from

The  New  Heaven  and  the  New  Earth

Uranda   November 22, 1953

My mind turns to the words that are contained in the first two verses of the 21st chapter of Revelation: “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.”

“And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away.” The earth as such is not going to pass away, but the earth as man has made it to be, the old earth, carrying the scars, the pattern of suffering and misery, of chaos and turmoil, must pass away. But first we note that the new heaven is necessary and that the first heaven has passed away, in relationship to the fulfilment of these words. This heaven, individually speaking, is that which must be changed in us before we can be changed, and before we can do our part toward changing the earth into the new-earth state. I think that most people, reading or hearing these words, fail to recognize the vital significance they contain for us in these days: “And I saw a new heaven.”

When I looked at you for the first time, or when we gathered together as a group for the first time, I saw for you a new heaven. I was not so much concerned about changing the earth of your bodies, changing the circumstances of your earth, your affairs, as I was concerned about changing your heaven, that your former heaven might pass away and that you might have a new heaven. And this must work out individually for each and every one of us before it can manifest collectively and have meaning in the world.

In the whole world there is a movement away from the old toward the new. But there is another movement in the world—not just away from the old to the new, by those who know not where to turn, seeking they know not what—but a movement at work in the old, that it may pass away. Millions of people feel, without understanding, the decay and the uncertainty in the old world pattern, and there is movement away from it. But there is also a movement to try to maintain that which is dying, that which is passing away.

We know that this old world, the old heaven and the old world, must pass away. But concurrently with that passing away there must be the emergence of the new heaven and the new earth—the new world. In the world pattern this that seeks to maintain the old order has become desperate. It manifests in various ways. And one of the outstanding ways in which it has been made manifest is in man's desperate effort to try to find some way—without God, disregarding God and even denying God—by which he may perpetuate his pattern of existence on earth.

Water is the symbol of truth. Here we read, "And there was no more sea," which is to say, there was no more contamination of the water of truth which would cause man to die. The heat of the sun, the fire of the sun—symbolizing God's love, an essential thing—without the compensating factors of the pure water of truth will bring destruction. The pollution of the waters. “And there was no more sea”—that the water might no longer be so contaminated that it would not bring about a balance in the pattern of the working of love and truth on earth in the expression of life.

We see individuals banding together in desperation and fear today, working together, when in actual fact there is hate, there is animosity, there is a lack of trust. And we listen to the voices in the world and we hear the voices of the Tower of Babel, and they are scattered. And there is dread, there is terror, there is darkness in the world. These things we recognize and acknowledge. But what do we do about it, and what can we do about it? The peoples of the earth are scattered. The old heaven and the old earth must pass away—the old earth pattern, the old heaven pattern of your own being. If you refuse to let your old heaven and your old earth pass away, how can you expect the world to let it be so? If you refuse to receive your new heaven and your new earth, how can you expect the world to do so?

This new heaven—“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” “Behold, I create all things new”—it begins with the heaven and comes into the earth. “And I John saw the holy city coming down from God out of heaven.” The holy city. A city is an abiding place, a place of living. And where does it come from? Down from God out of heaven. And when it has come on earth, does it cease to be heaven? Does it cease to be a revelation of heaven, a place of heaven? If it did it would cease to be the holy city, the holy abiding place. And an abiding place is the place where we live. The centering of our thoughts, the centering of our feelings, our hearts, is really in the place where we live—Home.

In the world pattern human beings are turning aside from the idea that the old earth can provide a home. We see that the coming of the holy city, down from heaven, down from God out of heaven, brings heaven into the earth, and there is a new heaven and a new earth, “wherein dwelleth righteousness.” If this truth can penetrate heart and mind with sufficient force so that we never forget it, so that we do not turn aside from our purpose here, we can begin to see what we can do to share in something that gives hope, valid hope, meaningful hope, trustworthy hope, to the children of men.

“And I saw a new heaven and a new earth.” You cannot have the new earth until you have the new heaven. And I have seen for you a new heaven, a vision if you please—not just a dream of the night but a vision of the day, something to be fulfilled, attained, accomplished, a goal that is worthy of our best endeavor. A new heaven. And out of this new heaven comes a holy city from God's own hands into the earth, a holy city to provide for us an abiding place, a living place, a Home on Earth. Is there anything that can stir the heart more deeply, more surely, than this?—the fulfilment of God's plan for man, by which man may no more be a creature of the darkness of the world. And how shall this heaven appear? How shall we see it? Can you? Do you share the vision of a new heaven? It is more important immediately than attempting to figure out what the new earth would be like. There needs to be a place of heaven. And this little valley here affords us an opportunity to let that new heaven be a reality on earth, that we may begin to receive the holy city from the hands of God, right here where we are. If we acknowledge the new heaven, we will acknowledge the God of that heaven, and we will begin to worship the God of that heaven, and in our serving we will begin to do those things which will let the Temples of the Living God take form on earth—the Temples of the Living God.

