THE ANCIENT MOUNTAINS
[p. 96] THE ANCIENT MOUNTAINS
Deuteronomy 33:15; Genesis 8:4 - 12; Genesis 22:14; Luke 9:27-31; Luke 9:34-36 (to “found alone”)
Brethren taught of God, as through grace most of us are, and lovers of Christ, will feel at home in being directed to the person of Joseph, typical as he is in such a touching manner of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Spirit of God, both in Jacob and Moses, seems Himself to be stimulated as He touches the person of Joseph, of him who, it is said, was separated from his brethren. His brethren did not miss him, but he missed them; and so it is that if there is one here separated by his own will from Christ, He misses you, although you may not miss Him. His voice is to be heard at the present time seeking His brethren. Whatever the character of spiritual ministry, it always conveys the voice of Christ, and the suggestion of Joseph brings out the thought of the brethren, that Christ was separated from them, that is, His brethren among the Jews. He is compensated, but He feels the separation.
Well now, the verse I read is brief, and it refers to one character of the blessing of Joseph, that is, “the best things of the ancient mountains”, and “the precious things of the everlasting hills”. His blessing, I need not say, is not confined to himself, it is shared with his own, as it says here, “the myriads of Ephraim” and “the thousands of Manasseh”. We share with Christ, and He shares with us, nor would one who loves Him care to share anything save as it is shared with Him. He appeals to one who loved Him saying, “Unless I wash thee, thou hast not part with me” (John 13:8). A lover of Christ cannot bear that, he wishes to share with Christ, and the Lord shares wonderful things with us: “the glory”, He says to His Father, “which thou hast given me I have given them” (John 17:22). Think of that! How great are the things He shares with us! And so, in what I [p. 97] have to say, I have the saints more in mind than Christ in this sense: that is, how we come into these blessings, whether we have come into them, and if not, why not? And then, if possible, to show how we come into them.
I have selected Genesis as obviously the section of Scripture in which we should rightly look for the ancient mountains. Ararat is the first one mentioned, indeed, the idea of mountains only comes in with this section, and Ararat is the first specific mountain mentioned — it is a range, as is usual. Sinai was the mount of God; it was a range, too. So here we have, as you will observe, “the mountains of Ararat”, and from the verse in Deuteronomy we are entitled, and I believe obligated by the Spirit, to dwell on the facts recorded as to these mountains. The first point to be noted is that the ark rested there. Many believers know little or nothing about rest; but the idea has a great place in Scripture, far more than could be noted now in our short time.
What is in view here is Christ in type, reaching, through death, a point of rest. That is one of the “best” things that one can mention, one of the chief themes of the gospel, that Christ as Man, having come in here to a world of death, has gone through death and reached a resting-place — solid ground for faith. We are told by Peter that “God ... raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God” (1 Peter 1:21). As Man, He is on solid ground, making a way for us. It is one of the chief themes of the gospel; there could be no gospel without it; everyone of us doubtless knows that in his own soul, but it is well to be reminded of it. “The ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat” — a great point reached in this great type.
But then, there is much more in the way of adjustment, and it is in this adjustment that perhaps help is needed, for, after all, the top of Ararat in itself would not do for the propagation of a new race; we need the [p. 98] land, the fruitful land, below. And so we find forty days mentioned — a well-known period of experience; and then it says, “Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made. And he sent out the raven, which went forth going [p. 99] to and fro, until the waters were dried from the earth”. Now this is an experience: the Spirit of God would never record this did it not have some antitype in the believer’s history; for that, we may be sure, is what it is. In the Old Testament there is one glory after another appearing, either of Christ or of the work of the Spirit in our souls. “My Father worketh hitherto”, said the Lord (John 5:17); and the Scriptures abound with the glory shining out through the work of God, whether in the death and resurrection of Christ, as I have been saying, or in the saints — whether it is a question of what is above or what is below. Then we must remember our state is in mind; the significance of the ark and its resting-place is one thing, and the discovery as to whether the waters are dried up is another, for we cannot subsist upon the tops of mountains. You will understand me — I mean that from the point of view of the propagation of a race, another world, we must have the land.
