The Rudolf Steiner Archive

8. The Gospel of Matthew and the Christ Problem

[ 1 ] In recent years, it has also been possible in various Swiss locations to discuss a highly significant topic in the humanities—a topic that is, in essence, the most important one for the humanities: the Christ problem. And even if many people today—who stand entirely outside the spiritual science movement—believe that this is, in essence, the simplest topic one can discuss, such people are right from their own point of view. What is greatest for the development of the Earth and humanity—the Christ force, the Christ impulse—has certainly worked in such a way that even the simplest, most naive mind can somehow grasp it. But on the other hand, this impulse has also worked in such a way that no earthly wisdom is sufficient to truly understand what happened in Palestine at the beginning of our era—what happened for humanity and, in essence, for the whole world.

[ 2 ] The “Christ problem” has been a topic of discussion, especially in recent years, and I would like to take a moment to point out that the German Section has just completed its first seven-year cycle. It was founded seven years ago; at that time, there were few branches—barely ten. Now the number has grown to over forty. The number 7 is, after all, so frequently cited when we speak of anthroposophical wisdom and worldview, and a certain lawfulness is also expressed in it, such that this development takes place over seven successive periods. We need only recall what we have already touched upon here—the evolution of our Earth, which passes through seven planetary states. Even on a smaller scale, whether for every individual aspect of world evolution or for a movement such as that of spiritual science, the law of the number 7 is at work. Those who look more deeply into our movement can see that, in a certain sense, this seven-year cycle has unfolded quite lawfully, and how we have reached a decisive point where what was laid down as an impulse seven years ago is repeated on a higher level and, at the same time, returns to itself as a cycle; but this could only have happened because we have truly worked in the spiritual sense—not arbitrarily or haphazardly, but in accordance with the law.

[ 3 ] You will recall that we distinguish seven members of the human being’s nature: first, the physical body, the etheric body, the astral body, and the “I”; then, when the ego in turn transforms the astral body, the mental self or Manas arises; when it transforms the etheric body, the life spirit or Buddhi arises; and when it finally transforms the physical body, the highest member, the spiritual human or Atma, arises—so that we first distinguish four members and then three further ones, which arise as transformations of the first three.

[ 4 ] If one wishes to carry out anything in the world in such a way that a spiritual law is embodied in it, then this great law must be followed in every respect. If you, as a young branch, so to speak, wish to enter spiritual life in the appropriate manner, it is good to see how the organization of the entire work has progressed. For the young branch will recognize that it is necessary to catch up with and follow this course of development. We have strictly adhered to this course within the German movement: during the first four years, we compiled everything necessary to gain even a basic understanding of the world from which spiritual science proceeds. There we first set forth the sevenfold nature of the human being, the doctrine of karma and reincarnation, the great cosmic laws, the Saturn, Sun, and Moon evolutions, and the laws governing the individual life course, so that all this is now available in our literature and in various branch publications. This took place during the first four years.

[ 5 ] Over the past three years, we have not, in essence, gained anything new in terms of a systematic approach; rather, we have implanted the higher wisdom into what was accomplished during the first four years and have then ascended to a grasp of the highest Individuality that has walked upon our Earth—the Individuality of Christ Jesus —which we would not have been able to do if it had, so to speak, had to be done with nothing but unfamiliar concepts. We could only speak of Christ after we had spoken of the nature of the human being in general. We could only understand how this Christ event took place once we had grasped human nature and its entire sequence of stages. Those who attended the lectures on the Gospel of Luke in Basel, as well as others who have heard bits and pieces here and there, know that very complex processes took place there. But how could we have understood, for example, that something significant occurred in the twelfth year of the boy Jesus’ life if we had not known what generally happens between the ages of twelve and fifteen? We laid the groundwork systematically, and then, with deep reverence for the greatest truths of our earthly cycle, we sought to grasp what is connected with the name of Christ Jesus. It was like ascending to ever greater heights. Thus it came to pass that we were able to contemplate Christ Jesus in connection with the Gospels of John and Luke. Even back then in Basel, it was emphasized that no one should believe that, having heard all the truths connected with these two Gospels, they would then know the nature and essence of that exalted spiritual being. One has experienced this from only one side. One should by no means believe that it is unnecessary—or merely a repetition—to hear the truth from another side as well. The Gospels serve as pictures of this great event, with each evangelist depicting what happened in Palestine from a certain point of view.

