Just as THE HANGED MAN represents our predicament in the Dream of Separation, the THREE OF PENTACLES illustrates the "restoration of the Temple" discussed at length in the Bible and the Course. In the image above, the craftsman has been laboring on the Temple's INTERIOR. We see him pausing his work to consult with two monks or priests, who have the blueprints for the restoration project. Those two clerics represent, in Christian terminology, Christ and the Holy Spirit, who know the whole plan (according to Jesus). The Lamed and Hey powers of Elohim, Christ and the Holy Spirit are "the two who are anointed to serve the Lord of all the earth” (Elohim). That quote comes from a Biblical prophecy recorded around 500 B.C. The two "anointed ones" referenced are NOT, as often presumed, the two men credited with restoring the Temple of Jerusalem.
A huge part of Jewish lore and identity, the First and Second Temples are discussed at length in the Old Testament, and also mentioned in the New Testament and the Course. Were those temples actual buildings? Or, like most things in the scriptures, did they symbolize more elevated ideas? In this post, we'll explore what those two temples -- and the narratives surrounding their rise and fall -- are intended to teach us.
Before we get to all that, let's finish our discussion of the image on the THREE OF PENTACLES. Above the three figures is an arch displaying three pentacles, just below which is a rosette. Those three encircled stars represent the Spiritual Triad, where we complete the atonement process with the help of the Trinity Rays. The rosette, I believe, symbolizes God's Perfect Love, through which we forgive our brothers for our inverted perceptions about the purpose of our relationships. To my mind, the rosette also represents the Heart Chakra or Sacred Heart of Jesus, where we complete the majority of our "undoing," "restoration," or "at-one-ment" work.
Now that we've got that out of the way, let's explore what the Old Testament says about the temple. In various narratives, we are told that the First Temple or First House of the Sanctum (in the original Hebrew) was built in Jerusalem in the 10th Century BCE, by order of King Solomon. In 2 Kings and the Book of Chronicles, we learn that Solomon placed ten lampstands or menorahs in the temple's main chamber. Those lampstands, we also learn, were fashioned according to detailed instructions given to Solomon by King David.
Other Biblical narratives reveal that the First Temple's Inner-Sanctum or "Holy of Holies" housed several sacred treasures, including the Ark of the Covenant containing the Stone Tablets upon which the Ten Commandments were inscribed. .The Book of Jeremiah tells us the ten lampstands, the Ark, and several other cherished relics were stolen around 600 BCE by the king of the Babylonian Empire. King Nebuchadnezzar II also reportedly destroyed Solomon's Temple and most of the city, and replaced the dynastic King of Judah with his own nephew.
The monarch Nebuchadnezzar displaced was King Jeconiah of the Davidic Dynasty (as were Solomon and Jesus). Not only was King Jeconiah dethroned, he was also taken captive, along with his court, his family, and many of his loyal subjects. Those captives were held in Babylon for several decades before being freed by Cyrus the Great of the Achaemenid Empire. By the time King Cyrus overthrew Nebuchadnezzar, Jeconiah was dead and his eldest son, Shealtiel, was the king-in-exile. Had the Davidic line been restored to the throne of Judah, Shealtiel's eldest son, Zerubbabel, would have been next in line. But, owing to an alleged Holy Curse, that was never to be.
Rather than race back to Judah en masse, the freed Jewish captives sort of trickled back to their homeland (Zion) in small groups. The first of these bands of repatriates was led by Zerubbabel. With them, King Cyrus sent back some of the sacred "vessels" stolen by Nebuchadnezzar, as well as permission to rebuild the city and temple.
Not recovered -- then or ever -- were the Ark of the Covenant, the Tablets of Stone, the Urim and Thummim, the Holy Oil, the Sacred Fire, and the jar of manna that was placed before the vessels containing the Urim and Thummim. Also unrecovered were Solomon's lampstands. What became of these treasures is never disclosed.