Blessed ones, anything that comes from God's hands, out of the invisible realm into the realm of form as we know it, is supposed to be something which we are to receive to be used in the building of the holy city. Must we imagine that the holy city comes down from God out of heaven completely built, completely made, all of its parts in place—something to settle on the face of the earth out of the sky and be ready-made, ready for you to start walking down the golden streets? I think not.

That which is to come down from God out of heaven, the holy city, is to come down and take form in its parts. It is to take form here on earth. And certain parts of that holy city are to come down from God out of heaven into the earth through you, each one of you, and all of us together. We cannot hope, just the few of us that are here, or even the few who are working consciously with us on the face of the earth today—we cannot hope to bring all the parts of the holy city together and assemble them on earth, but we can do our part. We can begin the work. We will need the help of many, many more. But we are supposed to be here for that very purpose, that the holy city may begin to truly come down from God out of heaven into view. And that holy city is so large and contains so many buildings, so many temples and palaces, so many beautiful and wonderful things, that before it is complete every responding person on earth, every man, woman and child who will share in the works, will have been the instrument by which some part of it has come down from God out of heaven into the earth, so that it could be given form.

We have noted in times past that your physical body in itself has no choice but to receive, to accept, that which is imposed upon it. You can see how that is true with respect to your physical body, for the state of your spirit and mind and heart, whatever your spirit may be, is made manifest in the body, because the body conforms in the physical substance to that which is imposed upon it out of the vibrational realms of mind and heart. Now if this is true with you, and with all others, it is likewise true of the earth as a whole. The physical substance of this earth has no choice but to receive that which is imposed upon it. And what is it that is being imposed out in the world? We have no need to describe it. You know well enough. The earth has no choice but to accept and receive that which is imposed upon it, for the substance of the earth conforms to that which is imposed upon it. It conforms.

Now this holy city, the new Jerusalem—the new spiritual consciousness—yes, the substance and the form of it—comes down out of heaven from the hand of God through you. We must begin to let ourselves be changed before we can be worthy workmen in the building of the holy city. We must let the things of God be imposed upon our bodies. And how shall the things of God reach our bodies? Through our minds and through our hearts. And if we do not let that which is of God reach our bodies through mind and heart, how can we hope to let the things of God reach the substance of the earth, that the holy city may take form?

I would that somehow I might find words, in the current of the spirit, to impress deeply upon your hearts and minds tonight the fundamental fact that until this becomes the most important thing in life to us we are going to be devoting our time and attention, our abilities and capacities, to the building of that which is not of the holy city. Ugly things will take form, destructive things, and there is enough of that in the world. We must be delivered from the old heaven to the new while we live here on earth, and then we must stay true to the new heaven long enough for the new earth to appear, for the creative pattern to be worked out. Human impatience spoils so much. The new heaven begins to take form for the individual, he begins to be aware of its coming from the hand of God, and then, because it does not instantaneously appear in full form on earth, he rebels and becomes impatient and dissipates the new heaven and re-establishes the old, spoiling the new.

The new heaven must take form in your life as a specific creation in which you share with God the responsibility of creation. But until the new heaven is there in actual fact, and you have shared with God the responsibility of His creation, you cannot possibly begin to share with God the creating of your new earth. It cannot be done. Man has tried every sort of method to try to get around this necessity. He has tried to take a shortcut of some kind. He was going to ignore his responsibility in creating the new heaven, and by his own effort, if God would not work with him, he was going to create a new earth according to his own fancy. And it has failed, over and over again. Human beings are in such a hurry. They are so impatient. If it does not appear overnight they violate centering, turn their capacities to the uses of ill vibrational factors, and bring forth hell once more.

Blessed ones, why should we forget so easily, so readily, our task?

How is it that human beings become impatient so quickly? Instead of being true to the new heaven when it begins to appear, attention is turned to something one does not like in the old earth, before it has disappeared, and lo and behold, the new heaven becomes an old heaven. But what did we find in our previous meditations? The old dragon, the serpent, the devil, was cast out of heaven. The self-active expression of man cannot get into heaven, and the moment the consciousness of man or woman becomes self-active, even though it has been received into heaven, in that moment it is cast out of heaven and it is in hell. It is an instantaneous thing, for the self-active mind and heart cannot remain in heaven. The heaven simply dissipates, and it must be built or created anew.

