Baptism
The Baptism of Jesus of Nazareth by John the Baptist in the river Jordan is the moment when the I of Jesus of Nazareth left the body, and the spiritual being of the Christ entered with a macroscopic I and pure higher triad. This was a unique event in the history of humanity and the solar system evolution, and a merger of etheric streams as Christ fructified the Earth and transformed its astral and etheric sheaths.
During the Baptism a union took place between a 'cosmic' etheric stream permeated with the airy substance, and the 'earthly human' etheric stream between the heart and the head, see also Etherization of blood. (1911-08-26-GA129)
The event was a cosmic intercourse or communion between the between all that streamed from the Earth and formed the human body from below upwards, and what as macrocosmic stream worked into Man from without.
This is what now gives to every human soul the possibility of permeating itself with that element out of cosmic space which is represented to us in the sign of the dove at the Baptism by John the Baptist (see The being of Elijah) in the Jordan.
Aspects
- when the Christ entered the body of Jesus, the formative force of the life ether flashed onto the very bones of the physical body (1908-08-14-GA105, 1909-07-03-GA112)
- the bones of Jesus of Nazareth changed in such a way that the Christ could crumble them and assemble them together again through cosmic warmth (1908-09-14-GA244 - Q&A 169.8, 1909-06-XX-GA244 - Q&A 190b.3)
- more background study skeleton and consciousness, oa 1924-01-07-GA352 and 1911-03-27-GA128, see skeleton on Spiritual scientific physiology#1924-01-07-GA352
- celebration with the Epiphany festival: the Baptism took place on 6th of January and was historically the main festival in ancient times, already from the egyptian cultural age onwards, upto around 350 AD (when it was replaced by Rome by the Christmas celebration of the birth of Jesus)
- the image and symbol of the dove
- the dove at the Baptism is a symbol of the Holy Ghost or inner Christ (1909-05-06-GA057), it represents the Holy Spirit who descends into the consciousness soul of Jesus of Nazareth and filled it as the spirit-self principle (1907-11-22-GA100, see Schema FMC00.218 below).
- note: the dove also appears on the seventh apocalyptic seal - see Schema FMC00.259 on Apocalyptic seals - a similar representation of the spiritual cosmic being descending into the symbol of the holy grail as the chalice or recipient, for an explanation see Discussion Note 4.3 on the Kundalini page
- the Zarathustra-I that left the body of Jesus at the Baptism incarnated 'very soon afterwards' again (see lecture reference in Discussion note [1] below)
- principle of sacrificing lower bodies to a higher being (as done by Zarathustra at the Baptism in the Jordan)
- "In the Sixth epoch it will be possible for a Man to place his body at the disposal of a sublime Being, as did Jesus of Nazareth" (1904-12-30-GA90A)
- case analogy: the case of Sig and Wotan (see also Wotan impulse)
- "the personality of Sig was prepared so he could place his body at the disposal of a higher Being, and in fact did so" (1904-12-30-GA90A)
- See also 1904-10-21-GA092 and the two 1905-GA090B lectures on German mythology.
- see also Schema FMC00.430 and Spiritual guidance of mankind#Putting a body at disposal of a higher spiritual entity
- baptism with water (by John the Baptist, as in ancient initiation rituals) and with fire (and spirit, by the Christ Impulse) (1909-06-30-GA112)
- the Baptism corresponds to what is conception in the life of an incarnate human being on Earth (1913-10-03-GA148)
- spiritual scientific understanding of the etheric streams (1911-08-26-GA129)
- of the Eagle, and the earthly streams of Bull and Lion
- of the Christ being that united with Earth
Illustrations
Schema FMC00.090 gives an overview of the structure of Christ-Jesus is presented in the following schema. There is a deep meaning behind each component in this table, as well as the stepwise development of this structure. For more info see the table with aspects above. More on: The two Jesus children
Schema FMC00.218 is added here for the column showing the terminology of esoteric Christianity. The Holy Spirit descends as the dove onto the body of Jesus and fills the consciousness or spiritual soul with a divine and pure spirit self principle (1907-11-22-GA100).
