PREPARING THE COMING EPIPHANY

1. The New Jerusalem Temple as a "Globe Theatre" of Epiphany 

Part 5 of the book "The Truth About Judas" considered several apocalyptic scenarios that concern our future, which are as dramatic as any that are shown in films, theatres, TV and computer games. Here we shall examine ways to preempt these dire scenarios by fulfilling them as drama. We may recall Aristo’s theory of Dramatic “catharsis” that can heal. Let us see how the future epiphany may be conducted dramatically in appropriate media, ranging from the actual to the virtual.

Such healing dramatization has much to do with the complex issue of the future Temple of Jerusalem. This image of the Temple galvanizes the hope of millions - and the dread of even more, who fear that this would lead to a world-wide conflagration and the ultimate war of Islam vs. Judaism and Christianity. We suggest an original dramatist approach that allows presenting such a Temple in a "safe mode" that avoids the many pitfalls that the literal approach to the Temple encounters in reality.
 
A comprehensive current discussion on the future Jerusalem Temple is the book "The Coming Last Days Temple" by Evangelical Christian scholar Randall Price (1999). Here are two excerpts of his first chapter - on the purpose of the Temple - which allow us some novel points of departure:

"Another reason for the fervent desire to see the Temple rebuilt is because its rebuilding is thought to be a necessary prerequisite to the coming of the Messiah. Both Jews and Christians fervently hold this belief alike. The Jews refer to the prophecy in Malachi 3:1, "The Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to his temple". For the Messiah to be able to come to His Temple requires, of course, that it must already be built. This is reflected in the Jewish commentaries: "our rabbis taught: when the King Messiah arrives, he will stand on the roof of the holy Temple, and shout out to Israel: 'humble ones! The time of your redemption is at hand!" (Yalqut Shimoni for Isaiah, 499). Orthodox Jews who believe that the next Temple, the Third Temple will be the final Temple, have difficulties of resolving how this Temple can be built before Messiah arrives and yet, how, according to the prophecy of Zachariah (6:12-14), Messiah will build the final Temple.

Christians who interpret the prophecies of the New Testament in a consistently futuristic manner resolve this by understanding that two Temples will be constructed in the last days. Jesus' words in the Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24:15; Mark 13:14), Paul's statement (in 2 Thessalonians 2:4), and John's vision in the Book of Revelation (11:1-2) are taken to refer to a Third Temple that will be built, according to Daniel's prophecy (Daniel 9:27), during the time just before the Second Coming of Christ. This will be an interim Temple, as the Second Temple before it. When Jesus as Messiah delivers and restores Jerusalem at His coming, He will then build a fourth and final Temple in accordance with the restoration promised by the Old Testament prophets (Isaiah 2:2-356:7-8; Ezekiel 40-48). That is why the present day preparations for a new Temple are generating excitement; for they seem to indicate that the events that herald Messiah's coming are near at hand.  (P. 23-24)

So a feasible recipe for this interim Third Temple is that it could be a temporary one, perhaps like the Tabernacle preceded building Solomon's Temple – possibly just sufficient to accommodate all the trappings needed for staging the Coming of the Messiah (be it Second Coming or whichever). Therefore, it need not satisfy all the still mooted Halakhic questions regarding the Temple (which can be trusted for the Coming of the Messiah and of Elijah to resolve whatever needs to be still resolved about the ultimate Temple and its services). It might be sufficient, for example, to have the figure of the Messiah to appear over the roof of the Dome of the Rock as it is, and announce his message.
 
Another quote from Price helps us to consider further the function of this future Temple:
"In time, the Temple in Jerusalem became the only place on earth where God's presence was manifest among His people. The theological statement in Solomon's dedicatory prayer of 1 Kings 8:27 that God could not be contained on earth by any structure meant that God Himself could not be located on earth. The Temple rather stood as the visible station of His invisible, though manifest, presence. For this reason the divine presence was expressed by a circumlocution that He had caused His name to dwell there (cf. Jeremiah 7:12; Deutoronomy 12:11; 2 Chronicles 7:16; Ezra 6:12; Nehemiah 1:9). Thus, while God Himself did not even temporarily dwell in the Temple, it was a fixed place where God in his transcendence and incomparability was accessible to man. The Jewish sages called this divine manifestation the Shekhinah (from the Hebrew verb shakhan, "to dwell"), explaining that this concentration of the divine presence in a given place did not imply divine reduction, for "the more limited the space, the greater His might". Jesus acknowledged this aspect of the Temple's purpose when He affirmed this concerning oaths: "He who swears by the temple, swears both by the temple and by Him who dwells within it" (Matthew 23:21). In eschatological terms, the final portraits painted of the millennial Jerusalem in the book of Ezekiel (48:35) underscores this reality: "The name of the city from that day shall be 'YHWH Shammah' – "the Lord is there". 

Note that the last sentence can also be read as 'The name of the city from that day shall be YHWH Shemmah' – namely "YHWH is Her (the City's) Name". In part 2 of this essay we shall see how could the "Dwelling of the Name of the Lord", the Shekhinah and "The Coming of the Son of Man" take place.
 
The other grand eschatological appearance prophesied in the New Testament is the Descent from Heaven of the New Jerusalem, described in the Book of Revelation as the closing scene of the Bible. The book also mentions a "Sea of Glass". "The Lamb of God" is going to dwell there will 144,000 Israelites {12,000 for each of the 12 Tribes of (the New) Israel} who made the perilous tribulations, with His throne set upon the Sea of Glass with the seats of 24 Elders of Israel. 

