May 30, 2014
The Veil Is Rent In Twain
Human beings have resorted to various humanly conceived methods in an attempt to penetrate the veil, but such efforts have been to no avail. Many of those who have sought the Way have, by reason of ignorance, complained that the veil existed, little realizing that if it were not for the protection of the Golden Veil they would not have had the opportunities of finding the Way, or of entering into the Divine Estate. Let no one bemoan the fact that the veil exists, for he who is ready to see through or beyond the veil finds that it is rent in twain and the Way is easy and the burden is Light; and let those who have not yet so seen abide in patience, remembering that to strive is to fail, and that, in due season, as the faithful one continues on, all that is necessary to his or her proper function in the world shall surely be revealed. Let no one begin to try to penetrate the veil, and let no one become discouraged because he may think that he has not seen as much of the Divine Estate as he would like. As Jesus, our Lord and Master, proved that the veil can be penetrated, and as it was rent in twain even though the world rejected Him, each faithful one should remember that the responsibility of perception and of knowledge and of understanding must be born nobly and wisely with each advance into the realm of that which is unknown to the world; therefore, each should rejoice that the Lord does not at any time place a greater burden of responsibility upon any individual than he or she can bear in the state of his expansion of consciousness, and at his point of progress along the Way.
May 27, 2014
Sacred Schools Under the Authority and Direction of Melchizedek
Sacred Schools Under the Authority and Direction of Melchizedek
Historical Relationship Between the First, Second and Third Sacred Schools
Loveland Fireside Talks No. Eleven
Uranda July 11, 1944
Tonight, our Service will be parenthetical to our regular subject matter, although it relates directly thereto. The purpose of this Service is to provide a clarification of the Teaching of the Third Sacred School as it relates in function and manifestation to the First and Second Sacred Schools, all three of which date back in vibrational foundation to the Motherland, or the Edenic State, as God first established it in the earth. Information concerning what is commonly called the pre‑historic period, as presented in the Third Sacred School, is not dependent upon mythology, although mythology lends abundant evidence of the authenticity of that which is presented. Neither is it dependent upon legend, although many legends springing from the dim antiquity of time point with clarity, for all those who read the symbolism aright, to the fact that what is sometimes called antedeluvian history must be considered in terms of thousands of years rather than of the short period commonly conceived to be correct by reason of Biblical chronology. It must be remembered that generally accepted historical records which are commonly known, or known of, by the masses of people are largely limited to the last 5,000 years. It does not in any sense deny the authenticity of the Bible to recognize that Biblical chronology, as more or less arbitrarily applied by most scholars to the early part of world history as presented in Genesis, is not correct and is, in fact, very misleading. This is not a refutation of the Bible, but rather, a refutation of the chronology more or less arbitrarily established in relationship to the Bible.
It will be recalled that we
have already emphasized the fact that the first 9 chapters of the Bible cover a
period from the beginning of the creation of this world to the time of the
death of Noah. The 10th chapter of Genesis is devoted to an outline of the
generations of the sons of Noah, and in the 26th verse of the 11th chapter we
have the beginning of the story of Abraham. The story from the time of Abraham
to the present is reasonably complete. The remainder of the Bible covers a
period of a little over 2,000 years. Whatever period of time is conceived to
have elapsed prior to the time of Abraham is covered in 10 short chapters, but
it took almost the entire Bible to cover the period of time from Abraham to the
days when the New Testament events took place nearly 2,000 years ago. Even
Biblical chronology over a period of nearly 2,000 years is covered in these 10
chapters, and the next 2,000 years involve the rest of the Bible. It is
obvious, then, that those who insist on accepting the usual Biblical chronology
must admit, at least, that the Biblical history covering the period prior to
the time of Abraham is extremely sketchy. We cannot accept the idea that
creation of this world began only about 6,000 years ago, and while there may be
some religionists who still hold to such a belief, the preponderance of
evidence from the standpoint of nature, from the standpoint of historical
records unearthed during the last 50 years, and from the standpoint of an
unbiased consideration of the Bible itself, indicates that a much longer period
of time in world history preceded the advent of Abraham. On the other hand, we
do not accept the idea that millions of years have elapsed, as is commonly
taught from a so‑called scientific standpoint. All of the phenomena used to
support the theory that millions of years have elapsed are easily and correctly
understood once the fundamentals of the factual history of the world, as
related to the period prior to Abraham's time, are grasped by the Student.
More than once the question has
been asked as to what Biblical authority we have for that which we teach
concerning the history of the world prior to the time of Abraham. That we have
Biblical authority goes without saying, but it is not offered here because the
Student must first grasp the fundamentals of the Teaching before he can
understand that which the Bible actually reveals on this point. It must again
be emphasized that all of the scientific discoveries in the fields of
archeology and geology, when correctly understood, correlate perfectly with
that which is actually revealed by the Bible, and that all these sources of
information correlate with history as known and presented in the Third Sacred
School. For practical reasons, which should be obvious in view of the fact that
we are dealing with a vast period of time, the history of which is unknown to
the world as a whole, we decline to deal more explicitly with the question of
the source of the historical presentation concerning the period in question
until the student is advanced sufficiently to allow him to perceive the facts
for himself.