Schema FMC00.017 provides an overview on the 33 years period of the life of Christ-Jesus, with milestone events and coverage by the four gospels. It also provides a reference for the complementary coverage in the 18 lectures of the Fifth Gospel, read from the akashic records by Rudolf Steiner. See also clairvoyant research of akashic records. With the fifth gospel, confirmation and additional perspective was given of existing passages in the gospels (eg pentecost, temptation). Especially the period before and leading upto the Baptism is key, as it shows the accumulated pains and suffering in the figure of Jesus between age 12 and 30, realizing the state of affairs on Earth and caring for the fate and future of humanity.
Schema FMC00.083: presents the earthly phases of the Christ being, with milestones during these Three years of Christ Jesus, mapping these to the equivalent phases of the current life of a human being on Earth.
Schema FMC00.430: is a drawing made by Rudolf Steiner, recorded by Mathilde Scholl in a private conversation where she asked Rudolf Steiner how the aftereffects of an important Individuality such as the apostle Paul were related to the effects of the Earth's inner layer called the 'shatterer'. See also Schema FMC00.004 on Earth's inner layers.
More comments under the 1905-08-13-GA091 and Holy Supper symbolism - apostles#Note 2 - The Apostles and the Christ - Schema FMC00.430
For another example of what is depicted, see Sig-Wotan on Spiritual guidance of mankind#Sig - Wotan
Lecture coverage and references
1904-12-30-GA90A
In the Northern regions we find something similar, in that the personality of Sig was so prepared that he could place his body at the disposal of a higher Being, and, in fact, did so). In the Sixth epoch it will be possible for a Man to place his body at the disposal of a sublime Being, as did Jesus of Nazareth when Christianity was founded.
For longer extract, see: Epiphany#1904-12-30-GA90A
1906-03-05-GA106
also in 1908-09-12-GA106
"No bone of his shall be broken" (John 19:33-36). Christ sunk into physical matter (skeleton) .. they represent the higher formative forces of Christ.
1907-11-22-GA100
In such a document as St. John's Gospel everything is significant and important, and it is very accurately expressed. For example, why does the Holy Spirit appear in the form of a dove? If we were to explain all that is connected with this we should need a number of lectures; but we can gain at least an idea of it if we study the evolution of humanity from still another point of view.
...
[sketch of evolution - see lecture]
...
If we observe the time when the birds and reptiles branched off, we see that at that time there were actually physical human forms which looked like the later birds and some which looked like the later reptiles. The seer can look back into that distant time when the spiritual being of man had not yet taken possession of his body; he sees the group-soul of Man which floats round the bird-like body.
At this point those spiritual beings stop, who had no need to descend to the physical plane, and after they had come down to this stage of evolution in the physical world, they developed up again to the spiritual.
These are the beings of the astral plane (the world of the Holy Spirit) which kept the air as their kingdom, just as man takes possession of the physical earth as his kingdom. We must conceive of these beings also in the form of the bird, if they are to make themselves physically visible. Hence the writer of St. John's Gospel had to represent the Holy Spirit who descended into the spiritual soul of Jesus and filled it as the Spirit Self, under the symbol of a dove. When we consider this symbol in connection with the evolution of humanity it proves to be very profound.
1907-12-01-GA244 - Q&A 146.2
.. describes the baptism in its spiritual scientific and symbolic ritual meaning, as being taken up into a community. With the symbolism going back to the water and fire trials and earlier epochs.
The Christ-principle could not assume a human body in the same way as those did who descended entirely to the physical plane. Even such a Being as Jesus of Nazareth, Who had gone through many incarnations and attained to a high degree of initiation, was not capable at birth of being the vehicle of the Christ-individuality. Only after preparing himself through a life of thirty years had he succeeded in so far cleaning and purifying the outward physical sheaths — the physical, etheric, and astral bodies — that the Christ individuality could make use of them. In the thirtieth year of his life the individuality of Jesus of Nazareth left the outer vehicles which he had purified.