A certain partial realization of the New Jerusalem was presented to me back in 1974, when I was teaching at the Federal University of Pernambuco (U.F.Pe) in Northeast Brazil. One Sunday morning my host drove me to the desert in the interior of the state. After some hours driving, I saw on the horizon a city wall. Approaching, it turned out to be just a small stone wall surrounding a compound. When I went to the gate, my host said, "Welcome to the Nova Jerusalem". I saw then, that this New Jerusalem in the Brazilian desert is a medley of arenas and stages and settings that depict, in naïve art, images of Jerusalem and the Holy Land in Biblical times. For a week each year, I was told, tens of thousands of people arrive there to celebrate and watch Passion Plays. 

This encounter must have impressed me deeply to eventually breed another design: Rather than in Brazil, the true "New Jerusalem" should be established in (or upon) the Old City of Jerusalem; and further, this "New Jerusalem" should not dwell on rendering the past events, but of future dramas, of eschatological shows. 
To assess the possibility of this idea, let us examine some prevailing eschatological expectations. 

1.1 - Sources for the “Second Coming” and “Rapture" scenarios

Here are the scriptural bases of common current Evangelical beliefs in "The Seond Coming", shared by scores of millions:

Jesus promised His disciples He would come again, "Let not your heart be troubled. You are trusting God, now trust in Me. There are many mansions up there where my Father lives, and I am going to prepare them for your coming. When everything is ready, then I will come and get you, so that you can always be with Me where I am. If this weren't so, I would tell you plainly. And you know where I am going and how to get there" (John 14:1-3, TLB).

Also the angels promised Jesus would come again, "It was not long afterwards that He rose into the sky and disappeared into a cloud, leaving them staring after Him. As they were straining their eyes for another glimpse, suddenly two white-robed men were standing there among them, and said, 'Men of Galilee, why are you standing here staring at the sky? Jesus has gone away to heaven, and some day, just as He went, He will return!'" (Acts 1:10-11, TLB).

The medium of Jesus' re-appearance is thus in a cloud, "At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory" (Luke 21:27, NIV); "Look, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him" (Revelation 1:7, NIV). This would be highly visible: "For as the lightening comes from the east and flashes to the west, so will be the coming of the Son of man" (Matthew 24:27, NIV).
 
The concept of "The Rapture" comes from the verse (I Thessalonians 4:16-17): "For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air."

Why is Jesus coming back? "So also Christ died only once as an offering for the sins of many people; and He will come again, but not to deal again with our sins. This time He will come bringing salvation to all those who are eagerly and patiently waiting for Him" (Hebrews 9:28, TLB).
On the other hand, in the Gospel of John, there are sections that seem to negate the Second Coming of Jesus, replacing him with the 'Paraclete". In fact, John 16:7 gives an explicit reason for Jesus’ removal: 
       “It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor (Paracletas) will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you”.
       “If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Paraclete (Counselor) to be with you forever the Spirit of truth…" (John, 4:16).
       "But the Paraclete (Counselor), the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and remind you of everything I have said to you. (John, 4:26). 

Trying to explain why did Jesus's second coming not happened in Biblical times, as expected by his disciples, but only in the future, it was suggested: 
     "But don't forget this, dear friends, that a day or a thousand years from now is like tomorrow to the Lord. He isn't really being slow about His promised return, even though it sometimes seems that way. But He is waiting, for the good reason that He is not willing that any should perish, and He is giving more time for sinners to repent" (II Peter 3:8-9, TLB). 

Note that this explanation about the millenial Days of the Lord, given two thousand years ago, is consistent with the 6000 year Jewish calendar that, as we have explained elsewhere,  points to our times as the time of the Judement and Redemption.

1.2 – Islamic Eschatology, the Isra' and Israel - A Thought Exercise

Islamic sources also believe in the Second Coming of "Issa (Jesus) Son of Mary" at the End times,  though his role is much less important than in Christianity. Some of these traditions see him as landing atop the Dome of the Rock (whose interior carries the Koranic references to Jesus that acknowledge Jesus as a great prophet, but emphatically deny his divinity. There are, however, other aspects in Islamic eschatology that envision much greater spectacles in the End times Jerusalem. 

Moslem are expected to pray five times a day by citing the opening Sura of the Qur'an "... and let us be among al-Mustaqin", namely “those who walk the Straight Path”. Why is this so important? Eschatology is dreadfully important in Islam, involving the resurrection of all humankind Qayamah and their Last Judgment. According to the eschatological Hadith, there will be a bridge thin as a line from the Mount of Olives to the Temple Mount (Haram al-Sharif) so the ultimate feat of the Day of Judgment is making this straight path, the tightrope walk or "blade-running". So the true Moslem is the blade-runner who would make it to the Haram the Temple Mount.

This feat would effectively be an everyman's recapitulation of how the Prophet (PBUH) himself attained his prophecy through performing the Isrâ' - the straight flight from Mecca to the Sakhra the Holy Rock in Jerusalem.
 
It can be claimed that those who would perform the ultimate Isrâ' by passing the straight and narrow path to the Temple Mount, may be called "Isra'ili" – namely Israelite. (Further, this global Isrâ' will surely be directed towards The Dome of the Rock as a landmark, in Hebrew Tsiun (ציוּן), which is in Jerusalem Tsion (ציוׄן) - that is, Zion. In so many words - those Moslems who will be guided by Allah to make this Isra' to Zion would by necessity be the "Israelite Moslem Zionists". However these terms, and their bearers, are currently the most reviled among Arab Moslems.