Okay so ... don't worry if you don't know what some of these objects are, because very few people do. A little later, we'll discuss their symbolic significance. For now, let's continue the story of Zerubbabel's arrival in Jerusalem. Technically, he didn't RETURN because he was born and raised in Babylon. His name, in fact, means "born in captivity in Babylon (or Babel)."
According to various Old Testament accounts, Zerubbabel quickly began reinforcing the city’s crumbling walls and laying a foundation for the new temple. Begrudging his authority (and his decree that only Jewish hands could do the work), some of the Samaritan residents of the city hatched a plot to halt construction. By this time, Cyrus was dead and his son, Cambyses II, ruled the empire. So, the conspirators wrote to Cambyses, claiming (untruthfully) that the Jews were planning to rebel against the crown.
Cambyses ordered Zerubbabel to stop building until he decided what to do. Fourteen years later, the construction was still on hold – and the indecisive Cambyses was dead. Enter his successor, Darius the Great, who received a letter early in his reign demanding a decision. After digging up the original decree by Cyrus, Darius not only green-lighted the stalled construction, he also made Zerubbabel governor of the province. Unfortunately, Zerubbabel wasn't able to complete the work and the Second Temple remained unfinished for at least another century. In the middle of the First Century CE, it, too, was destroyed and looted -- this time by Romans.
Why am I dragging up all this ancient and complicated Biblical history? Because, like most things in the scriptures, these accounts are largely allegorical. Perhaps the characters and events described have some historical foundation, but they are primarily meant to serve as instructive symbols.
Like The Wizard of Oz, the Biblical narratives concerning the two temples recount the story of how the separation came about and how God will heal the split over the course of time. As I see it, the symbols are as follows:
Kings Solomon and David = ELOHIM, God's chief representative in the dream
Judah or Zion = Kingdom of Heaven
Jerusalem = Right-Mindedness
Babylon = Material Perception
King Jeconiah = Son of God or Prince of Heaven before and after the separation
Nebuchadnezzar = Ego Mind (which destroyed our temple and stole our Holy Treasures)
Cyrus the Great = Holy Spirit or YAHWEH (who enables the temple's reconstruction)
Zerubbabel = Messiah or Christ-as-Savior (who laid the cornerstone for the temple's reconstruction)
Makes perfect sense, right? The only character I can't assign a role is Darius the Great, who probably represents someone in the dream-future who will strengthen Christ's authority on earth and accelerate the Atonement Plan, as part of the Celestial Speed-up. This person or Holy Power may or may not be related to the Course.
In meditation the other night, I asked for more clarity on this subject: "Why were these three identified as seals, and what did each represent?" Within a few moments, I "knew" that Jeconiah and Zerubbabel symbolize the two triangles in the Seal of Solomon,. And those two triangles, in turn, represent the First and Second Temples discussed in the Old Testament. More specifically, King Jeconiah represents the First Temple or triangle slowly turning upside-down, while Zerubbabel symbolizes that inverted triangle being "restored" to its upright position.
Rightly understood, the two overlapping triangles in Solomon's Seal symbolize the two Temples. And those two Temples, in turn, represent the TWO COVENANTS between God and the Sonship. The First Temple or upright triangle represents the First or Old Covenant, which governs how we were meant to communicate and create with God, while the Second Temple or inverted triangle stands for God's Promise to save us from upside-down suspension in the dream of perception.
Makes sense, right? If not, it SHOULD after we discuss what the New and Old Testaments ACTUALLY communicate about these Holy Sanctums, as well as what Jesus says in the Course.
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My research also revealed that the "signet ring" or "seal" is mentioned in what's variously known as the "Song of Songs," "Canticle of Canticles," or "Song of Solomon" -- one of the Five Scrolls or Megillot found in the Ketuvim (Writings) of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible). Those Five Scrolls are the Song of Songs, the Book of Ruth, the Book of Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and the Book of Esther.
