from
The Outer Court
Martin Cecil December 24, 1972 11 a.m.
Praise ye the
Lord! Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord. Let everything which
gives evidence of the Spirit of Life reveal the true nature of God. We enter
into the Holy Place through the Gates of Praise; praise and the spirit of
thanksgiving are the character, therefore, of the Outer Court of the Tabernacle—entrance to the Tabernacle is through the Outer Court, which
represents the consciousness of man.
In the
original Encampment of the children of Israel the Levites, or the Priesthood,
occupied a position around the Tabernacle. Beyond them was the Encampment of
the Twelve Tribes of the children of Israel. The Priesthood represented God to
the people and represented the people to God. The Tabernacle itself provided a
symbol of the means by which God and man are unified. Mankind, including the
children of Israel, at that time had forgotten what the oneness of God and man
really was. A portrayal was provided to indicate something of the essential
elements by which that unification could again be restored. Here was a reminder
which apparently was not recognized for what it was—and did not in any adequate
sense call to remembrance in the children of Israel what had been forgotten. That
forgetfulness has persisted. When our Master came on earth He provided another
reminder, which has also had little effect.
If we examine
the nature of the pattern as it was at the time of the children of Israel let
us not see it merely as history, for the principles portrayed there are as true
today as they were then. It is essential that we understand now what the
application of those principles is at the present time. The application is
different now to what it was then, even as it was different at the time when
our Master was on earth to what it was with the children of Israel.
The tribes
of the children of Israel in their Encampment represent for us the responding
ones of the world: those who, consciously or unconsciously, have integrity toward
the Lord. The Jews are not the Israelites, though out of the Jewish nation may
come responding ones of integrity, even as they may come out of all nations.
These are the children of Israel today. We may use other words to convey the
same idea.
We have spoken of the body of the Son of God. The body of the Son of
God and the children of Israel are, properly, the same thing; and insofar as
the world today is concerned this body is composed of responding ones with
integrity out of every kindred, nation, tongue and people. This is the Encampment of the Twelve Tribes. We recognize that the word Jehovah indicates God in action on earth. The children of Israel are the means by which
this action is made manifest on earth. Jehovah and the children of Israel represent
the two aspects, positive and negative, of the reality of being—the inner and
the outer, the invisible and the visible. Using other terms, we would say the
Son of God and the body of the Son of God.
Those who
begin to have a conscious recognition of the truth in this regard and who
reveal the reality of integrity constitute the Priesthood, who provide
representation of God to the people and the people to God. We may well be
reminded of what occurred on the third day of creation, when God said, "Let
the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the
dry land appear." The waters symbolize the truth of the external aspect of
the duality aforementioned: Jehovah and the children of Israel—or the Son of
God and the body of the Son of God. The Twelve Tribes of the children of Israel
represent the body of the Son of God. The Priesthood represent that body to God
and God to that body. The Priesthood were the Thirteenth Tribe. Here is the
lucky number, relating to the true design which has never been allowed to
operate as it should since man fell.
The water,
the truth of the external manifestation, must be gathered unto one place. The
water, the external truth, provides the setting for the manifestation of the
spirit on earth. The gathering together of the waters brings again the setting
by which Jehovah, the Son of God, may be revealed in action on earth. The
waters, the truth in the external sense, indicate response and integrity. This
is the real nature of man: responsive to God and revealing integrity. The
gathering together of the response of those who have integrity throughout the
whole world must be brought to one place—a point of focus, the point of focus
represented by the Priesthood, by those who are consciously in position to let
this occur. This one place indicates the point which has position but no
magnitude, that which is beyond the comprehension of what is contained in the
dimensional world.
When the
waters are gathered together unto one place, then the dry land appears: the
manifest form of the body of the Son of God begins to become apparent. From our
standpoint we begin to become aware of what it is. It is understandable that
when the waters are gathered unto one place the dry land is not immediately
particularly dry; it's muddy, it's a mixture, so that the actual form itself
cannot be clearly discerned. All that presently can be discerned in form
relates to the mountain top, so to speak, from which the water has drained for
some little time. But there is also a consciousness from the standpoint of
those who are on the mountain top of what it is that constitutes the body of
the Encampment—the body of the Great Nation—those who are responsive to the
spirit of God and who exemplify integrity. There are many such the world
around. Through the Priesthood they are gathered unto the one place of the
encampment; and through the Priesthood the response may be lifted and brought
into the Outer Court of the Tabernacle, the place of the consciousness of the
body of the Son of God.
