THE HOLY MOUNTAIN
[p. 113] THE HOLY MOUNTAIN
2 Peter 1: 16 - 18; Exodus 24: 9 - 18
JT Mountains have a very important place in Scripture, particularly in Matthew and Exodus; and Peter’s allusion, as from one who was in the full appreciation of what had been presented on one, serves to bring out the importance of mountains. Having had many years to think over what had been presented on the mount, it seemed to increase in value in his eyes and thoughts, reminding us that as we advance, what we learn in early years increases in value in our estimation. The gospel as rightly presented should convey the suggestion of the assembly, and normally we increase in our appreciation of it, so that instead of being theoretic in our references, we are “full of sap”, and fresh in our service.
AEL Do you mean that in preaching the gospel, the assembly is before one? In what character particularly would that be?
JT Well, it is brought in at the end of Romans as the mystery. Something is mentioned, as of great importance, that is not unfolded at the moment: it is obvious that normally we would begin to enquire, and the enquirers get the light and instruction. It was presented by the Lord at once in the case of Saul of Tarsus — “Why persecutest thou me?” and it evidently never lost its power in his soul, but rather increased. Ephesians brings it in in its fulness.
A comparison of Peter’s comments as to the holy mount, with the mountain in Exodus, would help us as to the assembly. It involves moral elevation in Matthew 17. As the truth of the assembly is announced, chapter 16, we have a selection of persons to go up. Matthew only of the evangelists formally mentions the assembly. Three disciples are selected [p. 114] out of many, and although they but little appreciated what was there then. Peter shows that he did appreciate it afterwards. As we grow older, we increase in our appreciation of testimony presented to us.
AEL I should like to follow how you bring the assembly in in that connection, for there are only three persons selected.
JT It is to bring out the personnel of the assembly, what is suitable in the way of personal dignity. They saw great things up there, and later understood the bearing of them. What they saw on the mount had reference to the assembly. It was to make them great inwardly, that they were taken up. Peter’s letter shows how he had come to value it; he was now consciously equal to it — “When we were with him”, he says, not ‘when Moses or Elijah were with him’, but “when we were with him”. Starting with that, we might get a little clue as to the assembly in its greatness. The persons who form it are necessarily great. Moses and Elijah were brought in there by an extraordinary act of God, but they are not the material for the assembly, they represent heavenly personages equal to speaking with the Lord Jesus in the very height of the glory. They were speaking with Him, showing how great they were; the idea being that we can speak to the Lord as in the midst of the greatest glory, it is not too great for us. Luke refers to Moses and Elias as two men.
WH In Matthew’s gospel it does not say of Peter, “not knowing what he said”. As Matthew treats of the assembly, this may suggest intelligence in him.
JT It tends to minimize his ignorance at any rate. “Moses and Elias appeared to them talking with him”. Matthew 17: 3. Then it says, as regard the others, “the disciples hearing it fell upon their faces, and were greatly terrified”, showing that they were not equal to the scene, but they received impressions. We get impressions early, and although we may not at the time be equal to what they convey, God brings us to it. The point is, God brings us to the result; these two personages appeared to them in glory talking with Him, and they were equal to it; as if God would convey that His thought is to make us all equal to the glory. Peter does not allude to Moses and Elias, but to himself. John and James — “when we were with him in the holy mount”. As the scene is over, “lifting up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus alone”, and Mark adds, “with themselves”. They are to be brought to this great scene in their souls, so that they are equal to the glory. We often lack “wings” in our assembly meetings — “They shall mount up with wings as eagles”, Isaiah 40: 31. We stay about too much at the bottom of the mountain, whereas the glory is on the top. We get in Exodus, “The glory of Jehovah abode on mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days; and on the seventh day he called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud. And the appearance of the glory of Jehovah was like a consuming fire on the top of the mountain”. In Moses there is one equal to it.
AEL It was a bright cloud in Matthew.
