Urantia21: A Restatement of The Urantia Book for the 21st Century

“Jesus enjoyed a sublime and wholehearted faith in the Creator, experiencing the ordinary ups and downs of mortal existence, but never doubting the certainty of the Creator’s watchcare and guidance.” “In the Master’s life on Urantia, this and all other worlds of the local creation discover a new and higher type of religion, religion based on personal spiritual relations with the Universal Source a...

The events of the day of Pentecost “were to decide the future policies, and to determine the plans, of the majority of the apostles in their efforts. Peter was the real founder of the Christian church; Paul carried the Christian message to the gentiles, and the Greek believers carried it to the whole Roman Empire.” Today, “The great hope of Urantia lies in the possibility of a new revelation of Je...

As about one hundred and twenty followers were gathered together, “they all became aware of a strange presence in the room. At the same time these disciples all became conscious of a new and profound sense of spiritual joy, security, and confidence. This new consciousness of spiritual strength was immediately followed by a strong urge to go out and publicly proclaim the doctrine of the new realm a...

In a final appearance to the apostles, Jesus gave a parting instruction. “I directed you to wait in Jerusalem until you were endowed with power from on high. I am now about to take leave of you; I am about to ascend to the Creator, and soon, very soon, we will send the Spirit of Truth into this world; and when it has come, you will begin the proclamation of the doctrine of the new realm, first in...

Jesus continued to make appearances to the apostles, and Peter began to preach that “...Jesus is not dead; we declare that the Master has risen from the tomb; we proclaim that we have seen and talked with Jesus.” “Already the first steps had begun of changing the doctrine of the new realm — relationship with the Creator and with mortals — into the proclamation of the resurrection of Jesus.” “And s...

“Resurrection Sunday was a terrible day in the lives of the apostles; ten of them spent the larger part of the day in the upper chamber behind locked doors. They might have fled from Jerusalem, but they were afraid of being arrested by the agents of the Sanhedrin if they were found.” It took quite a while for the apostles to accept the fact of Jesus’ resurrection, even though they had been told it...

“ The resurrected Jesus now prepares to spend a short period on Urantia for the purpose of experiencing the ascending morontia career of a mortal of the realms. Although this time of the morontia life is to be spent on the world of mortal incarnation, it will, however, be in all respects the counterpart of the experience of Satania mortals who pass through the progressive morontia life of the seve...

Michael of Nebadon, the creator of our local universe, having completed the life experience of a mortal in the form of Jesus of Nazareth, now “having freely made the decision to give up the mortal life, had the power to take it up again.” As a mortal Michael experienced material death, but as the Sovereign of a universe, had “elected to pass through the whole of the experience of mortal creatures,...

The day and a half that Jesus’ mortal body lay in the tomb, the period between death on the cross and resurrection, is somewhat mysterious even to the authors of this paper, which describes the burial and the activities of the followers during this time. It explains that Jesus’ death was the culmination “of twenty-five years on the cross of a real and intense mortal existence. The real value of th...

“Jesus freely submits to death on the cross.” Foretelling this experience, Jesus said: “I will rise again. No one takes my life away from me — I lay it down myself. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up. I have received such a commandment from the Creator.” “Jesus lived and died royally, freely admitting being divine and remaining master of the situation throughout th...

Jesus was placed in the custody of the Roman soldiers, and Judas Iscariot appeared before the Sanhedrin “to claim the reward for having participated in the Master’s arrest and sentence of death.” “All of these Jews loathed Judas; they viewed the betrayer with only feelings of utter contempt.” Consequently, Judas was given “a bag containing thirty pieces of silver — the current price of a good, hea...

As the death sentence could not be carried out by the Jews, Jesus was taken by the temple guards into the presence of Pilate, the Roman governor, bound and accompanied by about fifty accusers, including the Sanhedrist court, Judas Iscariot, and the high priest, Caiaphas. “Pilate would have liked to postpone this hearing, but saw that the Jewish leaders were determined to proceed with the case...”...

