"Man shall not live on bread alone..." (Matthew 4:4)

After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread." Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'" (Matthew 4:4)

Is Jesus quoting Moses?

Yes, Jesus is quoting Moses here. It is very interesting that Jesus would quote Moses on a fast through the desert for 40 days. Is this a coincidence?

No. Moses fasted for 40 days:

Moses was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant--the Ten Commandments. (Exodus 34:28)

So did Elijah:

So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God. (1 Kings 19:8)

So we find precedent for such a fasting period in ancient times. It is likely that many other saints and pilgrims fasted for 40 days in ancient times.

Thus we can conclude that Jesus' fast would have a commemorative aspect: A dedication to Moses and his commitment to the Supreme Being.

We also find some additional symbolism with Moses' teachings, and his trek through the desert for 40 years with the Israelites. Jesus was drawing attention to the dedication of Moses to the Supreme Being.

Indeed, the three temptations of Jesus during this fast all include quotes from Moses. 

Here is the passage Jesus is quoting from - spoken by Moses to his followers after they had traveled through the desert:

"He [the Lord your God] humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD." (Deuteronomy 8:3)

What does this passage mean and what does Moses and Jesus mean by "man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD"? This is discussed below.

What does 'bread alone' mean?

Moses and Jesus were speaking of our spiritual connection with the Supreme Being. "From the mouth of God" is a metaphor. It means to rely upon the Supreme Being. Moses was speaking of the Israelites taking refuge in God.

This is also a spiritual supposition. Not needing physical food is a topic relating to our spiritual identity.

Each of us is essentially made of spirit. We are not these physical bodies. These physical bodies are temporary vehicles. They will last no more than a few decades and then they will die and begin to decompose - eventually turning into dirt.

Each of us is a spirit-person living within a physical body.

We can see this when we look at a photo of our body when it was a child. That body is now gone. Every molecule that made up that body has been replaced by new molecules - as every molecule in the body is replaced within five years.

Who is looking at the photo? And who was there when the photo was taken? Don't we say "this is me"? If the childhood body is gone now, yet we still say "this is me" - this means that we - "me" - is not the physical body. We are the personality who pervaded - who existed - within both the child body and the body we wear now.

This spirit-person is invisible to the physical eyes, because these eyes cannot see into the spiritual dimension. The spirit-person is of another plane of existence. It is of the spiritual dimension - a dimension not seen by the physical eyes. The physical eyes were designed to see a particular range or spectrum of wavelengths and not others. They see certain frequencies of light waves as those light waves bounce off of the molecules of the forms of the physical world.

This is why we cannot see any difference between a living body and a body that just died. We don't see the spirit-person leaving the physical body.

Because our identity is spiritual, we require food that is more than physical "bread." The physical body may need constant fuel in the form of "bread" in order to continue functioning. But the spirit-person that Jesus and Moses are speaking of needs something more. What is it?

What is our spiritual food?

It is the food that feeds the spiritual self.

Our spiritual food is our relationship with the Supreme Being. This is what gives each of us real life. And this is the only thing that will make us happy.

Just think about it. We are each looking for happiness in this physical world and never finding it. We look for happiness in the objects of the senses. We look for happiness by achieving wealth. We look for happiness by achieving fame and the acclaim of others. We look for happiness by having a big house. We look for happiness by achieving some goal of accomplishment.

Yet none of these physical things make us happy. We are still empty within. Even those who have the most of these things are still empty within.

So we look for happiness through our relationships with those around us. We look for happiness in our spouses, our children, and our family. And to a degree, we do find a glimpse of happiness within these relationships.

But this fleeting happiness fades as these people leave us or break up with us. Our spouse may divorce us or die. Our children will grow up and move out. Our mother and father and grandparents will all die one day. Each of these events will leave us empty and alone.

Because they are temporary relationships. Yes, we might see them in a different lifetime but we won't recognize them as we knew them before. We will have to start a brand new relationship with them and won't remember the last one we had with them.

In other words, all the relationships of the physical world - these relationships of the physical body - are all temporary. They don't last. And the happiness we are looking for in the physical world does not exist. The world only offers us the illusion of happiness. And the illusion that we are these bodies and we are permanently these physical bodies.

Who is the 'tempter'?

This description provides a combination of events and symbolic parable. We see a historical connection between Jesus' fast in the desert and Jesus' departing John the Baptist and then beginning his teachings.

But the events of the fast also take on a symbolic theme. For example, there is no mountain on the earth for which one can see every kingdom of the earth.

Similarly, this is not describing a specific person - "Satan the tempter" - as though God has lost control over this person and he has the power to deceive God and bring us over to his team.

Rather, the "tempter" is symbolic of an aspect of the physical world that constantly tests us.

This is the illusory nature of the physical world - designed by the Supreme Being. And this is "the tempter" being spoken of in Matthew 4:3.

The physical world is constantly tempting us with promises of wealth, popularity, and sensual satisfaction. All of these are magnified for someone who is attempting to serve and honor the Supreme Being.

The physical world provides a constant testing ground for the soul. These tests come in the form of temptations, which are repeatedly offered to us with promises of self-satisfaction. The test is whether we succumb to those tests during our temporary stay in the physical realm.

But this is not the case in the spiritual realm. The Supreme Being is eternal and our relationship with the Supreme Being is eternal. And we find true happiness within our loving service relationship with the Supreme Being.

We have forgotten this relationship with the Supreme Being. This is the purpose of the physical world and these physical bodies. This is the purpose for the illusory nature - "the tempter": To help us escape from and forget God.

But our relationship with Him is forever. We simply have forgotten that relationship.

This is because the Supreme Being gives each of us the freedom to love Him or not. Love requires freedom.

So those of us in the physical world are here because we chose not to love the Supreme Being.

Even so, the Supreme Being wants us to come home to Him. He wants us to return to our loving relationship with Him. This is because He loves us and He knows we will only be happy when we have resumed our relationship with Him.

And what is that relationship? It is the loving relationship we are perpetually looking for as we seek love within the physical world. This is the loving relationship we seek as we look for our soul mate and seek love with family members. We are looking for our lost relationship of love with the Perfect Person.

What does 'living on every word' mean?

"Living on every word that comes from the mouth of God" means living for the Supreme Being - taking refuge in God and dedicating our life to Him.

When we are in love with another person, we will do what pleases them. Should they want to go somewhere in particular, we will go there. Or when they say they want to eat a certain food, we go get them that food.

What are we doing as we are doing all those things? We are living off of "every word that comes from the mouth" of that person.

Yes, "every word that comes from the mouth" is an expression. It is an expression - used by Moses and even still used today - that refers to doing what is pleasing to that person. It refers to having a loving service relationship with that person.

And this is what Moses and Jesus were asking of their followers: To renew their loving service relationship with the Supreme Being.

And Jesus' lived this instruction as well. Consider this statement he made:

"By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but Him who sent me." (John 5:30)

Jesus is stating that his pleasure ("I seek") is derived from pleasing the Supreme Being. He also states this elsewhere - for example:

"For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of Him who sent me." (John 6:38)

Jesus is referring to his loving relationship with the Supreme Being. He wants to do whatever the Supreme Being wants him to do. This means he is living off of "every word that comes from the mouth of God.'"

