The Great Gospel of John
Volume 3
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
Jesus near Caesarea Philippi
- Chapter 64 -
The divine order and our understanding of the world.
Hebram says, "Yes and no! In this purely earthly human way you are correct, in my opinion, but according to the purely divine you are very wrong and are therefore still on the false path; for God"s plans look different to ours. You see, if we had placed the stars in the firmament we would also have placed them there more regularly; but God, the single All-mighty, placed them there as spooky little lights! Why so?
2
Look at the grass of the field, how weeds are mixed among it! Why is there no order in which our symmetrical sense could take some kind of mathematical pleasure?! Wherever you may turn your sense, you see much more chaos than any symmetrical order in all creation! And nonetheless the Creator must also understand symmetry; for the most tangible all-convincing proof of this lies in our human form. If the good Creator is capable of observing the highest symmetry in one way, but on the other hand seems not to take the least consideration for it, there must certainly be a very unknown reason to us worms of the dust from which the Creator observes on the one hand the highest symmetry and on the other hand the very direct opposite! But why is one year then not like the next, why is one day not like the next?
3
You see, if you look at the thing like this, the so-called symmetrical healthy human reason must find some things with which it could find fault with the obedient sharpness of its fake light; but then comes the great Master Himself and says: Trickster, you can judge only as far as your effort goes- but no further!
4
But as we see that there in the great Creation of God a seemingly highest, purely chaotic disorder is connected to the highest order, likewise it seems to me it is also connected to the various revelations of God to the humans of this Earth. He as the sole creator knew best what was the most suitable in the various time periods and for the various peoples for their spiritual development.
5
But with time from certainly very wise reasons he also lets a once given religion likewise fade away, as on the face of the Earth countless weeds and flowers fade; but the seed which develops out of the flower like the pure, living truth, does not fade away, but remains living on and on.
6
But if we see that the creator with time lets all the beautiful exteriors decay for a time and in the end uses all care for the development of the inner life with all the living things that are known to us, can we wonder if we see this happen with the revelations?
7
Without an earthly word no pure religion can reach us; but the external word is already materially there and in the end must fall away when the innermost pure spirit has developed. And so in the external religions the external splendor necessarily transforms over time always into something more unpleasant; but in the background the purest spiritual strength and truth of an earlier revelation by God to man develops more and more. Is that not so, friend Risa?"
8
Risa says, "Brother Hebram, I marvel at you! By God, you have now changed my whole way of thinking with your truly wise speech, for which I truly owe you thanks! It is truly as you have told me; I may think as I like, I find the issue constantly more clear! In brief, you have been victorious over my reason in every way! I owe you very many thanks."