The Gathering of Nations

2000-9-8 10:32:00

The Gathering Of Lights, Chapter 32 -- The Gathering of Nations, Part 1

Isaiah speaks of the gathering of Israel and also the gathering of the nations. The gathering of the nations shall be completed after Christ appears. When a nation accepts Zion, or the foundation concepts of the new age, and it is built up within it borders, then that nation is "gathered."

Concerning this Isaiah wrote:

"I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west; I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back: bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth... Let all nations be gathered together, and let the people be assembled: who among them can declare this, and shew us (the reasoning behind) former things? Let them bring forth their witnesses, that they may be justified: or let them hear and say, It is truth...Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing; now shall it spring forth; shall ye not know it?" (Isaiah 43:5-7, 9, 18-19)

The "new thing" is Zion which will eventually gather the nations of the world into an order never envisioned by the statesmen and world leaders of today.

This beautiful event is portrayed in Chapter 52 as only Isaiah could word it:

"Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city: for henceforth there shall no more come unto thee the uncircumcised and the unclean." (Isaiah 52:1)

If one is still he can hear this call of Isaiah penetrate the cycles of time and materialize in our ears in our day. For this verse is intended for the disciples of Christ and the New Group of World Servers now, more than any other period. To understand this call we must comprehend an important parable of Jesus:

"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)

The Kingdom of God exists in scattered Israel long before it is physically materialized, or gathered. Right now it exists as "leaven hid in three measures of meal." The leaven has been hidden for many centuries in our physical reality, in our hearts and in our minds Only recently has it really begun to do its work and rise the meal until the kingdom of God is ready to manifest. After the meal (bread dough) has sufficiently risen then the body of the kingdom will be kneaded and shaped. The three measures the leaven is hidden in are the political-social, scientific (computers, internet, etc.), and business circles. These are the measures that are rising. One may expect to find leaven in the religious world above all others, but this is not so. The meal of the religious world (that is -- organized religion) is not expanding, but rejects the leaven as destructive. Only when the three measures have sufficiently risen will leaven be added to four other measures to give the complete number seven. Then the loaf of religion will begin to expand along with others.

When Isaiah says:  "Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion," (Isaiah 52:1)  he is telling hidden Israel to manifest the God within in action and power and complete the leavening process.

When he writes: "Put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city," he is telling hidden Israel to no longer work in the dark, but the time has come to manifest externally that which has hitherto been internal. The time has come to build "Jerusalem, the holy city". From henceforth only those who sincerely desire to build the Kingdom of God will dwell in the holy city.

The keyword here is "Awake." The disciples of Christ have been asleep as to the manner of the path of the externalization of the kingdom. They have not been aware that "the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob." (Isaiah 59:20)  They have not been aware that their Master cannot come if there is no Zion. If there is no Zion he will "come and smite the earth with a curse." (Malachi 4:6)

Isaiah continues in Verse 2:

"Shake thyself from the dust; arise, and sit down, O Jerusalem: loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion." (Isaiah 52:2)

"Shake thyself from the dust...." The "dust" is the glamours and illusions that get in the eyes of an Israelite and blind him while living in Babylon. He must shake himself free from such contamination and be clean so he can communicate with the God within.

"Arise and sit down...." Israelites are commanded to "arise" lift up their consciousness to the New Jerusalem and gather together. Jerusalem is to "sit down." That is, it is to prosper in the New Age as soon as it is externalized.

"Loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion." The bands of her neck refers to the spiritual bondage of many of the Israelites in their scattered condition. In their scattered state Israel has little power. They loose the bands and are taken out of captivity by the gathering process.

"For thus saith the Lord, Ye have sold yourselves for naught; and ye shall be redeemed without money. For thus saith the Lord God, My people went down aforetime into Egypt to sojourn there; and the Assyrian oppressed them without cause. Now therefore, what have I here, saith the Lord, that my people is taken away for naught? They that rule over them make them to howl, saith the Lord; and my name continually every day is blasphemed." (Isaiah 52:3-5)

The Israelites (Lights of the world) today are in a bondage similar to those in ancient Egypt. There is one subtle difference, however. The ancient slaves were sold into slavery. But today, because of encroaching government, the real producers are yielding themselves into slave conditions freely. No one is receiving payment for the current slaves. Amazingly, people are lining up to volunteer for this awful situation. They are taxed and regulated to death and must submit to many laws that hold them in bondage. Many Israelites who are yet asleep are in a spiritual bondage and are following a blind leader into no man's land. They shall be redeemed without money and be given the truth freely.

In Babylon the name of God is blasphemed every time a person bows down to one of the false Gods or authorities who lead then astray from the truth with illusion.

