The Lectures of Rudolf Steiner

From the Nativity to Epiphany

GA: Various

Introduction...

The Gospels become especially profound when they are indicating essential facts. The quality in the human being that is connected more with will and power, with the 'kingly' nature (speaking in the technical sense), is known by those cognisant of the mysteries of existence to be transmitted by the paternal element in heredity. On the other hand, the inner nature that is connected with wisdom and inner mobility of spirit, is transmitted by the maternal element.

—Rudolf Steiner, The Gospel of Luke, Lecture 5

God makes a promise to King David

"When your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he will be my son. [Though] he does [no] wrong, I will punish him with a rod wielded by men, with floggings inflicted by human hands. But my love will never be taken away from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever."

2 Samuel 7: 12–16

Gospel of Luke

Gospel of Matthew

The two lines of King David
Nathan line of King David Solomon line of King David
The Nathan line was the Priestly line The Solomon line was the Kingly line
At the beginning of our era there lived two families in Palestine, in which were descendants of the two lines of King David:
Joseph: Descendant of the Nathan line. He was married to [a] Mary. Mary: Descendant of the Solomon line. She was married to [a] Joseph.
The "Nathan" family lived in Nazareth The "Solomon" family lived in Bethlehem
Each couple were to bear a child at about the same time. Each child bore a unique soul, such that their conception/birth was announced mystically to one of the parents of each family:
The above shows paintings by Da Vinci (left), Raphael's Madonna del Duca di Terranuova (middle), and a work by an unknown painter revealing two Jesus children.
Birth announced to the father, Joseph (Nathan's descendant) Birth announced to the mother, Mary (Solomon's descendant)
The child of the Nathan line was to be this couple's only child The child of the Solomon line was to be this couple's first child
Each child brought with them into their respective incarnations qualities that were necessary for becoming the human body into which the Christ would incarnate at the Jordan baptism:

When Adam and Eve were deprived of eating of the Tree of Life, this meant that certain of the forces of the etheric body [of Adam] were kept back and did not pass on to the descendants. Thus after the Fall, certain forces were no longer in 'Adam', and the still guiltless part of his being was nurtured and fostered in the great Mother-Lodge of humanity. This was, so to speak, the Adam-soul as yet untouched by human guilt, not yet entangled in what had actually caused the 'Fall' of man. These pristine forces of the Adam-Individuality were preserved; they were there and were then led as a provisional 'Ego' (' I ') to the child born to Joseph and Mary in Nazareth. Thus in his early years this Jesus-child bore within him the power of the original progenitor of earthly humanity. Therefore this Jesus-child can be traced back to [the old] Adam and became the New Adam.

The Nathan Jesus-child received his Astral Body from the Buddha, Buddha's 'Nirmanakaya', which is the aspect of enlightenment that can be perceived by ordinary beings. [1]

The mission of this Jesus-child was to bring to humanity that which only a mature soul can bring. Under the guidance of all the Powers concerned, this child was able to be the reincarnation of the Individuality who had once taught the mysteries of Ahura Mazdao to men in ancient Persia; who had once given up his astral body to Hermes and his etheric body to Moses, and who had appeared again as Zarathas or Nazarathos, the great teacher of Pythagoras in ancient Chaldea. This Individuality was none other than Zarathustra. The Ego of Zarathustra was reincarnated in this child, bringing with him great Wisdom.

The Jesus-child who bore within him the Individuality of Zarathustra unfolded with extraordinary rapidity powers that will inevitably be present when such a mighty Ego is working in a body. In the Solomon Jesus an Individuality of exceptional maturity, having profound understanding of the world.

