The Light is On — Melchizedek Is Here
The Light is On — Melchizedek Is Here
from
The Increase
from
The Increase
August 28, 2014
The Light Is On ... Melchizedek Is here
As you may or may not know, before the Bible was translated, in its
original form (the Hebrew language) there were only consonants; there were no
vowels, and in translation the vowels had to be put in. Actually I think the
translators did a masterful job. But this is interesting to me. There are the
consonants, framework you might say—a skeleton—and the vowels supply the
spirit, you might say the spirit substance, and this makes a vital difference
to how the word comes out—what kind of substance. So I thought I would use an
illustration. [Grace wrote on blackboard the letters M L K (CH)
] Now those have no vowels in them and there are several ways that we can
put vowels in and get different words. One of them, M E
L CH izedek. The first part of the word really
is the name there—Melchi. Zedek
is an ancient form from which has come Zadok,
which means priest, so you really
have "priest of the most high God'," this (Melchi) meaning "most high God." Notice Zedek and Zadok—again you have vowels to make it different, haven't you?
Or another great one but rather obscure, perhaps: M A L A CH I, the last prophet in the Old Testament, looking toward
the New Testament—a very definite connecting link. He prophesied with regard to
Elijah, and so on.
Or you could have something else: A
M A L E K. Everyone here who has been to a Bible class knows all about
Amalek. You could spell it Satan or the devil, or one of those things. Amalek.
In the Bible it says that God would have war with Amalek from generation to
generation. Well, as so often in the Bible, it is completely backwards.
"God drove Adam and Eve out of the garden"—He didn't, of course. Adam
and Eve drove themselves out of the garden, and it is Amalek that has war with
God from generation to generation. God doesn't fight back but Amalek fights
anyway. M O L E CH—just to keep
Amalek company!—was a pagan god used in human sacrifice, with a fire inside,
etc. So we have exactly the same skeleton here but different substance. We
could say this (Amalek and Molech) is substance, but it isn't really, because
it destroys itself; it is self‑destructive.
Here is the substance (M E L CH
izedek); but they have the same consonants, you could say perhaps the
bones. Ezekiel wrote something about bones, dry bones. And there was a valley
full of them, the great valley of the world, and it was full of the dry bones;
many, many, many—the great numbers are emphasized, that there were many dry
bones. They were very painful because bones rattling against each other are not
comfortable, and this is the state of the world, and the substance very shortly
disintegrates and disappears, dissolves. So we have the disintegration, the
self-destruction, and ultimately the death, of the dry bones in the valley. And
do you remember that there was a question asked? Man did not ask the Lord but
the Lord asked man, and He said, "Son of man, can these bones live?"
And man said, "Well, for heaven's sake, you know the answer; why are you
asking me?" I paraphrased that a little bit. He said, "Lord, thou
knowest." And the Lord asked him again: "Can these bones live?"
Then Ezekiel got the vision. And in Ezekiel: "And when I beheld, lo, the
sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above...and
the breath came into them, and they lived." The breath didn't come into
them until there was substance; the flesh came up upon them. The substance. And
as we so well know, man has tried to put the substance into the bones, cover
them up and make them nice; but the increase, according to the function on this
one level, very limited, is on this level. So what happens? Well, we have lots
of dry bones in the valley—population explosion, it's called. And the Law
always works and takes care of these things, but is there anything left
afterward? When there is too much substance on one plane the Law works to take
care of it and equalize and even things out, so it is self-destruction.
There is a reference in the wonderful Book of Job, where it says that
his, Job's, substance was increased in the land. The very nature of this
substance is that it increases. If that increase is on that very limited level
which man thinks he is, a physical being, what is the increase? Well he's got
to have more land or more houses or more machinery or more people, or
something; or in the physical sense maybe the flesh doesn't know when to stop,
and of course taken far enough that is self-destruction. So if this is the
increase there is no answer. The increase on each level is the answer, the
wonderful substance in the land, in this land, in the body on earth; the
promised land, we say, individually or collectively the body of God on earth,
on this planet. And it is increased in the land. It is not increased rightly
after we leave this sphere of things—then we meet our Maker and all sorts of
things—but in the land is where the increase needs to be and on each plane of
being. Remember Job had seven sons and three daughters, the negative triune
world. They ate and drank with each other. Here was the substance on every
level and the nature of that substance is to increase; but it is an ascending
process, isn't it? It's not constantly increasing the physical substance.
