In a little while this year will be half gone, six months of 1953 almost gone. And what has been written upon the pages of time has been written, and no man can change it. What has been written upon the Book of Life has been written, and no man can change it. But there is One, the One Who Dwells, who can make all things new, who can cause the former things to pass away, who has the power to say, the authority, the right, to say, "Behold, I make all things new."
We begin to realize that day by day we are giving evidence, by our attitudes, by our words and actions, as to whether we conceive the Almighty to be All Mighty. The One Who Dwells, is He only partly mighty?—mighty to do this and mighty to do that, well able to do the other thing, but is He All Mighty? This we reveal by our attitudes, by our words. Not that we should with the human mind predetermine what we think the Almighty should do and in some foolhardy manner venture forth and say, "All things are possible with God. He is the Almighty, therefore I can do this and He will see me through that. I can plunge in here, I can accomplish the other thing." That is like saying, "If Thou, O God, art all mighty, then command that these stones be made bread." And it is written, "Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God." Yet how often the human being does those things which are in fact tempting the Lord, as if the human being would put the Lord to the test: "If Thou be the Almighty, then do this or that." And even though He is All Mighty, He does not do as you ask in such a case. But you may, if you listen, hear the Voice of Love. It is written, "Man shall not live by bread alone"—man shall not live by the patterns of his own actions, by reason of the things in outer form, by reason of the things that he thinks he must have or desire or achieve. "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God."
In our meditations we began to see more clearly the significance of the Word. We recall that in the Old Testament patterns, in relationship to the prophets, there is the frequent expression, "The word of the Lord came unto me, saying," or "The word of the Lord came unto him, saying" thus and so, What is the Word of the Lord? We have come to know that the Word of the Lord is Shekinah. Wherever we read, "The word of the Lord came unto him, saying," we may read, properly, "And the Shekinah, the evidence of the Presence of the One Who Dwells, came unto him, saying." And in this hour of meditation which we share I would draw you together in the Spiritual Pattern of Being, that you may realize more deeply the reality of Shekinah. There are many things which enter into this Pattern which you cannot yet know or adequately realize, but there is that which you do know. And remember to always function on the basis of what you know. Never try to act on the basis of what you do not know and you will avoid much confusion. The human being is inclined to say, "There is much that I do not know. I do not know this or that," and he begins to function on the basis of what he does not know, and then he gets in trouble.
Let us remember, there is that which you do know. If it is not so, there is something wrong, either with your perception and realization or my presentation. There is that which you do know. Never violate what you know, never deny it; and function on the basis of what you know, and then all is well. Why be concerned about what you do not know? That will appear in season. But let me give you a little warning. Do not expect to know all there is to know in any specific period of time. If in all eternity you were to exhaust and encompass and contain the uttermost limits of all there is to know, that would be the point wherein heaven would become hell. You will never do it. You may know many basic fundamentals, but do not assume that you know or should know all that there is to know. So there is that which you do know, and knowing that which is true, even if it be but one point, you have a beginning, the place of beginning.
The experience of realization—which is illumination—realization which causes you to know any point of truth, any aspect of truth, is in actual fact the working of the Shekinah in you. You need to begin to realize that the Patterns of Shekinah are without end, numberless, ever-changing. "All things were made by Shekinah," all the things of God, "and without Shekinah was not any thing made that was made." Realizing this, you can begin to see that there is a specific Shekinah Pattern of Being which comes to focus and function in relationship to everything that we do in the Pattern of the Divine Design, in the current of the Kingdom control. We do not imagine that there is only one manifestation of Shekinah. The manifestations are numberless. And we must, if we would truly serve our KING, we must allow the Shekinah Pattern to take form in relationship to all that we do, everything, without any exception.
Those whose eyes are blinded by the darkness that comprehendeth not will not see the Light shining in the darkness. It may not be evident to the eyes of many round about, but when there is that which needs to be done we do not properly just plunge into action on the basis of developing the physical form. With respect to anything that is to take form under the action of our hands, or by reason of our living, it should first be allowed to take form in Shekinah. "In the beginning Shekinah created the heaven and the earth." In the beginning Shekinah created. Every creative expression must be the expression of Shekinah. There is no other. Any action, any word, any expression, that is not of Shekinah is not creative but destructive, without a single exception, ever, at any time, in relationship to any person. All things of God, of the Divine Design, of the Garden of God, in heaven or on earth, "all things were made by Shekinah; and without Shekinah was not any thing made that was made."