In the Song of Solomon, the lines pertaining to the "signet ring" or "seal" read as follows:
Wear me as a signet ring (seal) on your heart, as a ring on your hand. Love is as overpowering as death. Devotion is as unyielding as the grave. Love's flames are flames of fire, flames that come from the LORD.
Framed as a dialogue between two "lovers," the Song of Solomon is said to be both erotic and allegorical. Those who interpret this beautiful and sacred love song to God as a celebration of sexual intimacy have the wrong end of the stick. What the Song of Songs describes is the intensity of devotion we must express toward God before we can, to quote Jesus, "open the Inner-Altar to accept the Atonement." That intensity of devotion characterizes the original Holy Relationship we share with our Creator. To return to God, we must restore that FIRST TEMPLE or FIRST COVENANT from the bottom up, by reestablishing our Holy Relationship with the Spiritual Being or Purusha in everything and everyone God created.
Rightly understood, the Holy Spirit in everyone and everything God created is what the Biblical scribes call the Living God -- the aspect of God that LIVES and DWELLS forever within the Temple or Spiritual Body of all the Father's Holy Creations.
St. Paul tells us as much in 2 Corinthians 6:14, when he says, "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?"
Being part of the three-as-one TRINITY, that indwelling Spirit of God connects us first to each other, then to the Christ Mind, and finally to the God Mind. This is, more or less, what Jesus attempts to explain in the following powerful (and rather lengthy) excerpt from the URText:
Think but how holy you must be, from whom the Voice for God calls lovingly unto your brother, that you may awake in him the Voice that answers to YOUR call. And think how holy HE must be, when in him sleeps your OWN salvation, with HIS freedom joined. However much you wish he be condemned, God is in him. And never will you know He is in YOU as well, while you attack His chosen home, and battle with His host. Regard him gently. Look with loving eyes on him who carries Christ within him, that you may behold His glory, and rejoice that Heaven is NOT separate from you.Jesus is trying to explain that we restore our Right or Holy Relationship with God by first restoring our Right or Holy Relationship with the Living God in each other. When we (insanely) chose "specialness" over "sameness" we forgot we were ONE WHOLE and WHOLLY LOVING co-creative "unit" or "body."Is it too much to ask a little trust for him who carries Christ to you, that you may be forgiven ALL your sins, and left without a single one you cherish still. Forget not that a shadow held between your brother and yourself obscures the Face of Christ and memory of God. And would you trade Them for an ancient hate? The ground whereon you stand is holy ground BECAUSE of Them Who, standing there with you, have blessed it with THEIR innocence and peace. The blood of hatred fades, to let the grass grow green again, and let the flowers be all white and sparkling in the summer sun. What was a place of death has now become a living temple in a world of light.
Because of Them. It is Their Presence Which has lifted holiness again to take its ancient place upon an ancient throne. Because of Them have miracles sprung up as grass and flowers on the barren ground which hate had scorched and rendered desolate. What hate has wrought have They undone. And now you stand on ground so holy Heaven leans to join with it, and make it like Itself. The shadow of an ancient hate has gone, and all the blight and withering have passed forever from the land where They have come.
What is a hundred or a thousand years to Them, or tens of thousands? When They come, time's purpose is fulfilled. What never WAS passes to nothingness when They have come. What hatred claimed is given up to love, and freedom lights up every living thing and lifts it into Heaven, where the lights grow ever brighter as each one comes home. The incomplete is made complete again, and Heaven's joy has been increased because what is its own has been restored to it. The bloodied earth is cleansed, and the insane have shed their garments of insanity, to join Them on the ground whereon you stand.
Heaven is grateful for this gift of what has been withheld so long. For They have come to gather in Their Own. What has been blocked is opened; what was held APART from light is given up, that light may shine on it, and leave no space or distance lingering between the light of Heaven and the world. The holiest of all the spots on earth is where an ancient hatred has become a present love. And They come quickly to the living temple, where a home for Them has been set up. There is no place in Heaven holier. And They HAVE come to dwell within the temple offered them, to be THEIR resting place as well as YOURS.