(In fact, the Hebrew term "Israel" (ישראל) is often interpreted as Yashar-el (ישר־אל), meaning "Straight towards". So at the Last Judgment, Allah may select for His own the Moslem Israelite who are keen on Jerusalem, Zion in her Biblical name - namely Moslem Israelis and Zionists, whereas their detractors are likely to drop to the pit. It may become apparent on the Day of Judgment, that {like Jews and some Christians claimed all along} Allah Himself appears as Zionist. )

1.3 – Glimpses of the Jerusalem Eschatological Geography

Tour guides in present-day Jerusalem can point to local landmarks that are associated with eschatology, especially the Islamic version - that there should stretch a narrow bridge running East-West from the Mount of Olives to the Temple Mount (in Arabic Haram al-Sharîf). It is called Tsarat, which means "narrow" and traditions say it will be as narrow as a hair. It would seem that if some ten billion people need attempt this passage they will have to move as fast as lightening, and not many of these passers will be such (spiritual) blade runners as to make it to the Temple Mount. 
There are two marked significant East-West alignments across (and another that runs at about 26 degrees off this alignment). One runs from Mount Olives, through the Gates of Mercy (the "Golden Gate") and on through the Dome of the Spirits (also called Dome of the Tablets) north-northwest of the Dome of the Rock and may be extended to the Stone of Golgotha at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. This is "The Jerusalem Messianic Ley Line" proposed by Kaufman (1983, 2000) and studied and extended by John Michell (2000). The other, more apparent one, is from the Church of the Ascension and its adjoining Mosque on the summit of Mount Olives to the Quintuple Gate due East of the Dome of the Rock and through the Dome of the Chain into the Dome upon the Holy Rock. 

On the Temple Mount, which has been under Moslem control for many centuries, there are eight ornamental gates leading up to the Dome of the Rock platform.  These are called al-Mizan, namely the scales, because at the Day of Judgment scales would be placed there to weigh the virtues and sins of each of those who will make it so far. 

Then the smaller Dome right on the alignment to the Dome of the Rock mentioned above is called "the Dome of the Chain" - Silsila - and that alignment continues into the Old city, through the main gate to the Haram called Bab al-Silsila which continues with the main East-West street of the city in the cruciform of the Byzantine Cardo. Also this Chain is supposed to hold scales of Judgment, which have already served King David. 

1.4 - New Age Scenarios of the Parousia 

Images of the Second Coming abound also for others than the Christian Evangelists and Moslem fundamentalists, showing that the yearning for it is more widespread than generally assumed. There are thus also many “New Age” visions of the Parousia, some of them “Channeled” or from purported newly-found old manuscripts. A few examples are:
1) David Spangler’s channeling of a Christ-like Spirit of “Infinite Love and Truth” into a book called “Revelation, the Birth of a New Age”, written in Findhorn 1967. It claimed that “the Second Coming” already happened in 1967 and reached the higher atmosphere, and now it is possible for each one of us to ascend and meet with (a New Age adaptation of the Fundamentalists “Rapture” scenario).
2) J.J. Hurtak’s “Keys of Enoch”, claimed to be given him by the angel Metatron during an abduction/ascension. This is a recasting of the Merkavah visions into modern, even futuristic, language as a guide for “Future Science”. It envisions the formation of a Collective Messiah, made of 144,000 advanced humans. 
3) “The Second Coming” by Leon Moscona, which advocates the simultaneous return (in an unspecified state of materialization) of Moses, Jesus, Mohammad, Confucius and eight other luminaries, including a 20th century Bulgarian teacher.  
4) Simon Peter Fuller’s “Up from Chaos” of what purports to be newly-found eight missing chapters of the Book of Revelation in heavy-handed old English, complete with contemporary language explanations. The object was to train those 144,000. 
1.5 - Deus ex Machina, the Globe theatre and Shakespearian Drama

Let us consider the appropriate dramatic enactment of eschatology in old/new light of the Gospel of Judas. Earlier, we discussed its Self-generating systems and entities. It is important to note that self-organization can arise only within appropriate media.
 
The classical theatre was a medium for enacting and realizing various situations and entities. In comedies, the actors act mechanically, much as automatons. By this they allow the observers to compare and sense their own automatic acts. This medium was well employed by the playwright Aristophanes for political comedy that played strange scenes on familiar grounds, while Aristotle (born a year after Aristophanes) taught the value of tragic drama - that through the vicarious experience of pity and terror, the observer experiences a “catharsis” that has healing value. )
 
In the first theatres in Christian Europe was the device that towards the end, when the drama gets hopelessly entangled, there appear God and His angels coming down as if from heaven, but actually pulled down by a machine. This device was known as "Deus ex Machina" and has bred many associations. 

With the further development of the theatre to become the major cultural agent, the very design of the theatre tried to represent the world. In her book "Theatre of the World" cultural historian Frances Yates (1987) shows the esoteric science and metaphysical foundation of the famous Shakespearean expression that "the whole world is a stage, and of the Globe Theatre, which was since further researched by Hancox, (1992, 2001). Yates has also shown the role of the Christian Cabala as cultural underpinning of the Shakespeare phenomenon. The Shakespeare phenomenon has been the subject of many studies and books, including the authorship question and the possibility of it being a coordinated multiple authorship (Michell, 1996), organized as a covert political-religious Elizabethan agenda.  But even if Shakespeare was but a lone genius playwright, it is interesting to note that the two projects that decisively shaped English culture – Shakespeare's (last) plays and the King James Bible translation were contemporaneous civilization-building enterprises.
 
