Meredith Sprunger's Synopsis of The Urantia Book
Synopsis of Paper 134
THE TRANSITION YEARS
1. Jesus had found out through personal and human experience that Palestine was the best place in all the Roman world wherein to set forth the closing chapters, and to enact the final scenes, of his life on earth.
2. During his stay of a few weeks at Nazareth, Jesus visited with his family and friends, spent some time at the repair shop with his brother Joseph, but devoted most of his attention to Mary and Ruth. Ruth was then nearly fifteen years old, and this was Jesus' first opportunity to have long talks with her since she had become a young woman.
3. About the time Jesus was preparing to leave Nazareth, the conductor of a large caravan which was passing through the city was taken violently ill, and Jesus, being a linguist, volunteered to take his place. Since this trip would necessitate his absence for a year, and inasmuch as all his brothers were married and his mother was living at home with Ruth, Jesus called a family conference at which he proposed that his mother and Ruth go to Capernaum to live in the home which he had so recently given to James.
4. Cymboyton arranged with Jesus to sojourn with them for two weeks on his return trip and give twenty‑four lectures on "The Brotherhood of Men."...Never before or after did he say so much on one subject as was contained in these lectures and discussions on the brotherhood of men. In reality these lectures were on the "Kingdom of God" and. the "Kingdoms of Men."
5. More than thirty religions and religious cults were represented on the faculty of this temple of religious philosophy. These teachers were chosen, supported, and fully accredited by their respective religious groups...Intolerance, a contentious spirit, or any other disposition to interfere with the smooth running of the community would bring about the prompt and summary dismissal of the offending teacher...There was but one doctrine which had to be accepted in order to gain a seat on this faculty—every teacher must represent a religion which recognized God—some sort of supreme Deity. There were five independent teachers on the faculty who did not represent any organized religion, and it was as such an independent teacher that Jesus appeared before them.
6. When we, the midwayers, first prepared the summary of Jesus' teachings at Urmia, there arose a disagreement between the seraphim of the churches and the seraphim of progress as to the wisdom of including these teachings in the Urantia Revelation...We were never able to formulate a statement of the Master's teachings which was acceptable to both groups of these seraphim of planetary government. Finally, the Melchizedek chairman of the revelatory commission appointed a commission of three of our number to prepare our view of the Master's Urmia teachings as adapted to twentieth‑century religious and political conditions on Urantia.
7. The kingdom of heaven is neither material nor merely intellectual; it is a spiritual relationship between God. and. man. If different religions recognize the spirit sovereignty of God the Father, then will all such religions remain at peace...Religious peace—brotherhood—can never exist unless all religions are willing to completely divest themselves of all ecclesiastical authority and. fully surrender all concept of spiritual sovereignty. God alone is spirit sovereign...There can be no lasting religious peace on Urantia until all religious groups freely surrender all their notions of divine favor, chosen people, and religious sovereignty. Only when God the Father becomes supreme will men become religious brothers and live together in religious peace on earth.
8. War on Urantia will never end so long as nations cling to the illusive notions of unlimited national sovereignty. There are only two levels of relative sovereignty on an inhabited world: the spiritual free will of the individual mortal and the collective sovereignty of mankind as a whole,
9. The rule of the Most Highs, the overcontrollers of political evolution, is a rule designed to foster the greatest good to the greatest number of all men and for the greatest length of time.
10. Each new and forward evolution of political sovereignty is (and. has always been) embarrassed and hampered by the "scaffolding stages" of the previous developments in political organization. And this is true because human loyalties, once mobilized, are hard to change.
11. Urantia will not enjoy lasting peace until the so‑called. sovereign nations intelligently and fully surrender their sovereign powers into the hands of the brotherhood of men—mankind government ...Internationalism is a step in the right direction. An international police force will prevent many minor wars, but it will not be effective in preventing major wars, conflicts between the great military governments of earth.
12. Political sovereignty is innate with the peoples of the world.. When all the peoples of Urantia create a world government, they have the right and. the power to make such a government SOVEREIGN; and when such a representative or democratic world power controls the land, air, and. naval forces, peace on earth and. good will among men can prevail—but not until then.
13. With scientific progress, wars are going to become more and more devastating until they become almost racially suicidal. How many world wars must be fought and. how many leagues of nations must fall before men will be willing to establish the government of mankind and begin to enjoy the blessings of permanent peace and thrive on the tranquility of good will—world‑wide good will—among men?
14. Freedom is the gift of civilization made possible by the enforcement of LAW...World law must come into being and must be enforced by world government—the sovereignty of all mankind. The individual will enjoy far more liberty under world government ...The fallacy of self‑determination will be ended ...and...Soon may a global language evolve, and there will be at least some hope of sometime having a. global religion—or religions with a global viewpoint.
