647 lines
39 KiB
Plaintext
647 lines
39 KiB
Plaintext
Urantia Book Paper 194 Bestowal Of The Spirit Of Truth
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SPIRITWEB ORG, PROMOTING SPIRITUAL CONSCIOUSNESS ON THE INTERNET.
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Subjects Archive The Urantia Book Urantia Book PART IV: The Life and Teachings
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of Jesus : The Bestowal Of Michael On Urantia The Times Of Michael's Bestowal
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Birth And Infancy Of Jesus The Early Childhood Of Jesus The Later Childhood Of
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Jesus Jesus At Jerusalem The Two Crucial Years The Adolescent Years Jesus'
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Early Manhood The Later Adult Life Of Jesus On The Way To Rome The World's
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Religions The Sojourn At Rome The Return From Rome The Transition Years John
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The Baptist Baptism And The Forty Days Tarrying Time In Galilee Training The
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Kingdom's Messengers The Twelve Apostles The Ordination Of The Twelve Beginning
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The Public Work The Passover At Jerusalem Going Through Samaria At Gilboa And
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In The Decapolis Four Eventful Days At Capernaum First Preaching Tour Of
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Galilee The Interlude Visit To Jerusalem Training Evangelists At Bethsaida The
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Second Preaching Tour The Third Preaching Tour Tarrying And Teaching By The
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Seaside Events Leading Up To The Capernaum Crisis The Crisis At Capernaum Last
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Days At Capernaum Fleeing Through Northern Galilee The Sojourn At Tyre And
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Sidon At Caesarea-philippi The Mount Of Transfiguration The Decapolis Tour
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Rodan Of Alexandria Further Discussions With Rodan At The Feast Of Tabernacles
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Ordination Of The Seventy At Magadan At The Feast Of Dedication The Perean
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Mission Begins Last Visit To Northern Perea The Visit To Philadelphia The
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Resurrection Of Lazarus Last Teaching At Pella The Kingdom Of Heaven On The Way
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To Jerusalem Going Into Jerusalem Monday In Jerusalem ... Bestowal Of The
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Spirit Of Truth
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Paper 194 Bestowal Of The Spirit Of Truth
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Introduction
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ABOUT one o'clock, as the one hundred and twenty believers were engaged in
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prayer, they all became aware of a strange presence in the room. At the same
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time these disciples all became conscious of a new and profound sense of
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spiritual joy, security, and confidence. This new consciousness of spiritual
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strength was immediately followed by a strong urge to go out and publicly
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proclaim the gospel of the kingdom and the good news that Jesus had risen from
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the dead.
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Peter stood up and declared that this must be the coming of the Spirit of Truth
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which the Master had promised them and proposed that they go to the temple and
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begin the proclamation of the good news committed to their hands. And they did
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just what Peter suggested.
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These men had been trained and instructed that the gospel which they should
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preach was the fatherhood of God and the sonship of man, but at just this
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moment of spiritual ecstasy and personal triumph, the best tidings, the
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greatest news, these men could think of was the fact of the risen Master. And
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so they went forth, endowed with power from on high, preaching glad tidings to
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the people--even salvation through Jesus--but they unintentionally stumbled
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into the error of substituting some of the facts associated with the gospel for
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the gospel message itself. Peter unwittingly led off in this mistake, and
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others followed after him on down to Paul, who created a new religion out of
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the new version of the good news.
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The gospel of the kingdom is: the fact of the fatherhood of God, coupled with
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the resultant truth of the sonship-brotherhood of men. Christianity, as it
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developed from that day, is: the fact of God as the Father of the Lord Jesus
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Christ, in association with the experience of believer-fellowship with the
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risen and glorified Christ.
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It is not strange that these spirit-infused men should have seized upon this
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opportunity to express their feelings of triumph over the forces which had
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sought to destroy their Master and end the influence of his teachings. At such
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a time as this it was easier to remember their personal association with Jesus
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and to be thrilled with the assurance that the Master still lived, that their
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friendship had not ended, and that the spirit had indeed come upon them even as
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he had promised.
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These believers felt themselves suddenly translated into another world, a new
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existence of joy, power, and glory. The Master had told them the kingdom would
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come with power, and some of them thought they were beginning to discern what
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he meant.