In the beginning of any creative action, or expression of being, there must first be Shekinah; and if Shekinah is not allowed to come to focus as the manifestation of the Presence of the One Who Dwells, the Almighty, so that the thing that is made may be in fact made by Shekinah, then that form which human beings put together of the substance from the earth is not a true form; it is something that may by the physical factors of Life force—and those factors are from Shekinah—be held in form for a little time, but the moment the human hand and the human will and the human determination let go, it begins to crumble and decay, and soon is gone. Why? The force of Shekinah was misused by man to force certain substance of the earth into a particular pattern, but Shekinah did not make it. Man put things together to make something, but soon the form is gone. The things that were made, the things that were created, in any time past, were the result of the working of Shekinah.
We look back in history and we note certain individuals who were considered to be properly classified under the term genius. Generally speaking they were more or less unbalanced individuals. Generally speaking genius manifests in just one particularized field, and the rest of the human life is comparatively speaking dwarfed, insignificant. Some expression—for instance perhaps a poet, perhaps a great leader of some sort—generally speaking, just one avenue in the individual's life expression reveals genius. What is that? With respect to that particular pattern, that human being, man or woman, has learned to function in relationship to Shekinah, perhaps somewhat distorted, definitely misused; but there has not ever at any time in all the history of man been what might be properly classified as genius without the reality of Shekinah in relationship to that individual—music, art in any form, the brilliant expression, creative in accomplishment, through any human being anywhere.
And so we begin to see that there is indeed in every manifestation of genius, in any field whatsoever, wherever it manifests, something of the reality of Shekinah—every constructive thing. And those who have had a genius for being destructive, they have had the capacity of attunement with Shekinah but have misused and abused it, and so have destroyed themselves and others. We can see that pattern at work; the sort of thing that manifested, for instance, with Hitler: the destruction he brought upon himself and upon his nation, and upon other parts of the world, countless human beings—a misused, abused capacity to contact the Shekinah force. Now in such a case Shekinah does not function in relationship to the individual as in the constructive case, and let us not get off on a tangent trying to understand just what makes a Hitler. That is not so important. What is it that makes a man or woman of God in the Divine Pattern?—that is important.
So, you have been called out of the world pattern as it is, to share in the Divine outworking by which you might become a noble man or a noble woman in the service of our KING. So all genius represents a particularized capacity to contact Shekinah. Generally speaking, in the world those human beings who have contacted it have done so more or less accidentally. All kinds of theories and teachings and philosophies have been developed which are supposed to make it possible for the ordinary man or woman to equal the feats of genius. We have so many that I could name. But in actual fact they do not, because they do not understand. And hoping to equal the feats of genius is a poor goal. If we have no greater goal than to hope to equal or come near, perhaps, that which has been achieved by some genius of the past, we have accepted a distorted goal, something that is meaningless in fact. We are here as instruments for Shekinah: Man, made in the image and likeness of God, to be the instrument for the manifestation of the evidence of the presence of the One Who Dwells.
If you fully comprehend that brief statement you understand much. And we begin to see that for those who truly see, there is the particularized formation of Shekinah—the Central Ball of Fire, the surrounding Light That Glows, and the Cloud—which comes into being in relationship to every truly constructive or creative endeavor. If you attempt to give an attunement, for instance, and you cannot under the circumstances allow the particularized focalization of the development of Shekinah in relationship to it, you will not really give an attunement. You may not say so; you will not just say, "Well you may as well get out of here." You will give the individual an opportunity, if he or she will accept it, to begin to learn how to respond. You will not talk about Shekinah. Oh no, not at all! If you do you are very wrong. There is not one of you that is actually equipped to talk about Shekinah in the sense of undertaking to convey it to someone else. The point is that you will begin to inspire the individual to a response which will permit him or her to share in the beginning of the development of a Focalization of Shekinah, for that particularized development must appear before the actuality of attunement is established.
Now, of course, I recognize that we have called many patterns of outworking attunements when in the deeper sense they were not. But it was all right along the way. But we have to reach a point where we begin to recognize what an attunement really is. And when we first started this Class I could not have told you, no matter what words I used, because you would not have been able to understand what I was talking about. But you are beginning to reach a point where you can realize that every attunement with God must be by reason of Shekinah, and if Shekinah is not allowed to manifest between the cherubim it will not appear; and without it there is no power, no attunement, just an emptiness, just a form, just action and words that mean nothing.
