This is the Representation—This is the Generation

This is the Representation — This is the Generation

Martin Cecil  April 26, 1979  Assembly

We are all right here in the earthly sense, and I trust as much right here in the heavenly sense. It is because we are right here in the earthly sense, and to the extent that we are also right here in the heavenly sense, that we are in position to do something which has not been possible to those who are not right here in the earthly sense. We are always right somewhere in the earthly sense, and it is because we are right somewhere in the earthly sense that something can be done that otherwise could not be done.

Let us never deny the value of our earthly positioning. We recognize that this positioning changes from time to time, or a new earthly environment comes to enfold us. But it is because we are where we are, wherever that may be, that we have value. We never not have value because we are not somewhere else, and yet this is so often the human approach, isn’t it? “I wish I was somewhere else. I could really be useful if I was over there.” The only useful place we have is always right where we are. It is made useful because we are there not only in the earthly sense but in the heavenly sense. Because we are there in the heavenly sense we have the opportunity of representing the Lord in that place. Nobody else is there in that exact positioning, just oneself. If the Lord is to be represented then, there is no one else to do it.

We need to have this consciousness of our worth, our heavenly worth, our spiritual worth as the Lord’s representative. As angels we are always that. We represent the Lord where we are, and we share His outlook where we are. This is His outlook if we are representing Him. He views what is present with us because our viewpoint is aligned with His. If our viewpoint is out of alignment with His, then He has no means of viewing what is present in our area of responsibility. That is right, isn’t it? Every time that our viewpoint, our outlook, ceases to represent His, presumably because we have become involved once more in the human nature attitudes and viewpoints, then we blind the Lord to that extent in our particular point of positioning and responsibility. He is not in position to see what is there because we do not let Him.

Have you ever looked at it this way? It is true, isn’t it? The Lord sees through our eyes when our eyes are in alignment with His. We are not expecting Him, surely, to change His vision to be in alignment with ours. This is what a lot of human beings do, of course, and they bring it to point sometimes in what they call prayer: “God, you need to see things my way.” He doesn’t need to see things in the human nature way at all. He’s not interested. He needs to see things as they really are. So if He is to see things as they really are He needs the earthly eyes to do it, but the earthly eyes must be looking where He is looking and seeing as He sees, having exactly the same outlook and viewpoint. We are here to be in alignment with that. If we are, then we have no separate viewpoint. We do not try to foist a human viewpoint on the Lord. What we see He sees. What our viewpoint is is His viewpoint, when we are willing to let it be so, when we stop trying to slip in our particular brand of ‘druthers’. “Lord, you need to see things my way.” No He doesn’t. He needs to see things His way, and the only method for this to occur is for a facility to be provided for Him which is in alignment with His viewpoint.

We have emphasized the necessity of hearing the Tone, of coming into alignment with the outlook of the Lord, of sharing His viewpoint. When we share His viewpoint we have no viewpoint separate from His. It is exactly our viewpoint too. But we cannot take credit for that viewpoint. It is merely that we have offered Him the facility by which He can see, and we have withdrawn any amendments to His view. We let it be absolutely His. Then we do not need any separate human viewpoint, and we do not try to maintain any. And we do not imagine that our opinions and our human attitudes have any validity whatsoever. They are all chaff, to be blown easily away. What is the point of hanging on to the chaff? It blinds the Lord, because we are blind. If we are blind the Lord is blind insofar as we are concerned. He cannot see what He needs to see by reason of our presence in the particular circumstance where we are.

Sharing the Lord’s outlook is not only a broad view, a far perspective, so to speak, but a view which relates to the immediate circumstance. In fact this is what is more important, because if there are a number of angels on earth sharing the privilege of offering the Lord true vision He will have an overall view. He will be able to see what needs to be seen in each circumstance, and insofar as He is concerned, in the Archangelic sense, it is One View. If there is an accurate view in each circumstance, and it all comes together in the viewpoint of the Lord, then He has a balanced overall view. It comes on this basis. It does not come because the Lord has some particular, individual form of manifestation—He is going to see everything through that one individual form of manifestation. He had an individual form of manifestation by reason of Jesus, but He was in no position to see truly what was present in the details of human living everywhere on earth. To do that requires angels everywhere on earth.