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And when all of this is taken into consideration, it is not difficult to
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understand how these men came to preach a new gospel about Jesus in the place
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of their former message of the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of men.
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top of page - 2060
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1. THE PENTECOST SERMON
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The apostles had been in hiding for forty days. This day happened to be the
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Jewish festival of Pentecost, and thousands of visitors from all parts of the
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world were in Jerusalem. Many arrived for this feast, but a majority had
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tarried in the city since the Passover. Now these frightened apostles emerged
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from their weeks of seclusion to appear boldly in the temple, where they began
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to preach the new message of a risen Messiah. And all the disciples were
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likewise conscious of having received some new spiritual endowment of insight
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and power.
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It was about two o'clock when Peter stood up in that very place where his
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Master had last taught in this temple, and delivered that impassioned appeal
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which resulted in the winning of more than two thousand souls. The Master had
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gone, but they suddenly discovered that this story about him had great power
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with the people. No wonder they were led on into the further proclamation of
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that which vindicated their former devotion to Jesus and at the same time so
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constrained men to believe in him. Six of the apostles participated in this
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meeting: Peter, Andrew, James, John, Philip, and Matthew. They talked for more
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than an hour and a half and delivered messages in Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic,
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as well as a few words in even other tongues with which they had a speaking
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acquaintance.
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The leaders of the Jews were astounded at the boldness of the apostles, but
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they feared to molest them because of the large numbers who believed their
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story.
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By half past four o'clock more than two thousand new believers followed the
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apostles down to the pool of Siloam, where Peter, Andrew, James, and John
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baptized them in the Master's name. And it was dark when they had finished with
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baptizing this multitude.
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Pentecost was the great festival of baptism, the time for fellowshipping the
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proselytes of the gate, those gentiles who desired to serve Yahweh. It was,
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therefore, the more easy for large numbers of both the Jews and believing
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gentiles to submit to baptism on this day. In doing this, they were in no way
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disconnecting themselves from the Jewish faith. Even for some time after this
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the believers in Jesus were a sect within Judaism. All of them, including the
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apostles, were still loyal to the essential requirements of the Jewish
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ceremonial system.
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2. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF PENTECOST
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Jesus lived on earth and taught a gospel which redeemed man from the
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superstition that he was a child of the devil and elevated him to the dignity
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of a faith son of God. Jesus' message, as he preached it and lived it in his
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day, was an effective solvent for man's spiritual difficulties in that day of
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its statement. And now that he has personally left the world, he sends in his
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place his Spirit of Truth, who is designed to live in man and, for each new
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generation, to restate the Jesus message so that every new group of mortals to
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appear upon the face of the earth shall have a new and up-to-date version of
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the gospel, just such personal enlightenment and group guidance as will prove
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to be an effective solvent for man's ever-new and varied spiritual
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difficulties.
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The first mission of this spirit is, of course, to foster and personalize
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truth, for it is the comprehension of truth that constitutes the highest form
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of human
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top of page - 2061
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liberty. Next, it is the purpose of this spirit to destroy the believer's
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feeling of orphanhood. Jesus having been among men, all believers would
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experience a sense of loneliness had not the Spirit of Truth come to dwell in
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men's hearts.
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This bestowal of the Son's spirit effectively prepared all normal men's minds
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for the subsequent universal bestowal of the Father's spirit (the Adjuster)
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upon all mankind. In a certain sense, this Spirit of Truth is the spirit of
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both the Universal Father and the Creator Son.
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Do not make the mistake of expecting to become strongly intellectually
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conscious of the outpoured Spirit of Truth. The spirit never creates a
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consciousness of himself, only a consciousness of Michael, the Son. From the
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beginning Jesus taught that the spirit would not speak of himself. The proof,
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therefore, of your fellowship with the Spirit of Truth is not to be found in
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your consciousness of this spirit but rather in your experience of enhanced
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fellowship with Michael.
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The spirit also came to help men recall and understand the words of the Master
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as well as to illuminate and reinterpret his life on earth.
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Next, the Spirit of Truth came to help the believer to witness to the realities
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of Jesus' teachings and his life as he lived it in the flesh, and as he now
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again lives it anew and afresh in the individual believer of each passing
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generation of the spirit-filled sons of God.
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Thus it appears that the Spirit of Truth comes really to lead all believers
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into all truth, into the expanding knowledge of the experience of the living
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and growing spiritual consciousness of the reality of eternal and ascending
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sonship with God.
