Gifts of Heaven · Volume 3 · Chapter 517

Explanation III: Jesus' forty days in the desert

20th March 1864

[1] Continuation of the explanation of those verses which have long been a stumbling block to all scholars and also to many Theosophists of the best grist and grain.

[2] Among these verses – of which there are many, especially in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke – there are also those that speak of how I was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, where I fasted for forty full days and nights and finally let the devil try Me three times because I was already very hungry.

[3] In natural terms, this narrative is quite naturally utter nonsense, for as a pure man no-one can remain so long without food and drink, since just a quarter of such time would be sufficient for any man to lose physical life. Furthermore, everyone will probably know whether one can get something to eat and drink in a real desert even in an extreme emergency! One would at most have to be content with here and there occurring dry moss, withered thistle bushes and the like and walk for hours until one come across some rotten water to quench one's thirst.

[4] It is obvious from this that such a fasting in natural terms can at most only take place with those animals that are subject to hibernation, but never with humans, of whom no-one can maintain physical life beyond eight days without food and drink.

[5] But here one will make the objection from a certain zelotic side: But I was not only pure man, but God also, and the Godhead in Me was able to keep My body alive perfectly well for forty days and nights without food and drink. But I say against it: If this was the case, then I have not fasted; for the natural food God has also given the power to nourish and preserve the human body. What is then the difference, whether one is nourished, preserved and strengthened indirectly or directly by Divine power and authority?

[6] In Asia, especially in some grottos of high India, there is still a peculiar type of air in which a human being can spend many weeks without food and drink, therefore they are also called the "grottos of life". They have such a strengthening and nourishing emanation that it nourishes and sustains the human body organism just as well as meager food and proportionate drink.

[7] These grottos, as well as the surrounding soil in a considerable distance, have been and still are considered sacred in part and serve as lodgings for many poor people who make pilgrimages there, often for months; for in such grottos they are first of all nourished and especially the sick are strengthened in a peculiar way and thus healed. If often the reached grottos are not sufficient, graves are made in the predetermined ground and the sick and hungry are laid there, some in a kind of perforated coffin, most of them completely naked, only the head wrapped in a cloth and covered with a shoe(*1) deep earth, where they can also stay in such a grave for several weeks and then, as if strengthened by a magnetic fluid and cured of their manifold illnesses, they can return to their homes – of course, leaving behind some small sacrifices to the priests guarding these caves and graves. And secondly, such nourished and healed pilgrims easily attract many strangers as living witnesses of this miracle, which they know how to describe in very vivid colors, so that they then go on a pilgrimage loaded with greater treasures to these miracle caves and tombs and leave the priests there quite considerable sums of gold and silver for the tests performed before them.

[8] Only now the question arises: From where do these grottos and the soil surrounding them take such nutrients? The answer will certainly not be difficult for a scientific researcher to understand.

[9] High Tibet is in possession of widely stretched rows of the highest mountains of the entire earth's surface. These many extremely high mountain peaks and glaciers continuously draw the strongest portion of the electromagnetic fluid for the most part from the north and south poles. The electromagnetic fluid from the north (as positive) connects itself particularly in the already more

south-situated parts of this magnificent mountain range with the negative fluid flowing from the south and forms a quite peculiar life-material, that often is so powerful that branches cut off from the trees and laid on the ground, do not dry up at all, but immediately turn green, drive new roots into the earth and again become trees, for which reason one finds in those areas still on heights of 14000 feet above sea-level such a luxuriant grass- and bush-vegetation, as nowhere else on the whole earth-surface.

[10] I have set this example here to show you that in deep and high Indo-Asia, where the most luxuriant vineyards are built at altitudes of 5000 to 8000 feet above sea-level, it would be possible to fast for forty days and nights. But in a desert, at most of the stony Arabia and especially in the African Sahara desert, someone should only try to fast for forty days and nights, and I vouch for the fact that in this time he will already become a perfect mummy.

[11] In the region of Galilee, as well as Canaan and Samaria, there was no such desert in my time, in which one would have needed to make bread from stones in order to be satisfied. And I, as God and man, would not have needed this to sustain Me, as already said; for if I had taken natural food Me at that time, however meager, I would not have fasted according to the Zealots' concept – and if I had let the Divinity in Me sustain Me wonderfully and strengthen Myself, I would not have fasted any more than the pilgrims in the high Tibetan grottos as described above. And it is therefore true of this completely misunderstood fasting of Mine described by the pseudo-Matthew as well as many other things, like the temptation of the devil told to be literal at the end of this fasting, which I would have allowed to happen to Me for any reason, and I would not know also with all My infinite wisdom for what reason.

[12] What is then the devil or Satan? It is dead matter and the spirits bound in it, and thus often judged for an excessively long time, which are nowhere more rigid and judged than in a desert, in which there is always the most death and least life.

