UNITY THE BASIS OF GOD DWELLING WITH MEN
[p. 181] UNITY THE BASIS OF GOD DWELLING WITH MEN
Psalm 133: Psalm 68:15,18; Exodus 3:1 - 6; Exodus 34:29 - 30
I have before me to speak about unity and the divine dwelling, and I wish to connect what I have to say with the idea of a mountain. This idea in Scripture is largely symbolic, mountains being a feature in the creation, like many others, that God designed to use in this way as a language. They represent conspicuousness, but conspicuousness in stability and power. To be conspicuous aside from power is mere show. I mean, power in a good sense, for mountains are also used in Scripture to symbolise power in a bad sense. Conspicuousness in power is indicated in the initial epistle with which indeed we all need to be conversant if we are to be here in the fibre that is according to God; that is Romans. The literal term “mountain” is but little used in the epistles, for they deal not with symbols, but speak in the direct language of the Spirit, “communicating”, as Paul says, “spiritual things by spiritual means”, 1 Corinthians 2:13. Mountains are scarcely mentioned at all save in the Jewish epistles, but what they convey spiritually is touched largely. In Romans you have it contemplated, as the result of the gospel, that is, power here in believers — power in the sense of good by which evil is overcome. That is what I have in mind.
Anyone essaying to be conspicuous aside from these features is sure to meet with a fall, and the higher we go without these features the greater the fall. Satan had the idea in leading the Lord up the mountain — the first mountain in Matthew. Matthew is the great mountain gospel indeed, because of the place designed for the assembly here — not in the future, but in this world now as a witness. He led the Lord up there,
[p. 182] and then he led Him too to the pinnacle of the temple. Satan will promote that sort of elevation, and this involves serious danger for us. The Lord allowed it to happen for a testimony, but we have to be on our guard against such dizzy heights; they are dangerous. Over against this, what God has in mind is moral power, power great and conspicuous in that sense; by it there is the overcoming of evil with good. Now the Psalms bring out the truth from the experimental side, as I suppose we all know more or less, and that is what I want to lead up to, for aside from what is experimental, divine things must be distant, whereas, as the corresponding state is promoted they become nearer and nearer; there is thus agreement between what is presented objectively and what is wrought in the believer, so that he expresses in himself the divine thought conveyed in a mountain. In the Psalms we have this latter, as I hope to show, but the first mountain in Exodus is more the abstract idea. It is “the mountain of God”, Horeb. The moral element is there, presented from the divine side; it is the mountain of God I am brought to here. It is to Moses’ credit that he came to it. Romans, as I said, is the principle of it. God shines out in that relation.
We have three mountains mentioned in connection with the shining out of God in Deuteronomy. We are told, “Jehovah came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; He shone forth from mount Paran”, (Deuteronomy 33:2). These are great spiritual thoughts; they are not material. God shines out in relation to His rights over us, and His rights over us now are based on redemption; they are the rights of love. Sinai represents God’s rights, the rights of His love in the death of Jesus. Then He arises from mount Seir; He arises from that direction unto us, as if He were to say, The land which I designed in love for you, is not far away, only eleven days’ journey. In that very passage we are told He loved the people: “Yea, he loveth the peoples”, Deuteronomy 33:3. Let no believers doubt this, for it is infinitely attested, and nothing can “separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus”, (Romans 8:35 - 38). In Deuteronomy 33 we have reached the end of the wilderness journey; and thinking of God according to what He has been to us, we can say this, “Yea, he loveth the peoples”. Then Paran is on the way; whatever the wilderness may be in that short period of eleven days, it is to be illumined with the love of God; He shines there.