The Nathan Jesus held a high capacity of the heart, full of compassion and selflessness, untainted by sin and karma The Solomon Jesus held the wisdom gained from countless incarnations through the ages
When Mary, married to Joseph of the Nathan line, visited Elisabeth, the child within the womb of Elisabeth, who was to be John the Baptist, "leaped" in "recognition" of the child within the womb of Mary (Luke 1:39-45). However it was not necessarily the child itself to whom Elisabeth's child "leaped" but rather the Nirmanakaya of Buddha. (See Note 1)  
Both children were born in Bethlehem. Their births occurred only months apart.
The family living in Nazareth traveled to Bethlehem for the consensus. It was there the Nathan Jesus-child was born in a cave after the family could find nowhere to stay in the town. Eight days later he was circumcised and presented in the Temple. The Solomon Jesus-child too was born in Bethlehem, where the family resided. The Gospel of Matthew does not mention the place of birth other than Bethlehem, where they lived; presumably, then, in their home.
Upon the birth of each child, as with each of their conception, an announcement was made to a specific group of people, corresponding to the importance of each Jesus-child:
In a kind of dream-condition, the simple shepherds in the fields were able inwardly to realise what was drawing near in the event of the birth of the Nathan Jesus-child. Secrets of the cosmos were thus revealed to their hearts in the fields. The inner feeling of the secrets of the evolution of humanity could arise in men of a disposition specially fitted for such experiences. Such men are represented by the shepherds. These inner forces had to have reached a certain stage of development and then instinctive-imaginative perception became direct vision. And so, through their faculty of inner vision, the simple shepherds were made aware of the proclamation: 'God is revealing Himself in the heavenly Heights and through Him there can be peace among all men who are of good-will.' The revelation to the shepherds in the fields was the revelation given by the earth, proceeding from their bodily nature.

To the Solomon Jesus-child came the three Magi, guided by a star (which was in essence the Christ Sun Spirit — 30 years before the baptism of Jesus of Nazareth in the Jordan) to the place where this child was born in Bethlehem to bring their offerings. These three kings represent the Lemurian, Atlantean and current fifth Post-atlantean or Aryan epochs.

  • Caspar (portrayed as an African Moor) represents the Lemurian epoch and root race, and brings Myrrh as the symbol of the sacrifice and death of the earthly lower life in order that the Higher may come to life. Myrrh represents the virtue of self-consummation and self-development, or the preservation of the eternal in the self. Or put differently: the gift of the victory of life over death, in the power and development of the eternal in the self.
  • Balthasar (portrayed as an Indian/Asiatic) represents the fourth Atlantean epoch and root race, he brings frankincense, the universal symbol for an offering that has something to do with Intuition. The Atlanteans were more directly united with the Godhead through a hypnotic suggestive influence. Frankincense represents the virtue of self-surrender in pious devotion (or piety of the innermost self).
  • Melchior (portrayed as white European) brings gold, the symbol of wisdom and intelligence which comes to expression in the Fifth epoch. It represents the virtue of self knowledge.

To the Magi the revelation of the coming of the Heavenly King, the Solomon Jesus-child, was given by heavenly lore — the stars.

Eight days after his birth, the Nathan Jesus-child was circumcised and presented in the Temple as was the custom. The parents then returned with the child to Nazareth. This child was born after the Solomon Jesus-child and after the Massacre of the Innocents. Herod is met by the Wise Men and orders the Massacre of the Innocents. The Wise Men warn the parents of the Solomon Jesus-child and the family flees to Egypt to avoid the massacre. Through the flight into Egypt, the Zarathustra-Ego was able to reunite with the forces once sacrificed by him to Hermes and Moses (See Note 1). After the return from Egypt the family of the Solomon Jesus settled in Nazareth near the family of the Nathan Jesus and the two boys grew up in close proximity.
The parents were in a friendly relationship and the children grew up as near neighbours until they were about twelve years old. When the Jesus children were at the age of twelve, both families went to Jerusalem for the Feast of Passover:
The above shows various pictures of the scene in the temple at age 12 by Ambrogio Bergognone, Defedente Ferrari, and a greek icon. Looking closely, you can see two Jesus children. In the left image the Nathan Jesus is looking at the Solomon Jesus not long after the Zarathustra-Ego passed over to the Nathan Jesus from the Solomon Jesus.
The Nathan Jesus grew up in such a way that the ordinary human qualities connected with understanding and knowledge of the external world developed in him exceedingly slowly. A superficial observer would have called this child comparatively backward – if account had been taken only of his intellectual capacities. But instead there developed in him the power streaming from the overshadowing Nirmanakaya of Buddha. He unfolded a depth of inwardness comparable with nothing of the kind in the world, a power of feeling that had an extraordinary effect upon everyone around him. Thus in the Nathan Jesus we see a Being with infinite depths of feeling.

