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The City Which Hath Foundations

Meditations on the Spiritual Background of Jerusalem

by T. Austin-Sparks

Contents

Chapter 1 - An Introductory Review

The Land of Syria. (1) The Centrality of Jerusalem - The Anti-type - The New Jerusalem. (2) The Heavenliness of Jerusalem - Features in the Life of Abraham. (1) Heavenly Vision. (2) Separation from Earth. (3) Heavenly Citizenship. (4) A Pilgrim and a Stranger. (5) No Earthly Patronage or Rewards. (6) No Natural Resources or Energies. (7) No Merely Earthly Fruit for God. (8) No Place in the Heavenly for the Hand of Man.

Chapter 2 - Heavenly Features in the Heavenly Jerusalem, the Church

Zion Contrasted with Egypt, Philistia, Tyre, Ethiopia - The Constituents of Heavenliness. (1) Spirituality. (2) Elevation. (3) Faith.

Chapter 3 - The Outcome of Departure from a Heavenly Vision

The Heavenliness of Christ and His Own - The Earthboundness of Judaism - The Earthboundness of Christendom.

Chapter 4 - The Features of the Overcomer

Typical Relationships of Melchizedek with Christ. (1) Kingship. (2) Priesthood. (3) Righteousness. (4) Peace. (5) The Endless Life.

Chapter 5 - Features of the Overcomer (continued)

Jerusalem in the Days of the Judges - David and the Capture of Jerusalem - Resurrection is a Separating Thing.

Chapter 6 - The City - The Seat of Heavenly Government

(1) The Mystery. (2) The Heavenliness of Everything. (3) The Governmental Feature - The Factor of Election - Ruling in the Heavens Now - Heavenly Government as Seen in Elisha and Daniel.

Chapter 7 - Jerusalem in Relation to Universality

The Exclusiveness and Universality of the Church as Typified in Jerusalem - This Two-fold Character of the Church Seen in and Derived from: (a) The Head, (b) The Cross, (c) The Life, (d) The Holy Spirit. - The Counterfeit of the Truth.

Chapter 8 - The Light of the City

Clearness of Life and Testimony - Dimming the Fine Gold - Poison Gas from the Enemy - "The Wiles of the Devil".

Chapter 1 - An Introductory Review

READING: Hebrews 11:10; Ezekiel 5:5.

Our object is to see that because Jerusalem is so closely related to God, indeed has been brought into being by Him, her values must be pre-eminently spiritual and divine. Back of her history there lie those elements which are not of this world, nor are they merely of time, but are heavenly and eternal.

The Land of Syria.

Before we can consider the city particularly we must view the land as a whole, because very largely the city is the concentration of the features of the land. We note that in Hebrews 11 the city which hath foundations is closely related to the heavenly country (verses 10, 16), so that the city is but the concentration of the country. That is an important thing to bear in mind as we go on.

We will note several of the relationships of the land.

Firstly, the relationship of the land to the rest of the world. Syria has been of greater significance to mankind, both spiritually and materially, than any other single country in the world.

We observe at once its centrality. It stands between Asia and Africa, between the two primeval homes of man, the valleys of the Euphrates and the Nile; also between the two great centres of empire, Western Asia and Egypt. One side represents the eastern and ancient world, the other side the Mediterranean as the gateway to the western and modern world.

Secondly, we note the connection between Syria and Arabia. Syria is at the northern end of the Arabian world. Arabia was the cradle of the Semites. The Semites went out in four directions: (1) to Ethiopia (2) to Egypt via the isthmus of Suez (3) to Mesopotamia through the Arabian Desert (4) to Western Syria via the Jordan. More than in any other direction these Semites have gravitated toward Syria, and we know of their coming into that land in two special ways, in the case of Abraham from Mesopotamia, and Israel (the Hebrews) from Egypt.

Thirdly, the relationship of the land to Asia, Africa and Europe. We note that the oldest road in the world, from the Euphrates to the Nile, which is still used (although the old camel caravan has given place to motor transport) runs through Damascus, through Galilee, the Plain of Esdraelon, down the maritime Plain of Palestine, through Gaza to Egypt.

Fourthly, the nations and peoples of the earth who have had to do with Syria. There is a tremendous catalogue of these. This land has been either the objective, or the actual dwelling-place, or the battle-field, of all these nations; mostly the dwelling-place. The Hittites came South from Asia Minor, and the Ethiopians came North from the conquest of the Nile. Here is the list of invaders: the Hittites, the Ethiopians, the Scythians, the Babylonians, the Persians, the Moslem invasion, the Turks, the Mongols, the Greeks, the Romans, the Arabs, the Crusaders, Napoleon, and finally the Allies of the Great War. All these have had special interest in this little country, so that it is quite clear that Syria has occupied a very important place in the history of this world.

Then we note one or two details as to the land itself. The length of the land is about four hundred miles in all, with a width varying from eighty to one hundred miles, bounded by the sea on the West, Mount Taurus on the North, and by the desert on the East and South. The name "Syria" is short for "Assyria." The name was originally applied by the Greeks to the whole of the Assyrian Empire from the Caucasus to the Levant. Then that Empire shrank to this side of the Euphrates, and finally to the present limits which we have noted. Palestine is only a part of Syria, defined by the Greeks the Southern part of Syria, including Judea.

The country is broken by mountain ranges, so much so as never to have been brought together under one government. There is the triple barrier against the desert; firstly the Jordan Valley, secondly the Western Range, and thirdly the Eastern Range; and four lines can be drawn down the land marking distinct features; firstly there is the sea plain, secondly the Western Range, thirdly the Jordan and the Jordan Valley, fourthly the Eastern Range.

We now turn to note the spiritual instruction which comes to us from the historic.

1. The Centrality of Jerusalem.

That which we have just noted shows how central that land, and Jerusalem the city, are geographically, historically, and - as we shall yet see more fully - spiritually. If you want to be impressed with the centrality of the land and of the city geographically, all you have to do is to take a map of the world, and put your pencil upon Syria (Mercator's projection).

The centrality of this country is tremendously impressive, and when you add to the geographical centrality the historic centrality, and see how all the way through history the nations of the world have been attracted toward that point, have been interested in it, have in some way or other been related to Syria, that again is an impressive thing. But when you add to the geographical and the historical the religious, or rather, the spiritual, and see that, in the main, it is because God in some way is related to that central point, then the significance goes much further, and becomes very much more impressive. Surely this is not just a natural thing; this is not normal; there is something about this which speaks of wider issues than merely a few miles of Syrian soil, a fragment of this earth as something in itself! It is like the arena of a great amphitheatre where God has been working out in history a drama with spiritual significance, showing to the world things which are not merely of time nor of the earth, but of eternity and of heaven. So that Jerusalem, in the very first place, speaks of centrality.

The Anti-Type - The New Jerusalem.

Turning from the historic Jerusalem, the type, to the anti-type, the spiritual Jerusalem of the Book of the Revelation and elsewhere, we know that feature is revealed to be the first thing about the heavenly Jerusalem, which is the Church. Take two things, for instance, which are said about the New Jerusalem.

Firstly, that the nations shall walk in the light thereof, and shall bring their glory into it (Revelation 21:24 and 26). If we bear in mind that the New Jerusalem is not a mere geographical thing, but the Church, then the Church is seen ultimately to be in a central place to all the rest of the world. It occupies that point with all the nations round about related thereto. Just as the historic Jerusalem occupies that central place geographically and historically, so in a spiritual way the Church ultimately will be at the centre of God's universe, and everything will be toward it and as from it. It will be central, the nations and the kings all moving to and from it, all the kingdoms of this world recognising the Church as the universal metropolis.

Secondly, it is said that the New Jerusalem has on its four sides three gates (Revelation 21:13), and "the city lieth foursquare" (verse 16). "Four" is the number of creation, the whole creation. The whole creation is represented by the City. On each of the four sides of the City there are three gates. That means there is equality in all directions. If the City were represented as being to one side of the world, it would not need three gates on the back side. Its gates would be in the other three directions, but if three gates are equally on every side it surely means that what lies before those gates is equal. Everything speaks of centrality in the Church.

All that means has yet to be seen and worked out, but we want in the first place to get the City set, we want to see what the place and position of the Church is intended to be, and when that is recognised we can understand the many-sided activity of the enemy to destroy the Church, we can understand that aspect of Jerusalem's history which is so fraught with contest, conflict, dispute, siege, assault. What a tremendous history Jerusalem has had! Well might the Psalmist urge that we should pray for the peace of Jerusalem. There has been good reason to pray thus for Jerusalem, for she has known tribulation beyond any other on this earth.

That is suggestive and significant, and carries its own spiritual meaning. What a history the Church has! What a history of conflict the true spiritual people of God have! Well might the Lord have said to His own true ones "In the world ye shall have tribulation..." (John 16:33). To come really into a living relationship with Christ as a vital part of His Church means to come into the conflict of all the ages, to the realm of ceaseless conflict. But there is a reason, and the best of reasons, for when once Jerusalem is set, comes down from God out of heaven, and is set in her place at the centre of the universe, no other power will be able to lift itself against her. That Church is destined to occupy the place of centrality and supremacy in Christ throughout all the ages yet to be. Not least of the many-sided activities of the enemy has been his effort to set up a false church, an imitation church, a counterfeit church.

More will be said about that as we go on, but we have laid down our first principle and seen the first feature of the "Jerusalem which is above" as to God's thought for her.

We pass to the second feature:

2. The Heavenliness of Jerusalem.

We go back to the first movements of which we know in the relationship of God to Jerusalem. These movements began with Abraham. There is a sense in which we could say that Abraham was the father of the City of God. The Word says of him that "he looked for a city." Somehow (it is not recorded how) he came to look for a city related to God. There is nothing which tells us that God spoke to him about the city, but here is the statement clearly made that "he looked for a city.... whose builder and maker is God" (Hebrews 11:10). Somehow he came into the quest for a city related to God, of which God was the Architect (for that is the literal word) and Maker. That surely means that the City would take its form and character from God. If God is the Architect and Maker, then the thing made, designed, would take its character from Him. Thus Abraham looked for something which was an expression of the thought and will of God, which was the result of Divine activity, a City.

What was the first step toward that City? We are told by a man who is said to have been full of the Holy Ghost, Stephen: "The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham" (Acts 7:2). That was the first step in relation to the City which was to be the expression of God's thought. From that point the Divine association with Jerusalem has always been as with what is in the world, and yet outside of it. The God of glory has not attached Himself wholly to anything of this earth since the fall. He took up something and made it an illustration of something else which was not of this earth at all, and from the point when the God of glory appeared unto Abraham God's association with Jerusalem was always, has always been, as with that which, while being in the world is yet outside of it. We emphasise this, that God's association with it has been on that wise. We mean that God associated Himself with Jerusalem only so long as she stood true to His thought of something in the world and yet outside of it. When Jerusalem failed to maintain that principle and became associated with the world, God forsook it. God's association was only on the ground that it was outside of the world while in it. This is made very clear, both positively and negatively; positively, as Jerusalem expressed the Divine thought of a Heavenly City and maintained separation from the world, God associated Himself with Jerusalem; negatively, whenever Jerusalem failed or ceased to express that Divine thought, God withdrew. So that we have it, by contrast, showing what God's mind was, that the dark history of Jerusalem, destruction, suffering, and being forsaken, is a very strong proof and evidence that God will not associate Himself with anything which does not express His thought as being entirely heavenly although here on this earth; such a thing He will not uphold nor maintain. That is a very important thing in our consideration.

Features in the Life of Abraham.

Turning again to Abraham we shall see that Abraham was the inclusive type of the City. In order to follow that out we take this principle of heavenliness and trace the heavenly features in the life of Abraham. If Abraham is being spiritually constituted according to God's thought for the City because he is the father of the City, then you expect to see the features of the City running right through Abraham's life, and this feature of heavenliness is not difficult to trace in the life of Abraham. We will trace it in eight respects.

1. Heavenly Vision.

"The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham" (Acts 7:2). That is heavenly vision. In the New Testament we should call it Divine revelation, God revealing Himself. What is the Church? It is the place in which God is revealed, the place of heavenly vision. The Church is the embodiment of the revelation of God in Christ. The Church has to be the sphere in which men and women come to a knowledge of God, an ever-growing knowledge of God. The Church is not just something to carry out a set order of things, maintain a form. The Church is the place in which there abides the living unveiling of God, and just as soon as something claiming to be the Church ceases to be the place in which there is any living unveiling of God it ceases to be what God calls "the Church," and when it fails in these Divine features God withdraws. It may go on, but God withdraws. When Jerusalem ceased to be the place of the revelation of God to the nations then God withdrew. The purpose of the Church in God's mind is that it should be the sphere of the abiding and continuous unveiling of God, the God of glory appearing. (See the first three chapters of Revelation.)

It is a grand thing to belong to that Church, and to know that Church. Do we know what it is to be where God is showing Himself, making Himself known, where constantly, again and again, the God of glory is appearing? Are you able to say that from week to week in the local assembly to which you belong the God of glory is appearing? So often our hearts have warmed in the realisation that the Lord is showing Himself to us. That feature which was foundational to the life of Abraham is also foundational to Jerusalem, both earthly and heavenly. It is a governing law of the Church.

2. Separation from Earth.

Because of the revelation from heaven there is the consequent and essential separation from earth. "The God of glory appeared to Abraham when he was in Ur of the Chaldees." What was the result? "Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred..." (Genesis 12:1). And he went out. Whence? From his world, his native world, his old world, all the world of nature, the world of natural birth, the world of natural relationship, the world of natural interests. He went out, and everything had to be new. It was separation.

That was hammered out through long centuries for Jerusalem. Go through the Word with "Jerusalem" again, and see how God continuously appeals for Jerusalem to be clean, to be separate, to be holy, to have no relationships with the countries round about, to stand as for God in the midst of the nations; and Jerusalem's terrible tragedy - the tragedy which is told in the sobs of one prophet after another - is the tragedy of lost separation.

That is the tragedy of the Church. We see God's thought by the very tragedy of the Church's history. You cannot violate God's thoughts for His people and have anything but a tragic history. What the Church needs to realise so much is its heavenly relationship, calling for an utter separation from the world, in order that God may wholeheartedly associate Himself with it.

3. Heavenly Citizenship.

"For he looked for the city which hath the foundations, whose builder (Architect) and maker is God" (Hebrews 11:10). Where did he find it? He never found it on this earth at all! When we turn to Hebrews 11 we find that Abraham did see something a long, long way off, and hailed it. The Lord Jesus said "...Abraham rejoiced to see my day..." (John 8:56). He saw by faith. "By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed... and he went out..." (Hebrews 11:8). "These all died in faith, not having received..." (verse 13). His citizenship was not a citizenship of this earth at all, it was a heavenly citizenship. The New Testament makes that perfectly clear. The true seed of Abraham are the believers (not the Jewish nation) who are linked with the Jerusalem which is above, "which is the mother of us all" (Galatians 4:26). That is how Paul puts it. So the Apostle also says: "For our citizenship is in heaven; from whence also we wait for a Saviour" (Philippians 3:20).

