MOUNTAINS

^[p. 261] MOUNTAINS

Matthew 5: 1, 2; Matthew 14: 23, 24; Matthew 15: 29 - 32; Matthew 17: 1 - 5; Matthew 24: 3, 4; Matthew 28: 16 - 20

It will be obvious that I have mountains in mind, wishing by the Lord’s help to make clear their significance in this gospel. Many of you will remember the reference in the Old Testament to the mountains round about Jerusalem. It appears in the Songs of Degrees, that section of the Psalms which speaks of the people of God ascending. Many, alas, are marked by descent, moral descent. It is right, of course, to descend after the manner of Christ. He took that path in love, but only to ascend (Ephesians 4: 9). Many descend and remain at the low point reached. One of the most sorrowful pictures of descent is indeed in this very gospel, where the demons are allowed of the Lord to enter into the swine, which descended into the lake. It is typical of moral depravity, swine being a type of what is peculiarly unclean among men, unclean tastes and desires. These things drag us down, and when unclean demons acquire a place the pace is immensely accelerated. And that is what is going on. When God begins to work with His people for recovery we have moral ascension; there is a desire for better things and the refusal of the things in which, like the prodigal, we had part. So in the Psalms we have the people of God and they are going up, and on the ascent Jerusalem is in view (Psalm 125). The writer refers to it with emphasis. “Jerusalem!” he says, “mountains are round about her”. That is the impression on the mind of the spiritual. The heart is moved as the city comes into view. Then the psalmist adds, as the defences are seen, “Jehovah is round about his people, from henceforth and for evermore”.

^[p. 262] Now that gives you what I had in mind, and I hope that the saints will understand the feeling as to Jerusalem. When the Lord, on His last visit, viewed the city He was moved differently. The time of the return of the remnant was not yet, but His own death, the death of the Messiah, was imminent. It was not possible, He said, that a prophet should perish outside of it. Wickedness was so concentrated there. Righteousness must suffer there; dreadful situation! He wept over the city; that was His feeling as He said, “how often would I have gathered thy children as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!”, Matthew 23: 37. Will was at work there, but the time would come when Jerusalem would awake and put on her beautiful garments, when the voice to her would be, “Arise, shine!” (Isaiah 60: 1); that is yet future. Matthew has that in mind, but not immediately in regard to the literal Jerusalem, but in regard to the spiritual, that is, to the assembly, and my thought is to show you that these mountains are round about the assembly. The passages that I have read convey what is implied in the verses from the Psalms.

The light of rule and government now resides in and issues forth from the spiritual Jerusalem which Matthew has in mind. So we have in this gospel such allusions to Jerusalem as “the city of the great King” (Matthew 5: 35) which is a quotation from the Psalms. There is, without question, such a thing as that today, beloved friends, where the rule of Christ and the authority of Christ reside and from which they issue forth. Another beautiful reference is that in Matthew 27: 52, 53, “Many bodies of the saints fallen asleep arose and ... entered into the holy city”. These passages are peculiar to Matthew; they are spiritual references for those who understand the assembly. There is the city of the great King and there is the holy city. These two things go together. Woe be to him who disregards the great King. “Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? are we stronger than he?”, 1 Corinthians 10: 22. “God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints”, Psalm 89: 7. He is armed with power to enforce His rights.

Then there is the holiness of the city, in which there are spiritual experiences. It says that there were those that rose from the dead and went into the holy city and appeared unto many. I do not say that there is such a thing as that today. There is no connection whatever with those that have fallen asleep through Jesus; they are ‘asleep’ as far as relation with persons and events in this world is concerned. The appearance of some, as risen, in the holy city was a testimony. The city is taken account of as holy, abstractly so, we may say.

Having said so much about the city, I wish to dwell upon these mountains so that everyone will understand a little about them and rest with more security in the city. As we understand the mountains that are round about it, we shall be more restful in it. David says, “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem”, Psalm 122: 6. It is an enclosure, surrounded by these mountains, and the inference is that we dwell there in peace and prosperity.

The first mountain is in chapter 5, and what comes out in regard of it is that the Lord ascended it Himself. The passage preceding this, in the end of chapter 4, gives an epitome of the whole of the wonderful ministry of Christ. Stress is thus laid on the fact that there was such a ministry and that it was so extensive and so effective that crowds upon crowds were moved. But the Lord is not to be thronged, and so He ascends the mountain, and His disciples come to Him. I want to appeal to everybody here. It is very exhilarating indeed to see the crowds, but crowds are deceiving. Many hear the testimony but they have to be tested. The Lord sits down on the mount, meaning that whatever is in the crowd will be tested. He never ^[p. 264] ministers to nature. He tests you by the position He takes up. He sat down. He takes up the attitude of a permanent position-may I call it a fixed position? — for the moment. He is unmoved by the crowd, unrushed, and not carried off His feet by them, and His disciples came unto Him. What a beautiful picture is this ascending! It is for me as a disciple to learn to ascend and see the Lord in a sitting posture. What a need of teaching there is, beloved friends! You have to do with the Person. He opened His mouth and taught them. What comes out on this first mount is the wonderful perspective that opens up as the Lord continues teaching. I am no longer befogged and many things that I may have questioned now become clear.

