Prepare The Way For The Peacemaker
Uranda December 21, 1949
Our Gracious and Loving Heavenly Father, it is with grateful hearts that we come together in Thy Name, that we may let this hour he set apart as one in which we may truly worship Thee in Spirit and in Truth, that the Inspiration of Thy Spirit working through heart and mind may truly cause each one to so let go in Love Response to Thee that Thy Will may be done on earth as it is in Heaven, for Thine is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory, forever. Aum-en.
As man counts time, one-thousand-nine-hundred-fifty-four years ago our Master was born on earth—according to the numbering of years as they are used. He was born about 5 B.C. One-thousand-nine-hundred-fifty-four years have passed since the LORD of Lords and KING of Kings was born as a babe in a manger. He spent about one-third of a century on earth—one third of a century. Most of us here have lived more years on earth than our Master did, yet consider what a tremendous impression His years made upon the world. He was still, even as man counts time, a young man when, in that prayer to the Father, He said: “I have finished the work which Thou gavest me to do”—a young man in his early thirties who left this sphere of things about one-thousand nine-hundred-twenty years ago. More than nineteen centuries—and He was here for about one-third of one century.
We are in that season set apart and dedicated to commemoration of His birth. It is a story that never grows old, and on Christmas Day I wish to consider some parts of that story with you, but tonight I am thinking of the word, “preparation.” We have been preparing to celebrate Christmas Day. The LORD made preparation for His birth long ago. It was not an unheralded event. The birth of John the Baptist and the events connected with the Master's own birth all pointed to the tremendous significance of the occasion. The prophets had foretold His coming. There are those who live in Jerusalem today who still look for the coming of the Messiah, who still wait for the fulfillment of the prophecy. They do not recognize that the prophecy has been fulfilled. When we think of such individuals we find it rather amazing, rather difficult to understand, but it is nevertheless so.
The Master's coming was foretold; preparation was made, that the world itself might be prepared, and yet when He came, how few there were who were prepared or who recognized His coming for what it was. How few there were who had any idea of the importance of that event which we celebrate this Christmas Season; and we say, “How could any fail to recognize the fulfillment of the prophecy, the provision of the LORD made manifest according to the preparation?”
But, let us ask ourselves another question: “Why did our Master come?” Was it not to prepare and open the Way of Salvation? His Life, His Teaching, His Ministry, were supposed to be a preparation for something to follow. We have perhaps rather prided ourselves on recognizing that He did come, and that He lived and ministered, but for what was He preparing the Way? Can we, considering His Word, His Teaching, instruction, His Life and example, say that we and those who have lived in these nineteen centuries have fulfilled that for which He prepared? The preparation He made for all who should follow after—to what degree have we taken advantage of that preparation? To what degree have we accepted that which He made possible and available through preparation? Has that which He prepared for us been made manifest adequately and effectively? Those who count themselves to be Christians are numbered by the millions in the world today. There are millions in many lands who celebrate this Season, who commemorate the birth of our LORD, and yet, can we say that these millions have adequately accepted and received that which He prepared for us?
If the millions of every race and color and creed who are counted Christians had truly received that for which He made preparation would there be the horrible threats of war? Would there be the misery, suffering and sorrow? Would there be the widespread sense of futility and fear? Would there be uncertainty on every hand? Did He prepare the world for uncertainty, that uncertainty should continue, or did He prepare against uncertainty, that man might know the certainty of the Way, the Truth and the Life? Did He prepare the Way so that the millions of those who live on earth should continue in frictions and discords of every sort, or did He prepare the Way for the Peacemaker? For what did our Master prepare? For that which is now in the world? Oh, we can point to so many achievements of the Christian peoples, and yet when we place those achievements in the balance against that for which the Master prepared, that which might be received and made manifest, can we be proud and satisfied? I think not. I think there is no Christian upon the face of the earth who has any true right to self-satisfaction or who can truly point with pride to the achievements of the so-called Christian world.
When we recognize the difference between that which has been achieved and received, and that for which the Master made preparation, we must surely feel how woefully inadequate has been the fulfillment in and through those who claim to follow Him. He prepared the Way, the Truth and the Life, that the Kingdom that was and is at hand might truly come, and that the Will of God might be done on earth as it is in Heaven. Under the supreme influence of the Prince of Peace there would be no wars or rumors of wars. Under the supreme influence of the Great Physician there would not be widespread devastation through pestilence and disease. Under the supreme influence of the Lord of Love there would not be hate and discord and misunderstanding.
