Jesus In The Desert
The parable of Jesus in the desert being tempted by the devil from St Matthew 4:1-11 has particular meaning for us and our world during our present evolutionary phase. So let us take a closer look at it. Reading this tale one cannot help wondering what kind of nourishment ordinary churchgoing literalist Christians, regardless of how devout they are, could possibly get from it other than: ‘What a wonderful man Jesus was! What great spiritual strength and of character he possessed. But then that’s what one would expect from a God.’
In contrast to this, seekers of God’s sacred wisdom and truth who are searching for the higher esoteric meaning that is hidden behind the surface words of stories like this one are in for an extra special treat. It may make them respond with something like: ‘What a wealth of wisdom and truth, and that in almost every word!’ It is indeed a tale that comes very much alive as soon as one approaches it this way. It’s instantly recognisable that it can tell us a great deal about the nature of humankind and its spiritual pathway.
To me, this particular story represents a description of our race’s entry into the Aquarian Age. Jesus is a symbol for the higher characteristics of all earthlings and the devil represents the initially untamed drives, urges and desires of our lower earthly nature. The desert is a metaphor for life in physicality. It represents the spiritual desert of Earth life, where Jesus spends forty days and nights. Jesus is a symbolism for our higher nature finding itself exiled on the Earth plane and trapped in a physical body, a condition that firmly nails it to the cross of Earth life.
Only when our spirit and soul have spent enough time in this way and through it our earthly self has matured sufficiently, can the Divine spark within us begin to stir from its slumbers. From then onwards the consciousness of our higher nature slowly but surely moves into the foreground of its earthly counterpart’s awareness. With the passing of time the desires and urges of our earthly nature gradually go from us. In this process we gradually die to the attractions of earthly life and are reborn into the hopes, dreams and aspirations of our higher nature.
Once it has woken from its earthly slumbers, the lower self hungers for the spiritual food that flows from the Heavens, the higher and highest levels of life. That’s why the human Christ nature, Jesus, replies that humankind does not live by bread alone. But still the adversary in the form of our lower self’s appetites tries to keep us fixed to our earthly existence for as long as possible. It therefore attempts to pursue us to listen to its suggestions.
A brief excursion into numerology can reveal more. Forty is a sacred number. Individually and collectively, it stands for humankind’s physical death and rebirth into its higher spiritual nature. The forty appears in the Bible as the number of waiting and preparation, test and/or punishment. It can also be an indication of a long period of undetermined length. The number 4 represents Uranus, the co-ruler of Aquarius, and the zero the circle of Eternity. The purpose of the four vibration is to organise, establish order and bring ideas and plans into manifestation on the Earth plane. The four stands for the order, system and routine that are necessary to make our highest aspirations and dreams become a reality in earthly life.
When the energies of zero combine themselves with those of another number, its potential becomes more powerful. This figure enhances and increases the possibilities and dimensions of all other numbers. It represents the consciousness of the Divine and can bring success and perfection to our efforts through its help and protection.
‘Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.’ To make it possible to experience how the polar opposites of Its characteristics manifest and express themselves on the Earth plane, the Spirit, the Christ Spirit, creates itself an earthly counterpart and takes it onto the Earth plane. Every human soul contains a spark of the Christ Spirit, though at first merely in seedform. Having arrived in earthly life, one by one the lower and lowest aspects of our earthly nature are explored and experienced, however many lifetimes this may take. The Karma that accrues during these earthly sojourns will be made good by none other than us in future ones through the improved thinking and behaviour patterns we shall then develop.
The Universe provides all of us with as many opportunities for bringing forth and developing ever more of the characteristics of our higher nature as we requires. For a long time Jesus, symbol of our higher nature and spark of the Divine, hangs crucified on the cross of life. Slowly its earthly self dies and the higher part of our being gradually takes over and we, the higher and lower part together save and redeem ourselves. As the earthly self breathes its last on the cross, our Spirit Self rises on the wings of God’s wisdom and truth into the realms of the Highest, although we may still be required to serve life on the Earth plane.
‘And after he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he became hungry.’ For an undetermined length of time, however long this development may take for every individual soul, the small lower self is left without spiritual nourishment of any kind in earthly life. This is because only through the lack of something can we get to know and appreciate the value of anything. So that in the end we truly hunger and thirst for it, we have to spend many lifetimes without spiritual nourishment of any kind. To establish when we are ready for commence taking part in lessons of a higher nature, the wise ones in charge of us are constantly testing us to establish which developmental level we have reached at any given time.
