PAPER 120
THE BESTOWAL OF MICHAEL ON URANTIA
120:0.1
ASSIGNED by Gabriel to supervise the restatement of
the life of Michael when on Urantia and in the
likeness of mortal flesh, I, the Melchizedek
director of the revelatory commission intrusted with
this task, am authorized to present this narrative
of certain events which immediately preceded the
Creator Son's arrival on Urantia to embark upon the
terminal phase of his universe bestowal experience.
To live such identical lives as he imposes upon the
intelligent beings of his own creation, thus to
bestow himself in the likeness of his various orders
of created beings, is a part of the price which
every Creator Son must pay for the full and supreme
sovereignty of his self-made universe of things and
beings.
120:0.2
Before the events I am about to delineate, Michael
of Nebadon had bestowed himself six times after the
similitude of six differing orders of his diverse
creation of intelligent beings. Then he prepared to
descend upon Urantia in the likeness of mortal
flesh, the lowest order of his intelligent will
creatures, and, as such a human of the material
realm, to execute the final act in the drama of the
acquirement of universe sovereignty in accordance
with the mandates of the divine Paradise Rulers of
the universe of universes.
120:0.3
In the course of each of these preceding bestowals
Michael not only acquired the finite experience of
one group of his created beings, but he also
acquired an essential experience in Paradise
co-operation which would, in and of itself, further
contribute to constituting him the sovereign of his
self-made universe. At any moment throughout all
past local universe time, Michael could have
asserted personal sovereignty as a Creator Son and
as a Creator Son could have ruled his universe after
the manner of his own choosing. In such an event,
Immanuel and the associated Paradise Sons would have
taken leave of the universe. But Michael did not
wish to rule Nebadon merely in his own isolated
right, as a Creator Son. He desired to ascend
through actual experience in co-operative
subordination to the Paradise Trinity to that high
place in universe status where he would become
qualified to rule his universe and administer its
affairs with that perfection of insight and wisdom
of execution which will sometime be characteristic
of the exalted rule of the Supreme Being. He aspired
not to perfection of rule as a Creator Son but to
supremacy of administration as the embodiment of the
universe wisdom and the divine experience of the
Supreme Being.
120:0.4
Michael, therefore, had a double purpose in the
making of these seven bestowals upon the various
orders of his universe creatures: First, he was
completing the required experience in creature
understanding which is demanded of all Creator Sons
before they assume complete sovereignty. At any time
a Creator Son may rule his universe in his own
right, but he can rule as the supreme representative
of the Paradise Trinity only after passing through
the seven universe-creature bestowals. Second, he
was aspiring to the privilege of representing the
maximum authority of the Paradise Trinity which can
be exercised in the direct and personal
administration of a local universe. Accordingly, did
Michael, during the experience of each of his
universe bestowals, successfully and acceptably
voluntarily subordinate himself to the variously
constituted wills of the diverse associations of the
persons of the Paradise Trinity. That is, on the
first bestowal he was subject to the combined will
of the Father, Son, and Spirit; on the second
bestowal to the will of the Father and the Son; on
the third bestowal to the will of the Father and the
Spirit; on the fourth bestowal to the will of the
Son and the Spirit; on the fifth bestowal to the
will of the Infinite Spirit; on the sixth bestowal
to the will of the Eternal Son; and during the
seventh and final bestowal, on Urantia, to the will
of the Universal Father.
120:0.5
Michael, therefore, combines in his personal
sovereignty the divine will of the sevenfold phases
of the universal Creators with the understanding
experience of his local universe creatures. Thus has
his administration become representative of the
greatest possible power and authority although
divested of all arbitrary assumptions. His power is
unlimited since it is derived from experienced
association with the Paradise Deities; his authority
is unquestioned inasmuch as it was acquired through
actual experience in the likeness of universe
creatures; his sovereignty is supreme since it
embodies at one and the same time the sevenfold
viewpoint of Paradise Deity with the creature
viewpoint of time and space.
