Isaiah 26:20

"Come, my people, enter your chambers, and shut your doors behind you; hide yourselves for a little while until the wrath is past" (Isaiah 26:20).

Comment:

There are always, in Unity understanding, three levels at which the Bible speaks to us. First, it is a history of human events. Isaiah is writing in a time of conflict and defeat, assuring people that the Lord will surely deliver them; the threat he describes at this level is very imminent. At the second level, offering a moral teaching, your interpretation is certainly as valid as anyone's. The important message at this level is that we are to remove ourselves from the raging battles and maintain our faith.

The third level is the metaphysical level at which the Bible is describing elements of our own consciousness, and a process of replacing fear with love to create a new dimension of spiritual expressing, which Jesus describes as the kingdom of heaven. Here the message is for each of us individually: the chambers are that place within us where we know our Oneness with the Divine; doors often represent our five senses—the means by which the challenges and illusions of our mortal life enter into consciousness. We are advised to center ourselves for a while and close out fear-based thoughts, instead of empowering those fears by trying to fight them. If we stay centered within, the fear will pass. "Let them (those fear-based thoughts) make peace with me," we are told at 27:5. There is no need for conflict once we can center ourselves in the spiritual Presence that is who we truly are.

Blessings!

Rev. Ed