A Great Promise

A  Great  Promise

from  Abram

Uranda  March 30, 1953  Class

Back in that period of the dawn of history, our attention comes to focus on a man called Abraham and his particular pattern of response, the things that began to work out in his life. The very mention of the name Abraham should remind you instantly of Melchizedek—Melchizedek, King of Salem—Prince of Peace.

The beginning pattern, initiated by Melchizedek, who according to the record was not as a man born—he was without beginning of years as we think of it, without end of days; the picture we have is of a Being who was not subject to birth and death or ascension, as we think of it, in relationship to this particularized pattern. And we recall that this King—the King of Salem, or Melchizedek—comes into the picture at a time when Abraham had some trouble. His brother Lot was not as responsive to the spirit of God as Abraham was, and he got into trouble. There was a raiding party, as was common in those days with respect to the various tribes that were beginning to take form, and each little group had its king, so there were all kinds of kings in those days. And one of these kings had come against Lot and carried off some of the people and the animals and goods. And the King of Salem went out to help. He cooperated with Abraham in bringing this king under control. They had a little battle, and the upshot was that the loot, or the plunder that had been taken, was restored. Now it's in that setting that we see the beginnings of this pattern.

It's interesting to note that the same cycle initiated with respect to the Orient has the same type of setting—two wholly different outworkings on the basis of the historical pattern, and with respect to the Biblical record we can see this one with respect to Abraham and Melchizedek—but, in the opening phases of the historical pattern as it relates to the Orient, we have a very similar story. And it opens in relationship to a very similar pattern of battle. If you know anything about the Bhagavad-Gita, you will appreciate what I have reference to. I am hoping to introduce you to The Song Celestial before too long. The version that we use was translated from the Sanskrit by Sir Edwin Arnold. He did a beautiful job, but just as we find is the case with respect to the Bible, so is it there—the centuries through which these records come to us, the manipulations of priesthood, etc, have obscured some of the specific meanings, some of the symbolism, some of the values, and some of them become, under this pattern, definitely misleading. So a number of years ago—just about ten, roughly speaking—I undertook to revise the significant portion of The Song Celestial, and it is that revised pattern of Sir Edwin Arnold's translation of the Bhavagad-Gita, which he called The Song Celestial, which we will use as opportunity affords.

            

But I wish to draw particularly to your attention now the fact that that story too begins on a battlefield. This story begins with Abraham, Melchizedek and Lot on a battlefield. And when we come to the story of the Bhagavad-Gita we find that there is the Blind King; there is Arjuna, who would correspond in principle to Abraham; there is Krishna, who corresponds in principle to Melchizedek. And exactly the same principles, exactly the same laws, exactly the same processes, are portrayed in these two patterns—one with the setting, as you know it with respect to Abraham, and the other far away in the Orient, where it took form in the revelation of the laws and principles of God in a completely different place and setting and yet the same kind of setting. So we begin to note such similarities and see that these two revelations of Divine Principle and Law started in each case—though so widely separated—started on a battlefield.

Now what is the case with respect to you? When you begin to move into the pattern of the Divine Design, is there one of you that could say that the story with respect to your life did not begin on a battlefield? Didn't it begin on a battlefield with you? Certainly it did. Wasn't there a blind king—your own self-active mind? Wasn't there a Lot in the lot? Certainly. There is always some kind of a battle. It has various patterns in the background of your individual lives, but there was at least an internal conflict. There was a refusal to accept the realm of limitation roundabout. There was probably in you the contest between the Abraham side of your nature and the Lot side of your nature. If you look back, the Lot side wanted to be content with things as they are, more or less, and talked about how good it was to get settled down in the right kind of a pattern. And Abraham's side was the pioneer. Just settling down here like that, just the same as everyone else is doing, just having these creature comforts—that isn't going to bring the fulfilment of life. We need to lead on out into something more wonderful; we don't know what it is yet, but we have the assurance that there will be a revelation. We will begin to find the Way, the Truth and the Life. We will begin to know where we are going, why we are here, where we came from, what our purpose is, and how to to serve—to have our lives have meaning, so that we can accomplish that for which we came into the world.

So there was the Lot side of you, to whatever degree it tended to have an influence, and there was the Abraham side of you. We could examine the same picture as it is revealed in the Bhagavad-Gita. But there is the Arjuna side of you. And just as there was the Melchizedek to reveal the way at the time of Abraham, there was a Krishna to reveal the way at the time of Arjuna. Always, whenever human beings have been ready to respond to God and let the will of God be done on earth, and they were ready to yield to the will of God, to leave behind the old patterns, always there has been provision by which the things of God might become known to those who would receive them, and we have two outstanding illustrations of this.

