See That Ye Be Not Troubled
from Stand in the Holy Place
Uranda September 21, 1943 Winnipeg, Canada
In our last Service we
approached a consideration of the Truths of Reality from the standpoint of
individual effectiveness in living day by day, that in the more or less hum-drum
affairs of life we may not become discouraged or uncertain. It is in the little
things that we prove that worthiness for the greater tasks which will come in
the days ahead. If we cannot be steadfast enough, worthy and strong enough, to
stand and wait when those are the orders and instructions from our King, we
cannot hope to be strong enough and worthy enough and enduring to withstand a
greater pressure in a time of still greater need and uncertainty.
We talk about having faith in
God and sometimes when we do some little thing that indicates our faith, we are
inclined to feel proud of ourselves. But did you ever stop to consider about
the faith God has in you? Down through the ages He sent His prophets to reveal
the Truths of Being and He prepared the Way for man. Why? Because He had faith
that there would be those, somewhere, somehow, worthy enough of His Love to
receive what He offered so graciously and so fully—and then speaking of faith,
the faith God has in you, Jesus Himself came into the world. Talk about the
faith we have in God, how about God’s faith in us? God will be worthy of our faith
in Him but who among us is going to prove worthy of God's faith in us? Did you
ever stop to think about it?
The Master called the disciples
and through them there is record of His Life, His Works, and of His Victory.
What greater evidence of God's faith in us could we ask for? But that is not
all. Blessings innumerable all down through the ages all speak eloquently of
God's faith in us and now as a further evidence of that faith He has granted us
the privilege of looking still more deeply into the hidden things of life—having
a still greater understanding, a still greater opportunity of learning the Way,
the Truth and the Life. Until finally we have the privilege of this
hour—evidence of God's faith in us. If you are ever tempted to waver, tempted
to say, O well, it doesn't make any difference about me, someone else can carry
the burden, remember—what about God's faith in you? How many of you have ever
really started to think about this point before, about God's faith in you,
instead of thinking about that little thing we may have done for Him? It is a
good point, isn't it? Let us measure the measure of our works, our service, by
the measure of His faith in us, by the measure of His service to us, of His
Love for us.
In our first Service,
we spoke and considered matters more of the physical expression of a successful
Christ Life. The mental and spiritual were there but the daily living of life
was the dominant note. Tonight, while in the living of life the physical phase
and the spiritual expression phase are both closely bound in, our Service now
is more on the mental plane, requiring perception, thought, and alertness of
mind.
Of all recorded words which
Jesus spoke, giving teaching, instruction and admonition, we have only one
outstanding passage, although it may appear in more than one Gospel record—I am
talking from the standpoint of His Life—wherein He dwelt, in a prophetic
manner, on the days and times to come. This passage is most marvellous and
worthy of our deepest consideration. And so tonight I would like to consider
with you the 24th Chapter of Matthew. "And Jesus went out, and
departed from the temple." That statement always carries great significance
for me.
It was nearing the close of His earthly Ministry and Jesus went out and
departed from the temple. In those few words we have a symbolical picture of
His departure from the world. "...and His disciples came to Him for to
shew him the buildings of the temple..." Pride, we would call it—civic pride
today, pointing out the beautiful structure of the buildings. Can you picture in
your own mind what the Master's feelings must have been at that moment—how much
interest He had in that? He listened for a little time and made His way thence.
He had seen these buildings before. It was not an appropriate time for Him to
be feeling much interest in the civic pride of Jerusalem or in architecture.
And so Jesus, taking this
attitude which showed a lack of perception on the part of the disciples, a
thing which might have been an irritant, used it for a purpose. He made that
His starting point in "bringing out what He wished to say. Consider the attitude
of the disciples, their national pride—pride in the architecture, construction,
and so on.
How startling are the words of Jesus! "And Jesus said unto them, See ye
not all these things? verily I say unto you. There shall not be left here one
stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down." That was very comforting
to the civic pride, was it not? What a startling statement.
"And as he sat upon the
mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when
shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end
of the world?" You will note there are three questions. "When shall
these things be? What shall he the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the
world?" Jesus said, "Take heed that no man deceive you. For many
shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ: and shall deceive many. And ye
shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled."
How often have you thought about
the Master's instruction about this time in which we live? He says, see that ye
be not troubled. How many have been absolutely obedient to that instruction? Of
course He recognized that there would be things to be concerned about, but He
also recognized that those who know the Way, the Truth and the Life—those who
would be living the Christ Life—would have a foundation that was sure and
certain. They would have an understanding vision of that which was being accomplished
and of that which was to be thereafter, and since this is true, such individuals
would have no need to be troubled as the world is troubled, fearful as the
world is fearful, resentful as the world is resentful.
