“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” (Matthew 5:8)

What does being 'pure in heart' mean?

The word "pure" here is being translated from the Greek word, καθαρός (katharos). This means, according to Thayer's lexicon, "purified" and "free from corrupt desire." This could mean "blameless" and "innocent" as well. 

But Jesus is not teaching to those who are perfect. Why would he need to teach to those who were perfect?

Rather, he is asking that we strive to become pure in heart.

Actually, the word "heart" is being used metaphorically. The Greek word καρδία (kardia) can literally mean the heart organ. But it can also mean "the center and seat of spiritual life" and "the soul" according to the lexicon.

This means that Jesus is not addressing our physical circumstances. He is not speaking of taking a bath and getting the heart of our body clean. He is speaking of becoming spiritually purified.

This purity of heart is pureness of consciousness - something that comes from the soul. Jesus taught his followers how to attain the character of pure in heart:

“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment." (Matt. 22:37-38)

Can we see God?

Seeing God is one of the central challenges many of us have regarding God’s existence. For many, seeing God is a requisite for belief in His existence. For this reason, many scientists refuse to believe in God’s existence - due to what they consider a lack of physical evidence. For this reason, many people do not believe in God’s existence.

Some even challenge God: 'If You exist, show me.'

This is the opposite of faith. The word faith means to trust in someone. While we may configure faith to mean a belief in something we are not sure about or cannot see, the true definition of faith is to have trust and confidence in someone. 

If we do not know that God exists, we cannot have faith or trust in Him. We simply cannot trust someone we do not know even exists. Otherwise, we are talking about blind faith, which leads to fanaticism.

However, if we assume that God exists because deep within our hearts we know there is someone out there Who cares for us, Who created us, and Who is our ultimate Father, we have the tools for developing trust (faith) in God. 

But if we do not want to assume His existence, then we are lost and wandering. 

This assumption of God’s existence can require a lifetime of soul-searching. Or it may simply require a split second realization that the Supreme Being loves and cares for each of us.

If we choose to assume God does not exist, then we are left with a purposeless existence. We are left with the assumption many scientists have made, leaving life an empty, random, accidental existence that started with a big bang and an evolution of chance.

Yet this assumption - of the big bang and accidental evolution - requires blind faith, because we do not know that life was an accident. To assume it was an accident - even though there is tremendous order and synchrony within the universe that opposes the notion of chaos - would be an act of blind faith. Because there is absolutely no proof that creation was an accident. It is only a theory born from some man's mind.

Why doesn't God show Himself to us?

The fundamental issue here is if God exists, why doesn’t He prove it to us? Why doesn’t he show us all, without a doubt, that He exists?

The problem with this question is that it assumes that we are the center of the universe and God revolves around me. As if He has some responsibility to reveal Himself to me.

But the reality is that everything revolves around the Supreme Being - including ourselves. Each of us is a tiny, tiny speck compared to the Supreme Being. Why should He have to appear to us? Does He owe us anything? No.

The reason we don't see the Supreme Being is that He hides His existence from us. He doesn't want us to see Him. Why?

Because we wanted to get away from His existence. This is why we reside here, in these temporary material bodies, on this planet. As detailed very carefully in Genesis, we rejected the request from God not to eat the forbidden fruit. And what is the forbidden fruit symbolize? The desire to be like God. Consider what the serpent said to Eve about eating the forbidden fruit:

"For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." (Genesis 3:1-5)

Because each of us decided that we would turn our backs on God and we wanted to be like God, God gave us a separated place where we could pretend we are the center of the universe and everything revolves around us. This is our consciousness - we are each thinking of ourselves as the greatest - the best - the most important. This is God's position. And we are envious of that position.

The reason we cannot see God with these physical eyes is because our eyes were designed not to be able to see Him. This design allows us to pretend that God doesn’t exist. 

This design of the temporary material body allows us to play out our self-importance for a while, to see if we can be happy without Him. Certainly, if the material eyes were designed to see Him, it would be hard to pretend He doesn’t exist.

In other words, if we could see Him with these eyes it would destroy our illusion.

This illusion that He doesn’t exist was created to give us our freedom of choice. Each of us has the freedom to love Him or not. Since we don't see Him with these physical eyes, we can ignore Him.

As soon as we abandoned our trust in God, things went downhill immediately. In the story of Adam and Eve, notice that as soon as the forbidden fruit was eaten, there was a realization of nakedness, and suddenly they had to wear clothing. This wearing of clothing symbolizes the assumption of a temporary material body - to hide the purity of the living being.

How can being 'pure in heart' help us see God?

The purity of the living being - the spirit-person within this body - lies within the humble trust and faith in God’s existence. Without that purity; without that trust in God, we are simply lost and blinded by our own desires and aspirations to become godlike.

It is for this reason that Jesus states that those who are “pure in heart” will see God. Those who have humbly forsaken the notion that they are godlike, and that they can enjoy life without God, gradually become purified in heart as they undergo the process of giving their heart to the Supreme Being.

With this purity comes an increasing vision of the Supreme Being. It is not that there is a certain moment when we pass some sort of test and we qualify to see Him. He becomes more and more visible to us as our hearts become increasingly pure. 

There is an expression that says “it takes one to know one.” This is applicable to spiritual life. One cannot gain entrance into the spiritual world without the guidance of someone who already knows and loves God. This is what Jesus offers his followers.

In order to see God, we have to enter into the consciousness of His kingdom. Everything is within the kingdom of God because He made everything. But we can choose whether we want to be in that consciousness or not.