What hatred has released to love becomes the brightest light in Heaven's radiance. And all the lights in Heaven brighter grow in gratitude for what has been restored. Around you angels hover lovingly, to keep away all darkened thoughts of sin, and KEEP the light where it has entered in. Your footprints lighten up the world, for where you walk forgiveness goes with you. No-one on earth but offers thanks to one who has restored his home, and sheltered him from bitter winter and the freezing cold. And shall the Lord of Heaven and His Son give LESS in gratitude for so much MORE?
Now is the temple of the Living God rebuilt as host again to Him by Whom it was created. Where He dwells, His Son dwells with Him, NEVER separate. And They give thanks that They are welcome made at last. Where stood a cross stands now the risen Christ, and ancient scars are healed within His sight. An ancient miracle has come to bless and to REPLACE an ancient enmity that came to kill. In gentle gratitude do God the Father AND the Son return to what is Theirs, and will forever be. Now is the Holy Spirit's purpose done. For They have come! For They have come at last!
A few paragraphs later, he says:The meaning of the Son of God lies solely in his relationship with his Creator. If it were elsewhere, it would rest upon contingency, but there IS nothing else. And this is wholly loving and forever. Yet has the Son of God invented an unholy relationship between him and his Father. His real relationship is one of perfect union, and unbroken continuity. The one he made is partial, self-centered, broken into fragments and full of fear. The one created by his Father is wholly self-encompassing and self-extending. The one he made is wholly self-destructive and self-LIMITING.
The holy relationship reflects the true relationship the Son of God has with his Father in reality. The Holy Spirit rests within it, in the certainty it will endure forever. Its firm foundation is eternally upheld by truth, and love shines on it with the gentle smile and tender blessing it offers to its own. Here the unholy instant is exchanged in gladness for the holy one of safe return. Here is the way to true relationships held gently open, through which you walk together, leaving the body thankfully behind, and resting in the Everlasting Arms. Love's arms are open to receive you, and give you peace forever.
I could say more on this critical subject, but I won't for the time being. As important as these teachings are, most people aren't ready to hear that they must give up or "transform" ALL their unholy or "special" ego-body relationships before waking up from the dream. But Jesus does, in fact, say this on page after page, the full meaning of which I've only recently come to understand. All ego-body relationships are FALSE IDOLS, he tells us, which defile the Inner-Altar, locking it against the Atonement. And those unholy relationships especially include the family, friends, and romantic partners the Great Deceiver brainwashes us into believing we can't live without. In TRUTH, these relationships (and our longing for them) shackle us to the false self-concept that holds us captive in Babylon.
And on that provocative note, let's move on to the Sacred Treasures allegedly stolen from Solomon's Temple by King Nebuchadnezzar. The Old Testament scribes don't exactly inventory the objects taken. To discern what was lost, we must compare the reported contents of the two Sanctums. Through this exercise, we learn that the following objects, formerly housed in the First Temple's Holy of Holies, were NOT restored to the Second Temple:
–The Ark of the Covenant, which contained the Tablets of Stone
–The Urim and Thummim
–The Holy Oil
–The Sacred Fire
Like everything else in the Bible, these relics are SYMBOLS. So let’s explore the DIVINE IDEA they represent, starting with the Ark of the Covenant. The Hebrew word translated as “ark” was tovah, which CAN mean “container” or “vessel,” but also means “word” or, more precisely, “written word.” The Ark, therefore, represents the "Word" God spoke to create the Sonship. In so doing, He wrote that "Word" across our hearts to seal the First Covenant. That "Word" is Agape -- the only form of LOVE that actually exists (as Jesus explains in Workbook Lesson 127: There is no love but God's).
Note how uncannily this idea echoes the lines shared earlier from the Song of Solomon:
Wear me as a signet ring (seal) on your heart, as a ring on your hand.