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Jesus lived a life which is a revelation of man submitted to the Father's will,
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not an example for any man literally to attempt to follow. This life in the
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flesh, together with his death on the cross and subsequent resurrection,
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presently became a new gospel of the ransom which had thus been paid in order
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to purchase man back from the clutch of the evil one--from the condemnation of
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an offended God. Nevertheless, even though the gospel did become greatly
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distorted, it remains a fact that this new message about Jesus carried along
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with it many of the fundamental truths and teachings of his earlier gospel of
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the kingdom. And, sooner or later, these concealed truths of the fatherhood of
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God and the brotherhood of men will emerge to effectually transform the
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civilization of all mankind.
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But these mistakes of the intellect in no way interfered with the believer's
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great progress in growth in spirit. In less than a month after the bestowal of
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the Spirit of Truth, the apostles made more individual spiritual progress than
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during their almost four years of personal and loving association with the
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Master. Neither did this substitution of the fact of the resurrection of Jesus
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for the saving gospel truth of sonship with God in any way interfere with the
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rapid spread of their teachings; on the contrary, this overshadowing of Jesus'
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message by the new teachings about his person and resurrection seemed greatly
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to facilitate the preaching of the good news.
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The term "baptism of the spirit," which came into such general use about this
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time, merely signified the conscious reception of this gift of the Spirit of
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Truth and the personal acknowledgment of this new spiritual power as an
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augmentation of all spiritual influences previously experienced by God-knowing
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souls.
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Since the bestowal of the Spirit of Truth, man is subject to the teaching and
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guidance of a threefold spirit endowment: the spirit of the Father, the Thought
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top of page - 2062
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Adjuster; the spirit of the Son, the Spirit of Truth; the spirit of the Spirit,
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the Holy Spirit.
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In a way, mankind is subject to the double influence of the sevenfold appeal of
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the universe spirit influences. The early evolutionary races of mortals are
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subject to the progressive contact of the seven adjutant mind-spirits of the
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local universe Mother Spirit. As man progresses upward in the scale of
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intelligence and spiritual perception, there eventually come to hover over him
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and dwell within him the seven higher spirit influences. And these seven
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spirits of the advancing worlds are:
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1. The bestowed spirit of the Universal Father--the Thought Adjusters.
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2. The spirit presence of the Eternal Son--the spirit gravity of the universe
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of universes and the certain channel of all spirit communion.
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3. The spirit presence of the Infinite Spirit--the universal spirit-mind of all
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creation, the spiritual source of the intellectual kinship of all progressive
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intelligences.
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4. The spirit of the Universal Father and the Creator Son--the Spirit of Truth,
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generally regarded as the spirit of the Universe Son.
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5. The spirit of the Infinite Spirit and the Universe Mother Spirit--the Holy
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Spirit, generally regarded as the spirit of the Universe Spirit.
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6. The mind-spirit of the Universe Mother Spirit--the seven adjutant
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mind-spirits of the local universe.
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7. The spirit of the Father, Sons, and Spirits--the new-name spirit of the
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ascending mortals of the realms after the fusion of the mortal spirit-born soul
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with the Paradise Thought Adjuster and after the subsequent attainment of the
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divinity and glorification of the status of the Paradise Corps of the Finality.
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And so did the bestowal of the Spirit of Truth bring to the world and its
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peoples the last of the spirit endowment designed to aid in the ascending
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search for God.
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3. WHAT HAPPENED AT PENTECOST
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Many queer and strange teachings became associated with the early narratives of
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the day of Pentecost. In subsequent times the events of this day, on which the
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Spirit of Truth, the new teacher, came to dwell with mankind, have become
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confused with the foolish outbreaks of rampant emotionalism. The chief mission
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of this outpoured spirit of the Father and the Son is to teach men about the
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truths of the Father's love and the Son's mercy. These are the truths of
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divinity which men can comprehend more fully than all the other divine traits
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of character. The Spirit of Truth is concerned primarily with the revelation of
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the Father's spirit nature and the Son's moral character. The Creator Son, in
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the flesh, revealed God to men; the Spirit of Truth, in the heart, reveals the
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Creator Son to men. When man yields the "fruits of the spirit" in his life, he
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is simply showing forth the traits which the Master manifested in his own
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earthly life. When Jesus was on earth, he lived his life as one
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personality--Jesus of Nazareth. As the indwelling spirit of the "new teacher,"
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the Master has, since Pentecost, been able to live his life anew in the
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experience of every truth-taught believer.
