PAPER 176
TUESDAY EVENING ON MOUNT OLIVET
176:0.1 THIS Tuesday afternoon, as Jesus and the
apostles passed out of the temple on their way to the Gethsemane camp,
Matthew, calling attention to the temple construction, said: "Master, observe
what manner of buildings these are. See the massive stones and the beautiful
adornment; can it be that these buildings are to be destroyed?" As they went
on toward Olivet, Jesus said: "You see these stones and this massive temple;
verily, verily, I say to you: In the days soon to come there shall not be left
one stone upon another. They shall all be thrown down." These remarks
depicting the destruction of the sacred temple aroused the curiosity of the
apostles as they walked along behind the Master; they could conceive of no
event short of the end of the world which would occasion the destruction of
the temple.
176:0.2 In order to avoid the crowds passing along
the Kidron valley toward Gethsemane, Jesus and his associates were minded to
climb up the western slope of Olivet for a short distance and then follow a
trail over to their private camp near Gethsemane located a short distance
above the public camping ground. As they turned to leave the road leading on
to Bethany, they observed the temple, glorified by the rays of the setting
sun; and while they tarried on the mount, they saw the lights of the city
appear and beheld the beauty of the illuminated temple; and there, under the
mellow light of the full moon, Jesus and the twelve sat down. The Master
talked with them, and presently Nathaniel asked this question: "Tell us,
Master, how shall we know when these events are about to come to
pass?"
1. THE DESTRUCTION OF
JERUSALEM
176:1.1 In answering Nathaniel's question, Jesus
said: "Yes, I will tell you about the times when this people shall have filled
up the cup of their iniquity; when justice shall swiftly descend upon this
city of our fathers. I am about to leave you; I go to the Father. After I
leave you, take heed that no man deceive you, for many will come as deliverers
and will lead many astray. When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, be not
troubled, for though all these things will happen, the end of Jerusalem is not
yet at hand. You should not be perturbed by famines or earthquakes; neither
should you be concerned when you are delivered up to the civil authorities and
are persecuted for the sake of the gospel. You will be thrown out of the
synagogue and put in prison for my sake, and some of you will be killed. When
you are brought up before governors and rulers, it shall be for a testimony of
your faith and to show your steadfastness in the gospel of the kingdom. And
when you stand before judges, be not anxious beforehand as to what you should
say, for the spirit will teach you in that very hour what you should answer
your adversaries. In these days of travail, even your own kinsfolk, under the
leadership of those who have rejected the Son of Man, will deliver you up to
prison and death. For a time you may be hated by all men for my sake, but even
in these persecutions I will not forsake you; my spirit will not desert you.
Be patient! doubt not that this gospel of the kingdom will triumph over all
enemies and, eventually, be proclaimed to all nations."
176:1.2 Jesus paused while he looked down upon the
city. The Master realized that the rejection of the spiritual concept of the
Messiah, the determination to cling persistently and blindly to the material
mission of the expected deliverer, would presently bring the Jews in direct
conflict with the powerful Roman armies, and that such a contest could only
result in the final and complete overthrow of the Jewish nation. When his
people rejected his spiritual bestowal and refused to receive the light of
heaven as it so mercifully shone upon them, they thereby sealed their doom as
an independent people with a special spiritual mission on earth. Even the
Jewish leaders subsequently recognized that it was this secular idea of the
Messiah which directly led to the turbulence which eventually brought about
their destruction.
176:1.3 Since Jerusalem was to become the cradle of
the early gospel movement, Jesus did not want its teachers and preachers to
perish in the terrible overthrow of the Jewish people in connection with the
destruction of Jerusalem; wherefore did he give these instructions to his
followers. Jesus was much concerned lest some of his disciples become involved
in these soon-coming revolts and so perish in the downfall of
Jerusalem.
176:1.4 Then Andrew inquired: "But, Master, if the
Holy City and the temple are to be destroyed, and if you are not here to
direct us, when should we forsake Jerusalem?" Said Jesus: "You may remain in
the city after I have gone, even through these times of travail and bitter
persecution, but when you finally see Jerusalem being encompassed by the Roman
armies after the revolt of the false prophets, then will you know that her
desolation is at hand; then must you flee to the mountains. Let none who are
in the city and around about tarry to save aught, neither let those who are
outside dare to enter therein. There will be great tribulation, for these will
be the days of gentile vengeance. And after you have deserted the city, this
disobedient people will fall by the edge of the sword and will be led captive
into all nations; and so shall Jerusalem be trodden down by the gentiles. In
the meantime, I warn you, be not deceived. If any man comes to you, saying,
`Behold, here is the Deliverer,' or `Behold, there is he,' believe it not, for
many false teachers will arise and many will be led astray; but you should not
be deceived, for I have told you all this beforehand."
