I Am Thine Inheritance
The Body Within The Body
Grace Van Duzen June 20, 1964
In the beginning God created this wonderful world, and there was a Body of God, and it was perfect and beautiful, and it was one thing. A lot has happened since then. And there was a design, a pattern of Twelve and a pattern of Seven—the fact. We don't know much, in an intellectual sense, of what happened in those days of perfection, because the mind of itself cannot know it. It is an awareness that recalls it, an awareness which utilizes every aspect of our consciousness: feeling, emotion, mind, body. It is not knowing about. It is coming into an awareness of. So this wonderful Body was created, a beautiful design, a perfect one, with dominion over all the kingdoms of the earth; and everything was lovely. The LORD created His Temple, this whole earth and each individual body, for His pleasure.
That which man knows something about started a little later in history, a time where man began to come together. There was a recognition that unless something came together, there would be nothing on earth—wars and rumours of wars; and this goes back five thousand years, and it goes back farther. Wars and rumours of wars because the Body was not One in its awareness—there was separation. There was an awareness of a need for Oneness, bringing together of mankind under One Father—a Nameless One in actuality—the Twelve aspects of the Body of God brought together. Way back there this was accomplished, and we have the people formed called the Children of Israel. This was not a racial thing—they were all integrated, because it was comprised of all the aspects of humanity.
And there was formed the beginnings of the Body of God again on earth—one thing—but there was something which integrated them all. You see, there were Thirteen, and the Thirteenth was called the Priesthood. Levites was the name of the Priesthood—something that was integrated into each of these Twelve aspects, something which could manifest in each of the Twelve and still be one thing. They represented God to man, and there was that in each of the Twelve or there would be no One Body: that which is of the LORD, and which can manifest in the Twelve without taking on subjection to the Twelve; that which remains in the world but not of it. This is the true Priesthood, and there must be that in all the Twelve to meld it into One Body. One could say that there must be a Body within a Body, and surely we are part of that Body. Are we not all different? The very fact that the Priesthood is in each of those Twelve means that the Priesthood is different—and yet it is not—it is above and beyond it; it is in the world but it is not of it. Without the Priesthood we don't have anything.
They were very faithful, dedicated—to the LORD. And they were constantly warned that all the world was to be included in this pattern—never to let it be a segregated thing. When something comes together to form the Body of God, there is a Oneness, there is a coming together. When the LORD is forgotten it is dispersed, it dissipates, it falls part—there is the very opposite of the working of the Law which draws together all things, and it is scattered abroad. So, going along with our story we found that the Twelve began a wonderful movement toward the forming of a Body, a Temple for the LORD on earth. But at one point along the way we find a very graphic story, symbolic of what took place in the whole: the priesthood became corrupt. It began to drift away from that firm dedication whereby there was no partaking of anything except what came from the LORD. They began to pay certain ones to be priests, and the very minute that the priesthood became corrupt there was nothing to cement the Body together. It is that Body within the Body which is so vitally important. Then the Twelve began to fall apart, because Twelve aspects don't make the Body. The Priesthood is that which cements it together, and when that became corrupt, everything fell apart.
We go along, and we see that the minute there was division within the Body, there were predatory excursions from outside, and these took place from all directions—all around their enemies began to take over. But this was after the failure of what was inside. Up until this time it couldn't do a thing, and it never can from the outside; but when it happens from the inside, it can all come rushing in, and that is what happened. And we find that first the one solid kingdom was divided into two, and then they were taken away captive into foreign lands. First the kingdom of the ten, the ten tribes were taken away captive. We could say this was the second fall of man. Without the Priesthood we don't have anything.
Something has been brought to point on earth in this day which is absolutely priceless—the Body within the Body that is so vitally important. There must be that Body, within the Body, that is trained for that deep dedication to the LORD. And if in that Body, the Priesthood, there is not that deep sense of belonging, how can there ever be throughout the Twelve Tribes? It is right that there are Twelve aspects, but it must be One Body. We have a place close to the LORD where we inherit Him—I Am thine inheritance—we inherit His very Being. We don't receive something from Him. It is what He is that is our inheritance, within the Temple of the Living God. I Am thine inheritance. That means I Am the wonderful Body within a wonderful Body. When I and the Father are One then He is my inheritance, and then all that has been done through the years, heroically, by dedicated men and women in their places, will have meaning, will not have been in vain. Each of us is that Body.
This is that which must be done by that Body within the Body. There is a design in the Divine State—not something hodgepodge, just a mixing, but a perfect design. Something glorious has taken place in our day, which is completely without any meaning unless there is that Body within the Body—a Body that is close to the LORD, and which lets the things of God come through in meaningful living, in humility, really letting the things of God take form through us. It is time for the Divine Priesthood after the Order of Melchizedek, the Divine Design ordained by God for His creation. Every part of this Body, every people on the face of the earth, belongs in One Body. Is there any part, any people, you can think of that you'd like to exclude? It all belongs together. Isolation—that is the order of fallen man. It is exactly the opposite to the Order of Melchizedek, which draws everything together into the One Body it was created to be.
As that Holy Priesthood, we surely have a deeper, more vibrant, more thrilling awareness of the perfection of God's creation. And we have one place to start—this Temple, oneself. The Divine Order is really order. It is perfect, and it partakes of none of this filthy thing that man calls design. He has names for it, all kinds of names for diseases, for mental disturbances; they are all categorized, a certain design, they say, an order. But it is not order. It is disorder. It is chaos. It takes everything apart, and you have nothing. So let us, remembering the One who draws us all together, and cherish his words with respect to belonging. Then we find that, seeking the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, all things are added. We don't have to get anything from the Body. All things are added to the Body—they're all here, and what a joy when we realize it. It's all here.
We're all moving in the air of the spirit. Constant movement—it's a wonderful feeling to keep aloft the Body of the LORD. The Body within the Body we are, exactly the way it is now. And it is absolutely essential for a Body to come together—and it will come together. Wherever those parts of the Body of God are, they will not remain isolated. They must come together. It is a magnet drawing unto itself its parts. But let's never think that there aren't those parts all over the face of the earth. They are being drawn to form that Body. But it must come together in actuality. There is the drawing, and the time is shortened. This is why we are here. Praise the LORD.
© emissaries of divine light