All of this relates directly to
the subject in hand, because it must be recognized, tentatively at least, by
the student that, roughly speaking, the advent of man into the world through
creation took place a little over 150,000 years prior to the time of Abraham,
and that when God first created man and placed him in the earth, man was fully
instructed concerning all phases of knowledge necessary to man's perfect
function, physically, mentally and Spiritually. In the period preceding the
fall of man, God established through Divine Man a system of education which was
designed to provide full understanding of all things needful to man in all
three phases of his being throughout the period of this world's existence. The
basic principles of the educational system then established have been retained
in the outworking of the Divine Plan for man as established and set in motion
.at the time of man's fall, and have continued until the present time. In other
words, it must be recognized that the Divine Plan originally established for
Divine Man did not anticipate, or provide for, the fall of man, but when man
fell the Divine Plan was re-arranged, retaining the same fundamentals in all
respects, with a view to the restoration of man to his Divine Estate in a
manner which would permit the original plan to be carried on effectively from
the time when restoration should be accomplished. This must be understood, in
principle at least, in order to allow a basic understanding of the place which
the Third Sacred School holds in the Cosmic Order of things. Time and space do
not permit us at this point to deal more than briefly with the educational
system and program which was in operation prior to the time of the fall of man,
but it must be recognized that the idea that Adam and Eve, as thought of as two
individuals, were most certainly not the only ones living at the time of the
fall; in other words, Adam and Eve refer symbolically to all of those thousands
of individuals who participated in self-active function, commonly described as
the fall of man. The Bible itself gives evidence of this fact when we note that
Cain, the first-born of Adam and Eve, according to the story, journeyed from
the place where his parents lived, after he had killed his only brother, and
readily found a wife.
This Divine Educational System
that was in operation prior to the fall of man was carried on through the means
of what we properly call Seven Sacred Schools, which had their vibrational
foundation in the Seven Planes of this Whole, Holy World. These Seven Sacred
Schools of the Motherland of man, or the Garden of Eden, were the seats of
learning and all government; in other words, all educational instruction issued
forth from these Seven Sacred Schools, and they were in actuality the
controlling factors in all phases of life, including that which we would
describe as religion and government. Under this system of function the whole
world was populated and the whole world was governed. It should be remembered
that in this period the preponderance of earth's surface was land, as the
preponderance of the earth's surface is now water. Other instruction papers
deal with the process of the fall and the geographical changes which took
place, but in relationship to our present subject matter it must be recalled
that in a period of 7,000 years, dating from the time of the fall, these Seven
Sacred Schools originally established by God as a means of providing all
educational facilities and government for man, were temporarily withdrawn from
manifestation in the earth, culminating in the submersion of Lemuria, or that
which is described in the Bible as Adam and Eve being driven from the Garden of
Eden. About 1,000 years later the continent of Atlantis submerged beneath the
waters of what we now call the Atlantic Ocean, as described and alluded to in
the Biblical story of the Flood, and the scattered remnants of humanity who
survived these cataclysmic changes were forced by circumstance and violent
climatic changes to subsist under what we would classify as primitive
conditions closely akin to the state of the animal world. This, then, which
took place about 12,000 years ago produced what is commonly thought of as the
cave man era. From this low point to which man had descended by the process of
devolution, it took about 5,000 years of what we may call evolution for man to
reach a point where we have the beginnings of recorded history as generally
known in relationship to the Egyptian period; in other words, this carries us
up to the beginning of history as generally recognized.
It should be easily seen that
it would be necessary that the Sacred Schools which had been temporarily
withdrawn from manifestation would have to be re-established in the earth in
their natural order, and the outworking of man's progress in world events did
not permit the beginning of this phase of the fulfilment of the Divine Plan for
the fallen world until the time of Abraham, during whose lifetime Melchizedek
appeared. It is obvious from all Biblical references to Melchizedek that he was
the highest of Divine Beings who functioned in relationship to this world, and
it-should not be difficult to comprehend that the one who manifested as Melchizedek
later manifested as Jesus the Christ.
In connection with our
distinction between the Supreme Divine Being connected with this world, and
other members of the One Body of God, it should be understood that this relates
to the fact that there are many other worlds peopled and under the jurisdiction
of Divine Beings, and that it would be an assumption of the most egotistical
sort to imagine that this is the only world in all of the Cosmos which is
peopled, or which relates to the outworking of the Divine Order, through the
administration of Divine Beings. Therefore, when we speak of the One God Whom
we all recognize, we realize that the Divine Beings connected with the function
and manifestation of the other worlds in the Universe and in the Cosmos, are Members
of the ONE GOD BODY just as surely as are the Divine Beings Who administer the
Divine affairs of this world.
The foregoing clearly refutes
the false assumption which has been made on the part of some that the Third
Sacred School must, in some manner, purport to be higher or more advanced than
the First or Second Sacred Schools, merely because it is designated as the
Third Sacred School. If the First and Second Sacred Schools had not been
established and in manifestation, the Third could not have been brought forth.
The work of establishing the First Sacred School was, obviously, the most
difficult of all, because it was a beginning, in outer manifestation, without
any historical background in the period immediately preceding, or known to man
in general, so that it could have been accomplished in no way other than it was
accomplished, namely, through the ministrations of Melchizedek, who was
manifest in the earth, without father, without mother, and without end of days.
