IN THE WORDS OF JESUS–Part 234

Love is the Fulfilling of the Law

ON GOD; Part XXI

“But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren. And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven. Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ. But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant. And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted” (Matthew 23:1, 8-12).

It is said that the first Master that a man will meet is his own Soul, his Christ Within, and it is this Master that KNOWS ALL existing within the very Mind of God. The Soul is Pure and unblemished, the Soul is what the Apostles Peter and Paul call incorruptible. And so it is, untouched by the wranglings of life in this world and waiting patiently for the consciousness to focus on him, the True Self, instead of the world of form; it is in this focus that the Light of the Soul pours forth through the personality consciousness and we can then do as the Master instructed us saying: “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16) . Though we have been through this subject many times, we have never specifically attributed the idea of consciousness to the True Self, we have always looked at it from the perspective of the personality with is the threefold man in form; his physical appearance plus his emotional and mental apparatus. Today, let us take another step forward and consider that the consciousness is the Self and when we speak of the personality consciousness, we are speaking of the Self embedded in this world of illusion and of glamour; a world that the Self believes is the reality of Life. When we focus on the Soul as the Self, the consciousness, then this Self is filled with those things from above in place of the illusion and the glamour of the world of form. This is the move that we need to make, to aquatint the Self with the Inner Light, the Soul and the Master that will guide the Self into the Kingdom. To have done this is discipleship; when we act and think as the Soul in form and not as the form or the personality.

There is a large grey area here in which many of us function and this is a place of much difficulty until this Self realizes that the world of illusion and of glamour is a great attraction and distraction from the True Life of  the Soul. The Self is the same, the point of focus and the source of mental and emotional input are the things that change. Focus on the world brings us thoughts and emotions that are selfish and contrary to the teachings of the Master while focus on the Soul, the Christ Within, brings thoughts and emotions of GoodWill and benevolence and Love for all of Gods creation. This is the natural effect and is in accordance with the teaching of the Master and in accord also with the writings of the apostles when they are rightly discerned.

Remembering that the Kingdom of Heaven, the Kingdom of God, is within and understanding the ideas above regarding the Self and the Soul, we should be able to peer more deeply into this saying by the Master at the top of the page. When we equate “your Father, which is in heaven” with the Spirit of Man and “your Master, even Christ” is equated with the Soul, we can come long way in understanding the intent of the Master. While these things are True of the Father and the Christ, they are also True of the lower correspondences and again here we present our chart for clarification:

That ” all ye are brethren” is another statement that transcends Life in form and is most notable as Life in the Kingdom which, as the Master has told us “is within you” (Luke 17:21). The Soul is ever one with all Souls, Sons of God, Sons of the same Boundless and Eternal Father. In form, in this world, this is a thing that must be developed and which will only be developed through the expression of the Life of the Soul on Earth, that is, a Life that follows the commandments of the Christ; short of this, at least in intent, is the Life of the selfish and the prideful nature of man who sees his brother more as an obstacle that as object of his respect. It is interesting to note that the greater part of the Christian churches do not accept or do not understand this saying by the Master which although it clear as day and has within it the essence and the reality of man’s relationship with God and with his brothers. The Master tells us clearly that “The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you“. There are many theories regarding the Kingdom of God which somehow is even delineated from the Kingdom of Heaven by some doctrines. Some trace their understanding to the Jewish understanding when the reality should be that man’s right understanding begins with the preaching of the Baptist and the Master. There is no specific mention of the Kingdom of God in the Old Testament though there was some idea regarding it in Jesus day as the saying above is in answer to the Pharisee’s demands to know when it should come. Now it is possible that the Pharisees are asking because of the preaching of the Baptist and the Master which is recorded for us in the gospels:

• “In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 3:1-2).
• “Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, And saying, The time is fulfilled , and the kingdom of God is at hand : repent ye , and believe the gospel” (Mark 1:14-15).
• “The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached , and every man presseth into it” (Luke 16:16).

In this we should be able to get an idea of what is happening and this especially in the last statement which is clear in saying that the Kingdom of God, as an idea and and ideal, is from the time of John and up to then there was only the understanding of the Law and the Prophets. An internet search will reveal the understanding that the Kingdom of God or of Heaven was in the Old testament under the guise of God’s Kingly Rule but there is no real basis in scripture for this and we know that this is not the understanding that we should have based on our own reading of the scriptures. Others say that the idea is deeply rooted in the Old Testament but without any real reference and still others say that the Jews clearly had some concept of the Kingdom even though is is not apparent in scripture. Vincent helps us here by telling us of a few points:

