Editor's note: This is the second in a series of three articles appearing monthly. The topic for this series grew out of Mr. Thorneloe's three-year experience as Circuit Lecturer for The Mother Church. In that capacity he traveled widely in North America, Great Britain, and Ireland and spent time living in the towns and cities where he lectured, getting to know the heart of those communities. In the process, Mr. Thorneloe discovered that many people today are actively searching for spiritual solutions to society's problems—searching, one might say, for the "promised land." Last month's article explored the spiritual meaning of the Promised Land; this month we look at how we as individuals can experience God's promise in our lives; and next month we'll hear how communities are being blessed by this vision of spiritual reality. Many of the observations shared in this series are also shared in Mr. Thorneloe's current lectures as a member of The Christian Science Board of Lectureship.
In the first article in this series, we saw that the promised land—the kingdom of God, that beautiful reign of peace, harmony, and joy—is available to every searching heart. But is our vision of this reality simply a euphoric feeling, or is it a practical power that brings healing? Can each one of us experience the blessings of God's love for us wherever we may be?
In Isaiah we read, "Behold, I [God] create new heavens and a new earth." Isa. 65:17. And in the book of Revelation, John speaks of "a new heaven and a new earth." Rev. 21:1.
"Through what sense came this vision to St. John?" asks Mrs. Eddy in Science and Health. "Not through the material visual organs for seeing," she answers, "for optics are inadequate to take in so wonderful a scene." Science and Health, p. 572. She makes it clear that this joyous view of God's perfect creation can only be seen through spiritual sense. This does not make it ephemeral—it makes it immensely practical as each one of us sets out to prove the truth of creation in his or her individual experience.
The Revelator also writes of "new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven." Rev. 21:2. This city is described in different places in the Bible. One of the psalms refers to it this way: "Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King." Ps. 48:2. And in Hebrews we read of "a city which hath foundations." Heb. 11:10. While these descriptions are all metaphoric, they have a practical message, for to understand the spiritual perfection of God's creation enables us to overcome any material difficulties we face.
There are many instances in the Bible of people demonstrating God's reign of harmony. Let us take two very different examples, one from the Old Testament and one from the New.
In Nehemiah we read of the broken-down condition of Jerusalem, particularly of its walls and gates. See Neh., chaps. 1–7 . What follows is not just an inspiring historical account of an individual who carried out a vital reconstruction program in Jerusalem. It is also an example of how to deal with the reconstruction of our lives, our businesses, our relationships, even our sense of health and wholeness. Let us see why.
Nehemiah heard of the devastated condition of Jerusalem and wanted to help. The basis for what he then decided to do was prayer. "I ... prayed before the God of heaven." In fact, as you read the whole story in the Bible, you see that prayer was what opened the door to each step of progress. When Nehemiah reached Jerusalem, the people who lived there were hardly rapturous in their welcome! They didn't want to be disturbed and had a very limited view of the possibilities for progress.
The truth of being is true. We don't have to make it so. It is so already—and always. The promised land is always a present reality.
Through prayer, Nehemiah was able to encourage the people to see something better and to move forward. They began to build, "for the people had a mind to work." When their opponents saw this fresh reconstruction going ahead, they planned to attack to stop the work. For all of us today, this can indicate anything that would oppose the spiritual reconstruction that needs to go on in our lives. In Nehemiah's case, the opposition did not succeed, because, as the account tells us, "we made our prayer unto our God, and set a watch against them day and night, because of them." Even as they built the walls and repaired the gates, they protected their work. Each builder kept a sword girded by his side, and each laborer held a weapon in one hand. Hatred and bitterness were proved powerless to prevent the demonstration of God's reign of harmony.
When direct attack failed because of the watchfulness of Nehemiah and his workers, a more subtle approach was tried. That which would oppose spiritual growth and progress in our lives—symbolized in Nehemiah's experience by Sanballat and Tobiah and Geshem the Arabian—tempted Nehemiah to come down from the wall to the plain of Ono to talk with his opponents. Nehemiah refused, saying, "I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down." Then a letter was sent attempting to undermine the work being done by telling lies, but Nehemiah said, "There are no such things done as thou sayest." Also, a man who urged Nehemiah to meet him in the church, with the inducement that it would be safer there, turned out to have been hired by those intent on interrupting the rebuilding. Even this deceptive suggestion could not deflect Nehemiah from his mission.