JT Yes, showing the advance from the wilderness. If we understood the kind of persons that are seen there, we should have it before us that the divine thought is that we should be brought to that. If we see the thought of God for us and seek it, we are brought to it. God could have brought this glorious scene down, and the Lord could have been transfigured at the bottom of the mountain, if it were merely a question of what God could do; but Exodus 24 shows that the divine thought was that they should go up; the chapter begins with that, the [p. 116] covenant is introduced afterwards and then they go up, verse 9. Then we get the fulness of glory, a man entering into it. He is seen before he enters in, and then he enters in. There is the glory that we behold, and the glory that we share; we want to understand now how we are to share things with Christ, and then how we are to behold the glory that is peculiar to Himself.
A.E.L. In the future?
JT Yes.
Ques Do you suggest that we may even be occupied with the Lord as in resurrection without seeing Him go up?
JT Yes, we must see Him go up to get the full divine thought; the assembly belongs to heaven.
Ques At the end of Matthew the Lord said that they should go into Galilee and there they should see Him, but it says of the disciples, they “went into Galilee to the mountain which Jesus had appointed them” — do you think they were equal to His thought there?
JT That is exactly the point. We go up to Him in chapter 5 and hear His teaching. Several mountains intervene, and the one you allude to is the last; in Matthew it is the place of a divinely appointed meeting. They had already learned to go up with Him, but now they go up by themselves, and He comes and meets them there.
AEL Have you any thought as to why it is only three disciples on the mount of transfiguration? for in the last instance it is all of them.
JT It is, I think, to bring out the principle of selection that runs right through Scripture.
AEL Would it be for testimony?
JT It would be competency for full testimony. As I was remarking, we remain too much at the bottom of the mountain, but we thus miss the glory.
[p. 117] for God does not come down with it. The Lord took them up to the mountain and the glory came there; so here. Exodus 24, the idea is of the ascent first on the part of the people, then the glory. In chapter 34, after the breakdown, Moses ascended alone — there is no one at all to go but himself. Here the others go part of the way with him — that is our privilege. The Lord goes beyond anything we can ever compass, but still we go up. The setting of the truth is that at the beginning of the chapter there is the suggestion of ascending as the predominating idea: “Go up to Jehovah, thou and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel; and worship afar off. And let Moses alone come near Jehovah”. That is the position; and the next thing is, how are they to go up? Are we to go up in slavish fear? or are we to go up in the liberty the love of God affords? This is what the type means. The God to whom we ascend, is the God who loves us. If we know His love we shall not have any fear in our hearts in going up.
Then the chapter says, “Moses came and told the people all the words of Jehovah, and all the judgments; and all the people answered with one voice, and said. All the words that Jehovah has said will we do! And Moses wrote all the words of Jehovah, and rose up early in the morning, and built an altar under the mountain, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel”. It is as if Moses had said, ‘I am not going to write until you commit yourselves’; the covenant is to be written, for it is to stand. But how is it to stand? Only on the principle of sacrifice; and moreover, it stands in relation to all. The twelve pillars mean all the saints, they convey the great general thought. Then the officers are not to be mere officials, going through the service as a routine; they are to be in youthful freshness. That is the next thing: he sends youths,
and “they offered up burnt-offerings, and sacrificed sacrifices of peace-offering of bullocks to Jehovah”. They would do it in a fresh, energetic way, there would be nothing stale about them. That is the feature that God indicates here. Then after that the blood is put in the basons, meaning that it is there in volume, which has its own voice, and “Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up”, verse 9. Verses 1 and 2 give the divine direction, and verse 9 is the answer to it.
Rem If we understood what is there we should go up.
JT Exactly. But God is seeking company up above. He is ready to come down to walk with them, as He did for hundreds of years; 1 Chronicles 17: 5, but now they are to gratify His heart by going up to His own sphere.
Ques Do we get His own sphere suggested in the excellent glory referred to in the passage read in 2 Peter?
JT Yes, the word “excellent” points to it. Peter has a great vocabulary of superlatives of which we ought to learn the meaning.
CTL Does the presentation of the love in the Lord’s supper help us in going up?
JT That is what is in view in the type in the blood of the covenant; the words are almost those the Lord uses as to the supper, only that we have the new covenant; this is a type of the new.
WH Do you think we ought always to go up after the supper?
