Let There Be A Firmament

Let  There  Be  A  Firmament

Martin Cecil  April 17, 1980  Assembly

We have been concerned together with allowing the substance that we brought to be blended and to generate a bit more. One of the necessities, if this was to happen, was the relinquishing of past roles. To the extent that these have been maintained it has kept the substance restricted; it wasn't free to move and to blend with the substance of others. It's not just a matter of deciding, “Well now I am going to relinquish my role and I'm going to look at others without pinning any roles upon them.” Each person has been permeated with his or her own role, up to the point of arriving on the scene here, and the role came along too whether you were desirous of relinquishing it or not, because it was a part of what you have been. Yet this needed to be seen so that there could be a deliberate attitude which was willing to allow roles to dissolve. But just because one says, “Well I am willing to leave my role behind,” doesn't mean it was left behind, because all of the roles which you have been playing, some of you for many years, were brought along with you; they are a part of what you have been. So to this degree the substance you brought along wasn't free to blend with the substance of others. It was still being held in the role structure. Gradually this could begin to be relinquished because there was a new feel here to what you were experiencing, which had very little relatedness to what you had known before. [greatcosmicstory.blogspot.com/2023/12/stay-with-white-horse.html]

And so it takes a little while to permit things to be freed up sufficiently to allow for the essential blending of the spiritual substance available to take place. We have all been working with this in these days, and I have particularly been working with it in the sessions that I have been present with you. And we are still working at it. But it is coming freer than it was in the beginning. Where there are those who have been assuming particular responsibility in our ministry, there tend to be stronger roles, and therefore it is seemingly more difficult to dissolve the role so that the substance could come free. In the October session of last year, those who were present were mostly not those who had held primary points of focus, and they did not have such structured roles, and these dissolved very much more easily. This is something that will necessarily have to be dealt with at these Assemblies as there are those who have been playing particular parts in our ministry for some considerable time, because they get locked into their parts and the parts are part of them, and wherever they go they bring the part along with them, whether they want to or not. So this dissolution of structures, in this sense, has been proceeding, and we come to this hour.

As a point of approach, I have been mentioning this matter of the opening of the seals, as recorded in the Book of Revelation, with respect to what happened in the opening of the First Seal. I don't think we will follow it up because we are not interested in following up on the basis of human nature [as it was outlined in Revelation]; we're not going to be concerned with the red horse, succeeded by the black, and the pale—which is an aborted cycle, so we don't intend to move in that direction. But it is well that we should see how people do move in that direction and how we ourselves have been fooled into doing it too. However, there is the right starting point, which relates to this First Seal. I will read the words to you, contained in the first and second verses of the sixth chapter of Revelation:

“And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see. 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 have seen something of the symbolism as it relates specifically to ourselves. The bow, the spectrum of life represented by the Assembly here, the spectrum of life, the differentiation of white light into its component colors, moving out in one direction that there might be light; and also the representation of the spectrum of life as it has been present in mankind. There is the dual representation here, representing God to man and representing man to God. The spectrum of life has a direct relatedness to the spectrum represented out of human nature. We have specific parts to play as individuals by reason of what comes to point in us out of the mass pattern of human nature. And with respect to that specific point there is a point of color which also comes to focus, but from above, so that the action may occur in the creative process.

All of us together are concerned with light as such—white light. It is inclusive of the spectrum but, to the extent that our substance blends together, we have a basis for the creative Word, “Let there be light.” And there is light. And this is represented in the passage which I read, the means by which the creative action of God comes into the world to deal with what is being offered out of the world because of us, because of our background of earthly heredity.

Now there is the rider on the horse, and we may see this as being particularly brought to focus by the LORD. But also here is the representation of the movement of the creative cycle. This is what is controlling what is happening. To the extent that there are those, us presumably, who are yielded to the creative cycle, then that control keeps coming on through. And the rider has his bow—which is the Assembly—and he has a crown, which is the symbol of authority and perhaps relates more particularly to my authority, the bow to your authority, in this creative process. Here is the manifest evidence of the One who rides upon the white horse. And we share that expression of control, dominion, with that One. We do it on the basis of these two aspects, the bow and the crown. Both indicate authority. The Law works; there are the positive and negative aspects. We allow this operation to occur as we share our times together in this particular fourth hour session. It doesn't stop there, rightly, but it comes to particular focus there.

