Christ.
