Shekinah Commission

Freely  Ye  Have  Received — Freely  Give

from  Shekinah Commission

Uranda   July 5, 1953  Class

The action of God in us, in thought, in attitude, in word and in deed—the revelation of that which is of the kingdom of heaven at hand: “But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you”—the Shekinah of your Father which speaketh in you.

Blessed Ones, it must not be with speech alone that this is true; it must be in the realm of action, in the field of doing, in the pattern of life. We have been considering the basic theme of the magic of living. We’ve been recognizing many of the principles involved in the process of resurrection from the state of mere existence into the state of living—and here is the record of our Master’s word with respect to a part of the process of living: “For it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.”

In order to bring to focus in deeper realization the significance of this particular passage, let us recall that we were meditating together upon the reality of the twelve disciples; that there was a recognition of the twelve segments of the body of mankind. In the pattern of thought and speech prevalent at the time when the Master was on earth, distinctions were made between those who were of the lost sheep of the House of Israel—that is, the Twelve or Thirteen Tribes—and the Gentiles. The Master used this terminology in a symbolical sense. Its pattern of application has been distorted and misused down through a long period of time, and we should begin to clear in consciousness the true meaning of the Master’s word: the Chosen Ones of God.

The tendency has been to apply the term Israel to those who speak of themselves as Jews, and that all who are not classified as Jews are supposed to be Gentiles—which supposedly makes us, broadly speaking, to be Gentiles. But that type of classification, that concept, is most misleading. Once we have recognized the reality of the Twelve Tribes, the twelve disciples, and all the other points that were brought to focus in meditation last evening, we recognize that the Chosen Ones of God are of every race, every color, coming out of every creed upon the face of the earth—that no line of demarcation can be properly established on the basis of racial or tribal distinctions, in the sense that the world thinks of such things. Actually, in the absolute sense, there is only one race of people upon the face of the earth—one race—and all human beings being included. In a liberal or convenient sense we use the world race to indicate different classifications of people, different groups, but in an actual sense there is only one race. And we are all members of that one race of people—human beings—on the face of the whole earth. Those who are the Chosen Ones of God are of this one race, and those who refuse to be chosen are the Gentiles. The Chosen Ones of God, the Children of Israel, are to be found in all racial groups, all colors, all creeds. There is no man-made barrier. There is no barrier of blood or color which can be recognized as having any meaning whatsoever. The only distinction is with respect to those who will let themselves be chosen and those who refuse to be the Chosen Ones of God. If we let ourselves be chosen then we are moving toward a state of citizenship in the Kingdom of Heaven that is at hand. But if we refuse to be chosen we are of the Gentiles.

When the Master sent His disciples out, he told them, “Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans, enter ye not.” And yet, Samaria was the capital city that had been chosen by the ten tribes when there was the split in the Children of Israel. The children of Judah, or the Jews, and some of the other tribes—we remember that there were thirteen—had actually, in fact, come from various tribes, but mainly two-and-one-half tribes—not just the Jews. Mainly two-and-a-half tribes became known as the Jews, with their capital city as Jerusalem. The other ten-and-a-half tribes, broadly speaking, had their capital established in Samaria. The Samaritans were of the Children of Israel just as surely—if we use the terminology in the usual sense—just as surely as those who had their capital in Jerusalem: the ten-and-a-half tribes that disappeared, so to speak, that were swallowed up, and the two-and-a-half tribes which became known as the Jews. So we recognize that those who are classified as Jews today actually are not Jews. There is the mixture of blood, including the children of Judah, but the name or term can properly apply only to the children of Judah—as long as the tribe was kept in a clear pattern. But there have been various patterns of mixture. Nevertheless, we have in the world today those who are called Jews, but they are not. And the world has tended to ignore the other ten-and-a-half tribes of the Children of Israel.

What did the Master mean here, when He said, “Go not into the way of the Gentiles.” Go not into the way of the Gentiles. That instruction is to us today as surely as it was to those who heard the word first spoken. Go not into the way of those who refuse to be chosen of God. God has said: “Ye have not chosen me but I have chosen you.” God has chosen every man, woman, and child upon the face of the earth, without a single exception—all have been chosen of God. Who are those who will receive the privileges thereby granted? Who are they who will let themselves be chosen? Who are they who will reject the privilege of being chosen of God?—the Chosen Ones of God—Israel.

