IN THE PRESENCE OF THE KING

(To gain a further understanding of the meditation that follows, a reading of the suggested scriptures will be most helpful. Also, a study of the Editorial Notes at the end of the post may prove to be beneficial)

November 26 is observed in the Christian Liturgical calendar as ” The Reign Of Christ Sunday.” The meditation that follows has that emphasis.

Psalm 2:6 ” I have installed my King on Zion,
my holy hill.”
1 Thessalonians 2:19 – 20
What is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when He comes? Is it not you? Indeed you are our glory and joy.” (1)

It is time for each one of us to go inside ourselves and reclaim whatever time is remaining to us and be liberated from  the iron grasp of the insidious tyrants that have imprisoned us with unrequited dreams. It makes little difference, if any, at what stage you are in the lifespan calendar of the allotted three score years and ten; now is the time to embrace the full measure of living which is the rightful inheritance for each human being.
There are myriads of people throughout Christendom who have a limited perception of their awaiting inheritance. And that is the result of the tyrannical forces within, which prohibits the vision of a fuller existence over that which is already known.
There is a Greek myth concerning one, Herme, the messenger of the Olympian gods. He is best-remembered for his astounding wisdom.” His ideas were passed from Master to Initiate for generations, for personal growth, and with the intention of achieving a greater and deeper understanding of the self, the world, and the beyond.” Perhaps the most memorable of these sayings, for our purposes now, at any rate, is: “As within so without,”  (2)  What we lend our allegiance to within the self, is necessarily the reality we present in the world.

The mission which the Apostle Paul undertakes with the Thessalonians in the scripture quoted above,is to have them stand, as individuals and then collectively, before the one perfect example of human achievement, Jesus Christ the King! There, in the Presence of The King, the accumulation of this world’s awards diminish in size and importance, but there is no remorse because the appearance of what is yet to be is imminent and amazingly possible.” For what is our joy, and our hope or the crown in which we glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ? Is it not you ?(Thessalonians) Indeed you are our glory and our joy.”
A Prophet of The Old Testament, Malachi, many centuries ago, foresaw the necessity of the world’s people to take steps in preparation for receiving God’s intended endowment for them. “Who can endure the day of His coming? Who can withstand His appearance? He is like a refiner’s fire or the cleaner’s soap.” ( Malachi 3:2)

Only in the Presence of The King do we glimpse the full meaning of The Cross! The King commands an upward glance into the face of God.Then He focuses our vision first to our right, and then to our left to complete the outstretched arms of a cross. It is in that direction that we see the pain- pinched faces of the people whose presence here, is the opportunity that God is providing for each of us, in order that one day, when we stand alongside them in the Presence of the King, they will be known as our crowning glory. In the end is that not the greatest gift of all? Will that not be riches beyond all measure, to look upon the smiling faces of the one time forgotten, the lost and the least, and to know that God has chosen us to carry out His Plan to  have His will done on earth as it is in heaven.

But the symbol of a cross is not complete until we follow the final direction of the King’s  gaze,                   -downward

It is from the deeper places in this world that our present way of living is drawing its momentum.” For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” (Ephesians 6:12) KJV.
It is from the depths that the false and debilitating belief arises into consciousness; that one is as well to keep silent since one person can do nothing!
It is from the depths that there is arising an ancient and a noxious philosophy, (to call it theology would be a misnomer), which disputes the divinity of Jesus, and seeks to remove Jesus from the center of Christian Theology. Of course one remembers from the Crucifixion narrative that the same cynicism and disbelief met His gaze from some at the foot of His Cross!But the Gospel does not end in the downward look of Jesus. In the end, He looks up again into His Father’s Face and talks to Him:” Father, Into Your Hands I Commit My Spirit.” Let us not end our story with the downward gaze. We have something more than the lifeless maxim of the ancient Hermes:” As within, so without.” We have the living Christ who by living “within” us, makes the “without” something beautiful for God!

A PRAYER TO FOLLOW THIS MEDITATION

Our Father,
Bring the light of Your wisdom to our minds so that we may choose Your Way, over the destructive ways of the world that are the product of a bogus worldly wisdom.

Father, bring to our hearing the keenness that can listen clearly to Your still, small voice above the clamor and fake distractions which the world invents.

Bring to our eyes the vision of purer, and more beautiful things than those which appear to be the obsession of this present age. May we stand firmly in the Name Of Christ the King, to honor the dignity and the sanctity of Your Creation. No one on the grounds of ethnicity, or gender or position, or political creed, should dare to take advantage of another or to abuse another.We beg You to Forgive the warped intellect that seeks a theology that would condone any such behavior.

Father, In the Presence of The King, whom you have installed in our consciousness, to be the moral and ethical compass for your people, we bow with reverence. We freely offer You the throne of our will so that You may use it as Your own, and so rule from there, that we may be co-workers in the building of Your Kingdom. In Jesus Name. (3) Amen.

Hymn:               The King Of Love My Shepherd Is 

 

 

EDITORIAL NOTES

1. Here and throughout the text of this meditation, the quotations from the Holy Bible are from the New International Translation, Unless otherwise noted in the text.

2.One of the seven principles of the universe
as taught by Hermes Trismegistus https://treeofknowledgecoven.com/2012/07/01/as-above-so-below-as-within-so-without-as-the-universe-so-the-soul/

3.While this is not a direct quote from Psalm 2., the author is confident the inference will be clear to the reader.
4.Photo: Taken in Utah, Arches National Park, USA.   Nov,2016