[13] But if according to this the devil or Satan is that, and I Myself from eternity the highest Love and Wisdom – for what reason should I then have let Satan tempt Me in such a way, over which an only a little brighter thinking man must immediately shake his head? I could have obtained bread and drink for Myself even without his advice, in order to nourish My bodily person with it, since I was after all so often later able [to do it] – a few times many thousands with very few loaves of bread – and even many times to fill the empty pantries of the poor believers with bread, flour and the like, and to fill their empty wineskins in their cellars with wine.

[14] And why should I have let the tempter put Me on the pinnacle of the temple at Jerusalem? For this purpose some high rock wall would also have served, where I could not have been seen and observed by many people, who were always around the temple. If I had really stood on an outstanding pinnacle of the temple, surely one or more would have asked Me how I got up there and what I was doing and looking for up there, and I would not have been allowed to go back into the desert from this place, not even easily buy something, and it would certainly have been made known from Jerusalem about this fact and a retold.

[15] In the end, the devil on the top of a high mountain, whose name the evangelist does not give – probably for the simple reason that the Sidonian knew too little of the interior of Galilee or Canaan and therefore also borrowed some mountain, unknown by name, on which I am supposed to have stood as the Owner of the whole of infinity – desires My worship for the gift of the kingdoms of this earth, which in it's whole scope is a complete nothing for Me – whereupon only then I gave him the consilium abeundi [advice to leave].

[16] Yes, there is something to this story of the Gospel of the real evangelist Matthew, which is completely misunderstood and misused, but it is not in the least material.

[17] I did indeed in person move away from the house of Joseph for forty days and went near where John the Baptist preached his sermons of repentance, here and there in the Jordan region; and I also

prepared Myself in My human nature for what I would effectively do soon after. It goes without saying that I as a human being lived only very moderately on this occasion, since as a carpenter I was never a reveller.

[18] I penetrate with My Spirit not only this whole earth, but the entire infinite material creation. For the purpose of what it would be most likely and easiest to accomplish for all the spirits trapped in matter to fully liberate their ego and [gain] the fullest independence of their whole judged being, I have undertaken just this testing of My body with My spirit. And behold, three perfect possibilities were revealed themselves to Me in Myself:

[19] The first consisted in dissolving the whole material creation in a moment and giving the spirits trapped in it a creaturely existence, in which they would well recognize Me, but still would never become completely like Me.

[20] Secondly, to leave them in matter for yet a short time, but then to let them rise again without the many processes of stages; then to divide them into certain associations and let them continue like that. But in this case they could easily have fallen from the high pinnacles of their knowledge in such a way shaped and mannered in their associations, gifted with greater intelligence, and I would then again be left with a second imprisonment in a more solidified matter than necessary.

[21] There was also a third option of awakening all the trapped spirits at once and placing them on the level of the primordial great spirits, but separately. But this would mean as much as to abandon them to their primeval arrogance, and it would take the one lost son countless of eons to return home, which would have been much more difficult to achieve. And that is why I abandoned this great idea as unsuitable, and the way, namely that I should incarnate and wander through matter Myself in My full Divinity, the one accepted and valid for all eternity, during which all creation can reach it's fullest freedom and independence, similar to Me.

[22] And see, this was My spiritual fast and the too material narration by the evangelist of the temptation of the devil on My person.

[23] This is how this gospel must also be accepted, believed and understood. But whoever accepts it according to the material account, will have to wait for the explanation and understanding of it in the great hereafter; and there are many who have to wait for this without their fault. Therefore such things will not be accounted to them as an evil either, but they will become aware of something better in a brighter spiritual state. For how should one credit the many who are blind as a bat without being at fault, as evil?

[24] There are still two questions that can easily be answered.

[25] The first: Why then have I, as omniscient and omnipotent God and Lord, allowed that My pure word, brought to the apostles and even to many other people, was not seldom handed down by these and by so many evangelists in the most contradictory way, and that even little perceptible action was taken by Me to oppose it?

[26] This question is the same as to ask Me why I have not let grow pure wheat, grain and barley and noble fruit and fruit trees from the soil of this earth. I do not think that this question needs a closer answer, since people have long since experienced through their research that there is not one weed on the whole earth from which – if used properly – something useful and beneficial could not be prepared. The pharmacists and doctors will surely understand best that you cannot cure fever, drive away rashes, or nurse a stomach ache with pure wheat, grain, and barley!

[27] As it is mentioned here that therefore everything has it's use and purpose, so also the many erring and superstitious men on this earth have use and purpose. For if all, at entering the world, were as enlightened as an archangel Raphael, but still afflicted with their sluggish bodies, then no man would stir to think about anything and would strive to seek and find the pure truth. A general lethargy would soon set in, as no-one could do anything to help or harm the other. But so those men

who are gifted with a brighter mind are only put rightly into the zeal by the stupid ones, stupidity and the darkness, the more these threaten to spread, confront them more eagerly and energetically, and then have great joy in it when, through their zeal, they have brought a multitude of blind fools onto the path of light.