120:0.6
Having determined the time of his final bestowal and
having selected the planet whereon this
extraordinary event would take place, Michael held
the usual prebestowal conference with Gabriel and
then presented himself before his elder brother and
Paradise counselor, Immanuel. All powers of universe
administration which had not previously been
conferred upon Gabriel, Michael now assigned to the
custody of Immanuel. And just before Michael's
departure for the Urantia incarnation, Immanuel, in
accepting the custody of the universe during the
time of the Urantia bestowal, proceeded to impart
the bestowal counsel which would serve as the
incarnation guide for Michael when he would
presently grow up on Urantia as a mortal of the
realm.
120:0.7
In this connection it should be borne in mind that
Michael had elected to execute this bestowal in the
likeness of mortal flesh, subject to the will of the
Paradise Father. The Creator Son required
instructions from no one in order to effect this
incarnation for the sole purpose of achieving
universe sovereignty, but he had embarked upon a
program of the revelation of the Supreme which
involved co-operative functioning with the diverse
wills of the Paradise Deities. Thus his sovereignty,
when finally and personally acquired, would actually
be all-inclusive of the sevenfold will of Deity as
it culminates in the Supreme. He had, therefore, six
times previously been instructed by the personal
representatives of the various Paradise Deities and
associations thereof; and now he was instructed by
the Union of Days, ambassador of the Paradise
Trinity to the local universe of Nebadon, acting on
behalf of the Universal Father.
120:0.8
There were immediate advantages and tremendous
compensations resultant from the willingness of this
mighty Creator Son once more voluntarily to
subordinate himself to the will of the Paradise
Deities, this time to that of the Universal Father.
By this decision to effect such associative
subordination, Michael would experience in this
incarnation, not only the nature of mortal man, but
also the will of the Paradise Father of all. And
further, he could enter upon this unique bestowal
with the complete assurance, not only that Immanuel
would exercise the full authority of the Paradise
Father in the administration of his universe during
his absence on the Urantia bestowal, but also with
the comforting knowledge that the Ancients of Days
of the superuniverse had decreed the safety of his
realm throughout the entire bestowal period.
120:0.9
And this was the setting of the momentous occasion
when Immanuel presented the seventh bestowal
commission. And from this prebestowal charge of
Immanuel to the universe ruler who subsequently
became Jesus of Nazareth (Christ Michael) on
Urantia, I am permitted to present the following
excerpts:
1. THE SEVENTH BESTOWAL COMMISSION
120:1.1
"My Creator brother, I am about to witness your
seventh and final universe bestowal. Most faithfully
and perfectly have you executed the six previous
commissions, and I entertain no thought but that you
will be equally triumphant on this, your terminal
sovereignty bestowal. Heretofore you have appeared
on your bestowal spheres as a fully developed being
of the order of your choosing. Now you are about to
appear upon Urantia, the disordered and disturbed
planet of your choice, not as a fully developed
mortal, but as a helpless babe. This, my comrade,
will be a new and untried experience for you. You
are about to pay the full price of bestowal and to
experience the complete enlightenment of the
incarnation of a Creator in the likeness of a
creature.
120:1.2
"Throughout each of your former bestowals you have
voluntarily chosen to subject yourself to the will
of the three Paradise Deities and their divine
interassociations. Of the seven phases of the will
of the Supreme you have in your previous bestowals
been subject to all but the personal will of your
Paradise Father. Now that you have elected to be
wholly subject to your Father's will throughout your
seventh bestowal, I, as the personal representative
of our Father, assume the unqualified jurisdiction
of your universe for the time of your incarnation.
120:1.3
"In entering upon the Urantia bestowal, you have
voluntarily divested yourself of all extraplanetary
support and special assistance such as might be
rendered by any creature of your own creation. As
your created sons of Nebadon are wholly dependent
upon you for safe conduct throughout their universe
careers, so now must you become wholly and
unreservedly dependent upon your Paradise Father for
safe conduct throughout the unrevealed vicissitudes
of your ensuing mortal career. And when you shall
have finished this bestowal experience, you will
know in very truth the full meaning and the rich
significance of that faith-trust which you so
unvaryingly require all your creatures to master as
a part of their intimate relationship with you as
their local universe Creator and Father.
