The Tower Built on Water

The vision I saw, brothers, was like this. I had fasted often and begged the Lord to make plain to me the revelation he had promised to show me through that elderly lady. That same night she appeared to me and said, “Since you are so needy and so eager to know everything, go out to the field where you husk your grain, and about the fifth hour I will appear to you and show you what you need to see.” I asked her, “Lady, to what part of the field?” “Wherever you like,” she said. So I picked out a good spot, off by itself. But before I could speak to her and name the place, she said to me, “I will come there, wherever you want.” [a]

So I went out to the field, brothers, and counted off the hours, and came to the place where I had arranged for her to meet me. And I see an ivory bench standing there, and on the bench a linen pillow, and spread over it a covering of fine linen. When I saw all this laid out and no one anywhere in the place, I was thunderstruck. Something like a trembling took hold of me, my hair stood on end, and something like a shudder came over me at being there alone. Then I came back to myself, remembered the glory of God, and took courage. I knelt down and confessed my sins to the Lord again, as I had before.

Then she came, with six young men — the same ones I had seen before — and she stood beside me and listened while I prayed and confessed my sins to the Lord. She touched me and said, “Hermas, stop asking about nothing but your sins. Ask about righteousness too, so that you may take some part of it home to your household.” She raised me up by the hand, brought me to the bench, and said to the young men, “Go and build.” After the young men had gone off and the two of us were alone, she said to me, “Sit here.” I say to her, “Lady, let the elders sit down first.” “Sit down where I tell you,” she said.

So when I wanted to sit on the right side, she would not let me; she motioned with her hand for me to sit on the left. I was turning this over and feeling hurt that she had not let me sit on the right, when she said to me, “Are you hurt, Hermas? The place on the right belongs to others — to people who have already pleased God and have suffered for the sake of the Name. You still fall far short of sitting with them. But stay as you are, in your simplicity, and you will sit with them, along with everyone who does what they did and bears what they bore.”

“What did they bear?” I said. “Listen,” she said. “Whippings, prisons, great troubles, crosses, wild animals — for the sake of the Name. That is why the right-hand side of the sanctuary belongs to them, and to anyone who suffers for the Name; the left-hand side belongs to everyone else. But both of them, those seated on the right and those on the left, have the same gifts and the same promises. The only difference is that those on the right are seated there, and have a certain glory.” “You are longing to sit on the right with them, but you fall short in many ways. Still, you will be cleansed of the ways you fall short — and everyone who is not double-minded will be cleansed of every one of their sins, right up to this day.” [g]

After saying this she wanted to leave. But I fell down at her feet and begged her, by the Lord, to show me the vision she had promised me. So she took hold of my hand again, raised me up, and sat me on the bench on the left; and she herself sat on the right. Then she lifted up a shining staff and said to me, “Do you see something great?” And I say to her, “Lady, I see nothing.” She said to me, “Look — do you not see, right in front of you, a great tower being built on the water out of bright square stones?”

The tower was being built square by the six young men who had come with her, and tens of thousands of other men were carrying stones to it, some out of the deep water, some up from the land, and handing them to the six young men, who took them and built with them. All the stones dragged up out of the deep they set into the building just as they were, for they were already shaped and matched the others at the joints. They clung to one another so closely that the joints could not be seen, and the tower looked as though it had been built out of a single stone.

The other stones, the ones carried up from the dry land, did not fare the same. Some the young men threw away, some they set into the building, and others they cut to pieces and threw far from the tower. Many more stones lay around the tower, and they did not use them for the building at all: some of them were scabbed, others had cracks in them, others had been cut short, and others were white and round and would not fit into the building. And I saw still other stones thrown far away from the tower, landing on the road and not staying on the road but rolling off it into trackless ground; and others falling into fire and burning; and others falling close to water and unable to roll into it, though they wanted to roll down and go into the water.

