The Great Gospel of John
Volume 4
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
Jesus near Caesarea Philippi (cont.)
- Chapter 253 -
The apparitions at the baptism of the Lord. The eternal nature of the Lord.
Says Simon Juda: "Lord, when You were baptized in front of Me in the river Jordan by Johannes with water, we saw a flame in the form of a dove floating above Your Head, and it was said, that this was the holy spirit of God! And at that stage also a voice in the air was heard: 'See, this is My beloved Son who pleases Me; you should listen to Him!' What was this? From where came this holy flame, and who spoke the clearly heard words? How should we understand this?"
2
Says I: "From where else could this have come than from only Myself?! Or do you think that behind the stars lives a Father in endless space, who let the flame come above My head and who also spoke the certain words from the same infinite height down to earth? O you so most blind blindness of the people! If the everlasting Father dwells in Me, His equally everlasting Son, in a way I just have sufficiently clear described to you, from where could have come the flame and the voice? Look here, and you will see the same flame above My head! And listen, and you will again hear the same words!"
3
Then all saw the flame floating in the form of a burning cross or mistakenly somewhat in the form a dove, which basically also represents a cross, and at the same time all heard the already well known words.
4
But I said: "This was the voice of the Father in Me, and the flame originated from My infinitive outer-life-sphere, which is My outwardly effectuating holy spirit! Do you, Simon Juda, understand this now quite well?"
5
And all said: "Yes, Lord, now also this is clear, although wonderful over wonderful!"
6
Said Mathael: "Lord, Lord, You Most Wise since eternity, great things which cannot be studied, You have explained to us and have shown Your order, like it is and was since eternity! I can now think back and forth, and see, everything is bright and clear to me, regarding all the unalterable relations between You, the Creator, and us, Your creatures! All your arrangements are so wisely put, that also the sharpest mind and the brightest reason cannot find anything, which in itself and with itself could be standing in the slightest contradiction to each other.
7
Only when I place myself with my thoughts in the deepest background of all times and all eternities, then I must think that everything created what there is, like all primordial archangels, all heavens, all worlds - like suns, earths, moons, all the stars which according to your explanation are also nothing else than suns, earths and moons, which we mortals of course cannot see with our flesh eyes because of the too great distance -, still must have had a beginning, otherwise the possibility of their existence, at least for me, would not be thinkable! Since in certain positive relations I think by myself as follows: A being, thing or issue, which never began to be, can in fact not exist! Or could a thing become to be from nothing, which You as Creator never have thought about?!
8
Therefore an existing thing, like for example a primordial central son, must at one stage been thought by You in Your gradual order, before it, of course only then, began to effectuate in its sphere as a concrete primordial son. It could, however, according to my reason, not be there, if You had not thought of only one atom of its being! In short, it could not be there, if it had no beginning of being! It can of course be aeons times aeons centuries old, even thousand times older, it doesn't matter; if it is undeniable there, it must have had a beginning. If, this is here unimportant and it is something, about which one do not have to worry about!
9
Now, one could of course apply the sentence also onto You, and therefore Your most solid eternity, without a beginning, would fall into the nicest nothingness! Only, in this case, my clear mind and my bright reason tells me something completely different! Even if I go in my thoughts for eternities to eternities backwards, I cannot think of any end. The infinitive space and together with it the equally endless time periods remain.
10
In this therefore necessary everlasting, endless space, this primordial everlasting power must have been present, because the endless expansion of space forever depends on it, and without it space is unthinkable just as this power is unthinkable without space. This power can only be one, just as space is only one; it must have in itself some kind of centre and so to speak a point of gravity, like the infinitive space itself. Since space is as such there, the most infinitive and therefore freest being in it, must, by feeling itself, express itself; since how could it be, if it in its highest independence cannot perceive that it exists?!
11
What, however, is applicable to space, must also be applicable to the power contained in it; also it must feel itself as necessarily present, otherwise it could impossibly be there. In short, these are understood and by themselves conditioned necessities, that the one without the other cannot exist! However, all this is originally and most individually Your spiritual primordial being itself, and therefore can according to Your spirit never ever thought away!
12
According to my understanding You are therefore just as necessary forever, just as everything else, at least regarding its formal existence, can necessarily only be temporarily! But now comes a complete different question!
13
Since all these visible and also invisible creations must have had a beginning even if unthinkable long times ago, what did You , o Lord, have done during the eternities before this beginning? I notice from Your friendly smiling face, that I have asked my question somewhat silly; nevertheless I'm quite convinced that it is not without substance! And You, o Lord, will also ignite a little light for us in this respect! My searching soul wants to be completely in the clear."