As the parents of the Nathan Jesus were returning home from the Feast they suddenly missed the boy; failing to find him among the company of travelers they turned back again and found him in the temple conversing with the learned doctors, all of whom were astonished at his wisdom.

His parents did not recognize him; nor did they understand his words, for now the Zarathustra-Ego was speaking out of the Nathan Jesus. This was the time when the Nirmanakaya of Buddha united with the cast-off astral sheath (of the Solomon Jesus) and when the Zarathustra-Ego (from the Solomon Jesus) passed into the Nathan Jesus. This child, now so changed that his parents did not know what to make of him, was taken home with them to Nazareth.

The Zarathustra-Ego which had lived hitherto in the body of the Jesus belonging to the kingly or Solomon line of the House of David in order to reach the highest level of his epoch, left that body and passed into the body of the Nathan Jesus who then appeared as one transformed.

Soon after this event, the Solomon Jesus, devoid of an Ego, died.

Not long after the above events, the two families merged:
The mother of Nathan Jesus died, leaving behind the descendant of the Nathan line of King David, Joseph [2] The father of Solomon Jesus died, leaving behind the descendant of the Solomon line of King David, Mary

The two families having known one another and the two Jesus children having grown up together, the surviving Joseph of the Nathan line and Mary of the Solomon line were married and lived thereafter in Nazareth with the Nathan Jesus and the siblings of the Solomon Jesus (four brothers and two sisters).

From this point forward we are concerned with only the one (Nathan) Jesus, who bears within him the fusion of Buddhism (Divine Love) and Zoroastrianism (Divine Wisdom), hereafter referred to in the Bible as "Jesus of Nazareth".

"Jesus of Nazareth" was now a Being whose inmost nature comprised all the blessings of Buddhism and Zoroastrianism. A momentous destiny awaited him — a destiny altogether different from that of any others baptized by John in the Jordan.

Epiphany: The Baptism in the Jordan
Baptism in the Jordan River. Note the presence of water spirits in the icon.
Just prior to his baptism by John, Jesus of Nazareth had a deep conversation with his stepmother. During this conversation, the Zarathustra-Ego left the physical, etheric and astral body of Jesus behind, leaving this Being Jesus ready to receive the Christ.

When, through many centuries, the evolutionary preparation had been completed, the same Spirit by Whom Moses had been held back, did indeed reveal Himself — by becoming Flesh, by taking on a human body, the body of Jesus of Nazareth. Therewith mankind as a whole was led from the stage of Initiation signified by the word 'Jericho' to that indicated by the crossing of the Israelites over the River Jordan opposite Jericho. (Joshua 3-4)

When the Baptism took place, the Christ Ego (as well as other higher principles) was/were received into the inmost nature of this singular, special Being. [3]
Thus from the time of the Baptism, the Nathan Jesus was filled with the Christ Being as is indicated in the words contained in the earlier Gospel records: 'This is my well-beloved Son; this day have I begotten Him!' — meaning: the Son of Heaven, the Christ, is now begotten — begotten of the all-pervading Godhead and received into the body and whole constitution of the Nathan Jesus who had been prepared to receive the seed from heavenly heights. 'This is my well-beloved Son; this day have I begotten Him!' — These were the words contained in the earlier manuscripts and this is how they ought still to stand in the Gospels. (Luke III, 22)
Who is this Being who united at that time with the etheric body of the Nathan Jesus? See Note 4 for an extended explanation.

Notes

  1. ◬ The Nirmanakaya of Buddha also worked as an inspiration into the Ego of John the Baptist. That which manifested itself to the shepherds and hovered above the head of the Nathan Jesus extended its power into John the Baptist when Mary visited Elisabeth, whose preaching was primarily the re-awakened preaching of Buddha.