The inner chamber of the kingdom of God - where the Supreme Being exchanges loving relationships with those who love Him - is a dimension that can be accessed from where ever we might be located.

"Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you ..." (Matthew 5:43-48)

“You have heard that it was said ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect."(Matt. 5:43-48)

Is Jesus contradicting the teachings of the Old Testament?

Many state that Jesus was teaching something new, something not taught by the Prophets. Is this true? Did Jesus deny the teachings of the Prophets, or contradict them?

Certainly, we find many verses where Jesus quoted the Prophets, including Moses, David, Isaiah and others. Why would he contradict them?

Rather, Jesus is clarifying the meaning of the Prophets' teachings, and contrasting them with the teachings of those institutional temple teachers of the day that were bending and twisting scripture.

This is evidenced by the phrase:

"You have heard that it was said..."

We also see that Jesus is being critical of a misinterpretation of a particular verse, as he states:

You have heard that it was said ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’"

The passage Jesus is referring to is:

" 'Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD." (Leviticus 19:18)

This indicates that Jesus is clarifying the teachings of the Prophets.

Is this a quid pro quo?

Jesus' statement is also showing how this teaching from Moses had been misinterpreted to become: ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.'

Thus we find that Jesus is confirming this is not the teaching that was presented by Moses. He is also confirming that this statement illustrates God's unconditional mercy and compassion to others, not a quid pro quo.

What is quid pro quo? In most contexts, quid pro quo means: If I do something for you, you do something for me.

But as this plays out in terms of religiosity, it can be taken as: I do something good for you as long as it helps me.

But in sectarianism, we find a darker application: If you are not with us, you are against us.

Often we find that quid pro quo passes for "love" in the physical world. Most of us care about others when it is convenient to us or helpful to our own causes or sects. Or we are compelled because it is our family or significant other. 

Jesus is clarifying this teaching.

Jesus is stating that to "love your neighbor as yourself" doesn't mean to only love our neighbor when it is good for us, or convenient for us.

Jesus is stating that it means to provide this love without condition. Whether they are nice to us or not. Whether they care about us or not. Even whether they hurt us or not.

Is this about unconditional love?

Unconditional love is part of God’s Character: He is a loving, caring Person. While we may imagine His Character as strong and unbending, He is in fact, tolerant and forgiving. God's nature is supported by all the scriptures and is also evidenced by His accepting and mercy upon those who are fallen. 

His nature is evidenced by His mercy: He forgives when we ask for forgiveness.

This merciful characteristic of unconditional love and compassion is part of the Supreme Being's Personality.

Jesus wants his followers to as much as possible reflect this unconditional love that God has for us. He wants us to love others as God loves us.

In Genesis, it says we were created in ‘God’s image’. This means by nature, we have an innate capacity to love unconditionally - but only as a reflection of God's unconditional love.

In other words, we have no separate capacity. Our capacity to unconditionally love is connected to God's propensity. We have to be linked with the Supreme Being in order to have unconditional love for others.

While our real self is spiritual in quality, we have taken on these temporary material bodies because we rebelled against God at some point. At that point of rebellion, we communicated that we wanted our independence from Him. We didn't want to participate in His happiness. We wanted our own happiness independent of Him.

The problem is, this is impossible. It is like a fish trying to be happy outside of water. Let's say a fish jumped onto a pier and started flopping around. Could the fish ever have a life outside of water? No, because the fish wasn't built that way. The fish was designed to swim in water.

In the same way, we have no capacity to unconditionally love another without being connected with the Supreme Being's unconditional love.

We might compare this to an extension cord. An extension cord could not provide electricity for an appliance unless it was plugged into a power source. In the same way, we cannot provide unconditional love without receiving it from the Supreme Being.

This is because the Supreme Being is the Source of unconditional love. Just as a power cord must be plugged into the power source, we must be exchanging a loving relationship with the Supreme Being in order to offer part of that love to others.

The irony of this situation is that in our pure state, we reflect God's loving nature. But as soon as we become self-centered, we disconnect from that loving nature.

This is why Jesus said receiving forgiveness from God was related to our own forgiveness of others.

The Supreme Being designed temporary physical bodies and false identities so we could have the freedom to grow and evolve spiritually - or decide not to. The forgetfulness of our true nature gives us the complete freedom to decide our direction. Do we want to reconnect with the Supreme Being and reflect His love? Or do we want to live out our days wallowing in self-centeredness?

It is our choice. God designed this world to give us the freedom to love Him or not, along with an environment set up to teach us how to love.

Here Jesus requests his followers choose to resume their loving relationship with the Supreme Being. This and only this will allow us to reflect that unconditional love the Supreme Being has for us. This is precisely why Jesus connected "love your neighbor" with "love the Lord your God" in his most important instruction:

" 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'" (Matthew 22:37-39)

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“Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth ...” (Matthew 6:10)

“Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:10)

What does 'Your kingdom come' mean?

The word "kingdom" is being translated from the Greek word, βασιλεία (basileia), which can mean "kingdom," but only in the context of "royal power, kingship, dominion, rule" according to the lexicon. The lexicon also states that the word is "not to be confused with an actual kingdom but rather the right or authority to rule over a kingdom."

This means that "kingdom" is not an appropriate translation. Rather, a more appropriate translation would be something like "dominion" or "authority."

But further in the context of Jesus' times and use of language would relate to what kings provided to their subjects in feudal times - "sanctuary." A citizen of a particular village or region would basically take sanctuary under a particular king or leader. Such sanctuary provided safety as well as a role in the society.

