EDUCATION FOR HEAVEN
[p. 113] EDUCATION FOR HEAVEN
Luke 9: 28 - 36; Matthew 17: 1 - 8; Mark 9: 2 - 8
I wish to speak of these verses but wish also to read Matthew’s account and Mark’s account of the same occurrence. Matthew’s account is in chapter 17, verses 1 to 8, and Mark’s in chapter 9, verses 2 to 8.
In connection with the gospels the word to Timothy by Paul has a special significance, namely, that we should rightly divide the word of truth. The gospels afford a wide range, I need not remind you. They are on a much wider platform than the epistles. The bearing of the gospels goes beyond the church, I need not say, and goes into the millennium, so we need to bear that injunction in mind in reading them, namely, to rightly divide the word of truth.
I want to speak a word about the educational feature of the gospels, so I have selected these passages; especially the one in Luke, for they present to us what is highly educational. Immediately the disciples were in view, but at the time these narratives were written the disciples had undoubtedly learned their lessons, so that they were not written for them. They were written for those who should follow after them, those who had been converted through them; they were written for us so that we should profit by their education. We are to be educated divinely, beloved friends, if we are to be educated at all. I need not remind you that the gospels do not educate us for a place in this world. The education that the gospels afford is to qualify us for that world, the one that is to come. For ourselves immediately the education is for the heavenly part of it. A very blessed suggestion that, that we are to fulfil a function in the heavenly part of that wonderful world that God has before Him.
These three men — Peter, James and John — were taken by the Lord to receive this special educational experience (for such it was) and the record is left for us as followers [p. 114] of theirs in the path of faith, so that we should partake of the education that is available in it. So I will dwell upon the thoughts in Matthew, and say a few words as to Mark; finally I would desire to go into Luke more fully.
Matthew tells us that the Lord’s countenance shone as the sun, and His raiment was white as the light. That is what the Spirit of God introduces through Matthew for us. Neither Mark nor Luke refer to the sun in their narratives, and for the reason that I have stated, that Matthew is the educational gospel for administration. We are to be administrators; we are to have part in the rule of the world to come. Now these are not mere theories. I do not wish you to think that I am putting out accepted theories among the saints. I wish you to understand that what I am saying, I am speaking from conviction in my own soul as to the significance of the passage.
However insignificant we may regard ourselves, the mind of God is that we shall have part in the administration of that wonderful system of things He has before Him. He has His mind about it and He does not want you to come short. Hence the importance of looking at the sun. In some parts of the earth it is regarded (at least at certain times) as an enemy, but I am sure the whole human race would conclude that the sun is the greatest of all factors in the material system, especially in the wonderful regularity in which it revolves (as we speak), regulating everything in our system.
A wonderful piece of education, beloved friends, to look at Christ in that light! What a countenance was that! John sees Him later in the vision in Patmos. It was as the sun shines in his power, it says. We as christians have come to see that our politics are not connected with this world. We have come (at least some of us have — all christians have not) to see, with Paul, that our citizenship is in heaven. We have come to see that in connection with Christ there, there is a system of politics, or citizenship, in which we, as believers, have part. It is not only that I am to be with Jesus — wonderful as that is. Every believer is to be there. The Lord will have us. He loves us and [p. 115] hence He comes in order to receive us to Himself. We are told that. As He says, “That where I am, there ye may be also”, John 14: 3. Most precious truth for those who love the Lord, but that is to be in the Father’s house, in which there are many valued things, but there is a wider idea than the Father’s house. There is the city of the, living God, to which we have come. Out of it is all government. The government is to be on the shoulder of Christ. Would to God He were here now to take it up! Every nation cries out for a governor, for one who can face things and solve them. The government shall be upon His shoulder, His name shall be Everlasting Father. Think of the care, the parental care, the interest of Christ in the whole realm of God. The government of the universe is sustained on His shoulder. And then He is the Prince of Peace. All these great ideas shall enter into the city of the living God, whence shall issue all rule and all light for the whole realm of creation. What a wonderful thing, beloved friends, that God has destined that we are to have part in that. We are to have our part in that wonderful scheme. How important, therefore, to study Matthew.