Rightly it is an ascending process where substance from one level begins to
blend and move with that of the upper level—heaven to heaven. You've got seven
heavens so you have this constant movement, not up and then down but constantly
ascending and descending—a beautiful picture of the substance of the Lord.
Amalek presents a different picture. As I mentioned already, here is the
self-active function, the increase on this level, and it is always a getting
process: "Now I will get more and more and more"; and it is
self-destructive. Of course the fighting against God is the getting process.
There are so many wonderful texts in the Bible which apply, apply to just about
anything, but I am reminded of the words of Samuel, who let none of his words
fall to the ground. If something is falling to the ground it is not in an
ascending cycle, it seems to me, and I wonder how many words would be
categorized as falling to the ground. We think of idle words, yes, but that is
rather an easy description of gossip, isn't it?—kind of a nice word, idle
words, but they are not nice—or deliberately malicious, spiteful, critical;
these all fall to the ground. The substance is utterly wasted, there is nothing
there, and we all know that once those words are spoken and fall to the ground
there is nothing really to be done about it. We all know how we would like to
take back that word more than anything—you can't do it.
That reminds me of another thing here with regard to Amalek. A Class
member in this most recent Class, toward the end of our time together, shared
something with me regarding Amalek. He had a Jewish background and in his
pattern at least—I don't know how universal it is—there was a kind of ritual, I
presume, with regard to Amalek, this ancient thing in their history of Amalek,
the hated Amalek who tried to destroy them over and over and over. And his
pronunciation of the word was "A
mol ech" and they would pronounce the word, his own
people—"Amalek!"—and then, in gesture, erase it. This was the whole
purpose, erasing Amalek, or they would write it down and scrub it out. How
futile! This is what the world has been doing generation after generation—keep
Amalek alive but rub him out. Why not forget Amalek? We could look to the real
substance! But I thought that was very interesting and he saw the analogy, he
really found something in this, this young man. But when the word ceases to be
uttered, the idle word that falls to the ground, let it fall; and we don't have
to erase it, we cannot erase it. Once it is there, that's it, and then
something else must begin. But just simply to let Amalek go; it is the only
way. Just let him go.
It seems like this is what has been done and continues to be done in the
consciousness of man in the earthly hereditary pattern, isn't it? Do the wrong
thing and then change it, over and over and over. It seems like all the time is
taken up with this; we don't have confessionals here but maybe a sort of an
equivalent. But to constantly utter "Amalek" and then do away with
it—why don't we quit having to do away with it? Why don't we stop having to
change what we do, to right the wrong? And if something happens which may be
the result of some wrong function it is a wonderful thing to see right away,
"I know the factors that made that happen." And there is a whole
different feeling. If it is an accident there is not the reaction to
it—"How did this happen? Why me?"—but to really be able to see,
instantly I mean, not sit down and think about it; that might help but I am
talking about an instant revelation
where you say, "I know why that happened!" And not just with respect
to the physical thing of leaning on the towel bar and going down with it! but
the instant recognition of something much deeper. That is good and there is a
clean feeling of a new beginning, of something gone; but that is a different
thing from keeping the word Amalek in
consciousness and then erasing it, because this has been the function ever
since man fell. It stays in consciousness; we must always utter
"Amalek" and then get rid of it—utterly impossible, because if this is the word: Melchizedek—that one cannot be there. They cannot
occupy the same space.
