Seth—Enoch—Noah

Seth — Enoch — Noah

  Found  Grace  in  the  Eyes  of  the  LORD

"The Story Of Man"

Grace Van Duzen   October 29, 1980  100 Mile House, B.C.

“And Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden.”  Genesis Chapter Four. “And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth: For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew. And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos: then began men to call upon the name of the LORD.”

Now this is showing that in this fallen state, really quite different from the original, there was something still of the seed of Abel, as it is put, which could call upon the name of the Lord; something identified with the Lord and beginning to have a conscious awareness of it. And that wording, “another seed instead of Abel” — in other words, something wherein there was the possibility of response, of coming close to the Lord. “Instead of Abel” — not Abel, not that first, pure thing that was created but, nevertheless, the seed of Abel — the response pattern present in whatever the state happened to be. We could say the same thing today.

And in the Fifth Chapter we have the line coming down from an indefinite life span — whatever was needed on earth, spoken of as before death appeared in the picture — to a very lengthy life span compared with today, but probably as nothing compared with the original creation. And we'll find it coming clear down to a mere hundred and twenty-five years, which today would be quite good. That will be after the next cataclysm, but it gets less and less throughout here. “This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him; Male and female created he them.” So here you have Adam referred to as “them” — the body of mankind, in the image and likeness of God. “And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness” — and called his name Seth — “And Seth lived an hundred and five years…” and then it goes on down: “And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah: And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters: And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years: And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.”

This is as concise a record of ascension, I think, as is possible — of right function and of being taken to the Lord. In other words, here is complete identification with the Lord so that it was one thing. It also indicates that this state was present at one time—and that in Enoch we have an individual, but also he represented many; and always we have this, with an individual, the representation — indicating that many others would be experiencing that state.

Then: “And Lamech lived an hundred eighty and two years, and begat a son: And he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the LORD hath cursed” — or which man cursed by his function. And always after the fall there is this reference to the ground being cursed: man had to labor, really work to get anything out of the ground. Whereas, before, there is inferred the fact that it was an easy, beautiful giving of the earth. It “brought forth abundantly,” as it is put in the days of creation. The right and natural way rather than all the tilling of the ground, and digging, and messing it all up. It's hard work in this state. “And Lamech lived after he begat Noah five hundred ninety and five years, and begat sons and daughters: And all the days of Lamech were seven hundred seventy and seven years: and he died. And Noah was five hundred years old: and Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth.” That was five hundred years! We find the conditions on the earth changing drastically after this next episode coming up in the Sixth Chapter.

“And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them. That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.” A brief reference to something—a positive expression referred to as “sons of God” and a negative aspect, the “daughters of men.” Here is the union of this positive expression with something which rightly was negative. Now to speculate is ridiculous, but there was a union of that which should have remained in identity with the Lord, with that which was below it. That which was below it had a place, but they were not meant to be functioning together. We can say this is simply a statement of the fall, whether the original fall or any fall—union with what is rightly below rather than that which is above. Something actually did happen which produced a lower state of consciousness. “And they took them wives of all which they chose”—in other words, “What I want.” Here is the element again, isn't it, in whatever aspect of the fall we're talking about: “This is what I want, this is what I'm going to do,” and the results are rebelled against.

“And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.” A little obscure, but we can read much here. In other words, there comes a time where the spirit—it isn't God saying, “My spirit shall not always strive with man,”—but how long is it possible for the spirit to work through the fallen state. “For that he also is flesh,” and that doesn't mean that he was not flesh to begin with, but here is a much denser state, a much denser condition appearing.

“There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.” And here in the Bible, this valuable reference to giants, because in any ancient history, referring to that which went before history as man knows it, there is reference to giants of some kind, whether it be stone giants such as in the Easter Islands, or man himself as being of a very great stature. Also, the animals; all the “sauruses” kids like to talk about. There was definitely a time when these things were in the picture—gigantic described something happening—and then there was the sudden demise of these creatures, which happened at the time of what is called the Flood.

And I briefly referred to the fact yesterday that at the close of the Sixth Day, God saw that everything was very good, so the distortions which came into the picture later were the result of man's interference—eating of the tree of knowledge of good and evil—whereas if he had simply been the instrument for the working of the spirit through him, the reason for his creation, it would have continued a beautiful thing, paradise. But all of these distortions came about because the power of Creation still moved through him in a very specific way for quite a long time. Eventually it was taken away from him, in the sense that he could no longer create monsters, or whatever. But there was a terrible time of union with animals, where there was a bringing forth of a mixture. And eventually, as I say, this power left him because it isn't always there—man has eliminated the working of the power through him in that sense of Creation. We can be grateful. But that was not the way he was meant to be. He shared the power of Creation with the Lord, as we saw in the Second Chapter of Genesis. But it continued in a destructive way for many years after the fall.

“And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” That describes man in any generation—very specifically today, doesn't it? I mean, it's very observable today. “Every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually”—the fact that it was imagination makes it evil, regardless of how filthy it might be or what it brings forth, here is the realm of using the powers of his mind and heart self-actively is what it is saying here. “And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart”—well, we could say this is attributing human characteristics to God, but you couldn't blame Him very much, to look at this mess and be “grieved at his heart.”

“And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.” Now it looks like it could have been completely eliminated—the possibility was there. This is what is being said, that God said, “There isn't any chance.” “But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD”—one of the most beautiful verses anywhere. Here it was—grace—something on earth responding to the Lord, in position to let the Lord do something on earth, without which there would not have been anything left. And as we know, it does start with one individual, either way—the fall or the return. And then there are those who come with him, and the body of the Archangel begins to be in evidence on earth again. And the very wording we find at the time of Jesus—He spoke of “My grace I leave with you”— and the very last words in the Bible: “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.” In other words, the working of the power of God in evidence. Here it is. And Noah, clear back here, allowed a channel to be used: “These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.” The only other reference of someone walking with God back this far was Enoch, who ascended if you remember. “Perfect in his generations.” I'm sure that doesn't mean his three sons. His generations—the generation of substance—perfect in this which was generated through him.