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Many things which happen in the course of a human life are hard to understand,
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difficult to reconcile with the idea that this is a universe in which truth
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top of page - 2063
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prevails and in which righteousness triumphs. It so often appears that slander,
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lies, dishonesty, and unrighteousness--sin--prevail. Does faith, after all,
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triumph over evil, sin, and iniquity? It does. And the life and death of Jesus
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are the eternal proof that the truth of goodness and the faith of the
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spirit-led creature will always be vindicated. They taunted Jesus on the cross,
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saying, "Let us see if God will come and deliver him." It looked dark on that
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day of the crucifixion, but it was gloriously bright on the resurrection
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morning; it was still brighter and more joyous on the day of Pentecost. The
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religions of pessimistic despair seek to obtain release from the burdens of
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life; they crave extinction in endless slumber and rest. These are the
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religions of primitive fear and dread. The religion of Jesus is a new gospel of
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faith to be proclaimed to struggling humanity. This new religion is founded on
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faith, hope, and love.
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To Jesus, mortal life had dealt its hardest, cruelest, and bitterest blows; and
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this man met these ministrations of despair with faith, courage, and the
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unswerving determination to do his Father's will. Jesus met life in all its
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terrible reality and mastered it--even in death. He did not use religion as a
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release from life. The religion of Jesus does not seek to escape this life in
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order to enjoy the waiting bliss of another existence. The religion of Jesus
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provides the joy and peace of another and spiritual existence to enhance and
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ennoble the life which men now live in the flesh.
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If religion is an opiate to the people, it is not the religion of Jesus. On the
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cross he refused to drink the deadening drug, and his spirit, poured out upon
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all flesh, is a mighty world influence which leads man upward and urges him
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onward. The spiritual forward urge is the most powerful driving force present
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in this world; the truth-learning believer is the one progressive and
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aggressive soul on earth.
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On the day of Pentecost the religion of Jesus broke all national restrictions
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and racial fetters. It is forever true, "Where the spirit of the Lord is, there
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is liberty." On this day the Spirit of Truth became the personal gift from the
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Master to every mortal. This spirit was bestowed for the purpose of qualifying
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believers more effectively to preach the gospel of the kingdom, but they
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mistook the experience of receiving the outpoured spirit for a part of the new
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gospel which they were unconsciously formulating.
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Do not overlook the fact that the Spirit of Truth was bestowed upon all sincere
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believers; this gift of the spirit did not come only to the apostles. The one
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hundred and twenty men and women assembled in the upper chamber all received
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the new teacher, as did all the honest of heart throughout the whole world.
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This new teacher was bestowed upon mankind, and every soul received him in
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accordance with the love for truth and the capacity to grasp and comprehend
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spiritual realities. At last, true religion is delivered from the custody of
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priests and all sacred classes and finds its real manifestation in the
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individual souls of men.
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The religion of Jesus fosters the highest type of human civilization in that it
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creates the highest type of spiritual personality and proclaims the sacredness
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of that person.
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The coming of the Spirit of Truth on Pentecost made possible a religion which
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is neither radical nor conservative; it is neither the old nor the new; it is
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to be dominated neither by the old nor the young. The fact of Jesus' earthly
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life provides a fixed point for the anchor of time, while the bestowal of the
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Spirit of
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Truth provides for the everlasting expansion and endless growth of the religion
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which he lived and the gospel which he proclaimed. The spirit guides into all
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truth; he is the teacher of an expanding and always-growing religion of endless
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progress and divine unfolding. This new teacher will be forever unfolding to
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the truth-seeking believer that which was so divinely folded up in the person
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and nature of the Son of Man.
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The manifestations associated with the bestowal of the "new teacher," and the
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reception of the apostles' preaching by the men of various races and nations
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gathered together at Jerusalem, indicate the universality of the religion of
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Jesus. The gospel of the kingdom was to be identified with no particular race,
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culture, or language. This day of Pentecost witnessed the great effort of the
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spirit to liberate the religion of Jesus from its inherited Jewish fetters.
