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 2,000 to 4,000 feet above sea level. It is a land of mountains. The books of Deuteronomy and Ezekiel contain many passages which 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 our 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 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 this earth. The greatest and most exalted on this 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 this 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 this earth. The high priest, 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.
Oh, 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. Oh, 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, “Oh, 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. Though 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, then 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? Just by being in Christ. Christ has ascended. Christ is now the high mountain in this 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.”
Oh, 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.