This took place at the baptism by John in Jordan. A change of individuality took place at this time, when the Christ took possession, not of an ordinary human body, but of a purified body. Then followed three years, during which Christ walked the earth in the body of Jesus, the years described in the Gospels between the baptism and the Mystery of Golgotha. We have here an Individuality Who had not appeared as in the ordinary course of events, where a form is provided at birth in accordance with the experience of many incarnations; but because this Individuality had entered into a body which for thirty years had been entangled in the physical world, and had received a mighty impulse through the Christ, something of profound importance took place which esotericists can read in the Gospels when they really know how to read them. There it stands; but such things are veiled.
[Christ's life ether formative force]
At the baptism in Jordan, when the significant symbol of the dove appeared above the head of Jesus, he was not merely inspired but directly intuited by the Christ. On that occasion something shot through the entire body of Jesus of Nazareth, even into those parts which, at the present stage of human development, are most withdrawn from the influence of man — the very bones. I am now about to say something which to the materialistic consciousness of the present day seems nonsense; but that is of no matter. At the moment when the body of Jesus of Nazareth was permeated and fired by the Individuality of Christ — the great Sun-Spirit — the effect reached even into the bones.
If you burn a bone the cartilaginous part is consumed and the bone ash is left. The mineral substance of the bone and the cartilage are held together by a power which is opposed to fire, but also, therefore, associated with it. This power is at present entirely beyond the control of man's will, but it was under the control of Him Who was later to pass through the Event of Golgotha. Man can at present move his hand, but has no power to affect the chemical forces of his bones; he has become solid through them. The body of Jesus of Nazareth, through its having been intuited by the Christ, is the only body on earth that has ever acquired control over the force that holds cartilage and bone-ash together.
Through this control over the bones a force entered the world which is positively able to conquer death; for the bones are guilty of the death of man. Man has become entangled in the mineral part of the earth through being so constructed that he has incorporated into himself solid bony substance.
Death came to him because of this, and it is not without cause that death is represented by a skeleton — the symbol is fully justified.
The Christ-Impulse is the living force that is able to again transform the bones that is, to lead men gradually towards that which is spiritual; and this will come to pass in future evolution. This is why no external force was permitted to interfere with the bony structure of Jesus Christ: no bone of Him was to be broken. The others who were crucified with Him had their bones broken, but in Him the words of the prophet had to be fulfilled: “No bone of Him shall be broken!” This was in order that what had been imparted as a mighty central impulse to the earth should not be spoilt by any outside influence.
In this way the mighty Sun-Spirit worked at that time in the mystery which took place at the baptism in Jordan. It was the same Sun-Spirit who through His withdrawal from the earth had made it possible for man to enter physical matter, by which ossification took place, and Who continues to work on him so that he may perceive the impulse by which he can again uplift or spiritualize this tendency towards ossification.
Risky as it may be to speak of such matters, it is the mission of the Anthroposophical movement to declare those things that have always been known, taught, and seen within the Mysteries. Only because this mystery had been accomplished, and because of this alone, did another mystery become possible.
1908-08-14-GA105
At the baptism in Jordan, when the significant symbol of the dove appeared above the head of Jesus, he was not merely inspired but directly intuited by the Christ. On that occasion something shot through the entire body of Jesus of Nazareth, even into those parts which, at the present stage of human development, are most withdrawn from the influence of man — the very bones.
I am now about to say something which to the materialistic consciousness of the present day seems nonsense; but that is of no matter. At the moment when the body of Jesus of Nazareth was permeated and fired by the Individuality of Christ — the great Sun-Spirit — the effect reached even into the bones.
If you burn a bone the cartilaginous part is consumed and the bone ash is left. The mineral substance of the bone and the cartilage are held together by a power which is opposed to fire, but also, therefore, associated with it. This power is at present entirely beyond the control of man's will, but it was under the control of Him Who was later to pass through the Event of Golgotha. Man can at present move his hand, but has no power to affect the chemical forces of his bones; he has become solid through them.
