Glorification

By Nathaniel Dandridge Pendleton
1941

Part I
The Ancient Truth

IV. THE SPIRIT OF PROPHECY

"And the sons of the prophets said unto Elisha, Behold now, the place where we dwell with thee is too strait for us. Let us go, we pray thee, unto Jordan, and take thence every man a beam, and let us make us a place there, where we may dwell. And he answered, Go ye." (11 Kings 6: 1, 2.)

The proposed enlargement of the dwelling of the prophets was significant of an increase of the power and place of prophecy in Israel which was greater and less as resistance to, or acceptance of, the prophets' teaching prevailed. Israel was moulded by the spirit of prophecy through successive reformations. It was so wrought upon by the Divine Spirit that it might become a representation of the kingdom of heaven. So long as the prophets prophesied, this representative form was - in the making. When they finally ceased to speak, the form became fixed. Then followed a period (five centuries) as of brooding silence. At length the truth involved in the representation was complete. The, Messiah was born from Mary, but the Israelitish Kingdom as a whole was the greater matrix.

As Israel was moulded into a representative of the Kingdom of God, so the prophets, in the exercise of their function, represented the Lord of that kingdom. Their inspiration and guidance came from the Lord through heaven, and when under that influence, they, by word and deed, spoke and acted the will of God in their representation of the things concerning Him. They not only foretold the Advent of the Savior, but in their character as prophets they represented some aspect of Him as He was to be when He should come. Also by living words they moulded, and ever remoulded, Israel into varying representations of the Lord's Kingdom, until the whole was complete, thereby presenting in form and symbol a church on earth.

This making of a merely representative church with the descendants of Jacob was not accomplished save by many adversities. As a people they ever inclined to break the holy representation imposed upon them. Spiritual truth, as such, was concealed lest they should profane it. They were guarded from profanation by a veil of ignorance. To this end they were made to undergo the discipline of a wandering life in the wilderness, whereby they were let down to an ever lower level of knowledge with reference to spiritual things. This ignorance made them passive to receive the impress of an external image of the heavenly order.

Of such material the representation of a church having no spiritual internal could be organized. Thus we see the Jewish people unknowingly play a part in a Divine undertaking, and in periodic rebellion against this their destiny. While the high spiritual significance involved in their institutions and enactments was concealed, yet on the external plane of human emotions and passions touching this world's affairs they both knew and understood and were therein as free actors. In the matter of genius they were gifted beyond the ordinary. Their life as a nation has endured through many centuries, and as a people through as yet uncounted ages. Their service as a representative medium filled an ecclesiastical age, during which they were moved by the prophesying of the prophets to fulfill their Divine appointment. In this service by a notable provision they became, in fact, a medium of exchange between heaven and earth; and this, for a time, so efficiently that by an illusion of righteousness they served as an actual medium of connection with the lower reaches of the heavens. Nevertheless, the Divine will, in working through the prophets, encountered many adversities. At times the prophets were supreme in the land; again they lived as outcasts; while by defying Jehovah and turning to other gods, they threatened a total subversion of their sacred representation. Thus the prophetic power advanced and receded. Nevertheless the Divine representation was secured by an overruling Providence. The sacred record of this Divine work, as we have it, tells outwardly the history of a wayward people, their passions and achievements; yet that record from first to last contains an inner account of man's redemption, by means of truths Divine.

The prophets at all times contended with the people for the will of Jehovah, and in this, the days of Elijah were not unlike those of Moses. In both ages alien influences invaded and threatened the Divine image. Moses went up into the mountain to receive the Word of God, and came down to chastise a rebelling people. After his contest with the priests of Baal, Elijah fled in fear to Sinai, there to find safety and to receive a renewed inspiration. He returned to Israel re-commissioned and empowered anew.

When Elijah began his work, prophetic power in Israel was at its lowest ebb. As a consequence he was long in hiding. He feared the civil power for the priests of Baal were then in favor. They conspired with the wicked Jezebel. Famine came upon the land, and a lack of water. Ahab the king, being hard pressed by the famine, sought Elijah. Opportunity was renewed. Elijah measured strength with the priests of Baal and prevailed. The power of Jehovah was restored. After this, fear again took hold of the prophet. He fled from the face of Jezebel, the evil wife of Ahab. Elijah went to Horeb, the original place of Israel's inspiration. There his spirit revived. But the fulfillment of his time was near. On his return to Samaria he appointed his successor, and prepared for his own ascension in the chariot of fire. His mantle fell upon Elisha. With the advent of Elisha the power of prophecy increased. The healing of Naaman the Syrian marked a wider extension of prophetic influence, even beyond the borders of Israel. It was after this deed of power that the sons of the prophets enlarged their dwellings. "The sons of the prophets said unto Elisha, Behold now, the place where we dwell with thee is too strait for us. Let us go, we pray thee, unto Jordan, and take thence every man a beam, and let us make a place there, where we may dwell. And he answered, Go ye."

