Shekinah Magic #3 — John 3
Uranda June 20, 1953 Class
This is June 20th, 1953 and the sound you hear in the background, of a motor running, on this recording, is a sound that is very pleasant to our ears; the motor of our water sprinkling system which is tonight throwing water on the hill in the pasture north of the little Prayer Chapel, the highest point in relationship to our problem of irrigation; a hill which not long ago some thought would never see any water except that which fell from the sky. And tonight the sound of that motor testifies to the fact that water from the canal, the irrigation project, is being sprinkled there. And we thank God for that sweet sound; and let all who hear in the days to come share with us the appreciation of the background sound in this recording. Let us have a moment of devotion.
Our gracious LORD and KING, we thank Thee for the holy privilege we have of yielding to the Spirit of Thy Presence, and recognizing that in and through the Shekinah of Thy Presence we have the privilege of letting Thy Kingdom come, and of letting Thy Will be done on earth as it is in heaven, for Thine is the Shekinah, now and forever, in the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory. Aum-en
Tonight I would share with you a little meditation on an incident in the Master's life, as recorded in the third chapter of the Gospel according to John. This particular chapter or incident is of particular significance and interest to us in the pattern of our series of meditations on Heavenly Magic and the Mystery of Shekinah. We read from the record: “There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler among the people; the same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi we know that thou art a teacher come from God:” — “Rabbi we know that thou art a teacher come from God” — “for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily verily — which is to say, “Truly, truly” — “I say unto thee, Except a man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God.”
The Master had already stated that the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand; and here He makes a statement as to the reason why human beings do not see the Kingdom of God. Generally speaking, human beings imagine that the Master meant that they would be able to see the Kingdom of God after they were dead. But he was talking about a man. Could you say that that which leaves the body at death is a man? Could you now? No. He said, “Truly, truly, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again”. If He's talking about a man, He's talking about someone who is living right here on earth, in this sphere of things.
“Except a man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, that which is born of the spirit is Spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh and whether it goeth: so is everyone that is born of the Spirit. Nicodemus answered and said unto him, how can these things be? And Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen, and ye receive not our witness. If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you of heavenly things? And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the son of Man which is in heaven.”
Now there is an interesting statement which we should pause to consider for a moment. “And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven.” Now at that time He Himself had not ascended, so He was not talking about Himself. “No man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the son of Man which is in heaven.” Now He did not say, “Even the son of Man which was in heaven”; nor did He say, “Even the son of Man which will be in heaven after he has ascended”. He said, “Even the son of Man which is in heaven; And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the son of Man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.”
You'll notice here that those who are evil are not so much concerned about their deeds being known or seen, as they are about their needs being reproved. “For everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.” Here we have a passage revealing one of the most significant expressions of our Master's wonderful revelation of deity, and the truths of being.
We will first note that the whole significance of and meaning of this text has been distorted and misunderstood, down through the centuries, because of a pattern of human assumption; because human beings did not stop to think; because they did not really consider what is written here. This text here, for instance, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the son of Man be lifted up.” Now human beings have read that and assumed that it meant that the body of Jesus had to be hung on the cross; that the body of Jesus was to be crucified. They have assumed that the mere fact that Jesus was crucified, that all of those who had anything to do with it functioned as they did, that this text was fulfilled, and that the Master was foretelling that event. Now nothing could be further from the truth of the matter. The Master was not alluding to his crucifixion. He was not talking about any idea that He had to be crucified. Purely human assumption; a jumping to conclusion that has no basis in fact.
Let us consider. The Master had been talking about the process of being born again. He had made the statement that unless one was born again, one could not see the Kingdom of Heaven; and that without being born again of Water and of Spirit — that is, of Truth and of the Spirit of Love — no man could enter the Kingdom of Heaven. What is true of men here is likewise true of women. And then he went on to say, “Marvel not that I said unto thee, ye must be born again.” Nicodemus said, “How can these things be?” The Master answered, and said unto him, “Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?” Now was that expression the Master gave just sarcasm? Certainly not! He was not just mocking Nicodemus. He said, “Art thou a master in Israel, and knowest not these things?” [greatcosmicstory.blogspot.com/art-thou-master-of-israel.html] We must take one of two attitudes: either the Master was being sarcastic and mocking the man who had come to learn something, which is in itself absolutely unthinkable; or a master in Israel should have known these things!
It was not then that Jesus was revealing these things for the first time. The Master took the attitude that a ruler in Israel should have known these things; something that should have already been known, and He would not have required them to know if it had not been possible. In other words. we must recognized that the Master was indicating that the teaching which the children of Israel already had was sufficient to have caused one who was in a position of authority, knowledge, and understanding to have known these things. The Master was expressing surprise, not sarcasm. He was indicating that Nicodemus should have known, and was not mocking him. He was tying up. for those who would hear. the patterns of truth that had long been revealed. and should have been known.
