The Lord's Sermons
- Sermon 27 -
Trinity Sunday. The Lord's Farewell
St. Matthew XXVIII, 18-20: "And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen."
These words I spoke to My disciples on a mountain in Galilee, when I appeared to them after My resurrection. They were not the words of Jesus, the carpenter's son from Nazareth, speaking to his followers, but the words of God, the Lord of all created things, addressed to His children and worshippers, believers of His teaching. For, My earthly sojourn had ended with My death on the cross, and with My resurrection My deity had been established.
Already on a previous occasion I had told My disciples that I and the Father in Heaven were One, and that he who saw Me also saw the Father. However, these words were still not clear to My disciples. Although they accepted Me as a man endowed with a greater willpower than other humans, they carried in their hearts a different image of their God, with which they could not reconcile My personality.
After My resurrection, which was by human standards an exceptional act, their idea of My deity had come closer to the truth; but only on the day of My ascension did it reach its culmination, when they finally recognized Me as the One I had often claimed to be.
Regarding these few words of the text, I have to give you these explanations first so that you can better understand My disciples' relationship to Me, and that at the same time you find it easier to comprehend how these texts apply also to you and to the present and the future.
As after My entombment My disciples wandered around lost and desolate, mourning the loss of their leader, even doubting My divine mission, in the same way present-day mankind - believers as well as unbelievers - are undecided as to whether to believe or whether to reject everything.
My disciples did not all have the same power of comprehension, nor were they equally zealous concerning My teaching. Not all of them were convinced of My deity. Therefore, I had to use extraordinary manifestations - even after My resurrection - to fully convince also the weak that I was the One I claimed to be, and that My words, My teaching, were meant not for them alone, but for all the world, for the entire realm of spirits and for eternity.
It is the same now as it was then. Now, too, I have to awaken those who have fallen asleep through forceful acts in the worldly chaos of your globe. I have to strengthen the partly awake and protect the fully awake, so that doubts and brooding do not hinder the sprouting of the sown seed.
For, when I shall appear again visibly in your world today, do you believe I -shall be taken for what I actually am without proof? Not a chance! There will be plenty of doubters, deniers, persecutors and haters. And, as in those times when the high priests had bribed the Roman soldiers to state that My corpse had been stolen, on the occasion of My descen-sion, too, the rationalists, scholars and priests will do their utmost to convince people of the contrary to what I shall tell them.
Do not think that all the great many people who now kneel in devotion at the altars in the churches built for Me, will easily accept the idea that I have returned, especially not when they hear where I have first appeared and how My first words will be addressed to them.
In those times when, because of elementary phenomena and other miracles, the Jews could have easily convinced themselves that the one whom they helped to crucify was not an ordinary man, I could not show Myself after My resurrection to all the Jewish people, but only to My disciples; and only to those few who truly believed in Me could I actually prove that the words about the conquest of death and about
My resurrection, which I had spoken to them - often in plain language, often in analogies - were true.
And as it did then, it will happen again. In the beginning only a small group of My true disciples will be able to bear and recognize Me as the returning Jesus, and also as God, the Lord and Creator of infinity. To these I will appear and call, as I did once to My disciples on the mountain in Galilee: "All power is given unto Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and teach all nations and baptize them, that is, instruct them in this teaching in the name of the Divine Trinity, in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Also teach them to keep, that is, to carry out in practice, what you yourselves have recognized to be true; and you may be sure that I will be with you from the beginning and in all eternity. Amen."
Thus will be sounding the call to the small group which I have chosen for the future spreading of My Divine Word, for which I as a man once paid the price and sealed it with My blood. And these newly chosen will then, as reborn like once My disciples, be endowed with all power from Me, enabling them to prove their words with deeds and prepare the way for Me, so that I may meet only hearts devoted to Me and not estranged ones.
My advent is already beginning to take place since I -though not visibly but already spiritually - am exerting My influence towards educating for Myself a number of disciples who will have to prepare the way. And that which was the task of My disciples in those times, which My chosen had been ordained to do when I appeared visibly, My present followers will have to carry out spiritually. To them, as well as to you, I am calling: "All power is given unto Me in heaven and on earth! Do not doubt My love, My teaching and My promise which I made to mankind and, thus, also to you; for I am, I was and I shall always be the Lord Who will protect and guide His children and one day reward them for their perseverance.
"I have all the power; everything must obey Me. All that is has gone forth from Me and must again return to Me. Sow My seed in the hearts that show a good soil for it! Increase the number of My followers, instruct them in the understanding of My two sole commandments of love, so that they may distinguish the true from the false and resist the false doctrines. I possess the power to convert and soften the hardest and most stubborn hearts with the gentlest teaching of love.
