There is a statement I frequently come back to in The Urantia Book (UB), Paper 67:0.1, pg. 754. It’s an important touchstone I have quoted from before in this forum. “The problems associated with human existence on Urantia are impossible of understanding without a knowledge of certain great epochs of the past, notably the occurrence and consequences of the planetary rebellion.”
Not only has our planet needed a “new universe story,” it has also needed an upgraded and improved version of the old. The UB provides both.
Memories of the Lucifer Rebellion are fading but I can sometimes find a distant echo in Christian commentary. Author C. S. Lewis (The Chronicles of Narnia) once said in a sermon, “Our lifelong nostalgia, our longing to be reunited with something in the universe from which we now feel cut off, to be on the inside of some door which we have always seen from the outside, is no mere neurotic fancy, but the truest index of our real situation.” (fr. The Weight of Glory, C. S. Lewis)
Clearly Lewis discerned the importance of, the very necessity of, possessing a knowledge of the planetary rebellion that The UB preserves for us.
Some readers may believe this council of twenty-four is new information, revealed in The Urantia Book for the first time. Indeed much of it is quite new. However, those raised with the Bible may have already encountered the Four and Twenty Elders in John the Divine’s Book of Revelation, 4:4, (also quoted in The UB, 45:4.1, pg. 513). There we find, "And round about the Throne were Four and Twenty Seats (Thrones): and upon the Seats I saw Four and Twenty Elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads Crowns of Gold."
“When in temporary exile on Patmos, John wrote the Book of Revelation, which you now have in greatly abridged and distorted form.” (139:4.14, pg. 1555)
In their interpretations made from the scant record preserved in the Bible, scholars have already deduced much of what The UB says about the Book of Revelation. These theologians have understood John’s Revelation better than we did from anything we heard about it in an average Sunday morning sermon, if such a sermon about his book was even preached.
I know I must have heard one in my church, St. Paul’s United Church of Canada, because I remember I wanted to have my name “written in the book of life. (Rev 20:15)” Otherwise it was “the lake of fire” for me!
Many Christian commentators figured out that the elders are surviving (resurrected) mortals of advanced spiritual standing. Some speculate that they are the twelve apostles and the twelve patriarchs of Israel (http://watch.pair.com/24-elders.html) however that would make it a somewhat one-sided ruling body, not only all male, but a completely Jewish council. The UB presents a more diverse group. It is revealed that the twenty-four include the spiritual leaders of the eight races of Urantia such as Onagar, Singlangton, and Onamonalonton.
Some UB readers have unhappily pointed out that the council has only one woman representative out of the sixteen members named, she being Adam’s mate Eve. My only speculation on this point is that if spiritual leadership is the criteria, “by nature they were all real leaders when they functioned on Urantia,” (114:2.1, pg. 1251) there were few women to choose from. Most ancient societies did not allow woman to hold such leadership positions.
Naturally, Christian scholars are forced to fall back on the information in the Bible alone (at least publicly). I came across Pastor John Burke’s scholarly analysis (same link above) which resonates in a fascinating way with The UB revelation. He points out that the elders are “saints,” and resurrected “representatives of the redeemed human race,” not angels. He goes on to say, “These beings are called "elders" and nowhere else in the Bible are angelic beings ever called "elders" but there are many instances where men are so designated.”
The author of the Book of Revelation believed that the councilors had been given the authority and ability to pass judgment. “I saw thrones and they sat upon them and judgment was given unto them (Rev. 20:4).” However, the UB does not agree with the Biblical account on this point.
“The actual administration of Urantia is indeed difficult to describe. There exists no formal government along the lines of universe organization, such as separate legislative, executive, and judicial departments. The twenty-four counselors come the nearest to being the legislative branch of the planetary government.” (114:5.1, pg. 1254)
In John the Revelator’s version, the elders sing a song of worship to “the Lamb,” the divine entity we would know as Michael of Nebadon, “and they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the Book, and to open the Seals thereof, for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us … out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; and hast made us unto our God kings and priests; and we shall reign on the earth,” Rev. 5:9-10. For more, also see http://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/tbr/tbr022.htm
In The UB, we see the elders described as “his [Christ Michael’s] personal agents on Jerusem” (45:4.1) and serving as Governors General of our planet and the other quarantined planets.
The UB authors do not discredit the Book of Revelation. That they admire John’s work is clear, “This Book of Revelation contains the surviving fragments of a great revelation, large portions of which were lost, other portions of which were removed, subsequent to John’s writing. It is preserved in only fragmentary and adulterated form.” (139:4.14) We have to hope that the missing portions will perhaps be discovered by archaeologists some day in the future.
The UB adds much to the small amount of information given in the Bible. Just as we were told that the 19th governor general was succeeded by the 20th “during the times of the preparation of these narratives (114:3.1, p. 1252),” note this would refer to the year A.D. 1934 [31:10.22, pg. 354]. We also learn in other sections of The UB the names of two executives who have previously served.
“1-2-3 the first, the eldest of the primary order, was released from immediate planetary duties shortly after Pentecost. This noble midwayer stood steadfast with Van and Amadon during the tragic days of the planetary rebellion, and his fearless leadership was instrumental in reducing the casualties in his order. He serves at present on Jerusem as a member of the twenty-four counselors, having already functioned as governor general of Urantia once since Pentecost.” (77:9.5, pg. 866)
“Less than a thousand years ago this same Machiventa Melchizedek, the onetime sage of Salem, was invisibly present on Urantia for a period of one hundred years, acting as resident governor general of the planet; and if the present system of directing planetary affairs should continue, he will be due to return in the same capacity in a little over one thousand years.” (93:10.10, pg. 1025)
The UB goes on to say that the name of the current “planetary supervisor” is withheld because human beings are so prone to venerate “even to deify” (114:3.1) these rulers. I know I shouldn’t think such things, and I am undoubtedly guilty of some form of veneration, but it pleases me to think that Onamonalonton, the spiritual leader of the red race, has served as resident governor general during my lifetime!
