Glorification

By Nathaniel Dandridge Pendleton
1941

Part I
The Ancient Truth

II. THE FIRST AND THE LAST

"I am the First, and I am the Last: yea, my hand hath founded the earth, and my right hand hath spanned the heavens. I call them together; they stand together." (Isaiah 48: 12, 13.)

The doctrine of the text is that the first, by lasts, builds intermediates and holds them in form, connection, and order; that the Lord above the heavens, by means of the church on earth, establishes angelic societies in mutual connection and in celestial ordination; that the inmost Divine by means of the letter of the Word, orders and evolves the spiritual sense thereof in a heavenly series; that the Supreme Father, by the glorifying Human in the world, overcame the hells, reordered the heavens, and thereby effected an enduring redemption of the human race.

These wide-reaching operations are all signified by the text, in which the Lord speaks of Himself as the First and the Last, and of His two hands, by one of which He founded the earth, and by the other spanned the heavens. Thus, by the one with the other, all things were made and sustained from within and from without, from the First by the Last. Hence the teaching of the Writings that two only are given which signify all, namely, the "First" and the "Last" - the highest and the lowest, the inmost and the outmost. The highest or inmost signifies the whole, because all sequents are derived therefrom. The outmost also signifies all, because it is the ultimate containant which receives and encloses the entire series from the First. Upon the order and perfection of this outward investing bond depends the integrity and the working power of the entire series. Moreover, the fullness and perfection of the ultimate depends upon two conditions: First, that as a containant it should be competent to present in itself a full representation of the higher grades which enter into it. And second, that there should be an unbroken connection between the several grades, to the end that the series may close in the ultimate and there be contained in a simultaneous order; that is to say, the ultimate should hold within itself an impress receptive of the total series in order, and this from the center to the circumference. Such a representation is required of the ultimate; otherwise there would be no adequate reaction, and the series descending would not be effectively contained and enclosed.

If the descending and the reactive series be regarded as comprising the total of creation, then the Lord Himself is seen as the Highest and the Inmost. If creation be conceived of as in the perfection of its order, as it was in the beginning before any degree was impaired, then not only would the connection and order from above be entire, but also a full representation of the First in the Last would be given, just this was the case in the beginning when the Lord saw that His creative acts, one following after the other, were "good." The Lord was then present in His creation by a full representation of Himself therein. When, however, sin entered the world, the pristine sequence was broken, and the representation of the Lord in ultimates was so impaired that the integrity of the whole was threatened. A restoral became imperative. This could be effected only by the advent of the Lord in the flesh. Provision was first made for this by a representation of His coming, namely, by a prophetic forecast of it. By this means the Lord became as if present in the world, that is, in the minds of the angels, and, by anticipation of the event, in the minds of men. Yet it was only by His actual coming as a Man born of woman that He could in ultimate fact become incarnate, and so enter the world; and it was only by the glorification of the Human thus put on that the evil of sin could be overcome and the break in the create series be for all time healed. After His coming in the flesh there was indeed a full presence of the Divine in ultimates, but this only in the Lord's Person as a Man. Not as yet was the ordered sequence in men restored. This called for time - perhaps ages.

While in the beginning the Lord was fully present in creation as the First in the Last, and this by a perfect representation thereof in the ultimates of creation, yet, by His assumption of the flesh He entered the world by a new way, and so became the Last in the perfection of His ultimate Human, wherein He restored the primal order of creation, in Himself; but this did not carry with it an elimination of evil with men or their individual salvation. Fallen man could not have sustained, in any degree of human freedom, such an overpowering miracle. Yet that which the Lord accomplished in Himself as a Man - even this became a full and perfect counterpoise to evil in men, whereby a restoral of equilibrium was brought about. Men thereby became free, as of themselves, to shun the evils which had so long prevailed, and at the end, overpoweringly. That which the Lord did in and with Himself, as a Man, - even this became man's redemption, a word which signifies an enablement of man to overcome his evils, in the Lord's name, if the man so willed. The Lord's accomplishment in Himself, through the temptations which He sustained, gave, therefore, a new and a more personal significance to the ancient saying, "I am the First, and I am the Last."

Truly He was from the beginning the First and the Last, but He was now become the Last in an additional way, namely, by the way of Man borne becoming God, and yet retaining His Manhood. He therefore took to Himself and retained a power not before exercised, by the Divine, - a power unique and more ultimate, which enabled men, by a direct approach to Him, to receive from Him the needed power against evil. This approach, in its directness, was represented in the fact that when He was on earth men could stand before Him and speak with Him face to face, and no longer as formerly, through Moses and the prophets only; nor yet through heaven as the sole medium. This new communication by direct approach distinguished Christianity from every other religion.

Even so, this immediate touch with the Lord, after a brief period, began to fail. Through an error of doctrine, men began to turn aside from Him and look to the Father as the supreme source of their salvation. Thus they began to pass by their Lord. Indeed, the race was so far fallen that it could not at once be raised to a full realization of its surpassing opportunity. This being foreseen, the full truth concerning the entirety and immediacy of the Divine presence in the Lord was not openly revealed at that time. The truth was blocked by a theological division in the Godhead. Therefore the Lord must of need make a second coming. When He was in the world He indeed glorified the Human assumed by birth; but only by His Second Coming did He reveal Himself as the Word of Scripture so glorified that it made manifest His Supreme and Sole Divinity. To understand this distinction between His first and second coming is of surpassing importance, for its fulfillment is now at hand.