We commemorate the Master's birth, but in that commemoration let us not forget the vital necessity of doing our part toward allowing the fulfillment of that for which He prepared. He made a glorious beginning from a very lowly place. Born in a manger, He grew and ministered until He could say, “I have finished the work which Thou gavest me to do.” He accomplished His task. What does the record say for those who followed after? Where are those who have followed Him to the point of completing the task? If all those who follow Him according to their idea of following Him actually finished the work, how could evil withstand such Divine expression on earth? How could there be millions enslaved? Hew could there be dictatorships? How could there be such poverty and suffering as there is in so many places in our own land?
Did you ever walk through the slum districts of Chicago or Boston or New York, or the poor sections of the cities in the south, and say to yourself, “Here we have wonderful evidence of the fact that we are Christians following our LORD and KING, completing the work which He gave us to do?” I remember a few years ago I rode on the elevated train out through the slum districts through Chicago. For more than a mile in perhaps the most congested area in the United States, I was filled with an overwhelming sense of shame that this so-called Christian nation should have in its very center such a condition, in the very center of a city that is called great.
We wisely celebrate the glorious beginning our Master made, the glorious accomplishment which He achieved, but if that beginning, if that which He did on earth, is to have true meaning there must be an enlarged vision, a deeper realization of what His coming meant to the world. There must be a deeper recognition of the preparation which He made whereby we can enjoy achievements far beyond that which has satisfied too many of those who have called themselves Christians.
The Christmas season, dedicated to our LORD and KING, is celebrated largely by commercialism. “How were your Christmas sales?” Yes, we buy and give gifts, and it is well, if we act wisely, but does all of this once a year in the Christmas season, as human beings make it manifest, satisfy the longing in the heart of our LORD and KING that human beings should follow Him and let His life have true meaning? If we are to truly follow Him, surely we must let that which He prepared have greater meaning in our lives than it ever has before. He began His work and He left it in the hands of those who should follow Him to carry it on and to finish it. Can we be proud of what we have done to that end? I rejoice in that which has been done, but we must face the fact that it is not enough. His birth and His life must be allowed to have such vibrant meaning in our lives that the Spirit, the atmosphere of Heaven, may find expression on earth, that those who are fair, those who are honest and sincere, of whatsoever land or clime or creed, of whatsoever race, must be compelled to recognize that the Spirit of the Living God is moving and working in the world. We must do our part to inspire a greater vision, a deeper realization that we are not truly following Him when we simply drift along the paths which have been worn so deeply in the passing generations of these nineteen centuries.
It is time, surely, that that which He began, that for which He prepared, should begin to manifest truly and effectively on earth, and every blessed, earnest one on the face of the earth has the blessed privilege of sharing therein—but none can afford to wait for someone else to do it. We ourselves must refuse to be self-satisfied. We must refuse to be content with that which is less than the outworking for which He prepared. So, let us let His preparation bring a still greater fulfillment in and through us in the year that is at hand, for soon another year shall have passed into the eternity behind us and we shall face a New Year in the eternity before us.
The Angels' Song—“Glory to God in the Highest and on earth peace, good will toward men”—must have a deeper, more vibrant meaning in the everyday life of all who follow Him if we are to let the birth of our LORD Jesus Christ find fulfillment in that for which He prepared. [Glory To God In The Highest greatcosmicstory.blogspot.com/2020/12/glory-to-god-in-highest.html] Are you, each one, are we all as One, ready to do our part in letting His Kingdom come, in letting His Will be done on earth as it is in Heaven? Is not this that for which the Christmas season stands?
Our Gracious LORD, we thank Thee for Thy Love and Thy Patience, Thy long-suffering Mercy, that we are privileged even yet to have a part in letting Thy Plan, Thy Preparation, find meaning and fulfillment on earth. We thank Thee for the Holy Privilege of following Thee truly, that Thy Kingdom and Thy Power and Thy Glory may be made evident in all the earth in Blessing to all who will receive, IN the Christ. The Peace, Purity and Perfection of the Living Christ be unto you and find expression through you in body and mind and heart and soul now and forever.
© emissaries of divine light