In other words you must learn how to let the specific Pattern of Shekinah take form in relationship to that which you do. You as an individual alone cannot arbitrarily cause it to be so, but when there is the right pattern of relatedness established with someone else, and function is correct, there can be the beginning of the manifestation of Shekinah between you and that someone else. But you must both stand upon the Mercy Seat if it is to be so. Your foundation must be in the Law of God—the revelation of the Letters of Fire, the Rod of Truth, Aaron's Rod that budded, the Bread of Life, the basic Triangle of Being within your foundation, the Ark of the Covenant. And you must learn to stand upon the Mercy Seat. The Master said, "Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy." And is there one among you who has no need of mercy? "Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy." Actually the Beatitudes, properly recognized and understood, portray the basic principles essential to coming to the point where you can be a cherubim, a servant of God, an angel of God, standing upon the Mercy Seat. But you may be standing upon the Mercy Seat and if there is not someone else who stands upon the Mercy Seat somewhere, somehow, with you, you standing there alone, cannot make manifest the conditions essential to the revelation of Shekinah. There must be two, one at each end of the Ark of the Covenant, with the Mercy Seat between. And it is above the Mercy Seat, between the cherubim, that there is the beginning of the centering, of the forming, of Shekinah in that particularized Pattern.
Perhaps it would help you to begin to see this more clearly if we did a little supposing within the range of reality. Just suppose every man, woman and child upon the face of the whole earth were centered in God, completely under the Kingdom control of the Spirit, letting Life truly manifest—the Shekinah Light is the Life of men—there would be then, around the entire surface of the earth, wherever there is land at least, the manifestation of millions and millions of particularized focalizations of Shekinah. There would be a particularized Shekinah Pattern between any given individual and each of his true friends. Suppose some person had one hundred friends. There would be one hundred balls of Fire and glowing Lights and manifestations of Cloud in relationship to that one individual who centered the hundred friends; but they in turn would have other friends, and each might have anywhere from, what shall we say? one to a hundred, more or less, in some cases many more of course, manifestations of Shekinah, and it would cover the earth's surface, and everything that would be done, every word that would be spoken, every action, would be on the basis of the expression of Shekinah in actual fact. The earth would then be a Sun, glowing, shining, in its place in the solar system and the cosmos—a Sun, a manifestation of the only begotten Son of God. How often back through the months we have shared have I told you that Shekinah is the only begotten Son of God? Did I not say the Christ Spirit—Light and Love and Life? What is Love and Light and Life? What is the Christ Spirit? What is the only begotten manifestation of God, that which gives evidence of the Presence of the One Who Dwells? Shekinah. For the Christ of the New Testament and the Shekinah of the Old are one and the same, and Christ should not be thought of as being any individual, not even our LORD and KING. We can speak of Him as Jesus the Christ, the centering and manifestation of Shekinah; but to call Him Christ is a statement which reveals a lack of understanding. People act as if they could interchange the words "Jesus" and "Christ" and it would be perfectly all right. It is not so.
Christ and Shekinah; or Christos, as it is put from the standpoint of the Greek; Christos and Shekinah, the same thing exactly. So we begin to realize that if all those who dwell on the face of the earth were as they ought to be, there would be many more manifestations of the Shekinah Pattern than there would be individuals on earth, many more, and all things would be the expression of Shekinah, and without Shekinah there would not be anything done. Before there can be any real meaning to a pattern of response from any individual in relationship to myself as a teacher or leader, there must be the development between that individual and myself of a particularized focalization or manifestation of Shekinah. And that particular focalization is ours, that person and myself, and it belongs to no other, no one else. That is ours. Under the Divine Pattern I have the capacity to have such an individualized focalization of Shekinah with every man, woman and child on the face of the earth, without any exception, if the individual will let it be so; and in each and every case that manifestation of Shekinah would be ours, just ours, no one else's.
Now, in actual manifestation—well, do not jump to conclusions. You are not ready yet to understand just how all those things work. Function on the basis of what you know and not what you do not know. However, there is the necessity of realizing that nothing worthwhile can be accomplished on earth by anyone, anywhere, under any circumstance, without Shekinah, and any human relationship which is not based in Shekinah, which does not allow the manifestation of Shekinah, is an utterly useless relationship.
Two cherubim standing above the Ark of the Covenant, upon the Mercy Seat which extends between them; and between the two there appears the Centering of Shekinah. Now this manifestation is without regard to sex. And here we begin to see why human beings have jumped to all kinds of foolish and fanciful conclusions, assuming that the angels of God were sexless creatures and that there was no such thing as sex in heaven, and so on and so on, up and down the line. But these manifestations are established without regard to sex—in other words I can have such a manifestation manifest between another man and myself as easily as I can between a woman and myself.