We mention here only Shakespeare's' last play, the Tempest, as a kind of testament. The plot is, in a way, akin to the Biblical (and the Qur'an) story of Joseph and his brothers. There is a brother who was removed by another brother and disposed of. But in his place of exile, in another culture, he has gathered magical or paranormal capabilities and can summon storm and clouds. He lures his brother(s) unwittingly to his domain, where he plays on them various tricks to test them. It is this test that allows the reunion of the brothers and their reconciliation.
 
In the following we shall explore the possible contemporary civilization-building initiative based on the union of Bible and drama, along with modern representation and communications technologies and the pivotal global position of Jerusalem, with the Old City topped by a virtual Light Temple acting as a Global Theatre. 

 
2. Design for Messianic Media

From all the foregoing, and without bias for any of the possibilities, we may make a list of requirements and clues for forming a "Messianic Medium", or Redemptive System, that can stage the various epiphany scenarios and can assist bringing redemption for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict – and with it for the whole world. (Readers who are not comfortable with the personal concept of the Messiah may call it "The MESSIAH System" as acronym for "Middle-East Salvation System Intelligence-Aided Humanity")

There are at least four main components for such a Redemptive System:
    1. The Paraclete(s) as the embedded intelligence of the system.
    2. The collective participatory Messianic Organization, modeled on the 144,000-person New Israel of Revelation (14:3, 21:12), identified with 'Knesset Yisra'el'.
    3. A Light-Structure representing the Heavenly Temple and/or the Merkavah.
    4. A figure coming from "the Clouds of heaven", which represents "The Son of Man", the Ben Adam in the appropriate figurative or abstract-symbolic manner.

There is also the whole Old City – real or virtual - centered upon the Dome of the Rock to be used as the earthly Temple and the scenery for the movements of the participants-pilgrims for the training and exercising of Knesset Yisra'el).

Note that one or more of these components are feminine figures , as the collective entity is definitely of feminine character (and so are Jerusalem, and arguably the Dome of the Rock). 

2.1 - The Paraclete: 
This figure might be an embodiment and dramatic enactment of the figures known in Kabbalah as Yisra'el Saba (Ancient Israel) and of Tvunah (Intelligence). Such a figure was impersonated, for example, in the Zohar by the elusive figure of Rabbi Hamnuna Saba, in Shakespeare's "The Tempest" by Prospero and in Doris Lessing's "Shikasta" by Johor/George Sherban. Yet all these figures are embodiments or impersonations of embedded living intelligence. 
To fit the scene, this figure should present at least some of the following attributes:
• Born in Bethlehem, thus possessing a Messianic aura and claim. 
• Being demonstrably from "the House of Israel".
• Coherent with both Christian and Moslem most reasonable expectations for a "Second Coming" figure
• An uncanny talent for forming diverse personal connections with key people in all parties to the conflict.
• Working knowledge of the Qaballah. 
• Professional skills in law and/or systems thinking. 
(For further dramatizations (e.g. TV serials) we have sketched a fictional portrait of a likely candidate, which is not detailed here). 
 
2.2 - The Collective Messianic Entity

The most important practical product of this design is likely to be the formation of a "family of communities", a network of networks, that can work as the world-server nation – whose formation was (according to Schonfield , 1965, 1978) Jesus' real mission. It will be modeled upon "The Twelve Tribes of Humankind" and may become a universal "New Israel", made of a dozen of Jewish, Christian, Moslem and other "Israelite" communities or "tribes". Independent from the present state of Israel and open to all who find themselves called, this New Israel will seek to aid and to transform the State of Israel, helping Israel to return to her prophetic role. 

The most appropriate medium to assemble and train such an entity is not through forming a cult, but likely through the novel mediums of social networks and/or massively multi-user computer games via the Internet. These games will be based on the scene of the combined Jerusalem Old City and the 'heavenly' or 'New Jerusalem' (quite akin to that Brazilian 'Nova Jerusalem' but far more detailed and accurate model of the actual city) that is an ordered set of stages for the messianic drama to unfold. 

As our investigations have revealed - and the virtual model will make all realize - the seemingly-chaotic Old City of Jerusalem is already an exquisite realization of the Heavenly Jerusalem as a city of seven sets of concentric gates which the souls want to enter (New Zohar for Noah). Passing each successive set of gates will require more involved tests. The character of the games will gradually change – from combative "street fighter" type scenes in the labyrinthine alleys of the Old City to becoming the effective representative and Paraclete for the many.
So the core of this system will be a set of spiritual-educational programs, embedded in computer games and courses that will train the participants in the Ultimate Qaballah – namely in the Acceptance of Self-and-Other. The traditional number of 144,000 selected and accepted participants seems an entirely realistic goal. Yet this expression has a deeper meaning that is less of a mechanical number. 144,000 is in Hebrew "144 Eleph" which is written similarly and is close to Aleph – namely "to train", and it is common in the Qaballah to treat it as "training in Wisdom and Understanding" – Alpheni Hokhmah, alpheni Binah. With the division to 12 archetypes of participants, there are 12x12 = 144 types of self-and-other interactions, and the ultimate training in understanding and wisdom is to learn how to accept them all. 

