The Great Gospel of John
Volume 6
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
The Lord and the Priests of the Temple (John 5)
- Chapter 20 -
The transience of matter.
1
(The Lord) "But now bring Me a stone, as large and as hard as you have and bring it here, and I will show something to you all!"
2
At this Lazarus rose quickly from his seat and soon brought an almost ten-pound stone of very hard quartz and laid it before Me on the table and said: "Lord, there is an extremely hard stone!"
3
I said: "It is just right, because it is just as hard as the hearts of the templers in Jerusalem and the old walls of the Temple; I can make good use of it now!"
4
Everyone was now full of the greatest attention, to see what I would do with the stone.
5
But I said: "Listen! We have come together today on the day after the Sabbath very cheerfully and joyfully, and why should we not?! For you have understood Me and recognized Me, even if with some effort and sacrifice, and as such I also have recognized all of you! You are thus free of all judgment, because finally you have sentenced yourselves to truth and goodness alone through your own very free will. And so I can now give you all once again a sign of My inner divinity here, quite unharmed by your free admission and your free will, and as such pay now close attention to everything! What do you think indeed would be easier: either to destroy this stone simply through My will in an instant - or to destroy the Temple along with everything in it, living or dead, in the same way? However, first examine the stone, so that no-one can say that it had somehow prior been prepared for it!"
6
Then all said: "Oh Lord, this is not necessary; for we have known this stone for a long time! It was brought here from the river Jordan by a fisherman because of its beautiful round shape."
7
I said: "Well then; tell Me what would be easier for Me: to destroy this stone or the Temple!"
8
One of the now Greeks said: "Lord, we believe that it must be pretty much all the same to You; for the one seems just as impossible for pure human power as the other! We have indeed seen stones disappear at different times by Egyptian magicians; but then we soon became aware of how things happened, when we got to see the same stone back again, and it was also not long before we imitated the same with a lot of skill and laughing at ourselves, asking how it was ever possible that we in the beginning could have believed it to be a true miracle.
9
But this here is something quite heavenly different! This is a real stone and the hardest occurring anywhere around here. The Greeks indeed understand the art of melting this stone in a fire to produce valuable glass from it, which in the days of the first Pharaohs even the Phoenicians are supposed to have done - but then the stone only becomes a changed material. But to completely destroy such a stone simply through the pure will, for that a divine power is needed, of which we weak people will never be in a position to make a true and clear comprehension!"
10
I said: "Very well! Now pay close attention that I do not touch the stone, but instead I simply say to it: Become nothing, you old judgement!"
11
In the same instant when I had said this, no trace of the stone was present any longer.
12
All clasped their hands above their heads and almost shouted: "Yes, yes, this is only possibly for a purely divine power! Such a thing has never been heard of!"
13
I said: "Just as this stone has now been dissolved into its original elements simply by My will, I could do likewise with the Temple, with all mountains, with the earth, with sun and moon and with all the stars and disperse them into their original nearly nothingness, that is, into the pure thoughts of God, which have no reality until they receive their real form and solidity by the love and by the all-powerful will of God. But in God reigns not the principle of destruction and annihilation, instead in His eternal order there is the maintenance of all things that have ever been created, but certainly not in the constant judgment of matter, but undirected and free in the spirit and life, for which reason no matter has and may not have any substance in this world of judgment, but instead everything lasts only a certain time, is then gradually dissolved and transformed according to the order into the spiritual, substantial and eternal.
14
Matter is a grave of judgment and temporal death, and the dead spirits in these graves must also listen to My voice and obey My will, as you have now learnt. And just as this stone has now suddenly been dissolved, the same will happen gradually to the whole earth, and then from it will come forth a new, spiritual and eternal earth full of life and salvation for its spiritual inhabitants, and no judgment and no death will reign on its heavenly fields; for it will come forth from the life of all who have come forth and are born on it.
15
You have now seen the power of the divine will in Me, and for a long time already Jerusalem and the Temple would have deserved to have the same done to them as I have just done with this stone. But no, it shall be and remain until its day. Through its rule it will destroy itself, but not as I have just destroyed the stone, which thereby transformed into a freer, more spiritual free specific being from its old judgment, but instead as a person committing suicide destroys himself, whose soul then goes into an even harsher judgment and into a multiple death. Therefore let us leave them until their maturity, so that they cannot say one day: You did not tell us about it and nonetheless destroyed us! - Do you now understand this sign which I just now have performed before your eyes?"
16
Said the Greeks: "Lord, this is a very meaningful sign which we have partially understood - but looking at it from its foundations it is possible only for You alone; it will perhaps only be possible for us through Your mercy in the afterlife! Truly, that was a sign of the highest serious type and contains in it an endlessly great significance no matter how small it looked at first! But since You, oh Lord, seem to be in a good mood today, we would like to ask You, not to tempt You but only in a friendly way, to tell us how You do it, to so to speak call something into existence out of nothing."