The Outer Court

from

The  Outer  Court

Martin Cecil   December 24, 1972

Praise ye the Lord! Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord. Let everything which gives evidence of the spirit of life reveal the true nature of God. We enter into the holy place through the gates of praise; praise and the spirit of thanksgiving are the character, therefore, of the outer court of the tabernacle. Entrance to the tabernacle is through the outer court, which represents the consciousness of man.

In the original encampment of the children of Israel the Levites, or the priesthood, occupied a position around the tabernacle. Beyond them was the encampment of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel. The priesthood represented God to the people and represented the people to God. The tabernacle itself provided a symbol of the means by which God and man are unified. Mankind, including the children of Israel, at that time had forgotten what the oneness of God and man really was. A portrayal was provided to indicate something of the essential elements by which that unification could again be restored. Here was a reminder which apparently was not recognized for what it was and did not in any adequate sense call to remembrance in the children of Israel what had been forgotten. That forgetfulness has persisted. When our Master came on earth He provided another reminder--a reminder which has also had little effect.

If we examine the nature of the pattern as it was at the time of the children of Israel let us not see it merely as history, for the principles portrayed there are as true today as they were then. It is essential that we understand now what the application of those principles is at the present time. The application is different now to what it was then, even as it was different at the time when our Master was on earth to what it was with the children of Israel. The tribes of the children of Israel in their encampment represent for us the responding ones of the world: those who, consciously or unconsciously, have integrity toward the Lord. The Jews are not the Israelites, though out of the Jewish nation may come responding ones of integrity, even as they may come out of all nations. These are the children of Israel today. We may use other words to convey the same idea. 

We have spoken of the body of the Son of God. The body of the Son of God and the children of Israel are, properly, the same thing; and insofar as the world today is concerned this body is composed of responding ones with integrity out of every kindred, nation, tongue and people. This is the encampment of the twelve tribes. We recognize that the word "Jehovah" indicates God in action on earth. The children of Israel are the means by which this action is made manifest on earth. Jehovah and the children of Israel represent the two aspects, positive and negative, of the reality of being--the inner and the outer, the invisible and the visible. Using other terms, we would say the Son of God and the body of the Son of God.

Those who begin to have a conscious recognition of the truth in this regard and who reveal the reality of integrity constitute the priesthood, who provide representation of God to the people and the people to God. We may well be reminded of what occurred on the third day of creation, when God said, "Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear." The waters symbolize the truth of the external aspect of the duality aforementioned: Jehovah and the children of Israel, or the Son of God and the body of the Son of God. The twelve tribes of the children of Israel represent the body of the Son of God. The priesthood represent that body to God and God to that body. The priesthood were the thirteenth tribe. Here is the lucky number, relating to the true design which has never been allowed to operate as it should since man fell.

The water, the truth of the external manifestation, must be gathered unto one place. The water, the external truth, provides the setting for the manifestation of the spirit on earth. The gathering together of the waters brings again the setting by which Jehovah, the Son of God, may be revealed in action on earth. The waters, the truth in the external sense, indicate response and integrity. This is the real nature of man: responsive to God and revealing integrity. The gathering together of the response of those who have integrity throughout the whole world must be brought to one place--a point of focus, the point of focus represented by the priesthood, by those who are consciously in position to let this occur. This one place indicates the point which has position but no magnitude, that which is beyond the comprehension of what is contained in the dimensional world.

When the waters are gathered together unto one place, then the dry land appears: the manifest form of the body of the Son of God begins to become apparent. From our standpoint we begin to become aware of what it is. It is understandable that when the waters are gathered unto one place the dry land is not immediately particularly dry; it's muddy, it's a mixture, so that the actual form itself cannot be clearly discerned. All that presently can be discerned in form relates to the mountain top, so to speak, from which the water has drained for some little time. But there is also a consciousness from the standpoint of those who are on the mountain top of what it is that constitutes the body of the encampment, the body of the great nation: those who are responsive to the spirit of God and who exemplify integrity. There are many such the world around. Through the priesthood they are gathered unto the one place of the encampment; and through the priesthood the response may be lifted and brought into the outer court of the tabernacle, the place of the consciousness of the body of the Son of God.