And because the Supreme Being wants each of us to return to our loving relationship with Him, Jesus' efforts were focused upon encouraging and teaching those around him to return to their loving service relationship with the Supreme Being. This was also clearly communicated in the most important teaching of both Jesus and Moses:

" '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)

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:3)

Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them. He said: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." (Matt. 5:1-3)

What does 'blessed' mean?

The word “blessed” - translated from the Greek word μακάριος (makarios), which means to be "blessed" or "happy" - imparts Jesus' confirmation that this is a state that brings joy.

While some versions of the Bible translate "Blessed are the poor in spirit" to simply “Blessed are the poor,” the Greek word πνεῦμα (pneuma) - which means according to Thayer's lexicon, "the spirit, i.e. the vital principal by which the body is animated."

In other words, Jesus is not speaking of being financially poor. Being "poor in spirit" is distinctly different than being "poor" - or having a lack of material wealth.

What does 'poor in spirit' mean?

This phrase is describing a consciousness of humility.

To be "poor in spirit" means to have a general disregard for oneself. It means to have abandoned the consciousness that I am the most important person.

This means abandoning the consciousness of self-centeredness. That the world revolves around me and my family, my house, my region, my heritage, and so on.

This contrasts with what we see today throughout the physical world: We see practically everyone is in a consciousness that the world revolves around me. We think we know so much. We think we are so great. We consider ourselves the superstar, the boss, or the best at something. We think that the world is our 'oyster' and everything is meant for our enjoyment.

This consciousness can pervade if we become philosophical, should we try to speculate our way to knowing the Truth. We think we can figure it all out with our tiny brain.

This essentially boils down to pride: We think we are self-sufficient.

What about self-esteem?

Many today teach the importance of self-esteem. They teach that we should love ourselves, and cherish ourselves, and believe that we are the greatest. How does this help us?

Some promote pride as the solution to all sorts of psychological issues: They recommend "self-love" and feeling that we can do anything we want to do. They recommend we need a dose of "I am incredible" and we will be fine.

Such a doctrine sounds fluffy and nice. But the reality is that self-love only leads to self-centeredness. And this is contrary to Jesus' teachings.

The world is not our "oyster." The physical world is a place of learning. We are in a type of classroom, one that teaches us about love and consequences.

Here we have the freedom to express ourselves as we wish according to the culture and restrictions therein. But the world teaches us back with reactions, laws and consequences.

Some of the meanest consequences come as a result of harming others in some way. Often this is a result of our acting with pride and self-centeredness. 

When we are proud of ourselves, and we are focused on ourselves (self-centered) we become oblivious to how our actions may harm others. In our attempts to get what we want, we may remove an opportunity for someone else.

Developing humility as we live in this world will allow us to learn more and grow more.

Humility begins with understanding our limitations. Understanding, first that I don't know it all. Our mind is only a storage device for impulses coming from the senses and the nervous system. It is not all-knowing. Our mind is like a computer hard drive. It stores what is fed into it.

Thus the mind has no entrance into the spiritual realm because the spiritual realm is not perceived by the physical senses. Therefore the mind has no entrance into the spiritual realm.

Our physical lifetime is strung together with one lesson after another. We emerge from the womb in pain - crying and gasping. Throughout our childhood, we deal with life's frustrations, pains and struggles as we try to cope with other children, our parents, and the general demands of the world. We deal with the ‘growing pains’ of peer pressure, school, and the demands of our family, versus our inclinations for freedom and independence.

As our bodies rise to adulthood, we find ourselves having to cope with learning a way to survive on our own. We learn to maintain jobs, finances, spouses, family and everyday aches and pains. 

Life becomes serious in adulthood, and survival is tantamount. In the early adult years, we may work hard at jobs with little future, and take care of children who are themselves confused about the world. 

As our bodies grow older, they begin to become diseased. We are treated with aches and pains inherent in temporary bodies with limited lifespans. Bones, teeth, and muscles all age and weaken. Our eyesight weakens. Our hearing begins to fade. Our memory begins to falter. All of these elements make for a downslide towards the death of this body.

At the time of death, whatever wealth or assets we have accumulated - including our name, reputation and status - all disappear. In one instant - after a lifetime of struggles to accumulate them - everything we thought was ours is snatched away at the time of death.

Where does our self-esteem get us in this context?

The various hopes and dreams we might have about becoming happy in the physical world through the acquisition of fame, wealth, family, and so on are simply that: dreams. They are illusions. These things do not bring happiness. These things only bring more emptiness. They only bring more sorrow. Why?

Because we are not these physical bodies. These bodies are vehicles we drive temporarily. It is like a driver wanting to relieve his hunger by filling up the car with gas. Because the driver is not the car, filling the car with gas will not fulfill the driver.

In the same way, because we are spiritual in essence, physical things cannot fulfill us.

Rather, these physical bodies and this physical world facilitate learning.

Yes, this world and this temporary physical body were designed to teach us. But only if we are ready to learn.

How does humility help us enter the 'kingdom of heaven'?

Now consider what can be taught to a person who thinks they know it all, compared to someone who is humble. The know-it-all doesn't think they need to learn anything. They think they are just fine. So they learn little.

But the humble person is capable of greater learning because they are not so proud of what they might know already.

One might compare it to a cup. If the cup is full, nothing more can be poured in. But a cup that is empty can be filled easily.

In the same way, a humble state allows a person to learn about spiritual life.

Should we at some point realize the futility of thinking we are the center of the universe, we are ready to embrace our innate humble consciousness. This is not fake humility - acting humble. This is feeling humbled.

It is at this point that we become “poor in spirit.” We in effect, giving up on our consciousness that the universe revolves around me, and that I know it all.

At such a point, we are ready to begin our re-entry into the “kingdom of heaven.” 

The 'kingdom of heaven' Jesus is referring to is the place where love of God is the primary consciousness, leaving pride and self-centeredness with no place in our heart. It is a world where love replaces greed. It is the realm where our lust for 'mammon' (or materialism) is replaced by a thirst for pleasing God. 

That 'kingdom of heaven' is a world where we are truly happy because our care and concerns are about loving and serving our Best Friend and Soul Mate, the Supreme Being.

True humility is the realization that our self-centered nature has created our separation from God, and that we do not have the power to change this nature alone. We need His help.

Only in this condition can a person truly take refuge in the Supreme Being and allow Him to guide us. Once we understand that we have no strength of our own, and we need our relationship with Him in order to be happy, we become equipped to enter "the kingdom of heaven."

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” (Matthew 5:4)

Is mourning the same as depression?

Some might consider mourning as depression. Is this the kind of mourning Jesus is talking about?

Depression is not what Jesus is referring to. Depression can be the result of mourning, but mourning is based on losing someone we care for.

The word "mourn" here is being translated from the Greek word πενθέω (pentheō). According to Thayer's lexicon, this means "to grieve" or "to lament" for someone.

Thus when Jesus says, "those who mourn," he is referring to those who have lost someone. They had a spouse, family member, or friend, and lost them. 

This occurs when the spirit of that person leaves the physical body at the time of death.

On the other hand, "blessed" is being translated from the Greek word μακάριος (makarios), which means "happy" according to the lexicon. 

