Come Out Of Hiding — Present Yourself

Come  Out  Of  Hiding  —  Present  Yourself

from

Spiritual  Expertise

Martin Cecil   February 22, 1976

We were considering something about hiding—in the passage which I read about Adam and Eve, they were hiding among the trees from the Lord. I'm sure you begin to understand that this hiding from the Lord is made evident by the fact that one hides the true expression of oneself from one's fellows. The picture of hiding from the Lord is rather an impractical one for most. It becomes very much more specific when we see it in these terms of hiding the truth of our own expression from our fellows. This is hiding amongst the trees from the Lord. The voice of the Lord comes walking in the garden in the cool of the day, to find expression on earth because of each one of us. If we hide ourselves among the masses of the people on earth, so that we find no necessity for giving expression to the truth, then we are hiding from the Lord.

An Old Testament statement was made, and applied to the experience of Jesus as a child, “Out of Egypt have I called my son”—out of hiding have I called my son or my daughter. Jesus was taken down into Egypt, according to the story, specifically to hide Him. We've all found ourselves hidden in human nature with all our fellows, one of four billion nowadays, lost in the crowd. As long as all of that crowd is revealing human nature, how would you really distinguish one from another? But if one among that crowd makes plain the reality of spiritual expression, how would you hide such a one? So we have been offered the opportunity of coming out of hiding. Most people have very little awareness of what these words might mean; but you, certainly, begin to know. Others may only know to the extent that there are those who do come out of hiding; then this becomes evident. Jesus came out of hiding. First of all He came out of Egypt. After He had grown through childhood and youth to a point of adequate maturity, He undertook to reveal the truth of Himself before the people. And this is what we are called to do, all of us, individually.

You know, we can hide behind a concept of the body of the Son of God. We may say of ourselves, “I'm part of the Unit at 100 Mile House,” or “I'm part of the village group,” so that we lose ourselves in the crowd. But, you know, there is no manifest body of the Son of God on earth except as there are individuals who take the responsibility of revealing the truth of themselves before the people. Jesus obviously did this. We speak of His public ministry. It could, and should, have gone very much further than it did—from the beginning to the end of that time of public ministry, He stood virtually alone. There were the disciples who walked along with Him across the land, but that's about all they did. They did not reach a point, with respect to most of them, where there was any particular revelation of the truth of themselves. They did not come out of hiding, in other words. They were hiding behind Jesus. They were willing to follow Him in the external sense, to listen to what He had to say, even to love Him as much as they were able, but they never really came out of hiding. This was particularly emphasized at the time when Peter denied his Lord. He was representative of the other disciples—all except John, who had actually gone with Jesus into the judgment hall. So there was no development by reason of others who were willing to come out of hiding.

There's been a somewhat different experience in what has occurred through this ministry. All this that has taken place has been consequent upon what was initiated by Jesus. He came out of hiding and presented the truth of Himself to the people. Not many saw what it was, but He did it nevertheless; and because He did it the door was opened for others to do it. As I pointed out this morning, it was necessary that there should be one who did it before the way would really be opened for others. Someone, somewhere, had to do it. This particular One we recognize as the Lord of all. It is a remarkable thing that He would accept the responsibility, in this travesty of a world, to come on earth, to come out of hiding, to expose Himself as He did, to suffer consequently as He did, but to carry all the way through so that the door might be opened. And the door has been open ever since. But seemingly scarcely anyone even approached it, let alone followed His example, taking responsibility to carry all the way through. There have been a few who have played a part in this regard. Because of the One who came to do it and did it, and these others since, the opportunity has been available to us.

There was a time when Uranda stood alone in the initiation of this ministry, which requires that the individual come out of hiding—come out of hiding and present the truth of himself. We may be thankful indeed that there was this one who had the courage to undertake the task. In presenting the truth there were those who did respond and drew close, to varying degrees. Eventually, as it worked out, I particularly was forced into the position of coming out of hiding. Presumably, according to my highest vision at the time, I would have imagined that I had already come out of hiding, as likely most of you do now; but when you are faced with the real necessity of coming out of hiding you know the difference. When Uranda left this sphere of things the responsibility fell upon me, and I was compelled to take it. Prior to that time I had been hiding in various ways, which I discovered to be the case at that moment of truth, and subsequently.

In order to present the truth of oneself to the people there is the necessity of developing a certain expertise in spiritual expression. One may have the wish to reveal the truth of oneself, and some seem to have imagined that the wish was the revelation. But of course it never is; it simply points a person in the direction, that he may in season experience an increasing revelation of the truth of himself. This requires, certainly, the development of expertise. One cannot develop that expertise by doing nothing. One cannot learn to play a musical instrument without playing the musical instrument. One cannot learn to live without living. One can remain in hiding and exist for a while; but to live, one must come out of hiding. It is evident that there are various measures of hiding. This was illustrated in the experience of Jesus. There was the hiding in the land of Egypt. He came out of that hiding, but there was a further hiding with His family—all quite as it should be, because He was in the process of growing up. He ventured forth from that hiding in a particular sense at the age of twelve, when He disputed with the learned ones in the synagogue. His parents were a little distraught because of this, failing to recognize at the time that here He was coming out of hiding. It took another eighteen years after that for Him to develop sufficient expertise that there might be a revelation of the truth of Himself. He came completely out of hiding insofar as He was concerned, but He still remained in hiding insofar as most others were concerned. But the opportunity to recognize the truth was present because He Himself had come out of hiding. He presented Himself before the people for who He was. For many this wasn't a very popular move, but others heard something of the Tone that He sounded and followed Him—not adequately, but in some measure.