Matthew is what I might call the legislative gospel, and also the administrative gospel, for in order to have administration you must have legislation. Now chapter 5 gives us the legislation of the kingdom. That is also upon the mount, but in chapter 17 it is the Administrator that is presented to us, the Ruler. So His countenance is like the sun. What brilliancy! As you think of the countenances of the nations, who knows anything about them? Things are all done in the dark. Whereas here you have the countenance of the Ruler as the sun in brilliance, and then all His circumstances, His clothing, are white as the light — not a spot or shade either on His person or His circumstances. Who can rule in the house of God? Who is qualified to rule in the house of God save one whose countenance is as the sun in clearness and brilliance with no dark part, and whose circumstances and whose relationships (domestic and otherwise) are as white as the light? 1 Timothy makes it plain as to who is to rule in the house of God.
[p. 116] Now Matthew, as I understand, is the gospel that instructs us in regard of rule. When you come to Mark what you will note is the word “themselves” appears as exclusive, as I apprehend. It says He took them to a high mountain apart by themselves. Now that is Mark. Mark is, as we know, the evangelist who presents to us Christ as the servant of God. You have no reference to His birth, or to His boyhood in Mark. It is the beginning of the glad tidings of Jesus Christ, Son of God. That is how Mark introduces his subject. Very abrupt — no reference to His parentage or to His locality. It is Jesus Christ, Son of God, at the beginning of His service, and so the Lord takes them with Him. They go up into the mountain.
The Lord is selective and exclusive. We must not be afraid of the word ‘exclusive’. It is a very good word provided it is preceded by selection, by divine selection. Now according to Mark they are taken aside by themselves. How lovely that is! It is as if to say, ‘Now, Peter, James and John, only you three’. The Lord evidently had no compunction in regard of hurt feelings. Only Peter, James and John, only you three. You say, a very small company. Ah, but a very select company. That is the point. It is not a question of the number. Not that we shall not have numbers, but I prefer selection first, the selection of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a wonderful thing to be selected. “Ye have not chosen me”, says the Lord, John 15: 16. Had we been left to ourselves not one of us would have chosen Him. A very solemn thing to have to admit — not one of us would have chosen Him. He says, you did not choose me. Had they been left to themselves they would have been with the multitude, with the majority, who rejected Him. “When we shall see him there is no beauty that we should desire him”, Isaiah 53:2. He is not our selection, but He says, “I have chosen you, and ordained you”, John 15:16.
The Lord selects and He ordains. A wonderful thing to be in that select company! Now it says, He took them apart by themselves, and all that happens happens for them. Wonderful consideration in divine education! If you will [p. 117] notice, He was transfigured before them — not simply transfigured. It is not simply the fact of the transfiguration. That is there, but it happened before them. How much happens before us? Think of His consideration for us — how things happen before us. They do not happen before the world. The world does not know what we enjoy. Did they know it, their attitude would be different. As Paul says, speaking of the Lord in another connection, “the hidden wisdom ... which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory”. The wisdom of the Greeks is public, and all the sages that have followed (many of whom live now) you can attain to by getting their books and reading them, and listening to their lectures, but the hidden wisdom, beloved friends, which none of the princes knew (the word “princes” here does not mean simply the rulers of the world, but the learned men of the world). Not one of them knew it, he says, “for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory”, 1 Corinthians 2: 8. And so, beloved friends, the world does not know the things that come before us. Hidden away in obscure places and rooms (for the meeting rooms we have are not built for us; none of the cities of the world provide for the saints of God; we have to take what we can find usually) we find things that the world knows nothing about. They happen before us — not before the world.
