“Who
shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? And who shall
stand in his holy place?” (Ps. 24:3).
“And I saw, and behold, the Lamb
standing on the mount Zion, and with him a hundred and
forty and four thousand, having his name, and the name of
his Father, written on their foreheads. And I heard a
voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as
the voice of a great thunder: and the voice which I heard
was as the voice of harpers harping with their harps: and
they sing as it were a new song before the throne, and
before the four living creatures and the elders: and no
man could learn the song save the hundred and forty and
four thousand, even they that had been purchased out of
the earth. These are they that were not defiled with
women; for they are virgins. These are they that follow
the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were purchased
from among men, to be the firstfruits unto God and unto
the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no lie: they are
without blemish” (Rev. 14:1-5).
The Question Answered
You
will, I think, recognize that these two passages
constitute question and answer. “Who shall ascend
into the hill of the Lord? Who shall stand in his holy
place?” The answer — “I saw the Lamb
standing on the mount Zion, and with him a hundred and
forty and four thousand.” The beginning and the end;
the anticipation, the realization; the question, the
answer.
In the
Psalms, as you know, we have a context which very closely
corresponds to what is in the fourteenth chapter of the
Revelation. Psalm 22 portrays the Good Shepherd giving
His life for the sheep: “My God, my God, why hast
thou forsaken me?” — words which, as we know,
were later wrung from the Saviour’s lips as He hung
upon the tree (Mark 15:34). The answer to that Why? is in
Revelation 14. Then in Psalm 23 we see Him as the Great
Shepherd in resurrection, and again there is the
answering voice from the New Testament — “The
God of peace brought again from the dead the great
shepherd of the sheep with the blood of an eternal
covenant” (Heb. 13:20). In Psalm 24 He is the Chief
Shepherd; and again the answering voice — “When
the chief shepherd shall be manifested, ye shall receive
the crown of glory” (1 Peter 5:4). There is the
whole story, the story of the Cross, the story of the
sheep and the Shepherd. Although the metaphor does change
in Rev. 14 and it is the Lamb Who is referred to and not
the Shepherd, nevertheless the flock idea is preserved
and He is found in that identification with the rest
— the Lamb, and with Him a hundred and forty-four
thousand. So you see that in this first meditation we are
really stepping right over to the end, and it is the end
that we are going to contemplate now in a few simple
statements.
A Company in Oneness With the Son
on Mount Zion
What
is the end? Well, so far as God’s determination is
concerned, it is that there shall be at least a company
which has been brought into the utmost oneness with His
Son. “THESE are they that follow the Lamb WHITHERSOEVER
he goeth,” and in their nature and character and
fellowship, oneness is complete. I think that,
superficially, is what is represented by the Lamb on
mount Zion. It is not the whole story, it does not cover
the whole ground of redemption. As you notice in the
context, there will be others brought out of the great
vintage. But these are a “firstfruits unto
God,” and they seem to me to say quite definitely
that God will have a company which answers to His Son in
fullness. That is the end, and everything else will be
bound up with that and will hang upon that. All creation
is now fixed upon this company. It is the heart of
things.
Why?
For what purpose? That is not the object of our present
consideration, but how much is bound up with that! It is
a focal point, it is the heart of things, it is that
which brings God His first complete satisfaction in His
people. The very phrase “firstfruits UNTO GOD”
is significant. It is not my interest or concern to
speak about firstfruits at this time, but what this
represents for the heart of God does concern us
pre-eminently, and the picture in itself is very
forceful.
You
know quite well that in every realm of cultivation where
the husbandman has laboured and had long patience, day by
day as the time draws near he moves about eagerly looking
for the first signs of an answer to his labours, his
toils, his longings, his waitings, his anxieties. The day
comes when he has enough to assure him that it has not
been in vain. He gathers it as a token of what is yet to
be. He finds his heart satisfaction in the first place in
that first gathering, the firstfruits. I think that is
just what this means, that God gets His first
satisfaction in that which is here brought before us. All
that that means requires more time than we can give to it
at the moment. But that is the one great hour towards
which everything is moving, and a great hour it will
indeed be.
