Chapter 27 — Joram Acknowledges the Boy Jesus as the Messiah

DTT.01_027,01 Joram said, “Dear boy, we are truly very sorry if we have offended You in any way, and sorry You mean to leave us so soon. Hear me, dear divine boy! I have a few words to say to You quite openly, and I think You will not take them amiss. If I then ask Your advice, You will not refuse to speak before us and to me, will You?”

DTT.01_027,02 I said, “Then speak, though I know what you will say and what advice you need. Say it aloud all the same for the others, for they need to hear it more than either of us does!”

DTT.01_027,03 Joram came closer and said, “All my doubts have vanished that You are indeed the One promised to us, whose coming all the Jews and the other peoples with them await. What opened my eyes most was Your precise knowledge of the most secret misconduct in the Temple from ancient times.

DTT.01_027,04 “It is as You say and has been for a long time. This alone, alas, is why the important land of Samaria separated from us entirely, and our relations with Galilee are now little better than with Samaria. There is no spirit left among us. We maintain the little prestige the Temple retains only by political expediency.

DTT.01_027,05 “I was compelled to take part in the dark discipline practised within Solomon’s walls. I saw the evil but as one man could do nothing against it. Every effective decision rests with the great council, where the wretched majority always decides. With my one vote I never supported such acts as You have exposed, but always opposed them. It did the condemned no good.

DTT.01_027,06 “I see only too clearly that the Temple cannot last another seven decades like this. Still, it is an everlasting pity that this ancient, venerable institution must evidently perish, all the more surely now that the Essenes and Sadducees nearby are beginning to outgrow our power.

DTT.01_027,07 “The question now, in all seriousness, is what can still be done to preserve the Temple for the coming centuries. In You, divine boy, the wisdom that alone could give decisive advice on this seems to be present in all its fullness.

DTT.01_027,08 “Lastly, since You are said to be the One promised, and for my part I no longer have the slightest doubt of it, there is something very strange about the Messiah in Isaiah.

DTT.01_027,09 “Here is chapter 53. What a strange picture it gives of the exalted Messiah, who is one and the same being with Jehovah! It speaks of His human nature and says many will take offence at Him because His form is uglier than that of other people and His appearance than that of other children of men. (Isaiah 52:14)

DTT.01_027,10 “Farther on it says, ‘He was the most despised and unworthy of all, full of pains and sickness. He was despised so that people hid their faces from Him. Therefore we held Him in no esteem.’ (Isaiah 53:3)

DTT.01_027,11 “When I look at Your perfectly healthy and graceful figure and see the esteem in which You are held, that simply does not agree with the prophet. What did he mean by it?”

DTT.01_027,12 I said, “That will be the final and wholly true sign that I am the One promised. Almost literally, all that was said will be done to Me. But the prophet’s words do not refer to My bodily form. In a figurative correspondence he describes how utterly perverse the disposition and thinking of people are now. Against theirs, My disposition and thinking will look like an ugly figure wasted by all manner of sickness and great pain.

DTT.01_027,13 “I shall therefore be greatly despised by the prominent and wealthy of this world. People will flee from Me as from carrion, and when it is permitted from above they will pursue Me as the worst of criminals, as you have already plainly shown yourselves ready to do. If I did not stand before you as a human child under Roman protection, and if the time for what is to be permitted against My outward humanity were already here, I should never have come alive out of your hands.

DTT.01_027,14 “Most of you will remain as you are until the great judgement comes upon you, of which the prophet Daniel foretold when he stood in the holy place.

DTT.01_027,15 “It could all go differently if you recognised your great error, repented and turned yourselves entirely around. But that is hardly likely ever to happen with you. The advice I might give, and have now given, is therefore fruitless. You cling too strongly to worldly prestige and earthly treasures, and they will plunge you into judgement. I shall never pass that sentence on you, though I could by My power. You yourselves and your worldliness will bring it upon you.

DTT.01_027,16 “You think I need only give you sound directions and you would sit in council to decide how to put them before the people without attracting notice. Yes, you would hold council, and then your money and worldly standing would confront you and say, ‘We shall remain as we are and wait to see whether that judgement ever comes upon us. So old and firmly established an institution must not let a Galilean boy frighten it into submission!’ Then My advice would be rejected by a majority, and you would remain as you are and actually grow much worse.

DTT.01_027,17 “Put away your great stores of gold and silver, your many precious stones and your mass of pearls. Share much of it among the poor and give the much greater part to the emperor, who alone has the right to gather the treasures of the earth and use them in a time of need. Live only on what Moses allotted you. Repent of your many offences and atone for your great sins by works of true love of neighbour. Keep no secrets from the people, but be truthful, just and faithful in all you say and do. Persevere in this and never be obstinate towards people awakened by the Spirit of God. Then judgement will not come, and the Temple will stand until the end of the world.

DTT.01_027,18 “For the Lord God does not want to make human beings into machines of His omnipotence. He wants them as children who are entirely free, able to act for themselves and independent. He has no need of your sacrifices or your prayers, now or ever. He wants you to recognise Him in your hearts, love Him above everything and love your poor neighbours as yourselves. Do for them everything you could reasonably wish them to do for you. Then you will find all grace with God again and be as dear to Him as a mother’s favourite children. He will protect you as a lioness protects her young and care for you as a hen cares for her chicks.

DTT.01_027,19 “Can you do this? Oh yes, you could if you had the right will. But that is what you lack and have always lacked. So I, like all the prophets and seers before Me, have spoken to deaf ears and hearts!”