IN THE WORDS OF JESUS–Part 169

YES, HE is Talking to YOU! (continued)

Love is the Fulfilling of the Law

We have finished addressing the two parables of the Master that we called the Parable of the Baptist and the Parable of Jonas. In the first we have, after, addressing the questions of the Baptists’ followers, the Master telling us what we have called this parable. In both Mattew’s and Luke’s Gospels we gleaned from His saying, His words on Wisdom which we discussed in the last two posts and His use of the idea of generations insofar as His accusation to them, and to all subsequent ones, that they neither respond to the solemness of the teachings on the seriousness of living righteous nor do they respond to the notion of the joy than comes with living righteous. In the version of this parable in the Gospel of Matthew we have also the added subject of reincarnation and this from the perspective of John being the return of Elias the Prophet, the man of God from the Old Testament. We know that the church of yesterday and most of the church today do not see the concept of reincarnation as a valid perspective but in reality there is no reason for this position as it was never denied by the Master and there is no real commentary on it by the writers throughout the whole of the bible. From this particular verse in Matthew we can see much the church position as it is expounded in this commentary from  John Gill in his Exposition of the Bible⁸:

is Elias, which was for to come; who was appointed by God to come, and was prophesied of (Malachi 4:5) that he should come; and even according to the doctrine of the Scribes and Rabbins, he was expected to come before the Messiah; only they in general thought that Elijah the Tishbite, in person, was meant; though some, as before observed , were of opinion, that some great prophet equal to Elijah, and endued with the same spirit, is intended; and which is true of John the Baptist, who came “in the Spirit” and “power” of Elias, (Luke 1:17). And, as it was usual with the Jews , to call Phinehas by the name of Elias, and Elias Phinehas, because of his zeal for the Lord of hosts; for the same reason may John be called by the same name, there being a great resemblance between Elias and him; in their temper and disposition; in their manner of clothing, and austere way of living; in their very great piety and holiness; in their courage and integrity, in reproving vice; and in their zeal and usefulness in the cause of God, and true religion: in respect to which, Christ must be here understood, when he affirms John to be Elias; not Elias in person, but he that was intended by Elias, that was said should come: hence here is no contradiction to the words of the Baptist, in (John 1:21) when he says, that he was not Elias; for the Jews, who put the question to him, whether he was Elias, or not? meant whether he was Elias in person, Elias the Tishbite, or not; and so John understood them, and very honestly and sincerely replies, he was not: but he does not deny that he was intended by this Elias, that was prophesied should come; yea, he says such things as might induce them to believe he was that person; hence, Christ, and he, say nothing contrary to, and irreconcilable, as the Jew  suggests, with each other⁸.

We have here John Gill constructing out the scriptures an idea about Elias and John which, when read in the Light of understanding and reality can be seen as a testimony on a correct view of the concept of reincarnation. The misunderstanding of the Christian world, and perhaps other parts as well, is found in their idea of what a man is. Relating a man to his phenomenal appearance and his personality is not to see the reality of man at all and the Christian teaching on this is hidden behind the words of the Master and the Apostles. What is seen is the confusion of the Hebrew and Greek word meanings as they are translated alternately as Spirit and Soul and Mind and the crossover of the applicable meanings that we as men have given to them(In the Words of Jesus part 112 has some info on this and part 119 has a further discussion on reincarnation). When we can see that we are Spirit and that Spirit has naught to do with our physical presence or personality we will have come a long way. When we can understand that the Soul is not the mind the will and the emotions as is taught by some of the church, we will have come yet further. It is based on man’s desire to find a continuation of this personality consciousness that he has here and now, that he has built up the doctrine of resurrection and of forever remaining somehow in this mindset and this form. Back in the words of John Gill on this we can see that he is right in his placement of the idea onto the Spirit of Elijah and not on the personage of him. In these words, only they in general thought that Elijah the Tishbite, in person, was meant; though some, as before observed , were of opinion, that some great prophet equal to Elijah, and endued with the same spirit, is intended; and which is true of John the Baptist, who came “in the Spirit” and “power” of Elias, (Luke 1:17) Mr. Gill has come a long way into the right understanding of reincarnation as it is the Spirit and the Power and not the personage that is reincarnated. Unfortunately, they do not see it in this way. When we discussed this verse and its relationship to reincarnation we missed the reference that John Gill gives us in Luke 1:17 which gives us the words of the angel that spoke to the Baptist’s father before his birth; it goes thus: “And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord” (Luke 1:17). What more can we say here except…..

We, however, built our latest case for the understanding of reincarnation from a Christian perspective on this verse regarding Elias and the two verses in the Parable of Jonas as well which tell us from a different perspective the same things. On the part of the “the men of Nineveh” we clearly see that they will be in judgement of these scribes and these Pharisees and is this not the truth about us and about all who have read of their deeds. Do we not judge them still today and have not the Christian teachings always been in judgement of them? We should see here that the Spiritual beings that manifest themselves as the Souls that incarnated as these “men of Nineveh” have again incarnated in succeeding times and some of them as Christian men who stand in judgement against the scribes and the Pharisees of Jesus’ day. We say this knowing that there is no release from this cycle of birth and death until one is accounted worthy and enters fully into His Presence. We should add here as well that there are those that have been accounted worthy and who have made their way along the Path to the Kingdom of God  and who, in their compassion for their brothers and fellow travelers, have volunteered themselves for rebirth in this world. Such is the depth of the reality of Life; it is so much more that what it is that we see here and now and it is so much more that the phantasmagorical afterlife scenarios that man has created in his search for eternity.

Also in this Parable of Jonas is the Master’s saying regarding the “the queen of the south“. We have used this in two ways, first in furtherance of our ideas on reincarnation by painting it with the same brush as “the men of Nineveh” and seeing this queen, as those men, coming again in judgement of the scribes and the Pharisees. The Spiritual being that was incarnated as this queen may have been here predicted by Jesus to be coming again in a specific incarnation that would judge them in some profound way, much like the angel told Zacharias, the Baptist’s father, that the Spirit of Elias would become his son and like when the prophet Malachi told us that Elias would come again before the coming of the Christ saying: “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse” (Malachi 4:5). We must remember here that the Master and the prophet are speaking to men in the terms that they can generally understand and that the words of the angel to Zacharias are in a greater light and this perhaps because he was a man of God and one who perhaps saw a deeper vision of reality.

Second, we also found in this Parable of Jonas the idea of Wisdom in the Masters saying about the queen and Solomon. This for us is no incidental saying nor is it by happenstance as we know that the words of the Master are pointed and are directed. Jesus could have used any other example to make His point but He did choose this one. And so, we tied together the words on Wisdom from the Parable of the Baptist to the words on the Wisdom of Solomon here, and took this opportunity to expound both on the words of the Master and on the True meaning of Wisdom for which we have likely just barely scratched the surface.

Such is the depth of the words of the Master; in these two sayings, expanded to four by the differences in the gospels, we have reincarnation, Wisdom and His saying of caution to us in regard to our response to His words and the words of His apostles: that we should live according to His word and either dance in the joy of His message or else weep in its solemness, both of which are to be seen as the parabolic positive reaction to His words. We close here by reminding ourselves of the words of the Master and of His apostles regarding the teachings:

• “All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake he not unto them: That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 13:34-35).
• “These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs: but the time cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall shew you plainly of the Father” (John 16:25).
• “Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. For whosoever hath, to him shall be given , and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath . Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand” Matthew 13:11-13).

We will begin with a new topic in the next post.

Note on the Quote of the Day