We begin to see then that that which results from the manifestation of Shekinah will be on an individualized basis, and the Shekinah Pattern will take form between any two cherubim who stand upon the Mercy Seat above the Ark of the Covenant; and if you have any foundation other than that you are attempting to build on shifting sand, for that is the only sure foundation, the Rock which the Master spoke of, the Rock of Reality—the man who built his house upon a rock. The house of your endeavor, that which you are achieving, attempting to make or bring forth by reason of living, if it is upon that foundation and the result of the working of Shekinah, then it is well. But if you attempt to duplicate, as nearly as you can, the same thing without the foundation and without the working of Shekinah, you may be able to fool those who have poor spiritual vision, it may look to many as if it is just as good, for a little while, but it is upon the sand, and as soon as the storm comes and the wind blows it will fall and great will be the fall of it.
Only Shekinah provides us with the opportunity of sharing the creative work of God on earth and any endeavor that disregards this great Truth must come to naught. There should be a Shekinah Pattern between every husband and wife; there should be a Shekinah Pattern between every parent and child; there should be a Shekinah Pattern between all those who are true friends; there should be a Shekinah Pattern between the one who carries a pattern of true focalization and all those who serve with that One. And only as you allow, for instance, a Shekinah Pattern to develop between you and me can we have any real meaning in the Cosmic scheme of things.
The great, magnificent significance of Shekinah! We need to begin soon to learn more about how to let Shekinah take form. I have told you already: stand upon the Mercy Seat above the Ark of the Covenant as a cherubim and let, in the Divine Design, yourself have relationship to a starting point. You know it is perfectly permissible for you to recognize me in that position if you want to. You do not have to hunt for someone else unless you wish to. And if you refuse to let me share that pattern with you, I might mention you will hunt in vain for anyone else to share it. He who does not share it with me can never truly share it with anyone else. That is the Cosmic Law. It is the Divine Pattern. Share it with me and you will find someone else to share it with you. But it must work on the basis of Center.
And lo, if your foundation is the Law of God written upon the tablets of your heart with Letters of Fire, and Aaron's Rod which budded, the Living Truth—the same thing that is symbolized by the wine which the Master caused to appear from the water, and the manna, the Bread of Life—if these are your foundation, this Creative Triangle, this Creative Field, and you stand upon the Mercy Seat in correct polarity in relationship, according to the Divine Design, you will share the creative work of God on earth and you will begin to realize that man cannot live by bread alone, but by every word, every Shekinah, which comes forth from God. So let it be and we shall share the manifestation of the Kingdom that is at hand. There is no other way. The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand, the Kingdom of Shekinah is at hand. Let it appear to the Glory of our KING and to the blessing of the children of men.
I would like to consider for a moment something of what the truth is as it relates to the presence of the LORD on earth nineteen centuries ago. He came to refocalize the truth as it related to the First Sacred School, and out of that to initiate the Second Sacred School. His presence on earth was for this purpose. We need to see that Second Sacred School as relating not just to a few people but to the whole world, the objective being to restore human beings to the state of being MAN on earth. He could well have done this, but He ran into the usual human lethargy, lack of response and, in that connection, a good deal of opposition, so that it became evident rather quickly that those with whom He was dealing were not going to let Him do what He came to do. It is said that He wept — not for Himself but because He saw what human beings were going to do to themselves. However He undertook to do the only thing that was left to do.
He had refocalized the truth of the First Sacred School and initiated the movement of the Second Sacred School. He certainly did not wish to let it go at that, so He accepted the responsibility of Himself representing the Third Sacred School — not only the Third Sacred School but carrying through into the Fourth, and in fact all the way to the Seventh. [greatcosmicstory.blogspot.com/sacred-schools.html] But this He undertook to do alone, because no one was moving with Him in the Second Sacred School. So, proceeding from the point where the Collective Victory in the Second Sacred School had to be abandoned, He took it all into Himself and proceeded in a way that was unbelievably lonely. He was absolutely alone. This was the only way to go.If there had been response to His initiation of the Second Sacred School then there would have been those who were moving with Him and He could have carried forward the Second Sacred School, with those who were with Him, into what was required from the standpoint of the Third Sacred School. But because those who were offered the opportunity didn't accept it He had to go the way alone. What an unbelievable undertaking, and yet He did it, in spite of everything. There was a transition, an uninterrupted and victorious transition, from the Second Sacred School into the Third insofar as He was concerned. There was no break.
