HEAVEN OUR PLACE
[p. 167] HEAVEN OUR PLACE
Ephesians 1: 3 - 6; Joshua 5: 8 - 11; 2 Kings 4: 38 - 44
I have in mind, dear brethren, to speak about heaven. We are much slower to lay hold of heavenly things than of earthly things. The Lord said, “If I have said the earthly things to you, and ye believe not, how, if I say the heavenly things to you, will ye believe?” (John 3: 12). And again, “No one has gone up into heaven, save he who came down out of heaven, the Son of man who is in heaven” (John 3: 13). The fact that He is in heaven, as Son of man, should give great assurance to us, for as Son of man He is related to men, and, as in heaven, in this way we are to be assured that man shall have full part in what is there.
The Holy Spirit having come down from heaven, sent by Him, has brought tidings of what is there, of “things which eye has not seen, and ear not heard, and which have not come into man’s heart, which God has prepared for them that love him” (1 Corinthians 2: 9). These things, dear brethren, have all come out; God has revealed them to us by His Spirit. But then the question arises as to our appreciation of them; that is what is on my mind to refer to. What appreciation have we got of our own distinctive place? There are things we enjoy provisionally which primarily belonged to others, but then there are things which are distinctively ours, and with which we are blessed as saints. The Father has “blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ” (Ephesians 1: 3). God has blessed us with them there; the blessing is irrevocable, but it is there; God will not alter His mind in regard to it. If we elect to be earthly, His mind remains. The gifts and calling of God are without repentance, and as Isaac said regarding Jacob, “Yea, he is blessed”.
Now I want to show, with the Lord’s help, how we [p. 168] come into it, and so I read in the Old Testament. It affords us the details; and what I would first refer to is that in view of coming into the inheritance, the truth from the outset is intended to have a levelling or similarising effect upon the saints. So there is the levelling up and the levelling down; we are to be similarised. If we are not similarised, we shall never come to the idea of mutual relations. The Israelites from the outset were all placed on the same footing in regard to their redemption. What I am speaking of is very simple, but essentially practical. We should enjoy our own portion together; this is the divine thought. He has quickened us together, and raised us up together, and made us sit down together in the heavenlies; so from the very outset this similarising or mutualising principle appears. The cost of the redemption of each Israelite was exactly the same. The Lord said to Moses, “Every one that passeth among those that are numbered ... shall give the heave-offering of Jehovah. The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel, when ye give the heave-offering of Jehovah, to make atonement for your souls” (Exodus 30: 14, 15). In that way the most distinguished ones cost severally, exactly the same price as the most insignificant in the camp. As each came up to the tabernacle to Moses with his half-shekel in his hand, he might not have any more behind in his tent or he might have any amount behind in his tent, it made no difference. As the tabernacle was reared up, its sockets were set in silver. The silver was employed in various ways, and the poor man’s status there was equal to that of the richest Israelite. It is a most important thought for us, for God will have this mutual principle amongst us, so that “the rich and the poor meet together; Jehovah is the maker of them all” (Proverbs 22: 2).
Then there is another thing besides the cost of their redemption; they were all baptised unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea. “There is one body and one Spirit, as ye have been also called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all” (Ephesians 4: 4 - 6). The Israelites were all baptised to Moses in the cloud; we have all been baptised into one body by the one Spirit. There are not two. Think of being indwelt by the Spirit of God! What a man may be in the government of God here is a matter of small consequence; it is what he is in the assembly that is of importance. In baptism you are merged with all the saints; our individuality is, as it were, dropped. We retain our individuality, but we know how to hold ourselves in relation to our brethren; and what gives power and vitality to this is the fact that the believer is made to drink into the Spirit. He is enjoying the blessed fact that the Holy Spirit is here. It is not a mere matter of light; the Spirit is shedding the love of God abroad in my heart, and that is our common portion, which is expressed in the cup. These things known and realised produce a mutual state of things among the saints.
Then they all went down into the bed of Jordan together. I just confine myself to one or two points; one could mention many other things that tend to produce mutuality. The word was, “Ye have not passed this way heretofore” (Joshua 3: 4). It is a journey we have to take, every one of us. One would speak to the young people. We can see how one is baptised, and how one leaves the world; these are public things. You come out of the world “in the sight of all the Egyptians;” you are not out of it rightly unless you are out of it publicly. Going out of Egypt is a public thing, but going into Canaan — that is a private matter. The Lord went out publicly. He went out through the gate. The gate was the place of publicity. The Lord went out bearing that ignominious cross on which He was to die, but He went up from the mount of Olives. Jerusalem did not see Him go up.