The word "come" is being translated from the Greek word ἔρχομαι (erchomai), which means, when used metaphorically (as is the case here), "to come into being, arise, come forth, show itself, find place or influence;" and "be established, become known, to come (fall) into or unto" according to the lexicon.

In other words, Jesus is suggesting that we pray to God to reveal His sanctuary to us. This is essentially asking that God provide us with His sanctuary - to give us protection and allow us to connect with Him.

What does 'Your will be done' mean?

The terminology of this phrase is a little muddled according to this translation.

Note that Jesus is suggesting a prayer to the Supreme Being. God is in complete control, and therefore He can have His will be done any time and any place. Therefore, Jesus is not saying that we should instruct God to have His will done.

Rather, Jesus is saying, with the phrase, "γενηθήτω τὸ θέλημά σου" that we should ask God if we can do His will.

Actually, the word translated to "will" (θέλημα (thelēma)) actually means, "what one wishes or has determined shall be done."

Since this is a "Your" thing here, this could also be translated to "what pleases You."

In other words, what Jesus is suggesting here is that we ask God if we can do what pleases Him.

The Supreme Being can do what He wants. He can make His will happen with or without us. What the Supreme Being did, however, is give each of us the ability to make a choice of whether we want to do what pleases Him or not.

This is called free will and each of us has this freedom to reject God's wishes or adhere by them. This is because love is based upon freedom, and the only way we can truly love God is if we have the freedom not to.

Why does Jesus prayer suggest this?

This portion of Jesus’ suggested prayer is focused upon our ultimate perfection as spiritual beings: Jesus is requesting that when his students pray, they ask God if they can serve Him and please Him with their lives.

God created us to exchange a loving relationship with Him. Love, however, requires the freedom of choice, because a person cannot be forced to love someone.

So the Supreme Being gave us the choice to love Him or not. This also means we have the freedom to serve God or not. You see, God does not have slaves. He has loving servants - those who choose to love and serve Him.

Why do so many ignore God?

Most of us who live in the physical dimension have chosen not to love and serve God. We have chosen not to do His will. This decision each of us made is symbolized by the story of Adam and Eve. Adam chose not to do God’s will after being asked by God not to eat the forbidden fruit.

This primary act, of deciding to go against the will of God, created our entry into the material world, away from God’s presence. This is explained in symbolic language in Genesis:

“The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. And the Lord God said, “The man has now become one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. After He drove the man out, He placed on (in front of) the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.” (Genesis 3:21-24)

The “garments of skin” are our temporary physical bodies. Because we decided we wanted to be independent of God, we were given our virtual independence from Him.

Here we can forget about God. We can even claim He doesn't exist. In fact, it is God who gives the atheist the rationale to claim His non-existence.

This is the expression of freedom. In order to have true freedom to love God or not, the Supreme Being set up this plane of existence where our physical eyes do not see Him. Though He dwells among us, we cannot see Him with these physical eyes. This gives us a chance to ignore Him, just as we wanted.

Why do we seek love?

Yet we continue to look for true love throughout our physical lives, demanding it from our parents, friends and even our pets. These forms of so-called love, however, do not satisfy us because we need our original loving relationship with God.

Any loving relationship is accompanied by loving service. Loving service means doing the will of the one we love. Jesus is saying, "Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." What does this mean?

This illustrates that one can do God’s will here in the physical dimension just as well as we can do His will in the spiritual dimension. We can exchange this loving relationship anywhere. We don't have to 'go to heaven' in order to be in the spiritual realm.

Because we can do the Supreme Being's will regardless of whether we are in the physical body or not, we can virtually be in the spiritual realm where ever we may be.

Practically speaking, the entire creation - both spiritual and physical - was created by the Supreme Being. This means it is all His kingdom. Therefore if we are in the consciousness that we want to do His will, we will be in the spiritual realm right here and right now.

Jesus showed by example how to be pleasing and loving to God even while living in this temporary physical body. Even when he was being ridiculed, mistreated, misunderstood, and even tortured, he was thinking of God's pleasure. He wanted to do what God wanted him to do. This was expressed in his prayer right before he was arrested:

“Abba, Father, everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.” (Mark 14:36)

What does this mean? It means that Jesus is enjoying a loving relationship with the Supreme Being.

Jesus taught that spiritual life is about having a relationship with God. It is not about joining one sect or another. It is not about doing a bunch of rituals. It is not about being saved or being cleansed of sins. It is about exchanging a loving relationship with the Supreme Being.

And this is what Jesus was teaching his students:

" 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment." (Matt. 22:37-38)

“And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil” (Matthew 6:13)

What is 'evil'?

The word "evil" here is being translated from the Greek word πονηρός (ponēros), which means, according to Strong's lexicon, "full of labours, annoyances, hardships;" and "bad, of a bad nature or condition." The latter definition is further defined with 1) in a physical sense: diseased or blind; 2) in an ethical sense: evil wicked, bad."

In other words, the appropriate meaning of this word in this context is "wickedness." This is when we do something based upon greed - self-centeredness. This is confirmed by Jesus in the Gospel of Mary:

Peter said to him, “As you have told us regarding everything, teach us about the other one: What is the sin of the world?” The Savior said, “No sin exists outside of you: It is you who makes sin. When you do those things such as adultery, this is called sin." (Gospel of Mary 4-5)

Evil is ultimately born from self-centeredness. And self-centeredness is the core root of evil. Self-centeredness is what causes us to act for our own pleasure. For our own reputation or our own wealth or our own future. Self-centeredness is also the root cause of activities that hurt others. The root of evil is self-centeredness.

What is 'temptation'?

