Revelation Five
The Time Of The End
Martin Cecil December 10, 1956
We have taken a new look at that which is recorded in the first portion of the fourteenth chapter of the Book of Revelation concerning the Lamb which stood upon Mount Zion and the hundred and forty and four thousand who were with the Lamb. We see more clearly how this pattern has a direct relatedness to us in this present time. The consideration in this regard followed immediately that which was recorded in relationship to the two beasts: the one out of the sea and the other which arose out of the earth. At the point where we recognize the absolute necessity of being completely uncontrolled by any of the influences, any of the methods, presented by the great red dragon, we are in position to play our part in that which is essential in the unfolding cycles of the Divine Fulfilment. However, it is essential that we should participate in that pattern of completeness which is symbolized by the hundred and forty-four thousand which permits the action of the Lamb to manifest on earth, the action of the positive expression of the Spirit of God, with particular emphasis upon the Spirit of Truth. This relates to the Ministry of the Spirit of Truth on earth.
“These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth.” We saw the meaning of that, in the recognition that the Lamb does not have reference to any single individual but to the positive expression of the Spirit of God which needs to find a channel of manifestation on earth. It is true that specific individual beings provide focalization in relationship to every aspect of the Spirit of God, but here we are considering the Spirit of God in relationship to the hundred and forty-four thousand, or to that complete pattern at any point along the way leading to the place in the outworking where there are actually one hundred and forty-four thousand individual human beings included in the Divine instrument on earth. If we are a part of that which is supposed to be complete at this point we must be following the Lamb whithersoever he goeth; our individual and collective lives must be a revelation of the controlled expression of the Spirit of God on earth; and in this regard it is evident that there must be flexibility, easy movement, in that following process.
In relationship to the working of the Divine instrument on earth there is a specific pattern, and in relationship to that pattern there is provision for control. With respect to our Program here, there are those who carry specific responsibilities in leadership in relationship to our Unit pattern. This assists all of the rest of you to allow a pattern of flexibility to operate more freely in relationship to yourselves. We know how easily human beings get set in habit patterns, how they get into a rut, and if anything arises to threaten the particular pattern of habit the individual becomes disturbed. How often we hear the statement made, “We have always done it this way.” Perhaps it may be about time to try another way.
I do not think that the last word has been spoken with respect to anything. We have certain habit patterns set quite frequently on the basis of what Uranda once said or what I once said, as though nothing ever changed in the way of outer circumstance. Action is so often upheld by the statement, “Uranda said that.” Perhaps he did in relationship to some circumstance back along the way. There was a pattern established with respect to the Children of Israel quite a while back that was excellent at that time; it was what was required; but to try to make it work now would be futile. The principles are the same but the principles need to find their proper application in relationship to present circumstances, in relationship to the vibratory pattern as it is now, taking into account all the factors involved. There is nothing, in the outer sense, the same now as it was back there. There is nothing the same now in this moment as it was five seconds ago. How frantically human beings endeavor to keep things the same! Sameness seems to give a sense of security to many.
If the sense of security is established on the basis of the outer circumstance, we have to keep the outer circumstances just thus and so in order to feel it. That is not true security. When security is centered in God, so that the individual is moving with the current of the Spirit, there is flexibility and it is easy to move in whatever way may be necessary. Just because an old pattern is passing away, there is no need for frantic efforts to maintain it. Let it go! Something new is coming. When we follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth we cannot stay in one place. It is essential that there should be constant movement because the Lamb does not stay in one place, except as we may recognize the position on Mount Zion—but that which is being offered in every moment through the positive expression of the Spirit of God is new in every moment. If we get set in a habit pattern then soon we are separated from the ever-newness of the expression of the Spirit.
We have control patterns in relationship to our Program, necessarily so. This is a basic principle of being, and it is the acceptance of control patterns as they are established in the present moment, so that the Divine Government begins to become operative on earth, that makes it possible to know that wonderful Spirit—togetherness and Love, understanding, joy—which comes by reason of harmonization in that which is Divinely established. The increasing yielding to the control pattern which is being made evident, so that there is faithfulness in this regard, is beginning to permit an increased movement and experience of the Spirit of God in action. In the measure that there is rebellion or resistance to the controls that are offered individuals exclude themselves from our Program of Ministry. There has been forward movement in this regard, for which I thank God, and that faithfulness is allowing a wonderful experience of something new, something which, insofar as the groups are concerned, has never yet been experienced. But there are evidences that it is coming, and it is coming because at last there are a sufficient number who have come to realize what has been emphasized over and over again all along the way: that it is essential to accept the controls that are established in relationship to our Program, without judgment, without any critical attitudes, but with a willingness to acknowledge this essential requirement, for we have to start in any moment where we are.
