Pages 1 - 498 -- "The Service of God". Readings and Addresses (Volume 130).

THE LORD'S DISPOSITION OF HIS PEOPLE FOR SERVICE

Mark 3:13 - 15; Mark 5:18 - 20; Mark 14:32 - 34; Mark 16:14,19,20

These scriptures instruct us as to the Lord's disposal of those whom He can use in His service. I need not add that these include all His own; for although we may not be commissioned, yet as believers we are all held for service, and the obligation to serve in due course attaches to each believer. Moreover, a particular service is assigned by the Lord to each, so that these passages are to instruct the youngest amongst us as well as the oldest.

I would remark as to the young, that the work of God in them will always show itself in outward smallness, the Lord Himself being the example for us, from the outset of our spiritual history. We are told that in youthfulness He was in the temple sitting in the midst of the doctors, not seeking out persons of His own age, but in the midst of the doctors. The young would do well to follow that as an example; and whilst not specially accrediting the doctors of Jerusalem, the suggestion is that they were persons who had knowledge; and at that stage of the Lord's life such an attitude was seemly. He sat in the midst of them. He was not teaching them as yet.

It is well that the young people should learn how to sit in the midst of those who know more than they; not that that applies to our Lord, because He is a divine Person, but as an example He was sitting there, both hearing and asking questions. That is another important thing, because you may hear many things that are not quite clear to you, and it is well to ask questions. He sat there as the instructed, as He had

referred to Himself in spirit in Isaiah 50. He was given the tongue of the instructed that He might speak a word to him that was weary, and then His ear was opened as the instructed. Such was the wonderful stoop of our Lord in becoming Man, His attitude was perfectly right and seemly in every stage of His blessed life here on earth. He both heard and asked questions. I am only referring to the Lord as an example. Understanding is a feature of the work of God in us, it implies ability to take in the thoughts presented. I speak to the young, that you may see how you are brought into this and learn how to be at the Lord's disposal at all times. There is a beautiful word in 2 Samuel 23:8 about David's mighty men, their names are given, they belonged to him, they were part of his great realm, his kingdom, and one feature was that he had them. "These are the names of the mighty men whom David had". The position is that they were at his disposal.

Mark opens up this thought, having service in mind, for in the Lord's time, the time of the apostles, and in every period since in the history of the assembly, the need of service has been great. Mark is specially intended to qualify us for service, so that it is a question of those whom the Lord has, and how He disposes of them. As you will see later in chapter 14, in the supreme crisis of His life He says to some, "Sit here". It is important to learn how to sit, as the Lord tells some here to do. I am not now opening up the supreme crisis of His life, that is too great a subject to bring in subordinately, but only point out that they are at His disposal, as He says to some, "Sit here while I shall pray": and then He takes three others with Him, and begins to be sorrowful and depressed. The scene is wonderful. He says, "Abide here and watch". They are at His disposal. In the supreme crisis He places His own, with perfect

wisdom. We cannot be in a better position than that assigned to us by divine wisdom.

In chapter 3 you will observe that He went up into a mountain, thus reminding His disciples that the service requires energy, it is not armchair service. You will note that there is nothing said at the outset about beds or sitting places in the tabernacle. It is a mark of decline, as, for instance, in 1 Samuel, where we are told that Eli the priest sat on the seat by the door post, and that he lay in the temple, and when the young Samuel was brought to the temple he also lay there. No provision is made for that in Exodus, so that it is not in accord with the tabernacle position. The first movement here in Mark indicates that they are not lying down in the temple, nor taking their ease as in the days of Haggai, but going up to the mountain. It requires energy of purpose and strength of heart to go up. You will observe: "he goeth up into a mountain, and calleth unto him whom he would: and they came unto him".

In that position there are those whom He can call. If there be no energy, or if there be no purpose of heart, they will not go. And if the eye is not on Jesus there will be reluctance or refusal to go up, and a preference to sit down below where things are easier and where no energy is required. Whilst we may put much energy into other things, such as sports and business, we may fail in spiritual energy, and that is what counts. The mountain is not only moral elevation but it requires energy and purpose of heart to reach the top. The Lord is there. Why did He not take them up, why did He not call them on the plain? Surely there is a meaning in that. According to Luke, after appointing the twelve He comes down with them to the plain, where men are, but here the call is from the top, requiring purpose; and it says, "they came unto him, and he ordained twelve, that they should be with him, and that he might send them forth to

preach, and to have power to heal sickness, and to cast out devils".

The thought of the position on the mountain and the obedient response to the Lord's call, is easily understood. He called whom He would, it was His own selection. There is no call for volunteers here, that is not the principle on which the service of God is carried on; it is on the principle of sovereign selection. He knows those who are suitable, and He will make His own selection. They answered His call, and then it says, "he ordained twelve, that they should be with him". We have to test our companionship as soon as this call is heard. The companionship is that of the Lord Jesus, to be with Him, "that he might send them forth to preach".

There can be no competency in preaching apart from being with Him and coming under His influence, seeing how He does things. That is largely the purpose of the four gospels, in confirmation of the epistles and the great work of God in the twelve and in Paul -- to set out the perfection of things in Christ, so that we might learn from Him. Whilst you may learn from Paul and others, the more you advance in the truth, the more you wish to arrive at the full divine standard, for that is the idea of the gospels -- so that they should be with Him, and that He might send them forth to preach. Not only that, they must have power to heal diseases and cast out devils; the preaching must be accompanied with such power. You will understand that I am not speaking of the great miraculous powers granted to the disciples in the establishment of christianity in this world, but there is something akin to that, which must go with the preaching; for diseases in a spiritual sense are found now amongst the Lord's people.

It is not so much today the question of preaching amongst the heathen, the work is now in the main amongst the Lord's people; and diseases and the power

of Satan are very prevalent, not in the sense of demon possession, for that is rare in christendom, though it is not rare in heathendom. Let us not forget, however, that this does not mean that satanic power is rare in Christendom (see Revelation 2:24). The Spirit of God calls attention to the "depths of Satan" in christendom. The agents of the devil are active about us, so that there must be something today, akin to the power to heal disease and cast out demons, to cope with satanic power. If you go out in the Lord's service you must expect satanic opposition, and you have to learn how to cope with it. Before entering on His service the Lord entered the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. This is the first feature of what I have before me.

The next feature is that of one being left, at the Lord's direction, in an isolated position. One always thinks with great sympathy of isolated saints. If one might refer to one's own prayers, India, Ceylon, Egypt and Russia have the foremost place, because isolation, whether it be of one or of a few saints, exposes them to the bitter winds. Like the peak of a mountain range, the higher the summit the more exposure to the bitter cold winds. The heat of the earth below is not available there. The nearer we are to the company of christians the more protection and warmth we enjoy. Isolation exposes us, but the Lord knows that, and He provides for it. He knows what will stand the test before He makes His dispositions of His people. If He has put us in isolated places He has thought it out well, it is His placing.

In this country, called Decapolis, the place of ten cities, the inhabitants did not want the Lord. I need not remind you that the concentration of men, of human beings, means the concentration of evil, even now, alas! The formation of cities began with Cain, and found an answer in Babel and has gone on ever since. God has checked it from time to time, but

there never has been such a time of cities as the present, and that means that evil has increased power in this world; so that Decapolis, the place of ten cities, is not without significance. It is a place of peculiar satanic power, and this man was in a terrible state, he is spoken of as "possessed by demons", legion we are told. Luke enlarges on that, and that he came out of the city suggestive of what the cities are. You all know about this man, this incident is rightly one of the most used in the gospel.

The point in my mind is that when the Lord went into the ship to depart, and that at a time when the whole country was hostile to Him, there was no one favourable to Him at all, it was at that particular time that the man besought the Lord "that he might be with him". You might say, 'Surely the Lord will let him come with Him, what is there for him in this terrible place, ten cities, this place of concentrated evil? He will be overwhelmed with the power of Satan in this place'. We might say that, but the Lord thought differently; the word is that Jesus "suffered him not, but says to him, Go to thine home to thine own people, and tell them how great things the Lord has done for thee, and has had mercy on thee". Then we are told that, "he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how great things Jesus had done for him; and all wondered". What a result! He is not coming under the power of Decapolis. The Lord had made no mistake in this, He had this in mind in casting out the demons, and so in taking up each one of us, He has in mind to break the power of evil in us and that we might get a place assigned to us by Him.

Another thing is that this testimony is to be rendered in the very spot where, as under the power of the demons, the man had dishonoured God in the most dreadful way. Is that country to be left? Is he to be taken away out of it? No, beloved brethren, the idea is

that if the demons are cast out you are to be left where you have been the vessel of the demons, to be a vessel under God's power, that is the idea. One great feature of the assembly's place in this world is that believers are taken up where they have lived in their sinfulness, to stand for God. There is nothing more said about this man and what became of him, or as to whether an assembly was formed in Decapolis, but there could be little doubt that there were assemblies formed there, for that is the end in view.

What is said is that he "began to proclaim", we are not told when he ended. Heaven alone knows that, it is in God's book. It is a fine example. He began, and all marvelled, that was the result. I have no doubt that this man continued to preach, and that not only did they marvel, but they would believe, there was a positive testimony in the man. The Lord says, "Go home to thy friends", he was to go to those that knew him, "and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee". That is the thing to get hold of, what one man can do. Think of a lone believer in Jesus standing up in a country where the people had recently asked the Lord to leave the place! Think of him standing up, in Decapolis, the place of ten cities, and telling men what Jesus had done for him! I would like this to sink into our hearts, because there should be a result in taking up any service for the Lord and coming under His disposal. The next thing is some little evidence that people can take account of. This case is remarkable, "all wondered".

In chapter 14, we have the thing set out in the most striking manner. As I remarked, it is the supreme crisis of the Lord's blessed life and service in this world. There will never be such a crisis as this again. It could only happen once; but it happened, and whilst it detains the heart, as no other passage does, in regard of our Lord in His untold sufferings, it affords remarkable instruction in regard of what I am saying,

that the Lord is disposing of what is under His hand. You may say they were a poor lot. The sequel shows even the most select three of them went to sleep in the position to which they were assigned. It is remarkable that the Spirit of God should record this. He would never uncover the failure of a saint unless it may be used to preserve another saint from that failure. These dear men, Peter, James and John, bear the shame in that this record about them has been read by millions of christians. They would thankfully accept the shame, for it has been effective, in the Lord's good hand, to save others from a like failure.

The word Gethsemane is used in this gospel, and in Matthew; it alludes to pressure, and let no one who essays to be under the Lord's hand, hope to evade pressure, at least at some time. Gethsemane alludes to that; pressure after pressure will come, crisis after crisis in the history of the testimony will come, and the Lord will make dispositions of what may be under His hand. The best of them went to sleep, as we have seen. You might say, I would not have done that, but then that is just the point, you would have done that. That is what you and I are capable of naturally. These men were only samples, so that we should learn from them negatively, and see to it that we do not go that way. We have the Holy Spirit now, they had not then; so that they are a sample of what the flesh is capable of, but in the recognition of the Spirit of God come down from heaven, there is no need of this at all. We have the means, which they had not, of complying with the Lord's requirements, but if we do not use the means we have, we are no better than they. We do not understand what we have in the house. Elisha said to the widow who was in debt, "What hast thou in the house?" (2 Kings 4:2). It is in the recognition of the pot of oil and the use made of it, that we can comply with requirements.

The Lord says, "Sit here". Sometimes it is wiser

to sit than to be active. Oft-times people show they should be sitting when they are not. The Lord says, "Sit here while I shall pray". We can afford to be restful when the Lord is praying. To extend the thought, the Lord is always interceding for us. No doubt He prayed for them here, although the passage speaks only of His prayers for Himself. He spoke in these wonderful words, written indelibly, "Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt" (chapter 14:36). Mark gives us that beautiful touch; but the Lord is speaking of His own matter here. There is no such personal matter with Him now. The matter now is the saints down here, "he ever liveth to make intercession for them" (Hebrews 7:25). Think of that, as if He had nothing else to do. The Spirit of God would stress that, not that He has not other things, but "he ever liveth to make intercession". He says, "Sit here, while I shall pray": now while we are to sit it is surely with intentness. Then He goes forward with the other three. The actual agony takes place in their presence.

The scripture says, "he taketh with him Peter and James and John, and began to be sore amazed, and to be very heavy". I was saying that it was in their presence, He went forward a little, but He made these statements to them before He went forward. He selected these men. In His mind they were evidently fit for this. It was only potential, because they failed in it, but they did not fail afterwards, they went through all this in their spirits afterwards, for they were martyred, but He brought them into it, and told them about His exercise. Think of the privilege afforded to them! And so in these crises of the assembly, which come one after another, the Lord will say to some of us, "Sit [not listlessly, but carefully] here while I shall pray", and He would take others forward into the conflict, into the very place of the greatest pressure, and then He would say how He feels about things.

He says, "abide here and watch". He does not say that to the others, the point with them is to sit. Then He says later, pray.

This is the position in every crisis. There are those who are wisely sitting and discerning, when the Lord is praying; and there are others who are brought forward into the conflict, into the very teeth of the enemy; and then the Lord goes further, because He can go further than any of us. At all times He goes ahead, like the ark of old, which went ahead to find a resting-place, and that modifies the power of the enemy for us. He breaks the power of the enemy's wave, but it comes upon us, and hence the urgency, as disposed of by Him in that position, to watch and pray, "lest ye enter into temptation". This marks every crisis, and they come one after another, and there will be no end of them while the assembly is here; so it is a question of each knowing how to be disposed of, taking his place at the Lord's wise disposition and remaining in it, according to the word He gives us.

To carry the thought on, we have the sad history of unbelief portrayed in this gospel more than in any of the others. Mark stresses the unbelief of the disciples. If you look at chapter 16 you will be struck with the thought that if the Lord had not taken the matter in hand Himself, in spite of the appearing at His sepulchre, the testimony would have fallen to the ground, because the disciples were wholly unequal to it through unbelief. Why is all that recorded? Surely that we might be aware of the danger of unbelief, it is always lurking in our hearts, and would rob us of the victory that is within our grasp.

You will observe in verse 9, "Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene". The verses from 9 to the end of the chapter, are questioned by some critics, but they are Scripture, intensely so. They are brought

in obviously to show how the Lord can come in when disaster is pending, and at the outset of every crisis that occurs, disaster seems to be pending. Those of us who have had anything to do with the Lord's service in a conflict know that the language that arises in the heart is: What can we do in the presence of this emergency?

In verse 8, while honourable reference is made to the women, we are told that, "they went out quickly, and fled from the sepulchre; for they trembled and were amazed: neither said they anything to any man; for they were afraid". Of what good was that behaviour? They had seen wonderful things, they had seen evidence that the Lord was risen, they had the testimony of His resurrection from the "young man", but they were amazed and trembled and said nothing to any man. Of what value was that? -- they were no testimony. I would not make little of these dear women, because the other evangelists give us different views, but Mark gives us the view that is intended to bear upon us in regard to what he presents. Indeed when a crisis arises we are apt to be amazed and trembling, and anxious about this and that, and to say nothing because of fear. Of what good are we then? That is the position in Mark. But the ninth verse brings the Lord on the scene. He comes in and takes up things and leads to victory. The point in this chapter is whether I have faith. Without faith I am of little or no use at all. If I am not in active faith I am discrediting the things I speak about. I cannot speak aright except on the principle of faith. Better it was that they should say nothing when they were amazed and fearing.

