Letting The Father Live On Earth
Martin Exeter March 18, 1984 a.m.
There are two wonders, which have been a source of amazement to me over the years. One wonder is in heaven, the other on earth. The wonder in heaven centers in the fact of the truth, so clearly stated in the English language, contained in the King James version of the Bible. The statement occurs in many places, but the particular one I have in mind this morning is contained in the 14th chapter of the Gospel according to John. These words are available to anyone who speaks the English language, and in view of the fact that the Bible has been translated into virtually every language on the face of the earth it is presumably available therefore to all people everywhere. This availability is because the Bible is so widely distributed, and not particularly because of missionary activity, although this activity conveyed the Bible to many places and consequently to many people. What a wonder it is that there should be such an accurate statement of the truth as is contained, for instance, in the 14th chapter of the Gospel according to John. It has come to us out of the past, it has been translated for our benefit. But there, amazingly, is this straightforward and very accurate statement of the truth.
The other wonder, the wonder on earth, is that in spite of this massive availability scarcely anyone has understood it. There have been interpretations made, composing the doctrines of what is called Christianity. These interpretations have done little more than obscure the truth, in spite of the fact of the wonder in heaven: the accurate, straightforward statement of the truth. You have come to know something of this truth and have a certain understanding, which I suppose is also a wonder on earth, so that if I read, as I propose to do, a portion of this chapter, you will share with me this understanding, so that the way it had been translated—and still is in most human consciousnesses—may fade into oblivion and the truth as it is be stated and understood.
“Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know. Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way? Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.
“Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works’ sake. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.”
Jesus referred to Himself as the Son: the Son of Man, the Son of God, the only begotten Son. From what has been stated in these words which I have read, it is evident that the Son is the Father living on earth. There was indication that in this instance the One called Jesus was about to depart; He was about to make space for the manifestation of the Son, who is the Father living on earth through those who believed His words. How much belief would you say there has been in those words and in the One who spoke them? The evidence would indicate that there has been virtually none. The apparent foundation for what is called Christianity is based in the idea of belief, but what is the fact? The belief has been in certain ideas and doctrines promulgated by the Church, but what about the fact of belief in Jesus, the fact of belief in the Son, the fact of belief in the Son being the Father living on earth?
That is exactly what was here stated. “Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip?”—known the Son being the Father living on earth? “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father? ... Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.” I make space for the Son. As an individual, Jesus revealed the truth that the Son is the Father living on earth. Now space has been made so that that revelation may not alone be an individual one but a collective one, because each individual assumes exactly the same responsibility as was assumed by Jesus.
We speak of the man as having been called Jesus. What’s your name? We each have a name; we would probably call it a legal name. It could have been said that Jesus was the legal name of a person. This person is not the only one who has ever been called Jesus, and I suspect that there are others also called by your name. This wasn’t exactly the point. Here was a legal entity. It could be said of all of us sitting here that we are legal entities in this world; we have our birth certificates to prove it. It isn’t this legal entity, however, which carries the real value and importance. The legal entity isn’t the real person; it’s a make-believe person, one might say. Human beings look at each other and wonder, and they look at themselves in the mirror and wonder, who this legal entity really is. There is no substance at all to this legal entity—as seems to be proven out rather regularly in every generation—but there is substance to the one who is referred to as the Son, the Son who is the Father living on earth, when that is the case. Then there is someone there.
Now we have an awareness of these things that we might accept the true belief: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father,” thereby making space for the manifestation of the Son. The Son is not just one individual; the Son is much larger than that. Would it be conceivable that one individual could be, in total expression, the Father on earth? Jesus simply revealed what human responsibility is, and He removed Himself so that there would be space for this to be proven out, that the Son might be on earth and the Son is the Father living on earth. This is the reason for the existence of mankind—the only reason, the only excuse one might say, that human beings have for living on earth. If any other justification for being on earth is claimed, it is a lie. And which of those who are here present in this Chapel today, this morning, have and perhaps still do claim an existence other than that? Anyone who does that will prove out that there is no such existence.
There is only one life, and one must be a part of that one life in expression to know it. If one excludes it from one’s own experience, then pretty soon there is no existence. There is no existence outside of the Son. Mankind has, individually speaking, insisted upon being outside of the experience of the Son, thereby excluding themselves from that experience. And there isn’t any other; it’s a total blank otherwise. Who amongst us would be so foolish, understanding in whatever measure these things, as to exclude him-or herself from the only reason for existence? Surely we are more intelligent than that. The Son is the Father living on earth. The acceptance of the Son, that particular focus which came to point in the One called Jesus, requires that one be, in expression, the Father. Here is the source, one might say, the source for all existence, including human existence. Reject that source and there is no existence. Accept that source in actual experience and that is belief.