The awakening
of that consciousness is made possible through praise and thanksgiving—this is
truly the Gate to the Holy Place. This new spirit is, rightly, represented by
the Priesthood, revealed by the Priesthood, exemplified by the Priesthood, so
that all who compose the body of the Son of God may be restored to the
consciousness of praise and thanksgiving. This is far from the usual state in
the consciousness of human beings on earth. Human consciousness is generally
filled with turmoil and complaint; it is filled with fear and shame and guilt;
it is filled with resentment and hate; and it seems, from this standpoint, to
be the height of hypocrisy to allow the consciousness to be filled with praise
and thanksgiving.
Human beings say, "What is there to praise? What is
there to be thankful for?" Nothing, if you look away from the Lord;
nothing, if the Tabernacle remains invisible. The Tabernacle does remain
invisible until it is approached through the Outer Court. There is no approach
through the Outer Court without praise and thanksgiving.
It has been
emphasized all along the way that the spirit of thankfulness is a first
requirement. There is a sense of thankfulness which wells up in men and women
of integrity. That thankfulness relates to the very experience of integrity. If
there is no experience in that regard a person may well say there is nothing to
be thankful for, there is no reason for praise. But for those whose response is
open to the spirit of God and who in their living exemplify integrity there
wells up from within a sense of praise and thanksgiving which is not, initially
at least, related particularly to external events but to the very experience of Life and Being. Because most people are so thoroughly mired in externals,
response to the spirit of God is minimal and integrity falls by the wayside.
There is then desolation indeed, and the core within such people, which should
be the Holy Place, is a place of desolation. Insofar as they are concerned the
abomination of desolation stands in the Holy Place.
But where
there is true response and integrity, praise and thanksgiving are natural. Such
find again the Outer Court with the Tabernacle in the midst. Praise ye the Lord
in the spirit of thankfulness for the integrity which is sensed at the core of
one's being. If there is no integrity sensed, there will be no experience of
praise and thanksgiving. Those who deny and betray the reality of integrity
within themselves classify themselves; those who are true to that integrity
also classify themselves, not by what they say or believe in but by what they
are in their own living.
Nobody can fool the Lord. Where integrity is, there is
a willingness to let it be God's way without interference. Does a person need a
lofty intellect to praise the Lord? to experience the spirit of thanksgiving?
Usually the more intellect a person has the more reasons he has for not
praising the Lord and for not experiencing a sense of thankfulness. He thinks
he sees everything so clearly and it's awful! That is deep darkness; nothing is
seen; it's all hallucination. But the world of God is not so; it springs forth
into manifest expression through the facility which was designed to let it be
so. As long as human beings have their backs to this facility it means nothing
to them.
But turning
to see the voice which speaks on earth because the Priesthood begins to be
present on earth, the Encampment of the true Israelites begins to be unveiled
with the Priesthood at the core, camped round about the Tabernacle. It becomes
possible once more to enter into the Outer Court with praise and thanksgiving.
When the consciousness begins to be permeated by this quality, the reality of
the Tabernacle becomes evident. The consciousness of the body of the Son of God
is brought into the Outer Court, gathered into one place by those who provide
the facility for so doing. These are describable as the Priesthood, those into
whose hands this responsibility has been placed because they have become
consciously aware of it.
And so this morning, having breath, the Spirit
of Life, praise ye the Lord! Provide the focus of thanksgiving for responding
men and women of integrity the world around. Here is our service in this one
place, one place for us and for many others in this new state of consciousness,
which is not limited, certainly, to our experience here but is shared in by
those who have accepted the responsibility of the Priesthood wherever they may
be. It is still one place, the same state of consciousness, characterized
primarily by praise and thanksgiving.
Glory to God in the highest. What an
excellent opportunity is offered to let it all be brought to focus in the Outer Court of the Tabernacle preparatory to bringing it before the Lord in the Holy Place. There is no entrance into the Holy Place except through the Outer Court,
and the Outer Court only provides the open gate when there is a consciousness
of praise and thanksgiving.
Praise ye the Lord!
© emissaries of divine light