The Lord in going away, before He went up to heaven, prayed, and He deliberately excluded the world. A very serious thing! “I pray not for the world”, He says, “but for them which thou hast given me”. That is our position. He prays for us and He manifests Himself to us. Judas says, How is that Lord? How can you manifest yourself to us and not to the world? “If any one love me he will keep my word”. The secret is, if you love Christ you will understand how it is that you are one of the exclusives, one of the select ones to whom He makes manifestations. Is that not enough for you? There are those who look for companies and are glad to see a lot of brethren. Of course we are thankful to see large companies,
[p. 118] but then, beloved friends, it is a question of the countenances of those of the company. What kind of countenances have they? Gideon says to the kings of the Midianites, “What sort of men were they that ye slew at Tabor?” What were they like? That is the point. What do they look like? Well, they say, every one was like you. Each one of them is the child of a king. That is the company. There is no difficulty in regard of numbers, if you are after them. It only requires a bit of talent, and a bit of energy, and a bit of strife, the strife of Herod, the leaven of Herod, and you will get a company. There is no difficulty about getting a crowd. They are easily secured. It is a question of the quality. What kind of countenances have they? What kind of spirits have they? What kind of hearts have they? Ye have come, says the apostle, to the spirits of just men made perfect, and we want men, as we had it here today and yesterday, calling on the Lord out of a pure heart. These are the people.
Well, now, I think Mark calls attention to this, they are exclusive, they are a select class. Oh, you say, you are shut up to yourselves, you christians, you brethren. You are too narrow. I am not defending the narrowness of the flesh, because the flesh is exclusive too in its own way, carnally so. I am speaking of the exclusiveness that is based on the selection of the Lord Jesus Christ — His selection. You say, you are shut up to yourselves. But then, beloved friends, look what we are shut up to. Suppose we admit your contention, look what we are shut up to. What do you know about what we see? About what we enjoy? You have no part or lot in it. Look at the countenances of God’s people. Look at their ways. See if they are not happier than you are. How do you account for it? The secret of it is, beloved friends, that we are shut up to Christ. That is the secret of it. But then shut up to Christ is shut up to what? Shut up to all there is in heaven and eternity. Think of the vastness of it. We have spoken here today about the feast of weeks and the feast of Pentecost, that in the New Testament there is no time limit. It is not regulated by the laws of time or of nature. As christians we are shut up to that,
[p. 119] the vastness of what God is in Christ, made good to us by the Spirit. As Paul says, If the outer man perisheth (and he does) yet the inner is renewed day by day. You do not see the inner man. You only see the outer. He says further, We look not at things that are seen. We are the filth and off scouring of all things, nevertheless, we look at the things that are not seen, and in the light of all that, our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us an eternal weight of glory. That is the christian’s part.
Mark, I apprehend, is on that line, so he tells us that the Lord took them apart to a high mountain by themselves, and was transfigured before them, and after the transfiguration, in Mark it says they looked around and they saw no one but Jesus only with themselves. I only refer to that and I leave it with you, but, I say, what a wonderful thing to see Jesus only and themselves!
Do not say in your heart, I am nothing. Are we nothing? Place the saints with Jesus and see what they are. They are jewels. Really you might say that expression “Jesus only with themselves” is the essence of the epistle to the Colossians. That is what it is. The Father speaks out of the cloud, and He says, “This is my beloved Son: hear him”. And they look around and they see no one but Jesus only. Jesus only with them. He was with them. Well now, that, as I apprehend, is how Mark presents the thing. He occupies our minds with this beautiful picture — a glorified Jesus announced from heaven as the Son, who alone is to be heard, and He is there with the three men who are selected. He is with them and they do not see anything else but Him. As I said, it seems to me to be the substance of the letter to the Colossians.
In turning to Luke what I wish to enlarge on is the Man, and what you will see is that the transfiguration occurred while He was praying. It does not say that it occurred before them. I think that in a way the Father would say, ‘I am not going to leave it all with you. It is not all for you now’. That lovely picture of a Man praying, lifting up His face to God in prayer, is for God. “And as He prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered, and his raiment was white and glistering” and Moses and Elias appear and they are talking with Him. What are they talking about? All these things are educational. They are talking about His decease. I suppose if we were to meet Moses, with our natural sentiments, we should like to ask him several questions about the Egyptians, or about Pharaoh as the warrior that ruled in his time. He could tell us. He could solve that problem. He could tell us, if we were disposed to ask him, certain things about the Red Sea and Mount Sinai. But there was nothing said here about those things at all. He was in the presence of the Lord of glory, he and Elias, these two wonderful men. Elias could have told us about Ahab and Jezebel, but not a word about these things. They are speaking to the Lord about His decease which He should accomplish at Jerusalem. That is the theme of their conversation on the mount.
