Lessons from the Life of Jesus – Part 2

By Sola Adeyegbe

It is my earnest desire that we continue to concern ourselves solely with the Truth. We can then as true believers look forward to the future with calm confidence. Once we are enveloped in the Truth, we will understand the signs of the times in which we stand and will not be alarmed at anything that may happen in the coming years. If we can look up with confidence to God no harm will come to us.[1]

As we take the second part of the Lessons from the Life of Jesus, let us restate that the sacred Mission of the Son of God lay in His Word.[2] It lay in the Message of God He brought to mankind. It is that Word alone which is the Way, the Truth and the Life!

In this second part of this presentation, we shall consider our topic Lessons from the life of Jesus using 4 points:

This is the story of three kings who were led by the Star of Bethlehem to the stable where they saw the Child Jesus, gave Him precious gifts and departed.

The Scripture did not provide their names or how many they were. However, some traditions regard them as saints and say they are three namely: Balthasar, Melchior and Gaspar (or Casper).  Encyclopaedia Britannica tells us that “According to Western church tradition, Balthasar is often represented as a king of Arabia or sometimes Ethiopia, Melchior as a king of Persia, and Gaspar as a king of India.”[3]

Let us consider: what was the whole point of the kings traversing long distances to visit the Holy Child? Was it all about presenting gifts and nothing else? Suppose one of them offered to take the Child away to his kingdom for safety given the warning in a dream about the danger posed by Herod. Suppose the kings came back regularly to check on Jesus. Suppose they later became the servants of Jesus who they themselves reckon as a King. Or did they not know that He is the King of kings? Suppose through their faithful service, the peoples of the three kingdoms were able to hear the Redeeming Word of Jesus direct from His lips. Suppose the Message of Christ was embraced in the three kingdoms. Imagine the effect if Christ’s Message had come direct from Him 2000 years ago to the countries known today as Iran, Saudi Arabia (or Ethiopia) and India!

Let us learn from this. It is our sacred duty to investigate why we are living on earth. We also should look inwards; consider our abilities and assess our circumstances carefully.  Soon we will gradually come to recognise our own purpose which will lead us to fulfilment if we are ardent in our seeking. That way, we will not be like the three kings who were led faithfully and brought face to face with the reason for which they were born unto the face of the earth, who found their way to the stable and presented earthly gifts; but who went away, leaving without protection the Child Whose earthly path they should have smoothed with their wealth and power, so that no harm might befall Him in the fulfilment of His Mission. Although they received enlightenment enabling them to find the Child, they did not fully realise their sublime call.[4]Their failure in this regard actually changed the course of mankind’s history in the spiritual sense!

Jesus knew the best way to reach the deep inner core of men and so He often spoke to people in pictures using parables. This way He made His Teachings clear and gave deep Truths to mankind in a simple way.

One of His Parables is the Parable of the prodigal son. This Parable can be summarized as follows: A certain man had two sons. The younger of them asked his father for his inheritance. The father granted his request and afterwards, this son travelled to a distant country where he wasted all of his belongings in riotous living. Soon, he was in abject poverty and in order to survive took on the job of looking after pigs! After much suffering he regretfully came to his senses and decided to go back to his father. On seeing his father, he confessed that he had sinned and was no more worthy to be called a son. But the father had compassion and joyfully took him back.

The prodigal son in this parable represents us as mankind. We came from Paradise which is like the home of the father in the Parable. In Paradise there are matured human spirits likened to the senior son in the Parable. We the human beings on earth were still spirit seeds who require to grow into fully matured human spirits. We requested for this maturity just like the junior son in the Parable who wanted to have his inheritance and this was granted us. On getting to the earth which is like our school where we are to attain the required maturity, we forget the purpose of being here and start chasing earthly things such as money, fame, power and position. In the Parable, this was referred to as the riotous living of the prodigal son which in our own case leads to unhappiness and lack of fulfilment similar to the poverty and degradation suffered by the prodigal son in the parable.

Let me ask you a question. Are you truly happy right now? The way out of the unhappiness we feel is to repent and go back to fulfilling the very purpose of our life on earth which is to understand the Laws of God and through this gain the necessary experiences which brings us to spiritual maturity. When we do this, we can be likened to the prodigal son who has turned his back on his purposeless life and has started the journey back to his father and who eventually received forgiveness. This turn-around also marks the beginning of our spiritual journey back to Paradise.This time however, we will go back fully matured to participate in the joyful work of the eternal development and expansion of God’s Creation which is now being carried out by other blessed human spirits who already have Paradise as their home. There is no resting in peace there. In Paradise we will consciously work, helping and furthering, in the part-planes below, this being the highest task of every mature human spirit^[5]

Reminding us of this Parable and its meaning to us, The Grail Message says: “Strive for the ability to enter the Spiritual Realm as fully matured spirits, you earthmen! You will then be united with those who were able to develop in the Spiritual without first having to plunge into the World of Matter.You will then be no less strong than these, for you have overcome many obstacles, and through the requisite exertion you became a flame! There will then be joy over you, as is already indicated in the parable of the “prodigal son”.^[6]

The Grail Message tells us that every Bringer of Truth whether great or small has had to suffer mockery and scorn, persecution and attack from men who think they are too wise to accept the explanations of the Will of God from His Messengers more so when these Messengers are not products of mankind’s great institutions of learning! ^[7]

This was also what happened to Jesus. Despite all the good He did, He remained an annoyance to men and was totally rejected. By hating Jesus mankind sided with the Antichrist and it is a proof of their enmity to the Father Who sent Christ. The Son of God sums up all these when He spoke of the master who sent out his servants to collect what was due to him from his tenants. But instead of receiving the rents the servants were mocked and beaten before they were sent back empty handed!^[8]