The Lord takes the matter up and He recovers them all to faith. This direct intervention of the Lord in a crisis is most encouraging. He can bring His people back under His influence, so that faith asserts itself again; they really had the thing, but it was buried

down under pressure in their hearts -- useless as inactive. He elects to appear to Mary Magdalene first, the other gospels show how excellent the selection was. Then He appears to two others, that is, three, a full testimony. He appears to one, and then to two, and they bear witness to the apostles separately, the one first, and then the two. It says, "she went and told them that had been with him, as they mourned and wept" (verse 10). Dear brethren, look at this word "she ... told them that had been with him"! They were the ones. It was well they mourned and wept; it shows they were not indifferent.

Then it says, "they, when they had heard that he was alive, and had been seen of her, believed not" (verse 11). Is the case hopeless? Think of the apostles here, those that had been favoured in the testimony, selected for it, mourning and weeping, and yet when the most trustworthy person that could come to them comes and tells them, they believe not. It looks as if the position is hopeless, but it is not hopeless, it never can be hopeless if the Lord is in it. Then it says, "After that he appeared in another form unto two of them, as they walked, and went into the country" (verse 12). Much could be said about that; it is not the time of the country now, it is the time of the city, God is witnessing to the cities; the millennium is the time of the country, when people will sit under the vine and the fig tree, but today is the time of the city. The Lord appeared to these that were going away from the city, and it says, "they went and told it unto the residue: neither believed they them". It looks still more hopeless -- but is it hopeless? The Lord has appeared to one, He has appeared to two, is He giving up now? No, beloved, and He never will. He comes to the eleven Himself; He has a way of getting to the brethren, and He came to them when they sat at meat, and upbraided them for their unbelief.

What I have said has only briefly touched the

position. The Lord takes the matter of every crisis in hand, or it would be hopeless. He will see to it that those whom He uses are believers, there is not to be any unbelief in His service. He says to them, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature", and "after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God. And they went forth and preached every where". The result is perfect, and we may be sure that the Lord not only disposes of us but He brings us back to faith: if we are not in faith, we can have no part in the dispensation. He sees to it that some at least are brought to faith, so that when He is in heaven, they go and preach everywhere, and the Lord works with them, confirming the word with signs following. There is every encouragement for us at this remarkable time in the assembly history. The Lord would have us under His hand to dispose of us and bring us into faith, for without faith it is impossible to please God.

CONDITIONS UNDER WHICH LEVITICAL SERVICE IS RENDERED

Numbers 5:1 - 10; Numbers 6:13 - 27; Numbers 7:1 - 9

J.T. The subject of levitical service begins in chapter 3, where we have the three sons of Levi mentioned according to their birth, and the number in each family. Chapter 4 gives the order of their service, beginning with Kohath the second son, who is placed first in the order of service; followed by the services of the Gershonites and Merarites. Then come three intervening chapters, 5 to 7 inclusive, before the subject is resumed. These chapters help as indicating the conditions amongst the saints which would ensure the liberty of the levites and facilities for profitable service. In chapter 8 we see how they are brought into service and presented to Jehovah, then given to Aaron and his sons to carry on the service.

E.B.G. What is the burden of the intervening chapters?

J.T. The state of the camp, the dwelling-place of God. There should be no leper there. Trespasses should be dealt with, and as dealt with, the wealth of the priests is increased. If there be trespass, there is gain through it instead of loss. There is also the jealousy of the Lord as to any unfaithfulness in the turning away of the saints, and giving their affections to another -- "the law of jealousies" (chapter 5:29). The Nazarite would ensure the continuance of the dispensation, for he goes on to the end, and links on with the coming dispensation, ensuring the continuance of the one and linking on with the next. The service has thus a wide outlook.

The wealth of the saints tribally is brought out in chapter 7. Love is acting in intelligence and unity. The princes are providing facilities for the levites: at the same time order is indicated. Sufferings, seen in

the prominence given to the altar, are fully recognised as entering into the position, and then God speaks. In these circumstances we have divine speaking. There is also the candlestick not only giving light, but its own beauty appears, thus ensuring results and success in service, and the continuance typically of the present dispensation to the end. The Nazarite maintains the dispensation to the end; there is the favour of God towards His people; the blessing of Jehovah is assured. The prospect therefore is bright, calling for purity and loyalty to Christ, and also calling for sacrifice. The altar has great prominence in this chapter (Numbers 7), the princes of Israel calling attention to it in their gifts for its dedication. The dispensation is to be continued on these lines of sacrifice. There is also the wealth that enters into the position, and the unity that marks the tribes, for there can be no continuance of the dispensation according to God apart from practical unity expressed in the appreciation of Christ. That is the idea of chapter 7.

E.B.G. Would the thought in chapter 5 be largely akin to the first epistle to the Corinthians?

J.T. Yes; the Corinthian epistles treat of the judgment of sin in the assembly, also of jealousy.

E.B.G. Would the thought of continuance be seen in connection with the committal to faithful men, as in the case of Timothy? Do we see there the way that things are continued? Where would you say we have the teaching of the tribal thought to which you have alluded?

J.T. That is alluded to in Colossians and Ephesians -- "love unto all the saints" (Ephesians 1:15). It is a great general thought. The names of these princes are not given in the order of the birth of the tribes, but in the order in which they are set around the tabernacle, so that they represent the position of the saints ordered according to the sovereignty of God and actuated by love. What is presented is not a collaborated action,

but an action out of love for Christ; so that whether a man lives in Australia or in England, he should be characterised by "love unto all the saints". Unity is substantial, arising out of appreciation of Christ.

E.T.S. What have you in mind in connection with levitical service?

J.T. I thought that we might look at the subject in the order in which it is presented in chapter 4. These features of service are applicable to us. Kohath is first, presenting one feature; Gershon another, and Merari another. It is obvious that the greatest service is ability to understand and carry what relates to divine Persons, the revelation of God; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; then the assembly, all that is inside, including the altar, which is quite intelligible. Then the next feature is in connection with carrying those principles typified in the curtains and hangings of the tabernacle. Can we carry out these principles? That would be Gershon. Then Merari deals with the boards and pillars, referring to persons, for we have to do with one another. Speaking generally, the service of the levites is headed up under these three classifications. What relates to divine Persons and revelation, to the principles governing fellowship, and then the saints. The last involves the length to which we will go to help a brother personally. It is quite obvious that all these features require these intervening chapters, so that we may carry out service effectively.

I think the Lord has helped us as to Kohath's service. Our moving forward depends on this service of the priests, for the levites cannot move apart from the priests. It is a question of priestly condition, particularly in regard to Kohath. I think the Lord has helped us as to these great things -- the Lord's deity and sonship. There is the carrying of the ark, the table, the candlestick, etc., and carrying them in adverse surroundings; for we have to contend with opposition.

W.S.S. A word more about appreciation of Christ would help us. There is much detail which is of value as bringing the Lord before us, in His Person, and what is connected with Him.

J.T. Chapter 4:4, says, "This shall be the service of the sons of Kohath in the tent of meeting; it is most holy". The ark is mentioned first. It is not a question of Christ in absolute deity, but what He is as become Man -- the veil of separation is to be put over the ark when it is to be carried; meaning that the priests understand that there is no man like Him -- He is alone. The veil of separation would mean that He is unique -- separated from all others. The veil, and the badger skins put over the ark, mean that He was apart from sin, holy, harmless, undefiled, not outwardly merely, but inwardly; and the curtain of blue over all is to bring out that He is heavenly -- "the Son of man who is in heaven" (John 3:13). The saints are viewed in the service in this way as occupied with carrying Christ in testimony, understanding what all these things mean, and thus He is guarded against all attacks.

E.L.M. Would the passage speaking of the ark at rest suggest the privilege of peaceful and quiet contemplation of the glory of that Person?

J.T. Quite so. Hebrews opens up to us access inside, and I believe that manhood is thus developed. To see what He is apart from what men said about Him; "Whom do men say that I am?" (Mark 8:27). In the holiest you see what God thinks of Him; what He is before God.

F.F. Is the carrying seen in our daily lives?

J.T. That is the thought. In your house, business, etc., you are a Kohathite.

E.L.M. Is that the idea of testimony -- Christ borne on priestly shoulders?

J.T. Exactly, publicly carried. You can carry an appreciation of the Lord, and maintain it in your soul in your ordinary daily occupation wherever you may be, that is the idea. By the power of the Spirit you

are capable of holding that in its integrity against all attacks. We may be able to speak of these things here, but to hold them in the face of opposition is the point.

J.T.S. Would the apostle be helping the Corinthians on the line of the uniqueness of Christ when he wrote "Is the Christ divided?" (1 Corinthians 1:13) and "the second man out of heaven" (1 Corinthians 15:47)?

J.T. Yes; the first point the apostle touches on in his exhortations is the divided state the Corinthians were in as affecting Christ. If there is division amongst us it is really an attack on Christ.

The unity in Numbers 7 is by the appreciation of Christ on the part of all belonging to the tribes. We are now before the altar and our appreciation of Christ is expressed in unity; that is testimony to God. It is our "using diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace" (Ephesians 4:3). In 2 Corinthians 1:19 Paul says "For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, he who has been preached by us among you (by me and Silvanus and Timotheus), did not become yea and nay, but yea is in him". The man is as good as his word, he does not say "yea" and do "nay". All these things appear as the features of Christ are wrought in us by the Spirit.

J.T.S. The Son of God said He was altogether what He said He was.

J.T. Precisely, and Paul is in keeping with that. He was in accord with the Son of God, and his word was not "yea" and "nay" but "yea, yea" (verse 17). The reason he did not go to Corinth at that time was because he loved them.

E.L.M. Would there be the springing up of Nazarites, if the assembly were exercised to maintain holiness and practical righteousness together with fidelity to Christ in affection? The faithful wife of chapter 5 gives birth to a Nazarite, chapter 6.

J.T. In chapter 5 there is the absolute exclusion of the leper; and there are details as to the commission of "any of all the sins of man"; things that happen, alas, even amongst the people of God. But what is contemplated is that the priests become wealthier. There is a state capable of adding a fifth part; and if there was no kinsman it was to be given to the priest, and to God through the priest. Although terrible things happen, they, through the rich grace of God, work out for wealth. All these happenings make for success if we are really with God; there is thus no occasion for despair, although there will be need for the deepest humiliation and self-judgment.

The procedure with the woman as to loyalty to her husband is most searching. The thing is worked out in her lower affections, and there is no escape from what goes on. The "bitter water that bringeth the curse" is solemnly interesting. It is composed of "holy water" and dust of the floor of the tabernacle. The tabernacle is where God is, whether in this town or any other, and this dust is found where He is. It is different dust from that outside, for it speaks of death as it is before Him, and as seen by Him, worked out from the death of Christ.

I would like the brethren to speak freely about the service of the Levites because there are many coming forward in the Lord's service. I believe the Lord would help us to see the threefold nature of the service, all under the priests' influence and direction.

A.H.G. Would you say a little more as to the second feature of the service in connection with principles?

J.T. I do not know anything more important at the present time. Our attention has lately been drawn to the principles of Bethesda, and I believe the Lord intends us to take notice of this matter, because a large proportion of those amongst us do not know anything about those principles, and very little as to those on which we gather. A Gershonite ministry

would thus be helpful, in calling attention to the defective principles which were brought to light in the Bethesda controversy, and which obtain widely at the present time. These defective principles involve looseness amongst the people of God.

E.T.S. How do you apply what is said about Gershon in connection with the hangings?

J.T. The curtains were to cover and protect. They were carefully measured, as you know. Chapter 4:24 - 26 says, "This shall be the service of the families of the Gershonites, in serving, and in carrying: they shall carry the curtains of the tabernacle ... and all that is to be done for these things shall they perform". There is no doubt that these allude to divine principles, as already said. These curtains and coverings suggest the great principles of gathering, showing how the precious things of God can be protected; the precious truths as to the Deity and all that flows from it, also the Spirit and the assembly. How can these things be preserved save by the protection which the fellowship of the Son of God affords? The inner curtains were of byssus, involving the more spiritual relationships of the brethren with one another. The outer coverings were rougher, involving death, so that taken together they suggest the idea of exclusiveness.

Rem. All these represent principles now seen in the saints so that what is inside is protected.

J.T. If approached from the outside with a view to attacking what is within, it is seen how uncompromising the saints are.

Rem. As there is an appreciation of Christ, these principles are maintained, so that what is inside is protected.

J.T. That is so. In 1 Corinthians 10 fellowship is a public thing, and involves confidence in one another as well as integrity and loyalty to Christ. "We, being many are one loaf, one body" (verse 17) involves that what you refuse, I also refuse. We are in a holy partnership,

and consistency requires loyalty to the principles governing us and to each other.

E.L.M. Would the curtains with the beautiful blending of colour suggest the varied glories of Christ? Are these divine principles interwoven and worked out in the texture of the saints?

J.T. These are the inner ones, forming with the boards the immediate dwelling-place of God. In them the brethren are contemplated as together in love for one another, which is the beautiful work of the Spirit.

E.L.M. Our relations with one another in the Spirit are thus clothed with beauty, so that we are not marked by cold formalism, but consider each other as those "called into the fellowship of his Son".

Ques. Would 2 Timothy 2 correspond to this?

J.T. Yes. Separation from iniquity, and following righteousness, faith, love and peace together as those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

J.W. What form does the service of the Gershonite take today? Would it be ministry amongst the saints?

J.T. There are those qualified of the Lord to minister the truth as to these principles, and the service of such is specially in view here. In another sense all are levites; that is as holding the principles and refusing evil. It is done when alone, there is loyalty to the brethren even when not under their eyes.

Rem. The former would be, "Laying these things before the brethren, thou wilt be a good minister of Christ Jesus" (1 Timothy 4:6).

J.T. Yes -- "a good minister".

W.S.S. Would the carrying of the curtains of the entrance be suggestive in connection with persons seeking fellowship?

J.T. Yes. There is a great deal of food for contemplation here, and the Lord will help us into it. He would have young believers conversant with what they are brought into, so that they may be preserved

from looseness and may see that there is something worth while.

E.B.G. Have you in mind that the principles which should govern us are to be retained and passed on by way of positive ministry? Take, for instance, the question of Bethesda, to which allusion has already been made. Obviously the detail connected with it is deeply involved, but protection from the operation of such false principles would lie in the building up of the saints by a ministry of what is according to God. As thus built up the saints would detect anything which is not in accord with divine principles?

J.T. Just so. The old are more or less conversant with these principles, but the young are not; there is a poor apprehension of the ground on which we gather.

W.F. The principle of unity has been pressed in such a way as to set aside the conditions of fellowship.

J.T. A Gershonite service would take care of all that, because the carrying of these things under the direction of the priest would mean that they are valued in all circumstances.

The Merarite would teach us that while holding these principles we must not lose a brother. Those seeking the continuation of these features of levitical service would be actuated by the desire to retain every true brother. I may assert principles too far: in holding them I must be wise so as not to lose a brother.

E.L.M. If we maintained the loops of blue and the clasps of gold binding the curtains together, we should be greatly helped in handling the boards.

J.T. You see how all this worked out in the Acts where difficulties arose. The truth was maintained at Jerusalem (Acts 15), and the gentile believers were preserved as well; there was no cleavage. The enemy was seeking to drive a wedge between the Jews and the gentiles, but there were Gershonites and Merarites there. We cannot afford to lose a brother.

