Have you noticed that in Exodus 15:13 two predicates are used? First of all it says that the Lord led them forth. Then it says that the Lord guides them. What is the difference between leading and guiding? Some years ago when I was in Elden hall I heard someone pray, “Lord, lead us and guide us.” That is very meaningful. That was quite impressive to me.
Firstly, the Lord leads us, and then He guides us. Look at the picture in the typology. When the children of Israel were traveling through the wilderness, there was the pillar of cloud or of fire always taking the lead. That was the leading. If the pillar of cloud or of fire stayed, they did not move. At the same time that the Lord was taking the lead, He was also guiding them. He was with them, and He was among them guiding them. In our Christian pilgrimage, in our Christian course or journey, the Lord is always taking the lead, and at the same time He is guiding us.
In 1958 when I visited Jerusalem, we used a travel guide. He was not only a guide, but also a leader. When we went to the temple or to other places, he was taking the lead. When we had troubles, right away he became the guide. He turned back to us and walked with us shoulder to shoulder, talking to us, and explaining to us. To take the lead is somewhat general, but to guide is somewhat particular.
Today the Lord takes the lead in a general way giving us a general direction. Then at certain times He comes to us to be our guide explaining to us in details. Eventually it was by His guiding that He brought them in His strength unto His holy habitation. The leading only took the people on the way, but the guiding took them to a particular point, that is, God’s holy habitation. That habitation, dear saints, is just the gathering. That is the meeting. So following His redemption God’s leading and God’s guiding is to bring His people into the meeting.
Let me check with you according to your experience. Right after you got saved it was wonderful! It was excellent! But you didn’t have the sense that you were at home. You hadn’t arrived at the destination until the time that you were brought into a meeting. When you got into that meeting right away you had the sense that you were at home. No one had to tell you. When you got into the meeting you had the sense that this was the right place for you. That is God’s habitation and your meeting.
Most Christians do not realize the matter of meeting in this way. Mostly they consider the Christian meeting a kind of service for worship. They don’t realize that the Christian meeting is a destination that you have to arrive at. And with your arrival this destination becomes God’s habitation. I must tell you that when God is homeless, then you are also a wanderer. When God doesn’t have a home, neither do you have a home. When God has a home to dwell in, that home becomes yours. God’s home is your home. Many times when we come to the meeting we just have the sensation that we are home. If you stay away from the meetings for two months you will have the sense that you have become homeless. You have become a wanderer. Then when you come back to the meeting, my! you feel that you are home. This proves that our meeting is God’s habitation, and God’s habitation is our home.
When God is dwelling properly, we are too. This dwelling is our meeting. I mention this to show you the importance of our meeting. It is not just a kind of service or a kind of worship or a kind of coming together to have a Bible study or a prayer time. It is not just that. It is to have God’s dwelling place on this earth! When we come together we constitute God’s dwelling place. In this dwelling place we are home with God; we are home with our Father. Every gathering is a family reunion.
Verse 17 reads, “Thou shalt bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance, in the place, O Lord, which thou hast made for thee to dwell in, in the sanctuary, O Lord, which thy hands have established.” Mount Zion is the mount of the Holy Land. And the Holy Land is God’s inheritance. So the mountain of God’s inheritance is Mount Zion. According to this verse God wanted to plant all the children of Israel on Mount Zion. You may think that geographically speaking it is impossible to plant all the children of Israel on Mount Zion. This is your natural understanding. According to God’s understanding and in God’s view, all of the children of Israel were planted on that mountain. At least three times a year—at the time of the Passover, at the time of Pentecost, and at the time of the Feast of Tabernacles—all the males came together to stay on that mountain. So in the eyes of God all the children of Israel were planted on that mountain.