We see illustrated, then, how a person step by step comes out of hiding. We may understand how it is that there is a cycle in this regard, but how useless the whole process would be if one were to take the steps while still in hiding and never take the final one. As I say, in my own situation there was a very compelling circumstance, and such integrity as I have prevented me from turning it down. So I came out into the open, so to speak. This is not, rightly, exceptional to me; it is required of each individual who actually participates in the composition of the body of the Son of God. There is no manifest body of the Son of God, in the resurrected sense, except as there are individuals who have taken the responsibility of coming out of hiding for themselves. What does this mean?

It means that we are under the necessity of revealing the truth of ourselves before the people. This may conjure up some visions of standing up in prominent places and proclaiming who we imagine we are; but if we did that it would only be imagination anyway. In my own situation I was under the necessity of presenting myself to those who composed this ministry at that time, first. I'm most thankful to God that most were willing to accept the transition. Some were not. This, I suppose, is to be expected and accepted, as it was. But that wasn't all of it, because I was under the necessity of continuing to present myself before the people—more people. I traveled back and forth across the land speaking to groups of people in many, many places, groups of people who had virtually no understanding of what it was that was being offered. So I was out front, so to speak, exposed—in other words I came out of hiding. Such an event set off a few shock waves here and there, as it will with anyone.

Because the world has become a much bigger place than it was nineteen centuries ago, for instance, there is in one sense a much more protected situation. In the Book of Revelation something was said about the earth helping the woman by swallowing up the flood that the dragon spewed out of his mouth. There are so many people, so many systems of all kinds, so many schools of thought, teachings, religions, what have you, that an insignificant little thing like the Emissaries went more or less unnoticed—and this continues to be largely the case. We may be thankful that it is so, as long as it is noticed by those who should notice it.

In any case, coming out from behind the trees, coming out from hiding, the individual must present himself before the people. Having presented himself before the people, of course, there will be those who respond, as we say, and come closer; some, indeed, who are inspired also to come out from hiding and to present themselves before the people. This has occurred in the development through this ministry, so that others are now more on the firing line, so to speak, than I am. This gives indication of the development of what we have called a hedge—a hedge which is a hedge of protection but also a hedge of radiation, unified radiation we call it. As this natural unfoldment continues, those who first came out from hiding, presenting themselves before the people, begin to be the ones who are themselves protected by others who are coming out from hiding and presenting themselves before the people.

There is always a peripheral ring, rightly, composed of those who have come out from hiding at that particular time. These are the ones who have the responsibility of presenting themselves before the people. Those who did it before them, to allow them to come out of hiding, are then one step behind the hedge; and so there are concentric rings composing the hedge. Here is one evidence of the nature of the emerging design. There is, of course, far greater detail than this; but we can surely see how those who do come out from hiding first have the responsibility of presenting themselves before the people; and then later, as there is response to that presentation of the truth of themselves, they find themselves behind another ring composed of those who have, consequent upon their ministry, come out of hiding.

Units and groups have at times seemed to be convenient hiding places, and a certain complacency can be developed in this sort of situation, so that those concerned do not take advantage of developing the expertise which would enable them to come out of hiding and present the truth of themselves in spiritual expression, before the people. This certainly does not mean that one stands on a soapbox at the corner and proclaims some doctrine or other, ramming it down other people's throats. Of course, if you're on the street corner, they can always walk away! We have spoken of living, but one can pretend to live while still remaining in hiding. You know, with the number of those who are associated with our ministry here in 100 Mile House, should they all have come out of hiding, the rest of the community wouldn't have a chance! But in various ways a facade is maintained behind which Emissaries lurk, and it would seem to take great persistence and considerable effort on the part of others to penetrate that facade and discover the lurking Emissary. There is perhaps a certain fear of actually coming out of hiding. We may admit, on particular occasions, that we are Emissaries: births, deaths and marriages. But how about in between? Again, it's not a matter of parading down the street with banners: “Here come the Emissaries of Divine Light!”

Our business is to come out of hiding.

We recognize this to the extent that we have acknowledged the requirement of spiritual expression. You could not offer spiritual expression in living and still remain hidden.There are those who have complained at times of the lack of response which might seem to be apparent in certain locations. It wasn't the lack of response that was the trouble; it was the lack of spiritual expression to which there might be response, or at least reaction. And you know, insofar as our true business is concerned, it doesn't matter much which it is. We have been very cautious because presumably it was the wise thing to be. We were not interested in being immediately overwhelmed because we were not yet identified with strength; but to the extent that there is spiritual expression there is strength, and redemption is being offered. And that has an impact.