“Jesus spent about three hours at the palace of Annas on Mount Olivet, not far from the garden of Gethsemane.” After this interrogation, Annas sent Jesus to the palace of Caiaphas, the current high priest, who had called the Sanhedrist court of inquiry together in order to put Jesus on trial. When the court was finished with the hearing, they had drawn up an indictment of Jesus as being worthy of...

Judas left the final meal with Jesus and the apostles and proceeded to meet with the temple guards, offering to lead them to Jesus. Judas led the guards to the home where the meal had taken place, but Jesus had already left with the apostles for Gethsemane, so the body of soldiers went directly to the garden. There the arrest took place, and Jesus was taken into custody and delivered to the palace...

“As Jesus and the eleven made their way back to camp, the apostles began to wonder about the meaning of Judas’s prolonged absence.” “But they did not engage in open comment until they reached the camp and observed that Judas was not there, waiting to receive them.” “David Zebedee and John Mark took Jesus to one side and revealed that they had kept Judas under observation for several days, and that...

“At last it was beginning to dawn on these Galileans that their friend and teacher was going to leave them, and their hope grasped at the promise that Jesus, after a little while, would again be with them, but they were prone to forget that this return visit was also for a little while. On this occasion, Jesus took each of the apostles aside and spoke with them individually, giving them words of a...

Jesus spoke freely about soon leaving the apostles, saying “..., I am going away, going back to my Creator Parent. In a little while you will not see me as you do here. In a very short time I am going to send you my spirit, just like me except for this material body. This new teacher is the Spirit of Truth who will live with each one of you, in your hearts...” “This divine endowment is not the let...

Jesus and the apostles gathered at the home of John Mark’s parents, celebrating the Passover a day early. This is the meal commonly known as the “Last Supper.” The story is told in considerable detail, including the conflict among the apostles regarding preferential seating, Jesus’ washing their feet, the departure of Judas for the purpose of betrayal, and the establishment of the remembrance cere...

“Jesus planned to spend this Thursday, the last free day on earth, with the apostles and a few loyal and devoted disciples.” “Jesus talked to about fifty trusted followers for almost two hours and answered many questions regarding the relation of the realm of the Creator to the dominions of this world, and the relationship with the Creator to citizenship in earthly governments.” Later that day the...

“When the work of teaching the people did not press them, it was the custom of Jesus and the apostles to rest each Wednesday.” On this particular day, Jesus decided to go into the hills alone, but John Mark insisted on going along. “The Master spent this last day of quiet on earth visiting with this truth-hungry youth and talking with the Paradise Creator.” “This occasion exemplifies the willingne...

On this evening Jesus spoke to the apostles about the coming destruction of Jerusalem. “The Master realized that the rejection of the spiritual concept of the Messiah, the determination to cling persistently and blindly to the material mission of the expected deliverer, would presently bring the Jews in direct conflict with the powerful Roman armies, and that such a contest could only result in th...

“This discourse was intended to be a last appeal to the Jewish people and the final indictment of the vehement enemies and would-be destroyers — the scribes, Pharisees, Sadducees, and the chief rulers of Israel.” Following the discourse, “the Sanhedrin, as then constituted, officially and  unanimously  voted to impose the death sentence on both Jesus and Lazarus. This was the answer to the Master’...

“...a council between the Sanhedrin and some fifty additional leaders selected from among the scribes, Pharisees, and the Sadducees had been held. It was the consensus of this meeting that it would be dangerous to arrest Jesus in public because of the affections of the common people. It was also the opinion of the majority that a determined effort should be made before an arrest and trial to discr...

This paper relates the story of Jesus cleaning the temple of sacrificial animals and money-changers. “This cleansing of the temple discloses the Master’s attitude toward commercializing the practices of religion as well as all forms of unfairness and profiteering at the expense of the poor and the unlearned. This episode also demonstrates that Jesus did not look with approval on the refusal to emp...

“...the twelve apostles were given their final instructions by Jesus preparatory to entering Jerusalem, learning that Jesus would probably deliver many addresses and teach many lessons before returning to the Creator, but being advised to refrain from doing any public work during this Passover sojourn in Jerusalem.” Jesus had decided on a method for making a public entrance into Jerusalem, relying...