15. After the death of Cymboyton, his sons encountered. great difficulties in maintaining a peaceful faculty...Cymboyton's eldest son had appealed to Abner at Philadelphia for help, but Abner's choice of teachers was most unfortunate in that they turned out to be unyielding and. uncompromising. These teachers sought to make their religion dominant over the other beliefs. They never suspected that the oft—referred—to lectures of the caravan conductor had been delivered by Jesus himself.
16. At Antioch the Son of Man lived for over two months, working, observing, studying, visiting, ministering, and all the while learning how man lives...Ten years later, when the Apostle Paul was preaching in Antioch and. heard his followers speak of the doctrines of the Damascus scribe, he little knew that his pupils had heard. the voice, and listened to the teachings, of the Master himself.
17. The indwelling Thought Adjuster now led Jesus to forsake the dwelling places of men and betake himself up to Mount Hermon that he might finish his work of mastering his human mind, and complete the task of effecting his full consecration to the remainder of his lifework on earth ...This period of isolation on Mount Hermon marked the termination of his purely human career...And. Jesus lived alone with God. for six weeks on the slopes of Mount Hermon.
18. The first day, after he had left Tiglath, Jesus had ascended the mountain only a short way when he paused to pray. Among other things he asked his Father to send back the guardian seraphim to "be with Tiglath."...And his request was granted. He went into the great test with only his indwelling Adjuster to guide and. sustain him.
19. After more than five weeks of unbroken communion with his Paradise Father, Jesus became absolutely assured of his nature and of the certainty of his triumph over the material levels of time‑space personality manifestation. He fully believed in, and did not hesitate to assert, the ascendancy of his divine nature over his human nature.
20. Near the end of the mountain sojourn Jesus asked. his Father if he might be permitted to hold conference with his Satania enemies as the Son of Man, as Joshua ben Joseph. This request was granted...Satan (representing Lucifer) and the rebellious Planetary Prince, Caligastia, were present with Jesus and were made fully visible to him ...To the many proposals and counterproposals of the emissaries of Lucifer, Jesus only made reply: "May the will of my Paradise Father prevail, and you, my rebellious son, may the Ancients of days judge you divinely. I am your Creator‑father; I can hardly judge you justly, and my mercy you have already spurned. I commit you to the adjudication of the Judges of a greater universe."...And when the trying ordeal was finished, the detached guardian seraphim returned to Jesus' side and ministered to him.
21. On an afternoon in late summer, amid the trees and in the silence of nature, Michael of Nebadon won the unquestioned sovereignty of his universe ....And when Jesus came down from his sojourn on Mount Hermon, the Lucifer rebellion in Satania and. the Caligastia secession on Urantia were virtually settled.
22. At the end of this sojourn on the mountain, as Jesus was making his descent, he met Tiglath coming up to the rendezvous with food. Turning him back, he said. only: "The period of rest is over; I must return to my Father's business." He was a silent and much changed man as they journeyed back to Dan, where he took leave of the lad, giving him the donkey.
23. It was now near the end of the summer, about the time of the day of atonement and the feast of tabernacles. Jesus had a family meeting in Capernaum over the Sabbath and. the next day started for Jerusalem with John the son of Zebedee.
24. In the midst of the week of celebration and ere the festivities were finished, Jesus took leave of John, saying that he desired to retire to the hills where he might the better commune with his Paradise Father ....Jesus did not return to Jerusalem. After almost a week alone in the hills near Bethany, he departed for Capernaum.
25. The next morning Jesus went to the chest containing his personal effects, which had remained in Zebedee's workshop, put on his apron, and presented himself for work, saying, "It behooves me to keep busy while I wait for my hour to come." And he worked several months, until January of the following year, in the boatshop, by the side of his brother James.
26. Jesus worked on, making boats, until John had journeyed. up the river to a point near Pella in the month of January of the next year, A.D. 26, when he laid down his tools, declaring, "My hour has come," and presently presented himself to John for baptism.
27. But a great change had been coming over Jesus. Few of the people who had enjoyed his visits and ministrations as he had gone up and down in the land ever subsequently recognized in the public teacher the same person they had known and loved as a private individual in former years.
Discussion Questions
1. Why was Palestine the best place for the public ministry of Jesus?
2. What might have been the issue of disagreement between the seraphim of the churches and the seraphim of progress regarding the Urmia lectures?
3. Will the Fifth Epochal Revelation result in all of the world religions surrendering their spiritual sovereignty in recognizing God’s sovereignty?
4. What are the conditions that will bring about world government?
5. Contrast the story of the New Testament temptations of Jesus with the confrontation of Jesus with Satan and Caligastia in the Urantia Synopsis of Papers.
6. How do you visualize the great change in Jesus that resulted in people not recognizing him as a public and authoritative teacher?
7. Why do we have so many intolerant religionists in our world?
A Service of
The Urantia Book Fellowship