The body of Jesus of Nazareth, through its having been intuited by the Christ, is the only body on Earth that has ever acquired control over the force that holds cartilage and bone-ash together.
Through this control over the bones a force entered the world which is positively able to conquer death; for the bones are guilty of the death of man. Man has become entangled in the mineral part of the earth through being so constructed that he has incorporated into himself solid bony substance. Death came to him because of this, and it is not without cause that death is represented by a skeleton — the symbol is fully justified. The Christ-Impulse is the living force that is able to again transform the bones that is, to lead men gradually towards that which is spiritual; and this will come to pass in future evolution.
This is why no external force was permitted to interfere with the bony structure of Jesus Christ: no bone of Him was to be broken. The others who were crucified with Him had their bones broken, but in Him the words of the prophet had to be fulfilled: “No bone of Him shall be broken!” This was in order that what had been imparted as a mighty central impulse to the earth should not be spoilt by any outside influence.
1908-09-14-GA244 - Q&A 169.8
This is a question about the Jesus figure after 1908-09-14-GA106.
Internet translation, edited.
The basic fact is that in Jesus of Nazareth we have a personality that reached a high stage of development and that had strongly influenced its three [lower] bodies, already used to sacrifice [these] in previous incarnations. The I-individuality leaves its three [lower] bodies to enter three other bodies.
The difference of such personality is that in this case the etheric body remains in connection with the astral body. This can happen as a child or in old age. It is expressed externally in this way: Man somehow becomes unconscious, then he wakes up as if by a miracle, but then another individuality-personality or I-ness, has moved in.
[editor note: see also the Individuality that entered the body of the young boy Franz Bardon]
The difference with Jesus here was that it was the the Christ-individuality that took possession of the I-consciousness.
This was a significant process down into the physical body of Jesus of Nazareth, and the strongest effect happened on the bones.
Bone clay, bone ash and bone glue, that has to be held together to a certain form.
You can burn bones. There are certain forces and certain relationships to the power of fire [editor: or warmth]. Such/these give the bone the form.
[mineral bones and death, as a change of consciousness]
When the Earth was primeval, Man was jelly-like. The germ of death is connected with the ossification. Beings that have no skeleton do not die. The plant does not die. To die means: change of consciousness. The tree soul is mortal by lignification [verholzung].
Man in the present state of development has no effect on his bones.
This effect came only through the baptism by John, there the bones of Jesus of Nazareth suddenly changed in such a way that the Christ could scatter (or crumble) them and assemble (or put them together) at any time [zerstieben und zusammensetzen].
Through the penetration of this inner force had an influence on the form-solving and form-giving forces so the effect became arbitrary.
[note this sentence didn't make sense in internet translation, was therefore phrased differently. It was difficult to translate without giving it some interpretation. What is meant here in terms of meaning is that the life and chemical ethers of the Christ Impulse were able to be both 'solve' and 'coagula' (see Alchemy). Or differently: the Christ had full conscious control and the forces of the higher triad (spirit-man or atma) took hold of or replaced the spirits of the first of The elementary kingdoms in the higher spirit world].
With this act something happened which one can call in the most earnest way: a defeat of and overwinning of death.
Only in a distant future, when man will have learned to act arbitrarily on his bones, only then will cease again what you call consciousness between death and birth.
This is the physical reflection of an important process that finds expression in the baptism by John.
1909-02-03-GA244 - Q&A 179.1
- Questions & Answers session after lecture in Basel on spiritual economy (1909-02-03-GA109).
- Note: the current GA109 does not seem to contain this lecture. Rudolf Steiner held two lectures that day in Basel, the second lecture can be found as ' The Kernels of Wisdom in Religions' in GA068A. For clarity see steinerdatenbank (though the two typoscripts there do not contain the Q&As).
