Metaphysical Bible Dictionary - Unity of Citrus County

Messiah is the anointed of God, or God identified as perfect man. This perfect man was the
image and likeness of Elohim, described in the 1st chapter of Genesis. The perfect-man idea
or I AM of Elohim appears in the 2d chapter of Genesis as Jehovah God, or I AM God.
Throughout the Old Testament, up to the advent of Jesus Christ, Jehovah is concerned with
the evolution of man. The Christ, or Jehovah, in Jesus affirmed its Mosaic antecedent in the
statement,
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"Before Abraham was born, I am." The Christ claimed also that Moses wrote of Him, again
identifying Jehovah and Christ. Jesus represented the external consciousness, or Adam, the
man that the Christ or Jehovah formed (in the Edenic allegory) out of the dust of the ground, or
elemental substance.
MD 8/1.1 Jesus worked out step by step in His three years' ministry spiritual and mental
formulas that we all can apply and thus be healed of our sins and ills of mind and body; by
following Him as Guide, Teacher, and Helper we can finally attain the perfect expression of the
divine-ideal man imaged by Elohim in the 1st chapter of Genesis. Interpreters of Jesus have
given slight value to the part that the body plays in the redemption of man, but Jesus Christ
plainly teaches that the whole man--spirit, soul, and body--must be redeemed from the effects
of sin. He overcame death and saved His body from the grave. He promised that all those who
followed Him in the regeneration would do likewise. Question arises as to how this doctrine
was, and is, applied to the restoration of man's body. The various processes in raising the
body to wholeness are symbolized in the many healings wrought by Jesus. Every so-called
miracle of His points to the transformation of some function of the body consciousness. For
example, consider His changing of water to wine at Cana of Galilee: Cana means "place of
reeds" (the larynx); and Galilee means "rolling energy, rolling, turning," or, as we say in
modern terms, "vibration." So we understand that the first miracle of Jesus (the I AM), the
turning of water into wine in Cana of Galilee, represents the change that goes on in the waters
of life, or the nerve fluids, as they are brought into vibration by a spiritually quickened man or
woman. The waters of life are thus changed into wine, or are given elements of greater
stimulating, life-giving power than they possessed before they passed through the vibration of
the voice. The whole organism may be invigorated and stimulated through the vibratory thrill of
the voice. In connection with this miracle there is a still more interior meaning. The six
waterpots indicate that, when the six great nerve centers in the body are purified, "after the
Jews' manner of purifying," the vibratory power of the voice will become so great that by the
spoken word a vessel filled with water may be changed into wine. The means by which this
purification can be accomplished and the power thus acquired are also explained in the
symbolism of the Old Testament.
MD 8/2.1 We could go on thus through all the Bible, but the foregoing is enough to show how
we see in the Bible symbolical pictures showing the growth and unfoldment of the latent
spiritual power in man up to the time when he comes into manifestation of the perfect "image"
and "likeness" in which he was created.
MD 8/2.2 In presenting these methods of interpretation we have endeavored to give with each
one sufficient explanation to enable the student to get an idea as to how and why we arrive at
given metaphysical conclusions. By reasoning along the same lines the student can develop
the inner interpretation of the Scriptures for himself. Our real aim is to assist in leading the
student into the inner or spiritual interpretation of the Bible, that he may apply it in the very
best and most practical way in his own life. If he does not wish to accept our interpretations,
but would rather do his own thinking, entirely apart from our suggestions, we fully recognize
his right to do so. We are always pleased when any one learns to go within and get his
inspiration direct from his own indwelling Lord or Spirit of truth. By doing this a person will