There is no record in any part of Biblical history of a more marvelous and
wonderful Divine manifestation in the earth, and it was, simply, a
manifestation of the LORD of Lords and KING of Kings Whom we know in the New
Testament period as Jesus the Christ, Who came into the world through the
operation of Divine Laws without the medium of a physical body produced by the
process of conception and birth, or limited by the processes of decrepitude and
death. Only by means of such a Divine manifestation could the beginning
processes of re-manifestation of the Seven Sacred Schools be brought about in
the earth under conditions that then existed. Certainly, then, in so far as the
world now is, the process by which the First Sacred School was again
established in the earth must be recognized as being Supreme, and even more
beyond the comprehension of the human mind, than was the manifestation and
function of Jesus Christ. It must be understood that the First Sacred School
established by Melchizedek through the responsive co-operation of Abraham, extended
in its dominant influence in the world until the time of the dispersion of the
Israelites; in other words, it includes and contains within itself all that
took place in revelation and function through Jacob, through Joseph, through
Moses, through the Judges, through David and Solomon, through Elijah and
Elisha, and through all of the Faithful Prophets of the Old Testament.
As we have already recognized
that it was necessary that the Sacred Schools be re-established in their
chronological order, it must also be recognized that they had to be established
in accordance with their vibrational order relating to the Seven Planes of
Being. These requirements were fulfilled in each instance. Through the First
Sacred School established by Melchizedek and carried forward so effectively by
Moses and the Faithful Ones who followed after him, there was provided a means
whereby the mass body of a selected portion of humanity could have returned
immediately to the Edenic State if they had remained steadfast and true to God,
thereby opening the way whereby the world as a whole could have been restored
to the Edenic State en masse. This certainly must be classified as the greatest
opportunity accorded to man since the day of the fall until this present time,
and was the greatest undertaking from the standpoint of man that could possibly
have been inaugurated. When the selected portion of the world body failed to
carry through, and the immediate program under the First Sacred School could
not be brought to fruition, the vibrational basis of the Second Sacred School
had to be resorted to. But this does not mean that the basic vibrational
function of the First Sacred School was lost to the world, for it was, and
still is, providing a basic foundation for all that has, or will, come after
it. When man failed to take advantage of the opportunities afforded by the
First Sacred School, it became necessary for Jesus Christ to manifest in the
world, to bring into manifestation the function and vibrational basis of the
Second Sacred School.
The Life and Ministry of Jesus and that which is recorded in the New Testament period all relates thereto, and provides the immediate foundation for all of the spiritually progressive activities in the world today. While the work of establishing the Second Sacred School was more painful, it was not as difficult task in one sense of the word as was the work of establishing the First Sacred School; but in both instances the work was so difficult and so gravely important to the world that it could be entrusted to no one but the LORD of Lords Himself. In the opportunity afforded by the Life Ministry of Jesus Christ through His work in establishing the Second Sacred School, the field was narrowed down from the broad scope that was utilized in the First Sacred School, which had provided the easiest process of response from the standpoint of humanity, to the field of what we classify as the mental. I would here point out that because it is so classified a few persons who are ignorant of the outworking of the Divine Plan have jumped to the false conclusion that we were relegating the work of Jesus Christ to something below the Spiritual vibration classification which is utilized in relation to the Third Sacred School. Such an idea is completely false. The First Sacred School, while utilizing the basic vibrations of physical response, in the primary sense, certainly included in every respect all that is properly classified as the mental and the Spiritual. When humanity rejected this easy way, the next more difficult way had to be resorted to, and when I speak of it as being difficult here, I have reference only to humanity's opportunities therein, and not to the difficulties involved in establishing the Second Sacred School. Melchizedek had the most difficult task, but he provided humanity with the easiest possible way of restoration. Jesus Christ had almost as difficult a task and one that was more painful, in establishing the Second Sacred School, and He provided the next easiest way of direct approach from the standpoint of humanity as a whole. That which Jesus Christ established is still in force, and no one who has any understanding of the work of the Third Sacred School has ever supposed, for even a fraction of a second, that the Third Sacred School or those who function therein supersede in any manner whatsoever the work of Jesus Christ, for we recognize Him as LORD of Lords and KING of Kings, and have never at any time suggested that the Third Sacred School or any individual in it was equal to, let alone above or beyond, that which was made manifest in and through our Beloved Master, Jesus Christ.
While Jesus Christ was on
earth, a means was provided by which the world could have been restored to the
Edenic State at that time, so that Jesus Himself would not have been crucified,
and so that the intervening 2,000 years of misery, suffering and death could
have been avoided by humanity as a whole. When the world rejected that which
Jesus Christ offered, and crucified Him, the third alternative Plan had to come
into effect, and Jesus Christ Himself established the authorization and
provided the direction for the outworking on the basis of the third alternative
Plan; but, by reason of the fact that He was crucified by the world, and by
reason of the fact of that which He had provided for the world, both in teaching
and actual manifestation of vibrational function according to the Divine Order,
it was not necessary that He assume personal responsibility in outer
manifestation for the establishment of the Third Sacred School. In other words,
the processes of bringing the Third Sacred School again into manifestation
could be, and were, delegated to a subordinate by Jesus Christ Himself.
