Stay With The White Horse
Martin Cecil April 16, 1980 Assembly
As individuals, and together, we are here in this setting to let the Kingdom come. This is a matter of spiritual government and letting the creative cycle operate. We do not have to make the creative cycle operate; it already is. But if we are associated with it then it may operate in a meaningful fashion within the scope of the human world. Seeing this operation of the creative cycle as the coming of the Kingdom, we would recognize our own roles in this regard. Properly we provide the means for the operation of the creative cycle in a specific sense, both as individuals and as an Assembly. We do not make it work, but the working of it may be brought to focus and allowed to emerge because of us.
The true creative cycle—which has been in operation continuously—has not had an opportunity to be brought to bear in a specific and controlled sense relative to human experience. Human beings have been so busy about their own affairs that there has scarcely been anyone on hand to allow this creative cycle to be brought to focus and to move in a direct and meaningful sense within the experience of human beings. It has been moving, and there has been a certain amount of human reaction to that movement, but nobody knew what was going on or why they were reacting or behaving the way they were, consequent upon such reaction.
Now we have the responsibility of making what is happening intelligible. To do this we have to know what is happening; we have to be participating in the creative cycle itself, associating ourselves with it, so that because of us it moves in a controlled way relative to our fields of service. We provide the means by which the movement of that cycle is not just a generalized thing to which human beings react in all kinds of different ways but is a specific thing, an understood thing insofar as we are concerned, brought to bear within the scope of human consciousness. This can be done because we share that consciousness, and if we let it work through us then we become aware of its working, and being aware of its working there is an awareness of what is happening within the range of human consciousness.
It may be a very small point at the moment, but that is really sufficient. Doubtless there will be some expansion in the days to come, but we are concerned with what is possible now. Insofar as we are concerned, what is possible now relates to a very small group of angels gathered in a rather obscure place on the face of the earth. We are here to let the Kingdom come, and that is to let the creative cycle operate because of us, operate within the range of our own awareness, of our own understanding. And so there is a point of understanding in the total consciousness of mankind thereby provided.
Recently I used a passage from the Book of Revelation, related to the opening of the seals. The invitation was extended to “come and see”, so that something might be thereby understood, something that had before been obscure. To the extent that understanding comes the seal is evidently open—something is seen relative to the creative cycle which is in motion. Some things are described as to what happens by reason of the ordinary human reaction to what is moving from the standpoint of this spiritual creative cycle. Human beings react the way they do; they have been doing it for millennia. So it is not hard to predict what is to happen, as long as human beings behave in their human nature ways. What is predicted could immediately pass away if human beings are willing to let the Kingdom come. Clearly enough this has not been the case so far, and this is one of the reasons why we are here gathered: to let the Kingdom come. This requires that there be those present who have sufficient understanding to let themselves play the necessary roles. Our concern is to play those roles merely so that the creative cycle can operate effectively. And it does not much matter which roles we play, just so long as it allows the creative cycle to operate effectively. So we do not lay claim to certain roles. We just accept the role that is necessary at the particular time to allow the creative cycle to operate.
We have, by our very presence here, accepted individually whatever roles are necessary to let the Kingdom come. Do you agree with me on that point? We would not, any of us, be here present, properly, if this was not so. Our whole concern is to let the Kingdom come, to let this creative cycle move in a creative way within the range of our own experience. And when it is allowed to do this, it has been introduced in a creative way into the total experience of mankind. We are not separate from mankind. If we let it happen, then it is happening for everybody.
Now it is happening for everybody in the unfocused sense already, and there are the usual orthodox human reactions to it, described here in the opening of the seals. If we see this as the orthodox human reaction, we recognize that this has nothing to do with us; this is not our concern. We are concerned to play the role that allows the true creative cycle to be brought into creative expression because of us, and therefore we will not react to the creative cycle which is already moving in the orthodox human ways. Now we need to be alert to this because we have had a habit in times past of reacting to anything that happens in orthodox human ways. We have had some training and some experience of how not to do this, and to some extent, of how to do what is required, how to allow the characteristics of the spirit of God to be the basis for our expression.
We are not reacting to anything. We are merely permitting these natural qualities to flow easily in the expression of whatever roles we need to play. “My yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” It is so. It is hard, difficult, painful, and everything else, if we react in the orthodox human ways to what it is that is being brought to bear. Now we need to note that it is being brought to bear in a more specific sense here than it is being brought to bear in the consciousness of mankind as a whole. We have come together here for this purpose. Therefore it all comes to focus, and if we have the tendency to react in orthodox human ways, those tendencies will be emphasized, because everything is brought to focus. But if we have had sufficient background of experience, of moving easily in the current of the spirit, then that is intensified too, so that we can do this effectively in our Assembly pattern.