4. A Pilgrim and a Stranger.

As running closely with that, and corresponding with it, we are told that Abraham in the land was as a pilgrim and a stranger, dwelling in tents, having no part in the land, being in the land a stranger. Is not that a feature of heavenliness? Pilgrims and strangers here. But where, then, do we belong? Peter in writing his letter says: "Beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims..." (1 Peter 2:11), belonging to the heavenly country, with the heavenly citizenship.

5. No Earthly Patronage or Rewards.

No patronage or rewards from this world were for Abraham. Though he may have done service in the interests of certain righteous principles, and in so doing his service may have been of value to those in this world (and who shall say that the spiritual service of the Lord's people on this earth has not meant some value to this world, even to this ungodly world? the Lord alone knows what the world would be without His people in it), Abraham said, No, to those of this world, of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, who had derived some benefit from his activity, when they would offer him some reward and would patronise him. Abraham still stands outside.

That has been one of those deeply laid snares of the Devil, to make something of the service of the people of God on this earth, to confer upon them recognition, titles, position, to make them something here on this earth amongst men. You will notice that so often when these preferments take place, and these gifts are made, and this recognition is granted, and these positions are given, there is a farewell to the deep spiritual note, there is an end of the real spiritual value of that life. The tragedy of many a really valuable servant of God, who was used mightily of God in a spiritual way and finished up life without that note, having lost that spiritual value, was upon this very thing, that in some way they became recognised and accepted, they received recognition, preference, awards from this world. To maintain heavenliness, separation is essential to the maintenance of spiritual value.

6. No Natural Resources or Energies.

Abraham had to learn that lesson in a very hard school. His life was marred by a terrible mark and scar, when he broke down and tried by natural means and methods and courses to realise Divine ends. The world today holds that scar in a most terrible way. Look at Islam, look at Ishmael, and you have the full growth of that fatal mistake of Abraham when he tried to realise a Divine purpose along natural lines. Heavenly people may not do that. A heavenly Church may not do that. The Church has tried to do that. It has tried to accomplish its Divine mission by worldly means, by natural resources and energies. Its tragedy is clear. Its weakness is manifest to all. For the heavenly thing no resources or energies of nature are permissible.

7. No merely Earthly Fruit for God.

I am thinking of Isaac. Isaac came eventually, and came through Sarah. There is an earthly link in Isaac, though he be born by Divine intervention, through heavenly power. But God will sever that earthly link, God will cut clean in between what is of heaven and of earth, and take Isaac to death. And who can raise the dead but God? Seeing then that only God can raise the dead, what is raised from the dead is all of God. So God will have no link with earth, even in what may be for Him.

Very often God causes some of His heavenly purpose to be born in a human heart, a purpose of God born in the heart of a man or a woman. In the course of time that man or woman takes that heavenly vision and in some way it becomes their vision: for God, yes, but theirs! It is a terrible thing to interfere with somebody who has a heavenly vision from the Lord which they hold. So often they become the most spiky people that you have to deal with. Yes, they have a vision from the Lord, they have a sense of call from the Lord, and they are holding that thing for the Lord. That is quite good, but they are holding it, and they have got it, and it is theirs, and God often has to take that thing which had its origin in Himself clean away to death; it has to go, and it is as though they never had a vision. Worse than that, they are in confusion, utterly confounded. God gave a vision, and now it has all been smashed and broken. God gave a call and a purpose, and now everything contradicts that, it has all gone. God will not have even that which is of Himself held by man, laid hold of by man.

Perhaps Abraham's peril was, even though he had got Isaac by a miracle, to make Isaac his, dear to his own heart, to make Isaac his own; and God said, in effect, No, Abraham, no earth ties, even in Divine things! This thing is utterly of Me, and not of you! It is so easy to bring God's great purpose within the compass of some human instrumentality, to be very concerned maybe for world evangelisation, but it must be through our Mission! That is taking hold of God's purposes and making them private property. God will not have that if the thing is going to realise His full end, if He is wholly to commit Himself to it.

8. No Place in the Heavenly for the Hand of Man.

Nothing of man must have any place, hold or prerogative in that which is of heaven. I am thinking of the tomb at Machpelah. You remember that Sarah died, and Abraham, who had good standing in the country, sought a place of burial for his wife, for himself and his seed, and the cave of Machpelah was proved to be the very place. He offered to buy it, but the men who owned it offered it to him free, they well nigh besought him to accept it as a present. But he would not have it cheaply, he would have the full price weighed and purchase it outright, so that no one should be able to say: You got it cheaply, you really owe us something, you really are in our debt, we really have a claim over you! No! to the last farthing he will buy it outright. No hand of man shall be able to have a claim, never shall it be possible for anybody of this world to suggest that Abraham and his descendants are under an obligation to them.

Do you see the working of the principle? No hand of man, no rights as of this world in the Church! Jerusalem which is above is free, is free! This world has no claims there. There is no other power which has any rights there. The Church stands free in God; but, oh, look at the complications today, look at the obligations, look how the Church has sold itself to the world, and how the world has a hold upon it. It is saying, and has a perfect right to say: You are under obligations to us! That is not the Church according to His thought.

All these are aspects of the one great truth of heavenliness.

The necessity for our time is for the Lord's people to come to a spiritual understanding of what heavenliness means. Only so can the Church, the Lord's people, know power. I am certain that the whole question of spiritual power is bound up with heavenliness. The Lord Jesus, Who is the land and Who is to be in all the essential elements of His being, gathered up in the Church represented by the City, said: "The prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me" (John 14:30). What a place of power! What a place of victory! What a place of ascendency! Imagine it! "The prince of this world" - with all that he has (and he has a tremendous amount in his hands, tremendous power), - "cometh, and hath nothing in Me" (John 14:30). "Now shall the prince of this world be cast out" (John 12:31). Those two things go together, and it is because the Lord's people do not stand in that position that they cannot cast out the prince of this world, they cannot overcome him. He has so much power in the midst of the Lord's people because he has ground, and the ground is this world. No ground, therefore no rights! That is tremendous. Oh, that God might get a people there.

Listen to this. "The Jerusalem that is above is free, which is the mother of us all" (Galatians 4:26). "And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet... and behold a great red dragon... and the dragon stood before the woman... to devour her child..." (Revelation 12:1-4). Jerusalem is our mother. The Church above is our mother. But there is a man-child being born out from the Church, out from the mother, a man-child, and a great red dragon waiting to devour, and that manchild is caught up to the Throne. What is that? That is something out of the general Church which is specific in its overcoming power. That goes to the Throne.

The Lord is seeking to have at least out from the whole Church a company of an entirely and utterly heavenly nature, to govern, to rule, so that the enemy is cast down and has no more place in heaven.

Let us ask the Lord to teach us the meaning of heavenliness. It is a tremendous thing in the realisation of His end.

Chapter 2 - Heavenly Features in the Heavenly Jerusalem, the Church

Rev. 21:9-11. In this passage we see the Apostle was carried away in the Spirit into a mountain great and high, and shown the New Jerusalem "coming down out of heaven...."

Rev. 3:12. "I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God...."

Heb. 11:16. "...he hath prepared for them a city."

You will recognise the tense and the position of that last statement. While it is referring to those martyrs of the faith of the old dispensation of Old Testament times, the word here "he hath prepared for them a city" - not, He prepared for them a city, as though they inherited it in Jerusalem on this earth, but He hath prepared for them a city - shows that they have not yet entered into it. It awaits their entrance. I believe that the city there, referring as it does to the Church, would be very closely touched upon by that inclusive declaration of the Apostle in that same chapter, that "These all died in faith, not having received the promises... God having provided some better thing concerning us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect" (Heb. 11:13,39,40). So that the words "hath prepared for them a city" really mean that they are coming into this heavenly Jerusalem, the Church.

In chapter 12 of the Hebrew letter, verse 22, there is this word: "...ye are come... unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem...." In chapter 13 verse 14, there is this word: "...we seek after the city which is to come." Then back in the letter to the Galatians, chapter 4, verses 25 and 26, we have these words: "the Jerusalem that is above is free, which is our mother." The letter to the Galatians stands over against the Jewish order of things, was intended so to do, and Jerusalem was always regarded by Israel as their mother. She was looked upon as the mother of all the Israelites. Now over against the earthly Jerusalem, and that earthly conception of Jerusalem, the Apostle here says: "the Jerusalem which is above is free, which is our mother": and in Philippians 3:20 we find these words: "our citizenship is in heaven."

You can see from these various passages that the thought of heavenliness is very strongly related to the Church, which is the heavenly Jerusalem, of which God is the Builder and Maker. God is building His heavenly Jerusalem now, and He is building it with heavenly material, that is, the constitution and the construction of the Church must all be heavenly, and that which is employed (or, to put it another way, the saints) must partake of a heavenly nature, in order to become the heavenly City. The Great Architect and Builder is, therefore, engaged with the saints in seeking to make them heavenly in their whole constitution.

We have to see a little further what heavenliness means, and we can do this by way of illustration from the Old Testament again, by turning to Psalm 87. The first thing which comes out in that Psalm is the jealousy of God over Jerusalem. "The Lord loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob." "Zion" is a word which came to embrace the whole city. It was not always so, but it came in the course of time to represent Jerusalem, and is very often, in the prophecies especially, synonymous with Jerusalem. "The Lord loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. "There is a partiality of God, a jealousy of God for Jerusalem. When you ask why the Lord is jealous in this way, as to what is behind this Divine partiality, the answer can be given in the word which we are using, "heavenliness." The Divine thought about Jerusalem concerns her heavenliness, and that feature comes out, as you notice, with the very first sentence: "His foundation is in the holy mountains." Mountains are always features or types of spiritual elevation, and if you want that borne out, you can turn to another Psalm and read this literal translation: "Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised, in the city of our God, in his holy mountain. Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion" (Psalm 48:1). Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth! You see this is a matter of elevation. It is a matter of a high position, a conspicuous place. It is heavenliness, spiritual ascendency.

We will speak about that more from the spiritual standpoint presently, but we will just go through this Psalm 87 step by step to see that there is bound up with that initial statement about the Lord's jealousy and partiality a contrast between Zion and other cities, and the contrast is based upon the spiritual features which they represent.

The Contrast between Zion and Egypt.

First of all you have Egypt. "Rahab" is the word used here, but you may know that "Rahab" refers to Egypt. We remember that when Abraham, the father of the city, entered into the land of Canaan, the land of promise, his faith was instantly met with a very severe test, for he found the whole country given up to idolatry. He also found a state of severe famine in the land. His faith wavered, and some kind of question evidently crept into his heart, which led him eventually to conclude either that he had made a mistake, had been misled, or else he was altogether out of his time. So turning from the land he went down to Egypt, and Egypt, therefore, became the place that typifies the opposite of faith. What is the opposite of faith? If God, and God alone, is the object of faith, then if faith breaks down it means that God is set aside, and you look for something else to take the place of God. So that Egypt is clearly seen to represent resources of the earth, natural resources, to which men turn when they lose faith in God. We know what happened to Abraham, that his lapse of faith and his turning to Egypt led to disaster, brought him into compromise, into entanglement, into shame; and that is ever the result of turning from God, as our one and only resource, to other resources which are of men. Very early, you see, in the history of the Church you have those elements which have repeatedly all the way through been its danger, and too often those to which it has succumbed. The history of the Church is one sad story of repeated lapses from God to human resources, natural means, natural methods, the results of which have always been the same - compromise, entanglement, shame.

What Abraham did as the father of the race, Israel also did in the days of spiritual declension; for when Israel's spiritual life waned, and God therefore became distant and remote to faith, Israel turned to Egypt for help in the day of trouble. Egypt, therefore, always stands to represent those resources which men employ when God appears distant from them owing to the weakness of their own faith. You can see how clearly this is a coming down to earth, and therein is the contrast: "The Lord loveth the gates of Zion," "His foundation is in the holy mountains" (Psa. 87), "the city of our God," "in his holy mountain," "beautiful in elevation," "the joy of the whole earth..." (Psa. 48:1). There is a great contrast to Egypt. Egypt is down below, Zion up above, which is why the Lord loves Zion. The Lord has a special partiality for heavenliness about His people.

The Contrast between Zion and Babylon.

Passing that point of contrast, we come to Babylon. We know what Babylon represents. Babylon was the product of human effort and human glory. The city was built not far from the Tower of Babel, and the Tower of Babel was built with the object of making a name for man. It was human effort for human glory. That tower for ever speaks of the super-man, the glory of fallen man, and the Devil's object has always been to try to get fallen man to reach unto heaven. Just as they sought to make that tower to reach unto heaven, so Satan has always sought to make man a super-man by his own effort, and in his own glory. Babylon always speaks of that, "Let us build us a city, and a tower... and let us make us a name..." (Gen. 11:4). Many years afterward the great king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, uttered these words: "Is not this great Babylon, that I have builded..." (Dan. 4:30).

How clearly, then, Babylon speaks of man's power, man's effort, man's glory, seeking to reach unto the very clouds. Babylon stands for the glory of human power, but, of course, in a religious way; for Babylon was very religious, strongly religious. The idea here is of something glorious in this world, with man's name upon it. When we recognise that, how impressive are the words: "I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God-" (Rev. 3:12). Man's design is to have something glorious in the way of a city with his own name upon it. God's thought is to have a glorious thing of a heavenly order, with His Name upon it, and this He will have. The Church has God's Name on it, because it will be an expression of God's glory and God's power and God's effort, and it will be glorious indeed. But here is the difference between Zion, spiritual elevation in heavenliness, and Babylon, that which stands in the glory of man. No wonder God is jealous over Zion.

The Contrast between Zion and Philistia.

Next we come to the contrast between Zion and Philistia. Philistia, we are well aware, speaks of the natural mind intruding into Divine things. We know the Philistines were always impinging upon Divine things. Closely associated all the time geographically with Israel, they were a most persistent foe, yet repeatedly seen as peering into the things of God, as, for example, into the Ark. Here then is uncircumcised, or if you like, uncrucified flesh taking hold of Divine things, and manipulating them. It is, in a sense, the rationalistic line of things, which does not recognise that the things of the Spirit of God are only known by the spiritual, and will seek by purely human means of intellect and reason to arrive at Divine ends. That cannot be done. Philistia represents that. Babylon is natural effort, Philistia is natural reason, and all is down there on the earth still, standing in contrast to Zion, because Zion is the expression, not of any kind of human effort of mind or body, but of the revelation of the Spirit of God.

The Contrast between Zion and Tyre.

Tyre stands for the business or commercial world. There were tremendous activities in Tyre as a sea port. The one thing which Tyre represented, and which the whole atmosphere of Tyre expressed, was commerce, expansion, business, the affairs of this world. We hardly need dwell upon that as over against Zion. We know this, at any rate, that the enemy is all too eager to get people so tied up in business affairs as to have no time or strength for contemplating heavenly things. Any business man will tell you that, and I suppose anybody, except those people who really have nothing whatever to do in business of any kind, will tell you that responsibilities are so pressed home, that it is a matter of supreme effort to get time for heavenly things. Tyre is always a challenge to Zion. In spiritual principle we are up against Tyre every day. Oh, how the enemy through this world's affairs seeks to make inroads upon our time for the things of the Lord. The Lord is very jealous for the heavenly side of things, and His partiality is to the detriment of Tyre.

The Contrast between Zion and Ethiopia.