• Matthew has kingdom of heaven, or of the heavens (tw~n oujranw~n), a phrase used by him only, and most frequently employed by Christ himself to describe the kingdom; though Matthew also uses, less frequently, kingdom of God. The two are substantially equivalent terms, though the pre-eminent title was kingdom of God, since it was expected to be fully realized in the Messianic era, when God should take upon himself the kingdom by a visible representative⁴. The first part of this provides for us the equivalency of the terms of God and of Heaven while the second part is likely a doctrinal perspective based on Vincent’s particular denominational beliefs which appear to be Methodist Episcopal though he had some affiliation also with the Presbyterian Church.
• The phrase kingdom of Heaven was common in the Rabbinical writings, and had a double signification: the historical kingdom and the spiritual and moral kingdom. They very often understood by it divine worship; adoration of God; the sum of religious duties; but also the Messianic kingdom⁴. One would guess that by Rabbinical writings it is meant that these are the Jewish Religious Doctrines as devised by the Ecclesiastical Authorities.
• The kingdom of God is, essentially, the absolute dominion of God in the universe, both in a physical and a spiritual sense. It is “an organic commonwealth which has the principle of its existence in the will of God” (Tholuck). It was foreshadowed in the Jewish theocracy. The idea of the kingdom advanced toward clearer defination from Jacob’s prophecy of the Prince out of Judah (Genesis 49:10), though David’s prophecy of the everlasting kingdom and the king of righteousness and peace (Psalms 22, 72.), through Isaiah, until, in Daniel, its eternity and superiority over the kingdoms of the world are brought strongly out. For this kingdom Israel looked with longing, expecting its realization in the Messiah; and while the common idea of the people was narrow, sectarian, Jewish, and political, yet “there was among the people a certain consciousness that the principle itself was of universal application” (Tholuck). In Daniel this conception is distinctly expressed (7:14-27; 4:25; 2:44). In this sense it was apprehended by John the Baptist⁴. Here we have some understanding of Old Testament verses that could lead to an understanding of the Kingdom of God but, at the same time, these are prophetic sayings that have no real bearing on reality albeit these are a likely source of the Old Testament understanding and the understanding of the Jews in the time of the Christ. Vincent’s claim regarding the Baptist here is likely a doctrinal reference as this is not evident in scripture.

All this being said, we still have the saying of the Master telling us that His is a time of change and that the change is that: “The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached“. The law is rather clear and the prophets are intentionally vague and obscure and between them a doctrine of the Kingdom has been established that has yet to be really understood despite the words of the Master.

It may seem like we have veered a long way from our point which we began anew yesterday which is the saying by the Apostle John that “God is love” (1 John 4:8) but the reality of it is that we have not. There is a real lack of understanding of the Master’s use of the ideas of the Kingdom of God and especially that part that tells us that “the kingdom of God is within you“. What does this mean? Let us start with renewing our understanding that we are not this body nor this personality grounded consciousness, we are the Spirit and the Soul and this is essentially what is within each of us as men on Earth. It is the Spirit that, manifesting as the Soul, gives Life and consciousness to the form and we take this shortcut in saying that the Soul is the Life of the form; that Soul is what Paul calls “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27). This is, for each man, the Christ Within which is the reality of the man and not a thing that he possesses nor is it as thought by some, the Christ coming to live inside those who are saved. The reality of being saved is in the realization of the Christ Within which has ever been there and the allowing this potent force for Love to take control of the outer and worldly consciousness. At the same time, this is one’s entry into the Kingdom of God for the Soul is ever in that Kingdom; bringing this power to bear on the personality Life of the man is his conscious entry into the Kingdom. There is no place and hence the Master’s telling us so. While it may be popular to interpret scripture into the when and the where of the Kingdom of God it will not help one to find it. So many are looking to the outside for the Presence of God and His Kingdom yet He told us that it is within; why do we as Christians who purport to hear and do His words question this? except that it does not meet with the doctrine and the dogma that begins with the Jews and is refined and distinguished by each denomination ever since, there should be no reason. Why do we pay more attention to the vagueness of the obscure predictions of the prophets and of the Apocalypse and so little attention to the clear and sound words of the Christ, our Master and the Teacher of men and angels alike.

Christ in you, the Kingdom in you, the Love of God in you; these are all synonymous ideas and to realize these things is to be in His Presence. There is no magic formula, no prayer or affirmation that gets one to this place; it is gotten by doing the work which is keeping the commandments of the Lord and ardently following Him. The role of Faith is to let each know that they are Sons of God and able to do as the Master says and this comes to us all by degree and in steps and in stages. First this is the call of the Soul heard by the man in form and then there comes the heeding of that call. Within this call is all the knowledge of the Good, the Beautiful and the True and while knowing the Words of the Master as written is beneficial, it is not a requirement because keeping His words are equivalent to keeping the words of the Christ Within who ever knows the Righteousness of God. Believing on Him, following Him, keeping His words; these are all synonymous as well and it is by this we are accounted worthy to be in His Kingdom which becomes then that state of mind and of being that a man expresses through his form Life; he is then a Son of God walking upon the Earth.

This is not where we intended to go today and we will finish up these thoughts in the next post and perhaps get to our next point. Our next point regarding the Quote of the Day is below.

• God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble (Psalm 46:1)

Note on the Quote of the Day