The word "temptation" is being translated from the Greek word πειρασμός (peirasmos).

The word πειρασμός (peirasmos) means, according to the lexicon, "an experiment, attempt, trial, proving" and "the trial of man's fidelity, integrity, virtue, constancy."

Thus we can see that Jesus is speaking of being tested. And being tested means having a choice. While the word temptation often elicits the notion of responsibility to someone else - as though someone else is tempting us and we are innocent victims, the reality is that the original word relates to being tested. "trial" and "proving" relate directly to this.

And this is elaborated on by "the trial of man's fidelity." In other words, if a married man is presented by a beautiful woman, this might prompt "the trial of a man's fidelity."

And certainly, one might refer to this as the man being tempted. But what it really is, is a test. The man is being tested. His fidelity is being tested.

This is precisely what Jesus is referring to here - being tested - translated to "temptation."

Why are we tested?

And what is the source of being tested - or temptation here? Why are we tested and what will it accomplish?

For example, children are tested in school. Why? Because they are learning. They are tested for their comprehension of the subject. If the teacher didn't test the kids, the teacher wouldn't know whether the kids were learning anything.

But why are we tested? Surely God knows everything. He knows what we know and what we've learned.

Rather, we are tested to show ourselves where we stand. The tests of this world are meant to show us where we are with respect to our expectations.

Whatever we think of ourselves - these will be tested. When these tests arrive, we will have to make a decision that will ultimately test our self-determination and our level of strength.

Ultimately such tests provide clear indications of where we stand.

The goal of being tested is to help us grow. They also let us know that we aren't as strong as we think we are. They let us know we need God's strength. We can't go it alone.

The fundamental basis of being tested is freedom. We were each given the freedom to love God and live for God, or not. Having such freedom necessitates being tested in order to measure where we are.

This is because love requires freedom of choice. A person cannot be forced to love.

And because of this, the Supreme Being constantly gives us the option not to love Him, and to live for ourselves.

Being tested is a manifestation of this freedom. Temptations are testaments to our freedom. If we did not have the freedom not to love God, we would never be given the choice.

How can we survive 'temptation'?

There is no devil standing on our shoulders tempting us. Temptations are simply consequential expressions of the freedom we have with regard to our relationship with Him.

Jesus' teachings tell us that our only sure safety net is to submit ourselves to the Supreme Being. We can take shelter of Him as our only Refuge from the onslaught of materialism and self-centeredness. Only He can help cure our self-centeredness.

The reason we are here in this physical world of testing in the first place is our rejection of our relationship with God. We chose to be independent of Him. That independence has consequences.

 So we landed in the physical world and took on a temporary physical body.

The entire material dimension, including all the tests here, is the result of this primary, original rebellion.

In other words, we brought this situation upon ourselves. We have no one to blame but ourselves, and the decisions we have made in the past. We must now decide whether we are finished with our rebellion or wish to continue it. Every individual test we are faced with measures our current decision: Do we continue our rebellion or submit to Him?

By praying to God that He lead us not into temptation, Jesus is recommending that we take shelter of the Supreme Being as we are being tested. He is confirming that we cannot do this alone. We cannot avoid or pass through the tests of this world without His help.

When we do take refuge in God, we find that God comes to our rescue.

It is from our humble submission to God that we find our refuge from the storms of this world, and uncover His mercy and His unconditional love for us.

This is the meaning of Jesus' prayer, "but deliver us from evil."

"I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith...." (Matthew 8:10-12)

When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. "Lord," he said, "my servant lies at home paralyzed, suffering terribly." Jesus said to him, "Shall I come and heal him?" The centurion replied, "Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, 'Go,' and he goes; and that one, 'Come,' and he comes. I say to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it." When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, "Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." (Matthew 8:10-12)

What did the Centurion mean by 'just say the word'?

Jesus was responded to the statement of a centurion who deferentially communicated to Jesus. The centurion saw Jesus' mission and authority on a much broader basis than simply healing people's bodies.

The centurion said, “just say the word.” What was the "word" that the centurion is referring to - which pleased Jesus?

“Word” here is translated from the Greek word λόγος (logos) - which means "doctrine" or "teaching" in many contexts, but can also be translated to "word" according to Thayer's lexicon. In this case, we can know the centurion is awaiting some form of instruction from Jesus.

Words spoken in praise of or on behalf of God are instructional. These are transcendental words. These are words with higher authority. The reason words that glorify the Supreme Being are powerful is because God’s realm lacks the duality we perceive in the physical world.

A sincere and loving reference to the Supreme Being thus has God’s essence contained within it. A person who is deeply relating with the Supreme Being will transmit powerful messages regarding Him, because of this deep relationship. These were the words spoken by Jesus.

The centurion understood that Jesus’ healing ability was due to the authority of Jesus' words that glorified the Supreme Being. Because of Jesus’ intimate relationship with the Supreme Being, he was able to transmit that authority through his words, spoken in praise of God (i.e. “Hallowed by thy Name”).

Was this about healing?

In distinguishing this ability from others who may be “healing in Jesus’ name,” we again bring to mind another statement from Jesus:

"Many will come to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles? Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!"( Matthew 7:22)

It is apparent from this that just healing the sick is not the principal element of Jesus' message.

What Jesus is trying to teach is loving service to the Supreme Being. He makes this clear with the statement from Matthew 7:21:

"Not everyone who says to me ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”

Many are attracted by Jesus’ acts of healing. But Jesus' statements tell us that the purpose of Jesus' healing was to illustrate the power of faith in the Supreme Being.

