I Ascend Unto My Father And Your Father
from Sunrise Service Number
Seventy-Four
Uranda April 9, 1950 11 a.m.
“And when he had opened the Seventh seal, there was silence in Heaven
about the space of half an hour.” You have been sharing this morning the
unspeakable beauty of that silence in Heaven, that which cannot be expressed in
word, that which must be lived to give it meaning in the unfolding cycles of
time.
Easter Morning—we have felt this day something of the feeling which
pervaded Heaven that first Easter morning when our Master established the
Victory. Usually, in thinking of Easter, the thought expressed is that our Lord
was resurrected from the tomb. The fact is that our Lord was never subject to
the tomb, but His Body was. It was our Lord's Body that was resurrected, not
the Lord Himself, for man could not touch Him.
The Lord Himself, men could not crucify. The Lord Himself could not be
placed in a tomb and sealed there—it was His Body against which self-active
human beings took action—it was His Body that was placed in the tomb—and it was
His Body that came forth in the Resurrection and the Life. So is it today, it
is not the Lord who has stood in need of the Resurrection and the Life, but the
body of His Faithful Ones on earth, the body of His Children everywhere that
has stood in need of the Resurrection and the Life.
You have today tasted something of that Resurrecting Power by which the
Members of His Body are set free from the darkness of the tomb, that, entering
into the Garden of God, they may know that it is futile to look in the tomb to
find the Lord. Too long have human beings looked into the tomb, but, as the
Angels said, “He is not there.” No, it is not in the tomb that we will find our
Lord, although He sends His Angels to bring us forth from the tomb of this
world's darkness into the Light of an Easter Day.
It is in the Garden, you will remember, that Mary, when she first
recognized the Master's Presence, supposed Him to be the gardener. He was, and
is, but not in the sense she thought. No, first perceiving Him, she did not see
Him as He was; she did not recognize Him, but He was there in the Garden beyond
the tomb. Her fear was that they, persons unknown, had taken her Lord away. How
many times since that day have human beings imagined that someone, somewhere,
what someone else did, what someone else said, had taken their Lord away. Human
beings with their puny activities cannot take the Lord away—it cannot be done.
How should the Lord be taken away? No, He was not in the tomb; it was futile to
look there and it still is, but they, persons unknown or known, have not taken
Him away; they cannot; He is there in the Garden of God.
When her name fell from His blessed lips, “Mary,” the sound of His
Voice awakened her from that trance of sorrow that had engulfed her. She was
awakened so that she could see that which was before her. The Master was there
in the Garden—she knew someone was there but she had not recognized Him. How
often human beings have been like that. But the wonderful thing is this: that when
He called her name she did not just go blindly on; she was not so deeply
engulfed in her own thoughts and ideas that she did not hear; no, she heard Him
speak and knew His Voice and answered, “Master.” There was acknowledgment;
there was recognition; there was the depth of love response, uttermost devotion
according to the Law of the Kingdom, “Thou shalt love the Lord Thy God with all
Thy heart and mind and spirit and soul and with all thy strength.” Yes, in that
answer that came forth from the depths of her heart, you can see and feel and
know her fulfillment of the Law, and she saw her Lord. How many times the
Master, walking in the Garden of God on earth has called the names of those who
did not hear, those who went blindly on, immersed in their own ideas and
concepts and their own anguish and human desires, so busy looking in the tomb,
so busy worrying about who they might
have been and what they might have
done to the Lord that they could not hear His Voice.
In time past, you recognize, He has called your name, for today is not
the first time He called your name, but you never answered Him as you did this
morning. When the anguished heart grows still, and when the mind is quiet, when
there is the fullness of love response to Him, then can the human being hear
the Call, for He has called your name as surely as He called the name of Mary
long ago. We have known something of His Presence; we have sensed it; we have
recognized it; so have tens of thousands and millions of others. It is not that
we have forgotten the Lord. Mary was searching for Him; so are tens of millions
of others searching, looking in the tomb when He is not there; but in the Garden
of God He is walking, and He calls the name of each one who searches for Him.
You know that He has called your name, and hearing, you have begun to
see and hear truly that wondrous Voice of Love—that Love that will not let you go. Mary answered, “Master.” What
do we answer when He calls? If He is our Master, then let us so function in our
lives that we prove that it is so, in the fullness of devotion, obedience and
trust—in that faith that springs from love for God that cannot be shaken by
what any may think or say or do or be, or by what may take place in the world
around us, faith that springs from unshakable love for God, that God's Love
working through us may have meaning on earth.
