The purpose of God’s calling of Moses was to deliver God’s people out of Egypt and bring them into the land of Canaan where they can become the kingdom of God and build the temple of God. In fulfilling the purpose of God’s calling there were three stations the people of Israel went through: the wilderness, the mountain of God, and the good land (see Exo. 3:8, 12, 17-18).
In our spiritual life and pursuit of the Lord we are called by God to be delivered from the world with its usurpation and to be brought into the full enjoyment of Christ as the good land. In fulfilling the purpose of God’s calling there are three stations: the wilderness, the mountain of God, and the full enjoyment of Christ as the good land so that we may become the kingdom of God and build up the church as the Body of Christ.
Both personally and corporately – both as individual believers and as the church – we are called to be delivered out of the world and to be brought into the full enjoyment and experience of Christ, and on our way to this we need to be separated from anything unto God (the wilderness), receive a revelation of God and His heart’s desire (the mountain of God), and be brought into the rich experience of Christ (the good land).
We need to enter into experience of the three stations in the fulfillment of the purpose of God’s calling in our Christian life and church life today.
First, in the wilderness, we are in a place separated from the world (typified by Egypt) with its usurpation and tyranny, and we are in a realm of resurrection with no worldly element. In the wilderness for God we are separated unto Him for His holy purpose, we are being reconstituted in our being with the heavenly food and drink, and we follow the Lord wherever He leads us.
At the mountain of God we receive a revelation of who God is, what is His heart’s desire, and what kind of living we should have in order to please Him and be His people in reality. May the Lord bring us on step by step unto the fulfillment of the purpose of His calling in the church life today.
Being Brought into the Wilderness: Separated unto God in a Realm of Resurrection
In Exo. 3:18 God asked Moses to go to Pharaoh together with the elders of Israel and tell him, Jehovah, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us; and now let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness that we may sacrifice to Jehovah our God.
The first station of the people of Israel in fulfilling the purpose of God’s purpose was the wilderness. In other places in the Bible the wilderness signifies a place of trial and testing, but in Exodus 3 the wilderness is a place of separation from the world.
As soon as we are saved we need to be brought out of the world and be separated from the world through baptism, and we need to come into the wilderness, a realm of resurrection.
When we are saved, God’s life enters our spirit and we are separated from the world unto God. However, many believers are saved and love the Lord but they still are in the world; too many Christians are not yet delivered from the world.
God’s calling is to call us into a living in resurrection (“three days in the wilderness”), a living separated from the world and unto God for His purpose. This means that we need to be completely separated and isolated from the world, just as the people of Israel were in the wilderness separated and isolated from Pharaoh and Egypt.
As believers in Christ we should not be afraid of feeling different from the others; we should not be conformed to the trend and image of this age but be transformed by the renewing of the mind (Rom. 12:2). In a sense, the gospel we receive bankrupts us; it makes us different from others, and we do not seek worldly enjoyment and entertainment.
In the church life we should have no worldly enjoyment or entertainment, and we should remove any worldly element or speaking from our church meetings. The church should be as different as possible from the world and not as close as possible to it. There should be no “Egyptian element” in the church life; the church life should be free from all kinds of worldly elements.
We need to have the power of resurrection in our preaching of the gospel so that others are raised out of their tombs and brought into the wilderness by a journey of three days (see John 5:25; Eph. 2:1, 5-6; Col. 2:13).
The church people are a sanctified people, a holy community, a group of people separated unto God who live in resurrection and preach the gospel to bring others out of Satan’s usurpation and into a realm of resurrection. This should be our experience today in our Christian life and church life.
Lord Jesus, we want to be sanctified and separated unto You both personally and in the church life. Deliver us from any worldly element so that we may serve You in the wilderness, apart and away from any worldly thing. Lord, save us from trying to be conformed to this world “to gain people for the church life”; may we not use worldly means or entertainment in order to gain people for God. Oh Lord, keep us in resurrection having the power of resurrection in our preaching of the gospel so that others may be raised from their tombs and brought into a realm of resurrection to serve You!
Being Brought to the Mountain to Receive a Revelation of God, His Economy, and His Heart’s Desire
In Exo. 3:12 the Lord said to Moses, “when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will serve God upon this mountain.” The second station in fulfilling the purpose of God’s calling is the mountain of God. God called His people out of Egypt not merely so that they would be in the wilderness for Him but that they would serve Him on the mountain of God.
God saves us from the world not merely for us to be separated unto Him but that we may come up to the mountain and receive a revelation. At the mountain of God the people of Israel received a revelation of what and who God is, what is God’s purpose, and what is God’s heart desire.