H.C. In Hebrews 13:13 it says, "Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach", and later, "Know ye that our brother Timothy is set at liberty" (verse 23). Would you connect the first scripture with a Gershonite's service and the second with a Merarite's service?

J.T. Yes. The Merarite is concerned about persons.

A.H.G. Would that come out in 2 Corinthians 2:7 where the apostle writes of showing grace: "lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow"? Principles are maintained in the first epistle and grace in the second.

J.T. Exactly. Even the man that had been so wicked must not be lost. I believe that if the Gershonite and Merarite sides of service are combined, we shall not lose our brethren. Although some may have to be cut off in discipline, you do not wish to lose one. You hold principles and the brother with them.

F.A.D. That is the burden of the apostle's exercises in Corinthians: anxiety as to the effect of his first letter, lest Satan should get an advantage.

J.T. Quite so. There were others involved in evil, and, bad as they were, he lets the matter stand until the obedience of the whole is secured. If he attempted to deal with all those offenders, it might result in a break-up of the assembly, but generally they are all brought to the truth. The angel of God says to Paul, "God has granted to thee all those that sail with thee", (Acts 27:24). But in sailing the apostle did his best to advocate right principles of navigation, but they were rejected. The ship would have been saved had the master heeded Paul. They refused his advice as to navigation, but all that sailed with him were saved, though in a humiliating way.

E.B.G. This truth would help us in regard to those who are not walking with us. We would be true to the principles, but have the persons in view as possibilities.

J.T. Yes. I believe that the Merarites' service would be greatly supported by John's ministry. He gives us to understand how everything of the work of God is to be valued, however little it may be. We should certainly say, There is not much in Nicodemus, he has not left the council. Well, he said something in the council (John 7:50,51), that was profitable, and in due course he is identified with the Lord, taking a valuable part in the service (John 19). John's ministry would remind us that everything of the work of God is to be preserved and nothing lost.

J.C. Does John 17 illustrate your thought?

J.T. It is a Merarite setting. The Lord was looking after persons, He is also asking the Father to effectuate much of the truth that we have been considering.

E.B.G. We need help and wisdom in connection with the subject of principles and persons. We feel the necessity of holding the former, but when we come to practical application we find how difficult it is at the same time to secure persons. How are we to be helped?

J.T. The Lord Himself will help us as we feel the need. You know how much the supply of the Spirit of Christ is needed, if you are to save a brother. It is very hard to secure "a brother offended" (Proverbs 18:19). It is one of the most difficult things with which we have to contend. You see how a Merarite service has the brethren in view -- they are the "boards". Literally you wonder how they got such large trees in the wilderness. The boards were a cubit and a half wide, and were made "standing up". They were about twenty-one inches wide; made of acacia. The idea of value is there, and suggests to us what the saints are.

J.T.S. Would Romans 14 and 15 help us to think tenderly of the saints? The expression, "for God has received him" (Romans 14:3); and again "him ... for whom Christ has died" (Romans 14:15); also, "Wherefore

receive ye one another, according as the Christ also has received you to the glory of God", (Romans 15:7).

J.T. That is how Romans builds you up for the assembly and for the service of God. Romans provides the boards, and calls attention to the value of them. You cannot get boards like them ordinarily, and so it says in Numbers 4:31,32, "the boards of the tabernacle ... and by name ye shall number to them the materials which are their charge to carry". The idea of "name", is to call attention to the importance of each item.

W.S.S. The boards being of acacia wood would call attention to the brethren being like Christ. It is the expression of our appreciation of Christ.

J.T. That is the idea. In the salutations at the end of Romans, the apostle leads up to these features of Christ in each person. He calls attention to the value of the boards as represented in the persons he mentions. You see how valuable a brother is. There are more salutations in Romans than in any other epistle, so that it is a fundamental principle to value the brethren. Faith is "operative in the acknowledgement of every good thing which is in us towards Christ Jesus", (Philemon 6).

A.H.G. Would Philippians 2 give us the spirit in which this Merarite service is carried out?

J.T. Quite so. The mind of Christ as taking the path of humiliation is to be in us.

E.M. Is there anything to be gleaned from the fact that the service of Gershon and Merari is under the hand of Ithamar the priest, but not so with the service of Kohath?

J.T. Kohath's service is the more spiritual, hence Eleazar is mentioned particularly in chapter 4. It will be noted from verse 16 that he has charge of the oil and fragrant incense, and continual oblation, and the anointing oil, and the oversight of the whole tabernacle. It alludes to the fact that Eleazar represents spirituality

and priestly discrimination amongst the brethren. While Aaron lived he represents more what is in the saints by the Spirit than Christ officially. You have in every gathering spiritual brothers and sisters; they watch over everything, and provide for the glory of Christ. They may not say much, but they see, and the levites feel that they are there. Ithamar is also a son of Aaron, but he does not represent what is spiritual in the same way as Eleazar. He has to do with the Merarites and Gershonites.

Ques. In connection with the maintenance of principles, is it not encouraging to see that the thought of unity is stressed in connection with the curtains? They should be one whole. There may be the tendency to give up the truth to secure unity, whereas it is by the maintenance of right principles that unity according to God is secured.

J.T. The brethren are better served that way. With many, there is no idea of Gershonite service. Although Israel was to dwell alone, the question raised is -- "Who can count the dust of Jacob, and the number of the fourth part of Israel?" (Numbers 23:10).

F.W. Did Priscilla and Aquila in Acts carry out their service effectively in connection with Apollos?

J.T. They did. They recognised that he was a great personality, but he needed to be shown "the way of God more exactly" (Acts 18:26) and they served him that way. Someone might have said, What is the use of troubling Apollos as to details? Look at the work of God, look at the converts he gets! But Priscilla and Aquila thought differently, they desired to make him more effective. He is commended by the brethren, but not until after their service to him.

E.B.G. He was a remarkable instance of the work of God.

J.T. Apollos came from Alexandria, evidently he was not a convert of the apostle Paul's.

E.B.G. Apollos coming forward from a totally unexpected

quarter, would remind us of the boards appearing in the wilderness.

J.T. He illustrates the boards being made "standing up", (Exodus 36:20).

W.F. He had the light of John the baptist's ministry.

J.T. Many today have similar light, and have instincts which make for the assembly but they need adjustment by the truth.

Ques. Would John's writings help us as to this in a special way?

J.T. You will find the Merarite service all through John's gospel; much is made of persons. He stresses greatly John the baptist, and he makes much of the two that left John and followed Jesus, and of Simon, Philip, Nathanael, Nicodemus, the woman at the well, the family at Bethany and Mary Magdalene; then at the end he mentions the one hundred and fifty and three "great fishes" (chapter 21:11). These would be persons secured through the gospel.

Rem. There are persons who might be despised naturally, but the point is to see whether the marks of the work of the Lord are there. In John 1 the Lord finds Galileans.

J.T. Yes, and Philip finds another -- that is the principle throughout the gospel of John, it is to bring out persons, and so the Lord in chapter 20 comes where the disciples were.

W.S.S. In John 11 the Jews take account of the Lord's feelings in regard of Lazarus. Outsiders can see it.

J.T. Yes. That chapter brings out suggestions of what we are speaking of. He loved each of the persons mentioned.

R.R. In John 8, when they brought the woman to the Lord they were pretending to maintain principles but were not careful to save the person. The Lord was concerned about retaining the person. When the truth

governing the matter was maintained they went out, but the woman remained.

J.T. He said, "Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more", (John 8:11). To revert to Numbers 8, we see how the levites were taken and offered to God, and how God gave them to Aaron. You have levitical service in such circumstances, and that may be looked for.

Ques. Are the princes in chapter 7 the product?

J.T. Levitical work is brought to pass in these circumstances in connection with the tribes. Love in activity is in view.

E.B.G. There is abundant material for the carrying out of this service.

J.T. That is the suggestion. The princes are representative of the tribes, so that all the saints are contemplated, and we have great wealth expressed in unity.

CONDITIONS UNDER WHICH LEVITICAL SERVICE IS RENDERED - CONTINUED

Numbers 7:84 - 89; Numbers 8:1 - 26

J.T. We have reviewed briefly the instructions referring to levitical service in chapter 4, noting that the family of Levi is divided into three families, each representing a particular phase of levitical service. The Kohathites having to do with divine Persons, the carrying of the truth relative to the revelation of God, and the inner things pertaining to His service. The Gershonites having to do with the curtains and hangings of the tabernacle, signifying the fellowship of saints, the principles that govern our fellowship; and the Merarites having to do with the boards, pillars and bars, signifying the persons of the saints as subjects of care. The three chapters 5, 6 and 7 intervening between the ordering of the service and the actual entrance on it in chapter 8, provide obviously for suitable conditions, in which the Levites maintain their service.

Chapter 5 deals with the cleansing of the camp, the expunging of all evil, especially leprosy, and the assembly's unfaithfulness to Christ as seen in the law of jealousies. Then chapter 6 deals with the Nazarite, whose service runs on to the end of the dispensation; after he fulfils his service he can drink wine; there is thus the resumption of earthly relationships. There is in these chapters a suggestion of continuance until the end through the service of the Nazarite; the Nazarite referring particularly to Christ but also foreshadowing the saints. In chapter 7 we see the activity of love in the princes as representing the tribes; there is provision for the Levites, in the wagons and oxen, in order to facilitate their service; and then

there is "the dedication-gift of the altar". There is thus unity in appreciation of Christ, for the offering of each prince is the same; this is a most practical expression of the unity of the Spirit amongst the brethren, each prince having his day. The matter is spread out; God is so pleased with the love marking the tribes as thus seen, that He gives each prince a day, and then there is the aggregate of the offerings in these verses, 84 - 88. In the presence of all this, and consequent upon it, Jehovah speaks -- a very great thought! Moses went in to speak to Him, but heard a voice speaking, as it says, "from off the mercy-seat which was upon the ark of testimony, from between the two cherubim". So that we have the most authoritative speaking on the part of God. The chapter is peculiarly full of rich thoughts which are available to us, and which God would impress upon us, so that the service of the levites may go on unhindered.

E.B.G. What is the point in each one having his day?

J.T. God is so pleased with what is presented that He would have it spread out. Love underlies the service of the princes, and instead of having the aggregate alone, we have each prince by himself with his offering, on his day.

E.B.G. Did Barnabas have his day when he brought the price of his land and laid it at the apostles' feet? He seemed to be contributing all that he had in relation to the work of God.

J.T. That is an excellent illustration of what is meant. The Spirit of God enlarges on Barnabas. The enemy doubtless saw the bearing of his action and what an excellent example it was, and sought to neutralise it by imitation -- as he always does when a great principle of truth, or an evidence of love is set out. In Ananias and Sapphira we see the imitation, but they were exposed, and the judgment due fell upon

them. The offerings in Numbers 7:10 - 88 are the dedication-gift of the altar. The Levites' provision is at the beginning of the chapter, verse 3, where it says, "they brought their offering before Jehovah, six covered wagons, and twelve oxen". It will be noted that they did not formally bring these offerings -- the wagons and the oxen -- for the Levites. They presented them to God, and Jehovah says to Moses, "Take it of them, and they shall be for the performance of the service of the tent of meeting, and thou shalt give them unto the Levites" (verse 5). Everything is presented to God, even the Levites themselves, so that all comes out from God afterwards. The way the Spirit mentions these men is very noticeable: "the princes of Israel, the heads of their fathers' houses, the princes of the tribes, they that were over them" (verse 2). We are not left in any doubt as to who these men are.

J.H.B. Why were the wagons that were given, "covered" wagons?

J.T. The idea is the protection of what they carry. It is a principle in christianity and with God, that His things, as in the wilderness, are not exposed.

E.L.M. What would correspond to the wagons today, in relation to your thought of the care of the saints?

J.T. It will be observed that the Kohathites had no wagons. That is well known, and it is because of the peculiarly spiritual and sacred character of what they had to carry; whereas the Gershonites had to carry the curtains and hangings, which would be heavy things; and the Merarites had the boards, bars and pillars. In christianity the wagons would denote material things to some extent. The Levites have to travel, and their burden is heavy. It is not that the Kohathite presents one man, and the Gershonite another; but two aspects of the same person are shown. The Kohathite is occupied entirely with spiritual matters, the revelation of God in Christ and what is essentially linked with this revelation.

E.L.M. Does Joseph illustrate the Gershonite thought when he sent wagons for his father and his father's household?

J.T. This provision takes account of physical necessities, your railroad and steamship expenses, or whatever material needs you may have; wagons represent provision against that. They are not exactly spiritual, yet they represent spiritual affections. They are not treated lightly. The material things given to a levite are not treated as common, for the giving is not because he is exactly in need, but because he is occupied in these sacred things. "Let him that is taught in the word communicate to him that teaches in all good things" (Galatians 6:6); that is the recognition of levitical service.

Ques. Merari had more wagons than the others. In caring for individuals among the saints would you need more material in the way of love?

J.T. Yes. "Moses took the wagons and the oxen, and gave them to the Levites. Two wagons and four oxen he gave to the sons of Gershon, according to their service; and four wagons and eight oxen he gave to the sons of Merari" (verses 6 - 8). Paul had "the burden of all the assemblies". He further says, "Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is stumbled, and I burn not"? (2 Corinthians 11:28,29).

T.T. The Lord on the cross committed His mother to the care of John. Would that answer to this service?

J.T. It answers to the Merarite service. John has the Lord's mother handed over to him, which is in keeping with his gospel, stressing the idea of the persons of the saints. That is the Merarite service, pillars and boards. So the Lord's mother was a treasure to be cared for. She was handed over to John as his mother, and John was to be her son; so that he would carry on the service in a very affectionate way -- the near relation of mother and son existing.

E.L.M. If there had been a breakdown on the part of Merari in connection with the saints, the position in Numbers 7:89 would scarcely have been possible. The tent of meeting must be intact, and each one must be there.

J.T. It is in the presence of the expression of this love and unity, where there are tribal affections and wealth, that you get this speaking from God. God honoured the circumstances. If you have a meeting going on happily in love, He honours it; He shows that He appreciates what is there; He loves to honour His people. The dedication-gift brings out the wealth Godward that marks the saints as dwelling together in love. It is really Ephesians in principle; the keeping of "the unity of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace", (Ephesians 4:3). Spiritually it is not the unity that is the outcome of mutual agreement, nor of a creed or catechism, nor an unwritten set of principles, but a unity that is the spontaneous outcome of love. These princes were separated from one another by considerable distances; the suggestion being that it was not by a literal mutual agreement or by collaboration, but rather, typically, that saints being scattered in different parts of the world are all subjects of the work of God and all have the Spirit, and the Spirit works in them the same thought, feelings and desires, so that each prince offers the same.

W.F. What is the connection of the Levites with this offering?

J.T. They serve in the light of it, because the princes are really the Levites in another sense; the same persons. In reading the types we have to be on our guard that we do not become legal, and that our minds are not governed by literal settings. We have to understand that these princes represent Israel. You will notice throughout the earliest chapters the constant recurrence of the expression, "the children of Israel" -- what they did. The saints are viewed in that

spiritual way. As you examine these vessels of silver you can see that they were full of things that denote the blessed humanity of the Lord Jesus. That is what the princes represented; they were formed, typically at least, in His nature; what He was as Man. In other words, the saints who are spiritual are formed in that kind of humanity. Then the golden vessels which were full of incense represent what Christ is Godward. The princes themselves are the vessels; all this has to be understood spiritually.

E.L.M. Was Mary in John 12 one of the golden cups full of incense?