Having accepted that responsibility and moved on, He then proceeded through the succeeding Sacred Schools in Victory, moving from one level of consciousness to the next, from the Third to the Fourth to the Fifth to the Sixth to the Seventh — all the way through. So He did set the Precedent of Victory all the way. He established what we have called the True Tone of Life for man, an actual vibratory radiation that has been sounding on earth all down the centuries.It's that Tone which carries all the way through as there are those who give it Body. Presently our concern is to give it Body at the Third Level, the Third Sacred School, that giving it Body here there may be the creative action by which the door is opened to the Fourth Sacred School. The creative action we already recognize as being what is required to purify the heart, but until the heart is pure the Fourth Sacred School remains a dream. However, the Tone has been set at that level as well as this, and beyond. It's complete; it's all been done. There is the precedent of Victory in this sense, something to be accepted and lived.Our concern is with the Victory, with the Tone, with the Breath of Life, with Shekinah, with the Christ, the coming of the Christ in the experience of human beings, the Glory of the LORD shining round about once again.
Our gracious LORD and KING, we thank Thee for the holy privilege we have tonight of yielding to the spirit of Thy Presence, that we may let Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. We thank Thee for the privilege of drawing nearer to an understanding, a comprehension, of realization, the reality of Thy Kingdom and Thy Power and Thy Glory, in the Christ. Aum-en.
In our services and in our class work we have been considering the basic principles of Heavenly Magic in relationship to the Shekinah Pattern of Being. We have noted that the old Hebrew word Shekanah [long a], and that the more modernized pronunciation as accepted by scholars generally, Shekinah [long i], is supposed to carry the significance of the trinity aspect which reveals the presence of the One Who Dwells. It is a strange and sad thing, one of the tragedies extending back through the centuries, that the New Testament language should have been caused to appear to be at such variance from the portrayal as it was made manifest in relationship to the children of Israel. This was not of course the Master's intent and insofar as His own expression was concerned He constantly made reference to the scriptures—that is, what we speak of as the Old Testament Bible at the present time—and He undertook to bring the ancient Hebrew wordings into a level where they could be comprehended by the people of His day. One of the sad aspects of this problem is to be found in the fact that Judaism established many fixed patterns and many narrow attitudes in relationship to what might be classified as the Hebraic revelation of things divine. However, we have recognized that Shekanah [long a], or Shekinah [long i], or what we speak of as Shekeenah [long e sound], in recognizing the vibratory factors carrying over from the Motherland Tongue, is the evidence of the Presence of the One Who Dwells.
Our Master spoke of the One Who Dwells as the Father, meaning exactly the same thing. He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” He was speaking the words of the Father; that is, the Word of the LORD, or the One Who Dwells, as He Himself stated, for He spoke not of Himself. And the Presence of the One Who Dwells is revealed in the Old Testament pattern as being manifest by the Fire—the Fire which appeared in the form of a ball of fire between the cherubims upon the altar; that is, above the mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant—and the Light That Glows: the Fire, the Light That Glows, and the Cloud or the Glory, the reality of the expression of the One Who Dwells in Life. The Way is obviously the Way of Love, symbolized by Fire.
The Shekinah Fire is that which we speak of as the Fire of Love in the sense of the Divine Pattern. The Light of Truth is that which must be recognized as being identical with the Light that Glows. And the Cloud that fills the Temple and shines round about is Life in active expression as it is born from the union of Love and Truth. The Way, the Truth and the Life of the Master's Word, the trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the Fire of the Presence of the One Who Dwells, the Son, the Light that Glows, and the Holy Spirit, the Cloud of the Shekinah, are in fact two particular patterns of wording in Divine Revelation revealing identically the same thing. Mistranslations, misinterpretations, miscomprehensions, of the significance of the New Testament wording have produced concepts and ideas and attitudes which seem, both to so-called Jews and so-called Gentiles, to be at variance, when in actual fact the basic truths contained in both the Old Testament and the New Testament are absolutely identical, one and the same. And not until the seeming variations and contradictions and conflicts have been removed insofar as the consciousness of individuals is concerned can we begin to hope to experience the fulfilment of that which is promised on the basis of the Divine Revelation either in the Old Testament or the New.
We have recognized that conflict patterns, resentments, maintained in any individual exclude that individual from the Shekinah Pattern of Being, no matter how well justified the resentment may seem to be. The fact of resentment, the fact of conflict attitudes, precludes the experience of coming to know the Trinity of the Shekinah, the manifest evidence of the Presence of the One Who Dwells.