[ 6 ] The day before yesterday in Bern, I outlined what is now taking place in various fields. For very specific reasons, I attempted—drawing on the Gospel of Matthew—to sketch out a picture of Christ. There are very specific reasons for this. Spiritual science is meant to be a way of life, not a theory or a doctrine; it is meant to transform our innermost spiritual life. We are to learn to view the world in a new way. And there is a quality that we must acquire—one that human beings are increasingly acquiring and learning, precisely through the wisdom of anthroposophy. There is no exact word for this quality in any language, but spiritual science will yet find the word for this new feeling of the heart. Until then, we can only use the word that exists for this quality: it is humble modesty that must take ever deeper root in our souls, especially in relation to those texts—the Gospels—that bring us news of that most significant event in Earth’s evolution. For there we learn that, fundamentally speaking, we can only very slowly approach the truths and insights necessary to fathom the Christ problem. We learn to develop within ourselves a feeling quite different from that of people today, who are so quick to pass judgment on the event. We learn to be cautious in presenting the truth, and we know that, no matter which aspect we focus on, we always perceive only one side, never the whole at once.

[ 7 ] This is connected to—and we are only gradually coming to understand—why there are four Gospels in the first place. Today, the situation is such that even theology is intellectual and materialistic, and that the intellect, when applied solely to the four texts, will compare them superficially. And that is when one perceives contradictions. First, one has examined the Gospel of John. “What it presents so superficially to the intellect,” people say, “contradicts the other three Gospels so strongly that the best way to understand this Gospel is to say that the writer did not intend to describe actual events, but rather sought to present a kind of hymn, a kind of confession—a rendering of his feelings.” The Gospel of John is viewed as a grand, comprehensive poem, and this sets it apart from the status of a historical document. But only the superficial, materialistic mind does this. Then attention turns to the other three Gospels. Certain contradictions are found there as well; but these are explained by the fact that the Gospels were written at different times. In short, people today are well on their way to picking these historical records of the great event to pieces, so that they no longer mean anything at all to humanity. Spiritual science, however, is called upon to show why we have four different historical records of the event in Palestine and to reclaim these records for spiritual science. Why are there four historical records?

[ 8 ] People did not always think the way they do today. There were times when the Gospels were not available to everyone, but only to a very small number of people—specifically, those who guided spiritual life during the first centuries of Christianity. Why don’t people ask themselves today: Weren’t these people complete fools for failing to see that the Gospels contradict one another? Or were they so clouded in their thinking that they did not see these contradictions? — The best minds of their age accepted these documents with such humility that they looked up to them and were glad that we have four Gospels, which people today say cannot be authentic documents because they contradict one another!

[ 9 ] Well, without dwelling on this any further, let us draw attention to how the Gospels were received in the first centuries of Christianity, and how they must be received. They were received in those times in a way that can be compared to the following: If we take photographs of the bouquet standing here from four different angles, we end up with four photographs. When viewed individually, they differ from one another, but by looking at any one of these photographs, one can form an impression of the bouquet. Now someone comes along and takes a photograph from yet another angle. When you compare the two images, you find: Yes, these are two completely different images; they cannot depict the same thing. — And yet: one will then have a more complete picture of it; and only when one has photographed the bouquet from all four sides and compared all four images with one another will one obtain a complete picture of the actual bouquet. — Thus, the four Gospels are to be understood as characterizing the same event from four different perspectives.

[ 10 ] Why, then, is this single event characterized from four different perspectives? Because it was known that each of the authors of these Gospels was imbued with a profound, humble humility—a humility that told him: This is the greatest event in the history of the Earth; you must not even dare to describe it in its entirety, but you may only describe the aspect that, according to your understanding, you are capable of describing. - In humble modesty, the writer of the Gospel of Luke refrained from describing any aspect other than the one that was closest to him by virtue of his particular spiritual training, which told him that Jesus Christ was the individual in whom the greatest unfolding of love lived—a love that went as far as self-sacrifice. How does this love manifest itself? The author of the Gospel of Luke describes this, saying to himself: “I am unable to describe the entire event; therefore, I will limit myself to describing only this aspect—love.”