[28] And the gospels, which are contradictory in the material or literal sense, are also suitable for this purpose. They still contain the pure spirit, which every one of My only a little enlightened ones can already discover.

[29] But as far as so-called common humanity is concerned, which in it's blind simplicity also accepts a brass dime for a full gold coin, so this does not harm it; for you know that in My father's house there are many dwellings and schools in which such souls, here spiritually impoverished, can and will reach a right light. And therein lies also the reason why I have and bear patience with the so-called mindless, unreasoning and senseless governorships of God on this earth. But here, nevertheless, everything has it's time and duration. That which today still flourishes and endures can wither and pass away tomorrow! That would be the answer to the first question.

[30] But the second question consists in this: How could I, as the highest Wisdom from eternity, in this, with Myself, in a certain way, hold counsel, testing Myself about the manner all spirits bound in matter could pass over into their freedom and independence in the most appropriate way?

[31] Well, this question seems to be more difficult to answer than the first one. I can only say: Should I, as the eternally most wise Being, not also occasionally grant Myself the pleasure – in even great and important matters of creation – to counsel somewhat with My inner Love, about how this or that would be better and more suitable? Such counseling is increased bliss for Me, as also for all highly wise angelic spirits similar to Me in all infinity! If deeper thoughts about a highly important object already serves a good and wise man of this earth with great pleasure, why then should I – as the original Creator of all innumerable thoughts and desires in people and angels – completely renounce the pleasure of Divine thoughts?

[32] I could have arranged everything on earth in such a way that the fruits, which only ripen little by little, ripen like rain, hail, and snow fell on the earth, just as manna once fell on the earth for the Israelites in the desert, or that they at least ripen on the trees and bushes in one day. But I think that everything is best arranged on this earth according to My counsel. And in the end men have just as great a joy over a tree in blossom as over one already covered with ripe fruit.

[33] Such questions, which some highly wise scholar might raise now and then, are similar to the question of the old absurd ways of the world, which raise the highly important question: What did the Deity create first – the egg or the hen? For without the egg neither a cock nor a hen could have come into the world, and without the hen and a cock no fertilized egg could be brought into the world! But I say: was an egg also first necessary for the birth of a central or other sun or an earth? Whoever can then bring about these great things out of himself will be permitted by the high scholarship of the people of this world to call into existence either the eggs or first the hen with the cock.

[34] The first human couple also did not need an egg to crawl out of. Man, like every other creature, was immediately and perfectly placed by Me into the material world, and that with the simultaneous bestowal of the subsequent ability to reproduce, which act is a much more natural one than if I had first laid on earth nothing but eggs, from which then all kinds of creatures would be hatched by the heat of the sun (*4).

[35] I mean, with this you will also be clear about the second question; and thus nothing more about My fasting for forty days and nights and My temptation of the devil in the desert. So good for now, and next time another text from the Gospels that does not agree with pure understanding and pure reason. Amen.

22nd March 1864

[36] A comment. In addition to the temptation by the devil in the desert, on the pinnacle of the temple and on the top of a high mountain, which is found in the Gospel, the following serves to fully understand this mystical matter, which is mystical for all the world, but which cannot be grasped and understood in the natural world, but only in the spiritual world.

[37] In that time of forty days of preparation for My teaching ministry, I allowed for all kinds of good and also bad souls of deceased people to occasionally approach Me and present their concerns.

[38] So then also closer to the end, a soul from primeval times came to Me. It once was a very bad and evil ruler and he said the known words to Me, which are recorded in the Gospel, and confronted Me in the spirit about the known three options.

[39] That is why I said to this still very poor soul, which had once also walked and acted as man on earth: Man does not live by bread alone, but also by every word that comes from the mouth of God. And on the pinnacle of the temple, the same happened only in spirit: You are to serve God alone and not tempt Him as you once tried Him as man in the world. And on the top of the mountain, where the spirit of this evil king promised to give Me all the kingdoms over which he once had to rule if I would give him divine worship, I sent him away from Me. For the spirit or soul of this king was akin to the spirit or soul of the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar, who demanded what he recorded in his name for his people, even under penalty of death. But this one's name meant: There is no god but me! You must worship me and honor me as your God with precious sacrifices. That I gave this Nebuchadnezzar a very peculiar consilium abeundi, you need only to look up and read in the Scriptures.

[40] Such a man or spirit also deserves nothing better than the apage Satanas(*1) – never again to come before My face in this form.

[41] This short note should serve you as a corrective explanation of My forty-days-and-nights- fasting in the desert and of the devilish temptation. And now you may come to light with another evangelical contradiction. I will correct it.

Footnote (*1) Away with you, Satan!