Meredith Sprunger's Synopsis of The Urantia Book
Synopsis of Paper 120
THE BESTOWAL OF MICHAEL ON Urantia
1. Michael... 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... 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... 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.
2. Immanuel presented the seventh bestowal commission... 'My Creator brother ... Now you are about to appear on 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 ... 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.
3."Throughout your Urantia bestowal you need be concerned with but one thing, the unbroken communion between you and your Paradise Father... 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 ... You may proceed upon your mission with but a single thought the enhanced revelation of our Father to the intelligent beings of your universe.
4 I counsel that you assume ... 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
5. 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.
6. 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 any other world. Rather shall your life in the flesh on Urantia be the inspiration for all generations in the ages to come.
7. You will also so function as to make a new revelation of man to God ... 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.
8. It will ever be within your power‑of‑will to terminate the incarnation at any moment subsequent to the arrival of your Thought Adjuster ... 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.
9. Live your family and community life in accordance with the practices of the peoples among whom you have elected to appear... Avoid all entanglements with the economic structure and the political commitments of your day.
10. 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... seek to avoid the formal establishment of an organized cult.
11. 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.
12. 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... 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.
13. 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.
14. But make no mistake, Christ Michael, while truly a dual‑origin being, was not a double personality, lie 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..
15. 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 ... Jesus of Nazareth was a miraculous person.
Discussion Questions
1. Why do you think the Universal Father required Michael to incarnate in the likeness of all of the various orders of his created beings?
2. Why was the termination of the Lucifer rebellion by Michael as a mortal of the realm superior to terminating it as Creator of the universe?
3. Why is the life of Jesus more of an inspiration to human beings rather than an example?
4. In what way did Jesus present "some things practical and immediately helpful" to human beings?
5. How did Jesus "enhance the revelation of God?"
6. How do you envision that the life and teachings of Jesus will "become the common heritage of all religions and all people?"
7. How did Jesus introduce "an enduring and improved system of positive religious ethics?"
A Service of
The Urantia Book Fellowship