First Three-And-One-Half Of Seven Steps Of Restoration

First  Three-And-One-Half  Of  Seven  Steps  Of  Restoration

Uranda   April 12, 1953  Class

We have been sharing in a pattern of meditation which gives us a deeper insight into the reality of God's Plan. We have looked back along the way and seen something of the outworking of that Plan in time past, and under the inspiration of the spirit of God we have, according to our several capacities, accepted responsibility in the fulfilment of that Plan in the present. In order to facilitate the effectiveness of our ministry in this present time, we began last evening a weekend meditation upon the outline of this plan as it is established for us in the future, that we might more readily recognize the goal toward which we are moving. The key text, in the material we have already covered from the Book of Revelation, I will give to you now—the 7th Verse of the 10th Chapter:

But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel,

when he shall begin to sound,

the mystery of God should be finished,

as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.

YouTube  Audio

We are engaged in a pattern of study, training, meditation, designed to let the mystery of God be finished in us, that God may no longer be a mystery to us, that the working of His will, the reality of His Plan, may no longer be a mystery in our lives. [greatcosmicstory.blogspot.com/2023/06/mystery-of-god.html] Only so can we do our part in service toward letting the mystery of God be finished in and for the world. And then we gave meditation to the sounding of the voice of the Seventh Angel. “And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying…” There were many great voices, you will notice, in heaven, and we recognize that heaven is at hand. It is not something off up in the sky somewhere. It is the heaven that is at hand here where we are. “And there were great voices in heaven [on earth], saying, The kingdoms of this world…” Where were those voices? In heaven on earth. “The kingdoms of this world.” So those who spoke must be on earth, in relationship to this world. And the great voices in heaven on earth were saying, “The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ, and he shall reign for ever and ever.”

In recognition of this particular outworking in the cosmic scheme of things there is a pattern of thanksgiving: “We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned.” We are sharing in the actual outworking on earth of these things. And then the result: “The temple of God was opened in heaven” [the Kingdom of Heaven that is at hand]. “Know ye not that ye are the temple of the living God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” So the Temple of Heaven is being opened to you, in you, that you may be a manifest expression or revelation of the Temple of God in heaven. “And the temple of God was opened in heaven…”—and that is to take place in you, through you, for you—“and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament.”

In our meditation last evening we recognized that the testament, the revelation of the will of God, the reality of the Divine Decree, the testament, the expression of God's purpose and will and authority, is seen in this Temple in Heaven, in you, when God's Temple is opened in you. When you realize that in the range of self-activity it is not the testament of God that finds expression through you but the testament of the prince of this world, you begin to recognize that there are only two testaments in actual fact. We speak of the Bible as having the Old and the New Testament. They are actually two revelations of the same testament. They are not two different testaments; they are just two revelations of the same testament, the testament of God's will, purpose, power and authority. So there is another testament, the testament of the prince of this world. And in every move you make, every word you speak, every attitude you show forth on earth, you are revealing either the testament of the prince of this world or, having let the Temple of God be opened in heaven in you, you reveal on earth the Testament of our LORD and KING.

With this broad view of the Divine Plan and purpose, we introduced the consideration of what is generally spoken of as the Seven Personages. The Seven Personages are actually the seven aspects of your own person! The Seven Personages are actually the seven aspects of your own person as an individual. And in relationship to these Seven Personages we have the revelation of the steps required in the process of the resurrection, the process of restoration, the process by which you come to illumination. Just as there are seven days in the week, and it is necessary that you live through all the seven days of the week if you are to live for the week, so is it necessary for you to live through these seven cycles of the process of the restoration if you are to know the reality of the resurrection. We must recognize, with respect to these seven cycles of the restoration, the seven aspects of your own person, that the application is to you as an individual, and likewise it is to the world body of responding ones. All of those human beings on the face of the earth—of whatever color, race, nation, creed, denomination, it makes no difference—all who are responding, all who are yielding to the working of God's spirit on earth, all who are letting themselves come under the control of the Divine Design, all who are permitting God's Testament to have meaning on earth, must as a Unit, as a Body, as a Body of God on earth, likewise go through this process. And so in the beginning of the 12th Chapter we read—the first of the Seven Personages, the woman:

“And there appeared a great wonder in heaven…” Now, is heaven in the sky somewhere? No, heaven is at hand, as the Master said. Heaven is within reach, available. It is in you and around you. “And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars.” Now we cannot possibly in this short period of meditation this morning consider all of the significance contained in that short verse. But let us recognize the pattern first as it relates to mankind, particularly mankind in the sense of the members of the human family who are seeking God, seeking to do God's will, or responding in any degree whatsoever, so that they are being used as instruments of the working of God's spirit, no matter who they are or where.

“And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun.” Now what do we recognize in the fulfilment of the One Law in our relationship to God? We recognize that individually and collectively we must respond to the Divine Positive. We also find in another portion of this great Blueprint the portrayal of the Bride of the Lamb—the members of the Body, the Christ Body, pictured as being the Bride of the Lamb. So the feminine aspect is utilized to reveal the proper attitude of mankind, men and women alike, toward God. “And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun.” This woman contains in her body every man, woman and child on the face of the earth who is in any sense turning to God, who is in any degree responsive to the spirit of God, whether he or she knows it or not. And so the pattern of response begins to appear in the body of humanity.

And this woman is clothed with the sun. With what are we clothed in the outer sense in actual fact? If this earth, and as a result ourselves as human beings, were not clothed with the sun in the physical sense, clothed, bathed, enfolded, in the radiance of the sun in physical fact, how long would we live? Not very long. In other words, here is a portrayal of something that is revealed spiritually by reason of physical fact. We are clothed with the sun as a physical fact. And if it were not for the rising of the sun each morning and its warmth that is shed on the earth, life would soon become not only impossible but intolerable if it were possible. We would find no pleasure in it. So in the physical sense we are clothed with the sun. But likewise there is a deeper meaning. We must never be content merely to recognize the surface revelation of fact. But the woman—the world body of responding ones who are turning to God, including all people regardless of religion or race or creed or color, all people who are responding to God—is “clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars.”

Now this pattern here we could study all day today and still not exhaust that which is contained in this one little text. But the moon is under her feet. The moon is what? It is a dead body that is negative to the earth as a physical fact. It revolves around the earth. It is a dead planet, or body, and it is responsive to the earth. So those who begin to respond begin to have the proper position of positive radiation and control over the dead body—for the body that was responding to death and the things that produce death, the body of humanity, is dead. But by reason of function under the Law, in love response to God according to the Way, the Truth and the Life, the positive power of God begins to manifest through the woman, the world body of responding ones, and the dead body begins to come under subjection, under control. “And the moon under her feet.” Now this same thing works out with respect to you; and the moon, the dead body, needs to come under subjection to the power of God made manifest in and through you.

