The Body of the Son Lives!
Martin Exeter July 31, 1983 am
Death has not been a stranger to us, in the field of observation at least. From the human standpoint I suppose it might be said that nobody really knows what it is until they have the experience, as with anything else. However, this is only one side of the coin, because the one who is incarnate, the one whom we are learning to realize is the truth of what we are, individually speaking, has certainly had the opportunity of incarnation on earth over the ages, and therefore the opportunity through the particular physical form to experience what death is. From that standpoint, then, we already know. It is not something fresh with which we must become acquainted. Let's look at it from that standpoint then. I recall a statement that was made in one of Paul's epistles, I Corinthians, Chapter 15, verse 55. It's a rhetorical question: “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?”
Death is an individual phenomenon. We have come to a greater understanding of what occurs, and consequently—even though it may be somewhat theoretical yet—it is not seen as being any great big deal. Humanly speaking we have, without knowing it as a general rule, experienced death many times. Where is that baby that you were? Dead and buried, I trust! And so we might follow it down through the years. But we are here right now, alive, in spite of all the deaths that have occurred. So we do know something about it, humanly speaking, and I don't think anyone would make a great deal of it. Probably a person was quite happy to move out of childhood into adolescence, and out of adolescence into adulthood—no big deal. Some people are inclined to make it a big deal, but it is the natural unfolding process, isn't it? But the death of the physical form in its final occurrence is looked upon usually as rather a big deal.
It is an individual matter. I wouldn't venture to guess how many individuals have experienced it thus far, but plenty. We see this individual matter really as a blessing; it would be terrible if the world was filled with decrepit human bodies still slightly alive. We are aware of the reason why death as we now know it came into the experience of humanity. It isn't the true process for Man, made in the image and likeness of God. I don't think God dies periodically. It is an individual phenomenon consequent upon not only a failure somewhere back along the way on the part of the human beings that then lived, but a failure of every generation since. Of course we have a background of precedent now, which presumably gives us good justification for dying, and everybody claims that justification—and does it sooner or later.
We might also recognize that mankind as such, collectively, still lives. Yet the state in which mankind now exists is the same state in which the individuals that compose that body exist. Mankind must die, just as it has been the fact for every individual who has lived since this state has been known. The eating of the forbidden fruit is fatal, in spite of the idea which still percolates in human consciousness that, “Ye shall not surely die”—there must be some way we can find not to do it. But the fact of the matter is, there ain't no way! So logically it may easily be seen that mankind must die. Individuals over the ages have been proving that this was inevitable, generation after generation. And it applies, then, to all collectively, because mankind's existence is in this same condition, this same state of eating of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It is presumed these days that we have a lot more knowledge, so that we are in better position to determine what is good and what is evil.
Knowledge has become a substitute, of course, for the spirit of God, a substitute produced by human beings in this fatal condition. And it preserves the fatal condition, individually and collectively. But the axe must fall for mankind somewhere along the road. We can see these days how it easily might, but it hasn't happened collectively yet. But we may be sure it will. Is this a fatalistic approach? “What about God? Isn't He going to do His magic trick and save the human race?” Well He has certainly set up the scenario by which salvation is possible, but salvation is impossible as long as the forbidden fruit is being eaten. As long as there is judgment, blame, condemnation, criticism, justified and maintained in the body of mankind, there is no hope for the body of mankind, there is no hope for the individual. Because this has been done the example has been provided, generation after generation, of people dying.
How is this salvation made possible? Do you suppose that the whole of the collective body of mankind is suddenly going to come to its senses and stop this silly business of eating of the forbidden fruit? I think there would be an inclination to say that that is totally out of the question. But we ourselves, strangely enough—and some may question why us—have come to the awareness of what it is that makes sure of the elimination of the human race on earth. We may see it, to start with, in personal terms. We may recognize it as having continuously been the fact in individual human experience for as long as human memory goes back—which isn't very far, by the way. But there is something available—a body which lives. This is not the body of mankind certainly, because that is condemned, isn't it? It's been eating of the forbidden fruit—death sooner or later! But there is a body which could be called the body of the Son of God.
There was indeed One, who landed up in the tomb. That is supposed to be a fatal condition, but that body did not remain in the tomb. It came forth into the Garden, where the tomb was located. Here is symbolic representation of something; but it was not only symbolic, it was factual. At that point, certainly, the body of mankind did not come forth from the tomb, the tomb being the dwelling place of the human race. Perhaps that might be thought of as the earth. It was not really the earth; it is what human beings have made of it in their own consciousness, in their own attitudes, in their own attitudes of judgment, criticism and blame particularly. This has produced what is reflected back to everyone and therefore seems to provide justification for more blame, judgment and criticism. And so the vicious circle goes around and around until it's through. But there was this One who has been identified as the Son of God.
