"Beloved ones, I tell you, nothing can move forward in life unless the individual has a true understanding of God and his relationship to that eternal Spirit. Therefore, realize that Jesus did not come from God a new soul, born for the first time in his incarnation in Nazareth. Nay, I tell you! He was embodied as Joshua, the military hero of the Hebrew people. He was embodied as Joseph and wore his coat of many colors as the favorite son and did go through all manner of trial and persecution by his own brothers who were jealous of him; and yet he found favor in the sight of Pharaoh.

"Beloved hearts of light, you know the soul of Jesus in Elisha, the disciple of the prophet Elijah. And you know that Elijah came again in the person of John the Baptist as was prophesied and as it is written. Jesus gave to his own disciples the confirmation that this John the Baptist was Elias come again, thereby ratifying the teaching of reincarnation. Yet it is still denied by those Bible-quoting Christians who have determined to say it is not so. And I will tell you why they say it is not so: it is because they do not want to accept their accountability for their own past karma!"

It is interesting to note that the Christian concept of Jesus as God, fully perfected, is based solely on one incarnation, the final one, in which he comes to earth as the Anointed One. We must understand the law of reincarnation and realize that Jesus’ soul, like ours, has lived before in many lifetimes, in which he was not perfected. Following is a sampling of some of these:

Up until some twelve thousand years ago, Jesus had had previous incarnations on the continents of Lemuria and Atlantis. In one embodiment he ruled Atlantis during an age of great enlightenment when more than 50 percent of the population were fully clothed in their Christhood.

In the Genesis account of Adam and Eve, Jesus was righteous Abel, a keeper of sheep, whose offering was accepted by the Lord. But when Cain, a tiller of the ground, brought his offering and the Lord did not respect it, he rose up in anger and slew his brother Abel.

Cain and Abel by Titian Cain and Abel

When Eve conceived and bore another son she called his name Seth: 'For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew.' And when to this Seth there was born a son, Enos, it is written: 'Then began men to call upon the name of the Lord.'

Thus, through the rebirth and the renewal of the spiritual seed of Christ in Seth, the sons and daughters of God once again had access to the Mighty I AM Presence by means of his mediatorship. And outside of Eden the Guru-chela relationship was carried forward through the centuries by those who sustained the devotional tie to the Lord God Maitreya by obedient and enlightened love.

This Seth was the reincarnated Abel—our Christ Jesus come again to insure the Christic lineage of the Guru Maitreya in the descendants of Adam and Eve.

Selling of Joseph into Slavery Sébastien BOURDON, 1637 British Museum, London

More recently we see our Lord in the Old Testament as Joseph (c. 16th century b.c.), the favored of the twelve sons of Jacob, remembered for his coat of many colors, by which he became the envy of the rest. Though persecuted and sold into slavery by his brothers, Joseph became the pharaoh’s governor and saved his family and all of Egypt during seven years of famine.

Jesus was also embodied as Joshua (c. 1300 b.c.), the successor of Moses and great warrior (in the tradition of Sanat Kumara) who led the Hebrews into the promised land.

David with Goliath Head by Michelangel Merisi da Carravaggio David and Goliath

He was David (c. 1010-970 b.c.), the king who united the Israelites into one nation and the psalmist whose heart’s communion with the Lord deeply touches our own.

"The soul who has allowed the ego to grow lifetime after lifetime has created a monster, literally a Goliath. In the Biblical account of David and Goliath, Goliath represents David’s dweller-on-the-threshold. Before David could be crowned king of Israel, the Great Law required that he slay Goliath, the champion of the Philistines. This was a spiritual initiation. God initiated the soul of David that he might prove himself before Goliath and the Philistines and before King Saul and his people.

"So David, the naked soul, took his staff in hand and chose five smooth stones (symbolic of the five secret rays?) out of the brook and put them in a shepherd’s bag. With his sling in hand, he drew near to Goliath. And Goliath mocked him and “cursed him by his gods,” for David was “but a youth and ruddy and of a fair countenance.”

"But David demonstrated his confidence in himself and in his God. He said to Goliath, “I come to thee in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied. This day will the LORD deliver thee into mine hand.” His courage was unparalleled. He told Goliath exactly what he was going to do and he did it, affirming again, 'The battle is the LORD’s and he will give you into our hands.' Not for one moment did David even consider that the battle was his alone: he knew it was his and God’s.

" . . . Through the Psalms, we identify with the soul of David, who deftly delivered himself and all of Israel of the ragings of Goliath—the giant who was the incarnation of the four types of animal magnetism and all of the Martian A’s. (Although scholars debate whether David wrote any of the psalms ascribed to him, let’s assume for the moment that he did since the tradition goes back centuries and we are all steeped in that tradition. Whether or not he actually wrote them, they bear his imprint.)

The Prophet Elisha by Vasari

We see him as the prophet Elisha (c. 9th century b.c.), who performed miracles and healings in the shadow of his great Guru, Elijah. After Elijah’s ascension, Elisha received his Guru’s mantle and smote the waters of Jordan with it, saying, 'Where is the Lord God of Elijah?'

In this path of soul evolution that Jesus walked, we see that he was given the challenges of the path of the Bodhisattva, not as an exception to the Law but as an opportunity to exercise his free will. As he had affirmed his will in heaven, so he would now confirm that will on earth, saying, 'Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.'

Jesus came into his final incarnation having passed many initiations throughout his Eastern and Western embodiments; yet he retained the small percentage of karma that was required for his mission, which he balanced by the time he left Palestine at age thirty-three. It is the teaching of the Ascended Masters that so long as an initiate is unascended, no matter what his level of attainment, he is subject to the law of karma and must submit to the path of initiation under the lineage of the Buddhas and the Christed ones of the Great White Brotherhood who are his sponsors. Even as the redeemer must be redeemed and the saviour must be saved, so the one who would be Guru must first be chela.

Jesus recognized in John the Baptist his Guru Elijah, who had “come again” to prepare the way of his chela. The Messenger who was sent before the face of the Lord preached the baptism of repentance in all planes of earth wheresoever the Saviour would go to save the lost sheep of the House of Divine Reality.

The Prophet Elijah by Rubens

As Elijah, John had ascended into heaven. Under ordinary circumstances those who have passed through the ritual of the ascension do not reembody. But, for the mission of preparing the way of the one who would receive his mantle, the Guru descended to earth. Not only was John the Baptist endued with the Holy Ghost at birth but he came into incarnation as an Ascended Master, hence Jesus’ remark: 'Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist.'

John the Baptist in turn bowed to the Light of the Word in Jesus and said, 'He must increase, but I must decrease.' By this, John affirmed the law that when the chela is ready to assume the mantle of his Guru, the Guru withdraws to higher octaves. Thus, on earth John the Baptist’s mission and mantle would henceforth decrease proportionately as Jesus’ mission and mantle would now increase under Lord Maitreya.

Maitreya was the Guru of both Elijah and Elisha, both John the Baptist and Jesus Christ. However, Elijah preceded Elisha in the order of hierarchy, and this precious relationship was retained by John and Jesus from childhood on, even though Jesus was the one chosen to be the Avatar of the Piscean Age and John was chosen to ascend before him to hold the balance for his mission from octaves of Light.

The occasion of Jesus’ baptism by John in Jordan is further illustration of the submission of both John and Jesus to the law of the Guru-chela relationship and the rituals of redemption: 'Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him. But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me? And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness [i.e., all right uses and ordained rituals of the law]. Then he suffered him.'