Source: https://www.bertha-dudde.org/en/proclamation/4614

4614 (Easter Maundy Thursday)

April 14, 1949: Book 53

Overcoming death through Jesus Christ....

The world has been redeemed from sin. People should rejoice and exult if they were aware of this great grace which spares them an unspeakably difficult fate in the beyond if they make use of it, that is, if they ask for forgiveness of the guilt of sin by believing in the redemption through Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ accomplished the act of salvation, which is so significant for all beings on earth and in the spiritual kingdom, and people take so little notice of it and do not value this inconceivable grace.... Jesus allowed Himself to be crucified out of love for His fellow human beings and rose again from the dead on the third day.... He overcame death and wanted all people to share in the sacrifice which His love offered for people, He wanted them to become conquerors of death too, so that they no longer needed to fear death and could therefore enter eternal life because He broke down the barriers through the act of salvation, the full significance of which cannot be grasped as long as man remains on earth. He has overcome death.... and thereby a spell has been broken.... People who were unfree due to the past sin of rebellion against God, whose will was under the influence of His adversary and who were unable to free themselves from him, are now able to free themselves from God's adversary through Christ's crucifixion if they call upon Jesus Christ for help in every adversity for the sake of the act of salvation which the man Jesus accomplished for His fellow human beings. Thus Jesus is God's intercessor for all those who believe in Him and strive to live as followers of Christ, i.e. to be loving and to fulfil His commandments. Then he does what God has given him to do during his earthly existence, then he frees himself from the bonds of death, for to be in bondage to God's adversary is the certain death of his soul. Jesus overcame death.... He was a human being and also died as a human being, although He was filled with the spirit of God and was also able to avert the most bitter death, which He had chosen Himself, by virtue of His unlimited power. He offered the sacrifice to God as a human being and thereby overcame His adversary by selflessly only thinking of His fellow human beings' suffering and guilt of sin and wanting to ease their fate, which is and was the result of sin. And God accepted the sacrifice.... He forgives the guilt of those who call upon Jesus as mediator for His grace and intercession. But accepting the sacrifice and forgiving the guilt of sin secures the awakening to life in eternity.... Thus there is no longer death, for after bodily death the soul enters the kingdom of light for eternal life. But only the souls of those who acknowledge Him, who believe in Him as the son of God and redeemer of the world.... People should be triumphant that death has now been overcome and that Jesus has accomplished this work, for now death has lost its terror because there is an awakening in the spiritual kingdom, because God's adversary no longer has power over the human being if he surrenders himself to the divine redeemer and appeals for His help, for strengthening of the will and the graces of the work of salvation.... for the forgiveness of the guilt of sin which the human being brought with him as an inheritance of the once fallen spiritual, to which he himself belongs.... He is redeemed from this sin through Jesus Christ, and he should rejoice and be glad when he considers the love of the man Jesus, who accomplished the most difficult thing on earth of which a human being was ever capable....

Amen

Translated by Doris Boekers