PaRDeS and Quadriga

Some professors that I have spoken with have suggested that the parables of Jesus Christ are 'elliptical'. The idea is that Jesus spoke in such a way that he knew '100%' of what he was talking about, and the people that he was talking to knew '100%' of what he was saying while the 'reality' of his speech sort of broadens out among the witnesses that Jesus was not addressing. Overall, the reality of the Word of God would thus broaden out to include the listeners, but the message that the listeners receive and the message that the people that Jesus was directly talking to become different in depth.

The Septuagint apocrypha and Targums can give us an idea of what people actually believed (Philo and Josephus can reinforce this). We thus could have insight into what the New Testament is 'exactly' saying to people that it addresses, and we can also see 'exactly' how people would have received the message of the New Testament. Overall, I place much value in the original directly intended message of the New Testament (this is why I like the intertestamentary writings), but I also strongly value the work of the Holy Ghost to render messages through the scripture that are unique to people that love God and that God chooses to show himself to.

Consider the following passage, "I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know-God knows." - 2 Corinthians 12:2 (NIV). Ask yourself, "How would I know what the Apostle Paul is talking about in regard to the third heaven unless God either shows this to me or I learn about it from intertestamentary writings?"

My understanding of what the apostle Paul is talking about is that ideally four heavens exist that are like realities that people can inter into from meditating upon the scripture. Just as the priests would carry the Ark of the Covenant (this would represent carrying our king that would sit on the mercy seat as a throne) so too Ezekiel 1 talks about the four living creatures in relation to the throne (Revelation 5:6 talks about it too). Overall, some Jewish Rabbinical authorities, Roman Catholic theologians, and Episcopalian theologians might be able to anticipate what I am going to say next.

The Talmud talks about PaRDeS (to mean the Garden of Eden in Hebrew), and this is an Acronym for the Hebrew words Peshat, Remez, Derash, and Sod. Each word represents a different layer of interpretation and corresponding reality (so to speak) that a person would climb to arrive at God's throne. The medieval church developed the idea of the Quadriga (this is a four horse chariot) in order to explain the same thing that PaRDeS explains, and Luther from my understanding made the idea that scripture actually has both a set of four past tense layers of interpretation and four future tense layers of interpretation for a total of eight layers.

The word Quadriga actually appears in the Latin Vulgate as follows, "In quadriga prima equi rufi, et in quadriga secunda equi nigri." - Zechariah 6:2. Consider the following context in an English translation, "I looked up again-and there before me were four chariots coming out from between two mountains-mountains of bronze! The first chariot had red horses, the second black, the third white, and the fourth dappled-all of them powerful. I asked the angel who was speaking to me, 'What are these, my lord?' The angel answered me, 'These are the four spirits of heaven, going out from standing in the presence of the Lord of the whole world. The one with the black horses is going toward the north country, the one with the white horses toward the west, and the one with the dappled horses toward the south.'" - Zechariah 6:1-6 (NIV) Overall, the two mountains of bronze are the two cherubim that overshadow the Arc of the Covenant (throne of God), and the four living creatures are the four sprits of heaven so to speak.

The temple on earth was a shadow of the temple in heaven (Hebrews 8:5), and Jesus said that he is the temple (Matthew 26:61 see also Revelation 21:22). Temple worship thus was intended to represent things that already took place in heaven. Overall, PaRDeS can give us a type of communion with God through the blood of Jesus Christ as Lamb of God being shed and administered on the mercy seat of our souls (see hearts sprinkled clean - Hebrews 10:22 ) as our bodies are temples of God (1 Corinthians 6:19), but incense of the temple (Revelation 8:4 prayers of the saints) is much greater than the sacrifice because "To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices." - Mark 12:33 (NIV), and to this Jesus replied, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." Mark 12:33 (NIV)

The King of God thus as Jesus talks about it is the return to Eden and entry through the gate that reconciles God and Man through Christ the Logos (Word) John 1. As you might be able to see in my example of the use of the Talmud, I just now built a huge case using intertestamentary writings that would be hard for me to make otherwise. Overall, I would elaborate with examples from the Septuagint apocrypha, Targums, and such, but my education is rather limited.