The world certainly is a tomb, the world in which human beings exist. There is no awareness of why they exist, what they are doing here. There is a coma state, isn't there, a state of unconsciousness, unconscious of the truth. And that is the tomb condition, which ends in death. Seeing that everybody got caught in that condition, it is most important that a way should be opened out of it. And this was doneby the One called Jesus. He was in the tomb state, the coma state, in darkness—as all human beings are—with stone walls all around apparently; no way of getting out. Death is sure. But wonder of wonders, this particular form came forth from the tomb, came forth into the Garden on earth.
The conditions that we find in the world now, and as they have been over the ages, have been such that they enabled the continued presence of mankind. Nobody can deny that, can they? We are all here. There may have been awful cataclysmic events and everything else back along the way, but there was survival. Survival has been possible under the conditions in which we find ourselves now—all this for man's sake—not to punish him but to provide a setting in which he could survive collectively. It has been proven out that he could not survive individually, but he can survive collectively, up to this point at least. So something had to be done to make possible the emergence of a collective body of human beings out of the body of humanity, which was capable of surviving in conditions as they now are but would restore the conditions which prevailed for Man, made in the image and likeness of God, in the first instance. I am not saying they should be exactly the same conditions, but the same factors would have to be present. Man the way he is now could not survive in those conditions. For his sake conditions are the way they are, so that the life of mankind might continue up till this present time. That is as far as it has gone. I am certainly not here to predict what is going to happen tomorrow, but we can accept responsibility at this present time.
There is another body, called the body of the Son of God. There was that body that came out of the tomb state—the tomb state which is the present state of mankind, the state in which mankind's existence could continue—out of that state into the state describable as a Garden. Here the matter comes to point in the body of the Son of God, not in the body of mankind. The body of mankind eats of the forbidden fruit and passes away, for sure. The body of the Son of God is the body of the Son of God because those who compose that body have ceased eating of the forbidden fruit. That is the distinction. No more judgment, no more criticism, no more seizing upon justifications for it. Praise the Lord we have had the opportunity to begin to see these things. The vast majority of people on the face of the earth have never seen them. Should we expect, then, that they do something about it? No, it is up to us presumably. So there is the necessity of allowing this body, which was initiated quite a while back by one person—one cell, so to speak—to expand, grow, mature into a functional body. One cell certainly was not enough. It was simply the starting point for the body.
But the body of the Son of God starts off in the tomb with everybody else, and without concern individually for some sort of anticipated personal resurrection; in other words, without any more self-centeredness. The individuals who compose this body assume responsibility for letting the body grow. It is this body of the Son of God that experiences what was called the resurrection. If the individuals who are letting themselves be associated with the forming of this body assume that this means that they personally are going to be resurrected they are back in the old state of judging, aren't they? Even when it comes to the formation of the body of the Son of God this attitude is taken too: “This is going to be good for me,” when all that is really of concern is that there should be the body of the Son of God. Whether it happens to include one's own particular cell or not all the way through is beside the point, as long as the body is present. So there is a cessation of judgment, rightly, and of self-centeredness. It is this body of the Son of God that experiences the resurrection. Obviously some individuals experience it with the body; there wouldn't be any body if there weren't any individuals. But who is to say which ones? Let's not pat ourselves on the back and say, “Ha! I've got it made; I've been an Emissary for years.” Well other people have been other things for years too. The question is as to what is right, what is fitting, what is necessary, for the growth, the purification, of the composition of the body, for the body's sake.
Mankind is condemned to death. There are two ways for mankind to pass away. One is to blow itself up, or whatever other method may be suitable at the time. Or all the cells that compose that body could move over into the body of the Son of God. We may be inclined to feel, to sense a little, that not everybody will do that. However, let's not judge! Certainly let's not judge, individually speaking, this cell or that cell, this human being or that one. So the way is open for mankind to pass away in easy fashion, or to go out in—I wouldn't say a blaze of glory; a nuclear holocaust, maybe. That's quite a blaze.