“And upon her head a crown of twelve stars.” We notice, with respect to the physical facts, that there are twelve months in a year. The twelve stars here have their basic origin in relationship to the physical patterns of our solar system, by reason of which we have twelve months in a year. But out of this physical fact we see the development of a great spiritual truth. We remember that at the time of the sounding of the Seventh Angel, when there is a recognition, as we recognize now—not something going to be—“The kingdoms of this world are become.” They now are in actual fact, and the outworkings in the world are moving toward the revelation of the fact that already is. Do not be projecting this idea into the future, thinking that, well now, someday it will be. It now is. The kingdoms of this world are become now, in actual fact, the Kingdoms of our LORD and of His Christ, and He shall reign for ever and ever. The conditions that are working out in the world in this present time, in this hour, in this day, are all a part of the process by reason of which that great truth is being revealed on earth. So if we understand our position in the cosmic scheme of things, we recognize this as a present fact, not as something yet to be. The truth of the matter is not yet fully revealed. The people of the world do not yet truly know it, but it is still a fact in this present moment.

And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats,

fell upon their faces, and worshipped God,

Saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty,

which art, and wast, and art to come;

because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned.

And the evidence of this is widely manifest in the world for those who have eyes to see, for God is reigning. The change in the pattern of the world, the tempo of movement, the release of knowledge, and all the rest of it, that we have seen since the turn of this century, all is a part of this great fact. And so we particularly recognize here the four-and-twenty elders. [greatcosmicstory.blogspot.com/2023/06/four-beastsfour-and-twenty-elders.html]

We do not have time this morning to go back and study the pattern with respect to the four-and-twenty elders, but twenty-four is twice twelve. Twenty-four is twice twelve. The twenty-four is a recognition of the positive and negative aspects of twelve, in other words. The twelve stars here, in a crown. A crown is a symbol of authority, a symbol of power, a symbol of the ability to do something. And this woman, the body of responding ones—which includes you individually and collectively, and all the others on the face of the earth who are so responding—is subject to God; that is, responsive to God, and as a consequence has power to bring the moon, the dead body, under subjection. And she has a crown of twelve stars—the twelve in the positive and negative aspects of focalization and being, the four-and-twenty elders. Now rather than take time to go back and study all the significance of the four-and-twenty elders at this moment, we will ask you to just simply rest in the recognition that the four-and-twenty elders, the positive and negative aspects of the twelve, are before the Throne of God, as indicated in this text: “And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God.” The four-and-twenty are the twelve in the positive and negative aspects, which bring to focalization the response of all the responding ones to God.

The broad base of response comes to point and is established in the

Control Pattern of the Divine Design

through the four-and-twenty elders,

or the twelve in the positive and negative aspects of their being.

And the woman is crowned with a crown having twelve stars. The twelve stars represent the twelve elders in their positive and negative aspects. In other words, just as the four-and-twenty elders bring the world pattern of response to focus to God, they likewise provide the crown of authority and power, the release of force, influence, control, out into the world of responding ones. And so the woman is crowned upon her head with a crown having twelve stars, and these twelve stars and the four-and-twenty elders are exactly the same thing.

This means, then, that the woman comes under the full control of God, and the Divine Pattern of reality is allowed to work out through her. Once this pattern of response begins to be a reality in life, in the life of the Body as a Whole or in the life of you as an individual, something happens. Such an one finds that he or she is with child. Such an one finds that he or she is with child individually and collectively, and there is the process of crying, as it is put here, “…travailing in birth, and paining to be delivered.” In the process of your response to God did you not find, as you came to this hour somewhere along the way, that there was something in you seeking to be born? Did you not find that there was something in you seeking to come forth to reveal the reality of your own being, the individuality, the nature of that which you are, the true expression of your own spiritual being? So once you begin to be a part of this process of responding to God, once you begin to let the steps of the resurrection work out in and through you, you find individually that you are with child, or that you have been, if you have brought forth your child.

“And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.” Now if you had not become aware of something gestating in you, something as yet in the embryonic stage, something that was seeking to be born through you, you would not be here. And the sufferings you may have had, the difficulties because you did not know how to relax into the power of God, all of the different things that enter into the process of birth—or rebirth, for it is the same thing—all of these things that you may have suffered amount to nothing in relationship to that which is to come forth.

And so with this brief introduction we consider the second step of the process of restoration, the second of the seven steps of restoration, or the second of the seven aspects of your own person, in this outworking. “And there appeared another wonder in heaven…” And heaven is at hand. “And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.”

Have you ever met that dragon? And if you got the crown off of one of his heads and said, “Well now, the power of God is going to keep you under subjection,” he just stuck another of his heads around in front of you; and the problem of getting the crowns off of all seven heads seems, from a human standpoint, to be utterly impossible. And it is. You as a human being have for so long been under the control and the rule of the great red dragon, but you are coming out of the body of the great red dragon and moving into the body of the woman. “And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.” A rather formidable creature. And human beings have found that it is futile to fight the dragon in human strength, according to human wisdom. It takes something more.

“And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth.” This signifies that the stars of heaven—which is not the same as the stars of the sky, by the way—the stars of heaven, the third part of them, have been under the control of the dragon. Now where is heaven? It is at hand. What are the stars of heaven? And how is it that the dragon could take the third part of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth? Human beings have imagined that this meant the stars of the sky, but it does not say that. Where has the dragon gained control of the third part of the stars of your heaven? You are a trinity.  This says the third part, so it is one of those three parts, obviously not in the sense of any real control of the body as such, obviously not the spiritual expression as such. The stars, that which is supposed to be of a higher level of being in consciousness, that which is supposed to be the apex of understanding with respect to the living of life—the stars with respect to the mind of man, the stars of heaven with respect to your mind, were taken by the tail of the dragon and cast into the earth. So that instead of your stars, upon which the mind was dwelling, being in heaven, they were in the earth, and your mind was caught in the trap of meditating upon what you could do to get something to eat and to pay the rent and to buy the place, to do this, to do that. All of the things with respect to the working of your mind instead of having centering in the stars of heaven were centered in those stars cast into the earth, and it seemed that in order to exist you had to become subject to a materialistic program that ignored the Reality of Being, so that you as a human being found that the dragon had taken your stars of heaven.

