“But people who aren’t spiritual can’t receive these truths from God’s Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them and they can’t understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means”
The atonement as it has been understood by Christian people in the past has not taken sin, suffering, and death from the world; therefore it must be that their understanding has fallen short of the Truth. Spiritual understanding of the atonement shows the way to deliverance from sin and consequently from all the effects of sin.
God never demanded Jesus to be a blood sacrifice to “atone” for our sin-drenched humanity. Sin is to miss the mark is a departure from the law of our being. The command of God to man is, "Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth." The creatures of land and sea represent states of mind and they all are contained in the consciousness of every man. Any failure on our part to exercise this dominion is a falling short, or a "sin."
Metaphysical meaning of atonement- or atone-ment--that Jesus Christ reestablished between God and man, we can regain our original estate as sons of God, It’s a Reconciliation between God and man through Christ, the uniting of our consciousness with the higher consciousness . Jesus became the way by which all who accept Him may "pass over" to the higher consciousness. We have atonement through Him. the lifting up of the whole man--spirit, soul, and body--into the Christ consciousness of oneness with the Father. By means of the atonement--reconciliation.
We have been taught by the church that Jesus died for us—as an atonement for our sins. By human sense this belief has been materialized into a flesh-and-blood process, in which the death of the body on the cross played the important part. Herein has the sense consciousness led the church astray. That spiritual things must be spiritually discerned seems to have escaped the notice of the church in forming its scheme of atonement. At the root of the church's teaching is Truth; Jesus of Nazareth played an important part in opening the way for every one of us into the Father's kingdom. However, that way was not through His death on the cross, but through His overcoming death. "I am the resurrection and the life."
Blood of Jesus
That which represents the principle of eternal life. Jesus raised the life activity of His blood and revealed its spiritual potency. In this respect it became part of the spiritual life of the race and is thus accessible to all persons. It is after this manner that we drink His blood. "Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, ye have not life in yourselves"
(John 6:53).
For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes an atonement for the soul. Leviticus 17:11
Blood of Christ
The life contained in God's Word. Therefore, it is spiritual energy that purifies and redeems man by pouring into his life currents a new and purer stream. This divine energy cleanses the consciousness of dead works to enable man to serve the living God.
What can wash away my sin?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Oh! precious is the flow
That makes me white as snow;
No other fount I know,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Sacred Text
On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, when it was customary to sacrifice the Passover lamb, Jesus’ disciples asked him, “Where do you want us to go and make preparations for you to eat the Passover?”
Mark 14:12 - 24
13 So he sent two of his disciples, telling them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him. 14 Say to the owner of the house he enters, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ 15 He will show you a large room upstairs, furnished and ready. Make preparations for us there.”
16 The disciples left, went into the city and found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover.
17 When evening came, Jesus arrived with the Twelve. 18 While they were reclining at the table eating, he said, “Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me—one who is eating with me.”
19 They were saddened, and one by one they said to him, “Surely you don’t mean me?”
20 “It is one of the Twelve,” he replied, “one who dips bread into the bowl with me. 21 The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born.”
22 While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take it; this is my body.”
23 Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank from it.
24 “This is my blood of the[c] covenant, which is poured out for many,” he said to them.
1. Passover
When the Jews were escaping from Egypt a lamb was killed it’s blood used to mark the doors so that the Angel of Death would pass over and not kill the first born child.
This is to passover from a lower to a higher consciousness
during the feast, thanksgiving and blessing are expressed, and psalms are sung. All these expressions aid in ushering in spiritual consciousness, inasmuch as they make the mind receptive to Truth.
2. Bread represents Divine Ideas and the Wine the circulation of Spiritual ideas which we allow to circulate unhindered within us
The “bread” Jesus used is symbolic of this omnipresent substance of God.
It is the very essence out of which all things are formed, including my body and your body. It is our thought and feeling, our beliefs that give it form. This is why Jesus said, “If you can believe, all things are possible.” Any form is possible.
The “wine” is symbolic of the nature of substance to be quickened or activated on various levels. ( Cosmic vitality) Life is omnipresent. It is active in various degrees. This one substance/life essence is very responsive to our thought about it. Thought as used here means feeling and belief.
Although this substance/life essence is unlimited in nature, it can take on the appearance of limitation because of our thought about it. Beliefs such as age, degeneration, wear and tear from use, and germs all have their influence upon the formation of substance, not upon its pure essence, but only on the form.
Our conscious mind is so identified with formed substance that we fail to realise its unlimited character.
Jesus said, “Eat my body and drink my blood.”
What Jesus is saying is symbolic: to eat is to appropriate in consciousness true ideas about the nature of substance/life. It is to think on a high level of truth about it. To contemplate, consider, and accept ideas of truth is to eat His body.
