Shekinah

Shekinah

Uranda   April 8, 1954  Class

 

I would like to draw your attention to a passage which we have considered before and which we will consider again many times. It is one of the passages of very great significance upon which we may well meditate. The Easter season and the approaching Easter Day commemorates great and stirring events in the outworking of history in relationship to man and his spiritual attainment. We have considered together the fact that having received the current of the Holy Spirit, we can anticipate the manifestation of Power.

Obviously there must be Power before the greater works may be done. The means by which this Power may come into our lives is of tremendous importance to each and everyone of us. We have in the past considered the significance of the Word, the secret Word, the sacred Word, and we have recognized that the Word Word was very often used in sacred writings to signify the secret or the sacred Word—Shekinah carrying a vibrational pattern which correlates with the Motherland tongue.

In the first chapter of the Gospel according to John, we have a most significant outline of basic Truth in relationship to the Word. Human beings have jumped to the conclusion that this word Word here is supposed to be a synonym for Jesus. We cannot agree with that view and a careful study of the factors will show that while the Christ Spirit that was revealed through the body of Jesus was indeed the evidence of the presence of the One Who Dwells, this word should not be taken as signifying Jesus, the man, but rather the Spirit that was revealed through the man.

The meaning of this word Shekinah is the presence of the One Who dwells. The Master revealed the Father in His living, in His teaching, in His action and the revelation of the presence of the Father was the Christ Spirit or the Christ—so the word Christ in the New Testament actually means exactly the same thing as the word Shekinah in the Old Testament. And we remember that this Word was signified many times when it was not actually stated.

We recognize the revelation of the Christ Spirit as God's Love—which is the Way—God's Truth and God's Life. As the Father put it, speaking through the lips of Jesus, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” And the Christ Spirit, so gloriously revealed through our Master's life, was indeed the evidence of the presence of the Father, the One Who Dwells. The Secret Place of the Most High was and is Shekinah. The Shadow of the Almighty was and is Shekinah, the evidence of the presence of the One Who Dwells.

It was this Word, the Logos, the Christ, the Shekinah, made evident through Jesus and through the Apostles—to the degree that they let the works of God be done—and through the Prophets of old, which allowed the works which have been performed to appear on earth. All of the works of the Old and New Testament periods—which were above or beyond the ordinary pattern of function—were definitely the result of the increased working of the Spirit which is the evidence of the presence of the One who Dwells.

As long as we have life in the body, we have the evidence of the presence of the One Who Dwells, as long as we have the capacity to think, to feel and to know, we have some evidence of the presence of the One Who Dwells. It is not that we imagine that there is no evidence of the One Who Dwells or of His presence. We see the evidence of His presence on every hand. We see it with every expression of faithfulness, of nobility, of true character, as we observe one another in daily life. Yes, here in our daily life we know the evidence of the presence of the One Who Dwells, but we know that this manifestation of the evidence is not yet great enough—that we here can let our lives, our capacities, our bodies, our patterns of life action become a means by which still greater evidence of the presence of the One Who Dwells may appear.

We remember the word that is written, “Know ye not that your body is the temple of the living God and the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” The Spirit of God is the Shekinah, the evidence of the presence of God or the One Who Dwells. We remember that in the days of old, the Tabernacle was the symbol of the body of man or mankind. In one pattern it was the symbol of the female body—but it was also the symbol of the body of mankind, as mankind is supposed to be negative or responsive to the Body of God, and it was in relationship to the Tabernacle that this evidence of the presence of the One Who Dwells was made evident in the days of the children of Israel—the Glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle and shone round about.

Your body is the Tabernacle, and in your body we have the Outer Court—which relates to the conscious mind; we have the Holy Place—which relates to the emotional nature, and the Holy of Holies. The ancient description of this evidence of the presence of the One Who Dwells was first of the Cloud of Glory, and within the Cloud of Glory, the Light that Glows and within the Light that Glows, the Fire that Burns—and Glory relates to Life, Life relates to Truth, and Fire relates to Love. We understand the symbolic meaning of the words. We see that in the Old Testament pattern, it was exactly the same portrayal as that given by the Master—God’s Love and Truth and Life made manifest through human beings is the evidence of the presence of the One Who Dwells. Now with respect to this Shekinah of our King, we have this passage in the Gospel according to John, beginning with the first verse in the first Chapter:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.” In the beginning was Shekinah, and Shekinah was with God, and Shekinah was God in action. This same evidence of the presence was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him and without Him was not anything made that was made.

