Redemption & Glorification
(The approach to Scripture we will employ here is to try to grasp the essence of what is said by looking carefully at the literal statements, searching for hidden depth.)
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. This was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of people. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.... And the Word moreover became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as though of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:1-5, 14)
“While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may be children of light.... I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness.” (John 12:36, 46)
“...that Light is the True Light which lights everyone who comes into the world.” (John 1:9) Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)
“Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood.” (Revelation 1:5)
We read here that Jesus is called the Word, The True Light, the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and the King of kings. Clearly, representing all this, He, Jesus, in the Bible, is a symbol of Truth. We may also deduce from what we read that ‘the Word’ means more than just the Bible. The Bible is God’s Word, however it also says that all things are made by the Word, and the Word is the light in all people. The Word is Divine Truth, and Divine Truth is present in some measure in all things and in all persons.
Jesus represents Divine Truth revealed to humanity, and ‘the Father’ represents Divine Love. To “come to the Father” by ‘Jesus’, is to be reunited with Divine Love through the agency of Divine Truth. This is the essential meaning of everything we read about Jesus in the Gospels.
Jesus’ life in the world is the most significant, impactful, and important event in history. The truth of that statement is clear if we examine the course of history following Jesus. Try to think of a more significant historical event. When Jesus came into the world, reality changed. We can begin to understand what His life truly means to us if we study what is written about Him. Babies are born entirely ignorant, empty-headed. Truth gradually reveals itself to us. Humanity is gradually expanding its understanding of Jesus.
In this essay we will consider what we read about Jesus, not as an event in history, but rather how it speaks of the universal human condition, symbolically. We established that Jesus represents Truth, and that truth is present in each of us giving us life. We all see truth in our own way. Even though his disciples were with Him in person, their understanding of Him and His purpose was not clear to them, and each of them saw Him differently, according to their own character. The three wise men recognized His Divinity from afar and journeyed to worship the infant and bring Him gifts, Nathanael who was called while meditating under a fig tree, recognized Him as Divine immediately upon first acquaintance, Peter, James and John ascended to the top of a mountain with Jesus, and they beheld Him transfigured in glory. The multitudes were affected variously, and the religious authorities of the day hated Him, and conspired to murder Him. Judas clearly misunderstood Him as well.
Jesus came to establish the kingdom of God. The disciples thought he intended to overthrow Rome, but Jesus taught that the kingdom of God is in the hearts of humanity. He was here to facilitate our inner transformation. The kingdom of God is established when God’s Love is fully present in our heart.
To establish the kingdom of God the opposing kingdom of hell must be overthrown, and the name of God must be established in glory. These are the two purposes of Jesus’ life in the world, the subjugation of hell, which is called redemption, and the glorification of His Divinity. We will seek to more fully understand these two ideas.
The name of God is Divine Truth. Because we are finite, each of us has a limited capacity to receive Truth, and our idea of truth is always clouded by false notions we have inherited from parents, society, and false impressions drawn from our experiences misinterpreted, and our vision is compromised by impurities in our heart. So our view of Divine Truth is always a limited, compromised version of Divine Love. To ‘glorify’ Truth is for our perception of truth to become elevated and united to Divine Love. Glorification occurs when Divine Truth is united to Divine Love.
In the Gospels, we read how each person saw Jesus differently according to their own state. When the three disciples ascended the mountain and saw Jesus in His glory, that was a symbol of elevated consciousness having a clear understanding of spiritual Truth.
It is written that Jesus came into the world to glorify the name of God:
“Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God (Divine Love), and Jesus Christ (Divine Truth), whom you have sent. I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began. I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word.” (John 17:1-6)
More verses which mention Jesus’ glorification: John 13:31-32, 12:23-28, Luke 24:26
The Gospels describe how Divine Truth, clothed in our limited humanity (Jesus), manifests Itself to our natural, unenlightened consciousness, gradually revealing its glory as it endures our ignorance and impurity of heart prior to our attaining an enlightened state, when Divine Truth becomes one with Divine Love.