So after forty days, which has its own meaning, Noah opened the window of the ark and sent out a raven, a carnivorous bird. As a believer apprehends Christ above and gets peace in a sense, this state below, which the raven here points to, is often very uncertain. The dove is another thought — delightful in contrast: but, as I hope to show, the raven and the dove go together in the believer’s experience. It is not that the raven in itself is to be abominated, it fits here and enters into the divine work in the believer; it goes to and fro, it is restless, but it does not return to Noah, it can get along without him and without the ark. In a literal sense, what did it matter if the raven perished? It is the typical meaning we have to see, and that God would nourish us with. The raven continued “going to and fro” until the waters were dried up, we are told: whether Noah found him alive or not afterwards, we do not know — the fact is just given by the Spirit of God that he does continue. He can live on other things, such as, alas, were available in the dead creatures that were there as a result of the flood. The raven, however, is not to be abominated, for God feeds him, and he can be turned into a servant of God, too; he can feed us, as he did Elijah. But he is not a dove, there is no affection suggested, and so no link between him and Noah; in truth, it refers to the fleshly condition that often ensues when light comes into a man’s soul, light as to Christ risen and glorified. There is no knowledge of the state in which we are, and this raven condition creates uncertainty and often sorrowful eating of food unlawful. Young people may go after this unlawful food — terrible stuff that is dealt out in books and novels and magazines — and the result is, the work of God does not progress. Sorrowful though the experience is, dishonouring even to God, there is nevertheless education in it; so that the dove is also sent out, referring to the concurrent work of the Spirit of God in our souls.
I cannot dwell at length on this remarkable picture, but it is one of the best things of the ancient mountains. Young people need to note it, to read it carefully, because it contemplates an end reached, not in the raven, but in the dove; that is the fruit of the Spirit, and once that is reached, solid rock has been reached in the soul of the believer — that is, he no longer sows to the flesh, but to the Spirit: “the mind of the flesh is death; but the mind of the Spirit life and peace”. The state of the believer thus corresponds with the resting of the ark on the top of the mountains: the latter is Romans 4:25, the former Romans 8:6. And now we have means for the propagation of a new order of things in the soul of one man or woman, or in any number — in the whole race of men in result in the [p. 100] millennium. So the dove is sent out and finds no rest for the sole of its foot, that is, the condition is not settled.
The Spirit strives with young believers like that — ready to be there; but the dove finds no rest for the sole of her foot and returns, not to the ark simply, but to Noah, for there is a personal link with him: “he put forth his hand, and took her, and brought her to him into the ark”. There is a beautiful personal touch and link there to be understood by the believer. Then he sent her out again; there are seven days, and other seven days, and so on. Let us look into our histories, dear brethren: this refers to them, these spiritual periods we have to go through in order to reach solid rock spiritually; no longer this undulating condition, misery today and joy tomorrow, and so on; but a steady peace — “The mind of the Spirit is life and peace” — not simply peace with God, as in Romans 5, but life and peace, as in Romans 8. If you look through Romans 8 you will be impressed, if you have not already been, with the allusions to the Spirit of God, the varied functions and services performed by Him in the believer’s soul, so that we are in conscious relationship with God as children and as sons. We are so free of this uncertainty inwardly that the Spirit of God can actually witness to our spirits that we are children of God — a most comforting and blessed thought: the witness of the Spirit within.
So we read that Noah “waited yet other seven days, and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark. And the dove came to him at eventide; and behold, in her beak was an olive-leaf plucked off”. Now, if I apply this as I have been applying it, it is the fruit of the Spirit in the christian; that is, it is an olive-leaf plucked off, not a floating one. An undelivered christian might come to this room and hear something good and rejoice in it, and a little while after lose the joy he had. Now that means it has not grown in himself, it was the outcome [p. 101] of what another said, although good so far; but this leaf was plucked off, it was growing: that is to say, the flood had not destroyed life, at least in the olive, a type of the Spirit. The epistle to the Romans shows that the incoming of death in the soul is educational and does not destroy what is of God — presently you get a real growth. There are nine branches spoken of in Galatians 5:22,23; this is just a leaf, but with evidence that it was connected with a tree; it was not withered up, it was growing when the dove plucked it off; it is fruit for God, so to speak.