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Even after this demonstration of pouring out the spirit upon all flesh, the
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apostles at first endeavored to impose the requirements of Judaism upon their
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converts. Even Paul had trouble with his Jerusalem brethren because he refused
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to subject the gentiles to these Jewish practices. No revealed religion can
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spread to all the world when it makes the serious mistake of becoming permeated
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with some national culture or associated with established racial, social, or
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economic practices.
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The bestowal of the Spirit of Truth was independent of all forms, ceremonies,
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sacred places, and special behavior by those who received the fullness of its
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manifestation. When the spirit came upon those assembled in the upper chamber,
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they were simply sitting there, having just been engaged in silent prayer. The
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spirit was bestowed in the country as well as in the city. It was not necessary
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for the apostles to go apart to a lonely place for years of solitary meditation
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in order to receive the spirit. For all time, Pentecost disassociates the idea
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of spiritual experience from the notion of especially favorable environments.
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Pentecost, with its spiritual endowment, was designed forever to loose the
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religion of the Master from all dependence upon physical force; the teachers of
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this new religion are now equipped with spiritual weapons. They are to go out
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to conquer the world with unfailing forgiveness, matchless good will, and
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abounding love. They are equipped to overcome evil with good, to vanquish hate
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by love, to destroy fear with a courageous and living faith in truth. Jesus had
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already taught his followers that his religion was never passive; always were
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his disciples to be active and positive in their ministry of mercy and in their
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manifestations of love. No longer did these believers look upon Yahweh as "the
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Lord of Hosts." They now regarded the eternal Deity as the "God and Father of
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the Lord Jesus Christ." They made that progress, at least, even if they did in
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some measure fail fully to grasp the truth that God is also the spiritual
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Father of every individual.
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Pentecost endowed mortal man with the power to forgive personal injuries, to
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keep sweet in the midst of the gravest injustice, to remain unmoved in the face
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of appalling danger, and to challenge the evils of hate and anger by the
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fearless acts of love and forbearance. Urantia has passed through the ravages
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of great and destructive wars in its history. All participants in these
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terrible struggles met with defeat. There was but one victor; there was only
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one who came out of these embittered struggles with an enhanced
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reputation--that was Jesus of Nazareth and his gospel of overcoming evil with
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good. The secret of a better civilization is bound up in the Master's teachings
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of the brotherhood of man, the good will of love and mutual trust.
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Up to Pentecost, religion had revealed only man seeking for God; since
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Pentecost, man is still searching for God, but there shines out over the world
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the spectacle of God also seeking for man and sending his spirit to dwell
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within him when he has found him.
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Before the teachings of Jesus which culminated in Pentecost, women had little
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or no spiritual standing in the tenets of the older religions. After Pentecost,
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in the brotherhood of the kingdom woman stood before God on an equality with
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man. Among the one hundred and twenty who received this special visitation of
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the spirit were many of the women disciples, and they shared these blessings
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equally with the men believers. No longer can man presume to monopolize the
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ministry of religious service. The Pharisee might go on thanking God that he
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was "not born a woman, a leper, or a gentile," but among the followers of Jesus
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woman has been forever set free from all religious discriminations based on
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sex. Pentecost obliterated all religious discrimination founded on racial
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distinction, cultural differences, social caste, or sex prejudice. No wonder
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these believers in the new religion would cry out, "Where the spirit of the
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Lord is, there is liberty."
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Both the mother and brother of Jesus were present among the one hundred and
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twenty believers, and as members of this common group of disciples, they also
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received the outpoured spirit. They received no more of the good gift than did
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their fellows. No special gift was bestowed upon the members of Jesus' earthly
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family. Pentecost marked the end of special priesthoods and all belief in
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sacred families.
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Before Pentecost the apostles had given up much for Jesus. They had sacrificed
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their homes, families, friends, worldly goods, and positions. At Pentecost they
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gave themselves to God, and the Father and the Son responded by giving
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themselves to man--sending their spirits to live within men. This experience of
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losing self and finding the spirit was not one of emotion; it was an act of
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intelligent self-surrender and unreserved consecration.
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|
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Pentecost was the call to spiritual unity among gospel believers. When the
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spirit descended on the disciples at Jerusalem, the same thing happened in
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Philadelphia, Alexandria, and at all other places where true believers dwelt.
