The sword of the Spirit guards the Word of God that unveils the Name, communicating saving wisdom, worthy of trust: ”I AM’ is our God, ‘I AM’ is one” (Deut 6:4). The Holy SHEMA hears and bears witness to the SHEM or Name of glory the Word reveals. The Name is one and saints are one in the Name’s unveiling of the reign of glory. The Word of God cuts through dualistic perception to discover truth, supported by the Spirit, who steps back and turns round to behold glory in the midst. The Sword of the Spirit cuts off evasion and severs retrograde reversion, unveiling presence to awareness, glory to wisdom. The saving Name ‘I AM,’ points to God’s own intimate ‘I’ awareness, his wisdom, and ‘AM’ presence, his glory, restoring God’s energies of wisdom and glory to God, unveiling God in the midst. Elders are inextinguishable lamps in a dark place, for their light is timeless presence of glory made present in wisdom’s ever-present awareness. They know when to speak and when to remain silent, when to bear witness and when to abide in stillness, always unveiling the Name of graced communion in the realm of wisdom and glory. Saints who turn and see who sees do not cling to the shallows of opinion or get stuck in the narrows of doubt, but swing free on wings of trust, gratefully delighting in the glory of grace. They do not cling to marvels or obsess with miracles because they are not confined to name and form, whereas true mystery soars free of name and form, opening to ineffable wonder. The sword of the Spirit, cutting through name and form, penetrates through to the flame of the Name and the Spirit’s blazing wings.
Living presence is all at once both sudden and complete, jolting conventional seekers out of pious complacency into awakened personhood, utterly freed from elaborate explanations. The step back shows forth who it is the Name unveils, for it is not adepts who see something special, but God, in whom they turn and through whom they are seen. Wisdom is clear and thorough when self-centred awareness is released, liberating the heart from self-interested perception. Grace shatters obscurity like lightening, when the Name of truth is living way and the way is the very truth of life itself. The sword of the Spirit severs confusion as it defends communion, protecting union from division. Revealing the glory of the Holy Name, union never really dissipates because God never actually disintegrates. It is our recognition of union that dissipates when we are distracted and dispersed. The Name is a flowering flame that consumes distractions by liberating freedom from dissipation. Seeking the revelation of the Name only distances it, whereas abiding as witness to its revelation, wisdom communicates unmediated communion. The reign of glory is God’s treasure hidden in the midst and everything unveils its hidden function. The Name is the reign of glory revealed, the timeless Gospel Christ came to unveil.
Christ’s Eternal Gospel does not rely on time or temporal processes to be the timeless glory of God. The sword of the spirit severs timeless glory from the temporal impermanence of vainglorious parodies. Temporal development takes place in the temporal ages of times and seasons, whereas timeless glory is always ‘timely,’ always ‘on time,’ as it sees through time’s deferrals to timeless presence. The Spirit is always aware, always present, unceasingly opening heaven to earth by unveiling the hallowing Name. The Name is God’s meaning, its revelation our recognition, our recollection God’s glorification that hallows the saints. Glory beyond perception is the presence of glory at the heart of perception. It is not the words that reveal it but the Word that unveils it. Severing the Word from many words and the Spirit from literal expressions, the Name explodes, generating tears of boundless joy. Wisdom releases the words and embraces their meaning. The Name communicates what the Word is saying, revealing what the Spirit is unveiling with decisive clarity. If there were no sword, there would be no revelation of the Spirit; there would be no turning, no seeing, no hallowing and no return to the Father through the Son. The paternal source is everywhere, welcoming filial glory home, like a Father’s embrace after a long journey. The sword of the Spirit unveils the Name on all sides, like a mother’s love, serene and free at the heart of glory.