The Great Gospel of John
Volume 3
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
Jesus near Caesarea Philippi
- Chapter 162 -
The avenues of divine guidance.
I say, "Listen, My dear Floran, you have humbled yourself before Me much more than I demanded of you; but it doesn't matter, and it was quite right for you to do so!
2
Yes, I will put an end to the atrocities in Jerusalem and in other places, but many must share your conviction! There are still many who in their great blindness still stick firmly to the temple and expect every salvation and all help from its halls; if one were to take these blind people away from the temple now immediately, they would not see it as a great blessing from above, but as a most terrible punishment, and would become most terribly and wildly desperate, which would then have a much worse consequence than the present blindness, no matter how complete. You now are seen as the representatives of the temple and the distributors of the salvation which fills the temple.
3
But what am I trying to say with this? Nothing but this: you should show the people gradually, and, wherever there is a good response, also all in one go what the temple is now, what its servants do and how they are conditioned!
4
But at the same time you should draw their attention to what you have seen and heard here, and then the terrible business of the temple and the temple itself will be buried under the best and most effective order, and in the end it will sink into nothingness and thereby stop being what it is; and in its place will enter the new temple of the spirit of God, from which a very new Jerusalem will be built in heaven.
5
Certainly you will have to begin this good business as secretively as possible; you can do that all the easier since you are now full Roman citizens and the temple cannot touch you because the sword of Rome is between you and the temple and stands guard.
6
This is therefore a duty which I entrust to you. Guard it and the reward will not be forgotten; you can be fully assured of that! Do you agree to this?"
7
Stahar says, "Lord, will we take up our old post in Caesarea Philippi again, or should we turn elsewhere?"
8
I say, "You will remain here in Caesarea Philippi and be under the direction of this host of ours, Mark, to whom Cyrenius and I will give power over this whole area, and to whom it has actually already been given for the most part. The area of Caesarea Philippi is large and encompasses many hundred thousand people; once they find the light, the light will then spread out of its own accord. But it will be left to your own discretion to put this into practice!"
9
Stahar says, "Lord, that would all be quite good and correct, but now the whole city is a heap of rubble and ash! We have no houses, and our synagogue was one of the first buildings that succumbed to the flames. Where will we sleep?"
10
I say, "Let that be the least of your worries! If I wanted it, a complete world, not to mention such a little town, would stand before you in an instant! In any case Cyrenius will put every means, supported through My mercy, to active use and thereby take care of your accommodation. In addition the high guests expected since this morning will soon arrive here and then much will be determined and decided."
11
Stahar bows deeply and then says quietly as if to Floran, "The Almighty nonetheless speaks like a person, which pleases me very much; but He could put a final end to the temple and to arrogant Jerusalem with just one thought! Why then the extended erosion?"
12
Floran says, "Look, brother that happens because we are both still asses who have no idea at all about the divine order !
13
If you see a very green, unripe and rock-hard fruit hanging on a tree in spring, then you would immediately like to have some all-power! You would like to say effectively: Fiat! (Let it happen), and all the figs, apples, pears, plums and grapes should become ripe in an instant! But the all-mighty Creator has decided things otherwise, as daily and yearly experience shows. Should we then ask: The Almighty knows the needs of man; why does He then hesitate so much with the ripening of the fruit?
14
Man must also remain a foolish child for years, in order to gradually grow up into a man, while the sparrow is a quite complete sparrow only fourteen days after its birth and knows all about its airy home very well. Yes, most animals already have the most sufficient knowledge about their home right from their birth - and man needs almost twenty years to only begin to know a little about the dear world! He, the lord of nature, must wait the longest in order to be what he has been determined! Could one not say: Lord, You Almighty One, why have You not better looked after man, Your favorite - why must a human, of all things, have to wait so long to become a human?!
15
You see, that is how things are in the certainly very incomprehensible order of God, and it will be so also in the measure of His order that we must undermine the temple gradually; for a sudden destruction would put the many blind people, to whom the temple is all-in-all, into the greatest despair - which would be much worse than bearing the deceptions of its crafty servants for a little time longer!
16
You see, I have recognized the Lord's sense a little and I don't understand how that has completely passed you by! I also don't understand how you could ask the Lord about our worldly accommodation! Is it not enough then when He says that we should do this and that?! It has been long known that he who employs me for work will also give me accommodation! If even the selfish people do that, however, how much more will the Lord of heaven and Earth do without us having to ask Him!
17
You see, that was very human of you, my dear brother! For through such a question you have obviously brought to the brightest light of day your multi-faceted disbelief, and with rights nothing other can be thought of you than that you still hide a hefty portion of disbelief in yourself, to which you must bid farewell now for all time!"