First He makes plain to me the kind of people who are blessed. It is a matter of great interest to me. Am I to be amongst them? There are nine different kinds of persons, or, maybe, nine different traits attached to the same person, and they all involve blessing. Can we afford, beloved brethren, to overlook these blessings? We should rather wish to be fully in the good of them. You should, yourself, consider these various blessings; they are very familiar: “Blessed are the poor in spirit”; “Blessed are they that mourn”; “Blessed are the meek”. The first thing is the great perspective of blessing that is opened up, and then the kind of people that are blessed, beginning with the poor in spirit. Then you have the Lord’s teaching in relation to the law in a variety of ways, and how we are to be in regard to one another: how to pray, how to give alms. You are no longer uncertain as to the kind of people that are to be blessed, and you can tell if you are among them or otherwise. The Lord directly says to those before Him, “Ye are the salt of the earth ... the light of the world”. What a position to occupy! That is the first mount of those that surround this wonderful city.

^[p. 265] The next mount is in chapter 14. The Lord, it says, dismisses the multitude. The disciples went into the ship and He went up apart to the mount. You can see that if I take in the wonderful perspective of chapters 5, 6 and 7, which is seen from the first mount, I shall be very dependent. I shall not be self-confident as I hear the Lord going over the ground. I shall become more and more humble. How can I be on this mountain suitably to it? How can I stand on it? Only by dependence. The Lord has gone up; the disciples are not with Him on this mount. It is typical of the present position of Christ as our representative in heaven. He was alone there. There are no intercessory saints in heaven; no prayers there. No one dare occupy any ground like that save Jesus; He is alone in prayer. Marvellous fact for us! we have an Advocate, a great High Priest, Jesus the Son of God. He is occupied in prayer alone. He has no associates. In the greatness of His Person He is great enough to represent us there. The ship is tossed by the waves below; the wind was contrary. Is not that our position?

The next mountain is in the end of chapter 15. The Lord goes up again and now the crowds come. It is the evangelical mountain; everybody can come. And as they are coming the Lord would say, “Lift up your eyes”. We must have our eyes opened to see what the Lord is doing. There are those actually ascending the mountain to get to Jesus. In Luke He goes down, but this gospel contemplates the work of God in souls so that the multitude comes with those suffering from every possible kind of disease, and casts them at His feet. They are urgent and they are respectful. They do not say,’It is your business to heal them’. Wherever the work of God is proceeding there is respect for the vessel of God. Why not be respectful? This is the evangelical mount, a very fine mountain among those around Jerusalem. Now the Lord says to His disciples,

‘^[p. 266] I want to bring you into this. I have compassion on the multitude; they have been with Me a long time’. I think that the Lord would open our eyes to see what is being done, the kind of thing that is going on, the work of God. And so He feeds the multitude; this feeding has reference to what is on earth; that in chapter 14 refers to heaven. Here the Lord simply gives thanks for the food; He would bring us into what He is doing. Do we see what is going on? Have we a part in it?

The next mountain is in chapter 17. This is one very well known to us but perhaps not hitherto viewed as one of those around the city. There is great spiritual instruction in every one of these mountains, and as we understand them we shall be more restful but more active and energetic. This mountain brings out a certain selective principle that belongs to Christ. When it comes to divine selection I have no choice, but it should make me very concerned. Am I to be left out of this selection? Some will be left out; just three are selected. It is a selective season. This is the mountain in which the principle of divine selection comes to light. Am I to be among those selected? There are some today who have great privileges and they know it, but the Lord is according these privileges to us. I do not deny that the growth of the saints enters into it, but what I would insist upon is that you must accord the principle of divine selection to the Lord. He takes Peter, James and John and goes up. He went up apart in chapter 14 but now He takes them apart. It is an exclusive company, actually separated from others who were doubtless worthy people, but the Lord makes His own selection and He takes them up and takes them up apart. In order to understand this scene it is well to read what Peter says about it in his own words in 2 Peter 1: 18. I am sure that when Peter read this passage in Matthew, or in the other gospels, he would have been very much ^[p. 267] ashamed. But let us dwell on his own account “When we were with him in the holy mount”. He thus refers to being consciously in the Lord’s company and to what happened there: he speaks of hearing the voice which came from heaven, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased”. He is revelling in it. It was a word of prophecy to him. He had not followed cunningly-devised fables in making known the power of the Lord Jesus. He was an eyewitness of the majesty of Jesus. How we need to be impressed with the majesty of Jesus as the Son of man coming in His kingdom! His face was shining as the sun in governmental dignity and power.