You may have glimpsed them a little in your youth or childhood, but the dragon came along and gathered them up with his tail and cast them into the earth in your own life, and soon you were bound in the pattern of materialistic enterprise and activity, so that your mind was centered with respect to these stars, the important things of life in the earth, and thereby your awareness of heaven was lost. Your awareness of your own stars in heaven was gone, and all of your stars were down here in the earth and you poured out your life-stream struggling to save those stars in the earth. There is a graphic picture, so beautifully portrayed in symbolical language, of that which is the experience of human beings, who may start out in life with good intentions, high ideals and great determinations, only to find that the dragon has cast all of the stars of which the mind is directly aware into the earth. And so the human being becomes a slave of the materialistic patterns, as we see it in the world.

“And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth…” And then what does he do? “…and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. And you find in your own personal experience that as soon as this child that is in you begins to really act like it was going to be born in your life, there the dragon is right in front of you ready to devour it, ready to destroy, ready to make your efforts futile. And if you become alarmed and afraid and react and start trying to fight the dragon, what will happen? It will destroy your child. But if you remain centered, if you remain under the control of the twelve stars of your crown, if you remain a part of the body of the woman clothed with the sun, with the dead body of the world pattern under your feet—signifying the process of the resurrection—you will ignore the dragon that stands before you ready to devour your child. We come to the third step, the third phase of this cycle:

“And she brought forth a man child.” A man child signifies the positive expression of Divine Being on earth. That which is born through you as a part of the woman is the positive expression of Divine Action in life, in you and through you. “And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.” In other words, you begin to realize that this which is being born in you in the process of rebirth, in the process of restoration, in the process of resurrection, cannot be devoured by the dragon unless you function incorrectly. For that which is born spiritually in you and through you is caught up unto God—not separated from you, but established in the Divine Pattern of Being—is caught up unto God and to His throne. “And the woman fled into the wilderness.”

And the woman fled into the wilderness. Now you, as members of the Unit here, are members of the body of this woman. And that which we are doing here in the wilderness is that which is here outlined and portrayed. This is our business on Sunrise Ranch. “And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.” The woman did not try to fight with the dragon, neither did she become so afraid of the dragon that she refused to bring forth her man child.  Though the dragon is there right in front, she keeps centered in God and lets the power of God work out. The birth becomes a reality in and through you regardless of the fact that the dragon is there, and the child is caught up to God, established in the pattern of the Divine Design. And you, as a member of the body of the woman, have a place prepared of God in the wilderness, a place where you will be fed. Fed what? The bread of life. And given to drink of the water of truth. Now this is the brief consideration of the third step here, the third phase of your own being. Next we will note very briefly at least the first part of the fourth:

And there was war in heaven: Michael and his Angels fought against the dragon;

and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not;

neither was their place found any more in heaven.

And the great dragon was cast out,

that old serpent called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world:

he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

If you try to fight the dragon when you begin to reach the point of bringing forth a man child, the positive expression of God's power from within you, you will lose. But if you let it work out on the basis of this outline of principle, you will find that the fourth step—after the man child has been born in and through you—is made manifest; for then the Archangel Michael, and his Angels do something. Once you have reached that point, there is war in heaven. Where? In heaven at hand in you. This is something which works out in each and every one of you; not something just of the past or just to come in the future. This is the process of restoration in and through you. So there was war in heaven in you. Now whether it has been, or is now, or is yet to come, is beside the point; but if you remain centered in God and hold steady there is going to be war in heaven in you, and Michael and his Angels will fight against the dragon. You cannot cast the dragon out; you cannot successfully fight with him. You must hold steady until Michael and his Angels are permitted to join the fray.

“And there was war in heaven [in you]: Michael and his Angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels.” Now if you ever have felt something of this contest with the dragon, you have found that the dragon has angels, just as surely as Michael has Angels, and there will be human beings who will come up to you and say sly, insinuating things. They will try to discourage you. They will say and do things to try to upset you. It becomes an uncanny thing from an outer human standpoint. But the dragon has his angels, and human beings round about always seem to be willing to serve the dragon and try to destroy the pattern of your being as a son or daughter of God. But if you hold steady, regardless of the dragon and all of his sly-speaking, foul-mouthed angels, Michael and his Angels do something—they cast the dragon out of heaven in you into the earth.

And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan,

which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth,

and his angels were cast out with him.

And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven

[with respect to you, once this is done],

Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God,

and the power of his Christ:

for the accuser of our brethren is cast down,

which accused them before our God day and night.

And so the victory. You begin to know the victory, and this is a part of the fourth step in the cycles of restoration, the fourth aspect of your own person in the fulfilment of the process of resurrection. “And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now”—not sometime in the future—"Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ.” So let it be in you and through you to all who will receive. Gradually you are beginning to have an actual realization of the fact of the resurrection in relationship to yourselves here and now; not just an intellectual idea postponed to some future time, but the realization of the process in this present time.

And as we begin to let this process truly work, it is a wonderful thing to begin to know the privilege of membership in the Body of the Woman, the Body of the Woman who wears the Crown of Twelve Stars, who is clothed with the Sun and who has the moon under her feet, the position of power, by which the power of God is allowed to manifest with true meaning in your life. So, remember your privilege of being a part of the Body of the Woman, the Wonder in Heaven, clothed with the Sun, and with the moon under your feet, crowned with a Crown of Twelve Stars.

And as you remain true, properly centered, living in the position of power, all the other things can follow out in their natural cycle, and step-by-step the great red dragon will cease to have power over you, for at the appointed time, when you are ready to let it be so—it is not governed by God and withheld from you; it is something that happens at any time when you are ready to let it happen—the great red dragon, with all of his seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns, all of his display of power and authority and everything else, is all cast out of heaven in you into the earth and caused to be of no effect.

So let us remember [greatcosmicstory.blogspot.com/2023/06/where-you-arewho-you-areto-whom-you.html] the privilege we have of being instruments in the hand of God through which the Divine Plan comes to fulfilment, the Mystery of God is finished, and it is revealed on earth that the kingdoms of this world are become the Kingdoms of our LORD and of His Christ, and He shall rule for ever and ever. God bless you, each one.

© emissaries of divine light

Communion With The King

Communion  With  The  King

Martin Cecil  May 1, 1983  a.m.

Holy, holy, holy, LORD God of heaven and earth. Holy, holy, holy. In this hour I speak for Thy ministers in heaven on earth, Most High, LORD and KING. We acknowledge Thee as Supreme. We are here to serve Thee in the world because we love Thee; our ministry on earth is, first, to Thee. In communion with Thee we breathe the Breath of Life in this hour. So is life restored to the soul of man on earth. Thy Kingdom comes, Thy Will is done. Aum-en.

This is a holy communion service. Each service which we share is rightly a service of holy communion. We may dispense with the symbols of bread and wine, because surely we do not need to be reminded of the truth. Let the communion be real—and not one step away, with the symbols in between.