We see the vital importance, then, of our own individual circumstances. Let us never deny the Lord the opportunity of seeing our individual circumstances and of providing what is necessary for that individual circumstance. Let us not deny Him that vision because we take the attitude that we should not be there. We are saying in effect, “Well, the Lord should not be in this circumstance. The Lord should desert this circumstance.” Do we have such authority, do you think, as human beings, to tell the Lord what He should desert or what He shouldn’t? Of course not! Wherever we are, that is exactly where we should be, and that is exactly where the Lord needs our vision, our understanding, aligned with His outlook. That is our whole responsibility. That is what we are there for. That is what we are on earth for. Because it is the Lord’s vision, when we let Him have it, we begin to participate in something much broader—that is true. We begin to see our immediate circumstance in its relationship with the larger picture. That is only possible when we are in alignment with the Lord’s outlook. Then we begin to share His outlook, which actually includes far more.

There are some most beautiful words recorded in the 24th Psalm which provide anyone, us particularly, with an understanding outlook aligned with the Lord. This is an expression of our own attitude when we are indeed providing true representation of the Lord with respect to His viewpoint and with respect to His action. You remember the words: “The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.” This is our attitude, because it is the truth with respect to the Lord. Insofar as He is concerned this is the fact of the matter, and we agree. Our agreement can be most valuable because we are right here on earth and we provide therefore a facility by which this truth may be proven out. From our standpoint the earth is the Lord’s and we are here simply for the purpose of revealing that fact. “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof.” What that fullness is may be far larger than we necessarily see at the moment. We see enough, and insofar as the earth is concerned, that is our circumstance, that is our immediate contact with the earth; we don’t have any other. We may be capable of seeing that there is a planet there, but we are related to that planet just at one point, and it is that one point that is the Lord’s, because that one point is not separate from the whole planet and the whole planet is the Lord’s.

From our standpoint we have the handle by which this may be proven out, we have the contact, we have the means of revealing the truth that the earth is the Lord’s. We know it. But the earth has been held out from the Lord by human nature long enough. This is definitely our attitude: It is quite long enough. “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein”—all human beings, who should be MAN, but also everything that dwells in the earth. It is all the Lord’s. And our whole approach to our living here on earth is from the standpoint of this outlook. This is our outlook, because it is the truth that “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.” This is the reason for our presence here. We could say to restore the earth and they that dwell therein to the Lord, to dissolve the human nature rebellion—could we call it? This is our task, this is our outlook. This is the reason why we were sent here by the Lord. So we know why we were sent here. This is our commission, this is our responsibility, our stewardship. Because of this we have the authority by which it may be proven out. We are here to exercise that authority. Not according to some human nature idea of what should happen, but the way we know it should happen, in the sounding of the Tone in the detailed living of our own lives.

“For he hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods.” What do you think that means? It means fundamentally that MAN, as he was created to be, is responsible for the state of affairs relative to the earth and the world. Here mention is being made of earthly consciousness, human consciousness, the sole means by which the Lord’s authority can be extended into the earth, and into the world, to prove, to reveal, to establish, the truth that “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof; the world and they that dwell therein.” It is done by reason of human consciousness. It was established this way; this is the way it was created to be. Man’s presence on earth is for this reason. And to restore this truth in manifest fact is our responsibility. For this cause came we into the world. You and others are awakening increasingly to this truth. To the extent that you are awakening to it, to that extent the angel is coming forth and the restoration is in motion. Here is our question, as angels carrying the authority and assuming the responsibility: “Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in his holy place?” Generally human beings look at that question as though it was being addressed to themselves: “Well, shall I do it?” That is not the way we see it. If we have the true viewpoint, the true outlook, this is our question of the peoples of the world: “Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? Who shall stand in his holy place?” We know the answer. The answer is given here, and our attitude, our viewpoint, is in alignment with it. We are here to open the door in this regard, so that there may be those who ascend into the hill of the Lord and stand in His holy place with us. “He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart.”

“Whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Likewise, “What ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven.” What needs to be loosed into expression out of heaven cannot be loosed into expression out of heaven as long as the earth is bound. If in the external sense we maintain physical and mental structures according to the ideas of human nature, then if we claim to have an interest in letting the spirit find expression we are saying in effect that the expression must be according to our structures. If we are stiff, then the expression of the spirit must be stiff; it must conform to our rigidities. Well, we need to do something about our rigidities then, in order that there may be a greater flexibility for the spirit to have its way. So what you are willing to loose on earth will be loosed in heaven; there will be the freedom for the expression of the spirit. But if you maintain a bound condition on earth, then the spirit is bound in heaven and never gets out.