When we begin to feel and know that heaven, when we touch it in some hour of our togetherness, why should we so quickly forget it and start reacting to the old things in the old world that have not yet passed away? If that new heaven really means something to us we are not going to forget it; we are not going to forget the God of that heaven. We are going to so function that we can be workers to receive from the hand of God out of heaven the material by which the holy city may be given form right here on earth. But the substance out of which that holy city must be formed is already right here on earth. The physical substance of that holy city is not going to come drifting down out of the sky. It is right here now. This substance of the earth must be caused to conform to that new heaven. Blessed ones, the substance of the earth has no choice but to conform to that which is imposed upon it. It will not resist forming to the patterns of heaven. It may resist forming to the patterns of hell, but it has no choice if you insist.

If we let the old heaven pass away, the old concepts of heaven, the old limitations, so that we begin to see and know a new heaven, we begin to be in position to share with God the work of creating on earth the manifestation of the holy city. And you have a part to play. It is for you to share that creative work with God. And before this holy city can be complete, all those who dwell on earth who respond and yield, now and in the days to come, must play their parts. We cannot build it alone. “Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it.” So the Lord must build it, and we must build it; we must share the building with God. And if we do, there will be something coming from the creative hand of God out of heaven to us, and we will give it form. And we will be true to the heaven, regardless of what is yet manifest on earth, regardless of the things on earth that must still pass away, regardless of the things that we may say we do not like on earth. But if we react on earth to the things we do not like on earth we become subject on earth to the things we do not like, and in that moment we are no longer subject to God, no longer sharing with God the work of building, creating the holy city, letting it come down from God out of heaven into the earth.

“And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” Now how is this city prepared? As a bride adorned for her husband. God is the husband, the Father, our King, however we might say it. You did not create your own body, but you have adorned your body with whatever adornments it has, its clothing.

In the beginning man was instructed to dress the garden planted eastward in Eden—to dress it, give it form, and to keep it. He was to give it form, give it its pattern of appearance. The holy city is “prepared as a bride adorned for her husband”—the bride's clothing, the pattern of her appearance. The appearance of her body was by reason of her clothing. So it is with the holy city that comes down from God out of heaven. That holy city is prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. God provides the form of the bride, but the substance of the appearance, the dressing, the form, must be provided here; for the holy city will remain invisible until we give it the clothing of its appearance.

“I saw the holy city coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” That means that the outer manifestation of its form must appear by reason of what we do on earth, and that appearance must precede the wedding. It does not come afterwards. It comes first, before the union of heaven and earth, before heaven and earth become one in actual fact, in relationship to the patterns of being. We are responsible for giving the dressing, the outer appearance of the form, to that which God provides—exactly the same as a bride adorned for her husband. Blessed ones, once we begin to see that, and know it and remember it, we will not do those things which keep the bride, the holy city, hidden from view in her secret chambers. We will do those things that provide the clothing, the adornment, the outer means of manifestation and appearance, so that the bride may come forth from her secret chambers; the bride, the holy city, may come forth from this invisible place and be given form, that it may appear to the children of men, that it may be seen—not in its nakedness, but in its adornment—the holy city, new Jerusalem, the manifestation of heaven on earth. And it takes our sharing with God in creative work.

But when we begin to touch the spirit of heaven, the coming of the wedding, so to speak, the beginning cycles of the union of heaven and earth, we must not violate those sacred things by reacting to what we do not like that remains as yet on earth; because this which is on earth cannot be given a different form and appearance until something is received out of heaven from the hand of God to change that appearance, to change that form, in the building of the temple of the living God, the holy city.

“And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” Here we see the portrayal of exactly the same principles that we have seen at work, as recorded in the Book of Genesis, in relationship to the creation of the earth in the beginning. “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. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.” The light of understanding, the light of illumination, so that we may now, in this day and time, do our part in the recreative work by which the holy city may be given form on earth.

So let us not forget our calling. Let us not use our capacities for building chaos or increasing difficulty, or rebellion or fighting against God in any way, shape or form; but let us be true to our calling, in the name of our King, that we may now, and in the days to come, do our part toward dressing and keeping the holy city. For as it comes down from God out of heaven, as it comes from the garden that God planted eastward in Eden—both the same thing—we must dress it and keep it; we must give it form and adornment, that it may appear and have meaning on earth. And the holy city will remain in its secret chambers, in the invisible realm, until we provide the clothing of its appearance, the adornment of its manifestation—it will not come forth otherwise. And each has a part to play in giving form to something of that holy city. We cannot do it all, but we can do our part, that others may share, until the task is done. And when the holy city is prepared, adorned, made manifest, then we can receive our Lord and King into that holy city, and the marriage, the union of heaven and earth, shall be reestablished in the absolute sense, according to the divine design. Then we shall have accomplished that to which we are called in the holy name of our King.

© Emissaries of Divine Light

The Son of God Born Through You

The  Son  of  God  Born  Through  You

Uranda  November 15, 1953

Upon returning from a journey to One Hundred Mile House and Vancouver, B.C.

It is good to be back here on Sunrise Ranch once more, speaking to you in our little Chapel. I thank God for the blessings that have been made manifest through you.