The priest of the most high God. In the Psalms it speaks of each one as
being a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. This is the same word as
the Master's when He said, "I am the vine, ye are the branches." It
was the same as in His marvelous Prayer of Intercession: "I in them, and
thou in me" and they are one, all together in agreement—because this
substance is what we have been hearing about: first obedience, then agreement,
then spiritual expression. And it is really a thrill to see here in this holy
place, true agreement; many, many experiencing this as never before. I think
there is a feeling in the self-active thinking pattern of the world that to
agree with somebody, to really let down the bars and maybe find something in
what somebody else is saying, this is weak. Oh no, it is very strong! This is
strength because then there is a body functioning and not just individuals.
Substance—and that real genuine substance of agreement is followed by the next
step, spiritual expression, the substance which ascends, the increase. This is
the increase of the substance and without it there is nothing but bones.
Our Master uttered some very wonderful words which to me apply also in
this analogy here, and that was "Go and bring forth fruit, that your fruit
should remain." And in Proverbs: "Honour the Lord with thy substance,
and with the firstfruits of all thine increase." If the firstfruits are
given to the Lord it remains; you don't have a second, third, fourth, or
whatever. The firstfruit remains and that is
the fruit. Here (Melchizedek) this
fruit remains. The substance is increased. That is its nature. It doesn't
increase to a certain point and then—now we've got it; we can put it in a bank
and we get interest or whatever. Well that's all fine on this level but it is a
constant, it is a characteristic, of the substance. It increases and that is
life, isn't it? That is eternal life, everlasting life, whatever we want to
call it—not ascending after death and then maybe the descending cycle again in
incarnation somewhere. I am not knocking that; it has probably had to be.
However, the increase of the substance is life, the constant ascending and
descending substance, not up and down and up and down—one thing.
The sun shines on the just and the unjust but it seems to me there is a
difference with respect to what the just and the unjust do about it. The result
isn't the same. The radiation is constant, that which comes down from God out
of heaven, we say. But there is nothing on earth without that which blends with
that which is coming down, and this is the increase, the substance, of one
level, and the increase, the refined substance in another level; and all the
levels have their own increase, their function. "Honour the Lord with thy
substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase," that it may
remain.
There is another beautiful passage in the Bible and that is in the Song
of Solomon. We don't use many passages from this beautiful Book and this is not
the one that we usually use, although if you have been to my class you know I
always mention it, and this is from the fourth chapter. To me it is a beautiful
portrayal, first a picture of man the way he has made himself to be on earth,
his state of consciousness which is separate from the Creator, from God, from
the Lord, however we want to put it. It is pictured as a female, rightly, the
negative aspect, the means whereby God could be on this planet. It is a picture
of this negative body individually or collectively which has removed itself
from the Creator, inasmuch as His effectual function through this creation is
concerned. "A garden inclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up, a
fountain sealed." That is a very tight picture. And "a garden
inclosed" would be more rightly translated "a garden
closed"—"barred" would be a right word. "A spring shut up,
a fountain sealed." All the wonder of this magnificent creation is
rendered ineffectual purely because man has shut himself out and in essence
shut out the Lord. "A spring shut up" is quite a picture to me. A
spring is that which bubbles up out of the ground, isn't it? I was wondering
what happens when a spring is shut up; it must have to find devious ways in the
darkness. Maybe we can think of the subconscious realm, devious and dark, but
there is nothing sparkling or bright as that which comes forth from a spring.
This has been shut up. Of course the spring shut up dries up altogether in
season; it doesn't go on forever that way. "A fountain sealed." This
struck me very particularly because of some other wonderful words which Martin
spoke last Sunday again, with regard to the Book of Life.
This was from Revelation; the
seven-sealed book, and here we have a fountain sealed; and no man was able to
look upon that book which was sealed or to loose the seals, and here you could
say we have a fountain with seven heads. I think a fountain is a beautiful
description, very apt, of the seven spirits, and we may think of them as the
physical counterpart, because there is the counterpart on every level. A
fountain—something which comes forth directly—and even if we look at the
physical counterparts here, or the seven seals, seven ductless glands, we see
"ductless," a fountain; no ducts, no canals, but directly into the bloodstream.