We are here to breathe the Breath of Life in communion with our KING. It was said that the LORD God breathed the Breath of Life into man’s nostrils. I think this has tended to engender a picture of artificial resuscitation, so that when man started to breathe on his own, God could pull out. But if we are still breathing—and I think this is true of all who are here present this morning!—it is because the LORD God has not pulled out. Rightly there is a breathing in unison. But it is the Breath of Life when the Word of Truth sets the tone of life.

We have a particular opportunity to share this morning in a specific focus of the Word of Truth, spoken and proclaimed by all of us in unison. This sets the tone of life in human experience. It is set in our own experience, humanly speaking, when we share the proclamation of the Word of Truth; and because we are not and cannot be separated from mankind as a whole, the Word of Truth proclaimed sets the tone of life for everyone. Not everyone is aware of it, even subconsciously, but there are many who are aware of it subconsciously and a few who know it consciously. How many of you present this morning, in fact know it consciously? I would not try to guess. There is no need anyway—the fact proves itself out.

There is no communion without love. The first communion with which we are concerned is with the KING. There is no way by which we may share this communion except in spirit. A lot of people have been trying to participate in the communion by sharing it in form, but this only opens a door to understanding, the understanding that communion is in spirit. There must be love for the KING if there is to be communion with the KING. There cannot be useful communication between people without the fact of communion first being established with the KING.

There is a lot of so-called communication going on. [greatcosmicstory.blogspot.com/2016/06/communion-martin-cecil-may-3-1981-how.html] The flapping of the lips is a popular pastime, and there is a great deal of printed communication of one kind or another, but scarcely any of it has a base in communion. It seems to be felt that communion can be set aside because communication is sufficient. There is more communication in the world today than there has ever been, but seemingly less understanding. All this plethora of communication is an endeavor to cover up the sense of lack of communion. It may not be defined this way in human consciousness but that’s what it is. The communion has been missing, so the attitude comes: Let us make up for this by multiplying communication. And if we are to multiply communication then we have to multiply the various media which make communication possible, on an ever wider scale. There is lots of provision in this regard but a dearth of anything much to communicate, because of the absence of communion. That absence remains and is constantly sensed by people, so that they become more and more frenetic in their endeavors to communicate, still supposing that by much communication, communion will be unnecessary—either that, or it will produce communion. But it doesn’t.

Communion comes first, before communication; and there is no communion without love. There is no communion between ourselves without love, and love between ourselves is conspicuous by its absence until there is love for the KING. Then the door for love is opened and the experience of love becomes available between ourselves. Otherwise human beings are just trying to love one another for various reasons. They usually end up by disliking one another, and even hating one another. Trying to love is a futile undertaking. Love cannot be produced by trying. Love already is; it doesn’t need to be produced. We can awaken to this truth when our love is directed to the KING, because there is the origination of the love. If we have no connection we have no love.

Of course everybody has some connection or they wouldn’t still be alive, still be breathing; but the connection in human experience has been minimal. Very precarious, isn’t it? No one is quite sure that they will really be alive tomorrow. They live in hopes, but events sometimes conspire to convince us that life is a very precarious business. It’s even dangerous to take a bath! You may slip and break your neck, or you may be electrocuted; there are all sorts of possibilities—but not only in the bathroom! Life is seemingly rather an uncertain thing. This is apparently so because of the minimal connection with the KING. But when this connection of love for Him begins to be known, a door for a new and true experience is opened. And it is opened so that we may experience love for one another. We can’t have that experience without love for the KING.

Human beings try to love each other without regard for the KING, and it doesn’t work very satisfactorily. We need to have some love if we are going to love, and that love comes into our awareness and experience to the extent that our hearts begin to be open to the KING. This implies that they are going to be closed to what is not the KING. Many people try to have it both ways. It usually turns out to be the idea of loving God on Sunday—but being emotionally open to everything else in between times. And there are six days in the week and only one Sabbath—according to the human concept. In actual fact each day is the Sabbath Day, because it is the day when our hearts are open to the KING. If perchance we just happen to open our hearts to the KING one day a week for a few minutes or hours, it’s not a very customary experience, is it? Well, we know about these things and we have presumably been concerned to have the experience of consistency—that requires every day of the week. So every day is the Sabbath, the day to love the LORD, the day to be open to the KING.

Then we find that this requires, if it is to be real in our own experience, that we become aware of the Word of Truth. The Word of Truth may be mentally perceived to some extent perhaps. It is also sensed in a heart that isn’t totally preoccupied with emotional involvement with the world around. We have all had opportunity to become acquainted with the Word of Truth, so that our outlook has changed somewhat from the usual one—at least mentally. Many of you, I’m sure, could stand up and give a good account of yourself for others in conveying what you deem to be the truth. But that clearly is not enough. One may hear the Word, but there is the matter of doing. One doesn’t know the truth until one does it. One merely knows about it, or imagines that one knows about it, and in that sort of state it is virtually all imagination.

So it is the doing, isn’t it? We all have opportunity to choose to do; seemingly not too many are all that interested. But there is something rather compelling about the truth. It causes us to stick around, for a while anyway, so that perchance we might do something and really begin to discover what the truth is. This is represented by that miracle of turning the water into wine, the Water of Truth into the Wine of Life. Then we know the truth. We only know the truth when it is wine. We know about it perhaps while it is still water, but until we absorb it, digest it, or incorporate it into ourselves in our momentary experience, we don’t know it. We may firmly believe that the truth is true. A lot of people believe that their particular brand of truth is true, but it doesn’t do them all that much good—they have their troubles, same as everybody else. But to let the Water of Truth be transformed into the Wine of Life is what we’ve been about for however long. And this comes because there is genuine communion.

It is not a matter of trying to communicate with some God somewhere. A lot of people try that; they call it prayer—they want to talk to God. It is usually a rather one-sided conversation, because you can’t communicate with God; you can commune with God—and there is quite a distinction here. So human beings are not heard by reason of their much speaking; I suppose it could be said nobody’s listening. Prayer has tended to be based in requests of various sorts, supposedly good ones; but nothing needs to be requested, because everything is already provided. The very attitude of prayer in the usual way is blasphemy. It is saying to God, “What’s the matter with you? You haven’t provided me with what I need—or at least what I want.” But the fact of the matter is that everything is already provided. This is discovered when the state of communion is discovered, because communion establishes the base by which the Water of Truth may be transformed into the Wine of Life.

