The  Flaming  Sword  and  the  Capstone

Martin Cecil   September 5, 1976  p.m.

For over twenty-two years now I have been giving services — four services a week for quite a while; more recently just two — also an indeterminate number of classes and lectures, talks of various kinds and descriptions. Very few, of course, have had opportunity to hear all these, but quite a number have heard many of them. A wide variety of subjects have been dealt with, in a variety of ways. At least for those who have had opportunity to participate with me in what has taken form in expression in this way, I would anticipate that they would be closely with me in understanding. And yet, I keep discovering that certain ones who should know better don’t — it would seem consequent upon not really paying attention to what was offered. I sometimes feel as though it is necessary for me, perhaps, to recapitulate all that has been said before, prior to giving a service; and yet, if I had to do that, the service would last at least a month! Surely you don’t expect me to recapitulate everything, but I do expect you to be aware of what went before, to the extent, at least, that you’ve had opportunity to be aware.

It is said that we must move from the known to the unknown. I always undertake to make this approach even though I don’t undertake to recapitulate everything that has been offered throughout the last twenty-two years. From those who have been associated with me for a goodly proportion of those years I expect much. My expectations are not always fulfilled, that is true. There is something we need to see here, however, as we begin to share in a greater experience of the spiritual state, which is new to us. Regardless of what we may have known to date in this regard, it has been rather little. And it has been, to a large extent, a spiritual appendage to the material condition. It seems to take a real crisis point to cause those concerned to awaken to what is already present but over the line of which I have been speaking. Now, we can wait for this intensity of crisis to occur and then see what the result is. How many would still be around? Or we can be willing to acknowledge the material habits with which we have been associated and stop following out the lines of thought that those habits tend to engender in our experience, that there may be a willingness to awaken to the truth because we are willing to let this be the nature of our momentary expression, relative to our momentary experience. No matter what it is that comes up, our first concern is to handle it rightly and effectively in spiritual expression, in the character and quality of our true nature, the spirit of the living God. If anything in your circumstance, in your experience, can distract you from that, you will be distracted, inevitably so. Sometimes mention has been made of homework, in times past. We are coming now to the point where it is going to be revealed how much homework has been done.

The angel is coming forth collectively speaking, and therefore individually speaking. The flaming sword is in the angel’s hand and is being wielded in that coming forth. I have mentioned that this is something that is happening, whether anyone wants it to happen, likes it or doesn’t like it, or anything else. If it happens in relationship to us first, this is because we have indicated that we are offering ourselves to the creative cycle. And so we should be content that it do so. Now, when we begin to feel that coming forth, because of a certain discomfort, we can either stand still and see the salvation of the Lord or we can try to escape. As we have noted in times past, over and over again, there are many methods that human beings use to escape. The very endeavor to escape, whatever method may be used, requires that one move away from the flaming sword; therefore, in moving away, one is moving away from the means by which the purifying might occur. The purifying is beginning to happen, so that one feels uncomfortable; identifying oneself with the discomfort, the endeavor is then made to move away from what seems to be causing the discomfort. What is causing the discomfort is actually the flaming sword. If one goes away far enough one may cease to feel the burning edge of that sword quite so keenly, and that may seem to be more comfortable; but as the coming forth of the sword continues, it covers more and more of the earth and there are fewer and fewer places to which one may escape, if one is going somewhere physically. At the moment there is quite a bit of space around, but you will note that it is hotting up everywhere on the face of the earth, in various ways. The time is not too far distant when there will be no place to go. So the only thing to do is to stand still and see the salvation of the Lord.

This is what happened when Moses was leading the Israelites out of Egypt and they came to the Red Sea with Pharaoh and his armies in hot pursuit. The instruction by Moses was, “Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord,” see what the flaming sword does. In that case there was what has subsequently been described as a miracle. There is a distinction between what occurred then and what occurs now. The cleansing at that point was evidently by water; now it is by fire. But the instruction is just the same: “Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord.” Do you have sufficient nerve to do it? When the heat comes on and you are in a state of turmoil and utter confusion, terrified as the Israelites were, are you capable, in that crisis, of standing still and seeing the salvation of the Lord? Or, in such an experience, do you think of nothing else but getting away, of escaping? If you follow out the material compulsion, you lose the opportunity of letting the cleansing take place. And you lose it because you are fearful and ashamed, and you think you can’t face anything anymore, maybe other people, because you have a lot of wild imagination in that stressful state.

Obviously, if you come to such a condition, you need to pay attention to whoever the Moses is. There is always a Moses around who will speak the word, “Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord.” But a human being in that sort of an emotional state is inclined to be subject to the compulsion of his own earthly heredity, which has been accustomed to escaping on such occasions for twenty thousand years. So, the compulsion is strong, but there needs to be something stronger in you if you are to survive. And that something stronger is love for the Lord which causes you to heed the commandment of the Lord, through the lips of whoever, “Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord.” Let the flaming sword move past you.