According to the Lurianic Qaballah, all human souls are related and parts of the common 'soul roots' that make the common soul of Adam. Through their Pilgrims' progress in the earthly and heavenly Jerusalem, alongside and interactively with other real persons, the participants will discover how their souls are from the supreme and divine domain of Adam (or 'Adamas' in the Gospel of Judas). 

2.3 - The Light Structure

• A representation of the Heavenly Temple referred to in tradition as "A Fiery Temple from the sky". A structure that can carry lights or, more likely for a physically light structure (of dirigibles and/or tensile cables) a structure or medium that glows as it is being projected from earth.
• It is here that "the luminous Cloud" of the Gospel of Judas comes as a guiding principle. The said structure should contain transparent containers with artificial clouds in them (without clouds, the light beams would be barely visible in the clear Jerusalem skies). Such standing clouds will provide 3D projection mediums for holographic projections that could take any shape. 
• There is likely to be a gradual sequence of realization: 1) a Virtual Reality (VR) model; 2) Holographic projection upon dirigibles acting as cloud chambers, first in the desert and, when permission granted, over Jerusalem Old City and Temple Mount; 3) a steel framework that holds permanent cloud chamber(s); 4) usage of the actual Dome of the Rock. 

2.4 - The Figure from the Clouds

It is here that the Gospel of Judas gives us some essential clues:
• The figure(s) forms, by self-organization, from Luminous Cloud(s).
• It generates subsidiary figures or agencies. 
• It gives connections to the supreme 


3. Enactment of the Messianic (2nd?) Coming of "The Son of Man"

The title that Jesus used most often about himself was "Son of Man", which may have various meanings. Christianity and Dead Sea scrolls scholar Geza Vermes suggests it was a humble title, the equivalent of the English modest "yours truly" (Vermes, 2000). In Modern Hebrew, the expression Ben Adam is used to denote an adult personality – considerate and humane. In Arabic – it means a man of honor, of respect. But in John's Gospel the title is associated with the Book of Daniel (7:13), where it is spelled in Aramaic (Bar Inash) and is linked specifically to hopes of a Messiah and eternal life. Jesus' use of the term seems most akin to that used in the apocryphal Books of Enoch. But it is in the terms of the Qaballah that this prophetic title reveals its full divine dimension.

{The following detailed treatment of this can be skipped till the next chapter:  
In the deep sense of the Qaballah, both “Son” (BeN-בן) and “Man” (ADaM-אדם) are also states or aspects of the Divinity, and the expression “Son-of-Man” spells a process within the very divinity, which forms a whole redemptive process for humankind, which would also apply to a collective Messiah. 
In the Lurianic Qaballah (which was introduced in "The Truth about Judas)), both the terms Ben and Adam are connected with the Tetragrammaton, the Divine Name of the Lord, which Jews do not even pronounce and instead generally say "haShem" ("The Name"). Thus in Judaism nowadays the future temple is referred to as Miqdash haShem, literally "The Temple of the Holy Name". The establishment of the Temple and the appearance of "The Son of Man", the Ben Adam, are connected. 
As noted, the title Ben, which means "son" is written in Hebrew letters בן and these two letters have the Gematria value of 52. Just as words and names are made of letters, in Hebrew also the names of the letters are made of 2-4 letters. Spelling all the letters of the names of the letters of a name is called "filling" (Miluy) and the numerical value of these "filled" or expanded names are also deemed significant, especially in the case of the sacred Divine Names.  The Name of בן is written as Yud Hh Ww Hh – where the "filling" of the last three letters is by doubling them. Thus the Son, בן  52 can be seen as corresponding to a doubling in the divinity (YHWH  26) x 2 = 52 – Transcendental and Immanent.
Likewise, the title AdaM אדם has a value of 45. This corresponds with "the Name of MaH, which is written by an alternative filling, made with the letter Aleph (א, rendered by a or e) in the form of Yud He Waw He. The name of the letter Aleph actually means "to train", and in such contexts as "train by Wisdom and Understanding". This "Name of MaH" (מ״ה) also has the Gematria value of 45. So the Title "Adam" is seem to correspond with a divine name that is produced through training in Wisdom and Understanding,  
So there is a Transition Process, a kind of distillation, that moves from BeN (the Son-בן) <=> 52 >to> ADaM <=> 45 . This transition, effected by growth in Wisdom and Understanding  can be seen as a process of maturation or of individuation. This “Messianic Union” would be dedicated to the cause of ADaM – the redeemed humankind. This is a recapitulation of the creation, of "Let Us make (na'aseh) ADaM in our Image and likeness" (Gen. 1:26), which can also be read as "Let us become (ne'aseh) ADaM".} 
 
4. The Return of the Lord to Zion

Such an enactment of the Coming of the Messiah is part of a double-bill show, along with the Coming which the Jews expect, and to which the Messiah is but an accessory – that is The Return of the Lord to Zion - as prophesied by Isaiah to Jerusalem (52:8), "The voice of thy watchmen is heard, they lift up their voice, together they shall sing – for they shall see eye to eye, the Lord returning to Zion". This recapitulates the theophany at the Exodus, "... that thou Lord art seen eye to eye , and that thy cloud stands over them, and that thou goest before them, by day time in a pillar of cloud, and in the pillar of fire by night" (Numbers 14:14). 