JT Yes, I think that is what God is looking for. We begin at the bottom where our responsibility was, and is; the Lord’s supper refers to that, it is here: there is what is here, and what is there.
CTL Why do you think it is we are so reluctant to go up?
JT I think there is a good deal of teaching [p. 119] needed, to get our minds running in right channels; and then, if we are honest, as we take on the teaching, we want to be in keeping with it; and God has given us the power in the Spirit to be in keeping with it. In the second prayer of the apostle in Ephesians he bows his knees, as if to suggest that the thing in view is great, but not much realized. He bowed his “knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom every family in the heavens and on earth is named, in order that he may give you according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with power by his Spirit in the inner man”. Ephesians 3: 14 - 16. That is what is needed.
Ques Is the blood presented here as the death of Christ on the love side?
JT I think so, there is no sin offering.
Ques Would you say the Lord led the woman of Sychar to the true mountain? She could say, “Our fathers worshipped in this mountain”.
JT Just so. I believe an examination of mountains, especially in Exodus and Matthew, would help greatly as to worship.
Ques Do you think the seventy represent those in whom the teaching of the Lord has become effective? I was thinking of the scripture, “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty”, 2 Corinthians 3: 17 — liberty to go up.
JT I think so. The proposal in the beginning of the chapter is God’s. The next thing is, Is there anyone with heart enough to take it on? The Lord said, “There are some of those standing here that shall not taste of death at all until they shall have seen the Son of man coming in his kingdom”. Well, am I to be amongst those? Have I heart enough for that? Someone is going to be there: it is on the principle of selection. Therefore there is a challenge. It is a great thing to go up there and to see — whether it be the kingdom of God come in power,
[p. 120] or the Son of man coming in His kingdom, or the kingdom of God, according to the way the different evangelists present it. It was a wonderful scene! Peter uses beautiful superlatives to convey to us his thoughts as to it. Peter was in the assembly in the power of it, I am sure. So we see the dignity of the persons who form the assembly, and the question is. Have we heart enough for it? In Exodus 24: 3, we read, “Moses came and told the people all the words of Jehovah”, and they committed themselves, saying, “All the words that Jehovah has said will we do! And Moses wrote all the words of Jehovah, and rose up early in the morning, and built an altar under the mountain, and twelve pillars ...” See how energetic he was! But then he would take them the whole way, so that verse 9 goes back to verses 1 and 2 — the covenant intervening. Now we are great enough for it, we value it. They go up, and “they saw the God of Israel”. Why could they not see Him below? We must learn that we have to move upwards. God comes down and we have to go up. He selects His own domain in which to display Himself, and why not gratify Him by going up?
Rem If the principle of selection is there on the one hand, there is the principle of committal on the other.
JT Exactly, you have heart enough for it as you commit yourself.
OG Where do you think the Lord’s leading comes in on distinctive occasions? What you are saying applies generally. Is Moses the leader in taking them up?
JT Yes, he is a type of Christ here in this respect. See what alacrity he evinces! He rose up early in the morning, and built an altar under the mountain, and twelve pillars according to the twelve tribes of Israel.
[p. 121] In chapter 34 nobody goes with Moses, and he carries up the tables, having hewed them himself. He goes up and Jehovah comes down and causes His glory to pass before Him; and there the covenant is to be “after the tenor of these words”; it is more the spirit of the covenant. But here in chapter 24 we have the blood of the covenant, and the great general thought of elevation; that God would have His people to go up.
Ques Does the Lord’s service as minister of the sanctuary come in?
JT Yes, it fits in here. We are said in Hebrews to be “holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling”. Hebrews 3: 1: then it says, “Such a high priest became us” — so great are the heavenly people that they need this priest. Then in chapter 8 the apostle summarises to call attention to the greatness of this Priest. Then he proceeds to speak of the covenant: chapters 8 and 9 and a good part of chapter 10 refer to the covenant, with the same end in view — that we might draw near.
Ques What does the coupling of Joshua here with Moses suggest?
JT Well, we get the word “attendant” you will notice as to Joshua; this indicates what he represents.
