John 3:31-34 – William LePar’s Thoughts and Interpretation.
Revised Standard Version – He who comes from above is above all; he who is of the earth belongs to the earth, and of the earth he speaks; he who comes from heaven is above all. He bears witness to what he has seen and heard, yet no one receives his testimony; he who receives his testimony sets his seal to this, that God is true. For he whom God has sent utters the words of God, for it is not by measure that he gives the Spirit; the Father loves the Son, and has given all things into his hand. He who believes in the Son has eternal life; he who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God rests upon him.
Jerusalem – He who comes from above is above all others; he who is of the earth is earthly himself and speaks in an earthly way. He who comes from heaven bears witness to the things he has seen and heard, even if his testimony is not accepted; though all who do accept his testimony are attesting the truthfulness of God, since he whom God has sent speaks God’s own words: God gives him the spirit without reserve. The Father loves the Son and has entrusted everything to him. Anyone who believes in the Son has eternal life, but anyone who refuses to believe in the Son will never see life: the anger of God stays on him.
John the Baptist sets before men the eternal choice of either life or death. All through history, the choice has been set before Israel. In Deuteronomy 30:15-20, this records the words of Moses. “See, I have set before you this day life and good, death and evil... I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse; therefore choose life that your descendants may live.” The same challenge was offered again by Joshua – “Choose this day whom you will serve.” That is from Joshua 24:15.
We can rest assured that life concentrates on a man when he reaches a crossroads. The most important thing is man’s reaction to Christ. If that reaction is love and longing, that man will know life eternal. If it is indifferent or hostile, that man will know death. It is not that God sends His wrath upon men; it is that man brings that wrath upon himself.
This is the only place in this Gospel that God’s wrath is mentioned in this manner. I would say the reasons why John the Gospel writer does not dwell upon the wrath of God is that John hopes that those who understand what John is saying and the picture of Christ that is portrayed in his Gospel are beyond that type of thinking. Some people prefer to ignore that which comes to us when we do not work within the Divine Vibrations, when we go against such vibrations. Some people wish to ignore that friction or wrath that we set up, that friction within that Divinity becomes the Wrath of God that we call upon ourselves.
Any true conception of God is as a moral being to Whom sin is hateful, and if we believe that, world history is world judgment. There is plenty of evidence for this (and we are referring now to wrath) in the world today. Such a wrath is not an outburst of an irate pride as it tends to be in human beings. To form a true picture of the Wrath of God, we should think of the holy indignation which a good man feels in the presence of stark evil and then multiply it infinitely. Such a wrath must belong to Him whose nature is holy love, to Him Who is God. This wrath is the higher self’s condemnation of its lack of desire to create as perfectly as it can. In its pride and self-esteem, it does a sloppy job of creation, for it seeks only to satisfy itself and not the perfection of divinity that its source of light comes from. Now we are talking here about us as individuals. In the Divine’s creation of each of us in our original state, we were created perfectly, and it was of our own free will to be less or other than perfect.
Even now, at this very moment, the original essence, the Divine Essence that we are is in what one might consider a state of perfection, but in receiving the free will that the Divine has given us, we still insist on feeding our own selfishness and our own desires, so that the pride of the higher self, choosing to exist in its own level, or its own dimension, does not contribute to the Divine Plan of God, thus becoming imperfect or out of tune or out of step. The spiritual vibrations of that entity do not mesh into the Perfect Pattern and add or create more beauty to the general plan that is the Divine Plan of God or the Holy Love. So, as it marches or moves out of vibration, it creates a disharmony or that which is not aesthetic in terms of beautiful or inspiring, thus is imperfect.
To those who may worry about correcting the ego or selfishness of the higher self, it should be to your understanding here and now that the higher self has realized its foolishness by creating you, that you are consciously aware of, in a position and in a time when all that is necessary to reach your at-one-ment is by accepting the Divine Love of God and believing in His Son Jesus Christ.
In essence, what the higher self has come to realize is that in its desire to become complete, it can only do so by admitting its imperfection, its selfishness, and placing itself in the Divine Mercy of God, allowing itself to be in a position to work for and with the Will of God. Thus, the higher self realizes its limitedness. It has faith and trust in the love and mercy of God.
Henceforth, you are a Gentile born into a Christian belief system or into a Western belief system. So, you as an entity that is consciously aware in the material plane can find satisfaction in knowing that you, the higher self, is willing to submit its will to the Will of God.
Whether it continues in this path, we can judge in the physical awareness by our actions and how closely they subscribe to the Divine Laws of God. Our physical self is a mirror of our higher self. This is in reference to attitudes and how well WE manifest them in the physical.
Previous Month's Quotes
Click on image to view