“The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.” And that has been the condition since man fell. Everyone who is born into the earth inherits the corruption of His way upon the earth. However the presence of the Lord is here. He created it and He certainly can do something about it, if He has the opportunity. “And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch.” And then we have the measurements of the ark. “A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side … with lower, second, and third stories." Whatever else the ark was—it's not called a boat in the Bible, but that doesn't mean that it couldn't be a boat. Anyway, it is an ark, which is the name for a place where life is allowed to continue because of the sacred nature of it—a place where the Lord is, and it is beautiful symbolism—it's obvious—there was a window above, and it had three stories. You have the three outer planes of being and the connection with all that is above, individually and collectively.

“And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female.” And this is a beautiful picture of the fact that because man was in place—Noah, and those who responded with him—all the kingdoms of the earth were allowed to continue. They were safe in the ark, because there was an ark and because man was in position. Otherwise there isn't any hope for any of the kingdoms of this world, animal or anything else. They are all contained in him, in essence, and he has dominion over all this, rightly, and the positive and negative aspects are here. “Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.” So if we see it as a boat on dry land, he had to trust the Lord. It's a good symbol, isn't it? And he did; he trusted the Lord, and he did—“Thus did Noah.” He didn't just listen to it and ponder, he simply obeyed the Word of the Lord, regardless of how it might look, and it often doesn't look that sensible to the stupid human mind. All that He commanded him, according to what He commanded him—he didn't leave anything out—“so did he.” And there was the condition for something to continue on the face of this earth.

In the Seventh Chapter we go on with the flood: “For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth.” After seven days here, “For yet seven days,” then, the flood. One man, Immanuel Velikovsky, questioned those seven days. What seven days? You don't mark it on a calendar, maybe Monday, and then say, “next Monday the waters will start.” After seven days of what? And he found a clue in Isaiah with reference to this, so that—well, I’ll read a little bit about that in a minute. “And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth. And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives ... into the ark, because of the waters of the flood.” And you have the correct procession of the forces here—first the water, which is happening. “There went in two and two unto Noah”—male and female. And it came to pass after seven days that the waters of the flood were upon the earth. In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day ... the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.”

Something happened, and it isn't just a big rain. Someone figured that if it rained all over the face of the earth forty days and forty nights we would hardly notice it—it wasn’t rain as we know it. Here was something that was a whole different condition upon the face of the earth after this catastrophe, and water was the primary element in it. We have a brief reference to fire during the submersion of Lemuria, fire and water. There was a flaming sword, remember, in all this, and there is a Ring of Fire around the Pacific Ocean right now, and along all the coasts of the Pacific Ocean you'll find volcanoes—latent fire—some of them not too active presently. But here in this verse a great deal is inferred, “all the fountains of the great deep”—and this isn't talking about the great deep of an ocean somewhere; in fact, there weren't oceans before this time. But “the fountains of the great deep”—and the great deep is what? Space? All of the cosmos? We don't know that much about it to say specifically, but in the beginning there was darkness upon the face of the deep—the deep of whatever—and the earth came into being. So there was something broken up, something terribly disturbed in all of this, and it did include other planets, very specifically Saturn, which is known as an ice-planet today, it is associated with ice, but in ancient times it was a water planet. “And the windows of heaven were opened”—something happened with regard to the envelope of the earth which changed everything. “And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.”

“In the selfsame day entered Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah... (and their wives) went into the ark. And the flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lift up above the earth.” The ark was lifted up. It's when it's lifted up, it's when it's in the water that it's free and can function. Here we find that the very same force which obliterated what was below lifted up that which was attuned with what was above. So the very same force, but it's where we are that determines what happens; it's not the force that determines it, but where are we, and with what are we identified? “And it was lift up above the earth”.

“And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered… And all flesh died that moved upon the earth… fowl, and cattle and beast and creeping things and every man” that was in the earth. “All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died. And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground... and the fowl of the heaven... And they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained... and they that were with him in the ark. And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days.” So Noah and "they that were with him"—there was a remnant which survived this amazing catastrophe. The wonder is that there was anything left, really, after these things that occurred. When there is an italicized word as here: “Noah only remained alive”—alive is italicized—it's not for emphasis as we would use italics. It's because the word was missing and it was put in by translators. Sometimes it's just as well or better without the word sometimes. “Noah only remained”. I think I like that better.

“And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in the ark: and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters assuaged”—the second force is air, and you have the wind. “The fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained; And the waters returned from off the earth continually: and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated. And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat.” The literal translation of Ararat is holy ground, or new heaven and new earth. Here was an opportunity for man to start over, in a very different situation but the Lord present in His creation through man. “And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month.”

Now we have the story here of Noah opening the window of the ark. He sent forth a raven first, “which went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth.” The raven didn't come back. It fed on carrion, or dead flesh; it fed on death. “Also he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground; But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and... returned... for the waters were on the face of the... earth: then he put forth his hand, and took her... into the ark. And he stayed yet other seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark; here is the beautiful white bird, to this very day a symbol of love and peace. “And the dove came in to him in the evening; and... in her mouth was an olive leaf pluckt off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth. And he stayed yet other seven days; and sent forth the dove; which returned not again unto him any more.” Then he knew the waters were dried up, he removed the covering of the ark and “behold, the face of the ground was dry. And God spake unto Noah, saying, Go forth of the ark, thou, and thy wife, and... sons, and sons' wives... Bring forth with thee every living thing that is with thee... that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply... And Noah went forth, and his sons...” and so on. And all the beasts and creeping things—there must have been a lot of creeping things!

“While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.” We can always see something here. The Lord promising that He wouldn't do this again is, of course, a way of speaking; however, later there is a clue in the Epistle of Peter, where he says that the earth is reserved unto fire: it would not be destroyed by water anymore. That last verse there is interesting if we see something in it: “While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.” This isn't saying necessarily that what was would continue—it could be indicating the new state. And that, I suspect, is exactly what is being said here. It's overlooked completely because there hasn't been the understanding of what did occur.

