Paul, in his epistles to the Hebrews: "Therefore, not leaving the principles of the doctrines of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God.
"Of the doctrine of baptism, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment." (Heb. 6:1-4)
The PRINCIPLES of the doctrine of Christ are the building blocks for the children who are being prepared for "THAT WHICH IS PERFECT." But "When that which is PERFECT IS COME then that which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child I spake as child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man (A SON OF GOD) I put away childish things."
When one reaches spiritual maturity he is no longer a child, satisfied to sleep in a crib that is too short and with a covering too narrow for comfort. Neither will he longer be entertained with the rattles of sounding brass and the empty clanging of cymbals. Nor will he accept being breast fed, for he will be weaned from the milk and drawn from the breasts. And all the infant toys of childish make-believe will be cast aside, outgrown and forgotten.
This is what Paul was speaking of, when the principles of the doctrine of Christ will have opened up the way for that which is PERFECTION -- SONSHIP -- MATURITY and FULFILMENT!
The principle of repentance from dead works will be lost in oblivion. Repentance means a "right-about-face" from the outward road of conformity or formulas and orthodoxy and ritualism into that inward "Straight and Narrow Path" of true purification that leads to Life Eternal. This is "Repentance!" No outside rituals can possibly achieve this inward development and dynamic, glorious accomplishment.
Neither will the ordinance of the "LAYING ON OF HANDS" be sufficient to satisfy the hungering soul of man. His hungering and thirsting will become so deep and so filled with intense desire to KNOW GOD that only the unveiling of the Face of God will appease the longing in his soul. And, as he receives the spiritual food, from within, his growth will be beautiful and sure. He will lay claim to the PROMISES, through his FAITH, and thereby the holy Covenants of God will be fulfilled in him.
And the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead and of the eternal judgment will be bypassed as he moves into the PROMISED PERFECTION, or into the fulfilling of the divine, everlasting COVENANTS of God, for "IF YE DO AS I SAY THEN AM I BOUND." And in this beautiful achievement death will have to back down for it will have no claim. Nor will the judgment have any part. The judgment is only for those who will have to "stand before God to be JUDGED." Everyone who yields his spirit up, or who "gives up the ghost" goes through death, and in due time will be resurrected. And all who go through DEATH and the RESURRECTION, "WILL HAVE TO STAND BEFORE GOD AND BE JUDGED." These are the ones who did not OVERCOME in this life, or while in the flesh.
For those who OVERCOME there is no death, resurrection or judgment. "Though their sins were as scarlet," at one time, they will become white as snow. "And their sins will never come in remembrance before the Lord!" This is MERCY! This is GLORY! This is the FULNESS OF GOD'S GREAT COVENANT -- HIS PROMISE OF LIFE ETERNAL in its fullest perfection. For those will not only have overcome all the weaknesses and bigotry and self-righteousness and the desire even to sin, they will have OVERCOME THE LAST ENEMY -- DEATH!
THIS IS THE EVERLASTING COVENANT! PERFECTION Itself! And as one takes hold of the Promises he lives by them, according to his own perfecting FAITH, as he fulfills all the laws in the dynamic glory of his own perfected LOVE FOR GOD! In this perfection all the principles and the doctrines are set aside in the fulfilling of those TWO GREAT AND DYNAMIC, BREATHTAKING COMMANDMENTS OF LOVE! And the living of these two laws alone can bring one into that Straight and Narrow Path that leads to PERFECTION -- even into LIFE ETERNAL!
As one lives that First and Great Commandment, he will automatically grow into the second one, or visa versa. To LOVE GOD perfectly would so transform one's entire being into LOVE there could be no dislikes or hates or evils left in him, no jealousies, no antagonism, no condemnation or self-righteousness or bigotry. There would be only mercy and compassion and tender understanding.
As one learns to LOVE GOD with all his heart, all his soul, all his mind and all his strength he will have opened up and brought forth those "Springs of LIVING WATER" right within himself. He will be completely immersed in them. He will be bathed in them. He will be purified and cleansed in them. And he will henceforth be able to partake of the WATERS OF LIFE FREELY. This great, purifying glory of outflowing LOVE is the literal, true baptism of water and the very fulness of its enfolding glory. This is the great perfection that goes beyond the symbolism. It is the purifying reality and essence of all that is.