176:1.5 The apostles sat in silence in the moonlight
for a considerable time while these astounding predictions of the Master sank
into their bewildered minds. And it was in conformity with this very warning
that practically the entire group of believers and disciples fled from
Jerusalem upon the first appearance of the Roman troops, finding a safe
shelter in Pella to the north.
176:1.6 Even after this explicit warning, many of
Jesus' followers interpreted these predictions as referring to the changes
which would obviously occur in Jerusalem when the reappearing of the Messiah
would result in the establishment of the New Jerusalem and in the enlargement
of the city to become the world's capital. In their minds these Jews were
determined to connect the destruction of the temple with the "end of the
world." They believed this New Jerusalem would fill all Palestine; that the
end of the world would be followed by the immediate appearance of the "new
heavens and the new earth." And so it was not strange that Peter should say:
"Master, we know that all things will pass away when the new heavens and the
new earth appear, but how shall we know when you will return to bring all this
about?"
176:1.7 When Jesus heard this, he was thoughtful for
some time and then said: "You ever err since you always try to attach the new
teaching to the old; you are determined to misunderstand all my teaching; you
insist on interpreting the gospel in accordance with your established beliefs.
Nevertheless, I will try to enlighten you."
2. THE MASTER'S SECOND
COMING
176:2.1 On several occasions Jesus had made
statements which led his hearers to infer that, while he intended presently to
leave this world, he would most certainly return to consummate the work of the
heavenly kingdom. As the conviction grew on his followers that he was going to
leave them, and after he had departed from this world, it was only natural for
all believers to lay fast hold upon these promises to return. The doctrine of
the second coming of Christ thus became early incorporated into the teachings
of the Christians, and almost every subsequent generation of disciples has
devoutly believed this truth and has confidently looked forward to his
sometime coming.
176:2.2 If they were to part with their Master and
Teacher, how much more did these first disciples and the apostles grasp at
this promise to return, and they lost no time in associating the predicted
destruction of Jerusalem with this promised second coming. And they continued
thus to interpret his words notwithstanding that, throughout this evening of
instruction on Mount Olivet, the Master took particular pains to prevent just
such a mistake.
176:2.3 In further answer to Peter's question, Jesus
said: "Why do you still look for the Son of Man to sit upon the throne of
David and expect that the material dreams of the Jews will be fulfilled? Have
I not told you all these years that my kingdom is not of this world? The
things which you now look down upon are coming to an end, but this will be a
new beginning out of which the gospel of the kingdom will go to all the world
and this salvation will spread to all peoples. And when the kingdom shall have
come to its full fruition, be assured that the Father in heaven will not fail
to visit you with an enlarged revelation of truth and an enhanced
demonstration of righteousness, even as he has already bestowed upon this
world him who became the prince of darkness , and then Adam, who was followed
by Melchizedek, and in these days, the Son of Man. And so will my Father
continue to manifest his mercy and show forth his love, even to this dark and
evil world. So also will I, after my Father has invested me with all power and
authority, continue to follow your fortunes and to guide in the affairs of the
kingdom by the presence of my spirit, who shall shortly be poured out upon all
flesh. Even though I shall thus be present with you in spirit, I also promise
that I will sometime return to this world, where I have lived this life in the
flesh and achieved the experience of simultaneously revealing God to man and
leading man to God. Very soon must I leave you and take up the work the Father
has intrusted to my hands, but be of good courage, for I will sometime return.
In the meantime, my Spirit of the Truth of a universe shall comfort and guide
you.
176:2.4 "You behold me now in weakness and in the
flesh, but when I return, it shall be with power and in the spirit. The eye of
flesh beholds the Son of Man in the flesh, but only the eye of the spirit will
behold the Son of Man glorified by the Father and appearing on earth in his
own name.
176:2.5 "But the times of the reappearing of the Son
of Man are known only in the councils of Paradise; not even the angels of
heaven know when this will occur. However, you should understand that, when
this gospel of the kingdom shall have been proclaimed to all the world for the
salvation of all peoples, and when the fullness of the age has come to pass,
the Father will send you another dispensational bestowal, or else the Son of
Man will return to adjudge the age.
