Temples of the Living God

Temples  of  the  Living  God

Uranda   September 29, 1946

As we ascend the mountain, the winding road leads upward through the pines, close-dotted with quaking aspens which have changed their dresses of summer green to autumn’s gold. Beholding the lavish Beauty which nature has bestowed on every hand, one thinks of God, and feels that surely, truly, these are the Temples of the Living God. 

Each pine tree, straight and tall, pointing surely toward the Heavens, reaches upward that all who will may know the Joy of the Ascending Spirit that refuses to remain earth-bound: each gentle aspen tree shimmering in the breeze, speaks of the gentleness of God, and surely here, on every hand, one finds the Temples of the Living God. 

In the valleys and on the mountainside, beside the stream or along the rock-strewn trail, each step we take unfolds new Beauty, and tells anew the story of the Temples of the Living God. 

The creatures of the wild, the birds flitting through the trees, the rippling rill from melting snows, the shrubs that grow on the rocky wall, all tell the story of the Temples of the Living God. 

The barren rocky peaks, reaching high above timberline, are mute evidence that there is a Power greater than all the powers of man, and drawing near, one truly feels the spirit of the mountain, and that Spirit tells a story of the Temples of the Living God. 

And so the restless spirit feels the calm, and the flitting mind is stilled; the quietness and peacefulness of majestic mountains begin to fill the heart of man, and there comes a certainty that here are the Temples of the Living God. 

But dusk is falling, and soon the last rays of the sun rest for a lingering caress upon the highest mountain crag, and in the stillness of the evening, in the cool of the day, with all this Beauty shut from view, there lingers still the realization that the Temple of the Living God is near: a loneliness for the God of the Temple begins to fill the heart, soul and mind, and, if, by friendly darkness shut out, memory’s vision of the mountains and of the trees still holds the attention too vividly, the story of the valleys, of the shrubs and the creatures of the wild has not yet been truly heard, even though all these things were speaking of the Temples of the Living God. 

If, in the peace and quietness, welcoming the friendly dusk, the cool of the day finds the Responding One relaxed and still, there comes assurance that the Living God is nearer than the air we breathe, and though the mountains and the trees, the valleys and creatures of the wild are Temples of the Living God, they are truly but the Temples of the Temples of God Most High. 

For untold ages man has wandered to and fro on earth, seeking to find the place where he might know fulfillment’s keenest joys. The miserable tales of history reveal the failures that mar the age-long record, and as the musing spirit rests quiescent in the eventide, he comes to know that God is here below, waiting to enter in and abide in the long-lost Temples of the Living God. 

The fruitless searching and all the vain trying of men who would prove that the body of man is for the pleasure of man, hangs like a shroud upon the soul, until man lifts up his eyes unto the hills from whence cometh his help, and then he begins to know that the body of man was made for the pleasures of the Living God; and responding thus, he finds that all the emptiness which man has known falls away, as a garment put aside, and he steps forth to enter into the Joy of his Lord, that the body of man may be the Body of God, and the Joys of God may fill the body of man, for these are the Temples of the Living God.

All things on earth God created for the pleasure of man, but man He created for His own pleasure. Behold, the majesty of the mountains, the beauty of the valleys, the wonder of the trees, the lakes and streams, and the creatures of the wild. Who has the ability to view that majesty? Who has the qualities that comprehend the beauties of the valley, to see and name the creatures of the wild? That which thus can comprehend is greater than all else that man beholds. Consider the symmetry of form, the blended parts, the qualities of mind and heart, by which the things of God may manifest on earth. Surely this, the crowning creation, was not made for itself, any more than the mountain was made for itself, the tree for itself, or the valley for its own enjoyment alone. And so it is that humankind, awaking from a long, sad dream, begins to know that truly man, as God created him, male and female, is the Temple of the Living God. 

And as nature springs forth to greet man and provide the necessities of his comfort, so should man spring forth to greet the Living God, and provide for the necessities of His comfort here on earth. The long-lost Temples of the Living God have now been found, and being repaired and renewed unto Him, His Glory begins to fill the Temple and shine round about, until the pleasures of the Living God shall be known in all the earth, and the Joy of Being shall vibrate in every living thing. Behold, the Temples of the Living God.

© Emissaries of Divine Light