Adapted from the Urantia Book original paper here
1. Jesus and John were very different in their approach to the people. Where John was eager and earnest, Jesus was calm and happy: he was almost never in a hurry. Jesus comforted the people and was an example for them, while John was seldom comforting or an example for them to follow.
2. The Jews believed that like Moses, who had delivered their fathers from Egyptian bondage by using miracles, the Messiah would end the Roman era with even greater displays of power and marvels of racial triumph. But the Jews were looking for their own salvation, not the world’s.
3. When Jesus submitted himself to John for baptism, it wasn’t because he was repenting or so John could cleanse him of any sins. He was simply fitting in with the rest of the devout Jews who were mostly coming to get baptized as a “just in case” measure – as in, just in case they were wrong and had sinned without knowing it.
4. When Jesus went down into the Jordan to be baptized, he had mastered the mortal goal of perfecting identification with his Thought Adjuster, the actual spirit entity of God inside him. He was in all ways now a perfected mortal of the evolutionary worlds of time and space.
5. After Jesus’ Personalized Adjuster said, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased,” Jesus prayed: “My Father who reigns in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come! Your will be done on earth, even as it is in heaven.” The heavens opened, and Jesus saw himself as a Son of God like before he came to Earth, and like he would be after he leaves.
6. When Jesus defeated the Urantia pretender, Caligastia, the former prince of our world, he, Jesus of Nazareth, became the Planetary Prince of Urantia. Because of this, he went into the hills for forty days to figure out how he was going to announce this new kingdom of God in the hearts of men.
7. In the hills, Jesus ran into his universe chief executive, Gabriel, the Bright and Morning Star of Nebadon. He told Jesus that his mission on Earth, at least the part where he has ended the Lucifer rebellion and earned his right to rule, was almost over. Jesus could continue on Earth, or return to administer his universe. His choice.
8. While Jesus’ mission took place on Earth, he did it for all of the inhabited worlds in our universe, Nebadon. The forty days in the wilderness weren’t a period of great temptation, but rather the time when the Master made his great decisions –plans that would best serve this world, while also helping all of the other rebellion-isolated spheres in Satania.
9. Jesus decided to continue his mission on Earth his Father’s way, exemplifying the ideal human life as visualized by the Paradise Deities, and continuing to reveal the Father’s divine loving character. This, Jesus vowed to do, and he was true to his resolve right up the bitter end.
Okay, folks, that’s it for the Highlight of Son of Man: Urantia, Chapter 15, part 1, “Baptism and the Forty Days.”
This week we continue with Chapter 15, part 2, “Baptism and the Forty Days.”
Have a fantastic week out there.
Bob