    Knowing that these Beings appear on the physical plane at different turning-points of time, we learn to understand the unity of religions and the spiritual proclamations made to mankind. We shall not realize who and what Buddha was by clinging to tradition but by listening to how he actually speaks. Five to six hundred years before our era, Buddha preached the Sermon at Benares, but his voice has not been silenced. He speaks, although no longer incarnated, when he inspires through the Nirmanakaya. From the mouth of John the Baptist we hear what the Buddha had to say six hundred years after he had lived in a physical body.

    There we have a real indication of the 'unity of religions!' We must look for each religion at the right point in the evolution of humanity and seek for what is truly alive in it, not what is dead — for everything continues to develop. This we must learn to realize. To refuse to hear Buddha's utterances from the mouth of John the Baptist is like someone who had seen the seed of a rose-tree and later on, when the tree has grown and bears flowers, refuses to believe that the tree grew from the seed, insisting that it is something different! The truth is that what was once alive in the seed now blossoms in the rose-tree. And the living essence of the Sermon at Benares blossomed in the preaching of John the Baptist by the Jordan.

  2. ◬ The etheric body of the Solomon-Jesus child who had died was taken up into the Spiritual world by the mother of the Nathan Jesus.

  3. ◬ At the time of the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan, the immortal part of the original mother of the Nathan Jesus descended from the spiritual world and transformed the mother who had been taken into the house of the Nathan Joseph, making her again virginal. Thus the soul of the mother whom the Nathan Jesus had lost was restored to him at the time of the Baptism in the Jordan. The mother who had remained to him harboured within her the soul of his original mother, called in the Bible the 'Blessed Mary'.

  4. ◬ The Christ Being cannot be understood if we think of Earth evolution alone. The Christ is the Leader of those spiritual Beings who left with the Sun when it separated from the Earth and established for themselves this higher sphere of action in order to work upon the Earth from outside. If we think back to the pre-Christian period of Earth evolution, from the time of the separation of the Sun until the appearance of Christ, we must say: When men looked up to the Sun with mature faculties they would have recognized the truth of what Zarathustra taught, namely that the light and warmth streaming from the Sun are but the physical vestment of the spiritual Beings behind the Sun's light; for behind the physical phenomena are hidden the spiritual rays of power which stream from the Sun to the Earth. The Leader of all the Beings who send their beneficent influences from the Sun to the Earth is He who was later called Christ. In pre-Christian times, therefore, this Being was not to be sought on Earth but on the Sun. And Zarathustra rightly called Him 'Ahura Mazdao', saying in effect: 'On the Earth we do not find the Light-Spirit; but when we look up to the Sun we behold the spiritual Being — Ahura Mazdao — who has his habitation there. The light that streams to us is the body of the Sun-Spirit, Ahura Mazdao, even as the human physical body is the body of the human spirit. But in the course of great happenings in the Cosmos this sublime Being drew ever nearer to the Earth-sphere; His approach could be perceived more and more distinctly by clairvoyance, and was unmistakable when in the flame of lightning on Mount Sinai the revelations came to Moses, the great forerunner of Christ Jesus.

    What did these revelations to Moses signify? They signified that the Christ Being, while approaching the Earth, was revealing Himself — in reflection to begin with — as if in a mirror-image. Let us consider, in its spiritual aspect, the process in evidence at every full Moon. When we look at the full Moon we see the rays of the Sun in reflection. It is sunlight that streams towards us, only we call it moonlight because we see it reflected by the Moon. What Being did Moses behold in the burning bush and in the fire on Sinai? He beheld the Christ! But just as the sunlight is not seen directly but reflected from the Moon, so did Moses see the Christ in reflection. And as we call the sunlight 'moonlight' when we see it reflected from the Moon, Christ was called at that time, Jahve, or Jehovah. Jahve or Jehovah is the reflection of the Christ before He Himself appeared on Earth. Christ announced Himself thus indirectly to a humanity as yet unable to behold Him in his immediate reality, just as the sun-light manifests itself through the rays of the Moon in the otherwise dark night of full Moon. Jahve or Jehovah is the Christ — but seen as reflected light, not directly.