As explained in my post on how Perfect Creation works, Agape is the Force of Divine Will through which the Christ Mind and the God Mind co-create through EXTENSION. That Holy Word is the only sound the God Mind emits and the only sound or "song" heard in Heaven. Broadcasting that "song" is how God communicated with the whole Christ Mind before parts of the Sonship blocked the Father's Holy Transmissions. That sound is the Song of Heaven discussed at length in the Course. When all of us join in that song, Jesus tells us, the dream of earthly existence will end. And when that day comes, the ego-projected world and universe will simply vanish into thin air.
So the Word of the Covenant was missing from the Second Temple because (as explained earlier) God couldn't extend Pure Agape into our dreaming minds without amending the laws of Perfect Creation. We blocked God's "Voice," "Wind," "Song," "Echo," or Ruach -- and all conscious memory of its existence -- when we "invented the unholy relationship" to experience "specialness." To experience specialness, we had to perceive our brothers as separate beings in bodies, rather than as part of the same Higher Self, Higher Mind, or unified Creative Body. To recover the Word of the Covenant, therefore, we have to let the Holy Spirit unblock the channel through which God "sings" the Word of the Covenant to us.
Makes sense, right?
Just so we're clear, the Ark of the Covenant never was a golden box with magical face-melting powers. If such a box ever existed, it was crafted by human hands to symbolize the Power, Grace, and Majesty of God's Holy Word.
The Tablets of Stone allegedly housed within that symbolic "Ark" are presumed to be the Ten Commandments given to Moses by the GREAT I AM. In a way, they are; but, in a greater symbolic sense, the tablets represent Divine Law and Order or Rti (in Sanskrit), which the Creative Force of Agape protects inside the God Mind Bubble. When we chose perception (Prakrti) over Knowledge (Rti), we upset the Perfect Creation apple-cart, so to speak. We lost or, more accurately, threw away God's Word and Laws. Consequently, we (seemingly) broke the First Covenant or First Commandment, thereby "destroying" the First Temple, forfeiting our Holy Inheritance, and (perceptually) binding ourselves in servitude to Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon.
The Urim and Thummim are described by some sources as “mysterious and still undefined substances” that helped determine God’s Will. Translated into English, Urim means “lights,” while Thummim means “perfections.” The Heavenly versions of Soma and Amrita (the healing elixirs provided by the Blood and Water Rays), the Urim and Thummim represent (in Course terms) the Eternal Light, Life, Purity, Perfection, and Knowledge with which God endowed the Sonship "in the beginning." The divination stones of the same name later used by the High Priests of Judaism are NOT the TRUE Urim and Thummim.
In shorthand:
Urim and Thummim = the Divine Attributes bequeathed to us in the Creation of the Sonship through God's extension of Pure Agape
Soma and Amrita = the Divine Corrective Powers bequeathed to us to restore the oneness of the Sonship through God's projection of Saving Grace (a modified form of Agape that heals the separation while preserving free will up to a point)
This brings us to the Holy Oil with which God fuels the Sacred Fire of His Divine Presence in everything He created. That fire still burns within everyone's Holy of Holies or Inner-Altar, but is no longer felt or remembered by most of us.
That Sacred Fire or Everlasting Flame is what Jesus calls "the Presence" in the Course. It's also the flame referenced in the Song of Solomon. To "open the Inner-Altar to receive the Atonement," we must FEEL that Sacred Fire burning deep in our hearts again. We then must allow that smoldering Presence to "light" the seven lamps on the Temple Menorah -- the symbolic meaning of which we'll discuss in my next post.
To check the accuracy of my interpretations thus far, let’s consult the Babylonian Talmud, the most complete and authoritative source of Jewish law and theology. In that ancient sacred text we are told that the Second Temple lacked the Shekhinah (the Presence of God) and the Ruach HaKodesh (God's transmission of the Agape "song"), both of which were present in the First Temple.
