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Scripture Reading: Deut. 32:13; Ezek. 20:40-42; 34:13-15; 37:22; Acts 2:32-33; Eph. 2:6; Col. 3:1; Phil. 3:10
We have seen that the land is good in its spaciousness. Because it is spacious, it is good. Now we must see something more about the goodness of the land. In the Scriptures we are told that in this land are the high places of the earth: “He made him ride on the high places of the earth” (Deut. 32:13). So this land is also good for its ascendancy.
Most of us are aware that the land of Canaan is a high land. It is at least from two to four thousand feet above sea level. It is a land of mountains. The books of Deuteronomy and Ezekiel contain many passages that tell us that the land of Israel is a mountainous and high country.
What does this typify of Christ? In order to answer this question, we must look at a map. On one side of the land of Canaan is the Great Sea, or the Mediterranean Sea. On the other side is another sea, the Dead Sea. Thus, on both sides of this land there are seas. According to the types of the Scriptures, the seas represent death. This means that surrounding Christ was nothing but death. But out of this death something was raised up. Christ was raised from the dead. So the high land, the land on the mountains, typifies the resurrected Christ, the ascended Christ. Christ was raised up from the dead and exalted to the heavens. He is the One who is resurrected and ascended on high. He is the high mountain. Christ is the high land on the mountains of Israel. Beside Him, outside of Him, there is nothing but death.
When the day of Pentecost came, Peter stood up with the eleven. Let us consider the situation on that day. There was Peter, a fisherman, a little man, a low and apparently worthless man. But on that day when he rose with the eleven to testify and proclaim that Jesus was resurrected and ascended to the heavens, this little man was in a position much higher than the highest rank of the earth. The greatest and most exalted on the earth could not compare with Peter and those standing with him. Why were they so high? How could such as them be so exalted? It was because at the very moment they stood up to speak of the ascended Christ, they were in the ascended Christ. They were not men on the earth; they were men in the heavens. By reading the first few chapters of Acts, you will realize that Peter, John and the others with them were people on the mountain, people in the heavens. They transcended everything on the earth. The high priest and the kings and rulers of the people were all under their feet. They surpassed the highest rank of man because of the ascended Christ and because they were in this ascended Christ. They were walking in Him. They were living on this high mountain, in this high land.
Brothers and sisters, Christ is not only spacious, but He is higher than all; He is transcendent.
I believe that most of us have had some experience of Christ in this way. What is this experience? Allow me to share with you a little of mine.
In 1943, because of the work of the Lord, I was imprisoned by the Japanese Military Police. At that time the Japanese Army occupied a large part of the mainland of China, and the city where I was working was under their occupation. During my imprisonment I was brought up for trial almost every day, both in the morning and in the afternoon. From 9:00 to 12:00 in the morning and from 2:30 to 6:00 in the afternoon I stood before them. You cannot imagine what a dreadful situation it was. I had no help but the Lord, and I had no way to get help but to pray. They put me into solitary confinement, because they feared that some word from me might be sent out. I had nothing to do but pray all the time, but I can testify that the more I prayed, the more I felt that I was in the heavens. I was not in prison; I was in the heavens. When I was brought forth to be put on trial before the officials, I felt much higher than they. I was not under them; I was above them. Why? Because I was in the ascended One. Prison was nothing to me, but Christ was everything to me. Brothers and sisters, in the midst of all their threatening, I was living in the heavens.
After three weeks of this kind of treatment, they could find no fault with me. Their only judgment was that I was a superstitious person. They said, “Mr. Lee, you are possessed with God.” One day they called me out of prison to mock me. “Tell us,” they demanded, “which is more important, God or the country?” I knew their tactics. If I said that the country was more important, they would no longer judge me a superstitious person but a patriotic person. They intended to determine whether I was patriotic or not, whether I cared for the country or not. I hesitated. They demanded, “Tell us quickly, quickly!” The more they said “quickly,” the more I hesitated. Eventually, I told them, “To me, God is first.” Then they said, “All right, let God give you your bread today; we won’t give you any more food in prison.” This was another kind of threat. I just smiled at them and went back to prison.
Soon after, a young Greek was arrested and put into prison, and the military police felt that since this man had no relations in the city and thus would not be liable to communicate anything from me, it would be safe to put us together in the same cell. When dinner time came, the Japanese soldier who distributed the food came to the cell. He could not speak Chinese, so he got my attention and mockingly jabbed his finger upward several times. That meant he would not give me anything and God was supposed to feed me. He passed some bread to that young Greek and left me with nothing. After he went, the young Greek spoke with me and inquired about my situation, so I told him the story. Then he said, “Mr. Lee, I will not take this food. You take it.” “But,” I replied, “this is your portion.” He said, “You are suffering for Christ. Why should I not share your suffering?” So he compelled me to take the bread and drink the milk.
The next day they brought me out of prison to mock me again. “Did your God supply you with food?” “Yes!” I said. They could do nothing with me. They felt that I was just a superstitious person who cared for nothing but God. Then they said, “All right, we will call in a barber to cut your hair and get some good food from the restaurant for you.”