How can a person be mourning and be joyful at the same time?

What is the source of 'mourning'?

The physical body is designed for distress - physical suffering in many forms. But this physical body is not who we are. We are the spirit-person within. We are a spirit-person temporarily living within and falsely identifying with this temporary physical body.

As we put our faith in our physical body, our physical family, and our physical relationships, we are met with distress. This is because each body and each material object, one by one, becomes destroyed or we otherwise become separated from them.

Mourning is different. As we lose our family members or the relationships of this world, we are left mourning for their loss. We are left with an emptiness. This is a natural feeling because we were designed for relationships.

Mourning comes from becoming attached to another physical form of this world. When that physical form dies, we are let down. (Every physical body dies, and the soul or spirit-person leaves.)

Mourning can be 'blessed' according to Jesus because it can bring us to a point where we experience an emptiness that allows us to sincerely reach out to God.

How can we be comforted?

The solution that Jesus provides is to realize this world is not our home. This is a temporary place, full of hostility and calamity - but also a place of learning.

This world is intended to teach us that we are empty without our innate relationship with the Supreme Being. We are nothing without God because we were created to be God's loving servant and friend.

And only when we begin to realize that this world is not our home and that we can be comforted if we seek refuge in our relationship with the Supreme Being will we be relieved of the mourning within this physical world.

Should we become humbled with the realization that this world is not our home and we need to return to God, we will be comforted.

This is Jesus' message. 

Jesus was not preaching the importance of family life. He did not preach that we should take comfort in the family of this temporary physical body. While families can certainly help comfort us during times of physical and emotional distress, they are not the key to being comforted spiritually.

Being “comforted” as spoken of here comes only by way of a loving relationship with God. In reality, we do have a home, and we do have a loving family and a loving Father we can turn to and rely upon.

We will find comfort when we put ourselves at the feet of the Supreme Being. We can take refuge in the Supreme Being, and we will find our solution. This is Jesus' message. As we put our love and care upon God, we are comforted:

"'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)

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’ ..." (Matthew 5:27-30)

"You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery. But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell." (Matthew 5:27-30)

Is Jesus really teaching us to cut off body parts?

Jesus is speaking metaphorically. He is not advising his followers to cut off any body parts.

He doesn't mean we should literally cut off our hands or gouge out our eyes.

Did any of Jesus' followers do this? Were there one-eyed or one-handed followers of Jesus? No. This tells us clearly that he wasn't speaking literally.

The metaphor that Jesus is using refers to discontinuing (cutting off) behavior that harms others. To cut off the means of self-centered harm means to disregard or dismiss those aspects of our lives that create propensities. 

For example, a person who is employed by a bar will more likely become a drinker. So leaving the employ of such an establishment would leave behind the environment that would promote the drinking habit. 

Jesus is speaking of leaving behind those parts of our lives that produce the propensities for habits that encourage self-centeredness. Doing so is a sacrifice of sorts, which could be compared to cutting off a hand or gouging out an eye.

It is a metaphorical statement urging his followers to leave behind those parts of their lives that don't promote their spiritual growth.

What does he mean by 'stumble'?

In most of the other translations of Matthew, the word translated to "stumble" is translated to "sin." Even in the prior version of NIV, the Greek was translated to "sin," but has been changed to "stumble."

There are several Greek words that have been translated to "sin" in the texts of the Bible:
- "paraptoma" to fall.
- "hamartia" to miss the mark.
- "hettema" to diminish.
- "parabasis" to cross the line.
- "amonia" to not abide.
- "parakoe" to refuse to heed.
- "agnoeema" to ignore.
- "skandalizō" to stumble.

Stumbling takes on another meaning because it assumes that someone was not stumbling prior.

This assumes purity in essence. Yes, each of us was created by the Supreme Being, so there is an origin of purity. Such purity is one of love. We are each born from the love of the Supreme Being.

But stumbling in this respect contrasts this by acting in a self-centered manner that harms others. Love contrasts this because caring for others is the consciousness of love.

As such, purity is caring and loving the Supreme Being and others. To stumble is the opposite.

What does Jesus mean by 'hell'?

Jesus' statement, "whole body to go into hell" clarifies that rejecting or ignoring our relationship with God is hell. Rather than hell simply being a place we will go to be punished, hell is the consciousness of rebellion that rejects God. 

Hell is that place where our own enjoyment comes first, and God is forgotten.

This means that hell is not a location, but a consciousness. It also means that much of human society is, unfortunately, living in the consciousness of hell.

This statement presents particularly difficult criteria for someone living in modern society. Our society tends to focus on the more materialistic, self-centered aspects of life.

Why is Jesus talking about lust and adultery?

The sexual act is by nature a self-centered activity. There might be some love involved - wanting our partner to also feel good, or having sex to have a child.

But sex is actually quite difficult if each partner isn't ultimately interested in their own satisfaction. The sexual organs are stimulated through the seeking of physical satisfaction and ultimately, the orgasm.

The problem is that we are not these physical bodies. They are simply vehicles we occupy for a few years. Therefore, the sexual satisfaction of the body does not satisfy the soul - which has a spiritual composition.

We are the spirit-person occupying this physical body. At the time of death, we leave it behind.

And we - the real person within this body seeks real love. We seek the love of others and we want to love others. But this real person is covered up. It is covered up by our self-centeredness and our false identification with this physical body.

And what we are really looking for in the sex act - within - is union. We want to exchange love with someone but we are currently pre-occupied with physical gratification. This blocks our ability to truly love.

As a result, seeking union in the sex act will translate to mutual self-centeredness. Each partner wants to "get off."

We gradually find that sex brings no real satisfaction to our spiritual self. Our body might get some nerve sensations going, but the person within - our real selves - is not satisfied.

It is like a person driving a car feeling hungry and thinking that if they fill the car with gas they won't be hungry anymore. This doesn't work because the person's body is separate from the car.

In the same way, we are not our physical body, and filling the body up with sensual pleasure does not fill up the spiritual self.

Can we be satisfied without love?

Our real self within is only satisfied by giving love. And the ultimate union of the person within is loving service to the Supreme Being and His children.

This brings real happiness because there is no self-centeredness in true love of God.

And there can be no true loving service to the Supreme Being within self-centeredness. It is only emptiness.

What this means is that those of us who are trying to feed the image in the mirror instead of the real person within are in hell. Becoming saturated with self-centeredness prevents us from entering the world Jesus is inviting his followers into.

The love that exists in the spiritual realm between the living being and the Supreme Being is pure. It is unconditional. But the perverted reflection of this love in the physical world is conditional lust.

This is illustrated by sexual attraction in the physical world. While a man might be attracted to the body of a woman, and a woman might be attracted to the body of a man, these attractions come with conditions. For example, someone might see the rear of another as attractive as they walk down the street, but that attraction would stop if they saw that same rear defecating.

A man might be attracted to the private parts of a woman but that attraction would stop if they saw those same private parts during menstruation or childbirth.

As a result, men and women must work hard to maintain the mirage of attraction. Shaving, putting on antiperspirant, make-up, special clothes, and so on, all create the mirage of attractiveness. Without these, there would be little attraction for a hairy, blemished, and malodorous female body and a fat hairy blemished male body.