Jesus is communicating that we humbly request the Supreme Being to help us come to know Him and love Him. Such a request will be heard by the Supreme Being. If we have faith that the Supreme Being will hear us, the Supreme Being will surely hear us and respond according to the level of our faith. 

Why is faith so important? Because faith is the first step of the journey of a relationship with God. How can we have a relationship with someone we do not trust?

One of the central designs of the physical world is that we cannot see the Supreme Being with these physical eyes. This is to give us the complete freedom to love Him or not. Such freedom is given to us because one cannot truly love under coercion. Freedom is the basis of true love.

This is the meaning of the apple in the analogy of Adam and Eve: By taking the apple from the "tree of knowledge" Adam was expressing his freedom of choice, to either obey God's instructions or not.

What is 'outside?'

Those who choose not to follow God's instructions are choosing to remain outside. But what is "outside?"

“I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Here Jesus clarifies that although many will come, expecting to “take their places” in the assembly of heaven, yet many will be tossed “outside.” 

Outside is the physical world, where we live now. Here we live in darkness. How so? The darkness of the physical world is that we cannot, with these physical eyes, see the Supreme Being. And our physical consciousness prevents us from connecting with the Supreme Being. We are in effect, cut off from the spiritual dimension.

The physical world is also a place of suffering. Here people are born in pain, crying (“weeping”). Here we live by struggling, competing, and fighting. The physical world is immersed in wars, starvation, terrorism, thievery, dishonesty, disease, aging, and death.

Despite our hopes and wishes to the contrary, the physical world is not a kind place. It is a place of suffering. And depending upon the environment we are born into, we all experience relative degrees of “weeping and gnashing of teeth” here in this temporary physical world.

The physical world is the world where those who have rejected God go. Those who participate in loving, serving relationships with God - like Abraham, Jacob, and Issac - are sitting at the loving “feast” that exists within the kingdom of God. Those who envy God, however, wanting to be God-like, are the “subjects” who are left outside.

Was Jesus teaching about fanaticism?

Jesus was preaching against the fanatical teachings of the Pharisees and the 'teachers of the law.' He called them hypocrites and abusers of people.

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are." (Matthew 23:15)

In the centuries following Jesus, some of these sayings were used by the Roman Catholic Church to create fear in the masses, to encourage them to go to church and pay tithes. They were used to control the populace. As such, the Roman Church became very wealthy, and its leaders and organizers became powerful people.

This corruption of power also gave rise to an ongoing culture within this institution that led to the sexual abuse of young followers and nuns. Such is darkness.

Rather, Jesus’ message is quite clear: We will only be happy if we re-develop our loving relationship with the Supreme Being and thus place the focus of our lives upon God.

This and only this will allow us to take our places at the feast in the kingdom of love for the Supreme Being.

“Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. ..." (Matthew 10:5-10)

“Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. As you go, preach this message: The kingdom of heaven is near.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out the demons. Freely you have received, freely give. Do not take along any gold or silver or copper in your belts; take no bag for the journey, or extra tunic, or sandals or a staff; for the worker is worth his keep." (Matt. 10:5-10)

Why didn't Jesus want them to preach to Gentiles and Samaritans?

Jesus is giving specific instructions to his students according to a particular time and circumstance. The context of those teachings was founded upon the teachings of the Prophets.

Jesus is sending them out to teach the message of love for the Supreme Being to a specific group of people. He is also passing on the teachings of John the Baptist. How do we know this?

Consider these prior verses:

In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the Desert of Judea and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near." (Matt. 3:2)

From that time on [after Jesus had heard of John's imprisonment] Jesus began to preach, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near." (Matt. 4:17)

And now we find in this verse above that Jesus was telling his own disciples to carry on that same teaching:

"As you go, preach this message: 'The kingdom of heaven is near.’"

These verses indicate that Jesus did not make up his teachings. Once his own teacher - John the Baptist - was imprisoned, Jesus carried on those teachings and asked his own followers to do so as well.

This is the tradition of all the prophets and messengers of God. They each became the student of a teacher, taught those teachings, and then told their students to pass on those teachings.

One might ask why the Gentiles or Samaritans were not to be taught. To answer this we must understand that Jesus is asking his students to teach a particular message to a particular people. It is not as if Jesus’ mercy and teachings are not to be spread to anyone and everyone.

Rather, this is a testament to the fact that particular messages are given at particular times to particular people. For example, a college professor would have an altogether different set of instructions to a college class than a kindergarten teacher would have for a class of kindergartners. The two teachers have the same goal in mind - to teach the children. But their specific information is tailored to the age, maturity and education level of the students.

In the time of Jesus, the people of Judea generally had access to a collection of knowledge that had been handed down from the great prophets such as Abraham and Moses. As such, teaching specifically to that segment of society had to be altogether different than the teachings Jesus would have for Gentiles and Samaritans. This is not to say that Jesus did not teach to the Gentiles and Samaritans - he certainly did, as evidenced in other verses.

As for the specific instructions he gave them to teach the people, “The kingdom of heaven is near;” the interpretation that this is an 'end of the world' statement was put forth by politically-oriented institutions to help create a false sense of urgency among the population. This is an attempt to scare people into joining their institution.

This 'end of the world' interpretation grew out of the Fourth Century's First Council of Nicaea - organized by the Roman Emperor Constantine to politically organize and control the Christian world. This manipulation continued through the Second Council of Ephesus in 449 put together by the Roman Emperor Theodosius II, which led to the creation of the Roman Catholic Church.

The manipulation of information by the Roman Empire continued through the centuries by the Roman Catholic institution - often called the Holy Roman Empire.