However, by reason of the world's rejection of Jesus Christ, the second alternative
Plan ceased to be available to man in the very hour when Jesus was crucified on
Calvary, and the third alternative Plan has been in effect since that hour, and
it utilizes the approach to the Divine on a vibrational basis of Spiritual
response as the starting point. Here, then, we have the first three of the
seven Planes as manifest in this world on a vibrational basis represented in
the manifestation and function of the first three of the Sacred Schools.
The Fourth Sacred School will not be brought into manifestation until after the restoration of man to the Edenic State. In other words, man must come through the program provided on the third-plane vibration, or not at all. In this connection, it is necessary to point out that every church and all individuals who honestly and sincerely seek to follow Jesus Christ, to do His Will, and who desire to receive that which Jesus Christ offered to the world, are, to the degree that they are correct in their understanding of that which Jesus Christ taught and accomplished, in the Third Sacred School already, and this has been true since the moment when Jesus Christ Himself recognized that the third alternative Plan would have to be utilized, and therefore authorized the Beloved Disciple John as the Head thereof in the earth, while He Himself was on the cross. Jesus did not give that Authorization prior to the time that He was on the cross, because up until that moment humanity had the opportunity of responding on the basis of the second alternative Plan. The moment He was on the cross humanity lost that opportunity, and from that moment onward the third alternative Plan was in effect. So it is that the re-manifestation of the Third Sacred School, which vibrationally dates back to the period of the Edenic State long before the fall of man, has been in actual existence by decree and authority of Jesus Christ since the hour when He was crucified on Calvary. It is under this authority, and on a vibrational foundation dating into antiquity more than 150,000 years ago, that the Third Sacred School is now operating in the world, that all who will may know the whole Truth and be set completely free, according to the promise of Jesus Christ, our Lord, and Master.
The history of the world since
the time of the crucifixion of Jesus down through the dark ages to the present
time, as it relates to the manifestation and function of the Third Sacred
School, is a vast subject which has been touched upon to a degree in other
writings, and which we must now leave for further elucidation until another
time.
© Emissaries of Divine Light
May 26, 2014
Universal Priesthood
Uranda April 6, 1953
Man was created in the image and likeness of God, to be the body of God on earth, to be the means by which God's dominion could be extended into the earth with respect to all forms of manifestation here, including the elements. ...
Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God."And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth:"And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all.
In this movement forward, in the process of becoming in actual fact members of the one body, letting the power of God work in us and through us to carry on the divine pattern, we must become priests and priestesses after the order of Melchizedek. We can be hangers-on, or we can be disciples, or followers—a disciple is a follower—or we can reach the point of being prophets (that is, letting the Word of the Lord express through our lips), or we can keep on and become priests or priestesses.
Now I would not want you to feel that I arbitrarily take the stand that every man, woman and child on the face of the earth should be a priest or priestess in the ultimate outworking. There are all kinds of spheres of service and responsibility which relate to that central focalization, and for a person who is content just to be a disciple, well, no one is going to find fault with him if he is a good disciple, or a good prophet or prophetess, as the case may be. There are many spheres of service. But from the standpoint of actually establishing the patterns and accomplishing the will of God on earth, it must be through the priesthood after the order of Melchizedek. There is no other way. That is the way which Jesus Christ revealed on earth, and He said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life." He was reestablishing on earth a consciousness, an understanding, a recognition, of the priesthood after the order of Melchizedek.
And we might point out that it is only as human beings have responded to the influence released in the pattern of the priesthood after the order of Melchizedek that they have accomplished anything worthwhile in a real beneficial sense to humanity or to the glory of God, at any time on the face of the earth. This is without respect to church or denomination or creed or color or anything else. You begin to realize that this in which we are sharing comes over to us from the Motherland, from the days before the fall of man, and it is the divine pattern which has not been changed. It is still the same. It is still the same Law and principles of being. What we are speaking of here as the priesthood after the order of Melchizedek was the governing force on earth before the fall of man, and had been for around one hundred and thirty thousand years. And it has been the governing force behind every constructive move, every really blessed life, on the face of the earth since that day, without respect to any of the man-made divisions. In other words, when we begin to recognize the basic truth of the matter, we find that it is the catholic church. Catholic means universal.
Catholic is universal. To say Roman Catholic is to establish a division, a limit, to build a fence. In other words you begin to see that whatever is constructive or right or real, or response to the spirit of God, in any person on the face of the earth, regardless of nationality or creed or religion or anything else, is a response to that pattern in which we are engaged. We do not use the word "catholic," because of its, well, misuses; that is, we do not use it publicly. But it means universal. And we do not speak of it as a church particularly, in the ordinary sense, because it is much more than the human concept of what a church means. But it is the priesthood after the order of Melchizedek. And in order to see the full significance of this, we go back and recognize that the divine pattern was in operation before the fall. This pattern was in operation in relationship to the conditions that worked out after the fall. We remember man's sudden plunge downward into the caveman age, etc., and his gradual emergence into the dim dawn of history. And it was by this means that the focalization of the pattern was carried over from the period that was beyond the range of history, or man's knowledge, and reestablished with respect to the dawn of history.