Now the white horse—a horse indicates power, and white the nature of the spiritual power, the Christ Power, the creative power, which makes possible the creative action at the level where it is needed. It has emerged out of God into heaven, and out of heaven into the earth. Our primary concern relates to this initial creation of the New Heaven. We do not need to fuss too much about the New Earth; tt will come right along if we have the New Heaven present. This creative power also relates to the Word, the Word which is sufficiently imbued with power that when it is spoken the creative action occurs. For instance, “Let there be light,” and there is light. And we share the opportunity of extending that light in the ensuing creative cycle, because the light actually is the power by which we achieve what needs to be achieved. If we are concerned with the creation of the New Heaven, the light is the tool of our creative action in this regard, and the light is inherent in the Word.

So our living, in this hour and consistently, must be on the basis of the Word if the creation of light is to continue. Perhaps the view may have been that, at some particular point, the word “Let there be light” is spoken, and there is light, and it's going to be there thereafter, regardless. But from our standpoint, in this creative process with which we are concerned—in the midst of darkness, incidentally—that light needs to be constantly generated. We are responsible for the light. Our countenances need to shine as the light, so that in all our living there may be this creative tool available for the LORD but in our hands. We provide the LORD with hands in this way.

So we see this symbol of the white horse as certainly representing what occurred on the First Day of Creation. But it also symbolizes what occurs on the Second Day and the Third Day and the Fourth Day, and all the way down the line. There is more on our plate from day to day. No matter where we may be serving, there is always an expanding opportunity in that regard. We trust the LORD in this regard. We begin to have experience, that whatever it is that is brought, we can encompass it, we can handle it. There is far more to be known. We don't try to duck out of the responsibility. We don't continually claim, “Well it's too much.” Human nature claims it's too much; it always will. And we have a good gauge here as to the extent of our association with human nature. What would be too much for God? What would be too much, therefore, for us in representation of God? This seems to put a person on the spot, but all it does really is put human nature on the spot, and that feels like one is being put on the spot if one is identified with human nature.

But if there is an acknowledgment of the true design, and in this setting there is the bow, there is the crown, there is therefore the evidence of the One who rides upon the horse, and there is the fact of the horse. The power is present and available—spiritual power, light, the creative tool—so that we are consistently concerned with maintaining that light, with maintaining clarity. The light has emerged because the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters, and the light is there because it has had a medium through which to shine. Clarity is what allows the light to be apparent. Now this clarity relates to our own state of consciousness, to our own state of feeling, to our own attitudes in any circumstance in which we may find ourselves.

We may find ourselves in a confused circumstance. The question then arises as to what our attitude will be. I don't think there is any doubt but that we will find ourselves in confused circumstances. The world is a very confused place, and this is our realm of action, so we will be in confused circumstances. What are we going to say, what attitude are we going to take, when this becomes apparent? And it becomes more apparent at times than at other times. What are we going to do? Human nature says, “Well I'm confused.” This is of no concern to us, what human nature says. Our concern is to bring the clarity. In other words, there is a clear place, not only within us—this should have been generated over the years that we have had the opportunity to let it happen—a clear place within us but a clear place beyond us.

This is our movement into the next Word that needs to be spoken, which is “Let there be a firmament.” Let there be clear space in my realm of responsibility, into which none of human nature confusion is allowed to enter. Standing in this clear space, which needs to be beyond us, we may see something of a dividing line beyond which there is the murk and the confusion. We are well aware of the fact that there is confusion, that there is darkness. The light shines in the darkness but the darkness comprehends it not. Beyond this hedge of light there is darkness, uncomprehending of the fact that there is light.

Now we're speaking principally here of conscious comprehension. If factually there is light present because we are here present, on the white horse, providing the One who rides the white horse with His authority on earth, then the light is a reality and it is shining in our vicinity. And yet how many are there who might put in an appearance who are amazed to see this blaze of light? No, they are quite oblivious. They may sense something, feel something, but don't put too much weight in it. They go somewhere else and sense something else somewhere else. So the darkness comprehends not the light, even though it may be present. And we need to make very sure that it is present insofar as our realm of responsibility is concerned, that there is clarity so that it can shine.

This clarity includes our attitude of assurance. No matter what circumstance we may be in, there is a calm assurance there. Sometimes people get so involved with looking at the darkness, the turmoil, the confusion, that they forget that there is this calm space here in between. And pretty soon, if they keep on that way, there won't be any calm space. It will come pressing in. And there are those who have found this happening and become rather frantic in the situation: “Everything is piling up on me.” Oh no it isn't, not if you keep this space around you. Nothing can get close that doesn't belong close. So we deliberately sustain this clarity in our immediate vicinity.

And this is the beginning of the creation of the firmament—not for ourselves; this is a collective thing we are now considering—we would not be able to create it if is wasn't in some measure true individually speaking already. Then we let all this blend together and we have a larger hedge around us of clarity, serenity, tranquility, calmness. What we have called before an atmosphere—the first evidence of the creation of the New Heaven, for which we are responsible. We may create in a particular sense when we are together in person, as we are now, but we are responsible for it just the same in the collective sense, when we are not necessarily together in person. We have a keen sense of responsibility in this regard; and no matter how much there may be a clamoring going on in the confusion round about, trying to get our attention, trying to get our reaction, we recognize that our responsibility is the creation of this New Heaven.

