Gathering of Lights #15

2000-3-26 12:45:00

Chapter Fifteen - The Branch

We have already learned that Israel was scattered throughout the world. Then we quoted the prophecy of Moses telling us that they would be gathered together in the lands of their inheritance. Now we see that this does not pertain to a mere small area around Palestine, but to the whole world. We have just named numerous countries that are lands of inheritance for Israelites.

Among the twelve sons of Israel we find in the Bible that Joseph was the first to gather fellow Israelites out of the wilderness of Syria. He saved his brethren from the seven year famine and provided them with a place of refuge, food and raiment. Even so, near the end of the Piscean Age, America (the land of Joseph) was a gathering place for two major evolutionary events.

The first gathering was inspired by material aspiration and the second was motivated by spiritual aspiration.

The first was stimulated by the discovery of the new world. After the colonization of America got under way it began to be rumored abroad among the nations that the streets of the new world were "paved with gold." It was also said that this was a land where one could have a greater endowment of freedom. Thus the powerful magnetic attraction of gold and freedom went forth as an "ensign to the nations."

These two calls attracted people who desired to improve themselves financially as well as the attainment of freedom of thought and action.

Those who were fearful, too attached, or just satisfied with the status quo stayed behind, whereas the more courageous and aspiring souls were gathered out from the nations and formed the nucleus of a great evolutionary step in human freedom and evolution.

The second gathering was of a more spiritual nature. This was again largely concentrated in the new world, but had its branches throughout the world.

The early Mormons sounded the tone by declaring a belief in the "literal gathering of Israel." They thus sent forth the keynote abroad that revelation has not ceased and that God speaks in the present as much as He did in the past.

During the eighteenth century numerous religions sounded other needed notes. Christian Science stressed a combination of mind and faith with healing, This movement lead to many branches. Then in the eastern Hemisphere we had the Bahai's, as mentioned earlier, and back in the United States we had the grand finale of Theosophy. These and other movements sounded new spiritual notes that gathered lights together in various ways.

This event is prophetically depicted in the eleventh chapter of Isaiah: "And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots." Isaiah 11:1

Here we have four entities mentioned: the "rod", the "stem", the "roots" and the "Branch". The Stem obviously refers to Christ, for Jesse was the father of David and Jesus was often referred to as the "son of David". The group interpretation would refer to the Christian Church as a whole. The Rod (literally "twig) refers to the prophet Bahaullah and the Bahai group. Bahaullah was claimed to be a manifestation succeeding the Christ, or a rod growing from the stem.

The root refers to servants representing the Father aspect and would include Joseph Smith and the foundations he laid for the kingdom of God and the Branch refers to a servant and a group that will bring the Kingdom to fruition. Obviously the Branch is that which finally bears the fruit.

We find in Zechariah that the Branch will consist of nine servants who are overshadowed by the Christ. There are two names mentioned which are symbols of Christ. One is Joshua, the high priest. (Joshua is the Hebrew for Jesus.) The other is Zerubbabel.

"Hear now, O Joshua the high Priest, thou, and thy fellows that sit before thee: for they are men of wonder: for the stone that I have laid before Joshua; upon one stone SHALL BE SEVEN EYES: behold, I will engrave the engraving thereof, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day. In that day, saith the Lord of hosts, shall ye call every man his neighbor under the vine and under the fig tree." Zechariah 3:8-10

Joshua here is Jesus, the stone is the Christ that was manifested within him and the seven eyes are seven servants who will be overshadowed by the Spirit, power, and wisdom of Christ. These partly constitute the total servant, the Branch, and the entity known as the Christ will use them periodically as extensions of himself. They will be "men (or women) of wonder" who will remove the iniquity out of the land. This will not be done by the establishment of a moral majority, but by establishing the kingdom of God as an Ensign to the nations.