Finally, Ethiopia. Let us recall the incident in chapter 8 of the book of the Acts, of an Ethiopian who had been up to Jerusalem at the time of the Feast, and was evidently deeply exercised about spiritual matters, being in a state of inquiry, yet not having found an answer to his question, and his heart need. He was still in the shadows, still in the dark, and the Lord recognised that need, that search, not satisfied in the place where it ought to have been satisfied, the official headquarters, and sent Philip from Samaria to join his chariot in the wilderness, to open his eyes, to lead him out of his darkness. So that Ethiopia becomes there, and elsewhere in the Scriptures, a type of the darkened understanding, the understanding needing enlightenment, natural darkness; a type also of that which is true of us all. The word of Philip to the eunuch was "Understandest thou?" and his answer "How can I..." How true that is of all men by nature.

The Ethiopian here in Psalm 87 is taken as an expression of the state of all men by nature, having the understanding darkened, and needing someone to teach. Over against that, Zion speaks of the eyes of the heart being enlightened, the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. It says the citizens of Zion are those who have had their eyes opened, and the Lord loves that which expresses His mighty eye-opening work, His work of illumination, of enlightenment, of quickened understanding. The Lord delights in the light, and in that which walks in the light, while He does not delight in darkness.

So we see in this five-fold contrast Zion is supreme, because of this main feature of heavenliness. Jerusalem is the concentration of the features of the whole land of Syria. In the same way the Church is the concentration of the features of Christ. Christ is our land of promise. The Church is a concentrated expression of Christ, or is intended to be, and it is not difficult to see that this feature of Christ - heavenliness - is a very marked one. You touch it wherever you touch the Lord Jesus. How constantly He speaks of Himself as having come out from heaven, of being in heaven, and of everything in His life being heavenly. The great governing feature of Christ is heavenliness, and you see from the Revelation that the New Jerusalem, the Church which is the concentrated expression of Christ, can be seen only from the vantage ground of elevation: "And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem..." (Rev. 21:10). If you look into the context you will see that Babylon was also shown, but no mountain was needed to view Babylon; Babylon could be seen in the plain. If you are going to see heavenly things you need to be in the heavenlies. "He carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem..." To see Christ, and to express Christ, necessitates a heavenly union with Christ in the Spirit.

The Constituents of Heavenliness.

We will break up this feature into its constituents. What are the constituents of heavenliness?

1. Spirituality.

The first is spirituality. You cannot understand or enjoy heavenly things unless you are a spiritual man or a spiritual woman. A spiritual state is necessary for comprehending spiritual things. Paul declared that when he said: "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit..." (1 Cor. 2:9). The natural man cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God, he cannot know them, the spiritual judge all things. A spiritual state is, of course, in the first instance by new birth - born of the Spirit; and then there is a progressive spiritual life. Spiritual growth is the only way, but it is the sure way of grasping, knowing, understanding, comprehending heavenly things. John's Gospel is the Gospel of spirituality, and everything in "John" is heavenly. You find it full of people in difficulties. Nicodemus is in difficulty, he cannot understand spiritual things at all and there is one great question mark which holds him in complete bondage: How? The Lord makes perfectly clear to him that he has to become a spiritual man, to be spiritually born, before he can understand spiritual things. The woman of Sychar is in just the same case, in as big a fog as was Nicodemus. The Lord makes it clear to her that what she needs is the Spirit dwelling within, when she will understand the meaning of life. And so you go through that Gospel, finding a large number of people in the dark, and the Lord in relation to every one of them touches upon the one principle. What is necessary is spiritual illumination! The man born blind needs the Lord to open his eyes, and on their being opened, he sees better than all the religious authorities around him, who are then quite manifestly in the dark. It is the Gospel of spirituality, which means that to comprehend heavenly things you must be spiritual in your essential being, born of the Spirit, indwelt and governed by the Spirit.

2. Elevation.

That is spiritual ascendency. Anyone who really does seek to walk with the Lord, to have his life maintained in the Spirit, understands quite well, apart from the technical words used, what spiritual elevation or ascendency means. You know what it is to have to battle constantly to maintain your position spiritually above. You know what it is to have almost everything brought upon you to press you down and to get you under. Once your spirit is under, to circumstances, to feelings, to appearances, to sensations, or to anything else, you are beaten, you are broken, you are useless, your testimony has gone. That the Church is called to be in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus is only another way of saying that this life must be in spiritual elevation, spiritual ascendency. The Lord, the Architect, is seeking to teach us every day how to take and maintain ascendency. Many opportunities are afforded each day of learning that lesson. Many times in a day you and I could go under to something if we let go. It is very easy to drop down, but the Lord calls upon us day by day, again and again, to refuse to go under. He urges us to take a strong hold upon Him, upon His Spirit, to be strengthened with might into the inward man, that we may not go under, but maintain our spiritual ascendency. That is the elevation of Zion, that is the elevation of the Church in all its members.

3. Faith.

That is made very clear by the father of the city, Abraham. If that city is eventually to be reached, then Abraham must, as its father (so to speak), be essentially a man of faith, and we know that to be the particular factor for which Abraham has stood all through history. "By faith Abraham..." And when all has been said about faith that can be said, it comes at last to this, believing in God's faithfulness. It is standing solidly with God on His faithfulness. Sometimes you can do no more than that. All the other aspects of faith, or faith's expression, may be impossible, and you simply have to stand back on that one final thing, Well, God is faithful! Eventually it will be proved! Once through the present perplexity, problem, and we shall find that God is faithful. It may look now as though He has let us go, as though He has failed us, as though He has not answered, as though our expectation is disappointed; but when we get through we shall find that God had not forsaken, God had not abandoned us, and God had not contradicted, but has been faithful. You and I will steadily learn that. We do not learn that lesson all at once. We are not incapable of asking questions as to the Lord, and we sometimes have to put up a fight against the suggestion of a doubt as to the Lord's faithfulness; but God is faithful. That is the final refuge of faith: but it is a mighty thing to stand there, and Abraham came to that position.

Heavenliness is a tremendous factor in the life of the Lord's people. Heavenliness, which is spirituality, which is ascendency, or elevation, and which is faith, is a tremendous factor. All that is gathered up in Jerusalem. It means being on other ground than on the ground of this world, the ground of the natural man. Oh, that the Church had maintained that position all the way through! What terrible tragedies have resulted from coming down to lower ground!

We said that we would give an illustration of the tragedy of coming down from a heavenly position on the part of the Church. I found this, written by Sir George Adam Smith. Speaking of the Moslem invasion of Syria, by which Syria became swept and dominated by Islam, he writes -

"The Christianity of Syria fell before Islam because it was corrupt, and it deserved to fall."

And again:

"In attempting by purely human means to regain her birthplace, the Church was beaten back by Islam because she was selfish and worldly."

"In neither of these cases was it a true Christianity that was overthrown, though the true Christianity bears to this day the reproach, and the burden of the results. The irony of the Divine judgment is clearly seen in this, that it was on the very land where a spiritual monotheism first appeared that the Church was first punished for idolatry and materialism; that it was in sight of the scenes where Christ taught and healed, and went about doing good with His band of pure devoted disciples, that the envious, treacherous, truculent hosts of the Cross were put to sword and fire. They who in His Name sought a kingdom of this world by worldly means could not hope to succeed on the very fields where He had put such a temptation from Him. The victory of Islam over Christianity is no more a problem than the victory of Babylon over Israel."

That is a tremendous statement. What history there is in a statement like that! Perhaps the greatest problem today of Christianity, of the mission field, is Islam. I do not think there is a greater problem than Islam for the Church. Why? Well, Sir George Adam Smith puts his finger right on the cause when he says the power of Islam is due to the corruption of the Church at a given point in history; divided, selfish, and worldly. Islam gained the mastery because of that.

How, then, would Islam be overthrown? How would the mischief be undone? Surely by a heavenly Church, by that which has been wholly separated from this world in all means and methods, and united in one spirit as a great spiritual force, under the government of the Holy Spirit. That, and that alone, will overthrow the forces which have gained their position by reason of the unspirituality and unheavenliness of the Church.

If that applies to the whole, it applies to us individually, that spiritual power over any ground of the enemy demands detachment spiritually from the world, a close walk with God, and a heavenly life, a life which is above with Christ. The Lord lay upon our hearts the tremendous importance of this heavenly fellowship with Him from day to day, for the sake of spiritual power and His glory.

Chapter 3 - The Outcome of Departure from a Heavenly Vision

We have been seeking to bring into view that essential heavenliness of the Church which is a basic and governing law of God's purpose for her. This we have seen to be a factor of tremendous importance in God's dealings with Jerusalem. The more we read and meditate upon the matter, the more we see that this lies behind Jerusalem's history. Jerusalem and Palestine present for us a solid block of evidence on this matter. When we pass our eye over the Old Testament, we see that Jerusalem's coming into position, her ascendency or her revival, always related to those elements which speak of heavenliness, just as, on the contrary, her loss of place, of power, of glory, was due to earthly and worldly elements getting the upper hand.

Jerusalem reached her supreme crisis, when the Lord Jesus came into her midst. It was then that two things in an outstanding way marked the crisis of her history; the first, the heavenliness of His Own Person and life, ministry and mission; the second, the earthliness of Judea's vision, interests, and associations. This contrast is one of the most outstanding elements of the Gospels. Never was Jerusalem's earthliness, earthboundness, more apparent, more conspicuous, than when the Lord was in her midst. He brought heaven in His Own Person. He was the embodiment of everything heavenly, and by reason of His presence the opposite state was dragged out into the light and made unmistakably clear.

The Heavenliness of Christ and His Own.

As to the first of these two things, the heavenliness of His Person, life, ministry and mission, John's Gospel more than any other brings it into view. We know that the Gospel by John is mainly concerned with matters within the compass of Judaism, and we know that in that Gospel Jerusalem figures very largely, and in a special, intensive way. Against that fact we see in this Gospel the heavenliness of Christ, as that which represents Him more particularly than anything else. Then, so far as His Own people are concerned, that Gospel makes the spiritual life of the believer a heavenly thing at every point. That is to say, the spiritual life of the believer is seen there to have its beginning in heaven; he is born anew, or from above. That life is seen to be sustained from heaven. All the relationships of that life are seen to be heavenly. In that Gospel the Lord takes pains to woo His own from this world, and allows the shadow, if it must be so termed, of His going, to fall very heavily upon them, until their hearts are much troubled and distressed by what He says about His leaving them and going to the Father within a little while. All this, however, is with the definite and deliberate purpose of showing, firstly, that their life is to be a heavenly life, their hope a heavenly hope, not an earthly one - for their trouble of heart was largely due to disappointment as to their worldly expectations in relation to Himself - and He carries them away from the world, from the earth, and fastens their hope upon Himself in glory. That is to say, their's becomes a heavenly hope and not an earthly one. Their service is also set forth as a heavenly service. "As the Father hath sent me, even so send I you" (John 20:21), making their commission a heavenly one upon a heavenly basis, and settling it for all time that the nature of His Own mission here was equally the nature of theirs, a heavenly mission.

We know how all that is gathered up into one heart cry in chapter 17, and how repeatedly in that prayer the statements are positively made concerning both Himself and them, that they are not of this world. His prayer moreover was that they should be kept, while in the world, from the world, and from the Evil One, as the one who governs the evil world. The heavenliness of Christ and His own is brought very clearly into view right in the midst of Judaism at its official headquarters in Jerusalem, and it was on that ground that the earthly Jerusalem reached its supreme crisis.

The Earthboundness of Judaism.

As to the second thing, that is, the earthboundness of Judaism in all its aspects, there is no doubt that this was the background and the cause of its rejection of Christ, and John's Gospel brings that also very clearly before us. That earthboundness of theirs, the grip of historic tradition upon their minds, resulted in spiritual blindness to all that was heavenly. This became manifest, as blindness always is manifested, in various ways. The Gospel by John gives us a clear unveiling of the out-working of that spiritual blindness in jealousy, envy, prejudice, hatred, smallness and pettiness, suspicion, passion. These all run riot in the Gospel by John, and the Jews are seen in a very bad light there. And when you reflect upon that in connection with this dominating feature, the heavenliness of everything in relation to Christ, you see how utterly blind they were to all that was really heavenly. That blindness, working out in all these ways, led that nation to a full and final rejection of Him, and Jerusalem became the centre, and the seat, and the focal point of that intensified religious earthliness in its out-working.

It may be well for us to remind ourselves at this point, that we are having to do with the Church. You and I are supremely interested in the Church. Our great concern is the Church, which is His Body. And that being so, you and I are very deeply exercised, or should be, to know the nature of the Church, what it is that spiritually constitutes the true Church. If these things are true about the earthly Jerusalem, and stand at length in such vivid contrast to the heavenly Christ and the heavenly Church, they lead us to see quite clearly that jealousy, envy, prejudice, pettiness, suspicion, passion, hatred, and such like things, are marks of spiritual blindness. At very best they are marks of spiritual shortsightedness. Conversely, that means that spiritual vision and spiritual revelation should always work out to the absence of such things as jealousy, and envy, suspicion, and prejudice. It is a contradiction to say that we have heavenly light, revelation, that the heavenly Christ has broken upon our hearts, and to have any of these things. That in which they are found is not the heavenly Church.

The state to which we have just referred, obtaining in the earthly Jerusalem in the days of Christ, has been the state of that Jerusalem and of Judaism ever since, and is their state today. In Christ risen from the dead two things can be noted: (1) He did not again appear to Jerusalem nor to official Judaism; (2) He took the Church away from the earth spiritually, and centred it in Himself in heaven. But then history began to develop upon two planes, and along two lines, a true and a false; firstly, the Church as a spiritual and heavenly thing, developing under the direct government and control of the heavenly Holy Spirit; that is, its entire management became a thing as out from heaven; secondly, a false expression of Christianity as an earthly and man-governed system. Along these two lines history moved after the resurrection of Christ. Very soon in the Apostolic age this point of departure could be recognised.

The Jerusalem beneath has from very early in this dispensation become the seat of the most intensified expression of this false idea, this false conception of the Church. Palestine itself has since Christ's day seen the greatest outrages on the heavenly conception of the Church. We concluded our last section of this meditation with a citation from the history of Islam's conquest of Christianity, with this focal point in Palestine, and we saw then how that Islam triumphed over Christianity because of the corruption of Christianity, evidenced by these very things of which we have spoken; divisions, warrings, jealousies, factions amongst Christians. And Islam as a solid body, presenting a solid front, knowing nothing of such factions and divisions, was able to overwhelm that divided thing, that schismatic thing, that internally disintegrated thing; and that overwhelming had its seat in this very country, around this very city of which we are speaking. That in itself is a very forceful lesson; that the subjugation of the earthly Jerusalem, being the result of weakness produced by spiritual division, points to the absolute necessity for the Church's oneness in spirit as the heavenly Jerusalem, if she is really to rise to her place of universal supremacy. We know how very much is connected in the New Testament with that truth. Oh, if it is true that the Lord Jesus was moving out of this world, and taking His Church spiritually with Him, recognising that Jerusalem's undoing was coming because of these unhappy and unholy conditions, how essential it was that He should pray, "that they may all be one" (John 17:21). Error, whether it be Islam or any other error, ancient or modern, known or something quite new, will always gain its advantage by the spiritual weakness produced by division amongst the Lord's people. Such things are only kept at bay as the people of God stand together in spiritual oneness.