As a result, for many centuries, some claiming to follow Jesus have preached that the world is coming to an end based upon this statement by Jesus. (See this page for a partial list.) In each generation, different “signs” have been used together with various quotes from different books within the Bible to offer proof that the world will end next year or even tomorrow.

So many centuries have passed, and still the world has not come to an end. Yet these false prophets are still teaching that the world is coming to an end on a particular date. At what point will we figure out that this interpretation is wrong?

What does the 'kingdom of heaven is near' mean?

The correct interpretation of "The kingdom of heaven is near" is quite different: The Greek word used is ἐγγίζω, which means, according to the Greek lexicon:
1) to bring near, to join one thing to another
2) to draw or come near to, to approach

Near is not a time element: Near is an element of distance.

Near means 'close by.' For each of us, the kingdom of heaven is truly near. For Israelites who had been taught strict adherence to the scriptures, we might say the kingdom of heaven was especially near, because they had access to the scriptures and the teachings of the prophets. They simply had to understand those teachings and apply them within their hearts. They had to simply realize, as Jesus and Moses taught, that love for God is the “first and foremost commandment.” (Matt. 22:38)

More importantly, the Supreme Being in His expansion as the Holy Ghost is right next to each of us: He is truly near.

What does 'kingdom' mean?

The word "kingdom" is being translated from the Greek word βασιλεία (basileia) - which means, according to the lexicon, "royal power, kingship, dominion, rule" and "not to be confused with an actual kingdom but rather the right or authority to rule over a kingdom." In other words, the word refers to accepting the dominion and power of the Supreme Being. His ultimate authority.

Everything is part of God's kingdom: He owns everything and He controls everything. We can thus have a relationship with Him in whatever part of His kingdom we may reside. The "kingdom" that Jesus is referring to is the consciousness where we are devoted to Him. It is the place in our hearts where we are thinking of Him, and wanting to please Him and do His will.

The kingdom of God is so near that all we have to do is make a decision. We don't have to go anywhere special. We don't have to join any special organization. We don't have to undergo any special ceremony. All we have to do is drop to our knees and ask God directly, by the grace of His representatives like Jesus and Moses, to help us re-establish our loving relationship with Him.

Where are we now?

The physical world is that place where He sends those souls who need to grow spiritually. This physical world and these physical bodies are classrooms. Here we have the opportunity to learn to love and develop our loving relationship with God.

But this doesn't mean we aren't within the kingdom of God here? Everywhere is part of God's kingdom.

In this section of God’s kingdom - within the gross physical world - most of us wholly disregard God. We have the opportunity to chase our dreams for a while. We can now pretend that God doesn't exist.

This illusion allows us to chase our dreams of becoming wealthy, famous, attractive and whatever else we desire. Because we are forgetting our relationship with God we chase these things in order to gain the love of others.

But even if we gain those things we typically don't get any love from others. We typically only get envy. This is the nature of the physical world where everyone is chasing the same things.

Today some manipulate the teachings of Jesus to proclaim that we are each God. This is the epitome of our forgetfulness of the Supreme Being. They are proclaiming that we are all God but we forgot, and now they will teach us to remember we are God.

As if God can forget He is God. This is how far away from God we can get in the physical world. We want to enjoy the world as though we were God, and bend His scriptures to accommodate our goal.

But what about the kingdom of God?

Even though we might still be located within the kingdom of God - because everything is within God's kingdom - the question is where is our consciousness. 

A person whose consciousness is focused on love for God is situated in the kingdom of God.

In the kingdom of love for God, the residents are all concerned about God's happiness. They are concerned about others' happiness. We don't have to imagine such a world, as John Lennon sang. It does exist. We just are not in it because we are self-centered instead of being God-centered.

This is the kingdom that Jesus is referring to as near. This kingdom is ridiculously "near." It is as near as each of us making a decision to change. It is as near as a simple, heartfelt, and apologetic prayer asking forgiveness and offering ourselves to the Supreme Being. It is as near as the ground, where we can place our head and ask the Supreme Being - our Best Friend - if He will take us back, and teach us to love and serve Him again. Jesus illustrated how to do this:

Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as You will." (Matt. 26:39)

This simple key opens God’s personal kingdom to us. This is how near His kingdom is.

Can we depend on God?

We don't need to pretend to be God in order to become empowered. We can simply pledge ourselves, personally and internally, to the Supreme Being. We can become an associate of God's by asking God what we can do to serve Him and please Him.

This is clearly what gave Jesus his power and authority, and what he taught his followers to do.

As for Jesus telling his students to heal the sick, cast out demons, and travel without clothes and money, these are the tools Jesus gave his disciples in order for them to depend upon the Supreme Being and illustrate to others that they can depend upon God.

This is the pure message of Jesus’ instruction: Have complete trust in God and rely upon Him, and give our lives to Him because He is our Ultimate Savior, and He is near - He is readily available to us should we decide to return to Him.

“A student is not above his teacher ..." (Matthew 10:24-25)

“A student is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for the student to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If the head of the house has been called Beezlebub, how much more the members of his household?" (Matthew 10:24-25)

Why is Jesus referring to a teacher and student and master and servant?

Here Jesus discusses something about the relationship between student and teacher along with a servant and their master. What is the purpose of this?

This statement comes as Jesus is warning his students about the possibility of them becoming persecuted. Just after this statement, he says:

"So do not be afraid of them, for there is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known." (Matthew 10:26)

Jesus is telling his students that if they follow him, they will not be sorry in the end. Should they teach the truth to others as he has taught them, they may be persecuted as Jesus was.