In moving past you it will consume that ill thing which is seeking to compel you to escape. And when it has moved past you, that particular aspect of the material state will have been burned away; it will have no more power to control you. But you can never experience that release without standing still. Yes, the angel is coming forth; the flaming sword is present and moving through all of us, with respect to all of us. We will find everything hotting up. I remind you in this hour that on every such occasion the word of the Lord is spoken on earth, “Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord.” Be willing to let it happen. Don’t try to fight with Pharaoh. That’s fatal! Be not afraid, because you are willing to trust the Lord.

Long ago, when the Israelites had already come out of the land of Egypt, they had the opportunity of moving immediately into the promised land. Based upon their material condition, they refused to accept the opportunity and they were condemned to wander in the wilderness, in consequence, for forty years. The objective of that forty years was to allow the generation that came out of Egypt to die, because these were the ones who had rejected the opportunity of moving into the promised land when the opportunity was there. So the opportunity had to be provided for the subsequent generation. This meant that the previous one had to get out of the way, had to perish in the wilderness. What a very sad picture that was. The ones who should have known better didn’t behave on the basis of what they really knew. Is this not the tendency of human beings, to try to behave on the basis of what they don’t know? If we were concerned, always, to live on the basis of what we know, our knowing would increase. But how many times do you find yourselves trying to act on the basis of what you don’t know? If you try to do that, then you get desperate and afraid, because, after all, you don’t know and you are faced with a very fearful situation — the unknown. It’s terrifying, isn’t it? But what do you know? Sometimes those who have been associated with the Emissary ministry fail to realize how much they know, because they are always concerned about the things they think they don’t know: How about this? How about that? How about the other thing? — seeking assurance with respect to something that isn’t there. But the assurance is in what is there, what we do know.

“Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord.” You know that. You know that’s the thing to do, don’t you? Wouldn’t you agree that you know, at this moment at least, that that’s the thing to do? Fear always relates to something you don’t know. Never become subject to what you don’t know; accept into your expression of living what you do know. I’m talking about the truth, the truth you know. And one aspect of that is, in a point of crisis: Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, regardless of what your emotions say, regardless of what your ideas and concepts may be as to the terrible state you would experience if you stood still. It is the only safe thing to do. No matter what the uproar may be, and we may feel emotional disturbances all around us, if we stand still we remember the instruction contained in a verse of the 91st Psalm: “Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked” — not with your heart, but just in observation. You see all this going on, you see the waves and the wind all around, “but it shall not come nigh thee” if you stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. Your heart belongs to the Lord; it doesn’t belong to the turmoil. If you refuse to let the turmoil take over your feelings you are safe. If you let the turmoil take over your feelings, then, like Peter when he was already walking on the water, you begin to sink: “Save me, Lord, save me.” Very fortunately He is a merciful Lord, and He does stretch out His hand on occasion and provide what is necessary so that the individual does not entirely perish at that point. But that sense of failure on Peter’s part stayed with him; he was very much aware of the fact of his own wavering, so that later, when he found himself in another crisis, pressure point, he denied his Lord.

We make a habit of these things until we face the issue. And the easiest moment to face it is always that moment that is here. So often human beings think that when something arises, a pressure point, they are not going to face this pressure point. Perhaps another later on will be more convenient; but they can’t do it now. You will find that whatever it is that comes to you first is the easiest thing. Anything that you put off will be harder, because there will be the thing that you missed before and then the next thing added to it. And so it goes — and it goes — and all too many eventually find there is such an overwhelming condition that they can’t handle it at all. Do your homework. Face the thing that is there, quick, before it slips past you. Don’t try to escape merely by turning a blind eye. You need the eye to see it for the heart to stay true to the Lord. Then in each little thing you stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. That becomes a habit. Now, obviously there are greater pressure points to arise in the days to come; but if we have the experience of handling them rightly as we have moved along the way, we will have the assurance that we may do so no matter what may come in the future. And we don’t need to speculate. You’re not required to handle that imaginary thing, so why fuss with it? Handle the thing that is present in spiritual expression and you will find that what is natural to you in this regard will come forth in your experience.

We have considered the matter of the priesthood. The priesthood provides the capstone of the pyramid of man. Man as a whole may be symbolized by a pyramid. The capstone of a pyramid is a little pyramid. Everything that is in the pyramid is present, in essence, in the capstone. If we see the capstone as symbolizing the priesthood, then we may recognize that all that is true of man as a whole is true with respect to the priesthood. This is why the priesthood can represent man to God and also God to man. This is the position of the priesthood. The priesthood provides the means of government insofar as man is concerned, and man provides the means of government insofar as his total field of responsibility is concerned. If we remember the Israelites of old — after they came out of Egypt and the tabernacle had been built, when they camped, the tabernacle was at the center of the encampment, with the Levites, who were the priesthood, camped round about it. Round about the Levites were the twelve tribes encamped. Here we have a rather broad indication of the requirements insofar as man is concerned. Remembering that man is spiritual, the Israelites at that time represented man. According to the story, they didn’t do too good a job of representing man, who is spiritual — they tended to represent material man all too much, which wasn’t what was required of them. However, we can see the principle.

