DEW—THE GRACE OF LIFE
In typology Hermon signifies the heavens, the highest place in the universe, and the dew signifies the grace of life (1 Pet. 3:7). Without the New Testament, it would be difficult for us to realize that dew signifies grace. Every Epistle written by Paul opens with a word about grace and closes with some mention of grace. When I was a young Christian in the denominations, I was told that grace denotes unmerited favor. According to this understanding of grace, to receive grace is to receive something that we do not deserve. Many Christians regard such unmerited favor as all the material blessings they receive from the Lord. For example, at the end of the year, some may count all the blessings God has given them that year: a good job, a bigger home, a late model automobile. However, according to Paul’s word in Philippians 3:8, everything apart from Christ is "dung." He would regard things such as a job, a house, and an automobile as nothing but "dung" in comparison to Christ. The grace spoken of in the Scriptures does not refer to mere material blessing. As many verses in the New Testament make clear, grace is the processed God as the life supply to be our enjoyment.
Strictly speaking, grace is a New Testament term. When used in the Old Testament, it has the meaning of favor. According to John 1:17, grace came through Jesus Christ. When the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us, grace came also. This means that grace came with the incarnated God. Before the incarnation of Christ, grace had not come. Grace came through incarnation.
Many verses in the Acts speak of grace. Acts 4:33 says, "And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all." This verse indicates that the great power in resurrection was the great grace. Christ in resurrection is grace. Such a grace is not a good house, job, or automobile. It is God experienced, received, enjoyed, and gained by the believers. In Acts 11:23 we are told that in Antioch Barnabas saw the grace of God. He, of course, did not see material blessings. He saw that the believers in Antioch were experiencing God in Christ as their life supply for their enjoyment.
In 1 Corinthians 15:10 Paul said, "But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me." We may compare this verse to Galatians 2:20, where Paul says, "Not I, but Christ liveth in me." It was not Paul himself who labored more than the other apostles; it was the grace of God which was with him. This grace by which Paul labored more than others was no doubt Christ Himself as the life power and life supply to Paul in his experience.
In Romans 5:2 Paul says that through Christ "we have the access by faith into this grace in which we stand." The standing about which Paul is speaking here certainly is not something such as a house or a job. It is the Triune God who has been processed to become the all-inclusive Spirit as His ultimate consummation. Through Christ we can stand in the all-inclusive Spirit.
In Romans 5:17 Paul goes on to say that "those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ." If we have abundant grace, we shall be able to reign in life. This verse implies that grace is life and that life is grace. In 1 Peter 3:7 Peter speaks of the grace of life, the inheritance of both a husband and wife. In Romans 5:21 Paul speaks about grace reigning unto eternal life. All these verses indicate that grace is nothing less than Christ as our life power and life supply for our experience and enjoyment.
If we are clear about this, we can have a greater appreciation of the dew as a type of Christ in Psalm 133. As the dew, the grace, becomes our enjoyment, we share in the genuine oneness. However, if we are not under the dew that waters, refreshes, and saturates us, we cannot be one with other believers. It is on the mountains of Zion that we experience this dew. If we would enjoy the dew which typifies the all-inclusive grace, we must be on one of the peaks, the mountaintops, of Zion.
(The Genuine Ground of Oneness, Chapter 7, by Witness Lee)