[ 11 ] We can understand this limitation of the Gospel writers to a specific field only if we gain some insight into the nature of initiation in the ancient mystery cults. Only from this perspective can we understand the behavior of the evangelists. They know that initiation is the leading of human beings up into the higher, supersensible worlds; it is the human being’s immersion into these higher, supersensible worlds; it is the awakening of the soul’s powers—the awakening of those forces and abilities that are otherwise hidden and dormant within the soul. Such initiations have always existed. In pre-Christian times, there were the ancient mysteries of the Egyptians and Chaldeans, in which people who were ready for it were led up into the higher worlds. However, the work was carried out there in a very special way—a way that can no longer be fully practiced today. As you know, human beings today possess three soul forces: thinking, feeling, and willing. Human beings employ these three soul forces in ordinary life, and they do so in such a way that, in their interaction with the outside world, all three are active and engaged, so to speak.

[ 12 ] Let’s use an example to illustrate how these three soul forces operate. You are walking across a meadow. You see a flower. You form a mental image of it: you are thinking. You like the flower: you feel that the flower is beautiful; feeling has joined thinking. And then you desire to pick the flower: in doing so, you exercise your will. Thus, thinking, feeling, and willing were at work in your soul. And now consider the whole of human life: insofar as it is soul life, it is an interplay of thinking, feeling, and willing. And human beings go through life through the interplay of these three forces. The soul lives in thinking, feeling, and willing.

[ 13 ] When a person is led up into the higher worlds, this is a manifestation of these three forces as they exist in ordinary life. One can develop thinking to a higher level so that it becomes vision. And in the same way, one can also elevate feeling and willing into the spiritual world. This is what initiation consists of.

[ 14 ] Those who have taken a closer look at How Does One Gain Knowledge of the Higher Worlds? will have read about what happens when a person develops their thinking, feeling, and willing upward into the spiritual worlds. What occurs is what is called the “splitting of the personality.” These three forces are usually organically connected: a person thinks, feels, and wills within a single personality. However, as a person evolves upward into the higher worlds, these three forces are torn apart. Whereas they are normally forces, they now become independent entities as the person evolves into the higher worlds. Three independent entities arise: a thinking entity, a feeling entity, and a willing entity. This is the so-called danger that a person’s soul life might be torn apart. If a person does not proceed in the right way when treading the path of higher knowledge, it may happen that they elevate their thinking into the higher regions. Then they may indeed look into the higher worlds, but they stop there; they may suppress their will, or it may take entirely different paths. Today, what happens is that the “I” rises above itself, that the “I” can become the ruler, that it can reign as a king over the three soul forces, namely thinking, feeling, and willing.

[ 15 ] In ancient times, this was not the case. In the pre-Christian mystery schools, the principle of the division of labor prevailed. For example, a person would be admitted to the initiation sites, and it would be said: “This person is particularly suited to developing the power of thought.” - One’s thinking was then cultivated and raised to a higher level; one was made a sage who could perceive the spiritual connections underlying all sensory phenomena. This was one category of initiates from the ancient mystery temples: the sages.

[ 16 ] In the mystery schools, some people were trained in such a way that the dormant powers of feeling within them were developed to a higher degree, while thinking and willing were left at their original level. Feeling, then, was elevated. When a person’s feeling is developed to a very high degree, they thereby acquire special qualities. There is a fundamental difference between a person whose feeling had been developed in this way at an ancient mystery site and a person of the present day. The influence of such a developed person—the spiritual and psychological influence—was much stronger than is the case today. This development of the powers of feeling meant that the soul of such a person could exert a powerful influence on the souls of those around them. As a result, those who had particularly developed the sphere of feeling became healers for their fellow human beings. By developing their feeling through the service of sacrifice, they were called to have a healing effect on other people.

[ 17 ] The third level of initiates consisted of those in whom the power of will had been developed. These were the magicians. Thus, there were three kinds of initiates: the magicians, the healers, and the sages. These were people who received their training in the mystery schools of antiquity. Today, given the nature of human beings, it would no longer be possible to develop just one of these qualities in a one-sided manner, because it is no longer possible to establish such a high degree of harmony among individual human beings as there was back then in the mystery schools. The one who was a sage in the ancient mystery schools renounced this, so to speak, with self-denial. That is how it was. The one who was a healer carried out the sage’s instructions with the utmost obedience, renounced higher wisdom, and used his emotional faculties according to the instructions of the one who was a sage.