We do not have the one hundred and forty and four thousand people yet. We are not at the point of that fulness of completion. We are here, and we are working with ourselves as we are. The only pattern that we can accept is that which is made manifest as we are. Accepting that as it is now established does not mean that it is always going to be this way, but if we accept the pattern as it now is that will permit forward movement to take place so that it may become, in successive moments, what it should be then. So often there has been rebellion against accepting the pattern as it is because the individual judged it to be inadequate. The individual says, “It should not be this way; it should be some other way that I have in mind.” We have to start with that which exists and let ourselves be blended into that, at whatever level that may be, according to the pattern that is there, and then, following the Lamb whithersoever he goeth we let the movement take place, we let something new appear. We do not, on the one hand, endeavor to keep it the way it is; nor, on the other, rebel against the way it is because it is not the way we think it ought to be. We let it be as it is. We follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth, and rejoice in the changes that come, not judging the changes, but letting them be the way they are, trusting God, following the Lamb whithersoever he goeth.
We begin to move and something new begins to appear—first of all in Spirit. There is a new experience in feeling, in our attitudes one toward another, in our feeling for each other, and because there is a newness in the Heaven realm something new begins to appear in the earth realm. We begin to understand that which is essential to ourselves in relationship to this point where we are, according to the measure of that completeness which is now manifest. We can let it unfold so that we may be numbered among these who follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth.
“These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God.” Here is the evidence of the fact that they are without fault before the Throne of God: In their mouth was found no guile. The serpent at the point of the fall beguiled the woman, and as long as the self-active mind is controlling there is guile in the mouth of the human being—that which is not truthful, that which is deceptive, that which increases the states of delusion. Those who are without fault before the Throne of God must be perfect, must have allowed the fulfilment of our Master's commandment, “Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect.”
What of that which is in your mouths? What of the control with respect to your tongue? Do you ever find that control slipping? Do you ever find your tongue giving expression to something which, when you stop to look at it, you recognize immediately is not of God? How adequate is that control? Here we have that which gives evidence of those who are without fault before the throne of God—”In their mouth was found no guile.” The Word of Truth finds expression through their lips. How closely do you watch your words? Are there words ever spewing forth from your mouths which are the expression of the dragon? I wonder! How complete is the control governing your speech? This reveals those who are numbered among the hundred forty and four thousand: “And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God.”
“And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue and people, Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.”
This reminds us of some words which our Master spoke in relationship to the time of the end of the self-active world: “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world, and then shall the end come.” We have the angel flying in the midst of heaven having the Everlasting Gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people. The preaching of the Gospel is that which precedes the end of the fallen world of man. The Gospel is the Good News, the Everlasting Gospel. The Kingdom which is at hand is eternal.
The Gospel: “The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” This is the Gospel which must be preached in all the world, and what makes the preaching of that Gospel possible in all the world? An hundred forty and four thousand. But the preaching of the Gospel begins to appear as there is that in manifestation, adequately complete, which in the unfolding cycles will come to the point where there are one hundred forty and four thousand individual human beings in the pattern. The Gospel of the Kingdom will be preached in all the world at the point of the manifestation of the complete instrument for the Divine expression on earth, because that is the point where the control of the Kingdom can be established on earth in relationship to the world of mankind, and consequently the world of mankind becomes aware that it is there. When that is so, obviously the end is very close at hand. In the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew, which is the record of our Master's words when He was speaking of these things, there is this passage: “Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.” [greatcosmicstory.blogspot.com/2020/08/summer-is-nigh-martin-exeter-19-1987-it.html]
“So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things.” What things? Our Master had been speaking about wars and rumors of wars, famines and earthquakes and all the rest, but these things have been present with human beings right along. Our Master indicated that not even the Angels of Heaven knew what the date was, but the Father only. But what was He pointing to? Let us take a look at the illustration which He gave. “Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh”—the symbol of the fig tree. Our Master used the symbol of the Vine. We have considered the nature of the Tree of Life. At the point where this tree begins to put forth leaves, being yet tender, is the indication that summer, or the time of fulfilment to which our Master was pointing, is nigh. So it is not a matter of looking out into the world, although certain evidences can be observed out there in the world. It is a matter of looking at the fig tree, the manifestation of the True Vine on earth. When that begins to appear, and Life begins to move in the branches of it so that the evidences of that Life begin to appear as the leaves, then summer is nigh; the point of fulfilment is approaching.