I briefly referred to the canopy before this, where there was a different state of affairs. Now you have the direct effect of the sun, and seasons, and all this. So, it's very strange for the mind to contemplate but there was a very drastic change in the earth after this. And I'm going to read just a little bit from something written by Velikovsky on Saturn and the Flood. It will be in a future book; it hasn't been published yet.

“While the actual beginning of the drama (meaning all of these catastrophes) is shrouded in the mists of grey antiquity, there is a point at which a clearer picture emerges. This is the time when the two giant planets, Saturn and Jupiter, approached each other closely.” Very little is known of this—how long they were in close proximity. But he points out that—and others are accepting this very much now, are coming to their own conclusions—“Cosmological thought of ancient peoples conceived of the history of the earth as divided into periods of time, each ruled by a different planet. Of these, the epoch of Saturn, or Kronos, another name for it, was remembered as a time of bliss, and it was made to precede the period during which Jupiter was the dominant deity.”

So you had Jupiter and Saturn before the Flood, and they were doing something at the time of Lemuria too, but here was a very close proximity and something happened where there was a disturbance and an imbalance created in Saturn because of something being thrown off from Jupiter, possibly including the origin of Venus, but that is speculation; the time element is not known here. We only know that these things happened at some point, so we don't want to try to pin it down, but there was a disturbance in which both Jupiter and Saturn participated—this we know. “Various peoples witnessed the events and described them as a celestial human drama in different forms. The Greeks have Jupiter—the son of Saturn, Kronos, dethrone his father and banish him and take his place to become the supreme deity.” So that in ancient mythology Jupiter did away with his father, Saturn, dethroned him, whatever—emasculated him, in one legend—and took over. And the beginning of the history of the Old Testament has Jupiter in that position—the great king Baal, he'll be called.

“A nova is thought to result from an instability in a star, generated by a sudden influx of matter usually derived from its companion. If what today we call Jupiter and Saturn are the products of such a sequence of events, their appearance and respective masses must formerly have been quite different.” They were much larger. “At some point during a close approach to Jupiter, Saturn became unstable and as a result of the influx of extraneous material, it exploded, flaring as a nova which, after subsiding, left a remnant that the ancients still recognized as Saturn even though it was but a fraction of the size of the celestial body of earlier days.” It dominated the heavens before this happening, and some of the legends say that Jupiter bound his father with rings, and you have the rings around Saturn. Jupiter was stripped of its outer envelope, so here you have a great change as well.

“My conclusion that, as a result of its interplay with Jupiter, Saturn became a nova, I found confirmed in many ancient sources in which Saturn is regularly associated with brilliant light. But I was led to this idea first of all by a certain clue contained in the Biblical account of the Deluge. The story, as found in Genesis, starts: ‘And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth.’ After seven days of what?” It's a good question. “Some words seem to be missing. It is clear, however, that Isaiah refers to the same seven days in his description of the age to come when ‘the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days.’ This memory of the seven days of light preceding the Deluge is a most important indication of the physical cause of the catastrophe. The intense light filling the sky points to a source in a nova within the solar system. If, as all evidence indicates, the nova was in fact Saturn, we may obtain an estimate of the earth's distance from the source of the illumination in the following way: the light from Saturn's explosion probably reached the earth in a matter of minutes, practically simultaneously with the beginning of its nova phase, but the waters followed seven days later. Though ejected in the same catastrophic destruction, the gases or filaments took a week to reach the earth”—Velikovsky estimates how close the earth was to Saturn because of all this.

“With the end of the seven days of light, the earth became enveloped in waters of cosmic origin, whether coming directly from Saturn—and Saturn is known to contain water—or formed from clouds of hydrogen gas ejected by the nova, which combined by means of powerful electrical discharges with the earth's own free oxygen. There are definite indications of a drastic drop in the atmospheric oxygen at the time of the Deluge.” So great changes occurred, which have continued. “The Midrashim and other ancient sources describe the waters of the flood as being warm; in addition, rich in chlorine.” That’s interesting, isn't it? There was great fear in ancient peoples because of what had occurred, really quite recently in their times, and they dreaded the gods—that this could happen again unless they appeased the gods with mostly human sacrifice; animal sacrifice later. But here you have the origin of human sacrifice.

What I'm emphasizing here is the great difference, changes that have happened on the face of this planet; whereas the old idea was that this is the way it was created—it's always been this way. Man has brought about many changes on the face of the earth. But the Lord has always been able to do something about it, or with it, no matter what man has done. And we see the power of the Lord's Creation in bringing all this about and the absolute insistence in nature, as we call it—nature—of bringing forth beauty. And as Martin's beautiful service says, “For God did make the earth a womb, where beauty might be born.” Nothing else can be born out of the womb of God—nature won't produce anything but that; it will make it right if it possibly can. It's only man who persists and wastes all his time and energy and dies in the process, to make it ugly. But with God, given a chance, it's very simple. There’s a very dark feeling in this Ninth Chapter, of the state of affairs after all of this. Remember it took many, many years for even vegetation to begin to take hold. It was covered with ash and all the rest of it, and a lot of this they have found on the bed of the Atlantic Ocean, by the way. In other words, at one point the bed of the ocean had to be above water because of the substance left there. It could not have gotten there when it was under water.

“And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered.” This is put as a commandment, but it's really the result of what's happened. The commandment in the beginning was to have dominion over all of this, to protect and love it, and all the rest. But here, this is what has happened now—the fear of the animal kingdom, all the kingdoms, of man himself. Why would that be? Aside from the vibrational influence, it is all man had to eat for awhile. “Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.” It's the condition that was present. So you have now at this point reference to what has been called the caveman state. That wasn't his original condition. He lowered himself to that state. It's right here in sequence. So the fear of man came upon the animal kingdom; a natural result, to say nothing of the state of man's consciousness anyway.