[ 18 ] In addition, there was a fourth category of people at the mystery sites. These were necessary. For there were cases in these sanctuaries where it was not possible for the three categories of initiates to find the right approach to work in the outer world. Some things could not be accomplished by an initiate from any of the three categories mentioned, but only because a fourth category of people was present. This involved admitting certain individuals who were suited for this purpose into the mystery schools, with the understanding that the high degrees of initiation that can be developed by sages, healers, and magicians cannot be developed in people of this fourth category. However, it was possible to go so far with them as to elevate each individual ability of the other three categories to a certain degree. No single ability was as strongly developed as in the one-sidedly trained initiates—the sages, healers, or magicians—but in return, there was a certain harmony of all three qualities in this fourth category. Such an initiate embodies within himself the harmony of the other three types of initiates. And now, certain tasks require that one relinquish all one’s own individuality and rely precisely on the word of the one who, in a certain respect, stands below oneself. Thus, there were cases in the ancient mystery centers where neither the sages nor the healers nor the magicians made the decisions, but merely placed their powers at the service of the fourth type, who were not as advanced as they were. Nevertheless, they placed their powers at the service of this fourth initiate. In doing so, it always turned out that the evolution of the worlds progressed better when, in such cases, the higher one obeyed the lower one.

[ 19 ] This was the case in the Eastern mystery schools, where those of higher rank exercised their powers as directed by the fourth, whom they obeyed blindly. In the mystery schools of Europe, there were colleges of twelve who were initiated, and at the head of these stood a Thirteenth who was not initiated; they obeyed him. He was to specify what was to be done. He relied on his instinctive will, and the others, who stood higher than he, carried out what he instructed them to do. You can only understand this if you look back to those times when there was still a deep trust in a being in the world who was not bound by human thought and will. Today, human beings consider themselves the most intelligent beings in the world. But that was not always the case. There were times when people said to themselves: “Yes, it is indeed true that I can develop to a higher level. I have the ability to do so, but I must not assume that I am already, at this very moment, the most highly developed creature in the world.”

[ 20 ] We can see that this is true by considering a simple example. Let us recall that it was only in the course of historical development that humans gradually invented paper—that is, the process by which certain substances are transformed into paper. The wasp has been able to do this for a long time! Now, humans should say to themselves: I had to acquire this knowledge relatively late in history. The wasp could not have learned its art from humans; divine art reigns in its skill. In what the wasp does, it is imbued with divine wisdom.

[ 21 ] Such initiates, who came together as a group of twelve in pre-Christian times, were inspired by similar feelings. They said to one another: “Certainly, we have developed great powers within ourselves, but even with all our powers and abilities, we have achieved only what is prefigured on a lower level in less developed individuals by higher divine beings.”—They looked upon a thirteenth who had remained at a level that was, in comparison to theirs, childlike and naive. They said: “He does not possess human wisdom within himself as we do, but is still imbued with divine wisdom.” — The Eastern sages, healers, and magicians also said: “We follow the one who has not yet reached our level, but who stands at a stage where he still possesses divine wisdom within himself.” - This renunciation spread like a magical breath over the ancient mysteries, which knew this. And now you will recall Goethe’s poem “The Mysteries,” in which a Thirteenth, Brother Markus, is introduced into the circle of eminent men. Here we have a phenomenon deeply rooted in human nature—even if it seems foreign to people today—consisting in the fact that an initiate of the fourth category, who does not rise as high as the others through the development of his own powers, is nevertheless held in such high esteem that he leads the other twelve.

[ 22 ] We thus have four types of initiates: healers, sages, magicians, and the fourth type, which was called “human” in a special sense. Four such initiates set out to describe the greatest event in the history of Earth’s evolution: a sage, a healer, a magician, and a human being in the sense of the initiate of the fourth category. One described it from the perspective of the ordinary human being; one is the magician, who focused primarily on the forces of will inherent in the nature of the Christ and incorporated them into his Gospel; and one is the healer who wrote the Gospel of Luke. Hence you find precisely the tradition in which Luke is regarded as a physician, and this also corresponds to the fact that Luke assists his fellow human beings with self-sacrificing love. Then there is a sage who wrote down what constitutes the wise nature of Christ.