So, from my standpoint, any man or woman, regardless of who it is, or where, or in what condition, what they call themselves or anything else—any man or woman on the face of the earth who lets God's will be done, even to the slightest degree, so that there is a real service from it, that person is a part of this which you share here. And it is only to the degree that any person is a part of this, that he or she can amount to anything, I don't care what the standards according to the world concept. But this is, and has been for many thousands of years, the universal pattern with respect to the things of God on earth, the progress of man, everything. Every step of progress that man has made has been worked out under this pattern, without a single exception.
We have people talk about their churches or their denominations going back two or three hundred years or four hundred years, or back to the time of Jesus, or something of that nature. This program which you are sharing here goes back to the fall of man, on the basis of its present purpose—that is, the restoration of man—and it goes back to the beginning of creation, the beginning of the creation of the world in actual fact. So as far as this world is concerned it cannot be any older than that. It is the divine pattern in operation, and has been since the beginning of the creation of the world. Once we begin to see that, we realize that we have a tremendous responsibility, a glorious privilege, to consciously share in this process of restoration.
But man has been in the fallen state for so long that he imagines that God's whole purpose is just to get him back into heaven, and once that is done, everything is done. This twenty-thousand-year interval in which man has fallen has simply meant that some of the other things that God intended to do have had to wait a bit. Getting man back into the divine pattern is a temporary goal. After man is back in the divine pattern, then we can go on with our cosmic work, our divine pattern of work. Simply saving human beings is not the end and aim of all things; it is merely incidental; because when man fell, man interfered with the processes of God's creative work as it was being carried on in the solar system in relationship to the universe and the cosmos.
The body of humanity became ill. It is not well yet. So as soon as the body of humanity is well and the process of restoration has been worked out, we can go back to work and do the thing that we really were ordained to do, we were intended to do and should be doing. But for the time being we are on a temporary job.
© Emissaries of Divine Light
May 24, 2014
It Is Written
It Is Written
Uranda January 12, 1949
Now we note a very
interesting and significant point. "But He answered and said, It is
written." Jesus could have answered in words that had not been
written before. He could have used His Own expression, but His every
answer to the tempter was a quotation from something God had already expressed
to the children of men through His Prophets. Jesus did not find it
necessary to say anything that had not already been said and made available to
the children of men, in order to meet the temptations which confronted
Him. The significance of this is shown, first, by the fact that God had
already made provision for the meeting of the tempter's snares long before the
coming of our LORD in the flesh; and, secondly He Who was, and is, the LORD of
Lords was ready and willing to quote from the Word of God already
expressed. He did not feel that He had to make it original, and something
peculiarly His own, to make it effective.
The Word that had already been written was the word that He used. "But He answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." The significance of that Word, in the fourth verse, which the Master quoted from the third verse of the eighth chapter of Deuteronomy, should come home with a new realization to each one here tonight. "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God."
© emissaries of divine light
May 22, 2014
Holy of Holies
from
Holy of Holies
Uranda July 17, 1953
In the encampment of the children of Israel we recognize that each tribe was composed of both male and female. So the positive and negative aspects are seen in the body of the encampment itself. But the positive and negative, or male and female aspects, manifest in many different ways. We have recognized that this particular pattern extends from the solar system to the atom, and is in control, properly, in the divine design, with all things between these two extremes. So let us note with respect to the tabernacle itself what the pattern is.
There was the outer court of the tabernacle, and anyone who was properly clean, not degenerated into a pattern of just physical cleanliness, etc., but anyone who was classified as clean and was a member of the encampment, in a right sense, could go into the outer court under certain conditions or at certain times. It was more or less open to all. And then there was the next point, with respect to the holy place. It was one of the two rooms of the tabernacle itself, and the holy place was forbidden territory to the people, generally speaking, but any of the priests who were properly officiating could enter the holy place. But at one end of the tabernacle there was a smaller room, cut off by hangings, which was classified as the Holy of Holies. So we see here the three again: the encampment itself, composed of the people, the physical body; the outer court; and then the holy place. And then the Holy of Holies. With the Holy of Holies we have the fourth, the fourth place, which was the place of the ark; and the ark of the covenant provided the means by which the evidence of the presence of the One who Dwells could be made manifest. So the encampment itself represented the physical body, male and female, your physical body. But next we come, as far as the tabernacle is concerned, to the outer court, which symbolizes your outer or your conscious mind. And then the holy place, symbolizing what we call your spiritual expression plane, or the third plane of being.
