The Throne

A strong cautionary note; The early articulation of the Merkabah and Hechalot by the Nazarenes was not and cannot be equated with the later work of the Tannaim. The “Merkabah riders” and assents into the “Heavenly Halls” are strictly rabbinic works and explorations. The Nazarene perspective is one of delineating the Eternal Torah or Eternal Word as the Being on the Throne as the Vision of the Presence. Their view of “The Name “or Shekinah Presence, which resides in the Holy of Holies as being the Holy Spirit of God. “We know that in the period of the Second Temple an esoteric doctrine was already taught in Pharisaic circles.

The first chapter of Genesis, the story of Creation (Maasch Bereshith), and the first chapter of Ezekiel, the vision of God’s throne-chariot (the ‘Merkabah’), were the favorite subjects of discussion and interpretation which it was apparently considered inadvisable to make public. Originally these discussions were restricted to the elucidation and exposition of the respective Biblical passages.

Thus St. Jerome in one of his letters mentions a Jewish tradition which forbids the study of the beginning and the end of the Book of Ezekiel before the completion of the thirtieth year. It seems probable; however, that speculation did not remain restricted to commentaries on the Biblical text. The hayoth, the ‘living creatures’, and other objects of Ezekiel’s vision were conceived as angels who form an angelologic hierarchy at the Celestial Court.” – Gershom G. Scholem, Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism (1941/1961) p. 42

It is the articulation of Throne and the Kabod (Divine Face or Appearance) in Ezekiel that is the basis of the Nazarene Christology. There is the vision of the Throne and of the Unseeable.

 KJV Ezekiel 1:26 “And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone: and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it. 27 And I saw as the colour of amber, as the appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance of his loins even upward, and from the appearance of his loins even downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about. 28 As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spake.”

The resemblance to the Throne of the Revelation of John 4 is striking. Nazarene and subsequently Christian thought and writings are permeated with this strain of thought. The Nazarenes articulated in their writings “the appearance of a man” and the appearance of the likeness of the “Glory of the LORD” as being the “Divine Logos” or “Miltha”[147]or Eternal Torah. In the former and latter train of thought Messiah’s origin is before is before creation Rabbi Judah, stated:“These times were over long ago”.

As regards to his origin, he was to be “before the stars and zodiacs”.[148] Torah Organic/Eternal Torah/Divine Logos In Jewish mythos, Torah is a truly supernal entity. It is one of the seven primordial things that pre-date creation. God used the celestial Torah as a blueprint for ordering His universe. According to Midrash Konen, God drew three drops of water and three drops of fire from the supernal Torah kept in heaven and from them God made the world (2:24).

The Medieval German Pietists identified Torah as “the footstool of God,” conflating it with God’s Glory and the Shekhina. Torah is, in these terms, is nothing less than the physical manifestation of divinity, a kind of “God In-scripted,” as it was? To be constantly engaged in its study is the highest form of worship known to Judaism”.[149] To flesh this out a little more this is the teaching of the Taanaim and later Sages.

The question was asked Rabbi Akiva “what was before creation?” The initial response was not to talk discuss “before-times”, and the exploration of this began in earnest for the Tanna. Their conclusions in part are stated above. Additionally, the Organic, Supernal, or “Living Torah” was created two-thousand years before the beginning. This is the tradition of Rabbinic Judaism.

 That said a paraphrase of a reference to older traditions (pre-70) is the following; Before the beginning was G-d, The First Emanation from G-d was the Torah, By the Torah all thing that were made were made…

Another tradition is that the “Task of the Torah is the Salvation of mankind”. The Eternal Torah as an emanation could take form and did as it was handed to Moses.

This all came from the discerning work of Sages and Nazarene. What is the proof? In the former and latter train of thought Messiah’s origin is before is before creation Rabbi Judah, stated:“These times were over long ago”. As regards to his origin, he was to be “before the stars and zodiacs”.[150]

KJVJohn 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

It was this Torah that had been tasked with the salvation of man, and in Rabbinic writings complained that man did not live long enough to understand, which references Isaiah “Who has believed our report?” If the Torah/Word of G-d was an emanation of G-d, it was a part of G-d, therefore G-d. G-d is unified and cannot be separated.

The inverse is if the emanation can take form to which the Sages agree, they, the Nazarenes maintained that it had. Across the spectrum of Jewish thought this is evident.

 “I shall be reckoned with the angels, my dwelling is in the holy council. Who [...] and who has been despised like me? And who has been rejected of men like me? And who compares to me in enduring evil? No teaching compares to my teaching. For I sit [...] in heaven. Who is like me among the angels? Who could cut off my words? And who could measure the flow of my lips? Who can associate with me and thus compare with my judgment? I am the beloved of the King, a companion of the holy ones and none can accompany me. And to my glory none can compare, for I [...]. Neither with gold I will crown myself, nor with refined gold [...] “[4Q431 and 4Q427 fr.7] Livius

Compared to the reckoning of “Wisdom” in Proverbs, and across the writings of the Sages, and Nazarene writings the “Spirit of Messiah” is equated with that of the Organic or Living Torah.