[ 23 ] These are the four initiates who, refraining from describing the whole, said to themselves: We can only depict what is close to our souls. However, the humble modesty of these four individuals—who refrained from presenting the complete image of Christ, but only what they could see and perceive according to their own unique individuality—stands out as something lofty and powerful in contrast to the consciousness of modern man, who has no doubt whatsoever that he can comprehensively grasp even the highest things with his intellect.

[ 24 ] Since I have already shed light on two aspects of this momentous event in Basel during my lectures on the Gospels of Luke and John, I would like to speak here today about the Gospel of Matthew. We could just as easily continue with the Gospel of Mark. But there are certain reasons why, having undertaken to describe this great event a little from the standpoint of spiritual science, I have now chosen the Gospel of Matthew following the Gospels of Luke and John. The reason for this is that we should gain a sense of how to approach the understanding of this world event with humble modesty. We learn great truths in the Gospels of Luke and John. But what we encounter in the Gospel of Mark is, in part, so shattering that, if one has not yet heard the various things that tie in with the Gospel of Matthew, one might, so to speak, believe that there are profound contradictions between the Gospel of Mark and the other Gospels. One would not be able to come to terms with the Gospel of Mark, for in this Gospel the greatest, the most shattering truths of the world are revealed; not the highest truths—those are contained in the Gospel of John. Therefore, today I will speak about the Gospel of Matthew.

[ 25 ] In our examination of the Gospel of Luke, we have seen that the most diverse spiritual currents existing in the world converged to form a single stream during the time when the Christ event took place. It has been shown how, on the one hand, the Buddha’s teachings of compassion and love flowed into Christianity; and on the other hand, it has been shown how the teachings of Zarathustra flowed into Christianity. But all pre-Christian spiritual currents also flowed into this significant event. And the Gospel of Matthew in particular reveals how the ancient Hebrew spiritual current—the spiritual current of ancient Judaism—flowed into it, so that, in order to understand the Gospel of Matthew, one must speak of the true mission of the ancient Jewish people.

[ 26 ] As you know, spiritual research draws not only from the Gospels, but also from the spiritual world, from the imperishable Akashic Records. Even if all the Gospels had been destroyed by some earthly catastrophe, what spiritual research has to say about the events in Palestine could still be conveyed. Once we have this information from the pure sources available to spiritual science, we compare it with the great records—the Gospels—and there we see that wonderful agreement which instills in us a deep reverence for the Gospels, to which we look, and through which it becomes clear to us from what lofty source they must have originated. For the writers of the Gospels tell us things that we can understand only if we have been trained in the way of seeing that spiritual science provides.

[ 27 ] What is the mission of the Hebrew people? To understand this, we must look back a bit at the course of human development. You know that what we today consider human abilities have evolved. Only materialistic science—which cannot see beyond the tip of its nose—believes today that these human faculties developed on their own. At most, it still believes that humanity evolved from the animal realm, but it is unable to trace them back to true soul faculties. Spiritual science, however, knows that the soul faculties of millennia ago were different from those of today. Thus, in ancient times, people possessed what is called a dull, twilight form of clairvoyance. It was only in later times that today’s waking consciousness gradually emerged from this clairvoyance; and this development began at a very specific point in time, when this kind of imagination took hold in humanity.

[ 28 ] When we look back at ancient Indian culture, we find a form of clairvoyance there. People today must look at the things around them if they want to get to know them. The ancient Indian, however, did not come to know things in the way we observe them today. A science such as is taught even to children today did not exist back then. In ancient India, a sage received his knowledge through inner inspiration when he completely turned his inner being away from the outer world, when he rested within himself or in his higher being. He called this his union with Brahma. He thus received knowledge through inner inspiration. It was knowledge based entirely on clairvoyant inspiration. In contrast, external knowledge was Maya to him.