But then, within the tabernacle, inside of all of this, was the Holy of Holies, and the only entrance to the Holy of Holies was through the holy place—no entrance into the Holy of Holies except through the holy place. Now the holy place is the place of spiritual things, of spiritual realization, of spiritual understanding, of spiritual correlation with Deity. But the Holy of Holies is the place of Deity, and only the high priest was authorized to enter the Holy of Holies. And it is in the Holy of Holies that we find the Ark of the Covenant, representing the reality of the presence of the One Who Dwells. So your own Lord, or your own individual God being, is indicated there. …
The holy place is a place where all true members of the priesthood may serve in their appointed season, representing the people to God and representing God to the people. Now there is a dual function of those who are true members of the priesthood after the order of Melchizedek. The priesthood serves in a dual capacity: representing the people to God, and representing God to the people. Then, in the holy place there is a direct contact; the people could come into the outer court, and any authorized member of the priesthood could be in the holy place. There we have the close association pattern. But only the high priest could go into the Holy of Holies, carrying the pattern to a point of focalization. The people themselves, the body of the twelve tribes, is carried into a pattern of focalization in the priesthood; and the priesthood is carried into a pattern of focalization in the high priest, the supreme point; and the supreme point of this focalization meets the focalization of Deity in the Holy of Holies. So there is the contact, in the direct sense, with God. …
We have male and female in the body of mankind. When it emerges to the point of the representation where we are considering the priesthood in the tabernacle, what do we find? The priesthood as such, then, represents the positive or male principle, and the tabernacle as such represents the negative or female principle. In the final analysis we find that the high priest represents the male sex organ, and the Holy of Holies represents the female sex organs; because sex, in its divine sense, in its true sense, is the holiest and most sacred thing that there is in relationship to mankind on earth.
from
The Holy of Holies
Martin Cecil December 25, 1972
In the story told in the Book of Job long ago,
"There was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before
the Lord, and Satan came also among them." Satan is the self-centered,
self-willed consciousness of man. The self-centeredness and the self-will of
man is what impels him to do what he does. Satan is certainly not an unknown
quantity in the world as it is in this day and hour, for here is the compulsion
which drives men to do what they do. In that day long ago, it is said that Job
was a perfect and an upright man who feared God and eschewed evil. There was,
however, evidently a weakness in the hedge about him. One of the evidences of
this weakness was indicated at the point when his wife suggested that he curse
God and die; she was not in agreement with him. Because of whatever weaknesses
there were in Job's hedge Satan was able to enter in, bringing disaster.
Because the holy place was not maintained by those who were responsible for it
the hedge was breached. The self-centered, self-willed consciousness of man,
Satan, the adversary, took command of the situation temporarily and, as I say,
there was disaster and tragedy.
As I welcome you to the holy place this morning as
the sons and daughters of God the question arises as to whether Satan comes
with you, whether there is anything remaining in your consciousness which is in
agreement with the self-centered, self-willed state. At that time, because there
was a weakness in the hedge, what Satan had to say necessarily had to be
listened to. This morning I trust that we may ignore anything that he may have
to say. He has many specious arguments to maintain his position in those who
are self-willed and self-centered, but relinquishing this state of
consciousness in favor of praise and thanksgiving to God, Satan may be ignored,
certainly not agreed with. Because our agreement is with the Lord in the holy
place we may come before the veil which connects the holy place with the Holy
of Holies.
To you this morning I represent that most holy place.
And remember that only the High Priest enters therein. But the High Priest—whoever
he may be at any particular time in the unfoldment of the creative purposes of
God—represents the Lord to the priesthood and represents the priesthood to the
Lord. The High Priest and the priesthood represent the Lord to the people and
the people to the Lord (these are the people of the encampment). The High
Priest, the priesthood and the people of the encampment represent the Lord to
the world and the world to the Lord. Here is the first recognition of a certain
detail to the pattern of representation. There is an intricacy to it, requiring
each individual to be faithful and true, maintaining integrity in his or her
place in the overall design.
In this pattern of representation, we have moved out
of the encampment into the outer court and through the outer court into the
holy place to provide the setting in the holy place for the spirit of the
living God. That spirit is represented to you this morning by the spirit of the
words which I speak, that you may know that the holy place is a reality because
of the reality on earth of the Holy of Holies. All that is essential to every
human being on the face of the earth springs from the Holy of Holies. To deny
this truth is to die. Because the children of men, in their self-centeredness
and self-will, have been persistently denying this truth and betraying the Lord
in consequence, they have died, and the whole world moves to the point of
death. Death to what? To self-centeredness and self-will. If a person is
identified with this then it is death to that person, but if the priesthood is
present on earth in right relationship to the High Priest, then the door is
opened to life; there is life for the world; there is a future for the world on
this basis. Those who indulge in self-will and self-centeredness take the
attitude, so often, described by the words, "Eat, drink and be merry, for
tomorrow we die." That's true, of course, for those who indulge in such
fantasy. Death is the chosen course, but only by reason of their own attitudes,
by reason of their own decision; for the Lord has ordained life. This is a
world of life. This is a world uniquely created to reveal the glory of life in
all its fulness. What remarkable variety there is on earth for this purpose
even now after all these thousands of years of human self-centeredness and
self-will.
So we stand again in the holy place, aware of the reality of life, life which is revealed by the cloud of glory of the Shekinah Pattern. The cloud of glory emanates from the Holy of Holies because therein is the light that glows and the fire that burns, the source and the origination of everything that is required for the manifestation of life at every level on earth through mineral, vegetable, animal and man. But man holds the key to life or death. Assuming the posture of ignorant self-centeredness and self-will, he dies, and he takes his world with him.
