Jonael says, ‘Against human power such tricks may succeed, but against God’s power no such trick is of any use. Only pure and true love accomplishes anything with God’s power; everything else is chaff before a strong wind’s stormy might! Therefore be anxious about nothing, for God is with us. Who could then be against us?’
The recovered man says, ‘Indeed, indeed, you are right. But surely God was also with Adam beyond all doubt, and yet Satan knew how to capture Adam through the most cunning trick! And after a three-day struggle Michael still had to leave Moses’ body to Satan. God is certainly almighty, of that there is no doubt; but Satan is full of the worst cunning, and this has already caused God’s people much harm. Therefore one must remain continually on guard in the face of a tiger for as long as it lives; only once it is dead can one breathe quite freely without caution or anxiety!’
Jonael says, ‘You too are right in your way, but you must now consider well that in earlier times the Lord allowed Satan to act in one way or another. For the first-created spirit had to be given a long time to test his freedom, since he was not only the first but also the greatest of the created spirits.
‘But this time is now over, and very tight fetters will now be placed upon the prince of night, in which he will no longer be able to move as freely as before.
‘For this reason, if right love for God rules within us, we can indeed walk more carefree upon the earth than was formerly the case under the hard yoke of the law.
‘From Adam down to us the law of wisdom ruled, and it required much wisdom and the strongest and most unconditional will to fulfill such a law within oneself.
‘But God saw that people would no longer fulfill the law of wisdom, and now came into the world Himself to give them a new law of love, which they will easily be able to fulfill. For in the law of wisdom Jehovah let only His light shine among people; but the light was not He Himself, rather it only went out from Him among people, just as people too came forth from Him, yet are not Jehovah Himself. But through and in love Jehovah Himself comes to the human being and now dwells spiritually within him in all the fullness of truth, thereby making the created human being completely like Him in everything. Then Satan can no longer use his cunning to assail the created human being thus armed, for Jehovah’s Spirit in the human being sees through Satan’s treachery, however secretly kept, and always has power in more than enough abundance to scatter Satan’s powerlessness completely.
‘The prophet Elijah indicated this present state of people, in which Jehovah comes directly to them in love, through the gentle whispering that passed before the cave; but Jehovah was not in the great storm or in the fire!
‘The gentle whispering is therefore people’s love for God and their brothers, in which Jehovah Himself is, while He is not in the storm of wisdom or in the flaming sword of the law!
‘And since Jehovah Himself is now thus here with us, alongside us and among us, we no longer have to fear Satan’s tricks nearly as much as was, sadly enough, the case in primordial times. You may therefore now look more boldly and with less anxiety into the treacherous face of Rome’s bloodthirsty tiger! Did you not see a little while ago how the whole legion most disgracefully took to its heels before the two young men? Yet such young men accompany us in great numbers, and should we fear the Romans coming toward us with a white flag? I tell you: not even in a dream, let alone in reality!’
At these words the recovered man’s eyes widen, and after a short while he says, ‘What are you saying? Jehovah is now supposed to be among us? I thought this man who helped me was only the expected Messiah! How, then, are Jehovah and the Messiah one to you?
‘I can well understand that Jehovah’s strength will work in the Messiah in far greater fullness than it worked in all the prophets together. But that the Messiah and Jehovah would be completely one, I would not even have dared think, let alone say! It is also written that one should not imagine Jehovah under any image, and now this man, who possesses all the Messiah’s qualities in an outstanding degree, is supposed to be Je-ho-vah Himself? Yes, yes, that is perfectly all right with me if it does not trouble you as our high priest.
‘That the Messiah might be a special god I did think to myself immediately after my healing; for according to Scripture we are all gods, more or less, according to our keeping of Jehovah’s law. But that He should be Jehovah Himself! Yes, if that is so, then one must now behave quite differently. I have been healed by Him Himself, and now a quite different thanksgiving is called for!’
Here he wants to go to Me immediately. But Jonael prevents him, directs him to do so when they are in Sychar, and the recovered man is entirely satisfied with this.