- p 303-304 in Vol. GA244 freely translated here, thereby deliberately taking a literally close translation (not one for smooth readability, but focusing on intended meaning)
In the Baptism by John, something very important and full of meaning happens as the Christ being dives into the lower sheaths of Jesus of Nazareth that has been deserted or left by the Zarathustra-I. The full power of the Christ I goes in right down to the bone system. Hence all the Christ can and will do, will depend on that he can arbitrarily control his own mass of the bone ash and cartilage, just like all the physical. He can randomly [durch Willkür] perform what dissolves the physical body. It is said "Not a bone of Him shall be broken.” [John 19:36]
and
With the others this may happen and there that doesn't matter, because the forces don't belong to them. But with Christ that would interfere with what is due, the dissolution of his physical body. In the Christ being we have a being, that can do with this physical body whatever he wants, upto the smallest particle and into the finest bone mass, because the Christ being has full mastery over all that is physical. What usually take a long time, the dissolution of the physical body, is done here instantly. Christ shares this body with the full Earth. What is left, is the [primeval] spiritual image of the physical body, called the phantom, whose powers operate in the physical body.
In any case matter is not something real. These are spiritual beings, working from 'the other side', and Man that counters and works it from the other side. Matter is what exists and comes into being through the countering of the workings of spiritual beings.
[editor: see also 1912-04-08-GA136 and FMC00.271A on The two etheric streams, where this is explained for a physical planet]
We can compare the physical body with a rainbow. Nothing would be there where the eye sees a physical body, if there would not be these [spiritual influences or] forces. These forces work [similarly] as in the resurrected body of Christ. It can be seen only by those, who have become clairvoyant by living together with Christ. They acquired the capability to observe with what is available. The powers that work in the physical body are there, but can only be observed when one can observe these supersensible influences.
The ash stays behind. Also the bone system dissolves. What we can do with these forces, Christ can do with his own physical body: he gave this to the Earth. As outer-telluric spirit, he was in the Earth's aura before.
[meaning: telluric is 'of this Earth', outer-telluric means: from outside of, and not of this Earth]
From the moment the blood flows, the astral body goes into the Earth. Since that time, the Earth has become the body of Christ.
In John 13:18 and Psalm 41:9 we find "who eats my blood, [threads or] tramples me with his feet"
[Steiner has a slightly different phrasing here. Note this is difficult to translate literally, as 'tritt mich mit Füssen' is an expression in German. Most translations are differently phrased, for John see here, eg "He who eats bread with Me has lifted up his heel against Me.", for Psalm 41 see here]
This spirit works further in Man. That, what Man takes from the Earth, is like an extract from the Earth substance.
That what flows through plants as juices [editor: etheric force is meant here], is his blood.
1909-05-06-GA057
The soul on earth who experiences a new impulse through Initiation is symbolised in the figure of Elsa von Brabant. This shows us the sense in which the Lohengrin legend — which has many other meanings as well — is a portrayal of Initiation in the Mysteries associated with the Holy Grail. Thus in the eleventh to the thirteenth century, these secrets of the Holy Grail were taught in connection with the Christ Mystery. The Knights of the Grail were the later Initiates. They were confronted in the world with an exoteric Christianity, whereas esoteric Christianity was cultivated in the Mysteries. And in the Mysteries, men sought to find that relation to Christianity whereby, through the outer Christ in the soul, the inner Christ, Who is symbolised by the Dove, was awakened to life.
1909-06-XX-GA244 - Q&A 190b.3
Through the Christ Impulse, spiritual fire was brought into the bone system [of Jesus] and gave the possibility to transfer it beyond the Earth stage of evolution. (Only fire or warmth dissolves the glue that is holding the mineral matter of bones together, the ash conserves the form) ...
1909-06-30-GA112
is on the Baptism with Water and the Baptism with Fire (and Spirit)
first
We must first of all remind ourselves that the condition to which people were reduced by the baptism in the Jordan was, after all, an abnormal one as compared with the ordinary, every-day state of consciousness.