Well, that is the mountain setting at the end — how God comes to us in relation to the ideas conveyed. But we have to begin in Exodus. The difficulty with most of us is, in our not going back to the beginning of things, but making a short cut without the moral element entering into the roots of our being. Exodus 3 presents a lone man in the wilderness looking after sheep. They were not his own; he was looking after them unselfishly, a fine touch for young believers. He led them, we are told. Eliab said to David, “with whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know thy pride, and the naughtiness of thine heart”(1 Samuel 17:28). Moses had no such thought, nor did David have any such thought; it was the imputation of a jealous man. We may be sure that if we attribute naughtiness to the heart of a devoted follower of Christ, it is in our own hearts. Moses had no such motives. Had he desires of seeking great things in this world he would not have led the sheep to the backside of the desert. He would have kept near the town where he could see something of the world. The seaside affords much for the gratification of the flesh, and we have to be on our guard as to this. Spiritual instincts will not lead us in the direction of the world; they lead us to the backside of the desert; but the mount of God is there, in later years renowned for the divine disclosures made there, renowned for the covenant, and the general testimony to the love of God — the well-known Horeb. Moses found himself [p. 184] there, and he learns at this mountain that God has a great power in this world; it is His mountain, there is none like it. As we read in Psalm 68, “As mount Bashan is the mount of God, a many-peaked mountain, as mount Bashan”. It is a great thought. God would impress upon us at the very beginning that He has something in the way of power here that is beyond anything of this world.
There is no ascension on it yet, nor does God appear on it. There is no thought of ascension, it is rather God coming down, for there can be no ascension till God comes down. There must be the descending first; so He says, “I have come down”; it is the touch of love: “I am come down to deliver”(Exodus 3:8); but then, what Moses saw was a thorn-bush, an insignificant bush as regards human thoughts, but it was burning; the fire was in the bush. It is a most important lesson if we are ever to go to the mountain of God, where the idea of ascension is found, where Jesus ascended on high, that this great idea should be here upon earth; we have to learn the coming down into this smallness. Moses turned aside to see. That is the first thing to notice on his side in connection with this subject; he turned aside to see. What did he see? It is not a question of the height of the mountain here, but what was there in a thorn-bush — extreme lowliness. This is never to be forgotten. This great appearing to Moses is to enter into the fibre of his being, in the very roots of it, and never to be lost. It is He that descended, and there is the fire. Moses turned aside to see that, and God indicates that there is virtue in that movement, when He saw that Moses turned aside. He honoured him by calling his name twice.
This is the beginning of his instruction and experience in regard to the mountain of God. He has to learn much here. He has to take off his shoes from his feet, to learn that even the precincts of the divine appearance are holy. That is an important lesson. Then another [p. 185] thing that comes out here — there are many things, but I cannot touch on them all — God says, “I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob”. This seems a very simple thing, but the Lord Jesus refers to these words, Luke 20:37 - 38, and we get the true import of them from Him. They refer to the resurrection; God is not the God of the dead; He is the God of the living. All live unto Him. As having to do with God we are to be impressed with this. We are to be among the living. These are great thoughts, seen at the beginning; thoughts that we have to be brought back to in the experience of our souls. At the outset I have the light of them. What a volume of instruction enters into this incident! The Lord said, “Moses showed in the section of the bush”(Luke 20:37) — one of the finest sections of Scripture. What occurred was small outwardly, but it stands out in connection with the revelation of God as He who raises the dead.
Now I want to show how the idea of a mountain is developed in Exodus, so that we may understand it as in the Psalms. I may say here that the Psalms comprise five books, undoubtedly corresponding in some sense with the Pentateuch. The Psalms present the experience of the saints, and the Pentateuch God’s side. The latter is the great objective idea in these mountains. Whether it be in connection with Moses as a believer, or Moses as mediator, a type of Christ, the great idea of the mountain is developed here in Exodus, and also in the other books of the Pentateuch. The principle is followed up in the Psalms, on our side, and it results in practical unity among the saints and a dwelling place for God. These are two great thoughts, and the more we take them in, the more we shall seek to correspond.
The next thing that I would notice is that the mountain of God denotes resources, it is the place of divine provision. That is what the believer needs to understand, following on the earlier features, that God has [p. 186] that here in which there is provision. The great principle is laid down in connection with Abraham, that is, when Christ arose typically, “On the mount of Jehovah will be provided”. (Genesis 22:14). And now Exodus is to show it, and the first great provision of the mount is a brother. You can see at once that it is not the literal idea of a mountain; it is the spiritual one. What a great support a true brother is! He is said to be born for adversity. The Lord Jesus sets out this great thought above all. Not that we call Him brother — no reverential person will do that — but He acts the part of one and calls us brethren. Moses, you will remember, said that he could not speak, and Jehovah says to him, “Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother?”(Exodus 4:14) It is a great matter to have a brother, but especially if he is a levite. He is called “the Levite”, as if he represented that thought, and Jehovah said, “he cometh forth to meet thee; and when he seeth thee he will be glad in his heart”. (Exodus 4:14). That is very precious. Where did he meet him? He “met him in the mount of God”(Exodus 4:27).