The awakening of that consciousness is made possible through praise and thanksgiving. This is truly the gate to the holy place. This new spirit is, rightly, represented by the priesthood, revealed by the priesthood, exemplified by the priesthood, so that all who compose the body of the Son of God may be restored to the consciousness of praise and thanksgiving. This is far from the usual state in the consciousness of human beings on earth. Human consciousness is generally filled with turmoil and complaint; it is filled with fear and shame and guilt; it is filled with resentment and hate; and it seems, from this standpoint, to be the height of hypocrisy to allow the consciousness to be filled with praise and thanksgiving. Human beings say, "What is there to praise? What is there to be thankful for?" Nothing, if you look away from the Lord; nothing, if the tabernacle remains invisible. The tabernacle does remain invisible until it is approached through the outer court. There is no approach through the outer court without praise and thanksgiving.

It has been emphasized all along the way that the spirit of thankfulness is a first requirement. There is a sense of thankfulness which wells up in men and women of integrity. That thankfulness relates to the very experience of integrity. If there is no experience in that regard a person may well say there is nothing to be thankful for, there is no reason for praise. But for those whose response is open to the spirit of God and who in their living exemplify integrity there wells up from within a sense of praise and thanksgiving which is not, initially at least, related particularly to external events but to the very experience of life and being. Because most people are so thoroughly mired in externals, response to the spirit of God is minimal and integrity falls by the wayside. There is then desolation indeed, and the core within such people, which should be the holy place, is a place of desolation. Insofar as they are concerned the abomination of desolation stands in the holy place.

But where there is true response and integrity, praise and thanksgiving are natural. Such find again the outer court with the tabernacle in the midst. Praise ye the Lord in the spirit of thankfulness for the integrity which is sensed at the core of one's being. If there is no integrity sensed, there will be no experience of praise and thanksgiving. Those who deny and betray the reality of integrity within themselves classify themselves; those who are true to that integrity also classify themselves, not by what they say or believe in but by what they are in their own living. Nobody can fool the Lord. Where integrity is, there is a willingness to let it be God's way without interference. Does a person need a lofty intellect to praise the Lord? to experience the spirit of thanksgiving? Usually the more intellect a person has the more reasons he has for not praising the Lord and for not experiencing a sense of thankfulness. He thinks he sees everything so clearly and it's awful! That is deep darkness; nothing is seen; it's all hallucination. But the world of God is not so; it springs forth into manifest expression through the facility which was designed to let it be so. As long as human beings have their backs to this facility it means nothing to them.

But turning to see the voice which speaks on earth because the priesthood begins to be present on earth, the encampment of the true Israelites begins to be unveiled with the priesthood at the core, camped round about the tabernacle. It becomes possible once more to enter into the outer court with praise and thanksgiving. When the consciousness begins to be permeated by this quality, the reality of the tabernacle becomes evident. The consciousness of the body of the Son of God is brought into the outer court, gathered into one place by those who provide the facility for so doing. These are describable as the priesthood, those into whose hands this responsibility has been placed because they have become consciously aware of it.

And so this morning, having breath, the spirit of life, praise ye the Lord! Provide the focus of thanksgiving for responding men and women of integrity the world around. Here is our service in this one place, one place for us and for many others in this new state of consciousness, which is not limited, certainly, to our experience here but is shared in by those who have accepted the responsibility of the priesthood wherever they may be. It is still one place, the same state of consciousness, characterized primarily by praise and thanksgiving. Glory to God in the highest. What an excellent opportunity is offered to let it all be brought to focus in the outer court of the tabernacle preparatory to bringing it before the Lord in the holy place. There is no entrance into the holy place except through the outer court, and the outer court only provides the open gate when there is a consciousness of praise and thanksgiving. "Praise ye the Lord!"

© emissaries of divine light