We gather for a special period of Meditation on what is commonly spoken of as Good Friday. Just why it should be called good when it commemorates the crucifixion is a question that some have never been able to understand. But this affords us a wonderful opportunity, because the so-called Christian world has attention centered today upon the events which took place nineteen centuries ago, in relationship to the life of our LORD and KING.When we recognize that He was and is our LORD and KING we can readily recognize special significance in that which He presented on earth. We can recognize that when He spoke, He was in actual fact outlining for the children of men, the Policies of His Kingdom—the Kingdom of Heaven was at hand, as it now is. And, when man rebelled against that Kingdom to the extent of undertaking to destroy the KING of that Kingdom, certain vibratory factors were established. Man revealed himself in his self-activity as being the enemy of the KING and of the Kingdom of God. With the last strength which remained in His body, and the last breath before the pain and the suffering was obliterated by unconsciousness, He said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” This was the KING’s statement with respect to His enemies—not merely those who stood by, or who were present at the moment, or who lived on earth at that time, but with respect to all of those through all of the centuries who rebelled against the Kingdom of God on earth—all of those who in times past, or in this present time, have rebelled against the reality of the Kingdom of God on earth.
Even though there be limitations, even though there is vast room for progress spiritually, morally, with respect to character, and understanding and living, in our own land, and in those lands or people’s or nations which stand with us in the present world situation, there is a manifestation of light and the understanding of freedom, and a recognition of the dignity of man which stands as a bulwark against those aggressors who would enslave mankind. At the present time, there are certain out-workings which rekindle hope that the Korean conflict can soon come to an end; and that American and our allied men in uniform may soon be free of the necessity of facing death in such a conflict—in other words, today there are enemies of that degree of freedom we have come to know, that degree of understanding which has been made prevalent in what we speak of as the free nations of the world. And, our attitude should conform to the pattern of attitude which our Master made manifest on earth with respect to the unenlightened ones who failed to take advantage of the glorious opportunity which His Presence on earth made manifest.
There are enemies within and without, individually and collectively, enemies which would crucify the degree to which spiritual things have been made manifest. And this morning, I would that we should take advantage of this hour as an opportunity to release the Spirit of the Living Christ into the world on a basis which allows the power of God to reach and deal with those enemies of spiritual progress, by which men may come to know the Way, the Truth and the Life. We have over three million men in the uniform of our country, serving to maintain a protective barrier against those enemies who understand no language but the language of physical force. Because the world today is an armed camp, facing all of these conflicts by reason of enmity, by reason of man’s efforts to crucify the things of God on earth, I have come before you in the Chaplain’s uniform of the Civil Air Patrol, to the end that we may in this hour pray for peace, not merely cessation of armed conflict, but for the working of the Spirit of God by reason of which man may begin to know peace within himself, have within himself that basis of security which allows him to feel no need for conflict. Conflicts spring from the sense of insecurity, and the sense of insecurity springs from the sense of weakness and of guilt, and these are founded in the sense of shame which man seeks to cover up by his self-active arrogance and pride.
In the face of this picture as it stands in the world today, we have the picture of the KING of Heaven and Earth, with His body mutilated, bruised and bleeding, upon the cross. The dignity, the majesty, the kingliness of His bearing and attitude are readily recognized, and the unspeakable love of His Being to the children of men is revealed in that Word, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And these words remind us of the prayer which He taught men to pray: Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name, to all the children of men. Thy Kingdom come, in and through each one, and to all the world, that Thy Kingdom of Peace may receive all those troubled human beings who honestly and sincerely seek peace; and that Thy Will may be done on earth as it is in heaven; that heaven and earth may be one; that the unnatural distortions that for so long have distinguished the earth from heaven may be banished away; and that the seeds of conflict in the hearts of men may be brought to naught because they yield to Thy Spirit; and let the sense of insecurity be banished away in the face of the heavenly security of Thy Eternal Kingdom; and that each may come to realize the significance of the prayer: Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. For Thine is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory, forever. In the Christ. Aum-en.
For nineteen centuries man has hesitated and held back and failed to take full advantage of the opportunity accorded to mankind by our Master’s Presence on earth. But in spite of all of the stupidity, all of the reactions, all of the false concepts, all of the selfishness and self-centredness, a certain power has been constantly and consistently flowing through the lives of the children of men, and the reason for this evidence of victory in the face of all the odds which have appeared on earth can be found in the Spirit and attitude of our KING when He faced the indignities which human beings heaped upon him: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” As soon as we can see the vital significance of these words, and the attitude conveyed in them, we can begin to see the secret of His Power which has extended into the lives of the children of men in spite of all of the things which have sought to crucify the manifestation of that power.
