The Great Gospel of John
Volume 9
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
The Lord in the region of Caesarea Philippi
- Chapter 192 -
The phenomenon of the mirage.
Since the sun was already sinking under the horizon, our Marcus thought that it was somehow time to go down home, because during the autumn the evenings were often cooler.
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But I said: "Friend, it is at least 1/2 hour too early for that. Do not worry to know whether an evening meal is being prepared for us or not, for when we will be back in the house, everything will be ready.
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But here on the mountain will happen something, about which you will be very surprised and which will have a very good influence on your heart and soul. That is why it is important that we stay here for at least 1/2 hour.
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When the sun will have set completely, you will glorify and praise Me because I revealed this to you. But from now on until that time you should be completely quiet."
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Then everything became peaceful and quiet. Also the spirits in the air, in the earth and in the waters were silently commanded by Me to be quiet. And so, in the whole visible nature it became so utterly quiet that not even the smallest sigh of wind was moving, no little bird was flying around, and the water of the lake became so completely calm that the high mountains that surrounded the lake could be seen on the water surface as distinctly and clearly as in the natural way, which greatly delighted all those who were present, for they practically had never seen such perfect rest of the lake before.
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Some of them wanted to ask Me for the meaning of this perfect rest in the nature that was never experienced before. But since I had instructed all those who were present without exception to be completely quiet, nobody dared to open his mouth. Also in the house down the mountain and also in the big bath resort it was completely quiet, although nobody knew what made him to be completely at rest, being without any activity. Also our Raphael, who stood close to Me, was as quiet as a statue.
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When it became dark and the stars became gradually visible, a great number of known and even more unknown regions made their appearance in the very pure and completely quiet air, especially in the western sky. As far as the eye could see, the shores of the Mediterranean Sea could be seen with all the places and ships, and they all noticed that the big Mediterranean Sea was totally calm. Completely at the western brim, where the sun was setting, also the known image of the strongly red colored sun appeared, about which all those present were very much surprised in their heart. These appearances became livelier from minute to minute.
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When those present had sufficiently seen these phenomena, I said to the disciples: "Give now your opinion about this phenomenon which very often happens at certain times, especially in Egypt and in the desolate Arabia. Often in broad daylight, and which brings people to all kinds of superstition."
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On this invitation of Mine, the disciples said: "Lord, such phenomena are not completely strange to us, but what they actually and completely are according to the truth, and how and why they exist, no mortal being has grasped yet, neither a lot of other things.
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Apparently You made them appear here to also give us the right instruction about these things, so that we would not have any wrong ideas about such events. But how they otherwise exist in a similar manner, only You and Raphael will know.
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The Jews considered them as prophetic signs for future events and for an important sign scripture of Jehovah with deep meaning, as we have seen some time ago during the night on the Mount of Olives.
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We have not heard much about what the gentiles think about it, for we never involved ourselves in the doctrine of their gods. But since we have now several totally converted gentiles with us, they can now also come up with their view and their belief regarding such phenomena."
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Now the 2 Greeks, who, in the morning, were the first to seek the only, true God, and who were healed, came standing before Me and said: "Lord and Master. The fable of the great witch Morgana is too silly to represent here, for we already laughed about it before ourselves when we were kids. And so, that one seems now even more silly and ridiculous.
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However, on our faraway trips we often had the opportunity to not only see such phenomena - although not always to this extent - but also to discuss about it with very capable nature researchers and scientists, and there was one among them who apparently, in our opinion, hit the nail pretty much on the head.
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His opinion was that such phenomena, as well as many thousands of other phenomena, have a completely natural cause and must be considered and seen as signs for future events of other subsequent phenomena, which is especially important for the skippers on the sea and the caravans through the big sandy deserts. As they always appear during the greatest rest of the air that lies on the Earth, it seems as if the completely quiet air, high in the region of the clouds, receives a reflecting power just like on the completely quiet water surface. And so, according to him, we often can see regions, places, mountains and rivers from a great distance, as well as a lot of other things, which we do not know, that are reflected by the high, quiet air surface. But when the air become restless - which inevitably seems to happen after such phenomena - and the winds are blowing, then such phenomena would also very quickly disappear, because by the ever stronger air current it would entirely lose its rest, and with that its reflecting power.
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Now whether the viewpoint of our physicist is completely true and correct, we cannot entirely and truthfully know. But that it seems to be the most probable and understandable for the exploring, clearer human mind, we are fully convinced, since after such phenomena the consequences are always following with certainty.
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During this kind of phenomena we often noticed at the same time that the reflecting images on the supposed air surface were seen reversed, and this confirms the viewpoint of our physicist even more, for on a completely and very quiet water surface the reflecting images are also always seen reversed - then why not also on an air surface?
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This is now our opinion about such phenomena. If one of the disciples has a better view, he can speak out to us."