And then: “I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.” A rainbow, and again, here is a condition on the face of the earth where now a rainbow was possible; it wouldn't have been possible before. Here is a new state, here is another condition present. “And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud: And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.” Here is a symbol of something—in the outer form of a rainbow you have conditions where life could continue on earth; not the way it was created in the first place perhaps, but here it is. The Lord can do wonderful things, and He'll do anything if He's allowed.

“And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years. And all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years: and he died.” Now the Tenth Chapter is unique; it is a remarkable record of names; a succession of names. But this is a remarkable chapter to have come down to us, so ancient a document in such accuracy, coming from Noah and his sons. Gomer, and Magog, these are of Japheth, Madai, and Javan. And it's interesting when you trace back some of these names: Gomer, here, is a progenitor of the ancient Sumerians from whom are descended the Celtic family, because all of these, remember, typify some element or aspect or segment of humanity. From Magog are descended the Cythians or Tartars, whose descendants predominate in modern Russia. And then you have the Medes and the Greeks and all the rest coming—so it's interesting.

There are a few names worth looking at: “the sons of Ham; Cush, and Mizraim.” That name, Mizraim, is the first word for Egypt—that's the most original name for Egypt. And in the middle of it you'll find ra, which is the Egyptian name for God—Ra. And you have Eber in there. “Unto Shem… the father of all the children of Eber”—which could possibly be the origin of Hebrew, who was descended from Shem. And “unto Eber were born two sons: the name of one was Peleg; for in his days was the earth divided; and his brother's name was Joktan.” The earth divided, and there are many ways of looking at this. The earth was almost divided literally—the monstrous crack, fissure, during one of these catastrophes—there is a ring right around its middle, a very deep fissure. There is another one right through the Jordan River, and comes down into Egypt, a monstrous cleft.

“And their dwelling was from Mesha,” and so on. “These are the sons of Shem, after their families, after their tongues, in their lands, after their nations. These are the families of the sons of Noah, after their generations, in their nations: and by these were the nations divided in the earth after the flood.” It's easy to remember in the geneology that the line of man comes down through—not Cain or Abel, but Seth, from Adam. It is Seth, remember, and from Noah, it's Shem. This is all you need to know, that this is the way the story comes down through the Bible. Of course there were others through the other sons but the story in the Bible comes through this branch.

The Eleventh Chapter now—“the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there.” The land of Shinar—the Biblical name for Sumeria, or Sumer. And even though Egypt is very ancient, and actually it continues the history from Atlantis in symbolic form, here is where the history of man as we know it really begins. And here we have it in the Bible, beginning after the Flood. And after, however many millenia—it's vague; they keep finding more remnants, and make it go back a little farther; but there was a period of four or five thousand years, variable—between the Flood and the time history begins as we know it, called the caveman stage. Man came up out of that and now we find quite an advanced civilization here, at the time of Abraham. But here we're talking about the tower of Babel, which is showing that man built a civilization along the lines that he had before the Flood—not much different—same old thing.

© Emissaries of Divine Light

The Word and Its Influence

The  Word  and  Its  Influence  —  World  Service

Grace Van Duzen   May 20, 1987

World Service — one aspect of this has come particularly to my attention of late, over the past few years, and that is the evidence in the world body as a whole that they are hearing the Word. They haven’t heard us out there speaking it particularly but they are certainly getting a message. Of course everything that’s happening on the face of the earth, whether we like it or not, whether it’s good or bad or anything else, is a result of the World Service in which we participate — the Word and its influence.

But I am thinking of it specifically with regard to some books that have come out. And one must be very careful in this because you would like to know what books, and read them, and so on. It isn’t necessary. But what is revealed is a growing recognition that what has been included, for instance in the Bible, has been distorted — not an innocent accident but deliberately. I am thinking of the gathering together and arranging of the Bible as we know it — the Gospels — that much has been put in there. Well, for all of our Story of Man classes we have known that. We have said the virgin birth is an inclusion of a paganistic concept, and that Jesus did not die on the cross, and so on — but it’s really getting through in many places. And what I find interesting is that it doesn’t matter a hoot how it was put together, the Word came through. The Word is in the Bible. It is in the Gospels.

It is good that this recognition come, the conviction that the Master did not die. And it’s interesting because there are different manipulations as to why He didn’t, what the circumstance was — which doesn’t matter, again — but the conviction is there and that’s great. And of course what we see a lot of these days is, or I have, is Biblical scholars — the ecclesiastia, if you please, of the church — doubting many things. A very recent one is a man who has been associated with the church for many many years, who realizes the things that have been included such as the virgin birth, and other things, put Jesus in a class by Himself, and contradict His words that “you can do it, and greater works than these.” Why are they greater? Because more people are doing it. So these are some of the things which, to me, are strong indications of our World Service having effect.

In a very different vein perhaps, another Book has come to my attention. Not recently written — it is one of the oldest on the face of the earth — but has been given form recently and has come to my attention. It is called, The Book of Enoch the Prophet, and that goes back pretty far. You know where Enoch came in the Bible? Before the flood. Right? And he is spoken of as one who “walked with God.” He was with God, and he was not because God took him — not up into the sky somewhere. That’s an interesting fact in this book, because he was around. So this prophecy — I would bring it to focus because it is exactly the same as anything we hear from this place today. The truth is true and it doesn’t change. But it’s interesting to see something that was said that long ago — before the flood is what I am talking about. He was the great Grandfather of Noah. So I am going to read a little bit about this:

“In the year 1773, after a period of almost total obscurity lasting 1500 years, a Scottish explorer, James Bruce, discovered in what is now Ethiopia, The Book of Enoch.” Many of these things were unearthed in the land around Egypt. He writes: “Amongst the articles I consigned to the library at Paris was a very beautiful and magnificent copy of the prophecies of Enoch. Another is amongst the books of scripture that I brought home, standing immediately before The Book of Job, which is its proper place in the Abyssinian canon.” I find that interesting. It had its place just before Job. And Job, which is included in the Bible, is in this same category. This is acknowledged as the most ancient document — without date. They don’t know when it was written. And here again you have something that occurred before the story of man as we know it, the history of man, which we take from, well in the Bible, Abraham.