Lillian mentioned something about the need for space. This sometimes may appear to various ones to be a contradiction relative to our external experience in the development of what is unfolding in this ministry, at least in some ways. “Where’s the space? We need space!” Well, we can give each other space, can’t we, even though we may be physically close together at times. What do we mean then by space? One of the supposedly closest associations between human beings is that which is spoken of as marriage, and it is often the place where there is least space—not because it has to be that way, but because of the human nature attitudes that make it that way. There are those who imagine that, “Well, you couldn’t have a state of oneness if it is all space.” What about the universe? There is one universe. It is one whole, all integrated, all coordinated, and yet there is far more space than anything else.

Fear holds human beings in little boxes

We need to give each other space. We do not ever possess each other. Wives sometimes think that they possess their husbands. Forget it! It may be a valuable association if there are angels present. If there are angels present they know very well that they do not possess each other. They are there in that configuration to let something creative happen, that’s all. And the particular configuration that may be the experience now is unlikely to be so for eternity, is it? Human beings sometimes think of marriage as being for a lifetime—that is not very long actually. Angels come on earth to achieve something, and they will achieve something in a variety of ways. One of these ways may require the close association of a man and a woman on a more or less stable basis, a steady basis. Because of this there is a proper relationship there, a proper association, but it will not be there because either of the angels imagines that he possesses the other one. It will be there because there is a proper complement there. Oneness is never experienced by exclusiveness. That should be obvious enough. If one excludes somebody, then oneness is prevented. Oh, how fearful little human nature is about the terrible things that it imagines might happen if it relaxed its spasmodic grip and let go. Only on the basis of the letting go of human consciousness can the experience of the truth be known. Otherwise we are always trying to get the truth to express through our little rigid pattern that we are holding on to. Let us give each other space.

Now from the standpoint of this attitude which is emphasized in the verses I have read out of the 24th Psalm so far, the concern is to return all to the Lord. That is the primary undertaking. That summarizes the whole reason for our presence here: “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness; the world, and they that dwell therein.” And we are going to see to it that that is revealed as being the fact. All right, in our handling of others, in the sense of the human consciousness, we are doing what may be done to return that to the Lord, in whomsoever it is. We need to see this so that we do not at any time imagine that we are returning something to ourselves. For example, there have been those rather adolescent servers who have thought that the response, at least of some of the females in the particular group in question, somehow belonged to them. “You need to respond to me; you need to be totally open to me.” Is that what we are here for? No, we are here to return everything to the Lord! Not to corral it on the way and say, “This is mine, I’m going to possess it.” Return all to the Lord.

I suppose in a symbolic sense I may occupy a particular position in this regard, which should make it fairly easy for the right attitude to be taken by anyone. Return all the response to me in representation of the Lord. Not that I am demanding it. But everything needs to be returned to the Lord. Do you think I am going to corral it all and keep it for myself? Do you think this ministry would have continued to emerge as it has if that had been my attitude at any time? As far as I am concerned it all belongs to the Lord, but it seems that human beings, generally speaking, in their earthly consciousness need to have something a little more specific, and so the Lord has provided something specific. Here it is! The whole purpose is to return everything to the Lord. “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.” One cannot grab it off on its way back to the Lord. We are here to return everything to the Lord.

In returning everything to the Lord, when we have that absolute attitude so that we have no personal axes to grind at all, we may find something emerging that allows a greater release of the power and the authority by which the world is returned to the Lord, and this obviously involves other incarnate angels. We work together on this basis. You can see that in a sense it is something absolutely impersonal. We can say that. That is the approach. That is the attitude. But it is discovered to be quite personal, because we are the focus for the Lord's outlook and viewpoint and action in the particular place where we are. But this outlook and action is entirely for the purpose of returning everyone and everything to the Lord.

There is another aspect of this that I might touch on for a moment, because people put great store by the way they feel about each other. “Oh, I feel some sort of a relationship here.” There are all kinds of vibrational factors involved in the earthly sense, on the one hand, which establish patterns of what one might call affinity, and these have absolutely nothing to do with the purpose for which we are here, and yet human beings tend to build them up into great things—“Oh look, this is magnificent! This is going to be so useful to the Lord”—when all it is is a distraction. It is utterly meaningless. I don’t suppose there is one of us here, including myself, who could not say that there are feelings of affinity with certain people more than with others. From my own standpoint I disregard that entirely. You haven’t noticed me, I don’t think, making a big thing out of it along the way. You haven’t known about it anyway.

