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 56 -
The nature of the angels. Love and wisdom, heart and mind.
When the sun came up over the far horizon we were still resting and sleeping well. Then Lazarus and his innkeeper awoke, and latter rose from his chair and went outside to awaken the servants, so that they could start with the preparation of a good and ample morning meal. Soon the whole house came to life, and so we also awoke, stood up from our places and went outside.
2
In front of the house was a well, which had good and pure water, and I said to Lazarus: "Brother, so that we do not cause Nicodemus any offense, bring jugs and fill them with water, so that we can wash our hands and then no one can say we eat bread with unwashed hands!"
3
This was done and all washed their hands, their face and also their feet, upon which clean cloths were passed to dry the skin.
4
When this washing was over, our Raphael came to us and informed Lazarus, that the youths were still resting, sleeping and dreaming and should not be awoken for another few hours. This was done, as the youths were very tired from the long and difficult journey.
5
Only now during the day did Nicodemus notice the blinding beauty of Raphael and could not turn his eyes away from him. After a while of inner, deep amazement he said to Me: "But Lord and Master, where does this beautiful celestial youth come from? What is his name? No, never have I seen such heavenly beautiful youth! Not far from him stands a girl who is also very lovely but how earthly is she compared to this already beyond heavenly beautiful youth! His golden locks, how beautiful they flow over his ethereal soft nape, which is nearly as white as snow! Which indescribable charm in his face! How soft, full and tender and light are his arms and feet! Everything of him is so ordered and selected, nevertheless very simple, that I as an elder of the temple have never, not even in a dream, seen anything similar. Verily, this youth cannot be a child of this earth! If he had wings according to the pattern of the cherubs, who guard the ark in the sanctum of the temple, he would be a perfect angel of God!"
6
Said I: "Do you think that the angels of God must have wings to be angels? There you are still very much mistaken! Did the three men who visited Abraham have wings?! Or did the youths who saved Lot, or the angel who led young Tobias? It is not known to Me, that wings were mentioned in the scriptures. Also the angel who appeared to Abraham, when he should sacrifice his only son Isaac, and prevented him from doing so, did not, according to the scriptures, have any wings.
7
Only the two brass cherubs had to be symbolically depicted with wings by Moses, to show to the, for that time very sensuous, Jews that the pure spirits from the heavens of God move in everything very fast - in thinking, deciding, acting and accomplishing. The natural person on earth does not know any quicker movement than the flight of birds in the air by means of a pair of wings, and thus did Moses, on instructions from God, give the cherubs a pair of wings to indicate to the people the speed of the spirit. But in reality no angel of God ever had a pair of wings.
8
The wings therefore only indicate the high degree of wisdom and strength of everything purely spiritual, but not that a pure spirit on God's instructions must descend like a bird from heaven to earth and back again. By the way, there never ever existed any angel in the true heaven, who was not previously a person on any earth. That which you very mistakenly imagine as angels created as pure spirits, are nothing else other than the active forces and powers of God, by which the omnipresence of God, is in all infinity actively expressed, which no person should try to imagine in a form of a picture, because the infinity out of God is in truth unimaginable for every limited being, what hopefully is not too difficult to understand.
9
But because each person's soul is called to become a true angel of the heavens of God, can this beautiful and most chaste youth just as well be on this earth without wings, just as I have been now in the flesh as the only Lord of heaven and earth with you, and teach you Myself but at the same time maintain the whole of infinity. By the way it is written: "At the same time you will see the angels of God descend to serve the Lord!" And thus this youth can very much be an angel. - What is your opinion about that?"
10
Said Nicodemus: "Yes, yes, apparently he is more beautiful than enough for that; but he does not climb up and down between earth and heaven!"
11
Said I: "O the great blindness of the people! How can you as a very experienced person assume, that angels from the material heaven will descend to this earth and will ascend back again and that the people should see this happening and also how those angels would serve Me?! The descending and ascending of the angels only means: to ascend from love to true wisdom and with wisdom back to love again, which is the true, living spirit out of God in you.
12
If a person properly awakens and understands in his heart the love for God and his neighbour, he then ascends thereby to wisdom or the right and deep cognition in all things. But if a person has obtained such knowledge and has more deeply recognized and comprehended the unlimited love, wisdom and power of God, he will become full of humility and full of the most living love for God. If this is the case he descends again into his heart, making it even brighter so that it can become more glowing with love for God.
13
'But', you say to yourself, 'does this earth represent love and heaven wisdom, since on this earth it is so loveless and from heaven comes only good, - very seldom something less good?"
14
Yes, in the heart of man which is the seat of love, most often it is also very loveless, and yet the heart is still the seat of love. But the pure love in the heart, being alone, by itself would bring forth just as little fruit as the earth without the light of the sun. The sun of heaven for the heart in man is his natural mind. This descends in ordered, good thoughts, ideas and concepts into the heart or down to the earth in man, gives it light and gives life to the seed for good and noble deeds. If the light of the mind is still weak like the sun in winter, the heart will still become more sensible and wiser; but because it is still very much in self-love, the noble seeds in it will not germinate, grow and bring to maturity living fruits of action. But if a person through diligence and the right use of his talents and abilities in his mind becomes brighter and brighter, the light of the mind will also awaken the warmth of life in the heart with more might, and the seeds resting in it will start to germinate, to grow, to blossom and soon bring noble fully ripe fruits of action to a rich harvest of life.
15
And thus by 'angels' are meant the thoughts, ideas and concepts of the enlightened mind, which is the heaven of wisdom in man in of course the smallest scale. Those descend and ascend and serve the still hidden spirit of God in the heart of man, and this spirit is called love for God and love for the neighbour. But just as this living spirit out of God in the heart of man is not recognized and considered by so many people - while, nevertheless, the salvation of man with respect to his temporal and eternal life is dependent on this very spirit -, also I Myself as the Lord and primordial foundation of all being and existence, am not recognized by the people of the world, although they see which great thoughts, ideas and concepts out of the heavens of God descend and again ascend through Me to and from this earth and which most brightly illuminate the heart and warm it up and revive it to carry living fruits of action. Therefore there are many who are called, but the chosen ones are only few, who accept and take to heart My word, and turn it into a rich and vigorous harvest of deeds.
16
Are you starting to understand a little who are actually in the first instance the angels, who descend from heaven to earth and again ascend to heaven to serve Me as the God from eternity and here on earth, temporally for you people, you who are called to be children of God, are His heart and also His earth?"