Jakob Lorber

The New Revelation

The books of Jakob Lorber are called "the New Revelation" because they are the most important and most read works of the writings called "new revelation". They also call themselves "new revelation", although this rather refers to the re-revelation of the original and complete doctrine of God. What is new in a certain sense is only the detailed and in-depth description of those things which appear in the Bible only in short form, or which appear only as an indication, because Jesus was not yet able to teach it in His time due to the lack of maturity of mankind - therefore it was reserved for the Holy Spirit. This concerns, for example, the history of mankind from Adam to Moses and life after death. Actually new are announcements about circumstances and persons from post-Biblical times. But even these areas are always given in the spirit of the Bible. The main difference to the Bible is that the New Revelation explains everything. In the New Revelation Jesus does not ask "do you believe me?" but "do you understand me now?" In it is realized what is already proclaimed in Mk 4.11, namely that it was given to the disciples of Jesus to know the mysteries of heaven. Understanding and reason are integrated, but in a spiritualized form, in union with the Gospel, the teaching of Christ. Faith is based on active love, which has its own light, which is able to recognize God and understand what is impossible for the mere brain mind, which cannot grasp the spiritual. Rejected and abandoned is Luther's idea that faith must not be reasonable, but is "the dark way, because darkness is under his feet" whereby he banished God to irrationality, which left this world to the unenlightened mind, and thus paved the way for the Age of Reason. While the Bible is directed at unenlightened people who lived in a world of superstition, magic, and miracles, the New Revelation turns to rationalistic mankind. It sees itself as commentary, interpretation and continuation of the Bible, of the riddle solution, perhaps even as the Third Testament. For although the New Revelation refers to the Bible continuously and quotes from it, it also sometimes corrects it, compares the sense of the letter of the Bible with the destroyed Jerusalem, and calls the Gospels - to the great horror of those so-called Christians who have made the Bible (or rather a sinister interpretation of it) their idol - a "largely wretched machination" to be destroyed. It is in a similar conflict as the New Testament to the Old Testament. The Old Testament must make room for the New Testament, but is not rejected, or destroyed in the literal sense, but integrated in a distilled spiritualized form. Children do not understand until they reach a certain age and the New Revelation is directed to this slightly older children, who are able to understand some things a little so that they do not have to obey blindly. In this way they can continue to develop and do not remain babies forever.

The Catholic theologian Robert Ernst described the New Revelation as a monumental work that goes beyond the comprehension and creativity of the most brilliant philosopher, theologian and writer. According to unbiased scientific research, it is supernatural in nature. It is based on the principles of pure Christianity, on love for God and mankind. It is not about worldly education, but the spiritual senses are awakened, trained and addressed. Although the New Revelation is always oriented on the Bible, is also similarly colorful and lively, it cannot - like the Bible - be placed under "exclusively Christian", because it is directed not only at Christians, but at all people of the world. It is neither Catholic, nor Protestant, nor to be assigned to any other denomination, also not to Gnosticism. "Non-denominational", "universal" are terms which best describe it. God, who speaks in first person in the New Revelation, does not present himself as God of any church or religion, but as the one and only true God of all people, incarnated, crucified and resurrected from death in Jesus Christ. However, the work does not orient itself on the time of 2000 years ago, but on the circumstances of the 19th century and on the prophet through whose spirit it was given. It resembles an uncultivated, wild beauty, free and unbridled, containing wonders over wonders, like a rose that animates its friends and lovers with nectar and repels its enemies and despisers with thorns.

The style of the New Revelation is characterized by the diffuse language of the 19th century. The German language is used in a creative way, new words are created, existing ones rebuilt or expanded. Generally kept simple and pleasing, clear even in the most abstract parts, the New Revelation swings up to the highest sublimity, but does not shy away from vulgarity either. From the argumentation there are similarities with the writings of Emanuel Swedenborg, the structure and the way of storytelling are similar to the old Indian Puranas. The work is entirely in the Johannesian spirit, which emphasizes the divinity of Jesus and is directed towards renunciation and high spirituality. Like an eagle, the New Revelation floats over the lowliness and triviality of the world and judges it with an exceedingly sharp eye. The divinity of Jesus is so strongly emphasized in this mystical theology that one cannot completely reject the statement of Lorber critics that Jesus is presented as Superman. In the New Revelation Jesus celebrates marriage with His Church, appears as victorious, risen from death, powerful Lord, God and Father. He is exceedingly ready to serve and does not keep His glories for Himself, but gives them to His children in abundance. One can like that or not. It is not a falsified image of Jesus, but only one, as Jesus, one with the Father, describes it to His good children. Which father would burden his good children with detailed descriptions of the suffering and horror of the crucifixion? Such things are considered a wake-up call to the hard-hearted so that they may understand how far the Lord has gone to save them. The suffering and crucified Jesus, as one encounters him in Roman Catholic private revelations, whereby the detailed descriptions were also not conveyed by Jesus himself, is indeed described, discussed and explained in the New Revelation, but the Great Gospel of John remains unfinished and breaks off before the Passion. One can say that it remained unfinished, just as man's life remains unfinished (apart from rare exceptions) and only finds its finale in the hereafter - and the beginning of something completely new. The severe suffering of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, of which only the synoptic evangelists Matthew, Luke and Mark report, but not John, is not the focus of the New Revelation. The human aspect of Jesus is indeed mentioned and described - He has not only apparently become a human being, as it was previously spread by Gnostics and Manichaeans; but Jesus does not speak in the New Revelation as Jesus, who still has to overcome His human aspect accepted from Judaism, which happened through the crucifixion, but as the resurrected and glorified Christ, as Jesus-Jehova-Zebaoth, Savior, Redeemer, one with God the Father. Therefore, the crucifixion of Jesus cannot occupy a central place in the New Revelation. If the New Revelation were therefore to be classified as being Gnostic, then John, the favourite apostle, the author of the mystical Gospel, as the Gospel of John is also called, would also have to be called a Gnostic.