J.T. Just so. It was what she had. All this is a question of persons -- what they have by the Spirit.

W.S.S. In Colossians 2:2,3 we read: "that their hearts may be encouraged, being united together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the full knowledge of the mystery of God; in which are hid all the treasures of wisdom and of knowledge". Would that be in line with this?

J.T. Quite so. What is before us is a question of containing vessels, whether the saints are viewed individually, or as the assembly. We have the idea in the building of which David had the pattern: it contained treasuries (1 Chronicles 28:11). That is, persons who could keep things, like Mary, the Lord's mother; she kept the things and pondered them in her heart. The persons of the saints now are represented in these vessels.

W.S.S. Is it your thought that in the light of the wealth disclosed here, we would be encouraged to take up levitical service.

J.T. It has to do with conditions. The Levites are, perhaps, not provided for by reason of conditions. I believe these three chapters bring out the conditions in which the Levites are to serve, and to serve as pleasing to the Lord. In fact, they are offered to God as a wave-offering; He has something in them

peculiarly; and then He gives them to Aaron and to his sons to do the service of the tent of meeting.

A.H.G. What is the meaning of the three-fold presentation of the princes, "The princes of Israel, the heads of their fathers' houses, the princes of the tribes" (chapter 7:2)? What is behind that?

J.T. It brings out what they were, the offices they filled: "heads of their fathers' houses, the princes of the tribes, they that were over them that had been numbered". "Heads of their fathers' houses" gives the family setting; "the princes of the tribes" is a tribal setting. The idea of the tribe is a great subject in Scripture, denoting that love constitutes us capable of being manipulated, twelve being a very divisible number. The saints are in God's hand for holy, wise manipulation; and I think their being "princes of the tribes" would bring out the love they had, this would show that they were under the Lord's hand; and then it says, "they that were over them that had been numbered", which would mean that they were conversant with the saints -- they were persons who knew the brethren.

E.B.G. At the end of chapter 7 "Moses went into the tent of meeting to speak with Him", and it appears as though he was anticipated by Jehovah speaking. Does that give any suggestion of the importance of this communication?

J.T. I think Moses had something in his mind to say, but Jehovah asserts His liberty and desire to speak in those circumstances. It seems to be the taking up of a right on the part of Jehovah, but a very blessed one for His people, showing He is ready to speak in those circumstances. The circumstances furnishing Him with an opportunity of setting out the great principles and manner of His speaking, at all times. He speaks "from off the mercy-seat which was upon the ark of testimony, from between the two cherubim". That is the ground of His speaking in general way, and it

is a most blessed way. The speaking is full of what God is in Christ, full of mercy, of what God is in that blessed Person; it is speaking with authority. The cherubim denote authority. Speaking from God is at all times on this basis. There is authority in it. This was not simply for the one occasion; it is the great general principle of God's speaking, and He takes advantage of these circumstances to assert it.

W.F. Is it connected with Exodus 25:22 where Jehovah had said to Moses, "there will I meet with thee, and will speak with thee from above the mercy-seat, from between the two cherubim which are upon the ark of the testimony"?

J.T. That was God's intent. Now He has favourable circumstances, so He actually speaks, and that runs through the whole dispensation; when circumstances are favourable, He speaks to us. He would remind us that if He is not speaking, it must be that circumstances forbid.

E.T.S. Do you think that as we offer, God will speak to us?

J.T. Yes; you may expect God to say something; so that it is well to understand that in His communications He takes account of the conditions that exist. In Luke 19:11 we read, "as they were listening to these things, he added and spake a parable".

E.L.M. What is the difference between the thought of God speaking, and the diffusion of the light of the lamp at the beginning of chapter 8?

J.T. The lamps are the result in the saints. If God speaks through the Mediator, the light is to be diffused; the candlestick is to cause it to shine.

E.L.M. Is that how we would get the advantage and benefit of God's speaking in the Mediator?

J.T. That is what I understand. Attention is called to the candlestick itself; the light of the lamps is "to shine over against the candlestick". The perfection of Christ is seen as the light shines. As the Lord read

and spoke in the synagogue at Nazareth -- how morally beautiful He was! Every eye was fixed on Him. The seven lamps lighted would be the perfection of light in the saints or in the assembly by the Spirit.

T.T. In Acts 13:2 do we get a place where conditions were right, so that the Spirit was free to speak of levitical service, "Separate me now Barnabas and Saul"?

J.T. Exactly. Conditions available to God existed at Antioch, so that He speaks. It is well to notice in that section of Scripture, the service of Barnabas and Saul at Antioch first, and the giving on the part of those "well off" (chapter 12:29). These two brothers are then sent up to Jerusalem with that gift. The enemy sought to destroy the levites; and Barnabas and Saul come back, bringing with them John Mark; so that he is added to the levites at Antioch. And then we have the statement of the spiritual state of things in the assembly there. Hence the speaking by the Spirit in chapter 13.

L.D.M. Is speaking a feature of this dispensation? At the opening of Numbers 7, the tabernacle is set up and anointed and hallowed, suggesting the dispensation of the Spirit.

J.T. Quite so; God speaks in that relation. It is the idea of "the temple of God" -- a very comforting and blessed thought. The saints can come together and as together, afford conditions for the Spirit of God. "Do ye not know that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?" (1 Corinthians 3:16.) That is the ground we may take, and there would be conditions for divine speaking.

J.M. Is this the kind of speaking that Peter refers to? "If any one speak -- as oracles of God", (1 Peter 4:11).

J.T. That is right, from the temple or the oracle.

T.T. When Paul was speaking at Troas it says, that "there were many lights in the upper room" (Acts 20:8). Do

you connect that with the scripture in Numbers -- the speaking and the lights?

J.T. Yes, with the candlestick. Light goes with the speaking. I suppose the lights in Acts 20 would allude to the brethren who were present. What God was saying through Paul would be reflected in them.

E.L.M. Have we in Numbers 8 the moral conditions that bear on the Levites? They are to be cleansed by sprinkling of water and by passing the razor over them. If the conditions among the saints make service possible, will this raise an exercise with the levites, as to their moral state?

J.T. That is so. We read in chapter 8:7: "thus shalt thou do unto them, to cleanse them: sprinkle upon them water of purification from sin; and they shall pass the razor over all their flesh, and shall wash their garments, and make themselves clean". Moses was to do something, and they were to do something; that is, Christ does something for us, and then we do something. The razor deals with the removal of all natural growth, not only in relation to the head, but the razor was to be passed "over all their flesh", showing how thoroughly it is to be done. The levite has to attend to himself as to all the natural growth, so as to make room for spiritual growth, what is of God; he uses the razor himself.

W.S.S. Is it important that the levites were in the hands of Aaron. Would all levitical service be subject to that?

J.T. That is how the service goes on; Aaron offers them as a wave-offering before Jehovah, and then they are given to Aaron and to his sons, to perform the service of the tent of meeting. Aaron would typify Christ as Priest. He acts on the part of the children of Israel in offering the Levites, for they represent all; and then verse 11 says, "they shall perform the service of Jehovah".

J.H.B. What is the difference between verses 11 and 13? Both speak of the Levites as a wave-offering, but they were to be offered by Aaron in verse 11, and by Moses in verse 13.

J.T. Moses represents Christ's authority; in verse 13 his authority comes out; it says "thou shalt set the Levites before Aaron, and before his sons, and offer them as a wave-offering to Jehovah". Note how Aaron and his sons are recognized in this offering by Moses.

Ques. Will you say a word as to the cleansing by Moses; is there any suggestion of new birth?

J.T. This goes beyond that. New birth is by the Spirit, "born of water and of Spirit" (John 3:5). This goes further, as to water, than new birth, it is more like 1 John 5, the application of the death of Christ in the sense of moral cleansing. The idea of the razor is in connection with what is of the flesh -- fleshly conditions, which are thoroughly removed as by the power of the Spirit in the believer's self-judgment.

E.L.M. Would it have any bearing on the Lord's words to the disciples in John 13:10: "He that is washed all over needs not to wash save his feet, but is wholly clean"?

J.T. The Lord's action there indicates something like this.

E.L.M. Does John 15:3: "Ye are already clean by reason of the word which I have spoken to you", suggest that moral cleansing had come to pass?

J.T. The water is always the death of Christ in some sense. There is no other way of cleansing. There are two features in relation to death: the judicial side, which deals with one's sins; then there is the moral side which deals with one's state;, so that in order to serve, the latter must be applied.

Ques. Would you say that in Acts 15, where Barnabas wanted to take Mark, he was not prepared to pass the razor over Mark's flesh?

J.T. That is so. The bringing of Mark down from Jerusalem, mentioned in Acts 12, would mean that Jerusalem was contributing an additional bond between the work of God in Jerusalem and what was among the gentiles. Mark's failure afterwards does not alter that. His failure showed that he had not passed the razor thoroughly over himself. The razor would remove all natural growth including family links. The levite is one who has said to his father and mother, "I have not seen him", (Deuteronomy 33:9). Mark failed in that, but nevertheless potentially he was a levite; as we see afterwards, Paul says of him, "he is serviceable to me for ministry", (2 Timothy 4:11).

J.M. Why are the priests anointed in Leviticus 8 but in Numbers 8 the Levites only cleansed?

J.T. The priesthood really covers the whole levitical position, for the same persons are in view. The Levites were given to the priests; united indeed with Aaron in his service. In this sense the Levite merges in the priest.

E.B.G. In Numbers 8:20 we read that they "did to the Levites according to all that Jehovah had commanded", and then "the Levites purified themselves ... and afterwards the Levites came in to perform their service in the tent of meeting". These things are definitely taken up and become practically evident amongst the brethren.

J.T. That is what this chapter teaches. It shows that everything proceeded according to divine direction. "This is that which concerneth the Levites: from twenty-five years old and upward shall he come to labour in the work of the service". It appears as if the procedure here is so pleasing to God that he reduces the age to twenty-five, which would mean an increase in the number of levites. Where conditions are pleasing the number is increased: instead of beginning at thirty they are to begin at twenty-five. The way it is stated seems to me to suggest that it is God's pleasure in what He finds in the procedure, that He

delights to see the brethren serve, and would lower the age so as to include more.

E.L.M. The age was again reduced by David. Would that suggest that at the end of the day the age is again decreased? (1 Chronicles 23:24 - 27).

J.T. In David's day the age was reduced from twenty-five to twenty, as if the more spiritual the circumstances, the more God would increase the Levites. He would encourage young men and young women to come forward, and not to be deterred by age. "Let no one despise thy youth", (1 Timothy 4:12). You cannot help your youth, but to let no one despise it implies that I overcome the disadvantage by increased spirituality and sobriety.

E.T.S. It is interesting to see that there is nothing rigid with God; He enlarges what He delights in.

W.S.S. Does Numbers 8:23 suggest a new speaking based on the conditions?

J.T. That is right; it comes in here remarkably. God speaks as to the age being reduced after they had already taken up the service as stated in verse 22; "the Levites came in to perform their service in the rent of meeting before Aaron, and before his sons; as Jehovah had commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so did they to them. And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, This is that which concerneth the Levites: from twenty-five years old and upwards shall he come to labour in the work". It is as if Jehovah would express His pleasure in what had preceded. There is a great call for levites; a very great need for active workers. By the last words of David the age for service was lowered to twenty (1 Chronicles 23:27). The reason is given there; it is because they did not have to carry any more. It would apply more to assembly service. Here no reason is given; so the inference is that God is pleased with these conditions, and would encourage young men and women to take

up their levitical service, for every saint is held for levitical service from a month old and upwards.

A.C. What have you in mind in saying there is need for levites?

J.T. The need for servants of all kinds is very great; the Lord would say of every one: "The Lord hath need of him", (Mark 11:3). The need is so great, and He has pleasure in the service. It says in Haggai 1:8, "I will take pleasure in it".

A.H.G. What is the idea of age as applied today?

J.T. It is a question of spiritual maturity. In this book the military age is twenty, the levitical age is thirty. There is a modification of the latter here, but there is no modification of the military age; there is nothing below twenty. The modification of the levitical age here is obviously because God was pleased with what resulted; that everything went on as He required it; the circumstances were delightful to heaven.

E.B.G. Was the modification because of the existence of increased need, or because of increased wealth becoming evident amongst the people?

J.T. All those things would enter into it, but I think it was because God was pleased with what resulted. It is stated that "as Jehovah had commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so did they to them".

T.T. After Paul's faithfulness at the end of Acts 15 he parts from Barnabas and gets Timothy, and then we read of great increase and great success in service. Is that in line?

J.T. That is a good illustration of increase of the levites. Paul lost Barnabas, but he got Timothy -- and apparently Barnabas too, later, and Mark.

J.T.S. Jehovah says, "the Levites shall be mine". Would not that be a great leverage for this service?

J.T. That is a very precious word. Is that how you regard yourself, that you belong to God?

J.T.S. Is it not for that reason that "always abounding in the work of the Lord" (1 Corinthians 15:58), was stressed and encouraged. There was a censure upon the failure of the Tekoites to do this, "their nobles put not their necks to the work of their Lord", (Nehemiah 3:5).

J.T. The call is very insistent for more levites, active levites. All true christians are levites and are held for service, but the putting of the necks to the work, the doing of things, is what is lacking.

Ques. What is the thought as to separation here? Before the Levites are serviceable, they are separated from the children of Israel.

J.T. I think it is to bring out clearly that they represented the rights of God; all the firstborn were His by right, in view of the fact that they were saved from Egypt. The firstborn belong to Jehovah, and these were taken instead, so the separation would make that thought stand out. The Levite is entirely for God; He says, "that the Levites may be mine". Then He gives them to Aaron and to his sons, but before that, they are offered as a wave-offering by Aaron to Jehovah, on the part of the children of Israel; that is, the children of Israel are represented. Therefore it is a question of God's rights over us, that He might have us for service.

E.B.G. What is the thought in serving no more, retiring from the labour of the service?

J.T. I think the retirement indicates that the service requires spiritual power. It is not that a man of fifty loses his spiritual power, but it is God calling attention to what is required. The levite should see to it that he never loses his strength, that he never gets beyond fifty! The exigencies of the service require full manhood. If I am like Moses I never lose full manhood. Even if he is a hundred and twenty, he is in full manhood, in full vigour of life.

W.F. The keeping the charge seems to be distinguished

from serving. The levite still continues to keep the charge, does he not?

J.T. He is there; but God is asserting what the exigencies of levitical service require. It can only be taken up in the vigour of life. God will not have it otherwise.

W.H. Do you think Barnabas saw the need for levitical service when he went to find Saul (Acts 11:25)?

J.T. I think that is right, he knew he was suited for the work to be done.

Rem. The Lord honoured his service. Barnabas was a man full of the Holy Spirit, he had used the razor.

J.T. He is put forward as a typical levite.

W.L. How would speaking from the mercy-seat stand in relation to levitical service?

J.T. All service is carried on in the light of the communications God is making. A man who disregards current communications, the speaking of the Spirit, is disqualified. Every levitical service is carried on in relation to that.

W.S.S. The resources of the assembly come into evidence here. As coming into the service it is not only a question of what one has, but of what is available. Chapter 7 indicates a sphere of great wealth.

J.T. Yes. And then, the divine speaking is always authoritative, but first of all it is from the mercy-seat; it is a question of what God is towards us in mercy; then it is from above the ark, implying that the Person of Christ is involved; then "from between the two cherubim", which is a question of authority. There is authority in the speaking, but it is marked by these features, and I think the levites would characteristically take that on. None would disregard anything coming from the Lord, in that way.