120:1.4
"Throughout your Urantia bestowal you need be
concerned with but one thing, the unbroken communion
between you and your Paradise Father; and it will be
by the perfection of such a relationship that the
world of your bestowal, even all the universe of
your creation, will behold a new and more
understandable revelation of your Father and my
Father, the Universal Father of all. Your concern,
therefore, has only to do with your personal life on
Urantia. I will be fully and efficiently responsible
for the security and unbroken administration of your
universe from the moment of your voluntary
relinquishment of authority until you return to us
as Universe Sovereign, confirmed by Paradise, and
receive back from my hands, not the vicegerent
authority which you now surrender to me, but,
instead, the supreme power over, and jurisdiction
of, your universe.
120:1.5
"And that you may know with assurance that I am
empowered to do all that I am now promising (knowing
full well that I am the assurance of all Paradise
for the faithful performance of my word), I announce
to you that there has just been communicated to me a
mandate of the Ancients of Days on Uversa which will
prevent all spiritual jeopardy in Nebadon throughout
the period of your voluntary bestowal. From the
moment you surrender consciousness, upon the
beginning of the mortal incarnation, until you
return to us as supreme and unconditional sovereign
of this universe of your own creation and
organization, nothing of serious import can happen
in all Nebadon. In this interim of your incarnation,
I hold the orders of the Ancients of Days which
unqualifiedly mandate the instantaneous and
automatic extinction of any being guilty of
rebellion or presuming to instigate insurrection in
the universe of Nebadon while you are absent on this
bestowal. My brother, in view of the authority of
Paradise inherent in my presence and augmented by
the judicial mandate of Uversa, your universe and
all its loyal creatures will be secure during your
bestowal. You may proceed upon your mission with but
a single thought -- the enhanced revelation of our
Father to the intelligent beings of your universe.
120:1.6
"As in each of your previous bestowals, I would
remind you that I am recipient of your universe
jurisdiction as brother-trustee. I exercise all
authority and wield all power in your name. I
function as would our Paradise Father and in
accordance with your explicit request that I thus
act in your stead. And such being the fact, all this
delegated authority is yours again to exercise at
any moment you may see fit to requisition its
return. Your bestowal is, throughout, wholly
voluntary. As a mortal incarnate in the realm you
are without celestial endowments, but all your
relinquished power may be had at any time you may
choose to reinvest yourself with universe authority.
If you should choose to reinstate yourself in power
and authority, remember, it will be wholly for
personal
reasons since I am the living and supreme pledge
whose presence and promise guarantee the safe
administration of your universe in accordance with
your Father's will. Rebellion, such as has three
times occurred in Nebadon, cannot occur during your
absence from Salvington on this bestowal. For the
period of the Urantia bestowal the Ancients of Days
have decreed that rebellion in Nebadon shall be
invested with the automatic seed of its own
annihilation.
120:1.7
"As long as you are absent on this final and
extraordinary bestowal, I pledge (with Gabriel's
co-operation) the faithful administration of your
universe; and as I commission you to undertake this
ministry of divine revelation and to undergo this
experience of perfected human understanding, I act
in behalf of my Father and your Father and offer you
the following counsel, which should guide you in the
living of your earth life as you become
progressively self-conscious regarding the divine
mission of your continued sojourn in the flesh:
2. THE BESTOWAL LIMITATIONS
120:2.1
"1. In accordance with the usages and in conformity
with the technique of Sonarington -- in compliance
with the mandates of the Eternal Son of Paradise --
I have provided in every way for your immediate
entrance upon this mortal bestowal in harmony with
the plans formulated by you and placed in my keeping
by Gabriel. You will grow up on Urantia as a child
of the realm, complete your human education -- all
the while subject to the will of your Paradise
Father -- live your life on Urantia as you have
determined, terminate your planetary sojourn, and
prepare for ascension to your Father to receive from
him the supreme sovereignty of your universe.