Those who perfect the gift of LOVE leave the childish things behind, the symbols and the artifacts of immaturity. They evolve into PERFECTION -- for "THAT WHICH IS PERFECT IS COME!" And they completely fulfill the divine command to "BE PERFECT EVEN AS THE FATHER IN HEAVEN IS PERFECT!" as given in the Sacred Sermon on the Mount. This divine gift of LOVE brought forth and perfected right within man himself brings about the WORD OF GOD MADE PERFECT and FULFILLED! This contains the glory of His holy, UNBREAKABLE COVENANT: "When ye do as I say then am I bound!" Take hold of any of His Promises and live by them and he is bound by the most sacred, binding Covenant in all existence.
Yes! "There IS a law IRREVOCABLY DECREED IN HEAVEN BEFORE THE FOUNDATIONS OF THE WORLD UPON WHICH EVERY BLESSING IS PREDICATED: And if we receive any blessing from God it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated" or PROMISED! And it is SEALED by COVENANT, and even God cannot revoke it! "Live the Laws and you will KNOW!"
In the holy perfecting of LOVE every cell, organ, atom, tissue, and sinew and bone is renovated and quickened and renewed by the outflowing, glorifying element of LOVE! And one becomes this LOVE! PURE and PERFECT and DIVINE! This is the PERFECTION that is promised! This is the COVENANT of God with man as the LOVE IS MADE PERFECT!
LOVE contains the power to bless and heal and help restore a world as one moves into the GREATER WORKS, ordained of God, "as all things become subject unto him, both in heaven and on earth." In this achievement he becomes a divine instrument in the hands of God.
In this holy accomplishment of perfecting LOVE one is cleansed completely from the inside. Only this great, spiritual accomplishment can achieve the physical change so that "the carnal flesh is transformed into flesh divine without descending through the gates of death." And in this fulfillment the resurrection and the judgment will have no part in his existence. This is indeed the fulfillment of Paul's admonition: "to go on unto PERFECTION!" And as LOVE is generated and perfected one knows that Christ is Its Source. It is as man learns to LOVE and to take hold of this glorious vibration right within himself that he becomes cleansed and purified and perfected. Man is the channel through which this LOVE, or the Rivers of Life (or LOVE) flow.
This course contains the full process of "The purification of the heart." And as the heart is purified one's whole body gradually becomes cleansed and renewed. This is how one "overcomes the evils of his life and loses every desire for sin." This is how one "casts out the darkness" and the negation as his mind is conditioned and trained to "think only the most beautiful things possible!" And as the writer of those sacred Odes of Solomon testified, he will cast out the darkness and clothe himself in Light and acquire a body free from sorrow or affliction or pain.
This purification alone can prepare one to "Be Born of the Spirit." This great and marvelous accomplishment was Christ's own experience upon the Mount of Transfiguration.
From that day forth Christ had the power to "come and go as the wind and no one knew from whence he came or whither He went,” as when he disappeared out of the hands of the mob on the cliff of Capernaum as they were going to hurl him over. Christ displayed this power many times in his life, the most noted one being the night he appeared to His disciples walking on the waters of the Sea of Galilee. And no one could take His life from Him unless He willingly relinquished it. Thus "the LIFE became subject unto Him." This was designated as "transfiguration." Or as Christ explained it to Nicodemus as "Being Born of the Spirit." Or as it is known today as the law of "Translation." It matters not which term is used the meaning is the same. And the dynamic PROMISE of its fulfilling belongs to those who will "purify themselves before Him."
In this great LOVE is contained the complete "purifying of the heart" as one travels that sacred "ROAD TO ZION." Then it is that the soul, or the entire being of man will be quickened and renewed or transformed or transfigured or translated or Born of the Spirit. This is the fulfilling of Paul's command to go on unto "PERFECTION." When the great LOVE becomes the living essence, or the River of LIVING WATER that is shed forth through "the belly," then one has fulfilled all things, and henceforth he will be able to "come and go as the wind." This is how one makes that glorious transition from mortality into immortality. "This is perfection!" This is the fulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, or the fulfillment of it within the soul of man. And this condition contains the effulgent splendor of the completion of every PROMISE in the great unbreakable, everlasting Covenant of God to man.
Yes, "Write the works of Enoch as Prophet, Priest and Seer. Write of his works of purity and love and how he changed his carnal flesh to flesh divine without descending through the gates of death."
This is how Enoch accomplished so great a work and how you too may fulfill so glorious an achievement and bring forth THAT WHICH IS PERFECT!
Yes, that First and great Commandment does fulfill all the laws and the prophets insomuch that one receives every PROMISE and COVENANT complete which was ever uttered by any of the prophets, living or dead.
