Lazarus, Come Forth!

“Forgetting, sleep, and death are stages of basically the same process. Now, in contradistinction to them stand remembrance, awakening, and resurrection. Just as forgetting, sleep, and death are stages of an apparent disappearance into the darkness of a realm held to be unconscious by normal day consciousness, disappearing beyond waking experience, so do remembrance, awakening, and resurrection signify basically the one single process of reappearance, the return of what had been submerged in the darkness of the unconscious.” —Valentin Tomburg (p. 50)

Drawing on the ancient and frequently forgotten sources of esoteric Christianity, Valentin Tomberg reflects on the mysteries of humanity's covenant with God in history. The power of these meditations is that they reflect the author's personal spiritual journey into the depths of God's kingdom within—within the soul, within personal relationships, within nature and the cosmos.

Part one of Lazarus, Come Forth!—"The Miracle of Raising Lazarus in World History"—looks at an encounter with the Father through the miracles of Creation and the Fall and through Moses and the Old Testament Covenant and the Ten Commandments.

Part two, "The Ten Commandments: The Revelation on Mt. Sinai," is a meditation on the seven miracles of Christ as described in the Gospel of St. John, culminating in the raising of Lazarus, the miracle of being raised from forgetfulness, sleep, and death to remembrance, wakefulness, and resurrection. Lazarus thus becomes a paradigm for understanding the spiritual and cultural history of humanity.

In part three, "Thy Kingdom Come: The Three Kingdoms of Nature, Humanity, and God," we consider the encounter with the Holy Spirit and living out the life of Christ through the Church. We are asked to reflect on the three kingdoms of God, humankind, and nature, which give natural order and meaning to the Christian life.

The union of love and prayer in the Spirit is the focus of the first section of part four, "The Breath of Life," in which we are invited to see our natural breathing as breathing the breath of God. And part four ends with "Natural and Supernatural Images of the Holy Trinity," which discusses the message of the starry heaven at night, the message of the setting Sun, and the message of the birth of a new day.

This volume should not be missed by anyone with a serious interest in esoteric Christianity or who merely wishes to go more deeply into the meaning of the Holy Scriptures.

Lazarus, Come Forth! is a fully revised translation of Lazarus, komm heraus. A previous edition of this work was titled Covenant of the Heart.