120:2.2
"2. Apart from your earth mission and your universe
revelation, but incidental to both, I counsel that
you assume, after you are sufficiently
self-conscious of your divine identity, the
additional task of technically terminating the
Lucifer rebellion in the system of Satania, and that
you do all this as the
Son of Man;
thus, as a mortal creature of the realm, in weakness
made powerful by faith-submission to the will of
your Father, I suggest that you graciously achieve
all you have repeatedly declined arbitrarily to
accomplish by power and might when you were so
endowed at the time of the inception of this sinful
and unjustified rebellion. I would regard it as a
fitting climax of your mortal bestowal if you should
return to us as the Son of Man, Planetary Prince of
Urantia, as well as the Son of God, supreme
sovereign of your universe. As a mortal man, the
lowest type of intelligent creature in Nebadon, meet
and adjudicate the blasphemous pretensions of
Caligastia and Lucifer and, in your assumed humble
estate, forever end the shameful misrepresentations
of these fallen children of light. Having
steadfastly declined to discredit these rebels
through the exercise of your creator prerogatives,
now it would be fitting that you should, in the
likeness of the lowest creatures of your creation,
wrest dominion from the hands of these fallen Sons;
and so would your whole local universe in all
fairness clearly and forever recognize the justice
of your doing in the role of mortal flesh those
things which mercy admonished you not to do by the
power of arbitrary authority. And having thus by
your bestowal established the possibility of the
sovereignty of the Supreme in Nebadon, you will in
effect have brought to a close the unadjudicated
affairs of all preceding insurrections,
notwithstanding the greater or lesser time lag
involved in the realization of this achievement. By
this act the pending dissensions of your universe
will be in substance liquidated. And with the
subsequent endowment of supreme sovereignty over
your universe, similar challenges to your authority
can never recur in any part of your great personal
creation.
120:2.3
"3. When you have succeeded in terminating the
Urantia secession, as you undoubtedly will, I
counsel you to accept from Gabriel the conference of
the title of `Planetary Prince of Urantia' as the
eternal recognition by your universe of your final
bestowal experience; and that you further do any and
all things, consistent with the purport of your
bestowal, to atone for the sorrow and confusion
brought upon Urantia by the Caligastia betrayal and
the subsequent Adamic default.
120:2.4
"4. In accordance with your request, Gabriel and all
concerned will co-operate with you in the expressed
desire to end your Urantia bestowal with the
pronouncement of a dispensational judgment of the
realm, accompanied by the termination of an age, the
resurrection of the sleeping mortal survivors, and
the establishment of the dispensation of the
bestowed Spirit of Truth.
120:2.5
"5. As concerns the planet of your bestowal and the
immediate generation of men living thereon at the
time of your mortal sojourn, I counsel you to
function largely in the role of a teacher. Give
attention, first, to the liberation and inspiration
of man's spiritual nature. Next, illuminate the
darkened human intellect, heal the souls of men, and
emancipate their minds from age-old fears. And then,
in accordance with your mortal wisdom, minister to
the physical well-being and material comfort of your
brothers in the flesh. Live the ideal religious life
for the inspiration and edification of all your
universe.
120:2.6
"6. On the planet of your bestowal, set
rebellion-segregated man spiritually free. On
Urantia, make a further contribution to the
sovereignty of the Supreme, thus extending the
establishment of this sovereignty throughout the
broad domains of your personal creation. In this,
your material bestowal in the likeness of the flesh,
you are about to experience the final enlightenment
of a time-space Creator, the dual experience of
working within the nature of man with the will of
your Paradise Father. In your temporal life the will
of the finite creature and the will of the infinite
Creator are to become as one, even as they are also
uniting in the evolving Deity of the Supreme Being.
Pour out upon the planet of your bestowal the Spirit
of Truth and thus make all normal mortals on that
isolated sphere immediately and fully accessible to
the ministry of the segregated presence of our
Paradise Father, the Thought Adjusters of the
realms.
120:2.7
"7. In all that you may perform on the world of your
bestowal, bear constantly in mind that you are
living a life for the instruction and edification of
all your universe. You are
bestowing
this life of mortal incarnation upon Urantia, but
you are to
live such a life for the spiritual inspiration
of every human and superhuman intelligence that has
lived, now exists, or may yet live on every
inhabited world which has formed, now forms, or may
yet form a part of the vast galaxy of your
administrative domain. Your earth life in the
likeness of mortal flesh shall not be so lived as to
constitute an
example for the mortals of Urantia in the days
of your earthly sojourn nor for any subsequent
generation of human beings on Urantia or on any
other world. Rather shall your life in the flesh on
Urantia be the
inspiration
for all lives upon all Nebadon worlds throughout all
generations in the ages to come.