Then we find that “Noah knew that the waters had become low on the earth”, that is how we know where the soul is. This is a great matter, this inward thing; we arrive at solid ground and we know where we are, and we have reached continuous joy — a very blessed state to reach. So that the exhortation comes: “Rejoice evermore” — that is the word! Why should it be otherwise? “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, ...” we are told; love and joy are the fruits first mentioned. Now when that point is reached there is no more returning of the dove; she has a wide field now to go on with, the great field of God’s work in man, for in truth, “that world, and the resurrection” (Luke 20:35) which the Lord speaks of is begun already. It begins in the saints, and so is applicable to every one of us as this fruit is reached, the actual fruit of the Spirit; then the Holy Spirit is at liberty to move on; the dove does not return any more to Noah. What a field opens up as the waters are dried up! Now death is understood to have been annulled — Christ “has annulled death, and brought to light life and incorruptibility by the glad tidings” (2 Timothy 1:10). So that one now has entered on a world of life, death is no longer in the way. Viewed as typical, what we have here is a new world opened up for the believer, involving the Spirit operating in him. A great domain opens up through the death and resurrection of Christ and the solid work of the Spirit in the believer, so that [p. 102] God proceeds with what He has in mind. Much more could be said of what follows in the chapter, but I go on now to chapter 22.
We have spoken of the resurrection of Christ in the ark as a type in chapter 8, but we have it in a fuller way here; it is now in a person, that is, Isaac. There is not much time to dwell on these precious things, but I have selected them as the chief things of the ancient mountains; but there are other things. The margin, I believe, reads as to this word ‘chief’, ‘head’; it is leading, outstanding things. The next thing is Christ in heavenly glory, a heavenly Christ in view of a heavenly testimony now; not simply a universal one, as in Noah. Noah is head of the world as coming through death, inaugurating a new order of things, but in Isaac it is a heavenly order of things that is in mind. It is in connection with him that we first get speaking from heaven in Scripture. There is much to speak about now up there. The angel of Jehovah called from the heavens twice: the reference is to Isaac, that is, Christ as the heavenly Man. This chapter is an advance on what I have been speaking of. I read verse 14 because it contemplates provision on a mountain: “On the mount of Jehovah will be provided”. That is a great principle, introduced here and continued down to the present time; indeed, it is said here “to this day”. It is a principle introduced which continues, in fact it has a greater place in Exodus than here — not the same mountain, of course, but the same principle, for the mount of Jehovah was that to which Israel made its way, and before which it encamped. Chapter 19:2 says, “Israel encamped there before the mountain”, as if they had come to the great resources of God, and they did, too: it is called the “mountain of Jehovah”. So this is a principle that we may have recourse to, especially in critical times, and in assembly history the word ‘crisis’ is written in large letters. When we reach a point requiring the keenest discernment and judgment, and [p. 103] with the possibility of conflict and loss of brethren, nothing is more important than to get the idea of the mountain and that there are resources; we are never driven to the wall. In the history of the assembly normally, the saints are never driven to the wall, however bad conditions may be in any given place. “On the mount of Jehovah will be provided”, is a great abiding thought for all time.
What is particularly now the occasion of these crises is heavenly truth, the truth of Christ in heaven, and that the assembly is heavenly: that the service of God is heavenly and that the saints themselves are heavenly, and this is not merely on the first day of the week, but every day of the week — for it is on the corners of the garments the tassel is to be (Numbers 15). When we turn from the first day to the second day, which may mean a test, there is means to carry us through so that we maintain the heavenly colour. Now that is the point, so that we have here the word to Abraham out of heaven the second time: it is out of heaven, it is a heavenly matter. Even Isaac has to go into death: Christ typically. This scripture shows us that, not only the raven character in ourselves has to go, as in Romans 7 and 8, but that Christ must die, as in His condition in flesh and blood here on earth. That condition was not what the counsels of God required; for that He must have Christ in another condition. Not, of course, that it was obligatory on Christ to die; no one could take His life from Him, He was personally immune from death; but, taking on a character of life which He intended to lay down, and which the will of God required should be laid down sacrificially, He “died for our sins according to the scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3). The order of the life of Jesus here on earth was of a character of its own, “holy, harmless, undefiled, separated from sinners” (Hebrews 7:26). Still, it was to be laid down, He could die, He could lay it down, and He did lay it down — the glory of God in the accomplishment of [p. 104] redemption required it. As seen in the type (Exodus 21), He could go out free, but love led Him to die; and now He is in the glorious condition of manhood answering to the eternal counsels of God.