Prior to enlightenment, our heart and mind is besieged by evil and falsity, basically the love of self rules our consciousness, and as a result we are in a state of darkness and disorder:
“the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” (Genesis 1:2)
The earth is our natural mind.
And God said, ‘Let there be Light.’ (Genesis 1:3)
This describes the transition state when we first realize that we are spiritual beings, and embark on the journey of enlightenment. This is also symbolically represented in the gospel narrative by the birth of Jesus. The Divine Truth of our spiritual being becomes part of our conscious awareness, and we begin to seek to draw closer to Divine Love. The problem is that there is much falsity in our understanding of reality, and our motives are impure; these things keep us from fully realizing the omnipresence of the Divine, keeping us from experiencing heavenly blessedness. Traditional ways of talking about our separation from God use the words sin, punishment and hell, because earlier generations of human kind were spiritually primitive. Religious thinking in the past was often pretty barbaric. Early Judaism thought the sacrifice of animals was necessary to appease an angry God. And even though Jesus clearly states that God’s love is perfect:
“I tell you, love your enemies...that you may be children of your Father in heaven...Be perfect, as your Father in heaven is perfect.” (Matt. 5:44-48)
The fact of the matter is that God is the perfect Unity of Infinite Love and Infinite Wisdom, and God loves each and everyone of us individually with perfect Love. God never punishes anyone, or leads anyone into temptation. God has pure compassion, sympathy and gentle kindness for all of us, at all times. God is pure mercy and absolute forgiveness always. As we begin to draw closer to the Lord’s sinless perfection, we become aware of our own shortcomings, and this often results in a sense of guilt and impending doom, but this is not due to a negative attitude in God toward us. We judge ourselves when we behave badly; we know when we have done wrong. The bad feelings result from separating ourselves from the Source of Life and Love. Go never turns away from us, we turn away from God. We should turn away from sin, and when we do, God forgives us immediately and absolutely. If we look to Him to deliver us from the power of hell He will surely deliver us. That is what is called redemption. That is the second purpose of the incarnation of the Divine as Jesus.
Influential seventeenth century German Christian pastor and theologian, Friedrich Schleiermacher (1768-1834) had a unique way of understanding sin and redemption. Catherine L.Kelsey, in her very interesting book, Thinking About Christ with Schleirmacher, makes this summary statement of his thoughts on these issues:
“Redemption is the development of Christ’s God-consciousness within us. Sin is everything that limits or slows down the free development of that God-consciousness.” (P.59)
The Gospel depiction of His incarnation is emblematic of the individual redemptive dynamic. Redemption is not an event that happened in history, rather it is a recurring event in the lives of all individuals. The Gospels present this archetypical process as a historical tale.
The experience of the presence of God through a personal inner relationship with Christ is the ultimate purpose of the process of redemption for each individual, and sin is simply whatever stands in the way of of our experience of blessedness. This is redemption of the individual: Christ’s presence in the circumstances of our natural life, effecting awareness of limitations and their subsequent dispersal. The hellish tendencies we were subjected to to are eliminated by His proximity, and our consciousness is lifted up into a heavenly state.
This was all stated figuratively. By ‘Christ’ is not meant the historical personage of Jesus. ‘Christ’ means Divine Truth. It is our personal relationship with Truth that will redeem us from our ‘sins,’ which are the impure motives, and ignorance that creates hell in our life. If we become disciples of Truth, we will be delivered from all that bad stuff. That is the only way we can be “saved.” That is why it says that we must believe in “the Son of God” to be saved. “The Father” represents Divine Love. “The Son of God” refers to Divine Truth, not the symbolic historical personage of Jesus. All persons, in all cultures, and under all creeds have the ability to love Truth and follow the Truth as they are able to perceive it in whatever limited form it presents. Through devotion to Truth (Christ) they will find freedom, and be brought into the sphere of Divine Love. Through the Son (Truth) we are united to the Father (Love). This is how we may understand “Christ” as the universal Savior.