The Christ is mentioned again as Zerubbabel in the next chapter: "For who hath despised the day of small things? For they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel (The Christ) with those seven; THEY ARE THE EYES OF THE LORD, which run to and fro through the whole earth." Zechariah 4:10

Again we have the seven mentioned. They are called the "eyes of the Lord" because they are overshadowed by Him or an associated Master, and are used as an extension of His life force and He can actually use their eyes as a "window" to the world to perform His work.

In the next verse we read about the two final entities who make up the BRANCH. To understand the symbolism read the first part of the chapter where is seen a vision: "... behold a candlestick all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and his seven lamps thereon, and seven pipes to the seven lamps, which are upon the top thereof: And two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl, and the other upon thereof."
Zechariah 4:2-3

The bowl here is a symbol of the Christ, the candlestick is the Father and the seven golden lamps are seven disciples who have been tried as gold. The seven pipes are the seven magnetic threads that link the consciousness of Christ with the seven disciples.

The scripture then continues: "Then answered I, and said unto him, What are these two olive trees upon the right side of the candlestick and upon the left side thereof? And I answered again, and said unto him, What be these two olive branches which through the two golden pipes empty the golden oil out of themselves? And he answered me and said, Knowest thou not what these be? And I said, No, my lord. Then said he, These are the two anointed ones, that stand by the LORD of the whole earth." Zechariah 4:11-14

Not only are the seven disciples fed spiritual force by the Christ, but also by two branches from the olive trees. The two olive trees and the golden bowl symbolize the three aspects of the godhead: The Father, Son and Holy Ghost. The first olive branch is a disciple representing the power of the Father, similar to Moses. The bowl is the Christ feeding the disciples directly and the second olive branch is a companion disciple to the first, but he represents the aspect of the Holy Ghost, or the aspect of active intelligence. This is a correspondence to Aaron, the Spokesman for Moses. The seven disciples, plus the two olive branches equal nine entities in the BRANCH, the number of initiation. The seven disciples also correspond to the seven rays; and one of them plus the "one like Moses" will be on Ray One having direct contact with Shamballa energy and working toward the coming of the Ancient of Days as prophesied by Daniel, as well as the coming of the Christ.

Some are of the mistaken belief that the Ancient of Days will incarnate in the coming age, but such is not the plan until the majority of mankind reaches a near perfect state of being, which is millions of years hence. The Ancient One will fulfill this prophesy in the coming age through the overshadowing of Christ and the Christ through other disciples. There may also be special occasions where he is seen in vision.

If we add to the number nine the highest on this earth who represent the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, we then have a BRANCH with the number of twelve, the number of the tribes of Israel.

We have a repeat mentioning of the seven disciples in the New Testament. John wrote: "And in the midst of the Elders stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God SENT FORTH INTO ALL THE EARTH." Revelation 5:6

Micah also mentions these seven: "But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth that is to be ruler in Israel (Christ); whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting. (He has had the experience of many lifetimes.) .... And this man shall be the peace, when the Assyrian shall come into our land: and when he shall tread in our palaces, then we shall raise against him SEVEN SHEPHERDS, and eight principle men." (the seven plus Christ) Micah 5:2&5

The "seven shepherds" are again the seven disciples and they shall hold back the power of antichrist forces from preventing the materialization of the New Age. Jesus said that others would do greater things than he had done and in the near future we will see this accomplished with his assistance..

The two olive branches are also mentioned in the book of Revelation. They are commonly called the two witnesses:

" 3And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth. 4These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth. 5And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed."

"6These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will. 7And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them. 8And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. 9And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves. 10And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth."

"11And after three days and an half the spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them. 12And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them. 13And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven." Revelation 11:3-13

This scripture has several interpretations which are true correspondences, but at this time we will deal with its physical externalization which has been discounted by many. On the other hand, many there are who have claimed to be the fulfillment of this prophecy. Most notably the Bahai's believe the Bab and Bahaullah to be the two servants. Many other lesser men have also been put in that comparison. The Bab and Bahaullah did not work together and did not die together nor were their dead bodies seen by all the world. The correspondences do not match here and to make them do so one would have to do some good astral spiritualization of meaning.