In the New Testament terminology there is not as much distinction, generally speaking, between the Father and the Fire as there is in the Old Testament. The One Who Dwells was conceived to be definitely distinct from the Fire that revealed the Presence of the One Who Dwells; but at the same time, that Fire was accepted as the evidence of the immediate Presence of the One Who Dwells. And if a priest or spiritual leader had the experience of talking to God through the Shekinah Fire on a basis which allowed the priests to see the Shekinah Fire, it was said that he had talked with God face-to-face.
This one point, which actually does not cause any break in the pattern, has seemed to be a cause for conflict and dissension in the development of religious ideas. However, when we begin to see the truth, “we soar to high neglect of what's denied or said, this way or that,” in the supposedly holy tomes of all who have developed the concepts and beliefs and ideas conceived to be holy writ. Holy writ is in fact limited to the actual revelation of the Divine Essences of the trinity of manifestation—that which is revealed through the Cloud, through the Light That Glows, and through the Fire. As we begin to consider the reality of the Shekinah Pattern we realize that all creative function, whatsoever that creative function may be, regardless of the level of life or being, is achieved in relationship to what we speak of—in this manifestation, in this world, or in relationship to heaven and earth—as Shekinah. All creative activity, the creation of this world and of all the things that are therein, is achieved through the reality of the Shekinah.
In order to amplify this, and trusting this may have more meaning to you, let us consider the first part of the Gospel according to John. We must recognize that wherever the Greek word Logos was translated as Word, exactly the same meaning was contained in the Old Testament pattern by Shekinah. “The Word,” as it is expressed here in the English language, “Logos” of the Greek language, and “Shekinah” or “Shekanah” of the Hebrew language, all carry exactly the same significance, the same meaning. The Hebrew, which was translated into the Greek, reveals this, for that which was translated from Hebrew as “Logos”—originally “Shekinah,” translated into the Greek it became “Logos,” and into the English language, “the Word.”
“In the beginning was the Word”
In the beginning was the Logos.In the beginning was the Shekinah.
“And the Shekinah was with God, and the Shekinah was God”
Now many have wondered how it could be that “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Here you can begin to see, when we use the word “Shekinah;” because the word “Word” to your consciousness tends to have a limited meaning. We are too accustomed to thinking of a word simply meaning some specific pattern of letters, vowels and consonants put together in a specific form to symbolize a specific sound to which we have given a specific meaning. But once we begin to see how the pattern has evolved from out of the past, this particular passage, about which so much nonsense has been written, begins to take on some very vital meaning.
“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 Shekinah was not any thing made that was made.
In the Shekinah was life; and the life was the light of men.
And the light of the Shekinahshineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.”
What a marvelous portrayal—the first five verses of the Gospel according to John, giving a complete, accurate outline of the basic principles of Shekinah, translated to us as “the Word” but actually derived from and meaning in significance Shekinah.
Now we have noted the Shekinah Trinity—the Fire, the Light That Glows, and the Cloud of Glory. We recognize of course that it was the Shekinah Cloud which enfolded our Master's form so that He ceased to be visible to men—not a cloud up in the sky. He ascended in the Shekinah Cloud. How did Elijah leave this sphere of things? A chariot of fire, or a fiery chariot? What was it? The Shekinah Fire, which was in the center of the Light That Glows, which in turn was in the center of the Cloud, the Cloud of Glory. What is the word that was written with respect to Enoch? “And Enoch talked with God: and he was not; for God took him.” Enoch talked: the Word. It was not in New Testament times that the word “Word” was used to symbolize Shekinah for the first time. It is not in relationship to our translation that the word “Word” was used to signify Shekinah for the first time. “And Enoch talked with God: and he was not; for God took him.” Why was the word “Word” used in Hebraic times to signify Shekinah? Because those who recognized the Heavenly Magic of the Names of God and the Name of that which signified God's Presence wished to keep those words holy and sacred, that they might be used only where there was understanding and appreciation. And so, what was more natural than to say “Word,” just “Word”, and anyone reading with any understanding would recognize that the word “Word” used in such fashion signified the Secret Word, the Word that was not to be spoken by profane lips, the word that was not to be bandied about, the word that carries special significance and power. And what word was it? What was the word? Shekinah. So even in Old Testament times those who were writing did on occasion use the word “Word” to signify Shekinah. They used all kinds of evasions. The word “glory” for instance. Wherever we find the word “glory” in the Bible, if you are aware of the true significance you will read Shekinah. In the conclusion of the Lord's Prayer we have the three divisions of Shekinah indicated by the words “kingdom, power, and glory.” “For thine is the Shekinah” means exactly the same thing as “Thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory.”