Then, from the angelic standpoint, it is true that there are certain angelic associations, which have equally nothing whatsoever to do with the job we are here to accomplish. If there was a restored state, then that might be considered and taken into account, but at this point it is not. There are those who are looking for their soul mates, or something of this sort. Forget it! If this were the factual situation and there were two angels who had a particular association in the heavenly sense—in the eternal sense, that needs to be set aside for the job that we are incarnate on earth to do now. Everything is subservient to that. So we do not consult our human feelings with respect to “this person or that person would be more pleasing to me.” And we do not even consult what is true angelically speaking. We simply consider what is required under this particular circumstance that the earth might be restored to the Lord, the world, and they that dwell therein. That is all. This sort of puts a kibosh on romance, doesn’t it? And yet we do find that when we do the job we are here to do, it is a very enjoyable process because we wouldn’t be doing anything else. We have no desire to do anything else. It all fits in so beautifully, but not according to some human nature view of things, and not even according to some actual angelic state, but according to what is necessary in the circumstance as it is—and it is a very mixed-up circumstance. So we are not shopping around to fulfill our own supposed divine designs. The revelation of what in reality is, from the Divine standpoint, is not in expression yet. If we want to be a bit self-centered about it I suppose you could say, “Well we’d better get busy now and get it into expression. Then we will be able to do all these other things!”

“He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart”—purity of heart is really what I have been talking about, not this mixed-up, adulterous state that human beings desperately try to keep alive for their own satisfaction. It does not prove to be very satisfactory, but still they try. Well, we are not here to do this. We are here for a totally different reason. And the former things are allowed simply to pass away, that we may discover what is right and fitting in the fulfillment of the commission which has been given into our hands individually and together. So we know that those who are going to participate with us must have clean hands and pure hearts. We provide what is necessary to let this happen—not for our own advantage, not for our own benefit, but because this is the process of returning everything to the Lord.

“… who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive the blessing from the Lord.” The blessing of what? Spiritual expression, isn’t it? The spirit of blessing is the spirit of spiritual expression. “He shall receive the blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.” That is right expression of living, mentally and physically. “This is the generation of them that seek him.” There certainly are those that seek Him in the world. It is because of this that the world can be restored to the Lord. “This is the generation of them that seek him.” We have been talking about generation—the generation of the essential substance. “This is the generation … that seek thy face, O Jacob,” that seek the experience of this Body by which the Archangel incarnates on earth. “Thy face,” the face of the Lord on earth in expression.

“Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.” We have seen how this does relate to the generation of substance, and how it relates to the point of initiation of the greater generation of substance at all levels. It relates to the opening of the First Seal, but it relates to the opening of all the Seals. The First Seal must be opened first. It is opened because there is a control and dominion established angelically speaking. It is not opened on any basis that human nature can undertake. Human nature has kept it firmly closed. The Seals are opened for the Lord. They are opened to provide the essential facility, the essential generation of substance which permits the essential power to manifest, by which the earth comes again to the Lord, the world and they that dwell therein. Each individual has this responsibility in a personal sense, and only when there is the experience, as we have seen, in this personal sense can there be anything beyond that has any meaning or purpose. Then we begin to find that there are patterns of association which have meaning, but they only have meaning relative to this one purpose—the one purpose for which we are here: to restore the earth, and the world, and everyone who dwells in the world, to the Lord.

Now those who will not be restored to the Lord, by reason of their own choices, must necessarily disintegrate, be dissolved. How many shall return to the Lord? Who knows? Our concern is to return all to the Lord, if possible. We may have a few reservations in consciousness as to this possibility, but our total concern is to return everything to the Lord, and what will not be returned at one level will be returned at another level, that’s all. What will not be returned in human form, for instance, may be returned in mineral form perhaps, or in the form of vegetation, or in the form of animals, whatever. But it all has to be returned to the Lord. And of course that fulfillment comes springing out of agreement, because there is a true Body for the Incarnation of the Archangel, whose viewpoint and outlook and action are provided for. The former things pass away, praise the Lord! All things are made new, praise the Lord! This is what we are here to do. We share the vision and the outlook and the action of the Lord in these matters, both while we are here together in this particular Assembly and while we continue together in whatever situation we may find ourselves in the larger body. It is so because we accept the circumstance where we are and permit the fulfillment to occur by reason of our presence in that circumstance.

© emissaries of divine light