Then, of course, we have to bring
that right into our own midst, to challenge our own
hearts with it and ask whether that great hour and all
that it means may not be implicit in our own being led to
contemplate this matter at this time. May not our
meditation, in the intention of God, be related to the
realization of that something which is fully to
God’s satisfaction? I think we would desire it to be
so. Our hearts would respond and say, Yes, may it be so,
and I feel that we are not presumptuous in saying it is
so, in so far as we, a mere fragment of the whole though
we be, are concerned with that great vision. The Lamb
standing on mount Zion with the hundred and forty-four
thousand has meaning for us, which we must consider and
heed.
The End in Glory Already Secured
in the Lord Jesus
If
that is so, then there are certain things which you and I
must believe. Everyone who belongs to the Lord and stands
in the light of His full purpose of redemption must
believe, firstly, that the end in glory and victory is
secured unto us in the Lord Jesus now. That end requires
nothing to be done so far as the security is concerned;
it is accomplished and finished. Surely the thing which
ought to stir the deepest note of worship and praise in
our hearts is just this, that the end is secure. It is
secured in glory.
To put
that in another way is to say that a glorious end is
secured for the people of God. From God’s standpoint
there needs to be nothing done to make the end more
glorious than has already been done. That of course is
the simple fundamental basis of our faith in the Lord
Jesus, but nevertheless the ground of continual challenge
and conflict. So far as God’s work is concerned, the
Lamb does stand now on mount Zion with the hundred and
forty-four thousand; it is secured. Oh, that the Lord
would get that more definitely, abidingly settled in the
hearts of His people! It is the only ground of real rest,
assurance, steadiness of life and of joy. “If
the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous
do?” (Ps. 11:3); and if that foundation in any
way be shaken, then everything topples and falls. In this
matter we need be no “futurists”; we must be
experimentalists. The Lamb does stand, for all divine
intents and purposes, upon mount Zion with that secured
company. The end in glory and the victory IS secured
in Christ.
The End Will Justify the Way
But
another thing which we must believe — which if
necessary we must battle to believe — is that the
end will fully justify the way, and God will be fully
vindicated in the way by which He has led us. That is
more difficult. It touches us at so many points. It is
not easy to believe that the experiences of this life,
the ways by which the Lord leads us, all that which from
time to time makes our very foundations rock — the
suffering, the affliction, the disappointment, the
sorrow, the perplexity, the bewilderment, yes, and
everything else which comes into these lives which have
been given to God — it is not easy to believe that
the day is coming when we shall say positively and
definitely, “God made no mistake, He knew what He
was doing, and He did the right thing!” In face of
all you are passing through, the whole state of your life
just now, it is difficult perhaps to believe that all
that is right, precisely right. The end is going to
justify the way, to vindicate God’s dealing with us.
At the end we shall say positively: “God made no
mistakes!” In little ways in our lives, when we have
passed through trying ordeals, deep and dark experiences,
and have come out at the other end into the meaning of
it, we have been able to say, “I would not have been
without it for anything; I am glad I had the
experience.” And yet while we were going through it,
the very last thing we would have said would have been
that. The afterwards strangely transforms the whole
thing. In the issue we say, “After all, it was not
so wrong as I thought it was: it was right!”
This
company called the hundred and forty-four thousand (do
not be too literal about that, we shall have something to
say about that presently), has been purchased from among
men. They went through it as no others ever went through
it, they met the first force of the scorching sun to
ripen them, they pioneered this way and they knew what
tasting the sufferings of the Lamb means. I cannot but
believe that when this company stands on mount Zion with
the Lamb, the one thing they will say will be, “He
knew what He was doing with us. It was right. Now we
would not be without the experience for anything, this
justifies all. Although sometimes we were tempted to
question God as to whether He was handling us the right
way, whether He was being quite fair with us, we can see
now, in the light of the issue, that it was not only
right, but it was the only thing! Nothing else would have
done.”