Acknowledging again the reality of life
as represented by the priesthood and the High Priest, the experience of what
has been called the resurrection immediately applies. There are two ways: the
broad way in which human beings have been treading recklessly for centuries,
and the narrow way, the way of integrity, the way of honor and honesty, the way
of beauty and meaning, the way of life. Out of the Holy of Holies the word is
spoken through the priesthood, "Choose you this day whom ye will serve: If
the Lord be God then serve Him, but if Baal, Satan, self-centeredness, then
serve him." Every human being on the face of the earth must make this
choice. This choice has been made in every generation all down through the
ages, but now we come to the time of culmination when the whole stupid mess of
self-centeredness may be swept from the face of the earth. This occurs by
reason of the creative power of God, not by any mighty effort of man, whose
sole effort is the digging of his own grave.
This year, as never before, the unfoldment of what
has been occurring during this weekend of Christmas has been placed in my hands
so that the spiritual aspects of Christmas might dominate. Heretofore, the
material aspects have tended to dominate. All that has been unfolding here was
brought to me by those responsible so that it might be to this extent in my
hands. Because it has been in my hands and because there has been the openness
of response that has appeared, because of whatever measure of integrity is
present, we have moved to this hour. We have moved to stand before the veil, a
place of trembling and yet a place longed for in the hearts of those whose
response and integrity brings them here.
The veil connects the Holy of Holies with the holy
place. It is not a veil of separation. It is a veil that is rightly there,
impenetrable to all but the High Priest, and no one with integrity would ever
seek to tear it aside. It is of the quality that allows what is present in the
Holy of Holies to shine forth into the holy place, so that the holy place may
be the place of the experience of what originates in the Holy of Holies. The
setting of holiness is maintained that it might be so, that the birth of water
and of the spirit might be the constant experience. As this hedge is maintained
to preserve the holiness of the holy place the creative power of God becomes
increasingly evident, shining forth through the veil into the holy place,
through the priesthood into the outer court where the consciousness of those
who occupy the encampment comes to focus in praise and thanksgiving. The glory
of the Lord fills the tabernacle, the outer court, the encampment, and shines
round about. There is nothing on earth that can contend with the power of God
when it is made manifest in this fashion. The world is inevitably restored and
man comes again into his place, made in the image and likeness of God, walking
upright and perfect on earth, fearing God and eschewing evil. Behold, all
things are thereby made new. The world becomes again a world of life and not a
world of death, the world of God and not the world of Satan.
Lift up your hearts and eyes in this hour in praise
and thanksgiving to God in the consciousness of the quality and the character
of God, which is your own, and in the awareness of the Lord God in the holy
place, in the midst. As the Lord Himself said when He was on earth, "Where
two or three are gathered together in my name"—in the consciousness of me—"there
I am in the midst of them." So it is in this hour. So it is in every hour
when there are men and women of integrity who stand in that integrity revealing
the truth of themselves in the expression of the glory of life on earth. That
glory of life made manifest is the cloud of glory of the Shekinah. Behold, in
this hour, so it is established to you, and through you and all those of
integrity who share the responsibility of the priesthood of God on earth today.
© emissaries of divine light
May 19, 2014
The Holy Place
from
The Holy Place
Martin Cecil December 24, 1972
There is a holy place for
the world and there is a holy place available to the experience of each
individual. Individually speaking, to be a part of this great nation, that holy
place must be known by those who compose it in the individual sense. There is a
holy place for the world into which all do not enter. Those who might be called
the priesthood rightly enter and minister in and from the holy place, but the
great mass of the true nation do not come in. All that is needful insofar as
they are concerned is to know the holy place within themselves, individually
speaking, and share in the ministry of the priesthood who represent God to them
and them to God.
Mention has been made of
the mountain peak. From this mountain peak the true ministry extends; the glory
of the Lord fills the tabernacle and shines round about. It extends into the
whole nation, into the whole earth. But the means by which it appears, the
means by which the atmosphere of holiness is known on earth, is through the
very specific design which was established in the beginning and still remains
to this day. But to be meaningful this design must be activated within the
experience of mankind, and it is only activated by people. There is no other
means on the face of the earth by which the spirit of God may be active, active
in this very specific creative sense. It is not activated by people who arrive
from outer space in flying saucers; it is not activated by some invisible,
unknown angels in heaven somewhere; it is activated through man. If there are
no men and women on earth to let it be activated on earth, it is not activated
within the experience of human beings and within the experience of the realm
for which they carry responsibility.
An essential element in
the design is the holy place. We mentioned the outer court and the encampment;
all these are necessarily present. There is a physical form to mankind and that
physical form includes a consciousness, a capacity for something. To allow the
fulfilling of that capacity the gate must be opened to the holy place, because
out of the holy place come the essential qualities which fill the consciousness
of man, shining through his physical form round about. The requirement in
relationship to that consciousness, if the gate is to be opened, is the attitude
of praise and thanksgiving; without that the door is shut. When this essential
requirement is present the gate begins to swing wide so that what is inherent
in the spirit of God, the character of God, may begin to fill the capacity for
character in man. Most of that capacity for character is empty in human beings
in the general sense. But when praise and thanksgiving are present in the
consciousness of the individual, then it is natural to accept and rejoice in
the true qualities and characteristics of being: the spirit of God.
These are found in the
holy place; consequently there must be a holy place if they are to be found.