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|
It was literally true that "there was but one heart and soul among the
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|
multitude of the believers." The religion of Jesus is the most powerful
|
|
unifying influence the world has ever known.
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|
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|
Pentecost was designed to lessen the self-assertiveness of individuals, groups,
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|
nations, and races. It is this spirit of self-assertiveness which so increases
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|
in tension that it periodically breaks loose in destructive wars. Mankind can
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|
be unified only by the spiritual approach, and the Spirit of Truth is a world
|
|
influence which is universal.
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|
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|
The coming of the Spirit of Truth purifies the human heart and leads the
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|
recipient to formulate a life purpose single to the will of God and the welfare
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|
of men. The material spirit of selfishness has been swallowed up in this new
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|
spiritual bestowal of selflessness. Pentecost, then and now, signifies that the
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|
Jesus of history has become the divine Son of living experience. The joy of
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this outpoured spirit, when it is consciously experienced in human life, is a
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|
tonic for health, a stimulus for mind, and an unfailing energy for the soul.
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|
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Prayer did not bring the spirit on the day of Pentecost, but it did have much
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|
to do with determining the capacity of receptivity which characterized the in-
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dividual believers. Prayer does not move the divine heart to liberality of
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|
bestowal, but it does so often dig out larger and deeper channels wherein the
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|
divine bestowals may flow to the hearts and souls of those who thus remember to
|
|
maintain unbroken communion with their Maker through sincere prayer and true
|
|
worship.
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4. BEGINNINGS OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH
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When Jesus was so suddenly seized by his enemies and so quickly crucified
|
|
between two thieves, his apostles and disciples were completely demoralized.
|
|
The thought of the Master, arrested, bound, scourged, and crucified, was too
|
|
much for even the apostles. They forgot his teachings and his warnings. He
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|
might, indeed, have been "a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all
|
|
the people," but he could hardly be the Messiah they had hoped would restore
|
|
the kingdom of Israel.
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|
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Then comes the resurrection, with its deliverance from despair and the return
|
|
of their faith in the Master's divinity. Again and again they see him and talk
|
|
with him, and he takes them out on Olivet, where he bids them farewell and
|
|
tells them he is going back to the Father. He has told them to tarry in
|
|
Jerusalem until they are endowed with power--until the Spirit of Truth shall
|
|
come. And on the day of Pentecost this new teacher comes, and they go out at
|
|
once to preach their gospel with new power. They are the bold and courageous
|
|
followers of a living Lord, not a dead and defeated leader. The Master lives in
|
|
the hearts of these evangelists; God is not a doctrine in their minds; he has
|
|
become a living presence in their souls.
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|
|
|
"Day by day they continued steadfastly and with one accord in the temple and
|
|
breaking bread at home. They took their food with gladness and singleness of
|
|
heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. They were all filled
|
|
with the spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness. And the
|
|
multitudes of those who believed were of one heart and soul; and not one of
|
|
them said that aught of the things which he possessed was his own, and they had
|
|
all things in common."
|
|
|
|
What has happened to these men whom Jesus had ordained to go forth preaching
|
|
the gospel of the kingdom, the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man?
|
|
They have a new gospel; they are on fire with a new experience; they are filled
|
|
with a new spiritual energy. Their message has suddenly shifted to the
|
|
proclamation of the risen Christ: "Jesus of Nazareth, a man God approved by
|
|
mighty works and wonders; him, being delivered up by the determinate counsel
|
|
and foreknowledge of God, you did crucify and slay. The things which God
|
|
foreshadowed by the mouth of all the prophets, he thus fulfilled. This Jesus
|
|
did God raise up. God has made him both Lord and Christ. Being, by the right
|
|
hand of God, exalted and having received from the Father the promise of the
|
|
spirit, he has poured forth this which you see and hear. Repent, that your sins
|
|
may be blotted out; that the Father may send the Christ, who has been appointed
|
|
for you, even Jesus, whom the heaven must receive until the times of the
|
|
restoration of all things."
|
|
|
|
The gospel of the kingdom, the message of Jesus, had been suddenly changed into
|
|
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. They now proclaimed the facts of his life,
|
|
death, and resurrection and preached the hope of his speedy return to this
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world to finish the work he began. Thus the message of the early believers had
|
|
to do with preaching about the facts of his first coming and with teaching the
|
|
hope of his second coming, an event which they deemed to be very near at hand.