Belief, as it has been promulgated in the religious sense, maintains a separation between man and God. This seems to be something of an indictment upon religion in general and the Christian religion in particular, for this separation has been deliberately maintained. And this is the reason why there has been virtually no understanding of the truth that is plainly stated in the words which I have read from this remarkable book. It is something of a miracle, isn’t it, that these things should be available to everybody—not just available to us but to everybody and, in these days, in their own language. Should there be a willingness on the part of anyone to understand these words, I am sure that would suffice.
Philip thought what Jesus was offering was insufficient, and this is the belief that virtually everyone else has had. Instead of accepting what He said, doctrines have been invented to avoid accepting what He said, and so it has been, evidently, quite insufficient insofar as human experience is concerned. Because of this, of course, the sufficiency had to be directed toward the idea of some sort of life after death, which was going somehow to make up for all the misery while we were here. But the misery while we were here has been self-created anyway. Perhaps we have awakened to that fact and have been willing to accept responsibility for it, saying of our circumstances, “I did it; I produced the mess, the confusion, the tribulation. Of course I tried very hard to produce a little that was pleasing to me, and succeeded now and again for a little while.” But it is all worthless, all meaningless, all empty, all valueless. Only the life of the Father on earth has meaning. To exclude that is to become increasingly meaningless.
Above all people, we have had greater opportunity, probably, to experience meaning than any others. We could only avoid meaning by our own deliberate refusal to accept it. So we presumably have accepted at least some meaning, and at times we have a very keen sense of that meaning. At other times we may feel that we have been misunderstood by our fellows. If you feel that way, you certainly have been misunderstood by yourself. It isn’t a matter of what our fellows do anyway, not at all. Feeling misunderstood, of course there are those who then seek understanding from others: “I’m looking for someone to understand me.” Well as rather a young child I suppose that’s all right. There is a process, a creative process, obviously needful to come out of the meaningless state into the meaningful state; and one has to start where one is, in the state of more or less meaninglessness. To come out of that, of course one has to admit that one’s state is more or less meaningless. Perhaps we’ve had sufficient backbone to do that at some point; but there was the inclination to drag along some of the things which sustain meaninglessness, some of the defilements and abominations and lies, which characterize the meaningless state. And so a person, dragging those things along, says, "I need someone to understand me, to understand why I’m this miserable character and excuse me for it and make me feel better because I have agreement from another miserable character.”
The Son is the Father living on earth, the heavenly Father; that is, the Son of God is the heavenly Father living on earth. At the same time He is the Son of Man. We have our essential physical forms, our minds and our hearts, our facilities of consciousness, to allow the experience of the Father living on earth to be known. But, as in other places in this same collection of books, it was indicated by Jesus Himself that there was another father, I suppose you could say the earthly father rather than the heavenly Father. The earthly father was called the devil, for sake of a name, and human beings have brought forth in their living what was characteristic of the particular father that was accepted into expression. It was usually the earthly one, the devil himself. The devil is always conceived as being evil, a bad fellow. He doesn’t always appear that way though; he dresses up in garments of light at times. We have the good people and the bad people. The bad people are usually over there somewhere; the good people are where we are, except when we come down to personalities of course. But the good and the bad are the evidence of the wrong father, the father who is earthly in nature rather than heavenly. And there is a son there of course too: the son of perdition. The son of perdition is the evidence of the father springing out of the earth, the qualities and characteristics of human nature; and people display these very widely. They think they are justified in doing so; it’s a natural thing, they imagine. It isn’t natural; it’s familiar. So there is a father, whether heavenly or earthly, and there is a son, whether of God or of perdition.
Our concern simply is to participate in what is here revealed in the words which I read, so that the works that are needful may be done, the works which are the evidence of the life of the Father on earth. And if there are increasing numbers of people who are participating in this process, then the works become greater and greater, presumably. One man could only do so much. He could only do, in this instance, the essences of what was required, the essences which have been virtually incomprehensible to most people. This is why all these doctrines have been invented. But the essences only begin to become comprehensible as they are differentiated. As we do it, let it happen, then we know what they are. If we don’t let it happen, we don’t. So we are in the business of letting it happen, of doing what we are here on earth to do, and we become increasingly aware of the fact that we are indeed those who have been sent into the earth to do this. This becomes increasingly our consciousness of ourselves. The consciousness that we have had of ourselves heretofore has been of rather ineffective human beings. Perhaps sometimes through a great deal of effort we may have developed some expertise or other, and because of that expertise someone else may say, “Oh aren’t you wonderful that you can do this.” But that’s really not the wonderful thing at all. The wonderful thing is to be the Father living on earth. The evidence of that fact has been designated as the Son, the Son of God, the Son of Man.