When she had shown me these things she wanted to hurry off. I say to her, “Lady, what good is it to me to have seen all this and not know what any of it means?” She answered me, “You are a crafty man, wanting to know all about the tower.” “Yes, lady,” I said, “so that I can report it to the brothers, and they can be cheered, and can hear this and come to know the Lord in great glory.” [k]

And she said, “Many will indeed hear it. Some of them, when they hear, will be glad, and some will weep — but even these, if they hear and repent, will be glad too. So listen to the parables of the tower; I will reveal everything to you. And give me no more trouble about revelations after this. These revelations are at an end; they are complete. But you will not stop asking for revelations, because you are shameless.” “The tower you see being built is myself, the Church — the one who has appeared to you now and before. So ask whatever you like about the tower, and I will reveal it to you, so that you may rejoice with the holy ones.”

I said to her, “Lady, since you have judged me worthy this one time to have everything revealed to me, reveal it.” And she said to me, “Whatever can be revealed to you will be revealed. Only let your heart be turned toward God, and do not be double-minded about anything you see.” I asked her, “Why is the tower built on the water, lady?” “I told you before,” she said, “and you keep searching it out carefully. Well, searching, you find the truth. So hear why the tower is built on the water: because your life was saved through water, and will be saved through water. And the tower was founded on the word of the Almighty and glorious Name, and it is held together by the unseen power of the Master.”

I answered and said to her, “Lady, this is a great and marvelous thing. But the six young men doing the building — who are they, lady?” “They are the holy angels of God, the first ones created, to whom the Lord handed over his whole creation, to make it grow and build it up and be masters of all of it. So the building of the tower will be finished by them.” “And the others, the ones carrying the stones — who are they?” “They too are holy angels of God, but those six are above them. The building of the tower will be completed, and they will all celebrate together around the tower and give glory to God, because the building of the tower is finished.” [n]

I asked her, “Lady, I would like to know what becomes of the stones, and what kind of power they have.” She answered me, “It is not because you deserve it more than anyone else that this should be revealed to you. There are others ahead of you and better than you, and these visions should have been revealed to them. It has been revealed to you, and will be, so that the name of God may be glorified — and for the sake of the double-minded, who argue in their hearts whether these things are so or not. Tell them that all of this is true, and that none of it is outside the truth: it is all strong and firm and set on a foundation.”

“Now hear about the stones that go into the building. The square white ones that matched each other at the joints are the apostles and overseers and teachers and deacons who walked according to the dignity of God, and who oversaw and taught and served the chosen of God purely and with dignity. Some of them have fallen asleep and some are still alive. They always agreed with one another, kept peace among themselves, and listened to one another — and that is why their joints match in the building of the tower.” “And the ones dragged up out of the deep, laid into the building and matching at the joints the stones already built in — who are they?” “They are the ones who suffered for the sake of the Lord’s name.” [p]

“But I want to know, lady, who the other stones are, the ones carried up from the dry land.” “The ones that go into the building without being cut,” she said, “are the ones the Lord approved, because they walked in the Lord’s straight ways and carried out his commands.” “And who are the ones being brought up and set into the building right now?” “They are young in the faith, and faithful. But the angels warn them to do good, because wickedness was found in them.”

“Then who are the ones they were throwing away and casting off?” “These are the ones who have sinned and want to repent. That is why they have not been thrown far outside the tower — they will still be useful for the building, if they repent. So those who are going to repent, if they repent, will be strong in faith, provided they repent now, while the tower is being built. But if the building is finished, they no longer have a place; they will be thrown out. The one thing they will have is this: to lie beside the tower.”

“Do you want to know about the ones cut to pieces and thrown far from the tower? They are the sons of lawlessness. They believed in hypocrisy, and no wickedness ever left them. That is why they have no salvation — they are of no use for the building, because of the wicked things in them. So they were cut up and thrown far off, because of the Lord’s anger; they provoked him to anger.” “Now the others, the many you saw lying there and not going into the building: the scabbed ones are those who have come to know the truth and have not stayed in it.” [s]

“And the ones with cracks — who are they?” “These are the ones who hold something against each other in their hearts and are not at peace among themselves. They keep up a face of peace, but when they go their separate ways their wickedness stays on in their hearts. Those are the cracks the stones have. And the ones cut short: they have believed, and the greater part of them is in righteousness, but they have some parts of lawlessness too, and that is why they are stunted and not whole.”