Rem. The gospel of Mark ends with the Lord at the right hand of God, and the disciples going forth preaching everywhere.

J.T. Yes; things are carried on from that point, the right hand of God; and the preaching is marked by authority.

LEVITICAL SERVICE

John 4:28 - 38; John 6:67 - 71; John 21:20 - 23

J.T. The consideration of levitical service would be helpful at the present time, and the question was whether it should be taken up from the official side or from the moral aspect, and I thought John presents things in the latter way as in a day of brokenness. We have to arrive at the truth now through him, so that, in referring to those who serve, he avoids official designations and brings forward vessels who are moved at the outset more from instinct and affection. He begins with John the baptist, who had a very great official place, but in recording the facts relative to his ministry, he emphasizes John's own estimate of himself, which showed that he had a true estimate of himself and avoided the snares that were laid for him. He records of him: "he confessed, and denied not; but confessed, I am not the Christ" (chapter 1:20). So as to the Lord's conversation with this woman of Samaria the result in her, I thought, suggested how in a broken day the levitical service begins. We see the need and we are impelled, according to our measure, to meet it, without assuming anything beyond that. This woman was serving; the official ones were out of communion. They wondered that the Lord talked with the woman. They had been occupied in an expedition to buy meat while He was carrying on alone the work of God; so the incident leads to His calling their attention to the fact that they were entering on other men's labours; they were not the starters of the movement.

Ques. What do you mean by levitical service?

J.T. Well, service which recognizes the rights of the Lord Jesus, that is, His rights in redemption, and His rights to direct and lead, excluding man altogether. The selection of the tribe of Levi at the outset suggested the rights of God in a very special way. The firstborn belonged to Him, and He takes over the tribe of Levi

instead of the firstborn in Israel, and then He gives them over to Aaron and his sons for the service of the sanctuary. That is what levitical service is. We reach it through John in a most interesting way, but even so I think we should be governed by the light which governed this service at the outset. John the Baptist being brought forward in such a prominent way, according to his own estimate of himself, is a sort of ideal in John's gospel; he is one who refuses to take any place personally, and eventually goes down rejoicing in the light of the heavenly One. He directed souls from himself to Christ.

Ques. Is there any force in the fact that those who ask him, "Who art thou", came from Jerusalem?

J.T. It was a great opportunity for John to assert himself. The religious leaders of the day took notice of him, which is always very ensnaring, but he was not caught by it.

Ques. Would you say that the "true light" (chapter 1:9) of the gospel of John is spiritual? You were speaking of levitical service being governed by what is spiritual.

J.T. John's gospel is peculiarly spiritual. The Lord at the outset began by looking on Simon. John records that He looked on him and gave him a name; there was something noticeable to the Lord's eye. The nearer we are to God the more we shall be able to designate things that are of God. I think we may say that in the woman of Samaria levitical instincts developed at once.

Ques. Do you mean that it needs spiritual understanding to take up John 4?

J.T. Yes. The Levites were all firstborn ones, so that they had great dignity at the outset. I think the Spirit of God indicates that the woman was governed by levitical instinct in going to the men of the city. At the same time the disciples were questioning why He spoke with her

T.R. Would those instincts be promoted by the exposure of her state by the Lord?

J.T. A Man had come distinctly before her. She had been occupied with men. She did not go beyond her measure. She just said: "Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?" She began by suggesting something, presenting it in the form of an inquiry.

Ques. What do you see in the fact of her presenting it in the form of an inquiry?

J.T. An inquiry which induces an affirmative is often the best way of enforcing the truth.

Rem. A prophet had spoken and she speaks of a prophet.

J.T. She did not get beyond that, and she expresses the inquiry: "Is not this the Christ?" But I understand the Lord would raise the whole question of service. First, He says to the disciples that He had meat to eat that they knew not of. That was a very humbling thing to draw their attention to. His meat was to do the will of Him that sent Him and to finish His work. The disciples wondered that He talked with a woman; they were out of communion. He had meat that they knew not of. They had gone away into the city to buy meat. There is no indication that they all needed to go, but apparently they all did go; so that the work of God for the moment, as far as they were concerned, was left. The Lord was left to do it and to finish it.

Ques. Why do you emphasize to finish it?

J.T. The Lord does not care for anything that is not finished.

H.F.N. How do you view the thought of the work being finished in the light of John's ministry?

J.T. Well, He pursues things to a finish. Take the first chapters; you have the complete idea of the work of God ending in millennial joy. The third day is the final day. Then in chapter 12 the great testimony

of life is seen in result in that group at Bethany; and so chapter 13 has its result in chapter 20. Likewise in regard to Peter, who, according to this gospel, is the only one who received a definite commission, the work is completed in him. The Lord bottoms everything with him before He gives him his work. Then in John's own service the end is in view. "If I will that he tarry till I come" (chapter 20:22). John is held in reserve, I apprehend, for the finishing touches in a mysterious way at the end, which I have no doubt we are experiencing now. The final touches are seen in his ministry. Things are finished by the Lord through him, so that the assembly is seen in its completeness in his writings (Revelation 21).

H.F.N. In linking that up you were speaking of the thought of food -- meat to eat. Are you suggesting the peculiar kind of food to promote this levitical service?

J.T. Levitical food is in doing the will of God in service. He had that to eat that they did not know about. There was meat that they knew not of. "Lo, I come, (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will" (Hebrews 10:7). That is really the foundation of all books. That was the secret with the Lord, the secret into which we are to be brought, because the work of God is one whole. The Lord places the disciples in a humbling position when He says: "other men laboured, and ye are entered into their labours". It was a very humbling thing to be reminded that they had entered on other men's labours. It is not the inauguration of things here at all. Even as to His own work, the Lord says: "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work" (John 5:17).

J.B.C-l. Have you in mind that especially in John's gospel you get the character of spiritual affections, and support for those affections, that are engaged with the service of God in a levitical way?

J.T. That is suggestive. This woman is evidently touched, and the Lord bases His commission to Peter

on: "lovest thou me?" (John 21:15). "Peter, turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following". That was the man that was held in reserve. "What shall this man do? Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me" (John 21:20 - 22).

J.B.C-l. Do you think that "Follow thou me" involves the essence of John's ministry?

J.T. Yes, love follows; following is a feature of John's ministry. At the beginning of the gospel the Lord turned and saw the two following, and when He saw them following, He said, "What seek ye?" as if He indicated His appreciation of the idea of following.

J.B.C-l. Is that line of levitical service necessary in the filling of the vessel? Chapter 4 is interesting in that connection. You spoke of the woman as having a beginning. Does she not find that the Lord is filling her vessel?

J.T. Yes, she is set right as to her body. Obviously we cannot be levites without bodies, and bodies purified; so the woman left her waterpot. She might conveniently have taken it back with her filled for ordinary uses, but she observed the Lord's remarks that her body was to be a vessel and one with living water in it, "the water that I shall give him shall be in him", hence it says, she left her waterpot.

P.L. Would the levitical company in the last chapter of Romans suggest those who had been set right in regard to their bodies?

J.T. Yes; the subject begins in chapter 6 and is taken up in chapter 12, where the body is to be a living sacrifice, and hence in John 4 the servant must have a true estimate of himself. Whatever one does is done in intelligence according to the measure which God has apportioned; so that the question in this chapter is the vessel. The apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 4:7 enlarges on it. He speaks of the treasure that he had in it. The woman is not yet assuming to be anything

but the thing was there and Paul works it out in his own case in saying: "we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us". But he begins by saying, "seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not" (verse 1); so that the vessel is most important to begin with. Not only is it to be pure, but it is to be in life, for this is the feature of John 4.

W.H.B. I suppose that this woman, in her former state, was devoted to herself, and now she is devoted to God.

J.T. She is a vessel now, a vessel energized by life, for the Lord had spoken of that to her. I was remarking on the importance of the vessel. Unless our vessels are right, we cannot serve. This chapter settles the question of the vessel.

M.W.B. Is that one of the ideas in the "firstborn", the claiming of the vessel?

J.T. Yes. The Lord had in view the service of the tabernacle. It is a very important question as to our vessels, for the Lord will not take us up as we were. In John 6 Peter is the spokesman and he recognizes "the holy one of God"; he says, "Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast words of life eternal". That is the One who is carrying on the work of God, so that the Lord there addresses the twelve. It is the nearest approach to an official recognition.

M.W.B. Have you brought this case before us to suggest the initial features of levitical service, the vessel being for God?

J.T. Yes; we cannot be in it unless our vessels are right. The Levites were put into the work at twenty-five years; but they were not recognized fully until they were thirty. One has to take up things and see how others serve. Now the apostle Paul began his service in Damascus. There is no indication that the Lord told him to preach there. He did not receive his commission until he had laboured a whole year

at Antioch, but he began to preach that Jesus is the Son of God in the synagogues of Damascus. Wherever there was an open door, he took advantage of it.

M.W.B. Is that what you meant by instinctive service?

J.T. Yes. I think it indicates John the evangelist's idea as presented in John the baptist. At Damascus Paul preached from a full heart. His heart was gained; he had come into the light of the Son of God -- One who loved him and gave Himself for him.

R.W. Would the little maid in Naaman's house be a vessel secured?

J.T. Exactly; that is good.

H.F.N. Is it right to connect Chronicles, and the way David views the Levites, with the way levitical service is presented in John, and Numbers more with Mark?

J.T. I think that is helpful. You find the Spirit of God reaches David very early in Chronicles. He reaches him in chapter 3. David thought about the ark, "Lo, we heard of it at Ephratah: we found it in the fields of the wood", (Psalm 132). There is the man, and he gives the Levites their work.

H.F.N. Would the reduction of the age of the Levites in David's day have a special reference to the present moment in view of John's ministry?

J.T. I think the work was less strenuous in David's day. He says specifically that they did not need to carry things. I think the suggestion is right, because the Lord says, "I will put upon you none other burden". They were set in the service at twenty in David's day and there were twenty-four courses. Some of them had to look after the treasures and take care of what men who had afterwards gone wrong had dedicated. They had to look after what David had dedicated, what Samuel had dedicated, what Joab had dedicated,

and what Abner had dedicated. Three of those men had fallen out of the ranks, yet what they had dedicated was not to be lost, and that was part of the Levites' work. You cannot ignore what a brother was before he fell; what he dedicated then must be preserved; that is to say, David would have nothing lost; everything is gathered up and preserved under him (1 Chronicles 26:26 - 28).

P.L. Do you see that spirit in the Lord Himself gathering out of Israel every living thought that God had put there and transferring it to the assembly?

J.T. Other men had laboured. The result of the work of God as seen in the Old Testament is recognized and gathered up. All is treasured in the assembly, and the levites are to know this. We cannot afford to lose anything that is of God.

I think the suggestion is most helpful, that Chronicles fits in with John. It is a deeply interesting book; it fits into a time of recovery. The use of the numeral "twenty-four" indicates a leading feature of David's testimony. There was a new order of things, but it included all that God had previously introduced. All that came out under Moses is there, and the last chapter of 1 Chronicles is most expressive in that way as showing how David recognized that all that had been dedicated was from God Himself (verse 16). God has done everything; the more you advance spiritually the more you recognize that everything emanates from God, and that the work is His; what is the little bit that I do? God really does all, although He graciously credits each with the part he may have in it.

H.F.N. I would like to get help on your second point, as to how the "holy one of God" would relate to levitical service.

J.T. Peter says: "we have believed and known that thou art the holy one of God". We see in Peter the woman's spiritual history continued, although

many things have intervened. The Lord says: "Will ye also go away?"; and Peter says, "Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast words of life eternal". Thou hast them. Peter had recognized the Lord had things; the things are connected with the Person; that is, Peter's reference is to his knowledge of the Lord personally. But then he says, "we have believed and known". That is past. It refers to the past but it is carried on; "we have believed and known that thou art the holy one of God". That is to say, Peter is, so to speak, a levite. It refers to past but continued experience.

D.L.H. What is the present force of the "holy one of God"? Even the demons recognized the Lord thus.

J.T. Yes, in Mark, the man possessed of the demon and all the vile sentiments that the demon would produce in a man was in the synagogue. The Lord commanded him to come out and he came out with a loud cry, as if he resented having to do it; but he had to submit, and coming out he acknowledged that the Lord was the "holy one of God" (Mark 1:24); the man was in the synagogue in an unholy way, but not to be so henceforth. If the Lord took him up he would be holy. So here it is not "the Christ, the Son of the living God", but "the holy one of God", which I suppose would refer back to the Old Testament. That is what Messiah was to be (Psalm 89:18,19).

J.J. Would it suggest, "Aaron the saint of the Lord" (Psalm 106), do you think?

J.T. I think so. That is what Aaron was, but it has reference to the Lord Himself, as in Psalm 16:10. It says: "thou wilt not ... suffer thine Holy One to see corruption".

J.J. You referred to the Levites being handed over to the priests.

J.T. Well, they were, and this implies the need of holiness. I think Peter in this way represents true

levitical understanding apart altogether from what happened later when he received his commission. When he said, "we have believed and known that thou art the holy one of God", he had come to that conclusion. In the other evangelists, Peter is challenged more formally and he answers the Lord directly, but this is in keeping with John, because the work of God is to be carried on in a holy way.

M.W.B. Is that only obtained by experience with and knowledge of the Lord?

J.T. I think so. One feels for oneself, how wanting one is in this respect.

W.H.B. Would Peter's words suggest the teaching of chapter 6?

J.T. No doubt. I suppose the teaching in John is progressive and cumulative; that is, Peter's confession here follows on from chapter 4. It is a great advance on the woman's testimony.

M.W.B. Then, is the first case the instinctive movements or beginnings of levitical service and this rather full development?

J.T. I think so. It suggests the position held by Eleazar. He represents the spirituality of the priesthood. Peter had come to that; the Lord is really the "prince of princes of the Levites", (Numbers 3:32). So that the question is how one is handling the things of God, whether we allow our minds to work. Look about on christendom and see how the things of God are handled! How many unholy men are engaged in levitical work! And so I think Peter shows that he had come to apprehend what the Lord was in carrying on the work of God.

D.L.H. Would Moses be on somewhat similar lines when called to the service of delivering the people? He had to learn that he must take his shoes from off his feet (Exodus 3:5).

J.T. Just so, and so with Joshua (Joshua 5:15).

Rem. 1 Peter 1:15 says: "as he who has called you is holy, be ye also holy in all your conversation".

J.T. Yes. The Levites had to be particularly holy; they were all called to holiness. It is remarkable that in Romans the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, and in the beginning of the epistle Christ is declared to be the Son of God according to the Spirit of holiness by resurrection.

Ques. Does Judas come in as a warning?

J.T. The Lord referred to Judas. That there should be such among the people of God is a most solemn consideration. "One of you is a devil".

Ques. This holiness that Peter appreciated would be the development of what the woman felt?

J.T. That is what I thought. The truth is presented in a progressive way. The teaching really begins in chapter 3, because "born of water" involves holiness. Peter had come to apprehend that Jesus was the Holy One of God. That would be before him and I have no doubt he was brought to that when the Lord probed him and gave him his work. The Lord said "When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest"; that hardly suggests holiness, but rather will; "but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not" (chapter 21:18); this suggests entire resignation.

W.H.B. The men that went out with David carried holy vessels; although that holiness was of a different character to the external holiness set forth in the shewbread.

J.T. "The vessels of the young men are holy", he says, so that they could eat the shewbread.

