The Sign Of The Times

The  Sign  Of  The  Times

Martin Exeter   April 19, 1987

We are here to participate in heavenly action, and that is describable by the word radiation. There is one central and primary sign of the times which has not been recognized, let alone acknowledged, by the population of mankind in general. We know something about it because of our own personal experience. It might be described as the Sign of the Son of Man in Heaven. The Son of Man is the sign, and that sign is in heaven. Human beings are aware of many things in the earth but virtually nothing in the true heaven. Consequently there is no awareness, really at all, in the consciousness of mankind of the Son of Man in heaven. That awareness shall come.

The Son of Man is the Body of the Son of God, the Body of which we have some immediate experience. The experience of the Son of Man is only known in heaven. The fact that it is present on earth is easily recognized, but the reality of it is in heaven. We only know the Son of Man to the extent that we ourselves abide in heaven, then there may be an awareness, certainly, of integrating and disintegrating cycles in the earth. These are of no great concern, because they simply result from the working of the creative process as it emerges out of heaven. If we have become involved with the integration and disintegration that is going on, then we have left heaven and have consequently left the Body of the Son of God, which abides in heaven. So we are, I trust, learning to abide in heaven. The extent to which we abide in heaven is the extent to which what is describable by the word resurrection has taken place—taken place in the individual sense and therefore in the collective sense. The important aspect of that is the collective sense, for that is the Body of the Son of God rising up into life. The life that is known is the heavenly life.

The sign of the Son of Man in heaven. We’re not looking for that sign. We accept the responsibility for it, that the Son of Man may be in heaven insofar as we are concerned—an individual matter, and a collective matter in consequence. For the Son of Man to be in heaven there is necessarily a rising up required, resurrection, a process which occurs within the human-nature world, the darkness of the tomb. It occurs there initially. [greatcosmicstory.blogspot.com/2021/02/come-out-of-hiding.html] The grave-clothes, well named, must be set aside, neatly folded and put away—the grave-clothes of self-centeredness, recognized for what they are; not ripped to shreds but folded and put aside, no longer having any meaning, because life comes again into this Body of the Son of God. We know from our own experience that all that is happening in the creative process must necessarily occur in the darkness of the tomb. Here we are in the human world and, unlike some, we do not anticipate escaping into some other world which will be more pleasing and beneficial to us in the self-centered sense. No, the grave-clothes are set aside.

But we are in the tomb. The whole of mankind is in the tomb. The world in which we exist is in that darkened, rather smelly, state. It’s an interesting tomb, in a way, because it’s a noisy one. The world in which we live is full of the noise of disintegration. I suppose in the tomb, if you have an ear attuned to the disintegration that is taking place there, it would be noisy too. People talk about the silence of the tomb, but there is a process of disintegration going on, and that does not produce beautiful music. However, the sign of the Son of Man is in heaven. This can be known, and must be known, in the tomb state. It is part of the experience as the creative process moves forward.

According to the allegorical story, there was a stone over the mouth of the tomb, barring an exit into another state, which was described a little later as a Garden. That stone is still firmly placed on the mouth of the tomb in which we necessarily must live in the external sense. We might see this stone in terms of human arrogance, the arrogance which assumes still that there is some way by which human beings can turn the world around so that it may be put together again. That arrogance is still very widespread. Some are coming to the recognition that really there is nothing that can be done. But still the human attitude which insists that one must try one’s very best to accomplish something constructive and worthwhile in this disintegrating world, so that it stops disintegrating, is prevalent. As long as that arrogance remains in human attitudes, the stone remains on the mouth of the tomb and it is impossible, in any general sense, for there to be a recognition of the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. There seems to be no need for that because, humanly speaking, by exerting increased effort and gaining more knowledge, everything is going to be handled and come out all right. There is the arrogance. But there comes a day when such a stance becomes completely untenable. That is the day when the stone is rolled away from the mouth of the tomb. It isn’t here yet, is it?

So the Body of the Son of God remains in the tomb, but the Son of God is in heaven. The sign of the Son of Man is in heaven but unrecognizable in a general sense. There may be, and is these days, a little sensing that there is something with respect to this Body that means something. Nobody quite knows what it is. We know what it is if we are present in the Body, assuming the responsibility that enables that to be the case. So the sign of the Son of Man, while it is present in fact, is acknowledged by virtually no one. Those who compose the Body of the Son of God know what it is they compose; they are not looking at it. They are in heaven, no longer subject to all the vagaries of integration and disintegration, but participating in the creative process by which these things occur. But in the larger human world there is no recognition, as yet, of the sign of the Son of Man in heaven.