‘To find out to which degree we, Jesus, have absorbed the characteristics of our highest nature, the lowest aspect of its earthly counterpart, represented by the devil, enters the picture. He is a symbol for the untamed lower and lowest urges of humankind’s animal nature. Our responses, Jesus’ replies, prove that we have successfully taken charge of its instincts. They have not simply disappeared and are still there, but the way we react to people and situations reveals whether they have been successfully tamed by us and are under our control.
‘And the tempter came and said to him: ‘If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.’ But Jesus replied: ‘It is written: humankind shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’’ The tempter hopes that when a spirit and soul has been starved of nourishment for long enough, it will be ravenous and eat just about anything that is on offer. In its desperation it would ask its Highest Self, God, to perform a miracle. But our Highest nature has completely taken over our small self and therefore knows full well that: ‘It’s not earthly bread I am yearning for most of all, now. It’s spiritual nourishment I crave in the form of words of wisdom and truth that come directly from the heartmind of God.’
‘And the devil took Jesus into the holy city. He asked him to stand on the pinnacle of the temple and said: ‘If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written: ‘He will command his Angels concerning you. And on their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not even strike your foot against a stone.’ To which Jesus replied: ‘On the other hand, it is written: ‘You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test.’’ The higher and lower self working as one in peace and harmony, Jesus, appreciate why it has ever spent time on the Earth plane and that this in truth could never interfere with their oneness with God and all life. Having become aware that the human spirit is free at all times and can fly wherever it chooses, we have lost all taste for silly experiments.
‘Next, the devil took him to a high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory and said: ‘All these things I will give you, if you fall down and worship me.’ Jesus replied: ‘Go, Satan! For it is written: ‘You shall worship the Lord, your God, and serve Him only.’
Mountains are symbolisms for the higher and highest planes of life. For us, Jesus, having reached our present evolutionary level, it is not difficult to see that the devil, the lowest aspect of our being, wants to test us whether we are really ready to leave earthly life and its experiences behind. It wafts the promise of ruling all the kingdoms of the Earth under the nose of the masculine aspect of our nature. In the early stages of our development we would have done anything to get into a position of what we would then have perceived as ‘power’. Such a temptation would have been impossible to resist, as the masculine contains humankind’s inheritance of the characteristics of God, the masculine aspect of our Divine parents, with Its power and Its exceedingly strong will to rule and dominate the whole of Creation.
That’s why in the early stages of our earthly education, when we are serving our apprenticeship on the road to the spirit Master’s degree, the masculine part of us has to cope with an overpowering urge for seeking power, dominion and empire-building. During the patriarchy, as time went by for many men this developed into an ever greater appetite for ruling our entire world and everything in it, by any means whatever, especially warmongering. When these inclinations have been explored satisfactorily by each individual soul, our higher nature takes over and teaches us the feminine characteristics of the other aspect of the Holy Trinity, our Divine parents, the wisdom and love of the Great Mother, the Goddess. Her only aim is to bring more beauty, peace and harmony into our world.
By the time the lower and higher parts of our nature have joint forces and our earthly self has evolved into a Christed one, we have left all powerseeking behind. We have lost our taste for it because we are aware of the fleetingness and ultimate futility of all earthly enterprises. Now, all we are interested in are matters of a higher nature and of eternal value. Our only desire now is to humbly and obediently serve the Highest. Jesus in the desert represents us during this phase of our development and we respond to the temptations of our lower nature, the devil, with: ‘No chance of me wanting any of what you can offer, mate. Thank you. If I were stupid enough to accept our offer, I’d be stuck on the Earth plane forever and that’s definitely not what I want. I have no wish to remain trapped in temples and churches. They are not for me. I am spirit and I want to be free to roam and explore the higher and highest levels of life, to see what they are offering me and what I can learn there.’
‘Then the devil left Jesus and behold, Angels came and began to minister to him.’ The lower self gives up the battle and surrenders itself freely and willingly to its Highest Self. For a long time the small self is left in the dark about the presence of the Angel, but in truth they are always with us, supervising, monitoring and steering us and our world through the many different phases of our joint evolutionary journey. All along they modestly stayed in the background of our earthly existence, standing by, watching, observing and waiting, constantly ready to help and come to the rescue when one of us is seriously in distress or in danger of getting lost on the Earth plane. As for the whole of humankind they are increasingly moving into centre-stage position of our conscious awareness and attention, there is every reason for them to rejoice and sing. I for one am joining them most heartily.
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This article is a chapter from ‘Astrology As A Lifehelp On The Healing Journey’.
If it has whetted your appetite to read more, please follow the link below:
‘Astrology As A Lifehelp On The Healing Journey’
