The Theology of The Urantia Book
Part 4: Christology and the Plan of Salvation
- A. The Divine Prebestowal Status of Jesus
- 1. Jesus was the incarnation of a Creator Son of the order of Michael. He is known in our universe as Christ Michael. Dan. 12:1, Rev. 12:7, [21:0.1]
- a. The Creator Sons are created by the Universal Father and the Eternal Son. Each is unique in nature as well as personality. [21:0.5]
- b. They are the creators and rulers of the local universes as described in the prologue of the Gospel of John. John 1:1 - 18, Col. 1: 15 - 16, Heb. 1:2 Christ Michael is the creator of our universe, Nebadon. [21:2.1], [33:1]
- c. In their local universes these Creator Michaels are the "only begotten son". To a local universe, for all practical purposes, a Michael Son is God. None who live in his universe proceed to the Father except through his ministry. [5:3.6] John 14:6
- 2. Each Michael Son must earn his sovereignty by incarnating in the likeness of the various orders of created beings in his universe. Jesus of Nazareth was the seventh and final bestowal of Christ Michael. [120:1] Christ now reigns as Sovereign in our universe. Matt. 28:18, John 12:32.
- 1. Jesus was the incarnation of a Creator Son of the order of Michael. He is known in our universe as Christ Michael. Dan. 12:1, Rev. 12:7, [21:0.1]
- B. The Bestowal of Christ Michael on Our Planet as Jesus of Nazareth
- 1. The purposes of Jesus' mission were to:
- a. Reveal the Father. [128:0.2]
- b. Acquire mortal experience. [128:0.2], [129:3.7]
- c. Terminate the Lucifer rebellion. [134:8.9]
- d. Prepare the way for the universal bestowal of Thought Adjusters and the Spirit of Truth. [120:2.6]
- e. Become the inspiration for religious living for all of his universe. [120:2.7]
- f. Establish a new and living way from man to God. [129:4.7], [182:1.9]
- g. Acquire sovereignty. [120:0.2]
- 2. Key events in the life of Jesus
- a. Jesus was born August 21st, 7 B. C. [119:6.2]
- b. The early training and education of Jesus was received in the home and synagogue. He graduated from the synagogue school during his 13th year. When he was 14 his father was killed in a construction accident and Jesus became the sole support and comfort of his family. [126:2.1]
- c. From the age of 15 to 26 Jesus served as the head of his family following which his brother, James took over the family responsibilities.
- d. During the years from 27 to 32 Jesus conducted a private, personal ministry traveling widely about the Roman world and the Caspian Sea region and working in the Zebedee boat building shop.
- e. Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist January 14th, 26 A. D. in his 32nd year. He spent most of the next year selecting and training his apostles. His public ministry began January 19th, 27 A. D., and terminated at his crucifixion April 7th, 30 A. D. [135:8.6], [141:1], [187:2.1]
- f. On April 9th, 30 A. D., Jesus came forth from the tomb with a morontia body -- the same kind of body mortals will have when they are resurrected from the sleep of death. [189:1.10]
- g. During his post-resurrection sojourn on our world Jesus made 19 appearances to mortals. His ascension took place May 18th, 30 A. D. [193:5.1]
- C. The Plan of Salvation
- 1. Jesus' death on the cross was not to atone for any sin of Adam or for man's supposed racial guilt. Jesus is a savior but not a ransomer or a redeemer. [See "Meaning of the Death on the Cross, [188:4], [See also "Lessons from the Cross" [188:5]
- a. Evil, sin, and judgment are stern and sober realities in the universe; nevertheless, the Universal Father is not a spirit despot who requires blood sacrifice or atonement for sins. [188:5]
"The cross forever shows that the attitude of Jesus toward sinners was neither condemnation nor condonation, but rather eternal and loving salvation." [188:5.2]
- b. By allowing misguided mortals to put him to death, Jesus made the cross an eternal symbol of the triumph of love over hate and the victory of truth over evil.
- The seven-fold plan of salvation offered by Jesus:
- Salvation from material fetters in the personal realization of sonship with God, who is spirit.
- Salvation from intellectual bondage: man shall know the truth, and the truth shall set him free.
- Salvation from spiritual blindness, the human realization of the fraternity of mortal beings and the morontian awareness of the brotherhood of all universe creatures; the service-discovery of spiritual reality and the ministry-revelation of the goodness of spirit values.
- Salvation from incompleteness of self through the attainment of the spirit levels of the universe and through the eventual realization of the harmony of Havona and the perfection of Paradise.
- Salvation from self, deliverance from the limitations of self-consciousness through the attainment of the cosmic levels of the Supreme mind and by co-ordination with the attainments of all other self-conscious beings.
- Salvation from time, the achievement of an eternal life of unending progression in God-recognition and God-service.
- Salvation from the finite, the perfected oneness with Deity in and through the Supreme by which the creature attempts the transcendental discovery of the Ultimate on the postfinaliter levels of the absonite. [101:6.8]
- a. Evil, sin, and judgment are stern and sober realities in the universe; nevertheless, the Universal Father is not a spirit despot who requires blood sacrifice or atonement for sins. [188:5]
- 2. Survival after death is determined by the affirmation of truth, beauty, and goodness (God) as the person sincerely understands these values. We are saved by faith. [5:1], [5:5.13]
- 3. Death works no magic whereby we are instantaneously transformed from animal-origin material beings into perfect spirit beings. We advance in the universe by evolutionary growth and experience. The entire universe is a vast school for perfecting mortals.
- a. This is because of the Father's supreme mandate:
"From the Universal Father who inhabits eternity there has gone forth the supreme mandate, 'Be you perfect, even as I am perfect.' In love and mercy the messengers of Paradise have carried this divine exortation down through the ages and out through the universes, even to such lowly animal-origin creatures as the human race on Urantia." [1:3]
- b. We have a long Paradise journey ahead:
"Evolutionary mortals are born on the planets of space, pass through the morontia worlds, ascend the spirit universes, traverse the Havona spheres, find God, attain paradise, and are mustered into the Corps of the Finality, therein to await the next assignment of universe service...And as we view this sublime spectacle, we all exclaim: 'What a glorious destiny for the animal-origin children of time, the material sons of space.'" [31:10.10]
- a. This is because of the Father's supreme mandate:
- 4. In spite of the imperfection, suffering, and disappointments, which are a part of this life, we have ahead a great destiny of boundless opportunity, unlimited progress, and endless service. [32:5], [108:6.8]
"The confusion and turmoil of Urantia do not signify that the Paradise Rulers lack either interest or ability to manage affairs differently. The Creators are possessed of full power to make Urantia a veritable paradise, but such an Eden would not contribute to the development of those strong, noble, and experienced characters which the Gods are so surely forging out on your world between the anvils of necessity and the hammers of anguish. Your anxieties and sorrows, your trials and disappointments, are just as much a part of the divine plan on your sphere as are the exquisite perfection and infinite adaptation of all things to their supreme purpose on the worlds of the central and perfect universe." [23:2.5]
- 1. Jesus' death on the cross was not to atone for any sin of Adam or for man's supposed racial guilt. Jesus is a savior but not a ransomer or a redeemer. [See "Meaning of the Death on the Cross, [188:4], [See also "Lessons from the Cross" [188:5]
- 1. The purposes of Jesus' mission were to:
Next: The Church and the Kingdom of Heaven