© 2005 The Brotherhood of Man Library
If we search the Urantia Book for the occurrence of a concise phrase such as “gospel of Jesus,” we get 13 “exact matches,”–not one of which provides any information on the actual content of Jesus’ gospel. If the search is repeated using a King James translation of the New Testament, we get a single “exact match,”–the opening verse of Mark’s gospel. However if a modern English translation of Mark is used, we may draw a blank.
What are our expectations? Initially they may be for a list of key teachings such as occurs in the “Sermon on the Mount.” However, the following statement from The Urantia Book may either confuse or discourage us:
“The so-called “Sermon on the Mount” is not the gospel of Jesus. It does contain much helpful instruction, but it was Jesus’ ordination charge to the twelve apostles. It was the Master’s personal commission to those who were to go on preaching the gospel and aspiring to represent him in the world of men even as he was so eloquently and perfectly representative of his Father.” (UB 140:4.1)
In The Urantia Book the “Sermon on the Mount” is also called the “Ordination Sermon.” If it does not contain the gospel of Jesus, what then should we be looking for?
One of the “exact matches” for The Urantia Book search on the “gospel of Jesus” referred to the apostle, Simon Zelotes, and his post-crucifixion career. About Simon we read:
He was in despair, but in a few years he rallied his hopes and went forth to proclaim the gospel of the kingdom. (UB 139:11.10)
“He went to Alexandria and, after working up the Nile, penetrated into the heart of Africa, everywhere preaching the gospel of Jesus and baptizing believers. Thus he labored until he was an old man and feeble. And he died and was buried in the heart of Africa.” (UB 139:11.11)
So is the “gospel of the kingdom” simply a synonym for the “gospel of Jesus.” Are the “gospel of Jesus” and the “gospel of the kingdom” identical?
A few days before the preaching of this sermon on “The Kingdom,” as Jesus was at work in the boatshop, Peter brought him the news of John’s arrest. Jesus laid down his tools, removed his apron, and said to Peter: “The Father’s hour has come. Let us make ready to proclaim the gospel of the kingdom.” (UB 137:8.2)
The next day Jesus sent his brother James, to ask for the privilege of speaking in the synagogue the coming Sabbath day. And the synagogue ruler was much pleased that Jesus was again willing to conduct the service. (UB 137:8.3)
And this is what Jesus appears to have proclaimed to be “the gospel of the kingdom”–at least on this occasion:
"I have come to proclaim the establishment of the Father’s kingdom. And this kingdom shall include the worshiping souls of Jew and gentile, rich and poor, free and bond, for my Father is no respecter of persons; his love and his mercy are over all.
The Father in heaven sends his spirit to indwell the minds of men, and when I shall have finished my work on earth, likewise shall the Spirit of Truth be poured out upon all flesh. And the spirit of my Father and the Spirit of Truth shall establish you in the coming kingdom of spiritual understanding and divine righteousness. My kingdom is not of this world. The Son of Man will not lead forth armies in battle for the establishment of a throne of power or a kingdom of worldly glory. When my kingdom shall have come, you shall know the Son of Man as the Prince of Peace, the revelation of the everlasting Father. The children of this world fight for the establishment and enlargement of the kingdoms of this world, but my disciples shall enter the kingdom of heaven by their moral decisions and by their spirit victories; and when they once enter therein, they shall find joy, righteousness, and eternal life.
Those who first seek to enter the kingdom, thus beginning to strive for a nobility of character like that of my Father, shall presently possess all else that is needful. But I say to you in all sincerity: Unless you seek entrance into the kingdom with the faith and trusting dependence of a little child, you shall in no wise gain admission.
Be not deceived by those who come saying here is the kingdom or there is the kingdom, for my Father’s kingdom concerns not things visible and material. And this kingdom is even now among you, for where the spirit of God teaches and leads the soul of man, there in reality is the kingdom of heaven. And this kingdom of God is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.
John did indeed baptize you in token of repentance and for the remission of your sins, but when you enter the heavenly kingdom, you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.
