LESSON 319. I came for the salvation of the world.
(1) Here is a thought from which all arrogance has been removed, and only truth remains. For arrogance opposes truth. But when there is no arrogance the truth will come immediately, and fill up the space the ego left unoccupied by lies. Only the ego can be limited, and therefore it must seek for aims which are curtailed and limiting. The ego thinks that what one gains, totality must lose. And yet it is the Will of God I learn that what one gains is given unto all.
(2) <Father, Your Will is total. And the goal which stems from it shares its totality. What aim but the salvation of the world could You have given me? And what but this could be the Will my Self has shared with You?>
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Below, is from Kenneth Wapnick's commentaries on this lesson, from "Journey Through the Workbook of A Course in Miracles," which can be purchased at the following site: ~ M. Street.
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LESSON 319. "I came for the salvation of the world."
Recall the earlier lesson, "Salvation of the world depends on me" (W-p1.186). As Jesus tells us, this is not a statement of arrogance, but of humility.
(1:1-3) "Here is a thought from which all arrogance has been removed, and only truth remains. For arrogance opposes truth. But when there is no arrogance the truth will come immediately, and fill up the space the ego left unoccupied by lies."
Our function is to be aware of the ego's arrogant interpretation of "I am the salvation of the world," realizing its insanity, and ask Jesus' help to look at it differently. Through his eyes we realize we are the salvation of the world, not because of something we do, but because of the unity that is our Self. Our humbly bringing the arrogance to the truth allows truth simply to be.
(1:4-5) "Only the ego can be limited, and therefore it must seek for aims which are curtailed and limiting. The ego thinks that what one gains, totality must lose."
This is a wonderfully succinct statement of what happened in the original instant. Because of the principle of <one or the other>, winning our individuality meant totality lost: the ego and world were thus born and saved when we believed we killed wholeness and perfect Love. Yet true salvation of the world comes in realizing all this was a mistake, with no true effects.
(1:6) "And yet it is the Will of God I learn that what one gains is given unto all."
The rock on which salvation rests, Jesus tells us in the text, is that no one loses and everyone gains. To be God's Son does not mean God has to be destroyed. It means we are at one with our Father, as is every other seemingly separate fragment. Thus we read how the Holy Spirit converts the ego's insane world of separation to a sane world of forgiveness, undoing the ego's belief in <one or the other>:
"The Holy Spirit has the power to change the whole foundation of the world you see to something else; a basis not insane, on which a sane perception can be based, another world perceived. And one in which nothing is contradicted that would lead the Son of God to sanity and joy. Nothing attests to death and cruelty; to separation and to differences. For here is everything perceived as one, and no one loses that each one may gain." (T-25.VII.5).
(2) " <Father, Your Will is total. And the goal which stems from it shares its totality. What aim but the salvation of the world could You have given me? And what but this could be the Will my Self has shared with You?>"
To remember that God's Will embraces mine, as well as the Sonship as a whole, I must share the single purpose of forgiveness with my brother. Thus are we saved together, and the world along with us:
"You and your brother are the same as God Himself is One, and not divided in His Will. And you must have one purpose, since He gave the same to both of you. His Will is brought together as you join in will, that you be made complete by offering completion to your brother. See not in him the sinfulness he sees, but give him honor that you may esteem yourself and him. To you and your brother is given the power of salvation, that escape from darkness into light be yours to share; that you may see as one what never has been separate, nor apart from all God's Love as given equally." (T-25.II.11)
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10. What Is the Last Judgment?
(1) Christ's Second Coming gives the Son of God this gift: to hear the Voice for God proclaim that what is false is false, and what is true has never changed. And this the judgment is in which perception ends. At first you see a world that has accepted this as true, projected from a now corrected mind. And with this holy sight, perception gives a silent blessing and then disappears, its goal accomplished and its mission done.
(2) The final judgment on the world contains no condemnation. For it sees the world as totally forgiven, without sin and wholly purposeless. Without a cause, and now without a function in Christ's sight, it merely slips away to nothingness. There it was born, and there it ends as well. And all the figures in the dream in which the world began go with it. Bodies now are useless, and will therefore fade away, because the Son of God is limitless.
(3) You who believed that God's Last Judgment would condemn the world to hell along with you, accept this holy truth: God's Judgment is the gift of the Correction He bestowed on all your errors, freeing you from them, and all effects they ever seemed to have. To fear God's saving grace is but to fear complete release from suffering, return to peace, security and happiness, and union with your own Identity.
(4) God's Final Judgment is as merciful as every step in His appointed plan to bless His Son, and call him to return to the eternal peace He shares with him. Be not afraid of love. For it alone can heal all sorrow, wipe away all tears, and gently waken from his dream of pain the Son whom God acknowledges as His. Be not afraid of this. Salvation asks you give it welcome. And the world awaits your glad acceptance, which will set it free.
(5) This is God's Final Judgment: "You are still My holy Son, forever innocent, forever loving and forever loved, as limitless as your Creator, and completely changeless and forever pure. Therefore awaken and return to Me. I am your Father and you are My Son.