He went immediately ahead to say. “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen, and ye receive not our witness. If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you of heavenly things?” So, instead of attempting to read sarcasm or mockery into those words, let us recognize that He was presenting something that was of vital importance to humanity. And He had been talking about being born again—rebirth, in order to see the Kingdom of God, and enter the Kingdom of God, He had spoken about being born of Water and of the Spirit. And He said, “I have told you earthly things, and if you have not understood, how should you believe if I tell you of heavenly things? In other words, according to His own word, He was not talking about heavenly things, in the sense of something in some far off heaven. He was talking about earthly things, things that were to manifest on earth, things that related to living human beings, men and women here and now.
We begin to recognize that we see that His statement, “And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the son of Man which is in heaven,” begins to have very great significance. The Son of Man was capable of ascending up to heaven, had come down from heaven, and was yet in heaven. Is that a mystery? The reality of Heaven on Earth. “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the son of Man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.” Now the greatest delusion in the world of self-style Christianity springs from the false conclusion, the assumption, that the Master was talking about His own crucifixion — which He was not! Let us see what He was talking about. “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved.”
“For God sent not his son.” Now must we read that as meaning Jesus himself? Must we read the term Son of Man as meaning Jesus himself? Human beings have read it that way, but it does not need to be read that way. Notice how the Master put it, “For God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved.” Now, in all of this He took the attitude that a ruler in Israel should have already known and understood. “He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” Now human beings again have jumped to conclusions, and they have assumed that the name of the only begotten Son of God was “Jesus” or “Jesus Christ.” Once we begin to read the Master's words in a recognition of what He was truly saying, we are due for some wonderful surprises.
What is the Name of the only begotten Son of God. He that believeth — well let's go back a little — “For God sent not his Shekinah into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Shekinah might be saved. He that believeth on Shekinah is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the Shekinah of God.” And not until you begin to realize that the Master, all the way through His presentation, where He spoke of the patterns with respect to the Son of Man, the Son of God, the only begotten Son of God, in every instance He was talking about Shekinah, not about Himself as a man, not about the body of Jesus. He was not talking about lifting up His own body on a cross, that it might be crucified. He was not encouraging the world's worst atrocity, the most horrid and useless atrocity ever committed by human beings on earth, for there was no necessity that the body of Jesus should be put on a cross. It had absolutely nothing to do with the salvation of man.
If human beings think their salvation depended upon the body of Jesus being crucified, then God Himself must be the author of the world's worst atrocity. No. We begin to see that human beings have jumped to conclusions. have utilized their own puny assumptions. and have completely misread, misinterpreted, the whole pattern of teaching which Jesus Christ gave to the world. And He plainly indicated that this teaching was already in existence before He began to teach. It was not something new; it was not something different. It was exactly the same thing that had been given to the children of Israel, and which they had ignored; and they had cramped it into the patterns of Judaism, instead of recognizing the true Hebraic Revelation of Deity, and of the teachings of God — something which had failed to recognize the meaning and significance of Shekinah. “And until we begin to see this particular pattern as the Master Himself presented, it we cannot understand the other things which He taught.
And so we read, “For God sent not His Shekinah into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Shekinah might be saved. He that believeth on Shekinah is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the Name of the Shekinah of God.” What is and was the only begotten Son of God? If we imagine that Jesus, the man, who permitted the revelation of our LORD and KING, was the only begotten Son of God, we multiply confusion; for our LORD and KING was and is the centering of Deity. He was God. And He was revealing Shekinah, or the Christos — not the man, not the body, but that which appeared in relationship to Him, which was the Fire, and the Light, and the Glory of Shekinah.
Notice. “And this is the condemnation, that Shekinah Light is come into the world, and men love darkness rather than Light.” His own Ministry had just begun. I am reading the record from the third chapter of the Gospel according to John — something that was in the very beginning of His own ministry on earth, and He talked about something in the past tense. “And this is the condemnation, that Light is come into the world, and men loved” — past tense — "and men loved darkness rather than Light, because their deeds were evil.” He was talking about the outworking in the pattern of the children of Israel hundreds of years before, when by reason of the working of God's Law and Love, in relationship to the Ark of the Covenant for instance, the Shekinah had been made manifest, when the Voice of God had sounded to the children of men through Shekinah, when all things necessary had been provided, and the Light, the Shekinah Light, had come into the world.” He was revealing it again, but He was talking about something which had been in the past.
Read the text, without the assumptions which have misled human beings for so long, and which have shut up their minds until they have no comprehension in any real sense of the vast significance of our LORD's ministry on earth, and what He taught. “And this is the condemnation, that Shekinah Light is come into the world, and men love darkness rather than Light, because their deeds were evil; for everyone that doeth evil hateth the Light.” What light? “For everyone that doeth evil hateth the Shekinah Light, neither cometh to the Shekinah, lest his deeds should be reproved; but he that doeth truth, cometh to the Shekinah, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they …” What? The deeds, “… are wrought in God.”