He said, “The world sees me no longer” (John 14: 19); but the saints saw Him — they who went out to the mount of Olives saw Him go up. “A cloud received him out of their sight” (Acts 1: 9).
There was no ark at the Red Sea — you know it was not yet constructed; but there was an ark now — that is to say, Christ had come in as the strength and glory of God. Typically, it represented the power of God and the glory of God. “He gave his strength into captivity, and his glory into the hand of the oppressor” (Psalm 78: 61). I would say to the young people, if you are ever to reach that good land — the land that is watched over from the beginning of the year to the end by God Himself, that is watered by the rain of heaven — you have to follow the ark, and you will never follow the ark until you apprehend Him in His personal distinctness as the Son of God. So that the two thousand cubits were between them and the ark; they were to see it distinctly. As the priests’ feet touched the Jordan, its waters were cut off. This speaks of the death of Christ. It is a wonderful moment in the soul when one accepts the end of everything here in the waters of death.
The twelve stones set in Gilgal represented the whole twelve tribes of Israel, and on arrival at Gilgal they encamped. They were all there now, not only in the light of the fact of what it cost Jehovah; they had all been down into the depths of death. Human distinctions all disappear there; but still there is this great necessity at Gilgal — circumcision; the very name of the place had been taken from the fact that they were circumcised. Jehovah said, “This day have I rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off you” (Joshua 5: 9). They had retained the reproach of Egypt for forty years. The thing had a stigma attached to it, Egypt’s stigma. Alas, how the cultivation of Egypt’s ways and pleasures clings to us, and the thing has to be judged! God will not have it [p. 171] there. He is concerned for His land, and He will not have that stigma there. The people abode at Shittim, and Balaam’s wicked counsel had taken effect, so that the people became defiled. But God had undertaken for them. Balaam’s answer “from Shittim to Gilgal” was not less than the mind of the blessed God in regard to His people. The children of Israel encamped in Gilgal. They ate the passover, the manna ceased, and they ate the old corn of the land. Before they went up into the land they were already eating the old corn. In other words, they were reminded of the wonderful productiveness of that land, in that they had enough over from the previous year. I wonder how many of us understand what it is to eat the old corn of the land!. It is Christ as gone into heaven, not what He was. Paul said, “If even we have known Christ according to flesh, yet now we know him thus no longer ... old things have passed away; behold all things have become new: and all things are of God” (2 Corinthians 5: 16 - 18).
Now turn to the second book of Kings. Elisha is again at Gilgal. I would impress upon every one the importance of laying hold of the principle of Gilgal, the truth of circumcision. God will not have it otherwise with us. Elisha said, “Set on the great pot”. It was a time of need and a time of dearth, and the sons of the prophets needed food, so Elisha directed that the great pot should be set on. I apprehend the great pot has reference to the epistle to the Colossians. In that epistle we are reminded of the mystery of God, “in which are hid all the treasures of wisdom and of knowledge” (Colossians 2: 3). One principle of Colossians is expressed in the word “hid”. The treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hid in the mystery, and our life is “hid with the Christ in God”. They are understood spiritually. Owing to our failure, the world has come into possession of some of the things of Christianity, but these are hidden.
[p. 172] In the mystery of God are hid “all the treasures of wisdom and of knowledge”. What a great thing it is, dear brethren, that every thought of wisdom and knowledge is there. In view of this we can understand how the apostle combated for the saints, that they, being united together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, might come to the full knowledge of the mystery of God.
Now one went out and gathered a lap full of wild vines — poisonous gourds or colocynths. We are reminded that colocynths ornamented the temple, but these were wild. The products of man’s mind are all wild. You will remember how Ishmael was said to be a “wild ass of a man”. And so anything that man produces, it may be philosophy or ritualism, both are wild; and the epistle to the Colossians refers to these two things. If you have these in the pot, you have poison. It is a serious consideration, beloved brethren, as to what we have. We may have something seemingly new and interesting, but is it according to Christ? Colossians 2: 8. The test is, everything must be Christ. He is the “meal”. That is brought in, and that is the remedy, the antidote. The human mind is the wildest thing in the creation of God, the most lawless, and we must be on our guard against it. Let a man “think so as to be wise” (Romans 12: 3); and one of the fruits of the Spirit is said to be “self-control”. What are you contributing to the house of God? It is a serious matter to undertake to contribute to the house of God. Contributions of any value all come from personal contact with Christ.
