Urantia Book 53. The life of Jesus of Nazareth, Joshua ben Joseph, Christ Michael, Sovereign God of Nebadon. Jesus introduced this sermon by reading from the law as found in Deuteronomy: “But it will come to pass, if this people will not hearken to the voice of God, that the curses of transgression shall surely overtake them. The Lord shall cause you to be smitten by your enemies; you shall be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth. And the Lord shall bring you and the king you have set over you into the hands of a strange nation. You shall become an astonishment, a proverb and a byword among all nations. Your sons and your daughters shall go into captivity. The strangers among you shall rise high in authority while you will be brought low. And these things will be on you and your seed forever because you would not hearken to the word of the Lord. Therefore shall you serve your enemies who shall come against you. You shall endure hunger and thirst and wear this alien yoke of iron. The Lord shall bring against you a nation from afar, from the end of the earth, a nation whose tongue you do not understand, a nation of fierce countenance, a nation which will have little regard for you. And they shall besiege you in all your towns until the high fortified walls in which you have trusted come down; and all the lands shall fall into their hands. And it will come to pass that you will be driven to eat the fruit of your own bodies, the flesh of your sons and daughters, during this time of siege, because of the straitness wherewith your enemies shall press you. ***And when Jesus had finished this reading, he turned to the Prophets and read from Jeremiah: “If you will not listen to the words of my servants the Prophets whom I have sent you, then will I make this house like Shiloh, and I will make this city a curse to all the nations on earth.” All those listening wanted to kill Jeremiah for what he said, and they started to grab him. But Jeremiah said: “The Lord sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the words which you have heard. Now, therefore, amend your ways and reform your doings and obey the voice of the Lord your God that you may escape the evil that has been pronounced against you. As for me, behold, I am in your hands. Do with me as seems right in your eyes. But know you for certain that, if you put me to death, you shall bring innocent blood upon yourselves and upon this people, for of a truth, the Lord has sent me to speak this words in your ears.” ********** Jesus read that they didn’t kill Jeremiah, but they dropped him down into a filthy dungeon. Jesus went on to ask: “What will the chief priests and religious leaders of this people do with the man who dares to warn them of the day of their spiritual doom? Will you also seek to put to death the teacher who dares to proclaim the word of the Lord, and fears not to point out wherein you refuse to walk in the way of light which leads to the entrance to the kingdom of heaven?******************** “What is it that you seek as evidence of my mission on earth? We have left you undisturbed while we preached glad tidings to the poor and outcast. We have proclaimed new liberty for man’s fear-ridden soul while making no hostile attacks on you. I came into the world to reveal my Father and to establish on earth the spiritual brotherhood of the sons and daughters of God, the kingdom of heaven. And I’ve reminded you time after time that I do not seek David’s throne or to be any other sort of king. I say to many sitting here today, you are confronted with the necessity of choosing which way you will go: choose this day whom you will serve. Those of you who wanted to crown me king did so only because they wanted a continuous supply of bread. My brethren, hanker not after the meat which perishes but rather seek for the spiritual food that nourishes even to eternal life; and this is the bread of life which the Son gives to all who will take it and eat, for the Father has given the Son this life without measure. Do you want to perform a work for God? Believe him who He has sent. My Father now stands ready to give you the true bread of life. The bread of life is that which comes down from God and gives eternal life to the people of the world. If you say, Give us this living bread, I will answer, I am this bread of life. He who comes to me shall not hunger; while he who believes me shall not thirst. Some of you have lived with me and beheld my works and yet do not believe. But all those led by the Father shall come to me and not be cast out. And now let me declare to you, once and for all time, that I have come down upon the earth, not to do my own will, but the will of Him who sent me. And this is the final will of Him who sent me: that of all those He has given me, I should not lose one. And this is the will of the Father: That everyone who beholds the Son and believes him shall have eternal life. Will you now take the bread of the spirit as you so willingly ate the bread of the world?” A member of the Sanhedrin stood up and asked: “Do I understand you to say that you are the bread that comes down from heaven and that the manna that Moses gave to our forefathers did not come from heaven?” Jesus answered: “Right.” The man spoke again and asked: “But are not you Jesus of Nazareth? Your family is known to us. How can you say you came down from heaven? Jesus went back to the Scriptures to the many prophecies of the messiah and said: “If a man eats this bread, he will never die in spirit. I am this living bread, and every soul who attains the realization of this united nature of God and man shall live forever. And this bread of life is my own living and combined nature. The Father in the Son and the Son one with the Father–that is my life-giving revelation to the world and my saving gift to all nations.” This put the congregation into a state of confusion and they argued for three hours despite the ruler’s attempt to get them to leave. I think Jesus was predicting the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 because it led to starvation and cannibalism.