That
Easter Day set the pattern and opened the Way for this Easter Day which we are
privileged to share. What greater honor, what greater privilege could God
bestow than this? Our Lord came into the world because God so loved the world
and He brought the message, “Repent and be baptized, for the Kingdom of Heaven
is at hand.” We have found it so. In our lives we have proven His Words are
true, true and righteous altogether—the Way, the Truth and the Life. As we
meditate upon that Easter Day and see
the outworkings of this Easter Day, in our own hearts and minds we know that we
have begun to taste, begun to see, that we have begun to feel—but it is little
more than that—the Victory of His Kingdom, the Eternal wonders. We have just
begun. He opened the Way. He set the pattern for this Easter Day.
After He spoke to Mary, He said, “Touch me not for I have not yet
ascended unto my Father.” Having brought His Body forth from the tomb, His
first business was to ascend to the Father and what did He say? He told Mary to
go and tell the other disciples, saying, “I ascend unto my Father, and your
Father; and to my God, and your God.” His instruction was and is to follow Him,
follow Him in the Resurrection and the Life, follow Him in ascending unto the
Father. His first business, His first fulfillment of responsibility after the
Resurrection of His Body was to ascend unto the Father. It was after that that
He met with His disciples and talked with them concerning the things of the
Kingdom.
First, he ascended unto the Father, and following through, following
Him, we must do likewise. It is not enough merely to taste of the Resurrection
and the Life—we must together ascend unto the Father. The only way we can know
that fulfillment is by following our Master in the expression of His Love for
the Father. His Commandment was: “Follow me.” That is His Commandment to each
one of us—follow Him. We have seen how that following must lead to the
crucifixion of that human self that is not of Him, how it must lead through the
tomb, through the Resurrection and then, if we are to follow Him all the Way, the
next step is to ascend unto the Father. What was it He said unto the one who
saw Him in the Garden, what message did He give? He said, go and tell them, “Behold
I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.” He made
it very clear that He was not ascending to some high Heaven denied to those who
should follow after Him. He was ascending and as He said before, “Whither I go
ye know, and the Way ye know.” He had prayed and given assurance to those who
followed after that “Where I am, there ye may be also.” He expected His
followers to follow Him all the Way, including the ascension to the Father. We
thank God that it is so.
As you continue to let the Cycles of the Spirit work in the silences of
your soul, holding true under the Law of the Kingdom, abiding In the attitude
of the Angels' Song, you shall surely
find the processes of ascension working in and through you to fulfill His Word
even as He said, “And I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me.” He made
it clear and plain that as He ascended unto the Father, He expected those who
followed Him to let themselves ascend unto the Father. “And I, if I be lifted
up, will draw all men unto me,” and so we are to let the process of ascension
work in heart and mind and body and soul that we may share that which He
established then, that which He made possible for the children of men. This is
our opportunity, our privilege, our sacred responsibility on this beautiful
Sunday, this Easter. The Peace of our Lord, Jesus Christ be with you now and
forever.
“And when he had opened the Seventh seal, there was silence in Heaven about the space of half an hour.” You have been sharing this morning the unspeakable beauty of that silence in Heaven, that which cannot be expressed in word, that which must be lived to give it meaning in the unfolding cycles of time.
Easter Morning—we have felt this day something of the feeling which pervaded Heaven that first Easter morning when our Master established the Victory. Usually, in thinking of Easter, the thought expressed is that our Lord was resurrected from the tomb. The fact is that our Lord was never subject to the tomb, but His Body was. It was our Lord's Body that was resurrected, not the Lord Himself, for man could not touch Him.
The Lord Himself, men could not crucify. The Lord Himself could not be placed in a tomb and sealed there—it was His Body against which self-active human beings took action—it was His Body that was placed in the tomb—and it was His Body that came forth in the Resurrection and the Life. So is it today, it is not the Lord who has stood in need of the Resurrection and the Life, but the body of His Faithful Ones on earth, the body of His Children everywhere that has stood in need of the Resurrection and the Life.
You have today tasted something of that Resurrecting Power by which the Members of His Body are set free from the darkness of the tomb, that, entering into the Garden of God, they may know that it is futile to look in the tomb to find the Lord. Too long have human beings looked into the tomb, but, as the Angels said, “He is not there.” No, it is not in the tomb that we will find our Lord, although He sends His Angels to bring us forth from the tomb of this world's darkness into the Light of an Easter Day.