"Baptize your brothers and sisters with the spirit of tolerance, devotion and forgiveness. Teach them the forbearance I have shown you and all mankind since endless times. Teach them to subordinate the worldly pleasures to spiritual ones. Teach them not to forfeit happiness in the great, everlasting beyond through the empty, futile chasing after worldly possessions."
You shall sow My teaching as a spiritual seed so that you too may take part in the work of re-establishing My spiritual kingdom, which will reign after I have descended to earth.
Thus you will perform spiritually what once My apostles actually carried out. And as I at that time held out to My disciples the prospect of one day all being with Me, you too will acquire the right to enjoy closeness to Me and the love and bliss reserved for all those who have absorbed My Word and My teaching to the extent that they have become their very nature.
Behold, I am promising you much, but as I once did, I again say: I possess all the might! I am the Lord and Creator, and at the same time I am your Father, your loving, ever patient Father Who, only in the joys, spiritual pleasures and bliss of His children, finds His own joys glorified.
Therefore, those of you who may not be there to experience My personal appearance on this earth will accompany Me from whence I shall be coming and in bliss and satisfaction enjoy with Me My fatherly pleasures to which, as your consciousness will tell you, also you have contributed a little.
You will praise Me and My guidance, once you clearly recognize how the words were meant which I once spoke to My disciples. For, you will be seeing Me in all My might, all My love and all My glory, when I shall once more choose a visible form to become the sole and true shepherd to My sheep who have for a long time believed in Me and yearned for Me. Then the material earth will adapt to the spiritual world on it, and when the inner peace of the spiritual Eden will have taken up residence in all hearts, the earth will once more become a paradise.
It is impossible to paint a more detailed picture of this enjoyment and celebration, for you can neither bear nor comprehend it, but I can assure you that it is awaiting you, - and My Word is always true.
Already today this change is spiritually preparing to take place on your globe. A deep yearning for the spiritual springtime is filling the oppressed hearts. There is a stirring everywhere. Many do not know what is happening to them. Some act with a planned purpose, others without one. All are striving towards spiritual maturity; even the greatest materialists, the most stubborn unbelievers and the indifferent are being stirred up. This ray of love which precedes My coming falls upon all like a sunbeam that penetrates through a small crack in a closed shutter upon a sleeper and calms him. Some try to evade its effects through reasoning. They appease their hearts for a while, but it does not help. New doubts arise, new "whys". The prevailing spirit that has already enveloped all the world keeps stirring them. Efforts to shake off this spiritual urge are futile. Circumstances and events make people feel more and more clearly that all they regard as the goal and purpose of their life is not the end, not the ultimate goal. It keeps urging them forward, rushing with great speed towards the time when My coming to the earth will prove to them that they must strive after spiritual, not after worldly values, that there is not only a short earth-life, but that everlasting eternity is the true abode of the beings created by Me as spirits.
There is an incessant striving towards the point when I will speak to My new chosen the words I once spoke to My disciples: The might is Mine - on earth as it is in heaven! Be prepared, My children, wherever you may be - here on earth or in the beyond - to celebrate with Me this feast of resurrection of the spiritual dignity of man. For it is not only the greatest feast for mankind, but also the most important for My entire great spirit-kingdom, when this final act will prove why I once descended to your small earth and why I chose you, unprepossessing and tiny beings on a grain of sand orbiting in infinite space, to become My children.
Once again I want to prove that I am greatest in the smallest. If I did not possess all the might, I could not accomplish it; but then I also would not be a God Who thanks to this might is high above all created things, inaccessible even to the greatest angelic spirit.
Receive these words, you small children of the great God, as a mark of His love, and remember His words which He spoke as Jesus: "He who is set over small things and performs his duty well will one day be entrusted with great things."
As I once performed the greatest act of love in My creation with you poor, little mites, so also you shall endeavour in the smallest things, even insignificant events, to follow My commandments of love and carry them out promptly and conscientiously, so that you, too, may show and prove in the smallest the great strength of your souls. Then you are My worthy children, who one day can be set over great things, where you can then spread peace and bliss on a large scale, since you did that on your small earth under humble conditions.
Do heed this! Acquaint also others with the secrets of your heart and teach them to understand and comprehend My Gospel, so that you, like My disciples, may be entitled to enjoy close to Me the full force of love a divine fatherly heart is capable of! Amen.