176:2.6 "And now concerning the travail of
Jerusalem, about which I have spoken to you, even this generation will not
pass away until my words are fulfilled; but concerning the times of the coming
again of the Son of Man, no one in heaven or on earth may presume to speak.
But you should be wise regarding the ripening of an age; you should be alert
to discern the signs of the times. You know when the fig tree shows its tender
branches and puts forth its leaves that summer is near. Likewise, when the
world has passed through the long winter of material-mindedness and you
discern the coming of the spiritual springtime of a new dispensation, should
you know that the summertime of a new visitation draws near.
176:2.7 "But what is the significance of this
teaching having to do with the coming of the Sons of God? Do you not perceive
that, when each of you is called to lay down his life struggle and pass
through the portal of death, you stand in the immediate presence of judgment,
and that you are face to face with the facts of a new dispensation of service
in the eternal plan of the infinite Father? What the whole world must face as
a literal fact at the end of an age, you, as individuals, must each most
certainly face as a personal experience when you reach the end of your natural
life and thereby pass on to be confronted with the conditions and demands
inherent in the next revelation of the eternal progression of the Father's
kingdom."
176:2.8 Of all the discourses which the Master gave
his apostles, none ever became so confused in their minds as this one, given
this Tuesday evening on the Mount of Olives, regarding the twofold subject of
the destruction of Jerusalem and his own second coming. There was, therefore,
little agreement between the subsequent written accounts based on the memories
of what the Master said on this extraordinary occasion. Consequently, when the
records were left blank concerning much that was said that Tuesday evening,
there grew up many traditions; and very early in the second century a Jewish
apocalyptic about the Messiah written by one Selta, who was attached to the
court of the Emperor Caligula, was bodily copied into the Matthew Gospel and
subsequently added (in part) to the Mark and Luke records. It was in these
writings of Selta that the parable of the ten virgins appeared. No part of the
gospel record ever suffered such confusing misconstruction as this evening's
teaching. But the Apostle John never became thus confused.
176:2.9 As these thirteen men resumed their journey
toward the camp, they were speechless and under great emotional tension. Judas
had finally confirmed his decision to abandon his associates. It was a late
hour when David Zebedee, John Mark, and a number of the leading disciples
welcomed Jesus and the twelve to the new camp, but the apostles did not want
to sleep; they wanted to know more about the destruction of Jerusalem, the
Master's departure, and the end of the world.
3. LATER DISCUSSION AT THE
CAMP
176:3.1 As they gathered about the campfire, some
twenty of them, Thomas asked: "Since you are to return to finish the work of
the kingdom, what should be our attitude while you are away on the Father's
business?" As Jesus looked them over by the firelight, he answered:
176:3.2 "And even you, Thomas, fail to comprehend
what I have been saying. Have I not all this time taught you that your
connection with the kingdom is spiritual and individual, wholly a matter of
personal experience in the spirit by the faith-realization that you are a son
of God? What more shall I say? The downfall of nations, the crash of empires,
the destruction of the unbelieving Jews, the end of an age, even the end of
the world, what have these things to do with one who believes this gospel, and
who has hid his life in the surety of the eternal kingdom? You who are
God-knowing and gospel-believing have already received the assurances of
eternal life. Since your lives have been lived in the spirit and for the
Father, nothing can be of serious concern to you . Kingdom builders, the
accredited citizens of the heavenly worlds, are not to be disturbed by
temporal upheavals or perturbed by terrestrial cataclysms. What does it matter
to you who believe this gospel of the kingdom if nations overturn, the age
ends, or all things visible crash, since you know that your life is the gift
of the Son, and that it is eternally secure in the Father? Having lived the
temporal life by faith and having yielded the fruits of the spirit as the
righteousness of loving service for your fellows, you can confidently look
forward to the next step in the eternal career with the same survival faith
that has carried you through your first and earthly adventure in sonship with
God.
176:3.3 "Each generation of believers should carry
on their work, in view of the possible return of the Son of Man, exactly as
each individual believer carries forward his lifework in view of inevitable
and ever-impending natural death. When you have by faith once established
yourself as a son of God, nothing else matters as regards the surety of
survival. But make no mistake! this survival faith is a living faith, and it
increasingly manifests the fruits of that divine spirit which first inspired
it in the human heart. That you have once accepted sonship in the heavenly
kingdom will not save you in the face of the knowing and persistent rejection
of those truths which have to do with the progressive spiritual fruit-bearing
of the sons of God in the flesh. You who have been with me in the Father's
business on earth can even now desert the kingdom if you find that you love
not the way of the Father's service for mankind.
