Martin Put His Hand To The Plow

Martin  Put  His  Hand  To  The  Plow

from  Collective Representation of the Sun of Righteousness

Bill Bahan   April 11, 1982

Fire, the unquenchable fire. But it's a fire that brings creativity, isn’t it? It’s not a fire of destructiveness. It’s the fire of love under the control of truth, and that fire brings only that which is beautiful and of good report. First I would read a verse from Luke, the 9th chapter, 62nd verse: “And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”

 

It was just forty-two years ago this month that Martin met Uranda in person in Vancouver. I’ve often imagined that at that particular meeting the angels of heaven surely rejoiced, when these two great spirits came together in person on earth. Martin at that time put his hand to the plow. I think the plow is a pretty good word for it too. Never once did he turn back. Various things worked out, very specific cycles actually. In 1947 Martin actually came into his high calling in the Christ. At that time in an outer sense Martin became the second Bishop of the Church of the Emissaries of Divine Light—right on time, no faltering. Seven more years, Uranda left this sphere of things and Martin had the total responsibility. Uranda and Martin together had plenty on their plate to handle, and now he was alone with it. But his hand was on the plow. Once your hand is really on the plow you know nothing else but to go forward—couldn’t do anything else anyway.

 

Various other cycles worked out; I won’t reiterate them now—everything was done decently and in order—no faltering along the way. Now we come to this seventh cycle. “Six days shalt thou labour,” and on the seventh the Lord rested. I think even tonight it’s significant that Martin could sit back and all of us here could come together, Michael and I having the responsibility particularly of bringing it to focus, but all of us here together giving this service, so that the Lord could rest. We have the responsibility, and the Lord hasn’t left us comfortless; we have been adequately prepared, so that we may assume the responsibility which is ours. We are responsible for this body. We’ve had this great point of representation with us these many years, but now we are absolutely at the point where we need to have a clear consciousness that it is our responsibility.

 

This morning Martin was considering with us some words from the Book of Malachi. I would just read the verse which he shared with us: “But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings.” I suppose many reading that would say, “Well isn’t that wonderful. Finally we’re going to be healed.” We aren’t here to be healed; we’re here to offer the healing. And that consciousness of the Sun of righteousness comes to those that fear the name of the Lord. Now, we know that word fear as used in this context means reverence: “For those who revere the name of the Lord.” The responsibility which we have can only be done by the Sun of righteousness, nothing else. It is only as there are those of us sharing that particular consciousness that what needs to be done can be done. Martin has brought us to this particular point because of his representation of the Sun of righteousness; that’s what did the plowing.

 

I looked up that word plow, thought you might find it interesting: “Any implement for cutting, turning over, stirring or breaking up the soil.” I think we could put the word consciousness instead of soil there. That’s what’s been happening: the breaking up and the turning over and the stirring of the consciousness, our own consciousness, so that we have come to the point where we may collectively represent the Sun of righteousness.

 

There are very exact requirements to offer that representation. “But unto those that fear my name”: that’s the requirement. The third of the Ten Commandments, I’m sure you know, goes something like this: Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; He shall not hold thee guiltless that takest His name in vain. That doesn’t say that we shouldn't take the name of the Lord; it just says that we shouldn't take it in vain. Those who fear the name of the Lord take the name of the Lord. That has been one of the problems along the way, hasn’t it, that the Lord has had to work with, to find those who had the guts to take His name.

 

We might remember that Moses was a little reluctant to take His name. He offered all kinds of excuses as to why he couldn’t take it: couldn’t speak. Of course the Lord didn’t let him get off the hook. But why do you think he was reluctant to take the name of Lord at that particular time? Because he saw very clearly that there were no more excuses, that once that name is taken one is responsible from that point forward for creative self-expression. No more can one use any excuses, particularly the excuse of our human heredity, for not bringing forth that which is right and true of the Sun of righteousness.

 

We take the name of the Lord and we are very careful that we do not take that name in vain. We would never besmirch the name of the Lord. That above all is most precious to us. We love the name of the Lord; it is our name; it is what we are. And consequently we are very careful that that name is revealed honestly and clearly in our living. When that name is taken, and it is maintained in expression, the Sun of righteousness is revealed. There are those, seemingly, who are hesitant about taking that name. We recognize that in order for one to even come to the point where they may see clearly the responsibilities they have for the taking of that name, there is a conditioning that precedes it. Moses didn’t come to this realization while he was in Egypt. He got out of Egypt; certain things worked out in his own experience to bring him to the point where he could take that name. There were some wonderful provisions that the Lord offered while he was on the backside of the desert. He had training and conditioning during that time to bring him to that particular point. So here we are at this particular point.

 

In the latter part of this 4th chapter of the Book of Malachi these are the words: “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.”

You may recall that when Ahab, the weak-kneed husband of Jezebel, was looking for Elijah he sent out his servant. And while his servant was in the way, he met Elijah, and Elijah, through that servant, sent the word back to Ahab. The word was, “Tell him that Elijah is here.” No shilly-shallying. “Tell him that Elijah is here.” Elijah, the Sun of righteousness, the same spirit. Elijah is here because his spirit is here, because we are here; we are preparing the way of the Lord.

 

What a marvelous thing to see how all has worked out to bring us to this particular point. The patience of the Lord, long-suffering, to maintain that point on earth so that we could all come here tonight, and we could gather in His name and take the responsibility truly that is before us, all of us.

 

So I give deep thanks unto the Lord for His special servants that He has sent, and I give deep thanks for those who have allowed their hearts to be turned back again so that we may in fact reveal the truth that Elijah is here, that the Sun of righteousness is in fact on earth because we’re on earth.

© emissaries of divine light