How can I say that the mountain in verse 17 refers to Mount Zion? It is because that is the dwelling place of God. The sanctuary that God dwells in is the temple. Firstly, God made Mount Zion. Then God built and established the temple on Mount Zion. Mount Zion with the temple as God’s sanctuary was the meeting place of all the children of Israel. Three times every year they all had to go there, not just to have a visit, but even to stay, to dwell. They dwelt there not just by themselves but with God for seven days. Seven days in the Bible indicate a full course of time. This means that for the full course of our human life we must stay in the gathering with God. We must stay in God’s dwelling place. We must stay in the meetings.
Now we need to read Deuteronomy 12:11: “Then there shall be a place which the Lord your God shall choose to cause his name to dwell there; thither shall ye bring all that I command you; your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, your tithes, and the heave offering of your hand, and all your choice vows which ye vow unto the Lord.” This verse refers to a place. God charged the children of Israel that after they entered into the good land, they should not come together at just any place. There was only one place which was legitimate for them to gather together. That was Mount Zion where God’s temple was. Three times every year they had to bring all their top produce from the land to that place for gathering. There they stayed together with God. That was their meeting time. They met there every year. We know that these are different aspects of one thing, that is, our today’s gathering. Our today’s gathering should be like that.
How can we prove that to meet is to do the will of God and fulfill God’s purpose? Psalm 73:16-17 says: “When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me; until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end.” When the psalmist thought about certain matters, it was painful for him, but when he went into the sanctuary of God he began to understand.
I believe that in the past many of us were seeking after the Lord’s will concerning our families, our marriage, our job, our school. Many times it was painful. We were seeking to know the will of God concerning these things, but it was painful. But a number of times when we just came into the meeting, the thing we were seeking to know became very clear to us. The message didn’t cover that particular thing. No testimony referred to it. We just came to the meeting and sat there and the clearness came. Of course, many times the testimonies helped us to be clear, and even more times the message helped us to be clear. But anyhow we all can testify that the best place and the best time for us to know God’s will is when we come to the meeting. Not many have gotten to know the Lord’s will quite often outside the meeting, but many have gotten to know the Lord’s will quite often in the meeting. Too many times we prayed concerning things again and again, seeking to know the Lord’s will, but we failed to get clear. But when we came to the meeting, it became so clear. To do the Lord’s will firstly depends upon the knowing. If you could know the Lord’s will, the major part is accomplished already.
When we come together, our intention may be to pray, to worship, to serve, to hear a message, to be taught, to be exhorted, to be strengthened, to be comforted, to be encouraged. This is our understanding. Actually, dear saints, with our meetings there are so many wonderful things underneath the surface. We gain a lot of benefits and profit that we do not realize by participating in the meetings. So this means we don’t treasure the meeting as we should. We don’t appreciate the meeting as we should.
We have to realize today on this earth, besides our inner life, no other thing is so crucial, so important, so profitable as the matter of meeting. Believe me! One day you will testify that to lose your job is not so important as to miss a meeting. To miss a meeting means the real loss. To lose your job doesn’t mean some real loss. I don’t want to assure you in the way of superstition, but I would say that if you meet properly, the Lord would probably keep you in a job. If you meet properly like the children of Israel did and you don’t have a job, then the Lord might send the manna to you. Then you might say, If this is so, let us all quit our jobs. We would take this hall as Mount Zion, and we would meet here every day and stay here daily. This is superstition.