FI The three disciples were attendant on the Lord as He went up the mount of transfiguration.
JT They were “eye-witnesses of and attendants on the word”, see Luke 1: 2. Joshua’s experience here would no doubt account for his position in the tabernacle later, chapter 33. He represents a spiritual element. The first mention of Joshua is in chapter 17 where he contends with Amalek. It is Christ as the young believer begins to apprehend Him; as soon as he gets the Spirit there is the flesh working in him to militate against the Spirit. That is one stage of the history. But the same Joshua is here Moses’ attendant. It is not now a question of military service, but of being an attendant on Moses up there. He does not go up with Moses the second time, for chapter 34 brings out the greatness of the mediator by himself. Here Joshua is attending on Moses; if I am attending on the Lord in this wonderful scene of glory, I shall be ready for any other such scene.
FI Does that bring in the thought of what the Lord is to us as Head?
JT Yes; an attendant up there would see the wonderful working out of wisdom in Christ. Joshua represents one phase of our position, he is the spiritual man; Jehovah calls attention to him later, saying, “a man in whom is the Spirit”, and that is to mark all who have part in the assembly. But we learn in chapter 32: 17 that Joshua was subject to failure in spite of his great privileges. This has its solemn voice for us all. It is a reminder to us that we must maintain circumcised ears.
Rem The thought of attendant would agree with the thought of selection.
JT Yes. If the Lord is becoming great in our minds and we are attendants on Him, we will soon discern how wonderful He is in what He is doing. What can we say about what happens up there? What wonderful things were disclosed! How the ascent to the third heaven must have entered into and coloured Paul’s ministry afterwards! The angel said to Manoah as to His name “it is wonderful”, and He “did wondrously” and then He went up. Judges 13.
LM Moses took the book of the covenant and read it in the ears of the people. Luke alone speaks of the Lord touching the ear of the servant of the high priest and healing it, chapter 22: 51. The Lord would secure that, the hearing of ministry.
JT Moses first wrote the words of Jehovah, then [p. 123] he took the book of the covenant and read it, and they said, “All that Jehovah has said will we do, and obey!” They repeated their committal; first the words were written, verse 4, and then read, verse 7. 1 suppose the idea of writing here is that the matter is fixed: so we are now committed to what is fixed; and they went up and saw the God of Israel.
Rem We should be concerned as to ministry as to the end the Lord has in it, that we might go up.
JT Yes. We come together in the assembly as a public matter, and we partake of the Lord’s supper. Then what follows? It is a question now of what the Lord will do. According to Judges 13 the angel who visited Manoah’s wife “did wondrously”, and He said His name was “wonderful”, so that it is now a question of whether we are ready for that, for what the Lord will do for us.
AEL You mean it is really our privilege now to ascend the mountain, not like Moses, alone, but as those who can join the Lord there.
JT That is the thought exactly, and it needs power in our souls. Luke does not stress that point: he refers to the memorial, he does not say anything about eating the supper, but Matthew and Mark stress the eating, and both say, “they went out to the mount of Olives”, which implies power. Eating gives you a constitution for the assembly. John says the bread is His flesh; John 6: 51, but Matthew does not mention the flesh, it is His body; it is a whole idea. Both Matthew and Mark take account of the terrible opposition there is, and we are to develop collectively. We are surrounded by opposition, and we need heart and power to go up.
Ques Are you distinguishing now between being taken up, and the power within to rise up?
JT Yes, I think it is well to raise that point. When the Lord comes we shall not go up by the [p. 124] power of the Spirit, the Lord takes us up; but in the assembly we go up by power in our souls. When the Lord comes, He will take every member of the assembly, whatever the formation, but because of the lack of separation and heart every member does not go up as in the assembly now.
Ques Do you connect the thought of memorial with committal in Luke?
JT You get the thought of the ear in Luke — how divine teaching would help us with a view to going up. These things are vital: if we are to continue down here and be of use to the Lord, there must be the apprehension of the assembly, and the service of it Godward.
FI Does it appear here that dignity was added to the seventy in going up? They are spoken of as “seventy elders”, then they are spoken of as “the nobles”.