We said earlier that the history of Jerusalem presents to us a solid block of evidence, that the governing law of God's Jerusalem is heavenliness, and heavenliness is most certainly spiritual oneness, and spiritual oneness is heavenliness. To put that in another way, immediately you and I come down to earthly considerations, earthly levels of things, our oneness is bound to be assailed, to be broken, and therefore God's Own thought for His people is set on one side.

The Earthboundness of Christendom.

Not only is this seen so clearly in the triumph of Islam over Christianity, but one other page of history affords very strong evidence and very clear illustration. We refer to the history of the Crusades. Lasting a hundred years, they are really the story of one of the most disgraceful happenings in the history of Christianity, destined, of course, to fail, as indeed they did. As children we were primed with the heroics and the romance of the Crusades, of Richard Coeur de Lion, and such like. But since we have grown up, we have read the story for ourselves, and all our childish glamour has disappeared, and the more we come to understand things from God's standpoint, the more we blush with shame as we look back upon that page in the history of Christianity, when mighty armies were gathered and lives slaughtered wholesale, desolation and carnage brought about in the name of the Church, to try to recapture Palestine for Christianity. No! That is not the heavenly way of doing things. Our warfare is not with flesh and blood, and the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but spiritual. "My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight..." (John 18:36). These are bed-rock laws of the heavenly Jerusalem. Palestine today is a nauseating spectacle. Every place connected in any special way with Christ's earthly life is marked by something which is more than a tragic misrepresentation of Christianity, a shameful misrepresentation is nearer the truth, something called a church in which rivalries run so high that even soldiers have to be kept, either on the premises or in the vicinity, for safety's sake amongst the Christians.

I expect many of you have been reading Morton's book, In the steps of the Master. I will give you one or two fragments from it, to illustrate what I mean. He is speaking here of his visit to Jerusalem, to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. This is what he says:-

"The church gives one an overwhelming impression of darkness and decay. There were passages so dark that I had to strike matches to find my way. And the decay everywhere of stone, of wood, and of iron was fantastic. I saw pictures that were rotting on their canvases, and I even saw canvases still framed, that were bleached white: the last fragments of paint had peeled off, but they were still in position. There were ominous cracks and fissures in stone and marble. I thought how odd it is that extreme devotion can have exactly the same effect as extreme neglect. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre wears its air of shabby decay for the simple reason that the re-hanging of a picture, the repair of a stone, and even the mending of a window, assume such gigantic importance in the eyes of the communities, that they provoke a situation capable of indefinite postponement.... Art and vulgarity stand side by side. A priceless chalice, the gift of an emperor, stands next to something tawdry and tinsely that might have been pulled from a Christmas tree. And hundreds of ikons, glimmering in old gold, receive candle drippings on the stiff Byzantine figures of saint and king.

"The Greek monks swing their censers towards the blaze of candle-light, and the blue clouds of their incense spurt out to hang about the ikons and the gilded screens. The worshippers, kneeling on the marble floors, seem to be prostrate before a series of exotic jewellers' shops.....

"This was the hill of the Crucifixion: Calvary, the holiest place on earth. I looked round, hoping to be able to detect some sign of its former aspect, but that has been obliterated for ever beneath the suffocating trappings of piety. The chapel before which I was kneeling was the Chapel of the Raising of the Cross, the chapel next to it was the Chapel of the Nailing to the Cross."

Turning to his visit to Bethlehem he speaks of his entering the Church of the Nativity, and of this he says:

"The church is built above a cave which was recognised as the birthplace of Jesus Christ....

"Fifty-three silver lamps lighten the gloom of the underground cavern. It is a small cave about fourteen yards long and four yards wide. Its walls are covered with tapestry that reeks of stale incense. If you draw this tapestry aside, you see that the walls are the rough, smoke-blackened walls of a cave. Gold, silver, and tinsel ornaments gleam in the pale glow of the fifty-three lamps....

"This church, like the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, suffers from divided ownership. It is in the hands of the Latins, the Greeks, and the Armenians.

"So jealous are the various churches of their rights, that even the sweeping of the dust is sometimes a dangerous task, and there is a column in which are three nails, one on which the Latins may hang a picture, one on which the Greeks may do so, and a neutral nail on which no sect may hang anything.

"In the floor there is a star, and round it a Latin inscription which says: 'Here Jesus Christ was born of the Virgin Mary.' The removal of this star years ago led to a quarrel between France and Russia which blazed into the Crimean War."

My point is this, that that place which rejected the heavenly Christ has become the scene of the expression, the most intensive expression, of the false Church, the false conception of what that Church is. We have said that in Jerusalem the delusion of Christendom has its intense expression, but it is only an explanation of how far a failure to represent God's thought really can go. The degree may vary; the principle remains the same. If man, apart from the dominion of the Holy Spirit in any measure however minute, intrudes into the things of God, be it in thought, intellect, reason or feeling, desire, emotion or will, determination, possession, the effect will be a proportionate measure of death, division, confusion and contradiction.

I have carefully written that statement, so that it should be precisely presented. I am going to repeat it, because upon that everything hangs. The degree may vary; the principle is the same. If man, apart from the dominion of the Holy Spirit in any measure however minute, intrudes into the things of God, the effect will be a proportionate measure of death, division, confusion and contradiction!

Therefore, man must go out as man: Christ, the heavenly Man, must be the Son over God's House, must be the Head of the Church, and His Headship must be administered only by the heavenly Holy Spirit. Herein, also, lies the necessity for the Cross as a constantly working and active reality by which that whole realm, and range, and tissue of carnal man is ruled out, and kept out. Herein, then, is the necessity for the fulness of the Holy Spirit, if the Church is to come to that place seen for her, as coming down from out of heaven, to be the centre of God's universe, God's government of this universe.

Chapter 4 - The Features of the Overcomer

READING: Rev. 3:7-13; 21:1-4.

You will notice in the passage in chapter 3 of the Revelation, that the overcomer is to have the name of the City of God written upon him. "He that overcometh... I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem...." That is a somewhat remarkable statement, and full of interest; and certainly the more you think about it, the more you wonder what it means that the overcomer is to have the name of the New Jerusalem written upon him. We want to understand, therefore, a little more of what that name signifies, and how it is associated with overcoming.

As has been our custom so far, so again, we go back to the earliest touches upon Jerusalem which we have in the Scripture, and there we shall get our key.

The first reference to Jerusalem in the Bible comes in with Melchizedek in Genesis 14:18-19. There we find the first mention of it by its abbreviated title of Salem. "Jerusalem" means "the City of Peace." A very great deal more has been made of it, and there are volumes written upon the name of Jerusalem, and many very wonderful ideas have been associated with the name, but it is quite simply expressed as "the City of Peace." There may be a root in the word which means safety by reason of its position, its strength and elevation, and in that sense it may be termed the City of Peace, as being a city exceedingly difficult to upset, to destroy. But we can be content for our purpose with the simplest of definitions. Apparently, Melchizedek was king of this city, as well as priest of "God Most High."

We see from this chapter that Melchizedek first comes into view with Abram's return from the defeat of the kings. If you read the whole chapter, you will see that a number of kings made a league, and they brought the rulers of Sodom and other local cities under their power. These served them and paid tribute to them for a number of years. Then they revolted against these allied kings, with the result that the allied kings made this assault upon them to bring them to heel again. They overpowered them, robbed them, and carried away spoil and many prisoners, including Lot and his wife. Abram was informed of what had happened, and with some three hundred and eighteen men, trained in his own household, he pursued after the kings, and by a night manoeuvre gained an advantage, overpowered them, recovered all that had been taken, including Lot, and brought them back. On his return from this successful and victorious expedition, the king of Salem as well as the king of Sodom met him, and Melchizedek blessed him, and Abram gave him a tenth of all.

Here, then, is Abram in the capacity of an overcomer, and you recognise, as we pointed out in our last meditation, that Abram's strength which in a spiritual sense he passed on to the City of which he was, in a sense, the father, for which he looked - was largely due to his own spiritual detachment from this world. He refused all gifts from the king of Sodom, refused this world's honours and favours, and in various other ways kept himself free, while in some cases the Lord, on His part, very strongly broke him free from earthly elements and relationships, and so maintained him in a position of spiritual strength. Now we find that spiritual strength, by reason of his detachment from things earthly and attachment to things heavenly, expressing itself in this victorious warfare, and in the position of an overcomer he comes into touch with Melchizedek, and Melchizedek with him, and certain pre-eminent spiritual elements and features are introduced. It is interesting to notice that all the associations of Melchizedek are spiritual and not temporal. Wherever you touch Melchizedek in the Scriptures, you touch some abiding spiritual principle, something which is not temporal, not passing, and not merely of this earth; not even related to this earth when what is touched is of God, but something higher than that. The bringing of Melchizedek and Abram together in this way brings out this series of spiritual elements, which run right on and become the governing features of the New Jerusalem.

If you look at some of these elements, you will see that they are impressive, but you will, in the first place, be impressed with the uniqueness of the person of Melchizedek. How strangely he comes on the scene. He is never heard of before, and nothing is known about him, beyond what is said here in a couple of sentences, and yet here he is, a king, and priest of God Most High, in a land full of iniquity. He suddenly comes into full view like that, king of Salem, priest of God Most High, blessing Abram in the Name of the Lord: a remarkable personality, and quite fitted by these very features, by the uniqueness of his person, to occupy some very important place in the spiritual history of Jerusalem. He seems, so to speak, to have come out of the unknown, to have suddenly dropped out of heaven, in immediate maturity. There is no immaturity here: you do not begin in infancy, you find this man right in the fulness of things, the fulness which is to take centuries to develop in the history of the Lord's work. A tremendous amount of history will come before there is realised on this earth what is represented by Melchizedek. He enters in this full way, this mature way, and it seems as though he immediately sets up the whole thought of God. The whole mind of God is represented in one man, who comes we know not whence. It is as though God puts the fulness of His thought in a man at the beginning of things, and then develops history according to that pattern. That is how God does things. So Melchizedek becomes a most impressive person, and we know from the New Testament, especially the letter to the Hebrews, that he was intended by God to be a type of something very full. He introduces an order of things which is super-earthly, super-Aaronic - without genealogy, without father, without mother, without beginning of days or end of life. There you have eternity, universality, all gathered up in this one man.

Typical Relationships of Melchizedek with Christ.

Note his typical relationships with Christ, as he introduces these pre-eminent spiritual elements. I think we can say that they are, in the main, five.

1. Kingship.

The first is kingship among the Lord's Own people in relation to the elect: kingship in contact with the overcomer, and the overcomer brought into touch with the throne. That is the first full thought of God, represented in Melchizedek. As we have just mentioned, a tremendous amount of history will develop before that is fully realised, but God is going to work from this point toward something which we shall note in a moment.

2. Priesthood.

Not an earthly, but a heavenly priesthood not after the order of Aaron, but after the order of Melchizedek - a heavenly priesthood, an abiding priesthood is what is set forth; in a word, priesthood in God's full thought.

3. Righteousness.

The principle of righteousness comes in with Melchizedek in a special way. It is no new principle. Righteousness is as old as God. It comes in in a special way with Melchizedek, as he becomes king of righteousness. We mention it now, and will speak more fully of it later.

4. Peace.

Righteousness leading to peace; peace and righteousness in relation to kingship and priesthood is what is brought before us. When you put those things together, you cover an immense range of the work and Person of the Lord Jesus. Work backwards - peace, because of righteousness, because of heavenly priesthood, because of absolute sovereignty.

5. The Endless Life.

"...like unto the Son of God... after the power of an endless life" (Heb. 7:3,16). That is the designation given by the New Testament to Melchizedek.

Let us sum those up again both ways - kingship, priesthood of a heavenly order, righteousness, peace and endless life: endless life, because of peace being given, on the ground of righteousness, through the heavenly priesthood, with the throne of universal sovereignty upholding it all. That is an outstanding vision and setting forth in one man of those typical elements of the Person and work of the Lord Jesus.

Think a moment or two longer of kingship as introduced by Melchizedek in relation to Christ. The remarkable thing is that Christ came out of Judah, the tribe of government, the tribe of monarchy. But no priest came out of Judah: there was no priesthood there. The Apostle argues that if Christ had been on earth - a striking phrase - He would not have been a priest, because there are no priests out of Judah. That carries His priesthood away from earth at once and brings in a heavenly order of priesthood. So that Christ's priesthood arises on another ground from that of Aaron. He is Priest established in relation to resurrection. The one hundred and tenth Psalm makes it very clear that His priesthood does not belong to that side of the grave which relates wholly to this earth. The grave breaks fully and finally our contact with this earth. That is the meaning of baptism. Baptism is intended to be a declaration of the fact that in our death-union with Christ all relationship of a spiritual kind with this earth has been brought to an end. Mark you, we only come into the values of Christ's heavenly priesthood in so far as that is true, because His priesthood is not of the Aaronic order, applying to people on the earth living earth-bound lives. Christ's priesthood is founded upon the fact that He is in heaven, and that at once speaks of resurrection. So that His priesthood is in the virtue and the good of resurrection.

Come back to Abram, and you will see that, with regard to the City, Abram had to come in a typical way right on to this ground, the ground of resurrection, with even Isaac broken away from this earth as holding any kind of relationship with it still, and that right out on resurrection ground in relation to heaven the purpose of God as to the City is fulfilled. So Christ's Priesthood is established as related to resurrection. "Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee" (Heb. 1:5) touches His resurrection, and this priesthood of Melchizedek is typically after the power of an endless life.

Why did Christ's Priesthood become dependent entirely upon His resurrection? For the simple reason that God was awaiting kingship; that there can be no true priesthood apart from kingship in the thought of God. Lay hold of that, and dwell upon it. There is no full priesthood in God's mind apart from kingship. Kingship is essential to priesthood, if priesthood is to have its fullest expression.

The Aaronic priesthood broke down in Eli. Samuel was then brought in, and what happened? Samuel was not brought in to introduce a new order of priesthood. Samuel was brought in to introduce the king; and from that time the king always took precedence over the priest. David, himself king, wore the linen ephod, combined the two in his own person. But the priesthood in David was subservient to his kingship. All the meaning and value of the order of Aaron, of course, is gathered up and included in Christ, but it is transcended by the order of Melchizedek.

Kingship is the supreme, the dominating note. That is the first and highest position. Then what comes next? Righteousness! But that introduces the priesthood. The question of righteousness is dealt with by priesthood; but it is a righteousness which can only be established by a throne of supreme authority. It is the throne, the kingship, which gives the power to the priesthood. The Old Testament makes that perfectly clear. The priesthood afterward derived its power and its appointment from the throne. Notice how David dealt with the priests. He dismissed high priests and brought in others. When high priests failed God, David put them out of office. That was a momentous thing to do. Go back to the days before there were kings in Israel, and let anybody touch the priest! But here is a man who has taken a position above the priests. With David it was a question of the throne governing in the matter of righteousness. If the high priests failed God, broke down on the question of righteousness, then the throne intervened, and that priesthood could no longer stand.

These two things are found together in Christ, and you see that He is King and Priest, and by His very throne He upholds righteousness and His priestly work. We have a great High Priest, Who is King, Who is Sovereign.