Furthermore, given a few years, even the most attractive body ages. An older body is no longer physically attractive, even with make-up piled on.

Can this world be hell?

Understanding that hell is a state of consciousness, hell is where we are drawn in and trapped by lust. In the consciousness of hell, we are teased by the illusion that the attractions of the physical world will bring us happiness. But they never do. They only lead to misery, as we become bound by their conditions.

The best way out of the consciousness of hell is to gradually and realistically develop a higher taste. This higher taste is accomplished by re-developing our innate loving relationship with God. We can do this with prayer and praise - by glorifying His Holy Names and by making offerings to Him. These facilities bring us closer to Him.

As our relationship with God evolves, the attractions of the physical world lessen. In fact, we can judge how well our relationship is developing simply by observing how drawn we are to the illusory attractions (reflections) of this world.

The attractions of the material world are tests. They teach us to grow stronger by illustrating how weak we are without the Supreme Being. It is not as if the temptations of the world have come from another place other than God. 

God designed the physical world and its temptations for a particular reason. He created the physical world for those of us who rebelled against Him and wanted to be independent of Him.

While we can never actually be away from God because He has created everything and is present everywhere, He has created a place where we can pretend He is not present. Here we have temporary senses and the physical body and mind that give us the illusion He is not here. These give us the opportunity to attempt to enjoy ourselves.

At the same time, He does not completely let us go. As we travel through this physical world with these temporary physical bodies ‘of clay’ - we continually find emptiness without Him.

Can we go back?

As we reach out to God and request to return to Him, it is not an automatic process. Consider the situation if we were to want to be friends again with someone we rejected years ago. Suddenly we wanted to be their friend again.

Would such a person just forget the past and accept us back into the relationship we had with them before? Likely not. They would most likely want to go slowly and make sure we won't leave them again. They would likely test us to make sure we didn't have any ulterior motives.

The bottom line is that they would want us to be serious about having a relationship with them.

This is not dissimilar to God's process. Except that He already knows our intentions, so He does not test us in order to understand our intentions. He tests us so that we can understand our intentions.

The temptations of the world are here to help us see just how serious we really are about returning to our relationship with God.

In other words, we don't have to be afraid of going to hell - we are already here. The question is how do we get out. Jesus gave us the path out of the consciousness of hell: By learning to re-establish our lost loving relationship with the Supreme Being:

“‘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)

“No one can serve two masters .... " (Matthew 6:24)

“No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money." (Matthew 6:24)

Is this about money?

This statement has been misconstrued and mistranslated with respect to money.

The Greek word being translated to "money" here is μαμωνᾶς (mamōnas). The word means, according to the lexicon, "mammon" or "treasure" or "riches."

Yes, it certainly can be translated to "money" - but that was not what Jesus was referring to. Why? Because money is a means of exchange. Jesus and his disciples sometimes used money to secure the things they needed to survive. 

So money is not bad in itself. It cannot be a "master" in itself.

Rather, what Jesus is referring to is materialism. This is the modern-day term used to describe "mammon."

Is 'mammon' the same as materialism?

Yes. "Mammon" or materialism is the desire to enjoy this physical world. It is the desire to enjoy these temporary physical bodies.

And why is this juxtaposed against serving God - "You cannot serve both God and materialism"?

Because materialism in essence is the expression of self-centeredness. The desire to please oneself. This is the pervading goal among the residents of the physical world.

And the pervading goal among those in the spiritual realm is quite the opposite: The residents of the spiritual realm seek to please the Supreme Being.

What about loving ourselves?

Love of God is diametrically opposed to loving oneself.

Yet surprisingly, this teaching - that we have to love ourselves before we can love others - is being taught by ecclesiastical and secular teachers in modern society.

It is an erroneous teaching. To love oneself is self-centeredness, and this does not lead to loving others.

But coming to love and serve the Supreme Being - that will cause one to love others because we are all the children of the Supreme Being.

This was confirmed by Jesus when he said:

'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.'" (Matt. 22:37-40)

Love of God is connected to loving others. It is a pre-requisite. And loving God is the antithesis of loving oneself.

But doesn't it say "as yourself" so we need to love ourselves?

This is a self-centered, myopic approach. The verse is assuming we already care about ourselves. It is a foregone conclusion. It is already there. Not that we need to focus upon it even further.

This teaching was intended to take our attention off of ourselves - and put our love upon the Supreme Being and others instead of only on ourselves. But those who wish to interpret Jesus' teachings to accommodate their own desires would rather focus upon the "as yourself" of this instruction rather than the rest of it.

What is self-centeredness?

In the physical world, our focus upon pleasing ourselves is redirected to materialism. Our self-centeredness resulted in us being put within a physical body within the physical world in order to exercise our self-centeredness.

Then we became covered up by these physical bodies. Now our self-centeredness is directed towards working to satisfy the physical body and those things that surround the physical body.

This means the temporary things of this world. This means the desires for sensual pleasure, fame, wealth, a big house, a big family, to be the boss, to be the hero, and so on. All of these things together are defined within the notion of materialism.

And should our self-centered focus become directed towards these things - or any combination thereof - we will become the servant of materialism.

Yes - achieving all of the things of materialism requires work. It requires work to become wealthy or famous. It requires work to buy the big house or get the big job. What is this work? It is service. We have to become the servant of materialism in order to capture the things of this world.

In other words, Jesus is discussing the ultimate choice we face between God or ourselves.

What is the nature of heaven?

In the spiritual world, the focus of attention is upon the Supreme Being. This focus is accompanied by loving service because God is the most attractive and most lovable Person and loving service is how love is expressed. Our relationship with God is what we are searching for when we look for our perfect soul mate. The exchange of love with God and loving service to God is what we really seek when we seek pleasure.

Yet because He also gave us the freedom of choice whether to love Him, and since He is loving us unconditionally and thus kindly rewarding our wishes, when we chose our self-centered desires over loving Him, He granted us the ability to exercise that choice by our taking on these temporary physical bodies within the material world.

This doesn't mean we no longer have choice. While the physical world is ultimately not a place of pleasure but a place of suffering (diseases, old age, death, and pain with short flashes of physical pleasure), we still have that choice whether to focus our attention upon Him or upon our own desires and wishes.

In reality, God has arranged this physical environment and our current physical body - reflecting a combination of our wishes and past decisions - so we do not have to see Him. He has arranged the body and our physical environment in such a way that His presence is invisible to us. 

This arrangement allows us the ultimate freedom to choose between God and our own desires: We can choose to ignore Him or we can choose to worship Him: It is our choice because love requires freedom and the Supreme Being enjoys the exchange of love.

Is this like dreaming?

Our situation within the physical world can be most readily understood by considering dreaming. When we dream, our bodies are lying in the same place in our bed, while our minds take us through illusory and temporary existences in different places. In our dreams, we can play out our fantasies and our nightmares. In our dreams, we can take on different personalities. One night we might be a wealthy man governing a big company. Another night we might be a poor woman working as a slave.

In each dream, we take on a situation, and we navigate the dreamscape with a particular dream character (once we temporarily identify with it during the dream), our wishes, and our decisions.