J.B.C-l. Levitical service, as seen in the Old Testament, was all connected with and governed by holy words. The words to which Peter refers here were words which he understood and connected with "the holy one of God".

J.T. Quite so. It is in connection with the Kohathites that Eleazar was prince of princes of the Levites (Numbers 3:32), because they had to handle the most sacred things. They were situated south of the tabernacle and so had a good aspect. I apprehend that this refers to the influence of holy affections, so that the Kohathites would take up the holy things of the sanctuary in a holy way.

P.L. Would John himself have the southern aspect on the bosom of Jesus?

J.T. Yes. It is very remarkable that the Spirit of God does not wait to finish the directions as to the Levites, but directly Kohath's service is mentioned, He says, "the prince of princes of the Levites was Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest: he had the oversight of them that kept the charge of the sanctuary". Their work was so important; they had to do with the ark and all the holy things. So that you feel you have to be under the direct touch of the Lord in handling what relates to Himself immediately.

J.B.C-l. There was a constant danger lest a Kohathite should see the holy things uncovered, in the movements of the tabernacle.

J.T. Yes; you mean the priests covered them?

Ques. How do you understand the blessing of Levi? "Let thy Thummim and thy Urim be with thy holy one", (Deuteronomy 33:8).

J.T. That was in reference to him as taking up the service of the sanctuary. He "said to his father and to his mother, I see him not". That is what comes out in John. If we are engaged in holy things, we must disregard natural claims for the time; the Lord is very jealous in regard to how one is handling His things. They are to be handled in a spiritual way; "communicating spiritual things by spiritual means" (1 Corinthians 2:13). The apostle Paul shows in 2 Corinthians how concerned he was in regard of his vessel -- he valued the treasure and he wished that the vessel might be right.

Rem. Levi had been a lawless man.

J.T. Quite; he slew a man.

Rem. With him there had been great soul history.

W.H.B. What was the treasure in Paul's vessel?

J.T. The ministry of the new covenant, I apprehend. The love of God. The Lord brought it in administratively; He is the Mediator of it. Paul says, "who has also made us competent, as ministers of the new covenant" (2 Corinthians 3:6). That is the treasure Paul referred to, he rejoiced in it.

Rem. In the last four churches in Revelation, Philadelphia is the only one the Lord approves; there He was recognized as the holy and true One.

J.T. Quite. And He states that there were those "which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee" (Revelation 3:9). That is a very comforting thought.

The passage we read in John 21 shows how we have to leave each other to the Lord. John's work was to be left. Peter had received his commission and here was a man who apparently had no commission, at any rate as far as Peter knew. Peter saw him following and said, "what shall this man do?" There is no need to inquire if one is following the Lord. This scripture teaches us how to leave each other with the Lord. If a man is not following, then you are responsible for his conversion; but if he be a follower of Christ, you can leave him and go on with your own work. You have plenty to do yourself.

H.F.N. Would you mind saying a word in regard to the fact that Peter and John are constantly seen together? I think you have spoken of the early chapters in Acts as being Peter-and-John chapters. How does that mutual spirit between those two brothers bear on distinct levitical service?

J.T. I think they represent two features of the dispensation -- the administrative side and the family

side; but they must have been most congenial companions to each other.

H.F.N. Would your thought be that each must stand out in his own levitical capacity?

J.T. Quite. There are men you can trust. If a man is following you can trust him. I think one great point in John is to establish confidence, and he works it out so that the breath of Christ ensures that you can rely on a brother; the Lord can rely on him. As breathing into the disciples He entrusted them with the prerogative of forgiving or retaining sins. I think the breath of Christ established confidence, and Peter could well afford to let John alone. He was the one that leaned on Jesus at supper time; Jesus loved him. I think John would set you up at the top. The Levites are all firstborn ones -- a most extraordinary thing -- because each Levite represented a firstborn. Hence, the more I apprehend my calling, the more lowly I shall be in my service, because my calling, my family relation, is greater than my service.

P.L. Do you see that in John; the Lord gives the lustre of His Person to all that He does?

J.T. Quite. Every Levite is a firstborn. "The assembly of the firstborn who are registered in heaven" (Hebrews 12:23) refers to that, so that I am here in the secret knowledge of my place with God. That is the secret of power in levitical work, otherwise I shall regard my service as adding to me personally, and then I become clerical.

J.J. How does the family spirit enter into levitical service?

J.T. You take it up in the light of the dignity you have as a firstborn. But then the others are all firstborn ones. I do not know whether in natural things there is anything that inspires respect more than the mutual recognition of dignity; the knowledge that we are all firstborn ones is an immense spiritual lever

to the soul. You are dealing with persons who are dignified.

Ques. Is that what the Lord meant when He said: "Rejoice, because your names are written in heaven" (Luke 10:20)?

J.T. Quite. They came back flushed with victory, but He said that they should not rejoice in that, great as it was, but in the fact that their names were written in heaven.

Ques. Does the last verse of John's gospel suggest the vastness of the service?

J.T. There is plenty for the levite to minister.

Rem. In the Old Testament some of the Levites were made singers.

J.T. That would fit in with what we have been saying about John. It says that David and the captains (that is, the military men) "separated to the service of the sons of Asaph, and of Heman, and of Jeduthun, who should prophesy with harps, with psalteries, and with cymbals", (1 Chronicles 25:1). Why should military men be exercised about the service of song? I have no doubt it refers to the way our households are matured and develop into the assembly. Those who were separated were under the hand of those three singers, and one of them is said to have had fourteen sons, who were under his hand for the service of song. They were all under the hand of their father for song in the house of the Lord. God gave them to him, it says. The Lord says in John 17:24: "those whom thou hast given me".

LEVITICAL SERVICE - CONTINUED

Mark 3:13 - 19; Mark 6:7 - 13, 30 - 32; Mark 9:14 - 29

J.T. In considering the subject of the levites and their service, we have, in order to understand it rightly, to approach it through John's writings, because of the brokenness of the present state of things. John names certain ones as coming forward and serving without any direct commission, but as the result of the light that came to them. As an example, Andrew went out and found Peter; Philip found Nathanael; and the woman of Sychar returned to the city and addressed herself to the men, telling them about the Lord. The object of John in recording this subject, as in all others, is to show that it is progressive; so that the woman in chapter 4 being set right as to her vessel, left her waterpot and went her way into the city; then chapter 6 shows that the vessel being secured, the levite apprehends Christ as the "holy one of God", recognizing that the work of God is carried on in holiness. The levitical activity is shown, too, to be the outcome and result of love, so the Lord probes Peter as to loving Him and then commits the sheep and the lambs to him. Then John is seen as one that is following the Lord.

The thought now is to look at Mark and see how the levites are recognized officially; how they come into evidence in an official way, and for that they come under the Lord's direct influence and training. That is why I suggested chapter 3, which refers to the Lord's sovereign selection; "that he might send them to preach". I thought the occasion arises from being with Him on the mount.

M.W.B. You drew a contrast between Paul preaching immediately at Damascus and the way he was commissioned

when he had been at Antioch a year. Do you link it with this line of things?

J.T. Quite. The Holy Spirit records that he remained certain days with the disciples and then preached in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God. In the ordinary version it says that Saul inquired of the Lord what he should do, but that part of verse 6 of Acts 9 does not appear in the original: not that Saul did not ask, but the Holy Spirit appears to have left it out at the outset, thus showing in greater relief the fact that he acted of himself in preaching in the synagogues. And then we are told that he went up to Jerusalem to make acquaintance with Peter, showing how wise he was in recognizing that particular vessel already in active service. It appears, too, that Peter took notice of the progress the testimony was making, for in raising up Aeneas he says, "Jesus Christ maketh thee whole: arise, and make thy bed", as if to say the order now is to learn to do things for oneself. Then he restores Tabitha from the dead and presents her alive. All that, I think, serves to enhance Paul's visit to Jerusalem to make acquaintance with Peter. The testimony would move on in that way in happy fellowship; but still he has to wait, and Barnabas finds him at Tarsus and brings him to Antioch, and he remains there for a year serving the saints with Barnabas. Then the Holy Spirit says, when they were ministering to the Lord, "Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them"; that is, the servants are now ready; the saints have had full opportunity to be acquainted with them and the Holy Spirit gives this charge. It was the sovereign act of the Spirit to call them out and send them forth. And so I think the apostle Paul may be taken as a representative levite. I rather think that Mark speaks of the subject from the standpoint of Paul's ministry. It is "The beginning of the gospel of Jesus

Christ, the Son of God" (Mark 1:1). That was the burden of Paul's ministry of the gospel.

M.W.B. Does the expression at the beginning of the gospel suggest the atmosphere in which the service would be carried out?

J.T. Quite, and it was not an emergency movement. That is important, so that the prophet is immediately quoted in regard of the ministry of John the baptist. There is no such thing with God as an emergency movement; He foresees everything and arranges for things beforehand. We must never think that God is taken unawares. The Lord, according to Mark, waits till John is cast into prison before He begins to serve, and attention is called to the kind of persons whom He selects. They are engaged in legitimate occupations. Two are casting a net into the sea; the other two are mending the nets with their father. The Lord goes into the synagogue and there He finds that Satan is in power; so He deals with evil in its religious setting first. Evidently Satan in hindering the service of God has his greatest stronghold in the religious systems, so the Lord casts out the demon and He is recognized as the "holy one of God". Then He goes into the synagogue again, chapter 3, and a man is there with a withered hand. He has no power for work, but his hand is restored; and this incident precedes the action of the Lord in calling "whom he would". He acts sovereignly on the mountain in calling whom He Himself would.

R.B. Would the instances referred to in John's gospel answer to levitical service beginning at twenty-five, and this in Mark at thirty?

J.T. I think that is correct. The Lord literally entered on service at thirty. He appears here in full manhood.

A.M.H. Would that be the present bearing of the official side of service?

J.T. I think you take it up in the light of what is established primarily; you retain, so to speak, your

John character. One always hesitates to use the word "servant" because it has become an official designation. John, when pressed to give an account of himself, refused to take any other place than that of "a voice", saying that there was Another coming, the latchet of whose shoes he was not worthy to stoop down and unloose. All this indicates that John the baptist represents the divine thought as to service as presented in John's gospel. You move in the light of levitical service as seen in Mark; you do not, however, assume any official place.

P.L. Isaiah 42:1 says, "Behold my servant, whom I uphold", and "mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth". Would the former be Mark's line, the power of God with Him, and the latter answer to John, serving in the power of liberty and love?

J.T. Quite.

A.M.H. Would John's line be more your dealings with God, and Mark's the way in which your activities would be expressed?

J.T. According to Mark things would be not only done, but done well; and in John, as you say, there was a man sent from God. One has to be known as sent. All saints are levites, but we are speaking for the moment of those actually engaged in service, and one has to be consciously sent. As we were seeing in John, as doing things voluntarily you find the Lord endorsing what is done by Andrew and Philip and the woman of Samaria; but there was a man sent from God. What do you think about that?

A.M.H. I do not know that I quite follow.

J.T. I am speaking of John. John speaks of Andrew and Philip. They go out; Andrew finds Simon and Philip finds Nathanael without being sent, as far as we know. The Lord acts in relation to that, but then the gospel is really based on the fact that there was a man sent from God. The Lord constantly refers to that.

H.F.N. Does our levitical service as seen in John flow from our family relationship, while in Mark the service flows from our links with the tabernacle and the anointed system?

J.T. I think that is good. Those taken up in Mark were already working; those who serve in the beginning of John (Andrew and Philip) were in the abiding place: the secret of family affections. I have no doubt that is important. John 1:14 says, "(... we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth". The service in John is governed by the enjoyment of family relationship, but those taken up in Mark are already working; Andrew and Simon are not in the abiding-place, they are casting a net into the sea, so that work is in view, and good workmanship.

Rem. The work must be carried on in the spirit of the family. Your point is that John must underlie Mark?

J.T. That is it.

Rem. Mark would value things being done well, after his failure and recovery.

J.T. He went back from the work; then he was restored; and Paul says, "he is profitable to me for the ministry" (2 Timothy 4:11). He is profitable now in that in which he had failed. I have no doubt he saw levitical service in Paul and valued it after he was restored.

W.H.B. Did Mark essay to come out before his novitiate as a levite was finished?

J.T. He does not seem to have been of full manhood. Now he delights to go over the things relative to true levitical service. He presents perfection in service from the outset. The work is not to be undertaken in one's natural strength. The man whose right hand was withered was restored, but there has to be the sovereign call of Christ. We have to recognize that He calls.

M.W.B. Do you suggest that we should have the sense of that call today?

J.T. I think so. There is no definiteness about us if we do not know that; and we would be getting in the way of other people. If you have a definite call from the Lord, anybody getting in your way will suffer; the Lord will have to say to such.

M.W.B. In John they seem to move by impulse, but here there is education necessary that they might be with Him.

J.T. You have to be with Him, and He gives the names indicating what your service is to be. H will see you through in whatever work He gives you to do.

M.W.B. And if we venture on a line for which the Lord has not adapted us, we cannot count on His support.

J.T. No, you cannot. The apostle Paul is a great example. We have little idea of the incessant opposition there was to Paul, but he says, "the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me; that by me the preaching might be fully known" (2 Timothy 4:17) -- not simply that the preaching should be fully known, but "by me" -- it was to be known through Paul, because the Lord had given it to him. The Lord went up into a mountain and called unto Him whom He would. It is great comfort to know that the Lord Himself will stand by you; it is useless anyone interfering; you know the Lord will have His way. I think that is the point in 2 Timothy: "The Lord stood with me and strengthened me; that by me the preaching might be fully known".

J.J. Is there any thought of co-operation with one's brethren in service? The Lord calls the twelve in that way.

J.T. That is opening up another thing. You notice that in Matthew they are called by twos, but singly

in Mark. Matthew 10:2 reads, "Now the names of the twelve apostles are these; The first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip, and Bartholomew", etc.; they are in twos, but singly in Mark. In Mark 6 they are sent out by twos, but they are called severally. I think that in Matthew you find twos more than in any other gospel. Matthew has in view the breaking up of the world system; there are two demoniacs in Matthew. In Mark they were sent out by twos, which I think would mean that whilst they were called severally and each had his own history with the Lord, God would have an adequate testimony sent out into the world. I think that is what is in view in Mark.

J.J. I thought perhaps we could not serve without considering our brethren. We would not like to go off on our own account without sympathetic support and mutuality.

J.T. I think that is important, and Acts 13 would support it. Barnabas and Paul were sent out in the full sympathy of the saints. Then the question arises as to whether the principle of going in twos applies now. I think it was necessary in the calling of the apostles in view of meeting the world system. "Two are better than one", and "a threefold cord is not quickly broken" (Ecclesiastes 4:9,12). In Mark, I think, it is that God would give men an adequate testimony. Where the gospel was to be preached there was to be an adequate testimony, and what you find is that they anoint people in their service; they leave behind them a witness. Mark would have an adequate testimony in the world.

A.M.H. Do you think more than one is necessary for this anointing? One can understand the need for individual service but supposing any position is difficult, do you not think we need more than one to bring in an atmosphere so that there might be help?

J.T. Quite. Two is adequate testimony according to the principle of Scripture, and then they would support each other. There would be increased power; the kingdom would be present, but then I do not think that it would be necessary from John's point of view -- that is, in a broken state of things. Peter is commissioned alone in John, and he is not to interfere in another's service.

