December 15, 2014
Home — His Temple On Earth
from Uranda’s Christmas Message
Tonight,
in this Christmas Season, the word, Home, contains a Spirit of fullness
and significance which we might well meditate upon. First, I am reminded that
many years ago our KING'S Home was divided. His Home originally was—and it was
supposed to be—Heaven and earth; that which we speak of as the Whole Holy
World. Perhaps you have sometimes thought of Heaven as being His Home, and it
has been, although it has been an incomplete Home for Him through all these
thousands of years.
I am
reminded that only a little under two thousand years ago He left one part of
His Home and came to visit the other part, the part that was supposed to
complete His Home. He was born into the world a Babe—into the most humble of
surroundings. He, the LORD of Lords and KING of Kings, when He came into this
half of His Home, found no place awaiting Him. He was born in a manger in a
stable because there was no room for Him in the inn. The people of the world
were too busy following their own fancies and looking after their own puny
affairs to pay any attention to the fact that the LORD of the world had come.
He lived in this world, and grew to manhood, and He began His Ministry.
He
began to tell the people how this world might become that beautiful other half
of the Heavenly Home, and He assured them that that which was of the Heavenly
Home was not far away. He made clear the Plan by which the two halves might be
reunited; He made clear that the separation between the two did not have to
continue: but the people of the world, instead of welcoming the LORD of the
world, crucified Him. Nevertheless, on the third day He came forth victoriously
from the tomb, and returned to that other half of His Home, where He has been waiting
for nearly two thousand years, waiting for human beings to wake up, waiting for
human beings to put into practice His instruction, to follow His Plan, so that
He might have the privilege of coming again to this part of His Home.
Human
beings, through their self-activity, selfishness and self-centeredness, have
kept Him out of His Home, this portion of His Home, these thousands of years.
These usurpers who prevent His free use of His rightful Home will not be
tolerated forever. Sooner or later, in His own good season, He will return; but
it is His longing, His great desire that springs from His wonderful Heart of
Love, that when He comes again to this part of His Home it shall not be to
drive out all who are living here. He does not want to return to this part of
His Home and find nothing but empty rooms echoing with the deeds of evil. His
Heart desires that those who are living here now should let themselves be so
transformed and so prepared that they may remain here when He comes, that they
will not have to be cast out, and that this part of His Home will not be found
to be empty. He wants to come to this part of His Home and find those He loves,
and those who love Him. He wants that coming to be a family reunion between
those who live in this part and those who live in that part of His Home, that
the Whole Holy World may again be what it ought to be—His Home, where all the
Members of His Family live in their appointed places, in joy, in peace, in
happiness.
This
world, this part of His Home, must be cleansed and purified, the debris must be
swept out; the mean and shameful furnishings that man has put into it must be
cast out and burned; it must be cleansed, and the Sunlight of Love must shine
into every room, and those who dwell here must let themselves be changed, so
that they will not be uncomfortable in His Presence, so that they will not be
annihilated when they come before His Face, so that they will find joy in
beholding Him, and so that they may rejoice greatly, without fear, in the holy
privilege of welcoming Him back to this part of His rightful Home.
Until
we, in our Home here, begin to let the Spirit of His Home manifest, we will not
be doing very much toward preparing the way for the Union, for the reuniting,
of Heaven and earth. We have made progress, it is true. Something of His Spirit
of Love is manifest, or you would not be here; and you have recognized
something of the vision of the beauty of the Pattern of Truth, or you would not
be here; but those old patterns of the world have no meaning here. Here the
Spirit of the Home of our KING must manifest, so that when He comes again He
will be at Home, and we will be at Home with Him.
We
want to feel at Home with Him when He comes, and when He comes we want Him to
find His Home ready and waiting for Him, worthy of Him, with the Spirit of His
Home made already manifest. That is our purpose here, and when we remember the
true significance of Home, and the wonderful privilege and sacred
responsibility that is ours in helping to prepare this part of His Home for
Him, surely such a realization must have meaning by the very force and weight
of it, by the very glory and wonder of it, through every thought and word and
deed, through every hour of every day. We are here for that purpose, so that
when He comes He shall find His Home in the condition that it ought to be.
If He
were to come and stand among us tonight, in a manner that you might see Him as
He is, do you think you would be ready to say, "LORD, Thy Home is
prepared; we welcome Thee, and find joy and complete peace in Thy coming"?
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