When you have the throne established, righteousness upheld by supreme authority, then you can know peace. All these are operating in the power of resurrection. He is King, He is Priest, and He has established peace in virtue of His resurrection.

Thus sovereignty comes in, and sovereignty is seen to be not a matter of a realm only, but rather a matter of moral and spiritual glory. His Kingship is that. It is the sovereignty of peace.

There is a great value about this, if we could grasp it. These moral and spiritual elements, such as peace and righteousness, are things which have behind them all the tremendous power of supreme lordship. You and I know quite well that our righteousness cannot support us: and neither can it support anyone else. Our righteousness will break down. It is a poor thing, a puny thing. We know quite well that our peace will not support very much. What is the strength of our own peace? Well, it is as the strength of a very weak assault upon it. It does not take much to upset our peace. Then take any other moral and spiritual virtue you may think of, and see just how far man's own virtue will carry him; man's own moral and spiritual features. Not very far! But then think of the Lord having righteousness and peace and all the other virtues, and by His Spirit imparting those, and putting all the strength of His throne behind them, all that that throne means of victory. It is righteousness triumphant, because of One Who is absolute Sovereign in this universe. The sovereignty of the Lord Jesus is the sovereignty of righteousness. If you can upset His throne, you upset His righteousness. If you can upset His righteousness, you upset His throne. If you can destroy His peace, you destroy His sovereignty. These things go together. What we need is that the Lord should be enthroned at the centre of our being with all the sovereign power of His mighty righteousness, all His glorious peace, all His deep imperturbable joy. It is not an abstract element. The throne, and all that it means, is with and behind all.

That is surely what was intended to be the embodiment of those spiritual and moral truths and realities. When Jerusalem was supported by righteousness, then Jerusalem was unshakable. When Jerusalem forsook righteousness, then the very support of Jerusalem was withdrawn, and Jerusalem collapsed.

"Pray for the peace of Jerusalem" (Psalm 122:6). Jerusalem lost its peace, when it lost its righteousness, because it lost its sovereign upholding. These things go together. You cannot have the Lord supporting you in His sovereignty, in His kingship, if you are violating righteousness.

Abraham was made to know God on this matter in connection with the cities of the plain "Shall I hide from Abraham that which I do?" (Gen. 18:17). The Lord told Abraham that he was going to destroy the cities, and Abraham went in search of righteousness. "Wilt thou consume the righteous with the wicked?" God said in effect, Try it! That is not MY way! I never destroy righteousness! If you find righteousness, I cannot destroy; I am bound to uphold righteousness! So Abraham made his exhaustive search, and found none. He had to say, You are perfectly justified in doing this thing! God could not have done it if Abraham had found righteousness. Righteousness and the protection of the throne go together. The lack of righteousness means that the throne cannot function to protect. The New Jerusalem, which came into view through Abraham, was to take its character from him, was to be the embodiment of all these things. And when you carry the matter beyond the historic Jerusalem, you find the next focal point is Christ Himself, and then the Church, which is His Body - the New Jerusalem, which is to express all that God had in His mind as spiritual thought concerning His Own people.

Chapter 5 - Features of the Overcomer (continued)

We follow on where we broke off the last meditation, and complete what was not completed then.

From Genesis 22 (Mt. Moriah) Jerusalem does not come into view again until the book of Judges is reached. Immediately after the death of Joshua, Judah and Simeon attempted to take the City, which at that time was called Jebus. Josephus tells us that only the lower part of the City was captured. The Benjamites followed Judah in the attempt, but had no better success, and the City remained in the hands of the Jebusites during the whole period of the Judges, throughout the reign of Saul, and through the reign of David at Hebron.

Jerusalem in the Days of the Judges.

If you look at that period, you will recognise that it was one of spiritual weakness, and therefore of failure. We are familiar with the conditions that obtained through the period of the Judges. We have only to read the book to recognise that it covers several hundreds of years, and we are sadly impressed with the low spiritual state of the Lord's people, and the great weakness which characterised them during that time. We reach the close of the period, and Samuel comes on the scene, to find a very sorry state of things indeed. Saul is brought in through Samuel, and still the condition is one of spiritual weakness, and therefore the City is not in possession, and is not occupying its place in the purpose of God.

The point is this, that for Jerusalem to express the mind of God, the very highest and fullest spiritual life is demanded of the Lord's people. The obverse fact is equally true, that whenever the spiritual life of the Lord's people is lower than it should be, the glory of Jerusalem is veiled, the City is not in the ascendant, and the Name of the Lord is not being honoured in it.

We gather from this extensive survey that, so far as time is concerned, Jerusalem represents the spiritual state of the Lord's people. That truth runs throughout the Old Testament by way of illustration, and is carried over in its spiritual meaning to the Church. That is why we speak of Jerusalem and the features of the overcomer. Eventually the heavenly Jerusalem, the Church, will come into view in heavenly glory, on the ground of spiritual maturity, spiritual fulness. It will be an expression of the very highest life to which the Lord's people can ever come, and that expression will be the power of the overcomer.

We know, in reading backward from the end, that Jerusalem does finally represent a very high standard of spiritual life, and that the overcomer company, as presented to us in the book of the Revelation, is a company which has reached the very highest point of spiritual attainment.

It is important for us to recognise that while the Jerusalem of the Old Testament, the earthly Jerusalem, is historical in a literal way, Jerusalem which is above has its history upon a purely spiritual basis. Its rise and fall, if we may speak of it in that way, is a matter of the rise and fall of spiritual life, and the Lord while now in heaven, having in His Own mind a perfect City, is seeking to bring His people, His Church, to that state of spiritual perfection which, when accomplished, will display His glory and bring with it the realisation of that vision which was seen of the Apostle: "And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed the holy city of Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God: her light was like unto a stone most precious..." (Rev. 21:10-11). That is a spiritual state that the Lord is seeking to realise in His Church. It will eventually be realised in those who truly constitute that Church, that City.

We see, then, that through the long period of which we spoke Jerusalem does not come into its place, and is not seen as expressing Divine thoughts, because of the spiritual weakness and failure of the Lord's people.

David and the Capture of Jerusalem.

At length we come to the time when David goes up to Jerusalem and issues a challenge to his mighty men, who accept the challenge and attempt the taking of the stronghold of the Jebusites, and wherein Joab succeeds. Joab is an interesting character. He does not always shine in the best way, but the noteworthy thing about Joab, the thing that determines what Joab is, is his relationship with David the king. If Joab were in pursuit of personal interests, or if his interests were diverted from David to other considerations, he did not show up very well. But you find that whenever Joab was selflessly attached to David, and had David's interest and glory wholly at heart, he is always seen to advantage. Now here in the taking of the stronghold Joab excels, because of his unreserved devotion to David, and because of that he becomes yet another type of the overcomer who takes the stronghold.

There a new feature is introduced as to the City, and the overcomers in relation to the City, namely, that the overcomers will be those whose hearts are unreservedly devoted to the King, their Lord, and who, because of their abandonment to Him, will come to the place of supremacy. If we have personal interests, or if our interests are in any way diverted from the Lord, we shall not be overcomers, and we shall not stand very well in the main issue. In this connection we recall the passage in Revelation 3:7-12. David is mentioned there, and the temple is mentioned, and you have the City, and association with what is represented by those three is seen to be the portion of the overcomer.

Surveying once more, we note that Abraham, Melchizedek, and David, represent the power of that which is wholly of God in a spiritual way. Two things have come clearly before us. (1) The heavenly Kingship. (2) The heavenly Priesthood. We see that these are realised in Christ. Then they are shared by a heavenly people, and they are related throughout to the heavenly Jerusalem.

Now the Lord made a covenant with David that he should never want for a man to sit upon his throne, as is recorded for us in the first book of Kings, chapter 8. Then you find that David and Israel have been without a king, without a temple, and without a priest for long centuries. There are only two ways, as far as I can see, of explaining the apparent contradiction. The one is the way of "British Israel," the other is the way of seeing that all is transferred to the Lord Jesus; that the covenant with David has been fulfilled in David's greater Son, and that He is on the throne, the government upon His shoulders, and the key of David in His possession. (Footnote: From such passages as Acts 2:30, this is surely the only true interpretation.)

In the first place, then, all is taken up in Christ in a heavenly position, but in a secondary sense it is transferred to and taken up in the heavenly Jerusalem, which is now regarded as being in existence. Paul says: "But the Jerusalem that is above (not which is going to be) is free, which is our mother" (Gal. 4:26). Just as the Church in Paul's letters is always seen as already complete and perfect, though we know it is not so literally, so Jerusalem is looked upon as now above in existence, and all that is said about it carries that feature. Thus the heavenly Jerusalem, of which we are now a part, seeing that we are seated together with Christ in the heavenlies, takes up and embodies this heavenly kingship and kingdom, and this heavenly priesthood. We are brought into that, and that is transferred to us. If Scripture is necessary to bear that out, we have very precise statements on the matter. To the Jews the Lord Jesus said, as recorded in Matt. 21:43: "The kingdom of God shall be taken away from you, and shall be given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof." Alongside of that you place Luke 12:32: "Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." Then the words of Peter in his first Letter, chapter 2, verse 9: "But ye are an elect race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation." So that the Church as the heavenly Jerusalem takes up the kingdom, the kingdom is transferred to the Church, and the Church takes up the priesthood. "Our citizenship is in heaven." That is present tense. That at once links up with the heavenly Jerusalem as now existent. The kingdom at this time is, of course, so far as we are concerned, a spiritual one. The kingship and the kingdom at present are in spiritual expression. Later it will be literally expressed; that is, the Church will literally take the place of governing this world in the coming age.

The priesthood is also spiritual at present. We are now priests. We shall be priests then. We see how the book of the Revelation presents a very full thought of what already obtains, as well as of what awaits consummation. In two places, both at the beginning of the book and a little further, in chapter 1, verse 6, and in chapter 5, verse 10, we have the statement that He has made us a kingdom and priests unto our God.

The vital point, upon which everything that we have said, or can say, hangs, is that all is bound up with and inseparable from resurrection. Resurrection is a far greater, deeper, more significant thing than any of us have yet recognised. Resurrection is the key to everything, and you will notice that everything which relates to God's heavenly purpose is bound up with resurrection. Indeed resurrection, if in Christ, implies and involves that the thing is heavenly.

The City, as we have seen, comes into view in the first instance with Abraham, and we know that the central thing of the life of Abraham is the great power and fact of resurrection; that when Abraham had come to the altar, and had definitely quitted all that was of the earth, even though of Godly origin, then it was that Abraham moved out into what was something more than an earthly vision and purpose of God, into what was the heavenly and the universal purpose of God. It was resurrection that became the basis of what was and is heavenly in the covenant with Abraham.

It was the earthliness of things during the time of the Judges, and during Saul's life, which kept the City in a place of eclipse, out of sight, and out of function. And when you come to the reign of David, you notice it is as the threshing floor of Ornan is secured for the temple that the City comes into its full place. It was then that God secured His habitation there in a typical way, and it is by the habitation of God that the City is what it is. It always has been, it always will be. It is the presence of God that makes anything Divine and heavenly. Now the securing of the threshing floor of Ornan was in the day when the angel put up his sword; when death raging throughout the land was arrested; when the sacrifice was slain on that threshing floor, and an end to a curse was brought about. Thereafter you have a new beginning on resurrection ground. Resurrection always occupies the central place in relation to heavenly purposes.

Resurrection is a Separating thing.

Resurrection is the key to everything. It is the key to every fresh movement of God in the securing of His fullest intention and thought, and it is always a separating or a dividing thing.

Take a chapter like John 5. In that chapter the Lord Jesus is found speaking about resurrection. "The hour cometh, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and they that hear shall live" (verse 25). That, of course, must be taken spiritually. Who hear the voice? Not all. It is those who hear that live, but all do not live. That is to say, the power of resurrection in the Word of the Lord divides spiritually between those who live and those who remain dead. Resurrection is a dividing thing. It cleaves the company in two, as it were. Some hear the spoken Word and live. They are raised from spiritual death. Others do not hear. You know that later the Lord Jesus said: "My sheep hear my voice...." There we have the first form of resurrection. It is spiritual. It is a raising from spiritual death, or from among the spiritually dead, and in a spiritual way men become two companies, the living and the dead.

In the same chapter the Lord Jesus projects things further into the future. "The hour cometh (He does not say 'and now is'), in which all that are in the tombs shall hear his voice (not the spoken Word)." That links us with 1 Thess. 4:16. "The hour cometh, in which all that are in the tombs shall hear his voice." That must be taken literally, not spiritually. What happens in that resurrection? "And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done ill, unto the resurrection of judgement" (verse 29). Again resurrection divides.

There are other resurrections in the Word, and you find that every one of them divides. There is the general resurrection of believers mentioned in 1 Thessalonians, and there is a specific resurrection of believers spoken of in Philippians 3, the out-resurrection from among the dead. Paul was quite sure of his position in 1 Thessalonians. He had no doubt whatever of his being in that resurrection, no question at all. But of the resurrection mentioned in Philippians 3 he is not so sure, not at all sure. Of that his own words are: "If by any means I may attain unto the out-resurrection"; "Not that I have already obtained"; "I count not myself yet to have apprehended." Here is another dividing in resurrection.

We are bound to come to this conclusion, I feel, that at the same time that resurrection divides, it also puts in a position, and that the resurrection of Philippians 3 is not the resurrection of 1 Thessalonians 4. 1 Thessalonians 4 is a far more general thing than Philippians 3. Philippians 3 applies to a much higher position in the expression of the Divine thought than does 1 Thessalonians 4.

When you come to the Revelation, you find the statement that the rest of the dead lived not for a thousand years. Well, there has been a resurrection, the first resurrection, and it has wrought a division. "Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection..." (Rev. 20:6); but a good many have been left out of that. Resurrection has divided again, you see: it has taken some, and left others.

But again at the end of the thousand years there is yet another resurrection, and again a dividing. There is a resurrection, and in connection with this resurrection we read: "And if any was not found written in the book of life, he was cast into the lake of fire" (Rev. 20:15). Why state that, if at that time, at that point in the course of things, all whose names were in the book of life had been raised a thousand years before? Do you mark the significance, that even after the thousand years there will be some raised whose names are in the book, who missed something for a thousand years? Thus after a thousand years there takes place a resurrection, which divides between those whose names are in the book, and those whose names are not found in the book. If that were not so, surely a divinely inspired Word would say that at the end of the thousand years the rest of the dead were raised and straightway cast into the lake of fire. Why say: "...if any was not found written in the book of life"? Resurrection has come, even at that late date, to divide.

What does all this mean? It means that there are resurrections (not one resurrection, not two resurrections), and every resurrection represents some stage, some position, some bound of advancement in the Divine purpose; and you can come quickly to this conclusion that the first, the out-resurrection, is of a company which reaches the highest position. Every subsequent resurrection represents something less than that. We can be Christians and lose the thousand years. If that is true, there may be other things that we can lose.

That is the significance of the overcomer in relation to Jerusalem. The overcomer, as seen in Revelation 3, comes to the throne, but that overcomer company of Philadelphia and Laodicea is the overcomer company of chapter 12, of the manchild. It is a special out-resurrection company; and surely it is with that in view that the Lord has brought into our consideration the urgency of our being a people who are not in any degree earth-bound, world-tied, but utterly out, so that we might form a part of that company which shall express the fullest thought of God, and know the out-resurrection from among the dead.

