May 17, 2014
The Outer Court
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.
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.
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