H.F.N. Is that supported in connection with the tabernacle? You have two men, Bezaleel and Aholiab, working together; but in Chronicles there is only one man specially skilled in connection with the construction of the temple. I wondered whether that would answer more to John's line.

J.T. That is very good, I think. In a broken state of things, as that with which Nehemiah had to do, he said, "neither told I any man what my God had put in my heart". God had spoken to him and he kept it to himself; he came to Jerusalem and viewed the city by night; then he spoke to the elders and told them, and they all moved in the work, saying, "Let us rise up and build", (Nehemiah 2:11 - 18). There was a general movement so that the wall was completed in a very short time -- fifty-two days. And then when questions arose, he said, "I consulted with myself", (Nehemiah 5:7). That might seem independency, but I think it is a principle in a day of brokenness. You are not inaugurating anything; or presenting the testimony where it has not been presented before. The ministry today is in connection with those who already know the Lord.

P.L. Do you not get this thought in John himself in Patmos: "his bondman John" (Revelation 1:1)?

J.T. Yes.

H.F.N. Would Timothy stand out very distinctly in regard of service? One man is specially addressed and made responsible. He stands out alone in his

levitical service. Provision is thus made for the "man of God".

J.T. One of the most precious parts of our heritage is that of brotherly confidence; "in the multitude of counsellors there is safety" (Proverbs 11:14). Let us take counsel wherever we can get it; very often what one overlooks another sees. You find that as Paul proceeded on his way to Jerusalem, he was actuated in some respects by the brethren's advice, which is an important thing; but on the other hand, I think John would set us up as men knowing how to act of ourselves, knowing what to do in a crisis. In the addresses to the assemblies overcomers are regarded individually.

A.M.H. While individual service and exercise are essential, would you entirely set aside the thought of co-operation? For instance, in Nehemiah's day you have those who worked in groups.

J.T. They would correspond with localities today. They were all under his direction. The great point, I am sure, is confidence, for without that things must break down, and there will be no co-ordination. I think the Spirit, breathed into the disciples in John 20, was to establish confidence. The Lord would confide in them and they were to confide in one another; so with Peter and Paul. Paul went up to make his acquaintance, but later there was a disagreement and Paul had to withstand him to his face. Yet Peter writes afterwards in 2 Peter 3:15: "our beloved brother Paul", showing how confidence had been maintained, and that whilst they were labouring far apart geographically. What often interferes with confidence is distance, whereas the Spirit which we have received should not be affected by geographical distance. You see how distance affected the Corinthians when Paul was away from them. His second letter was to correct their want of confidence. He says: "Receive us: we have injured no one", etc.

P.L. We see that in John again, "I John, your brother" (Revelation 1:9). He will not allow that distance in Patmos affected his relations with his brethren.

J.T. Quite.

J.J. Do you think that as the house is often referred to in Mark, it suggests that the spirit of service should be carried on in family character?

J.T. Yes, I agree with that; hence the fever conditions were removed out of Simon's house at the outset.

Ques. Speaking in a practical way, sometimes one may have an exercise in regard of a certain meeting where there is practically no fellowship; does it not help in such a case for two or three to go together and show fellowship?

J.T. Much may be done in that way. Suspicion is so easily aroused; two or three are more likely than one to establish good mutual feeling. Paul associates brethren with him in writing most of his epistles.

In regard to Mark 6, "they went out, and preached that men should repent. And they cast out many devils, and anointed with oil many that were sick, and healed them"; it seems to me that the testimony is greatly augmented by the anointing. In the person anointed there is something set up in a locality in dignity for God. Where there was weakness or sickness one is set up as anointed. The idea in anointing is public testimony.

A.M.H. You would be exercised to see whether this was left behind.

J.T. Just so. It was exemplified in the apostle Paul; as he moved about the assemblies were established. That was the thing. The anointing goes with this (2 Corinthians 1:21). I have no doubt the thought really began in Genesis 28, where the pillar is set up and anointed with oil. That would be for God in testimony.

Ques. Does the anointing follow the preaching of repentance?

J.T. Yes. Repentance makes room for the Spirit. The Lord says in chapter 6 further down, when the apostles are gathered together to Him: "Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest awhile ... And they departed into a desert place by ship". It seems as if the Lord there meets a certain condition that arises in those who serve. The desert is not fruitful. We have to learn what we are there; in active service we may be full of matter, but when we get into the desert it is different; we are not so full of matter as when on the platform, and we are tested as to how much we have really got ourselves. It is a very wholesome exercise.

M.W.B. I think sometimes the Lord gives remarkable support sovereignly and then there is the test when you get alone.

J.T. How much you have got yourself.

M.W.B. Would you enlarge a little on this wilderness experience?

J.T. I think you are tested as to how much you have definitely yourself. It is a wholesome thing to get with the Lord in the desert to discover just what you have got. It may be you thought you had a good deal more, because you are able to preach a good sermon, or that you get on very well in the reading and are able to bring out a lot of things. The disciples spoke about what they had done and what they had taught. Now they are with the Lord and everything is in the light as it is. There is no way in the desert with the Lord by which you can exaggerate or magnify what you have got beyond what it is.

A.M.H. Would you make that a practice, after each portion of service to get to the Lord in this way?

J.T. I would, and the Lord would order your circumstances to that end. What does one get oneself? Undoubtedly if saints come together from a distance and make considerable sacrifice, the Lord

may use any of us, because He takes account of those that have come, and He would meet the situation; but then, what have I myself? Here the apostles were not conscious of having anything with which to feed the crowds (Mark 6:34 - 44).

P.L. So that while helped by the sympathy that may be found in the saints when you are serving officially, you now retire from that with the Lord. Does that bring you back to John's line, that is, to what you have spiritually?

J.T. Quite so. You will then feel how small you are.

J.J. So it would be a very dangerous thing to rely on your gift, if your state is not equal to it.

J.T. Yes. The principle of measure is so important. The whole physical system is based on the principle of weight and measure (Isaiah 40:12). There has to be balance, and I think the disciples get into the sanctuary here where the Lord holds everything and they are made to feel just how things are in His presence. They needed a rest, and He invited them into it, saying, "Come"; they are not sent. We may be sure they had a remarkable time.

We might go on now to chapter 9. All that I want to point out is that the Lord's reproof, (verse 19), includes the disciples. I want to call attention to this incident, in verses 14 - 19. The Lord found, as having been absent for a while, a disputation being held with the scribes, a man having brought his little boy to be healed, which they could not do. The man says: "Teacher, I brought to thee my son, who has a dumb spirit ... And I spoke to thy disciples, that they might cast him out, and they could not". This is to call our attention to what is being effected by those who are in the position of disciples now, and whether the boy, so to speak, is getting any help, and what the Lord said to the disciples. "He answering them says, O unbelieving generation! how long shall I be with you? how long shall I bear with you?"

A.M.H. I suppose you mean that we need to consider whether our activities further what is of God here, or whether those seeking help or having need are not hindered.

J.T. Where are the saints since the great revival? How much disputation has there been? How are those in need being regarded? The Lord is perfectly just in His discrimination, but according to this passage He rebukes them, and the disciples are included.

D.L.H. Were not the disciples in this case among the unbelieving generation?

J.T. That is what I thought, and does not disputation of this kind bring us down to the level of the unbelieving?

Rem. The man says: "I brought to thee my son".

J.T. But he said: "I spoke to thy disciples, that they might cast him out, and they could not".

W.H.B. These disciples were not on the mount with the Lord.

J.T. Hence the result. It is a very wholesome thing to see that the Lord rebuked them all. "How long shall I be with you? how long shall I bear with you? bring him to me". There is no cessation of the work, but here the Lord had to do it Himself.

J.T-y. What form does disputation take?

J.T. I think the greater part of those that were affected by the great revival have gone back through disputation. They have gone back to the level of the unbelieving generation, but the question is as to where we are now. What level are we on? The disciples asked the Lord about the matter. That is what is commendable about them. "When he was entered into the house, his disciples asked him privately, Wherefore could not we cast him out? And he said to them, This kind can go out by nothing but by prayer and fasting".

D.L.H. Does that refer to the kind of demon or the kind of faith?

J.T. I think the kind of power. That is, it goes out. Fasting involves the vessel in which the power is to be exercised. The Lord is pleased to use us as vessels, but the question is whether I am available for this kind of service -- an extraordinary condition where Satan is entrenched. How is it to be met?

A.M.H. Do you think that prayer and fasting would bring us back to the condition at the beginning of the chapter: the kingdom of God come in power?

J.T. Yes.

J.B.C-l. Referring to how the boy was cared for, Mark learned that in his own experience. When he was recovered, he was found in company with Timothy, who seemed to have taken character from Paul as a levite, caring only for the welfare of the saints.

HOLINESS IN SERVICE

Romans 6:19 - 22; 1 Peter 2:4,5; 1 Corinthians 3:16,17

J.T. The subject of holiness is seen in these scriptures: first as applying to the individual, who, as possessing it, qualifies as a priest, and then as marking the temple of God. Perhaps we might consider Romans first, in conjunction with 1 Peter, having in mind the service of the assembly Godward.

The Lord has furnished much light as to public order in the assembly, which has, apparently, been received and carried into effect in a very large measure in the gatherings of the saints, but what is required to accompany this order to make it a real testimony is holiness, and especially holiness worked out in the service of the assembly Godward. If that is reached in any measure, it will give scope for the Spirit in His selection of ministers.

The order in which the truth of the assembly appears in Acts is interesting. Chapter 13 places its service Godward at Antioch, which was outside Jewish territory. This is connected with the ministry of Paul and Barnabas. It is said in Acts 11:26, "that for a whole year they were gathered together in the assembly and taught a large crowd". Then chapter 13 opens thus: -- "Now there were in Antioch, in the assembly which was there, prophets and teachers ... And as they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, Separate me now Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them". Historically thus the service of the assembly Godward comes first in relation to Paul's ministry. Then follows evangelical service. Thus we have service in the assembly Godward and manward. I am sure, that as these same conditions are found with us, there will be the same results.

In Romans 1:4 the Lord is said to have been "marked out Son of God in power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by resurrection of the dead"; so that the idea of holiness lies at the foundation of the gospel, and should be conveyed in it as one of the golden threads to be introduced into the believer's fibre. Thus as believing in the gospel, the priestly element is already present and is to develop, as in chapter 6. It is alluded to later but is specially introduced here as the outcome of practical righteousness -- "righteousness unto holiness".

F.S.M. Would you say a word as to the difference between righteousness and holiness?

J.T. I think righteousness judges evil with authority, so that the element of righteousness in the believer would act authoritatively against evil and insist on the practice of what is due both to God and to men. Holiness repels evil and fits us for the sanctuary, but it is an element that develops in relation to righteousness, that is "fruit unto holiness".

F.S.M. As holiness becomes increasingly effective, evil becomes increasingly abhorrent.

J.T. With most of us our judgment of things is in the main, according to righteousness, but holiness goes further. In the book of Genesis, righteousness appears in connection with Adam. As soon as sin came in righteousness appeared. In Exodus we get holiness because the idea of God dwelling in relation with His people comes into view.

H.O.W. Is righteousness denoted in the cherubim and the sword which turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life?

J.T. It is. And the dealings of God with Adam and Eve after sin came in implied righteousness. It is, however, as His covenant relations with His people come into view that we have the idea of holiness. In Exodus 3, Moses is required to take his shoes from off his feet because the place whereon he stood was

holy. This is an important lesson for us in relation to the assembly; we are apt to be light and superficial, so Exodus should be read with the thought of holiness before us. As redeemed, the people sang of God glorifying Himself in holiness. Holiness shines out in God, it is a great thought with Him. He insists upon it in the typical books, Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers, because of His having entered into covenant relations with His people and His dwelling among them. And so in 1 Peter 1:16 -- "Be ye holy for I am holy". It is a most important feature in relation to the fellowship and particularly to the saints as in the assembly.

H.P.W. It is essential we should follow holiness if we desire to see the Lord. Do you think that, at the end, we might expect the Lord to draw attention to holiness on that account?

J.T. I do.

Ques. What is the force of Exodus 19? It says (verse 5), "If ye will obey my voice indeed and keep my covenant". Is that the thought of holiness?

J.T. What marked Sinai enters into this subject. The thought of holiness stands out prominently as God enters into relations with us. It is what He is Himself; "Be ye holy for I am holy". Romans shows how it works out; it is not something acquired merely in after-life but it is introduced at once. There is a remarkable suggestion at the outset of this epistle; it says the Lord was "marked out Son of God in power, according to the Spirit of holiness".

Eu.R. Would serving in newness of spirit involve holiness?

J.T. It would. The word "spirit" in Romans should be noted. Paul says in Romans 1 that he served in his spirit in the glad tidings of God's Son. Service is to be in "newness of spirit". The mention of the Spirit of holiness at the outset of the epistle is important and worthy of particular note as indicating that the

believer, in receiving the gospel, receives holiness in principle. Romans is built up on the fundamental principle of things. Everything that is developed later is there at the outset, and if scope is given to the things mentioned, there will be development. Chapter 6 shows that as being baptised, we commit ourselves to the practice of righteousness and we have our fruit unto holiness -- "righteousness unto holiness" -- so that it is a question of what the believer has himself. It is our fruit, but it will become fruit for God in us.

Ques. The gospel should be presented by those in the good of that?

J.T. The preachers certainly should convey the thought of holiness in their ministry.

H.O.W. Would it be connected with the love of God in Romans 5? In 1 Thessalonians 3:12,13 the apostle says, "the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another ... to the end he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God".

J.T. I am sure it is. The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given to us. It is given to us and what goes with that is the holy kiss required in Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, and 1 Thessalonians. Our relations should be free from fleshly taint. The holy kiss enters into this subject -- the individual side -- so that in our meetings we should be free from fleshly taint or consideration. Brothers do not kiss one another generally -- they do on the Continent -- but the question is whether the kisses are holy, or, with us, whether our handshakes are holy. The golden thread of holiness is to be introduced into the fibre of the believer as he believes in the gospel. The idea of salutation is very prominent in this epistle, especially in the last chapter and, finally, he says, "Salute one another". Salutations were sent to them by name but they were to "Salute one another with a holy kiss", (Romans 16:16). It may seem a small matter

but it has distinctly to do with this part of our subject. The question is, what are the feelings behind the individual greetings of the brethren? Individual relations are fundamental; without these being right we cannot have holy collective relations and this is what is referred to when it says, "one another".

F.S.M. Is not holiness very much linked with the believer's spirit? Even in the salutations, it is not so much a question of what is done but the spirit that animates.

J.T. Quite so. Our spirits should be right and holiness be maintained there. Our greetings should not merely be customary -- they are, nevertheless, apt to be so and, therefore, not different from the worldly customs.

Ques. Do we find the holy kiss at the end of Acts 20?

J.T. In a very striking way. That chapter is marked by the evidence of holy affectionate greetings.

H.P.W. Holiness goes deep; as you said, it enters into the very fibre of the believer. One would desire that our thoughts as well as our actions should be holy.

Ques. Does this depend on our knowledge of God?

J.T. It is wholly dependent on our knowledge of God -- "Be ye holy for I am holy". Holiness is expressed in the Son of God: "marked out ... according to the Spirit of holiness". That is the kind of Spirit that is to pervade those who receive the gospel -- the Spirit of holiness. It makes for a continuity of holy persons.

Rem. In Mark's gospel, the first case dealt with by the Lord is a man in the synagogue, with an unclean spirit.

J.T. That showed how unholy the religious conditions were and the man recognized the Lord as "the holy one of God". It would show that the conditions in the synagogue were unholy.

