The Tabernacle

The  Tabernacle  

Martin Cecil   December 31, 1972   8:30 p.m.

    

"And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God." The tabernacle of God is with men. There has never been a time in all the ages past when it was not so, but somewhere along the way someone needs to behold it. The tabernacle of God is with men; the dwelling place of God is with men, not separate from men.

The tabernacle of God is the invisible, spiritual facility by which God can be with men in His creative capacity. The concern then is, rightly, to come again into a consciousness, an awareness, of the tabernacle of God that is with men, because here is the means by which God's dominion is established on earth, the means by which the unholy mess that humans in their state of separation from God have produced can be cleared. There is no means by which that mess can be cleared other than this. There is one way. "Not by might, nor by power"—not by physical effort, not by mental effort—"but by my spirit, saith the Lord." It is by the working of the spirit of God that we may allow the creative expression of true being to appear on earth, making all things new.

The fact that the tabernacle of God is with men means nothing until there are some men on hand who know it and who are in position to serve in it, to know what the purpose is and to participate in that creative purpose. In view of the fact that this facility is invisible and spiritual, material man knows nothing about it. Only those who are, in that sense, invisible and spiritual can enter in. True identity, individual identity, is invisible and spiritual. The experience of the truth of being only comes as there is an emergence out of the self-centered, self-willed state which is the common experience of every human being on the face of the earth.

So, we come again to the tabernacle of God, letting the wakeful experience be restored, so that, becoming aware of the truth of ourselves, we may at the same time become aware of the truth of the tabernacle of God which is with men. The tabernacle of old was in the midst of the encampment of the Israelites, and the Levites, or the priesthood, were camped immediately around the tabernacle; they were the thirteenth tribe. The tabernacle itself consisted of an outer court, a holy place, and a Holy of Holies. Those who awaken to the truth of themselves and become conscious of the reality of the tabernacle are the priesthood. Their place of responsibility is in the holy place. Those who are capable of functioning in the holy place can also function in the outer court, which represents the human mind; and they are also capable of functioning in the encampment, which represents the physical realm. Those who do so awaken are more keenly aware of the fact of their own integrity and the responsibility that is consequently carried with respect to daily living. In the ordinary course of events, when people think about responsibility they think of it with respect to external circumstance. Obviously there are responsibilities in that regard, but the responsibility which relates to integrity is an internal thing; it is responsibility for oneself, responsibility for one's own attitude, for the spirit of one's own expression; responsibility, we could say, to be right in the invisible spiritual identity, to be true to that, to be true to the qualities which are inherent in that identity, and this regardless of circumstance. It doesn't really matter what the circumstance is, because one's responsibility remains the same in relationship to it: to express and to reveal the qualities of the truth of one's own being.

Now something new is going to be introduced: action, not reaction; something coming down from God out of heaven—the qualities, the characteristics, of one's own true being expressed into whatever the circumstance is. The circumstance no longer dictates to the individual what his attitude is going to be. The dominion begins to be in the hands of the reality of being instead of in the hands of the external environment. This makes possible the awareness of the reality of the tabernacle of God, and the service in that tabernacle begins to be understood. Now, that service relates to one's own particular environment. It is not separate from the environment, it is not separate from the circumstance, but it is uncontrolled by the environment and the circumstance. It emerges out of the tabernacle of God. What is done in the tabernacle of God will be done in the outer court and will be done in the encampment.

Now one of the most important aspects in the expression of the truth of oneself is to keep inviolate the Holy of Holies. Only those who are holy, who have been restored to wholeness in the awareness of the truth of themselves, in the expression of the truth of themselves, may serve in the holy place, and a primary attitude in the holy place is to make sure that nothing ever violates the Holy of Holies. The Holy of Holies is the place of the Lord on earth. Again, it is an invisible spiritual place; it is not some spot that one could find here or there. "Ye shall not say, Lo here! or, lo there! The kingdom of God is within you." It relates to the truth of your own being, and to keep your integrity is found to mean that you keep inviolate the place of the Lord on earth. You may remember that in the tabernacle of old there was a veil between the Holy of Holies and the holy place, a veil that was said to have been rent at the time of our Master's crucifixion. It was rent in the sense that it need not provide a barrier anymore between God and people.