And if these two patterns had been allowed to work out—the one in the near East, as it extended out into the Occident, and the other in the Orient—it would not have been necessary for our Lord to come on earth. If either one of these patterns had held, if either one of them had been allowed to work out the way it should have, it would not have been necessary for the LORD of Lords and KING of Kings to come into the world and face the things He did. It was perfectly possible, it was a Divine opportunity extended to man, it was a wonderful invitation. But man didn't let it work out in either case.

And so finally there was the manifestation of the pattern, the same principles all over again, the same type of thing all over again, in what we call the New Testament story. For the land was under subjection to the Roman rule; there was the pattern of conflict and unrest; there was Herod the King; and there was Jesus Christ. Exactly the same thing in principle, in revelation, the laws of being, all over again—a different focalization of them but exactly the same laws and principles.

And outside of the particular facts with respect to the Master as a Being, did He bring into the world any truth, did He reveal to man any knowledge that had not already been offered to man? Many would be inclined to say, “Yes, He surely did,” but is it so? No. It had already been revealed to man; it was already available to man, but man wasn't taking advantage of it. He re-focalized it, revitalized it, but outside of the newness of the reality of His Own Being in manifestation on earth, and the application as it was established with respect to Himself, there was nothing new in it, because it had all been given before. And once we begin to see that and realize it—and you will see it as we go along—you begin to see that it was not God's design, it was not arbitrarily required by God that our Lord and King Himself should come into the world and face the things He did. It was unnecessary. And so, perhaps the best way to make this beginning is to actually read some of the story, let you see how it worked out.

“And Tera’n took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran his son's son, and Sarai his daughter in law, his son Abram's wife; and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan; and they came unto Haran, and dwelt there.

“Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee:

“And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:

“And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse them that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.”

One of the first things we note here is the necessity for the human capacity to accept, in relationship to oneself, a great promise. The tendency in human beings is to say, “Well, that can be for someone else, somewhere else”—but to receive for oneself a great promise? Why, what arrogance for me to even think that such a thing could be me! Now if God produced a great person over there or something, and gave us a leader, I would be happy to follow. But for me? Just to think, me? No, no, no.” But he accepted a great promise in relationship to himself. There was no outer evidence of the fulfilment of the promise but there was the willingness to do his part; not arrogance or foolhardiness—but not holding back, not refusing to have a share in God's givingness, not refusing to let himself be the means by which something could come on earth. He didn't always function in absolute perfection perhaps, but he accepted a great promise in relationship to himself, when everything made it look as if he was simply having a pipe dream. It was ridiculous; it was fanciful.

It takes a greatness inside, for a human being to accept a great promise in relationship to himself without becoming egotistical, arrogant and self-active on the one hand, or without rejecting it in a false pattern of humility on the other hand. There's the Central Way. Most people reject the blessings of God because they are so humble. Humility is necessary, true humility—but the false pattern of humility has been used by the adversary to defeat many, many people. Oh, it's necessary to be humble before God, yes. But a false pattern of humility has made so many people refuse to accept the great promises in relationship to themselves. And what did Abram start with but a promise? What was there in the pattern round about him, in the uncertainties of the world at that time, the tribal feuds and all the rest of it? What kind of character, what kind of capacity, what kind of a quality would that be? Something quite remarkable, don't you think? that under those circumstances a man had the capacity to accept a great promise in relationship to himself when there was no outer evidence to indicate that he was doing anything but having a foolish dream. It looked like everything was against him. But that is the spirit of the true pioneer, and the quality of a man or a woman who will dare to accept a great promise as having meaning to himself or herself. It's easy enough to set it aside. It's easy enough to spoil it with arrogance, egotism, on the one hand, or to reject it in the false pattern of humility. So few there have been in the world who had what it took to walk in the Central Way, to be balanced. Because if you do walk in that Central Way, there will be those who will take the attitude that you are arrogant, that you are an egotist..

How often I have been classified as an egotist because I refused to relinquish the position that I have a Mission on earth, I have a message to give, I have a purpose, something that is important to the whole of humanity. How often I have been called egotistical because, in the false pattern of humility, I wouldn't deny the Commission. When I received that Commission was there any outer evidence that we'd ever reach a point where I would have the privilege of standing here talking to you? The extent to which that has reached out into the world already means something. And we share it. But it takes that something that causes an individual to accept a great promise as having meaning in relationship to himself in actual fact, so that he is ready to act upon it. Not just to say, “Well now. I'll wait and see if such-and-such a thing works out or someday perhaps, somehow,” but to act upon it when from every outer standpoint it appears that you are just plain fanciful, ridiculous—to dare to do in the face of that type of situation.