It will be noticed that although much is made in this narrative about Abraham and his beloved son, there is nothing said of Isaac returning to Beer-sheba with Abraham. What holy converse Abraham and Isaac had. But as to the return journey, there is not a word about Isaac, only about Abraham and his young men. That is to say, Isaac is in heaven, as it were, it is a heavenly position; and hence the next chapter tells us Sarah dies; but before we are told of Sarah’s death we are told of Rebekah, the heavenly bride. These wonderful thoughts of God, dear brethren, we must get into our souls; that is what the Scriptures and spiritual ministry are for, to get the thoughts of God into our souls. So the thought of the heavenly bride is here, but where is the Bridegroom? He is above, He belongs to heaven. You can understand that the bride involves Christ in heaven and the Holy Spirit down here, so that we have Rebekah, we have the assembly. It is a heavenly product, kindred to Christ, of His own family. “Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die it bringeth forth much fruit” (John 12:24) — this specially marks the assembly. We have the heavenly family of Rebekah, as related to that of Isaac, noted at the end of this chapter; and then the death of Sarah, and then Rebekah brought to Isaac. It is all so rich and full, dear brethren, that it certainly ought to have an entrance into our souls. Besides, it alludes to ourselves — I mean all the saints in this dispensation; that is what is in mind in Rebekah. As connected with “the mount of Jehovah” as a place of provision, what I have been calling your attention to in Genesis 22 is surely one of the chief things of the ancient mountains.
[p. 105] Now I go on to the New Testament, because it looks on to what is coming — the lasting hills. I suppose mount Zion might be taken to enlarge the subject as in the New Testament carried down from the Old. We have come to it, we have come to mount Zion, we are told, so that we should understand it and see how it represents the sovereign thoughts of God as to place, “Here will I dwell”, God says, “for I have desired it” (Psalm 132:14). It is a place of love; He “loves the gates of Zion”, too, “more than all the dwellings of Jacob” (Psalm 87:2), that is to say, the saints viewed in that light in the assembly. Jesus came to where the saints, the disciples, were; as we love the place where He is, so He loves the very spot where His loved ones are. As God regards Zion and His people brought to it, what a holy scene it is, at least in type! Three times every year the males of Israel wended their way to Jerusalem where Jehovah had placed His name, where He would come in among His people. “There I will come to you”, He says, “there I will bless you”. What seasons they were! What corresponds to them today in the way of holy convocations of the saints are most pleasing to God — enjoyable and profitable to the saints also, so that one might speak of Zion as perhaps carrying the thought of the lasting hills.
I refer to the mount of transfiguration as giving a more concrete idea of the precious things of the lasting hills. We do well to notice these words: the vocabulary used in Deuteronomy 33 and in Genesis 49 is very rich. It is the blessed Spirit of God, through chosen vessels, speaking about the saints. There is nothing one feels so poor in as ability to speak about the saints, to speak rightly about the saints. We speak about God and Christ, you might say, freely; the brethren are able to do that; but then, what about being able to look at the saints rightly and to speak rightly about them? That is what we see in Moses, the man of God in this chapter. In Genesis 49:2 Jacob calls himself, “Israel your father”, a man who can bless the tribes in spite of the terrible incongruities he noticed in them, for he lays bare the very worst things in the history of the tribes; yet they are all blessed, every tribe has its blessing and each gets it. These two chapters are of extreme importance as to our way of thinking of the saints and speaking of them. Peter speaks of precious things, “precious” is one of his choice words. In his second epistle he tells us something of the precious things of the lasting hills. “For we have not made known to you”, he says, “the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, following cleverly imagined fables, but having been eye-witnesses of his majesty. For he received from God the Father honour and glory, such a voice being uttered to him by the excellent glory: This is my beloved Son, in whom I have found my delight; and this voice we heard uttered from heaven, being with him on the holy mountain” (2 Peter 1:16 - 18). He, and James, and John were eye-witnesses of the precious things of the lasting hills. Think of what they heard! Could anything be more precious than that wonderful testimony — what transpired on that mount, witnessed by these three chosen men who were with Jesus on that great and holy occasion?