There was a tabernacle, representing the Lord; there was the priesthood, representing the spiritual expression level of man; and there was the encampment of the twelve tribes, representing the mental and physical levels of man. All that was present in the whole pyramid of representation by the Israelites was in essence in the capstone, symbolizing the priesthood. There were those at the capstone of the capstone, who had very specific responsibility with respect to the priestly requirements of serving in the holy place of the tabernacle — this capstone of the capstone was the spiritual expression level of the priesthood. But then there were those in the base of the capstone, that represented the mental and physical levels of the priesthood. It was not a though all the priesthood should be in the capstone of the capstone. There has to be representation at all levels of the capstone insofar as man as a whole is concerned.

What is here at Sunrise Ranch relates very specifically to this capstone of the priesthood. It’s not altogether a geographical thing — there are those who are of the priesthood at 100 Mile House, and many others in the field. In fact, all of those who are beginning to play a part in what is unfolding in our collective experience compose the priesthood at the present time. But in the priesthood there are these various levels. Everybody is not at the same level; everybody is not supposed to be at the same level. In the encampment of the tribe of Levi there were those in the encampment there, Levites, who necessarily cooked the meals, did the laundry, and cared for all the various things that were required insofar as the encampment of the tribe of Levi was concerned; doing very much the same thing as was being done by many more people in the larger encampment of the twelve tribes.

We need to see this with respect to our own experience, because the coming forth of the angel relates first to the priesthood. They are rightly at the apex, and what is coming forth comes down from God out of heaven into the earth first through the priesthood, that there may be a purification of the priesthood — of the capstone of the total pyramid. And the purification occurs all through the various levels of that capstone. There are those who find themselves taking care of the mundane tasks here, for instance, and they may begin to think to themselves, “Well, I’m not part of the capstone because I’m down here serving in this fashion, therefore it really doesn’t matter so much how I behave. It’s not so important that I handle these things in spiritual expression, because, after all, there is the capstone of the capstone up there and they are doing what is required in that exalted place, and I’m just down here.” Well, we can look at this with respect to the Unit here, or we can look at it from a broader perspective. The same sort of thing is known by everyone. There are various levels, but every level in the priesthood, where the first fruits are, must allow spiritual expression which is fitting at the particular level where the individual is.

This begins to emphasize the fact that there are these levels, and each individual is inclined to reveal the level at which he may effectively function. Some people feel that it is incumbent upon them to try to keep scrambling up to some exalted level that they think they see, when they do not have the capacity in actual fact to function at that level, because it is not required of them. There is a need for people to be content at the level which is the proper and fitting level of their own experience. We all have our natural level in fact, and we are happy at that natural level. The only incentive there is is the experience that is known when spiritual expression is offered in the circumstance at the level where we belong. This is not to say that there may not be a rising up to a higher level in season. But here is a material viewpoint that needs to pass away, that somehow or other, if one is higher in the pyramid, or in the capstone of the pyramid, that that is better, that somehow one will be better. The point is that man is perfect when he is man, and he is man when he has filled out all the levels that are in the pyramid. It would be ridiculous to suppose that all human beings could be at the apex of the pyramid — there wouldn’t be any pyramid then. And it is the pyramid that is perfect. Therefore, as there are those who are allowing this pyramid to be, there is the experience of perfection, no matter at what level the individual may find his natural expression. I don’t think any of us are aspiring to take the place of our Lord and King. Why would we? He’s doing His job perfectly. Let us do our job perfectly, wherever we may happen to be. But it does require, in every instance, that, whatever the level of our expression may be, it should be perfect at that level. If we aspire to some level that is not natural to us, our expression will not be perfect; it won’t belong.

We are part of one whole and we are content to allow that whole to appear in whatever way is fitting. So there are many levels of living, and we naturally find our own level when we are not trying to be something that we are not. Accepting the quality and nature of our own individually unique expression, we discover where we belong. We are quite content to be where we belong. All this striving, ambitious endeavor on the part of human beings is a quality of the material state which must pass away. It is such a delight to be oneself! When you are yourself, no one can take your place. There are no substitutes for you, in reality.

So we have shared something of a vision with respect to the natural experience which comes in the spiritual state of man. At the moment this relates more specifically to the priesthood, the capstone of the pyramid. I have spoken about these things this evening. You’ve all shared in what has been expressed, I trust not trying to grasp anything but just letting it flow. If you have, it is present with you and will not need any later recapitulation. I suspect however, that you have not seen or understood everything that has been offered. And so there will be opportunity for recapitulation, because every service is videoed, transcribed, and released for everyone in various ways — that those who choose to pay attention may never indicate that the provision has not been adequately made. It is all there, always.

© Emissaries of Divine Light