3 

"I AM THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE"

Many people serving in the orthodox circles of Christianity today are abandoning the theory of the 'vicarious atonement' in the sacrifice of the Master Jesus as being not logical in its meaning. They are beginning to perceive the fact that his mission lay in the interpretation of the Cosmic Law as being that of Love and the attainment of the Kingdom of Heaven through its observance. 

Nicodemus, one of the great teachers of the Jewish Law, hearing Jesus preach to the people in the Temple, came to him at night, under cover of the darkness and requested him to interpret the Law to him. He addressed Jesus as 'Rabbi which means 'Master' and further acknowledged his superiority by saying "We know thou art a teacher come from God." Jesus then proceeded to explain the Law. He said, "Except a man be born again he cannot see (understand) the Kingdom of God". Nicodemus (who represents the intellectual consciousness) did not comprehend his meaning, and Jesus explained that it is difficult for the human consciousness to understand the higher spiritual Truths. Then he told them further "Except a man be born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter (experience) the Kingdom of God (because) that which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit". 

He meant by this that the human parent's contribution to his offspring is the flesh body, in which dwells the human consciousness, including within itself all the inherent characteristics of family, nation and race. But the life that animates the body is contributed by the Father-God and contains within itself both the nature and attributes of the Holy Spirit. 

This Life Principle is the 'permanent atom'. Its form is that of a tiny Flame or Spark hidden within the heart. It is the immortal part of man and endures from generation to generation through countless incarnate lives as the personality takes role after role in its long evolutionary journey through the universe. Witness the statement "Before Abraham (man) was, I AM (Life is)." 

The keynote of all Jesus' teachings is that man is fundamentally a spiritual being, an integral part of God's Life, who volunteered long ages ago to enter the World of Form in order to individually experience the Law governing existence and so become co-creator with his Father-God. 

The episode known as the Fall of Man was occasioned by these sons of God throwing off the guiding hand of Authority and deciding to experiment with creation on their own responsibility. This was the first violation of the Law of the One (because there is only One Life and One Intelligence) and when these God-Beings decided to set up a counter intelligence that moment was the lower or human nature born and, incidentally, man's troubles began. 

It is to turn the people back to their Divine origin that Great Beings like the Master Jesus and others volunteer to come periodically and take on the semblance of this lower nature in order that they may reach the human mind. Almost invariably, however, the ignorant and arrogant human element, not only rejected the teaching of the Avatar, but imposed violent deaths on their Benefactors.

John, the Precursor of Jesus, taught the Law of Purification through Baptism by water and all through the Christian Era people have been baptized, by which ceremony people believe that their 'original sin' of Disobedience has been eradicated from the soul. However, the transmutation and purification of the lower self has been a slow process and was accomplished in most cases at the cost of tremendous personal effort. Therefore, the attainment of man's liberation from the wheel of birth and death has been a long drawn out affair and the ascensions to the Higher Spheres have been few and far between. 

The Gospel of the New Day is one of tremendous joy and anticipation, because under the Dispensation of the Seventh Ray, the Cosmic Law has seen fit to bestow upon mankind the highest Gift that Heaven could bestow, that is the knowledge of the Sacred Love of the Sacred Fire, through the application of which man may balance his karmic debt to life, he may raise and illumine his outer consciousness so that it may blend with that of his Higher Self. He may, by contemplation of the Perfect Mind of God, refuse all acceptance of imperfection, thereby ceasing to create painful conditions for himself and others and, through the creative power of the Sacred Love of the Sacred Fire he may create a 'heaven' for himself on this planet. Thus, through the Gift of the knowledge of the Sacred Love of the Sacred Fire may man experience the fulfillment of Jesus' Words; 

"Fear not, little flock, it is the Father's Good Pleasure to give ye the Kingdom."

Page 7