Once we awaken from the dream, we realize the whole thing was an illusion: The identity we identified with was temporary. The environment and situation we were in were temporary. Even though we identified with it as real during the dream, once awake, we realized the dream was just a temporary manifestation - an illusion of reality.

The temporary physical body we wear at the moment is practically similar to the dream, except it is one physical layer higher. While our gross physical body is tangible and real, it is still temporary. Here the illusion is that this is our permanent place, and we will become happy here somehow. The gross physical body is still a reflection of our desires and past activities, just as is the dream.

The changes that occur around us in the physical world accommodate our ongoing wishes, desires and past decisions. This is God's arrangement to accommodate our current choice of being away from Him.

The nature of our choice between God and materialism is that we can either focus upon God or we can focus upon ourselves. By focusing upon God and serving God we become fulfilled because this is our innate spiritual position. By focusing upon ourselves, we become engrossed in self-centeredness and the requirements of materialism - which become our master.

Jesus is communicating that these two choices are mutually exclusive: We can't go both directions at the same time, because they are diametrically opposed.

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life ...” (Matthew 6:25-27)

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?” (Matt. 6:25-27)

Why shouldn't we worry about our life?

Jesus is clearly stating our identity with this statement. He is stating that we are not the physical body. The physical body is a temporary vehicle each of us drives for a while. We are the spirit-person within these bodies.

Therefore, Jesus is speaking of worrying about our temporary physical body - which will die at some point anyway.

In other words, we are each spiritual persons residing within a temporary physical body. Each of us is an individual spiritual being, transcendental to the physical world. The physical bodies we wear are temporary. They will each die within a few decades, and for some, more quickly. Then we will move on.

These physical bodies are designed to be clothed and fed from materials from the physical world around us. Nature has been designed to supply all the food, water, and clothing our physical body needs. (And the scarcity in this world has been the product of humanity's hoarding and greed.)

Jesus is also speaking to the many anxieties of those he was preaching to. Their anxiousness for their physical day-to-day survival is apparent from Jesus’ focus upon food and clothing.

This is certainly because many of the people he spoke to were poor and had to toil in the fields or otherwise endeavor. Though Jesus was not saying they didn’t have to work anymore, he was saying that we can have confidence that God will take care of each of us. We don’t have to worry about our physical survival. Instead, our focus should be on re-developing our relationship with Him.

Jesus did not come to teach us about taking care of the body. That was not his ultimate concern. His concern was the spiritual welfare of others. Because the physical world was designed with the veil of the physical body — making it difficult to see or communicate with the Supreme Being and designed to fool us into thinking we are these bodies — we have become in some sense separated from Supreme Being. This was our choice.

What does Jesus want from us?

Jesus' purpose is to bring us back to our original relationship with the Supreme Being — a relationship of love and loving service.

Although it is necessary to work to maintain the physical body, that should not be our focus in life. Life's focus should be upon regaining this relationship that Jesus is teaching about.

If one is focused upon the physical body’s survival, its reputation, its family or its other physical needs, the focus cannot be upon Supreme Being. It is a simple matter of focus.

Certainly, one can focus first and foremost on the Supreme Being and use this physical body to get closer to Him and serve Him. In such a consciousness, taking care of the body and family can also become part of that service. In this case, the body can become a tool in our focus on God.

There is a fine line here, however. But the issue of focus influences our consciousness.

At the end of the life of this body, our focus and consciousness direct us to our next destination. The mind is like a wind vane — it indicates our direction.

Therefore, in order to change our direction, we must change our consciousness. This means redirecting our focus from the mundane elements of the physical world to the transcendental elements of the Supreme Being.

Redirecting our focus can be done through prayer, glorifying and praising the Supreme Being and His Holy Names, making offerings to God, and learning more about Him through scripture. Gradually, these activities will change our consciousness, and with this comes a change in our future course.

“Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth...” (Matthew 10:34-35)

“Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law--a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.” (Matthew 10:34-35)

Why did Jesus not come to bring 'peace on earth'?

This statement by Jesus contradicts many of the carols and slogans regarding Jesus, including those where he is referred to as the “prince of peace,” and those where he supposedly brings "peace on earth.

But didn't Jesus want "peace on earth"?

We can see that he doesn't from this above statement.

 
But what about this other statement:

"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God." (Matthew 5:9)

Here the word, "peacemakers" has been translated from the Greek word εἰρηνοποιός (eirēnopoios), which is rooted in the word εἰρήνη, which can also mean "tranquility" and "the blessed state of devout and upright men..." according to Thayer's lexicon.

This means that Jesus is referring to helping others achieve tranquility from within. This means a state of spiritual advancement.

The word "peace" in Matthew 10:34-35 above also comes from the Greek root word εἰρήνη. But Jesus adds ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν which is being translated to "to the earth" here. The difference between the two contexts is that Jesus is speaking of societal "peace" in Matthew 10:34-35 and inner "peace" or tranquility in Matthew 5:9.

But why isn't Jesus interested in creating 'peace on earth' then?

In fact, Jesus goes further and states:

"I did not come to bring peace, but a sword." What does this mean? Is Jesus a warrior?

Did Jesus brandish a 'sword'?

Jesus is using "sword" metaphorically. Obviously, he wasn't into warfare. Otherwise, he would have been involved in fighting skirmishes instead of simply giving sermons.

Jesus clarifies this meaning in the next sentence:

"For I have come to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-low against her mother-in-law--a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.”

This clarifies that - regardless of how ministers and reverends preach the importance of family - Jesus was disrupting families because he was teaching about our real identity.

Jesus was teaching that we are not these physical bodies:

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear." (Luke 12:22)

Rather, Jesus was teaching his students that we are the spirit-persons - children of the Supreme Being, and therefore our real family is with the Supreme Being.

Yes, our real family has nothing to do with these temporary physical bodies.

Who goes to heaven?

This clear distinction between the spirit-person within and the physical body is critical to understanding Jesus' teachings. For those who do not understand this basic point, there is confusion. This is illustrated as people confuse Jesus with his crucified physical body and confusing heaven as a place where physical bodies go.

A recent theatrical portrayal of heaven, for example, is that everyone is their young physical body in heaven. As if even though a person's body was old and worn out at the time of death, in heaven they shrink back to the body they had when they were a child.

What about the physical body that decomposed after it was buried in the ground or cremated?

This portrayal may approach the fact that there is no death or aging within the spiritual realm and there is life after death. But it confuses the physical body with the spiritual self - the person who leaves the physical body at the time of death.

And the theatrical portrayal - by a child who experiences clinical death and the "afterlife" - does not necessarily portray the spiritual realm. There are numerous physical dimensions where different people live in different types of bodies.

And there are subtle physical dimensions where spirits can dwell before they move on. In these ethereal dimensions, the person will retain the mental image of their former body which can be seen by others who also enter into that subtle physical dimension.

But this is hardly heaven - or the spiritual realm. How do we know?

What is heaven?

God is the center of heaven. Because the spiritual realm is that place where the Supreme Being is the center. The Supreme Being is the center of attention and everyone is loving and serving the Supreme Being.

Therefore, unless the child saw the Supreme Being being loved, served, and cared for by His loving servants, the child did not enter the spiritual realm.