Being here with you in the little Chapel again on this evening of November 15, 1953, I am reminded that five years ago tonight my son was born. Kathy and I were recalling something of the outworking today as we were coming across the wide open spaces of Wyoming. And as we serve here, or anywhere, truly—whenever you let the Christ Spirit have meaning in body and mind and heart, you are letting the Son of God be born through you. That which is of God is the Son of God and you, man or woman, become the Mother through which that Son is born into the world—the Spirit of the Living God. And to the degree that you do let that Son of God be born through you, instead of being crucified in you, you begin to realize that this task that is before us is not an impossible one. 

To the human mind there seems to be too great a need in the world, too vast a necessity. But once we see the current working in human lives, once we begin to recognize the far-reaching extent of that which has already been done, you realize that with God, as the Father of that which is made manifest through us on earth, all things necessary can be born in and through us, and through all those responding ones, whosoever and wheresoever they may be, who may yield, and respond, and clear to the pattern of the Divine Design. And tonight, I would like to share with you a few moments in Devotion, in thanksgiving to God for the blessings we have known, both here and there.

Our Gracious LORD and KING, I thank Thee for these here gathered, who are sharing in person in the spirit and purpose of this hour, who are yielding and letting themselves be drawn ever nearer into the pattern of Thy Everlasting Truth, more closely centered in Thy Eternal Love. I thank Thee for the provision, the blessing, the accomplishment made manifest through them, here. And I Thee for all who are sharing at The Hundred and everywhere. And I thank Thee for Thy blessing upon those whose lives we have so recently touched, that they may be strengthened in the Way; that they may feel the solid support of the Unit pattern letting the current of the Spirit flow forth to their open hearts; that they may be strengthened in their firm resolve to let Thy Will be done in earth as it is in Heaven; and to so yield body and mind and spirit, and all that they are, that they may be a means by which Thy Spirit is born into the realm of action, into the realm of form.

As these here, during the past few days, have looked to the hour of our coming Home, holding the vibrational pattern—and then the form—so is it with all. For the form does not first appear and then the vibrational pattern, and we have the responsibility of helping them hold the vibratory pattern of their New Heaven, that their New Earth may take form, to Thy Glory and to the Blessing of all who will receive. I thank Thee for all people who are turning, responding and yielding, whosoever, wheresoever they may be, of every race and color and creed, that not one may be left out; that each may feel the drawing power of the irresistible cords of Thy Love; that each may with ever clearing vision behold the Beauty of Thy Everlasting Truth, and share in the Glory and the Joy of letting Life be made manifest—vibrantly, victoriously, creatively.

O Father, I thank Thee on behalf of all those who are now receiving blessings, and all who shall in that days to come. And I thank Thee for the manifestation of Thy provision, that in season every empty vessel may be filled to overflowing, that both human lives and material substance may be made available to the filling of every need, so that the waiting ones will not have to wait so long, that the hungry ones may be fed, and the thirsty ones given of the Water of Truth to drink freely, to Thy Glory.

I thank Thee for all the accomplishment of Thy Service here and everywhere. I thank Thee for all those who are serving with me, for those who shared this journey, for those who shared the hours of our Ministry, and for those who shared here—for Thine is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory, now, in our lives, and we would let it be so forever.

Blessed Ones, whosoever, wheresoever you may be, harken and hear: for the Kingdom of our Father is in you now, where you are; the Power of our God is in you now, where you are; and the Glory of our KING is in you and around you as you live, where you are. Let the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory have meaning in body and mind and heart, that there may be healing, renewing, recreating in every part. Let the New Heaven be born, that the New Earth of your being may appear. Glory to God in the Highest—the Glory of Life, the Glory of your life dedicated to God in the Highest—and through you God’s Life appears, God’s Glory is made manifest in the expression of peace on earth; peace that penetrates every nerve and tissue, gland and organ; peace that penetrates body and mind and heart; peace on earth in human beings and in human affairs; peace on earth, good will from God to men. God’s will for you is good will. Good will from God, through man, to you. And so do we join in the Angel’s Song as the Son of God is born today. Tonight, the Spirit of God made manifest in human form, in you, as you let it be so, that the expression of that Spirit may increase in you until you mature in it’s expression, to the Glory of God and to the Blessing of all who will receive among the children of men.

O Father, I thank Thee that it is so; that Thy Word accomplishes that whereunto it is sent, and it shall not return unto Thee void. I thank Thee Father for those here gathered, and for all who are with us in Spirit, that being in agreement with Thee, with one accord in the working of Thy Will, Thy Love and Thy Truth in the one place right here on earth, the place of Earth, wherever we may be geographically, we may serve Thee well and let Thy Kingdom come and be made manifest, now and forever. AUM-en

I might mention that that group in Vancouver—we were holding the lectures in the Georgia Hotel there—received the Group Attunement very beautifully. Practically every night we had a Group Attunement there, and I felt that the current of it reached to various places in Canada, and perhaps even penetrated into the United States (soft ripples of laughter in the congregation). Would you like to have an attunement tonight?

