Love is the Fulfilling of the Law

ON GOD; Part CLIV

“For every tree is known by his own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh” (Luke 6:44-45).

“Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt , and where thieves break through and steal : But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt , and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matthew 6:19-21)

Using the above as a place marker for the topic at hand, we take a presumably short detour here to discuss a thing that I read today in Vincent’s writings. I have likely read this before as it is part of his dissertation on the Kingdom of God which I’m sure we have quoted from. Today however this part of it seemed to stand out much more and, based upon this, we write. There is much written on the Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of Heaven as the Apostle Matthew frames it and we KNOW that this is essentially the same Kingdom although parts of the church have found ways to differentiate the two. It has long been our premise that the doctrines of the churches are their attempt to better explain the unexplainable and in this they most always use the physical world, the world of form, as their basis and this because they believe that man is this form and this personality. Let us look at some of the differences between the ONE Kingdom that have been established by doctrine; we leave the authors, which can be found by internet search of any of the keywords, anonymous:

• ‘Knowing the doctrinal difference between the terms “Kingdom of Heaven” and “Kingdom of God” is the key to understanding the complete time line of Biblical history past, present, and future, the proper place of the Church, and the prophetic future of Israel. The Bible is about the struggle for a Kingdom; the Kingdom of Heaven, a Kingdom with its Capital City (Jerusalem) on this Earth.’ They go on to say that: ‘The Lord Jesus Christ came to His own and preached a dualistic message. To the Jews, the heirs of the promised political Kingdom, the Lord preached the Gospel of the “Kingdom of Heaven” – a literal physical Kingdom soon to come. To the entire world He preached the coming “Kingdom of God” – righteousness and holiness. Because the Lord used the terms “Kingdom of Heaven” and “Kingdom of God” interchangeably in places in the four Gospels, most Christians think they are one and the same. They will be, but not until the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ when He rules the world for a thousand years on the throne of His father David (His father in the flesh, His human side) at Jerusalem. Again. If you rightly divide the Bible, you will see that Jesus was preaching about two (2) components of the Kingdom. He preached that the political kingdom (Kingdom of Heaven) was coming, and if the Jews had accepted Him after His death and resurrection, He would have come back and established it after seven years of tribulation, as foretold in the prophecies‘.
• ‘Brief Overview of the Two Kingdoms: The Kingdom of Heaven (Ouranos) – a physical, literally, earthly kingdom; just as heaven is physical, so is this kingdom. Only found in Matthew’s Gospel (33 times) because it is a Jewish Gospel emphasizing the Son of Man and the literal, physical, earthly kingdom; Reign over the physical realm, preached only to the Jews and will be preached again by Jews during the tribulation. The kingdom of heaven is not referring to the third heaven. The Kingdom of God (Theos) – a spiritual kingdom, just like God is a Spirit (John 4:24), so is this kingdom. Found throughout the New Testament emphasizing the Son of God and a spiritual kingdom. Reign over the Spiritual Realm You enter the kingdom of God by the new birth (John 3:3-5). The kingdom of God is you in the Holy Ghost and the Holy Ghost in you, Christ in you and you in Christ. *Though the exact phrases “kingdom of heaven” and “kingdom of God” do not occur until the New Testament, both kingdoms existed in the past. They both began at the creation of heaven and earth. *Currently the devil has authority over the kingdoms of the earth (Luke 4:6-7, 2 Corinthians 4:4). *Romans 11:28-30 The gifts and calling of God are without repentance. *Both kingdoms were at hand during the Lord’s earthly ministry (Matthew 3:2, 4:17, Mark 1:14-15).’
• ‘The one still misunderstood truth is that the kingdom of heaven (the context of this passage—“Then shall the kingdom of heaven be like…”) and the kingdom of God (to which we who are in the church belong), are not the same. No Christian is or ever will be in the kingdom of heaven. None of the “children of the kingdom” during the tribulation are in the kingdom of God. The kingdoms are different, containing different subjects, and only meet in the Millennial reign of Christ upon the earth. In short, the kingdom of heaven is the physical kingdom promised to Israel and contains both believing and unbelieving Jews during the tribulation. Both the five wise and the five foolish virgins were in the kingdom, but at the second coming of Christ, the good fish and the bad fish are separated from the same net, just as the virgins are separated. At that time the children of the kingdom—the Jews—who are not watching and walking in truth will be cast into outer darkness and be damned’.
• Without showing the columnar reference that they cite we have this as the last item from our search: ‘Very few people know that the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Heaven are exactly equivalent, with no difference in meaning. Only Matthew uses the title Kingdom of Heaven, as the table below reveals. Below, in the left hand column, is every instance where the phrase “kingdom of heaven” occurs in the New Testament. As you can see, this phrase is unique to Matthew. Nowhere else in the Bible does the phrase “kingdom of heaven” occur. In the right hand column are those instances where parallel passages exist outside of Matthew.’