And he says it rested there forgotten until 1821 when Richard Lawrence issued his first translation — and that is the book I am talking about. Interesting that in the Epistle of Jude, and one of the Epistles of Peter, you find the Book of Enoch quoted, perhaps emphasizing the authenticity of this document. Jude has always seemed to be a very strange book in there. It didn’t seem to fit. Well that is really quoting from Enoch. This ancient book now rediscovered was used by different ones up until 400 A.D. And 400 A.D. is when the Bible, as used by particularly the Catholic Church — but that’s Christianity as far as the Bible goes — was put together. And that is when these paganistic aspects got in there and it’s when certain things were left out including the Book of Enoch. It was in the Bible as late as 200 A.D. and then removed. It actually contains much from which so-called mystic passages come, such as in Revelation. “When primitive Christianity had freely appropriated the visions of Enoch as the materials of constructive dogmas, this remarkable book gradually sank into oblivion, disappeared out of western Christendom, and was eventually forgotten by a church which unconsciously perpetuated its teaching as the miraculous revelations of Christianity.” He says that this translation places the book within the reach of all English readers. “Catholics may disregard its contents as it is not found in the sacred canon of their infallible church, but Protestants who adhere to the principles of the reformation, etc, must inevitably enrol among the prophets.”

Now with regard to the contents of this book there is the term, “watchers,” which is used synonymously with “fallen angels.” The following is quoted from the Mesopotamian flood story, the old Babylonian myth. There are — I’ve forgotten how many — over forty or fifty stories of the flood throughout the world. The ancient cultures of practically all people include a version of the flood with a little different name for Noah. It’s the same story, but some of them have more detail, which is quite interesting. For instance this one says the gods’ motive for the flood, after being asked why, is: “A cosmic imbalance between the human world and the divine world. The human world is overpopulated with humans.” This was written before the flood: “And the gods cannot sleep because of the noise.” They probably couldn’t eat at suppertime either! Hence the flood which destroyed much of the population.

In this myth also it is set forth also that there had not been death before the sons of God mated with daughters of men. And this cosmic imbalance of overpopulation had to be corrected. Thus death became the result, in this story, of overpopulation. The story of Adam and Eve tells the same story essentially, when human beings wished to be as gods. Now I suppose if you look at the story in Genesis 6 where the sons of God wanted the daughters of men, that could be the other way too. Couldn’t it? Humans wished to be as gods; but it’s the same thing. The fall simply was that this resulting being would have control which should be in the hands of the Lord. Not all beings fell — a certain number of them; that’s why they are called fallen angels — but not all participated in this. It probably would have been the end of everything if that had happened. The result of this — the offspring — was giants, not just larger beings, but distortions which covered the face of the earth.

There is another little quote from another story of the flood which simply emphasizes the reason for the destruction: “the people multiplied.” Now the only brief reference in the Bible to overpopulation is that they multiplied. Biblical scholars are embarrassed by that story? They don’t like it. They really don’t like that insertion. Along the way in the history of the writing of the Bible they have tried to eliminate it, so they changed it a little bit, this story of the sons of God uniting with the daughters of men. This was not pleasing to man’s mind. And the giants — one aspect of the giants, I suspect, along the way, was simply dinosaurs — but here again an aspect of giants, of distortion. And this other little record from another story of the flood: “The people multiplied. The land was bellowing like a bull. At their uproar the God became angry; He heard their noise. He addressed the great Gods: ‘The noise of mankind had become oppressive to me; because of their uproar I am deprived of sleep.’”

I will read a few passages from The Book of Enoch and then we will take a look at a few of the highlights in the Bible, which gives a continuous story. You may find excerpts here and there of the truth written in other places or other books or whatever, but it isn’t a continuous thing. I have always found it stopped, but here we have something that follows all the way through — a continuous thing. Consistency. We heard about of the appearance on earth of, what shall we say, unfallen Angels in the fallen state. This is just a bit from this book: “The word of the blessing of Enoch, how he blessed the elect and the righteous who were to exist in the time of trouble, rejecting all the wicked and ungodly.” And again I emphasize that these words could be said of today. It is very timely.

“Enoch, a righteous man who was with God, answered and spoke while his eyes were open and while he saw a holy vision in the heavens. This the angels showed me. From them I heard all things and understood what I saw: that which will not take place in this generation, but in a generation which is to succeed at a distant period on account of the elect. Upon their account I spoke and conversed with Him who will go forth from His habitation, the holy and mighty One, the God of the world, who will hereafter tread upon Mount Sinai, appear with His hosts, and be manifested in the strength of His power from heaven. And all shall be afraid, and the watchers be terrified. The earth shall be emerged and all things which are in it perish while judgment shall come upon all, even upon all the righteous. But to them shall He give peace. He shall preserve the elect and toward them exercise clemency. Then shall all belong to God, be happy and blessed. And the splendor of the godhead shall illuminate them.

“Then the most high, the great and holy One spoke and sent ____” [some angel’s name here, very long] “to the son of Lamech. Who is he? Noah! “saying, ‘say to him in my name: conceal thyself’ — or function secretly  — “then explained to him the consummation which is about to take place. For all the earth shall perish. The waters of a deluge shall come over the whole earth and all things which are in it shall be destroyed. And now teach him how he may escape and how his seed may remain in all the earth.”