We
have to seek grace from God to get there as far as we can
now, and believe that God is no mere spectator of our
sufferings and trials and adversities, looking on, coldly
watching, but that He has the whole thing in hand.
“He knoweth the way that I take”: but He is not
just a spectator. According to Job, who knew something
about it, that is the verdict: “He performeth that
which is appointed for me: and many such things are with
him” (Job 23:10,14).
Now go
back over the first chapters of the book of Job and see
the thing that is appointed for him, and which God knows.
“Ye... have seen the end of the Lord, how that
the Lord is full of pity, and merciful” (James
5:11). That word covers the case of Job.
We are
dealing with very difficult things. It is easy to say and
to hear words like these, but we have to strengthen
ourselves and one another in the Lord for all that it
means to reach that glorious consummation. One of the
ways in which we can do that is simply to say to one
another: “We believe God so thoroughly that we
affirm that even in the most difficult situations He will
be justified in the end. We shall say to Him: ‘Thou
wast right, I would not have been without the experience
for anything’.” Some of you perhaps cannot
imagine yourselves saying that, but we are all going to
say that in the end, if only we will not break faith with
God. The end will justify the way and vindicate God.
The Lamb Standing on Mount Zion
The
terms of this passage in Revelation 14 are themselves
significant and indicate things. “I saw... the
Lamb...” That at once signifies suffering and
sacrifice. “And with him a hundred and forty and
four thousand... purchased.” These are not only
redeemed ones; these have been brought into a very close
fellowship with what that very title, the Lamb, means
— suffering, sacrifice. It is going to be that to
bring about such a oneness as is here indicated.
“Standing
on the mount Zion.” This is a place which occupies a
very great prominence throughout the Word of God, and it
always signifies the highest point and peak of
attainment. It is the realization of all aspirations.
“Whither the tribes go up” (Ps. 122:4) There
are many references to mount Zion, and it is a very, very
conspicuous thing in the Scriptures. It always suggests
some object of highest ambition, strongest aspiration,
and, to be there, the gratification of the deepest desire
of the life. You know how in Israel’s life mount
Zion stood as the one object of constant thought and
desire. We may say more about that, but here is a place
of attainment of the highest possible realization and
accomplishment. The Lamb has achieved it, He has secured
it. He stands there like a mighty Victor over all that
which sought to impede His upward movement; from the very
depths of hell, up, up, ever up through successive realms
until He attained the highest place in glory and stands
upon mount Zion triumphant in the full accomplishment of
victory. It is a symbolic way of saying what Paul puts in
direct spiritual language: “He raised him from the
dead, and made him to sit at his right hand in the
heavenly places, far above all rule, and authority, and
power, and dominion, and every name that is named”
(Eph. 1:20-21). “Far above all”! “...the
Lamb standing on the mount Zion”: a tremendous
achievement, a tremendous victory! He is there! It has
cost a lot to get there, to achieve that eminence, but He
is there. “And with him...”. It is a picture of
the full realization of the greatest possibilities of
human destiny in the divine counsels.
Mount ZION!
Well, Zion itself again adds to the implication. Zion
means stronghold, fortress. It was literally the mount
Zion in Jerusalem that was the point of the greatest
challenge ever issued to the people of God. That fortress
of the Jebusites held out for centuries. Even Joshua
never subdued it. It retained its strength and resistance
through the whole four hundred years of the Judges and
went right on in a long, long history of impregnability,
till David came to the throne. Then when David was at
last made king, the first challenge to his men was about
Jebus, this stronghold of the Jebusites, who were so sure
of their position and who lived so much upon their
history that they said, “We can put the lame and the
blind to defend this, that is all it requires!” But
they had now to meet a new factor, which is another
subject. David was king, and that changed the situation,
and it was not long before Joab assailed and stormed that
stronghold and it became the city of David, the great
king, and the glorious story, the other side of the story
of Zion, commenced. Zion was the very heart of all glory
and a stronghold indeed.