What I wanted to point out particularly is that He is to be heard. The apostle says, “Knowing of whom thou hast learned them”, 2 Timothy 3: 14. We must understand the person from whom we have learned. Christianity has been initiated by the most wonderful, most glorious Person. That is the point. His majesty is before the mind and then He is to be heard. There is no one else worth listening to. Moses and Elias were great men, but it is this Person who authorised Moses to speak, this very Person.

There is another thing that came to my mind of late; all mediatorial ministry from the very creation down to the present time is through Jesus. All that came out in the Old Testament was through Jesus. Who spoke to Moses in the burning bush? Jesus. Moses was commissioned by the Lord Jesus. He was not a Man then but He was a Person and He was the very Person who said to Elijah, “What doest thou here, Elijah?”, 1 Kings 19: 9. Now on this mount there is a voice, “This is my beloved Son ... hear him”. Is He not worth hearing? There may be somebody here who is shutting his ears to that voice, the voice of the Son of God. It is wonderful to hear Him. Were He to signify in heaven now that He wished to speak a word all would be hushed there. So what ^[p. 268] about here? The Lord wishes to speak a word and I bow in my soul to listen. Hear Him.

The next mount is in chapter 24. It is a very well known mount, the mount of Olives. It was literally at Jerusalem, but I am not speaking of literal mountains. They are very interesting, but the spiritual, not the literal, is in mind. What is the mount of Olives? The Lord sat on it after He had left the city. When they spoke to Him of the stones of the temple He said, ‘They are all coming down’. If I am held by any conspicuous building in this world, or by any great society such as a religious society with a reputation for its learning and antiquity, what does this passage mean to me? It means that the Lord has left it all. Am I going to settle in that which He has left? Am I going to remain in what the Son of God has left? No; I am going to leave it too. It is going to come down about my ears presently; I had better leave it at once.

He sat upon the mount of Olives and His disciples came and made enquiry. He answered, “Take heed that no man deceive you”. I only dwell on the Lord’s position as sitting on the mount of Olives. That is where He is sitting today.

The final mount is in the last chapter. All I shall do is just to refer to it in the briefest manner. It is the appointed mount. It is as if the Lord said, ‘Now meet Me there’. It is a trysting place; you understand that you have to meet the Lord at this mount. It is specially for those that are serving. You love to meet Him there. And the eleven come; it is a broken number, alas! It touches us because we are in a day of breakdown ourselves. They resorted to that trysting place and the Lord met them there. He had made His promise, as it were, and He did not disappoint them. He will never disappoint me if I go to that mountain in every bit of service, but never go to that mount with a doubt in your heart; some doubted ^[p. 269] when they saw the Lord, but they all came and the Lord met them. This is a wonderful word, to my mind, for all those that serve. It was His doing. They worshipped Him, and He then said to them, “All power has been given me in heaven and upon earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptising them to the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit”.

What does all this mean? In this last mount it is not a question of His glory; it is a question of His power: “All power has been given me ... Go therefore and make disciples”. I recognise His deity. This is the mount that implies that if I am to be here for God I must have some influence. Every one of us has some influence of some kind, but of what kind? Is it the kind that makes disciples to Him? that which brings souls under His tutorship, under His training? And so you see, having gone over these mountains, I have myself arrived at the idea. I take a trip round these mountains, chapters 5, 14, 15, 17, 24, and 28; that would be six mountains. It is a most exhilarating thing to take a trip round these mountains; there is a lesson in each one of them, and when I have learned these lessons, I come to the last mountain. I have influence. What kind of influence? I am not on the line of leading a party; I am thinking of Jerusalem. I do not want to divide up Jerusalem. When David left Jerusalem, he told them to carry the ark back. He will be no party man. The principle is that you leave the ark where it belongs; there is only one assembly.

As I traverse these mountains I become a Jerusalem man. I think of Jerusalem as a whole, not of a fraction of it. I have in mind the heavenly city, the new Jerusalem, and I pray for the peace of Jerusalem. I know these mountains are round about her and my great exercise is to get the people of God into them, and get them instructed so that they understand the ^[p. 270] security of the position; they will dwell in peace. You will understand that what I have had in mind all this time is the assembly. It comes into evidence particularly in this gospel. This is the gospel that tells us that the Lord builds His assembly. He says, “On this rock I will build my assembly, and hades’ gates shall not prevail against it”, Matthew 16: 18. All these mountains are round about that assembly and I must understand them if I am to be in the good of it.