Book Two Chapter Two

TWO

Following Suit

I think there are already actions and states of being in which the corporeal follows suit with the spiritual. We walk a fine line, we seekers; on the one hand, we are instructed that to know spiritual issues, we must understand them spiritually; but, on the other hand, for the sake of our limitations, we must look to the corporeal or natural world and make comparisons. In the natural world, in a multitude of instances, we see the process of ‘following suit’. A child grows up to look like one or both parents (sometimes that is unfortunate for the child), a nation will answer aggression with aggression, a preacher will sound like the preacher he learned from. Dominos will fall one after the other upon receiving the impetus of a similar action. When we reason in reverse, we can see that a son looking like a father on this plane is but an action in accord with a spiritual impetus.

Genesis 5:3 says that man looks like God (A very cool similarity), “And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth.”

How, you ask, do you get ‘man looking like God’ from Seth looking like Adam? By adding this next

verse, I reply.

Genesis 5:1, “This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made He him.”

Like father like son.

What does Psalms 17:15 say about following suit? “As for me, I will behold Thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with Thy likeness.”

In any instance involving similarities, is it ever the case that they simply sprang up together? No. The more likely scenario is that one follows the other: as son follows father; as reaction follows action; as effect follows cause.

In Exodus 25:9, all corporeal similarities are ‘mirror images’ of things preexistent, “According to all that I shew thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it.”

Things were made like things that already existed.

See also Exodus 26:30, “And thou shalt rear up the tabernacle according to the fashion thereof which was shewed thee in the mount.”

And, we are not the first to see this. Man of old knew that the tabernacle was a replica.

The writer in Hebrews 8:2, knew it, “A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man.”

He knew that the things we do here simply follow suit. He asserted that the corporeal follows the spiritual.

See Hebrews 8:5, “Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith He, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount.”

Whether through dreams, or visions, or the powerful tool of imagination, the spiritual original has been recognized. More than similarity has been understood. Witness the two revelations.

Revelation 15:5, “And after that I looked, and, behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened.” And again, Revelation 21:1-3, “And I saw a new heaven and

a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down (to a new earth) from God out of (a new) heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of (the new) heaven saying, Behold, the (original) tabernacle of God is (finally) with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God.”

This last introduces a meatier concept of realization. Imagine for a moment that you are a time traveler. You have no whirling time machine to make your travels easy. You must get to your destination by a more laborious mode. You must mentally project a simulacrum across the void to sort of ‘hold your place’. Then must follow the process of realization. Let us say that you projected to an older version of your existence: your simulacrum stood upon an older earth, beneath an older sky. To make the transfer complete; to solidify and actually exist at your destination, you would have to make the older reality new.

But now, you really stand on a new earth, beneath a new sky - and you are no simulacrum: you are real.

We notice similarities, but we understand that one must lead and the other follow. We have transported ourselves to yet a higher zenith, and we realize that the lead similarity communicated to the other an instruction. In a dance, the lead is constantly communicating to the partner, and they appear to be in sync - they are similar. But how does that communication occur, and by what medium?

In the illustration of the dance, subtle pressures are exerted in anticipation of the required steps. There is nothing communicated so grossly as verbal instructions or counting aloud. Yet, merely by the pressures, instructions are passed mentally. We may say that the spirit of the dance is realized by communication through that partner with greater knowledge and experience. In like fashion, there is communication, or an avenue of instruction, between spirituality and corporeality.

See 1 Chronicles 28:12, “And the pattern of all that he had by the spirit, of the courts of the house of the Lord, and of all the chambers round about, of the treasuries of the house of God, and of the treasuries of the dedicated things.”

Returning to the process of realization, upon looking around, we now see it everywhere and in everything. It is a march from the lesser to the greater. It is the tumbling of a snowball down a hill.

The snowball gains mass and velocity. That we seekers are snowballs: we have our gains as well.

We realize. We see the process within the snowball. In schooling, the completion of grade one is the

realization, or attainment, of grade two. In life, learning to walk is a process whereby learning to run

is realized. I think all the things in our corporeal existence are a realization of something spiritual.

Hebrews 9:23 points to the spiritual by way of its corporeal simulacrum, “It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.”

And now it sometimes seems that the ‘becoming’ is not the driving force behind realization, but rather that the thing that ‘will be’ is the force that coordinates the process. Moses was not the impetus, merely the conduit of becoming. Moses’ dreams, visions, imaginations were real communications from the spiritual to the corporeal that were a part of an ongoing realization; a realization that later generations understood they were a part of still.

See Acts 7:44, “Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as He had appointed, speaking unto Moses, that he should make it according to the fashion that he had seen.”