Am I making this overly complicated? If so, let me boil it down to essentials:
First Temple = The Holy Relationship, Covenant, or unbreakable bond through which the Christ Body lovingly co-creates in WHOLENESS with God (through the extension of Agape)
Second Temple = The Inner-Instrument through which the Holy Spirit restores our original Holy Relationship, Covenant, or At-one-ment with God, by FIRST restoring our Holy Relationship, Covenant, or At-one-ment with the Living God in each other
Makes sense, right?
In Exodus 26:33, we learn that a "Sacred Veil" or "Curtain" separated the Holy Place from the Most Holy, screening from view (i.e., blocking from conscious awareness) the Ark/Word of the Covenant and the Cherubim or Chariot Throne. Contrary to common depiction, the Cherubim are NOT chubby babies with wings. They are the Four Living Creatures, Beings, or Hayyot (in Hebrew) described in the Old Testament Books of Ezekiel and Zechariah, as well as in the New Testament Book of Revelations. References to these mysterious winged Beings also recur in the Second Temple, Zohar, and Merkabah or Chariot literature of Jewish mysticism. The Cherubim are, therefore, pretty important in the Temple-restoration process, despite having faded into near-obscurity in modern Judeo-Christian consciousness.
In a future post, we'll explore these four "temple guardians" and their function in more depth. For now, just know that the Cherubim have four symbolic heads, at least as many wings, and drive the metaphorical "chariots" whose "wheels" are the chakras. Rightly understood, the chakras are the "windows" through which the Spiritual Eye peeks through the Dark Veil into the sanctuary of the Holy Spirit's Temple. Those "wheels," incidentally, are represented in Hinduism as Vishnu's Sudarshan Chakra.
As an aside, Vishnu's chakra is NOT, as commonly depicted in egotized iconography, a weapon this helpful deity flings at his enemies like a Ninja Star!
The image above shows the Tabernacle, a tent-like structure that, according to Jewish lore, pre-dated the Temple of Solomon. Despite its earlier provenance, the image accurately depicts the layout of the later Temple's Sanctuary (Holy Place) and Inner-Sanctum (Most Holy Place or Holy of Holies). The drawing also shows the location of the two curtains or veils. The one dividing the sanctuary from the outdoors is the Dark Veil, while the curtain separating the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies is the Sacred Veil identified in Exodus. In descriptions of the Tabernacle, that Sacred Veil was said to be blue and purple with scarlet threads and images of the Cherubim embroidered in gold.
From all this symbolism we can ascertain that the Cherubim stand guard between the Holy Place or Temple Sanctuary and the Holy of Holies or Inner-Altar. They in fact form the "curtain" that separates the Sanctuary from the Inner-Sanctum. Stated another way, they are "the powers before the throne." The Book of Revelations tells us there are seven such powers. As I understand it, the Cherubim are four of those powers, while the three Graces make up the difference. As I also understand all this, the "curtain" is what Jesus calls the "gate" or "narrow gate" in the Course and the Bible. The Cherubim and Graces stand at that metaphoric "gate" and, according to Jesus, "sing their song of gratitude and praise." According to John of Patmos, who scribed the Book of Revelations, the lyrics to that song are these:
Holy, holy, holy,
Lord God Almighty,
Who was and is and is to come!
Okay, so ... in the Course, Jesus calls those same Spirits, Creatures, or Beings the Great Rays and/or the Lights of Heaven. He also says these Holy Powers "sing" to us from the Inner-Altar within the Holy Spirit's Temple. More specifically, he says:
Where sin once was perceived will rise a world which will become an altar to the truth. And YOU will join the lights of Heaven there, and sing their song of gratitude and praise.
For as they come to YOU to be complete, so will you go with them. For no-one hears the song of Heaven, and remains without a voice that adds its power to the song, and makes it sweeter still. And each one joins the singing at the altar which was raised within the tiny spot that sin proclaimed to be its own. And what WAS tiny then has soared into a magnitude of song, in which the universe has joined with but a single voice. This tiny spot of sin that stands between you still is holding back the happy opening of Heaven's gate. How LITTLE is the hindrance which withholds the wealth of Heaven from you. And how GREAT will be the joy in Heaven when you join the mighty chorus to the Love of God.
