Virgin Birth of the Christ Body

Virgin  Birth  of  the  Christ  Body

Uranda   April 15, 1951

Tonight I have chosen a text which has tremendous significance. Our own view with respect to it is not according to the popular concept. Let us see what new significance we can find in meditating upon the birth of Jesus Christ on earth. In the first chapter of Matthew, beginning with the l8th verse, we read:

"Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a publick example, was minded to put her away privily. But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto Thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins. Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us. Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife: And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS." 

In this simple story, which has confounded the minds of the worldly-wise, we have a record of the most significant event that the world has known since the fall of man. Here we have a portrayal in a few simple words of a process by which God initiated a creative cycle on earth, by which salvation should come to man, the restoration from that low estate to which man had fallen to that Divine Estate for which God first created man. First, I would point out that we do not accept the popular idea that the laws of conception were in some manner superseded, or some supernatural method of conception took place. We do not believe that a right understanding of this passage teaches any such thing. As we have before recognized, it was essential that Jesus, in His life and ministry, reveal the Heavenly Father. This story does not violate Truth when it is understood; it does not violate the facts. Our particular concern tonight is not with the manner in which this conception took place. It is not of particular importance to our subject and consideration, but always, when a great leader has appeared in the world and has been more or less generally accepted, the idea has become prevalent that such an one was born of a virgin, by some supposedly super-natural process of conception. 

Actually, from the ordinary approach of the mental processes of human beings, any conception is a miracle. Any conception is super-normal in the sense of anything that human beings can do. It is beyond the normal of the range of human activity. There is the Divine aspect, and we recognize that in every case insofar as the reality of the matter is concerned—the true conception, the true manifestation of life that begins to appear in the womb, is the result of Divine action—and that that is not limited to the case of Jesus or of some others. It is simply emphasized in our text that the reality of the life force that permits conception and birth is something that is of God, far beyond the range of human understanding. And that is true of each and every one of us. One of the great stumbling blocks to a true understanding of the life and teaching of Jesus Christ has been that human beings, generally, have imagined that the initial beginnings with respect to the birth of Jesus on earth were so far different from that which is true of the rest of us that we have no valid hope of fulfilling promises and instructions which He gave which anticipate that we should do as He did. Human beings have taken this portrayal of His birth as an excuse for accepting a far lower state of life than God intended that we should. We approach this consideration from the standpoint of considering how the principles that are revealed with respect to creative cycles can be allowed to more effectively manifest in relationship to our own lives and our ministry on earth. 

Notice here that it is the beginning of a Great Creative Cycle. The meaningfulness of our lives today in ministry is dependent upon our relationship with and in that cycle that began then—the creative cycle designed to bring about the restoration of man to the Divine Estate. Human efforts which disregard that cycle come to naught. Human beings, with all of their increased knowledge, struggle and strive to establish a better world; they invent great things and accomplish much that is laudable according to human vision, but the state of the world shows that human beings in their efforts to improve the world have failed to recognize the creative cycle which God established and designed for the achievement of the goal. 

Birth is used symbolically in many places in the Bible to portray the beginning of a new cycle. He revealed the manner in which we may let the Kingdom have meaning on earth in our lives here and now. The Gospel was that the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand, and He revealed the Way by which we may share in that Kingdom. When we have the vision to recognize the great over-all picture of the beginning of that creative cycle in which we now share, how little, how insignificant, from a human standpoint, was that conception. The conception of that Cycle of Salvation certainly was not of man. The conception of that Cycle of Transmission and Transformation was of God, and it was of what aspect of God? The words here are translated, Holy Ghost. We prefer, Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, or, as it was then and still is, the Spirit of the Living Christ. The Spirit of the Living Christ, working through human agencies, initiated the Great Cycle of Salvation, the creative cycle which should transform the world so that ultimately it would be recognized that the former things shall pass away—"And behold, I create all things new." 

The specific consideration here, of the principles of the creative cycle, will need a little relaxation of mind, and technical recognition of the symbolism that is involved, because we know that underneath the simple stories of the Bible there are profound revelations of the Truth of God. 

