We have been considering together the matter of design, and we begin to realize more keenly the ways in which the design as God established it has been distorted, obscured, and made meaningless. It is not meaningless in that range beyond the reach of man. Where man cannot reach and spoil, the Divine Design remains as clear, as true, as real as ever, as God made it. Let us remember that it is only in those places, in those situations where man has been able to self-actively reach and meddle, that these distortions have appeared. We have begun to sense the fact that as rapidly as we relinquish the imagined rights and the will to distort, so that we let the distortions be cleared from within mind and heart—automatically, by the Power of God—the right design begins to exert an influence, begins to appear in form.
In our meditations on Sunday, we considered the matter of being in position to receive that which is of God, and we noted that two primary factors are important to this particular process: proper preparation and proper position. Broadly speaking, proper position is the position of facing the Throne. In worldly courts, those who are presented before a King or a Queen take care not to turn their backs on the King or the Queen. That is essential to us. Man tends to turn his back on the KING. Once we begin to realize that the Presence of the KING extends to all places and in all times, we do not imagine that we must journey through so many years of life, or journey through the miles to a different location geographically, in order to begin this process of facing the Throne, of learning to be in and maintain the right position. But while we may see the sense of these principles, the human mind raises the question, “How can I face the Throne and do my work? How can I be active? How can I accomplish what God wants me to do if I am going to face the Throne all the time. I need to turn aroundand get busy.” And there is one of the distortions in relationship to design as it is established in the consciousness of the human being.
In the Mohammedan world there are times of prayer for the devout, five times a day, at which times the faithful face toward Mecca. Mecca is a particular geographical location and the human being is inclined to be lost in the relative factors involved. If we here were to say, “Let us face toward New York City”, we would in a general sense turn our faces toward the east from this position. But if we were in the middle of the Atlantic say, we would not turn east ordinarily to face toward New York City, would we? We would face west. And yet if we were to stop judging this matter on the basis of relative distance, could we not face west and face toward New York City just as surely as we could face east? This illustrates for you the manner in which human consciousness becomes entangled in relative factors so that ideas are established in consciousness which simply are not true, and which so confuse the issue that one is inadvertently violating the principles of the Divine Design. Facing the Throne of God suggests to the human being that he must be facing some particular direction, just like the Mohammedan when he faces Mecca to pray. Now he could face the opposite direction from the one he does, and if he forgot the relative factors of distance he would still be facing Mecca. But to him that would be turning his back on Mecca, because he has a consciousness of the direction from the point where he is, the shortest distance to Mecca. He does not have a consciousness of movement around the earth to reach Mecca from the opposite side.
Now facing the Throne. We recognize the Master’s Commandment—the Greatest Commandment—He said, “To love the Lord thy God with one hundred percent of heart and mind and soul and strength.” We recognize that the soul includes the physical body. Let us remember that always, because there is much confusion in consciousness on that point, and while you may have to deal with it gently it is something that can bring confusion in conversation with others if you are not careful. God created man of the substance of the earth, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man, the physical man which God created out of the substance of the earth, became a living soul. It does not say that he was given a soul, or that he had a soul before. Man was created out of the substance of the earth and God breathed the breath of life into man's nostrils and man became a living soul. So we are all souls, either living souls or dying souls—and the soul always, as it is used in the Bible, includes the physical body, it includes your whole being—as a human being, that is, a man or a woman. Now the First Commandment, to love the Lord thy God with ALL—one hundred percent.
In this matter of facing the Throne, we begin to realize that we do not have to face some certain direction. Some people if they want to face the Throne, they look up to the sky. If they want to bow before the Throne they get their heads down. As a gesture of humility that is all right, but it is not a matter of the direction in which you are facing as to whether or not you are facing the Throne. You find that you can face in any direction. You can be giving attention to any task. You can be in any position, looking up or down in the relative sense, and face the Throne.
What is it that causes a person to turn his back on the Throne? In this sense we realize that the Presence of God is back of us, because if the Presence of God is everywhere, no matter what direction you face you are facing the Presence of God, but the Presence of God is back of you too. It is all around you, all the time. Above and below you. If you look down, it is there. If you look up, it is there. To the right or the left, before or behind, it is there. So how do we turn our backs on the Throne of God?
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What is the Throne? The Throne is that upon which the KING sits in the expression of His Kingly duties. The Throne of God. Where is it? It is said with respect to Moses that he saw the hinder parts of God. What is the Throne of God? What is the Place of God? Upon the Throne—above, upon the Throne. We can begin to develop a clearer consciousness of the significance of these points if we remember the first words of the Bible: “In the beginning God created the Heaven and the earth.” The Heaven—we have recognized that Heaven is wherever God is. The Presence of God provides the atmosphere of Heaven wherever God is. If we say that the Presence of God is here, then we say that Heaven is here. The human perception may not have recognized it, but if the Presence or God is here then Heaven is here. And if we say that God's Presence is not here then we say that God is limited and cannot be in this place.
