THE LAND OF PROMISE
THE LAND OF PROMISE
FER In chapter 10 we get the holiest; here we get the land of promise, i.e., breadth and length, and depth, and height — and that is outward in a sense. You could not get a survey of breadth, length, depth, and height except as you had entered the holiest. You have first to learn how God is going to carry all out, and how Christ is going to fill all things. How is God going to effect all this length and breadth and depth and height? You learn it in the holiest. The ark of the covenant is there, and in it you get the law of God established, and a point of communication with men in the mercy-seat. These two points are essential. It is only on the ark of the covenant that you could get the mercy-seat. The law of God is in the heart of Christ; it is secured in the One who accomplished redemption. God could not touch man otherwise except in judgment. The law of God is secured in relation to men, and God puts Himself in communication with men at that point. “Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation (mercy-seat) through faith in his blood” (Romans 3: 25). What a man is first awakened to, is his own position in relation to God, and that God is a judge. In regard to the land of promise, the first thing is to have Christ “dwelling in the heart by faith”.
You could not otherwise comprehend length, breadth, depth, and height. We want to know what is going to fill that. You learn it in the holiest: what is seen there is the ark of the covenant and the mercy-seat.
Ques What do you understand by the land of promise?
FER It is what is in the purpose of God to accomplish; if we are off the ground of responsibility, then we come to all that God is going to accomplish.
Ques That would carry us on to the eternal state?
FER Well, here it does not go beyond the world [p. 77] to come. It is that we are come to mount Zion, and to the Mediator of the new covenant, etc. The eternal state is brought before us as the final solution and disentanglement of the question of good and evil. What is brought before us in Scripture is the world to come. The rest of God as in Hebrews 4 refers to the world to come. The world to come is really the glory of God. Mount Zion is the first element of the world to come. A mountain in Scripture represents a power. Israel came under the influence of a power, and they were dreadfully frightened; it was a power that struck them with terror.
Rem “Ye have come” means that we have come to it in a spiritual way; we shall come to it actually by and by.
FER In the wilderness they had a mount, but they had no city. In figure we get the city in David. He brought back the ark to mount Zion. You get a mount and a city. All had broken down under Mount Sinai — then David is chosen and the ark is brought back, and then you get Jerusalem, the city of David, and in that way we get a figure of what will be. Now we have mount Zion, and the city of the living God; the heavenly Jerusalem. We have come to these.
Ques. What is mount Zion?
FER Mount Zion is Christ risen. The ark of the covenant had fallen into the hand of the Philistines, but Christ has been brought again from the dead, the great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, redemption having been accomplished. The Philistines put Christ to death; it was not by the true people of God that Christ was crucified. But then when all was forfeited, God brought Him again from the dead; thus typically the ark was brought to mount Zion. The men of faith in Hebrews 11 had promises, but they had not come to anything; but now that Christ is there, and the Spirit here, we have come to everything in that way. We have come to the sure mercies of David in having come to mount Zion. See Acts 13 in that connection; it is most interesting (see verse 32, etc.). The promise made [p. 78] to the fathers God has fulfilled. He has raised up Jesus, as it is said, “Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee”. Then concerning that He raised Him up from the dead, He said on this wise, “I will give you the sure mercies of David” (Acts 13: 34). It is resurrection, you see, and the bringing back of the ark (typifying resurrection) meant the sure mercies of David. He was brought again from the dead in the blood of the everlasting covenant (see end of Psalm 78: 60): “So that he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent which he placed among men; and delivered his strength into captivity and his glory into the enemy’s hand”; verse 65: “Then the Lord awaked as one out of sleep”; verse 68: “But chose ... the mount Zion which he loved”; verse 70: “He chose David also his servant”; verse 72: “So he fed them according to the integrity of his heart; and guided them by the skilfulness of his hands”. The ways of God are recounted; all was lost, and then God comes in, in sovereign mercy. He chose mount Zion and David, and then you get the sure mercies of David. Mount Zion in that way is Christ risen. We have come to a city. A city is a pledge of stability. You get no city connected with mount Sinai, you get it in connection with David. Israel had forfeited all by unfaithfulness. They took the ark into the land of the Philistines. Then the ark is brought back to mount Zion, and the sure mercies of David are secured. Then you get Jerusalem, a city which hath foundations: it was built upon the sovereign mercy of God. The church, too, has been taken by the Philistines. The same thing has been repeated as with Christ. It is a great thing to have come to mount Zion, and to the city of the living God. On coming to Christ risen we have come to mount Zion.
