He Declareth His Pre-Existence.
1. ANOTHER time Iesus said,
Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.
Then said the Jews unto him,
Now we know that thou hast a demon.
2. Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and thou sayest, If a man keep my saying, he shall never taste of death. Art thou greater than our father Abraham, which is dead ? And the Prophets are dead: whom makest thou thyself ?
3. Iesus answered,
If I honour myself, my honour is nothing: it is my Father that honoureth me; of whom ye say, that he is your God: Yet ye have not known him; but I now him: and if I should say I know him not I shall be a liar like unto you; but I know the All Holy and am known of the Eternal.
4. Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day; and he saw it, and was glad.
Then said the Jews unto him,
Thou art not yet forty five years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?
5. Iesus said unto them,
Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I AM.
6. And he said unto them,
The All Holy hath sent you many prophets, but ye rose against them that were contrary to your lusts, reviling some and slaying others.
7. Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Iesus was hidden, and went out of the temple, through the midst of them, and so again passed unseen by them.
8. Again when his disciples were with him in a place apart, one of them asked him concerning the kingdom, and he said unto them:
9. As it is above, so it is below. As it is within, so it is without. As on the right hand, so on the left. As it is before, so it is behind. As with the great so with the small. As with the male, so with the female. When these things shall be seen, then ye shall see the Kingdom (of God).
10. For in me there is neither Male nor Female, but both are One in the All perfect. The woman is not without the man, nor is the man without the woman.
11. Wisdom is not without love, nor is love without wisdom. The head is not without the heart, nor is the heart without the head, in the Christ who atoneth all things. For God hath made all things by number, by weight, and by measure, corresponding, the one with the other.
12. These things are for them that understand, to believe. If they understand not, they are not for them. For to believe is to understand, and to believe not, is not to understand.
LECTION 52. 4. -The testimony of those who saw and knew Jesus as to his age, has been strangely ignored by writers of Biblical history and by the Church in general. This matter is briefly discussed elsewhere in these Notes, and deserves the attention of every student and thoughtful person. (See Notes liv.14-16; xcv.9.)