Why the mountain? So often in
the Bible God's movements in revelation and purpose were
connected with mountains. It was so with Moses and the Law and
the Pattern of the Tabernacle. It was so with Elijah at Carmel
and Horeb: with David and the Temple site. It was so with Christ
and His great kingdom discourse, His transfiguration, etc. And it
was so with John and the vision of the New Jerusalem. These are
but a few of the mountain-epochs in the Scriptures. What is its
significance? for surely it is not just coincidence.
Does it not represent elevation
above and ascendency over the earth and its influences. It
involves detachment (in spirit), heaven countering earth, gravity
overcome, exercise - deliberate and determined. In a word, it
points to another realm and order, a "kingdom of the
heavens", to that which is not of this creation. There is
a place of heavenly vision and revelation, and it has to be taken
with the "loins of the mind" girded and with steadfast
outreach to God.
The Letter to the Ephesians is
the counterpart of Exodus 24-25. There the position is "in
the heavenlies". The object is "that ye may know",
the issue is "the eternal purpose". These three things
correspond to a position secured, a vision given, an intention
grasped and established.
Such a place must be
found in the life of the individual believer and in that of the
Church. Lose your 'mountain' apart with the Lord and you lose
your vision and governing purpose, and become bound by mere
happenings and activities on the earth. The earth is a very small
place compared with the heavens! But remember that such a
position of being "seated together with Christ" in the
heavenlies is only by way of the Altar or Cross. In Exodus 24:4-6
we see the altar and its values - the blood governing the
ascension of the mount. This inclusively establishes the position
that all is of and for the Lord.
The whole movement begins with worship,
verse 1, and worship means that there is nothing of man, but
all is of the Lord, and back to Him. It results in all that
eventuates being wholly out from God. In this case (Exodus 25) it
was the tabernacle.
Now, the majority of
evangelical Christians believe that the Tabernacle was a type of
Christ, but there are several defects and weaknesses in this
belief. For many it is a beautiful and fascinating typology, full
of interest and wonderful truths. Then, so often, only the
redemptive aspects are taken up: those factors or features which
have to do with redemption, e.g. atonement, justification,
sanctification, access, etc. Then again, it has supported an
earthly and objective system of outward 'orders', rituals, rites,
vestments, ordinances, sacraments, and 'offices'. All this so
often means the missing of the basic and supreme meaning of this
representation. It resolves itself into Christian 'truth', order
and practice as the basis of things, and this - to say the least
- is inadequate, it may be harmful. What is really in God's mind
and eye is not a thing, not a Tabernacle, a system, and
not even a 'pattern'. The all-governing matter with God is a
revelation of God in Christ to the heart by the Holy Spirit, a
revelation of Jesus Christ.
The Tabernacle is only meant to
be a mirror of Christ. So Paul speaks of "beholding as in
a mirror the glory of the Lord"; and, in the same
context, "God... hath shined in our hearts, to give the
light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus
Christ".
It is not a matter of our
seeing Christian truth, but of seeing Christ by revelation of the
Spirit. See Christ now first, not the Tabernacle first
and then Christ. We live in the day of the full revelation, not
of typical foreshadowings. There is so much failure to recognize
that the Tabernacle is meant to lead to a recognition of the
oneness of Christ and His Church, a corporate representation of
Christ. With the majority of Christians the corporate almost goes
for nothing as to its practical values. An immense amount is done
in evangelism but the results are incommensurate both in measure
and calibre. A great percentage of those moved to a 'decision' in
an evangelistic effort are subsequently, not only missing but,
less approachable than before. The spiritual measure of the
majority even years afterward is very meagre, they just become
'church-goers'. The impact of 'the Church' upon the world is
exceedingly disappointing. We have no hesitation in saying that
all this is largely, if not mainly, due to a failure to see the
difference between a congregation, a 'meeting', a location of a
number of unit-Christians, on the one side, and a living
corporate organism on the other. The composite and the organic
are two different things. One is formed from the outside, the
other is formed from within.
There is very great power bound
up with such a vision. What no other force on earth could have
done was done in a moment when Paul saw Christ and caught what He
signified. It completely emancipated him from tradition, earthly
systems of religion, and all those things which by inheritance,
training, and belief had been his very life - "the
things", said he, "which were gain to me". When we
want to explain Paul, and account for his influence through
twenty centuries, we have to go to his "vision". He had
seen Christ, and in seeing Christ had come to see the meaning and
nature of the Church as His Body. Such a vision roused hell
against him, and provoked the utmost prejudice, ostracism, and
conflict. Had the vision not been so tremendously real he would
long since have compromised and have taken a less costly line.
But he "was not disobedient", and so has become the
answer to every crisis in the Church's history.
The vision is for all who mean
business with God. But we shall truly be tested as to whether we
do. The vision is up there where all the gravity of indecision,
passivity, compromise, indifference, cowardice, expediency,
policy, unbelief, feeble-mindedness, etc. has been overcome and
subjected to "the on high calling". There are no 'funiculars'
or 'chair-lifts' to those altitudes, it is a challenge, and often
a lonely business.
But to move for ever after in
the power and influence of that 'open heaven' is to meet the
greatest and deepest need of the Lord's people in relation to
their high destiny.
The Christianity of numerous
Christians is not big enough. If they are not frequently provided
with strong stimulants in the form of conventions, 'revival'
meetings, (and more than ninety percent of the people who attend
big gospel campaigns are Christians) 'rallies', etc., they drop
into, or go on in, a very lifeless and limited sort of way. Now
all this is a false mountain life. So often, after some special
'rally' or 'event', the time is referred to as having 'been on
the mountain' and now having to come 'down into the valley'.
While there are real values in
the gathering of the Lord's people from far and near, such
occasions should not be the life of such. Paul was in
prison when he wrote most about the heavenlies. Special occasions
can give an artificial sense of life and 'vision', which fades
when these times pass, so that 'we live for the next' occasion.
Paul's "heavenly vision" kept him going through all the
dark, drab, and sordid experiences which were associated with his
ministry. There is something very much more than being saved and
much engaged in 'Christian work'. Without this great plus the
essential motive and impetus is lacking, and there is little or
no personal spiritual enlargement. This extra is "heavenly
vision". It was the inspiration of Peter, Paul, John,
Stephen, and of many others.
How could the Prophets have
fulfilled their sorry, and in some senses, tragic and hopeless
mission but for the dynamic of a God-given vision? 'But', you
say, 'they were Prophets and Apostles. We are just ordinary
people'. The answer is that the New Testament almost as a whole
was given by the Holy Spirit to give and to keep before the whole
Church this tremendous objective of the "eternal purpose",
and Paul, exhausting all superlatives of language in this very
connection, falls to prayer for "all saints" thus:
"That the God of our
Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, (note the designation
- the Father of GLORY) may give unto you a
spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him; having
the eyes of your heart enlightened, that ye may know what is the
hope of his calling, what the riches of the glory of his
inheritance in the saints", etc.
First published in "A Witness and A
Testimony" magazine, Mar-Apr 1952, Vol 30-2