As this takes place there will be certain results made evident in relationship to that which is working out in the world also, but for those who are unaware of the fig tree, unaware of the Divine Provision, unaware of the facilities which God has provided for the salvation of man, the evidences in the world appear to be of a desperate nature. There seems to be no hope; there seems to be darkness everywhere; there seems to be only that which generates fear and which leads to suffering and tribulation. But if there is a recognition, over against that, of the development of the Pattern of the Divine Design on earth which makes possible salvation for the children of men, then there can be rejoicing with respect to the destructive processes which may be observed. That rejoicing is not because we wish anyone ill, but because we recognize that the former things are passing away. So, it is this putting forth of leaves, the bringing forth of the evidences of life in the fig tree on earth, that heralds the approach of the end, for it is thus that the Gospel of this Kingdom begins to be preached on earth.
This Kingdom is a place of control. When there is on earth a Body, an instrument, composed of human beings who are no longer controlled by the dragon through the beast and the false prophet because they have accepted and acknowledged the control that is extended to them by the LORD, then the controls of the Kingdom are established on earth and begin to extend into the world. That is the preaching of the Gospel, the making evident of the fact that the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand because it is right here, no longer something invisible, no longer something that we might know theoretically is within reach, but something that is made manifest on earth—the reality of the Divine control. And as you experience, in whatever measure you are willing to share in it, the putting forth of the green leaves in relationship to yourself as a branch of the fig tree, you know that the point of fulfilment is at hand.
We do not say it must be at hand because we see so much unrest in the world, because we see something building up to a point of climax. We realize that that which is intensifying in the world comes to pass because the Gospel of the Kingdom begins to be preached in the world. That is actually what forces the issue. That is what shortens the time for the elect's sake, those who elect to preach the Gospel of the Kingdom, to let the Kingdom come on earth. As we begin to see these things set forth for us, this Provision of the LORD through the record of our Master's words and the words of the One who wrote the Book of Revelation, we may recognize that we are at the time of their fulfilment in relationship to ourselves. We see that which comes to focus in the present moment.
So many human beings have thought to interpret the Book of Revelation; some fantastic ideas have been developed; but insofar as the actual reality is concerned the understanding appears at the time when it is applicable in relationship to those who consider it. If it is not in point, while perhaps principles may be comprehended its actual application cannot be understood, for the circumstance must be in point which allows the application to blend with the circumstance. Until they both come together the pattern remains merely something which is theoretical, something which may be understood in principle but not something which applies in the unfolding circumstances of the moment. It is only when that which is recorded comes to point in relationship to the circumstances of the moment that it can be seen and understood and comprehended by those who are sharing in letting it appear, those who are standing on Mount Zion, those who are providing the point of union between Heaven and earth, those who are numbered amongst the hundred and forty and four thousand.
You have the opportunity of sharing in comprehension of these things in the measure that you are letting the leaves be put forth on your branches, the evidences of Life revealed through you. So, there may be a recognition of the particular point in the unfolding cycles where we actually are. I would that you might share the vision more fully, so that you might share the fulfilment more fully, for the time is at hand.
Our beloved LORD and KING, we thank Thee for the evidences of Thy provision which we are privileged to behold. Accepting our responsibilities and moving easily and surely in response to the impulse of the Spirit, we would let the Gospel be preached through our lives as the evidence of Thy control is made manifest. We thank Thee that in the situation where we are we may accept it and let it work in us, governed no longer in any sense by the dragon but, following the Lamb whithersoever he goeth, we may be found without guile and perfect in Thy sight, an instrument of adequate completeness at this time to extend the essential control of the Kingdom into the world to guide the destinies of mankind. For only as there is that on earth which is in position to provide a point of government in the world, the Government of Thy Kingdom, is there any hope for the salvation of the children of men. Because we recognize these things to be so, we accept that to which we are ordained in Thy Name, to accomplish Thy works and the fulfilment of Thy purposes, together with all who will take their places in the Divine instrument on earth to Thy Glory, giving Glory to Thee, IN the Christ. Aum-en.
© emissaries of divine light