So it is in the last chapter of Luke, when the Lord appeared to the two on the way to Emmaus. They walked with the Lord and they talked with Him; He made Himself known to them in the breaking of bread. They came into personal touch with Him, and they returned to Jerusalem that night; they
[p. 173] contributed to the company. They told them that the Lord appeared to them, and that He was made known to them in the breaking of bread, and whilst they were saying these things the Lord Himself stood in the midst. What an incentive to personal intercourse with Christ! I do urge that. Many live on meetings, but to make contribution to the meetings is what each should be exercised about. Of course the Lord helps us through the meetings we attend, but this is not enough; we need to maintain personal contact with Christ. Those who had met the Lord on the way and to whom He had made Himself known were able to make a contribution, and the Lord came in on that contribution.
Mary of Magdala made a contribution, as we read in John 20. She went to the tomb; she did not hurry away. In spiritual things, one great feature is waiting. She waited at the tomb, and she looked and saw two angels. Peter and John did not see them; they went away too soon, and there is nothing said about their contribution. Mary remained, and the Lord stood behind her and called her by name. John emphasises affection for the Lord, and the distinction that flows from it. The Lord said, “Mary”. I need not go over the ground; you will remember it. The Lord says to her, “Go to my brethren”. He spoke to her, and she spoke to Him. “Touch me not, for I have not yet ascended to my Father; but go to my brethren”. Did you ever go to the brethren and say anything to them? The brethren are the greatest company on earth. In heaven and on earth there are none like the brethren. It is a great honour to be sent with a message for them — a message from the Lord to His brethren: think of that! Well, Mary had one; she got it from the Lord, from His own lips. “Go to my brethren and say to them, I ascend to my Father and your Father; and to my God and your God”.
[p. 174] Mary went and told the disciples these things. What a contribution! We can think of the disciples going over these words — their great title to heavenly relationships and dignity, and ours also. How they would ponder over them!
The epistle to the Ephesians is the amplification of this message. It is our light; in the language of the prophet, the assembly may be called upon: “Arise, shine! for thy light is come” (Isaiah 60: 1). It is the light that shines for us, and we should shine in it. As I said, we can think of the disciples going over these words, every word so full of precious meaning: “Go to my brethren, and say to them, I ascend to my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God”. So she told them, and so they would ponder. The disciples being within, Jesus came and stood in the midst. The wonderful message sent by Mary would prepare them for this. They were illuminated by her contribution.
We must be on our guard, dear brethren, as to what we present, so that we do not bring in wild gourds. “Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee and thou be found a liar” (Proverbs 30: 6). Mary of Magdala came and told the disciples that He had spoken these things to her. “These things”. She did not add anything of her own. And so the wild gourds must be kept out; directly the human mind is allowed to act in the things of God it brings in something wild. It may cause spiritual death. The saints therefore must be preserved from these wild things; hence those of us who seek to minister the truth should be constantly on our guard to avoid any mere natural production. The fruit of the Spirit is self-control.
The meal is brought in, which I think is the teaching of Colossians; all must be according to Christ (Colossians 2: 8); but then there is more than the meal. Here is a man coming from another place — Baal-Shalisha. The Father reserves heaven for us; it is [p. 175] His eternal purpose to have us there. But how? “Holy and blameless before him in love” (Ephesians 1: 4). He has predestinated us to sonship by Jesus Christ to Himself, and He is labouring to bring us there. In the meal is the thought of the humanity of Christ; but the man from Baal-Shalisha brings bread of the “first-fruits”, and green ears of corn in his sack. They were not gathered as the gourds, but were a known quality and quantity, like Mary’s pound of ointment; John 12. The man who is guided by heaven is careful; he knows what he has got. What this man had was the fruit of the heavenly land. It refers to what is from heaven. We are encouraged to go there. Our need is more than supplied from that scene. There were a hundred men; is there enough for a hundred men? There is no limit to heaven. The barley loaves of the first-fruits and fresh ears of corn were brought in, and they more than met the need.
Dear brethren, we know but little of what is in heaven; the Father’s provision is there. The apostle prays that we might be strengthened with power by the Father’s Spirit, and that we might know the love of Christ; Ephesians 4: 14 - 19. You see it is “with all saints” that we are to apprehend the breadth and length, and height and depth, that we may be filled to all the fulness of God. The realisation of what is in heaven now is by the Spirit. You cannot get there but by the Spirit. The feast of Pentecost had no time limit; it began when the seven weeks after the resurrection of Christ were ended; Deuteronomy 16. The children of Israel were to count fifty days, and the feast began when these were ended. Now the Holy Spirit as in us would lead us to that scene where time is no more.