NEUOFFENBARUNGDeutscher Text · Book contents
13 January 1844, evening
[Ste.01_015,01] Write down your passage as usual!
[Ste.01_015,02] ‘And they led the colt to Jesus, put their clothes over it, and He sat upon it.’
[Ste.01_015,03] The passage is short but good. It is just what we can use, for in a vivid, clear picture, plain enough to grasp with both hands at once, it shows what serves our subject.
[Ste.01_015,04] They led the she-ass to Him and laid their clothes on her. Only then did the Lord sit on the she-ass.
[Ste.01_015,05] The she-ass was tied up when the disciples found her and still belonged to someone in the world. What does that mean? It signifies simplicity, humility and love still bound by the world, or the spirit within a person that has not yet been set free, though by its humble and loving nature it is turned wholly to the Lord and its entire calling is in and for the Lord. When the Lord sees such a spirit, He at once sends His servants to set it free and lead it to Him. The world at once loses all apparent right and power over the one of whom the Lord says, ‘I have need of him!’
[Ste.01_015,06] Why is it a she-ass rather than a male? Because here the female signifies the deepest humility and fruitful love more clearly than the male.
[Ste.01_015,07] Now the she-ass is with the Lord, and the disciples cover her with their clothes. This signifies that true humility and fruitful love are clothed with true wisdom as soon as they reach the Lord. For clothes signify wisdom in its useful effect. The simpler they are, the higher the degree of wisdom from the Lord they signify, for love and humility alone are naked.
[Ste.01_015,08] If very fine and splendid clothes are laid over her, this signifies that wisdom is greater and stronger than love. For this reason, for example, angelic spirits in the heaven of wisdom are clothed with exceeding splendour. The angelic spirits of the highest heaven, however, who are pure love for the Lord, appear very poorly clothed, and sometimes quite naked, especially when their love for the Lord has reached the highest degree possible.
[Ste.01_015,09] Thus the poor garments with which the disciples covered the she-ass signify pure divine wisdom here too. Only when such fruitful love is clothed out of its humility with such pure divine wisdom is it fully fit to receive and carry the Lord. Then it is also wholly one with the Lord.
[Ste.01_015,10] Such fruitful love, clothed with wisdom, carries the Lord. The Lord Himself guides it, so that it cannot possibly ever take a false step. The ride then goes straight towards the city of God, which signifies the eternal kingdom of God, or true eternal life. Here is the picture and its meaning.
[Ste.01_015,11] Someone will say, ‘It is all rightly set forth, but as it stands we do not yet see how it should serve our subject.’
[Ste.01_015,12] But I say: once the light is there, set it wherever you please. It fits everywhere as though it had been appointed for that spot from eternity.
[Ste.01_015,13] Just try it with a burning candle. Put it in different places in your room. It will appear strange and unwelcoming nowhere, but will fit pleasantly everywhere.
[Ste.01_015,14] So too the various stars in the firmament continually change their former positions, at least as it seems to your eyes. But can you say whether Orion looks better when rising, at the meridian or when setting in the firmament? Wherever it stands, it already appears in its very own place. So too the sun looks equally glorious everywhere, and wherever its light falls, it performs the same service.
[Ste.01_015,15] It is just the same with the brightly kindled light of our passage. Set it wherever you like, and it will fit as wonderfully and precisely as though given for that alone. Whether it fits our subject too, we shall test at once. We shall set it there, and it will appear as if it had been given for that alone. So listen, and let us try!
[Ste.01_015,16] Could the Lord not just as well have had a horse, or at least a well-trained donkey, brought to Him in place of the she-ass? Certainly! Every animal in this case would have had to perform the same service for the Lord without being able to resist. A lion, tiger, panther, camel, elephant, horse or mule would first of all have been far stronger and would have had to obey the Lord of infinity, the almighty Creator of all things, at a sign. And such a ride would plainly have been more impressive than one on a weak she-ass.
[Ste.01_015,17] That would indeed be true considered only from the human standpoint. From the Lord's standpoint it is otherwise. He who is the fundamental order and meaning of all things did not act like a human being to whom either way is all the same. With Him everything was in the most unalterable order, giving a pattern and teaching for eternity.
[Ste.01_015,18] These stronger animals mostly signify insights and wisdom in themselves. But they lack the fruitfulness of love and its humility in its deepest simplicity.
[Ste.01_015,19] Had the Lord chosen such an animal, He would thereby have shown in deed that people should apply themselves chiefly to accumulating learning, all possible insights and all wisdom derived from them. Indeed, He would have indicated that they ought to study all the libraries of the world, or at least as much as possible. But the Lord knew what He did, and the principle the Lord laid down at the beginning stood fast here, when He said, ‘As soon as you eat of the tree of knowledge, you will die!’
[Ste.01_015,20] But by riding a she-ass covered with poor garments, the Lord showed all people in picture and in deed that they should do the same spiritually and hold to fruitful, true love alone, out of its humility. The Lord will then free that love from all the world and clothe it with the garments of true wisdom. He Himself will guide it as it carries Him in its heart and upon the back of its humility.
[Ste.01_015,21] People are therefore not to ride horses, elephants, camels, lions, panthers and tigers. In plain words, they are not to chase after insights, learning and wisdom, for all that is fruit of the tree of knowledge. They are to wait for the Lord in true love and humility. When the time is right the Lord will come, set them free and then bless the tree of knowledge. In other words, the she-ass is covered with garments, and from this blessed tree people will be able to partake of all the fruit of true wisdom for eternities.
[Ste.01_015,22] Now I ask whether or not the light of this passage fits our subject. I think it is plain enough to grasp with the hands. Even so, next time we shall go another central sun further!