This is not to try to make anyone see that the Son of Man is in heaven, in front of their eyes, but to be the Son of Man in heaven in front of their eyes. That’s all. It isn’t something that anyone could explain and cause it to be understandable and acceptable, but the fact can be understandable and acceptable. That fact comes into the consciousness of people as the Son of Man in heaven is present and as there is a yielding in mind and heart to what is available by reason of the fact that the Son of Man is present. Our concern is that the Son of Man in heaven should be present—that’s all. We can’t make anyone see it. But those with eyes will see and with ears will hear, and there are undoubtedly some. The primary concern from our standpoint is to make very sure that the Son of Man is in heaven. [greatcosmicstory.blogspot.com/2024/07/no-sign-shall-be-given-save-sign-of.html] The signs of the times are not really the integrating and disintegrating aspects which are observable in the earth. The real sign of the times is singular: it is the Son of Man in heaven. So there is the responsibility of letting that be so, and those who have eyes to see and ears to hear will see and hear. Those who don’t, won’t. Very simple!

The Son of God in heaven will be seen and heard by some, because for them He will be in the Garden. First of all, you may recall in the allegory, Mary Magdalene didn’t recognize that the Son of Man was with her in the Garden. She thought He was the gardener—she assigned a role to this person. And there is the tendency to do that, insofar as the Son of Man is concerned. He looks very much like a gardener, perhaps; there are lots of stereotypes that He can be compared to. But the Word is spoken and the Tone is sounded, and those who are at least in some measure in the Garden already see and understand. There does come a time somewhere along the way when it is impossible for anyone on the face of the earth not to see—perhaps they won’t understand.

The sign of the Son of Man in heaven: this is the central sign that is available on earth to be seen and known by those who no longer maintain their arrogant stance. It is very valuable to come to a point of hopelessness, in the recognition that there is nothing that one can do as a human being which will contribute anything constructive to what is occurring in the human world. Of course that is a rather devastating recognition. But if one does not immediately go out and commit suicide, but allows space to be present at least for a little season, then the sign of the Son of Man begins to put in an appearance. Our concern is that the process of resurrection should be adequately complete so that the Son of Man may be present in the Garden. The arrogant stance of human nature, in such case, has been completely dissolved and folded away, as the grave-clothes, so that there is a coming forth into the Garden. [greatcosmicstory.blogspot.com/2023/04/let-grave-clothes-be-removed.html]

Here is some description, again in allegorical terms, of what it is that we ourselves individually must know is happening. Set aside the grave-clothes and let that arrogant stance, consequently, which is and has been present in our own experience, be dissolved, so that we have no illusions that there is any way that as human beings we can do anything that is worth anything. We have the words, supposedly spoken by the Master long ago, “I of myself can do nothing.” It’s a very straightforward statement, isn’t it? Yet most human beings—in fact, virtually all human beings since—have contradicted that view: “I can do something! I’m a valuable person, after all. I have all this expertise, all this knowledge. I’m going to put it to use, and it’s going to clean up the environment, in whatever way.”

“I of myself can do nothing.” Finally arrogance is dissolved and humility puts in an appearance. And insofar as that individual experience is concerned, the stone is rolled away from the mouth of the tomb. All that is to be done is to be done by the Son of God in the Name of the Father — [greatcosmicstory.blogspot.com/letting-father-live-on-earth.html] no human interference; absolute trust in the creative process. So we are here to let the process of resurrection be completed in our own individual experience, that it may be completed in the experience of the Body of the Son of God. Humility is the experience which opens the door in heaven. The word of the angel was “Come up hither.” One cannot come up, one cannot experience resurrection, as long as arrogance remains. And human nature is surely characterized by arrogance. We may be humble in certain respects because we know we are ineffective in certain respects, so we’re ready to admit that; but in other ways, “No, I’m pretty good!” Arrogance! “I of myself can do nothing.” That’s the truth of the matter. So in humility we accept the easy responsibility of providing the sign of the Son of Man in heaven, regardless of whether as yet anyone else recognizes the fact. That’s not the point. As the Son of Man abides in heaven, the recognition will come when it is necessary. We leave that in the hands of the creative process.

© emissaries of divine light