The Great Gospel of John
Volume 9
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
The Lord's journey through Samaria
- Chapter 56 -
The prophet school.
During the meal, the innkeeper asked Me if he should not secretly let the doctor know that I was here.
2
I said: "Then you would make a useless effort, because he and his wife traveled over the countryside and will only come home in a couple of days. When they will come to you, you can relate to them about all the things that happened here during their absence. But now we will continue to eat and drink undisturbed."
3
Then we cheerfully ate and drank, as well as the innkeeper and his healed son, and they continuously praised the good taste of the noble fishes.
4
The innkeeper could not keep a good remark to himself, for he said: "O Lord and Master, the fishes that were first created in the waters of the Earth will certainly also have tasted better than the ones that were procreated among each other, because these noble fishes were also not procreated, but newly created by You, o Lord and Master, and therefore they also taste so extremely good."
5
I said: "Yes, yes, you could be right in this. And in the same manner, also the word that comes from My mouth is more powerful and more active than when it is spoken out by the prophets, but their words can be strengthened in every person to the same power when through action they are well prepared in the will and the heart of man.
6
My word is already Life in itself and makes everyone alive who hears it with a willing heart, because then Life, which is the basis of all life, passes directly into the life of man. The word of the prophet however, is only a trustful signpost and shows man how he can come to the living word out of My mouth and by that can pass into the life of the spirit.
7
I say to you all: finally, everyone will have to be instructed by God in his heart, for he who finally will not be instructed by the Father or by God's Spirit in Me on the way of the pure love for Me and his fellowman, does not come to Me, the Son of the eternal Love, which is the eternal Light, the Way, the Truth and the Life itself, because I am in Myself the wisdom of the Father. Although you do not understand all this now completely, but you will understand it when after My ascension you will be reborn in the Spirit out of Me, for this is the living Spirit of all truth that completely lives eternally in itself, and it will lead you into all wisdom. So you were right when you said that the newly created fishes were incomparably tasting better than those that were procreated later among themselves."
8
Then the innkeeper said: "O Lord and Master, I have heard many things about the former prophet school, which was especially very common during the time of the judges, and which also continued to exist after that during the time of the kings unto nearly our time. But still, I was never able to clearly discover of what their lessons and exercises actually consisted. But from the time that someone became a prophet according to the full truth, the Spirit of Jehovah spoke unmistakably through his mouth, which was also proven through the acts of several great prophets.
9
Of what did those lessons and exercises of a prophet school consist actually?"
10
I said: "Listen, My friend, the things that happened during that time - only in all kinds of correspondences as preparation of this present time - stands now fulfilled before you. In that school the judges and priests, who were awakened in the spirit, accepted, in the manner of Aaron, children who were already since their birth educated in a pure and good manner by God-fearing parents, and of course especially boys who were above all physically completely healthy and strong. There they first had to be skilled in reading, counting and writing. After that, they were well instructed in the Scripture, namely in the books of Moses, and then also in the geography and ethnology of the Earth as far as it was known by men.
11
At the same time they were carefully urged not to only know God's commandments but also to keep them as strict as possible out of their free will and make decisions on their own. Also, according to their age and degree of spiritual development they were exposed to a lot of tests and trials, so that inwardly they would come to the living conviction to know how much their strength had already increased to resist the whole world and its enticements.
12
They especially had to be protected against laziness, which is the mother of all other sins and evils, and therefore they were also urged to do all kinds of physical work that was adjusted to their physical strength.
13
Once they were grown up and strong in self-denial and gained victory over themselves, they were guided to their inner self through the science of correspondences, by which they came to the living faith and obtained an unbendable will in union with God's will which they knew well and which they also observed precisely since already their childhood. So they also were already capable to perform many signs because their own will became one with God's will, and their faith as a true, living light from the Heavens did not allow anymore doubt in their enlightened hearts.
14
Once all this had come within the true and living order, they became filled with God's Spirit through their living faith and their will that was unified with God's will in all their actions, everyone according to his own individual capabilities. Through that, their inner sight received a wider range of view, and so they foresaw also future things and events in corresponding images that they then wrote down for the later generations.
15
Whoever acquired this condition in which he had visions, did also acquire the inner living word in his deepest inner being and heard thus the voice of Jehovah in himself, and that was the Word of God that the prophet announced to the people as it were from the mouth of God, and in fact had to announce because he was urged by the Spirit of God that was prevailing in him. Look, this is how the school of the prophets was, and in the manner that I have described it, men were formed in a real and true school of life to become prophets."