The process of realization. Some call it perfection. The concept, as part of the process, found its way into the very language of the people. Like the realization it spoke of, the concept, too, underwent change, refinement, growth. That language is hope. It is the language of choice between ‘arriving’ and ‘arrived’. One does not, after all, go to the trouble and expense of legal training, not to mention the anxiety over the bar, unless one hopes to be an attorney. One does not go to all the effort and expense of learning to drive unless one hopes to operate a vehicle.

What is the hope in spiritual realization? To what end is man prepared to bend his efforts? All in all, what we do is a similarity. All in all, we are only following suit.

Read 2 Corinthians 7:1, “Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting (realizing) holiness in the fear of God.”

There are similarities. Our concrete corporeality mirrors spiritual reality. Still, we are sometimes confused. Still, we ask, ‘why?’.

We read a verse like Exodus 4:17, “Thou shalt take this rod in thine hand, wherewith thou shalt do signs,” and we ask, 'Why does God need some man with a stick to do signs?' Doesn’t that fly in the face of omnipotence? It was because of such issues that my mind was drawn far enough in to see that something more was going on.

God can, and has, performed great things with no seeming worldly parallels. Corporeal man has a limited view; all he ever sees is the man with a stick in his hand. To most, when Moses stretches out his hand over the Red Sea, it is only an action of Moses.

But take note of concomitance found in Exodus 6:6, “Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments.”

We have looked at a verse that indicates a corporeal action. We have looked at a separate

verse that indicates a spiritual action. Now, let us view a scripture reference that indicates the

interaction of the two.

View Exodus 7:5, 8, 9, 10, 14, 15, 17, 19 & 20, “And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch forth mine hand upon Egypt, and bring out the children of Israel from among them. And the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, When Pharaoh shall speak unto you, saying, Shew a miracle for you: then thou shalt say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and cast it before Pharaoh, and it shall become a serpent. And Moses and Aaron went in unto Pharaoh, and they did so as the Lord had commanded: and Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh, and before his servants, and it became a serpent. And the Lord said unto Moses, Pharaoh's heart is hardened, he refuseth to let the people go. Get thee unto Pharaoh in the morning; lo, he goeth out unto the water; and thou shalt stand by the river's brink against he come; and the rod which was turned to a serpent shalt thou take in thine hand. Thus saith the Lord, In this thou shalt know that I am the Lord: behold, I will smite with the rod that is in mine hand upon the waters which are in the river, and they shall be turned to blood. And the Lord spake unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and stretch out thine hand upon the waters of Egypt, upon their streams, upon their rivers, and upon their ponds, and upon all their pools of water, that they may become blood; and that there may be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood, and in vessels of stone. And Moses and Aaron did so, as the Lord commanded; and he lifted up the rod, and smote the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh, and in the sight of his servants; and all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood.”

So, now we’ve seen the similarity. We’ve seen the ‘spiritual/corporeal handshake’. Spiritual actions and corporeal actions work in unison. Some people will still only see the stick. They will see the action of the man but will argue that God was away off in heaven, clicking His fingers or twitching His nose. They will contend that if He was doing the doing of it, He could have done it without the stick-wielding human. Two conclusions come to the corporeal mind. One: God did not need man to be all powerful. Two: if God had to use man, He is not omnipotent.

Yet, that is not implied in the wording. The gist of the matter is that a spiritual action is causing something to occur in heaven while the concomitant corporeal action is causing something to occur on earth.

Examine Exodus 8:5, 6, 16 & 17, “And the Lord spake unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Stretch forth thine hand with thy rod over the streams, over the rivers, and over the ponds, AND CAUSE frogs to come up upon the land of Egypt. And Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt; and the frogs came up, and covered the land of Egypt. And the Lord said unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Stretch out thy rod, and smite the dust of the land, THAT it may become lice throughout all the land of Egypt. And they did so; for Aaron stretched out his hand with his rod, and smote the dust of the earth, and it became lice in man, and in beast; all the dust of the land became lice throughout all the land of Egypt.”

In a sense, it may be seen as a straight line between two points. Man lifts his hand toward heaven while God stretches His hand toward earth. The shortest distance between two points is a straight line. We may view this as a real connection whereby man is able to accomplish corporeality-affecting spiritual feats. It comes from God, but man performs it.