Moses would understand — if not then, in later years — how beautifully this meeting with Aaron fitted in with the mount of God. We cannot do without the brethren. If there is anyone here who has any thought of independency, any thought or suggestion in his heart that he can get along without the brethren, he is mistaken. We cannot get along without the brethren; they are a provision. Aaron represents this. A true brother comes to meet us, and when he sees us he is glad in his heart. Love is in him; he makes no demands; he brings love with him when I may not have much. What is the use of assuming to be a brother if I cannot bring love as I go to see a brother? When Aaron saw Moses he was glad in his heart, and he met him in the mount of God.
Well, as we all know, the people of Israel were led to mount Sinai. It is an immense subject, but I only want to touch on the points in Exodus. Whilst Moses [p. 187] is alluded to as going up earlier, he goes up definitely in chapter 24, but he does not go up alone. When the Lord ascended up into heaven, in principle. He took the brethren with Him, He ascended to His Father and their Father. Ephesians teaches that as quickened with Christ, we are raised up together and made to sit down together in the heavenlies in Him. The saints go up together. I should not like to go without the brethren, if you understand me. I am not speaking now of departing to be with Christ which is far better than present conditions here; I am speaking of the purpose and work of God, as seen in Ephesians, and also of the rapture as seen in 1 Thessalonians. All go up together; love in Christ and in us will have it so. The Lord went up in relation to the brethren, and He will come again and receive us to Himself. “I ascend”. He says, “unto my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God”, John 20:17. That is the connection in which He went up. This is an immense thought and it enters into the idea of conspicuousness of which we are speaking. The heavenly is to enter into everything here; so that in Exodus 24:1, God says to Moses, “Come up unto the Lord, thou, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel”, that is to say, the saints go up. You can understand how Moses would regard the people as thus to ascend with him. Not only am I to have brethren here, but I am to have them there. The Lord will have them there; He is to be the Firstborn among many brethren. Thus Moses is to go up with the representatives of the people. They all went up in the light and power of the covenant, Moses, and Aaron, and Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel.
One loves to think of the brethren going up. It is Ephesians now — the rapture as in Thessalonians presently — for Ephesians says that we are raised up together and made to sit down together in the heavenlies, chapter 2:6. This is a source of unity and strength [p. 188] down here. How different the brethren become in my eyes, to what they may seem outwardly, when I view them thus! I am to live eternally with them, and I should not be at home without them. We shall all be there, like Christ, He the Firstborn among us.
At Sinai they went up, and they “saw the God of Israel”, it says, and “upon the nobles of the children of Israel he laid not his hand”(Exodus 24:9,11). They are up there as nobles. Social conditions up there are very different from what they are down here. The nobility up there is not the nobility in the world’s esteem at all, and it is what is up there that is to remain. “On the nobles of the children of Israel he laid not His hand”(Exodus 24:11). God is going to lay His hand presently on this world with all its graded greatness; He will lay His hand upon it in the most drastic way, but not on the nobles of Israel; they have a place with God. But I am speaking of the brethren, and as I get a view of them according to Ephesians, I see that they are worth loving; they are worth living with.
Well, that is the position in Exodus 24, but then the mediator must be distinguished. The Lord associates us with Himself as His brethren, but He must always be pre-eminent. Moses goes higher than the people. It alludes to the pre-eminence of Christ. He has gone up in His own way. We do not go just that way; we are caught up; He ascended up in His own right and power, and so Moses is displayed before the eyes of Israel in the presence of the glory. The glory of Jehovah was like a consuming fire on the top of Sinai, and Moses went into that in their sight. Christ was received up in glory; He has entered heaven having a personal right there, but He has also gone in as representing His people. There is precious teaching in this chapter in regard to the assembly; it is to build up in our souls the idea of greatness involved in our place in heaven, coming out here on earth in conspicuousness in power for good.