"When, as his mother, Mary, was espoused to Joseph." Mary, the mother, yes—but Mary, the mother, represents a great deal more than just a woman, or womankind. Mary represents the body of humanity as a whole—that which needs to bring forth on earth the things of God. The great influence which Jesus has had upon the world and upon the people in it has been because the greatest thing He did was to reveal Deity on earth. All things else that He did were a result of that central fact. The greatest thing He did was to reveal Deity on earth; and He instructed His followers to do likewise, to follow Him in that fulfillment and to do the same works that He did. So, Mary here represents the mass of humanity which is supposed, under the right influence, to bring forth the things of God on earth and to reveal Deity. We recall the fact that man was originally created to be the connecting link between Creator and the creation. Man fell from that position and the creation was left without adequate correlation with the Creator, and consequently chaos has been in the world. The process of restoration, then, is supposed to bring man back to the point where he is a connecting link on earth between the Creator and the creation. 

"She was espoused to Joseph before they came together." In other words, here we have the elimination of the popular ideas of human effort, human trying, human struggling, by which it is generally supposed that great things are accomplished. Here the human element of self-centeredness and self-sufficiency are set aside and we recognize that this work of bringing forth the things of God on earth, of revealing Deity, of becoming again the connecting link between Creator and creation, necessitates something in humanity that cannot be engendered by man. It is something that must be engendered in man by God and the process of establishing that conception, that beginning, is through the Holy Spirit, or the Spirit of the Living Christ. That Spirit of God must be allowed to work in man; it must be received by man; and it must begin to produce something in man.

At first, as in the birth of the physical child, the results of the workings of the Spirit are hidden in the darkness of the womb. Something is growing, developing, but it cannot be seen with human vision. Its nature cannot be determined. Its ultimate fulfilment cannot be known by the human mind. It is hidden from human eyes. If there is not a recognition in the physical sense of the proper conduct, proper care, that which is being formed in the womb may be destroyed before the fulfilment can be realized. We, in love response to God, in letting go to the workings of the Holy Spirit, have seen that in our progress along the Way. Coming up to this point, it has often been true that something has been conceived in us by the working of the Holy Spirit; something of God has been begun in us, which, because the human eye could not see it, was rejected. There was not enough faith, enough patience, enough willingness to let the things of God work out, and as a result of self-activity, wilfulness, and turning aside from the things of Truth and Life, that which had been conceived of the Holy Spirit in us was destroyed. It was never allowed to come to the point of birth where it could be seen and known and recognized. But even at the point of birth the nature of the ultimate fulfilment cannot be known.

 

What is to be achieved according to the Divine Design down through the years that are ahead cannot be seen and recognized by human vision at the point of birth. The parents may have all kinds of dreams and longings; there may be ideas which, according to the concepts of the moment, are high ideals for that child, but it is possible that that child, moving forward, growing into adulthood, shall in season accomplish something far greater than the parents could possibly have dreamed of. This was the case with the parents of Jesus. It has been the case with many parents. It emphasizes that text: "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love and serve Him."

 

We begin to see then, that we, individually as members of the human family, have the privilege of sharing in this fulfilment as it came to Mary, that this portrayal as it relates to Mary is, and was supposed to reveal the Way whereby we may share in the creative cycles of God on earth. It is not that we should undertake to initiate, ourselves, that which has already been done. Jesus Christ initiated the Great Cycle, focalized it, and did His work well. We do not need to try to imitate Him or to do what has been done, but we do need to let the same cycle of creative activity have meaning in our own lives here and now. We have envisioned that, talked about it, and theoretically accepted it; and yet the very fact that we have not gone further along the Way, have not experienced greater fulfilment than we have yet known, proves that there is opportunity for a still greater understanding of the processes by which the creative work of God can be made manifest on earth through us. As representatives of the mass of humanity, we can accept for ourselves the privilege of that which is symbolized for the mass of humanity here in relationship to Mary.