Now the above are based upon the doctrine of the writers of these articles and the producers of these websites and they do believe, each of them, that they have the Truth. When however we look at the nature of the sayings found in the gospels, we realize that, as Vincent tells us: Kingdom of God (hJ basilei>a tou~ qeou~). 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 last item above agrees with this idea from Vincent and with our own understanding which is based in part upon the fact that there are like sayings across the gospels that relate these terms as together for us:

• “From that time Jesus began to preach , and to say , Repent : for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17).
• “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 1:15)
• “Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field…“(Luke 13:31)
• “Then said he , Unto what is the kingdom of God like? and whereunto shall I resemble it? It is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took , and cast into his garden; and it grew, and waxed a great tree; and the fowls of the air lodged in the branches of it” (Luke 13:18-19).
• “Another parable spake he unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took , and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened” (Matthew 13:33).
• “And again he said, Whereunto shall I liken the kingdom of God? It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened” (Luke 13:20-21).

There are likely other examples of the crossover use of these terms and we should remember that, as Vincent tells us, Matthew has kingdom of heaven, or of the heavens (tw~n oujranw~n), a phrase used by him only⁴ and in this we should be able to see that this was just Matthew’s preferable way of writing. This may seem like a long way to go to introduce that other statement by Vincent that we refer to above but it seemed important to understand the variety of views on this subject that seems so clear to us here today. That Matthew wrote to the Jews is likely a valid analysis but the division of the Kingdom is rather irrelevant and it is in this irrelevance that many have created doctrines around it. This then is our greater message and one that we have been carrying about since the beginning of these posts; that the doctrinal differences that have given birth to the multiplicity of denominations and sects of the ONE Christ’s Church must give way to the intelligent discernment of the words of the Master and away from the themes and the motives of the Old Testament which teaching ended long before the birth of Jesus. This teaching had survived only in the laws as interpreted by the traditions and the ways of the Pharisees which the Master railed against.

Vincent’s words for our discussion are: As a present kingdom it is incomplete and in process of development. It is expanding in society like the grain of mustard seed (Matthew 13:31, 32); working toward the pervasion of society like the leaven in the lump (Matthew 13:33)⁴. Much of this essay by Vincent is filled with doctrine and a part of his doctrine, as well as many others, is the idea of a present and a future Kingdom which for our purposes are always ONE. Vincent misses the Master’s point that “the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21) and from his idea above we can see his view as the Kingdom being in our midst although he does not render the verse from Luke as such in his text. There is a basic failure by most all prognosticators of Christianity to see the reality of the “the kingdom of God is within you” along with the teachings of the Master saying “At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you” (John 14:20) and again saying “That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us” (John 17:21). This idea is furthered by the Apostle Paul who tells us this about this mystery of the Ages which has been revealed: “Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:26-27).

