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was the universal availability of his Spirit of Truth. The book informs us that the Spirit of Truth never creates a consciousness of himself, only a consciousness of Michael, the Son. (2061) It also informs us that, "Though the Spirit of Truth is poured out upon all flesh, this spirit of the son is almost wholly limited in function and power by man's personal reception of that which constitutes the sum and substance of the mission of the bestowal Son." (379)
And presumably that is precisely why the books states quite explicitly that, "To follow Jesus means to personally share his religious faith and to enter into the spirit of the Master's life of unselfish service for man. One of the most important things in human living is to find out what Jesus believed, to discover his ideals, and to strive for the achievement of his exalted life purpose. Of all human knowledge, that which is of greatest value is to know the religious life of Jesus and how he lived it." (2090)
The unity of spiritual forces is shown by, "Although Divinity may be plural in manifestation, in human experience Deity is singular, always one...and regardless of plurality of origin, all spirit influences are one in function." (380) Certainly it may be difficult, perhaps impossible, to understand how the Spirit of Truth and our Thought Adjusters interact in order to permit us to increase our receptiveness to the "conspiracy of spiritual forces" that seeks to enhance our spiritual capacity, the effectiveness of their interaction is illustrated by the experience of the apostles who, in four short weeks after the bestowal of the Spirit of Truth, made more individual spiritual progress than in their four years of personal and loving association with Jesus. (2061)
The evidence that the apostles had mentally assimilated Jesus' teaching during that four years with him is contained both in the text of the Ordination Sermon from The Urantia Book which is, to a large extent, a repetition of the Sermon on the Mount from Matthew's gospel. It is also evident from the reproduction in the book of so much of Jesus' spoken word originating from the gospel texts--and demonstrates that though the apostles had the knowledge of the Master's life and words, they had little comprehension of their spiritual value.
It can be instructive to place ourselves in the shoes of one of these fisherman-apostles and consider how we ourselves might have reacted to Jesus' teaching in the light of their cultural background and tribal history. Their original expectations for what Jesus was about and would do, and what the actual outcome of his mission would be, were at vastly different poles of reality.
The apostles had only a vague understanding of the actions and teachings of their Master prior to their personal experiences with the resurrected Jesus. Those appearances confirmed beyond all doubt that he really was the Son of God and, under direction from his Spirit of Truth, the apostles finally set to searching their memories for the spiritual truths and values contained in his teachings.
During subsequent years, the Spirit of Truth would have been vividly real to them as the actual personal presence of Jesus. Perhaps the book's teachings about the importance for us of knowing the life and teachings of Jesus was influenced by what it actually did for the apostles during their subsequent earthly careers of dedicated service to their fellows.
We, too, can know the personal presence of Jesus, and when we also know his religious life and how he lived it, his Spirit of Truth will be enabled to translate our new knowledge into that which has spiritual value for our own progress, as well as value for use during our earthly careers in the service of the Master.
Some may object that Christians have had a workable knowledge of the life and teachings of Jesus for almost 2000 years--yet the effects of that knowledge in their lives is not impressive. However it is also factual that, throughout that period, the vast majority of Christians have been effectively ignorant of the real Jesus, and what he was about.
Two Urantia Book and gospel teachings that are of critical significance, but which did not achieve the necessary prominence for them to become a potent transforming force in Christianity, are the God-within-us concept (as opposed to God-out-there), and the knowledge that the life of Jesus was, in actuality, a revelation of the nature of the living God.
The fact that Jesus lived for us is infinitely more significant than the teaching that Christ died for us. Therein there is real power.
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