This epiphany is also explained in the Midrash (Tankhuma for Numbers, 17), "The Holy One said, in this world because (the Levites) used to see My Glory, they were perishing, as it is said, 'for no man shall see Me, and live' (Exodus 33:20). But in the future, when I shall return my Shekhinah to Tsion (Zion), over all of Israel, and they will see me and live forever, as it is said 'for they shall see eye to eye, the Lord returning to Zion' (Isaiah 52:8). This future epiphany resembles even more the future return of the Flying Divine Throne, the Merkavah, to the New Jerusalem Temple (Ezekiel 43:2-4).

5. The Luminous Cloud and the Light-Temple 

A common feature of the visions in the Gospel of Judas and that of Ezekiel chapter is of the “Luminous Cloud”, from which there may emerge diverse figures. These visions are complemented by the prophecy in Isaiah 60 about the coming Light of Jerusalem: 

“Arise shine, for thy light is come, and the Glory (Kavod) of the Lord is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the peoples; but the Lord shall arise (or shine) upon thee, and His Glory shall be seen upon thee. And nations shall walk by thy light, and kings at the brightness of thy rising” (60:1-3) “The sun shall be no more thy light by day, neither for brightness shall the moon give light to thee; but the Lord shall be to thee an everlasting light, and thy God they glory. The sun shall no more go down, nor shall thy moon withdraw itself; for the Lord shall be thy everlasting light….” (60:19-20).
 
These suggest that the future temple would be (wholly or partly) a Temple of Light – the place from where the redeemer’s “Light of the World” would issue from, part and parcel of making Israel into a “Light to the Nations”. Such a Temple of Light could also allow the visual appearance, the epiphany, of a collective Messianic entity, where the souls of individuals, represented by light dots, become the elements (pixels) of complex self-organizing collective figures.

Significantly, “The Gospel of Judas” spells out how that “coming with the Clouds of Heaven” could be realized. Its sketchy clues about three different temples add some still missing clues to the quite detailed specifications of the visionary Future Temple of Jerusalem given by the prophet Ezekiel (Hayut-Man, 2006).
 
The Gospel of Judas implies what the other Gnostic Gospel, the Pistis Sophia, does specify and the canonic Gospels agree – that the close meetings of Jesus with his disciples that took place before the Crucifixion took their place at the Mount of Olives, right east and up of the Temple Mount. So it was at this location that Jesus showed Judas the Luminous Cloud. A short look at the local topography suffices to indicate that the location of that luminous cloud is right above the Jerusalem Temple Mount.

This agrees well with the initial mention of Jerusalem in Genesis, in Abraham and Isaac's three-day journey to the Land of Moriah, to find the Mountain that the Lord chose. It is written, "On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off" (Gen. 22:4). The major Jewish commentator, Rashi, asks what Abraham saw that told him that that was the chosen mountain (and we know it was not the tallest mountain in that area). His answer is, "He saw a cloud tied to the mountain". What we propose for the future Jerusalem Temple is precisely that – tying a permanent artificial cloud to the Temple Mount (Mount Moriah), to serve as a projection medium that will allow all people to see the divine visions at any appropriate time.
  
In considering modern, cyber-art light manifestations, the luminous cloud can be just a projection medium for preset holographic images, but might also be a setting for self-generating forms (such as the generation of Cellular Automata patterns on a computer screen, e.g. Wolfram, 2002).

A note on an Internet network  offered a nice naïve suggestion how to end the violence of the Middle-East Israeli-Arab clash. The suggestion was that good willing people everywhere would imagine light bubbles and send them up to join and coalesce to larger light configurations. My response was that when people exchange their messages of hope through some goodwill Internet networks, invisible complex patterns of connections and trajectories are made – as with any other Internet traffic. However, such messages and their interactions can be modeled visually and represented as light bubbles floating in cyberspace. The more structured the messages, the better. Patterns of communications of "Interactions of Actors"  such as forming novel understandings on selected topics can be represented graphically, and when such interactions are productive, they could "breed" results, resolutions, etc. that can be represented by appropriate colored light sparks. These lights would then be sent up as the pixels that coalesce into complex patterns, which would be displayed on an appropriate medium. 

5.1 - Smoke and Clouds of Glory of the Lord in the Light Temple

The evidence to the presence of habitation of the Lord - Shekhinah – in the Tabernacle and in the Jerusalem Temple was by the appearance of "Clouds of the Glory (Kavod - כּבוד) of the Lord" (Kevod YHWH) inside, or over, the shrine. In the dedication of the Tabernacle (Exodus 40:34-38) and in the dedication of Solomon's Temple (I Kings 8:10-11), a cloud came in to dwell in the shrine. The expression Kvod YHWH appears 13 times (the number of Judas and of Knesset Yisra'el, and Gematria of "Love" and "One") in the Pentateuch and additional 22 times (number of the Hebrew letters) in the rest of the Hebrew Bible. The Glory of the Lord appeared in various places, first at Sinai and later at the Tent of the Covenant or above it, and the Glory can assume almost any form. In prophet Ezekiel's descriptions, the divine Glory assumes a complex and detailed structure.

Likewise, a major function of the Temple is the creation of a cloud of smoke. The golden Alter of Incense inside the Temple was used to fill the building with a cloud of smoke, whereas the main activity of the priests, the preparation and burning of the sacrifices over the brass altar in the Temple court was designed to create "a Pillar of Smoke" that serves as "a burnt sacrifice for a sweet savor, an offering made by fire to the Lord" (Exodus 29:18, 41; Leviticus 8:21, 28; Numbers 28:6, 13, 29:6).
 