In fact, this notion of "heaven" as this place of comfort where everyone is relaxing without a care in the world or sipping lemonade on lawn chairs as if in retirement - is not the spiritual realm.

They want heaven without the Supreme Being. Such a place might seem nice, but it is actually hell if the Supreme Being is not there.

Hell is that place where people everyone is self-concerned. It is where everyone is focused upon our own enjoyment. Everyone wants to be a winner. Everyone wants to be a star. Everyone wants to be the greatest.

Yes, this is the physical world. This is the place where those who have rejected their relationship with the Supreme Being go and take on temporary physical bodies in order to pretend we are the center of the universe.

The Supreme Being created this physical world to set up a fantasy - a mirage - so we could pretend that He doesn't exist and that we are the most important person. This fantasy is set up within the illusion that we are these physical bodies - which we are not.

You see, because love requires freedom, the Supreme Being gave each of us the freedom to love Him or not. Those of us who chose not to love Him were sent to the physical world and given physical bodies - so that we can play out our self-centered desires.

Does this ruin the fantasy of materialism?

But Jesus' purpose - as he states above - is to wreck the fantasy of the physical world. He came to destroy the illusion that we can be happy here away from the Supreme Being.

He came to blow up the notion that our families and houses give us shelter and the love that we need.

This is why Jesus said: "For I have come to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law--”

Jesus also taught that we are not these physical bodies and therefore these relationships are not the key to our spiritual happiness. In fact, he stated:

"a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.” Why?

Because the relationships of the body are an illusion. We might think that we are the son of the father of this body but we are not. Only a body procreated another body. We are not these bodies. They are temporary vehicles. And by focusing upon the relationships of this body we forget our real identity as spiritual beings.

Jesus explained this further elsewhere:

"For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.” (Matt. 12:50)

This statement gets to the heart of Jesus' teachings: doing the will of the Supreme Being is Jesus' goal.

What kind of person does the will of the Supreme Being?

Someone who loves and cares for the Supreme Being. Yes, Jesus was in love with the Supreme Being. He was doing God's will and thus representing the Supreme Being.

And Jesus wanted us to also come to know and love with the Supreme Being. This is our natural position, our purpose for existing - and the only thing that will fulfill us. This is confirmed in Jesus's teachings:

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

“If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit ...” (Matthew 12:11-12)

“If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out? How much more valuable is a man than a sheep! Therefore, it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” (Matthew 12:11-12)

Can Jesus heal on the Sabbath?

Jesus has walked into a synagogue, and there in the synagogue was a man with a shriveled hand. The Pharisees tested Jesus with the question:

“Ís it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” (Matt. 12:10)

Jesus then responds to this question, first with an analogy, the meaning of which is explained below.

Next, Jesus states with clarity that it is indeed lawful to heal on the Sabbath.

One of the key elements of Jesus' statement is the word "good" - translated from the Greek word, καλῶς (kalōs) which means "fine," "beautiful" and "noble" according to the lexicon. Thus the act that Jesus is speaking of - healing a man - is more than just "good."

We can see from his answer and other statements that Jesus’ focus was not on rituals. His focus was the welfare of others - especially related to their spiritual lives.

What is the Sabbath?

Jesus practiced the teachings of the Jewish Prophets and Priests, just as his teacher John the Baptist. Those teachings had been practiced for thousands of years prior.

Jesus also taught his own followers to practice these same teachings. This included honoring the Sabbath as the Holy day of the week, and honoring Passover as the Holy eight-day period each year.

Honoring the Sabbath has its origins from God's instructions in the Old Testament:

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. (Exodus 20:8-11)

This instruction has been followed for thousands of years now, though some sects have abandoned the Sabbath in lieu of honoring the "seventh day" as Sunday. In this case, it is still honoring the principle instruction.

The principle of "rest" on the Sabbath is being questioned here by Jesus. In Matthew 12:3 Jesus brings up the example of David with regard to fasting on the Sabbath.

We also know that other Prophets and observant Kings did do some things during the Sabbath. This included the priest Jehoiada organizing the removal of queen Athaliah and replacing her with Joash. And Joshua marched on Jericho during the Sabbath. These were things done for the good of their people during those times.

There are many other examples, but doing work for money or business was condemned by the Prophets as a result of Exodus 20. Buying and selling on the Sabbath were particularly condemned.

But as we see here, the priests of Jesus' time took this a bit too far. They applied this principle to any type of work, including work for the purpose of helping others on the Sabbath. Jesus clarifies that this form of work certainly "lawful" on the Sabbath.

What does the sheep analogy mean?

Jesus is asking if they would save a sheep that falls into a pit on the Sabbath, and if so, then why would helping a man on the Sabbath be wrong?

The metaphor with regard to the sheep and the pit indicates a deeper element - one deeper than simply healing a person's physical body. Jesus frequently utilized the sheep metaphor, because this communicated innocence, especially among those who needed help.

This was illustrated repeatedly. For example:

When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” (Mark 2:5)

We can understand from this that healing the body was not as important as healing the soul - the living being occupying that physical body.

And the relationship between the "pit" and those Jesus was trying to teach and save is that we have all fallen into a pit - the pit of the physical world.

In this pit of the physical world, we are blinded by our misidentification with our physical body and our mistaken dreams that the forms and things of this world will make us happy.

Who gets pulled out of 'the pit'?

This illusion that the things of the material world will make us happy requires our being pulled up out of this pit. We cannot pull ourselves up. We might try very hard, but the illusory nature of the physical world will keep us down into the pit unless the Supreme Being pulls us up.

This is why Jesus chose to utilize a pit in his analogy of the sheep: It is because his teachings regarding the Supreme Being provide a means to pull us out of the pit of self-centeredness.

What does getting out of this pit look like according to Jesus?

" '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 others as yourself." (Matt. 22:37-39)

“... what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.’” (Matthew 15:10-11)

“Listen and understand. What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.” (Matthew 15:10-11)

What does Jesus mean by 'defile'?

Jesus continues to teach regarding the Pharisees issue with Jesus' followers washing their hands before eating:

Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, "Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don't wash their hands before they eat!" (Matt. 15:1-2)

Regarding becoming defiled: We must ask: Who is the subject of this statement? If Jesus is speaking of the physical body - as the Pharisees are most interested in the cleanliness of the physical body - then why wouldn't eating with dirty hands - and thus ingesting dirt and bacteria - make a person 'defiled'?

Because Jesus is not speaking of the physical body here. If he was, there would be no question of whether eating with dirty hands would be unclean - and thereby defiling.

Rather, Jesus is speaking of the person within: The spirit-person who is operating the temporary physical body. This person does not become unclean if the body eats food that is contaminated.

Why? Because the spirit-person within is not the physical body. The person Jesus is speaking of - the spiritual person within - is separate from the physical body.

What does he mean by 'what comes out of his mouth'?

So what could come out of a person's mouth? Words. Jesus is speaking of what is being spoken to others.

And how does this make the spirit-person within 'unclean' according to Jesus?

Because others hear those words, and they and they are affected by those words. The words we speak go into a person's ears and then to their brain and mind. From there, they can affect that person within.

If the words we speak are self-centered - they speak about materialism - these words will influence those who hear those words in a materialistic manner.