“There I beheld the ancient of days whose head was like white wool,” and we see this very clearly in other passages in the Bible — Daniel. “And with him another the ancient of days, another whose countenance resembled that of man.” We have Jehovah. “His countenance was full of grace like that of one of the holy angels. Then I enquired of one of the angels who went with me and who showed me every secret thing concerning this Son of Man, who he was, whence he was, and why he accompanied the ancient of days. And he said: This is the Son of Man to whom righteousness belongs, all before the Lord of spirits.” Here we have a constant reference in this ancient book to the Lord of Spirits, I think an interesting term. Constantly this is the reference to the Highest Point. “This Son of Man whom thou beholdest shall raise up kings and the mighty from their couches, shall loosen the bridles of the powerful,” and so on. “In that hour,” speaking of the hour when all of this would be consummated, “was this Son of Man invoked before the Lord of spirits, and His name in the presence of the ancient of days. Before the sun and the signs were created, before the stars of heaven were formed, His name was invoked in the presence of the Lord of spirits.” It gives me a feeling of the One who focalizes the body of mankind; we have known His name to be Jesus — Jehovah. “All who dwell on earth shall fall down and worship before Him, shall bless and glorify Him, and sing praises to the name of the Lord of spirits.”

Now we have a little section in here by Noah. I think it would be nice to hear something of what Noah said. “In those days Noah saw that the earth became inclined” — we hear that the axis was tilted — “and that destruction approached. Then he lifted up his feet and went to the ends of the earth, to the dwelling of his great-grandfather Enoch.” When he needed some help he found Enoch. “And Noah cried with a bitter voice: ‘Hear me, hear me, hear me’” — three times — “and he said, ‘Tell me what is transacting upon the earth, for the earth labours and is violently shaken.’ After this there was a great perturbation on earth and a voice was heard from heaven. I fell down on my face when my great-grandfather Enoch came and stood by me. He said, ‘Why hast thou cried out to me? A commandment has gone forth from the Lord against those who dwell on the earth that they may be destroyed. For they know everything, every oppressive and secret power of the devils.’”

And that’s an interesting observation because other ideas or concepts have come through as to what occurred before the destruction called the flood. The distortions, on the physical level for instance, of the power that was still in man as he was then. Because of this combination — divine and human — he is often spoken of as a semi-divine being. He wasn’t created to be semi—divine. He was Divine. And this fall is not just some little airy-fairy thing that took place. And you say, “How could it happen?!” It was a mixture with a level beneath himself, and it produced so-called giants — monstrosities!

And after the flood this power was removed from him in that sense, but he still produced monstrosities all over the face of the earth. But whatever he can produce on the physical level, he can produce monstrosities, no matter how limited he is — we see that today. It is just a different kind of a giant. But there is a giant! However, there was a destruction of the actual union between man and animal levels. So that was destroyed. And we need to keep in mind that overpopulation was the reason then, just as it is today, and this was a result of that mingling of the so-called sons of God with the daughters of man in a level where he did not belong.

I mentioned Job as being in the same category as The Book of Enoch. So we could take just a brief look at Job here — a record again. Of course Job starts out with an account of creation and then the fall, which includes in that record the involvement of other planets — which was absolutely true. It was not just something which happened in the earth itself. Here was the involvement of the family to which this earth belongs. How could everything else be unaffected? So in the restoration, or turning back of the heart of man, we will find much, surely, that is restored in the whole body. I like the words in another record of the flood, of the cosmic imbalance caused, the relation between cosmic and human balance drastically disturbed — and so we only need to look at our solar system to see planets that have been greatly harmed, destruction there, and so on. We won’t go into that, but it’s evident.

And the wonderful record of Job where he meets everything that came to him through these first three so-called friends, and then the one who brought all those three to focus, and couldn’t stop talking! As it was put, “I am full of matter, I have got to talk or I’ll explode.” If anybody ever says that you’d better get out of the way. “I’ve just got to get it out of my system.” I have always been impressed by the very modern nature of these arguments. Oh my, they are so modern! And they are just talk about double-talk. You can’t find the meaning in them; not that you should read them, it’s a waste of time, but some of them however, without having a centering, can seem to make sense. “Who does he think he is? He thinks he is God.” This was their argument, the basic one — and that’s exactly what they said to Jesus. He was accused of blasphemy because he said, “I am.” And that’s just what they said to Job, and Job provided that victory back there in a magnificent way. And some of his answers deal with the workings of the earth. Very beautiful, this wonderful awareness of the tiniest bit on this level. Then he switches to Orion and Arcturus. A cosmic balance in Job, and that is what is necessary. The same principles work in what we call out there as in this self, and this is what we find in Job, the magnificence of it — which also is evident in the Enoch book.

               

And these wonderful words: “Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind,” after he met all this stupid nonsense that the mind could produce. This was his mind. He met all of this in himself. It wouldn’t do any good to meet it somewhere else. It’s always what we meet in ourselves that has any meaning whatsoever. The Lord answered Job and said, “Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge? Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me. Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding. Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it? Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof: When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for Joy?” That’s a picture of the way this planet was created — the solar system and man — the morning stars sang together. The morning is a wonderful way of depicting a new creation. So whatever or whenever this solar system came into being the morning stars sang together, there was cosmic harmony planet-wise, and through man. The sons of God shouted for joy. That wonderful picture.

And I bring some of these ancient things to focus because of the timelessness, the feeling that time is erased. We hear of time being no more. Well what does that mean — that we throw away our clocks and watches? I suppose that would save a lot of time too. But it erases the barriers. What was on earth, back there we say, “before the flood,” is exactly the same today. And what is depicted in Revelation — none of it is strange, none of it is somewhere else. It all happened right here on this very same earth. And so the restoration happens right here on this earth. And it’s real. So the picture in Job is that he participated. He was in the world exactly as it was. He had physical miseries and he moved through it perfectly. And the end was victory, not a personal victory only, which it never is, but world service. Going back in the story, I read from Enoch about the time of the flood, and I should read the story from Genesis, Chapter 6:

“And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth.” I read this because these little references got in, but they tell a lot more than what is in that little sentence. And scholars would eliminate it altogether if they could, because they are embarrassed by this — “… began to multiply” and “… the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.” There was a deliberate action here. “And the Lord said? My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.” That’s not very much considering that he could live forever when he was first created — maybe not be here forever, but a different way of living altogether. But let’s not see it as different from what we are today, because we are here to let this transmutation be an absolute reality. It depends on consistency, and it works. It is working. It’s happening.