The New Revelation offers a conditional reconciliation of science and religion, which had divided in the course of the Age of Enlightenment. God disappeared from the world and with Him the meaning disappeared. Man, whose hair on his head should actually have been counted, was degraded to a vain being in a profane world. The New Revelation conveys healing and unification to this unfortunate world, a universal, uniform world view in post-Enlightenment times, in which everything in the wide universe is filled with life and meaning and has a deep importance emanating from God and referring to Him. It gives a feeling of security and brightness of life, creates a critical distance to the hypotheses and theories of natural science, offers alternatives, inspires the scientific imagination and thus widens the horizon. In the New Revelation, God is again the Lord, Jesus-Jehovah-Zebaoth, great and strong, but human, fraternal and accessible. It can create a living relationship with Jesus, awaken love and affection, and thus change life. As a bonus, so to speak, the New Revelation offers a living and powerful concept of the afterlife. It encourages self-knowledge and an oath of revelation about what really carries one in this life.

The New Revelation is given for a time when church organizations, corrupt and rotten, are losing their influence and open or concealed godlessness has become the most widespread conviction of a people devoted to materialism. From this point of view it could be called "Survival Revelation", Noah's Ark for the remaining faithful. Subsequently, the New Revelation refers to a time that we can still imagine today as little as the disciples of Jesus once did the present time. According to the New Revelation mankind experiences about every two thousand years a significant spiritual development, which must inevitably be preceded by the collapse or reform of the existing. The previous developmental impulse was the appearance and work of Jesus, the New Revelation itself is part of the current developmental impulse. What mankind expects in the next two thousand years can only be guessed from the New Revelation. Material need and social injustice could largely disappear from the earth. As far as religion is concerned, there could only be one shepherd and one flock, Jesus-Jehova-Zebaoth and His own, so no more religious wars. The New Jerusalem, the New World, the New Earth. But before that there is the threat of unprecedented catastrophes, which human beings, or rather inhuman beings, bring upon themselves. What would happen if the churches would accept the New Revelation - something they could do at any time, if they are willing to do it inwardly - is not too difficult to estimate: They would become one church and again what the church originally had been supposed to be, namely the selflessly serving, but truly royal life teacher on earth, who could answer every question of life, who no longer needs to demand beliefs from human beings, but could transmit the immense store of knowledge of the New Revelation. It would be a spiritually rich church, in the spirit of the Lord, a true kingdom of the Spirit, a true instrument of peace on earth.

The New Revelation reveals itself only slightly veiled as the return of Christ in spiritual form, in the Word. This return is announced in Mat 24.3; Mat 24.30; Mat 26.64; Mark 13.26-27; Luk 21.27; Acts 1.11 and everywhere in the Revelation of John and described in images. It also refers to the work of Emanuel Swedenborg and other true seers, wise men, and newly awakened prophets. There is no lack of resistance: In His Second Coming dogs and cats would recognize the Lord rather than a priesthood that wants to rule (Himmelsgaben 1.410125.6), so in this respect a repetition of history. Only this time it will not end with the crucifixion of the Lord, for He no longer comes to earth poor and weak as a beggar, but as a strong hero and His judgment with Him: "He who will seize Me with love will live forever; but he who will turn even one finger against Me shall be crucified in the fire of My wrath!" (Himmelsgaben 1.400813.7) With those unteachable, who even after two thousand years still want to execute the Lord, the wrath of God will take over the further treatment. But even this is in reality more love than the greatest love a human being is capable of (Childhood of Jesus 204.7).

For the years around 1840, the year in which the dictate of the New Revelation to Jakob Lorber began, the Second Coming of the Lord was expected several times. This year can also be calculated from biblical passages. Hildegard von Bingen, the great German prophetess of the 12th century, reports in her work Liber divinorum operum (Book of the Works of God) about a new gospel of John, which could refer to the Great Gospel of John, since after her no other, new gospel of John was revealed than Jakob Lorbers. She writes: "The above-mentioned vision (revelation) taught me the words and content of this gospel, which deals with the beginning of God's works, and gave me the understanding for it. And it became clear to me that this interpretation must at the same time be the beginning of another Scripture which had not yet been revealed. In it many questions of the mysterious order of God's creation were to be examined".

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