|
|
|
|
Christ was about to become the creed of the rapidly forming church. Jesus
|
|
lives; he died for men; he gave the spirit; he is coming again. Jesus filled
|
|
all their thoughts and determined all their new concept of God and everything
|
|
else. They were too much enthused over the new doctrine that "God is the Father
|
|
of the Lord Jesus" to be concerned with the old message that "God is the loving
|
|
Father of all men," even of every single individual. True, a marvelous
|
|
manifestation of brotherly love and unexampled good will did spring up in these
|
|
early communities of believers. But it was a fellowship of believers in Jesus,
|
|
not a fellowship of brothers in the family kingdom of the Father in heaven.
|
|
Their good will arose from the love born of the concept of Jesus' bestowal and
|
|
not from the recognition of the brotherhood of mortal man. Nevertheless, they
|
|
were filled with joy, and they lived such new and unique lives that all men
|
|
were attracted to their teachings about Jesus. They made the great mistake of
|
|
using the living and illustrative commentary on the gospel of the kingdom for
|
|
that gospel, but even that represented the greatest religion mankind had ever
|
|
known.
|
|
|
|
Unmistakably, a new fellowship was arising in the world. "The multitude who
|
|
believed continued steadfastly in the apostles' teaching and fellowship, in the
|
|
breaking of bread, and in prayers." They called each other brother and sister;
|
|
they greeted one another with a holy kiss; they ministered to the poor. It was
|
|
a fellowship of living as well as of worship. They were not communal by decree
|
|
but by the desire to share their goods with their fellow believers. They
|
|
confidently expected that Jesus would return to complete the establishment of
|
|
the Father's kingdom during their generation. This spontaneous sharing of
|
|
earthly possessions was not a direct feature of Jesus' teaching; it came about
|
|
because these men and women so sincerely and so confidently believed that he
|
|
was to return any day to finish his work and to consummate the kingdom. But the
|
|
final results of this well-meant experiment in thoughtless brotherly love were
|
|
disastrous and sorrow-breeding. Thousands of earnest believers sold their
|
|
property and disposed of all their capital goods and other productive assets.
|
|
With the passing of time, the dwindling resources of Christian "equal-sharing"
|
|
came to an end--but the world did not. Very soon the believers at Antioch were
|
|
taking up a collection to keep their fellow believers at Jerusalem from
|
|
starving.
|
|
|
|
In these days they celebrated the Lord's Supper after the manner of its
|
|
establishment; that is, they assembled for a social meal of good fellowship and
|
|
partook of the sacrament at the end of the meal.
|
|
|
|
At first they baptized in the name of Jesus; it was almost twenty years before
|
|
they began to baptize in "the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy
|
|
Spirit." Baptism was all that was required for admission into the fellowship of
|
|
believers. They had no organization as yet; it was simply the Jesus
|
|
brotherhood.
|
|
|
|
This Jesus sect was growing rapidly, and once more the Sadducees took notice of
|
|
them. The Pharisees were little bothered about the situation, seeing that none
|
|
of the teachings in any way interfered with the observance of the Jewish laws.
|
|
But the Sadducees began to put the leaders of the Jesus sect in jail until they
|
|
were prevailed upon to accept the counsel of one of the leading rabbis,
|
|
Gamaliel, who advised them: "Refrain from these men and let them alone, for
|
|
|
|
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|
|
|
|
if this counsel or this work is of men, it will be overthrown; but if it is of
|
|
God, you will not be able to overthrow them, lest haply you be found even to be
|
|
fighting against God." They decided to follow Gamaliel's counsel, and there
|
|
ensued a time of peace and quiet in Jerusalem, during which the new gospel
|
|
about Jesus spread rapidly.
|
|
|
|
And so all went well in Jerusalem until the time of the coming of the Greeks in
|
|
large numbers from Alexandria. Two of the pupils of Rodan arrived in Jerusalem
|
|
and made many converts from among the Hellenists. Among their early converts
|
|
were Stephen and Barnabas. These able Greeks did not so much have the Jewish
|
|
viewpoint, and they did not so well conform to the Jewish mode of worship and
|
|
other ceremonial practices. And it was the doings of these Greek believers that
|
|
terminated the peaceful relations between the Jesus brotherhood and the
|
|
Pharisees and Sadducees. Stephen and his Greek associate began to preach more
|
|
as Jesus taught, and this brought them into immediate conflict with the Jewish
|
|
rulers. In one of Stephen's public sermons, when he reached the objectionable
|
|
part of the discourse, they dispensed with all formalities of trial and
|
|
proceeded to stone him to death on the spot.
