The Great Gospel of John
Volume 3
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
Jesus near Caesarea Philippi
- Chapter 178 -
Human aptitude and destiny.
1
(The Lord) "It is exactly for this reason that I Myself came to this Earth designated for the creation of My true children, in order to free you from the bands of creative necessity and to show you the way to true, independent, eternal freedom of life through word and deed and to pave the way and to smooth it through My example before you all.
2
Only on this path alone will it be possible to enter the immeasurable magnificence of God, My and your Father.
3
For as a man I am a human being like you; but within Me live the original fullness of the divine magnificence of the Father, who is pure love. And it is not I as your fellow man who is now speaking to you, but the word that I say to you is the Word of the Father who is in Me, and whom I know well, but whom you do not know; for if you knew him, it would have been unnecessary to send Me. But exactly because you do not know him and have never known him I came Myself in order to show Him to you and to teach you to know him.
4
But that is the will of the Father, that everyone who believes in Me, the Son of Man, and that I was sent by the Father, should have eternal life and the magnificence of the Father in him, in order to become true children of the Almighty and to remain so for eternity!
5
But in order to achieve this, heaven and hell must come together in this world! There is no victory without a battle! Where the highest thing is to be achieved, the highest activity must be fully undertaken to achieve it; in order to reach one extreme, one must first break away from the opposite extreme.
6
But how could a highest extreme be conceivable without the lowest?! Or can someone among you think of mountains without the valleys between them?! Are the summits of the mountains not measured according to the greatest depth of a valley?! There must therefore be very deep valleys, and whoever lives in the depth of the valley must climb up the mountain, fighting with many obstacles, in order to win the freest and furthest view. But if there were no valleys, there would also be no mountains, and no-one could climb any height with a view which only reaches a little over what is usual.
7
That is only a material parable, it is true, but nonetheless things which are similar and correspond to the infinitely great spiritual truth are hidden in it - for him who can and will think, things will constantly form themselves more significantly.
8
In the sphere of inner life, however, you are called and chosen to reach the highest point - so there must also be something under you, and so you have the most perfectly free will and the power to fight the lowermost things in yourself with the power that God has given you as your own for eternity.
9
You see, My dear friend Cornelius that is how things stand in connection to life in this world, because that is how they must be! And hopefully you will now hardly need to ask any other question!
10
I could lead you in the spirit to another planet where you would see everything in perfection, as you see the concoctions of the animals in an inimitable perfection; but what good is this constantly identical reappearing perfection to them? It only covers their highly puny and monotonous requirements for life; but only an inch further and you will find nothing!
11
Can the children of God really be raised in such circumstances?!
12
But there are infinite things in you people, only it is not developed; therefore a child can do nothing when it comes into the world and is more helpless than the newborn of any species of animal.
13
But exactly because it is so naked, so weak and totally helpless and stands just a little better than an octopus of the sea as a completely empty vessel, it can climb to the highest divine awareness and become capable of all perfection!
14
Therefore pay attention to everything that I have just said to you, and act accordingly, and you will also inevitably achieve what you have been called and chosen to be for all eternity! Tell Me now, friend Cornelius, what you think about this Earth now and its people in light and in darkness!"