And so we have this New Heaven here. We have seen this in terms of the Holy Place—the Priesthood in the Holy Place. There must be those who stand in the Holy Place, and the Holy Place is all around them. This is the initial creation of the New Heaven—something that is relatively close, one might say. We may have an awareness that, while it is a concentrated atmosphere for us here, that atmosphere is not unknown by others who have been sharing with us this responsibility in the larger sense. There are other true emissaries here and there who have been allowing this to happen, so there is that atmosphere; it is not limited to this right here. But we here are concerned with this, because we are concerned with the creative process for which we are specifically responsible in this Assembly. We have something which is our responsibility in the creative sense, and it also provides us with opportunity to gain experience in the creative process, so that we can easily move into whatever configuration is necessary and let it happen. We let it happen in any case, even if there is no immediately obvious configuration, because we all are a part of the overall pattern of what we have spoken of as the Body. But right now we have some particular creative action to accommodate in this grouping.

“Let there be a firmament.” It pushes back the confused consciousness of mankind so that there is space available—and this space, insofar as we are concerned, is the Holy Place. We have a consciousness of responsibility for the Holy Place as Priests and Priestesses. Our thoughts, our words, our deeds are the vessels for the Temple Service in the Holy Place. And we are very careful with our thoughts and with our words and with our actions, because the primary concern is to maintain this New Heaven, to maintain the Holy Place. The Holy Place is maintained by the right use of the vessels that are present in it, and these vessels are our own thoughts and words and deeds. And if there are others in our vicinity who are not so careful with their thoughts and their words and their deeds, we do not permit this to come into the New Heaven which has been created, into the Holy Place. We do not permit it to come in, because we do not react it. We do not accept it into this space which we are maintaining.

Now the space of the Holy Place is primarily for the Priesthood. The general public are certainly not invited in. But to the extent that there has been this initial creation of the New Heaven—the Core of the New Heaven—here the atmosphere is pure, the atmosphere is strong. Remember the rider on the white horse goes forth conquering and to conquer. Unconquerable life prevails. There is always sufficient strength from within the Holy Place to keep it holy. The only way it can be violated is if we ourselves allow something to come in there by reason of the misbehavior, we will say, of somebody else. The misbehavior of other people is their concern. We don't have to, as Uranda put it, put poison in their tea. We don't have to get on our red horse with a sword and lop off their heads. The Law works—we trust the Law. And if people do misbehave in ways that we don't approve of, they can do it as much as they like out there in the murk, but not in the Holy Place. We keep the Holy Place holy because we ourselves are making right use of the vessels of the Holy Place. Our thoughts are clear, our words are right, and our action is creative, regardless of what anyone else is doing.

So there may be a generation of substance—the substance of connection which allows for the creative spirit of God to work, and it works within the Holy Place, where the substance is. This of course impinges upon this line of demarcation—which will not be actually light on this side and dark on that side—there is a twilight zone, shall we say, in between, giving evidence of the fact that the light is at work relative to the darkness, and twilight puts in an appearance. Our concern then is to let this generation of substance be sufficient to allow for an adequate spectrum of the spirit of God, represented by this light, to move out into the darkness, to expand the New Heaven.

I have used the analogy of the state of affairs with the Israelites, the Tabernacle, the Holy Place in the Tabernacle, and the Outer Court. The Outer Court surrounds the Holy Place; and beyond that again, the Encampment; and beyond the Encampment, the tribes of the earth. Now the New Heaven should extend from the Holy Place through the Outer Court to encompass the Encampment. But you can readily recognize that there is a different level of experience in each of these areas. This is a rather arbitrary division but it illustrates something at least. At the moment, the Holy Place is rather small and the twilight zone doesn't extend that far. The twilight zone represents the continuing creation of the firmament. The starting point is just one point of light in the middle of the darkness, and a little twilight zone around it. But gradually there is an expansion. And we ourselves are participating in a particular aspect of that expansion in this Assembly, so that the atmosphere of the New Heaven may have a widening influence. It must have an absolute influence in the Holy Place. There, it is unconquerable. And we are responsible for letting this extend on out.

