Baptism and the Forty Days
JESUS began his public work at the height of the popular interest in John’s preaching and at a time when the Jewish people of Palestine were eagerly looking for the appearance of the Messiah. There was a great contrast between John and Jesus. John was an eager and earnest worker, but Jesus was a calm and happy laborer; only a few times in his entire life was he ever in a hurry. Jesus was a comforting consolation to the world and somewhat of an example; John was hardly a comfort or an example. He preached the kingdom of heaven but hardly entered into the happiness thereof. Though Jesus spoke of John as the greatest of the prophets of the old order, he also said that the least of those who saw the great light of the new way and entered thereby into the kingdom of heaven was indeed greater than John. When John preached the coming kingdom, the burden of his message was: Repent! flee from the wrath to come. When Jesus began to preach, there remained the exhortation to repentance, but such a message was always followed by the gospel, the good tidings of the joy and liberty of the new kingdom.
--Presented by the Midwayer Commission, from the Urantia Papers. Concepts of the Expected Messiah In a general way, the Jews regarded their national history as beginning with Abraham and culminating in the Messiah... The Baptism of Jesus Jesus was baptized at the very height of John’s preaching when Palestine was aflame with the expectancy of his message... The Forty Days After his baptism he entered upon the forty days of adjusting himself to the changed relationships of the world and the universe... Plans for Public Work Day by day, up in the hills, Jesus formulated the plans for the remainder of his Urantia bestowal. The First Great Decision He had by a single decision excluded all of his attendant universe hosts of varied intelligences from participating in his ensuing public ministry except in such matters as concerned time only. The Second Decision This great decision of Jesus portrays dramatically the truth that selfish satisfaction and sensuous gratification, alone and of themselves, are not able to confer happiness upon evolving human beings. The Third Decision As he was formulating this decision, Jesus was seated under the shade of a tree on an overhanging ledge of rock with a precipice right there before him. The Fouth Decision And he consistently lived up to this great decision. The Fifth Decision But Jesus never departed from the decisions which he made during these days of his isolation in the Perean hills. The Sixth Decision And this decision he communicated to the Personalized Adjuster in these words... Return from Baptism and the Forty Days to Home
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