Well, now, Peter was afraid, and John was afraid, and James was afraid; not only were they afraid, but they fell asleep. It says “Peter and they that were with him were heavy with sleep”. It seems Peter is the foreleader in the sleeping here. There is usually a leader in these things. There is not time to enlarge upon the leadership in which Peter figures; we have to be on our guard as to leadership of the saints which results in disaster for them, and as to whether we are influencing anybody wrongly. If you want to go to sleep go to sleep by yourself. “Peter and they that were with him”, it says. It seems as if they were together as a trio, in spite of the vision before them. It is a terrible thing to have partisan feeling. You may say I am forcing the passage, but the Spirit of God puts it just that way. “Peter and those with him” it should be (New Trans.). They were with Jesus on the holy mount. It was a question of being with Jesus and that is the question, beloved friends, for us. It is not what man you are with, what company you are with. It is a question of being with the Lord, with Jesus. It is a question for the secret of your soul to determine whether you are with Him, or whether you are with Peter or somebody else.
They were oppressed with sleep, it says, and then it further says that when they were “fully awoke up they saw his glory, and the two men who stood with him”. That was what they woke up to and that is what we all wake up to. Now that is what is available — that is the light, the light of Christ’s glory. But now see how it is with them: Peter is spokesman again, and he says to the Lord, “Master, it is good for us to be here”. For us. “And let us make three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias”. Now, Luke says he did not know what he said; Mark says he did not know what to say. How like the conditions around us, men waking up and now making their proposals — three tabernacles. I wonder how many there are, how many tabernacles today in what we call christendom? How many? In Paul’s time even, at Corinth, he says, “every one of you saith” (mark, there was nobody exempt). “Every one of you saith I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas, and I of Christ”, 1 Corinthians 1: 12. They were all guilty. There was none exempt. “Every one of you”. That is how it is in christendom. Each one of you says, I am of this, I am that, and I am the other, and someone says, “I am of Christ”, another sect called christians, as distinguished from others. The apostle says, “Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?” Away with your sects! Away with your leaders! Return to christianity.
Peter, it says, did not know what he was saying. Well, it is not only that they do not know what they are saying, it is far worse than that. The divisions of christendom are an attack on the Lord Jesus Christ. It is an attack on the truth of the church. It is Satan’s way of nullifying the truth. That is what it is.
A cloud comes and the Father’s voice is heard. It says that a cloud overshadowed them. Ah! God is going to have to say. Today, beloved friends, His voice speaks amid the din of the different voices of leaders. God speaks. It is a question of righteousness, the rights of God are involved in it. “This is my beloved Son: hear him”. There is only one tabernacle. There are not to be three tabernacles. Three would be a denial of the truth of the Deity, for God [p. 122] is one. So in Exodus it was asserted there should be one tabernacle, and Christ is that. At least He stands for it here. So the passage further reads, “While he thus spake, there came a cloud, and overshadowed them: and they feared as they entered into the cloud”. That is to say, God brings Peter’s wicked speech to an end. Would to God He would put an end to it now, at least in the hearts of His own. The greatest comfort one has in a way is that the Lord knoweth those that are His, and if you have any such device in your heart, or any such speech as this, would to God the cloud would come and put an end to it forever.