Of course, from the standpoint of our perceptions we tend to judge the matter on the basis of the evidence in form. Is the evidence of the Presence of God such that we may see it? If the evidence of the Presence of God be lacking in any moment, or circumstance, or person, that does not say that the Presence of God is lacking, only that there is no evidence in the moment. Why? Because human beings have produced evidence of the absence of the Presence of God by wrong function, by self-activity. But wherever God's Presence is, and He is omnipresent, there Heaven is. But His Presence manifests by reason of something in form, that which gives form, and so is the manifest evidence of that Presence we speak of as earth. The reality of that Presence, not yet evident in the form, we speak of as Heaven.
God created the Heaven and the earth. The Heaven, whatever else it is, is the reality of the Presence of God in an invisible realm—that is, invisible to human perception. But He provided the earth and all the things that are therein, which He created, as a means by which the evidence of His Presence might be known. God is eternal. So if we see that the KING does not die and the KING does not pass into some realm where His Presence is not allowed to be here, if we remember the fact of the omnipresence, we will see that the earth itself is the Throne, as far as we are concerned. The physical earth, the physical substance of our own bodies is supposed to be the Throne. Now the earth, because man has been self-active, does not adequately reveal the evidence of the Presence of the KING. But the only Throne that has any meaning to us in this world is the substance of this earth of which man himself was formed, for in the beginning God created man out of the substance of the earth. It is translated, “dust of the ground”, but “substance of the earth” is thereal significance involved.
Now the Throne of God—when we think of a Throne we think of something beautiful, something more-or-less ornate, probably either made out of gold or at least covered with gold, made out of gold in God's case, for gold is the symbol of love—and the fact of the Throne is in fact all the evidence of the Presence of the KING which we need. We do not say, “We must see God according to our concepts of what we think God would be like.” Yes, the Master said, “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.” But at least until you are pure in heart you do not need to be too concerned about what you will see when you see God. That will come in its season. The immediate point is that if we remember that God is eternal, that God is not going to pass away or go to some other realm and leave this realm without any of His Presence. We can see that the Presence of the Throne is in fact evidence of the Presence of the KING. If you went into a palace you might see the throne, but if the King was not sitting on his throne at the moment, and you had reason to believe that he was in the palace, you could properly say that the presence of the throne is adequate evidence of the presence of the King.
The Throne. We say, “That upon which the KING sits in the expression of His Kingly duties.” But we could also say, “That which contains the KING, that which supports the KING, that which provides the KING with a resting place.” And when our KING was here on earth He did not find much of a resting place, did He? “The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the son of man hath not where to lay his head.” And yet the substance of the Throne is present. The nature of the Throne has been spoiled. Man has taken the Throne, the substance of the Throne, and changed its pattern, changed its form, marred it, spoiled it in various ways, but merely because man has spoiled it to some degree does that mean that it is no longer the Throne? No. It still belongs to the KING even in a marred state, and it is still the substance of the Throne.
Now presumably the KING, through His workmen, can re-establish the manifest pattern of the design that was established for the Throne. It does not have to stay marred and spoiled. The pattern of the form of the Throne, of its ornamentation, can presumably, by the workmen of the KING be restored. And that is really why we are here, to learn to become workmen. If we were to study the story of the building of the Tabernacle, we would find some interesting things there, emphasizing the excellence of workmanship that went into that. Trained workmen, trained weavers, trained expert people of in all kinds, all manner of craftsmanship. And the excellence of workmanship was the keynote in that endeavor, as far as the fulfilment or manifestation of the design was concerned in the outer form—the outer evidence of the Presence of God. For how often was it written after the Tabernacle was built or made: “The Glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle and shone round about.”
Excellence of workmanship. If man in self-activity has spoiled the form, the appearance of the Throne of God, cannot the workmen of the KING restore it? The earth itself is, as far as we are concerned, the Throne, the substance of the earth, the substance of the Throne, shaped, molded, particularized, to be the means by which the evidence of the Presence of the KING may be offered to all who will perceive. Facing the Throne. Well then, does that say, “Let us face the earth?” It is not merely the substance of the earth, although it is the substance of the Throne, and some might be content just to have a little piece of gold, or a little sliver taken out of the Throne of God. They say, “I have a sacred thing here, something very holy. I took my knife and whittled off a little sliver of the Throne of God and I am keeping it.” How many people keep little slivers of this and that which they think to be very important? But that is not the point. The point is that when the substance of the Throne is in the proper form it is the Throne. The earth provides the substance of the Throne—your body, the substance of the Throne, for if your body is the Temple of the Living God, and the Spirit of God dwelleth in you, in actual fact, then is not your body the substance of the Throne, as far as the aspect of Deity which is related to you, may be concerned.
