No. 7 THE ‘MANSION YOU ARE BUILDING
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.” Jesus – John 14:1-4
This being the SEVENTH in this series, I want it somewhat conformed to the basic verity of that number which SOUNDS THE PITCH for the “bride of Jesus Christ.” I have termed it, elsewhere, the “virgin number.” Yet if I were to choose a Keyword for the message in mind this morning, I would say “BEAUTY”. Yet, bear in mind that like unto a virgin on earth who reaches the peak of her BEAUTY, her charm and attractiveness at the flowering of her virginity: so on the spirit-plane of being BEAUTY and VIRGINITY are so closely allied that I am far from sure they can be separated, or that any appreciable distinction can be made between them. Here however, the student should bear in mind that the virginity of which I speak is THAT in its stepped-up potential of AN ABSOLUTE FIDELEY TO THE ‘1’ OF LIFE AND LIGHT. Those who here do not fully perceive my thought should review what I have said about the number ‘7’ in “Number Symbolism.”
“Let not your heart be troubled” is not my text this time; still it is a part and parcel of ITS SUBSTANCE; and without a portion of it is doubtful that we can take on much of that BEAUTY which is required in the Bride of Jesus Christ The person who is anxious and worried over this and that soon develops drawn features and ‘worry lines,’ Similarly for the INNER man: if we have not ceased from concern and entered into that INNER REST (7), there is grave danger of our deviating from the PATH OF SHEER BEAUTY.
Last time I spoke of LAW INESCAPABLE. This time it will be a variant thereof: “the Law of BEAUTY IN ARCHITECTURE” ! (“I GO TO PREPARE A PLACE FOR YOU” !)
Children – in the night – IF drowse you must, then DREAM OF BEAUTY so clean-cut and scintillating in it’s WHITE LIGHT, that the choicest words in our language can no more describe it than can an artist produce a masterpiece with sackcloth and soot.
“I go to prepare a place for you”: When will our spiritual leaders awaken to the fact that His every utterance SPOKE VOLUMES? And surely on this one statement SHALL VOLUMES BE WRITTEN !
DROWSERS in the night: how you have circumscribed and COMMON-ized THE INEFFABLE GLORY which was LOVE PERSONIFIED through TRUTH IN ACTION – WROUGHT IN BEAUTY ! And forever shall the magnificence of its grandeur impinge its light through the endless reaches of space…..
I spoke to you of LAW INESCAPABLE, and that it is. But it does not cease where I cut off! It goes on and on. The seed of a selfish and ugly thought takes root in the human heart. Let us say it leads to a theft of some magnitude. As a consequence, one or more lies are told to “save face” and maybe to evade the law (enforced by man). The lie by itself becomes the cause of other effects.
Perhaps the theft leads to a prison cell (as the effect for which the theft was the cause). And that term in prison will be the cause which brings into effect A CHANGED COURSE IN LIFE which we might well term AN UNENDING CYCLE OF CAUSE AND EFFECT! And all because of one selfish and ugly thought-desire taking root within the human heart AND BRINGING FORTH IT’S FRUIT UNTO EVIL In a figure it becomes the story of the “loss of ‘the horseshoe nail” – for the lack of which shoe, horse, and rider were lost; but magnified at least a thousandfold.
HERE let us cut off the vista of ugliness (How I shrink from the Unbeautiful! And well might you develop an ABHORENCE for it – which you would and FAST ‘- were you to be given a look through a rifted veil to behold the stark horror of UGLINESS on that plane of being where even THOUGHTS take formation and color!)
BEAUTY thou vestal virgin in the entrancing light, LIFT your gleaming wand and touch the sordid heart of man to cut it from pollution’s borne by sin, THEN lift your veil that in your face the little ones might see the COLOR-SPLENDOR in procession – wrought through the mystery of LOVE.
But DROWSERS, think you that one ugly thought can lead to the ‘UN-beautiful throughout an entire life, yet what is GOOD and TRUE and BEAUTIFUL cease then and there? Not by a vast margin! HE said He would go away to BUILD for us a many-mansioned palace to house the ones for whom He bled and died.
Tell me then: WHAT is the material by which He builds? WHENCE is its source? WHAT is its substance? Does He send to Lebanon? Has He Hiram with Him? And what is the LAW of the building? (Drowsers AWAKENING!)
To answer these questions let me take you first to Rev 21st ch, especially verses 2, 9-23, where we find a description of the’ New Jerusalem” which John was given to see descending down from Heaven: that city of which God is the builder.