Events followed significant of the increased power of prophecy, and its wider extension. The ultimate objective in Samaria was the clearance of Israel from the worship of Baal. In fulfillment of a prophetic announcement, Hadad, king of Damascus, was slain, and a usurper was seated in his place. A like revolution was foretold, and soon came to pass in Samaria. The son of Ahab, having become king, was despoiled of his kingdom by Jehu, who ruled in his place. This Jehu, with brutal thoroughness, completed the purification of Israel from alien influences. He slew all the priests of Baal when they were gathered in the temple of their god. Thereafter the prophet of the Lord stood near to the person of the king. This marked the high point of the reformation. The subsequent decadence tells of another cycle.

Elijah and Elisha were outstanding representatives of the Lord. The story of their deeds was a forecast of the things which should come to pass when the Lord came into the world. They pictured the marvel of His saving power. This was indeed represented in the lives of all the appointed prophets, but to an outstanding degree in the case of Elijah and Elisha.

A striking representation of the Lord in His glorified body was given at the end with both of these prophets. Note the ascension of Elijah into heaven in a chariot of fire. There was no record of his death. His body could not be found. This was a clear forecast of the Lord's ascension with His whole body. This miracle came at the end with Elijah. We note also that the most highly significant of all the miracles recorded concerning Elisha came after his death. While the ascension of Elijah in a chariot of fire was a prophetic representation of the Lord's entire glorification, so also the final miracle recorded of Elisha represents the subsequent extension of the Lord's power from His Human glorified, by means of which men were to be spiritually vivified.

The account of the final miracle as touching Elisha is as follows: "Elisha died and they buried him.  And bands of Moabites invaded the land at the coming in of the year. And it came to pass as they were burying a man, that behold, they spied a band, and they cast the man into the sepulchre of Elisha, and when the man was let down, and touched the bones of Elisha, he revived and stood upon his feet." (11 Kings 13: 20, 21.)

In the Apocalypse Explained, number 659, we read as follows:  The Lord's death signifies the glorification of His Human . . . for He made Divine His entire Human, consequently on the third day He rose again with the Human glorified. . . . Unless this had been so done, no man could have risen again to life; for man's resurrection unto life is solely from the Lord, and indeed from His having united the Divine with His Human, and from this union man has salvation. . . . This was represented by 'the man that was cast into the sepulchre of Elisha who revived when he touched his bones.' (AE 659.)

In his prophetic days Elisha represented the Lord. After death even his bones became a medium for the transference of life in representation of the Divine power which resided in the Body of the Lord. This body and its power, are now one with the Divine Truth which inwardly constitutes the heavens. This high and holy Truth, in its saving power, is effective on all planes of human life; so much so that it could, in the pre-Christian period, be represented as passing through and from the bones of Elisha, and by contact revive the dead Moabite.

The point of stress here is that the Lord came into the world to save the lowly Moabites - those aliens from heaven who had lost their way, and could not find it, save in and by contact with the Lord as a Man of flesh and bones. These are they who must see and touch Him in order that they may believe, and through belief, by touch, be converted. It was to these that the Lord spoke when He said, "Behold, my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Handle me and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have." (Luke 24: 39.) This means that the Lord's glorification reached the lowest possible degree, in that it extended to, and included, His flesh and bones, by virtue of which He entered into the power of saving all men, however external, provided they do not willfully reject Him. Because of this, this final power, we have the doctrine that He rose from the grave with His whole body, which could be present and effective in the ultimates of creation, and there enter into touch with the lowest phases of human life. This ultimate presence and power is therefore that which was represented by the life-giving bones of the dead prophet.

It is known that the Lord came into the world to save those who would otherwise be lost, and who, unless they had given a living touch with His body, could not have been saved. They would have been lost because the semblance of religious good with them was so penetrated by impurities that they could be saved only by the extreme power of the Lord through His body made Divine. Those who could be saved by this means only, are the spiritual Moabites, who were, and are, very many. That in the last day and final issue they were to be brought to the Lord is manifest not only from the revival of the dead Moabite, but also from the words of Jeremiah: "Woe unto thee, Moab . . . for thy sons are taken into captivity, and thy daughters. Yet will I bring again the captivity of Moab in the end of days." The "end of days" is the day of the Lord's coming to take upon Himself, in mercy, the finality of His power, which was thereafter to be and become sufficient throughout the endless ages. This was His redemption, a word which signifies that all might be saved who would take upon themselves His cross, and endure temptations in His name as of their own will. Not otherwise can man be saved. Touch with the Lord is imperative. To this end He gave His Body, and now the Body of His Truth Divine in the heavens, and to the church on earth a sacred symbol of His Body in the Holy Supper - competent to revive the dead.