As there is only one heavenly Father, even though that one Father may be seen as being universal, there is only one Son: one evidence of the Father living on earth. There is vast evidence of the Father living elsewhere. But on earth, this is our responsibility, to let this living be known. And we can’t have it both ways; we can’t bring our baggage with us, the defilements and the abominations and the lies. The eye of the needle is very real; there is no space for those things. If we hang onto those things, then we find ourselves disintegrating with them. And, you know, most people imagine that they enjoy some of the defilement and some of the abominations and some of the lies. How often do you think some obvious lie is required of you? It would be very, very uncomfortable not to lie in certain instances, wouldn’t it?
We are not thinking of lies so much in those human terms as in terms of something which is not the truth in expression, the truth of being, the truth of the Father, the truth of what we really are. But what happens when this truth finds expression, when the Son is present on earth and the Father is revealed in living? What has been called resurrection occurs. We’ve spoken of this in the collective sense as restoration, without really understanding what that might mean, because it is a transcendent experience that has never been known. How could anyone know what it is? This is why there has been so much theorizing about the resurrection of Jesus. What could it have been? People invent theories to explain it in one way or another, or you accept it on faith somehow as being true. But what is it? What was it? What is it now? What is it insofar as our present experience is concerned? Let’s find out!
We will never find out by theorizing about it. We only find out by being it, by being the Father living on earth; and that requires quality, doesn’t it? “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” Be that! And yet there is hesitation, isn’t there? “Oh, how could I be that? I have all these human nature traits still, plaguing me.” Why do they plague you? Because you hold onto them, because you keep expressing them, because you let them live in you. That’s the wrong father, isn’t it? When we stop letting them live in us, they are gone! It’s not a great, long-drawn-out process in actual fact. Once we reach the point of having a certain level of understanding, once we emerge out of the childish state—and even out of the adolescent state, hopefully—to experience some measure of maturity, then there is no reason anymore to allow these things to live through us.
The things that defile, work abomination and make lies—there is no necessity for that. We don’t have to get hold of someone who is going to understand us in our insistence upon maintaining defilement, abominations and lies. We don’t need any understanding on that score at all. If you are still looking for understanding from someone, you are looking for an excuse for being involved in the state of the son of perdition, someone to justify you in that state. This may not have been true in the initial stages of movement out of the human nature condition, but somewhere along the way we take responsibility for ourselves and there is no idea at all that anyone should understand “me.” One must understand oneself; you don’t want anyone; you don’t need anyone. You know yourself when you are the Father living on earth; then you know yourself. You don’t need anyone to explain it to you. You only need someone to explain things to you because you are maintaining a state of defilement, abomination and lies. Then you are in a state of confusion and you need someone to come along and explain it all. No one can explain it; it’s completely nonsensical. Let it go. Let it pass away, that the Father may live on earth in the Son, because the Son is present, letting it happen. Do you expect the Son to come wafting down from someplace else? The Son is here!
We are all included in that state if we are willing to accept it Accepting it is believing in it. That is the nature of belief, according to the statements that were made by Jesus. Accept the truth! Don’t try to get someone to explain all the lies. This is the human approach, isn’t it, always: to try to explain why things went wrong. Well we know why things go wrong. Let’s let them go right. Let the Father live on earth and they go right, and everything that occurs thereafter is part of the process of resurrection. If we want understanding, we can understand that; and it’s not a personal, self-centered thing at all.
So we share this mature responsibility of letting the Father live on earth. But we’re not trying to let the Father live on earth through somebody else—how could we?—or through some remarkable collective body. I must do it; I must let it be. And when there are sufficient “I’s” doing this, the “I’s” have it!—and the Father is living on earth in the Son, collectively speaking. It’s a very natural, easy thing. The yoke is easy, the burden is light. Who would set that on the side and reaccept the tribulations which are the common lot, they say, of human experience? Rise up (that’s resurrection, isn’t it?), rise up, the Father is living on earth—and each one may say this—because of me!
Ginny Hogan — Martin, I know that I say that: The Father lives on earth because of me; and we each say that in our living. And there is a wonder in this moment, experiencing this with you; no separation. The differentiation of spirit is not a separation. And the wonder on earth is being with you and honoring our Father, and our Mother, our true Father and Mother, because this is our expression in living. It’s a joy to be with you.
Lord Exeter — There is a third wonder on earth then!—a wonder which we are all invited to share. We may know the wonder of these words and we may know something of the wonder of the ability of human beings not to understand them. But we also may know the wonder of the experience of them in ourselves, not only while we are here together in the Chapel but while we live. We’re not going to stop living, I trust, when we get outside the Chapel. There is no break, rightly; there is no distinction of the quality of living. If there is, seemingly, a distinction between what is experienced when we have the opportunity of being very specifically together in the spirit and what we experience when we are on our own, so to speak—or as we think of it, on our own; we’re never really on our own—then we’re not living, certainly not letting the Father live on earth. But we are here present for that purpose.
© Emissaries of Divine Light