We have no pleasure in or desire
for war, but we know, human beings being what they are, it cannot work out any
other way. God did not send the war. Human beings brought it on themselves because
they forgot God. Human beings forget God; God hears their cry; He delivers them;
their way becomes easier; and what do they do then? Straightway they forget Him
again. Why has this old world had a history full of tragedies? Why do tragedies
keep recurring? Because human beings have refused to learn to remember God.
If our life in the world has any
meaning at all from the standpoint of the fulfillment of God's Will and Plan it
must—that is, our lives—must give evidence of the fact that there are those who
can remember God, whether it be in good times or in poor, whether it be in joy
or in sorrow—to remember God always, to have continued faith, to have serenity
of outlook, to have perseverance in accomplishment.
"And ye shall hear of wars
and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must
come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and
kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes,
in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. Then shall they deliver
you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations
for my name's sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another,
and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise and shall deceive
many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But
he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved."
There is a period of outworking.
We have seen nation rise against nation, and there have been famines, pestilences
and earthquakes, and there will be more. What does He say about these things?
He says all these are the beginning of sorrows. It is one of the most amazing
things to me, and something that strains my credulity, when I hear so-called Christian
people talking and praying and so on, as if they thought that some kind of peace
pact might be signed by the warring nations which would bring peace and everything
would be alright again, as if that is all there would be to it. O, yes, the war
has to be won. I am not questioning that. But when that is over, people think we
can get back to normal times.
Have there ever been any normal
times within the earthly memory of any of us? Have we ever had any normal
times? Not for some 20,000 years since man fell, we have had no normal times.
The only normal time to Christians should be the time of the New Earth State—a
time when it shall truly be said that, "They shall not hurt or destroy in
all My Holy mountain." In Revelation we read of a great promise. "And
I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth
were passed away; and there was no more sea." "And God shall wipe
away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither
sorrow,, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things
are passed away."
So for Christians who have any
understanding of what Christianity means from the standpoint of what Christ
taught and lived, it is not a matter of just looking forward to the end of a
war, as if that would solve everything. It is a matter of recognizing that this
war and the tumult in it, and what is growing out of it, and will follow after
it—all these things man has brought and will continue to bring upon himself
because of his refusal to walk in the Way, the Truth and the Life. All these
things are the beginning of sorrows.
"Then shall they deliver you
up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations
for my name's sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one
another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise, and
shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall
wax cold." I do not think that needs a great deal of comment. "And
this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness
unto all nations; and then shall the end come."
Again, we must stop and consider
the activities of the modern church in relationship to that instruction or
statement of Jesus. The missionary activities that have been carried on with
such tremendous labour and struggle have fallen far short of fulfilling that
which Jesus spoke of here. He never told his followers to go out and force, or
nearly force, people to just change their beliefs, to say they would accept Him
or believe on Him, and so on. He said this gospel of the Kingdom shall be
preached in all the world. What does gospel mean? Good News. The good news of
the Christ Kingdom shall be preached. Just spoken in words? No. It indicates
much more than that—the expression in life, the radiation in spirit, so that it
might manifest in the lives of men and women.
What did Jesus Christ Himself
say about the Kingdom? He said the Kingdom is within you. The Kingdom of Heaven
is obviously where the God Being is, where the Lord is. He said, "The
words I speak unto you I speak not of myself but the Father that dwelleth in
me, he doeth the works." The good news of the Christ Kingdom relates to
the way that men and women may live in the Christ Kingdom here and now, today,
the principles of life as exemplified and taught by Jesus Christ, not just to
go out and have people say that they have been "washed in the blood,
etc." The only way we can be washed in the blood is to live in it, in the
Christ Life. And so, the good news of the Kingdom is not the ordinary so-called
Christian gospel, as it has been preached, but it is the Gospel of the Kingdom
that Jesus Christ preached.
When well intentioned people (I
am not making any reflection against missionaries. I am merely pointing to the
facts) went into the Orient, without any understanding of the Orient, and
started talking about the blood, the crucifixion and other things, they were
called believers in a bloody religion. Those Oriental people could not
understand what they meant. They finally found they had to make a new approach
to get anywhere at all. Much is revealed in the Crucifixion, but just to stress
the death of Jesus as if that, His dying on the Cross—were the good news of the
Kingdom is such a short-sighted policy that it is one of the most pitiful and
most tragic things in our so-called modern world. "And then shall the end
come." The end of what? The end of evil.
As soon as this Gospel of the
Kingdom is preached—the Christ way of life—the end of evil shall come. This is
a simple and beautiful statement and it means exactly what it says.
© Emissaries of Divine Light