What is it that has stopped the body of the Son of God from forming and ultimately from coming forth from the tomb? There has been a rather solid rock over the mouth of the tomb. From inside it all looks the same—rock all around, overhead and down below. No way out. We have all heard of the flaming sword which was put in place when mankind removed itself from the Garden—a flaming sword which says, in effect, thus far and no further. It is interesting that this flaming sword has come out into form on earth in these days as nuclear armaments, to which a lot of people object. But a lot of people—all of them in fact—produced them in the first place. As is customary, of course, somebody else is blamed for it. But one did it all by oneself. One is concerned to allow the body of the Son of God to be a reality on earth because one plays one's essential part in it. One cannot play one's essential part as long as one is accusing and judging and blaming and all the rest. So we stand back from that and allow our understanding to expand, so that perhaps we may see this nuclear threat in terms of the flaming sword. It is saying to mankind, “Thus far and no further.” It is in the process of stopping human beings in their tracks; they cannot go on the way they have been going, because it is absolutely sure that the flaming sword will come into action. That is one way of looking at the flaming sword, because it does say to everybody, “Thus far and no further; you cannot get into heaven, into the Garden, this way. It is impossible. You cannot have heaven on earth this way, because factually it will become a tomb. And it will prove out, if you keep going in that way, that that is all it is—a tomb.” So these things are being made plain to those who are awakening to see the truth of the matter.
There is another way of looking at this flaming sword too—a more heavenly way of looking at it. Day by day you can look up—you can see the sun up there. At least you think you do! You see the disk. What is the sun? Oh there is a certain amount of scientific explanation as to what is behind the disk, the temperature and all the rest, the nuclear fusion and whatever it is that is supposed to be going on in the sun. It is all speculation; it does not really penetrate to the truth at all. Why? Because the flaming sword is there. You cannot get past that appearance; you cannot penetrate into the sun. Anybody knows that if you penetrate into the sun your physical form would instantly be burned to a cinder. So it is reasonable to stay out here on the planet. There is something of which we have become aware, and have identified it as the body of the Son of God, which lives. It is our concern to provide the flesh material of this body so that it may be the body of the Son of God.
Do you remember these words? “I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.” This is a truth that most people have never acknowledged: “Without me ye can do nothing.” Outside of the body of the Son of God ye can do nothing. And nothing is the end result of anything that you try to do. Nothing has something to do with death as human beings know it. The truth has been available to everyone for a long, long time, but human beings in general, ourselves included, have been inclined to think that we know better, that we can condemn and judge and dislike and all the rest of it with impunity. Well it is not a matter of evading punishment but, from our standpoint, a matter of letting the body of the Son of God take form because there is yielded flesh, yielded to the truth instead of the tomb state. It is a stinking state, rotting flesh; yet we have become so accustomed to the stench that we don't even smell it anymore. We are beginning to awaken to the sweet aroma of living flesh. The decay becomes obvious and is certainly seen as not rightly being the experience of mankind.
So there is the matter in the tomb of rising up, on the one hand. But we see this in two ways, to start with at least: rising up in heart and in mind, this on the one hand, and the spirit descending on the other. You may recall something of an occasion when the Master was being baptized, according to the story, by John the Baptist. The heavens opened and the spirit of God descended as a dove, as it was put: something rising up, something descending, and meeting. That is the place of fusion, fusion in the fire, the consciousness once again of the oneness of heaven and earth to be experienced by Man—not by man, or mankind as it presently is, because such an experience would eliminate mankind, maybe by nuclear weapons. But here there is a place of fusion, and that place is at the place where the flaming sword is. Now, it might be said the veil is thinning. But what is really happening? There is a rising up into it of that composition of human beings which is capable of withstanding the increased heat. There is a gradual purification which must happen, the casting out of what does not belong, because what does not belong cannot rise up into union with the spirit of the living God. So it must be shed along the way. And we need to see what it is that needs to be shed, so that we do not inadvertently hang on to those things which prevent us from rising up. So there are many things that need to be relinquished. And as there is a rising up we find ourselves coming into the fire—we come under fire, under pressure. Let go! If you don't you will perish, in the human sense.
So there is a rising up, and there is the spirit descending. This is the baptism by fire, isn't it? The spirit was described as a dove, which I suppose relates to peace—certainly there is no belligerence involved—the still, tranquil state which is already present in spirit but hasn't been present in form. But individually speaking, our forms are being raised up toward that point of fusion. The intent is that there should be a living body remain on earth, the body of the Son of God, and that's all.
© emissaries of divine light
Enter The Garden
Don Hynes
I come to the morning
with the red glow of the sun,
pale light of the quarter moon,
blue heaven in full arc.
Glorious as the horizon,
deep as forest root,
rushing like a cataract
with original water,
I give my name to the sky,
my blessing to the earth,
love to my inheritance.
My daughters are women
my grandson a man,
my wife a rainbow.
Glory be to the Father,
the Sun and the Holy Spirit
that the Mother be safe,
Her fecundity eternal.
Angels roll back the stone
as I cast off the shroud
and leave the tomb.
Today I enter the garden.