Levine (1996) shows that while the ancient temples were considered the earthly abode of a god, it was not necessarily his/her permanent abode, and that deity had to be invoked to descent and come to the temple. The Bamot mentioned several times in the Bible were like the landing-places for the deity, and the altars with their rising smoke were thought to occasion and precipitate the descent of the god. The cloud of Glory that entered the shrine was evidence for the appearance of the God of Israel in the Tabernacle and in Solomon's Temple. The incense-smoke-filled Holy and especially the Holy of Holies in both the Tabernacle and the Temple were considered conductive for this theophany. 

The clouds of Glory in the Tabernacle and above it are surely connected to the Pillar of Cloud and Pillar of Fire that accompanied the Children of Israel in the Sinai desert (Exodus 13:20-21). Already in the exodus, the pillar of smoke appeared and separated between the Israelites and the Egyptians. When the Tent of Assembly was built, the cloud appeared above it, whether as a sign for Moses' authority or as a signal to travel or to camp. (In the Temple of Solomon, where it was no longer possible to count on the Pillar of Smoke and Pillar of Fire, there were built two symbolic pillars – Yakhin and Bo'az). It is apparent that the appearance of the pillar of smoke and the fire were means of telecommunications, quite similar to what was common at the time of smoke signals and torches. The cloud and the smoke are not only past phenomena, they are also a prophecy for the future: 

"And the Lord will create upon every dwelling place of Mount Ziyyon (Zion), and upon her assemblies, a cloud of smoke by day, and a shining of a flaming fire by night; for upon all the Glory shall be there a canopy. And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime from the heat..." (Isaiah 4:5-6).
 
We are examining the possibility of preparing a Virtual Temple, "a Temple of Fire" or even a renewed physical temple that is fitting for the present era of human development, a period that does not get excited about literal animal sacrifices. We seek therefore to understand in depth the issue of the Cloud of Glory and the sacrificial smoke – what was their function and how can this function be satisfied by possible contemporary means, including the best of modern technology. 
In Sefer Yetsirah there appears a shrine that is set in the midst of a five-dimensional space of "World-Year-Soul", and the acronym of these dimensions is known as Ashan – namely Smoke (עולם-שנה-נפש – עש״ן). The explanation is that many "Space-Time-Soul" events can be summed as kind of drops that hover as a cloud in five-dimensional space – or even inside a kinetic three-dimensional space of a viewing facility that enables the observation of these drops as they form stable or changing spatial patterns – a 3D screen, or a "Cloud Chamber, if you like. 

Interestingly, in Hebrew "my cloud" - Anani (ענני) – is the same as "answered me" (Anani baMerhav Yah "Yah answered me in the open space" - Psalm 118:5) and like the evocative Aneni (same Hebrew spelling) meaning, "answer me!" Through that cloud, there is a possibility of question and answer, which may be expressed in the equation of form between forms in the lower smoke and the higher Clouds of Glory. 

The raising of the sacrifice to heaven as smoke is, mystically speaking; a situation of annulment (Bitul), and this annulment enables cleaving to God and the redemption. The sacrifice is "the bonfire of vanities". The performance of the sacrifice produces a smoke that rises to heaven as if it was an offer of food, or the savor of food, for God. Abraham's obeying to the command of "get thee out of thy country" (Lekh lekha me'artsekha), Isaac's binding - the Aqedah, the Crucifixion and possibly the Hejirah of Mohammad are examples of sacrifice and annulment.
 
The raising of the sacrificial cloud and of the incense in the inner altar creates smoky fog – the very medium that would enable to observe a Light Show. For example, laser beams projected to the sky remain invisible unless there is dust in the air, and especially clouds or smoke.

5.2 - The Smoke (AShaN) Letters of the Lord YHWH

These are the letters of the Divine Speech with which heaven and earth were formed. These are the marks of sounds in the five-dimensional space (in which "time stands still") described in Sefer Yetsirah. As the Sforno commentary (for Exodus 36:8) states "The Ark (of the Covenant), which was the most special of the temple implements was made by Betsal'el, who was the greatest of them all, as the sages of blessed memory said: "Betsal'el knew how to combine the letters by which heaven and earth were created" (Berakhot 55a).
 
It is said of both the tabernacle and the Temple "and the House will be filled with smoke". With the medium of the smoke it was possible to observe – as it is written about the theophany by Mount Sinai and the receiving of the Decalogue about which it was written: "All the people perceived the thundering, and the lightning, and the sound of the shofar, and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they were shaken, and stood afar off" (Exodus 20:15). 
The smoke enabled the visual presentation of the Divine Speech as cymatic-schematic forms of letters of "standing time" in the five-dimensional space of His world, may His Name be blessed. 

For example, the work of Stan Tenen enables to read the Hebrew and Arabic letters as different specific projections of the same basic universal form (of a characteristic, smoke-like, coil that fits upon the face of a torus, and which issues inwards from the vertices of the tetrahedron) that take place in three dimensions. 
It is possible to present the plan of the shrine of the Dome of the Rock  as a space that represents, through visual associations and architectural flow of spaces, the Divine Mouth from which issues prophecy in the form of Arabic (and also Hebrew) smoke-letters. It is possible to regard the designed space of this Holy throne as the sound box by which the proclamations of God would be heard, while the letters of the speech would flash and scintillate. It is quite possible that this was the intention of the designers. In any case, nowadays we can build models of that shrine (and of the Tabernacle) in terms of ""The Shrine of the Holy Name" in which there would appear and shine from the smoke letters – of the sounds of the Names and of the Souls.

