The Tomb is In the Garden
Martin Cecil April 17, 1960 5:25 am
It is a beautiful Easter morning. The sun is already shining on the top of the Ridge to the west. The darkness of the night has given way to the dawn of a new day. We recall that the world of mankind is in the darkness of the tomb. That first Easter Day it was dark in the tomb, and the tomb was in the midst of a Garden. It is interesting that this earth, whether it is day or night on the surface of it, is enfolded in the radiance of the sun. The radiance of the sun reaches out far beyond the orbit of the uttermost planet. We see the light from stars shining at night from many light years away—thousands of light years away, many of them, even millions. So, on out there somewhere the light of this sun shines. It extends away out. And this little planet is quite close to the sun, enfolded constantly in the radiance of the sun. Even as the tomb was in the midst of a Garden, this earth is not a tomb of itself but the world which man has built is a tomb—and it is in the midst of the Garden. As long as it is a tomb and the stone is on the mouth of it, it does not matter which way the earth turns, the fact of the shining of the sun is unknown. As long as our Master lay in the tomb, the fact that the Garden was there was an unknown thing, but when the stone was rolled away the tomb was found to be a womb, and our Lord and King came forth into the Garden.
Human beings are called to come forth from the tomb which the world of man is, that they may find themselves in the midst of the Garden. The Garden is present, even as our Master said, “The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” Mankind remains unaware of that truth by reason of the fact that it is in the tomb. It is dark in the tomb, even though the dawn may have come. But when the stone is rolled away, then there begins to be the opportunity of coming forth. The hardness of human hearts, the fixed patterns of belief and concept of the human mind, constitute the stone upon the mouth of the tomb. Human beings are in the tomb and, for the most part, do not realize that there is anything but the tomb. They imagine there is light in there when there is not.
As we behold the sun rising to shine upon Eden Valley this morning we are aware of the the reality of light, the reality of that which symbolizes the Garden in relationship to the tomb. How good it is to know that the dawn comes, something not just in imagination, something not just remembered of an occurrence of long ago, but something which may be experienced today in this hour as, yielding to that Kingdom which is at hand, we may let the stone be rolled away from the tomb, so that the things of God may be allowed to come forth through us into manifest expression on earth. This is the resurrection to which we turn today, that we may know the truth of it in this hour and in all the hours to come—the springing forth into manifestation through ourselves of those things which come from God, the shining of the light, the dawn of a new day. “The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand,” and we may have the privilege of knowing that it is so.
It is a beautiful morning, cool but a beautiful morning—and we behold the sun rising. What a wonderful world God created. Let us share in letting it be restored to Him. God Bless you, each one.
The Master’s Prayer Of Intercession
Uranda November 2, 1949
The Spirit of Intercession gives meaning to one of the outstanding characteristics of the Christ Expression on earth. The Spirit of Intercession made manifest through our Master when He was on earth was outstanding, and as He outlined the basis upon which the One Christ Body should be formed, by reason of which His Ministry on earth might continue, He made it plain that the Spirit of Intercession should find expression through the Branches of the One Vine, through the Members of the One Body. The world is full of those who are ready to sit in the Judgment seat; the world is full of those who are quick to bring accusation; the world is full of those who are ready to portray in word and attitude that which they conceive to be wrong with others, which they look down upon or condemn. It is not good to be an accuser of the Children of God. Nowhere do we find the Master instructing that we should be accusers one of another, setting ourselves up in judgment to condemn one another, but rather He said: “Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what Judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.” [Matthew 7:1]
Of all the wonderful words which He spoke, there are none more touching, more illuminating, more revealing, than those which are recorded in the closing Prayer of His Ministry on earth just before the mockery of His trial and the ignoble journey to Golgotha, the “Place of the Skull.” The Prayer with which He concluded His Ministry and His instruction to those who should follow Him, whether in that day or in this, was recorded and has come down to us, and it is my thought that we should consider His Words together tonight. This Prayer is called His Prayer of Intercession, for you, for each one who turns to God, whosoever, wheresoever he may be: [Read John 17]
When we meditate upon the wonder and the glory and the beauty of these words and of what they mean to us tonight, we must recognize that there is nothing that can be added to increase the wonder of them; there is nothing that can be said to increase the beauty. There only remains the necessity that, in letting go in Love Response to God, each one shall feel and know the Illuminating Fire that burns within every word that each may let these words have true and lasting meaning in heart and mind and body and soul, for He, when He was on earth, prayed for us tonight, and for all who should believe on Him. Therefore, let us let His Prayer be answered in our lives that we may be made perfect in one, to His Glory and to the Blessing of all who will receive, IN the Christ.
O LORD of Lords, I thank Thee that it is so, for Thine is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory forever. Aum-en. The Peace of our LORD Jesus Christ be with you in the Way, that you may rest in the Lord and let the Father do the works, to the end that the Light of His Love may shine through you in Blessing to all who will receive. Peace be unto you.
© emissaries of divine light