Jesus' focus was not on his own comfort. If it was, he would have avoided the arrest of the High Priest Caiaphus' guards. He would have escaped into the wilderness to avoid capture. Why didn't he?

Because he wanted to please God more than he wanted to remain comfortable. This is also what Jesus was encouraging his own students to do. To be "like" him.

Why does Jesus compare the 'head of the household'?

Jesus is speaking of three metaphorical relationships here:

• teacher and student
• master and servant
• head of household and members of the household

The linking element here is following the teacher, master or head of household. But Jesus is not only referring to following them. He is also referring to their taking their example: being like them.

Again, this is because Jesus wants them to become like Jesus, in his dedication to God.

He says that if the head of the household has been called Beezlebub, then "how much more the members of his household?"

This refers directly to Jesus and his followers. He is saying that if they are condemning Jesus, certainly they will also condemn Jesus' followers. It is not that they will see Jesus one way and Jesus' followers another way.

In other words, the authorities - the Romans and the Temple officials - will be seeing Jesus' followers just as they see Jesus.

And since they will be persecuting Jesus, Jesus wants them to be prepared to also be persecuted.

What does 'Beezlebub' mean?

Aside from the purport of Jesus' statement, what does Beezlebub mean?

This was the term used to describe someone who opposes or rejects the Supreme Being. Many scholars point to the worship of the idol Ba’al in the Old Testament as the source of this connotation.

The term refers to someone who rejects the worship of the Supreme Being by worshiping idols. Some further define this connotation as describing ‘lucifer’ or ‘satan.’

In this context, these two names are often referred to as fallen angels who now serve to tempt and tease those in the physical world.

While this is certainly an acceptable connotation, we are here in this physical world away from the Supreme Being is our own choosing. There is no one else to blame outside ourselves.

This means we are each fallen angels.

Note that Jesus says they might call the head of a household 'Beezlebub'. This would be a great dishonor to the household of course.

But Jesus' inference also indicates that the head of the household could be called Beezlebub. Since they could call this person Beezlebub, this indicates that Jesus felt that a person could be such a character. 

This indicates that we cannot blame Satan or the devil or Beezlebub for our predicament. Being here, away from God is our responsibility. It is based upon our previous and current decisions to turn away from the Supreme Being.

Yes, we each rejected the Supreme Being and fell into this physical world. This is the analogy of Adam and Eve and the garden of Eden: 

And the LORD God said, "The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever." So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life. (Genesis 3:22-24)

The symbolism involved here is clear. The Garden of Eden is not some garden in the Middle East somewhere. It symbolizes the spiritual realm. And 'the man' symbolizes each of us.

The tree of life is love for God. And the cherubim and flaming sword are the elements of the physical world that allow us to forget our relationship with God and our citizenship in the spiritual realm.

Yes, we were kicked out of the spiritual realm because we needed to learn to love and learn to love God. We became rebellious and envious of God ("like one of us").

This does not mean that we cannot return to God, however. Each of us has the choice to change direction - at every moment. With every tick of the clock brings a new opportunity for each of us to choose between the Supreme Being and our own agenda. The choice is always ours.

“... unless you change and become like little children ..." (Matthew 18:3-4)

At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven." (Matt. 18:1-4)

What does Jesus mean by, 'become like little children'?

A young child is not in control and tends to be humbled as a result. An innocent child will typically be completely dependent upon his or her parents. Theoretically, they have yet to be able to truly exercise their desires for control because their bodies are too small. So they are typically somewhat humble, innocent and trusting. Jesus is comparing this to the attitude one must have to become dedicated to God.

The phrase, 'kingdom of heaven' is not describing entering a location. He is describing entering a consciousness. The word "kingdom" is being translated from the Greek word βασιλεία (basileia), which means, according to the lexicon, "royal power, kingship, dominion, rule - not to be confused with an actual kingdom but rather the right or authority to rule over a kingdom."

The word "heaven" is being translated from the Greek word οὐρανός (ouranos), which means, according to the lexicon, "where God dwells."

In other words, Jesus is speaking of a person becoming devoted to the Supreme Being.

This is confirmed by the major teaching of Jesus - also taught by John and Jesus told his followers to also teach it:

"Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near. (Matthew 4:17)

As defined with that teaching, Jesus (and John before him) is explaining that God is readily available. It is not a location that we have to wait until our bodies are dead to enter. We can approach the Supreme Being at any time.

This contrasts with the teachings of many institutions that teach that we have to join their sect in order to be saved. Remember that Jesus walked around preaching to people on the streets or hillsides. And John taught from the wilderness. Neither promoted the concept that we have to join a group in order to gain God's mercy.

Many imagine God to be a burning bush, a thunderous voice, or even a void. These are not accurate. Jesus and Moses taught that God is lovable. They taught that the Supreme Being is wonderful and beautiful. 

God is loveable because He is the most loving. He is the most giving. He is the most fun. He is courteous and gracious. He is perfectly worthy of everyone’s praise and attention, because He is in fact, the Supreme Person. He is, in fact, the Greatest.

Therefore, in our pure state of consciousness, our lives become focused on loving and serving the Supreme Being. In the spiritual world, each person is focused upon their specific relationships with God and with God’s other children. These relationships are not void or boring. They are complex and fun, and always blissful. About the closest we can come to in comparison within the physical world would be watching very young children play.

We can enter such a state of consciousness at any time - because as Jesus taught, God is readily available.

What does Jesus mean by 'unless you change'?

It is not surprising that Jesus was asked who was the greatest in heaven. This was a concern among Jesus' disciples, and likewise is a typical concern among those of us in the physical world. 