It can’t be done without communion with the KING, and we commune with the KING through His Word. And His Word is a Living Word; it’s not the printed word. The printed word may acquaint us with the truth, so that we know something about it, possibly, but that is as far as it goes. It is only known when it is lived, when it becomes the cause of our momentary experience. This requires a heart open to the KING—to the Word, to the quality of His Spirit. This has always seemed a little bit vague in human consciousness. There has been an endeavor to translate it into more definite terms by saying, “You are a good person if you do this or behave that way.” But that isn’t the truth; that is merely a human idea as to the way human beings should be. But the human idea is false. There is only One who knows the way human beings should be, and that is the KING.

So, by all means let us commune with the KING, making no demands. Perhaps we may, having let go of our own demands, hear something of what is required. It was couched in these terms: “I will demand of thee, and answer thou me.” In other words we begin to find ourselves put on the spot, not wailing and whining to an imaginary god to get him to give what the true God has already provided. It must be an imaginary god, because if there was communion with the true God we would know it has already been provided. So there are countless imaginary gods around, sometimes pointed to as being the One God. But our awareness of the truth is consequent upon our communion with the KING and our obedience to the requirements. If we should recognize that there is this requirement: “I will demand of thee, and answer thou me,” then we may reverse our stance of trying to demand something from God and discover what it is we should be giving to God—what the answer is that we should be providing Him with. If there is to be an answer it will be known because we give it—the exact reverse of the human attitude toward God: “Oh I’m a miserable little human being here; I won’t know anything until God tells me.” That isn’t the way it is at all.

We were considering the matter of Ministers last Sunday. [greatcosmicstory.blogspot.com/2023/06/because-of-love-for-king.html] By the way, ministers is rather a good word because it doesn’t confine the experience to what is deemed to be spiritual; generally speaking it’s called religious. There are ministers of religion, but there are also ministers of government. There is a spiritual aspect and a material aspect—they are separate in the world that we know in the external sense. You have the ministers of religion on one hand and the ministers of government on the other, and never the twain shall meet. Well of course in our use of the word “ministers” we are thinking of it in rather different terms, but there is the spiritual aspect and there is the material aspect; there is the heaven and there is the earth.

The first requirement of a Minister is to minister to the KING. Usually in the religious field the minister is supposed to be ministering to his flock. How can he minister to his flock if he has not yet ministered to his KING? He doesn’t know the KING, so he doesn’t have anything to give to his flock.

The first great commandment comes first: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all.” Do that, and there is a second commandment; but if you don’t do that there isn’t a second commandment. Obviously if there isn’t a first commandment there can’t be a second one. So because this has been discovered in a backhanded sort of way by many, they try to make the second into the first. Love your neighbor. Okay, that’s fine, but how, when you hate his guts? Love your enemies, but how? Obviously it’s good advice, shall we say—love your enemies—because if you actually did it you wouldn’t have any enemies. That is the way to dispose of enemies! Very simple, actually.

But you have to have some love on hand to love with. And there isn’t any real love on hand until the KING is on hand in one’s own experience, because the KING is LOVE. If we ignore the KING we lack love and we feel empty, we feel frustrated, we feel troubled and uncomfortable. Because human beings have felt that way—and don’t imagine that any of you is exceptional if you feel that way; it’s common to all people because their hearts have not been available to be filled with what would naturally fill them if hearts were available—they are empty, and because they are empty there are frustrations and troubles of all kinds, apparently. And we get into the “if only” syndrome: “If only so-and-so would behave differently, if only my circumstances weren’t the way they are, then this nagging, gnawing state inside would be assuaged.”

Nothing that anyone can extract from the environment will fill the need. It is amazing how human beings, generation after generation, have tried to fill that need in this way; and every generation has failed. Some gullible individuals may fool themselves a little on this score but in fact every generation has failed. Shouldn’t it finally become apparent, somewhere along the line, that that’s not the way to do it? Presumably that stunning realization hit most of us, but we weren’t quite sure yet. We had to go on trying anyway, for a while, to dispose of this internal discomfort by external means. Well one could go on doing that till the day one is dead—that’s final; you can’t go on after that—but there is a chance for something to happen while one is still alive. And so we allowed a little dawning intelligence to filter through from the KING.

Everybody, all of you—me too, by the way—doubtless have these gnawing dissatisfactions in the heart. Am I right? Sure! The question is as to whether what is being felt in that way is going to dictate to you as to how you are going to behave. Or, on the other hand, you are no longer going to be fooled by the coming of the prince of this world—that’s what it is; that’s the way it can well be described—to grab you, to get you into the “if only” state so that you again believe implicitly, as you have done in the past, that somehow or other you can extract something from the world around you which is going to assuage this internal gnawing. It’s like a rat gnawing at your vitals. Stop feeding your vitals to the rat! The very moment you do that, probably the rat will put up quite a fuss because it’s accustomed to that lifestyle, but pretty soon it will get sufficiently hungry that it will go someplace else; no more handouts from you. But how much do these gnawings within yourself tell you how to behave? Some people think, “Well it’s easy in youth.” But then the young think, “Well it’s easy when you’re older.” There was the statement, “Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth,” because you have lots of vitality to do the remembering with. You get older: “Well I’m too old now.”

Remember! — at any age. [greatcosmicstory.blogspot.com/2023/06/where-you-arewho-you-areto-whom-you.html] Youth has its troubles, doesn’t it? Youth usually thinks its troubles are worse than anybody else’s trouble. But then it doesn’t matter what age bracket you come to, there is a firm belief on the part of most that one’s own age bracket is the most difficult. When a person gets older his physical body likely develops more aches and pains and this and that, and that may engender the thought, “I should have remembered my Creator in the days of my youth.” But then in the days of your youth you had your troubles too, didn’t you? It wasn’t all just heavenly. No, it’s not that way for any age group. If, getting older, there are aches and pains—I have some—discomforts of various sorts, well that’s the way things are. It’s this that has to be handled, just as whatever it was in youth had to be handled too. It doesn’t matter, really, what the situation is, what the nature of the gnawing may be.

If one is controlled by that, if one takes the attitude that circumstances are the trouble, one’s own physical body is the trouble, other people are the trouble, because this gnawing is going on in me and I don’t like it, then obviously the fact that there is an absence experienced in you is dominating your way of life—or way of death, it would be better described. But there is no need! There is no need to be subject to that, young, old or middle-aged, because it is not a matter of the physical body, it is not a matter of the circumstances, it is not a matter of other people. It is a matter of the KING—that, and that alone.

Thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all. And when that is accepted there is a door opened in heaven, a door out of which one begins to live, administering the creative cycle as it finds application, or focus, in oneself—primarily in oneself, then moving out beyond what one thinks of as oneself. It includes the immediate environment, the further environment, the whole environment. It is all in your consciousness anyway. You handle the thing close in for the most part. And the rat is not given that much attention anymore. A person wakes up in the morning: “I don’t feel so good today.” Is that what is going to determine the way you behave? If it is you’re finished. But the KING is still there, the fulness of what is needful to deal with the immediate circumstance is present, and is known to be present, when what is being felt, emotionally speaking and physically speaking and mentally speaking in the external sense, no longer has the authority to tell you how to behave. Regardless of what appears in that realm, the authority is not there. It is only there when you yourself choose to give it.