Your body is the substance of the Throne, but is its outer expression of design—the basic design as a man or a woman, yes, we have that—but the human being interferes with that design. Do we see through this substance in the pattern of its form and function the evidence of the Presence of the One who dwells, the evidence of the Presence of the KING? How are we to face the Throne? Not just facing the substance which should be shaped into the true expression of the Throne, but facing that which is a revelation of the Presence of the KING—and what is this? What fulfills the requirement here, as we are bringing it to point? Your whole pattern of life activity, the things you are saying, the things you are doing, the things you are thinking, the attitudes you are displaying through your body, because whatever you display is, in relationship to your body, the substance of the Throne. But the actual nature or ornamentation, the design, the form of the Throne, is basically still the same even if it looks like an old bench, but it is not the true appearance of the evidence of the Throne of God.
So in this matter of design we face the Throne when, in the expression of our lives, all the things that we think and say and do, are revealing the evidence of the Presence of the KING. That which is life expression, manifest through or by means of the physical body, is in fact the ornamentation of the Throne, is it not? We can have the form here, unconscious, or, in the extreme sense, perhaps dead, and there, without life or without the expression of life, we do not see the evidence, do we? The ornamentation, the beauty of being, is gone. The form of the substance itself, while it is essential to that manifestation, provides nothing more than the substance of the Throne. It is through the body that we have the appearance of the Throne itself, that which provides the means by which the KING may rule. The Throne—that which provides the means by which the KING may rule. Is that not your body in the expression of your life? And the nature of that Throne, if the ornamentation in the sense of the living process is true to the design, with exactness, with good workmanship, then the clear evidence of the Presence of the KING is revealed. But if not, those who see the Throne will think, “Well, that is just an old antique of some sort, or a bench, or something other than what it is. It is shaped a little bit like a Throne but no one will see it as a Throne unless it carries the ornamentation of the Throne, the evidence of the Presence of the KING.
So we have the Presence of the KING regardless, up or down or round about. His Presence is there. But the evidence of His Presence is the important thing as far as our living is concerned. If our lives are to be meaningful, and this takes some doing on our part, doing, not according to the self-active patterns of men, but because we have carefully considered the design. If we were to read the record of God’s instructions to man in the building of the Tabernacle, we would see how precise, how exact each direction was, and how carefully the workmen undertook to follow that direction, each part, each detail; and the workmen did not say, “Well now, I do not like this business of being so controlled that I have to do it just so. I think I should have the privilege of including a little bit of my own artistic sense. After all, I am doing the work here, why should not I have a little hand in the design? I think I will change it this way. I think I will change it that way. I want to exert some control. I want to show God how much I love Him, so instead of doing this with exactness this way, I will do it that way.” And that is self-activity, the projection of the human element of control in the realm where man can reach, in the realm where man carries responsibility.
If you say, “But I understood this before.” Did you? Theoretically, perhaps, intellectually, in a sense you accepted it, and yet if you had understood it truly I think I would have been able to see something I have not yet seen in relationship to that part of the Throne of God which you are. We need to develop such a clear realization of this, in every little thing, every little part, as we build the Tabernacle. What is the symbolism of the Tabernacle in the days of the Children of Israel in the wilderness? Simply an outer evidence of form, a type shall we say, in a sense a promise of something that was to take form in a larger sense, a larger sense that was not fulfilled by Solomon’s Temple, for again that was only a type—something that was to take form in man to include all human beings. And the workmen who are to perform the task in building the Tabernacle of God in the true sense must work with exactness, they must not rebel against the design which God established.
Presumably man could take this substance and shape it a little differently, inject his own idea, his own desire, and to him it would be as good or better. But that rejection of control, that rejection of trust, that failure to be obedient, that failure to follow through, would destroy the beauty of the Throne that is to be. We have the substance of the Throne right here, in our own bodies and round about useverywhere, but the substance of the Throne is not enough. It needs to be shaped and molded into the true pattern of the Throne, and that is where the trouble rests in the world today. It is not a matter of restoring man in the sense that we want to be saved, or we want to do thus-and-so. It is a matter of letting the Throne of God be restored on earth, and then we will be what we ought to be. If we could stop being concerned about our own development in the sense of personal fulfilment and begin to be concerned about performing well our tasks, doing what we are called upon to do in the shaping of the substance of the Throne into a fit Throne for the KING, we would find that thereby the evidence of the Presence of the KING would be revealed, thereby He would have the opportunity to rule, to control and to clear away all of those things which bring misery into the hearts and lives of the children of men.