    The faculties of human cognition and perception were to come within nearer and nearer range of the Christ. Having previously manifested His presence to the Initiates from the Cosmos, He was now Himself to tread the Earth for a season as a man among men. But this could not come to pass until the right time had arrived. That Christ is a reality has always been known wherever men have steeped themselves in the wisdom of the world, and because He has revealed Himself in so many different ways He has been called by diverse names. Zarathustra called Him 'Ahura Mazdao' because He revealed Himself in the raiment of the Sun's light. The great Teachers of humanity in ancient India during the first period after the Atlantean catastrophe — the holy Rishis — had known full well of this Being, for they were Initiates. They knew too that in their epoch He was beyond the range of earthly wisdom and would be accessible to it only later on. Hence it was said that this Being was beyond the sphere of the seven Rishis. 'Vishva Karman' was the name given to Him. The Rishis taught of the Being whom they called 'Vishva Karman' and Zarathustra called 'Ahura Mazdao'. Vishva Karman and Ahura Mazdao were two of the names for this Being who was gradually approaching the Earth from heights of spirit, from cosmic realms.

    But preparation had to be made in the evolution of humanity to ensure the existence of a body fit to receive this Being. It was necessary for a Being such as had lived in Zarathustra to mature from incarnation to incarnation in order that in a body as pure as that of Jesus of Nazareth he could bring the faculties of the sentient body, of the sentient soul and of the mind-soul to the degree of perfection that would render this human being fit to receive into himself so sublime a Being. Such preparation had to be made. Before a sentient soul and a mind-soul could be adequately developed it was necessary that an Ego should first have undergone the many experiences and destinies of Zarathustra and then transform the faculties present in the Nathan Jesus. This would not have been possible at any earlier time, for the Nathan Jesus-child had to be worked upon not only by the Zarathustra-Ego but also by the lofty spiritual power we have characterized as the Nirmanakaya of Buddha. From the child's birth until his twelfth year this power worked chiefly from outside. But the Bodhisattva himself had had first to become Buddha before he was able to develop in himself the spiritual body, the Nirmanakaya, wherewith to work upon the Nathan Jesus during this period of his life. At the time of the incarnation in the course of which he was destined to become Buddha he had not yet acquired this power; the Buddha-life had first to be lived through.

    Some day, when humanity understands what deep wisdom has been preserved in many ancient legends, it will be found that everything deciphered from the Akashic Chronicle is contained in a wonderful way in those legends. We are told, and rightly told, that in ancient India too, men were taught of Christ as a cosmic Being beyond the sphere of the seven holy Rishis. The Rishis knew that He dwelt in lofty spiritual regions and was only gradually approaching the Earth. Zarathustra too knew that he must turn his gaze from the Earth to the Sun; and the ancient Hebrews, because of the faculties and attributes indicated in the last lecture, were the first people to whom the proclamation of the Christ Being in His reflection could be made.

    We are also told in a legend how the Bodhisattva, when about to become Buddha, came into spiritual contact with Vishva Karman — the Being who was later called Christ. The legend relates that when his twenty-ninth year was approaching the Bodhisattva made his famous exit from the palace where he had been strictly guarded and fostered. Then he saw, first, an old man, then a sick man, then a corpse, thus becoming gradually aware of the miseries of life. Then he saw a monk who had forsaken this life with its accompanying phenomena of old age, sickness and death. Thereupon — so it is related in this profoundly true legend — he resolved not to leave the palace immediately but to return once more. But during this first departure from the palace — so runs the legend — he was invested from spiritual heights with the power which the Divine Artificer, Vishva Karman, who appeared to him, sent down to the Earth. The Bodhisattva was invested with the power of Vishva Karman, of Christ. Thus for the Bodhisattva, Christ was a Being outside — not yet united with him. At that time the Bodhisattva too had nearly reached his thirtieth year but he could not then have made it possible for Christ to be received in the fullest sense into a human body. He had first to become sufficiently mature, and this stage was attained through his Buddha-existence. And when, later on, he appeared in the Nirmanakaya, his task was to make the body of the Nathan Jesus — in which he was not himself embodied — fit to receive Vishva Karman, the Christ.

    —Rudolf Steiner, Gospel of Luke, Lecture 7

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