“Go not into the way of the Gentiles”—go not in the way of rejecting God’s processes of choosing you—“and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not.” Why? Because he had in mind a process of withholding the good news that the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand—from the Samaritans or from someone else. Certainly not. His message was to all human beings. But “into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not.” Here we have a very effective utilization of historical principles which were common knowledge to the people of that day. The cities of the Samaritans were the place of existence in a segregated pattern. Samaria, in relationship to Jerusalem, symbolized separation, symbolized segregation, symbolized the failure of the Twelve Tribes of the Children of Israel to follow through on a pattern of unity, of oneness—to remain as one nation, one body, by reason of which all peoples might be drawn into citizenship in the Kingdom of Heaven that was at hand, and that is at hand today.

So, the Master said, go ye not into the abiding places of those who exist in the realms of segregation, of separation—go not into the by-paths where human beings are entrapped on a basis which prevents the real oneness, the integration, essential to the accomplishment of the heavenly purpose. We begin to realize the vital importance of recognizing the Master’s true meaning with respect to His use of the terms Gentiles and Samaritans, or the lost sheep of the House of Israel. Were the Jews, so-called, the only lost sheep of the House of Israel? Certainly not. He said, but go rather to the lost sheep of God’s chosen ones. And what was that house? The whole earth—the whole earth! Go rather to the lost sheep of the house of God’s chosen ones! The house of God’s chosen ones includes every man, woman and child upon the face of the earth.

There are here, then, three classifications specifically indicated in relationship to ministry. But there is a fourth classification, if we look for it—those who are to go, those who are to serve. And what is the pattern here? It has been drawn to your attention before. Those who are dead—the Gentiles. Those who are asleep in the cities of Samaria. Those who are awakening—the lost sheep in the House of Israel. And those who are awake, who are to carry the message, the good news of the Kingdom of God that is at hand. The four classifications of human beings. And those who are dead to reality, without respect to race or color or creed, whether the world classifies them as Jew or Gentile, those who are dead to reality, to God’s Call, are the Gentiles. Those who are asleep to reality are the Samaritans. Those who are awakening are the lost sheep of the House of Israel. Those who are awake are the members of the Twelve Tribes, or the Twelve Segments of the Body of Mankind who carry the message, the good news of the Kingdom that is at hand.

In our recent meditations certain questions have been posed for your meditation. Do we have here enough dedication, enough representation, so that we can begin to have Twelve Disciples—the representatives of the Twelve Tribes of the lost sheep of the House of Israel? Go not into the way of the Gentiles. Follow not, the paths, the patterns, the methods of the Gentiles. Do not attempt to function as they do. And into any abiding place of those who are asleep, enter ye not. “But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.” And how few there are among the so-called Christians of the world who give any heed to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. “And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.”

Freely ye have received, freely give. If we are to fulfill this mission, if we are to share in the doing of that which the Master instructed, we must be the means by which the sick are healed, the lepers are cleansed, the dead are raised, and the devils are cast out. What are the devils? The evil spirits which beset human beings, which possess them. These are the evil spirits of self-centredness, greed, jealousy, envy and all the rest. There are many names for them—the spirits of this world. And these evil spirits must be cast out: the spirit of fear, the spirit of shame, the spirit of insecurity. The spirit of greed cannot live except in one who is possessed by the spirit of greed, or the spirit of insecurity—only where there is insecurity is there any reason for greed. The spirit of fear cannot abide in the house of any human being who does not have the spirit of shame—the spirit of shame must be present if there be the spirit of fear, for the spirit of fear cannot enter in except in one possessed of the spirit of shame.

And so these spirits, or devils, unclean spirits, whatever name we may wish to use, torture and torment and limit human beings and they do not know the way of deliverance. And if any tiny spirit  after these classifications is allowed to abide in us, can we then have the power to cast out the evil spirits or the devils from others? Certainly not. Perfect love casts out all fear. This divine statement is worthy of much meditation, but let us note that if there be perfect love there is no basis of shame, and without shame there can be no fear. “Heal the sick”—physical, mental, emotional sickness to be healed. “Cleanse the lepers”—who are the lepers? The unclean—the lepers were counted as being unclean. Actually then, this passage should have been translated, “Cleanse the unclean”—not just those who have the disease that is commonly called leprosy, but those who are unclean. The Master said, “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.”

