The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ

4 And Jesus opened up a book of prophecy and read:

5 Woe, woe, to Ariel, the town where David dwelt! I will dismantle Ariel, and she shall groan and weep:

6 And I will camp against her round about with hostile posts;

7 And I will bring her low and she shall speak out of the earth; with muffled voice like a familiar spirit shall she speak; yea, she shall only whisper forth her speech;

8 And foes unnumbered, like the grains of dust, shall come upon her suddenly.

9 The Lord of hosts will visit her with thunder and with tempest, and with storm; with earthquake, and with devouring flames.

10 Lo, all these people have deserted me. They draw to me with speech, and with their lips they honor me; their hearts are far removed from me; their fear for me is that inspired by man.

11 And I will breathe an adverse breath upon my people, Israel; the wisdom of their wise men shall be lost; the understanding of their prudent men shall not be found.

12 My people seek to hide their counsel from the Lord, so that their works may not be seen. They fain would cover up their works with darkness of the night, and say, Who sees us now? Who knows us now?

13 Poor, foolish men! shall that which has been made say of its maker, He is naught, I made myself?

14 Or shall the pot speak out and say to him, who made the pot, You have no skill; you do not know?

15 But this will not forever be; the time will come when Lebanon will be a fruitful field, and fruitful fields will be transformed to groves.

16 And on that day the deaf will hear the words of God; the blind will read the Book of God’s Remembrance.

17 And suffering ones will be relieved, and they will have abundant joy; and every one that needs will be supplied; and it will come to pass that all the foolish will be wise.

18 The people will return and sanctify the Holy One, and in their heart of hearts, lo, they will reverence him.

19 When Jesus had thus read he put aside the book and said, You masters of the law, will you make plain for us the prophet’s words?

20 Now, Hillel sat among the masters of the law, and he stood forth and said, Perhaps our young rabboni who has read the word will be interpreter.

21 And Jesus said, The Ariel of the prophet is our own Jerusalem.

22 By selfishness and cruelty this people has become a stench unto the Elohim.

23 The prophet saw these days from far, and of these times he wrote.

24 Our doctors, lawyers, priests and scribes oppress the poor, while they themselves in luxury live.

25 The sacrifices and the offerings of Israel are but abomination unto God. The only sacrifice that God requires is self.

26 Because of this injustice and this cruelty of man to man, the Holy One has spoken of this commonwealth:

27 Lo, I will overturn, yes, I will overturn, it shall be overturned, and it shall be no more until he comes whose right it is and I will give it unto him.

28 In all the world there is one law of right, and he who breaks that law will suffer grief; for God is just.

29 And Israel has gone far astray; has not regarded justice, nor the rights of man, and God demands that Israel shall reform, and turn again to ways of holiness.

30 And if our people will not hear the voice of God, lo, nations from afar will come and sack Jerusalem, and tear our temple down, and take our people captive into foreign lands.

31 But this will not forever be; though they be scattered far and wide, and wander here and there among the nations of the earth, like sheep that have no shepherd guide,

32 The time will come when God will bring again the captive hosts; for Israel shall return and dwell in peace.

33 And after many years our temple shall be built again, and one whom God will honor, one in whom the pure in heart delights will come and glorify the house of God, and reign in righteousness.

34 When Jesus had thus said, he stepped aside, and all the people were amazed and said, This surely is the Christ.

CHAPTER 20

After the feast. The homeward journey. The missing Jesus. The search for him. His parents find him in the temple. He goes with them to Nazareth. Symbolic meaning of carpenter’s tools.

The great feast of the pasch was ended and the Nazarenes were journeying toward their homes.

2 And they were in Samaria, and Mary said, Where is my son? No one had seen the boy.

3 And Joseph sought among their kindred who were on their way to Galilee; but they had seen him not.

4 Then Joseph, Mary, and a son of Zebedee, returned and sought through all Jerusalem, but they could find him not.

5 And then they went up to the temple courts and asked the guards, Have you seen Jesus, a fair-haired boy, with deep blue eyes, twelve years of age, about these courts?

6 The guards replied, Yes, he is in the temple now disputing with the doctors of the law.

7 And they went in, and found him as the guards had said.

8 And Mary said, Why Jesus, why do you treat your parents thus? Lo, we have sought two days for you. We feared that some great harm had overtaken you.

9 And Jesus said, Do you not know that I must be about my Father’s work?

10 But he went round and pressed the hand of every doctor of the law and said, I trust that we may meet again.

11 And then he went forth with his parents on their way to Nazareth; and when they reached their home he wrought with Joseph as a carpenter.

12 One day as he was bringing forth the tools for work he said,

13 These tools remind me of the ones we handle in the workshop of the mind where things are made of thought and where we build up character.

14 We use the square to measure all our lines, to straighten out the crooked places of the way, and make the corners of our conduct square.

15 We use the compass to draw circles round our passions and desires to keep them in the bounds of righteousness.

16 We use the ax to cut away the knotty, useless and ungainly parts and make the character symmetrical.

17 We use the hammer to drive home the truth, and pound it in until it is a part of every part.