Ye Have Not Chosen Me But I Have Chosen You
Martin Cecil August 7, 1980 from Assembly — Sunrise Ranch
The world cries out for a brightening, a genuine light, a genuine sensing of a genuine glory
We are a small company in a large
space; however this gives us special opportunity to share something in the
field of government particularly. I would like to read some verses from
Ezekiel, Chapter forty-three.
We are a small company in a large space; however this gives us special opportunity to share something in the field of government particularly. I would like to read some verses from Ezekiel, Chapter forty-three.
“Afterward he brought me to the gate, even the gate that looketh toward the east:
“And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east: and his voice was like a noise of many waters: and the earth shined with his glory.
“And it was according to the appearance of the vision...
“And the glory of the Lord came into the house by the way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east.
“So the spirit took me up, and brought me into the inner court; and behold, the glory of the Lord filled the house.”
The house of the Lord is here
present in the flesh by reason of all of you who are gathered here within the
house of the Lord of material substance. We call it the Dome Chapel. Because we
have conscious understanding with spiritual perspective we are in position to
assume our spiritual responsibility in this setting, the setting of the house
of the Lord. After what has gone before, we have been brought to the gate, even
the gate that looketh toward the east.
The house of the Lord is here present in the flesh by reason of all of you who are gathered here within the house of the Lord of material substance. We call it the Dome Chapel. Because we have conscious understanding with spiritual perspective we are in position to assume our spiritual responsibility in this setting, the setting of the house of the Lord. After what has gone before, we have been brought to the gate, even the gate that looketh toward the east.
For you, particularly in this setting now, I am that gate. You are looking toward the east. I am the gate for you in a particular sense in this Assembly. I'm a gate for others also. But we have this special setting at the moment, at the very core of the Lord's ministry on earth. We are all present playing our respective roles—you as the house of the Lord and I as the gate, the gate which from your standpoint looketh toward the east, looketh toward what is coming—in this instance, what is coming through my words. What is of the spirit of God comes out of the east, comes out of the future or out of heaven, to take form now, to be translated more fully because all of you are present, and to shine round about.
How beautiful are the ways of the Lord, how simple, how easy. What is needful to make the right translation is always available if there is a willingness to let it be sufficiently resilient to do what is necessary. Because of the extent of the resiliency of all who are gathered here in this setting now this Assembly has taken shape and has been brought to focus, looking toward the east, in this moment. I am the door toward which you look, through which what comes out of the east, out of the future, down from God out of heaven, may take its initial form.
You are aware that both in this setting now and in a larger sense, I am that door. I didn’t choose to be that door, but was chosen to be that door. All I have done is to agree with the choice. The same is true of all of you. You didn’t choose to be here, but you were willing to agree with the choice. “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you,” were the words of the One whom we love and serve, and we are here on earth to minister in His name.
This house within a house is holy.
It is an initial form of the immovable mass, from which the irresistible force
proceeds. In this holy setting we may together have a very vivid awareness of
the immense spiritual responsibility that is ours in this moment. Our very
geographical position in the midst of this Dome is surely evidence to us of the
authority which we are here to carry. We surely know that it is not a little
thing. Relative to what’s going on in the universe as a whole it isn't much—but
in the eyes of the Lord, relative to this aspect of His creation, it is a large
thing, and it is large to us. Our awareness of that largeness impresses us with
a sense of holiness.
So we are together in this holy setting, a house within a house, and the gate opens toward the east, and what is present, ready to emerge out of the heaven, has opportunity to so emerge because we provide that opportunity. Obviously there would be no such opportunity if I wasn't here and if you weren't here. It requires each of us in our particular roles of responsibility to be in position to let the creative action of God be a reality now in this moment. A consciousness of the sacredness of what is here present now sustains a sense of deep humility, in the recognition that we are in this particular place at this particular time, in this particular configuration of people not on the basis of our own choosing and yet it is our own choice. We have been put here, we have been put together, for a reason, and our unified consciousness becomes increasingly aware of that reason.
“And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east” — the glory of life, the glory of the living God, not merely of a concept of glory, or of life, or of God, but the reality of the experience which naturally comes through the gate, out of the heaven, to be translated into expression as the sound of many waters, because of all of you particularly — “and his voice was like a noise of many waters: and the earth shined with his glory.”