Here are seven fountains! And the marvelous seven spirits before the throne of
God have been sealed. Here is the secret to life, as it has been put "life
everlasting," life as long as it is right to be on this planet. How very
different so-called life has become through that which has been shut up and
sealed.
And there was one way by which the seals could be opened in the book and
that was at the hand of the Lamb. The Lamb took the book out of the hand of the
Creator, and here, we have been hearing, is spiritual expression, the one way
whereby life can be lived on earth the way it was created to be. We are not
talking about some foreign, strange way; it is the only natural way, really,
that man was ever created to be in. Everything else is completely unnatural,
and yet all the other ways, the devious ways and the distorted self-destructive
ways are accepted as being natural; they are the thing. Nothing is more certain
than death, or all those things that lead to death. Human beings always utter
"Amalek" and then try to get rid of him, never just let Amalek be gone
and let the priest of the most high God have expression, collectively but
individually, because each is a priest of that most high God. The order of Melchizedek is the design—"I am
the vine, ye are the branches." That is the order; that is the design; and
each is rightly a priest forever after that at order.
There is more to this text: "Thy plants are an orchard of pleasant
fruits." This of course is the word of the Lord to His creation. "Thy
plants are an orchard of pleasant fruits, with all trees of frankincense"
and a lot of other beautiful spices, "myrrh, with all the chief spices.
"A fountain of gardens, a well of living waters." I am
reminded of the word in Genesis at the time of Creation: "And the Lord God
planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.
And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to
the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the
garden." Here again is the recognition that all these trees are in the
garden, but the garden has been closed, barred. And perhaps we think of a
garden with trees, wonderful trees, all that is available, all that is
necessary for man, not only his sustenance on earth but his marvelous
enjoyment. But it was all meant to be for the pleasure of the Lord, and of
course man has thought of his own pleasure, which means that to get this he
must do things in a different way than the Lord might do them, so the garden
has been closed. And here is reference to these trees, these marvelous sources
for all life on earth—"A fountain of gardens, a well of living
waters."
Again, in John, the fourth chapter, the Master said, "Whosoever
drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water
that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into
everlasting life." Everlasting life, a well of living waters—this is while
we are living, not a dead God that you see when you are dead but a living God
while we are living; here is where the living waters are. And He said this well
springs up, "shall be in him a well of water"—that is where the well
is, that is where the spring is, that is where the fountain is—"in him a
well of water springing up" in every moment "into everlasting life."
Water has been looked upon as truth but, you know, it's used everywhere really,
if you look into it, as substance, first substance or whatever. "The
Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters," and that doesn't just
mean water. Here was whatever substance was necessary in that creation.
I am reminded of Elijah, when fire came down from God out of heaven
"and licked up the water that was in the trench"—substance. This is
the process of ascension, isn't it, again? Fire from heaven, this marvelous
transmuting substance which man can't touch; that one he can't touch and
manipulate. It transmutes and it licks up the substance—a picture of the
transmuting process, of that which refines and causes to ascend, that doesn't
fall to the ground. He says there would never be any more thirsting when this
well is present, this which springs up in each moment; no thirsting, no
wanting. Here is the absolute provision in every moment within each one.
Now this female aspect that we have been talking about speaks in the
Song of Solomon, the negative capacities, the body, mind, heart; the sister,
spouse, now the bride. And in Revelation we have the bride of the Lamb, and the
Lamb is the spiritual expression and here is the negative aspect of that
expression; in other words what we are, rightly. Here is this voice now:
"Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that the
spices thereof may flow out." In a few words we see something very
precise. "Awake"—that's a very positive action. We have been hearing a
lot about waking up and it is positive; we even heard that it could be a shock.
"North wind"—here is the positive expression as opposed to the south.
Here is the north wind, very often the strong thing. The south is often warm
and nice and kind. But here is the north wind, and its action, the positive
action, is invited: "Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south."
