Development of the Divine Instrument on Earth

Development  of  the  Divine  Instrument  on  Earth

from  Divine Manhood and Womanhood

Martin Cecil   March 9, 1958

How patient the Lord is! The Lord's patience with the children of men is indeed a marvelous thing. We have seen something of the patience of the Lord as He has builded within the scope of recorded history those structures through which it was His intention to achieve the divine purposes. He builds patiently, carefully, knowing the design, understanding the purpose. And how consistently human beings have wrecked that which the Lord began to build. Some of the destructiveness did not entirely eliminate the opportunity that was offered and it was possible to repair the damage and continue in the cycle, but thus far there has always come a time when the destruction was so complete that the Lord was under the necessity of saying, "That is that! It will not work out that way anymore." And then He proceeded to make possible an outworking in another way. We see this in the large patterns of opportunity that He has offered to the children of men which we find recorded in the Old and the New Testaments. But consider the millions and billions of individual human beings who have been builded on earth.

We have taken note of the marvelous mechanism of the physical body of man, the intricacy of its operation, the perfect provision that has been made for the maintenance and balance as it allows the expression of life to manifest in form on earth; and the building of a human mind to the point where it is capable of logical thought, of following out in a pattern of reason, of acquiring essential knowledge for the discharge of responsibility in life. And the heart, the emotional realm of man, though it has been such a limited and distorted thing in fallen man, yet what a marvelous capacity! How flat and meaningless life would be if there were not that capacity to feel, to appreciate, to enjoy, to experience satisfaction. Every human being who has been born into the world has had these capacities in varying degrees, carefully developed and builded during the course of that individual lifetime. And though the Lord has made these miracles possible, He has had to watch human beings throwing away their opportunities, failing utterly to comprehend or to do anything to fulfil the true purpose for which He created them. 

Generation after generation, the world around, human beings have been born. Their bodies and minds and hearts have been builded: they have lived out a little life span—to what end? From the standpoint of the Lord, what was achieved? In virtually every case, practically nothing—the gift of life wasted; all the Lord's care and provision for the development of that marvelous mechanism by which He might express Himself on earth has gone for nothing. What infinite patience! What faith He has had in the children of men, that there would be those sometime, sooner or later, in sufficient number, who would let this tremendous provision which the Lord has made in relationship to each one come to fruition, be used for the purpose for which it was created. And yet He has had to watch generation after generation simply passing away with nothing to show for it. Patience. Faith. How wonderful is the Lord's patience and His faith! 

There are those, or have been over the ages, who have in some measure—some more, some less—allowed this mechanism to come to the point of being really useful to the Lord. We have the record of many, particularly in the Old Testament, who did permit the marvelous provision of the Lord in relationship to themselves to have some meaning. A few allowed it to have great meaning. Then our Master came into the world, carefully building an instrument for His use on earth—a physical body with the capacities of mind and heart, growing and maturing, being trained, brought into position to allow that wonderful expression of divine being to be offered to the children of men. The instrument in His case was perfect for the needs of that time, capable of functioning in the fulness of the wisdom of the LORD of Lords, capable of doing the work, capable of being used under absolute control. What a marvelous thing—something that in the same degree had been virtually unknown in the world since man fell. This instrument was developed and brought to this point of capability and capacity, a marvelous thing, so that the ministry of our Lord and King might begin to appear on earth. And human beings undertook to destroy it out of hand, at least they destroyed it insofar as they themselves were concerned. Obliterated it—something that the Lord had so carefully builded! 

It had only taken Him thirty years. And after three more years it was gone, lost to the world. No wonder there was darkness on that fateful day when our Master hung upon the cross. And yet how patient He has been. How many millions and billions of human beings have lived on earth since that time, bodies and minds and hearts carefully builded, provided with every opportunity, brought to the point where they might be, if they would be, trained to be the divine instrument on earth. But how many have been willing to let it be so? Very, very few.

 

And in our own lifetime we can remember one man whose body and mind and heart were trained and developed to the point where they might be a true instrument for the expression of the Spirit of Truth on earth, and then, in a moment, it was gone. In his case, forty-seven years on earth, a very brief span, but even so, fourteen years longer than our Master was here in the world. That instrument through which the Spirit of Truth might express was builded with care, the facilities, the capacities, were developed with care, trained, brought to that pitch of perfection which allowed the expression of the Spirit of Truth on earth. And then, no more. 

The Lord has builded in relationship to each one of you, carefully, providing every means and opportunity for the development of your capacities, your abilities, so that you might become instruments in His hands for the fulfilment of those purposes for which He created you. How much has He been able to achieve in that regard up to this point? We know His patience; individually we have all experienced it. How perfect is the instrument at this point? How long do we have to allow Him to complete it into what it should and can easily be? 

It is usual in the world of men to consider the next generation. Human beings think to achieve so much so that their children can go on from there, but if the divine purposes are to find fulfilment on earth it must come in one generation. The question is, “Are those who are charged with that responsibility, all things else being equal, going to live long enough to let it be?” It is indicated that man, under the conditions of the world as it now is, should live threescore years and ten, or thereabouts. You know, in the divine state it took threescore years and ten, approximately, for divine man, divine men and women, to come to the point of being adequately mature to begin to undertake their life work. Just about at the time that the Lord might have developed an instrument to the required pitch, in this day and age, it is liable to become so decrepit that it is no more use. We cannot wait and let the job be done at one and the same time. 

The Lord seeks to build the essential instrument on earth. We have examples of what happens when the outworking is left to future generations. It is not a very victorious picture. Little distortions, little deviations, become greater and greater, and soon any resemblance to the original is virtually nonexistent. It seems to me that there is indication that those of us who participate in this opportunity had better go on through, for the next generation may not have the chance. We would that those who are of the next generation should share the fulfilment with us, but let us not imagine that we can leave it to them. It is our responsibility; it is our opportunity; and the Lord has builded carefully, in spite of failures along the way, and brought this present cycle to this time. 

Let us not try His patience any further, so that we may, by our own choice and action, let Him complete the instrument that is needed both with respect to each one as an individual and with respect to all together. He is capable of doing it; there has never been any question with regard to that. But are you, and others who share this opportunity, going to take advantage of it so that you may let the job be done in you? Our Master let it be done in Him, through His body and mind and heart when He was on earth, in thirty years. Most of you are older than that; some of you may be younger. Those who are younger do not need to wait. Those who are older have obviously been waiting too long. 

Yesterday evening I spoke of the confidence which the Lord has had in you, and I suggested to you that there is no valid reason why you should not share His confidence, so that you are confident in that which God has established in you. The Lord has confidence in you, otherwise you would not be here on earth. And if He has confidence in you it should be safe to acknowledge that He is right, no matter what you feel, no matter what anyone says, no matter what your experience may be. 

There are many wrong things in the world, probably still many wrong things in you. The Lord has no confidence in wrong things.  But there is that in you in which He has confidence and in which you may have confidence. Trust that and do not let supposed limitations cause you to distrust it. Because you happen to feel this way and that way, because on the basis of your experience you have had this failure and that failure, do not take the attitude that you cannot have confidence in that in you in which the Lord has confidence.

© Emissaries of Divine Light