 

She was espoused to Joseph. That means that, according to the natural outworkings of ordinary life in the world, this that was used by God would have become the property of man, to use from a human standpoint. We look out into the world and see that most human beings, upon reaching adulthood are considered as belonging to the mass of human activity. This that has been brought forth, this individual that has been raised up to the point where he or she may begin to live, is considered to belong to the mass of human activity. That individual is espoused to the human programs—the popular concept is that the individual part of that world body is espoused to this mass of activity out here, all of the plans and programs, all of the organizations which man has designed in the great field of human activity, as represented by Joseph.

 

Ordinarily, the individual, this person coming to adulthood, does not recognize the working of the Holy Spirit, does not recognize God's design or purpose of fulfilment for his individual life, and he is absorbed into the Joseph activity of the world. The Joseph activity of the world did not produce that person, did not cause the conception, did not bring about the fulfillment—this Joseph activity out here did not produce the individual. Yet, this person, coming to adulthood, is espoused to the human activity that ignores the patterns of God, the designs of God, the purposes of God, and there is a steady flow of young people coming to adulthood into this vast activity which is humanly designed, with human self-centered purposes that ignore utterly the things of God. Oh, they may be good church members, but the real pattern of the Spirit of God is never allowed to manifest. They are shaped and molded by what they conceive to be the necessities of working so that they can eat and sleep, so that they can work—round upon round of human endeavor, accomplishing what? So it has gone from generation to generation, with ups and downs of all kinds, and human beings have accepted the idea that this is what God intended. They imagine that to be God's intent because that is what exists, and they do not know what God intended. It is not what God intended. Yet He made it possible for human beings to understand what He did intend.

He established a cycle with the manifestation of Jesus Christ on earth, the LORD of Lords and KING of Kings coming into the world, born as a babe in a manger, to grow up as a man, to reveal the things of God on earth. If we begin to see, in this portrayal, how it is that the mass of humanity can bring forth according to God's design only in response to the Holy Spirit, and that, generally speaking, that which is born is taken over by the Joseph activity, the human activity, according to human plans, and it is not allowed to share in God's activity on earth, we begin to see the true significance of this passage: "When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost." What is the introduction to that text? "Now the birth of Jesus was on this wise." That does relate to an individual Being Whom we gladly recognize as our LORD and KING, but why limit it to that? He pointed to the fact that there was supposed to be One Body with many members, the Vine with many branches, the fulfilment that we speak of as the Christ Body on earth. How is this which He outlined to find fulfillment.

 

"The birth of Jesus was on this wise," and the birth of the Christ Body on earth must, also, be on this wise. We cannot follow out some human plan or pattern, no matter how desirable it may seem to be, and hope to experience the outworking that God has planned for us. We recognize that we have to let that Divine fulfilment be conceived in us by the working of the Holy Spirit, and we have to allow it to come to the point of birth. Then, after it has been born, we must take care of it tenderly. We must protect it from the Herod of the self-active human mind that would destroy it. We must allow it to grow to maturity and find manifestation in a vivid ministry on earth here and now, not waiting for some far distant future time, not expecting Jesus to come in some cloud somewhere and set everything right, without our doing anything about it. His Body on earth, His continuing Body on earth, is supposed to let the Christ works be done. Through this Body God intends that the changes should be wrought.

 

Jesus’ coming—Christ's coming; the working of the Christ Spirit on earth; the working of the Will of God according to that which Jesus Christ revealed; the coming of Christ on earth. Not the coming of Jesus in the form of a man, but the coming of Christ on earth is something that is vitally important. If we read a-right the word that is written we begin to see that human misconcepts have distorted the picture and made it ambiguous. We must let the Spirit of the Living Christ work through us and give us understanding as we read. Then we recognize that through the Body of many members, all peoples, of whatever race, color or creed, the Spirit of the Living Christ shall come into manifestation to accomplish the works and cause God’s Will to be done, so that His Kingdom might be made manifest. It is all revealed here according to His design. Yet human beings continually attempt to impose their human concepts upon it. They think they can say, "I believe thus and so," and become engulfed in the Joseph activities according to human patterns, and some day, somehow, everything will be straightened out and be all right. That is not God's Plan. It is not indicated anywhere here in the Book. It originated in the twisted, distorted concepts of human beings. So the birth of the Christ Body must be after the same manner as the birth of Jesus Christ. It is something that is conceived of the Holy Spirit in those who have not let themselves come under the control of the Joseph activities in the world, all of the human plans and programs. Those who dare to refuse to become subject to all of this human plan and pattern, who dare to remain virgin for God, not virgin in the sense that human beings ordinarily think of it, as if it were merely related to human concepts of sex—no, but virgin from the standpoint of the direction of our devotions and subjections—become members of the Christ Body.

