The Great Gospel of John
Volume 1
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
First mission of the messengers. Great teaching mission
- Chapter 134 -
First mission of the twelve apostles. Further explanations regarding the choice of texts in the biblical Gospels of Matthew and John.
Matthew, the Evangelist, and John come to Me and say, 'Lord, this deed should really be recorded since it is so extraordinary and purely divine.'
2
Say I, 'Did I not accomplish the same at Sychar, did I not just a few days ago provide also My house in the same way the house of My disciple Matthew? You wanted to record all that and I did not allow it, for which I have My very good reason. Why should this deed which is equivalent to the previous ones now be recorded? Leave that be. I alone know best what the world needs and shall tell you what you may again record of a new deed and when. And your turn, My brother John, will not come for quite some time.
3
But now, My dear disciples, I shall choose from your midst some whom I shall already now send out into the towns of Israel to preach the Kingdom of God to the people. (Matt. 10:1) You, Simon Peter, are the first; you, Simian's brother, Andrew, are the second; you, James, son of Zebedee, are the third and you, his brother, John, (Matt. 10:2) are the fourth; Philip, you are the fifth, you, Bartholomew, are the sixth; you, Thomas, the seventh and you, Matthew the publican, are the eight; you, James, son of Alphaeus, are the ninth and you, Lebbaeus, also called Thaddaeus, (Matt. 10:3) are the tenth; you, Simon of Cana, are the eleventh and you, Judas Iscariot, are the twelfth. (Matt. 10:4)
4
I am giving you twelve the authority to cast out unclean spirits from men and to heal all kinds of contagious diseases and other ailments. You shall preach the Kingdom of God everywhere, but keep silent about certain special deeds.'
5
After this selection the twelve chosen disciples asked Me where they should now go, which roads to take and what they should mainly speak about.
6
To this question I gave them the following extensive answer which the twelve elected did not particularly relish, and only after My ascension they made full use of these instructions.
7
But the instructions were also given in such a way that they applied mainly to the time after My ascension when the twelve, or at that time rather all those who spread My teaching, experienced what I had made known to the twelve.
8
However, before I deal with the extensive instructions to the twelve, I must mention, for the sake of a better understanding of the whole, that the Gospels, including Matthew and John, as they are these days available to you in the different languages, are only excerpts from the original Gospel and, thus, do not even by far contain all that Matthew and John did record. Here and there also some small supplementary sentence appears by the later collector and copyist, which obviously could have been added only later, as for instance in Mt. 10:4 the mention of the 12th apostle Judas Iscariot is followed by the sentence "Who later betrayed him." At the time of the selection Matthew, who wrote his Gospel in My presence, had no idea of this could not possibly have added this sentence which was done by some later copyist.
9
The Hebrew as well as Greek Bibles, therefore, always state: "Gospel according to Matthew," "according to John" and so on.
10
Therefore, no one should take it amiss if when reading Matthew and John he comes across similar texts which the actual evangelist could not have recorded in his time since the fact mentioned therein occurred only much later. Everything is rendered in the strictest order and I have mentioned this point here in the most suitable place so as to prevent in the course of time rationalistic reasoners from negative criticism.
11
However, as already earlier in this revelation, supplementary explanations will here and there be given which is all the more necessary since as a result of the transcription many an important fact was not recorded quite correctly and many a thing that did not appear authentic enough to the transcriber was even omitted altogether. Numerous things were recorded at that time, partly by eye witnesses, partly from hearsay, and thus it was for the quite honest transcribers most difficult to stick to the full truth at all times.
12
And so the two Gospels according to MATTHEW and JOHN are, except for some small matters, THE PUREST.
13
Here a critical rationalist could indeed ask: "Where then has the actual original got to? Is it no longer available on earth and should it not have been possible to God, in view of the at that time numerous people who were quickened and permeated by the Holy Spirit, to once more bring to light the original Gospel word for word?"
14
The answer is this: The originals have been wisely removed for the simple reason that before long idolatry would have been practiced with such relics. This does still happen, and even with false and assumed relics, although My true pure teaching strictly forbids this with a warning against the leaven of the Pharisees. Now imagine a historically proven true relic. I tell you that with such a one more idolatry would be practiced than with the so-called Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem where, except for the locality, not a grain of sand is authentic. That is the real reason why all the originals have been removed.
15
As concerns the second question, THE SPIRIT contained in the originals has been fully retained also in the transcripts; and the letter is of no importance anyway, but only the spirit which is unchanged. Or could there be any difference where the Spirit of God is concerned (i.e. WITHIN HIM because there is only ONE Spirit of God) if He as one and the same Spirit is active on this earth in endless multiplicity in the most diverse forms and in an even more endless multiplicity on a sun? Behold, it is and remains nevertheless always one and the same holy Spirit.
16
Thus it is also with transcripts of My Word. May they seem ever so dissimilar externally, they nevertheless are imbued with the same Spirit from inner depths and no more is needed.
17
As an extreme case, take the religions of other nations, e.g. the Turks, Parses, Gevers, Hindus, Chinese and Japanese. How they differ from the religion I gave to only the children from the heavens of all heavens; yet the same spirit, although hidden much more deeply, reigns also in them.
18
But it shall be obvious to any moderately scientific person that within the frequently very thick and weathered bark, taken by many to be the tree itself, all kinds of filth as well as worms and insects are found which take their bad food only from the bark. Since it is however the bark which grows out of the living tree and not vice versa, it too has something of the tree-life and it is understandable therefore how within it so many worms and diverse insects find a most marginal and transitory life-sustenance.
19
Wars, persecutions, devastations are waged only on the meagre and barren bark, whilst the tree's living wood stays fresh and sound. Hence no living wood should trouble itself about what takes place within the actually dead bark; because the bark shall be discarded when the wood is brought in.
20
This interpolation was necessary for a more thorough understanding of what is to follow at a later stage. And since no doubt can arise about it for the present, we can cheerfully return to the main theme.