We learned that the old initiation, for instance, was based upon the withdrawal, in a certain respect, of the etheric body, which normally is firmly joined to the physical body, and that this enabled the astral body to imprint its experiences into the etheric body. Such was the procedure in the old initiation, and an abnormal condition had to supervene in the baptism by John as well.
The disciple was submerged in water, resulting in a certain separation of the etheric from the physical body; and thus he could attain to a survey of his life and become aware of the connection of this individual life with the regions of the divine-spiritual world.
To make it a little clearer, we can say that when the submersion was successful it produced in the disciple the conviction: I have spirit within me; I am not just a being in this physical-material body; and this spirit within me is one with the spirit underlying all things.
And he knew in addition that the spirit whom he thus confronted was the same that Moses had perceived in the fire of the burning bush and in the lightning on Sinai as Jahve or Jehovah, as I am the I AM, as ehjeh asher ehjeh. All this was revealed to him through the baptism by John.
then
Now what is the difference between the baptism by John with water and the baptism by Christ with fire and spirit?
To understand the difference, we must first grasp the primary causes underlying it. For with regard to the understanding of Christ we are today still restricted to the first beginnings. This understanding will grow greater and greater, but only the rudiments can be grasped by humanity at the present time. Have the patience to begin with me at the A B C.
In the first place it must be pointed out that behind all physical occurrences (and all human physical conditions) there are in truth spiritual processes.
For modern humanity this is very hard to believe. The world will learn to do so in time, and only then reach a full understanding of Christ. Today even those who are prone to speak of spirit, do not themselves seriously believe that all physical processes in the human being are in the first instance directed from the spiritual world. They disbelieve it unconsciously, so to speak, even if they imagine themselves to be idealists.
….In our day when, we may say, everything spiritual is shrouded by the veil of materiality and must be rediscovered by a spiritual conception of the world; even now there are processes in us which are the heritage of the remote past, when the spiritual workings were more powerful — processes which show us in a significant manner how the spiritual forces operate…
For anthroposophy, the central figure in the whole tableau of reincarnation, of the nature of Man, of the survey of the cosmos, is the being whom we call the Christ.
…Spiritual science will become more perfect in the future, and our present understanding of the Christ will give way to a far higher kind of understanding. The power of anthroposophy will thereby become greater and greater; the development of those who open themselves to this power will be furthered, and the mastery of man's spiritual over his material nature will be heightened.
Since Man today is restricted to his inherited body, he can only evoke such manifestations as blushing, pallor, and phenomena like laughing and crying. In the future, however, he will gain increasing mastery over such phenomena; he will spiritualize, from his soul, the functions of his body, and take his place in the world as a powerful psychic-spiritual ruler. That will be the Christ-power.
That is the Christ-impulse working through mankind — the same impulse which, even today, when sufficiently intensified, can lead to the same results as the old initiation….
….Thus we see that the Christ-impulse brings something into the world which enables the human being to work upon the inner force which makes the blood pulsate in his veins. No abnormal event takes place and there is no immersion in water; the one and only influence at work here is the mighty power of the Christ-Individuality. The baptism is not in any material substance but in the influence of the spirit, and ordinary everyday consciousness undergoes no change.
Through the spirit poured forth as the Christ-impulse, something flows into the body which otherwise can result only from physical and physiological evolution — through fire, an inner fire which expresses itself in the circulation of the blood.
John immersed his disciples in water; the etheric body left the physical body and the disciple could behold the spiritual world.
But when Man opens himself to the power of the Christ-impulse, the experiences of his astral body are poured into the etheric body and clairvoyance ensues.
[editor: see also right on Schema FMC00.391 on Stages of clairvoyance, and Christ in the etheric]
Here we have an explanation of the expression ‘to baptize with the spirit and with fire’.