Those who hear these words become influenced in one respect or another.

And it is this influence we have upon others that makes us 'unclean' according to Jesus.

How does the spirit become 'defiled'?

The physical realm is upside-down when compared to the spiritual realm. In the material realm, we consider that everything revolves around ourselves - meaning our physical bodies.

When we think of being defiled, we think of ourselves as our physical bodies. We think of those physical things that might make our bodies defiled.

But in our real composition as a spirit-person - becoming defiled is a matter of consciousness.

In our pure state, we are connected to and depending upon the Supreme Being - and we are loving the Supreme Being's children. This means the relevance - or focus - regards others instead of ourselves. In the context of the spiritual realm, activities that affect others' spiritual lives in a negative way are considered bad and activities that affect others' spiritual lives in a positive way are considered good activities.

This is what Jesus is speaking of here. Jesus is teaching his students to become conscious of others and what they speak to others. This is the first step in becoming aware of the Supreme Being.

We cannot become purified when we believe the universe revolves around ourselves. Such a consciousness is a contradiction to the pure state of the spirit. Awareness of the Supreme Being requires understanding that we are not the center of the universe: The Supreme Being is the center of the universe. This is what 'Supreme Being' or 'God' means.

This is precisely why each of us is here in the physical realm wearing these temporary physical bodies without the ability to see the Supreme Being: Because we wanted to be supreme. We wanted to be the center of the universe.

But since that post was already occupied by the Supreme Being - and because the Supreme Being is a beautiful loving person, the Supreme Being gave us a facility to enable us to pretend we are the center of the universe.

He had to also hide out from us. We couldn't very well think we were the center of the universe as long as we had to face the real center of the universe, could we? We couldn't pretend to be perfect as long as the Perfect Person was visible, could we?

So the Supreme Being designed this temporary physical body - which we drive much as a person drives an automobile - with senses and a mind that could not perceive the spiritual realm. He had to design an illusory situation so that we would forget our real identity as one of His loving servants.

Is this like a dream?

When we are dreaming we completely forget our waking identities. If we couldn't, we could not really get lost in the dream, could we? So when we dream, we will identify ourselves according to our dreamscape. We might have a completely different identity in our dream.

This facility of dreaming is comparable to the facility of the physical realm except these physical bodies have a more concrete molecular substance - unlike the more subtle substance of the mind that takes place within our dreams.

But where ever we may be - whether dreaming or within a physical body or not - our words and actions will influence others. Thus if we care about others - and their spiritual lives - we will be careful about the words that come from our mouths.

The wisest thing to do with our mouths is to praise the Supreme Being and His Names. This is an ancient practice that can purify the spirit-person within as well as anyone who hears them.

“The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men...” (Matthew 17:22-23)

“The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. They will kill him, and on the third day he will be raised to life.” (Matthew 17:22-23)

Why did Jesus tell them he would be 'delivered into the hands of men'?

When Jesus returned to Galilee, he described the sacrifice he would be making in the coming days.

Jesus didn't have to tell his disciples what was going to happen to him. Why did he then? Because Jesus wanted them to be prepared to lose him.

Following being told, his disciples were grief-stricken:

And the disciples were filled with grief. (Matt. 17:23)

Jesus wanted them to be sure that not only did he know the sacrifice he would face. The word "delivered" is translated from the Greek word παραδίδωμι (paradidōmi) which means, according to the lexicon, "to give into the hands of another" or "to give over into (one's) power or use."

And "men" is translated from the Greek word ἄνθρωπος (anthrōpos), which can mean "men" or "mankind" or "humanity."

Jesus is distinguishing between being given to mankind or men from being given to the Supreme Being. In the latter, one will be protected and sheltered. But in the former, Jesus knew he faced the wrath of men. Why? Because he understood that he threatened the power and authority of the high priests among the temple institution. This is because Jesus was God's representative.

What does he mean by 'kill him' and 'raised to life'?

He also wanted them to understand that the real Jesus - the spiritual person within - will rise after the death of the physical body.

Jesus describes the ascension as “life.” Why life? Actually, the original Greek does not mention "life." It simply ends with raised - or raised up - from the Greek word ἐγείρω (egeirō) which means "to arouse, cause to rise" according to the lexicon.

Thus we can understand from this that Jesus is not speaking of death here. The word "kill" is translated from ἀποκτείνω (apokteinō) which refers to mortal death - the death of the physical body.

So what will rise then - from the physical body? We know that Jesus is saying that the physical body will be killed, so what will rise must not be the physical body. This is confirmed later when Mary and others do not recognize Jesus when he rises. They do not recognize him because the physical body did not rise - the spiritual person within - Jesus himself - rose.

We can see elsewhere that Jesus made a distinction between the physical body and the spiritual person within - also referred to as the "soul":

"Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul." (Matthew 10:28)

We can see how Jesus is discriminating between the physical body and the spiritual person within. The spiritual person (spirit-person) is eternal while the biological body is temporary. The point Jesus is making is that we are not the physical body. 

The physical body typically has a lifespan of 50-100 years, after which the spirit-person leaves the body. Then the body decomposes.

Did Jesus really 'rise' in three days?

If we go by the timeline of the four Gospels, Jesus didn't reappear to his followers after three days. He appeared to them after two days.

If Jesus was crucified on Friday afternoon, and he reappeared to his followers on Sunday morning, that would be two days following the crucifixion. 

The 'third day' would be Monday.

This makes the timeline questionable unless we count the day of the crucifixion as day one. In other words, if Jesus is suggesting that on day three he will reappear, that would work with the timeline, as we assume day one is the beginning of the timeline.

Whether the timeline is accurate, the central proposition is that Jesus is suggesting that he will reappear to his followers two days after being crucified. How did he do that?

Jesus appeared much as an angel might appear in this world. Jesus' body died and his spirit-person was able to reappear through an apparition of sorts. Why?

Jesus was visiting his followers in a last-ditch effort to convince them to devote themselves to God so they could return home to the Supreme Being - and bring others with them. Consider this statement, made by Jesus, while in an angel-like body days after the death of his body:

"Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned." (Mark 16:15)

How do we know that Jesus had left his body and appeared before his followers in an angel-like body? Consider this statement from Mark:

Afterward Jesus appeared in a different form to two of them while they were walking in the country. (Mark 16:12)

Thus we can know that Jesus left his physical body behind. Otherwise, they would have recognized him. He appeared once more before his followers, pleading with them to continue his teachings. He wanted them to take on the responsibility of teaching humanity about God. He wanted them to bring home others, as he had.

That is why Jesus referred to himself as the "Servant of Humanity" (a more appropriate translation of υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου than "Son of Man").

Did Jesus die for our sins?

Many teach that Jesus died for our sins. Is that really true?

When Jesus returned to Galilee, he described the sacrifice he would be making in the coming days. The account of Jesus' trial from the four Gospels indicates that Jesus was persecuted because of his teachings. Both Pilate and the Chief Priest were questioning Jesus about his teachings: Did he say this or that.

During this questioning, Jesus would not retract his teachings. He stood by them.

This means that Jesus' sacrifice was about him making a stand regarding his teachings about the Supreme Being.