As you may recall, when the First Seal was opened something became apparent: “And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.” We were considering the creative command “Let there be light.” This creative process is initiated by God. The creative cycle is moving as He has initiated it. But then human beings proceed to react to it in their orthodox ways, and what ensues in the opening of the other seals—these first four seals particularly—is descriptive of the orthodox human reaction. The impact of the creative expression of this cycle is sensed as being a divine compulsion—most people don’t sense it that way, but there are those who do—and so on the basis of this that they interpret as a divine compulsion they proceed to apply themselves to the action which they deem to be necessary on the basis of orthodox human reaction.
There may have been a genuine impact initially, but then that has been turned into devious ways, so that human beings proceeded to act according to the orthodox structures that were already present. And if there is a need, apparently, for human beings to toe the line, for instance, in doing God’s will, then someone is going to mount his red horse, take sword in hand and require this. Imposition and manipulation immediately take over. Sometimes that imposition is physical imposition. Sometimes the sword is a real sword which draws blood. It may be the sword of somebody’s mouth—that draws a bit of blood too sometimes. But the intent is to proceed according to the orthodox human ways, to do what is deemed thereby to be necessary, because of the initial experience of the rider on the white horse. And so it goes into a tangent. The devil is still in control. And the red horse is succeeded by the black horse and the rider thereof, and finally the pale horse, and that’s that.
If we can see the nature of this cycle, then the seal apparently is open for us. The invitation was “Come and see.” Well what do we see? If we see these things we see how the creative cycle actually is in operation. There is the rider of the white horse—he is there—but also we see how human beings react to that, and how this distorted state of affairs is maintained. And the experience is repetitive. The same thing has happened over and over and over again, because human beings were governed by the devil, composed of all the mass of hereditary factors that are contained in human experience. And it has been worked out in such a way that many people think that they have great freedom of choice, and the devil encourages them to try to preserve this freedom of choice. That’s one of the “good” things that we should preserve. But by preserving it we preserve his rule. If we see the devil in these terms, we see how futile it is to try to destroy the devil. The only way you could destroy the devil would be to destroy all human beings on the face of the earth. Then all that mass of heredity would be gone—one way of getting rid of it. But as it was put, God is not willing that any should perish.
Therefore, if at times I speak rather forthrightly about the devil and the valuelessness of his kingdom on earth—which is civilization and everything else that human beings have made—that is one thing. I’m talking about the devil then. But if it comes down to handling specific situations there is always a human being on hand, the human being who is fronting for the devil perhaps. He may be doing this, but God is not willing that any should perish. So we do not try to destroy the devil, because if we did so, it would destroy that human being. So there is a different, more gentle approach when we are handling the specific situations that arise and are presented before us. If, as has been done by some, the attitude is taken relative to some individual, or perhaps group of individuals, that “what they are doing is absolutely meaningless,” there is a failure to discern what our purpose is. We are not trying to destroy human beings. We are willing to let the devil pass away any time, but he will only pass away to the extent that human beings are willing to let him pass away. This could happen in a moment if everybody was willing, but from my experience, there are very few human beings who are all that willing, even amongst the greatest of the responding ones.
The willingness to let the devil pass away in one’s own personal expression of life is repentance. God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance, all should be willing to let the devil pass away. Repentance does not particularly mean that all should feel badly. Just let the devil pass away! If in the passing away of the devil there is some bad feeling, well that is all right too, because you are simply interested in letting the devil pass away. So in handling people then, we do not come out with hard attitudes, which might well be taken if there was nobody in front of the devil. But seeing there is somebody there in front of the devil, you cannot do that. It has to be approached quite delicately.
As I before indicated, there are occasions of course when one has to ignore the human being in order to deal with the devil, because if one did not do that it would jeopardize something of the unfoldment of the true creative cycle as it was emerging now. There have been occasions in times past, when our ministry was somewhat more delicate—when it had to be protected. And so some people had to be dealt with on the basis of the fact that they were representing the devil and were thereby threatening the delicate shoot that was beginning to emerge through the soil. And so there have been some who were indeed dealt with that way and suffered the consequences. It is not that we could not deal with the devil, even though people were intervening. We could do it, but we remember that God is not willing that any should perish; so, except in emergency situations, we don’t do it.
We are here in representation of the Michael the Archangel, who contends with the devil over the body of mankind, and we do not bring railing accusation until we can get the devil isolated from the body of mankind. Then we can clobber him all we want. In the meantime, “The Lord rebuke thee.” It is a velvet glove and an iron fist underneath. In any case, we begin to see the way human nature behaves. We begin to understand what happens by reason of the fact of the creative cycle that is moving. There is an orthodox reaction, and human beings follow out step by step until they have eliminated themselves from the scene, until the pale horse has ridden the course. Now, having seen that, we cannot be fooled by it. We have no interest in following out that same cycle. We have no interest in the red horse, nor in grabbing a sword, but we stay with the white horse.
