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
