This essay continues a sequence. Read the previous one here.
Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ,
he sent two of his disciples,
And said unto him,
Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?
Jesus answered and said unto them,
Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see:
The blind receive their sight,
…
and the poor have the gospel preached to them.
And as they departed, Jesus began to say unto the multitudes concerning John,
What went ye out into the wilderness to see?
…
A prophet? yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet.
For this is he, of whom it is written,
Behold, I send my messenger before thy face,
which shall prepare thy way before thee.
Verily I say unto you,
Among them that are born of women
there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist.
…
And if ye will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come.
— KJV; Matt 11:2-14
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A Doubting John?
Every alert reader of the Bible would have wondered about this: John the Baptist, who came to Earth specifically to prepare the way for Christ; who was the first person to recognise Christ as an adult; who heard the Voice of the Almighty confirming the identity of Christ. And who Christ referred to as the greatest of prophets.
It is simply not possible that he would have become a doubter. John did not doubt.
It was John’s disciples who originated the question. They had asked John about Christ. If John had answered “Yes, He is the Messiah” they would have believed only because their revered master said so, not because of any personal absorption of The Word. That would be the same type of superficial faith many of us have, a faith we follow primarily because of the influence of a parent or mentor.
John, being the exceedingly wise person he was, knew this, and so he sent them to go and ask Christ directly.
Matters Arising: Pre-existence and Reincarnation?
These issues were explored in “Life Goes On“.
Was the messenger to be sent only created at the time of John’s birth, or was he in existence beforehand?
Does the reference to Elias support the idea of reincarnation1?
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Matters Arising: Higher & Lower Beings?
Christ was “born of a woman“, and it goes without saying that He is infinitely greater than John. So what should we make of this?
The words “among them that are” refer to a species, in this case the human race. Christ, The Word, is not of this species.
We also know that there are many “species” that are not born of women. Angels are just one example. Our modern-day ignorance of the variety of such species is partly a result of the loss of much valuable indigenous knowledge, as discussed in “Christ vs The Elements“.
The Word confirmed that John stood higher than other human beings and prophets. Was this superiority a result of “performance” or are there also different species even within the spiritual species that we human beings belong to?
The Word Unspoken
I have yet many things to say unto you,
but ye cannot bear them now.
Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come,
he will guide you into all truth:
for he shall not speak of himself;
but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak:
and he will shew you things to come.
— John 16:12-13
Many questions that arise in the mind of the thinking reader shall be answered by the Spirit of Truth, the Comforter, the Son of Man, whose coming was prophesied by Christ.
We should not assume or insist that the nature and form of His Coming should conform to whatever expectations we have developed from our imagination or religious upbringing2.
We should simply be on the alert: living according to The Word will develop our spiritual faculties sufficiently for us to recognise Him when He comes.
Today’s Resolution:
- We will live in such a way as to gain the spiritual maturity that will help us recognise Him Who is to come.
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- See Stephen Lampe, The Christian and Reincarnation (Millennium Press, 2009) for more on this topic ↩︎
- For more on this and related topics, see Abdrushin, In the Light of Truth: The Grail Message (Stuttgart: Stiftung Gralsbotschaft, 1993) ↩︎
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