What the Mountains Meant

“From the first mountain, the black one, the believers are these: people who have abandoned the faith, people who speak against the Lord, and men who betray God’s servants. For them there is no repentance; there is only death. That is why they are black as well — their whole stock is a lawless one.” [a]

“And from the second mountain, the bare one, the believers are these: hypocrites, and teachers of evil. These are like the first group, since they have no fruit of righteousness in them. Just as their mountain had no fruit on it, so men like this have a name and nothing more. They are empty of faith, and there is no fruit of truth in them. Repentance is open to them if they repent quickly; but if they drag their feet, their death will be with the first group.”

“Why is it, sir,” I said, “that these have repentance and the first ones do not? Their actions are much the same.” “Repentance is open to these,” he said, “because they did not speak against their Lord and did not become betrayers of God’s servants. It was craving for gain that made them play the hypocrite, and each of them taught to suit the cravings of men who were sinning. But they will pay a penalty for it, and repentance lies before them, because they did not become men who speak against the Lord, or betrayers.”

“And from the third mountain, the one with thorns and thistles on it, the believers are these. Some of them are rich; the others are tangled up in a great deal of business. The thistles are the rich, and the thorns are the ones tangled up in business of every kind.” [b]

“So these — the ones tangled up in a great deal of business of every kind — do not attach themselves to God’s servants. They wander off, choked by their own dealings. And the rich attach themselves to God’s servants only with difficulty, afraid of being asked for something by them. People like this will have a hard time getting into the kingdom of God. Just as it is hard to walk barefoot among thistles, so it is hard for people like this to enter the kingdom of God.”

“But repentance is open to all of them, and it must be quick, so that what they did not do in the time behind them they may make up in these days and do some good. So if they repent and do some good, they will live to God; but if they stay in what they have been doing, they will be handed over to those women, and the women will put them to death.”

“And from the fourth mountain, the one with a lot of grass on it — green at the top, dried out down at the roots, and some of it dried out by the sun as well — the believers are these: the double-minded, and the ones who have the Lord on their lips but do not have him in their heart. That is why their foundations are dried out and have no strength in them. Their words alone are alive; their works are dead. People like this are neither alive nor dead. So they are like the double-minded, for the double-minded are neither green nor dried out — neither alive nor dead.” [c]

“Just as that grass withered when it saw the sun, so the double-minded, the moment they hear that trouble is coming, worship idols out of cowardice and are ashamed of their Lord’s name. People like this, then, are neither alive nor dead. Even they can live, if they repent quickly; and if they do not repent, they have already been handed over to the women who carry off their life.”

“And from the fifth mountain, the rough one with green grass on it, the believers are these: believers, yes, but slow to learn, and headstrong, and pleased with themselves — wanting to know everything, and knowing nothing at all. Because of this headstrong streak of theirs, understanding left them, and a stupid foolishness moved in. They congratulate themselves on their understanding, and they want to be teachers on their own say-so, when they have no sense in them.” [d]

“So it was this high opinion of themselves that emptied out many of them, lifting themselves up; for a headstrong will and empty self-confidence are a great demon. Many of them were thrown away because of it, but some repented and believed and put themselves under people who did have understanding, once they recognized their own foolishness. And repentance is open to the rest of this kind too, since they were not wicked so much as foolish and without sense. So if they repent, they will live to God; but if they do not repent, they will make their home with the women who work their harm.”

“And those who believed from the sixth mountain, the one with cracks large and small in it and withered grass down in the cracks, are these. The ones who have the small cracks are the people who hold something against one another, and their slander has left them withered in the faith. Many of them, though, have repented, and the rest will repent when they hear my commands, since their slanders are small ones and they will repent quickly.” [e]

“But the ones who have the large cracks stick to their slander and turn vindictive, nursing their anger at one another. These were thrown off the tower and rejected from its building. People like this will have a hard time living. If God, our Lord, who rules over everything and has authority over his whole creation, does not hold their sins against those who confess them but is merciful instead — is a man, who is perishable and full of sins, to hold a grudge against another man, as though he had it in him to destroy the man or save him?”

“I, the angel of repentance, say this to you: all of you who have this bent in you, put it away, repent, and the Lord will heal the sins you committed before — if you clean yourselves of this demon. And if you do not, you will be handed over to him for death.”