These distinctions are of such vital importance, and the human mind is so prone to forget them, so prone to ignore the design in the little things. “Oh, yes,” we say, “We will let the big things be the way God wants them to be.” But all big things are made out of little things. You cannot name me one big thing here or anywhere, but what it is made out of little things. You have been finding that out in relationship to your own bodies. Perhaps you knew it in a sense before, but I think there is a deeper realization of the little things and of their nature in your body. The bones, the cells that make up the bones and the tissues, the parts. And if you have the responsibility of making one of the little bones, particularly the part of a joint here, and you say, “Well, I do not see why it needs to be just so. I am going to change the design a little bit. I will make it higher here.” And the first thing you know there is a big bump. Someone looks at it and says, “Arthritis.” Do you want to give the Body of God arthritis? The Body of God, the Throne of God, the Place of God, whatever name we may use, and there are many—it means that this substance here is supposed to be shaped and molded and ornamented in life expression, in a pattern, in a design, which will reveal what? The evidence of the Presence of the One Who Dwells, of God, the KING, the Father, whatever term we wish to use. To reveal the evidence of His Presence. We say we would like to have pure hearts and to be able to see God. “Oh, that would be wonderful if we could just go somewhere. We would like to go to Heaven and see God. That would be wonderful.” Go to Heaven? Heaven is here. Heaven is wherever the Presence of God is, and wherever and to whatever degree we see the evidence of the Presence of God we begin to see God.
Now, I do not think that any human being would be so foolishas to imagine that with his human perception he could see the ALL of God. We can see something of the stars in the sky, but when we realize the vast distances and the huge suns and all the rest of it we do not imagine that we can see even all of that. You look through a telescope and you will be convinced that there is more than can be seen with the naked eye. And even that is not the ALL of God. We do not have to see the whole of God in order to see God, do we? And yet that is one of these little quirks in consciousness that tend to keep human beings from fulfilling their mission on earth. It is one of the little snags, one of the little stumbling blocks that tends to influence almost everything that you do and spoil it to some degree. If you were to say, “I must see the whole of God before I can say I have seen God”, remember, you do not see the whole of each other and yet you say, “Well, I saw so-and-so. I saw this person or that person.” And you did not, you know. You saw the head and the hands and the clothing. You did not see the whole. Generally speaking, I think that is true. Anyway, if you see any part of me, my fingers, it is what? Can you say that it is not me? If you see any part of God and see it truly, you can say, “I have seen God.” Not the wholeness of God, no. And the more you learn to see of God the better. There is no limit except the limit of your own capacity to see. However, this idea that the human being must see ALL of God before he will admit having seen God is such foolishness, because if you see the evidence of the Presence of God made manifest in form you have at least begun to see God. And that is the thing that we are interested in.
The only value of design, the only value of substance is this: that through design established in substance we begin to see the evidence of the Presence of God. We can say the Presence of God is everywhere and be true. It is right. Yes, God is everywhere, omnipresent, but where is the evidence of the Presence of God? That is the range of our responsibility and unless we begin to realize this deeply we will never be Servers, we will never be true Ministers, we will not be in position to help others develop in themselves and in their lives the evidence of the Presence of the KING. So whatever we are doing we need to remember that we are workmen, helping to build the form of the Tabernacle, or the Throne, or whatever else you want to call it, the Kingdom of God on earth—we are helping to develop the form according to the design, which shall reveal the evidence of the Presence of the KING. And if we see the evidence of His Presence we begin to see Him, we begin to know Him, and Heaven and earth begin to be One, they begin to have a real relationship because earth is supposed to give form to Heaven on earth.
Earth is supposed to let Heaven be revealed in this level of form. If we will meditate upon that, think about it, remain or maintain a pattern of awareness in relationship to all that we do, that this is the substance of the Throne, and the ornamentation appears, the gold of the Throne appears by reason of love, but that love must be shaped into some kind of a design. It will be this way here and that way there. It will not be the same everywhere. How could it be? Could you devise any form, any kind of a form, where it would be the same everywhere in the form? Say a ball, a sphere. Would it be the same everywhere? Well you say, “The surface would be the same”—but you see you cannot do it. It is utterly impossible. Every part is different and all these different parts need to be there and it takes all of us, all the people in the world in fact, to make all the different parts. We cannot do it all alone. It takes everyone. So we have the substance around us and in our own bodies, but the ornamentation, the shaping, the forming, must appear through us.
Love, the gold of the Throne—how much of that? “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, that ye have love one to another.” How is it shaped, how is it moulded? And all the other factors that enter into it, the expression of your life, the manifestation of your workmanship on the substance of the Throne of God. What shall it be? Good workmen or poor? If it is poor, it is not the evidence of the Presence. The Presence is there but not the evidence of the Presence. But if you are good workmen, then the evidence of the Presence appears and there is that which shall then bring conviction to others. It is the life we live that counts, the things we do, not merely what we say. And so let us as good workmen, do our part toward revealing through the substance of the Throne the evidence of the Presence of the KING.
