Matthew 3:1-2

Victor Porton's sermon

A short sermon about what the human soul is. Matthew chapter 3, verses 1-2.

Verse 1 “In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea,”

The word “wilderness” has not only the literal but also spiritual sense: It means that Judea was a spiritual wilderness in the sense that it was not “watered” by presence of Holy Spirit. It was a small world controlled mostly by Pharisees and Sadducees. Sadducees were just plainly anti-spiritual: They disbelieved in angels and Spirit, but ironically their families controlled the temple. Pharisees followed the rules of the divine law how they understood it, but their hearts were far from the Lord. In the literal wilderness also Essenes lived. It looks plausible for me that John the Baptist was a past Essene, however left the sect for his individual service in the wilderness. Moreover, I think, even earthy life of Jesus has been strongly influenced by Essenes.

Verse 2 “And saying, Repent, you: for the kingdom of heaven is near.”

Notice that repentance comes in a certain historical period. This is because in the Bible repentance is about relationships with God, not just about being “a good man” to other people. Without God being near it’s just impossible to repent. It is presence of the Kingdom of Heaven, what makes human soul alive. Soul, contrary to what many preachers say, isn’t just “an additional organ” (in the form of a ghost) for human body, it is a link of a human to Kingdom of Heaven and ultimately to God. Soul isn’t really a part of a human, because human is a body and soul is a link of the brain to God. If God is not present, there is no repentance and no eternal soul life. Before Adam people existed, but they were not accepted as reasonable creatures by the heavenly authorities. Adam apparently means not “a man” but means a reasonable creature. Adam passed some extremely complicated test and was granted the degree of a reasonable creature. Descendants of Adam therefore were not considered as mere animals that would serve as food to gods. Before Adam there were no human soul given by God, that is death was the end. But in the New Testament period human soul is raised to heavens. This is the time, when God calls people to repent, that is to start to think about their soul and with help of God be cleansed and reach heaven. Without coming of the Kingdom of Heaven, repentance was impossible.

The human soul and spirit are products of God’s intervention onto the Earth, not a natural part of a human, because a human is the body. Apparently, the soul is just the electromagnetic activity of the brain. God, in this case, is the radio receiver. For soul to work, a receiver is necessary.

Now is a time when the Kingdom of Heaven is near. Accept the sacrifice of Jesus for your sins, because Christ will therefore transfer the cleansed content of your brain through soul and spirit to heaven. Just believe and accept sacrifice of Jesus for your brain to be transferred to heaven.

Note that Kingdom of Heaven is nearing the Earth, despite of all spiritual wilderness. You don’t need to be purified before the Kingdom of Heaven nears, but just allow Jesus to cleanse you.