The High Priest enters the Holy of Holies alone. The hedge relates to the holy place and to those who properly occupy it. There is a hedge about the Holy of Holies, so that nothing is ever permitted to enter that would defile or work abomination or make a lie. Now how can you stop those things entering? Simply because they do not enter into you; they do not enter into the truth of the individual's own being. When you know yourself there is no more defiling, no more working abomination or making lies. But until a person comes to the point of this awakening to himself he cannot help but defile and work abomination and make lies. This state of affairs is reflected in the world everywhere. It is an abomination, simply because the tabernacle of God, though with men, has remained unknown.

Finally, there are those who begin to awaken again to the truth of their own being, that there may be present a priesthood to minister in the holy place, in the tabernacle of God that is with men. This does not remove these, who are living in the flesh on earth, from the world. There was no prayer, ever, that those who function correctly should be taken out of the world, but that they should be kept from the evil. What is the evil? The self-centered, self-willed state—that is the evil; and the world reflects the evil which man has accepted in the expression of himself. That evil is there even though he tries to be good. Only when there is an awakening to the truth of one's own being is it possible to be delivered from the evil. No matter how one tries or struggles, no matter what techniques one may use, and there are many in the world, it is impossible to emerge out of the evil. 

Only by remembering, awakening, may it be done—remembering who one is, the truth of oneself, the reality of being made in the image and likeness of God, a priest after the order of Melchizedek, who in his day was the High Priest, a priest in the tabernacle of God, ministering on earth in the holy place, with the primary attitude of protection, enfoldment, care, of the Holy of Holies. Most human beings think of care and protection as related to themselves. "That is primary," they say. "We must take care of ourselves." Self-centeredness! The true attitude is first to take care of the place of the Lord on earth, so that nothing that defiles or works abomination or makes a lie is ever allowed to approach the Holy of Holies.

Coming again into a consciousness of the truth of oneself, then it is natural to love the Lord thy God and to provide what is necessary of enfoldment and protection, so that there is a place on earth where He can be. That was one of the problems, wasn't it, when He came on earth. He said, "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head," no place on earth anywhere. It proved out that way, didn't it? There was no place of safety on earth because human beings were intent about their self-centered ways, and they have not changed since that time. It is exactly the same thing now as it was then. However there are some who are beginning to awaken. There were very few when He was on earth, very few who kept their integrity. There was only one of His disciples who entered into the palace of the high priest after the Master was arrested. Where were all the others? They had forsaken Him.

Where are those with integrity who will permit, because of their awakening to the truth of being, the establishment on earth of a safe place for the Lord? It takes those who are restored to a consciousness of the truth of being to allow a safe place to be established. Now most people give no thought to it; they follow out their good ideas in the world, all the things that are going to make the world a better place for human beings. How about making it a safe place for the Lord? When that is the sole concern, then the tabernacle is known once again, the true ministry is established in the tabernacle, the creative power of God is on earth and all things are made new, whether anyone likes it or not. To be sure, most people don't like it, because it interferes with what they want to do; it interferes with their self-willed self-centeredness. People have it all set up nowadays as to what the good life should be; they think they know and they try to make it be that way.

Let God do it, do what is right, do what should be done; not what human beings think should be done by reason of all their knowledge about everything under the sun while at the same time remaining abysmally ignorant, not knowing anything except perhaps that momentarily they are still alive. But the truth of being? Who cares? We do, I trust, and there are others the world around who do because basically they have integrity; it has not been totally covered up. So there are those who are capable of awakening, and these are the hope of the world—not of the world of man but of the world of God.

© Emissaries of Divine Light