However, there is a reality in Vincent’s words and it is a great Truth in the evolution of this race of men. In the logical realm of the Soul, ALL is according to the Plan of God; Souls are incarnating and are moving forward into the reality of Life, they are better able, generation after generation, to seize and hold the basic rule of the Kingdom of God which is Love. And, generation after generation there are more and more people who are so inclined. While the daily news may reflect otherwise, this is only because the daily news is so widespread and so instant that most ALL are able to see and hear it in some way and because the daily news focuses still on the bad things that ‘make’ news and not on the ordinary good that is done by people and by groups around the world. Much of this is of course done without religious implication which we must understand is not a requirement. ALL who can bring the Love of the Soul, the Christ Within, into expression in the world of men should be considered a worker for the Christ, an aspirant, and perhaps even a disciple; these High Callings are not relegated to any group but only to those who can agree with the basic attitude of the first stanza of the Mantram of Unification as it is presented below which is the affirmation by a man in form of the requirement for UNITY, we are ONE WORLD and ONE HUMANITY with ONE GOD; LOVE for and between ALL men; SERVICE to the PLAN which can take so many forms in SERVICE to one’s fellowman; and HEALING, as it is intended here, being the refusal to HURT  which is essentially HARMLESSNESS and again LOVE for one’s fellowman. There is an esoteric saying that tells us: We are told by one of the Masters that a whole generation of enquirers may only produce one adept. We should look at this in our view of the True disciple being the Adept, adept in the teaching of the Christ and this is the only important use of the word. The common understanding of the word is one fully skilled or well versed in anything; a proficient; as, adepts in philosophy and, as an adjective, Well skilled; completely versed; thoroughly proficient¹ and we can use this definition insofar as the teachings of the Christ, that is rather in the performance thereof.

While the idea of being an Adept or a disciple may be a hard thing to consider we should understand that the road, the Path if you will, starts here and now. It is only as individuals can accomplish the various levels of seekers and enquirers, that they can aspire to the ways of the Lord and can fulfill the basic principals of Love, that the words of Vincent become true for the whole, that the Kingdom can be seen to be expanding in society like the grain of mustard seed and working toward the pervasion of society like the leaven in the lump. The Master tells us to “Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able” (Luke 13:34) and this is our responsibility as one who is awakened. This striving is seeking and enquiring, the strait gate is the Kingdom and discipleship. The Master here tells us to strive and does not call those who “shall not be able” as any bad or unrighteous thing; He simply states the difficulty of entry and the Truth of striving. While this may not be the common understanding of this based upon the context of the saying, this Truth is buried in the Master’s words and echoed in the Gospel of Matthew where He says: “Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it” (Matthew 7:14). This is the difficulty of attaining the Kingdom and this is the difficulty of being His disciple; a difficulty that he gives specific and difficult instructions on; we should see here that the responsibility of each man is, as a Soul, to awaken the personality to the reality of Life and then to encourage that personality Life to strive to overcome and to be able to say with ALL True disciples, adepts and the Christ Himself: “I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

We will get back to our topic as it appears at the top of this essay in the next post.

Note on the Quote of the Day

This daily blog also has a Quote of the Day which may not be in any way related to the essay. Many of these will be from the Bible and some just prayers or meditations that may have an influence on you and are in line with the subject matter of this blog. As the quote will change daily and will not store with the post, it is repeated in this section with the book reference and comment.

We leave this Mantram of  Unification again for today as it does go well with our topic.

Today’s quote of the day is a repeat of the Mantram of Unification which is an affirmation of the Oneness of the human family from the perspective of the disciple and the aspirant and any who hold these ideals as important. In this we find the essence of the two ideas that we have discussed from Values to Live By and that these are firmly grounded in the desire to Love not hate; to serve and not exact due service and to heal and not to hurt. It is Love shown as Truth and justice that is at the heart of this mantram.

Mantram of Unification

The sons of men are one and I am one with them.
I seek to love, not hate;
I seek to serve and not exact due service;
I seek to heal, not hurt.

Let pain bring due reward of light and love.
Let the Soul control the outer form, and life and all events,
And bring to light the love that underlies the happenings of the time.

Let vision come and insight.
Let the future stand revealed.
Let inner union demonstrate and outer cleavages be gone.
Let love prevail.
Let all men love.