“And from the seventh mountain, where the grass was green and cheerful and the whole mountain was thriving, and every kind of livestock and the birds of the sky were feeding on the grass on that mountain, and the grass they fed on only grew the more lush — the believers are these.” [f]

“They were always single-hearted and harmless and blessed, holding nothing against one another, always glad about God’s servants, clothed with the holy spirit of these virgins, always feeling for every person, and supplying every person out of their own labors, without an insult and without hesitating. So the Lord, seeing their singleness of heart and how childlike they were in everything, multiplied them in the labors of their hands and gave them favor in everything they did.”

“And I, the angel of repentance, say to you who are like this: stay this way, and your seed will never be blotted out. For the Lord has tested you and enrolled you in our own number, and your whole seed will live with the Son of God, since you have received of his Spirit.”

“And from the eighth mountain, where the many springs were and where the Lord’s whole creation drank from the springs, the believers are these: apostles and teachers who preached to the whole world and taught the word of the Lord with dignity and purity, and never kept anything back for themselves out of an evil craving, but always walked in righteousness and truth, just as they had received the Holy Spirit. The way in, for men like this, is with the angels.” [h]

“And from the ninth mountain, the deserted one, the one with crawling things and wild animals in it that destroy people, the believers are these.” [i]

“The ones with the stains are deacons who served badly. They plundered the living of widows and orphans, and made a profit for themselves out of the service they had been given to carry out. If they stay under the same craving, they are dead, and there is no hope of life for them; but if they turn back and finish their service purely, they will be able to live.”

“The ones covered with scabs are the people who denied their Lord and did not turn back to him. They have gone to waste and turned into desert. They do not attach themselves to God’s servants; they live off by themselves, and they destroy their own souls. It is like a vine left inside a fenced plot and neglected: it rots, it is overrun by weeds, in time it goes wild, and it is no more use to its own master. So too these men have given up on themselves and gone wild and become useless to their Lord.”

“So repentance is there for these, if they are not found to have denied from the heart; but if any man is found to have denied from the heart, I do not know whether he can live. And I am not saying this about the days we are in now, as though a man could deny now and still be given repentance. It is impossible for a man who means to deny his Lord now to be saved. It is those who denied long ago for whom repentance seems to lie open. So if anyone means to repent, let him be quick about it, before the tower is finished; otherwise the women will destroy him and put him to death.”

“And the stunted stones are the deceitful and the slanderers — and the wild animals you saw on the mountain are these same men. Just as wild animals destroy a man with their venom and kill him, so the words of men like this destroy a man and kill him. They are stunted in their faith because of the way they behave. Some of them repented and were saved; and the rest of this kind can be saved too, if they repent. But if they do not repent, they will die at the hands of those women whose power they have taken on.”

“And from the tenth mountain, where the trees were sheltering some sheep, the believers are these: overseers, and people given to hospitality, who were always glad to welcome God’s servants into their homes with no pretense about it. And the overseers sheltered the destitute and the widows by their own service, without ever letting up, and always conducted themselves purely. All of these, then, will be sheltered by the Lord for good. Those who have done this are held in honor before God, and their place is already with the angels, if they keep on serving the Lord to the end.” [j]

“And from the eleventh mountain, where the trees were full of fruit, decked out with all different kinds of fruit, the believers are these: the ones who suffered for the name of the Son of God — who suffered gladly, with their whole heart, and gave up their lives.” [k]

“Then why is it, sir,” I said, “that all these trees have fruit on them, but some of the fruit is finer than the rest?” “Listen,” he said. “Everyone who ever suffered for the name is held in honor before God, and the sins of all of them were taken away, because they suffered for the name of the Son of God. And why their fruits are of different kinds, some of them better than the rest — listen.”

“All those who were brought before the authorities and questioned and did not deny, but suffered gladly — these are held in greater honor with the Lord, and theirs is the better fruit. But all those who turned coward and hesitated, and worked out in their hearts whether to deny or to confess, and then suffered — their fruit is less, because that plan came up in their hearts; and it is an evil plan, that a slave should deny his own master.”

“So watch yourselves, you who are making plans like that, in case that plan stays in your hearts and you die to God. And you who are suffering for the name ought to give glory to God, because God counted you worthy to carry this name and to have all your sins healed.”

“So count yourselves blessed. Instead, you think you have done some great work if one of you suffers for God’s sake. The Lord is making you a gift of life, and you do not see it. Your sins had weighed you down, and if you had not suffered for the Lord’s name you would have died to God because of your sins.”