 

When you reach a point where you let God’s Will have full sway in your life, when you cease to be controlled by those external things that ought not to control, then, by the creative spirit of God you become a virgin, whether you are a man or a woman. You receive forgiveness, you receive the pattern of God which we call the Truth, the Divine Pattern for you, and you become a new creature in Christ, you become something that you were not—and it is that virgin through whom the Holy Spirit can work to bring forth the things of Christ on earth. The human being who has not let himself reach that point of purification, the human being who has not truly repented and allowed his life to be redirected, the human being who has reserved certain rights of self-centeredness, is not yet purified. He has not yet become a virgin, subject to the Holy Spirit instead of being subject to the whims and fancies of the human pattern of activity in the world.

 

We begin to recognize that every man and woman who truly responds to God and begins to yield to the spirit of God, becomes a virgin in the Divine sense when he is purified, transformed, and made every whit whole, and that process is open to anyone who will accept it. Then, and then only, can that individual be used by the working of the Holy Spirit to bring forth on earth the things of Christ. Then that individual becomes truly a member of the One Christ Body, a branch of the One Vine, and then the Holy Spirit brings forth a conception in that individual that is of the Christ Life, and if he holds steady, remains true to God and the directions of God, if he allows the fulfilments to come, the reality of that Christ Life is born in him. If he allows God's Will to be done, it is nurtured, cared for and protected from the onslaughts of the world and allowed to come to the maturity of ministry. That is our purpose here, to allow that cleansing and purification to so take place that we may reach a point where we allow the virgin field of our hearts to be subject to the things of God.

Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. When we let that purification of heart become a reality we begin to see God, we begin to know the working of the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit in us conceives the things of Christ, and they begin to come forth through us into manifestation. That which is conceived in each one and brought forth through each one, blends with that which is brought forth through all others who likewise let God's Will be done, so that the whole Body of many members is coordinated truly in the Spirit of the Living Christ, and all of them together with one accord in one place let God's Will be done—and then the power of the Holy Spirit becomes manifest; then they have power because the Holy Spirit has come upon them and filled them. Then they have the opportunity of sharing truly in this Great Creative Cycle which God established through Jesus Christ our LORD. Until we let that process take place in ourselves here on earth while we yet live, we are not following Jesus Christ, no matter what we may think or say. Until we accept the personal responsibilities involved we are not doing our part toward letting His Kingdom come.

There is more revealed in this text, but these are our meditations for tonight. If we wonder sometimes why a greater manifestation of the power of God has not appeared, wonder why we have not shared a more vivid outpouring of the Holy Spirit, we have in this the answer. There is only One Way by which we may let that outpouring of the Holy Spirit be full, free and complete, and that is for us to so respond that we become virgin. We must become subject to God and cease being subject to the external patterns and activities which human beings have engendered. That does not mean that we will not participate in those activities. It simply means that while we may share in the doing of those activities, it is not in the sense of being subject to them. We can do the things that are necessary under this particular pattern of life as we have it working here or there—it matters not as long as we are honorably engaged—but we cease to be subject to those external things and become subject to God, and when we are completely subject to God, with no violation of that, then before Him we are virgin; we have come to the point of fulfilling the Law and then the Holy Spirit shall conceive in us those things which are according to God’s design. This is the Way, the Truth and the Life.

© emissaries of divine light