“Ordinary dreams are not the methods employed by the personalities of the spiritual world when they seek to communicate with material beings.” (86:5.11)

John Zebedee’s “presentation” must have been more than a dream. The Urantia Book (The UB) refers to John’s experiences as “presentations,” an interesting term for what happened, one that suggests he was transported by some means to view what they wanted “to present” to him. Not surprisingly, The Revelation of St. John the Divine (KJV), the final book of the Bible, is the most otherworldly and mysterious book in the Christian canon. It gets a good review in The Urantia Book (The UB). The statements it makes awakened my curiosity to learn more about Revelation, take it more seriously, study the text more closely, and rediscover the marvel it is. The Revelation of St. John was one of the major remaining sources of the history of the Lucifer rebellion before the publication of The UB. See Paper 53:7 for “History of the Rebellion.”

“The problems associated with human existence on Urantia are impossible of understanding without a knowledge of certain great epochs of the past, notably the occurrence and consequences of the planetary rebellion.” (67:0.1)

Christians debate authorship of the book. Some believe Paul was the author. Scholar Elaine Pagels describes him in her book as an “exiled Jewish mystic.” http://www.npr.org/books/titles/148126089/revelations-visions-prophecy-and-politics-in-the-book-of-revelation  The UB confirms the fact, disputed here on Urantia, that the exiled mystic on the Isle of Patmos was Jesus’ disciple John Zebedee, John the Revelator as he’s known in the traditional American gospel song.

“When in temporary exile on Patmos, John wrote the Book of Revelation, which you now have in greatly abridged and distorted form. This Book of Revelation contains the surviving fragments of a great revelation, large portions of which were lost, other portions of which were removed, subsequent to John's writing. It is preserved in only fragmentary and adulterated form.” (The UB, 139:4.14) Doesn’t this make you wish we could somehow find and restore the whole text?

Here are just a few of the revelations that The UB adds concerning John’s great work. “The Book of Life” which appears in five verses of Revelation: 3:5; 13:8; 17:8; 20:12; 20:15 is revealed in The UB, not as a book, but as a previously unknown angelic group, “The Custodians of Knowledge.” “The superaphic custodians of knowledge are the higher "living epistles" known and read by all who dwell on Paradise. They are the divine records of truth, the living books of real knowledge. You have heard about records in the "book of life." The custodians of knowledge are just such living books.” (The UB, 27:5)

The Seven Spirits Before the Throne of Revelation 4:5 are described in The UB as, “The seven adjutant mind-spirits … the creation of the Divine Minister of a local universe. These mind-spirits are similar in character but diverse in power, and all partake alike of the nature of the Universe Spirit … These are the ‘seven spirits of God,’ ‘like lamps burning before the throne,’ which the prophet saw in the symbols of vision. But he did not see the seats of the four and twenty sentinels about these seven adjutant mind-spirits. This record represents the confusion of two presentations, one pertaining to the universe headquarters and the other to the system capital. The seats of the four and twenty elders are on Jerusem, the headquarters of your local system of inhabited worlds.” (34:4.9 – 13) Note here the last two sentences which make the reference to what John experienced as “presentations.”  

The Four and Twenty Elders of Revelation 4:1-6 have fascinated us through the ages. Perhaps one reason is that they took up their present positions “surrounding the throne,” subsequent to first having lived prestigious lives on Earth. Read a fuller discussion in The UB, all of Paper 45, section 4, (also in two of my previous blogs on this site about "The Four and Twenty Counselors").

Resurrection is discussed in Revelation 7:13, “Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?” I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation.” (Revelation 7:13)

The UB expands on the meaning of the white robes traditionally associated with spiritual luminosity. They replace the “coarse vestiges” of our material bodies. “The shadow of the mortal nature grows less and less as these [morontia] worlds are ascended one by one. You are becoming more and more adorable as you leave behind the coarse vestiges of planetary animal origin. "Coming up through great tribulation" serves to make glorified mortals very kind and understanding, very sympathetic and tolerant.” (47:8.7)

We learn more about the Four Beasts of Revelation 4:7-8 (The UB, 34:4.12-13, same as above). “But it was of Salvington that John wrote: "And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices"—the universe broadcasts to the local systems. He also envisaged the directional control creatures of the local universe, the living compasses of the headquarters world. This directional control in Nebadon is maintained by the four control creatures of Salvington, who operate over the universe currents and are ably assisted by the first functioning mind-spirit, the adjutant of intuition, the spirit of ‘quick understanding.’ But the description of these four creatures—called beasts—has been sadly marred; they are of unparalleled beauty and exquisite form.” (The UB, 34:4.12-13)

Then there’s the Sea of Glass, the Mark of the Beast: “John the Revelator saw a vision of the arrival of a class of advancing mortals from the seventh mansion world to their first heaven, the glories of Jerusem. He recorded: "And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire; and those who had gained the victory over the beast that was originally in them and over the image that persisted through the mansion worlds and finally over the last mark and trace, standing on the sea of glass, having the harps of God, and singing the song of deliverance from mortal fear and death." (Perfected space communication is to be had on all these worlds; and your anywhere reception of such communications is made possible by carrying the "harp of God," a morontia contrivance compensating for the inability to directly adjust the immature morontia sensory mechanism to the reception of space communications.)” (The UB, 47:10.2)

The best known source for the history of the War in Heaven is Revelation 12:1-17 (and reiterated in The UB 53:5, and 53:7), a famous poem that some have forgotten:
^“3 And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. ⁴ And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.”

The UB confirms the history behind the marvelous poetic image of the dragon’s tail. “Of the supreme order of seraphim, not an angel was lost … But the terrible breakdown came in the fourth group, the administrator angels, those seraphim who are normally assigned to the duties of the system capitals. Manotia [presently associate chief of seraphim on Urantia] saved almost two thirds of them, but slightly over one third followed their chief into the rebel ranks. One third of all the Jerusem cherubim attached to the administrator angels were lost with their disloyal seraphim.” (UB 53:7.6)

“In symbol John saw this when he wrote of the great red dragon, saying: "And his tail drew a third part of the stars of heaven and cast them down in darkness." (UB 53:7.7)

Many see Revelation as a prophecy of “the end times” of the world but many will, upon deeper reading, see quite different meanings. One of the stirring climactic moments in John’s prophecy is the coming of “the holy city, New Jerusalem” in Revelation 21:1-8. ¹ And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. ³ And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. ⁴ And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. ⁵ And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.

As The UB describes it, this real event takes place upon the departure of the Teacher Sons when they complete their mission.  “It was of the conclusion of the terminal mission of the Teacher Sons (at least that would be the chronology on a normal world) that John wrote: ‘I saw a new heaven and a new earth and the new Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a princess adorned for the prince.’” (The UB, 52:7.11-16)

More details about “the tabernacle of God,” in John’s vision (Revelation 21:1-3) are given in The UB paper 55:1, The Morontia Temple. “The presence of a morontia temple at the capital of an inhabited world is the certificate of the admission of such a sphere to the settled ages of light and life. Before the Teacher Sons leave a world at the conclusion of their terminal mission, they inaugurate this final epoch of evolutionary attainment; they preside on that day when the "holy temple comes down upon earth." This event, signalizing the dawn of the era of light and life, is always honored by the personal presence of the Paradise bestowal Son of that planet, who comes to witness this great day.” (55:1.1) Let us try not to forget these events are a long way off.

The final great climax of the poem-prophecy is the promise made in Revelation 22:1-2 (UB 73:6) and 22:14, the restoration of the Tree of Life to Urantia. “Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life … Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb,  in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.”