“I am saying this to you who are wavering about denying or confessing: confess that you have a Lord, or by denying him you will be handed over to prison. If the nations punish their own slaves when one of them denies his master, what do you think your Lord will do to you, who has authority over everyone? Get these plans out of your hearts, so that you may live to God for good.”

“And from the twelfth mountain, the white one, the believers are these. They are like infant children, in whose hearts no evil ever comes up. They never knew what wickedness is; they stayed childlike all along. People like this will live in the kingdom of God without a doubt, because they never defiled God’s commands in anything, but stayed childlike all the days of their life, in the same frame of mind.” [m]

“All of you who hold out,” he said, “and who become like infants, with no evil in you, will be held in greater honor than any of those spoken of before; for all infants are held in honor before God, and they come first with him. So you are blessed, every one of you who puts wickedness away from himself and puts on innocence: you will live to God first of all.”

When he had finished the parables of the mountains, I said to him, “Sir, explain to me now about the stones that were taken out of the plain and put into the building in place of the stones that were taken out of the tower, and about the round stones that were put into the building, and about the ones that are still round.”

“Listen about all of these too,” he said. “The stones taken out of the plain and put into the building of the tower in place of the ones that were thrown away are the roots of this white mountain. Since all the believers from the white mountain were found to be without evil, the lord of the tower ordered these stones from the roots of this mountain to be thrown into the building of the tower; for he knew that if these stones went into the building of the tower they would stay bright, and not one of them would turn black.” [n]

“But if he had gone on to do the same with the other mountains, he would have had to visit that tower again and clean it out. All of these were found white — those who have believed and those who are going to believe — for they are of the same stock. That stock is blessed, because there is no evil in it.”

“Now listen about the round, shining stones as well. They also are all from the white mountain. And listen to why they were found round. Their riches had darkened them a little and clouded them over, away from the truth — though they never left God, and no evil word ever came out of their mouth, but only fairness and the strength of truth.”

“So when the Lord saw their mind, that they were able to stand by the truth and stay good as well, he ordered their wealth to be trimmed back — not taken away from them altogether — so that they could do some good with what was left them; and they will live to God, because they are of good stock. That is why they were trimmed back a little and set into the building of this tower.”

“But the rest of the round stones, the ones that had not yet been fitted into that building, were put back in their place because they had not yet received the seal; for they were found to be very round indeed. This age has to be trimmed away from them, and the emptiness of their riches with it, and then they will come together in the kingdom of God. They have to enter the kingdom of God, because the Lord has blessed this harmless stock, and no one out of this stock will be lost. Even if one of them is tempted by that most wicked devil and does something wrong, he will run back quickly to his Lord.” [p]

“I count you all fortunate — I, the angel of repentance — every one of you who is innocent like an infant, because your portion is a good one, and held in honor before God.”

“And I say this to all of you who have received this seal: be single-hearted, do not keep offenses in mind, do not go on in your ill will or in the memory of bitter offenses. Become one spirit, and heal these evil tears and take them away from you, so that the Lord of the flocks may be glad about them. And he will be glad, if he finds everything sound and none of them fallen away. But if he finds any of these sheep fallen away, it will be woe for the shepherds. And if the shepherds themselves are found to have fallen away, what will they say to the Master of the flock? That the sheep brought them down? They will not be believed. It is not a believable thing that a shepherd should suffer anything at the hands of his sheep; they will be punished instead, for their lie. And I myself am a shepherd, and the strictest obligation lies on me to give an account of you.”

“So put yourselves right while the tower is still being built. The Lord lives among men who love peace; peace is truly dear to him. But from the quarrelsome, and from men ruined by their own ill will, he stays far away. Give him back a spirit whole, the way you received it.” [r]

“Suppose you gave a fuller a new garment, whole, and you wanted to get it back whole, and the fuller handed it back to you torn. Would you take it? Would you not flare up at once and go after him with abuse, saying, ‘I gave you a whole garment. Why did you tear it and make it useless? It cannot be worn now, because of the tear you made in it.’ Would you not say all this to the fuller about the tear you found in your garment?”

“So if you are this upset about your garment, and complain that you did not get it back whole, what do you think the Lord will do to you? He gave you a whole spirit, and you have made the whole of it useless, so that it can be of no use at all to its owner; its usefulness began to fail the moment it was corrupted by you. So will the Lord of that spirit not punish you with death for what you have done?”

“He certainly will, I tell you — to every one of them he finds still keeping offenses in mind. Do not trample his mercy underfoot, he says; honor him instead, because he is so patient with your sins and is not like you. Repent, then. It is worth your while.”