Rem We have come to all that is stable in connection with a risen Christ, i.e., we have come to the city of the living God.
FER The moment Christ is exalted, and the Spirit given, all is there.
Rem It is all there in Christ, and all here in the Spirit.
[p. 79] FER All is final in connection with Christ; all is established in Him. The old covenant is worn out, and the new is brought in.
Rem Everything is established in Christ risen, the man of God’s purpose, and the Spirit has come down to maintain that here, and to lead us into the present good of what is established.
Rem Our ability to enter into these things depends upon our attachment to Christ.
FER Yes, I think so. The church of the firstborn is God’s position. The city is the pledge of stability; it rules. It is a great witness on the part of God “That in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace, in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2: 7). It is the display that is the pledge of stability.
Ques The angels — the general assembly?
FER They are like the mountains round about Jerusalem; so the Lord encompasses His people. The testimony of the gospel now is the pledge of the present mercy of God. By and by the church — the heavenly city — will be a witness of the grace of God, the river of the water of life, flowing forth; and no one will be afraid of God; they will see the exceeding riches of God’s grace. “To myriads of angels, the universal gathering”. They are the great protection of Jerusalem. The Lord is round about His people, as the mountains are round about Jerusalem.
Ques Heavenly Jerusalem, and the assembly of the firstborn?
FER The former hangs upon mount Zion. You get a great power, and then a pledge of stability. That is the first element. When people are paralysed with terror, as at Sinai, there is no stability at all; there is no strength about them. The church of the firstborn ones, is for God; it is what God has for Himself. It is His portion.
Then “to God the Judge of all”, because all is in view of the world to come. When God Himself is Judge, He [p. 80] does not hide Himself behind a veil of providence; God Himself is Judge; judgment is not entrusted to others. “To the spirits of just men made perfect”. It is the men that are perfected, not the spirits. “The church of the first-born which are written in heaven”. Those are God’s portion. We have very little seen that Scripture has in view a world to come. We are told very little of the eternal state; we are not capable of understanding what will be then. Even Ephesians is all in view of “the dispensation of the fulness of times”. In the gates of the heavenly city, you get the names of the twelve tribes. It is the progeny of Isaac and Rebecca. It is in that way you get the true Israel; it comes out of Christ and the church. “Behold I make all things new”. That carries us on to the eternal state. The world to come represents the glory of God. It represents the moral triumph of God. This world is the dishonour of God. God might have abolished all by judgment, but then there would have been no evidence of His glory — of His triumph; everything is to be shaken; stars are to fall; the powers of heaven are to be shaken. There is to be a great shake-up both in heaven and on earth — it will be a political shaking. This new western system that they are so proud of will be all smashed up. I fancy God will use civil war to break it all up. Heaven will be shaken too, because Satan will be cast out. Michael and his angels are to fight against him.
There are three things we have come to here — the Mediator of the new covenant, the blood of sprinkling, and the “better things”. The blood of sprinkling speaks better things, because it is purging. Abel’s blood was a witness of murder, and that defiled the earth. The blood of Christ did make an appeal to God for judgment, but still it calls for redemption. The cleansing comes in by the blood of Christ; we have come to that. We have come to Jesus, and to the blood of sprinkling; we have come to a complete system because it takes in heaven and earth. Sprinkling is purifying. It will be applied to Israel by and by; but we have come to it now. The church is the [p. 81] greatest feature in the world to come. What would the universe be without the sun? “Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father” (Matthew 13: 43). The church in that way will have the place of rule; we “shall reign in life” — look at things morally. We shall be able to tell a Jew more about his calling than he knows himself. Our knowledge of God in His ways and dealings is so profound; we are so instructed in them that we shall be able to go here, and there, and everywhere, and instruct others. Everything in the present moment is taken up in the church, so that we may be instructed in every way of God. The church is so profound in its acquaintance with God, that it can instruct, and will sit on twelve thrones and judge the twelve tribes of Israel. The church is the house of God — the flock, etc. — and thus we can instruct a few perfectly in these things.
Ques Why might mount Sinai be touched?
FER We have not come to what is material. Mount Sinai was material. Sacraments are taken up in that way (i.e., materially) — that requires no spirituality. When we come to christianity in its true character, the least thing will affect you — will affect your spirit. You have to take care that you are not affected spiritually, i.e., in your spirit. Christendom has gone back to what is material and what appeals to the senses — great buildings, etc. — the clergy have all that kind of thought.