There must be a holy place in the individual if he is to find himself in the
truth of his own being, and that holy place cannot be discovered by any
external means. What is required is to make available the right setting, to be
born of water, so that the setting of praise and thanksgiving and openness of
response, and, above all, of integrity, may be available for the outpouring of
the spirit, the outpouring of the individuals' own character. This is the
discovery to be made. He can't find it by shopping around in the external
sense. Most people seek here, seek there, looking for what is already present
within themselves but unknown, imagining that it may be found by various
external means. So people waste their lives in this foolishness; life runs out
before they have visited all the shops. Only those who turn away from the shops
because their integrity impels them to do so may come again into the outer
court which surrounds the tabernacle, the tabernacle that is with men, and,
coming there, become aware of the tabernacle itself, of the fact that there is
a door through which entrance may be made—all this because of the attitude of
praise and thanksgiving. The awareness begins to permeate the consciousness
that there is something present now with oneself, with each individual, that is
not discernible in an external sense but which nevertheless is known to be of
supreme value. The pearl of great price, the treasure buried in the field—all
these have reference to what is present because of the holy place.
The holy place does not
originate what is present in it, but what is present in the holy place would
not be present without the holy place. The attitude of holiness must be present
in a person, maintained there because he has integrity, a place in himself that
he would never allow to be violated under any circumstances. It is a place into
which others, in the general sense, may not enter, just as in the holy place in
the tabernacle in the overall sense, only the priesthood minister there. It is
the place of purity, the place from which springs all that is beautiful, all
that is creative, all that is worthwhile. The holy place adjoins what was
called the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle, another place behind the veil.
That is the place from which springs the treasure to be found when there is a
holy place in the individual's experience and when there is a place kept holy
because there is a true priesthood, a place kept holy for the world. The true
holy place has been long absent from the face of the earth. There has been an
endeavor to substitute a distorted outer court for the holy place: the
consciousness of man. It was thought that this could be developed, increased in
capacity, made to be supremely meaningful, to rule the world. All it has done
has been to bring chaos and tragedy to the children of men, and yet human
beings everywhere continue to wonder after the beast.
We are concerned to come
again to the holy place, that there may be a holy place for the world. Without
it, what is there? A very bleak future, to say the least. But through the holy
place may spring forth the creative power of God: God in action on earth,
Jehovah, the Son of God. Those who begin to become conscious of these things—and
we must necessarily speak of them in parables or in symbols—have the
responsibility of maintaining the reality on earth. The holy place cannot be
here in any meaningful sense until there is a priesthood to administer what
springs forth by reason of the holy place. It could spring forth forever
without effect if there was nobody on hand to administer it.
So here we are, knowing
where the Lord is to be found, through the holy place, presenting ourselves to
the Lord that we may, with others, play our part in the service of the holy
place, bringing again the vessels which have long been in disuse or been
subject to misuse, that the true service may be rendered through them once
more. As we all surely know, those vessels are thoughts and words and deeds,
the vessels which become meaningful when they are filled with the oil of love,
the truth of love, the creative fire. How recklessly human beings allow
thoughts and words and deeds to find expression. They are mostly used, of
course, for self-benefit, self-aggrandizement, in one way or another. They have
been stolen from the holy place and taken into the place of defilement for
misuse. Is it any wonder that the beautiful world of God has been wrecked? Yet
the creative power of God is present; the holy place is available the very
moment that there is a priesthood to enter in. They enter in through the gate
of praise and thanksgiving, bearing the vessels of the tabernacle for use in
the holy place. If you come into the holy place you bring with you your thought
processes, your ability to speak and to act. Fortunately the holy place is
self-cleansing, so that those who bring defilement with them are shortly
ejected by their own attitudes and actions. There have been many who have
approached the holy place only to find themselves ejected. All down through the
ages it has been done, so that it has remained empty, unknown, insofar as the
world is concerned. It only becomes known when there is a priesthood who
represent God to the people and the people to God, when the holiness of the
holy place is made evident through the priesthood. That holiness is made
evident by reason of thought, word and act.
If we approach the holy
place, let us remember that we come bearing these vessels of the temple, and
let us remember that we have heretofore been receivers of stolen goods. We have
thought to use these things for ourselves, to do with them as we pleased, to
achieve our own purposes for our own benefit. The vessels of the temple are for
the Lord's use, filled solely with His spirit, with His character, with the
qualities of His being, and consequently under His control and brought forth in
the true design. When this is so, the Shekinah fills the tabernacle and shines
round about. Here is the creative power of God once again present and working
through man on earth; not through all mankind, certainly, but through those who
represent God to the people, that the people may rejoice and themselves partake
of the character of God and live. Those who refuse, die. What all this means in
the experience of the world remains to be seen and to be experienced, which
occurs as there is the priesthood ministering in the holy place.
In the atmosphere of holiness we may share the thoughts and the words and the actions which are fitting in the holy place, coming into position to allow what is present in the Holy of Holies to shine forth unhindered because it may be received into the holy place; there is someone present to receive it. To the extent that there is a holy place occupied by the priesthood, then the apex experience may come as it relates to the Holy of Holies, not that there is an entering into the Holy of Holies but that what is present by reason of the Holy of Holies may be the experience in the holy place. It is so as there are those with integrity, filled with praise and thanksgiving to the Lord, bringing the openness of yielded response and the clarity of thought, word and act in living into the holy place. Glory to God in the highest!
© emissaries of divine light
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