The cloud came as a rebuke to Peter while he was speaking. There is no such thing as what he was saying. If you are holding any such thing as that it is not from Heaven. That is from the devil, that voice that suggested putting the Son of God on a level with Elias and Moses. God will not have it. That is what heaven says. But God has His mind about things and He is going to deal with them. God is a righteous judge. He is judge of all the earth, as if Elias says: “The just Lord is in the midst thereof; he will not do iniquity: every morning doth he bring his judgment to light, he faileth not”, Zephaniah 3:5. God has His own mind about everything and is going to bring His own judgment to light, so He hushes this wretched speech of Peter’s. You say it was not so bad? Just so, it shows where you are. What does heaven think of it? It was an attack on the Son of God. That is what it was, putting Him on the level of Moses and Elias, so “while he thus spake” it says, “there came a cloud, and overshadowed them: and they feared”. Thank God for that, they were afraid. They had good reason to be afraid with such sentiments in their hearts, for thus God was educating them. Thank God for that. They were to learn and judge. Thank God they were disposed to learn.
And so the passage goes on to say, “There came a voice out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son: hear him”. That is God’s voice, as if He would say, ‘Just give up all those wretched ideas about numbers, about leaders, and look at My Son, listen to Him, let Him speak to you.
Hear Him!’ And so it says, “When the voice was past”; that is, the voice in its own time has passed and now you are to be tested by it. The voice is past. When it is past Jesus is found there. It does not say He was found with them. “Jesus was found alone”.
Now, are we prepared for that, to be with that blessed Man whose life was taken from the earth, who was received up into heaven and who is at the right hand of God? When Stephen saw Jesus standing on the right hand of God, he said, “I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God”. Standing ready to serve, ready to speak, ready to teach; are we prepared, beloved brethren, to listen to Jesus the Son of God?
“And they kept it close, and told no man in those days any of those things which they had seen”. I do not think you go and tell out these things. The thing is wonderful. Think of this wonderful treasure they had. You treasure it in your heart, it will work out. They did not tell anybody in those days, but Peter does tell us about it. He uses the expression “holy mount”. “When we were with him”, he says, “in the holy mount”, 2 Peter 1: 18. But whom did he tell it to? To whom does he tell this? He tells it to the Jews of the dispersion, in view of the fact that he was about to put off his tabernacle. He says, ‘I want to stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance’. We do not tell such things to impure people. It is not fit that they should hear about it. These things are priestly things and are for pure minded people. You say, why are you telling them to us? Just because I believe you are pure minded. I believe that.
We were remarking today about Jehu, the one who executed the judgment of God; he met with Jehonadab, and said, “Is thine heart right, as my heart is with thy heart?” Jehonadab said, “It is”, 2 Kings 10: 15. Well now, I believe that about you, that your hearts are right, because fellowship is not simply that we have agreed in regard of doctrine. It is really a question of heart. Is your heart right with my heart, and is my heart right with your heart, and both our hearts right with the Lord’s heart That is the circle of fellowship. Jehonadab says, ‘My [p. 124] heart is right with your heart. I am with you’. So Jehu gave him his hand and took him up to him in his chariot. I apprehend that is our position, in this sense, we are together with pure hearts, with hearts that are true to each other as they are to Christ. And so, beloved friends, Peter took account of those to whom he wrote as having pure minds. We should stir up pure minds. I would not like to stir up an impure mind. An impure mind had better be left dormant. The reading of a novel will stir up an impure mind; they are intended to stir up the flesh in the human heart and human mind. But Peter, as a true priest of God, is recognizing purity in the minds and in the hearts of God’s people, and says, I want to stir up that. That is what is to be stirred up. It is to be stirred up by way of remembrance. Remembrance of what? Remembrance of this wonderful vision on the mount of transfiguration. He says, “We have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty”. ‘We were eyewitnesses when we were with Him on the holy mount’. He does not say, ‘When James, and John, and myself were on the holy mount’. It is Christ he is bringing before them, not James, John and himself. We “were eyewitnesses of his majesty”. So he leaves that as a remembrance in the pure minds of the people of God, and so what I seek to do tonight is to stir up your pure minds that we might be educated and especially that this wonderful Man should be before us. They saw only the Lord — “Jesus alone”. He it is that is to fill the vision of the people of God, and, in these last days, to keep us from the antichrist; for Jesus is the Christ, and as we have Him in our hearts we are invulnerable to the influences of the antichrist. May the Lord bless the word before us tonight.