Interpret
that in spiritual language and meaning. See what it means
for the LAMB to stand upon mount Zion. What a
victory, what a strength, what a position, what an
achievement, what a standing! How impregnable is that
position: to come to finality where there is not a foe
left that can raise a finger to challenge the position,
so great is the accomplishment of the Lamb! And so
glorious will be the position to which He will bring us
on mount Zion.
The Company With the Lamb
(a) Selected
“And
with him a hundred and forty and four thousand.” We
have said we must not be too literal about that. That
will be a very great company literally out of all, but it
is only a significant number; that is, it implies certain
things. Firstly, it implies selectiveness, there is no
doubt about it; but not selectiveness upon merit, and not
selectiveness upon foreordination. But it means that God
has seen here a people who have gone further with Him,
who have answered more fully to His heart than many, and
He has made them what is here called a firstfruits unto
Himself, He has gathered them into this accomplishment of
Christ; and the real value of that is found in the
vocation which they will fulfil. That is not for our
present consideration, we shall come to it probably some
other time. But this company is to fulfil a tremendous
vocation in the ages to come. It is the way in which they
are going to serve the Lord that makes for their value to
the Lord. And they are chosen. I do not like the word
“selected,” for I know all that circles round
that word and has been crystallized into a doctrine. But
leave all that and just take the fact itself. They are a
selected company; they do stand in the thought of God as
a company peculiarly precious to Him, because of how they
satisfy Him and can serve Him.
(b) Representative
They
are — and here is our safeguard — not only
selected but representative. It would be a poor thing if
all the harvest were only the firstfruits. I do not think
any husbandman would be very satisfied if his whole
harvest were just what he got in firstfruits. The rest
follows. Here it is representative, and that great divine
thought of representation is found throughout the Word of
God. The Lord is always seeking to get something which
will lead the way and serve those who will follow and, by
their relatedness to all others, be a ministry of greater
fullness to them. That is the thought — to be a
ministry of greater fullness. That is a principle working
out in us, perhaps, every day. Why does the Lord take us
through these exceedingly hot fires of trial? The answer
is, that others may benefit. It is to pioneer the way for
others. Of course it raises the question: What are you
going to be content with? Are you really set upon
following the Lamb whithersoever He goeth? You see, none
of these words or phrases used here is to be taken merely
literally. Not that the literal side of them is ruled out
— “in their mouth was found no lie,” and
so on — but it is not just the literal thing; it
represents a separateness unto God from every kind of
worldly contamination. Lots of things are involved in
this. Why should we be so utter? There are plenty of
Christians who will get to heaven all right who do not go
this way and do not have this experience. The answer is
that God is after a representative company. The answer to
all such problems is just that. Those concerned have no
reason to consider themselves more important than others.
It is too costly, far too costly, ever to be on a
pedestal. Those who go this way are going to be
thoroughly emptied and undone in themselves, they are
going to know the fellowship of His sufferings. That will
take all spiritual conceit out of them. They are not the
elite in their own eyes; anything but that. Their cry
will often be, “I am a worm, and no man” (Ps.
22:6). It will be with them as with Job “Wherefore I
abhor myself” (Job 42:6). That is the cry of the
hundred and forty-four thousand: poor specimens in their
own eyes, but God has bound up with them values for
others. That is where He finds so much joy and
satisfaction in them, and that is where eventually they
will find their gratification — to be able to serve
the Lord for others, to be in a position to do it. Now
that does not belong to some mystical day when the Lamb
stands upon mount Zion; that belongs to now; we are right
in it. The question of that position of ascendency and of
our usefulness to someone else is bound up with every
trial through which we pass now, every sorrow of this
present hour. Believe me, this is all present in a
spiritual way. There will be a consummation, there will
be an issue. I do not know that I expect to see a literal
fulfilment of this — it does not concern us just now
— but I know that the spiritual reality is grim and
desperate and terrific in this present life. It is here
now. Where do you stand? Are you down there or up here
spiritually? That determines your usefulness to others.