“There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that.” Interesting, because there were a few instances of giants that were taken care of at the time of the children of Israel, and this is an old remnant evident there. “And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the LORD and He said, I will destroy everything.” And we found that in Enoch as well. It was all going to be destroyed. And then came Noah. “But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.” And always there must be that focus if anything is going to be continued. Noah was that One. And of course, Enoch was that One. It is said that Enoch ascended, so we have that precedent.

And now we’ll go to Abraham who brings the same spirit. We come to history as it is set down and as it is acknowledged — after the depiction of the state that the world was in. In the story of creation it was said that all the provision for man’s perfect health and unending life on earth was there; and there is a characteristic that’s mentioned with regard to all this provision: the seed was in itself upon the earth. That applies to food, but to anything — the seed is always here, for anything. The seed is always here, within itself, in ourselves. However, immediately after this destruction, the flood, cataclysmic occurrences, the state that we recognize as a cave-man state was in evidence for thousands of years. It doesn’t say that everyone on the face of the earth was going around killing animals with clubs, any more than today everyone is on the same level. So I bring that point out because there would not have been anything if that were not true. But the imbalance was very much in evidence, and it pictures man eating animals, as he does now. It is said that the fear of man came upon beasts. Why? Because it’s all there was to eat. The earth had been almost physically destroyed, and this was the way of survival. But something else did enter the picture here.

When we see the state of the world today, the way things survive, all the kingdoms, we can see the result of something — not the way it was created but the way it has become. It’s the way it is, and the beauty that has persisted no matter what, certainly says that the law of God, the Word of God is present no matter where you look, and it is not subject to anything man can do, and we need to remember that.

Okay, after all this the first great one we find referred-to is Abraham, and he has been labeled the pioneer, and I would say that certainly applies. In that dark time, here was one who knew the Lord, knew why he came on earth, maybe not always consciously, but this absolute compulsion of the spirit, the Lord of spirits, was there in him. And the one thing I must refer-to in Abraham is, of course, the fact that he had the compulsion that made him leave his father’s house — leave his whole environ which was in ancient Babylon, and which had all of the human nature of course, as it appeared then, not maybe exactly as it appears today but in essence exactly the same thing. It was a great civilization, it worshipped death, which is the same thing today. And the highest form of worship was to sacrifice that which was closest to you to an angry god. Remember they were close to this time of the cataclysm, and there was fear that god would strike again and they must appease this god. And so sacrificing the most precious was a custom, and Abraham undertook to do this. His only son, for whom he had waited many, many years, was taken to a mountain to worship, it is said.

But remember that this is what’s happening today, exactly! The only son — each one has that expression within himself and herself, and this is what is sacrificed. And just as he was to kill his son the Angel of the Lord spoke. That’s the essential thing. We hear the words and we answer, “Here am I.” And the Angel said, “Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him.” And I emphasize that word, because believe it or not, Bible scholars, including Scoffield, have taken that verse to say that it was prophesying the death of Jesus. That’s what they say right here in the footnotes. But the Lord said, “Don’t do it. Don’t touch Him, that precious One. That doesn’t make any sense at all.” And this is looking to the day when there needs to be the recognition that God is not subject to anything man can do, and we need to remember that in this day. It looks like the world has passed redemption. Well, there is a cosmic balance, and that is what we are about — that balance must be in us in whatever is required! But to say that God can be killed, and much of this world worships an idol which is a dead body hanging on a cross, which is supposed to be the Lord. That makes God pretty ineffectual, I would say. But, of course, He was resurrected after He was dead. And that is what the world says, “After you die you’ll go to heaven but you can’t have it here.” So this whole book deals with that lie and letting it be dissolved.

We have then a Body appearing on earth called the Children of Israel. Jacob was responsible for that. After all, they were all his sons — twelve of them. And that was no mean feat. There were four women involved with a contest going on as to which could produce more, and Jacob weathered it and the sons were produced. However, I would emphasize that two women, regardless of anything, when the crisis came, they were right there in agreement. When he needed to move out of his father-in-law’s house they said, “Whatever is right we do with you.” I mention that because the provision has been there; and I mention Jacob, but the real factor in letting the twelve sons become a body was Joseph. And this is not recognized.

We have the wonderful story of his dreams and all the rest, and how he fed the world with his cleverness in storing the grain in time of famine. The primary purpose was that his brothers came down into Egypt, seemingly for some food, but he put them through some tests, every single one of them, to see whether they had changed, whether they would sell their youngest brother — which was Joseph’s true brother; they had the same mother — the way they had sold him. And he tested them, put them in jail, all sorts of things. They did not know Joseph was their brother. And they came through, they had changed absolutely, and they would not do it. They offered themselves instead of their brother, because it would kill their father. All of this story is a very valuable one, completely overlooked, as far as I can see, by biblical scholars. But that’s what did it. And there was the Focus for the Body. But they had to be right. And so Joseph in my book takes great credit for the Body of the Son of God appearing on earth. That was the first evidence or manifestation of a Body.

And, of course, we go on to Moses who really brought that Body into form, coming from the twelve sons to the Twelve Tribes. And there was the opportunity to let it all happen. Moses, of course, was  a Mighty One. These are all points who allowed it to come to focus, to survive, actually. And you have many along the way. You have the kings, and wonderful Samuel. It was at his point where the people demanded the separation of church and state — we would call it that today. They wanted a king like all the nations. The priest Samuel, priest in the true sense of the word, was also the head of the nation, the government — true government. And the people demanded the separation. “We want a king like everybody else.” Here was the insistence, and there was no way that this could not happen. So, after Samuel, who did everything he could, you have the first king — Saul, and then David, and then Solomon. At the time of Solomon there was a great kingdom of Israel in the sense of a kingdom we would think of today, an earthly kingdom, very wealthy, in supremacy as far as other nations were concerned. And in that part of the world it was a Focus for the Whole World. Solomon was very wise, we hear; but he certainly lost his wisdom along the way, and his failure was the end of the First Sacred School — it could have been the magnet, but actually it was the failure of it.

