The Great Gospel of John
Volume 7
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
The Lord on the Mount of Olives. (cont.) Gospel of John, Chapter 8
- Chapter 127 -
The Kingdom of God.
Then the magician said: "O Lord, how is that possible, how can weak and insignificant man use force, as if seizing the Kingdom of God? Then there still remains the question where the true Kingdom of God is to be found if man can grab and seize it."
2
I said: "Within the short time of a few hours you have heard so many things and even recognized Me, and yet you still do not know what the Kingdom of God is and wherein it consists?
3
The full knowledge and observance of the will of God is the true Kingdom of God within you. But knowing God's will makes it still not so easy to observe it as you imagine, because the worldly people resist it and persecute those who truly want to attain to the Kingdom of God. Therefore, he who wants to possess fully the Kingdom of God should not fear those who can only kill the body of man but cannot harm the soul. Man should rather fear God who by His eternally unchangeable order can also cast the soul into Hell.
4
He who fears God more than men, despite the persecution he might suffer from men, does the will of God. He is the one who seizes the Kingdom of God with force. And whoever will do that, will certainly attain to it.
5
There is also something else that belongs to the seizing of the Kingdom of God with force, namely that man practices the deepest possible self-denial in all the things of the world, forgives with all his heart all those who offend him, bears no grudge or anger against anyone, prays for those who curse him, does good to those who harm him, does not exalt himself over others, bears with patience the temptations that come to him from time to time and refrains from gluttony, licentiousness, harlotry and adultery. He who practices all these things will also seize the Kingdom of God with force.
6
However, he who recognizes God, respects and loves Him above all and his fellowmen as himself, but at the same time also respects and fears the world and does not dare to openly declare My name as this might bring him some worldly disadvantage, he does not seize the Kingdom of God with force and will also fail to win it completely in this world and will in the beyond have to endure many a struggle until he becomes perfected.
7
Now, he who knows and believes that I am the promised Messiah should also do what I teach, have taught and will still teach further on. Otherwise he is not worthy of Me and I will not be particularly helpful to him in the development of his inner life. I am the life of the soul through My Spirit that is in it that is called the love for God. Thus, he who loves God above all and therefore also does His will, his soul is filled with My spirit and that is the perfection of the eternal life of the soul.
8
However, if anyone knows Me but nevertheless still fears the world and says to himself: 'Yes, I fully recognize the Messiah and secretly believe everything what He is teaching, and I also live according to it, but because the world is as it is and one should live by it, outwardly I will not show the world what I secretly confess inwardly so that no one can speak evil of me', he does not really confess My being and My name, and he still does not have the true and full living love for God. And in this manner the fullness of God's Kingdom can hardly become part of him since the fullness of God's Kingdom consists in the highest love for God, and this has no fear or anguish for the world.
9
The one who confesses Me before the world - when this is necessary - I will also confess him before the Father in Heaven. However, the one who does not confess Me before the world - when this is necessary - I will also not confess him before the Father in Heaven."
10
Then the magician asked at once: "Lord, then who is Your Father and where is Heaven? Can You as the Lord of eternity also have a Father?"
11
I Said: "Eternal Love in God is the Father and His infinite Wisdom is Heaven.
12
Whoever loves God above all is the one who confesses God and thus Me before the whole world, and I confess him also in My love, and therein consists the true eternal life of the soul of man. And since through such living love for God, man attains and should attain to the highest wisdom, then this is Heaven or the Kingdom of God. Man has thereby also won the Kingdom of God within him, which cannot ever again be taken away from him. This have I now explained to you all. Remember it, write it in your heart and live according to it, then you will have the eternal and true life in yourselves. But now allow Me some rest and think about what I have told you now."