“But who are these, lady, the white round ones that do not fit into the building of the tower?” She answered me, “How long will you be foolish and without understanding, asking about everything and understanding nothing? These are people who have faith, but who also have the wealth of this age. When trouble comes, they deny their Lord because of their wealth and their business.” I answered her and said, “Then when will they be useful for the building, lady?” “When the wealth that charms their souls away has been trimmed off them,” she said, “then they will be useful to God. A round stone cannot become square unless it is trimmed and something is knocked off it; in the same way, people who are rich in this age cannot become useful to the Lord unless their wealth is trimmed off. Learn it first from your own case. When you were rich you were useless; now you are useful, and good for life. Be useful to God — for you yourself are one of the stones being used.”

“The other stones you saw thrown far from the tower, falling onto the road and rolling off the road into trackless ground — these are the ones who have believed but who let go of their true road because of their double-mindedness. Thinking they can find a better road, they wander off and wear themselves out, walking in trackless places.” “The ones falling into the fire and burning are the ones who have fallen away from the living God for good. It never comes up in their hearts again to repent, because of their cravings for indecency and the wicked things they did.” “And do you want to know who the others are, the ones falling close to the water and unable to roll into it? These are the ones who heard the word and wanted to be baptized into the name of the Lord — and then, when the purity that truth demands comes to their minds, they change their minds and go back after their own wicked cravings.” [u]

With that she finished her explanation of the tower.

But I was shameless still, and asked her whether all those stones that had been thrown away and did not fit into the building of the tower could repent, and whether they had a place in this tower. “They can repent,” she said, “but they cannot be fitted into this tower. They will fit into another place, a much lower one — and that only after they have been tormented and have completed the days of their sins. And they will be moved for this reason: because they shared in the righteous word. And then it will happen that they are moved out of their torments, because of the wicked things they did. But if it does not come up in their hearts, they are not saved, because their hearts are hard.”

When at last I stopped asking her about all these things, she said to me, “Do you want to see anything else?” I was longing to see more, and my whole face lit up at the thought of it. She looked at me, gave a slight smile, and said to me, “Do you see seven women around the tower?” “I see them, lady,” I said. “This tower is held up by them, at the Lord’s command. Now hear what each of them does. The first of them, the one with her hands clasped, is called Faith. Through her God’s chosen ones are saved. The second, the one with her belt drawn tight who works like a man, is called Self-control. She is Faith’s daughter. Whoever follows her becomes happy in his life, because he will keep away from every wicked deed, trusting that if he keeps away from every wicked craving he will inherit eternal life.” [w]

“And the others, lady — who are they?” “They are one another’s daughters. Their names are Simplicity, Knowledge, Innocence, Dignity, and Love. So when you do all the works of their mother, you will be able to live.” “I would like to know, lady,” I said, “what power each of them has.” “Listen,” she said, “to the powers they have. Their powers are held by one another, and they follow one another in the order in which they were born. From Faith is born Self-control; from Self-control, Simplicity; from Simplicity, Innocence; from Innocence, Dignity; from Dignity, Knowledge; from Knowledge, Love. So the works of these women are pure and dignified and divine. Whoever serves them, then, and has the strength to hold on to their works, will have his home in the tower with God’s holy ones.”

Then I was asking her about the times, whether the end was already here. She cried out in a loud voice, “Man, you have no understanding! Do you not see the tower still being built? When the tower has been finished and built, then it has its end — and it will be built up quickly. Ask me nothing more. This reminder is enough for you and for the holy ones, and so is the renewal of your spirits.” “But these things were not revealed to you alone. They were revealed so that you could make them clear to everyone — after three days, since you have to understand them first. And I command you first, Hermas, to speak all these words that I am going to say to you into the ears of the holy ones, so that when they have heard them and done them they may be cleansed of their wickedness — and you along with them.”