Our Gracious LORD, we thank Thee for the privilege of yielding body and mind and heart to the control of Thy Kingdom—the Kingdom, the dominion of Truth—to the Power of Thy Love and the Glory of Thy Life, that in the resurrection and the restoration each may know that Thy Kingdom clears away the chaos of distortion and establishes the beauty of the Divine Pattern, that Thy Power casts out all fear and establishes the wonder of Love, and that Thy Glory dissipates the condition of diminishing Life and establishes the condition of increasing Life, in and through and for all those who yield to the Will of the Almighty and permit the evidence of the Presence of the Most High to be made manifest in body, and mind and heart. For your body was created to allow the evidence of the manifestation of Life on earth; and your mind was created to allow the evidence of the manifestation of Truth on earth; and your heart was created to allow the evidence of the manifestation of Love on earth.

Behold, I make all things new, saith the LORD. The former things of the unreal shall pass away, and the distortions shall be as if they had not been—for Behold, I make all things new. Blessed are they who yield and receive in this hour, that the refreshing and the renewing may be made manifest on earth in the recreative Power of the Almighty. Peace be unto you, in the Name of my LORD and KING. Peace be unto you, for the Hand of God is not shortened that it cannot save, nor the Power of God limited that it cannot transform and make every whit whole. Therefore, according to thy response, so be it unto thee. According to thy response to the KING of the Kingdom, from Whom comes the Power and the Glory. According to thy response, so be it unto thee. And if thy response is to that which is not of the KING, it shall still be so. According to thy response, so be it unto thee. In the Holy Name of my KING, I bless you, that you may abide under the evidence of the Presence of the Almighty, now and always. AUM-en

© Emissaries of Divine Light

Victory In The Lord

The  Essential  Focalization  of  Divine  Power  on  Earth 

from  Victory in the Lord

Martin Cecil   November 14, 1971

Our sense of identity has changed and is changing, so that we find ourselves together in God to the extent that we move out of a sense of identity in the world. When our identity is merely in the earth we find ourselves struggling to survive. Our identity is in the earth because our values are there, and as our Master graphically put it, “moth and rust corrupt, and thieves break through and steal,” so we have to be constantly ready to defend ourselves. But when identity is in heaven there is no need for self-defense. Our values have changed and nothing can take away the heavenly values from us. To the extent that we do have experience of these heavenly values, we find that earthly values follow right along, perhaps not in the way that those who are identified with the earth would desire, but the heavenly values are reflected by the earthly values according to the true design. So our identity in the heavenly values brings us together in an experience of oneness, regardless of physical position. We do not lose that sense of closeness as long as we remain centered in the heavenly values. Of course if we should become involved in the earthly values then we do lose it and once more we find ourselves in a precarious condition.

There are some words here contained in the final verse of the 16th chapter of the Gospel according to John. Our Master had been reemphasizing many things to the disciples who were present with Him and He said: “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”

Incidentally, here are some very definite promises. “In me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation.” Which identity shall we accept for ourselves? The worldly identity, which is about the only one that most people have any awareness of at all? Or, being awakened to something else, shall we accept identity in the Lord? If we do allow ourselves to be drawn out of the sense of identity in the world so that we may come into a consciousness of identity in God we become a part of the body of the Son of God. Having been a part of the body of the son of perdition in the world, we become a part of the body of the Son of God. Many have had some ideas in this regard, recognizing the need for the body of the Son of God on earth. The church, for instance, was supposed to be this. The idea was based in fundamental truth of course, but did not reveal anything very practical or effective in application. It was just an idea, something one might believe to be so but at the same time obviously seeing that it wasn't so. It is through this body that the power of God may be released in doing the works of God.

There are many illustrations, in the Bible particularly, of how small a manifest focalization of divine expression may be and yet accomplish great things. The fact of the matter is that it doesn't require very much; in fact there is, one might say, a necessity for something rather small, because as soon as an association of human beings begins to take in large numbers the real values tend to be lost. They only stay vivid and in application through small numbers of people.

You may recall the story of Gideon in the Book of Judges. With three hundred men only, he put to flight the vast company of Midianites and Amalekites; and yet he wouldn't have had the three hundred men if it weren't for the fact that there was something out of which they might come; in other words the Israelites were there, and out of that pattern Gideon with his three hundred men were available to the Lord for His use. They were used effectively in this particular situation, whereas if the whole body of the children of Israel had gone to battle with the hosts of Midian no doubt the outcome could have been very different.