We will consider this passage again in different ways, but tonight, we pause first to note this statement, “All things were made by him.” Life, whether made manifest through a righteous person or an evil person, that life is a part of the Christ Spirit, a part of Shekinah. All things that have been made on the face of the earth, by all the human beings who have ever lived or who live today, all things that man has made were made by reason of the presence of Shekinah—the Christ Spirit, the Spirit of Love, the Spirit of Truth and the Spirit of Life. “All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.”

Wrong uses of this evidence of the presence of the One Who Dwells permits man to make evil things, but without Shekinah was not anything made that was made at any time in history. In your life you have never made anything, achieved anything, experienced any fulfilment except through the working of Shekinah.

In any beginning—in the beginning of your life, in the beginning of any action, in the beginning of function in any moment—the action that is made possible by reason of Shekinah. To the degree that we realize this, we see that man can take this Spirit of God which is in fact the evidence of the presence of the One Who Dwells and use it self-actively, use it contrary to God's Will, contrary to God's Purpose and produce that which God would not bring forth; but whatever we do, good, bad or indifferent, whatever appears in our lives in any way, shape or form has come forth by reason of the use, right or wrong of the evidence of the presence of the One Who Dwells. We recognize that it is of vital importance that the evidence of the presence of the One Who Dwells should be allowed right function, right use, right application in our daily lives, in ourselves, in our circumstances.

“In the beginning was the Word.” Because of this statement as it is worded, human beings are inclined to think that this Word, whatever it was, while it was in the beginning, it remained back there somewhere, but this Word, this Shekinah, this Christ was and is the only begotten Son of God; it is that which issues forth from God, the Shekinah, the Christ, the evidence of the presence of the One Who Dwells—and while this Word was present in the beginning, it has been present in every moment of time since that beginning, whenever that was.

This Shekinah—this evidence of the presence of the One Who Dwells—is present with us in this moment; and the baptism of the Holy Spirit relates to an increase in the manifestation of the evidence of the presence of the One Who Dwells, and that evidence should appear more vibrantly, more fully in our daily lives.

From the beginning of the story as it is portrayed in Genesis to the conclusion of the Book in Revelation, the same theme is repeated over and over and over again. We see it exemplified in the life of the Master, but that was not a variation, it was not a different theme—it was the same theme that has been expressed from the beginning of time. This is the theme that is with us now. Once these simple Truths are seen and accepted and we share the experience of allowing an increase in the manifestation of the evidence of the One Who Dwells, we thereby become members of the One Body—we thereby share in the increased outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

Blessed ones, all the things that have been done have been achieved by reason of this Word—Shekinah. Our Master's life was made meaningful because of Shekinah. If our lives are to be meaningful, it must be by reason of this same Shekinah. No matter what the term, no matter what the name used—it is the same thing, the evidence of the presence of the One Who Dwells. And to the degree that we allow an increase in this evidence, we fulfill our mission on earth—to the degree that we use the Love, the Truth and the Life of the Christ Spirit, of Shekinah, for wrong purposes, for self-active purposes, we fail.

To the degree that we let Shekinah use us to reveal the evidence of the presence of the One Who Dwells in us, we serve God, we glorify our King and we become a means by which blessings are made manifest to our brother man in the true Spirit of Service. If there is Power, that Power comes from God. But how does anything come from God? By one means only, by Shekinah or Christ, the Christ Spirit—that which issues forth from God constantly, at all times—under all circumstances the Christ Spirit, Shekinah is present. “And without him was not anything made that was made.”

If my lips make a sound, which we call a word, in the expression of the Truths of Being—that sound was made by the Word, by Shekinah, by Christ. As our bodies became the means by which the revelation of the evidence of the presence of the One Who Dwells is brought forth on earth, the fruit of the Spirit appears in our lives—we become members, branches of the one vine, bringing forth the fruit of the Spirit. And what is the Spirit—the Holy Spirit, Shekinah, Christ, it is all the same.