"In my Father’s kingdom there shall be neither Jew nor gentile, only those who seek perfection through service, for I declare that he who would be great in my Father’s kingdom must first become server of all. If you are willing to serve your fellows, you shall sit down with me in my kingdom, even as, by serving in the similitude of the creature, I shall presently sit down with my Father in his kingdom.
"This new kingdom is like a seed growing in the good soil of a field. It does not attain full fruit quickly. There is an interval of time between the establishment of the kingdom in the soul of man and that hour when the kingdom ripens into the full fruit of everlasting righteousness and eternal salvation.
"And this kingdom which I declare to you is not a reign of power and plenty. The kingdom of heaven is not a matter of meat and drink but rather a life of progressive righteousness and increasing joy in the perfecting service of my Father who is in heaven. For has not the Father said of his children of the world, `It is my will that they should eventually be perfect, even as I am perfect.’
"I have come to preach the glad tidings of the kingdom. I have not come to add to the heavy burdens of those who would enter this kingdom. I proclaim the new and better way, and those who are able to enter the coming kingdom shall enjoy the divine rest. And whatever it shall cost you in the things of the world, no matter what price you may pay to enter the kingdom of heaven, you shall receive manyfold more of joy and spiritual progress in this world, and in the age to come eternal life.
"Entrance into the Father’s kingdom waits not upon marching armies, upon overturned kingdoms of this world, nor upon the breaking of captive yokes. The kingdom of heaven is at hand, and all who enter therein shall find abundant liberty and joyous salvation.
"This kingdom is an everlasting dominion. Those who enter the kingdom shall ascend to my Father; they will certainly attain the right hand of his glory in Paradise. And all who enter the kingdom of heaven shall become the sons of God, and in the age to come so shall they ascend to the Father. And I have not come to call the would-be righteous but sinners and all who hunger and thirst for the righteousness of divine perfection.
“John came preaching repentance to prepare you for the kingdom; now have I come proclaiming faith, the gift of God, as the price of entrance into the kingdom of heaven. If you would but believe that my Father loves you with an infinite love, then you are in the kingdom of God.”
When he had thus spoken, he sat down. All who heard him were astonished at his words. (UB 137:8.6-18)
So was this sermon, given on the first preaching tour by Jesus and his twelve disciples, a more or less exact statement of both “the gospel of Jesus” and “the gospel of the kingdom?” Clarification may be in the following:
“It is just because the gospel of Jesus was so many-sided that within a few centuries students of the records of his teachings became divided up into so many cults and sects. This pitiful subdivision of Christian believers results from failure to discern in the Master’s manifold teachings the divine oneness of his matchless life. But someday the true believers in Jesus will not be thus spiritually divided in their attitude before unbelievers. Always we may have diversity of intellectual comprehension and interpretation, even varying degrees of socialization, but lack of spiritual brotherhood is both inexcusable and reprehensible.” (UB 170:5.20)
If we scan The Urantia Book for an exact match to the phrase “gospel of the kingdom,” we get 180 such matches, the vast majority quoting the phrase but failing to supply information on its meaning. An exception is:
“Jesus endeavored to make clear to his apostles the difference between his teachings and his life among them and the teachings which might subsequently spring up about him. Said Jesus: My kingdom and the gospel related thereto shall be the burden of your message. Be not sidetracked into preaching about me and about my teachings. Proclaim the gospel of the kingdom and portray my revelation of the Father in heaven but do not be misled into the bypaths of creating legends and building up a cult having to do with beliefs and teachings about my beliefs and teachings.” (UB 138:6.3)
Thus we are to proclaim the many-sided gospel and its teachings but we are to portray Jesus’ revelation of the Father. A dictionary definition of to portray is to act out or to imitate whereas to proclaim is to publish or to make known.
The kind of things to be “proclaimed” are listed in: Jesus’ concept of the kingdom:
The Master made it clear that the kingdom of heaven must begin with, and be centered in, the dual concept of the truth of the fatherhood of God and the correlated fact of the brotherhood of man.