|
|
|
|
Stephen, the leader of the Greek colony of Jesus' believers in Jerusalem, thus
|
|
became the first martyr to the new faith and the specific cause for the formal
|
|
organization of the early Christian church. This new crisis was met by the
|
|
recognition that believers could not longer go on as a sect within the Jewish
|
|
faith. They all agreed that they must separate themselves from unbelievers; and
|
|
within one month from the death of Stephen the church at Jerusalem had been
|
|
organized under the leadership of Peter, and James the brother of Jesus had
|
|
been installed as its titular head.
|
|
|
|
And then broke out the new and relentless persecutions by the Jews, so that the
|
|
active teachers of the new religion about Jesus, which subsequently at Antioch
|
|
was called Christianity, went forth to the ends of the empire proclaiming
|
|
Jesus. In carrying this message, before the time of Paul the leadership was in
|
|
Greek hands; and these first missionaries, as also the later ones, followed the
|
|
path of Alexander's march of former days, going by way of Gaza and Tyre to
|
|
Antioch and then over Asia Minor to Macedonia, then on to Rome and to the
|
|
uttermost parts of the empire.
|
|
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|
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|
|
|
|
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
Subjects Archive The Urantia Book Urantia Book PART IV: The Life and Teachings
|
|
of Jesus : The Bestowal Of Michael On Urantia The Times Of Michael's Bestowal
|
|
Birth And Infancy Of Jesus The Early Childhood Of Jesus The Later Childhood Of
|
|
Jesus Jesus At Jerusalem The Two Crucial Years The Adolescent Years Jesus'
|
|
Early Manhood The Later Adult Life Of Jesus On The Way To Rome The World's
|
|
Religions The Sojourn At Rome The Return From Rome The Transition Years John
|
|
The Baptist Baptism And The Forty Days Tarrying Time In Galilee Training The
|
|
Kingdom's Messengers The Twelve Apostles The Ordination Of The Twelve Beginning
|
|
The Public Work The Passover At Jerusalem Going Through Samaria At Gilboa And
|
|
In The Decapolis Four Eventful Days At Capernaum First Preaching Tour Of
|
|
Galilee The Interlude Visit To Jerusalem Training Evangelists At Bethsaida The
|
|
Second Preaching Tour The Third Preaching Tour Tarrying And Teaching By The
|
|
Seaside Events Leading Up To The Capernaum Crisis The Crisis At Capernaum Last
|
|
Days At Capernaum Fleeing Through Northern Galilee The Sojourn At Tyre And
|
|
Sidon At Caesarea-philippi The Mount Of Transfiguration The Decapolis Tour
|
|
Rodan Of Alexandria Further Discussions With Rodan At The Feast Of Tabernacles
|
|
Ordination Of The Seventy At Magadan At The Feast Of Dedication The Perean
|
|
Mission Begins Last Visit To Northern Perea The Visit To Philadelphia The
|
|
Resurrection Of Lazarus Last Teaching At Pella The Kingdom Of Heaven On The Way
|
|
To Jerusalem Going Into Jerusalem Monday In Jerusalem Tuesday Morning In The
|
|
Temple The Last Temple Discourse Tuesday Evening On Mount Olivet Wednesday, The
|
|
Rest Day Last Day At The Camp The Last Supper The Farewell Discourse Final
|
|
Admonitions And Warnings In Gethsemane The Betrayal And Arrest Of Jesus Before
|
|
The Sanhedrin Court The Trial Before Pilate Just Before The Crucifixion The
|
|
Crucifixion The Time Of The Tomb The Resurrection Morontia Appearances Of Jesus
|
|
Appearances To The Apostles And Other Leaders Appearances In Galilee Final
|
|
Appearances And Ascension Bestowal Of The Spirit Of Truth After Pentecost The
|
|
Faith Of Jesus
|
|
|
|
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� // � � � � �
|
|
� Final � After Pentecost � Urantia Book � Search � SiteMap! �
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� Appearanc... � � PA... � � �
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//
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