[ 29 ] However, this clairvoyance gradually receded. Even in ancient Persian culture, there was a strong emphasis on external observation, although inner knowledge still held sway. Similarly, in the third cultural epoch, inner inspiration was still present, even though people had already made progress in understanding external things. In ancient Chaldea, there existed what we now call astrology; it was a kind of science of the stars. Today, in the realm of external science, no one knows anything about the essence of astrology. Today, no matter how closely you examine the stone inscriptions, you know absolutely nothing about the true nature of astrology. No one today can evoke a sense of what astrology meant to the ancient Chaldeans. It was not knowledge born of observing the starry sky. The Chaldeans did not study the physical planet Mars by turning their gaze toward it, but rather what could be learned about it by allowing the clairvoyantly imparted knowledge to shine forth within. This is not an external process of deduction, and there is no full consciousness at all of what this knowledge reveals about the outer heavens. It was precisely in the ancient places of initiation that the very first concepts of knowledge about the world of the stars arose. In what is communicated there about the evolution of the Earth and the connections between the Earth and Mars, and so on, we still have knowledge born from within. Likewise, Egyptian geometry was a form of knowledge born from within and applied only to the measurement of the external world. It was only through the development of other powers that the ancient Chaldeans were able to attain external knowledge. This mission—to bring humanity to an external, deductive form of knowledge—was assigned to the Hebrew people by the spiritual leaders of world evolution. All the knowledge of the Indians, the Persians, the Chaldeans, and the Egyptians—as significant as it was—did not require a physical brain. This knowledge resided in the etheric body, which is not bound to the physical brain and functions freely. When a person acts freely in the etheric body, the image that constitutes the knowledge of those ancient peoples arises; just as even today all clairvoyant knowledge arises when a person is able to lift the etheric body out of the physical body and not make use of their physical brain.

[ 30 ] Humanity was to acquire the ability to perceive through its brain. To this end, it was necessary to select the individual who possessed the most suitable brain—one least prone to clairvoyant intuitions, yet capable of utilizing the brain effectively. Here we have yet another instance where reading the Akashic Records confirms the facts of the Bible. What is written in the Bible is accurate down to the letter. In fact, an individual had been chosen who, by virtue of his physical constitution, possessed the most suitable brain to lay the foundation for spiritual work carried out through the brain. This individual was Abraham. He was chosen to fulfill the mission that would lead humanity to perceive the external world through their physical brains. He was a person who was least suited to receiving any kind of inspiration, but who logically investigated external phenomena in terms of measure, number, and weight. An ancient tradition regards Abraham as the inventor of mathematics, and it is more correct than the modern, external worldview realizes.

[ 31 ] The point now is that this mission must be introduced into the world in the proper way. Let us consider: when, in the past, a mission was entrusted to an individual, how was it then passed on to humanity? It was passed from the teacher to the students. Whoever had an inspiration passed it on to his successor. But what was entrusted to the ancient Hebrew people was bound to a physical vessel that could not simply be passed on to a descendant unless that descendant possessed the appropriate brain for it. Therefore, it had to be bound to physical heredity; it had to be passed down through the generations. It was not a group of disciples that had to follow Abraham, but a people to whom this brain could be inherited through the generations. That is why Abraham became the progenitor of his people.

[ 32 ] It is wonderful to see in the Bible how the leading spiritual powers entrusted this mission to Abraham. What was to be given to humanity through Abraham’s mission? What had once been known through inspiration was to be rediscovered; it was now to be regained on a different level through mere reasoning. Through this, what was discovered by reasoning was to be modeled after the Law. Therefore, Yahweh said: “This mission shall be a reflection of the highest lawfulness that we know.”—He said: “Your descendants shall be as numerous as the stars in the sky.” - It is a complete error to translate this passage of the Bible as if Yahweh had said that the descendants of Abraham should be as numerous as the stars in the sky; rather, they should procreate in accordance with the law, so that the regularity expressed is like the regularity of the firmament.