JT Quite so, they are ennobled; they are called nobles above. The assembly is mentioned in Matthew 16, then the mount, then sonship, then the assembly administratively here on earth. That is the order of the truth. The greatness of the Person who is Head is the great thing to get hold of, and that we are constituted fit to be with Him in the glory. Thus we can have part in the assembly in a heavenly way.
EC They both rose up. Moses and the attendant, then follows immediately, “Moses went up to the mountain of God”. In the last verse it speaks of Moses going up in relation to the cloud.
JT Yes. I apprehend that would be for them to see, to bring out the dignity of the mediator, how he went in. “The appearance of the glory of Jehovah was like a consuming fire on the top of the mountain, before the eyes of the children of Israel. And Moses went into the midst of the cloud, and ascended the mountain”. That brings him into greater prominence. I can understand how in after years these seventy [p. 125] would be men sought after. They had had experiences others did not have.
AEL They saw the God of Israel.
JT Yes, and they are called nobles, and they ate and drank before God and He laid not His hand on them: they were in perfect liberty up there. So that Israel had in their midst certain wealth in these men. That is the idea now in the testimony here, there is wealth in those who understand the assembly and have part in it Godward.
Rem They saw the God of Israel, and then the glory of Jehovah. Would the latter be a further thought?
JT Yes. “The God of Israel” has its own meaning; it is His connection with Israel. The glory of Jehovah is more personal. “The glory of Jehovah abode on mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days; and on the seventh day he called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud. And the appearance of the glory of Jehovah was like a consuming fire on the top of the mountain, before the eyes of the children of Israel”. I suppose that would be a testimony: then the mediator went in there. It is the top of the mountain, the highest point. The mediator goes into the midst of the cloud and ascends the mountain. Christ “ascended up above all the heavens”. Ephesians 4: 10.
Ques Do you suggest that there is in the assembly what answers to these things?
JT Exactly. If there is to be a heavenly testimony, there must be persons who have had access there. “It doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is”, 1 John 3: 2 — that is literally in the future, but there is a present correspondence — “as he is, so are we”. What we are as His companions enters into the public testimony.
[p. 126] These men who went up into the mountain. Exodus 24, would be like the five hundred brethren to whom the Lord appeared; they would have a distinctive place. Paul knew them: he says, “some are fallen asleep”, but “the greater part remain unto this present”, 1 Corinthians 15: 6.
Ques I should like to ask a question as to going up. Is not the object that there might be worship to the Father? It has been said that when we are with Christ as Head all the references would be to the Father. But some have thought that the scripture referred to in Matthew (where Moses and Elias are typical saints and it is said they talked with Him) would perhaps give warrant for addressing the Lord in that intimacy.
JT I think it is right to do that at the beginning of the spiritual side of our service. It is quite right that the Lord should be owned and spoken to, but to continue it is the weakness, and to come back to it after the Father is addressed is hardly in keeping with the full thought of the service of God, in which Christ leads as the Minister of the sanctuary. Moses and Elias spoke with the Lord, but then the voice from heaven spoke of Him. Peter and the others were not equal to the scene then, but they were later as seen in the passage read from 2 Peter. Their experience entered into the service of the assembly.
Rem There is the going up, and then what there is above.
JT The God of Israel is the thought; they saw Him and what was under His feet; the Mediator is there, but it is the God of Israel who is spoken of, and He did not lay His hand on them. Typically that would be the Father; God presented to us in this way to be worshipped.
Ques Is it not important to be in the spirit of readiness and expectancy? We are often perhaps in danger of carrying on the meeting by doing things.
[p. 127] instead of waiting in the spirit of expectancy for what the Lord might do.
JT That suggestion is good: the spiritual ability to be quiet is needed. What is needed very largely, is instruction in regard to this great matter to get the brethren to let their thoughts move on right lines.
CG So it is important to have this light governing the service of God, before us.
JT Yes. Anyone can see from what has been before us that there is something very great to be gone in for. If we have to admit we do not know much about it, the next thing is to ask the Lord, and He will give us understanding.