Lots of excuses have been used to justify a person being subject to past troubles, very often youthful troubles. There are many people who were abused in one way or another in their youth—everybody was, really; some more extremely so than others—but why carry that along with one the rest of one’s dying days? It’s ridiculous; it’s nonsense! Nobody needs to do it. All kinds of psychological and medical reasons have been found as to why “all you poor people can’t really help it; it’s too bad!” Oh, let’s come out of that ridiculous, whining state.

Anyone can choose to acknowledge the KING. Some may not know what this would mean, so the Ministers of the KING are here to reveal what it means because they do it—it’s the only way to reveal it. It is revealed when it is done. Then words may be part of the requirement to fill needs; but those words then are weighty words. They carry the impact of the Word, and anyone who is open to that finds that here is the connection with the KING.

We have another opportunity this morning of communing with the KING through His Word—we have shared His Word. There have been some words involved, needful presumably. I doubt if we would have shared His Word if I had stood up here silent for an hour. I think probably you would have become a little restless, certainly if His Word was not being shared in spite of the silence. So we use words—its useful. People everywhere are using words. Let’s use them rightly, because they are the clothing for the Word. And so the Word is shared, there is consequent easy communion, and then whatever it is fitting to communicate can be communicated. We might find ourselves communicating a little less than is usual—most people talk too much—or a little more in the right way. But you have to get the other communication out of the way to do it.

So, in the communion that we have known we have known the KING, and we have known His Love, and we have known love one for another. We didn’t produce it; we just became aware of it. And having love we have respect for each other and we do not find it any longer necessary, because of the internal gnawing, to try to put other people down, to blame other people because one is uncomfortable oneself: “It’s because of so-and-so and so-and-so.” It isn’t; it is because of oneself. This is taking responsibility for the right choice in the present moment. Whatever may have happened in the past, it’s gone. It shouldn’t be allowed to dictate anything in the present. But the Word is present now to be expressed. And so it is our concern to express it.

© emissaries of divine light

Mystery Of God

Mystery  Of  God

In His Temple — Ark Of His Testament

Uranda   April 11, 1953  Class

As we come to the end of another week we have the privilege of sharing an hour of meditation. And tonight I would like to meditate with you for a little time on certain portions of that blueprint with the specifications which we speak of as the Book of Revelation. The introduction to this particular subject of meditation is contained in the Tenth Chapter. I would like to read the entire chapter to you so that you may feel the vibrational pattern of the context:

And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud:

and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun,

and his feet as pillars of fire:

And he had in his hand a little book open: and he set his right foot upon the sea,

and his left foot on the earth,

And cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth: and when he had cried,

seven thunders uttered their voices.

And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write:

and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me,

Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not.

And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven,

And sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven,

and the things that therein are, and the earth,

and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein,

that there should be time no longer:

But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound,

the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.

And the voice which I heard from heaven spake unto me again, and said,

Go and take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel

which standeth upon the sea and upon the earth.

And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book.

And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter,

but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey.

And I took the little book out of the angel's hand, and ate it up;

 and it was in my mouth sweet as honey:

and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter.

And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again

before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.

This concluding verse makes the statement that the author of the Book of Revelation was to prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues and kings. Obviously, since this outworking was near the end of the life manifestation of the one who penned the words, the promise was for another time, another incarnation in his service on earth. But our particular point tonight is contained in the seventh Verse: “But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.” Here we have a definite assurance that the time would come on earth when God would no longer be a mystery to the children of men, when the things of Heaven would no longer be a mystery on earth. The unification of Heaven and earth within the range of the consciousness of man is necessary to the fulfilment of this promise. We are here to share in that outworking by which this promise may be fulfilled. It is only as you let the mystery of God be finished in you that you can be a means by which the mystery of God may be finished in the world.

In relationship to this pattern of outworking, we have here a remarkable picture of the process of incarnation, for each and every one here came into the world to fulfill a certain task, came into the world to share this divine fulfilment. “And the voice which I heard from heaven spake unto me again, and said, Go and take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel which standeth upon the sea and upon the earth.” This is the book of the individual life, the individual purpose, according to the Divine Design.

And I went unto the angel, and said unto him Give me the little book.

And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up;

and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey,

And I took the little book out of the angel’s hand and ate it up;

and it was in my mouth sweet as honey:

and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter.

The willingness to come into the world, the willingness to follow out the pattern of the Divine Design, is signified here. And the action necessary to that was pictured as being sweet as honey in the mouth. The actual outworking of the experience in life on earth could not be anticipated as being altogether pleasant, and so in the belly—that is in the process of digestion, outworking or fulfilment—the book is bitter in the belly.

God does not give any assurance that when we come into the world to serve all things will be pleasing, that there will be no difficulties, no obstacles. We have all experienced in one way or another something of what it means to have this book of individual life expression prove to be bitter in one's belly. But knowing that it will be so, or would be so, did not stop us from eating the book, receiving it into ourselves, accepting the Divine Commission, coming into the world to accomplish something according to the Divine Design.

YouTube  Audio

Once we begin to see this portrayal in relationship to ourselves, our purpose on earth, we can profitably take a moment to consider the passage which outlines the world condition at the time that is here designated. Remember that the statement is: “But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished.” Here is a description of the world situation, the nature of the world condition at the time specified.

“And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying. The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.” Now there is the essence of the message or revelation of the Seventh Angel. You are here sharing in a Ministry which recognizes the Master’s meaning when He said, “The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand,” and that we should seek that Kingdom first and let it manifest. And here is the statement that the time is come, the time of the sounding of the Voice of the Seventh Angel, when the kingdoms of this world are to become the Kingdoms of our LORD and of His Christ, and He shall reign for ever and ever—the process of outworking in the lives of human beings when the Kingdom of our LORD in Heaven shall be extended into the earth to include the world and all the kingdoms of this world, that it may be known that they are the Kingdoms of our LORD and of His Christ. And in this pattern of outworking we read:

And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats,

fell upon their faces, and worshipped God.

Saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty,

which art, and wast, and art to come;

because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned.

And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come,

and the time of the dead, that they should be judged,

and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets,

and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great;

and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth,

And the temple of God was opened in heaven,

and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament:

and there were lightnings, and voices,

and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail.