When this parable is mentioned today, people try to gloss over it by calling it a mere parable! They prefer to believe that the main mission of Christ was to come and suffer and die for their sins and that it is a distinction conferred by God on His Messengers if they have to suffer in this manner, instead of regarding it as a crime on the part of mankind which is not willed by God! ^[9]

The motive behind the Coming of our Lord Jesus was symbolised in the Parable. When the owner of the vineyard saw how badly the tenants treated the servants he sent earlier, he decided to send his son thinking that the tenants would respect him. The son was not sent to be killed but sent with the hope that he would be respected and obeyed!  Instead of this, the wicked tenants killed the owner’s son! Later, the master destroys the tenants and gives the vineyard to others. What this means in reality, however is that with the rejection and murder of Jesus, mankind became burdened with a terrible fate which is now being experienced in the World Judgement! Consider the ongoing economic distress, natural disasters, pandemics, confusion and helplessness in the world today and see these as repercussions of the Golgotha event! The Old Covenant was annulled and now only those who pledge to serve the Almighty by living in accordance with the Truth will be partakers of the New Covenant with the Son of Man Whom Jesus Himself proclaimed.[10]

• From the accounts in Mathew Chapters 5, 6 and 7.[11]

Do you consider yourself as a follower of Christ? Do you believe in Him? Do you wish to do exactly what He has taught us? If your answer is yes to any of these questions, then I respectfully invite you to measure your faith by Mathew Chapters 5, 6 and 7. The main words of these chapters are ascribed to Jesus. We will now consider some passages from these Chapters and relate them with what obtains today among believers.

¹⁷ “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. ¹⁸ For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.

⁴³ “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ ⁴⁴ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, ⁴⁵ that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

There are learning points in Chapter 6 as well.

⁷ And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. ⁸ Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

24 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”

³¹ …do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³ But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Hear the words in verses 21-23:

²¹ “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. ²² Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ ²³ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

²⁴ “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. ²⁵ The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. ²⁶ But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. ²⁷ The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

Let us recall that poser we started with in part 1 of this essay. That was the question attributed to Jesus as recorded in the book of Luke, Chapter 18, verse 8. It goes like this: “Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth?”

Going by a consideration of the passages we lifted from Mathew 5, 6 and 7, one cannot but come to the conclusion that what many believers believe today and what they do are not the same as is clearly stated in the sacred scriptures we cited. And these are scriptural words from the well-known Sermon on the Mountain which can be regarded as a source for the key Teachings of Jesus available in the Bible.

Clearly the legacy of the Son of God, His Living Word, has for a long time been exploited on earth for selfish purposes. By this attitude mankind no longer have the conception of the true Principles of Christ. Instead, the main teachings promote the supremacy of man. No wonder some even believe that they can command the Almighty and they would boldly cite scripture which they have wrongly interpreted to support their stand.[12]We worship ourselves and not the Almighty! Everything that does not have as its foundation the acknowledgement of the supremacy of man is simply labelled as false, and not belonging to the Word of God. [13]

The Message of Jesus the Son of God has thus been interpreted wrongly in many respects and the signposts are misplaced by men who put their human fake knowledge above the Wisdom of God. By their actions they lead many astray. For this reason, another Message from the Kingdom of Heaven has now been given. This Message puts the misplaced signposts back into their proper places, so that the right road may be recognised by all serious seekers. Happy are all those who adjust themselves to this Message with an open mind and a free heart! They will find in it all they must know of Creation and see all the steps which their spirit must take on its ladder of ascent in order to enter into the Spiritual Realm, Paradise.[14]

Perhaps today, through this essay, you have been pointed to this new Message from On High which brings to our remembrance the true Teachings of our Lord Jesus.

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[1]Abd-ru-shin, “In the Light of Truth” – The Grail Message. eBook edition EPUB created on 1. Mai 2012.  Alexander Bernhardt Publishing Co., Vomperberg Tyrol.: I-30. THE GREAT COMET

[2]Id: II-66. FATHER, FORGIVE THEM, FOR THEY KNOW NOT WHAT THEY DO!

[3]Britannica available at: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Magi (last visited this website on December 19, 2020)

[4] Id:I-14. THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM

[5]Abd-ru-shin, supra note 1: II-46. COME DOWN FROM THE CROSS!

[6]Abd-ru-shin, supra note 1: III-53. SPIRIT-GERMS

[7] Id: II-66. FATHER, FORGIVE THEM, FOR THEY KNOW NOT WHAT THEY DO!

[8] Id.

[9] Id.

[10]Herbert Vollmann, A Gate Opens Composite Volume (Stiftung Gralsbotschaft Publishing Co. Stuttgart 1985) page 200

[11] All Scriptural quotations in this section are taken from The Bible: New International Version. BibleGateway available at: https://www.biblegateway.com/ (last visited on December 20, 2020)

[12]Protagonists of this view rely on Isaiah 45:11. Some versions of the Bible for example King James Version, render this verse in a way that appears to support the view. It reads: “Thus saith the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker, Ask me of things to come concerning my sons, and concerning the work of my hands command ye me.” There are however some other Bible versions of the same Isaiah 45:11 which totally negates this stand! New International Version for example says: “This is what the LORD says– the Holy One of Israel, and its Maker: Concerning things to come, do you question me about my children, or give me orders about the work of my hands?” A reading of the whole of Chapter 45 of the Book of Isaiah however puts this important matter in the right context and makes it clear that a creature cannot begin to question or issue commands to his Maker.

[13]Abd-ru-shin, supra note 1: I-32. THE STRANGER

[14]Id: II-60. WHAT MUST A MAN DO TO ENTER THE KINGDOM OF GOD?