The Lord told him—Get thee out of thy country. “Get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred and from thy father's house.” Now for anyone who is going to amount to anything on earth, that's the finest advice that can be given, whether to Abram or somebody else. It was the advice the Lord gave. And anyone who wants to really serve God on earth had better do it, because as long as one stays in the pattern of kinfolk, as ordinarily established, he will become subject to the old patterns, the old situations. Of course sometimes you can take mother and dad along. I managed that for Kathy's sake, but it was quite a struggle! Kathy: “And you finally won!” [Great laughter from Uranda.]

“Get thee out of thy country.” That doesn't necessarily mean that you have to move from the United States to Canada, or somewhere. But you have to make a change. You're not going to do it in the old pattern because, well, it would just be asking too much. You've got to dare to make a move. “Get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred and from thy father's house.” Now there is instruction that applies to any man or woman who finds himself stirred of the spirit of God out there in the world. And it is our business to help establish a place to which those aspiring souls may come and turn, that they may not just go wandering through the patterns of life seeking and never finding. But there are many of all ages out there in the world pattern today who are hearing that call. Some of them are beginning to act upon it. Some of them are just getting conditioned to the idea. But they are ready to come and be with us, not necessarily geographically, but from the standpoint of sharing in the working of God's Plan on earth. And so the word today, just as surely as it was then, the Word the Lord if you please, is “Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee.” That is a promise to you. You have accepted it or you wouldn’t be here. For some of you it was a little difficult perhaps, and for some of you not so difficult—but if you hadn't been ready and willing!

“And I will make of thee a great nation.” Now that doesn't necessarily have to mean that you will have to be the original parent that produces a great nation after so many generations—No! That is more or less the way it worked out with Abram, but we are not Abram. We are ourselves, right here. “And I will make of thee a great nation.” All of those who so respond, who are willing to dare to move out of old patterns and into the new, whoever they are, wherever they are, “I will make of thee a nation,” and that promise applies for us today and the people who awakening, just as surely as it did to Abram. And what does He say “And I will bless thee.” Not perhaps—I will. Once we begin to move in that pattern, as you have done or you wouldn't be here, once you begin to share, in a true sense, that Divine outworking—“I will bless thee.”

Of course, you have to learn how to receive the blessing. And it is the thing you have to learn how to help others learn, because human beings simply do not know how to receive the blessings of the Lord, and that is the difficulty. So when you learn to receive them, and you can inspire others to receive those blessings, you are serving. And those who are responding to that call, which is sounding in the world today as surely as it did at the time of Abram, begin to see the pattern of service to the Glory of God and the blessing of the children of men to which you are called. So few? Yes. But as we hold it steady and do our part it will open, and there are many who are ready to become a part of this Great Nation. Not a great nation in the sense of entering into competition with the United States or Canada or Great Britain or someone else, no. A Great Nation in the sense of a body of human beings who are willing to serve God on earth, to let the will of God be done on earth as it is in heaven. “And I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing.” Now, when you are blessed, you are supposed to become a blessing. What did the Master say? “He that would be great among you, let him be the servant of all”—the same principle exactly that God had expounded to Abram way back there, the same principle. “And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.”

My question is, today: Are you man enough, are you woman enough, to receive that promise in relationship to yourself, in this day, in this time, in this hour? Because it is offered to you just as surely as it was offered to Abram. It may not look like you can do anything about it, but how about accepting a Great Promise in relationship to youself, in this hour? This promise: that you shall be blessed and that you may be a blessing to others; that you may let this have meaning in your life, now. Because if it was of any value at the time of Abram, as he was then known, it is of value to you in this moment. And it applies to you just as surely as to Abram, if you will let yourself do your part in this moment, in this hour, in relationship to this Cycle of the Divine Plan. Because it's the same promise today as it was then, for the same purpose. It is not a changed pattern. Oh, it may manifest differently, yes, but just the same laws, the same promise, the same principles, the same God, all for the same purpose. And we are the ones who are on earth and have a chance to take a look at it. Are you man enough, woman enough, to receive a Great Promise from God Himself to you, now? That is the question.

© emissaries of divine light