To Preserve the Evidence of the Presence
Build Ye An Ark
Martin Cecil May 24, 1961
I would like to talk to you about
the ark. There are three specific references to an ark in the Bible, although
there are many, many references to that which is signified by the ark,
utilizing other terms. The three references of course relate to Noah's ark, the
ark in which Moses was placed as a babe, and the ark which occupied the Holy of
Holies in the tabernacle and in the temple. These three particular things that
were designated by the word ark—at
least it is so translated—are apparently on the surface very different, and yet
they all signify the same thing. The ark which Noah built, and subsequently
occupied with his family and a number of creatures, according to the story, was
designed to preserve life. Life of course is a primary evidence of the presence
of God. Afterwards, when the tabernacle was built and the ark was in it, the
statement was made a number of times with respect to the Glory of the Lord
filling the tabernacle and shining round about. This Cloud of Glory relates to
Life and is the aspect of the Shekinah pattern of Being of which man is first
aware. Wherever life manifests there is evidence of the presence of God. And so
if Noah's ark was built to preserve life it was therefore built to preserve the
evidence of the presence of God on earth.
Human beings, tending toward
self-centeredness, usually consider that the ark was built just simply to save
a few human beings and a few animals. The fact of the matter is that it was
designed to maintain the presence of God on earth, and we find that this is
true in relationship to the other arks—the ark in which Moses was placed as a
baby, and the ark in the tabernacle. In Moses' subsequent experience it is
quite evident that through him the Lord had a most definite hand in the
outworking affairs of the children of Israel, and of others, so the fact that
Moses was preserved, preserved a Focalization
of Being which gave evidence in season, particularly later, of the presence
of God on earth. Again, the ark in the tabernacle was used to portray this same
principle. In the Book of Revelation,
in the 21st Chapter, it is indicated that "the tabernacle of God is with
men." The tabernacle houses the ark, and the ark is that which preserves
life, or the evidence of the presence of God on earth.
We have seen that there has been a
very inadequate evidence in this regard in the world, even when the special
opportunities were provided by God in relationship to the children of men. The
one we recognize most specifically in this regard of course relates to the
presence of the Lord Himself on earth, and yet what a very inadequate
manifestation even that was. Certainly the fulness of the presence of the LORD
of Lords and KING of Kings was not revealed to the children of men. Just as
much as response would permit was revealed, and the response was very limited,
so the revelation in fact, no matter how marvelous it may appear in the eyes of
men, was a very small thing relative to the potentiality. And when our Master
came He said, "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests;
but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head"—there was no ark on
earth, the ark which makes possible the preservation of the presence of God in
safety on earth.
Now of course human beings cannot
destroy God or hurt God, make God any different than He is, but they can
prevent the manifestation of God in this realm of things, and for the most part
we have to acknowledge that human beings have done a very thorough job in this
regard. By preventing the revelation of the presence of God they have not hurt
God, they have simply hurt themselves. This fact does not seem to have yet
penetrated very deeply into the consciousness of mankind. Usually the human
attitude seems to be that somehow or other God is trying to put something over
on human beings, and they play hard to get. How foolish. They simply hurt
themselves and do not change God or the attitude of God one iota.
So when our Master came He found
no place of safety, where His presence might be preserved on earth. In fact it
was not preserved for more than thirty-three years in toto, and three and a
half years insofar as His public ministry was concerned, when His presence
began to become more keenly felt. So it can be seen that His statement with
respect to the fact that the Son of man had not where to lay his head on earth
was very true—there was no ark, in any adequate sense at least. He proceeded to
build one while He was on earth, but it evidently did not amount to very much.
What is it that provides a place
of safety for the presence of God in this realm of things? We could not build a
boat that would be satisfactory for this purpose. We could not build a house
which would be satisfactory. But there is of course provision, if human beings
were willing to let it be used. There is a temple, or a tabernacle, in which
the ark may be: "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the
Spirit of God dwelleth in you?" The forms of human beings, properly
speaking, compose the tabernacle on earth and provide within the tabernacle the
essential facilities, including the Holy of Holies in which the ark may rest,
providing thereby a place of safety for God in this realm of things. If God is
not evident in this realm of things it is simply because there has not been an
ark for Him.
We have the first evidence of His
closeness by reason of the fact that there is life in the world, and by reason
of the fact that there is life in our own physical bodies. But is God safe in
us? Is God safe in the bodies of human beings? Do the bodies of human beings
preserve the life of God on earth? Or do they rather rapidly squeeze it out?
Most human beings want more life. They feel life slipping away from them and
they feel their bodies becoming sick or old, and there is less life appearing
and so they want life and they try to get more life in various ways. This of
course is the reason that many people seek the ministrations of a server,
because they feel life slipping away from them and they want to get it back.
There is no immediate recognition, of course, that they are slipping away from
life; it is not life slipping away from them. They are slipping away from God.
Life is an evidence of the
presence of God. God and His life do not find a place of safety in fallen human
beings. Fallen human beings are not dedicated to preserving a place where God
can be at this level of things. If they want life, and more life, and life restored
to them, it is not with the idea, generally speaking, to increase the
manifestation of God on earth. It is to maintain the manifestation of the human
ego, and so the very attitude gives no consideration to a place of safety for
God. And if there is no place of safety for God on earth there is no place of
safety for life on earth, and consequently, insofar as human beings are
concerned, life seems to vanish away, simply because they provided no place of
safety for it—no ark, just an empty temple. It is not even really a temple, is
it? A broken-down sort of a place.