The law is not just commandments: it is a testimony, a definition, a description, and an explanation of what God is. As God is saving us from the world He is also bringing us to a high mountain, an elevated place, where we can see a clear revelation of what God is, what is His economy, and what is His heart’s desire. God is holy, righteous, and loving, and His word reveals what He is.
On the mountain, where the sky is clear and there are no clouds between us and God, we can see a vision of God’s economy (Exo. 24:10; Rev. 21:10).
In our Christian experience we need to spend time with the Lord personally and meet with the saints corporately so that we may receive a revelation of what God is, what is His economy, and what is His heart’s desire.
On the mountain Moses received the pattern of the tabernacle as the heart’s desire of God; when we exercise our spirit and enjoy the Lord both personally and collectively, He can reveal the church, His dwelling place, as His heart’s desire.
We cannot have a vision of God’s dwelling place in Egypt, and we cannot build the church while we’re still in the world. We need to be in the right location: we need to be separated from the world, on an elevated place with God, and with the right crowd – the people of God.
The church needs to be on the mountain of God; it is here that our scales are off, the veils are removed, we’re released from any bondage, and we can see a clear vision of God’s economy concerning Christ and the church.
Here, on the mountain of God, we can see what God is and what kind of living we should have to correspond to the detailed attributes of God. On the mountain of God we can see a revelation of the church as the dwelling place of God and build up the church.
We need to be brought on in our experience of Christ from being delivered from the world to being on the mountain to receive a revelation concerning what God is and what is His economy and heart’s desire.
Lord, bring us on the mountaintop to see a clear revelation concerning what God is, what is God’s economy, and what is God’s heart desire. May we have a clear sky between us and You that we may see who You are and what is the kind of living we should have in order to match You as Your people. Lord, keep us enjoying You personally and with the saints who gather in Your name on the ground of oneness so that we may be on Your mountain, hear Your speaking, and see Your vision concerning the church, the house of God!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. Andrew Yu’s sharing in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Exodus, msg. 13, as quoted in, the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Exodus (1), week 3 / msg 3, The Purpose of God’s Calling (you can buy this morning revival book here via LSM and here via Amazon).
- Hymns on this topic:
# I’ve turned my back upon the world / With all its idle pleasures, / And set my heart on better things, / On higher, holier treasures; / No more its glitter and its glare, / And vanity shall blind me; / I’ve crossed the separating line, / And left the world behind me. / Far, far behind me! / Far, far behind me! / I’ve crossed the separating line, / And left the world behind me. (Hymns #438)
# Savior, lead me up the mountain, / Where the Lord alone is seen, / Where we hear the voice from heaven, / Where the air is pure and clean. / Lead me higher up the mountain, / Give me fellowship with Thee; / In Thy light I see the fountain, / And the blood it cleanses me. (Hymns #378)
# In my spirit, I can see You in the church; / It’s Your heart’s desire, for it a people You will search. / Here I’ll stay, within Your perfect will, / Built up into a home, Your glory here to fill. / In the church! I must no longer roam. (Song on being in spirit to see God’s desire)
It is a very great matter to hear God’s speaking and to see His vision, especially the vision concerning His dwelling place. It is of vital importance that we go to the genuine mountain of God, to God’s mountain on earth today….In our experience we need to come out of Egypt, cross the Red Sea, and journey through the wilderness until we arrive at the mountain of God. At this mountain we are brought into God’s presence….Many of us can testify that whenever we gather together into the Lord’s name, we enjoy His presence. We hear His speaking, and we see His vision at the mountain of God. (Witness Lee, Life-study of Exodus, p. 583)
Amen! “Both personally and corporately – both as individuals and as the church – we are called to be delivered out of the world and to be brought into the full enjoyment and experience of Christ; and on our way to this we need to be separated from anything unto God (the wilderness); receive a revelation of God and His heart’s desire (the mountain of God); and be brought into the rich experience of Christ (the good land).”
Lord Jesus, how we thank You for calling us to Yourself, to reveal Yourself to us and all that You have done for us, to be our life and life supply. Lord Jesus, thank You for Your work of redemption, for saving us from the world, separating us unto You in the wilderness. There we are under Your care in feeding us with manna, watering us from the cleft rock, and leading us to the mountain of God to receive revelation of Your heart’s desire, to be a people separated unto You and for You to be our God, our all. Thank You for leading us into the good land, a land flowing with milk and honey. Here, Lord Jesus, we are satisfied, growing in Your grace, to be made into living stones for the building of God, a dwelling place of God in spirit. Hallelujah! Praise the Lord, for the great I AM to us. Amen.
Only through being separated from the world can we become God’s dwelling place.
#HWMR
In God’s redemption we are not only saved from sin and from God’s judgement but also separated from the world. According to Galatians 1:4, Christ gave Himself for our sins in order to deliver us from this present evil age.