The first man who dared to undertake the work of translating the Bible into the English language [William Tyndale] did so in violation of the laws of England and in the face of the efforts of the King of England and his officers to stop it. He fled from England for his life and managed to get the first translation of the New Testament translated and printed, working in secret and constantly fleeing for his life. Finally he smuggled some English Bibles into England, and again had to flee for his life. Those Bibles were gathered up and burned in one of the great churches of England, and his work was denounced as the work of the devil. On the continent, he lived for a number of years, working to complete the translation of the Bible, fleeing from one city to another, and finally was captured. He was returned to England, tried for his treasonable work in translating the Bible into English—and he was condemned to death, bound to the stake, strangled and burned for daring to translate the Bible into the English language. That was about 1536. His last words, after he was bound at the stake and the executioner was about to strangle him and start the fire, were, when he was asked if he had anything to say, “I pray to the LORD that the eyes of the King of England may be opened.” There was no word of resentment, no word of condemnation—a remarkable pattern in which he followed the Spirit of our LORD on the cross. The spirit of forgiveness, insofar as the treatment which had been accorded to him was concerned, but a prayer that the eyes of the King of England would be opened.
William Tyndale 1494 - 1536
Two years later, just two years later, it became lawful in England, not only to translate the Bible, not only to print it (for anyone who undertook to print it was subject to death, up to that time) but to read the Bible in English in places of public worship. The power of that Spirit made manifest in the life of a man who was so dedicated, and faced all of these difficulties, and came to the moment of execution, with such a prayer upon his lips—and within two years that prayer was answered, in 1538, and those who had been his enemies, who had sought his life for so long, who had made his life a miserable thing for over fifteen years, while he sought to translate the Bible and get it printed, to find a printer who would risk his life to do the job, were won over and were no longer enemies to that which he had sought to achieve. To my mind, this is one of the most remarkable illustrations in all history, of the results of a true dedication to a noble purpose, and to the Spirit of our LORD and KING, and to a man who, having been so persecuted for so long, and finally brought to an unjust trial and condemned to death, could manifest the same Spirit which our KING expressed, and pray that the eyes of the King of England should be opened.
Is it not possible that we should express a spirit of forgiveness toward the enemies who seek to crucify the things of God on earth, and pray that their eyes may be opened? On a certain occasion, the KING of Heaven and Earth was outlining the policies of His Kingdom, His Kingdom that was to extend into the earth, and we have been called to share the work of extending that Kingdom; and we are indebted to this man who defied the laws of England, and the King of England and his Majesty’s officers of the law, to undertake to translate the Bible into English. It was seventy-five years later, after the Bible became legally acceptable in English, that this version that I hold here, the King James version, was begun—the work of translation and printing—and we have the privilege of freely owning a Bible and studying it. There are parts of the world where it is not so easily done. But here we have a statement of policy with respect to the Kingdom. (Matthew 5:43-48)
“Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.”
We have touched upon the basic Secrets of Being—the basic principles by which life may be made meaningful on earth—and this is one of those basic Secrets of Being which the Master presented and exemplified. It is a statement of the policy of the Kingdom of God on earth, and of the citizens of that Kingdom. On this day in which man remembers the atrocities which man dealt out to the KING of Heaven and Earth, can we do more than to allow this policy to have a deeper significance in our own lives, a deeper meaning, a deeper power of control? You may say, “But I have accepted this policy of the Kingdom.” You may say that you seek to live by it, and I do not question but what you do, to a considerable degree. But in the lives of those who have so functioned that there was no resentment, even for a moment, when the pattern of expression in life was governed in the absolute sense by this policy, have been those who have made their mark in the world: to nullify and bring to nought man’s effort to crucify God and the things of God. Once we begin to see that it was on the basis of actually living according to this policy of the Kingdom that it was made possible for the Master’s Spirit to continue to exert an influence down through the centuries to our present day; once we begin to see that this is a policy of strength and of courage, of assurance and of power; once we begin to see that man is still in self-activity seeking to crucify the things of God, and we have a part to play in nullifying those efforts, in bringing them to nought, we can begin to be instruments through which that Spirit, which extends through the centuries to this hour, may find more effective manifestation on earth.
Blessed Ones. In that day, there were those who had a short time before cried, “Hosanna to the King.” But when Pilate asked the question, “What would ye have me do?” they cried, “Crucify him.” No voices were raised in protest. No voices were raised to stand with Him. That tendency still remains in humanity. They cried, “Release unto us Barabbas.” A man who was a robber and a murderer—they were willing for him to go free, willing for the symbol of man’s self-activity to remain free. But the symbol of freedom in the Kingdom of God was to be crucified. How do we stand, when heavenly things are being crucified? What is our attitude? To remain still, and out of sight, and let the processes of crucifixion carry on unopposed? Such a cowardly attitude is based in fear—if there was not fear and resentment, there would be willingness to stand on a clear pattern of principle, a clear pattern of individual and collective attitude; not in the sense of condemning, but in the sense of being a means by which the processes of crucifixion may be opposed.
The Spirit made manifest through our Master has opposed that process of crucifixion down through the centuries, and it has gotten through to man because He said, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do; to love your enemies; bless them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you—to what end: that you may be the children of your Father which is in Heaven, right here on earth. If we would learn the lessons of the cross, if we would begin to be meaningful in that Ministry to which we are called, this is the key: Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.
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The peace of our LORD Jesus Christ be in you and find expression through you now and always, that in life on earth you may reveal yourself to be a citizen of the Kingdom of our KING, carrying the Spirit and the Power and the Authority of our KING into the expression of life here on earth. So be it in His Holy Name, now and always.