If we consider the Outer Court, we may recognize a slightly larger place than the Holy Place. And there is what one might call more leeway in the Outer Court than there is in the Holy Place. There is no leeway whatsoever in the Holy Place. That is absolute. But coming further afield, so to speak, there are those who naturally find themselves associated with the Outer Court. This area is more concerned with mental activity, which, even from the standpoint of human nature, is now considered to include the elite. We're not thinking of it in those terms exactly. But if there is response to the light then there are those who have a certain brightness of mentality who would naturally be enfolded in the Outer Court. The Encampment beyond that again relates to those who are more actively engaged in material pursuits, but who have opened sufficiently to find themselves associating, albeit unconsciously, with what is emanating from the Holy Place.

We ourselves need to see that there are these levels of classification, could we call them, of those who first of all are invited to come into the Encampment out of the mass of humanity. But there must be at least sufficient twilight out there for them to associate themselves with something; otherwise there would be nothing to associate with. And so we have a continuing movement in the creative process, summarized by the words, “Let there be a firmament.” It's not as though we could say, “Ah, now we've got the firmament”—not half of one percent of it. There is a continuing process.

This continuing process relates very much to association in ministry in the world—coming out to begin to deal with people in the world. Remember we are dealing with people. This simplifies things a lot, if you will let it be that way, because most people don't think of people but think of what it is they are associated with. They think of the structure in which the people are caught. We are not interested in the structure. We are interested in the people, not in all these cults with which they are associated. And all human beings are associated with cults. We are concerned with people and with serving them. And it doesn't matter really where they may happen to be. We can look at the structures in which they are caught and become very critical of such things. But if we do that, then that is tantamount to being very critical of the people who are caught in those things. We are not interested in laying criticism on people, but in opening a door so that they may come clear of the structures in which they have been caught.

This doesn't mean that we say to a person who is, whatever, Roman Catholic, “Well you've got to get out of that.” No, let them stay in there until they can't stay there any longer. A person gets big enough spiritually speaking and he can't stay in the cramped quarters anymore, so he must come out, one way or another. And when there is this happening with a person you may assist them to come out as easily as possible, so that they don't get scraped and bruised coming out. But that doesn't mean that you are condemning the thing out of which they are coming. You are not condemning anything. You are welcoming someone into the Encampment. Of course we need to have an Encampment into which they may be welcomed. We don't welcome them immediately into the Holy Place. That wouldn't be wise, would it? It wouldn't stay holy long. So there are other areas into which people may come, suitable to their own level and their own spiritual competence.

All this is part of the creation of the New Heaven. We may envision, possibly, that all who are outside of the Encampment will eventually be inside the Encampment or nowhere. In other words, the Encampment and all that is within the Encampment will be all there is on earth. In such case, all the various structures that human beings maintain now will have gone. But some people will still be there; they didn't go with the structures. There will doubtless be many who go with the structures. But our concern is the creation of the New Heaven, sufficiently complete, sufficiently large, so that all may be invited to come in. Thus far such creation of the New Heaven as there has been has been a rather narrow place. It needs to expand. And as it expands we don't expect people to conform to some view of how they should be if they were in the Holy Place. The point is they are not in the Holy Place, so they don't have to be that way. And anyway the view is probably false in the first place.

There is by far the greatest space in the Encampment. There is by far the greatest leeway in the Encampment, for people. We let them be free there. Of course there is a limit which surrounds the Encampment, but there is a lot more room within the Encampment than there is within the Outer Court. Those who properly find themselves associating with the Outer Court discover that there is a greater discipline required there. As I say, coming into the Holy Place there is no leeway at all. It is absolute. Out of the Holy Place the rider on the white horse goes forth conquering and to conquer: something absolute, no weakness. So we let people find their own level, and we don't imagine that everybody has to be crammed somehow into the Holy Place. It would be very uncomfortable, and wouldn't be possible anyway.

So we learn to leave people alone while encompassing them in the New Heaven which we create for them. We have a far larger view of the nature of the New Heaven than perhaps we have had heretofore. It is quite capable of encompassing all people. And we should be diligent about the creation of it with the tool of light, so that it is sufficiently expanded—largely twilight in its outer extent—but sufficiently expanded for people to begin to feel at home, out of the darkness but in the twilight. And our responsibility is to enfold them and to encompass them. We do not have to know, necessarily, who they are. Presumably we will know very few samples of that Encampment pattern directly. But we provide space. And as we participate in the creation of the New Heaven, we discover at the same time how to do this, and how we may effectively invite those who have whatever measure of response to move out of the darkness, first of all into the twilight. Some, come quickly through the twilight right to the Holy Place. But we don't anticipate many doing that. We don't need that many. It would tend to become cumbersome if we had too many. So, like Gideon, we are quite content with three hundred or whatever it is. Here, we begin to move together toward the greater action necessary in the creative process. The power is there. It's with us. And when we are with it, we share it, and it gets the job done. Remember the attitude of thankfulness.

© emissaries of divine light