Cleanse the unclean—no matter what the nature of their uncleanness may be—heal the sick, cleanse the unclean, raise the dead. How can we raise the dead? The dead are the Gentiles, regardless of race or color or creed. The Samaritans are the ones who are asleep, to be awakened. But the Master said, “Raise the dead.” Now he did not tell us not to work with the Gentiles, and he did not tell us not to work with the Samaritans—as some have supposed. He said, “Go not in the way of the Gentiles.” Do not use their methods. Do not try to accomplish that which must be done in relationship to the Kingdom of Heaven at hand as if you were a Gentile. Function on the basis of one who is among the Chosen Ones of God. Live as one of God’s chosen ones. Do not live as a Gentile. That is our Master’s instruction to us. He continued, “And into any city of the Samaritans, enter ye not.” There is no use going into the realms, the dwelling places of those who are merely existing. But there will be those among the sleeping ones, the Samaritans, who awaken. There will be those among the Gentiles who are raised from among the dead.

If we imagine that this instruction of the Master meant that we should go to a funeral and cause the corpse to sit up in the coffin, we are wrong. He was talking in symbolical language. Raise the dead. Cast out devils. Freely ye have received, freely give. And how is this to be accomplished? Go to the lost sheep of the House of Israel. Work with the responding ones, those who are letting themselves be chosen. “And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.”

“For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father”—the Shekinah of your Father—“which speaketh in you”—which acts in you, by Whom the works are to be done. Later He said, according to the record in the Fourteenth Chapter of John, “The words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself”—therefore they are the words of the Father, and “it is the Father that dwelleth in me who doeth the works.” And he said, “He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also.” The works of the Father, then, shall be made manifest through those who believe. Not the works of a man trying to heal another man; not the works of a man trying to cleanse the unclean; not the works of a man trying to cast out devils; not the works of a man trying to raise the dead—for all these things would be impossible to a man, as such, separate from God. But if we be awake to the presence of the Father, and if we let the Father’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven, then the works of the Father will appear through us, revealing the Gospel of the Kingdom that is at hand—healing the sick, cleansing the unclean, raising the dead, casting out devils. And he said, “Freely ye have received, freely give.”

It is, then, as we enter into the spirit of God’s givingness that the works of God the Father can appear through us. Not by trying to get something, not by trying to attain to something for ourselves, but by giving—but by living in the Shekinah Pattern of Being—learning to dwell in the Secret Place of the Most High and to abide under the Shadow of the Almighty.

Blessed Ones, the Master recognized that there would be oppositions, that there would be difficulties, that there would be problems of every sort—and the manner in which we meet those problems, face those issues, will determine where it is that we are living—in the New Jerusalem pattern of being or in the Samaritan pattern of being, or perhaps in the way of the Gentiles. What is our classification? Have we let God choose us, truly; or are we still trying to live in Samaria, and use some of the methods of the Gentiles, in order to serve God and be a blessing to the children of men? If we say, “We cannot live in Jerusalem; we must live in the cities of Samaria for a while; and we must use the methods of the Gentiles in order to serve God.”—Must we? Must we?

It is not a matter of geographical location, it is a matter of the pattern of our living. Is it God in action in us or not? Are we attempting to make a substitute for God’s action, and foist that upon our fellow men; or are we letting the spirit speak in us? Are we letting God’s action appear through us, God’s work be done of the Father in us? We must follow our LORD in these things—if we would achieve the goal, if we would be true servants of our KING and citizens of his Kingdom. Let us not, then, be caught in the trap into which human beings stumble, but let us be so dedicated that our lives may be redirected, that we may repent of all those things which prevent the true oneness, the true accord, the true integration—and being integrated into the Body of God’s Chosen Ones, let us let the power of God, the spirit of God, work through us, achieving all things needful.

And lo, that which is needful to us will come unto us, and appear in one way or another. Let us reveal by our lives that we are ready to use that which God would give us, that we are faithful stewards over physical substance, material things, over our opportunities and privileges—for we are granted the opportunity and the privilege, if we will but accept it, of letting the Holy Spirit come upon us, that there may be the manifestation of power, the power essential to accomplish the will of God on earth, in the Kingdom that is at hand—to the glory of our LORD and KING. So let it be.

© Emissaries of Divine Light