Now, was the Master teaching that He Himself was the only one who could do these deeds in God? He said, “But he that doeth truth…” Now that can apply to any man, any woman, anywhere, in any generation. “But he that doeth truth cometh to the Shekinah Light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that his deeds are wrought in God.” He was not setting a pattern, saying, “I do these works but you cannot do them.” He said, later on, much later in His ministry, “He that believeth on me.” But just a moment before, He had said, “The words that I”, the man whom you see speak unto you, “I speak not of myself, but my Father who dwelleth in me, He doeth the works.” And, “He that believeth on me” — the Father, not the man Jesus. Jesus didn't say it, according to his own testimony. “He that believeth on me,” the Father, manifest through the Shekinah, “the works that I do shall he do also; and Greater Works than these shall he do, because I go unto my Father.” He did not say, “Because I'm about to be crucified.” “Because I go unto my Father.” And was crucifixion the only way He could go unto His Father. It wasn't by reason of crucifixion, or entombment that He went unto His Father. It was in spite of these things, not because of them. It was in spite of them. And not until we begin to see these basic facts of being, can we begin to appreciate the Great and Glorious Significance of our Master's Life among men—His ministry, His teaching, His example.
“For he that doeth truth cometh to Shekinah.” Here the Master was revealing the way by which we might find Shekinah—by doing truth. “He that doeth truth cometh to the Shekinah, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they, the deeds, are wrought in God.” Until we begin to see that the truth which makes men free is the way to Shekinah, we cannot begin to know the freedom that is possible through the truth. Why does the truth make men free? Because it makes it possible for them to come to Shekinah, that being centered in Shekinah they may be the means by which the works of God are wrought on earth. And so we begin to realize that the whole pattern of the Master's manifestation on earth, His ministry, His teaching, His example, must be seen in the Light of that which He Himself taught. And over and over again He emphasized the reality of Shekinah.
Notice here, in the first chapter of John, we have already considered the significance of the Word, and seen, that it is , that which indicates Shekinah.” In the beginning was the Shekinah, and the Shekinah was with God, and the Shekinah was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Shekinah; and without him”—that is, without Shekinah—“was not anything made that was made. In Shekinah was Light, and the Life was the Light of men. And the Light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not.” And the Light, the Shekinah Light, “shineth in darkness and the darkness comprehended it not.” Now, in Shekinah was Light. In the beginning, in Shekinah, is Light. Now when the Shekinah Life is working in men, it is the Light of men; but when the Shekinah Life is not in men, there is no Light in them, and they are in darkness.
The record continues: “There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Shekinah Light, that all men might through Shekinah believe. He”—that is, John—“was not that Light, that Shekinah, but was sent to bear witness of that Light that was the True Light, that was the Shekinah Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. Shekinah was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew not Shekinah. Shekinah came unto His own and His own received Him not, but as many as received Shekinah, to them gave He power to become the sons of God.” The only begotten Son of God is what? Shekinah, that gives the power to men that they may become the sons of God; that is, the many aspects of the manifestation of Shekinah. “And as many as received Shekinah, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on Shekinah.”
Wherever you read “in His Name” or “in my Name”, read Shekinah, and you will begin to understand, if you understand Shekinah. “Even to them that believe on Shekinah, which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God; and the Word, and the Shekinah, was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His Glory, the Glory of Shekinah, full of Grace and Truth.” Upon this you may well meditate. And once you begin to see this Great Truth, the Master, His Life, His Ministry, all that He taught, will mean more to you than you ever dreamed could be.
You will lose nothing by facing the truth of the matter, leaving behind the illusions, the assumptions, the delusions; you will lose nothing worthwhile. Let us see the Master's Life for what it was. If those who count themselves to be Christians understood the great significance of even the first 14 verses of the Gospel according to John, there would be power made manifest so that, well, in the first place, the development of Soviet Russia could never have been. And now, if these things were understood by a few thousand Christians, so that they let it have meaning in their lives, Russia could be brought to our knees almost overnight, without firing a shot. The troubled conditions in the world could begin to be cleared, and the Kingdom of God would begin to come, and the Will of God would be done on earth as it is in heaven, without forever putting it off to some more convenient time. Why more convenient? Because human beings have not yet reached a point where they will let Shekinah have meaning. Let this have meaning in you, and the power of God shall manifest through you. How is it put here? “The deeds are wrought of God.” That's what the Master said. “But he that doeth truth, cometh through Shekinah, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God,” on earth, in relationship to the affairs of men.
Here is the key to Victory, to an understanding of the Glorious Life, the Mighty Works, the Wondrous Teaching of our LORD and KING when He walked among men. But for nearly 2,000 years human beings have made His words to be in vain, because they have had assumptions, and did not recognize the truth with respect to what the Master said. Acting on assumptions will not let the deeds be wrought in God. Let us know the truth, and do the truth, and come to the Shekinah Light, that we may do the deeds of God on earth, and so truly follow our LORD and KING.
Heavenly Father, I thank Thee, for the Blessed Ones here and everywhere, who are responding to the Shekinah Fire, the Shekinah Light, and the Shekinah Cloud of Glory, that all who will may share in letting Thy Kingdom come, and letting Thy Will be done. For Thine is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory of Shekinah, now and forever. Aum-en
© emissaries of divine light