1909-07-03-GA112
on John 19:29-33
Now, all the old initiates achieved a certain degree of mastery over their physical body as a result of the procedure to which they were subjected; but there was one capacity that no old initiation could ever bring under the dominion of the human spirit. Here we touch the fringe, as it were, of a profound secret, or mystery. In the structure of man there is one element to which the power of a pre-Christian initiation could not penetrate: the subtle physicochemical processes in the skeleton. Strange as it may sound to you, that is the case. Previous to the Baptism of Christ Jesus there never had been a human individuality in earth evolution, either among initiates or elsewhere, with power over the chemico-physical processes in the skeleton. Through the entry of the Christ into the body of Jesus of Nazareth the I-hood of Christ acquired dominion even over the skeleton. And the result was that, as a unique event, there lived upon earth a body capable of employing its forces in such way as to incorporate the form of the skeleton — that is, its spiritual form — in Earth evolution. Nothing of all that man passes through in his earth development would endure were he not able to incorporate in Earth evolution, as a law, the noble form of his skeleton, were he unable gradually to master this law of the skeleton.
There is a connection here with an old popular superstition — indeed, old traditions are frequently associated with the occult. In certain circles it is customary to employ the skeleton as a symbol when death is to be represented. This stands for the idea that at the beginning of Earth evolution all the laws governing the systems of the human organization other than the skeleton were so far advanced that at the end of the Earth's evolution they would be present again, though in a higher form; but that evolution would carry over nothing into the future unless the form of the skeleton were taken over. The form of the skeleton conquers death in the physical sense, hence He Who was to vanquish death on the earth must have mastery over the skeleton — in the same manner as I indicated this mastery over certain spiritual attributes in connection with lesser faculties. Man has control of his circulatory system only to a slight degree: in feeling shame he drives his blood outward from within which means that the soul acts upon the circulatory system; in turning pale when frightened he drives his blood back inward into the center; in sorrow, tears come to his eyes. All these phenomena represent a certain dominion of the soul over what is bodily; but far greater mastery over the bodily functions is enjoyed by one who has been initiated beyond a certain stage: among other powers, he has the ability to control arbitrarily the movements of the various parts of his brain in a definite way.
The human being, then, that was the sheath of Jesus of Nazareth came under the dominion of the Christ; and the will of the Christ, His sovereign will, had the power to penetrate the skeleton, so that it could be influenced, so to speak, for the first time. The significance of this fact can be set forth as follows: Man acquired his present form, given by his skeleton, on the Earth — not during a previous embodiment of our planet; but he would lose it again had it not been for the coming of that spiritual power we call the Christ. He would carry over into the future nothing in the way of harvest and fruits of his sojourn on Earth had not Christ established His dominion over the skeleton. It was therefore a stupendous force that penetrated to the very marrow of the threefold sheath of Jesus of Nazareth at the moment of the Baptism by John. We must visualize this moment vividly, for it is one of the events we are considering.
...
Hence the momentous words spoken of Him Who hung on the Cross [editor: John 19:36]
Not a bone of him shall be broken.
Why? Because the form over which Christ must retain His dominion was not to be desecrated. Had they broken His bones, a base human force would have interfered with the power Christ must exercise even over the bones of Jesus of Nazareth. None must touch that form, for it was written that this should remain wholly subject to Christ's dominion.
1911-08-26-GA129
In this lecture is explained how the Christ being, during the Old Sun stage, embedded himself in a body of the element air, rather than the purely etheric streams. This way he stayed connected with the stream of densification that set in for the Earth, see Spectrum of elements and ethers.
See also context and quotes about this on Christ on Old Sun and Sun
.. whereas the other beings among the upper gods refused to take the air element with them when they withdrew from development as a whole into cosmic space, this being did take the air-element with him, so that he remained related to the Earth. Thus through this being there was outside in cosmic space all the time for all future evolution an clement akin to the Earth, the element which had already on the Old Sun condensed to air or gas.
