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 175 -
Explanation of the third chapter of Isaiah. The situation of an organized community.
Also in this following chapter the prophecy is for now and for the coming times of which I have spoken.
2
The first verse of the prophet has a deep meaning and goes like this: 'Look, the Lord, Lord Zebaoth will take away out of Jerusalem all kinds of provisions, and also out of the whole of Judah the total provision of bread and the whole provision of water'. (Isaiah 3:1).
3
Here, by Jerusalem must be understood the present-day Jewry, just as it is now and already has been for a long time. By Judah must be understood the future generations that then, by accepting My teaching, will be counted to the tribe of Judah. Because of their laziness they will undergo the same fate in a much greater measure as now the Jews in a smaller measure.
4
By the taking away of the provision of bread you must understand the taking away of love and mercy, and by the taking away of the provision of water, the taking away of the true wisdom out of God. And the result thereof will be that all of them will come on a wrong track, and their soul will be in darkness, and nobody will be able to give counsel to another. And even if somebody would give counsel to another, then the one who needed counsel and light will still not trust him and say: 'What are you talking to me about the light while you yourself are in the same darkness as I am.' The fact that the people will then by their own fault - because of their laziness - become totally without help, is accurately described by the prophet with the following words:
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'Thus will be taken away the strong ones and warriors, judges, prophets, fortunetellers and elders (Isaiah 3:2), counselors and wise workers, and eloquent orators, and headmen over 50, and also honest people (3:3).'
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I am mentioning here on purpose the headmen and the honest people as last instead of in the beginning of the third verse, and I have My reason for this. Listen now to the explanation.
7
Who are the strong ones and the warriors? These are such people like once David was, full of faith and trust in Me, and the warriors are those people who consent to be totally inspired by faith and trust in the One, to always conquer all the enemies of what is good and true from God - even if they are so many.
8
When there will be a complete lack of living water out of the Heavens, and all flesh, together with its soul, are in the thickest of darkness, who will then deal with the people as a true and righteous judge? Who will have the gift of prophecy? And even if someone still possesses it for himself, who will then, without inner understanding believe that it is true? Who will be able to prophesy for the blind and deaf? And who will be chosen by dark mankind as a true elder because of his outstanding wisdom in order to make him their shepherd? Now, understand this well.
9
The one from whom - spiritually speaking - has been taken away bread and water, has lost by that everything, because the one who has been punished and chastised by God with spiritual blindness, has been punished and chastised the most severely. Because by that he has lost everything, and he is completely in despair and helpless. This is then also the ultimate means by which the laziness of the people that took a too great dominion, and all their vices can be fought against in the best way.
10
The fact that the people will be in the greatest misery by the taking away of the spiritual bread and water, and by that, the things that still will be taken away from them, the prophet explains further in the third verse, where he explicitly says: 'By that, the people will have to miss the counselors' or those who give counsel, 'and wise workers' in all branches of human necessities, thus also intelligent speakers, who otherwise would have accomplished a lot of good with their wisdom.
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However, the worst of all that, is the taking away of the, say, 50 headmen which is taking place at the same time. Who are the 50 and what has the figure 50 to do with it? This we will perceive right away.
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If we imagine a big and completely organized community of people, then since ancient times it has - if it wants to be well taken care of in everything - in total 50 main regions where it has to provide in their necessities of life. Whatever is above that, stands already for pride, and everything that is less stands for weakness, need and poverty. However, in order to provide efficiently and to take care of each separate branch of these life necessities there must also be a clever captain as foreman and leader in charge, who from A to Z must be well acquainted with everything that is necessary in the whole system. If such a one is not present and someone incompetent stands in his place, then the whole branch of life necessities will soon carry bad or even no more fruits at all for the community.
13
How then will a big community be able to stand if by its laziness and negligence finally has lost all of the 50 headmen? I tell you: in the same manner as the community of Jews nowadays, where only certain thieves and robbers are still possessing something and who fatten and enrich themselves at the expense of the poor, but where thousands are helplessly pining away in the deepest of poverty. Because where is the wise captain who would take care of them and who would give them in one way or another a certain job and bread? Look, in a lot of areas a head is missing, and so also all the other things are not present. There are still certain headmen to direct different areas, but this they are not doing for the people but for oneself, and therefore they are only thieves and robbers and no real headmen like at the time of My judges.
14
Now you have seen how the outer and inner well being of the people of a big community depends on the head leaders in the different areas of life necessities. But on who then depends in the first place the right organization of the named head leaders in a big community of people, in a country that is governed by a prince or king? Look, it only depends on a wise king.
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But then, what does our prophet say? What will the Lord do further on with the lazy, god-forsaken communities?
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Listen, his words are as follows: 'I, says the Lord, will give them young men to be their princes, and silly men will rule over them. (Isaiah 3:4). And among the people one will suck out the other. Everyone, even his neighbor, and the young one will exalt himself above the elder and a worthless, dishonest man above an honest one.' (Isaiah 3:5).
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The words of the prophet are here of itself so clear and plain that they do not need another explanation. I can only show you the great and clear visible very bad results, although these also can easily be discovered by itself. Once all life-conditions will come into the greatest disorder by such confusion, and when, because of the need, all the people of the community will become very discontented, then also will arise one merciless rebellion after another. The people will awaken and stand up, and are chasing away the princes and selfish headmen, or even strangle them. And this is what is meant when one says: 'One nation wars against another'.
18
Thanks to his lazy nature, man permits any pressure as long as he, in his blindness, can still fill his stomach, no matter with what kind of meager food, but once also this is ceasing and he is facing only starvation, then he wakes up and turns into a starved enraged hyena. And it must come to that point, so that mankind will wake up."