176:3.4 "As individuals, and as a generation of
believers, hear me while I speak a parable: There was a certain great man who,
before starting out on a long journey to another country, called all his
trusted servants before him and delivered into their hands all his goods. To
one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one. And so on down
through the entire group of honored stewards, to each he intrusted his goods
according to their several abilities; and then he set out on his journey. When
their lord had departed, his servants set themselves at work to gain profits
from the wealth intrusted to them. Immediately he who had received five
talents began to trade with them and very soon had made a profit of another
five talents. In like manner he who had received two talents soon had gained
two more. And so did all of these servants make gains for their master except
he who received but one talent. He went away by himself and dug a hole in the
earth where he hid his lord's money. Presently the lord of those servants
unexpectedly returned and called upon his stewards for a reckoning. And when
they had all been called before their master, he who had received the five
talents came forward with the money which had been intrusted to him and
brought five additional talents, saying, `Lord, you gave me five talents to
invest, and I am glad to present five other talents as my gain.' And then his
lord said to him: `Well done, good and faithful servant, you have been
faithful over a few things; I will now set you as steward over many; enter
forthwith into the joy of your lord.' And then he who had received the two
talents came forward, saying: `Lord, you delivered into my hands two talents;
behold, I have gained these other two talents.' And his lord then said to him:
`Well done, good and faithful steward; you also have been faithful over a few
things, and I will now set you over many; enter you into the joy of your
lord.'
And then there came to the accounting he who had
received the one talent. This servant came forward, saying, `Lord, I knew you
and realized that you were a shrewd man in that you expected gains where you
had not personally labored; therefore was I afraid to risk aught of that which
was intrusted to me. I safely hid your talent in the earth; here it is; you
now have what belongs to you.' But his lord answered: `You are an indolent and
slothful steward. By your own words you confess that you knew I would require
of you an accounting with reasonable profit, such as your diligent fellow
servants have this day rendered. Knowing this, you ought, therefore, to have
at least put my money into the hands of the bankers that on my return I might
have received my own with interest.' And then to the chief steward this lord
said: `Take away this one talent from this unprofitable servant and give it to
him who has the ten talents.'
176:3.5 "To every one who has, more shall be given,
and he shall have abundance; but from him who has not, even that which he has
shall be taken away. You cannot stand still in the affairs of the eternal
kingdom. My Father requires all his children to grow in grace and in a
knowledge of the truth. You who know these truths must yield the increase of
the fruits of the spirit and manifest a growing devotion to the unselfish
service of your fellow servants. And remember that, inasmuch as you minister
to one of the least of my brethren, you have done this service to
me.
176:3.6 "And so should you go about the work of the
Father's business, now and henceforth, even forevermore. Carry on until I
come. In faithfulness do that which is intrusted to you, and thereby shall you
be ready for the reckoning call of death. And having thus lived for the glory
of the Father and the satisfaction of the Son, you shall enter with joy and
exceedingly great pleasure into the eternal service of the everlasting
kingdom."
176:3.7 Truth is living; the Spirit of Truth is ever
leading the children of light into new realms of spiritual reality and divine
service. You are not given truth to crystallize into settled, safe, and
honored forms. Your revelation of truth must be so enhanced by passing through
your personal experience that new beauty and actual spiritual gains will be
disclosed to all who behold your spiritual fruits and in consequence thereof
are led to glorify the Father who is in heaven. Only those faithful servants
who thus grow in the knowledge of the truth, and who thereby develop the
capacity for divine appreciation of spiritual realities, can ever hope to
"enter fully into the joy of their Lord." What a sorry sight for successive
generations of the professed followers of Jesus to say, regarding their
stewardship of divine truth: "Here, Master, is the truth you committed to us a
hundred or a thousand years ago. We have lost nothing; we have faithfully
preserved all you gave us; we have allowed no changes to be made in that which
you taught us; here is the truth you gave us." But such a plea concerning
spiritual indolence will not justify the barren steward of truth in the
presence of the Master. In accordance with the truth committed to your hands
will the Master of truth require a reckoning.
176:3.8 In the next world you will be asked to give
an account of the endowments and stewardships of this world. Whether inherent
talents are few or many, a just and merciful reckoning must be faced. If
endowments are used only in selfish pursuits and no thought is bestowed upon
the higher duty of obtaining increased yield of the fruits of the spirit, as
they are manifested in the ever-expanding service of men and the worship of
God, such selfish stewards must accept the consequences of their deliberate
choosing.