[p. 189] What comes out in chapter 34 is that Christ becomes clearer to us. You know, we are very vague in our thoughts of Christ, even viewing Him as the Mediator. The normal instruction in the book of Exodus from our side ends in chapter 24. All that follows has to do with the tabernacle, the dwelling of God and the service in it. Terrible breakdown came in as recorded in chapters 32 and 33, which we do well to take to heart, but through the faithfulness of God it worked out in material for His dwelling. One result was that Moses became greater. As we truly judge ourselves, as sin occurs, Christ will become greater in our eyes. That is as sure as anything can be. So it comes out here that as Moses comes down the calf is being worshipped, and he goes up to God and says, “if thou wilt forgive their sin — but if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book”(Exodus 32:32). That is the spirit of Christ; that is the Mediator going into death in principle. It is only a shadow, but it is there, and Moses, from that point, rises in the estimation of God. In chapter 34 He directs Moses to hew two tables of stone and go up with them to the mountain — he is to go alone. The Mediator thus stands out in increased vividness before us. Jehovah says, “Hew thee two tables of stone ... and I will write upon these tables”(Exodus 34:1). It is Christ bringing us with Him; that is the principle. He brings us up, as it were with “fleshy tables of the heart”. In this He becomes more and more glorious, so that when Moses comes down his face shines. Jehovah came down and stood with him on the mount, and then passed by in covenant glory. The covenant is not now a question of what is literal, but “after the tenor of these words”, (Exodus 34:27). It points to the new covenant in which there is liberty, and in which we “looking on the glory of the Lord, with unveiled face, are transformed according to the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Lord the Spirit”, (2 Corinthians 3:18). That is what is going on. Are we in the Lord’s hands in this sense? There can be no practical [p. 190] unity without this. It involves the bringing in of the love of God into our hearts by the Mediator and the glory that goes with that, the ministration of the Spirit, so that we look at it. It is the glory of the Lord.
In Psalm 133 we have all this brought down to practical results: “Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity”. It is a challenge to every heart. At times we thrust in before God what we know is not suitable. Abraham said, “O that Ishmael might live before thee!”(Genesis 17:18) He would thrust Ishmael in before God. A disunited meeting does not suit God, although He bears long with us. “How good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity”. That is what heaven looks for. A meeting in practical unity is a pleasing sight for heaven; it is “good” and “pleasant”. We are told what it is like in the psalm. It is not a human arrangement, such as agreement to differ. It is not that. It is “like the precious ointment” — note that word “precious” — “upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron’s beard”. It is Christ in heaven. The allusion to the beard is personal adornment. It was plucked off down here, but it is His beauty. The ointment “ran down to the hem of his garments”. It is a finished matter. This would be implied in the hem. Every garment should be finished. There is nothing loose, no world borderings. This precious ointment, coming down on the beard, flows down the garments to the hem, but not beyond that.
Then it is like the “dew of Hermon”. Hermon is a high mountain, and I suppose the idea is that it penetrates the clouds and catches all that comes down from heaven. No doubt, it is a type of Christ in His personal greatness and dignity. He reaches up into heaven. Indeed, He said when here, “The Son of man who is in heaven”, John 3:13. It is inscrutable, but we can understand how all the personal greatness implied in this enters into His mediatorial position, and this affects the unity of the saints. Unity among brethren corresponds [p. 191] with this great thought. Then it says, “there the Lord commanded the blessing” — that is, there are conditions here to which a divine command can apply as bearing on the world in testimony — eternal life.
I pass on to Psalm 68 to show that the divine thought of selection enters into this subject. The hill of God is “a many-peaked mountain, as mount Bashan”, and it is envied. You may be sure we shall be envied in these circumstances, but then we are protected in spite of the envy in this world. The next verse says, “The chariots of God are twenty thousand, thousands upon thousands, the Lord is among them”(Psalm 68:17). Who can touch us, those chariots being available? And then: “Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive”. You see power thus in Christ. And “thou hast received gifts in Man”. That is how it should read. He has received gifts in Man, that is, a Man in heaven, and He gives them down here, and “even for the rebellious”. What for? That the Lord God might dwell among us. That is the idea.
It is not a mere provision here; it is the place of power, and conspicuous too, but conspicuous as the habitation of God by the Spirit. And so the gifts are here. From the twelve, down to the present moment, every gift has come down from Christ in heaven, and what for? To make a dwelling place for God in that holy mount which He has chosen to dwell in.
May God help us in seeking to enter into these great things.