Then again there was an occasion when a young lad by the name of David welcomed a contest with the giant who was representing the Philistines, namely Goliath. But David would never have had that opportunity if it had not been for the fact that the Israelites were present there and there was something of a challenge being offered to the Philistines by reason of this. However to deal with the situation in the power of God only required this lad. He ran to meet Goliath, slinging his stone, which smote the giant in his forehead so that he fell to the ground. This was the one vulnerable point in the giant, incidentally; it would have been useless to sling stones anywhere else, but the stone found its mark at this vulnerable point, the point which would represent the nature of the identity of the giant. His was a worldly identity. He was a mighty man of great stature and strength, and he had seemed invincible to the Israelites. They couldn't find anyone who could match him until David came along, and of course they were pretty skeptical about David. But it worked—one man. One boy! Mind you, he was pretty proficient with his slingshot. He had had much practice. He knew what he was doing and he did it.

The stone found its mark at the point in the giant which represented his identity, a self-centered identity of course. This is the nature of identity in the world, isn't it? It is at the point of self-centeredness that the vulnerability is. Mind you, it seems on the surface as though man's self-centeredness has been the thing that has made him so mighty to achieve so much in the world—because it has all been achieved, after all, for the benefit of man, entirely on a self-centered basis. So it looks as though man's strength is in his self-centeredness. And according to the evidence that we may observe around us it appears to be that way. But, while it may appear so, his self-centeredness is the point of vulnerability too. It is the only point that needs to be hit; then the whole thing collapses, because all that man has built has been built on this basis. If the Lord's missile, so to speak, goes home at that point then that's it!

So we may see that for the achievement of divine purpose it doesn't require vast numbers of people. It requires the right people at the right time, in the right place. If David had still been looking after his flocks in the wilderness nothing would have happened insofar as meeting the challenge of Goliath was concerned, but he was willing to come out of that particular pattern. It seemed quite an incidental reason that brought him out: he was bringing some supplies to his brothers in the camp. Nevertheless, whatever he may have thought the reasons were, he came. It does sometimes take reasons that are acceptable to our reasoning minds to get us to move in some particular direction, when the true reason for moving in that direction is not really the idea that has consciously engendered the movement. When we get to where we were going we find that there was another reason, another reason that we hadn't been able to see, so the Lord used other methods to get us where we belonged. If we hang on too strongly to the seeming reasons as to why we came somewhere or did something, we may overlook the real reasons. Fortunately David didn't. He was challenged. Immediately he perceived what the reason was for his presence. Here were all these Israelites sitting around shivering in their boots, and he said, “What's this?” He had a very keen awareness of the reality of the Lord, and here were the Lord's people cringing before the Philistines. So he took up the challenge, seeing that no one else had; and it seemed like a very little, petty, rather futile thing, but it didn't prove to be that way.

The judgments of men with respect to such things are meaningless. We need to remember that in relationship to our own experience if we do play a part in what the Lord needs to His hand. The giant scoffed at David of course: “This beardless youth! What do you mean sending a boy to meet me, a mighty, powerful man? I will feed his flesh to the birds!” And so the worldly-wise scoff and look upon the works of the Lord as being insignificant, meaningless, foolish. Well that's all right too, because the giant is not going to be quite as alert as he might be if someone his own size were coming along; so overconfidence is perhaps one of the weaknesses. We don't object if people are overconfident in relationship to what we may represent, saying, “It's very nice, but it doesn't amount to very much.” Who cares what anyone thinks about it? The question is as to what the truth is. We need to be very keenly aware of the truth in this regard. Finally, coming along down a little further in the historical record, we reach the point when our Master was on earth. He said here in the words that I read, “I have overcome the world.” It didn't seem so at the time.

Now these previous occurrences which I have quoted—and there were others—were illustrations of a truth, but they did not in and of themselves carry through to any great ultimate accomplishment. They were just indications of how that ultimate accomplishment might be experienced, but nobody really accepted the challenge adequately until our Master came. He did. He accepted the challenge. Now He could not have initiated what He did if there had not been something present in the world which gave Him a base to move from. Just as we have seen that the Israelites were present with respect to Gideon, and also with respect to David, so was it with our Master. There was something there. There always needs to be that something—the one, perhaps, described in the Book of Revelation as “a woman clothed with the sun,” out of whom may come the essential focalization of divine power on earth. It is on the basis of this focalization of power that the job, whatever it is, gets done. But to have a focalization of that on earth there must be something to focalize out of the world, as well, of course, as something to focalize from the heavenly standpoint.