Now, we cannot possibly take time tonight to examine all parts of this remarkable portrayal but to note only a few significant points—that is, significant in relationship to our present pattern of meditation. We recognize that the nations are angry—and the time of the dead that they should be judged. Now human minds have jumped to the conclusion that that meant that people who are dead in the sense of being buried in graves and their bodies have returned to the dust of the earth. But who are the dead? Those who are dead to the impulse of the Spirit of God, those human beings who are not aware of that Spirit, who do not respond to it, who do not let it have meaning in their lives. If one has no means of perceiving any given thing, one is dead to that thing. This is a commonly recognized principle in daily life in the outer sense. One is dead to the fact. But here we have a still greater significance, because those who are dead to the Spirit of God are subject to death and are in the process of moving toward oblivion.

There is the statement in another place that the dead shall be raised up. Not the dead bodies in graves. The Bible teaches no such thing. But among those who are dead to the Plan of God, they are not aware of it, they have no consciousness of it, they do not know it; among those who are dead to the working of the Spirit of God, who are dead to the reality of the Divine Plan, there are those who shall be awakened that they may respond and yield and be resurrected into the pattern of Divine action. They become aware of the Spirit of God, become aware of the Divine Plan, and begin to share in it moving in the current of life. But those who do not respond to that resurrecting call are those who become subject to death in the sense of moving into the realms of darkness unaware of the reality of God's Plan. In this pattern we see that the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of Heaven, is being extended into the earth to include the children of men, and the dead are given the opportunity of resurrection—that is, that they should be judged. And how are they judged? They judge themselves. They judge themselves because they themselves determine whether they shall yield to the working of the Spirit of God or not, whether they shall reject the Divine Plan or not. So we begin to see that this process of judging is at work in the world now. “And that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.”

Look back in the pattern of history. Until the last few years has there been any time when man had sufficient power, sufficient knowledge, sufficient weapons, to make him be in position to destroy the earth? Is man now in the process of destroying the earth? His most materialistic mind recognizes that if there is a war of atomic weapons, for instance between United States and Russia, that it could very easily bring our pattern of civilization to an end. And so the leaders of what we call the free world are making every effort to avoid such a war, seeking honorably to avoid it. The statement here is that in this pattern of outworking with respect to the Lord God Almighty, “that thou shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.” At no time in recorded history have we had a condition in the world before which meets that point in this specification. And in this outworking the specific factor is emphasized, “And the temple of God was opened in heaven.”

Now where is Heaven? Heaven is at hand. Heaven is here on earth. Heaven is within reach. Heaven is here whether man knows it or not. Heaven is here whether man is dead to it or not. But those who are alive to the fact that Heaven is here, that the Master knew what He was talking about when He said, “The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand,” are in position to begin to recognize that the Temple of God is being opened in Heaven. In some distant place far away? No, right here on earth in that Kingdom of Heaven that is at hand. Now when the Temple of God is opened in Heaven on earth we have the beginnings of the manifestation of God’s Power on earth.

You have been called from out of the world pattern, from the north and the south, from the east and the west, to share in Love Response to God, in yielding to the Truth, letting go to Divine Control, permitting the Divine Design to have meaning, to yield to the resurrection and the Life, to the end that you might set up the vibrational patterns of the Temple or Body of God on earth.

This Body must be opened in Heaven before it can appear on earth. We have recognized this principle in our studies before and we have recognized that there must be on earth the generation of the pneumaplasmic substance—whatever name we might use to describe it—which is caused to conform in an invisible sense to the Divine Pattern of the Temple of God in Heaven, that the Temple of God in Heaven may through that process begin to have form on earth, and that the Temple of God in Heaven may be the Spirit, the Inner Reality of Being, for the Temple of God on earth. And the Temple is the Body.

“Know ye not that ye are the temple of the living God and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” Now, if you are the Temple of the Living God, your body, then your being, your Temple, is to be opened in Heaven. It is finally to be opened on earth, yes, the beginnings of the manifestation, the revelation of that Truth on earth. But before you individually as Temples of God on earth can be opened on earth, you must first be opened in Heaven. And that means while you are living on earth. “And the Temple of God was opened in Heaven.” “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” And when the Temple of God is opened in Heaven in you, you the outer man or woman, you the outer form of being, can be opened on earth, and your physical form will be the means by which the Heavenly Temple is revealed on earth.

“And there was seen in His Temple,” in Heaven, in you, “the Ark of His Testament.” What is a testament? People make what they call their last will and testament. It is a declaration of an agreement or a determination, a pattern of will, a desire, an order of disposition—a recognition of an agreement. “And there was seen in his temple”—that is, the Temple of God opened in Heaven in you on earth. “And there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament.” Now when people see you, see into you, see your life, see the expression of your being, what do they see? A declaration of the principles, the precepts, the concepts, the beliefs of the prince of this world? Most human beings when you look into their hearts, when you watch their pattern of action, when you recognize their currents of thought, when you hear their words, you find a revelation of what? The testament of God? No, the testament of the prince of this world—of distortion, of discord, of conflict, of every miserable thing. When one looks into you, what is the testament there found? Is it the testament of God? Or is it the testament of this world?

Before our Master reached the point of having to endure the indignities and the agonies of the trial and the crucifixion He made a statement, “The prince of this world cometh and findeth nothing in me.” There was absolutely nothing of the testament of the prince of this world in our LORD and KING, not one word of his testament. “The prince of this world cometh and findeth nothing in me.” And He said, “Follow me.” If we are going to follow Him, then we must reach a point where those who see into our lives, see the pattern of our living, that which results from our living, and they will not see the testament of the prince of this world but rather behold in you, each one, the Testament of God, the revelation of God’s Will and Purpose, the revelation of His Covenant, the revelation of the fulfilment of His promises, the reality of the working of God’s purpose on earth in you. If Heaven is in you and you are the Temple of God according to the Divine Word, “Know ye not that ye are the temple of the living God and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you”, then that Temple is opened in Heaven in the inner sense of reality in you, so that it can have meaning through you. While you are dead to Heaven, dead to the things of Heaven, the Spirit of God, the Temple of God in Heaven in you is closed. Do you think, in the sense of the Inner Realms, disassociating the pattern from human beings individually and collectively, that the Temple of God is closed? No, the Temple of God in that sense is open all the time and does not need to be opened.