Once we begin to realize the fact that these ancient writers knew something about the reality of Divine things and that they were justified in undertaking to keep these sacred words from being bandied about by profane lips, we can actually thank them for their understanding, their foresight, yea, their consideration, so that the substitute words might be used to entrap and ensnare and mislead profane minds and impure hearts. What is the significance of the text in the closing part of the Book of Revelation, where mention is made warning against taking-away from the Word of this prophecy or adding-to the Word of this prophecy? Human beings have utilized that in a peculiar attempt to develop what they call the literal belief in the Bible. Literal belief in what? They do not know. They call themselves literalists, but they have never stopped to find out what the literal words meant, warning against taking-away from the Word of this prophecy or adding-to the Word of this prophecy. And what is prophecy?
Prophecy is the expression of the Word of God; prophecy is the expression of Shekinah. To take away from Shekinah, the Revelation Divine, or to add to Shekinah by the self-active function of the mind, brings a penalty; and yet human beings, with the obvious facts before them if they were to stop to think and meditate in the current of the spirit, have imagined that adding a word like “is,” “at,” “was" or "for," anywhere in here, would bring damnation; or if you took out "then," "what”, “if,” or something, it would likewise bring damnation. Obviously the author of Revelation knew and understood the principles of Shekinah. He wrote in symbolical language, but he plainly said, “the Word of this prophecy,” the Logos, the Shekinah. If the human mind of man attempts to add anything to that which is revealed from God through Shekinah to man it will bring distortion, destruction and failure. If the human mind attempts to take anything away from Shekinah it will lead to destruction. The Word. What word? There is only one word, known to all the scholars of all the languages, that fits. And how many of the scholars have discovered it? They have not. They know the word but they do not know that it is the Word: Shekinah. But once you know the Word, you see how it fits, how it belongs.
From the beginning of the Book of Genesis, we read, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” The first pattern portrayed of motion: “The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” God here is supposed to be translated Shekinah—“Spirit,” the Light That Glows, “moved upon the face of the waters.” The face of the waters? Water is, of course, the symbol of truth. We have recognized that. And you thought I had exhausted the text, did you? There was nothing more to learn in those few words? The face of the waters is what? The face of the water of Truth is Life, is it not? The portrayal of Logos—in the Greek it was not understood quite so completely; but, Shekinah. “In the beginning Shekinah,” shown in the trinity in action, moving, and there is the beginning of creation. “And God said, Let there be light”—God, the center, the Fire; Light, the Light That Glows—“and there was light.” And then what was the next step? after the evening and the morning were the first day? What about the firmament? The Cloud—the Fire, the Light, the Cloud—and we begin to see the unfolding of the reality of Shekinah.
We read in the Gospel
— we could pause and consider various steps in the story of the children of Israel of course —
but here is the beginning of the Gospel of our LORD and KING on earth,
as written by John
“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 Shekinah was not any thing made that was made.
In Shekinah was life; and the life was the light of men.
And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.”
You turn to the last chapter in the Bible in the Book of Revelation and damnation is pronounced upon those who take away from Shekinah, or who try to, or those who attempt to add to Shekinah. And all the way through, we begin to realize, everything of God that man has known has appeared through Shekinah. The Father, Son and Holy Ghost of the New Testament are simply a restatement of the Trinity of Shekinah—the Fire, the Light and the Cloud of Glory. If we strip away the shell of Judaism from the Hebraic revelations of Deity, and if we strip away the crystallizations of so-called Christianity from the teachings of Jesus Christ, we find that they are one and the same—no break anywhere, no violation of the basic laws and principles of being, no controversy, no conflict, no cause for resentment. And when the revelation of Shekinah made manifest by Jesus Christ was rejected by men it was revealed again in the portrayal that comes to us as the Book of Revelation, that man might have no excuse for failing to know Shekinah.
Once we begin to realize that the basic principles of the One Law rest in Shekinah we can begin to accept that Law; once we truly look at the solar system we see that the blinded eyes of human beings have failed to see the revelation of Shekinah, for the solar system is Shekinah—the Fire of Shekinah that is called the Sun, the Light That Glows that issues forth from the Fire, which carries out into the Cloud of Planets. The design of the solar system is the design of Shekinah, brought forth by Shekinah, a revelation of itself; for the design of the planets and of the sun—that is, of the solar system—is in the image and likeness of Shekinah. And whether we speak of the Word, where God said, “Let us make man in our image,” or whether we recognize the reality of the Elohim, or whether we simply say, “And Shekinah said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness, to have dominion over the earth and all of the things that are therein. And so Shekinah did, male and female created he them”—the Shekinah Pattern is revealed over and over again in life all around us. Father, mother and child for instance; Shekinah. Within the individual—spirit, mind and body, Shekinah—the trinity of man, a manifestation of Shekinah, a revelation of the Presence of the One Who Dwells. And if the fire goes out of the heart the body decays, the mind ceases to be a light on earth, and the grave receives what is left.