While our Master sought those who would stand with Him in what He came to do He didn't find them, and so He had to accept the challenge alone. This was something absolute. He wasn't fooling around on the periphery of things. He went right to the core. He met the challenge in the very focus of it and carried all the way through in victory. “Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world”—that is, He had no identity merely in the world. His identity was in God and this was all that was necessary for the victory. It is all that is necessary at any time for the victory, but He Himself proved it out with respect to His own experience in His own body. Because He did that nobody else needs to do it. Human beings have more or less ignored what He did, and said, “If anything is to be achieved, He has got to come again and do it, do something else better than He did then.” They are saying in effect that He didn't get the job done, so He needs to come again and do it. And this is claimed as being belief in Jesus Christ. It is in fact the very reverse. He came and proved the thing out, and invited anyone anywhere, at any time, to share what had been proven out, not to do it again. Human beings have had rather conceited views all too often and thought they were going to emulate Jesus—they were going to let themselves be martyred and this was going to achieve something very effective—instead of recognizing that the achievement was already there and all that was necessary was to participate in that achievement.

He carried all the way through with His body. All right, let us participate in His body then! That's all that's needed. However we can't participate in His body without accepting His spirit, without experiencing the true nature of identity. As long as we insist upon being self-centeredly identified in the world we have had it. We are a part of the body of the son of perdition which is lost; that's it. But the body of the Son of God isn't lost. The body of the Son of God revealed the victory. It wasn't a matter of God having a victory; God hasn't been anything else but victorious all His life! What was needed was the manifestation of this truth on earth, and it came through the body of Jesus. So the body of the Son of God proved the victory. It doesn't need proving again. It's been done, but who is going to share in the experience of that proof? Toward the end of His ministry our Master spoke of reproving the world of various things; in other words He was going to prove it out in His own individual body, but the fact that He had proven it out would need to be revealed by others who participated in giving form to this victorious collective body on earth. It is not a matter of giving form to a defeated body, a dead body, a crucified body, but to a victorious body which walks in the Garden on earth. We have the opportunity of giving it form. Anyone has had that opportunity at any time in any generation, but finally it begins to come to point again. Someone begins to take a little notice once more, so the manifestation of what is needful to reveal what has already been established can appear.

It does not need to be something very large. Very often, I think, the thought tends to be that somehow or other a point will come and all the peoples of the world will enthusiastically accept the beauty of divine being. Does it look like it? Has it ever looked like it at any time in all of recorded history? If something is to be achieved it is achieved by God through something relatively small. Only as we begin to comprehend this do we stop trying to impose upon God the human concept of achievement. The only way that it was thought, for instance, that David could have challenged Goliath was for him to be arrayed in the same sort of armor that Goliath had. So they got him all dressed up in this stuff and he couldn't move; it was so heavy he couldn't move. So he wisely said, “To hell with it!” and went out as himself, not trying to emulate Goliath. Let's not try to emulate the world, because the world is quite strong enough in its own sort of strength to deal with anything of that nature. But the power of God, that's something different. The giant doesn't know anything about that. He doesn't think it amounts to a row of beans, but the smooth stone was quite sufficient.

So it is in allowing the required body to take form on earth, with a conscious awareness of ability, that the proof of victory may be revealed. Here we begin to see these things, so that we are not trying to do in human strength what cannot be done in human strength; we are not trying to impose upon God humanly devised methods for doing what needs to be done. This is actually what has occurred in times past from the standpoint of what has been called Christianity, for instance: human methods used to try to do what can only be done in the power of God and using divine methods consequently. Self-centered human beings do not know what those divine methods are. Goliath certainly had no idea what David was going to do or what effect it was going to have, or he wouldn't have been so cocksure, would he? Well the world is pretty cocksure, but the Lord is quite capable of handling the situation. The only way He can do it is when there is the facility available to His hand. In the case of David it was David's hand actually, wasn't it?

That facility needs to have been trained. It wasn't as though David had never slung a stone before in his life. He was expert in the field. But in the process of becoming expert in that field he didn't know why he was becoming expert in that field. He thought it was to protect his father's flock. And it was useful in that area, but only later did it become apparent what the real reason was. Very often there are those who feel that if they are functioning under the control of the spirit of God then they will easily do whatever needs to be done even though they are totally ignorant and incompetent. That's right, isn't it? How ridiculous! We need to do as the opportunity affords, that we may learn something, that we may become competent. We may not know why we need to be competent in some particular field. It may seem a very insignificant thing, but how can we tell? We are not, to start with at least, aware of how the job is going to be handled, what is going to be required when. So we need to take advantage of everything in order that we may be proficient; not necessarily in slinging stones, although I suppose there are some who could do this, but in taking advantage of the opportunities that arise, whatever they may be, even though we don't see immediately as to how they may be of value, because our judgments still tend to be based in self-centeredness, in the idea that the conscious mind must know everything.