120:2.8
"8. Your great mission to be realized and
experienced in the mortal incarnation is embraced in
your decision to live a life wholeheartedly
motivated to do the will of your Paradise Father,
thus to
reveal God, your Father, in the flesh and
especially to the creatures of the flesh. At the
same time you will also
interpret,
with a new enhancement, our Father, to the
supermortal beings of all Nebadon. Equally with this
ministry of new revelation and augmented
interpretation of the Paradise Father to the human
and the superhuman type of mind, you will also so
function as to make a new revelation of man to God.
Exhibit in your one short life in the flesh, as it
has never before been seen in all Nebadon, the
transcendent possibilities attainable by a
God-knowing human during the short career of mortal
existence, and make a new and illuminating
interpretation of man and the vicissitudes of
his planetary life to all the superhuman
intelligences of all Nebadon, and for all time. You
are to go down to Urantia in the likeness of mortal
flesh, and living as a man in your day and
generation, you will so function as to show your
entire universe the ideal of perfected technique in
the supreme engagement of the affairs of your vast
creation: The achievement of God seeking man and
finding him and the phenomenon of man seeking God
and finding him; and doing all of this to mutual
satisfaction and doing it during one short lifetime
in the flesh.
120:2.9
"9. I caution you ever to bear in mind that, while
in fact you are to become an ordinary human of the
realm, in potential you will remain a Creator Son of
the Paradise Father. Throughout this incarnation,
although you will live and act as a Son of Man, the
creative attributes of your personal divinity will
follow you from Salvington to Urantia. It will ever
be within your power-of-will to terminate the
incarnation at any moment subsequent to the arrival
of your Thought Adjuster. Prior to the arrival and
reception of the Adjuster I will vouch for your
personality integrity. But subsequent to the arrival
of your Adjuster and concomitant with your
progressive recognition of the nature and import of
your bestowal mission, you should refrain from the
formulation of any superhuman will-to-attainment,
achievement, or power in view of the fact that your
creator prerogatives will remain associated with
your mortal personality because of the
inseparability of these attributes from your
personal presence. But no superhuman repercussions
will attend your earthly career apart from the will
of the Paradise Father unless you should, by an act
of conscious and deliberate will, make an undivided
decision which would terminate in whole-personality
choice.
3. FURTHER COUNSEL AND ADVICE
120:3.1
"And now, my brother, in taking leave of you as you
prepare to depart for Urantia and after counseling
you regarding the general conduct of your bestowal,
allow me to present certain advices that have been
arrived at in consultation with Gabriel, and which
concern minor phases of your mortal life. We further
suggest:
120:3.2
"1. That, in the pursuit of the ideal of your mortal
earth life, you also give some attention to the
realization and exemplification of some things
practical and immediately helpful to your fellow
men.
120:3.3
"2. As concerns family relationships, give
precedence to the accepted customs of family life as
you find them established in the day and generation
of your bestowal. Live your family and community
life in accordance with the practices of the people
among whom you have elected to appear.
120:3.4
"3. In your relations to the social order we advise
that you confine your efforts largely to spiritual
regeneration and intellectual emancipation. Avoid
all entanglements with the economic structure and
the political commitments of your day. More
especially devote yourself to living the ideal
religious life on Urantia.
120:3.5
"4. Under no circumstances and not even in the least
detail, should you interfere with the normal and
orderly progressive evolution of the Urantia races.
But this prohibition must not be interpreted as
limiting your efforts to leave behind you on Urantia
an enduring and improved system of
positive
religious ethics. As a dispensational Son you
are granted certain privileges pertaining to the
advancement of the
spiritual
and religious
status of the world peoples.
120:3.6
"5. As you may see fit, you are to identify yourself
with existing religious and spiritual movements as
they may be found on Urantia but in every possible
manner seek to avoid the formal establishment of an
organized cult, a crystallized religion, or a
segregated ethical grouping of mortal beings. Your
life and teachings are to become the common heritage
of all religions and all peoples.