And when we come to the story of Jesus and the temptations, you remember the third temptation was “all of the kingdoms can be yours.” And they were His. Here was a temptation if He could ever be swayed. “You can have all the power and glory on earth, the earthly kingdom, if you do what I say” — the mind could manipulate this. Well of course it could. A great, wealthy, earthly kingdom — and it is pictured of Solomon having a thousand women, seven hundred wives, three hundred concubines. Remember they wouldn’t all live in a the same house, or anything. These were heads of other countries, princesses of different countries were included in this, and this was very political. And he let them build idols to their own gods. In other words, let’s just be nice to everybody and they’ll love me as their ruler. It doesn’t work that way. They waited their opportunity and rose up and turned against him. That is not the way to go, any more than it is in ourselves, when we let these little things pass. Absolute obedience is the answer. And Solomon completely failed in that regard. And the Master met that — at the beginning of the Second Sacred School He met the failure of the First Sacred School. And when the word was “Look what all you can have,” He said, “Get thee hence, Satan.” That is the word for us today, and it is the only world service there actually is. After that failure there was the division of Israel into two kingdoms, Judaea and Israel. The first Great One after that was Elijah, a great pioneer who came in that very low and miserable state and followed through — in spite of Jezebel who was a lot worse than Ahab, her husband. Here was a great victory again.

But we come to Daniel, a Mighty Prophet, who found himself in enemy country — Persia, the land of the captivity. And what Daniel did was magnificent. Here we have the one evidence of function under four kings, where they turned their hearts to the One God. These were all polytheistic religions, many gods worshipped, and the idols. And Daniel’s influence was so great that these countries turned, and actually changed their religion under him, which certainly had an influence worldwide — vibrationally at least. And then we have the return of a remnant to Jerusalem — a very heroic time, because that land was peopled with the enemy, so-called. Daniel did not return, but we have others coming back. Most of those in captivity had no idea or concept or wish to go back there — they were happy in Babylon; they were well treated. They weren’t in captivity — they didn’t think they were. They were given fine conditions, they went along with their gods. It’s exactly the same thing today. How many are willing to do that, to just leave it all for very primitive conditions, in fact very dangerous conditions? Many of them did not survive. Here it was, and it is just the same today. But those who came back provided something into which the Master could come, and He came — it was there that the Master was born. And, of course, His life and His Word is the basis for all that has happened since.

I would suggest that following what is in the Bible from Acts until Revelation it is not worth your time, truly. What Paul did — the church wouldn’t like to hear this — well, it is a lot of manipulation, a lot of it lies. Again, so much put in here in the record, but it doesn’t mean anything. It’s the beginnings of the church as we know it today; that’s the point. But as Uranda used to say, the Catholics have Peter and the Protestants have Paul, but nobody has Jesus Christ. I visited the Vatican last year, and forget it! But the wonderful nature of the Master, this beautiful presence and expression — not the way He is pictured on stained glass windows with a crown on His head; He wouldn’t recognize Himself — but this beautiful persistent, consistent expression of the Lord of Spirits on earth.

And we read His magnificent words, certainly the fifteenth Chapter of John: “I am the true vine and my father is the husbandman.” Here is the restoration of cosmic balance, the absolute oneness of heaven and earth right here — and it is the only thing that will release this imbalance, this distortion. “Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.” Something to remember when the purging’s going on. “Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.” “I am the vine? ye are the branches.” That One who focuses this body of mankind. His victory is the victory of the Body, and the Body is simply asked to participate in that.

I think we could finish our time with a look at the last book in the Bible —  Revelation — written in so-called mystic language, symbolic. We’re talking about analogies all the way through here, not about something that did happen before the flood, after the flood, but how it applies now in everything we do, in every day. And again, we see the consistency.

In the eighteenth Chapter, speaking of these days, there is the attitude portrayed of two different sets, you might say, of beings — something being separated here. “The kings of the earth, Who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her” — Babylon, a female, symbol of this world, of this material level separated from the spiritual level — “shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning.” This is called Babylon. “Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying? Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! For in one hour is judgment come.”

“And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more.” That’s what it amounts to. And certainly on the face of the earth there is this focus, and as it is put elsewhere in the Book of Revelation, certain things would happen because of the merchants, the great men of the earth. In other words, this level of money, greed, the whole thing, individually and collectively, is the reason for what must happen — and is happening. And then there is this other word: “Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for god hath avenged you on her.”

“And a mighty angel took up a stone," and so on. But, “Rejoice over her.” On the one hand there is the sharing of the torment of all that is happening; on the other hand, rejoice! It’s happening! And that’s the wonderful part of it — it’s happening. And we’re here to make it happen. I almost said, “See it happen.” But we’re here for the one reason that nothing has been able to eliminate the creation of the Lord on this planet. And it takes the angels of the Lord to do it, those who have their focus in the Lords of Lords and King of Kings. And the physical, the material, the absolute expression of it through ourselves, and the focus that we find on earth which allows it to be so — that is a marvel. We read about it being in Jesus. We have in our history the presence of Uranda, we have Martin. This is a marvel. It’s a magical thing. This focus of the Word in One, that the whole Body may participate. “I am the vine, ye are the branches.” There is no separation. It is what we need to see in every moment.

And I saw a heaven opened. “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth.” Isn’t that what we’ve been talking about? A cosmic imbalance — old heaven and old earth. But the new heaven and the new earth — here is cosmic balance, if we want to call it that. The working of the Creative Process. The joy is in being a part of it happening, and recognizing it happening, not thinking it needs to be any other way but just the way it is.

“He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.” The last words in the book: “I come quickly.” And it doesn’t need to be dragged out any longer. This has been a look at  the timelessness of the Word. It is the same. The very first words in Revelation were regarding that which is, and which was, and which is to come. And I like the order of that. It doesn’t say, “Was and is and is to come.” It says what is, and was, and is to come, because what was and which is to come is all in that which is — right now, here.

© Emissaries of Divine Light