Nothing could prevent Nehemiah from following God's guidance. He must have recognized the spiritual nature of his mission. You might say his commitment was to New Jerusalem. Giving the spiritual sense of this term, Mrs. Eddy describes it, in part, as "the spiritual facts and harmony of the universe." Science and Health, p. 592. The presence of this divine reality of being coincided with Nehemiah's mission, and it coincides with ours. There are not two "cities" in which we dwell, the one spiritual and the other a material structure. There is only one—entirely spiritual, permanent, and perfect. To accept this is to see God-directed activity finished successfully, as did Nehemiah. Nehemiah is a wonderful example of how one individual can, on the basis of spiritual vision, find the protective power of God right where he is—blessing others as well as himself.
The greatest exponent of how to prove the presence of spiritual reality is Christ Jesus. He was once in a town called Bethsaida. See Mark 8:22–25 . A blind man was brought to him for healing. We are told that Jesus "took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town." What is the significance of that simple statement? Where did the man think he lived? In the material body, subject to its so-called laws, dependent on matter for sight. The Christ, the power of divine Love in action which Jesus lived, led the man away from that limited concept. It lifted him to see something of spiritual reality, of the promised land. This began to be evidenced in healing. When Jesus asked the man if he saw anything, he said that men looked like trees walking.
Again, Jesus must have realized that spiritual power lifts us all to see spiritual reality here and now. "He put his hands again upon his eyes, and made him look up," we read. Made him—the power of the Christ is irresistible. Look up—look beyond any limited concept of creation. And the outcome? He "saw every man clearly." The man didn't have two identities, one spiritual and perfect, and the other material and handicapped. There was only one, and that one the image of God. When this fact was recognized, the limited picture, the mask, fell away, revealing the presence of good, the "promised land," right there, right then.
Mary Baker Eddy is the one who discovered the Science of this spiritual reality. She speaks in one place of "the land of Christian Science." Science and Health, pp. 226–227. It is a land in which we can prove the absolute spiritual perfection of man through healing. She found it in the truths of the Holy Bible and shared it with humanity through the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. "As adherents of Truth, we take the inspired Word of the Bible as our sufficient guide to eternal Life," Ibid., p. 497. she writes as the very first tenet of Christian Science.
Mrs. Eddy followed in detail the example of our Master, who said, "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." John 8:32. And Mrs. Eddy taught that we can only answer the age-old question "what is Truth?" by demonstration, by proving Truth to be true. In doing so, however, we can remember that the truth of being is true. We don't have to make it so. It is so already—and always. The promised land is always a present reality.
I had a beautiful reminder of this recently. I was in a supermarket with my son-in-law and grandson, walking ahead with the child. My son-in-law could see me across the top of a stack of goods, but couldn't see his little son. He called to ask if the child was with me. When I said yes, you could see how immediately the father's face relaxed into a smile. As he knew the truth of the situation, his concern disappeared. As we know the truth, we do not have to attempt to apply that truth to change anything. What's true is true—and that's it! The lie, the fear, the discord, the pain, the loneliness, melt into nothingness as we realize the truth.
God is Truth itself. Think about that capital T. As we come to understand God, the reign of Truth destroys whatever is untrue in our lives.
A little while ago I was on a building site with a group of other people. I was carrying a little girl to help her over some rough, stony ground. On a steep incline I lost my balance. As I fell, I twisted sideways so that the girl's face wouldn't hit the ground. She was fine, but my knee was badly injured in the fall. You could see that bones in my knee joint were out of place. The kneecap was no longer in evidence. It was impossible to put my foot to the ground.
Was it possible that prayer, embracing a recognition of the spiritual perfection of man as God's reflection, could heal such a situation? Having seen all types of problems healed in Christian Science, I naturally turned wholeheartedly to God, divine Love, for help. My prayer included an acknowledgment of the fact that accidents are not known to immortal Mind, as Mrs. Eddy says in Science and Health. See Science and Health, p. 424 . This was not ignoring the situation but seeing through the mortal picture to the present fact of man's spiritual nature as the upright, unfallen offspring of God.
Things were very difficult during the first night. I got little sleep. During the next day, it was necessary to hold firmly to the fact that God was present and to know that His reign of harmony was inviolable. God's law is constantly in operation. As I went to bed that second night, about thirty hours after the incident, I continued to pray, dwelling on the Lord's Prayer, with its spiritual interpretation as given to us in Science and Health. As I did so, I felt the bones moving back into place in my knee. Resisting the temptation to look to material sense for evidence of progress, I continued to give gratitude to God for the presence of all good there and then.
After a good night's sleep, I found that as I showered and then dried myself, all was well. The kneecap was back in place. There has been no trouble with the knee since that healing.
If we define the promised land as the present consciousness of good, then it is something we can all claim and accept, together with the inevitable fruitage, or outward evidence, of that spiritual understanding in our lives. Everyone can experience it.
