The Rock and the Gate

And as I walked along with him I was happy, seeing so many good things. Then the shepherd said to me, “Go and bring quicklime and finely ground potsherd, so that I can fill in the shapes of the stones that were taken up and put into the building; everything around the tower has to be made smooth.” So I did as he told me, and brought it to him. “Help me,” he said, “and the work will soon be finished.” So he filled in the shapes of the stones that had gone into the building, and gave orders for the ground all around the tower to be swept and made clean. The virgins took brooms and swept, and carried all the rubbish out of the tower, and sprinkled water; and the ground around the tower became cheerful and very lovely. [a]

The shepherd said to me, “Everything has been cleaned. If the owner of the tower comes to inspect it, he will have nothing to hold against us.” He said this and meant to leave. But I caught hold of his bag and began to put him on oath by the Lord to explain to me what he had shown me. “I have to be away for a short time,” he said to me, “and then I will explain everything to you. Wait for me here until I come back.” “Sir, what am I to do here by myself?” I said to him. “You are not by yourself,” he said. “These virgins are here with you.” “Hand me over to them, then,” I said. The shepherd called them over and said to them, “I am putting him in your care until I come back.” And he went away. So I was alone with the virgins. They were very cheerful and kind to me, especially the four more distinguished ones among them.

The virgins said to me, “The shepherd is not coming here today.” “Then what am I to do?” I said. “Wait for him until evening,” they replied. “If he comes, he will talk with you; and if he does not come, you will stay here with us until he does.” “I will wait for him until evening,” I said to them. “If he does not arrive, I will go home and come back early in the morning.” “You were handed over to us,” they answered. “You cannot leave us.” “Where am I to stay, then?” I said. “You will sleep with us,” they said, “as a brother and not as a husband. You are our brother, and from now on we intend to live with you, because we love you very much.” [e]

But I was ashamed to stay with them. Then the one who seemed to be the first among them began to kiss me and put her arms around me; and the others, seeing her holding me, began to kiss me too, and to lead me around the tower and play with me. And I became like a young man myself and began to play with them. Some of them formed a ring and danced, others danced, others sang; and I said nothing, but walked around the tower with them and was happy with them. When evening came I wanted to go home, but they would not let me — they kept me there. So I stayed with them through the night and slept beside the tower. The virgins spread their linen tunics on the ground and laid me down in the middle of them, and they did nothing at all but pray; and I prayed with them without stopping, and no less than they did. And the virgins were glad that I prayed that way. And I stayed there with the virgins until about eight the next morning.

Then the shepherd arrived and said to the virgins, “Did you treat him badly at all?” “Ask him,” they said. I said to him, “Sir, I was glad I stayed with them.” “What did you have for supper?” he asked. “I had the words of the Lord for supper, sir,” I answered, “the whole night long.” “Did they look after you well?” he asked. “Yes, sir,” I said. “Now then,” he said, “what do you want to hear first?” “In the order you showed me from the beginning, sir,” I said. “I ask you, sir, that as I put my questions to you, so you will make them plain to me.” “As you wish,” he replied, “so I will explain to you, and I will hide nothing at all from you.”

“First of all, sir,” I said, “explain this to me: what are the rock and the gate?” “This rock,” he answered, “and this gate are the Son of God.” “How can that be, sir?” I said. “The rock is old and the gate is new.” “Listen and understand, you dull man. The Son of God is older than all his creation, so much so that he was the Father’s adviser in making it. That is why the rock is old.” “And why is the gate new, sir?” I said. “Because,” he answered, “he became visible in the last days, at the finishing of it all. That is why the gate was made new: so that those who are going to be saved might go through it into the kingdom of God. You saw,” he said, “that the stones that came in through the gate went into the building of the tower, and the ones that did not come in were thrown back again to their own place?” “I saw it, sir,” I answered. “In the same way,” he went on, “no one will go into the kingdom of God unless he receives his holy name. If you want to go into some city, and that city is walled all around and has one gate, can you get into that city any way except through the gate it has?” “How could it be otherwise, sir?” I said. [g]

“Then if you cannot get into the city except through the gate it has, in the same way a person cannot get into the kingdom of God any other way than through the name of his Son, the one he loves. You saw,” he added, “the crowd that was building the tower?” “I saw them, sir,” I said. “Those,” he said, “are all glorious angels. The Lord is walled about with them. And the gate is the Son of God: this is the one way in to the Lord. So no one will go in to him any other way than through his Son. You saw,” he continued, “the six men, and the tall and glorious man in the middle of them, who walked around the tower and rejected stones from the building?” “I saw him, sir,” I answered. “The glorious man,” he said, “is the Son of God, and those six are glorious angels, holding him up on the right and on the left. Not one of these glorious angels,” he went on, “goes in to God without him. Whoever does not receive his name will not go into the kingdom of God.”