If you have any doubt as to whether there is more than one resurrection, read the New Testament along that one line only. Unfortunately the Authorised Version in this case does not bring the fact out clearly, but the Revised Version will help you a great deal more. You will find that two words are used in relation to resurrection in the New Testament. Those words are the resurrection of the dead, and the resurrection from the dead. The Revised Version makes that distinction. Resurrection of the dead is one thing. There is to be a resurrection of the dead that is going to include everybody, but there is a resurrection from the dead, that is, from among the dead, which does not include everybody. The Bethany sister beautifully stumbled upon that truth for our good: "I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day" (John 11:24). She is speaking of the resurrection of the dead, when everybody should be raised. Jesus drew her up and said: "I am the resurrection" (verse 25). Now note: John 12 which immediately follows (it is the continuation of the narrative) says: "Jesus therefore six days before the passover came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus raised from the dead." The word is "ek," out from among. "I am the resurrection" - "Whom Jesus raised from the dead." In relation to Christ there is something more than general resurrection from the dead, there is an out-resurrection. The fuller the relationship to Christ the more God secures by resurrection.

So that Jerusalem has as its highest feature the overcomer, on the ground of a resurrection which, as we see, is of those who have gone all the way in their relationship to the Lord, or, in keeping with our general thought, of those who have not in any way been earth-bound, world-related.

Resurrection is separation, but resurrection as separation is simply following out the principle of spiritual separation now. If you and I are truly separated unto God now, so that Colossians 3:1 is true of us: "If then ye were raised together with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated on the right hand of God," we are on the way to the following out of that spiritual separation in an out-resurrection from the dead. I am not of those who believe that all who have been saved, who are living semi or partially worldly lives, are going to know the out-resurrection. They are going to lose something, and it is going to be possible for people to have their names in the book of life and miss the thousand years, if the Word means anything at all. I ask you to look at the Word. Does it say that? "The rest of the dead lived not until the thousand years should be finished" (Rev. 20:5). Then there is a resurrection, the books are opened, and those whose names are not in the book of life are cast into the lake of fire.

Now we understand those tremendous warnings in the letter to the Hebrews, for instance, about failing of the inheritance, failing of God's purpose, and losing the birthright, the intention of God. There is that tremendous statement made about Esau, that he sold his birthright for a mess of pottage. And then what? He sought with tears, but found no place of repentance. Then the letter to the Hebrews says: "...it is impossible to renew them again unto repentance..." (Heb. 6:6). Does that mean that they are eternally lost? No! They have lost their birthright, they have lost their inheritance, not necessarily their eternal life. They may at the end of the thousand years still be in the book of life, but lose their inheritance.

Now you understand why it is that there is such stress laid on utterness for God: perhaps you understand a little better the nature of what we call the Testimony, and why it is necessary for us to come out in a spiritual way from everything, even religiously, as of this world, and stand apart for God. Why all that? Why not succour the more generally accepted thing? For this reason, that God has shown a more utter thing of His will, which makes a more utter demand, and represents a more utter cost. It brings into a realm of a more utter conflict and anguish. But what can we do, when we have seen the heavenly vision, but go on? "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne..." There is kingship.

Resurrection is the key to everything in the purpose of God. It is the basis of everything. And resurrection is always a dividing thing. You can come to one resurrection and miss another. It depends on how far you have gone on with the Lord. This is not a question of salvation, this is subsequent to salvation. Paul had no doubt about his salvation, and no doubt about that which was bound up with salvation unto life. But there is another resurrection inside of that, and of that he was not so sure. For that he had to strain every nerve spiritually: "If by any means I may attain." That resurrection is not the resurrection which goes along with eternal life, that resurrection is the prize of the upward calling. It is for the overcomer.

Chapter 6 - The City - The Seat of Heavenly Government

"Thus saith the Lord God: This is Jerusalem: I have set her in the midst of the nations, and countries are round about her" (Ezekiel 5:5).

We have traced Jerusalem from Melchizedek, king of Salem, to David, the great king, and then on to the Book of the Revelation, to the New Jerusalem. The government is always in the heavens. That fact is set forth in types and symbols, and in many other ways, and is also directly declared to be the case.

The Word of God also teaches that there is a place in that government reserved for certain saints. It is clear that the Throne of God can be shared, and the first sharer of that throne is the Lord Jesus. But He offers the same privilege to certain saints, telling them that on certain conditions - the same conditions as those upon which He shares His Father's throne - they shall share His throne. Thus a place is reserved in the ultimate government of this world for certain saints.

The figure used in connection with government is the figure of a city, out from which the government goes forth, and we know that city to be a people, not merely a place. Everything by which that city or people is constituted is heavenly. It is the nature which gives the place and the power. The nature is the heavenliness of everything.

In the Book of the Revelation we have a certain city spoken of as MYSTERY BABYLON. That means, of course, that it is not the literal historic Babylon of this world, the city built by men in a literal way, but MYSTERY BABYLON is a spiritual Babylon, a people whose characteristics are moral and spiritual elements of Babylon. Knowing as we do what came in a moral and a spiritual way from the literal Babylon, we have very little difficulty in identifying MYSTERY BABYLON. The point is this, that this is Satan's counterfeit of God's city, the MYSTERY JERUSALEM. The word "mystery" used in this connection means something which does not appear on the surface. There is an expression seen, but the real thing is behind, and can only be discerned by spiritual intelligence. It is true of MYSTERY BABYLON. It is true of MYSTERY JERUSALEM. MYSTERY BABYLON is the great snare, deception, and trap of religious history, and all who get into the toils of MYSTERY BABYLON are deceived and blinded in a most terrible way. They can even resort to the most ghastly things known in history and think they do God service. We need not mention the name by which MYSTERY BABYLON is known to us.

What is true of MYSTERY BABYLON on the side of Satan, is true of MYSTERY JERUSALEM on the side of God, in the heavenly and glorious sense that therein are gathered up all those things which are hidden from the wise and the prudent, things hidden from the world and open only to those who have a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.

In the letter to the Ephesians, which, as we know, has the Church wholly in view, there are, at least by inference, all the metaphors which are used of the Church in the Word of God. The main metaphor in this letter, as we know, is

1. The Body.

Then we further have

2. The House.

3. The Temple.

4. The City.

5. The Ecclesia, or Called-out Company.

6. The Family.

7. The One New Man.

8. The Bride.

All these metaphors are in Ephesians. They are the various aspects of the one Church.

THE BODY:

Chapter 1 verse 23; 3:6; the whole of chapter 4.

THE HOUSE:

chapter 2 verse 19.

(In that connection I would suggest you follow through the words "Father" and "child" in this letter)

THE TEMPLE:

Chapter 2 verse 22.

THE CITY:

Chapter 2 verse 19; 3:18. (That carries your thought forward to the Book of the Revelation, the city which lieth foursquare; the breadth, the height, and the length thereof are equal.)

THE ECCLESIA:

Take every reference to the "Church."

THE FAMILY:

Chapter 3 verse 15.

THE ONE NEW MAN:

Chapter 2:15; 4:13,24.

THE BRIDE:

Chapter 5:25-28, 31-32.

So you see there are eight metaphors of the Church in this letter, and there are other inferences in the letter which you might do well to trace out.

The point to which we come is that there are three things which stand out in this inclusive presentation of the Church.

1. The Mystery.

The first is the mystery. That word, as you know, is peculiarly characteristic of the letter to the Ephesians. Paul writes about the mystery of His will; "...made known unto us the mystery of his will..." "...made known unto me the mystery..." "...the fellowship of the mystery..." "This is a great mystery..."; and finally, "the mystery of the gospel...."

While the phrase MYSTERY JERUSALEM does not occur in the Scriptures, it is clear that Jerusalem is the Church, and that the Church coming so fully into view in this letter to the Ephesians is related immediately and intimately to the mystery. So that the Church as the City, and the City as the Church, is the mystery, and, as we have just pointed out, the significance of the word "mystery" is that it is something which can only be known by revelation. It cannot be apprehended by any natural faculties whatsoever - the mystery, something to be revealed. It has always existed. Let us be clear about that. The Church, the MYSTERY JERUSALEM, can only be known by revelation of the Holy Spirit. It exists now. But the Church is still a hidden thing to this world. That is said deliberately, in spite of all the publicity, all the demonstration, all the effort that is made to impress the world with its existence. In spite of that the true Church is still hidden from the eyes of the world. The City is not seen by this world. The revelation, the unveiling of the mystery, has come only to the saints, not to the world, and has come by revelation of the Holy Ghost. The remarkable thing is this, that you can still hold the New Testament in your hand, that you can hold this very letter to the Ephesians in your hand, and be able to recite it from the first to the last verse, and know all its terms, and all that it says, and still have the veil over the eyes of your hearts as to what the Church is. It needs a revelation by the Holy Spirit for one to see it.

2. The Heavenliness of Everything.

The second thing, which is clearly here alongside of the mystery, is the heavenliness of everything. Just as "mystery" is found these six or seven times in the letter to the Ephesians, so the "heavenlies" are the outstanding feature of the letter. That points plainly to the heavenly nature of the City, the Church. We merely state that once more, without dwelling upon it, as that is what is especially before us in our meditation, and we come back to it again and again.

3. The Governmental Feature.

The third thing which is here in this letter in relation to the Church, and for our present purposes the Church as "the City which hath foundations," is the governmental feature. In this letter you have those things which clearly indicate that, by reason of the heavenliness and spirituality of this people who constitute this City, this Church, there is a strong governmental factor. Look at one or two passages in this connection.

Ephesians 1:21-22: "Far above all rule, and authority and power, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: And he put all things in subjection under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things to the church...." That is where you begin, with the Lord Himself, and in His capacity as Sovereign Head of the Church.

Chapter 2:6: "And raised us up with him, and made us to sit with him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus." So that in what He is, as well as where He is, is our privileged union. We are seen to be in spiritual union with Him, not only where He is in the heavenlies, but in what He is as in the heavenlies, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and so on. The Church is linked with Him in that position.

Chapter 3:10: "To the intent that now unto the principalities and the powers in the heavenly places might be made known through the church the manifold wisdom of God." That is a governmental element, is it not? It is quite clear that, by the Church, God is governing the intelligence of principalities and powers, impressing the intelligence, instructing them, making known His many-sided wisdom.

Chapter 6 from verse 12. Here in the heavenlies, while the Church is seen in conflict, in wrestling, it is also seen in power. This is not a conflict to get advantage, to get ascendency, but rather, to express ascendency, to express the fact that these principalities and powers have been defeated and are subject to Christ and to His Church as in the heavenlies.

We need to make a comparison at this point between Ephesians 6 and Revelation 12. In Ephesians 6 the Church is seen to be in conflict with the principalities and powers in the heavenlies. In Revelation 12 the case is that of a company being met by a mighty onslaught of the evil one, the forces of darkness, and then hurling those forces down out of the heavenlies, and assuming fully and finally the place of government in the sphere where those forces have been in action. It is the end of the conflict, the great final battle with the enemy, in which he is hurled from his place in the air, or in the heavenlies. It is good to pass the eye on from Ephesians 6 to Revelation 12. In Ephesians 6 you see the conflict going on, the age-long conflict. In Revelation 12 you see that conflict reaching its climax, and the issue is that those forces which in Ephesians 6 are still in the heavenlies are cast out of the heavenlies and no more place is found for them, and the Church is left in the heavenlies, in full occupation, in a governmental position in the throne.

The Factor of Election.

There is one other factor which is clearly seen in this letter to the Ephesians. It is the factor of election, and it is characteristic of both Jerusalems, the earthly and the heavenly. "This is Jerusalem: I have set her in the midst of the nations..." (Ezek. 5:5). That speaks of Divine appointment, and we know from very much in the Old Testament that Jerusalem was Divinely chosen, an elect city, an elect vessel, that under the sovereignty of God Jerusalem was picked out, appointed, and held for Divine purposes, though transient. Lifted into the realm of the great anti-type, that of which the earthly Jerusalem is but a faint picture, how very much more true that becomes. In the letter to the Ephesians, speaking of the Church in its full presentation, there are these tremendously strong notes upon election: "Chosen in Him," "Elect," and "Chosen according to the purpose of His will." God has determined from eternity that this heavenly Jerusalem shall occupy the place of government and supremacy.

Ruling in the Heavens now.

That which is of supreme importance and value, and which arises out of all that, is this, there is a link now between the Church and the heavenly government of this world in relation to the purpose of God in this dispensation. That sums up everything. That is clearly what comes out of a right reading of the letter to the Ephesians alone, but there is a very great deal more besides that letter to substantiate the statement.

Firstly, the government of this world is set in the heavens, and is functioning now. In spite of all that seems to the contrary it is functioning now. The Church is seen in a spiritual relationship with the heavenlies, and is said spiritually to be seated there now. The Church is therefore in vital link and association with the governing of this world now in a spiritual way, unto the purpose of God for this dispensation. The Church is not linked with the governing of this world for general purposes, but only in relation to God's purpose, and we must remember that its functioning in this governmental union is spiritual, and is secret. It is not manifest. The Church is not governing this world manifestly, but there is a government of it with which the Church is associated now in secret.

Heavenly Government as seen in Elisha and Daniel.

The Old Testament is full of this in illustration. One of the outstanding, if not the most outstanding, personal types of the Church in the Old Testament is Elisha, the only prophet who was ever anointed; the successor of Elijah, receiving the double portion of the Spirit, and doing the greater works. He is conspicuously the type of the Church as the successor of Christ, so to speak, on this earth. Look at the life of Elisha and see the marvellous expression of this feature of government; secret, hidden, spiritual government. There was a league of certain kings. They came together for purposes of warfare, moved out against their enemies, and found themselves in difficulty because there was no water. The story is one which has often brought its own message of encouragement and inspiration to our own hearts. "Thus saith the Lord, Make this valley full of ditches" (2 Kings 3:16). And in the morning the waters filled all the ditches; it was like a sea. You know the sequel. The story affords a notable instance of the heavenly government of a situation. Here are men who, in spite of faults, were men who represented God, one of them at least. The situation was critical. But for some supernatural heavenly ruling, intervention, there would be an ignominious end. By silent, secret government of the heavens, brought in through a vessel, in this instance Elisha, the whole course of things is changed from tragedy and disaster to glory. No sound, nothing to see, nothing to hear, but the heavens rule.

Again, the Syrians would make war. Elisha is sitting in his home, in the secret place, and sends a message to the king of Israel: "Beware that thou pass not such a place; for thither the Syrians are coming down" (2 Kings 6:9). And so the king of Israel saved himself there, not once nor twice. The king of Syria said to his war lords: "Will ye not show me which of us is for the king of Israel?" (verse 11). The reply, with an intelligence for which I cannot account, was: "Nay, my lord, O king, but Elisha, the prophet that is in Israel, telleth the king of Israel the words that thou speakest in thy bedchamber." You see the secret, silent government, the undercutting of the enemy, the defeating of him without the drawing of a sword. This is heavenly government. The Old Testament is full of that sort of thing.

The city where the prophet dwelt is besieged. The prophet and his servant are in the city, and the servant sees the besieging army and cries: "Alas, my master! how shall we do?" Elisha prays: "Lord... open his eyes, that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha." That is heavenly government. You know the sequel to that.