120:3.7
"6. To the end that you may not unnecessarily
contribute to the creation of subsequent stereotyped
systems of Urantia religious beliefs or other types
of nonprogressive religious loyalties, we advise you
still further: Leave no writings behind you on the
planet. Refrain from all writing upon permanent
materials; enjoin your associates to make no images
or other likenesses of yourself in the flesh. See
that nothing potentially idolatrous is left on the
planet at the time of your departure.
120:3.8
"7. While you will live the normal and average
social life of the planet, being a normal individual
of the male sex, you will probably not enter the
marriage relation, which relation would be wholly
honorable and consistent with your bestowal; but I
must remind you that one of the incarnation mandates
of Sonarington forbids the leaving of human
offspring behind on any planet by a bestowal Son of
Paradise origin.
120:3.9
"8. In all other details of your oncoming bestowal
we would commit you to the leading of the indwelling
Adjuster, the teaching of the ever-present divine
spirit of human guidance, and the reason-judgment of
your expanding human mind of hereditary endowment.
Such an association of creature and Creator
attributes will enable you to live for us the
perfect life of man on the planetary spheres, not
necessarily perfect as regarded by any one man in
any one generation on any one world (much less on
Urantia) but wholly and supremely replete as
evaluated on the more highly perfected and
perfecting worlds of your far-flung universe.
120:3.10
"And now, may your Father and my Father, who has
ever sustained us in all past performances, guide
and sustain you and be with you from the moment you
leave us and achieve the surrender of your
consciousness of personality, throughout your
gradual return to recognition of your divine
identity incarnate in human form, and then on
through the whole of your bestowal experience on
Urantia until your deliverance from the flesh and
your ascension to our Father's right hand of
sovereignty. When I shall again see you on
Salvington, we shall welcome your return to us as
the supreme and unconditional sovereign of this
universe of your own making, serving, and completed
understanding.
120:3.11
"In your stead I now reign. I assume jurisdiction of
all Nebadon as acting sovereign during the interim
of your seventh and mortal bestowal on Urantia. And
to you, Gabriel, I commit the safekeeping of the Son
of Man about-to-be until he shall presently and in
power and glory be returned to me as the Son of Man
and the Son of God. And, Gabriel, I am your
sovereign until Michael thus returns."
***
120:3.12
Then, immediately, in the presence of all Salvington
assembled, Michael removed himself from our midst,
and we saw him no more in his accustomed place until
his return as the supreme and personal ruler of the
universe, subsequent to the completion of his
bestowal career on Urantia.
4. THE INCARNATION -- MAKING TWO ONE
120:4.1
And so certain unworthy children of Michael, who had
accused their Creator-father of selfishly seeking
rulership and indulged the insinuation that the
Creator Son was arbitrarily and autocratically
upheld in power by virtue of the unreasoning loyalty
of a deluded universe of subservient creatures, were
to be silenced forever and left confounded and
disillusioned by the life of self-forgetful service
which the Son of God now entered upon as the Son of
Man -- all the while subject to "the will of the
Paradise Father."
120:4.2
But make no mistake; Christ Michael, while truly a
dual-origin being, was not a double personality. He
was not God in association
with man
but, rather, God
incarnate
in man. And he was always just that combined being.
The only progressive factor in such a
nonunderstandable relationship was the progressive
self-conscious realization and recognition (by the
human mind) of this fact of being God and man.
120:4.3
Christ Michael did not progressively become God. God
did not, at some vital moment in the earth life of
Jesus, become man. Jesus was God
and man
-- always and even forevermore. And this God and
this man were, and now are,
one, even
as the Paradise Trinity of three beings is in
reality one
Deity.
120:4.4
Never lose sight of the fact that the supreme
spiritual purpose of the Michael bestowal was to
enhance the
revelation of God.
120:4.5
Urantia mortals have varying concepts of the
miraculous, but to us who live as citizens of the
local universe there are few miracles, and of these
by far the most intriguing are the incarnational
bestowals of the Paradise Sons. The appearance in
and on your world, by apparently natural processes,
of a divine Son, we regard as a miracle -- the
operation of universal laws beyond our
understanding. Jesus of Nazareth was a miraculous
person.
120:4.6
In and through all this extraordinary experience,
God the Father chose to manifest himself as he
always does --
in the usual
way -- in the normal, natural, and dependable
way of divine acting.
*
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