The acceptance of such a teaching, Jesus declared, would liberate man from the age-long bondage of animal fear and at the same time enrich human living with the following endowments of the new life of spiritual liberty:
1. The possession of new courage and augmented spiritual power. The gospel of the kingdom was to set man free and inspire him to dare to hope for eternal life.
2. The gospel carried a message of new confidence and true consolation for all men, even for the poor.
3. It (the gospel) was in itself a new standard of moral values, a new ethical yardstick wherewith to measure human conduct. It portrayed the ideal of a resultant new order of human society.
4. It (the gospel) taught the pre-eminence of the spiritual compared with the material; it glorified spiritual realities and exalted superhuman ideals.
5. This new gospel held up spiritual attainment as the true goal of living. Human life received a new endowment of moral value and divine dignity.
6. Jesus taught that eternal realities were the result (reward) of righteous earthly striving. Man’s mortal sojourn on earth acquired new meanings consequent upon the recognition of a noble destiny.
7. The new gospel affirmed that human salvation is the revelation of a far-reaching divine purpose to be fulfilled and realized in the future destiny of the endless service of the salvaged sons of God. (UB 170:2.1-8)
The gospel then was many faceted. In The Urantia Book it was the gospel of Jesus; the gospel of the kingdom; the kingdom of the spirit; the religion of the spirit; the new gospel. From the New Testament it was the gospel of Jesus Christ (Mark); the gospel of the kingdom, (Matthew; Mark); the gospel of God (Paul); the gospel of Christ (Paul); the gospel of our Lord, Jesus Christ (Paul).
On the other hand, what it is we must portray in our own lives is the same mission as discussed by Jesus and Immanuel prior to the Michael incarnation in which Immanuel states:
“Exhibit in your one short life in the flesh, as it has never before been seen in all Nebadon, the transcendent possibilities attainable by a God-knowing human during the short career of mortal existence and make a new and illuminating interpretation of . . . the achievement of God seeking man and finding him and the phenomenon of man seeking God and finding him” (UB 120:2.8).
This concept was later reiterated by Jesus to those who are his followers:
Your mission to the world is founded on the fact that I lived a God-revealing life among you; on the truth that you and all other men are the sons of God; and it shall consist in the life which you will live among men–the actual and living experience of loving men and serving them, even as I have loved and served you. (UB 191:5.3)
In this review we have touched upon the vast difference between the life and times of Jesus as it is portrayed in both the New Testament and Christian writings, and what we may learn from The Urantia Book.
For Christianity, as it is taught in most orthodox churches, Jesus is best known because his crucifixion is taken by Christians to have been the ransom paid to an apparently angry God for the remission of the sins of mankind. Problematically, this same God is also known as the God who is love personified.
For this bizarre situation, a major portion of its bizarreness can be put down to Paul for almost all of his writings were completed and in circulation among the early Christians well before anything else now in the New Testament had been recorded. Important among Paul’s writings is 1 Corinthians 11:23-25:
“For I have received of the Lord that which I have also delivered to you–that the Lord Jesus, the same night on which he was betrayed took bread. And when he had given thanks he broke it saying, ‘Take eat, this is my body which is broken for you. This do in remembrance of me.’ And after the same manner he took the cup, and when he had supped, said, ‘This cup is God’s new covenant, sealed with my blood. Whenever you drink it, do so in memory of me.’”
Termed the “Last Supper” these same words were repeated in the Synoptic Gospels, all three of which were written at a later date than Paul’s letters.
