May 22, 2014
Holy of Holies
Holy of Holies
The Holy of Holies
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.
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.
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