Fascinating, right? And in case it's still unclear, he's speaking of the Aum vibration, which we "sing" with the Great Rays simply by listening to their Cosmic Choir. Hearing that inner "song" or "hum" is, therefore, absolutely critical to the awakening process. Even five minutes spent listening in the stillness, Jesus tells us, can shave thousands of years off the dream of separation.
Let's get back to the Cherubim-embroidered curtain described in Exodus. Until Zerubbabel (as Jesus) completed his part in the Atonement Plan, that "curtain" somehow prevented the Blood and Water Rays from "singing their song" in the lower waters of consciousness. Rightly understood, that "song" is the source of the Holy Oil we use to light the Temple Menorah. That sacred and symbolic menorah is the Lamp of God referenced in the Bible and the Course. And the "Holy Oil" that fuels its seven Holy Lights is what Christians call the "Living Water" and "Blood of Christ," Jews know as "Manna," and Hindus understand to be the elixir of immortality.
The Lamp of God and the Song of Heaven are, in fact, the vehicles for miracles, as Jesus explains in the following from the URText:
The miracle is the act of a Son of God who has laid aside all false gods, and who calls on his brothers to do likewise. It is an act of faith, because it is the recognition that his brother CAN do it. It is a call to the Holy Spirit in his mind, a call to Him which is strengthened by this joining. Because the miracle-worker has heard Him, he strengthens His Voice in a sick brother by weakening his belief in sickness, which he does NOT share. The power of one mind CAN shine into another, because all the lamps of God were lit by the same spark. It is everywhere, and it is eternal.Like all Holy Texts, the Course can be vague and esoteric. Also like all such Texts, the Course reveals more of its wisdom as we open our minds to the Great Truths it contains. Every time I re-read it, which is pretty often, it's as if I'm reading it for the first time. That the words posses this illuminating power is, in fact, how I KNOW it came from Jesus Christ himself.In many, only the spark remains, for the great rays are obscured. But God has kept the spark alive, so the rays can never be completely forgotten. If you but see the little spark, you will learn of the greater light, for the rays are there unseen. Perceiving the spark will heal, but knowing the Light will create. Yet in the returning, the little light must be acknowledged first, for the separation was a descent from magnitude to littleness. But the spark is still as pure as the Great Light, because it is the remaining call of Creation. Put all your faith in it, and God Himself will answer you.
In Matthew 27:50-54, we learn that the Temple Veil was torn in two when Jesus died on the cross. In the King James translation of the New Testament, those critical passages read as follows:
Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many. Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, "Truly this was the Son of God."The splitting of the "Veil of the Temple" is Bible-speak for activating the Atonement Plan. Jesus "sealed" God's Promise by "issuing forth" the Blood and Water Rays, thereby bringing the Holy Spirit, Light of Truth, Song of Heaven, or anointing oils of At-one-ment down to us (in the lower waters of consciousness). Through his resurrection and ascension, Jesus enabled the Holy Spirit to "pierce the veil" by reopening the channel between the Christ or Higher Mind and the Ego or Lower Mind. And it is through that channel that we hear and "sing" the Song of Heaven that "undoes the Separation, and restores the wholeness of the Spirit."
Let's start (and end this post) with what Yahweh Sabaoth said, as recorded in the Book of Haggai within the Old Testament Book of the Twelve (Minor Hebrew Prophets). To save space, I've taken out most of the redundant attribution:
In the second year of King Darius, on the first day of the sixth month, the word of YAWEH came through the prophet Haggai to Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua, son of Jozadak, the high priest:
"These people say, 'The time has not yet come to rebuild the LORD's house. Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?
"Give careful thought to your ways. You have planted much, but harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.
"Give careful thought to your ways. Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build my house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored. You expected much, but see it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why? Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with your own house."