Blessed ones, we need to begin to realize that until we know the significance, the beauty, the wonder, the magnificence, yea and the Glory, of Shekinah, we really know nothing, for whatever any human being may think he knows, if it be not oriented with and in Shekinah it is nothing—the image and likeness of Shekinah. When you speak and call upon the Name of the Lord, by what means shall your call reach the Lord? No man, no woman, can approach the Lord except through Shekinah. The Lord cannot be found anywhere except by reason of Shekinah.
When Samuel was a boy and Eli was the instrument of Divine expression, the Divine Word, the instrument of Shekinah on earth—we recall that Eli had reached a ripe old age; he knew that his days were numbered, and Samuel had as a boy been serving Eli. And Samuel heard his name called and he answered, “Here am I,” and he supposed that it was Eli calling. But Eli did not hear the call. What was happening? Eli had been the means for the manifestation of the Word, of Shekinah, but here Samuel the boy began to hear the Word which Eli did not hear. The mantle was being transferred. And again Samuel's name was called, and again he went to Eli and said, “What is it? What do you wish?” And Eli said, “I didn't call you.” But Eli began to perceive something. He himself had heard the Word issue forth from Shekinah, and since he had not heard the Word and the boy had, he knew that the time was at hand, that his days were numbered, and that a New Voice for Shekinah had been lifted up on earth; and he instructed the boy, “Next time you hear the Voice, answer, Here am I. Speak, Lord; for Thy servant heareth.” Samuel the boy was a little excited. He did not repeat it just as he was told to, but it was all right, his spirit was in it. And Samuel became the Voice of Shekinah.
Every prophet, every true prophet the world has known, has been the Voice of Shekinah. Moses, in the days of the children of Israel and their deliverance from slavery, was the Voice of Shekinah. Other prophets followed—Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel—each manifesting as the Voice of Shekinah, to reveal on earth to the children of men the reality of God. And you can share the privilege, the expression of the Word, of Shekinah, when you are centered in the Fire. For can you know God except by the Fire of Love, the Centering of Shekinah? And when you let the Light, the Light That Glows, the symbol of truth, be the design and the control of your life and your words, of heart and mind and deeds, and when you let your life be a revelation of the Garment of God, you are sharing in the revelation of Shekinah. Not the Centering of Shekinah perhaps, not the center of the whole, but a part of the whole. Our Master came; He revealed the Centering of Shekinah, the revelation of Deity, Shekinah as it relates to the invisible realm and the visible.
But there is a Centering of Shekinah relating to the focalization of the outer world
All cannot be the central focalization of the essence of Shekinah, but all can share in the revelation of Shekinah; for you were made in the image and likeness of Shekinah. Whether you look at the atom, which is built in the image of Shekinah, or the solar system, which was made in the image of Shekinah, whether you look at a man or a woman, which were made in the image of Shekinah, you cannot escape from the pattern; for it is truly true, as it is written, “In the beginning was Shekinah, and Shekinah was with God, and Shekinah was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Shekinah; and without Shekinah was not any thing made that was made. In Shekinah was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.”
For human beings have lost their contact with Shekinah. But there is a Way, there is the Truth and there is the Life by which you may know Shekinah, for today Shekinah is, and the Voice of Shekinah declares the former things of the unreal realm are passing away. “Behold, I make all things new.” And that which will not let itself be made new according to the Shekinah design, that which will not yield to the Shekinah control, shall be no more. But all which yields and comes under control and accepts the Shekinah design, centered in the Shekinah Fire, shall be made new in the resurrection and the life, for this is the victory.
Our gracious LORD and Holy KING, we thank Thee that Thou hast sent Shekinah before Thy Face, that in Shekinah we may be comforted, and through Shekinah we may be made every whit whole, till the revelation of Thyself shall be established in all the earth, and the government shall be vested now and forever in the One Who Dwells, who is made evident, who is made manifest, by the Fire and the Light and the Cloud of Shekinah. “Glory to God in the highest: the Shekinah of Highest God made manifest to the children of men, and on earth peace, good will toward men,” as they receive Shekinah.
O Father, I thank Thee that Thine is Shekinah,
above and below, within and without, now and forever.