.. he sun as it moves in space today is not only there for clairvoyant sight as an etheric structure, it is also a globe of gas, it is condensed to the state of air. The sun would never have condensed to the state of air had not the being who descended to Earth with the dove in the baptism by John in the Jordan, during the Old Sun stage detached himself in a body of air and not merely in an etheric body. Thus when we look up at the sun we have to say:
‘The warmth, light and chemical impulses in the sun are connected with the other Beings, those who are only the ideas or representations of the lower gods; but the gaseous element in the sun is actually the body of Christ.’
...
Our modern materialistic science will one day come to learn once more the ancient doctrine of Zarathustra, will one day have to say to itself: ‘The sun as a globe of vapour outside in space is not merely what our astro-chemistry makes of it, not merely what our spectral-analysis reveals, but the sun as a globe of air or vapour there outside in the heavens is the pristine body of Christ, who was associated with the other upper gods, but was also connected with the being of the Earth.’
That is what Zarathustra perceived when he expressed the Mystery of the Christ in the sun by the word Aura or Ahura Mazdao — the great wisdom-filled Spirit, the great wisdom, the great aura.
And then what up to that time had existed solely in the Sun, and yet was akin to the nature of the Earth, did in fact take possession in the mysterious moment of the Baptism by John in the Jordan, of the physical, etheric and astral bodies of Jesus of Nazareth.
In the body of Jesus of Nazareth for the first time upon our Earth, the purified stream from cosmic space united with the newly arising etheric body streaming from the human heart to the brain.
During the Baptism by John in the Jordan there took place a union between
- what was indeed a real stream that came from without, from cosmic space, being moreover permeated with airy substance
- and the stream which rises upwards continuously as the finest etheric constituents of the heart-blood towards the head.
This is what first gave to every human soul the possibility of permeating itself with that element out of cosmic space which is represented to us in the sign of the dove at the Baptism by John in the Jordan.
In fact, through that event an intercourse was created between the entire universe, so far as it is accessible to us, and its purest extract, which previously, provisionally we might say, had co-operated in what is called esoterically the eagle-stream.
It was a communication, an interaction, between
- all that streamed from the Earth and formed the human body from below upwards
- and what as macrocosmic stream worked into man from without.
From this you see how we can enter ever more deeply into the Mystery which took place in Palestine. The more we ourselves advance in knowledge of what the world is, the better we come to understand the Mystery of Golgotha.
Discussion
Note 1 - About Master Jesus and the Zarathustra-I after the Baptism
See also: Individuality of Master Jesus
1911-01-21-GA264 or 1911-01-23-GA264
What happened the Zarathustra-I (originating from the Solomon Jesus child, but merged to the lower bodies of the Nathan Jesus child from age 12) after he left the physical body at the Baptism?
The following quote can be found in 1911-01-21or23-GA264:
He himself took up incarnation very soon after leaving the three sheaths of the Nathan Jesus.
...
His I united with the etheric body of the Solomon Jesus, which, at the latter's death, has been taken up into the spiritual world by the mother of the Nathan Jesus.
See also Schema FMC00.043 on The two Jesus children
Related pages
References and further reading
- Eberhard Kurras: 'De doop in de Jordaan' (1966) (article in 'De Christengemeenschap', No 21/3, pages 92-97)
Baptism as a christian sacrament
- Otto Palmer: 'Die christliche Taufe : Briefe an eine junge Mutter' (1929)
- Kurt von Wistinghausen: 'Die erneuerte Taufe' (1967)
- Berthold Wulf: 'Sieben Sakramente: Die Taufe' (1979)
- Johannes Lenz: 'Die Taufe : das Sakrament der Christwerdung' (1991)
- F.C.J. Los: 'Het sacrament van den doop'
- P. Müller: De doop' (article in Uit: De Christengemeenschap , year/nr 2, 5, p 8-13)
- Emil Bock: 'De Christelijke Doop in onze tijd' (article in 'De Christengemeenschap 'year/nr 6, 5, p 1-8)
- J. Knijpenga: 'De doop van Jezus en onze doop' (article in De Christengemeenschap, year/nr 19, p 10-13)
