from
The Holy Place
May 19, 2014
The Holy Place
The Holy Place
There is a holy place for
the world and there is a holy place available to the experience of each
individual. Individually speaking, to be a part of this great nation, that holy
place must be known by those who compose it in the individual sense. There is a
holy place for the world into which all do not enter. Those who might be called
the priesthood rightly enter and minister in and from the holy place, but the
great mass of the true nation do not come in. All that is needful insofar as
they are concerned is to know the holy place within themselves, individually
speaking, and share in the ministry of the priesthood who represent God to them
and them to God.
Mention has been made of
the mountain peak. From this mountain peak the true ministry extends; the glory
of the Lord fills the tabernacle and shines round about. It extends into the
whole nation, into the whole earth. But the means by which it appears, the
means by which the atmosphere of holiness is known on earth, is through the
very specific design which was established in the beginning and still remains
to this day. But to be meaningful this design must be activated within the
experience of mankind, and it is only activated by people. There is no other
means on the face of the earth by which the spirit of God may be active, active
in this very specific creative sense. It is not activated by people who arrive
from outer space in flying saucers; it is not activated by some invisible,
unknown angels in heaven somewhere; it is activated through man. If there are
no men and women on earth to let it be activated on earth, it is not activated
within the experience of human beings and within the experience of the realm
for which they carry responsibility.
An essential element in
the design is the holy place. We mentioned the outer court and the encampment;
all these are necessarily present. There is a physical form to mankind and that
physical form includes a consciousness, a capacity for something. To allow the
fulfilling of that capacity the gate must be opened to the holy place, because
out of the holy place come the essential qualities which fill the consciousness
of man, shining through his physical form round about. The requirement in
relationship to that consciousness, if the gate is to be opened, is the attitude
of praise and thanksgiving; without that the door is shut. When this essential
requirement is present the gate begins to swing wide so that what is inherent
in the spirit of God, the character of God, may begin to fill the capacity for
character in man. Most of that capacity for character is empty in human beings
in the general sense. But when praise and thanksgiving are present in the
consciousness of the individual, then it is natural to accept and rejoice in
the true qualities and characteristics of being: the spirit of God.
These are found in the
holy place; consequently there must be a holy place if they are to be found.
There must be a holy place in the individual if he is to find himself in the
truth of his own being, and that holy place cannot be discovered by any
external means. What is required is to make available the right setting, to be
born of water, so that the setting of praise and thanksgiving and openness of
response, and, above all, of integrity, may be available for the outpouring of
the spirit, the outpouring of the individuals' own character. This is the
discovery to be made. He can't find it by shopping around in the external
sense. Most people seek here, seek there, looking for what is already present
within themselves but unknown, imagining that it may be found by various
external means. So people waste their lives in this foolishness; life runs out
before they have visited all the shops. Only those who turn away from the shops
because their integrity impels them to do so may come again into the outer
court which surrounds the tabernacle, the tabernacle that is with men, and,
coming there, become aware of the tabernacle itself, of the fact that there is
a door through which entrance may be made—all this because of the attitude of
praise and thanksgiving. The awareness begins to permeate the consciousness
that there is something present now with oneself, with each individual, that is
not discernible in an external sense but which nevertheless is known to be of
supreme value. The pearl of great price, the treasure buried in the field—all
these have reference to what is present because of the holy place.
The holy place does not
originate what is present in it, but what is present in the holy place would
not be present without the holy place. The attitude of holiness must be present
in a person, maintained there because he has integrity, a place in himself that
he would never allow to be violated under any circumstances. It is a place into
which others, in the general sense, may not enter, just as in the holy place in
the tabernacle in the overall sense, only the priesthood minister there. It is
the place of purity, the place from which springs all that is beautiful, all
that is creative, all that is worthwhile. The holy place adjoins what was
called the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle, another place behind the veil.
That is the place from which springs the treasure to be found when there is a
holy place in the individual's experience and when there is a place kept holy
because there is a true priesthood, a place kept holy for the world. The true
holy place has been long absent from the face of the earth. There has been an
endeavor to substitute a distorted outer court for the holy place: the
consciousness of man. It was thought that this could be developed, increased in
capacity, made to be supremely meaningful, to rule the world. All it has done
has been to bring chaos and tragedy to the children of men, and yet human
beings everywhere continue to wonder after the beast.
We are concerned to come
again to the holy place, that there may be a holy place for the world. Without
it, what is there? A very bleak future, to say the least. But through the holy
place may spring forth the creative power of God: God in action on earth,
Jehovah, the Son of God. Those who begin to become conscious of these things—and
we must necessarily speak of them in parables or in symbols—have the
responsibility of maintaining the reality on earth. The holy place cannot be
here in any meaningful sense until there is a priesthood to administer what
springs forth by reason of the holy place. It could spring forth forever
without effect if there was nobody on hand to administer it.
So here we are, knowing
where the Lord is to be found, through the holy place, presenting ourselves to
the Lord that we may, with others, play our part in the service of the holy
place, bringing again the vessels which have long been in disuse or been
subject to misuse, that the true service may be rendered through them once
more. As we all surely know, those vessels are thoughts and words and deeds,
the vessels which become meaningful when they are filled with the oil of love,
the truth of love, the creative fire. How recklessly human beings allow
thoughts and words and deeds to find expression. They are mostly used, of
course, for self-benefit, self-aggrandizement, in one way or another. They have
been stolen from the holy place and taken into the place of defilement for
misuse. Is it any wonder that the beautiful world of God has been wrecked? Yet
the creative power of God is present; the holy place is available the very
moment that there is a priesthood to enter in. They enter in through the gate
of praise and thanksgiving, bearing the vessels of the tabernacle for use in
the holy place. If you come into the holy place you bring with you your thought
processes, your ability to speak and to act. Fortunately the holy place is
self-cleansing, so that those who bring defilement with them are shortly
ejected by their own attitudes and actions. There have been many who have
approached the holy place only to find themselves ejected. All down through the
ages it has been done, so that it has remained empty, unknown, insofar as the
world is concerned. It only becomes known when there is a priesthood who
represent God to the people and the people to God, when the holiness of the
holy place is made evident through the priesthood. That holiness is made
evident by reason of thought, word and act.
If we approach the holy
place, let us remember that we come bearing these vessels of the temple, and
let us remember that we have heretofore been receivers of stolen goods. We have
thought to use these things for ourselves, to do with them as we pleased, to
achieve our own purposes for our own benefit. The vessels of the temple are for
the Lord's use, filled solely with His spirit, with His character, with the
qualities of His being, and consequently under His control and brought forth in
the true design. When this is so, the Shekinah fills the tabernacle and shines
round about. Here is the creative power of God once again present and working
through man on earth; not through all mankind, certainly, but through those who
represent God to the people, that the people may rejoice and themselves partake
of the character of God and live. Those who refuse, die. What all this means in
the experience of the world remains to be seen and to be experienced, which
occurs as there is the priesthood ministering in the holy place.
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