[ 33 ] Abraham had a son, Isaac, and a grandson, Jacob. We see how the twelve tribes of the Jewish people are descended from him. These twelve tribes are a reflection of the order of the twelve signs of the zodiac. A new social order was to be established through Abraham, like the stars in the sky. Thus we see how spiritual science draws out the true meaning from the texts of the Bible, and through this we gain a correct understanding of this most profound document of humanity. We should renounce what is known as ancient clairvoyance. Existence should no longer unfold in such a way that one turns one’s gaze away from the external world; rather, the human gaze should penetrate and explore the external world. But this mission was a gift that was to be bestowed upon humanity from outside. Abraham had the mission to pass on the capacity of the brain to his descendants. It was to be a gift, and so we see that Abraham receives the entire Jewish people as a gift. What could a spiritual power have given to Zarathustra? A teaching, something one-sidedly spiritual; but Abraham was to be given his people—a real gift based on the propagation of the physical brain. How was this people given to him? By his willingness to sacrifice his son. Had he done so, there would have been no Jewish people. By having his son returned to him, he received the entire Jewish people as a gift from outside. At the very moment Abraham receives Isaac back—the son he was to sacrifice—he receives the entire Jewish people, his descendants, as a gift in return. This is a gift from Yahweh to Abraham. And it was then that the last of the clairvoyant gifts was bestowed. The individual gifts of clairvoyance are structured such that there are twelve of them, and they are designated by the twelve constellations, for they are, after all, gifts from heaven. The last of these gifts of clairvoyance was sacrificed by Abraham in order to receive the Israelite people as a gift. The ram that Abraham sacrifices in place of his son is the embodiment of the last of the gifts of clairvoyance. Thus, the Jewish people received the mission to develop the ability to synthesize, to come to know the phenomena of the world through their own faculties—which are contained within the brain—up to a certain unity that is represented as Yahweh. And they take this mission so seriously that whatever remains among the Jewish people as a legacy of the earlier mode of perception—namely, the ancient clairvoyance—is cast out. Joseph still had “dreams” of the old clairvoyant kind. He still makes use of the old clairvoyance; but he is cast out of the community because the Jewish people have the mission of eliminating this old ability of clairvoyance from their development. Thus Joseph is sent away. Through this, however, he becomes the mediator between the Jewish people and that which they must assimilate in order to carry out their cultural mission. The sons of Abraham had renounced receiving inspirations from within; thus they had to receive from the outside what is otherwise owed to these inspirations—what is otherwise attained as a message from within. When they are led over to Egypt, they receive it through Moses—they who are now the missionaries of external, physical thinking. What other peoples have received through inspiration, they now receive from the outside as law. It is indeed the case that what we call the Ten Commandments is the very same thing that other peoples have attained through inner inspiration. The Jews receive from Egypt through Moses—as commandments from the outside—what should actually be heavenly inspirations.

[ 34 ] After this people received the inspirations from Egypt, it settled in Palestine. This people was called to give birth, from within itself, to the one bearer of Christ. These characteristics, which were passed down from generation to generation, were to bring about the physical embodiment of Jesus; therefore, all the faculties that were present in Abraham as initial potential must be brought together. The entire Jewish people must mature and develop to such an extent that what was present in Abraham as potential is brought to its highest peak in a descendant. To understand this, we must draw a comparison with the development of an individual human being. In the first seven years, it is primarily the physical body that develops. From the seventh to the fourteenth or fifteenth year—that is, in the second life cycle—it is the etheric body that develops, followed by the astral body; only then does the “I” emerge. What is initially present as a potential only emerges once these three bodies have developed. This also applies to an entire people. The Abrahamic predisposition first had to become integrated into the physical, etheric, and astral bodies; only then could it be taken up by the “I.” We must divide the development of the Jewish people into three epochs. What takes seven years in an individual human being is spread over seven generations in a people. Or, as you know, in inherited traits, the son resembles not so much the father as the grandfather. Therefore, two times seven—that is, fourteen generations—are actually necessary to allow what unfolds in an individual human being between birth and the loss of baby teeth to mature within a people. Fourteen generations developed the qualities that were predisposed in Abraham’s physical body; fourteen more generations in his etheric body, and fourteen more in his astral body. Only then was it possible to allow such a human being to mature as was required by the Christ Being.

[ 35 ] Matthew describes this in the first chapter of his Gospel, stating that fourteen generations passed from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the Babylonian Exile, and fourteen more from there to Jesus—that is, three times fourteen, or six times seven generations. The writer of the Gospel of Matthew based his book on these profound insights. What was Abraham’s specific mission was also to be incorporated into the body of Christ Jesus; but this could only take place in a lawful manner through the succession of generations. Then this infant Jesus, who was descended from Abraham through forty-two generations, could fulfill the mission of the patriarch. Matthew describes to us precisely the marvelous regularity with which this took place.

