Soul Evolution—His Name Is John

Text

Luke 1:59-64 And it came to pass on the eighth day that they came to circumcise the child; and they would have called him Zacharias, after the name of his father. And his mother answered and said. Not so; but he shall be called John. And they said unto her, There is none of thy kindred that is called by this name. And they made signs to his father, what he would have him called. And he asked for a writing tablet, and wrote saying. His name is John. And they marvelled all. And his mouth was opened immediately, and his tongue loosed, and he spake again.

Interpretation

After we have had time to assemble our impressions, to take stock of the meaning of the new idea in our mind, and to measure its import in our lives, we are at first inclined to think of it as the spiritual consciousness opening up broader avenues of expression in and through us, “They would have called him Zacharias, after the name of his father,” But deep in the soul is the conviction that a special function of Spirit performs the work of preparing man to free himself from the clutch of sense. As long as he labors under a burden of condemnation, either that of his own conscience or the external censure of others, the way to achieve freedom is not open to him. Only when he perceives the truth that grace and mercy are included in the divine law as a very integral part of it does he find the voice of praise and blessing in his own heart. So the forerunner of freedom is the knowledge that grace and mercy are inalienable from the divine law, “His name is John.”