For example, when I think about my body as being formed of God’s pure and perfect substance, I am eating His body; that is, I am thinking the truth about it. I am doing more than just thinking about the form or the shape; I am thinking about the essence of it and that essence is perfect. It has nothing to do with cells, genes, or heredity for none of these things can affect the form unless I believe in consciousness that they do. When I think the truth about substance/life I am helping myself to experience better health.
What is the new covenant? The new covenant, or ultimate promise of God, is that of spiritual freedom through Christ.
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
John 14:6
Luke 22: 24 -27
A dispute also arose among them as to which of them was considered to be greatest. 25 Jesus said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors. 26 But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves. 27 For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves
John 13: 2- 8
2 The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. 3 Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; 4 so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. 5 After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.
6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”
7 Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”
8 “No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.”
Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”
26 When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
3. When he sat at the last supper, there was contention among his disciples as to who should occupy first place at the table.
Spiritual consciousness puts to a common level all men and things. In the sight of God there is no great and no small. The Principle of Life supplies the dirty, lazy tramp as fully and freely as it does the most cultured lady. Those who “put on Christ” must do away with rank and file. The title of God in the heart makes man love and serve his enemies with the same service that he gives to his friends. Jesus washed the feet of each of his disciples, including Judas. God is no respecter of persons.
4. The feet are the most willing and patient servants of the body.
They go all day at the bidding of the mind, and upon them rests the burden of the thought of materiality. The more we believe in matter the greater the burden laid upon the feet, and the more tired they become. The denial of materiality is illustrated in the washing by Jesus of the feet. Even Peter, Spiritual Faith, must be cleansed of his belief in the reality of material conditions. It seems a menial thing to wash feet, but Jesus taught and exemplified the willingness of Divine Love to serve in this humble way, that man may be redeemed from the pride of the flesh.
Jesus is shown as having prayed almost continually. What has prayer to do with transmutation? Through prayer man makes contact with Spirit and sets the currents of life flowing from the mortal to the immortal. “For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.” “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up.”
We can readily see how a whole race might be caught in the meshes of its own thought emanations and, through this drowsy ignorance of the man ego, remain there throughout eternity, unless a break were made in the structure and the light of a higher way let in. This is exactly what has happened to our race. In our journey back to the Father's house we became lost in our own thought emanations, and Jesus Christ broke through the crystallized thought strata and opened the way for all those who will follow Him.
It was the work of Jesus to establish in our race consciousness a spiritual center with which everyone might become associated mentally, regardless of geographical location. He said to His disciples, "I go to prepare a place for you . . . that where I am, there ye may be also." That place is a state of consciousness right here in our midst, and we can at any time connect ourselves with it by centering our minds upon Jesus and silently asking His help in our demonstrations
The process of Jesus' evolving from sense to soul was first a recognition of the spiritual selfhood and a constant affirmation of its supremacy and power. Jesus loved to make the highest statements: "I and the Father are one." "All authority hath been given unto me in heaven and on earth." He made these statements before the Resurrection, so we know that He was not fully conscious of their reality. But by the power of His word He brought about the realization.
Meditation
Father, glorify thou me.
John 17:5.
Today is a day of overcoming, my Good Friday.
Does it seem that I have come to a Good Friday in my life? I remember that out of Good Friday came the Resurrection. I remember that Good Friday was not the end of hope but the triumph of life over death.
Affirm:Today I hold fast. I believe in God, I believe in the ultimate good, I believe in the resurrecting spirit in me.
Today I look beyond appearances. I fearlessly face that which seems to be. I know that God will see me through, that Gods overcoming power is mighty in the midst of me.
Today is a day to forgive, a day to release old hurts and bitterness, a day to let love flow through my heart, cleansing my consciousness, setting me free.
Today I am strong and courageous, today I have dauntless faith. I know that the night is passing, that the day is at hand.
Today is a day of overcoming, my Good Friday.
Closing Benediction: A Prayer by Ted Loder
Holy one, shock and save me with the terrible goodness of this Friday, and drive me deep into my longing for your kingdom until I seek it first – yet not first for myself, but for the hungry and the sick and the poor of your children, for prisoners of conscience around the world, for those I have wasted with my racism and sexism and ageism and nationalism and religionism, for those around mother earth and in this city who, this Friday, know far more of terror than of goodness; that in my seeking for the kingdom, for them as well as for myself, all these things may be mine as well: things like a coat and courage and something like comfort, a few lilies in the field, the sight of birds soaring on the wind, a song in the night, and gladness of heart, the sense of your presence and the realization of your promise that nothing in life or death will be able to separate me or those I love, from our love in the crucified one who is our Lord and in whose name and Spirit I pray.
Song: Nothing But the Blood of Jesus by Carrie Underwood