THE HOLIEST OF ALL

THE HOLIEST OF ALL

When we learn the position given us of God, it is so novel and wonderful, even to the smallest apprehension, that unless we are very subject to the word, and what is revealed therein, as the only true measure of it, we are in danger of concluding, that because we have seen a part, we have seen the whole. This has been the ever recurring check and obstacle to the most sincere. The very greatness of the thing promised with the desire awakened to possess it, has conspired to give an assurance that the part disclosed, or presented, was the whole. The earnest soul is in danger of making his idea of the divine purpose the measure of it. The thief on the cross, though bright in faith, considered that being in the kingdom of Christ would be the highest blessing; and the Lord corrects him by telling him, that that day he should be with Him in Paradise. The apostle had “great conflict” lest the saints should be satisfied with anything short of what was their calling, and it was into this snare that the two tribes and a half, who settled on this side Jordan, fell. It is very easy to understand that in the haste to secure the promised favour, there may be a too ready, or a carnal interpretation of the word of God, which would lead one to assume that the thing seen or reached was everything. There are Nathanaels now to whom the Lord would say, “Thou shalt see greater things than these”.

When once we admit the tendency, from whatever cause it may arise, to accept a lower blessing than that given us of God, there will be, if there is truth of heart ^[p. 140] inquiry and exercise of soul to ascertain whether we have truly reached the greater things, or are we satisfied with things greatly below our calling. We may suppose that we have reached the highest, while we are merely on the border; and this misconception or assumption arises from not understanding the word of God in its fulness, and interpreting it by our own ideas of things. The young men in Ezra’s time rejoiced when the temple was rebuilt, while the old men, who had seen the first temple, wept: one so pleased with the structure, and the other so sad at heart at its declension. This really arises from allowing one’s own mind to define the divine purpose and calling, instead of waiting on Him to make His own word express it, so that one would see the right thing like a Moses on Mount Pisgah, however little one had yet attained to the possession of it.

The question then arises - Does every believer enjoy his right to the holiest?

As a believer he must have tasted of the work of Christ, at the brazen altar; yea, he may have enjoyed all that was prefigured by the holy place, which contained the table of shew-bread, the candlestick, and the golden altar of incense. No one enjoys beyond his faith. When a saint, or any number of saints, predetermine what they are to enjoy, they seek according to the measure of their faith; and thus, what is called a BELIEVERS’ MEETING, does not profess or aim to go beyond an entrance into the holy place; Jesus on earth, the light of the Spirit, and altar of incense comprise and contain all they seek. I am not saying that these are not great and wondrous subjects which afford great and deep delight to the heart. I am quite sure that they do, but I desire to show, that however great and blessed the holy place is, there is still a much greater place, and one which confers a very much greater blessing, in a very different way. The very term ‘believers’ meeting’ indicates that they themselves are the chief idea before the mind. When we use the term “assembly of God” a very ^[p. 141] marked and different idea is before the mind. Names are given in order to designate a thing truly, and it is considered that the assembly of God could not define the coming together of saints simply as such; and hence they are called ‘believers’ meetings.’ I admit that the name does describe their object and idea correctly, and I am only pointing out that it indicates, that however great their light and enjoyment together, which I trust may abound, yet they do not in these meetings enter the holiest, because their faith does not reach to it. I do not say that this loss is confined to these meetings; on the contrary, I shall endeavour to show that any one, no matter how great his light and knowledge, may not have enjoyed the holiest. When he enters it, he knows the effect of it; that is to say, it is not possible for a saint to enter by faith and not to know that he has entered; for the effect of it is so peculiar, and so superior to everything that he has learned of grace outside, that he cannot confound any other thing with it. I admit there are babes in Christ who do not as yet seize or comprehend the depth and magnitude of God’s purpose and calling, but I see very plainly in Scripture that there was no place for the prodigal, but either a “long way off” or in the Father’s house; and though he was kissed when he was a great way off, and though he might expostulate at great length to his fellows on the wonders of that kiss, which is truly reconciliation, yet there was much more in store for him - even the Father’s house; and that was the next step for him, and if he stopped short of this, the Father’s purpose was not known nor apprehended. I admit that saints who have not entered the holiest may have a measure of happiness, but I cannot admit the lesser thing as a substitute for the greater thing. A saint outside the holiest is occupied with the effects of grace upon himself, but however varied and blessed this action may be, it cannot in any degree equal or be similar to what is known inside in the presence of Christ.

The Old Testament saints had true yearning of heart ^[p. 142] after the holiest, before the way was made manifest (See Psalm 63, etc.) And surely if they had, it becomes us now, who have the liberty of access, not to be less eager to enjoy it.

As we draw near, the light of His presence acts on us; and we are so sensible of it, that at times one feels it, as it were too much for one; true, this is still only the action of it, but, consequent on this action, there is, to the waiting soul, who in faith seeks His presence, the unfolding of what the holiest conveys. You are then consciously sustained by Christ, as the great Priest over the house of God, surrounded by His glory in the assured sense of your perfect right to be there. Your heart “sprinkled from an evil conscience”, and your body “washed with pure water”, you are consciously in the scene where all is of God; and when there, yourself is not an object in any wise; but the Lord, the one sole object before your soul; and the feeling is, as the apostle describes it, “whether we be beside ourselves, it is to God”. There is the peculiar sense of being in a place where you are in full acceptance, but where there is no acknowledgment or recognition of you as a man in nature, save that there is no remembrance of your sins or iniquities. You see His power and His glory in the sanctuary, or as you get it in Psalm 73, in a very interesting detail; first, God is prominently and absorbingly before you; secondly, yourself is repudiated; thirdly, you are assured of being His object; fourthly, He is your object, whether in heaven or on earth.

Now when two or more know what the holiest is, they, when they meet together, have sensible fellowship, because it is only in His light that there can be true divine fellowship. Fellowship must be in the light (see 1 John 1: 7), otherwise it would be in darkness, and of no value. And hence, any saint who does not know the holiest, is not consciously “in the light, as he is in the light”; and cannot have fellowship with those who are there; but those who are there, and have fellowship one with another would not speak of a ‘believers’ meeting,’ when they meet together, but of being gathered to His name when He would be in the midst of them, because God has called us “unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord”. The great Priest over the house of God, known to each of us, in the holiest, would be recognized in our midst; and though there would be other meetings, such as preachings, readings or lectures, where there may be much edification, and the action of His grace, yet the soul that had once known Him in the holiest would never be satisfied with anything short of it, nor consider any meeting in any degree like the meeting where He was in the midst, because once that the true nature of His presence is apprehended, nothing else can in any way make up for it. True He manifests Himself to those who keep His commandments, but the saint that knows most of Him in His manifestation, is sure to be the one most careful and desirous to enjoy Him in the midst of His gathered saints.

The Lord grant that we may so know what the holiest is, with all its attendant blessings, that we may feel we cannot accept any lesser blessing, however great, in lieu of this - the greatest which our God has given us.