"Therefore my people shall know my name: therefore they shall know in that day that I am he that doth speak: behold, it is I." (Isaiah 52:6)

"In that day...." refers to the time when "the Lord shall bring again Zion" (Verse 8). In that day Israel will sense the name or purpose of God and receive revelation from the God within. The still small voice will say:  "It is I." Then the Israelite will know that he is in the Father and the Father in him. In addition higher lives (called the Elohyim in the Bible) will work with disciples who will hear the voice of a Master or the Christ say:  "It is I."

"How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!" (Verse 7)

He that brings good tidings and publishes peace is the modern disciple of Christ who prepares the way for his reappearance. He receives periodic impressions from the Master and much knowledge from the God within. "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet...." is a curious phrase. Feet represent spiritual preparation as evidenced by Paul: "And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace." (Ephesians 6:15)  These are the servants of God with the most beautiful message of all time:  "Peace on earth, goodwill toward men." [See Luke 2:14.]

The symbolism of "mountains" is manyfold. There are two important interpretations that apply to us. First, one will notice that when the Lord talked with his prophets in the scriptures he often did so on the top of a high mountain. Jesus, himself, gave the sermon on the mount on a mountain, taught his disciples on the mount of Olives, and was transfigured on a "high mountain."

A mountain in this sense is a symbol of raising the consciousness of man above average humanity, to elevate the thoughts to the kingdoms of soul and spirit, rather than on the flesh. A mountain is also a symbol of spiritual stability.

Secondly, a mountain is a representation of a city of Zion. Tying this in with the first interpretation, a mountain is the true Zion consciousness.

The phrase "bringeth good tidings" is used twice in this verse and comes from the one Hebrew word BASAR. This was a very appropriate translation for the word. We might add here that BASAR also conveys a sense of cheerfulness and optimism. These tidings will be "good" and helpful to mankind.

The disciple of Christ is not a prophet of doom, but a messenger of change and redirection. Not in the sense of ignorantly calling for repentance with no purpose, but he will point the way to higher ground, to peace and safety, to a shift of consciousness, and to constructive change. Those who absorb the message will be filled with joy and peace. He will point out consequences of remaining "unrepentant" or unwilling to move to higher consciousness, but his main attention will be on "tidings of good," and the end result of his message.

Isaiah points out that average humanity often calls "good evil, and evil good." [See Isaiah 5:20.]  Almost every Avatar in history had to deal with this problem from Galileo, to Copernicus, to George Washington, to Christ. All disciples have had their mission criticized as being "evil" to society, and many have given their lives because of the gross ignorance of their brethren.

Every disciple to date has had to undergo a great struggle to cause even a few to see the good and joy that his message can bring.

"That publisheth peace...." is another interesting phrase. The word "publisheth" is from the Hebrew SHAMA which has various implications but the basic meaning is:  "to cause to understand or hear intelligently."  When God appeared to Solomon and told him to ask for his heart's desire above all other things he asked for SHAMA. The Lord was pleased and granted Solomon the greatest SHAMA of all people at that time. He was thus able to cause himself and others to hear and understand intelligently. [See 1 Kings, Chapt. 3.]

Peace comes from SHALOM which is from the same root as the latter part of "Jerusalem" and means "peace" or "safety."

In place of "publisheth peace" we could translate: "That understands and causes others to understand the way to peace and safety."

"That publisheth salvation...." could be more appropriately translated as: He that "causes himself and others to understand that which brings deliverance."

We will now retranslate the verse attempting to give the original meaning of the author:

"How beautiful among the gatherings of my people (Zion) is the peace and goodwill of him that brings good tidings, that understands and causes others to understand the way of peace and safety, that brings good tidings of the true good, who causes himself and others to understand that which brings deliverance and safety; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!"

The true servant of God and helper of mankind does not speak in useless platitudes, but shows logical steps that can be taken to bring peace and deliverance from future perils.

He tells Zion, or the pure in heart:  "Thy God reigneth," or, in other words, the will of the Father is to be done on earth as it is in heaven. God is ever-present. Be still and know that He/She/It is. He reigns in the kingdom of the soul hidden within every man and will soon reign in the material world without.

Verse 8 reads:

"Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing: for they shall see eye to eye, when the Lord shall bring again Zion." (Isaiah 52:8)

The word "watchman" comes from the Hebrew TSAPHAH which signifies one who is able to perceive and be prepared for coming events -- this is one who is in harmony with new age energies and is able to adjust himself and others to them. They shall lift up their voice and proclaim the good news of Zion abroad, and not hide their light under a bushel. They do not fear the criticism that comes from the cretins who are against advanced thought.

They shall see eye to eye when the Lord shall bring again Zion because they dwell on the mount Zion of the Spirit and communicate with the One God within, and act with one great purpose. The One Life motivates their actions. How this oneness is achieved will be discussed in the next chapter.

  

-- End Of Chapter 32 --

  

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