Contrary to common interpretation, Yahweh (the Holy Spirit) isn't concerned in these passages with rebuilding an actual temple in Jerusalem. Rather, he's warning Zerubbabel and the other freed captives about the fruitlessness of pursuing worldly goals and comforts. When the Spirit says, "Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build my house," he doesn't literally mean "go collect wood to build a brick-and-mortar temple." He means "go within to the higher levels of mind, where the Truth of Your Being will be restored to your awareness." This is the same idea symbolized in Hinduism by Shiva meditating on Mount Kalish.
Or, as Jesus unequivocally states in the Course's URText:
Both the Separation AND the fear were MISCREATIONS of the mind, which have to be undone. This is what the Bible means by the "Restoration of the Temple." It DOES NOT mean the restoration of the building, but it DOES mean the opening of the altar to receive the Atonement.
A month or so after Yahweh delivered the first communique, he returned to Haggai with a second message pertaining to the metaphorical temple. In this one, the Spirit of God said:
You are to speak to Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, to Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to the remnant of the people. Say this, "Is there anyone left among you who saw this Temple in its former glory? And how does it look to you now? Does it not seem as though there is nothing there? But take courage now, Zerubbabel! Courage, Joshua, son of Jehozadak, high priest! Courage, all you people of the country! To work! I am with you ... and my spirit is present among you. Do not be afraid! A little while now, and I shall shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. I shall shake all the nations, and the treasures of all the nations will flow in, and I shall fill this Temple with glory. Mine is the silver, mine the gold! The glory of this new Temple will surpass that of the old ... and in this place, I shall give peace.
A few days later, Yahweh sent a third message to Zerubbabel through Haggai, which reads:
I will shake the heavens and the earth; And I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms, and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the heathen; and I will overthrow the chariots, and those that ride in them; and the horses and their riders shall come down, every one by the sword of his brother. On that day will I take thee, O Zerubbabel, my servant, the son of Shealtiel, and will make thee as a signet (seal); for I have chosen thee.As menacing as this message sounds on the surface, Yahweh is basically telling Zerubbabel (through Haggai) that God’s Salvation Plan will triumph in the end because of what he will do as the Chosen One. When the Spirit says he will one day make of Zerubbabel “a signet,” he means he will use Zerubbabel in a future life to "seal" God's Promise to deliver His Son from the imagined evils, trials, and violence of earthly existence.
Compare this interpretation to what Jesus says in the Course in answer to the question: What is salvation?
Salvation is a promise, made by God, that you would find your way to Him at last. It cannot not be kept. It guarantees that time will have an end, and all the thoughts that have been born in time will end as well. God's Word is given every mind which thinks that it has separate thoughts, and will replace these thoughts of conflict with the Thought of peace.The Thought of peace was given to God's Son the instant that his mind had thought of war. There was no need for such a Thought before, for peace was given without opposite, and merely was. But when the mind is split there is a need of healing. So the Thought Which has the power to heal the split became a part of every fragment of the mind that still was one, but failed to recognize its oneness. Now it did not know itself, and thought its own identity was lost.
Salvation is undoing in the sense that it does nothing, failing to support the world of dreams and malice. Thus it lets illusions go. By not supporting them, it merely lets them quietly go down to dust. And what they hid is now revealed; an altar to the holy Name of God whereon His Word is written, with the gifts of your forgiveness laid before It, and the memory of God not far behind.
Let us come daily to this holy place, and spend a while together. Here we share our final dream. It is a dream in which there is no sorrow, for it holds a hint of all the glory given us by God. The grass is pushing through the soil, the trees are budding now, and birds have come to live within their branches. Earth is being born again in new perception. Night has gone, and we have come together in the light.
From here we give salvation to the world, for it is here salvation was received. The song of our rejoicing is the call to all the world that freedom is returned, that time is almost over, and God's Son has but an instant more to wait until his Father is remembered, dreams are done, eternity has shined away the world, and only Heaven now exists at all.
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