[ 36 ] When a cycle of development is complete, a brief repetition of earlier events must take place at a higher level, and indeed we find this repetition described in a marvelous way in the Gospel of Matthew. Abraham comes from Ur in Chaldea, journeys to Canaan, then goes to Egypt and returns again to Canaan. That is his journey. The reborn Zarathustra was incarnated six centuries before our era as a great teacher of the Chaldean mystery schools under the name Zarathos. That was his last incarnation before he was reborn as Jesus. Now he is following the same path that Abraham took. He sets out from roughly the same spot from which Abraham began his journey. And in the spiritual world, he also follows the route that Abraham had taken, all the way to Bethlehem. Thus, the path that Abraham traveled physically is now being traversed spiritually by Zarathustra. And the successors of those who were his disciples six hundred years ago are following him once again in the star that shows them the way to Bethlehem. They are retracing the path that Zarathustra is taking to incarnate. Then he will have arrived there and been reborn in Canaan.

[ 37 ] In the Old Testament, we see a Joseph who is led to Egypt as a result of a dream; now we see another Joseph who is physically led to Egypt as a result of a dream. And then the boy is physically brought back to where the Jewish people are awaiting the Savior. The ancient Jewish people, too, received food from Joseph in Egypt during the time of famine. If you trace on a map the same route that the Magi took—and further compare the route by which Joseph, the son of Jacob, was led to Egypt with the one traveled by the infant Jesus of the line of Solomon—you will find that the corresponding routes coincide quite precisely. There are indeed a few minor deviations, but these are due to other circumstances. The writer of the Gospel of Matthew describes the route in such detail.

[ 38 ] It is precisely from such facts—which we would still be able to know even if all the written Gospels were lost—that we derive our deep reverence for the Gospels. Humanity could arrive at ever higher truths and attain ever greater wisdom, of which perhaps very little is even suspected today; and when, millions of years from now, we know much, much more about that momentous event, we will be able to draw this wisdom from the Gospels as well. This, in turn, is another aspect that can lead us further toward an understanding of the Christ event. Just as the teachings of the Buddha and Zarathustra did, so too has the essence of the Hebrew people flowed into the essence of Christ Jesus. Everything that had previously appeared on Earth was reborn in a higher form through Christianity. All that previously existed on Earth in terms of spiritual culture came to Earth because the great Guide of Earth’s evolution, Christ, sent down to Earth those to whom He first entrusted the mission of preparing on Earth what He was to accomplish. He was still in the heavenly realms and sent the messengers down. And they—the great founders of religions—were to prepare humanity for his coming. The last of these messengers was the Buddha, who brought the teaching of compassion and love. Yet there were other Bodhisattvas before him, and after Christ there will be other Bodhisattvas who must build upon what came to Earth through Christ Jesus.

[ 39 ] It will be good if people listen to the Bodhisattvas who come afterward, for they are his servants. Every time a Bodhisattva appears in the future—for example, after three thousand years—people will once again understand Christ, who outshines all, somewhat better. Christ is the one who is the deepest essence, and the others are there so that Christ may be better understood. Therefore, we say that Christ sent the Bodhisattvas ahead to prepare humanity for him; and he sends them afterward so that the greatest deed in Earth’s evolution may be understood ever more fully. We are only at the beginning of comprehending this essence, and we will come to understand Christ better and better as more sages and Bodhisattvas come to Earth. Through all this wisdom pouring forth upon the Earth, we will be able to recognize Christ more fully.

[ 40 ] Thus we stand on Earth as seekers. We have begun the struggle to understand the Christ. We have applied what we have come to understand of him, and in the future we will apply everything the Bodhisattvas will teach in order to better comprehend the Master of all Bodhisattvas, the center of our system. In this way, humanity will become ever wiser and will come to recognize Christ ever more fully. However, it will not fully understand him until the last of the Bodhisattvas has fulfilled his ministry and imparted the teaching necessary to enable us to grasp the deepest essence of earthly existence—Christ Jesus.