When the command was given, “Let there be light,” on the First Day of creation, that light persisted through all the subsequent days of creation. It was not a matter of moving out of the First Day, the light goes out, and now we have a firmament. No, the light is still there. There is the rider on the white horse. Now perhaps we can see this relative to our own experience now. The rider on the white horse had a bow—he had a bow and he had a crown. Here was authority, a crown was given unto him. But he also had a bow, and this could well correlate with the rainbow, symbolizing or representing all the colors of the spectrum. Everything was represented in the white light. “Let there be light.” It didn’t say, “Let there be red light,” or “blue light.” “Let there be light.” This has reference to far more than the visible spectrum, and far more than the rest of the spectrum of which human beings are aware. How could you say where the spectrum ends?—going in either direction, toward the end of the shorter and shorter waves or the longer and longer waves. Somewhere it gets beyond the scope of the human mind to encompass.
So there is a white horse, and we may find an application relative to the rider thereof, who has a bow and a crown, because something is represented of the spectrum of life by reason of your presence. It could be said that the bow is the Assembly, and there is a sense of authority which comes as there is association with the One who rides upon the white horse. We begin to share the LORD’s creative action. We begin to participate in the creative cycle that is moving in an understanding way, and the creative cycle carries the authority with it. No one is going to deflect it. It has the authority. We discover, as we are associated with that creative cycle, that we share that authority. We do not share it in the sense of beating our own chests and saying how important we are. The only thing that is important is the creative cycle, and we are humbly grateful for the opportunity of becoming aware of its importance, and of participating in its action. But it is acting whether we are participating in it or not. We do not make it act. But it is allowed to be brought to bear in particular creative ways when we are associated with it, both as individuals and as the bow covering this particular spectrum of life.
You may recall that at one point, when speaking of the easy yoke and the burden of light, that the Master had said, “I am meek and lowly in heart.” This relates to humility. When we see the vastness of the creative cycle which is moving throughout the whole universe—not just here on earth, but which is brought to a particular focus here on earth for particular purposes—you may be inclined to feel pretty small, but as I say, very grateful that we do have the opportunity of playing a particular part relative to the movement of this vast creative cycle in our immediate earthly setting. “I am meek and lowly in heart.” That is a good description of one’s own experience in playing the required roles. All too often roles have been misinterpreted, for one thing, and blown up into big things and accepted in a personal sense: “Now I am important in the ministry of the LORD on earth, because of the particularly important part that I am playing.” But we don’t play particularly important parts. The creative cycle moving plays a part of whatever importance it is, and if we let it move because we are present, that is our privilege. But we did not make anything important, we didn’t do anything; we just let it move, that’s all. And that, when we begin to see it, because the seals are being opened, keeps us humble.
It may appear at certain times that some individual part is important, but it does not make the individual important. It simply is the part that the individual is letting the creative cycle move with respect to, that is important. The creative cycle is all-important. And we begin to see the nature of God perhaps in a little different light. The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory characterize the nature of God. We could say that our experience of God is this: the extent of our experience of the Kingdom, the Power and the Glory, the extent of our experience of the creative cycle. Because this is what it is. This is descriptive of the creative cycle, and therefore descriptive of God. So we begin to find God is known because of the creative cycle. We can say, “God is the creative cycle. That is what God is.” Within the range of our experience of God, that is what God is. This is the same as saying the Word—the Word that is with God and the Word that is God. So we are not experiencing a person. We are experiencing the reality of what happens, the reality of what is going on, and that is the experience of God.
Insofar as our experience of a person is concerned—I am meek and lowly in heart. That is our personal experience. It does not promote us to become big people. If in our playing of a particular role some intensified aspect of the creative cycle is released because we are there, some human beings who look at it might judge that you were a big person because of that, but you know darn well you are not. You know it is not you. It is God in action. And God is absolute insofar as we are concerned—all Power, all Glory, all the Kingdom is His.
The words “He,” “His,” “Him” tend to make it seem as though He is a person—very big. The English language has its limitations, as all human languages do. There is no word available to describe God because God has remained unknown. He is nameless, indescribable, but certainly experienceable. And when we allow this creative cycle to work we are sharing the responsibilities of government, and we will find, as we let it happen, that certain creative processes occur.
It does not generate a red horse insofar as we are concerned, or a black horse, or a pale horse, or anyone to ride them. Something else happens. And it is as we participate in the actual experience of the happening that the true seal is opened for us. We know God on this basis, and it is not a matter of argument or belief or any of these things, which relate to the devil. But we share the experience of the action of the creative cycle on the basis of the roles that are required of us. And we will play a role as long as it is necessary to play that role, and then we will play another role. Some roles last a few seconds, some may last a thousand years; but whatever it is, we are quite willing to let the role be played, because thereby the creative cycle works, and we find ourselves identified with it, identified with God.
We may find ourselves in position to play some roles that we never even considered to be possible before, or even existed before, because the role puts in an appearance by reason of the fact that the creative cycle requires it of you in a given instant. Then you know what the role is; otherwise you don’t. We are not going to speculate as to what the roles will be for you, you and you. Let it happen, as we share in this creation of the New Heaven and subsequently the New Earth, although the New Earth is moving at the same time as the New Heaven is being created.
© emissaries of divine light