"The Shrine of the Holy Name" (Heikhal haShem) is actually "The Temple of YHWH". The Name "YHWH" is also a diagram and a map of the connection between the worlds, which we have defined by spatial dimensions. The lower H'e corresponds to the World of Assiyah and/or the Sefirah of Malkhut, marks the outside perimeter of the shrine for activity of circumambulation (haqafot) – and is in the form of a 2D plane; the W'aw of the Name corresponds with the World of Yetsirah and/or the six Sefirot from Yesod to Hesed and especially the Sefirah of Tif'eret, is for the middle circle of the shrine – and it acts as the addition of a line perpendicular to the 3D cube; the upper H'e correspds to the world of Beri'ah and/or the Sefirah of Binah, is over the Holy Rock and the surface of the inner space of the shrine - and is of the stature of 4D Hyperspace; the topmost Y'od, which corresponds with the World of Atzilut and/or the Sefira of Hokhmah, corresponds with the upper part of the inner space of the shrine – and it represents the (32) points of contact (or portal) to 5D hyper-hyper-space.
 
(The letters of YH that relate to the inner space are always joint together ("union of Abba and Imma – Father and Mother). Th epattern at the ceiling of the Dom eof the Rock represents this union. It is based on a 32-fold symmetry. The 4D hypercube has 32 edges, whereas the 5D hyper-hypercube as 32 vertices. One form is the dual of the other.
 
6. Calling the Universal Healing Crusade

According to Jewish tradition, the Heavenly Temple is aligned with the earthly Temple of Jerusalem. According to Moslem tradition, the Qa'aba will come flying there for the End-of Days. According to the Book of Revelation, this is the very location for the revelation of the Heavenly Jerusalem as a giant cube. 

It is told that when the First Crusade reached the hill of the prophet Samuel, which allowed them their first view of the earthly Jerusalem, thousands of the Crusaders, simultaneously, experienced a common vision of the Heavenly Jerusalem. This is an important clue for the conduct of the future Healing Crusade.
 
For Moslems the Ultimate Jihad is waiting for the appearance of the Imam who will unify all Moslems. For some, from among the Shi'ites like the present rulers of Iran, this is specifically "the Twelfth Imam", who would achieve this feat. It is something of an irony that this Islamic vision of completion-through-twelve corresponds with the Biblical-Zionist vision of the restored whole Israel of the Twelve Tribes (and also the mention of the Twelve Tribes of Ishmael - Genesis 25:13-16). 

In any case, the ultimate Judgment is for Allah, and the Qur'an says this will be a multi-faith event, a kind of global Olympic Games of competing in good deeds: “To each among you, We have prepared a law and a clear way. If Allah willed, He would have made you one nation, but that (He) may test you in what He has given you; so strive as in a race in good deeds. The return of you (all) is to Allah; then He will inform you about that in which you used to differ”. 
The theme of Allah giving different covenants is also mentioned in Sura 16 (the Bee), verse 93.
 
Imagine, for example, a worldwide "Spiritual/Peace Olympic Games" where people and cultures would compete in good deeds or diverse kinds as suggested in the Qur'an. Many sports games have huge electronic score boards that show the forming results to the whole crowd. The ideal place to exhibit such worldwide "Spiritual Olympic Games" should be, we suggest, in the skies over Jerusalem. In fact, it would be most appropriate to name such Spiritual "Olympic Games" by the name of "The Jerusalem Games", keeping in mind that, in addition to all its many meanings and associations, "Jerusalem" is literally "Yir'u Shalem" – the place for "seeing the Whole".
 
It is here that the Gospel of Judas, and its vision of the Luminous Cloud gives us the right image and clue. 
"The World is Flat" by Thomas Friedman (2006) is a fascinating book that deals just with the ideas, namely how the internet, WWW are indeed reading a global vision for so many people on a global basis. This may seem to be utopian and "New Agey", yet it is big business – globally. That is just what blogs, social networks and their like are about. They DO influence governments and politics. Imagine a billion of these light bubbles coming from all over the planet on specific issue like holiness and wholeness.

When we talk about a "light unto the nations", could this indeed be such a possibility?
I presume that each religion does have a lot to say, and all sorts of sacred texts, on the spiritual aspects of "light".

Appendix: Jewish Wisdom (HaBaD) Sources about the (Future) Tabernacle

(These would require considerable amount of work to translate and expand upon, but they are already noted here for those who can read the complex original). 

* Liqutey Torah for Exodus 38:21 (Parashat Pequdey): "These are the accounts of the tabernacle, the tabernacle of the Testimony". Examined with the Psalm vision (122:3-4): "O Yerushalayim (Jerusalem), built as a city that is built together; there the tribes used to ascend, the tribes of Yah, a testimony for Israel to give thanks for the name of YHWH". It discusses the Heavenly Jerusalem and the nature of the testimony of the Tribes of Israel.

* Liqutey Torah for Numbers 34:11 (Parashat Mas'ey): "…and the border shall descend..": It explains the 12-fold division of the land of Israel and of the Tribe as cubical projection of the hypercube of "The 32 Paths of Wisdom" of the superior Torah. 
 
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