There is a sort of graduation process, isn't there? Someone has to come out of hiding to start the ball rolling. Then, because he has come out of hiding and the ball has started rolling, others will come out of hiding too, and they share in keeping the ball rolling. But the original one finds himself within this hedge, and then those who participated with him in keeping the ball rolling, themselves find themselves within another hedge, and so it goes—another and another—gradually coming out of hiding sufficiently to take responsibility, on the periphery, for a presentation of the truth of themselves in spiritual expression. Those who played a part in originating the spiritual expression should have no demands put upon them. This is the case when there are others who are willing to come out of hiding and assume the responsibility, but nobody can do that without having developed the expertise.

It seems that most of those who do develop the expertise are the ones who are compelled, in one way or another, to get out and do it. Those who have a comparatively easy situation, within a compact Unit or a group, are inclined to be a little complacent. One can never experience the mature expression of the truth of oneself without moving through those cycles which permit it, and one of the most obvious steps to be taken in those cycles is the initial one of coming out of hiding sufficiently to present oneself to the people. There is an inclination, in the human pattern of things, to try not to be too much different. This seems like a wise course because the idea may be that you don't want to turn people off. Well how about turning people on? And if you're just the same as everybody else you're not going to turn anybody on. Spiritual expression is something startlingly different. There is the evidence of the fact that one is somehow different. If there isn't this clear-cut evidence the individual is still hiding, for it is that clear-cut evidence of spiritual expression that gets the job done for which we are here on earth. We can wait in hiding too long.

The state of hiding is the state of the tomb. The body of the Son of God lies in the tomb, which this world is, because the head is at the same level as the rest of the body. That means that the whole thing is horizontal. Head and body embedded in the earth—that's the state of being in the tomb. The head belongs in heaven. The head must experience that belonging in heaven while in the tomb. This seems rather a mysterious thing to those who are in the body in its horizontal position, because there is no sign of the heaven in the tomb. The experience of heaven required by the head of the body is an internal experience, we might say. We haven't been trying, for instance, to produce a heavenly state external to ourselves—at least, I hope not. Something improved may have put in an appearance; but even if that were to be swept away, it shouldn't make any difference, if the head is in heaven. It will not make any difference, if the head is in heaven! I trust that everything doesn't have to be swept away in order to prove the point, but that might be necessary too; one never knows. So the head needs to return to heaven, as we have recognized, while still in the tomb. It is because the head returns to heaven that the body may experience this heaven and rise up. It must rise up to come out of the tomb.

Have you ever wondered how the body of Jesus got out of the tomb? Did someone come along and roll the stone away and then the body emerged horizontally? That's hardly the way it works. You remember how it was for the man called Lazarus who was also in a tomb for several days. The Master commanded, “Lazarus, come forth,” and Lazarus walked out of the tomb. He may have had a little difficulty, because he was still all wrapped up in the grave-clothes, but he walked out. Nobody went in after him. The Master did it a little more neatly—He removed the grave-clothes before He came out. He had the expertise, and He was found to be in the garden. The tomb was in the garden all the time, and that's true of this world. It is a tomb, but the tomb is in the garden.

The head must be restored to heaven. It is restored to heaven only by reason of spiritual expression. Spiritual expression presents the truth of a person before the people. Later that truth may not be presented so directly. We can see that in the case of Jesus. It was presented directly, and it never went further than that position, which is why things worked out the way they did. There was no hedge. We see now the beginning of the development of the reality of a hedge, which is the unified radiation from the head. The heads of the saints are usually surrounded by a halo. This is what is indicated—unified radiation through the head of the body of the Son of God, and you cannot hide that light. It cannot be hidden under a bushel. Here is the almighty power of God. It carries an impact. The effects of that impact depend, of course, upon the attitudes of those concerned who receive the impact. We would that all should respond, but we also do not fool ourselves into imagining that there are not those who will not respond; there indeed are many. But whether reaction or response, when there is spiritual expression the job gets done.

But we must come out from hiding, and we'll only dare to come out from hiding when we have begun to develop the required expertise. We will not develop the required expertise without practice, without doing something about it, without taking responsibility and letting something happen: Let the thoughts of my mind, and the meditations of my heart, be acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer. Let it be so. It won't happen unless you let it happen—it requires something of you. Come out of hiding.

Out of hiding, the Son of God has been called. Let the fruition be experienced individually; then it will be experienced collectively. But we can't be dragged along by anybody else. I think some have felt that they would just come along because the body is coming along. But if the body is coming along it is only because there are individuals composing that body who have taken the responsibility for themselves. Those who come along simply on the basis of the fact that the body is coming along will suddenly find that they have no oil in their lamps. It's unwise just to wait for that point of discovery, because then it's too late.

We have been considering something that is of vital importance this evening. More in this field of consideration has been brought into focus—I thank God for that—but there is indeed much more not only to be considered but to be experienced.

© Emissaries of Divine Light