Human beings are inclined to be
interested in archeological discoveries of various sorts. They unearth old
temples and are very much interested in their findings. I think that rather
indicates the direction of interest which is held by people in general. They
are interested in empty temples, old, broken-down temples—of course they like
to have them restored if possible. But the temple is supposed to be a place of
safety for God, a place where God may be preserved on earth. If God is not on
earth, God's action is not on earth, and the lack of God's action on earth
produces the turmoil and the chaos that we find, all because the Son of man
hath not where to lay his head—no ark.
We are concerned with this matter
of building an ark—not a boat, not a basket, not a wooden box. What are we
concerned with building? What would the ark signify? What is it that makes
possible the presence of God in the world of men? We recognize that God is in
His heaven. We recognize that God is not on His earth. We also recognize that
there is that which, rightly speaking, connects heaven and earth, which
connects God and man. We call it pneumaplasm.
If the spirit of God is to reach man, to come into this world and have a place
of safety from which the divine expression may shine forth in the world, there
must be the connecting substance which we call pneumaplasm. And there are
certain forms which take shape in it, revealing the divine design.
We recognize responsibility in
this matter of the generation of pneumaplasm, the substance for the building of
the ark. The ark itself has form, very specific form. When Noah received
instruction as to the building of the ark at that time, the dimensions were
given and the nature of the structure that was to be made. The same was true
with respect to the ark at the time of the children of Israel, the ark which
was placed in the tabernacle; it had very definite dimensions and form. So is
it true with the pneumaplasmic ark which is our specific responsibility, a
place of safety for God on earth.
When I say, "Is God safe with
you?" I am not referring to anything which might be taken to mean that you
would be capable of damaging God. But does He have a place of safety where His
presence is preserved on earth, in you? Or does your action, your attitude, at
any time expel God from yourself?—not entirely, of course, or you would not be
anymore, but in the sense of refusing to permit a constant dwelling place to be
provided for Him. In other words, in you is the atmosphere constantly heavenly?
Are you playing a part in preserving life on earth, preserving the evidence of
the presence of God? Or by what you do, what you say, how you think and feel,
do you make it so, insofar as you are concerned, that the Son of man has
nowhere to lay His head?
Obviously there is a great need in
the world for an ark, for a place where God is safe, so that He may be here on
earth and act in relationship to the affairs of men. The affairs of men have
come to a desperate pass. There is only one thing that will be able to handle that
which is transpiring—namely, God's action. But God cannot act on earth unless
He is safe on earth, unless His presence is preserved on earth and protected on
earth so that He may be here. If He is not here, in the sense of having the
facilities for His action, He cannot act. Recognizing these things in
relationship to ourselves, we see our responsibility for the building of an
ark, the generation of pneumaplasm, which is offered to the Lord so that the
correct design may be established in it.
The tabernacle of God is with men.
The ark has been missing. A long time
ago that ark which the children of Israel had was lost; it vanished away. Of
course there are those who have been interested in trying to locate it again,
but to what end? That which is portrayed had vanished away, so there was no
more purpose to the ark in its outer form. When our Master came He did not
start a search for the old ark which had been lost. There would have been no
sense to it. But He did proceed to build an ark of the material which was
available to Him, of such a nature as would make the essential provision at
that time. But again the ark was lost. We share the privilege of letting it be
found in its essential form today, and that essential form is composed of the
material which we call pneumaplasm, that which connects God and His world.
It is our responsibility to share
in the generation of this pneumaplasm, that it may come forth pure and perfect
as God created it to be, a fitting substance for the manifest form of the ark
of God, that which will preserve the Life of God on earth in a manner that
permits the Power of God to work on earth, the Glory of the Lord to shine round
about. If the glory is present, if the life is present, as God designed it to
be, truth is present and love is present, because there is no true life without
the parents of life, love and truth. If love, truth and life are present, God
is present, because these compose the evidence of the presence of God. If God
is present He is capable of acting, and the action of God may appear with
respect to the affairs of men. No other kind of action will be adequate to the
situation, as should finally be dawning upon the consciousness of humanity.
A Word From Grace
Grace Van Duzen October 16, 1960
He cannot come through a body that is asleep. It must be through a body
that is vibrantly alert and alive to His coming, to the coming of the Kingdom,
to the ways in which it can take form. There are no handbills already printed,
because it comes through this particular form. And our Master said no man knows
the hour of His coming, not the Angels—only the Father in Heaven, not even the Angels of Heaven. But only the One Who is in absolute control of His Whole Body, the Husbandman of the Whole Vine. The parts are sharing in the coming, of
letting it come, vibrantly awake and alert to let those changes of wrong
patterns be made.
Those changes which man has made in the atom, for instance,
are absolutely destructive. The effects of them are poison, bringing every
conceivable suffering to mankind that anyone could imagine; and the absolutely
reverse is true of that which God created when the Right Design is allowed to
appear, and all these things are caused to be as if they had never been. Surely
when we see what man has made with respect to the atom and hydrogen bomb, and
think what the Right Pattern would be, we can begin to see what could be
accomplished, which is not constructive living powered by these bombs.
Only in the
Divine Estate can these things be used constructively; only as man has
allowed himself to be restored to that Design by which he was created and in
which He was made, the Image and the Likeness of God Himself, the Vehicle for
His Manifestation on earth, that which will let God move and live and have His
Being here on earth. And that is only possible through that which He created.
Let every right relationship be restored, whether it be an atom, neutron, proton,
whatever—every tiniest manifestation of right relationship, right attitude,
right imagination, and a close coming together of His Body on earth. So let it
be, now and in all the days to come.
© Emissaries of Divine Light