176:3.9 And how much like all selfish mortals was
this unfaithful servant with the one talent in that he blamed his slothfulness
directly upon his lord. How prone is man, when he is confronted with the
failures of his own making, to put the blame upon others, oftentimes upon
those who least deserve it!
176:3.10 Said Jesus that night as they went to their
rest: "Freely have you received; therefore freely should you give of the truth
of heaven, and in the giving will this truth multiply and show forth the
increasing light of saving grace, even as you minister it."
4. THE RETURN OF MICHAEL
176:4.1 Of all the Master's teachings no one phase
has been so misunderstood as his promise sometime to come back in person to
this world. It is not strange that Michael should be interested in sometime
returning to the planet whereon he experienced his seventh and last bestowal,
as a mortal of the realm. It is only natural to believe that Jesus of
Nazareth, now sovereign ruler of a vast universe, would be interested in
coming back, not only once but even many times, to the world whereon he lived
such a unique life and finally won for himself the Father's unlimited bestowal
of universe power and authority. Urantia will eternally be one of the seven
nativity spheres of Michael in the winning of universe sovereignty.
176:4.2 Jesus did, on numerous occasions and to many
individuals, declare his intention of returning to this world. As his
followers awakened to the fact that their Master was not going to function as
a temporal deliverer, and as they listened to his predictions of the overthrow
of Jerusalem and the downfall of the Jewish nation, they most naturally began
to associate his promised return with these catastrophic events. But when the
Roman armies leveled the walls of Jerusalem, destroyed the temple, and
dispersed the Judean Jews, and still the Master did not reveal himself in
power and glory, his followers began the formulation of that belief which
eventually associated the second coming of Christ with the end of the age,
even with the end of the world.
176:4.3 Jesus promised to do two things after he had
ascended to the Father, and after all power in heaven and on earth had been
placed in his hands. He promised, first, to send into the world, and in his
stead, another teacher, the Spirit of Truth; and this he did on the day of
Pentecost. Second, he most certainly promised his followers that he would
sometime personally return to this world. But he did not say how, where, or
when he would revisit this planet of his bestowal experience in the flesh. On
one occasion he intimated that, whereas the eye of flesh had beheld him when
he lived here in the flesh, on his return (at least on one of his possible
visits) he would be discerned only by the eye of spiritual faith.
176:4.4 Many of us are inclined to believe that
Jesus will return to Urantia many times during the ages to come. We do not
have his specific promise to make these plural visits, but it seems most
probable that he who carries among his universe titles that of Planetary
Prince of Urantia will many times visit the world whose conquest conferred
such a unique title upon him.
176:4.5 We most positively believe that Michael will
again come in person to Urantia, but we have not the slightest idea as to when
or in what manner he may choose to come. Will his second advent on earth be
timed to occur in connection with the terminal judgment of this present age,
either with or without the associated appearance of a Magisterial Son? Will he
come in connection with the termination of some subsequent Urantian age? Will
he come unannounced and as an isolated event? We do not know. Only one thing
we are certain of, that is, when he does return, all the world will likely
know about it, for he must come as the supreme ruler of a universe and not as
the obscure babe of Bethlehem. But if every eye is to behold him, and if only
spiritual eyes are to discern his presence, then must his advent be long
deferred.
176:4.6 You would do well, therefore, to
disassociate the Master's personal return to earth from any and all set events
or settled epochs. We are sure of only one thing: He has promised to come
back. We have no idea as to when he will fulfill this promise or in what
connection. As far as we know, he may appear on earth any day, and he may not
come until age after age has passed and been duly adjudicated by his
associated Sons of the Paradise corps.
176:4.7 The second advent of Michael on earth is an
event of tremendous sentimental value to both midwayers and humans; but
otherwise it is of no immediate moment to midwayers and of no more practical
importance to human beings than the common event of natural death, which so
suddenly precipitates mortal man into the immediate grasp of that succession
of universe events which leads directly to the presence of this same Jesus,
the sovereign ruler of our universe. The children of light are all destined to
see him, and it is of no serious concern whether we go to him or whether he
should chance first to come to us. Be you therefore ever ready to welcome him
on earth as he stands ready to welcome you in heaven. We confidently look for
his glorious appearing, even for repeated comings, but we are wholly ignorant
as to how, when, or in what connection he is destined to
appear.