See Exodus 9:8, 9 & 22-24, “And the Lord said unto Moses and unto Aaron, Take to you handfuls of ashes of the furnace, and let Moses sprinkle it toward the heaven in the sight of Pharaoh. And it shall become small dust in all the land of Egypt, and shall be a boil breaking forth with blains upon man, and upon beast, throughout all the land of Egypt. And the Lord said unto Moses, Stretch forth thine hand toward heaven, THAT there may be hail in all the land of Egypt, upon man, and upon beast, and upon every herb of the field, throughout the land of Egypt. And Moses stretched forth his rod toward heaven: and the Lord sent thunder and hail, and the fire ran along upon the ground; and the Lord rained hail upon the land of Egypt. So there was hail, and fire mingled with the hail, very grievous, such as there was none like it in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation.”

See that connection again in Exodus 10:12, 13 & 21-23, “And the Lord said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, THAT they may come up upon the land of Egypt, and eat every herb of the land, even all that the hail hath left. And Moses stretched forth his rod over the land of Egypt, and the Lord brought an east wind upon the land all that day, and all that night; and when it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts. And the Lord said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt. And Moses stretched forth his hand toward heaven; and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days: They saw not one another, neither rose any from his place for three days: but all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings.”

We have examined spiritual power in man; that a man may affect things corporeal with the very might of God. Then again, that’s just what we say. That might convince no one, but, what if God expressed the same sentiment?

I think God does just that in Exodus 14:15-16, 21-22 & 26-27, “And the Lord said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me? speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward: But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, (use My power that is in you) and divide it: and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea. And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground: and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left. And the Lord said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen. And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to his strength when the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled against it; and the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea.”

The next reference shows us two things. One: that while it was God that showed him where the tree was, it was Moses that threw it in the water. Could God have sweetened the water without Moses? To answer that, let’s recall that man is the mirror image of God; that the corporeal is the mirror image of the spiritual. Let’s recall that the reflection reenacts every posture of reality. Having said that, we better realize that the ‘spiritual/corporeal handshake’ is a trans-interfacial equality of action. When it is said that the corporeal follows suit, it is meant that an interfacial communication has imparted the spiritual ability to reflect the spiritual within the corporeal. Two: the process of realization, or ‘becoming’, is indicated. As in the illustration of the time traveler, God is injecting His real presence into ours; a process that requires the continual remaking of our reality.

See Exodus 15:25-26, “And he cried unto the Lord; and the Lord shewed him a tree, which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet: there he made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them, And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in His sight, and wilt give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the Lord that healeth thee.”

We are studying the ‘spiritual/corporeal handshake’. Our reality, like a mirror, reflects those things that are real in heaven. Not only in our thoughts do we reflect the spiritual reality, but, in our words, in our actions, even in our fleshly presence, we reflect both actions and power that are spiritually extant. Our reality is a simulacrum of spiritual reality. Power exhibited on the corporeal plane is a simulacrum of real power extant on the spiritual plane. When Moses used the power of God on this plane, it was but a reflection, a shadow of something more substantial.

In consideration of the ‘rod of God’ that Moses wielded, how may it be viewed? In the next reference, we will see something more. For openers, we recognize that Moses did not hold the rod vertically as in the Hollywood movies. He lifted it toward heaven using both hands. In that regard, it is rather like the line of the horizon; a dividing line between heaven and earth. It is, also, emblematic of the interface: it may well have been the actual point of spiritual intrusion. Using our simple stone implement of comparative thought, what comes to mind is a door - a way for the interfacial communication of power to enter. But is that enough?

When the shuttle docks with the space station, two doors must be simultaneously opened to permit traffic. If Moses is holding up a rod, what is God holding toward the earth?

Here is Moses holding up the stick in Exodus 17:8-13, “Then came Amalek, and fought with Israel in Rephidim. And Moses said unto Joshua, Choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek: to morrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand. So Joshua did as Moses had said to him, and fought with Amalek: and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed: and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses' hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.”

In closing, I wish to call to mind my wild rants about trees being like mirrors. In doing so, I had embellished on the argument of ‘equal but opposite’. I had put forth, actually, that the ground was representative of the interface, and that the opposite ‘limbs’ and ‘roots’ were like the opposites of spiritual and corporeal. I had likened the trees of ‘life’ and ‘knowledge of good and evil’ to spiritual intrusions whereby God and Satan entered this plane. I hazarded that for the fruit to be on this plane, the roots must be on the other. Mentally, I pictured the trees as sort of hanging upside down from the sky. That image presented the limbs as skyward, and the roots invisible beyond the interface. Now my mind is making connections to Moses’ rod held horizontally aloft, or skyward. Just another wild thought, but, if Moses held what grew above the ground, did God hold a root? Did God’s reality, which was mirrored by Moses' reality, include something that grew above the sky?