When the disciples had lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.
— Matthew 17:8
Behold, we heard of it in Ephrathah;
We found it in the fields of Jaar.
Let us go into His tabernacle;
Let us worship at His footstool.
Arise, O Lord, to Your resting place,
You and the ark of Your strength.
— Psalm 132:6-8
In Matthew 17, after Christ was transfigured on the mountain, the Bible says that His disciples “saw no one except Jesus Himself alone” (Matt. 17:8). Eventually the church must come to such a place. Only when there is “no one except Jesus Himself alone” will God be satisfied. Only then will God be able to say about the church life, “This is My tabernacle! This is My house and My testimony!”
May the Lord have mercy on us. If we truly see that this is what the Lord desires we will feel very heavy within. We have all loved the Lord for so many years now, yet we may be short of this desire. But if we are mature, then we must have the same longing and struggle that this psalmist had, and that David had before him. We must say, “I will not sleep. I will not slumber. I will not give myself any rest. But I will fight, and I will struggle. I will locate the ark of testimony, and I will bring it into the house of God. I will produce the substance and reality and bring it into the church life. Then in the church life there will be nothing but Christ!”
Adapted from The Journey of Life, page 105.
Tomorrow: “Providing the Lord with a Way to Rest (1)”