The Mountains of Bashan:

For many years I have been troubled about the fact that the tribe of Dan is not listed among the sealed servants of the Lord set forth in the seventh chapter of the Book of Revelation. This morning on the way to church I believe I received the answer.

(5/14/2006) I have read some commentaries, with no help. One scholar thought that Dan may be associated with the Antichrist.

I know the sealing in the seventh chapter of Revelation cannot refer literally to Israeli tribes because there has been so much marrying between Jews and Gentiles, and between Jews of one tribe with those of another. Who would know who was of the tribe of Levi, for example, and had no Gentile blood? Therefore, like so much of the Book of Revelation, the tribes probably are symbolic, being representative of kinds of believers.

In a couple of my books and sermons I conjectured the reason for the omission was that the name "Dan" means "He judged," and the omission of Dan from the sealed servants means those who will be sealed against the Divine judgments of the trumpets are spared from judgment, or have already been judged. Somehow this did not satisfy me.

I searched the prophecies of Jacob and Moses. Jacob referred to Dan as "a serpent by the roadside, a viper along the path, that bites the horse’s heels so that its rider tumbles backward" (Genesis 49:17). Moses spoke of Dan as being "a lion’s cub, springing out of Bashan" (Deuteronomy 33:22). We know the name "Dan" is one of the gates of the new Jerusalem, the glorified Christ Church, the Wife of the Lamb.

This morning I was mentioning to Audrey, as we were driving along, that I just did not understand why Dan would not be sealed against the curses of the trumpets. And then it hit me—Bashan! "Dan is a lion’s cub, springing out of Bashan"!

In 1992 I wrote a booklet titled "The Mountains of Bashan." Bashan stands for the envy, the ambition, the "leaping" (King James) the self-seeking, the presumption of religious people—particularly of the members of the household of Christian faith. You can read this book at http://www.wor.org/booksmain.htm.

The key to the understanding of "Bashan" is found in the sixty-eighth Psalm. I have examined several translations, and while they differ among themselves, they are in agreement that Bashan is a mighty mountain (high hill; majestic mountain; mountain of God–in the sense of being exalted) that tends to look down with disapproval, if not scorn, on Zion, the mountain that God has chosen.

The translation that rings with me is found in The Jerusalem Bible (Darton, Longman &Todd Ltd and Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1968):

"That peak of Bashan, a mountain of God?

Rather, a mountain of pride, that peak of Bashan!

Peaks of pride, have you the right to look down on a mountain where God has chosen to live, where Yahweh is going to live for ever?"

"Dan" is omitted from the sealed servants of the Lord because "Dan," a "lion’s cub springing out of Bashan" represents those of the household of God who are presumptuous, envious, striving, ambitious, competitive, self-seeking.

We think immediately of Korah, Dathan, and Abram, of Absalom, of Gehazi the servant of Elisha, of Ahimaaz (II Samuel 18), of Judas, of the Pharisees and elders of Jesus’ day who crucified Christ out of envy, of Ananias and Sapphire. Each of these were of God’s house. Some of them, such as Korah, who was a Kohathite Levite, were very close to the Divine Glory.

But these people were "Dan." They were "peaks of Bashan."

How many of God’s people today are envious, ambitious, self-seeking? They are of "Dan" and they shall not be sealed against the judgments of the trumpets (Revelation, Chapter Eight).

In fact, presumption was made synonymous with faith, a few years ago. "Step out in faith." "Name it and claim it." "Speak it into existence." "Put on your administrative hat and bind the ruling spirits in your locality." "Do not say ‘Your will be done,’ command the sickness to leave."

To urge such actions on people is to make them part of "Dan." Man is in the saddle. The lion’s cub is springing from Bashan.

But is there ever a time for a Christian to command the spirit world. Yes, there is. But only as the believer is being directed by the Lord Jesus.

The way Jesus performed miracles, and His teaching, seem to suggest that we are to behave in the same manner. We do not realize that Jesus did nothing except what He saw the Father doing. We are not to "step out in faith" until we hear from the Lord. Otherwise we are as "Bashan," and we will end up being envious of those who Christ is really using, that is, those who are of Mount Zion.

When we read Psalms 68:18 we realize this was the passage Paul was quoting from in the fourth chapter of the Book of Ephesians.

Paul was pointing out that Christ gave gifts to men in order that they might build up the Body of Christ to full maturity. What is the purpose of building the members of the Body of Christ to full maturity? It is that God might have living stones in whom He can find rest.

Here is the concept that often is lacking in the church activities of our day. The stated goal of the working of the Christian ministry is to obtain and bring to full maturity the members of Christ’s Body. We have made the goal evangelism. The goal is not evangelism. Evangelism is a means of obtaining raw material from which God can build His house. Evangelism is scriptural in its place; but it is not scriptural when it becomes a cry for more and more people while neglecting to build to maturity those who have come to Christ for salvation.

There is no question today but that we are emphasizing the work of evangelism far out of proportion to the emphasis of the New Testament. In fact, much if not most emphasis on evangelism is coming from the ambition of leaders. It is "Dan." It is "Bashan."

We need a change of priority. We need to make satisfying God’s need for a house our first priority, a house in which He can find rest. It may be true that not many believers of our day are a house in which God can find rest. They are driven with their own desires. Their pastors often are emphasizing the need for more members of their church rather than the need to build the believers to full maturity in Christ.

Go to any Christian church and see for yourself if the Pastor is presenting the current burden of the Spirit. The current burden is that the believers cooperate with the Spirit as He points out the aspects of their personality that are not of the image of God. If we look to Christ, He will enable us to renounce that which is not restful from God’s point of view, and will give us to eat of His flesh and to drink of His blood that He may be formed in us.

What you probably will hear on Sunday morning is grace, rapture, Heaven, grace, rapture, Heaven, grace, rapture, heaven. Or, "go out into the highways and byways and compel them to come in" (which, of course, most of the listeners will agree to but do not have the Divine grace to do other than go to a fast-food restaurant and order french fries and a cheeseburger.)

At least, this is how it is in America. Check it out for yourself.

So we talk much about "saving souls" but not many of the believer have the gifting for this ministry. Some assuredly do, but most do not. But if the believer will present his body a living sacrifice such that he is able to discover God’s will for himself, he will find ways of contributing to the bringing of his fellow Christians to full maturity.

The point is, God wants a dwelling place in which He can find rest. The gifts and ministries of the Spirit are given for the purpose of bringing each of us to full maturity so we may become part of the eternal Temple of God.

The seven trumpets shall be blown, and the Divine curses shall follow. The true servants of the Lord shall be sealed so as to be protected from the curses. But if they are presumptuous, envious, full of strife, ambitious, competitive, self-seeking, they shall not be sealed, even though they have been forgiven their sins by believing in the blood atonement.

In the evening service I reviewed what had been preached in the morning, and told the story of Ahimaaz, the son of Zadok, who ran with the message when he was advised not to, and the folly that resulted.