We pass to the book of Daniel, and here we should have more than enough to occupy us, for the whole story is very true to the fact that the heavens do rule, that God ruleth in the kingdom of men. Think of Nebuchadnezzar, of his attempts against the Testimony, and the vessel of the Testimony, and mark the ruling of the heavens against those attempts of the mightiest of the kings, this head of gold, the highest of them all. It is a great thing to think that Nebuchadnezzar's was the greatest kingdom that this world has known. All those succeeding empires were of inferior cast. And yet the heavens ruled in that greatest of the empires. That rule was being expressed through a little handful of men right in the midst of the strength of this opposition to God. Right in the heart of that violent antagonism to God these few were set; the heavens expressed their government through an instrument which in itself was not much. How mighty was that rule! But it was secret. Where did Daniel rule? In the place of prayer! Where did Elisha rule? In his own house! There is a secret, spiritual going forth of heavenly power, heavenly government, which cannot be explained. There are none of the outward features of a great empire ruling. It is all spiritual; it is all hidden. To the natural eye there is no tracing it. Men only know it as they come into the sphere of its effect. Rulers and governments set against the purpose of God: that is one thing. Rulers, governments, empires, nations set with all their might, backed up by the powers of darkness, against the purpose of God, yet the purpose of God being fulfilled, and that through an instrument which in itself is worth practically nothing: that is the story.

What is that instrument? What about its nature, its position? Everything hangs upon that. It is essentially spiritual. It is heavenly, in its life, its relationships and all its resources. That is the city which rules, which governs, and is destined to govern for eternity. It is a spiritual people, a heavenly people, with all that word "heavenly" means.

That implies on the one hand, that a lack of spirituality, a lack of heavenliness of life, is the sure way to defeat. We may move out into this world and find ourselves up against the governments of this world, up against the rulers of this world, up against the laws which men have made, and these things may be dead set against the realisation of God's purpose in this dispensation. Governments may close and lock doors, rulers may withstand, decrees may be formed, nations, countries, may be closed, yet the heavens continue to rule, and all God's purpose is still possible. A people in heavenly union with the Lord, by the exercise of that heavenly function can still be the instrument of fulfilling God's purpose.

For example, I do not believe for a moment that the present regime in Russia is defeating God's end for this dispensation. If the truth were known, as it will be known one day, probably it is facilitating God's end. Though terrible may be the way, and costly, God's end is not being defeated. The heavens still rule.

Mark you, the heavens demand an instrument in this world through which to exercise their rule, and you and I, by absolute separation from the realm of Satanic power and authority in a spiritual way, and in complete fellowship and harmony with the Lord in heaven, can still be instrumental in fulfilling God's purpose, in spite of every bit of opposition. Man, as we have said, may close doors, but God can say: "I have set before thee an opened door, which no man can shut." Men may forbid this and that. They may forbid preaching; they may forbid the printing; they may forbid all sorts of things, and still things be done. God has secret ways of doing things, through prayer and real spiritual fellowship with Him, which are after the character of this Elisha work in the secret place, without going in person to the scene at all. But, oh, the importance of being in the place where, when everything closes along the natural line, the work is not finished, is not closed! I can believe that countries will close, and governments will prohibit, and perhaps missionaries will have to quit. I can believe that all kinds of things are going to happen as the result of Satan's last effort to quench the purpose of God, as he uses man, governments, and peoples against the Gospel, against the Lord. But I do not believe that God's purpose will be curtailed thereby, nor do I believe that the purpose of God is just going to be effected in a sovereign way direct from heaven. I believe that it is still to be concluded through those who are in spiritual union with Him. We may not go into the places, but it will be done. God has His ways. But even if we do go in, what can we hope for of real eternal effectiveness, unless we are in utter union and league with heaven, unless we have made a complete break with all that is earthly, though "Christian" in name? Oh, the tremendous power of heavenliness and spirituality!

All this is what is meant by the City, which is a heavenly City, and that City is called to govern now in a spiritual way, even as it will function in government in a literal way in the ages to come. You and I are fellow-citizens. We may be the weak things, the foolish things, the things which are despised, and the things which are not, but God has linked tremendous possibilities with such, provided they are under the anointing of the Holy Ghost; which is only another way of saying, provided they are in league with heaven, joined with the reigning Lord. Mighty things can be done in the secret place. The government of the heavens is to come in through the weak saints by prayer. There may be times when no more than living in touch with the Lord will be possible. Words may be finished, all outward forms of expression may have to be suspended. Living in touch with God is a mighty thing. For myself I covet that more than anything, far, far more than public ministry. All forms of public expression are secondary compared with a life of secret fellowship with God, and any kind of public ministry which does not come out of that is of comparatively little value. There is a mighty thing to come out of our hidden life with God, more than we know. There may be no sight and no sound, but something will happen. The Lord make us true citizens of the City which hath foundations.

Chapter 7 - Jerusalem in Relation to Universality

READING: Isa. 52:1, 7-8, 14-15; Acts 2:5, 7-11; 10:11-16, 34-35.

Let us remind ourselves that Jerusalem, in the Word of God, especially stands for the Church. It is an inclusive and comprehensive representation of the Church; and what we are seeking to see is the spiritual constitution of the Church, what the Church really is according to the Word of God, and what the Church's vocation is.

It does not require very much profound or energetic thinking to recognise that universality runs in very close relationship to spirituality and heavenliness. The heavens are always the symbol of universality. That is very clear. When you get into the heavens you get away from the narrow limitations of life, all the geographical confinement, and you are out in what is absolutely universal. The same is true in the matter of spirituality. When you get into the realm of things spiritual, there again you have left behind all that is small, and limited, and restricted; you have broken all ties.

So that heavenliness and spirituality lead us very definitely and distinctly into the universal, and one thing which is of the greatest importance for the Lord's people to be sure about is the universality of the Church. It is necessary to define that. It is necessary to have a very clear apprehension of it. Such as are really concerned with that great Divine object, that which has been in the mind of God before the world was, that which is the preeminent object of God in this dispensation, need to have a clear and definite grasp of its nature; and when we speak of its universality we want to be careful, to be quite sure, as to what we mean by that.

The Exclusiveness and Universality of the Church as typified in Jerusalem.

When you come to the Word of God and study Jerusalem you find two things which seem, on the surface, to be mutually exclusive; that is, these two things are difficult of reconciliation; they appear to be contradictory.

On the one hand, Jerusalem is a clearly defined and distinctly bounded city. Jerusalem has a wall, and that wall goes right round: and Jerusalem has gates; and the purpose of walls and gates is to exclude and admit, to govern, therefore, in the matter of who shall be in the city and who shall not. So that Jerusalem is very strictly defined, and, in a sense, appears to be both inclusive and exclusive; that is, it says to a certain company, You are of the city! and it says to another company, You are not of the city, and have no place in it!

On the other hand, there is the fact that Jerusalem is represented as being universal. You touch many universal elements when you read the history of Jerusalem. You find that all nations are touched by Jerusalem, and touch Jerusalem, that its relationships are comprehensive, extensive. The only word which adequately expresses it is "universal." It is set down in the midst of a country which can never be said for a moment to be of one fixed and exclusive aspect. Palestine is marked by two extremes, with every shade between them. At a certain time of the year you can sit at a particular point in Palestine and boil in a temperature of a hundred, and from where you sit thus perspiring with intense heat you view the snows of Hermon. You can stand upon a point and at one time see palm trees and pine trees, speaking of two extremes. At the southern part of the Jordan valley you have a sub-tropical climate; in the northern part of the Jordan valley you have a sub-Alpine climate; and there is every phase, and every degree, between these two extremes in the land. In some parts you find the shepherds wearing sheepskin cloaks, which speaks of cold; in other parts you find them doing everything to keep out the heat. These are geographical and climatic features which are illustrative and typical of the universality of the land. Jerusalem is set down in the midst of that land. Hardly a nation on this earth has failed at some time or other to have some kind of relationship with Jerusalem, and with Palestine, and we know that there is yet to be history in which all nations are gathered into that land, and will be met by the Lord Himself in battle.

What is true historically of the earthly Jerusalem is made clear as being true spiritually of the heavenly Jerusalem. All the nations are going to be related to it. The kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, the leaves of its tree will be for the health of the nations, and it will occupy a governmental position in relation to the rest of the universe. The universality of the heavenly Jerusalem is made perfectly clear in the Word of God with a very great deal of evidence.

All this points to the Church, and says quite simply and definitely that the Church partakes of these features in a spiritual way. On the one hand, there is the distinctiveness and definiteness which amounts to exclusiveness, and, on the other hand, there is the universality which brings into relation with the whole world, with all the nations. As we have said, we must get a matter like that quite clear in our hearts and minds. How do you reconcile the two seemingly opposing factors? We shall seek to do so as we go along.

This Two-fold Character of the Church seen in and derived from: - (a) The Head.

What is it that makes the Church on the one hand exclusive, and on the other hand universal? The answer is: That which makes it universal makes it exclusive, and that which makes it exclusive makes it universal. To begin with, that which gives it its universal nature and character is the Person Who is supreme in it, and in the heavenly Jerusalem, the Church, the Lord Jesus is the central and supreme Person, and His Person is a universal Person; that is, having become Son of Man, He has come in a living way into touch with man as a race. It is not said that He is Son of Englishman, or Chinaman. He is Son of Man; and that is all-embracing, that touches man of every nation, and clime, and kindred, and tongue. So that the contact with man in any part of the world, no matter what his make-up may be, what his history may be, what his language may be, what his outlook may be, the contact of the Lord Jesus with man, of whatever stock he be, has a living appeal, a living meaning. He is different altogether from any other man who has ever been. One of the marvels of the Lord Jesus is that He has a living appeal to man, no matter how you find man, or where you find him. He is the Saviour of all men. His salvation applies to every race, and every tongue, and every make-up. That cannot be true of any other man. When we go with the Gospel to other countries, very often what is met with is this: Oh, you are English (if it be an Englishman), and your way of thinking, your outlook, is altogether different from ours, and you cannot expect to put us into an English mould of thought, and disposition, and outlook. The door is closed, if the Gospel be presented on that level. Such a procedure affords no hope. It has proved to be disastrous again and again, when the Church has been brought out of its heavenly realm down on to an earthly level, and people of other nations have been striven with to take that mould of the Church that has been brought to them from another country. It cannot be done.

The Lord Jesus can constitute in any place on this earth a company of those who take their character from Him, and in so doing form what is universal. That is to say, He supersedes all national distinctions, and all differences of temperament and constitution, so that there comes about, by reason of a vital union with a central Person, a universal, spiritual Church which is above the nations, and so heavenly, spiritual, and universal. It is the Person with Whom the relationship is brought about Who occasions the universality of the Church. But unless Christ is kept in the central and the supreme place, and the one object of pursuit is conformity to Christ, you can never realise the Church of the Word of God. But with Christ given His place, and His getting really into the life and into the heart, all the other problems solve themselves, and the Church comes into being. Put anything in the place of Christ, even the Church itself, or what may be called the Church, and you destroy its universality and make it something local, something national, something earthly, and therefore something limited in its spiritual value.

The universality of the Church, as brought about by the Person, and living relationship to Him, creates the exclusiveness. That is not a contradictory but a complementary statement, for no one can enter into the Church except by coming into a living relationship with the central Person, the Lord Jesus Christ, and immediately, Christ is found to be a boundary as well as a universal centre. This fact will further be seen to affect not only the matter of entrance into the Church but also that of spiritual development in the Church. We can only grow as we are members of the spiritual Church, the Body of Christ, and the Church itself as a whole can only grow and develop in a spiritual way in so far as Christ becomes its life. Our difficulty is that we get mental pictures of a certain defined circle, when we really ought to be seeing that this is a spiritual matter, and that the Church is not only an area marked off, and you may be in it or outside of it, but that the Church is a spiritual state rather than a place, and that "state" determines how far we are livingly in the Church, and the measure of our conformity to Christ.

For my part, I believe that is why we have the distinction in the Word of God between Zion and Jerusalem. While the words are interchangeable, and are very often used of the same place, nevertheless there is a distinction between them. Zion is Jerusalem ideally, as God thinks of Jerusalem. Zion is the word used when God's full Church is in view. Jerusalem may fall short of Zion, may be less than Zion. Jerusalem may represent things as you find them; Zion represents things as God would have them. That difference is very marked in the Word. So that if Zion represents the full thought of God, God's desire is that Jerusalem should take its character from Zion. Bringing that into our own lives, it means that we are partakers in God's thought for Jerusalem just in so far as we are conformed to God's ideal as represented in His Son, the Lord Jesus. Churchmanship is not a matter of coming within a certain defined limit; Churchmanship is a matter of relationship with the Lord Jesus, and of spiritual condition. Failure to have come to that relationship and spiritual condition means exclusion from the Church. You see how destitute of truth the common idea of the Church is, the idea that you can belong to the Church if only you give assent to certain doctrinal propositions, and go through certain rites or ordinances. It is a completely false conception of the Church. The Church is Christ in corporate expression, and membership of the Church is membership of Christ, and our value as members of the Church is determined by the measure of Christ to which we have come. Christ is universal in His Person, and therefore the Church, related to Him, becomes universal, in the sense that it touches life at every point, and in every condition, in a living way; not in a formal way, but in a living way; as an application, an appeal, and a living touch, by reason of Christ being expressed in and through it.

(b) The Cross.

Another thing which constitutes its universality, and at the same time its exclusiveness, is the Cross of Christ. The Cross of the Lord Jesus was a universal thing. No realm has been untouched by that Cross. Is sin proved to be a universal thing? Then the Cross is universal; it touches sin universally. Is man's fallen condition universal? Then the Cross is vitally related to that. All that the Cross stands for is found, and proved, to be of universal application, universal meaning. The only way into the City is by way of the Cross. That means that the Church is universal in its value, in its testimony, in its appeal, in its call, in its invitation; none need be excluded, though at the same time it is impossible to be in it except by way of the Cross. It is universal, and at the same time exclusive.

(c) The Life.

The third thing which bears the same feature is the life which Christ gives to His own. That is a universal life. It is not like other kinds of life. There are other kinds of life, which are limited in their range. Human life is limited. It belongs to man. No one else has human life but man. There is animal life in the lower sense. Life which animals have is a lower order of life; it belongs to animals. There is vegetable life, a still lower order of life; it belongs to that kingdom. These are watertight kingdoms, and the vegetable cannot pass through into the animal, and the animal cannot pass through into the human. So far as the life is concerned, they are exclusive, self-contained. Divine life is another kind of life. When it is given, and becomes the basis of man's life, there is something which he has in common with all children of God, whatever the differences are. He has a common foundation. It is that common foundation which makes fellowship possible, and makes everything real in relation to the Lord; that mighty, working, Divine life, energising, springing up within, gravitating backward to its source in God; and as it gravitates backward to its source it takes its object with it. It is the working of Divine life that brings men out of all nations, and all tongues, and all kindreds, and all temperaments, into a oneness, a universal Church. It is the Divine life in every member, making one Body.

(d) The Holy Spirit.