“And the tower,” I asked, “what is it?” “This tower,” he replied, “is the church.” “And these virgins, who are they?” “These are holy spirits. There is no other way for a person to be found in the kingdom of God unless they clothe him with their clothing; for if you receive only the name and do not receive the clothing from them, you gain nothing. These virgins are powers of the Son of God. If you carry the name but do not carry his power, you will be carrying his name for nothing. And the stones,” he went on, “that you saw thrown out — they carried the name, but they did not put on the virgins’ clothing.” “What sort of clothing is theirs, sir?” I asked. “Their own names,” he said, “are their clothing. Whoever carries the name of the Son of God ought to carry their names as well; for the Son himself carries the names of these virgins. All the stones,” he went on, “that you saw going into the building of the tower, handed in through their hands and staying in the building, have been clothed with the power of these virgins. That is why you see that the tower has become one stone with the rock. In the same way, those who have believed in the Lord through his Son and are clothed with these spirits will be one spirit, one body, and the color of their clothes will be one. And those who carry the names of the virgins have their home in the tower.” [k]

“Then why, sir,” I asked, “were the stones that were thrown out thrown out? They came through the gate, and they were set into the building of the tower by the virgins’ hands.” “Since everything matters to you,” he replied, “and you examine it all so carefully, listen about the stones that were thrown out. All these,” he said, “received the name of the Son of God, and they received the power of these virgins as well. So when they had received these spirits they were made strong, and they were among God’s own servants; and they had one spirit and one body and one set of clothing, for they thought the same way and did what was right. “But after a while they were talked over by the women you saw dressed in black clothes, with their shoulders bare and their hair hanging loose, and shapely. When they saw these women they craved them, and put on their power, and stripped off the clothing and the power of the virgins. So these men were thrown out of the house of God and handed over to those women. But the ones who were not fooled by the beauty of these women stayed in the house of God. There,” he said, “is your explanation of the ones who were thrown out.”

“Then what, sir,” I said, “if these men, being what they are, repent and throw away their cravings for these women, and come back to the virgins and walk in their power and in their works — will they not go into the house of God?” “They will go in,” he said, “if they throw away the works of these women and take up the power of the virgins again and walk in their works. This is the very reason there was a pause in the building: so that if these men repent, they may go into the building of the tower. But if they do not repent, then others will come in instead, and these will be thrown out for good.” For all this I gave thanks to the Lord, because he had pity on everyone who calls on his name, and sent the angel of repentance to us who had sinned against him, and made our spirit new; and when we were already ruined and had no hope of living, he made our life new again. [m]

“Now, sir,” I went on, “tell me why the tower was not built on the ground, but on the rock and on the gate.” “Are you still,” he said, “senseless and without understanding?” “I have to ask you about everything, sir,” I said, “because I can make nothing at all of any of it. It is all great and glorious and hard for people to understand.” “Listen,” he said. “The name of the Son of God is great, and cannot be contained, and it carries the whole world. If, then, the whole creation is carried by the Son of God, what do you think of those who are called by him, and carry the name of the Son of God, and walk in his commands? Do you see what sort of people he carries? Those who carry his name with their whole heart. So he himself became a foundation for them, and he carries them gladly, because they are not ashamed to carry his name.”

“Explain to me, sir,” I said, “the names of the virgins, and of the women dressed in black clothes.” “Listen,” he said, “to the names of the stronger virgins, the ones standing at the corners. The first is Faith, the second Self-Control, the third Power, the fourth Patience. And the others standing between them have these names: Simplicity, Innocence, Purity, Cheerfulness, Truth, Understanding, Harmony, Love. Whoever carries these names, and the name of the Son of God, will be able to go into the kingdom of God. “Listen too,” he went on, “to the names of the women with the black clothes. Four of these are the stronger. The first is Unbelief, the second Lack of Self-Control, the third Disobedience, the fourth Deceit. And the ones who follow them are called Grief, Wickedness, Debauchery, Quick Temper, Falsehood, Folly, Slander, Hatred. The servant of God who carries these names will see the kingdom of God, but will not go into it.” [o]

“And the stones, sir,” I said, “that were brought up out of the deep and fitted into the building — who are they?” “The first,” he said, “the ten that were laid in the foundations, are the first generation; the twenty-five are the second generation of righteous men; the thirty-five are God’s prophets and his servants; and the forty are apostles and teachers of the preaching of the Son of God.” “Why then, sir,” I asked, “did the virgins carry these stones through the gate as well, and hand them over for the building of the tower?” “Because,” he answered, “these were the first to carry these spirits, and they never left one another at all — neither the spirits the men nor the men the spirits — but the spirits stayed with them until they fell asleep. And if they had not had these spirits with them, they would not have been of use for the building of this tower.”

