Date: May 4, 2024
Course: Doctor of Spirituality (ACIM) of ULC Seminary
Lesson: III – Jesus
1. Write an explanation of your understanding of Jesus' role as The Lamb of God. Include how your understanding compares to the one expressed in A Course in Miracles.
As a follower of Jesus Christ, my understanding of Jesus` role as the Lamb of God is mainly rooted both in the books of the „Old Testament" as well as in those of the „New Testament". In this context, the Old Testamtent describes how the „passover lamb" saved God´s people, the Israelites (the hebrew meaning of „Is-ra-el" can be loosely translated into „Man who rules as God"), from death. The blood of a sacrificial lamb, which was used to mark the entrance of their homes, was the covering, protection and redemption (see Exodus 12:1-14) of the Israelites from death. If their entrance was covered by the blood of an innocent, faultless lamb without „blemish and spot", the angel of death could not enter but had to pass over that house. The Hebrew word for passover is „Pesach". This hebrew word means to come under the protection of God by „stepping over" something, in this case the threshold or the entrance into the home, which represents life, because the Angel of death could not enter. Isaiah, a major Old Testament prophet who lived around 700 years before Jesus, already spoke of the suffering a human lamb would experience (see Isaiah 53). This points directly to the New Testament, when John the Baptist introduced Jesus with the words: „Behold the Lamb of God" (John 1:36). In 1 Peter 1:18-21 one can read with regard to the meaning of Jesus as the sacrificial Lamb of God: „Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God."
In my perspective and with particular regard to the above mentioned scriptures, the role of Jesus as the lamb of God represents or symbolizes - by His death and resurrection - the way back to our inner, true, unchangeable, eternal, innocent, thus godlike self, which always was and eternally is without „blemish and spot", because it is a reflection, a creation, a representation of God (see Luke 17:21: „… the kingdom of God is within you"). Therefore the ordained role of Jesus was to end the duality between man and Go as a living example or reality. This particular, biblically unique role is well depicted in Hebrews 6:19-20, too, namely by „a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where our forerunner, Jesus, has entered on our behalf " („the curtain" = the ego, the unnatural, programmed „self"; „the inner place" = the true self which is holy and which universally, unchangeable and eternally exists as separated from the temporarily old/programmed/wrong self and is therefore one with God; „our forerunner" = our „elder brother").
More over, the end of duality between man and God as a result of the ministry of the Lamb of God is described in very beautiful metaphorical language in last two chapters of the prophetical book of Revelation, which is the last book of the New Testament. Revelation 21:21-27 says in this context: „And the twelve gates were twelve pearls: every several gate was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass. And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it. And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there. And they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it. And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life." In Revelation 22:1-5 it is written on that point: „And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him: And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads. And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever."
In my conclusion, the (biblical coined) understanding of Jesus as the lamb of God is in essence the same as it is expressed in „A course in miracles".
2. Ask a friend to give you their interpretation of the meaning of the quote below; then give them your interpretation of it based on what you have learned. Write a couple of pages on what the two of you talked about.
The name of Jesus is the name of one who was a man but saw the face of Christ in all his brothers and remembered God.
The interpretation of my wife, who I asked to give me her valued view of the meaning of the quote, can be described by the following key points:
- Jesus was human because he showed human emotions (e.g. pain); more over He was tempted by Satan (see Matthew 4:1-11) and was thereby reduced to His humanity likewise
- But Jesus was not only human, but also God; „Jesus" is not the same as „Christ"; the name „Jesus" (meaning: „God saves") depicts His humanity, while the expression „Christ" („Messiah") depicts His deity
- The term „all his brothers" seems to include all humans, not only the biblical Israelites; therefore all humans are sons and daughters of God like Jesus himself; more over, according to the biblical book of Genesis, they are all created in the likeness of God
- Jesus Christ did not die on the cross, because only His body then died; before that, His ego had died at the time as He saw the face of Christ in all his brothers and remembered God, in other words at that time His status of duality had ended and He became one with the Spirit of God
- Jesus thereby became a living reality, a mediator, a bridge to God for all humans to lead them out of their status of duality and back to God by His Spirit (Holy Spirit, third person of the trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit)
My interpretation of the quote is that Jesus is the name of a human being, created and ordained by God, who represents a way to end the duality between God and man by re-discovering his God-given, eternal, pure, natural unchangeable, universal, true self and consequently His ultimate oneness with God. He saw His true self or nature/spiritual essence/God-likeness in all of His brothers and sisters likewise („the face of Christ"), this instead of their superimposing „ego", which governs (sub-) consciously their lifes and actions. By perceiving both the universal true self and by decoding the human ego, He was able to remember and to understand the true purpose of God´s creation, which is to extend love, forgiveness, peace, joy and spiritual guidance to help other people to re-discover their true self and purpose.
The ego can be described as the selfish, worldly-programmed and therefore unnatural and unreal belief system of individual human consciousness which eliminates the oneness of God and man with all creation by choice, that is primarily driven by emotions, thoughts and experiences of fear, guilt, shame, unforgiveness, rejection and conflict. As a result, these negative, perpetual patterns and (sub-) consciously programmed, harming mental and emotional figures („beliefs"/"dreams") are the main obstacles that prevent human beings from identifying and selecting their true self, which in turn constitute and perpetuate a state of „duality" (= spiritual separation of God and man).
In our dialogue we talked about the following additional topics and questions:
- What is the significance of biblical baptism?
- Was Jesus predestined by God for his role as a living reality of the combination of humanity and divinity?
- Could Jesus only recognize God in other people because he was God or because he had received the Spirit of God?
- What are similarities and differences between Jesus and Adam, Abraham, Moses, Melchizedek, Buddha?
- What are similarities and differences between Jesus and ordinary humans? Are there differences in their nature/essence?
3. Write about what it means to call upon the name of Jesus in prayer according to A Course in Miracles. Tell about how you agree or disagree with the Course's approach.
According to „A Course in Miracles", in my perspective the role of Jesus can be described by several characteristics and stages:
- Jesus as a human being, created and ordained by God
- Jesus as a perfect reflection of God, the Father and His promises
- Jesus as a Son of God
- Jesus as a light & spiritual guide for humans to re-discover their true, unchangeable, eternal, godlike self
- Jesus as our older brother, as our „forerunner"
- Jesus as a bridge or mediator for His followers/disciples
- Jesus as a way to end the duality between God and man
- The oneness of Jesus and the Father (the state of being „Christ")
To call upon the name of Jesus in prayer is to identify oneself with Jesus & His Spirit and therefore to enter into the full, unseparated, perfect presence of God, the Father, or, in other words, to be one with the Father. More over to call upon the name of Jesus in prayer is a well-founded, authorized call to God to make all His amazing promises accessible to us as His Sons and Daughters which He made accessible to Jesus. These promises involve in particular love, joy, freedom, forgiveness, peace, life.
In my daily prayers I often start with the words „Heavenly Father, Abba, I pray to you in the name of my Lord, Light, Redeemer, Liberator, Savior, King, High Priest, Way, Truth, Judge and Shepherd Jesus Christ, who is in me and I in Him." Therefore I fully agree with the Courses´s approach to call upon the name of Jesus in prayer.
Best regards from your brother in Christ,
Stefan
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