What is true of the Head, and the Cross, and the life, is true, in the fourth place, of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit, Himself indwelling all who are in Christ through the Cross, constitutes a universal Church. The universality of that Church is only maintained in its expression as the Holy Spirit is allowed to govern and dominate. Immediately man begins to rule in the Church its universality is upset, and it becomes something legal, a divided thing. But while the Holy Spirit has free course, and absolute dominion, He maintains that principle of the universality of Christ, and preserves the Church as a thing without barriers, without those hindrances to full fellowship which come about when man takes the place of the Holy Spirit.

These things, as you see, bring the balance, the harmony, of the two factors, universality on the one hand and exclusiveness on the other hand, because none can ever enter into the Church, into the heavenly City, save as he comes under the government of the Holy Spirit.

The Counterfeit of the Truth.

This great fact of the universality of the Church is so tremendously important as to have provoked every kind of effort on the part of the enemy to destroy it, and he has moved mainly along two lines. Firstly, he has wrought along the line of counterfeit universality, and then along the line of earthliness, resulting in divisions, and a false kind of exclusiveness.

As to counterfeit universality, this operates in every realm. It is seen in the social realm under the name of the brotherhood of all men. Behind that there is this subtle, evil work of the enemy to bring about a false universality. You can see it in Babylon. When they went to work to build Babylon it was in that manner: "Let us build us a city, and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven, and let us make us a name; lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth" (Gen. 11:4). What was the object? It was a universal brotherhood, to maintain the power of dominion by unity. That is Babylon: and Babylon is an evil thing.

The same thing works in the industrial world. It works, or seeks to work, in the political world, the confederation of nations. It also seeks to work in the religious world, in the great union of the Churches. But it is a counterfeit and false universality. It is not the oneness of Christ and of the Holy Ghost.

Then there is not only the counterfeit side, but there is that earthly side, where spiritual things, the things of God, are dragged down to an earthly level; handled, gripped, manipulated by man, with the result that you get divisions. All the divisions amongst the Lord's people are the result in some way or other of man's interference in the things of God. Then you get an exclusiveness amongst these divisions, which is a false exclusiveness, and not the exclusiveness of the Cross.

These are Satan's oppositions, activities, against the great universality of the spiritual and heavenly Church of Christ. We shall only know and maintain that universality as we keep away from the earth in a spiritual way; as we allow the Holy Ghost to do the governing; as our teaching is not the teaching of man, but the teaching of the Spirit; as the Cross continually operates to keep out all that which is not of God. The heavenly City is universal, but it is exclusive. That then is the Church, but for its real value it must remain heavenly and spiritual in a practical way.

Chapter 8 - The Light of the City

Clearness of Life and Testimony.

READING: Rev. 21:10-11,18,21; 22:1; Gal. 4:25-26.

The word "clear" occurs on more than one occasion in those passages, and synonymous words are there, such as "pure gold," "as transparent glass." These words suggest the idea of light. They are associated with that light which is spoken of in connection with the heavenly Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven, her light like unto a stone most precious, a jasper stone.

In speaking of the light of the Lord's heavenly people we are touching again a very solemn, and serious, and important feature, something which has a tremendous history associated with it. The entire history of the Lord's people, and of the spiritual life, is one of light and darkness, of truth and falsehood, of purity and adulteration or mixture, of clearness and cloudiness, of openness and secretiveness. And many other words can be used to express this long history, so long and so chequered all because of this persistent, continuous effort to bring what is of God into a place of doubtfulness, of uncertainty, to rob it of the tremendous power of absolute truth, absolute purity, absolute clearness.

Long before Christ came Satan had spread abroad in this earth those Babylonish elements which only waited for an hour when the Church should fall into a state of spiritual declension or weakness to seize the opportunity to pounce upon this spiritual Body and become the parasites which sapped and destroyed its life. So that we find, even before we move out of the New Testament, that where there was a state of spiritual declension there was a condition of Babylonish features, priestcraft, ecclesiasticism, formalism, ritualism, and a host of other things which came from Babylon and are seen in the occult, the mystic, the aesthetic, those ideas which are now the very sum and substance of the whole Romish system. These all came from Babylon, and were in the world waiting for the Church to decline, and immediately that decline took place they took hold, impinged upon the Church. You find them all there in the first chapters of the book of the Revelation, and in other places also, elements of this religiousness of Mystery Babylon. Their object was not to blot out Christianity in a direct and immediate way, not to wipe the Church out of existence, but so to mix things as to bring her into an uncertain place before God, that He could no longer recognise her as His pure Bride.

You notice the call in some of Paul's letters, as well as in those letters to the seven Churches, is to purge out these pagan elements. There is a tremendous amount of paganism represented in the conditions of those to whom he wrote. Take the letter to the Colossians. What was the object of the writing of that letter? Well, the whole spiritual hierarchy, the realm of spiritual beings, angels and archangels, had been, by paganism, so marvellously organised that even Jesus Christ had been placed as but a super-archangel. All the other angels, it is true, had been set under Him in different ranks, but He was given no more than the position of a super-archangel; one of them, though of much higher rank. And the Colossian letter was written, as you will see from the content, on the one hand, as denunciatory of this whole false system of teaching; to destroy it by pointing out how evil the whole thing was, and, on the other hand, to give Christ His rightful place. The first chapter of that letter is the classic as to the Person of the Lord Jesus and His eternal relationship with the Father. He was before all things; all things were made by Him; He is the Head. But all that mischief had been done by mixture, that is, the destroying of the utter purity of truth, the truth which is only in Jesus.

This is but a very small and inadequate illustration of how the enemy has all the way through sought to destroy real spiritual power by introducing elements which would take from the utterness of the truth, destroy the Church's clearness, and work against this ultimate revelation in which she is seen with "her light like unto a stone most precious... a jasper stone..." Pure gold, transparent glass, clear as crystal - that is the characteristic of Zion, the characteristic of the Lord's people; and against that the enemy has worked continuously, in order to compromise the Church's position, the position of the Lord's people, by getting them into an uncertain state in themselves and before God.

Dimming the Fine Gold.

This has been done in the first place, as we have seen, by doctrine. If the enemy can introduce any suggestion of false doctrine, if he can but insinuate the slightest degree of error, he will cause it to work like an evil leaven till a development of that kind has become the occasion for the Holy Spirit's drawing back, the Lord being unable to go on where that is, and a state of compromise, and paralysis, and weakness obtains. The pure gold, the fine gold, has become dimmed.

Not only along the line of doctrine has this been done, but along the line of life. The same method, and the same object, governs the enemy's activities. It is possible to stand very strongly upon what is absolutely orthodox as to doctrine, and to be in a very doubtful state in your own life, your own spiritual life, your own moral life; to be very faithful to the letter of the Word of God, and yet to be compromised in your own spiritual life and testimony. This may be in business dealings, in other relationships, or in your own life before God; something not clear, something not pure, something not clean, something not straight, something doubtful, maybe a secret habit. Oh, it may be one of a multitude of things which takes out of the life that certainty, that definiteness, that positiveness, that clearness, and creates, sometimes almost unconsciously in the one concerned, a fear of being confronted with something, of having to own up to being found out. There is something in the background of the life which is causing an arrest. It is taking the real drive out of testimony, the real impact out of life, and the real fruitfulness and value out of fellowship. There is something there, though very often intangible. You cannot put your hand upon it, but you know there is something there in that life which is not right, which is not clear; and then there develops a secretiveness, an evasiveness, a detachment, or many other kinds of evil symptoms may develop. It is all because there is something there which is not absolutely clear before God. The enemy has got in an element which has destroyed the pure light, and there is a shadow, a film about that life. The enemy's purpose is to destroy that perfect crystal clearness of a life in God, and so paralyse the whole life. The outward form may still be the same, the profession may be just as ever it was, but there is a check.

This is said, not by way of accusation, but by way of indicating one of the favourite lines along which the enemy works to destroy what God has in view for His people, for Jerusalem; namely, that she should eventually come out of heaven having the glory of God, her light like unto a stone most precious, as a jasper stone, and that everything about her should be pure gold, as transparent glass, clear as crystal. Oh, the spiritual value and weight of words and phrases like those!

All this is indisputable and patent. We have to recognise this, that the enemy is continuously seeking to get us into some place where, in spite of ourselves, we feel that we are under a cloud. Sometimes he sets up a false position, and makes us feel that we are false. We may not be false, but he seeks to make us feel that we are false, to get us into that realm where we have lost our confidence, our assurance, our certainty, our standing, our position, where we are weakened by some element which has crept in. The enemy is out to bring God's People under clouds, under suspicion, and to bring them in their own hearts under doubts and questions, so that the clearness, the certainty, the strength is destroyed and they are a big question to everyone, even to themselves.

Poison Gas from the Enemy.

Not only as to individuals, but as to collective instrumentalities of God, this is true. Whenever God raises up an instrument by which He intends to bring His Testimony into greater clearness and greater fullness, the object of which in His desire and thought is to reveal the nature of His Son more clearly, more perfectly, then the concentrated attention of all the powers of evil is to bring that thing under suspicion, and to put over it a great question mark in the eyes and minds of everybody.

Why are not the Lord's people alive to that fact? For a fact which runs parallel with that, and which is just as mighty a fact itself, is that when you really investigate that thing you find you have no reason for question at all. It was all an unfounded suspicion. This is clearly the Devil's work, to cast over something which the Lord would use for a fuller revelation of His Son, and of what He desires for His people, this film of questioning, suspicions, doubts, so that it is forced into a realm where it is regarded as dangerous, suspicious. Would to God that the Lord's people would obey the injunction to "prove all things"!

You see what the enemy is after, and how he goes to work. It is helpful to know sometimes what the enemy is after, and how he does operate. We may be saved from much if only we are aware of it.

This is a message to our hearts, not only of helpfulness in an objective direction through our being informed as to the danger, the peril, the devices of the enemy, but it sheds light upon the inward experience, and shows that all the Lord's dealings with us are intended to bring us to this state of crystal clearness. "Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts" (Psa. 51:6): and what the Lord desires He will get. The dealings of the Lord with His own are purifying dealings, in order to have this crystal clearness, this pure gold, this stone most precious. They are for the getting rid of the dross, getting rid of the film, getting rid of all those secret and secretive elements which work in the direction of deception. Those are like unto a lie, a falsehood. The Lord wants to root all that out of us. He is against everything that is shadowy. He is for everything that is perfectly clear, and so to get rid of the dark substances He puts His fires to work in our lives to purify them. In our individual lives and in the case of such collective instrumentalities as we have mentioned, He does this. He does not allow such to be out of the fire for long. He is after this state of utter purity.

You see what is involved. In the coming generations all the nations have to walk in that light; that is, they are going to have their knowledge of the Lord through the Church's instrumentality. They are going to be governed by the Church. The nations shall walk in the light thereof. What light is this? This is no mere external aurora. This is the out-shining of a spiritual and moral condition of glory. This is something out from the very nature of the thing "having the glory of God." It is from the centre, and works as an expression of a spiritual and moral condition. God is not cleansing, purging, chastening you and me, and causing His fires to work to our purifying, just for the sake of doing it, and He is not doing it just for our own sakes inasmuch as He wants us individually to be good and not bad. I suppose He wants that, but that is not all. God has a mighty, universal purpose in view, an eternal vocation, and that is what He is after, and it requires a condition. That is one of the governing conditions of Zion, namely, the full expression of the Lord's mind. The Lord is always motived by things so much greater and vaster than we understand in the day when we are passing through the trial. We bring it down to a personal matter, and ask questions: Why should the Lord deal with me like this? We narrow down the range of His thought, His purpose, His intention. Because we make it so local we lose the strength and helpfulness which would come to us if we could see the great eternal vocation for which we were being prepared.

"The Wiles of the Devil."

If we had time to note all the secretive things of which the Word of God tells us concerning the earthly Jerusalem, we should find that it was the purposes of God that were so often threatened by those secretive elements. Think, by way of illustration, of Nehemiah's day, when the wall was being built, and how the enemy got one of his own representatives hidden right in the temple itself, and so sought to compromise everything, to weaken the whole work and position, by having a representative occupying a chamber in the temple itself. Then in Ezra's time the adversary said: We serve the same God as you do, let us come and work alongside of you! Subtle! But thank God the man of God was a man of such transparency himself that he could see through things, and he was not deceived. He saw quite clearly that in these people there was darkness. Their condition was not one of clearness, nor of light. There was duplicity, and he shut them out; and immediately he did that they showed quite well where they were. In these and numerous other ways you can mark the enemy trying all the time to get that which was not suitable to God right into the heart of things, in order to destroy the effectiveness, the positiveness of testimony, and Jerusalem's history is a long history of these subtle elements working in the midst.

We come to the day of our Lord Himself. What a mass of this sort of thing he encountered in Jerusalem! They tried to catch Him in His words. They were all the time laying traps for Him. They were working furtively, secretively, by deceptions, by snares, trying to take Him. The whole situation, the whole condition of Jerusalem was like that in His day, and clearness, transparency, was destroyed. Yet the temple worship was going on. Outwardly the whole of the religious system was proceeding as it had been wont to do, yet here was this dark interior. God forsakes it, because of the lie. The Lord put His finger upon that so often in very straight and terse language. "You make clean the outside of the platter..."! "Whited sepulchres"! What a picture! See them going round with their whitewash, making white their sepulchres; and within, He says, they are "full of dead men's bones." They were making the thing to appear something other than it was. Such is the lie, which is the Devil's work, leading to rejection. The Lord's desire toward us is that we should know that state of light, of clearness, of which we have spoken.

The next thing is love. What is the character of New Testament love? Love unfeigned! What a word! Fancy using that word to Christians - love unfeigned! Does that mean that some would love feignedly, feign to love, pretend to love, while really they do not love at all? That which the Lord seeks in every virtue, in every element, is something that is true.

That is what we mean by light in the sense of clearness. It is the purity and inwardness of things. Truth may be in word, in doctrine, but there has to be a corresponding truth in heart, truth in life. Light may be a matter of doctrine, but there has to be a corresponding state of light in the heart. The enemy will not object to us having plenty of the former kind of light and truth, but, if he can, he will seek to destroy its real value by introducing a lie over against it, a contradiction.

This may sound rather strong. Well, it is strong! It must be strong! It has not been put in this way to lay charges against anyone, but by way of warning. It will perhaps explain some things, but we must take it to our hearts as a word of exhortation or admonition. Remember that God never builds in the dark; that is, there can be no constructiveness where there is not light. Before ever God would bring this world back into order and fruitfulness He said: "Let there be light." God is out for the manifestation of the truth. God's works are never darkness, and we can never know constructiveness and progress unless there is absolute light. You know quite well that you cannot go on with people who are not straight, people who are crooked, people who are all the time furtive, not open, not frank, who have somewhere in the background a secretiveness. You have to say, I cannot go on with that one. God is like that. He would say to any one of us who might be there, I cannot go on with you until you are absolutely out in the open, until you have come to a place where you are going to be perfectly honest. Reality is God's demand for any kind of work that He will do. There may be many weaknesses, many imperfections, but if there is genuineness, reality, openness before God, where the spirit is clear and pure, God can go on with His work. But immediately we begin to lock something up inside, hold something back, cease to be perfectly open before God, the work stops. Light in the sense of clearness is an essential for the building of the city of God, because the ultimate purpose for that city is to shine forth with that glory of God in character. With Him there is no variableness, neither shadow cast by turning. That means that God can be relied upon.

The Lord make us like that.