Just consider a person who was to teach something and the government or another dominant institution were to condemn the teaching and threaten the teacher with death if the teacher doesn't stop teaching those things?

Most teachers would stop teaching those things because they didn't want to die.

Not Jesus. Jesus wasn't afraid. He was willing to be killed in order to continue teaching. He was ready to die for his teachings.

This is also indicated when Jesus appeared before his disciples after his persecution. He did not tell them that they had been saved by his crucifixion. Neither did he tell them to teach such a philosophy to others.

Rather, Jesus asked his disciples to take on disciples as he had, and pass his teachings on to others.

If we accept that Jesus' teachings can save us from our sinful nature, then we can accept that Jesus died for our sins.

Truly, Jesus' teachings can save us. In particular, we can identify his 'greatest' teaching:

“ ‘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.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matt. 22:37-40)

“... 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)

“Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them ...” (Matthew 19:14-15)

“Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” (Matthew 19:14-15)

Here is the situation:

Then people brought little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked them. (Matthew 19:13)

The foregoing is also described in Mark:

And he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them. (Mark 10:16)

Why were the children so important to Jesus?

One might ask, what is the big deal about children? Why would the kingdom of heaven belong to “such as these”?

We were each a child at some point. And our bodies remain children for only a few years. Then the body gets older and eventually dies. Can the kingdom of God belong to a body that will someday die?

Actually, Jesus was speaking of children metaphorically. What do children represent?

Little children typically feel humbled in their circumstances (although today this is not always the case), as they look up to the adults around them with awe. This humble consciousness, as Jesus has stated elsewhere, is pleasing to God.

Why is a humble consciousness pleasing to God? Because this is the consciousness that pervades the spiritual world. This is also our original consciousness.

This is also why a humble person and humble activities attract us. Just consider how repulsive a proud, cocky person is to us. This is contrasted with how an honest, humble person is pleasing to us.

Why is humility pleasing to us? Because we are all humble by nature. That is our true consciousness.

Our pride, on the other hand, is the product of self-centeredness. Each of us living in the physical world are here because we became self-centered. We decided we didn't want to love and serve God anymore - we wanted to please ourselves instead.

Why did we get separated from God?

Self-centeredness precipitated our fall from the spiritual world, after we rejected our relationship with the Supreme Being. Self-centeredness covered up our original consciousness, leading to pride, envy, lust and as they progress, anger and violence.

This doesn't mean we can't change. At any time, we can begin the journey back home to our relationship with God. How? It starts with a single step: The determination that we want to return to Him and a request to God to help us do this.

This admission - asking for the Supreme Being to help us - is the beginning of our journey because it assumes we are not in control. We need God. Just as the children Jesus was speaking to needed their parents, we need the Supreme Being. We cannot reach God's kingdom by ourselves.

This first step is also the beginning of change. We begin to change our consciousness from: "I can do anything I want," to "I need God." This requires humility.

Once we ask the Supreme Being to guide us, He will. He will begin to show us the journey home. He will introduce us to His guide, and they together will show us how we can change our consciousness.

Our consciousness must change because we cannot enter into the spiritual world with our current consciousness. Consider a loud, boisterous drunken person coming from a local bar into a quiet concert hall where a solo pianist was playing. 

In the bar, the drunken person might have swaggered around and talked loudly, pushing his way through the crowd. In the concert hall, he'll have to be well-groomed, polite, and quiet. He probably wouldn't even be granted into the concert hall in the first place, but if he did, he would likely disturb the audience and the soloist by talking loudly and disturbing everyone. He would likely get escorted to the door.

In the same way, a proud stubborn person could not remain in the spiritual realm. In the spiritual realm, everyone is humble, loving, and giving.

Imagine such a place! This is precisely what we try to imagine (as in John Lennon's song) this world could be - if we could just get people to be more humble and giving to each other.

However, this is practically impossible, because this physical dimension is the place where those who are not humble dwell. This is the place where those who are only looking out for themselves go. In other words, this is hell.

Is this world not hellish enough?

What about people being raped, murdered, ravaged by diseases, suffering from starvation, dying from pandemic viruses and so many other diseases - is this not hellish enough?

What about those in some parts of the world being jailed or poisoned for disagreeing with a government? Is this not hellish enough?

What about attacks by terrorists? Is this not hellish enough?

Do we not think this is hellish enough because these things only happen to others? Or perhaps because our body feels comfortable for the time being? This is illusion.

What about when our body is lying on its deathbed, writhing in pain? Is this not hellish enough?

Our physical body is dying. Every moment brings our body closer to death. Every body dies at some point.

And eventually, every physical body will be subject to pain and disease.

So what is hell? Hell is being away from God. Hell is that place where those who are self-centered go.

Yes, there might be worse hells than the current body we have on now. But a more hellish condition is only right around the corner. At any time, the body could be subjected to a painful diseased condition. At any time, the physical body could get hit by a car or train or even a building or a tidal wave. Then the pain would come. Then it would be hellish.

Is God punishing us?

The suffering in the world is actually created by us. It is created by our greed and self-centeredness. God simply created a perfect mechanism where what we do to others comes back to us just as we dealt it out. Either in this physical body or our previous one(s), we determined our current situation by how we treated others. Whatever we have subjected to others before is now what our bodies are experiencing (we are reaping what we sowed).

We have to remember, however, that these physical bodies are not us. We are the spiritual individual that is operating the body, just as a driver operates a car. We step into the body and drive it around for a while. Then it dies, and we exit the body.

Is this a virtual reality?

We might also compare the physical world to a video game. In a video game, each person assumes a virtual icon for the duration of the game. We do not become the video game icon. We simply use the icon to travel through the game. During the game, our icon must abide by the rules. Depending upon what we do in the game, our icon might be punched, blown up, or even killed.

But then at some point, the game is over and we can turn off the computer and walk away unscathed.

It is the same with regard to the body. Currently, we are in the illusion that we are these bodies, but they are only virtual machines we are using while we are within the physical world. Whatever suffering the body receives does not happen to us. When the body dies, we, the spiritual individual, step out. This might be compared to waking from a dream.

Why do we take on these physical bodies then? Because we became self-centered and wanted to get away from God. So God built this virtual physical universe where we could focus upon our self-centered desires and pretend to be the center of the universe.

But we aren't the center of the universe, and this physical dimension was also set up to teach us this reality. Every reaction within the physical dimension is set up to teach us that we will be happier when we return to our loving relationship with the Supreme Being.

Are we free?

While the Supreme Being has let us forget Him for a while, He is giving us the freedom to return to Him or not. He is allowing us to forget Him while we are here in the physical world. And He allows us to continue to return after each lifetime.

Yet He loves us and knows we will be happier when we return home to the spiritual world. So He continually sends us subtle messages - many in the form of consequences of our activities: We can either hear these messages or ignore them - that is our freedom.

But as Jesus indicates here with his discussion of children, in order to return home, we have to change our consciousness. We have to change from being proud and self-centered to becoming humble and God-centered.

If God is the center of our lives, we will depend upon Him and take shelter of him just as a child takes shelter of the parents.

And if we depend upon God, just as a child depends upon the parents, He will guide us back home to Him. This is because the Supreme Being loves us and wants the best for us.