Do you realize what kind of experience this was? This was an experience of the ascended Christ. We are in One who has ascended. When we experience Him, we too are ascended. We are transcendent; everything is under our feet.
Not long after I was released from prison, I became seriously ill with tuberculosis. I was confined to bed for six months of absolute rest, followed by two and a half years of greatly restricted activity for recovery. Outwardly speaking, those days were really dark. But I tell you, whenever I prayed, I felt that I was not in bed but in the heavens. I was gravely ill, yet when I prayed, I had the sense that I was not in illness but far above it all in the heavens. You do not know what kind of pleasure I had in the Lord in those days. Imprisonment and persecution were then followed by poverty and illness. But praise the Lord, the ascended Christ was my way. The transcendent Christ was my way to the heavens.
Brothers and sisters, how can we be in the heavens? It is just by being in Christ. Christ has ascended. Christ is now the high mountain in the universe. He is the high land. I believe most of you understand now what it means to experience the ascended Christ.
When I was young, I came forth to serve the Lord. I am so grateful to Him that under His sovereign arrangement He put me together with two or three senior co-workers. One of them was Brother Watchman Nee. I received much help from them. One day while I was fellowshipping with one who was a sister, she told me how she had experienced something of the resurrection and ascension of Christ. At that time, about thirty years ago, I was a young man. I did not understand what the resurrection and ascension of Christ had to do with us. Doctrinally speaking, I knew all about the resurrection and ascension, but I did not know the resurrection and ascension in experience. This sister told me how she had many experiences of the Lord’s resurrection and ascension. She said, “Brother Lee, one day I met with trouble. There was no reason why I should have such trouble, but it all came upon me. I went to the Lord,” she said, “and prayed, ‘Lord, what is the reason for this?’ The Lord answered, ‘That you might know the power of My resurrection.’” She told me that she did learn something of the power of His resurrection. Under those pressures, those troubles, those hardships, she learned something of the mighty power of Christ’s resurrection. Nothing could suppress her or depress her. The more trouble she had, the more she was released. Then she told me that after some time, more serious trouble befell her. She went again to the Lord and said, “Lord, what is this?” Again the Lord gave her the answer, “It is only that you might know the power of My resurrection.”
When I was listening to her testimony, I felt that we were both in the heavens. Not only was she there, but I was there with her. This is the experience of the ascended Christ. Everything is transcended and under our feet. Nothing can depress us.
Sometimes you say, “I am quite depressed.” Do you know what that means? It means that you are under the power of death. Whenever you feel depressed in spirit or in heart, it means that you are under the threatening of death, you are under the power of darkness. You must learn how to apply Christ, the ascended Christ, to your situation. You must contact Christ immediately. You must say, “I do not agree to be depressed by any kind of situation. I have the ascended Christ; I am in the ascended Christ.” You have to tell the Lord; you have to contact Him. When you contact Him, you will be resurrected. You will be ascended, for the Christ whom you contact is the Christ who has ascended to the heavens. When you contact Him, you will be on the high mountains, not in the valleys. You will be in the high land, far above sea level. The problem is that whenever you feel depressed, you forget Christ; you forget that you have such a Christ who is ascended far above all. You do not apply Him. You do not come to Him. You do not contact Him.
Many times brothers have come to me with their minds filled with trouble. One time a brother in this condition came to me, and after talking with him for a while, I said, “Brother, let us kneel down and pray.” He replied, “Brother Lee, I cannot pray; my mind is full of trouble.” I am afraid that sometimes you are just like this brother. It was exceedingly difficult to get him to pray. When you are faced with such a brother, you really need strength. Sometimes you will be influenced by him. Since he cannot pray, you will be so depressed by him that you cannot pray either. You will rise up and say, “Brother, what shall we do?” He has come to ask you what he should do, and then you turn to him with the same question. Without Christ, there is no way. I have learned whenever I meet such a situation to exercise my spirit and exercise my faith. I say, “Lord, You are here. I do not agree with this kind of situation. Bind the enemy. Bind the strong man. Release this brother. Release his mind. Make him pray.” We need a fighting prayer. We must fight. Praise the Lord! Whenever you pray such a prayer to contact the ascended Christ, you will release the spirit of others. You will bring them to the heavens. Many people have been released by such prayer. They can pray with tears, “Lord, praise You, praise You! I am released.”
Brothers and sisters, how can you fight the battle within you? I will tell you. The only way is by being in the ascended Christ. In the heavens with this ascended Christ, you can fight against the enemy; the enemy will be under your feet. When you are depressed by Satan, when you have been put under his feet, how can you fight against him? You must realize that you are in the ascended Christ. You are seated in the heavens in Christ.
Listen to what we are told in Ezekiel 34:13-15:
I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries and bring them into their own land, and I will feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the streams and in all the inhabited places of the land. I will feed them with good pasture, and their dwelling place will be upon the mountains of the heights of Israel; there they will lie down in a good dwelling place, and on rich pasture they will feed upon the mountains of Israel. I Myself will shepherd My flock, and I will cause them to lie down, declares the Lord Jehovah.
