Chapter 2 — The Perceptive Boy Jesus in the Temple

DTT.01_002,01 A truly perceptive boy, however, did not lose heart at this. He said, “All that goes on in God’s great world is lit by the brightest sunlight during the day, and even the night is never so dark that nothing can be seen. Why, then, must this important teaching, which is meant to show people the way to true salvation as clearly and brightly as possible, be given in such a confused manner that no soul can understand it?”

DTT.01_002,02 And the boy who raised this very objection with the elders was I Myself. I put them in great embarrassment, especially as all the people present began to side with Me and said, “By the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, this boy is astonishingly clever! He must discuss more things with the elders and scribes. We will put a substantial offering in the treasury for him.”

DTT.01_002,03 A very wealthy Israelite from Bethany stepped forward. He was the father of Lazarus, Martha and Mary, and was still alive at the time. He made an offering on My behalf of thirty pounds of silver and some gold solely so that I might be allowed to speak longer with the elders and scribes.

DTT.01_002,04 Naturally, the elders and scribes were only too glad to accept the large offering. It gave Me ample freedom to enter into a most extraordinary discussion with the elders, the like of which, for good reason, had never taken place before.

DTT.01_002,05 The first question, already mentioned, came from Isaiah. The exceedingly mystical and obscure answer to it gave rise to the lengthy discussion that follows. Whoever reads it with a good heart and with pure love will gain much from it for their soul and spirit.

DTT.01_002,06 Before we came to the wider discussion, I used the dearly bought freedom to speak to return to the opening question and began asking the elders and scribes about each part of it.

DTT.01_002,07 The opening question was taken from Isaiah 7:14–16. The verses read, “So the Lord Himself will give you a sign. Behold, a virgin is with child and will bear a son, and she will call him Immanuel. He will eat butter and honey so that he may know how to reject evil and choose good. But before the boy learns to reject evil and choose good, the land you dread will be forsaken by its two kings.”

DTT.01_002,08 The first part of the question was who the virgin and her son Immanuel were and when such a son would be born into the world. The time ought already to have come, since the land of Jacob had been deprived of both its kings for several years and was now ruled by Gentiles. Could the boy born twelve years earlier in a sheepfold in Bethlehem be the very Immanuel Isaiah had foretold? His mother was the Virgin Mary, who had been betrothed to Joseph the carpenter and was in his care under the old custom of the Temple, although she was not yet his wife. Wise men had come from the East to greet the boy as the promised great King of the Jews, and Anna and Simeon had borne great witness to him in the Temple at his circumcision.

DTT.01_002,09 In answer to this rather important opening question, one of the elders, a domineering old miser, began to pour out the most confused nonsense. I will not repeat it, for he also called Me an ill-brought-up boy because I already knew something about being born of a woman.

DTT.01_002,10 Only a younger scribe, who looked somewhat more humane, rose to object. He said that this did not point to a poor upbringing at all, since boys matured earlier, especially in Galilee, than in stunted Jerusalem, where nothing flourished but luxury and the spoiling of children. He stood up for Me and said I could be given a better answer, for in his view I was already well acquainted with every circumstance of human life. They need only send the other boys away and then speak to Me as to a man.

DTT.01_002,11 But the elder muttered something into his beard. I then asked the more humane-looking scribe about the account of the birth in Bethlehem. He too answered at great length:

DTT.01_002,12 The younger scribe said, “Well, my dear, charming boy, that story made a great stir at the time, but fortunately it has vanished without a trace. It now amounts to nothing, especially as regards the obscure prophecy of Isaiah, who prophesied for his own time and always in obscure images. From what I have heard, I believe the parents fled somewhere outside Judaea after Herod’s slaughter of the children at Bethlehem. The King of the Jews whom the men from the East had greeted was surely killed then as well. The parents may no longer be alive, for no one heard anything of them afterwards.

DTT.01_002,13 There may have been something in it, for it caused quite a stir at the time. Yet strangely enough, within a few years it all sank so completely into the sea of oblivion that no one even mentions it any more, and it is not worth another word. Simeon and Anna were two well-known old Temple enthusiasts who made mystical remarks about the Messiah over many a boy and quite unsettled a great many impressionable parents.

DTT.01_002,14 When God gave Moses the laws on Sinai, nearly the whole earth trembled. The events in the wilderness lasted forty full years, and by then almost the whole world had to acknowledge the almighty power of Jehovah. How much more, then, will the Messiah make the whole world tremble when He comes! Of Him David sang, ‘Open wide the gates and raise high the doors of the world, that the King of glory may enter! Who is the King of glory? It is the Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle! Open wide the gates and raise high the doors of the world, that the King of glory may enter! Who is the King of glory? It is the Lord of hosts. He is the King of glory!’

DTT.01_002,15 And so, my charming boy, you will surely see how matters stand with the birth in Bethlehem, already quite forgotten, as far as the Messiah we await is concerned. Just consider how David announced Him and what must be done before the great King of glory comes down from heaven to the Jews. Consider also that, for several years beforehand, all the Jews will surely be called upon by great prophets, such as Elijah, who will go before the Lord of glory at that time, to carry out what the great King David commanded and prepare themselves for so momentous an arrival of the Most High God.

DTT.01_002,16 Just think it over, charming boy, and you will see that Jehovah of hosts will not come into the world so easily. Now go, and do not ask about such things again!”

DTT.01_002,17 Only then did I make the remark already given above. It prompted the wealthy man from Bethany to pay the large fee on My behalf so I could raise further objections concerning My opening question and speak at greater length about the passages in Isaiah that refer to the Messiah. For he was one of the few who, following Elijah’s example, now looked for the King of glory in the gentle whisper of the wind, rather than in the storm or the fire.