It is in the Garden, you will remember, that Mary, when she first recognized the Master's Presence, supposed Him to be the gardener. He was, and is, but not in the sense she thought. No, first perceiving Him, she did not see Him as He was; she did not recognize Him, but He was there in the Garden beyond the tomb. Her fear was that they, persons unknown, had taken her Lord away. How many times since that day have human beings imagined that someone, somewhere, what someone else did, what someone else said, had taken their Lord away. Human beings with their puny activities cannot take the Lord away—it cannot be done. How should the Lord be taken away? No, He was not in the tomb; it was futile to look there and it still is, but they, persons unknown or known, have not taken Him away; they cannot; He is there in the Garden of God.
When her name fell from His blessed lips, “Mary,” the sound of His Voice awakened her from that trance of sorrow that had engulfed her. She was awakened so that she could see that which was before her. The Master was there in the Garden—she knew someone was there but she had not recognized Him. How often human beings have been like that. But the wonderful thing is this: that when He called her name she did not just go blindly on; she was not so deeply engulfed in her own thoughts and ideas that she did not hear; no, she heard Him speak and knew His Voice and answered, “Master.” There was acknowledgment; there was recognition; there was the depth of love response, uttermost devotion according to the Law of the Kingdom, “Thou shalt love the Lord Thy God with all Thy heart and mind and spirit and soul and with all thy strength.” Yes, in that answer that came forth from the depths of her heart, you can see and feel and know her fulfillment of the Law, and she saw her Lord. How many times the Master, walking in the Garden of God on earth has called the names of those who did not hear, those who went blindly on, immersed in their own ideas and concepts and their own anguish and human desires, so busy looking in the tomb, so busy worrying about who they might have been and what they might have done to the Lord that they could not hear His Voice.
In time past, you recognize, He has called your name, for today is not the first time He called your name, but you never answered Him as you did this morning. When the anguished heart grows still, and when the mind is quiet, when there is the fullness of love response to Him, then can the human being hear the Call, for He has called your name as surely as He called the name of Mary long ago. We have known something of His Presence; we have sensed it; we have recognized it; so have tens of thousands and millions of others. It is not that we have forgotten the Lord. Mary was searching for Him; so are tens of millions of others searching, looking in the tomb when He is not there; but in the Garden of God He is walking, and He calls the name of each one who searches for Him.
You know that He has called your name, and hearing, you have begun to see and hear truly that wondrous Voice of Love—that Love that will not let you go. Mary answered, “Master.” What do we answer when He calls? If He is our Master, then let us so function in our lives that we prove that it is so, in the fullness of devotion, obedience and trust—in that faith that springs from love for God that cannot be shaken by what any may think or say or do or be, or by what may take place in the world around us, faith that springs from unshakable love for God, that God's Love working through us may have meaning on earth.
That Easter Day set the pattern and opened the Way for this Easter Day which we are privileged to share. What greater honor, what greater privilege could God bestow than this? Our Lord came into the world because God so loved the world and He brought the message, “Repent and be baptized, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” We have found it so. In our lives we have proven His Words are true, true and righteous altogether—the Way, the Truth and the Life. As we meditate upon that Easter Day and see the outworkings of this Easter Day, in our own hearts and minds we know that we have begun to taste, begun to see, that we have begun to feel—but it is little more than that—the Victory of His Kingdom, the Eternal wonders. We have just begun. He opened the Way. He set the pattern for this Easter Day.
After He spoke to Mary, He said, “Touch me not for I have not yet ascended unto my Father.” Having brought His Body forth from the tomb, His first business was to ascend to the Father and what did He say? He told Mary to go and tell the other disciples, saying, “I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.” His instruction was and is to follow Him, follow Him in the Resurrection and the Life, follow Him in ascending unto the Father. His first business, His first fulfillment of responsibility after the Resurrection of His Body was to ascend unto the Father. It was after that that He met with His disciples and talked with them concerning the things of the Kingdom.
First, he ascended unto the Father, and following through, following Him, we must do likewise. It is not enough merely to taste of the Resurrection and the Life—we must together ascend unto the Father. The only way we can know that fulfillment is by following our Master in the expression of His Love for the Father. His Commandment was: “Follow me.” That is His Commandment to each one of us—follow Him. We have seen how that following must lead to the crucifixion of that human self that is not of Him, how it must lead through the tomb, through the Resurrection and then, if we are to follow Him all the Way, the next step is to ascend unto the Father. What was it He said unto the one who saw Him in the Garden, what message did He give? He said, go and tell them, “Behold I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.” He made it very clear that He was not ascending to some high Heaven denied to those who should follow after Him. He was ascending and as He said before, “Whither I go ye know, and the Way ye know.” He had prayed and given assurance to those who followed after that “Where I am, there ye may be also.” He expected His followers to follow Him all the Way, including the ascension to the Father. We thank God that it is so.
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