Jesus In India — Page 34
24 JESUS IN INDIA cross his heart was without a doubt safeguarded from the unholy condition of being accursed. And without a doubt from this it is also to be concluded that he did not physically go to heaven, because ascension to heaven was a constituent part of this whole scheme and a corollary of being crucified. Thus when it is proven that as he was neither accursed nor did he go to hell for three days, nor did he die [on the cross], thus the second part of the scheme, namely, that of ascension to heaven, also stands falsified. And even more proofs arise from the Gospels regarding this, which I proceed to set out below. One of these is the following statement that issued forth from the mouth of Jesus, the Messiah: But after I am risen again, I will go before you into Galilee. (Matthew 26: 32) From this verse it is very clear that Jesus, the Messiah, after he had come out of the sepulchre, went to Galilee and not to heaven. And these words of Jesus, the Messiah, that, 'After I am risen, can not mean coming to life after having died; rather, since in the eyes of the Jews and the ordinary people, he had died on the cross, thus Jesus, the Messiah, used these words that were in accord with what their thoughts were going to be in the future. And indeed, if a man is put on the cross, with nails driven into his feet and hands, so much so that falling into a swoon from this pain he comes to look like a corpse; if such a man is saved from his ordeal and recovers his senses, it would hardly be an exaggeration on his part to say that he had come to life again. There is no doubt that after so much suffering, the escaping from death of Jesus, the Messiah,