It is the Temple of God in Heaven in you that needs to be opened into a pattern of expression through you, that it may be revealed on earth. And as you begin to be aware of that Temple of God in Heaven in you, you go through the processes of resurrection and then the Temple of God is opened in Heaven in you, and as you let that temple be opened it begins to have meaning in your consciousness, in your heart and mind, conscious and subconscious, and it begins to be revealed through your body, your actions, your words, your deeds, your thoughts, your feelings, your attitudes. You begin to let the Temple of God be opened in Heaven in you. And when one looks into you one can see into the Temple in Heaven that is opened in you, and one finds there the Ark of His Testament, the Testament of God, of our Lord and King. We find the nature of this Testament revealed for instance in the Lord’s prayer. “Thy Kingdom come,” man is supposed to pray. “Thy Kingdom come.” Where? On earth here, to be extended into the world of men. “Thy will be  done on earth as it is in Heaven.”

Here we begin to see the Ark of His Testament in you, that is in the Heaven in you if you will but let that Temple be opened in you. And once you begin to see the Ark of His Testament in the Open Temple in Heaven within any human being, you begin to know the reality of the words, “For Thine”—for Thine O LORD and KING—“For Thine is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory for ever.” As we begin to let the Temple of God in Heaven in us be opened so that it may be revealed through us, the steps are being taken by which the mystery of God shall be finished.

We are now living in the time in the outworking of the Divine Plan when this fulfilment must appear on earth. It is for this purpose that we are gathered here on Sunrise Ranch. It is for this purpose that our lives are dedicated to service, that the Temple of God may be opened in Heaven in you, and that the Ark of His Testament may be seen in that Temple in Heaven in you, and that you may no longer by your life, by your living, reveal the testament of the prince of this world. You begin to realize that every thought and word and deed is revealing some testament, either the Testament of our God or the testament of the prince of this world. You cannot while you live stop revealing one testament or the other. And once you let the Temple of God be opened in Heaven in you there we begin to see the Ark of His Testament in you, and you begin to let the reality of God’s Power manifest.

“And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven.” And where is Heaven? It is here at hand. “The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.”

When you begin to let these things work out in you and through you, you come to the point of beginning to know the mystery of the Seven Personages. The first is the woman. “And there appeared a great wonder in heaven.” And where is Heaven? Up in the sky somewhere? If you were looking to see this great wonder, would you look off up into the sky and hope to see it? No. We must look where it is. And the Master said, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand,” within reach. It is here. And as the working of God’s Power is made manifest in the processes of the sounding of the Voice of the Seventh Angel there is a cycle of outworking in human lives, and the first has to do with the woman. “And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.”

And second personage or focalization, the pattern in the outworking through the person, through you. Each one of these outworkings has to do with you as an individual, the processes of your resurrection. “And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads, And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.”

And then the third pattern, the third step in the outworking of the process of resurrection in your person: “And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron.” How is this rule to appear? Something that fits the pattern of the popular concept of our LORD and KING when He was on earth? How often when I have been under the necessity of showing some firmness I have had people say to me, “Well Jesus would not have done something like that”—judging me and saying, “Jesus would not have done that.” In the first place it is inane and silly. They don’t know what Jesus would have done under that circumstance. But the primary point is this, if it is a part of the Divine Pattern, the Divine Program, we must have that strength, that stamina, that courage which permits the positive power of God to find manifestation on earth. In what kind of expression? The positive expression, the positive man child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron, a positive rule. “And her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne. And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.”

And then the fourth pattern. As you really begin to approach the Throne of God, begin to let the reality of the Divine Pattern unfold in you, you come to the fourth step in the process of resurrection. “And there was war in heaven.” What Heaven? The Heaven within you, the Heaven of your own being, not somewhere up in the sky, not somewhere in the dim distant past, not something in the far-distant future, something that works out in the pattern of your life in this day and time. “And there was war in heaven:”—in Heaven within you—“and Michael and his Angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels.”

Now some assume that this battle was something that happened a long, long time ago and that it is all over and done and there is not anything more of it. Well it did take place a long time ago with respect to certain outworkings, but these steps take place in and through every human being who truly begins to respond and yield and let the power of God have meaning in his life. “And there was war in heaven"—in Heaven within you—"and Michael and his Angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven,” in you; that the dragon and his angels shall no longer have any place in the Heaven or invisible realm of your own being. What is the contest here now in this day? The contest which has been made manifest in you to varying degrees in various ways—this is the contest.

“And there was war in heaven.” In what Heaven? The Heaven within you. "Michael and his Angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not.” As you stay centered in God, love response to our KING, the dragon and his angels cannot prevail in you but are cast out of Heaven within you, and this is the pattern of the outworking in the process of the resurrection. This takes you to the point of three and one-half days—the three and one-half days. Our Master continued His public ministry for three and one-half years. Three and one-half is one half of a week. A week is seven days. The seven again signifying the cycles of outworking with respect to the re-creative processes in you which we call the resurrection. And only as you let these processes take place in you can you begin to let the mystery of God be finished insofar as your consciousness is concerned. Only so can you let the Temple of God be opened in Heaven within you so that you may begin to know what it is to let the Ark of His Testament be revealed in your life in your thoughts and words and deeds here and now.

Blessed Ones, this portion of the Divine Blueprint with its specifications contains many fascinating, interesting and vitally important points which we have not had time to consider tonight. But I wished you in this hour, to the degree of your response and letting go, to begin to see the part you can play and the part you are playing according to your response in letting the mystery of God be finished, letting the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory of God have meaning on earth, letting the steps of the resurrection take place in you. The Master’s body came forth from the tomb on the third day. It is in relationship, then, to this same cycle that the reality of the resurrection was established in Him and the Victory revealed; but as He said, “The prince of this world cometh and findeth nothing me.” He revealed only the Temple of God that was opened in Heaven within Himself; but with you, as you begin to move through the steps, the cycles of the resurrection, there is still something of the prince of this world in you, still something of his testament being given expression on earth through you. And so as you stay centered and yield and respond, there is war in Heaven in you, and Michael and his Angels are with you in the battle against the dragon. And though the dragon and his angels may fight, they prevail not, neither is there place found any more in Heaven within you, and then you reach the point where you can say with our LORD and KING, though the prince of this world cometh he findeth nothing in me. So it is that you can share the Victory. So it is that you can have a part in the actual outworking of God’s Great Plan on earth.

Our Gracious LORD and Holy KING, we thank Thee for the privilege of living on earth in this day and time. We thank Thee for the privilege of serving on earth in this present situation. We thank Thee for the privilege of doing our part toward letting Thy Kingdom come and letting Thy power have meaning on earth because we let Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven, revealing the Ark of Thy Testament in the Temple of Heaven within us that all who will may come to know that Thou art indeed the LORD of Heaven and earth and that the kingdoms of this world are become the Kingdoms of our LORD and of His Christ, and He shall reign on earth for ever and ever. We thank Thee, Father, that it is so, IN the Christ, Aum-en. 

© emissaries of divine light