How often have you had the experience of perhaps being reminded to take something or other along with you when you go on a journey? And you look at it and you try to figure out why you should take that along. You may be able to convince yourself that it is foolish to take that along, so you leave it behind. Then somewhere along the way you say, “Oh, I wish I had brought that thing,” whatever it was. The conscious mind doesn't know everything ahead of time, but there is a knowing which we may experience. Some people talk about that as guidance, as though someone else somewhere were pulling the strings so to speak. Well I suppose in a sense it could be called guidance, but it is one's own guidance. It is the expression through oneself. And what one is in divine identity, in heavenly identity, is very much more capable than what one is in worldly identity. It encompasses far more in the range of understanding, and there are many things that come within the scope of that understanding that are completely excluded when we depend upon the self-centered consciousness. The self-centered consciousness thinks it's so clever at times, but what an appalling chaos it produces. Whereas as we begin to become associated with the spirit of God, the holy spirit—a total thing—we become balanced in our expression and there are many things that we do that we would not have done before, because we would have had no awareness that there was anything to be done.

Now it is through this coordinated body, small body, that God may act, because there begin to be a sufficient number of people in this form to provide a whole view of things; not that any single person will see that whole view, but all put together see it. Consequently, each one acting according to his own aspect of vision will find his action coordinated with the action of all others who are doing likewise with their own aspects of vision. It all comes together into a coordinated whole, and what is done through that coordinated whole is adequate to deal with the giant. We have the opportunity even now of seeing something of the effects of what is working through the form that has already emerged. We may observe human beings everywhere struggling with their problems, immersed in the world, not understanding what is going on at all, not seeing the reasons why things are happening the way they are, but taking hold of the happenings and trying to adjust the happenings to make them satisfactory, to solve the problems, as they call them. But this is an effort dealing with the very periphery of things. There is something happening back of those happenings; and whatever is happening back of those happenings, there is something happening back of that, and back of that, and back of that. We come back finally to the point of divine action appearing through whatever form there is for its manifestation. Those who stand in this form begin to have the vision to see what is occurring beyond and see it merely as a result of the power of God in action. So there is no sense to struggling with the apparent problems on the periphery, because they are not the problems at all. They are merely the evidences of the fact that something is happening and people are being pushed this way and that way by their reactions to whatever it is that is happening in the background.

Sharing the divine vision in this regard, we can begin to see that what is occurring is needful as long as human beings are self-centered. Of course if there should be a willingness to come out of that state of self-centeredness, then the state of affairs would change immediately, but for the most part there are very few who are so willing. Those who are so willing, and who actually do it, provide the facility by which the power of God works, and the power of God working produces reactions of various sorts in the self-centered state. Those reactions in the self-centered state are looked upon by those who are in the self-centered state as being problems. And being conditioned to the need always to solve problems, they start to try to solve the problems—which is totally impossible, because this is merely the result of reaction to the power of God. It is like the tide. The tide is coming in. Well let's build a breakwater of sand to stop it coming in! But it's going to keep coming in, and in its coming in it is going to eliminate the breakwater of sand, and the elimination of the breakwater of sand is going to appear as a great number of problems. We rush around trying to solve all the problems. We're overlooking the reason why the breakwater of sand is dissolving: the tide is coming in. The power of God is working.

Now we need to be true to the truth which we know and to let the power of God work, remaining undisturbed, uninfluenced, uninvolved with the effects of that working, because they are bound to be there. We couldn't stop them from being there; we wouldn't want to stop them if we could. Our concern is to let the power of God work, and if it brings a great increase of tribulation in the world—as our Master said, there is tribulation in the world; there will be tribulation in the world—if it brings a vast increase in this regard, fine. Let's get it over and done with! Let's not drag this nonsense out any longer! Let us let it be finished!

So here we may begin to have a more balanced view of what is occurring, in the recognition that it doesn't take very much in the outer form of things, at the point of focus, to get the job done. Again, of course, in this day and age we recognize that there could not be a point of focus in this regard if it were not for the fact that there is a foundation from which it sprang in the external sense. There are many people in the world who, according to their highest vision, are honorable; and that's fine; we rejoice in that. We couldn't begin to let the job be done if it weren't so. But let us not imagine, because there are honorable people in the world, that merely that will get the job done. It won't! There have always been honorable people in the world. It requires something more than that and we begin to realize what that more is and participate in it.

So let us continue to move together in a consciousness of this one form, the body of the Son of God, in the awareness of the spirit which is shared in that body. No matter where we are we are together, and no matter where we are the power of God is working through every aspect in a whole sense to get the real job done. This is the way, the truth and the life to be shared by all who are willing; for the body of the Son of God has already experienced the victory, and as we associate ourselves with it, come into it, find ourselves as a part of it, we have the victory; not because we did it but because it has already been done. So let us share that victory because we relinquish the self-centeredness that maintains our identity merely in the world and accept the identity in and with the Son of God! In Him there is peace. If human beings want peace, there's the answer. It is the only way. In Him there is peace. In Him there is the victory. In Him the job is already done.

© Emissaries of Divine Light