To say that in the beginning the Lord was the First and the Last, and that creation was as if interposed between Him as the First and as the Last - this, in spacial imagery, may seem to mark a division in the Godhead; but, even as the thought of three persons must not be entertained, so neither must a divided image of Him into two be impressed upon the mind. The text guards against this. By it He is seen as the one God with two hands, with one of which He founded the earth, and by the other He spanned the heavens. Herein also He appears as God in Human Form. He appeared in that form from the beginning, for not otherwise could the angels see Him. It was with both hands that He wrought creation; with the one from firsts, and with the other by lasts. And then both parts of His dual creation He "called together," so that they "stand together."

The hand is significant of power, and the hand of the Lord is His omnipotence. By this power He founded the earth as the ultimate of His creation, and over against this He spanned the heavens. By the ultimate is meant the lowest in any series, - as the world, the letter of Scripture, the body of man, the church in the world, and the Human assumed. All these were established by the Lord as an enclosure which holds the totality of each series. From the enclosure, by reaction, a return was given. This return follows up and embodies from below the line of primal descent. In creation the planes of the heavens were demarked as the creative process descended; yet the earth was founded before a heaven of angels could be given. So also the church on earth was established as the living basis of supply for the human heavens. The body of man must come into existence before his mind can be formed. The mind is a joint composition. The Human of the Lord was born into the world before it could be glorified.

Man at birth is composed of body and soul. The mind, as intermediate, is later developed. The mind coincides with the angelic heaven. The mind is slowly formed as an intermediate between soul and body by living experiences in the world, as the conscious life of the individual develops. But the power which forms the mind is an influx from the Lord through the soul, against which the bodily senses of man react. The law, in this respect, is that the inmost, by the outmost, upbuilds the intermediate. When this is accomplished, they stand together. In other words, after intermediates are formed by reaction, an inseparable joining of the whole is effected, and this by the first from the last, through the ascending intermediates. Herein it is that immortality is conferred upon the human form, in which the soul is the supreme, the body the ultimate, and the mind the upbuilt reactive intermediate.

In like manner, through the human race as a whole, everlasting durability is provided for creation. Above and as central to this creation stands the spiritual sun, from which, as first in time, the natural sun and its earth were derived. The intermediate subsequently raised from men on earth is the angelic heaven.

It is the same with reference to the letter of the Word and its intermediating spiritual sense. The First and Inmost of the Word is the Divine. Its ultimate is the letter of Scripture. Its spiritual interiors are the internal sense, which, to the apperception of men and angels, is updrawn out of the letter of Scripture. This internal sense coordinates with the rational mind of man; and this mind, with the regenerate, concords with the angelic heavens. While the internal sense, in itself considered, descends from the Lord into the letter, yet, as seen by men and angels, it ascends out of the letter. Therefore the angels possess a letter of the Word, suited to their state; yet they rest in the bond of the letter as it is in the world - as it is with men there. To this end the letter of the Word is given in a fixed and permanent form with men.

Moreover, in order that the letter of the Word might find the lowest possible ultimation, it was given on this earth as a special gift to the men of this world, who, more than the inhabitants of other earths, were and are corporeal. It was for this reason also that the Lord was born on this earth, and not on another, for here the lowest reach of His Human could be provided. It is doubtless because of this that we have in the Writings the strange record that the Lord loved the men of this earth more than others (S. D. 1531.). On our part, we can clearly see that the men of this earth stood in greatest need of His love. We may also understand that He gives His love most intimately and insistently where there is greatest need of it.

It is obvious, also, that the giving of the letter of Scripture, and the consequent advent of Man in the flesh, were impelling sequents; that is, the one followed the other, even as the fulfillment followed its promise. This promise is the soul of every prophecy given, from the beginning to the end; - the final and complete answer to which was His coming in the flesh on this earth, and not on another. Both the promise and the fulfillment of His advent were a manifestation of the Divine reaching down into touch with the lowest and most bodily men of all worlds, that He might take to Himself the ultimate of all power.

The Divine descending and forming for Itself a letter of Scripture in this world was for a like reason, namely, that the Divine sought for itself the greatest possible ultimation. Hence letters were provided, in order that the most ancient Word might be inscribed. This and every subsequent Word were so written that, like the Urim, made of stone, they would serve as a means for gathering the rays of Divine Light and reflecting them in answering response to the inquiries of men even as the earth-formed stones of the Urim became translucent when questioned. just so the letter of Scripture was so ordered that its words and sentences, in their sacred series, gave forth answering lights to all receptive minds. To this end the words and sentences of Scripture were formed into correspondences with the order and series of the angelic societies. Thereby the written Word became a medium of communion between men and angels, and, in the highest degree, with the Lord Himself.

This Scripture, Urim, successively formed through the several ancient ages, served as a preliminary Human of God on earth. It lacked, however, the finality of the living ultimate of man. The Word as Scripture, however, served until the Man came, and thereafter the former Scripture continued to serve, but with a new intent and purpose. It was then uplifted in confirmation of the actual advent. By His coming, the Lord Himself in Person became the Light of the world. By His glorification He became also the Light of heaven, in that He ascended through the heavens and into the spiritual sun, which thereafter shone with sevenfold radiance. That sun, in its ultimate, is now the Divine Urim, from whence comes the light of heaven to enlighten the angels - even from that sun where and whence finition begins; even there where the Divine Light is first flexed to reception by finite minds.

We may understand that herein there came to pass an increase in the matter of angelic reception, namely, after the Lord's glorification and ascension. Truly, reception of the Light by the angels then increased; but this was not primarily the result of an angelic change of state. The change in the angels arose from a change in the Lord's address to them, that is, from the added accommodation which the Lord took to Himself when He descended into the world and glorified His Human. This resulted in a greater enablement and further extension of His love both with angels and men. And it was this enablement and extension which discovered itself in fullness by His Second Advent, on which occasion the Lord revealed His glory in the clouds of heaven as never before. This means that the power of the spiritual sun, provided at the time of the Lord's First Advent, became effective in the world through and by means of His Second Coming.