Bruce has asked about a passage of St. John’s Gospel which appears to contradict the other gospels, in that John (the Baptist) says that he is not Elias (John 1:21), when Christ has said that he is (Matthew 11:14). Reading through again and again, I now ask you for a description of John please, in who he was and is, in what he did and how, and to what purpose? Could we have a picture-window of then please?
IT was in a cavity of sweet-water, held floating in the lake of the womb, that it was that John happened upon his Lord once again [Luke 1:41], making meet within the appointed place, this world. In foremost joy he knew that the Life was brought to him; that Life which he must go forth and reveal, employed with fervor, with haste, to as many as could receive it.
A voice in the desert was indeed a hard thing to come by [John 1:23]. What is meant by this, is that commonly the throat is so set upon with dryness that speech is stubborn and requires relief. To 'cry out' as that voice, is to be strong that you may do so. Quite so, were the men of that time most dry and without.
This could be explained at length, to understand the condition of the souls and their personage, and the wizened remains of what once was a fine and healthy people. The nervous system from the base of the spine branching to the cranium and out, had a plague of ague. The Helots were dying because of imported disease carried in by the devils which did cohabit with men, devils which could manifest appearing as men themselves - who had souls, but had not souls. And for those men who were men, their constitution was wracked with insult and burning, and they were parched dry inside with unresponsive hearts so stiffly encased; without tears, without expression, in the many other fluids which flow from a man who ordinarily bears emotion. Even the bloods became sluggish and like paste, for it was overgrown with it.
This was not the Orb as we see it, but it was nonetheless, the old world out of which we did advance. The transition from sphere unto sphere was of itself a catastrophe of kind, one which still resonates upon this world and does cause ill because of it. The catastrophe was moreover a spiritual war, vented with insolence which damaged many souls and entrapped them with a guile.
There were also many advanced spirits and men who foresaw the episodes which were to come (and repeat, in minor degree later on) and although the conditions of those very ancient times were as now unrecognisable, they were to be the beginnings of our Christ being called upon, that He should save all the men who were left.
There is a spirit of the Moon, our old Moon, which is not the one which ensouls this planet, for there is also she which tarries on, to which we all gravitate. This planetary spirit was not as the enspirited Moon, but as the enspirited body of Men at that time. He was the Captain, so to speak, mighty and forsworn to his people. This was the spirit Elijah, which was to be of John the Baptiser, who necessarily could bridge the way and so sacrifice himself to Christ.
That the head was to be later severed from the trunk [Mark 6:27] was the most pitiable example of the relinquishment of such forces as were holding our new planet at bay. For Elijah gave up himself from the world, as part of the withholding of the old ways which bent so heavily upon the Globe. He withdrew from manifestation also, being present only as invisible, as he makes passage to and from the old world into this. The men he loves are still his men; and yet they have, by the grace of Christ, become altered and now impervious to the lower influences which struck at their souls from their brothers’ remains. For it was that the graveyards of lost souls made suffer the fresh, seeking their life once again, pressing on men who were walking the Earth. These remnants of men have now their spirits sleeping, and have separated off in the wasteland of memory adhered to the old Moon.
He who was Elijah renounced himself [John 3:30-31] that the men might proceed forth in order to recognize Christ in His full magnificence. It was to be the death of self of the old world and old order, to permit Christ to come into the waking souls of all men. In this queer example of refutation - " I am not" - it is plain that he has no longer acknowledged himself and in this found true sacrifice, for greater Sacrifice to later follow.
The remission of sins was a regaining of certain (as ensured) strength on behalf of the men who sought to purge in preparation for the receiving of the Christ, that they were truly in freedom, as appointed by Christ Himself; that they could shake and loosen from them all that was undesirable to them and become spiritually glorious once again.
The events at the waterside were all joyous and exceedingly "hearty". For there, immersed beside he who was with the Spirit of the older world, who knew the waters like no other, there was the portal through to the new world, finally made apparent to those men - cleansed from the deceit of the past which had pretended to be in all realism their very fate. So those who were overcome with freedom weighed heavier with the water which had washed over them. They received it into their physical constitution, as it lessened the strengths of the condensation of deposits, and brought about a lively circulation of all fiery and inert forces.
The men thus transformed then saw Christ in His radiance; and because of their departure from failure they could then absorb the Hope which poured from our Master’s Being. And this Hope was so potent that it could touch the hearts of any man who could come to see it. From one unto another it gave the vision to the soul. Borne by Love, the Christ-light entered into those who would first believe in the freedom that He gives for this, our Future.