In the high land, on the mountains of Israel, the Lord’s people enjoyed the streams. The streams represent the streams of the Holy Spirit, the living water of the Holy Spirit. In the ascended Christ, you will sense the streams of living waters flowing within you. Sometimes you feel dry in your heart and in your spirit. It is simply because you are not applying the ascended Christ. By exercising your faith and your spirit to apply the ascended Christ to your situation, you will immediately sense a living stream within you.
We are also told that upon the mountains the Lord’s people have the good pasture, the fat pasture, upon which to feed. What is this? This is the Christ of life. The pasture represents the Christ who is so full of life. You will be satisfied. You will never be hungry. Whenever you feel hungry in spirit, it means that you are not experiencing Christ as the ascended One. If you apply such a Christ to your situation, you will immediately feel satisfied. You will have something to feed upon. You will have the riches of the pasture of Christ as your supply.
Moreover, in this high land you have the place to lie down with the flock. This is rest. Are you restless? Contact the ascended Christ and apply Him. On the mountains of Israel you will find rest.
You will have the living water, you will have the fat pasture, and you will have the good fold in which you may lie. You will have a refreshing drink, you will have rich and sustaining food, and you will have rest. And one thing more, the Lord Himself will be your Shepherd. All this will be experienced in the ascended Christ. If you exercise your faith to apply Christ to all your situations, you will enjoy all these things. You will experience the Lord, not just in knowledge or doctrine but in a very practical way in your daily life.
Furthermore, we are told that on the high land of the mountains of Israel the Lord will accept His people as a sweet savor. They will serve the Lord there, and the Lord will be with them. They will offer their oblations to the Lord, and the Lord will accept them.
On My holy mountain, on the mountain of the height of Israel, declares the Lord Jehovah, there will the whole house of Israel, all of them, serve Me in the land; there will I accept them and there will I require your contributions and the firstfruits of your offerings with all your holy things. As a sweet savor I will accept you, when I bring you out from the peoples and gather you from the countries among which you have been scattered; and I will be sanctified in you in the sight of the nations. And you will know that I am Jehovah, when I bring you into the land of Israel, into the land concerning which I lifted up My hand to give to your fathers. (20:40-42)
This means that by experiencing Christ as the ascended One, we will be enabled to serve the Lord. Then we will be accepted by the Lord and have excellent fellowship with Him. It all depends upon our experience of the ascended Christ.
Many times I have met people who have asked me the same question: “Brother, do you feel that serving the Lord is easy or hard?” I always answer in this way: “It depends upon whether you serve the Lord in yourself or in Christ. If you serve the Lord in yourself, it is very difficult; if you serve the Lord in Christ, it is very easy. In Christ, even the labor of your work is a bed of rest to you. The more you labor in the Lord’s work, the more you enjoy the Lord’s rest.”
I was told by Brother Nee, “Whenever you feel that your work for the Lord is a burden, you must tell the Lord that you will put it down and lie upon it as your bed.” Can you follow? To serve the Lord in the ascended Christ is nothing but a kind of rest. The more you labor, the more you rest. The ascended Christ makes all the difference. To serve in Him is to rest indeed.
In 1958 I went to Denmark and met a brother who is a full-time worker. He learned much about serving the Lord. While I was there, I was asked to give a series of messages in his conference. Afterward, he came to me and asked, “Brother Lee, do you worry?” I said, “Brother, why do you ask such a question?” He replied, “I realize that you bear a great burden. You have all the care of the Lord’s work in the Far East. You have so many co-workers, and there are so many churches. It is a great work, and there must be many problems associated with it. I would like to know whether you worry about it or not.” I said to him, “Brother, look at my face. Does it look like I worry?” He answered, “That’s just why I came to you. I thought you must have many burdens, troubles, and problems; you must be one who is worrying all the time. But when I see your face, there is no sign of it. It seems that you don’t worry at all.” Then I told him, “Brother, praise the Lord, I never worry. It is simply because of Christ. I am in the Christ who has ascended to heaven. I don’t know how to worry, but I do know how to praise Him.”
Praise the Lord! Praise Christ! I am in Christ. Christ is my high land. I am living in this land. I am walking in this high land. All my troubles, all my problems, all my hardships, and all my burdens are under my feet. They have become my seat. I can rest in all my hardships; I can rest in all my troubles. The more troubles I have, the more I enjoy the ascended Christ. This is the experience of Christ.
You also can have this experience and have it now. Christ is in you, and you are in Christ. But I am sorry to say that many times you forget that you have Christ. You simply forget Him; you do not apply Christ to your situation. Please do not think that I am some kind of special or peculiar person. I am very ordinary. I am as ordinary and as weak as you are. But I have the secret. Whenever I meet with troubles, I say, “Lord, I praise You, here is another opportunity for me to experience You.”
Apply Christ to your situation. Then you will experience Christ as the ascended One, and you will know that you have ascended with Him too. In Christ you have ascended to the heavens. Brothers and sisters, what a Savior He is! What a Christ He is to us! What a salvation, what a deliverance! He is the living Christ who has ascended to the heavens. We must realize Christ to such an extent. We have to praise Him that He is the spacious Christ and He is the ascended Christ.