Did time admit, one would like to elaborate on the four accounts we have: Matthew gives one, Mark gives another, Peter gives another, and Luke gives another. Peter interweaves this precious fruit of the lasting hills into his second pastoral letter, that we should have it in our hearts. Matthew 16:28 is “the Son of man coming in his kingdom”, it is a personal matter, it is a question of the royal pomp and glory of the Son of man as He comes. Surely that is an appeal to our hearts! We shall see that, and be with Him too, in that glorious display. Mark is “the kingdom of God come in power”. We see in pageantry the royal family in their glory; then we may see a great display of the army and navy — that is the kingdom in power.
Then Luke says simply, “The kingdom of God”. The Lord says, “there be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the kingdom of God”. That is, it is a question of what is moral, what shines out in the meekness and gentleness of Christ, in Himself and in His people, in the ministers and in the saints as reflecting what is above. So we find a praying Man in Luke — in a moral sense, what a consideration! Each of us can be that. I can be a praying man, and that is what Luke presents. He presents Christ many times as praying, and on the mount particularly. He went up to pray, “and as he prayed the fashion of his countenance became different”, that is to say, He was a different Man, not that He could be anything but Himself, but it is Pattern we get here, dear brethren, and how much we need to be changed if we are to be reflecting the kingdom of God! If I am a praying man, how different from ordinary men I shall be! — before starting out in the morning to the office, having the word of God and prayer in my house — very important! “As he prayed the fashion of his countenance became different and his raiment white and effulgent”. That is moral glory, as applying to the kingdom of God, for the kingdom of God is what is down here in testimony. We are told expressly that it “is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Romans 14:17). It is the testimony of God here below that is intended, as the Lord Himself said, “the kingdom of God is in the midst of you” (Luke 17:21); that is, it is among men. Well, how is it in the midst of men now save as the saints are it? Christ is in heaven; the Holy Spirit being here, Christ is here kingdom-wise, and Luke presents that side; and I apprehend it is one of the most precious things of the lasting hills that the saints are here representative of God in His kingdom.
So it is said there are two men talking with the Lord; the other evangelists say, “Moses” and “Elias”, to occupy [p. 108] us with the persons expressly, but Luke makes the point that they are men, and that is the idea. However great I may be in ministry or ancestry or wealth, it is a question of my being a man according to Christ. “Quit yourselves like men” (1 Corinthians 16:13) — men in this way, men that can pray, men that can be approached, men that are not too haughty in their offices to be approached by their employees, and the like. Two men were speaking with Him. A man is approachable if he is like Christ; so the kingdom of God is the spirit in which we are here like Jesus. I am reflecting Him, that Man praying up there; and so it was with Moses and Elias. They are talking with Jesus and about His death at Jerusalem, not about things in heaven, but about things down here. It is important we should tell people that Jesus died and that He died at Jerusalem. The word is “exodus”, it is the way He went out of this world, through a gibbet: it was ignominious. Moses would understand, he had to do with the sacrifices, all pointing to this one great event, which was now the theme on this mount. So, dear brethren, it should in one way or another be the theme of our conversation whatever time of the day or week it is; it is a question of that, of speaking about the departure of Christ from this world. He was a martyr, of course, but He died for us. “God is one, and the mediator of God and men one, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all” (1 Timothy 2:5). And these two men were talking about that. The voice from heaven out of the cloud announced, “This is my beloved Son: hear him”. One point in Luke is to hear this One, to hear Jesus. Otherwise we shall not reflect the kingdom of God, which is a moral thought, as I said, and one has to be born again even to see it; born of water and of the Spirit to enter into it. So it is a moral question and has to be understood, but it is one of the most precious things of the lasting hills.