Carefully observe v.9 where the angel said: “I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” I want you to pause long enough to get the distinction: NOT that which had been prepared as a gift for her, but rather, THE Bride! The wife of the Lamb IS the city!’.; Yet He said that He would go away and commence building. And I think we may rightly assume that when the Palace in its full dimensions is complete, THEN THE BRIDE WILL BE THERE TO POSSESS IT…. .
But yet again: WHENCE the material, and WHAT it’s substance? (Or maybe you are one of those little children with embryo intellects who imagines God to be A MAGICIAN saying PRESTO! Then BANG!! There stands a palace in shimmering beauty, reaching from earth to the throne of God? (Many children have fantastic and unfounded concepts of their father’s greatness; similarly it is with many Christians with reference to God. They forget He Is A REALIST, and always HONEST, always TRUE.)
I suppose many Christians are prone to think it pure happenstance that Jesus was the son of a carpenter! Yet NOTHING was a happenstance in the marvels wrought by God. THE ABSOLUTE was and is A MASTER ARCHITECT; likewise “the Son”; He had to learn BUILDING, for, there were to be in His future an Immense amount of it! Already more than 19 centuries He has been at it!
Distantly past – ere the dawn of the ageless mists began, God said: “LET THERE BE ——-!” “And the Spirit of God vibrated (moved) upon the face of the waters. VIBRATION was the magic by which God wrought! Bear now in mind that it is written: “I said you are gods—” (Ps. 82:6 and John 10:34). Wherefore, we too are BUILDERS – by vibration!
Beloved, what are YOU building? “—wood, hay, and stubble–“? Alas! ALL of that must PASS THROUGH HIS FIRE – AND PERISH! But IF you are wise, then are you building of “—gold, silver and precious stones” (see 1 Cor. 3:12-15). Refer again to Rev. 21:18 – 19, and you will behold how THESE constitute the very substance of that building WHICH is THE LAMBS WIFE !
Can you not behold the amazing Truth, or must it be hammered into you? We are gods; we are VIBRATIONAL CENTERS: WE are builders! And WE are the ‘magicians’ producing the SUBSTANCE for God’s building; we are the alchemists: the body of flesh is the crucible in which are placed the different ‘ores’, while the soul (-body) is the retort for the chemistry of the precious jewels, and the SPIRIT supplies the heat.
Is the picture clear before you? Then look again! THOUGHT Is vibration! DESIRE is another mode of vibration ! Our WORDS are vibration! DEEDS are the outcome of thought and desire, and engender much vibration. ALL of this is a form of CREATING by the little ‘gods’ we are. Some of this substance-material of our making is UNusable by the Master Architect, but, momentarily it is permitted to linger – awaiting the destroying flame. Yet other material introduced in the crucible and extracted from the retort, becomes FIT FOR THE MASTER’S USE! FIRST there is THE INIPREGNABLE FOUNDATION (Jesus Christ) LAID ONCE AND FOR ALL (1 Cor. 3:11). THEREON we build, and become “God’s building” (v.9). Manifestly, IF our work of building is not set upon THE ONE AND ONLY FOUNDATION which God graciously provided, then such building can NEVER become “God’s building.” (v 9)
So, we shall assume that you have had the native intelligence to appropriate for yourself that ONE AND ONLY FOUNDATION acceptable unto God. And that boldly IN THE BEING OF JESUS CHRIST – are all your labors wrought, to the end that they shall endure through time and eternity FOUNDED IN THE IMPREGNABLE ROCK…
You have thoughts of DOING GOOD. Let us say it is but minor – like visiting an aging widow in her solitude. Suddenly the Spirit stirs desire in your heart: thought and desire are fused into one – bearing fruit in ACTION….. Your THOUGHT was not to swindle her out of money but rather to bring a ray of sunshine into a dismal life. The desire was not for self – but for another. This thought-desire embryo within has a special vibrational pitch which is KEYED to the Being of Christ our Lord.
As it strikes or passes through the vortex of His own FIRE-CORE it receives an added DYNAMIC which adds TONE and LUSTRE and LIFE to the substance in process of formation. As the deed is wrought out, the SUBSTANCE IS nourished to greater proportion. And as appreciation of a kind deed) wells from another heart with A BLESSING (even though unspoken), pinpoints of LIGHT find and pierce the SUBSTANCE of you’re making until it glistens with the light of beauty.