On the other hand Mormonism and the Bahai movements themselves are much better correspondences to the two prophets if one were to do some logical spiritualizing of meaning. They both prophesied to the world and were hated by the power of the Antichrist, and both have been slain of their effective life. Their dead bodies are still lying in the streets of the Sodoms and Egypts for all the world to see and rejoice over the fact that they no longer disturb the status quo of their times. Yet the truth they stood for will be resurrected and recognized by the world..

It should be obvious that the more literal physical fulfillment of this prophecy has not yet transpired. For one thing, until recently it has not been possible for "they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations" [Revelation 11:9] to view their dead bodies lying on the streets in an instantaneous manner. This could only be done by television through satellite hookups.

After these two servants have finished their work it will be found that the correspondences are accurate, but fulfillment will not be exactly as the average reader will expect. Although it is possible that they could turn water into blood, for instance, a more probable fulfillment may be on a more astral level. Water is a symbol of the emotions, which truth always greatly disturbs and often turns into blood, a symbol of anger and violence. "The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence". Matthew 11:12

The fire coming out of their mouths could be the fire of the Spirit of Truth which slays the beast of error.

Exactly how close the prophecy comes to a literal fulfillment depends on the freewill of men and circumstances that freewill will bring about. The prophecy of Jonah was meant to teach that freewill can always control events. The following prophecy of the first coming of Christ was not fulfilled the way many expected (or was it?): "He shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand." Isaiah 53:10

A prophecy which is believed creates a thoughtform; the power of thought and feeling and its fulfillment is often more predicated on the shape of the thought than on the original will of God. A prophecy can be made to be fulfilled, which, if not uttered, would have not seen a corresponding event. Words can actually create events. It is possible that Jesus chose Judas knowing that he would betray him, "that the scripture may be fulfilled". John 13:18 If the scripture had not been written it is possible that the Christ would have had no need to pick a Judas. However, he had studied the scriptures and was aware of the prophecies concerning the Christ and wanted to strengthen the power of his mission by fulfilling all of them so that the faith of the people would be strengthened.

We are told the two witnesses are to prophesy for 1,260 days. We again have this number which is a symbol of the apostasy. This equals three and one half years or periods of time. In the same chapter we see that the outer court of the temple is trampled under foot for "forty-two months". This again equals three and one half years or periods. Finally, we are told that the bodies of the prophets would lie dead in the streets for three and one half days. Again we have the corresponding period of three and one half.

These may or may not have literal fulfillment in days, months, or years, but will have correspondences in periods of time.

We may use the Mormon Church as a correspondence. It prophesied to the world through the administrations of three and one half prophets and half way through the forth administration they were overcome by the Antichrist forces. Now for three and one half generations all that will be left is the dead body without the spirit of revelation. Then the time may come that a remnant of the church will stand on its feet again and show the world the way to higher consciousness.

Apparently, any correspondence to these prophets will be hated by the world, for the people will rejoice over their deaths and even send gifts to one another. Their message will be backed up by a certain power over the elements which people will think comes from the devil.

Their dead bodies will "lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified." Revelation 11:8 The majority of Christians believe that this refers to Jerusalem because the Lord was crucified there, but this is not necessarily the case. We are told that the city where the two prophets will lay will "spiritually" signify Sodom, Egypt, and where the Lord was crucified. The Sodom referred to is from the days of Lot, and Egypt from the days of Moses, and Jerusalem from the days of Jesus signifying three of the most corrupt peoples in history. If the two prophets were to lie in the streets of Jerusalem as the world expects, the people may be somewhat hesitant in rejoicing at their death. On the other hand, if they were to lie in the streets of Salt Lake City (which has its own Dead Sea) or another similar city few would make the connection. Whatever city it is, it will suffer corruption as did Sodom, will hold people in spiritual bondage through strong authority as did Egypt, and would reject our Lord if he were to make a visit, as did Jerusalem.