As one fulfills the laws of the prophets the rewards of the prophets will automatically become his own. All the promises the prophets ever uttered will belong to him who will fulfill the laws pertaining to them. Thus one fulfills all the laws and the prophets insomuch that all the honors and credits attained by the prophets will belong to him who perfects that fundamental law of LOVE. On this law of LOVE are all the rewards and the honors of fulfilling based.
It is the love for God that qualifies one to become a prophet. It is the fulfilling of the law of the prophets, or of LOVE that exalts one into the status of the prophets, though such a one may never prophesy. His calling may be far different from the prophets, even to the higher honor of the Patriarchs. And then, through the inner perfecting of himself, he may go on unto PERFECTION! This is the ultimate goal! This is the reward of all striving. It is love made perfect! It is the complete accomplishment, for though one may have prophesied in part and done all things only in part or in half-way measures, he will now bring forth that which is PERFECT. Then all the things that were only in part will be done away, the prophecies that will fail and the erroneous self-righteousness and the inadequate displays of incompleteness will end "WHEN THAT WHICH IS PERFECT IS COME!"
Man can develop that divine gift of LOVE through living the law of LOVE in thought, word and deed. "And when the mind and lips have lost the power to hurt and wound his voice will be heard among the Gods." This is accomplished by going on to PERFECTION as he evolves into divinity. There is no seal upon man's possibilities except those which he places upon himself. Man's own individual UNBELIEF is the retarder of his own perfection.
As one moves onward and upward the Spirit of the Lord becomes the glory and the light and the joy of his existence in its tender directing. And this increases through his own expanding comprehension.
In that precious Sermon on the Mount there is the story of human parents giving good gifts to their children, though they themselves are evil, and "how much more will the Heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him?" Then in Luke eleven, verse nine, is given this positive information: "Or if your son would ask bread would you give him a stone? Or if he asked for fish would you give him a serpent? Or if he asked for an egg would you give him a scorpion? Then how much more will your Heavenly Father give the HOLY SPIRIT TO THOSE WHO ASK HIM!"
This precious, priceless, glorious Gift of the Holy Spirit is therefore offered to everyone who asks for it! SO ASK FOR IT! "It will lead you into ALL TRUTH!" And you cannot possibly be deceived or led astray if you have this Gift! "And God's WORD cannot return unto Him unfulfilled or void!" "Ask and you shall receive!" This is one of the eternal Covenants of God to man: "For everyone who asks receives! And he who seeks finds! And unto him who knocks it shall be opened!"
As one travels this glorified road to Zion, or to the complete purification of his heart he is traveling the "Straight and Narrow Path that leads to LIFE ETERNAL!" And none can travel this road without reaching the full destination of his own complete fulfillment and the fulfillment of every promise or covenant ever given by God to man. And the Highway to Zion is the road to the complete purification of the heart; and it is so simple a "fool need not err therein; though the wicked can never cross over."
As one travels this holy Road to Zion, or to the perfecting of LOVE right within himself, he will reach the point of FAITH in which his FAITH will be transformed into KNOWING, FULL AND COMPLETE! And he "WILL COMPREHEND ALL THINGS!" And "ALL THINGS WILL BECOME SUBJECT UNTO HIM, BOTH IN HEAVEN AND ON EARTH: THE LIFE AND THE LIGHT: THE SPIRIT AND THE POWER, set forth by the will of the Father through Jesus Christ, His Son."
"And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us.
"And if we know that he heareth us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions we desired from him." (I. John 5:14-15).
Then is given this precious scripture that must be engraved deep into the souls of men. It is contained in I. John 2:3-5:
"And hereby we know that we KNOW HIM, if we keep his Commandments.
"He that saith, I know Him, and keepeth not His commandments is a liar, and the TRUTH is not in him.
"But whoso keepeth His WORD, in him verily is the LOVE OF GOD PERFECTED!"
Love is developed through expression, through exercised vibrations released from the depths of the heart. It is generated by thought. It is power and holds the keys of fulfillment. Use it constantly. Use it through prayer. "And he who prayeth continually without ceasing shall be given to understand the mysteries of God and the power to reveal things which have never been revealed."
Pray for the earth and the inhabitants thereof. Pray for every living soul and remember: "Of you it is required to forgive all men!" This is a big order! A BEAUTIFUL ORDER!
Pray for your loved ones and dear ones. Pray for your associates and pray for your enemies or those who have criticized you or persecuted you or despitefully used you.
Pray in joy and blessing and send out your love on the glory of your own exercised FAITH in rays of healing LIGHT -- "THAT YOU MIGHT BE THE CHILDREN OF YOUR FATHER WHICH IS IN HEAVEN!"