THIS BECOMES THE AVAILABLE SUBSTANCE * USED BY JESUS CHRIST* IN HIS BUILDING OF THE NEW JERUSALEM * WHICH IS THE BRIDE OF CHRIST!
Therefore is it said that THE CITY is the Wife of the Lamb! * Thus, the bride and the City become synonymous terms. (Perhaps I should add substantially but not factually. It is somewhat analogous to the tortoise and its shell. The shell is not the actual tortoise, yet it is ITS SUBSTANCE and a portion thereof in a somewhat similar sense do THE CITY OF GOD become of the Bride.)
WE are the producer; WE are supplying the precious substance which forms the lustrous metals and gems used by the Master(-builder). WE are the artisans FASHIONING the mighty beams of pure silver and gold which were wrought in the crucible and tested by the fire of His SPIRIT-TRUTH-LOVE.
WE are the craftsmen cutting the many facets on jewels rare, and gems in worth beyond the reach of monarch’s purse. While Christ Our LORD is the MASTER Architect of the greater structure known as THE NEW JERUSALEM (or “THE Bride of Christ”). His messengers bear these precious treasures into the reaches of space (as yet) where rests the PATTERN (or mould) which is being filled.
Are your eyes opened? And your understanding quickened? Can you behold the material streaming in from 144,000 sources? Can you glimpse in a measure the grandeur of the edifice mounting up and spreading out under the hand of Jesus Christ?
What are the DIMENSIONS of that suite which is being prepared for you? Is it small and cramped with furnishings sparse? And are its ‘hangings’ bare? THESE matters are dependent on the AMOUNT or VOLUME of your THOUGHTS GOOD AND TRUE, FUSED WITH DESIRE IN THE LOVE OF HUMAN BEING -BEARING FRUIT IN GOOD WORKS!
Therein we see the massiveness and the solidarity and fundamental verity of the love and mighty labors of such as Peter and John and the others who were seen to be FOUNDATIONS for the ‘wall’ of the Temple. (That is, their NAMES were inscribed thereon…. Observe also: those 12 foundations were in and for the ‘wall’, or outside fortification, but not for the temple itself)
Do you love roominess and expensive draperies? Would you gurgle in delight over a floor so clean and precious, it is translucent with not one speck of dust showing? IF so, then the darling of Jesus Christ had better MOVE WITH ALACRITY “up and about the Father’s business”, for * YOU WILL HAVE ONLY WHAT YOU ARE PROVIDING! *
It may not be for you to labor in the pagan fields of Africa or India; it may not be that you have a church or even a little mission to tend, yet YOU HAVE OPPORTUNITIES: WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS? Are 100% thereof channeled to Mammon? What are your emotions? Are they wishbones drumming out the cacophony of a spree in Sin? But you are a creator! You are an artisan! You are a laborer with an immense amount of TIME and OPPORTUNITY at your command. GOOD thoughts fused with BEAUTIFUL desire will bear fruit in a life from morning till evening which is FOUNDED IN CHRIST, ORIENTED INTRUTH, AND ENERGIZED BY LOVE.
THESE – oh Vestal Virgin – are the ointments for the beautifying of your complexion, and the costly substance of which you weave your “wedding garment.” CHILD in the night, LIFT your eyes to higher planes and see the rapturous vision of His City in effulgent light ….. Are YOU building there? And IF you are, it is but YOURSELF EXTERNALIZED in all of that (you are within) which THE FIRE can not consume ! That which, will not take the crucible heat of His Spirit must pass away and you will “suffer loss.” But the BEAUTY of Kindness and Compassion; of Mercy wrought out as precious stones cut from GLORY; yes, the BEAUTY of Goodness and Truth bathed in the fragrance of LOVE: these – all are the tried and fire-tested metals fluxing by His Spirit, which He rears ESPECIALLY FOR YOU into that mansion which you are: externalized in Heaven’s Glory-land! A “self-contained suite” for your own individual use, but built into an edifice vast where well and intermingle that chosen number which shall mother His New Creation!
Will you open your mouth and ‘shoot off your face’ foolishly? Will you spend your time alone for Mammon channeled to SELF, that you may GO DOWN WITH YOUR BUILDING “set in the sides of the pit”? Are you still blind and cannot see? Must the fire CONSUME to the end that naked you shall be – to start again in eons distantly impending? Or did you hear a tapping at the door and let a Stranger in? Then, in that fellowship Divine shall bloom for you a life enraptured in delight, and yield a needlework of fine � wrought GOLD……” GRANT IT LORD.
By Mikkel Dahl