“Explain something more to me, sir,” I said. “What is it you are after?” he asked. “Why, sir,” I said, “did the stones come up out of the deep and get set into the building of the tower, when they had already carried these spirits?” “They had to come up through water,” he answered, “in order to be made alive; for there was no other way for them to go into the kingdom of God, unless they laid aside the deadness of their former life. So these who had fallen asleep also received the seal of the Son of God, and went into the kingdom of God. For before a person carries the name of the Son of God,” he went on, “he is dead; but when he receives the seal he lays aside the deadness and takes up life. The seal, then, is the water. They go down into the water dead, and they come up alive. So this seal was preached to them too, and they made use of it in order to go into the kingdom of God.” [r]

“Why, sir,” I asked, “did the forty stones come up out of the deep with them, when they already had the seal?” “Because,” he said, “these apostles and teachers, who preached the name of the Son of God, fell asleep in the power and faith of the Son of God, and preached also to those who had fallen asleep before them, and themselves gave them the seal of the preaching. So they went down into the water with them and came up again. But these went down alive and came up alive, while the ones who had fallen asleep before them went down dead and came up alive. So it was through them that they were made alive and came to know the name of the Son of God. That is why they came up along with them, and were fitted along with them into the building of the tower, and were built in with them without being cut to shape; for they had fallen asleep in righteousness and in great purity — only they did not have this seal. So you have the explanation of these as well.” “I have it, sir,” I said.

“Now then, sir,” I said, “tell me about the mountains. Why are their shapes different, one from another, and so varied?” “Listen,” he said. “These mountains are the twelve tribes that live in the whole world. The Son of God was preached to them through the apostles.” “But why are the mountains of different kinds, one shape here and another there? Explain that to me, sir.” “Listen,” he answered. “These twelve tribes that live in the whole world are twelve nations, and they vary in the way they think and in their minds. As varied as the mountains you saw are, so varied are the minds and the thinking of these nations. And I will explain to you what each one of them does.” [v]

“First, sir,” I said, “explain this: why, when the mountains are so varied, did their stones become one color, shining, when they were set into the building — like the stones that had come up out of the deep?” “Because,” he said, “all the nations that live under heaven heard and believed, and were called by the name of the Son of God. So when they had received the seal, they had one way of thinking and one mind; and their faith became one and their love one, and they carried the spirits of the virgins along with the name. That is why the building of the tower became one color, shining like the sun. But after they had come together into the same place and become one body, some of them defiled themselves and were thrown out of the family of the righteous, and became again what they had been before — worse, in fact.”

“How, sir,” I said, “did they become worse, when they had come to know God?” “The man who does not know God,” he answered, “and does evil, has a certain punishment for his wickedness; but the man who has come to know God ought not to do evil any longer, but to do good. So if the man who ought to do good does evil, does he not seem to do worse than the man who does not know God? For this reason those who have not known God and do evil are condemned to death, but those who have known God and have seen his mighty acts and still do evil will be punished twice over, and will die forever. This is how the church of God will be cleansed. “As you saw the stones taken out of the tower and handed over to the evil spirits and thrown out of it — and there will be one body of those who have been cleansed, just as the tower became as though made of one stone after it was cleaned — so it will be with the church of God, after it has been cleansed and has thrown out the wicked and the hypocrites and the blasphemers and the double-minded and those who do wickedness of every kind. After these have been thrown out, the church of God will be one body, one way of thinking, one mind, one faith, one love. And then the Son of God will be overjoyed and will be glad among them, because he has received his people pure.” “It all stands great and glorious, sir,” I said. [w]

“One more thing, sir,” I said. “Explain to me the power and the doings of each one of the mountains, so that every soul that trusts in the Lord may hear it and give glory to his great and wonderful and glorious name.” “Listen,” he said, “to the variety of the mountains and of the twelve nations.”