"Come, thou south"—here is the negative, absolutely essential. Here
is the union, unified radiation, the blending. But there is the action of the
negative aspect taken here or nothing would happen. Awake and come, and the
spices thereof flow out. Those trees established in the garden which have not
been allowed to be used—"Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his
pleasant fruits." "His garden," and the garden has been thought
of as one's own. Man has taken the garden to be his own, his own possession.
The action has been of course man stealing, and he eats the fruits, and he
doesn't know how to handle the fruits of that action. That should be rightly,
and must be rightly, in the hands of the Lord. And so the invitation is
"Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits,"
the first fruits that remain, the result of the right action on earth.
Melchizedek means King of Righteousness, Prince of Peace—righteousness covering the
face of the earth, the fruits of the garden in the hands of the Lord. And of
course, as we know, man has messed around with the fruits, the results of
action; he takes this as the seed for further action, and so the same thing is
continued over and over—"Amalek, be gone!"
There is another word here, the word of the Lord after the bride speaks,
and He says, "I am come into my garden." "I am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse: I have
gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I
have drunk my wine with my milk: eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly,
O beloved." See the perfect steps, the perfect action here. The bride is
in place, and the Lord is in position to effectively function on earth, to
operate again in spiritual expression. And we can see, oh so clearly, how this
is true. In agreement the way is easy. In spiritual expression the substance is
present and we quickly see that manipulating it is utterly futile. Nothing
happens; we don't get anywhere! But, the substance present, it is like magic,
because the Lord is again in operation; He's in business, and that business is
marvelous, and it is not some mysterious business up in the sky. This business
right here is taken care of so easily, so smoothly; to the human mind it is
miraculous, simply because it said it couldn't be done; but here it is, the
substance. And the word of the Lord in victory certainly comes through these
beautiful words: "I am come into my garden." It has been a long time,
in the sense of earthly heredity, according to that viewpoint, since "I am
come into my garden."
Then the next automatic function is "O friends, eat"; then it
is passed on; now we can let it cover the face of the earth. Here is the
increase of the substance. "Eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly,
O beloved." That is the word of the Lord, and who is the Lord? All who are
letting this be an absolute reality on earth, not fictional anymore but
factual. Then the invitation is extended, strong and sure: "Eat, O
friends; drink, yea drink abundantly, O beloved." And this is the word of
the Lord spoken on earth.
Another very beautiful verse in the New Testament, words spoken by the
Master: "I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that
day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom." And this is it! "l am come into my
garden, and I eat and drink of the fruit of this vine" which is the
expression of the body of mankind on earth, but it is the body of God on earth
now, again. That is why He comes into His garden and that is why all the
pleasant fruits and the wonder of this magnificent world, the earth, then is
available to Him. And how great is our privilege to be here on earth, on this
planet, right now. I have no desire for a spaceship to take me somewhere else
because this one is ruined. It so quickly comes back into place when the Lord
is on earth to let it happen, to make it happen because we let Him do the job. It
very quickly comes back because this is what it wants to do. I suspect that
Amalek is happy to get out of there! The Law works and we are herein this most
marvelous position to let it be restored to that One. And we know what His joy
is like; we don't have to imagine it; because we have the one who leads us here
in the way, and there is no more beautiful sight than that smile on his face
when he is allowed to say, "l am come into my garden; they are doing
it." There is no more joy actually, no greater joy on earth, than to share
in this Law of the Lord which is righteousness, right function. It is the other
way that is hard—good and evil.
So I count it all joy and a great privilege to move with each one of you
in this place in the generation of that substance which never falls to the
ground. Perhaps we wouldn't speak so often or so much if none of our words were
to fall to the ground. I think that is entirely possible. Simply multiplying
words seems to lead it in a certain direction; have you noticed? It can start
off so nice. We are only saying nice things about people but there is something
about saying things about people that leads into a certain area, and I know we
all know what I am talking about. Idle words fall to the ground and that
establishes a downward cycle. How marvelous to be able to say with Samuel:
"None of my words fall to the ground." The substance is allowed to be
in the ascending cycle to meet that which is coming down from the Lord, and
then there is light. This is light, and the darkness flees away and everything
that is identified with darkness flees away fast.
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