We may have a sense of the shining now in this moment, in our own experience. As His voice sounds with the sound of many waters, that shining brightens the whole earth. There is indeed deep darkness upon the face of the earth, a need for brightening. Gloom and doom are much apparent in the awareness of people everywhere. Some may occupy themselves with their human affairs, blotting out that sound as far as possible. But if there is a pause in the frenetic activity, anyone will become aware of the doom and the gloom. The world cries out for a brightening, a genuine light, a genuine sensing of a genuine glory. This is part of our spiritual responsibility, in our genuineness, that there may be that glory and it may be sensed by those who are close enough to us to sense it—not close enough physically necessarily, but close enough vibrationally, close enough in the openness of their hearts. A sense of brightening. This provides a beginning consciousness of the fact that there must be somehow a point of genuine orientation.
Yesterday in our session, what the Lord built on the rock foundation was of such strength, such permanence, that the gates of hell could not prevail against it. It’s interesting that the plural is used here—gates. There are many gates toward which human beings look, as a rule with their backs to the east. Those gates all lead into the past and what is received through those gates comes out of the past. And this is the basis for human function on earth. The gates of hell prevail. There are many such gates when we are polarized in the past, polarized in earthly heredity. And we find coming to us through those gates influences of all kinds, which are inclined to take control in human living.
We are aware of these things and we have presumably turned to see the voice, turned toward the east, where there is only one gate. That gate, that one gate, may be found to have various aspects to it. I recall that there were supposed to be twelve gates into the holy city, but every gate was of a pearl, one pearl; there weren't a variety. Fundamentally all the gates, in this sense, are the same; just one gate. And what a person may see as the gate is not always the same. It could be said that you all rightly share in this one gate, so that what others see in you is the gate, the same pearl, the same pearl without price. You can’t buy yourself into the kingdom of heaven or out of purgatory.
One gate within this setting now—in this particular configuration, we have the representation of what is needful for the whole earth. My voice, because of you, becomes the voice of many waters. Then that is the sounding of the tone on earth in expanded, differentiated, magnified expression. Sharing in this, in this moment, the glory of the Lord may fill the house where we are sitting, the house of flesh and the house of material substance beyond the flesh—the holy place. But the bounds of the holy place, which are apparent in this Dome, do not prevent the glory of the Lord from shining forth. It may prevent the defilement of the world from coming in. We have a responsibility in this regard, because if the defilement of the world cannot come into us, and we are responsible here in this setting, it cannot come into this Dome Chapel either. When there is the immovable mass, the gates of hell do not prevail. What would come in through those gates cannot get in.
But the gates are handy also, because something can get out—the glory of the Lord, the glory of the Lord’s rebuke and reproof—rebuke to the self-centeredness prevalent in the world and reproof to all who remain subject to that self-centeredness. There is reproof offered when the glory of the Lord fills the house and shines round about. Nothing can enter in that defiles or works abomination or makes a lie—so that the glory of the Lord shines round about. We are responsible for that glory. It is the glory of life, our own life individually speaking and together. It offers rebuke and reproof, rebuke to what comes to us personally as individuals to be rebuked, and reproof is offered to the world because individually we have offered rebuke in our own circumstances and experiences. Then there is reproof that shines round about.
There are various aspects to reproof: of sin, of righteousness and of judgment. We bring the immovable mass, which provides the opportunity for right polarity to all. The wrong polarity, which is the state in the world of human beings now, is thereby reproved, because the right polarity is on hand. And of righteousness because in the glory of the Lord shining round about, life is revealed. What life is, is revealed. The truth of life is revealed. That is righteousness—the genuine article rather than the phony self-righteousness of human beings. And of judgment, because the dominion, the government, of God is present. There are many governments provided out of the gates of hell. We may let those gates be used to extend the government of God, the government of God relative to the governments of the world. This has effect both from the standpoint of such resistance as there may be to it by reason of those who are strongly polarized in the self-centered state, but also a yielding by reason of those who are sufficiently resilient and open to allow that polarity to begin to change. And that changes because of the reproof that is offered. So there are those who are uplifted and there are those who are cast down. The evidence of these things appears in the world, but we stand as the gate of the east, steadfast and strong.
“So the spirit took me up, and brought me into the inner court; and, behold, the glory of the Lord filled the house.
“This is the law of the house; Upon the top of the mountain the whole limit thereof round about shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of the house.”
“This is the law of the house; Upon the top of the mountain the whole limit thereof round about shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of the house.”
This house in which we now sit is set upon an hill. There is a beautiful evidence of life symbolized by the green that surrounds the Chapel, and which is plainly delineating a hill with the Chapel upon it. Here is a true symbol, and it is all holy. This symbol is first of all a symbol of this Assembly now in this instance, those of us who are here present in the house within a house. The larger house is holy because the house within the house is holy. And that of course is the responsibility of each one. “This is the law of the house; upon the top of the mountain the whole limit thereof round about shall be most holy.”