The Gospel versions differ somewhat from that of Paul. Matthew (26:27,28) has, “Drink you all of it. For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sin.” Mark and Luke omit “for the remission of sin.” Repeated throughout Paul’s letters we also find that redemption from sin is through the blood of Christ. (Ephesians 1:7; Colossians 1:14; Hebrews 9:12, 15)
In contrast the Urantia revelation has no mention of “sacrifice” or “blood” in its version of the Last Supper–and it does state emphatically: “Jesus is not about to die as a sacrifice for sin. He is not going to atone for the inborn moral guilt of the human race.” (UB 185:5.7) Even more emphatically it has:
“The barbarous idea of appeasing an angry God, of propitiating an offended Lord, of winning the favor of Deity through sacrifices and penance and even by the shedding of blood, represents a religion wholly puerile and primitive, a philosophy unworthy of an enlightened age of science and truth. Such beliefs are utterly repulsive to the celestial beings and the divine rulers who serve and reign in the universes. It is an affront to God to believe, hold, or teach that innocent blood must be shed in order to win his favor or to divert the fictitious divine wrath.” (UB 4:5.4)
What The Urantia Book says is undoubtedly both logical and true. Yet it remains a fact that few Christians see the sacrificial death of Jesus on the cross in payment for the sins of mankind as in any way reflecting adversely on the nature of the God whom they worship as love personified.
The illogicality, indeed absurdity, of this stance just does not enter their heads.
Question: Will Christianity ever awaken to its irreconcilable doctrinal inconsistencies? How can Urantia Book readers help to prepare the way? But is it really all that important?
For many Urantia Book readers the answers have slowly and painfully evolved over many years.
For some the answer may be that it is not solely our task. We all have our own indwelling Spirit of God–our Thought Adjuster— plus the Spirit of Truth–Jesus’ Spirit–to guide us. The answers for such problems are in the hands of Divinity. The means to the answers are ours–or at least it is a shared task:
This gospel of the kingdom belongs to both Jew and gentile, to rich and poor, to free and bond, to male and female, even to the little children. And you are all to proclaim this gospel of love and truth by the lives which you live in the flesh. You shall love one another with a new and startling affection, even as I have loved you. You will serve mankind with a new and amazing devotion, even as I have served you. And when men see you so love them, and when they behold how fervently you serve them, they will perceive that you have become faith-fellows of the kingdom of heaven, and they will follow after the Spirit of Truth which they see in your lives, to the finding of eternal salvation. (UB 191:6.2)
Salvation is the free gift of God, but those who are born of the spirit will immediately begin to show forth the fruits of the spirit in loving service to their fellow creatures. And the fruits of the divine spirit which are yielded in the lives of spirit-born and God-knowing mortals are: loving service, unselfish devotion, courageous loyalty, sincere fairness, enlightened honesty, undying hope, confiding trust, merciful ministry, unfailing goodness, forgiving tolerance, and enduring peace. (UB 193:2.2)
Approaching my 83rd birthday and having recently suffered a small stroke, with regret I am forced to accept that no longer can continue with Innerface International. Hence this will be our last issue.
Some 12 years ago, when Innerface commenced, one of our purposes was to draw attention to the prophetic science content of the Urantia Papers. However, it came as quite a surprise to discover that ,onsiderable portion of this science contradicted what appears to be well-founded scientific opinion. Th ed to the realization that there are two sides to The Urantia Books science material. One is covered and he heading, “The Limitations of Revelation,” [UB 101:4] which states:
“Because your world is general, ignorant of origins…it has appeared to be wise…to provide instruction in cosmology. And always has this made trouble for the future. The laws of revelation hamper us greatly by their proscription of the impartation of unearned or premature knowledge. Any cosmology presented as part of revealed religion is destined to be outgrown in a very short time . . .within a few short years many of our statements . . . will stand in need of revision.” (UB 101:4.1-2)
The other side is exemplified by the wisdom of the revelatory in pursuing their two-sided policy-becoming self-evident if we follow current disputation between the advocates of “Creationism,” “Intelligent Design” etc. to support their fundamentalist views. So did the Urantia Book’s authors include both prophetic science along with outdated materials to avoid the possibility of a fundamentalist high-jacking of our 5th epochal revelation? Only time will tell.
The God of Jesus, the one Jesus called “Father,” has no need for proof of his reality. The revelators inform us that faith and faith alone is all that is required of us. And Jesus gave us one simple new commandment that we should love one another even as he loves us for by this will all men know that we are his disciples if we thus love one another.
Yours with love, Ken Glasziou