We all want to be the greatest. We all want to be king. We all want to dominate and rule over others. We all want to be loved by everyone and praised. This, precisely, is our disease: We want to be like God.

Most of us living within temporary physical bodies are doing so because we have this disease. We have the disease of wanting to be God. At some point, each of us became self-centered. This resulted in us desiring what God has.

In other words, we saw God getting all the attention. We saw God in control. We saw that God has the admiration and praise of others. We wanted to have those things.

This is precisely the symbolism of the apple and the tree of knowledge discussed in Genesis. Because we wanted to become like God, we sought God's position. We wanted to be in control. To be master instead of our natural position of loving servant. As stated by the serpent in Genesis:

"For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." (Genesis 3:5)

And later, after Adam ate the fruit, God said:

"The man has now become like one of Us, knowing good and evil." (Genesis 3:22)

What is 'knowing good and evil'?

This may not be the best translation. The two Hebrew words are טוב (towb) and רע (ra`) - which have a closer meaning of "pleasure" and "pain."

The concept of self-centeredness leads to pleasure and pain because these are related to seeking our own satisfaction - rather than the satisfaction of the Supreme Being - our innate position.

The Supreme Being and His expansions ("Us" above) innately experience pleasure and pain - but those who love and serve Him do not experience this separately because their pleasure is based upon the Supreme Being's pleasure.

Once we became self-centered, we were no longer suitable for the humble loving relationships of the spiritual world. Those relationships belong to those who are, as Jesus describes, "like little children".

Thus we have an apt comparison. There are those who want to be, "like little children," and then there are those of us who want to be, "like God." This is the essence of the contrast between these two types of souls.

For those in the latter type, God gave us this physical body and this physical dimension where we could seek out our self-centered happiness:

The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. (Genesis 3:21)

Did the Supreme Being go out and make fur coats for Adam and Eve or something? Don't be ridiculous. This is a symbolic story of how we all fell into the physical world. These "garments of skin" are the physical bodies each of us occupies.

Why can we forget God here?

Some will challenge God's existence (those who are not like little children) suggesting that God cannot exist because we can't see Him with our eyes.

Here in this physical dimension, within these physical bodies, we cannot see God because these physical bodies were designed not to be able to see into the spiritual realm. Why?

So that we can forget the Supreme Being exists. We can go about trying to get pleasure for ourselves. We can try to dominate and rule over others. Here we can find our own little niche and have others praise us as being great.

Here, we can assemble our own little "kingdom" where we rule the roost. This might be our house and family members, or perhaps we are the boss of a little office of people. And if nothing else, we can get a pet or two and be their king.

Or perhaps we even become famous as an actor or politician, and we can rule over many others or have many fans.

In some way, we get to develop our little kingdom where we try to rule over and/or be respected and praised by others. Even unsuccessful people get to find some kind of group we can have the illusion of control over, even if it is simply a couple of pets or some children.

We can go pretty far here pretending that we are the greatest. This, in fact, is what most of the self-help gurus teach us: They want us to think: "I am the greatest. The world revolves around me. I can do whatever I want."

These are all the illusions of someone who is jealous of God’s control. These are the desires of someone that wants to be in God’s position.

The only problem is that we are not in control. We are not in God's position. We do not really rule over others. We might think we are ruling over others or someone, but we can never really control others.

This is because those we are trying to control also want control. They might pretend they respect us, but really they are thinking they are in control, as they manipulate us with their feigned expressions of respect. In other words, we are all in a mutual illusion that we are somehow in control of something.

Aren't we in control?

None of us really has any control. We cannot control the weather. We cannot control our environment. While we try to manipulate others, we cannot really control them, because they will always have the freedom to at least think as they wish. Even oppressive governments cannot totally control their people, though they may try pretty hard. At some point, people begin to get out of hand.

And even if the dictator or emperor remains in power throughout his lifetime of 60-75 years, the dictator will still be subject to disease, old age, and finally death. So even a great ruler such as Caesar or Napoleon never achieved complete control, despite their thirst for it. They could not control time. They could not prevent their own demise.

In other words, they only had a temporary illusion of control.

The only control we have is the freedom to choose our direction in life. We can choose where to focus our attention. We can choose what we aim for. We can choose whether we want to serve God or serve ourselves.

If we choose to serve ourselves, we end up serving the physical body and the forms of the physical world.

Can we humble ourselves like children?

We can not enter into the consciousness that Jesus is teaching with an attitude that we are the greatest. We cannot enter into the world of loving God with an attitude of self-centeredness. Such an attitude is like being a bull in a china shop.

We might compare this to an adult trying to enter into a game that a group of small children is playing. The adult just would not fit in. The adult would be not only too big physically, but they likely could not relate well with the game or the children. The adult would probably over-emphasize the rules and the scoring system to enable someone to win, while the children would likely not care who scored the most points. The children want to just ‘play.’

Jesus' analogy is not perfect. Children often attempt to manipulate their parents to get what they want. Children can be very self-centered. We can also assume that children were probably better mannered during Jesus' day compared to modern children with regards to respecting elders. Therefore, it is safe to say that the child Jesus had stood before the group as he talked was better behaved and humbled than many children in modern society.

While we have this disease of wanting control, each of us is, deep within, naturally meek. This is evidenced by the respect we tend to give to those who act humbly, and the disdain we give those who act proudly. This is because within, we relate with being humble.

The ultimate act of humility is love. This is actually Jesus' primary instruction:

" 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment." (Matt. 22:37-38)