The Master said, “By their fruit ye shall know them.” The fruit of the Spirit is the evidence of the presence of the One Who Dwells. Every action, every word, every attitude gives evidence of some spirit in man—but no spirit, even the ill spirits of fear, resentment, envy and all the rest cannot appear except by reason of the misuse of Shekinah in our lives. If we, in reverence before the Throne of God, come to realize that every word and every deed, all that we express in life provides evidence of the presence of the One Who Dwells and that Shekinah makes possible all these expressions, we will surely in relationship to any impulse, pause to consider and meditate upon the wonders, the beauty and the glory granted to us as we allow the evidence of the presence of the One Who Dwells to appear in our lives.

As long as life remains in you, you are a witness. And what evidence do you present as a witness? What is the evidence that appears in your life? The evidence of distortion, self-activity, wrong function or the true pure evidence of a true witness, the evidence of the presence of the One Who Dwells. What is the evidence in your life? Is it the pure evidence? All that you think and say and do every attitude you express tends to convince someone either for or against the Kingdom of God on earth.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” We cannot separate that which is with God from God. The only begotten Son of God—not Jesus, the man, but the Christ Spirit revealed through the man—which we also are privileged to reveal, the Shekinah, the Word. The Word is with God, and the Word is God. The true manifestation of the evidence of the presence of God is the expression, the action of God in our lives.

In this present time, there is Shekinah—and Shekinah is with God and Shekinah is God. In this present time, there is the reality of the Christ Spirit and the Christ Spirit is with God and the Christ Spirit is God in action, for the Word is the only begotten Son of God and this is that which you are called upon to reveal in your life according to your capacity, for our Master said, “Follow me”, and if He revealed the only begotten Son of God, and if we follow Him, then we likewise reveal the only begotten Son of God—Shekinah, the Spirit of the living Christ.

Until we realize our opportunity in letting this be so, we cannot truly follow Him; we cannot truly serve God or man; we cannot experience and know the increase of Power—we cannot hope to have fulfilment. Only as we, members of the Body, branches of the Vine, do our part toward revealing the evidence of the presence of the One Who Dwells, Shekinah, Christ, the only begotten Son of God—only so can we bring forth the Fruit of the Spirit, only so can we accomplish that for which God brought us into the world; for your body was formed in your mother’s womb by the power of Shekinah, by the working of the Christ Spirit of Love and Truth and Life.

You were born and you grew as a babe, a child, a young man or woman to this present day, regardless of the wrong uses to which you may have put that Spirit in you, making it manifest not as true evidence of the presence of the One Who Dwells, but the evidence of darkness, of distortion, of chaos, of unreality. You come to know that only as you follow our Lord and King in revealing the evidence on earth of the presence of the only begotten Son of God, Shekinah, Christ, the Holy Spirit, can you come to know your part and place in the Cosmic Plan, only so can the Kingdom come, only so can the Will of God be done in earth as it is in Heaven.

Without Shekinah, no change is possible in the sense of movement toward the goal which God has set before us. To the degree that we violate our privilege of having Shekinah present in our bodies, in our Temples, we separate ourselves from Shekinah and come to naught, but to the degree that we let Shekinah have full true expression in revealing the evidence of the presence of the One Who Dwells, we find that there is power enough, understanding enough, to permit great events to take place in our lives so that we begin to share in the doing of the Greater Works; we come to know the Truth with respect to the resurrection and the life; we come to know the only begotten Son of God—not the man Jesus, though He revealed Shekinah. We cannot come to know Jesus, the man—for he is not here. We can come to know the Shekinah of our King which He revealed on earth; we can come to share in the action of the only begotten Son of God in this realm of things, in this day and time—and surely there is need in the world for the evidence of the presence of the One Who Dwells.

Let us then let the evidence of the presence of the One Who Dwells be made manifest in us and through us, in thought and word and deed, in attitude, for the Christ Spirit is here as surely as at anywhere at any time, and as a member of the body of mankind, you are called upon to be a member of the Body of Christ, a member of the Body of the only begotten Son of God on earth, the Shekinah of our King. So let it be.

Peace be unto you as you abide in the true evidence of the presence of the One Who Dwells, letting your capacities of Being in body and mind and heart reveal the evidence of the presence of the One Who Dwells. Peace be unto you in the Shekinah of our King, in the Christ Spirit of His Being, that mankind, the son of man, may provide the evidence of the presence on earth of the only begotten Son of God. Peace be unto you. In Love, in Truth and in Life, peace be unto you, in body and mind and heart and through you to all who will receive in the Shekinah of our King, which is to say, IN the Christ. Aum-en.

© Emmisaries of Divine Light