Are you under or are you above? Are you grovelling, or
are you in ascendency with the Lamb, knowing victory?
That determines how far you can be used by the Lord to
minister to others now. Revelation 14 is a spiritual
matter. The company is representative in order to serve
the Lord.
A Settled Confidence in God
Just
this closing word. We must seek to believe in our hearts
that the dealings of God with us are always suited by Him
to the object which He has in view. That is the realm of
mystery for us, but it is true. What I mean is this
— that the more understanding we have of God’s
ways, the more we shall realize that the ways He has
taken with us were the only ways, so far as we were
concerned, which would reach His end. With others He
would have to adopt other ways. Our ways with the Lord
are very lonely ways because they are just ours alone,
apparently. Many may have gone the same way, but when you
go through things under the hand of the Lord it is to you
as though no one had ever been that way before, you are
alone in it. There are many ways in which the Lord deals
with us which are peculiar to us, and they are the only
ways by which He could reach His end in our case. You
see, the Lord does not always tell us why He withholds or
forbids or takes things away, why He does not give us
what we ask for and want, or why He takes from us
something that we would cling to. He does not tell us
why, but He does know this one thing about us, namely, HOW
VERY MUCH WE CAN BE OUR OWN ENEMIES. We want
something; the Lord withholds it. If we had it, it would
do us utmost harm. We would cling to something. The Lord
takes it away. He knows that our continued possession of
it would do us harm, and that our own desire in
realization would make our desire our enemy. He knows all
that. Some of you have had experience enough to look back
and see where your heart was set upon something, and the
Lord either did not let you have it or He took it away,
at the time you went through the depths. Today you thank
God with all your heart that He never let you have that.
You say today, “I can see what mischief that would
have done, and how good the Lord was in causing me pain
then.” This is not fiction, this is true. We have to
believe that the Lord’s methods with us are suited
to His object, and He knows exactly what He is doing. Oh,
do ask the Lord for grace to believe that. We must,
because while we have a controversy with the Lord,
feeling hard toward Him, He cannot get on with what He is
after. It is only when we get through by grace and say,
“Well, Lord, I do not understand at all, it all
seems to me to be such a contradiction, but Thou knowest
what Thou art doing, and Thou knowest this is the only
way in which Thou canst reach Thine end where I am
concerned, and I trust Thee about it.” If only we
could get there, how quickly the Lord would bring through
to the place where He could supply our need in such a way
as would really facilitate the realization of His
purposes in our lives. I know how difficult a thing I am
saying to you, but these things are true. Remember that
the Lord always holds before His people His best and
never a second best. There is an alternative, there is
something else, but the Lord never tells us about a
second, He never refers to the less. He never says,
“This is My first, but you can have this other if
you like.” The Lord always keeps the first in view
for His people, and all that He has to say to them is
about the first. His warnings are lest they should miss
that. His exhortations and urgings and appealings are
concerned with the first. He does not make provision for
our low standards. He gives us no assurance that, if we
do not go right on to the hundred and forty-four
thousand, it will not matter.
And is
that not exactly what Paul was thinking of and reaching
after when he wrote to the Philippians, “One thing I
do” (Phil. 3:13)? “I have not two things in
mind so that if I should at any time feel inclined not to
be quite so out-and-out I can have my alternative.”
No! “One thing I do, forgetting the things which are
behind, and stretching forward to the things which are
before, I press on toward the goal unto the prize of the
high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” “Who
shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? And who shall
stand in his holy place?” The answer is here on
mount Zion, with all that it means to be there with the
Lamb.