F.S.M. It would help us in regard to "fruit unto holiness" if you say a word about the two preceding thoughts "freedom from sin" and "bondmen of God".

J.T. It is worked out from the truth of baptism in which we reckon ourselves "dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus". Then the chapter goes on to say, "Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body to obey its lusts". That is the position. I think we ought to note, "bondmen to righteousness". A human illustration is used showing that righteousness is imperative. This is a matter of the greatest importance at the present time when there is the danger of our being exposed to an unrighteous position owing to the financial stress now prevailing, but God would help the brethren to meet this danger in the acceptance of this bondmanship. We are cast on God so that there should be nothing else but righteousness. It is imperative, as I said. Here, righteousness is dominant. If I am a bondman to it, there is nothing else for me. That is the idea of it.

Ques. Would it help us in practice to see it in the Lord personally?

J.T. He loved it. It is a remarkable thought: "Thou hast loved righteousness and hast hated lawlessness" (Hebrews 1:9). There is promotion on that line, but unless we succeed as to righteousness, there is no spiritual promotion.

H.P.W. If we humbly own the Lord's sway over us in every sphere in which we have to move, He will make a way for us.

J.T. I am sure He will. It is a most serious matter. At the present time God's dealings with the world are to make a way for the testimony. We are bound to come in for some of the consequences of God's hand upon the world. We have to go through, but how? The people of God came through the last great war and we are now passing through another stressed period, involving the government of God, to make a way for the testimony. How are we to go through?

That is how each one should challenge his heart, for it reaches down to each of us. God intends its consequences, in regard of righteousness, to be felt. At a time of declension, we have a wonderful example in the Lord's words, "It becometh us to fulfil all righteousness". (Matthew 3:15).

S.J.B.C. What is the meaning of Isaiah 64:5; "Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness, those that remember thee in thy ways"?

J.T. It enters into what we were saying as to how God regards righteousness. Christ loved righteousness and hated iniquity and in Hebrews 1:9 it is said "therefore God, thy God, has anointed thee with oil of gladness above thy companions". Spiritual promotion follows practical righteousness; we acquire holiness through it and holiness is essential to our having part in the sanctuary.

S.J.B.C. Holiness is the spirit that marks a man whereas righteousness is specific and visible.

Rem. The psalmist says, "Offer the sacrifices of righteousness" (Psalm 4:5). The present moment demands such sacrifices, and we are exhorted to "yield your members in bondage to righteousness unto holiness". That would answer to the sacrifice.

J.T. Yes. In Romans 6:19, Paul says "I speak humanly on account of the weakness of your flesh". He would make himself intelligible to us. Then he goes on to say, "For even as ye have yielded your members in bondage to uncleanness and to lawlessness unto lawlessness, so now yield your members in bondage to righteousness unto holiness". Again, in verse 22, "But now, having got your freedom from sin, and having become bondmen to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end eternal life". Verse 19 is bondage to righteousness unto holiness as if holiness is to be the result. Holiness is the result of the practice of righteousness.

Ques. Why is eternal life introduced?

J.T. It is something to be reached in a practical way at the present time. It is "your fruit unto holiness, and the end eternal life", so that there is positive gain in the soul. Perhaps holiness is the scarcest thing amongst us. Righteousness is scarce in the world, but holiness is scarce even amongst the people of God.

H.O.W. Does it lead to the holy bodies in Romans 12?

J.T. That is where the priestly side comes in. Our "members" are dealt with here, and in chapter 8 the body is dead on account of sin but the Spirit life on account of righteousness. In Romans 12:1 the body is offered: "present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God", which links on with Peter's epistle. Romans brings us to the point of active priesthood, the sacrifice being our bodies, living, holy and acceptable to God. That shows the importance of our bodies.

H.P.W. The early chapters of Daniel are an encouragement to us. There are three men who refused any rights but those of God. It made way for the testimony and ended in the conversion of the king.

J.T. Just so. They refused to be defiled with the king's delicate meat. That shows how the element of holiness makes way for the testimony.

It is most interesting to see how Romans develops the element of priesthood. In chapter 12 we become priests in presenting our bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. Not only am I to be holy in presenting it but the offering is holy, and so, acceptable to God (1 Peter 2:5). We come, therefore, from Romans to Peter to qualify for the assembly, for in Peter the sacrifices are spiritual, as he says, "a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ".

F.S.M. Is holiness connected with affection? The psalmist said, "I have loved the habitation of thy

house" (Psalm 26:8), and "holiness becometh thy house, O Jehovah, for ever", (Psalm 93:5).

J.T. I think that is right. The love brought into our hearts by the Spirit is a holy love. Thus, if we love, it is in a holy way. Think of the glory of God and the place where that dwells! (Psalm 26.) We would not like to bring in anything that tarnishes but only what would enhance it. The truth of Romans would make our bodies holy so as to be presented to God. The believer has a body, and therefore, he has always a means of sacrifice. We have something to offer in a holy manner. In offering our bodies we act intelligently. In the assembly, we are to be intelligent; we know what to do and have something to offer. It leads on to spiritual wealth for sacrifice to God.

Ques. Is there a similar thought in connection with the house where holy hands are lifted up?

J.T. That is to show what marks the priest -- he lifts up holy hands. If we approach the house where God's honour dwells we would not want to detract from it but to add to it, hence the necessity for holiness. Peter approaches the subject in directing that we should lay aside all malice, all guile, etc.; we have therefore, a very practical word for clearing the way. What is to be laid aside makes way for growth up to salvation, and spiritual power in the soul to come to the living stone -- the acceptance of His rejection; and then the holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices. The Lord would, I believe, raise the whole question of the assembly with us and how we serve and our part in its function Godward, so that there might be spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.

F.W.W. Is holiness connected with the divine nature?

J.T. It goes with it. The divine nature is holy. Let us note Peter's exhortation. How much there is to lay aside, to clear the ground, so that the idea of offering or serving in the assembly should be reached!

Ques. Would the practice of righteousness clear the ground?

J.T. It would. Righteousness judges evil with authority, and this as maintained leads to holiness.

Ques. Is that in view of construction? If righteousness judges with authority in the setting aside of evil, holiness is constructive.

J.T. That is right. We come to Him who is a Living Stone. It is a question of power in the soul to move in relation to the One rejected of men but chosen of God and precious. Then there is the wealth of holiness. A living stone denotes power. Holiness is a positive thing; "ye have your fruit unto holiness"; no one can really serve in the assembly without it. Part may be taken, hymns given out, etc., but without holiness it is impossible to be in the assembly according to God. Hebrews 12 shows how the Father of spirits helps us through discipline, that we may be partakers of His holiness. Holiness is essential if there is to be service in the assembly, and, moreover, everything must be learned from Christ. Even in regard of prayer a disciple said, "Lord, teach us to pray" (Luke 11:1). You find the Lord saying, "Holy Father" (John 17:11). What holiness marked Him!

Jno.T. Would you distinguish between spirituality and holiness?

J.T. That is a very important inquiry. Spirituality is the outcome of what God is -- "God is a spirit" (John 4:24). That is connected primarily with new birth; not simply with what is presented from an objective standpoint, but what is brought about by an act of God in the believer. He is born of water and of the Spirit. Water is negative, as setting aside what is unclean, an element whereby I abhor uncleanness. The Spirit is positive -- "that which is born of the Spirit is spirit" (John 3:6); not "he which" but "that which". The thing itself is spirit. It is substance and it is active in the believer to give character to him; it is basic and in virtue of

it he learns to think spiritually. We never understand God unless we learn to think spiritually. "God is a spirit" the Lord said, and so we have the mind of Christ, which means that in principle we can think as He does. What is born of the Spirit is substantial and develops as the believer progresses in intelligence.

Holiness is presented in the gospel. It marks those born of the Spirit as having received the gospel. The new man is said to be "created in truthful righteousness and holiness" (Ephesians 4:24).

Eu.R. Holiness affects our associations. "Come out from among them, and be ye separate", (2 Corinthians 6:17).

J.T. Yes. It involves leaving evil associations, but we desire and crave for holy associations.

Rem. In Isaiah 52:11 there is the exhortation, "touch not what is unclean; ... be ye clean, that bear the vessels of Jehovah". Would that have holiness in view in connection with assembly activities?

J.T. Yes, the vessels of Jehovah were holy. In Thessalonians each is to possess his vessel in sanctification, which includes what we are speaking of as in Romans. The vessel is kept not only clean but holy. Peter has definitely in view the service of God and our part in the assembly: "living stones, ... built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ". That is what we are called to and the Lord is bent on bringing it about. If brethren would lay themselves out for this, great results would follow.

Ques. What does Paul mean by "perfecting holiness" (2 Corinthians 7:1)?

J.T. "Perfecting holiness in the fear of God" -- you are in possession of it but you need to perfect it. So we are to "purify ourselves from every pollution of flesh and spirit".

I think we might see how Peter helps in connection with the idea of the temple. His epistle supports Paul's ministry by taking things out of the limits of

Jerusalem and setting them up among the dispersion. The saints were dispersed, and as Jews they were thus suffering under the government of God, but in these circumstances they have the privilege of serving God in an even greater way than in Old Testament times at Jerusalem. Peter would thus link on with Antioch where service is carried on outside Jerusalem and where they were ministering to the Lord, and the Holy Spirit had scope. The Lord would bring in service toward God, and scope for the Spirit in connection with service to man. There is work to which the Holy Spirit calls, as He says in Acts 13:2, "the work whereunto I have called them". He will appoint us work if liberty is accorded to Him among us.

We see in 1 Corinthians 3 how the thought of the temple fits in with the local company and that it is holy. The temple of God is holy. The saints in Corinth are viewed in this way as having the Spirit of God. The temple is a place of inquiry -- where God's mind is made known; there is thus independence of the natural mind of man. 1 Corinthians brings in the Spirit of God as shutting out the man of natural wisdom and ability; the presence of the Spirit in this way implies that, if that man is in the gathering, he must be forced out, and if he is not there, he must be kept out. If the man of natural ability is dominating the assembly he must be forced out by spiritual power. "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?" That is a great principle to be recognized in connection with our readings and meetings for ministry; it is to keep out what is merely natural in the things of God.

Ques. Is that what you refer to as giving scope for the Spirit?

J.T. Yes. If the natural man is dominating, as at Corinth, how are we to dispossess him? It is by the Spirit. In chapter 5 the wicked man is put out by a formal action of the assembly. It is not so easy

to get at a man of a party spirit. It is difficult to deal with him for he may be naturally wise enough to avoid what can be formally dealt with; yet he may be standing athwart the activities of the Spirit by using his natural ability, and being supported on party lines. All this is answered by the Spirit in the temple, what is superior to the natural mind is brought in.

Ques. You mean the natural man would be displaced by the spiritual?

J.T. Yes, he would overshadow him and that is how he is dealt with. If a man commits open wickedness, he can be formally dealt with immediately, but not so the man with an able natural mind. He is wise enough not to expose himself but his will is at work and the effectual way to meet it is by spirituality.

Ques. Is it those who minister to the Lord and fast who put that man out?

J.T. If the Holy Spirit is hindered by the activity of the human mind, by human ability relying on study and other things which are only natural, nothing can come out from God's side. Such a state of things can be overcome only by spiritual power. The letters to Corinth aimed at clearing the way for this.

Ques Do you mean that it should be an exercise to all the rest in the meeting to acquire spiritual power in order that that kind of thing might be forced out?

J.T. That is the whole point. There is a lack of such exercise amongst us. The temple of God is holy. "If any one corrupt the temple of God, him shall God destroy". These things can be dealt with only by spiritual power.

Ques. Would Peter's reference to being on the holy mount with the Lord indicate the way we acquire spiritual power?

J.T. Yes. He saw up there what should obtain in the assembly. After coming down from the mount the disciples were not able to cast out a demon. They came into the power later as we see in Acts. Peter

refers to the scene "on the holy mountain" as testifying to this power.

Ques. Do you make a difference between going out and putting out?

J.T. Yes, I do. The place is rendered untenable, on account of spiritual power and holiness, for the one who goes out. Normally the saints listen to a brother who is holy and spiritual in contrast to one relying on his natural ability. The situation at Corinth was a serious one and could only be met by the recognition of the temple of God.

F.S.M. Did the apostle anticipate this when he said in the second chapter of the first epistle, "we speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, communicating spiritual things by spiritual means" (verse 13)? Is it by "spiritual means" that things are maintained?

J.T. Exactly. In listening to a brother who is holy you are made to feel the importance of what he says. If the brethren are subject, difficulties are easily overcome, but not so where there is a party spirit, because then persons are listened to and supported because they belong to the party. If I am subject, however, I will respect and listen to the brother who is spiritual. Thus I maintain what is proper to the temple of God. Holiness is characteristic both of the temple and of the house -- they are holy. The mind is brought in in this connection: I inquire in the temple. The house is more a question of affection, but in the temple the mind is required, so 1 Corinthians 2:16 says, "we have the mind of Christ". We possess something whereby we can think and speak as He does.

Ques. Would the gain of this lead to the development of gift in local meetings?

J.T. If room is made for the Spirit instead of the working of the natural mind, there will be a ministry to the Lord. It was "as they were ministering

to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, Separate me now Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them". That is, after they had served the course there. In connection with Paul's ministry, the first course was one year at Antioch, the second, eighteen months at Corinth and the third, two years in Ephesus in the school of Tyrannus. These courses would qualify for the assembly, where normally the natural mind cannot work undetected. The temple meets any working of the natural mind; the mind of Christ active in the temple would soon overshadow the natural mind. The apostle had detected what was at Corinth, but the Corinthians had not detected these ministers of Satan, operating on natural lines. In the second epistle Paul says, "having in readiness to avenge all disobedience when your obedience shall have been fulfilled" (chapter 10:6).

DIVINE APPEARINGS BEARING ON SERVICE

Acts 26:16 - 18; Acts 22:17,18; Acts 16:9,10; Acts 27:22 - 26

These scriptures speak of divine appearings which bear on service. The first divine appearing spoken of in Scripture, having in view the disposition of the world, was to Abraham. He was to be impressed with what should fill the world, for the world should be filled with God's glory. Thus, "The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia", (Acts 7:2).

The glory of this world fades and disappears, but God had in mind that there should be a world filled with His glory, and so we have that remarkable expression in Revelation 11:15, "The kingdom of the world of our Lord and of his Christ is come". The kingdom of it will guarantee the subjection or removal of all that would interfere with the spread and display of the glory of God. Abraham was to be impressed with it: not indeed, that the glory shone, it does not say that, but the "God of glory appeared", which is greater. We have also the expressions, the Father of glory, and the Lord of glory; whether it be by God as such, or by the Father, or by the Lord, the glory will shine and fill all things. I mention all this at the beginning of what I have to say, that our hearts may be attuned to it. As unconverted, we have no response at all in our hearts toward God. As born again and as having the Holy Spirit, as redeemed, there is that which answers to God; and so the thought of divine appearings will appeal to us.

From Abraham's time onwards, the great thought that there was glory which belonged to God filled the mind of faith. All else fades, but the glory of God is fadeless. It shines now in the face of Jesus;

it is intended to be perfectly intelligible to us in the face of Jesus. It is brought within that compass, and so it says of believers: "we all, looking on the glory of the Lord, with unveiled face", (2 Corinthians 3:18). "We all" -- that is a very inclusive word but also an exclusive one; we christians -- all true believers characteristically -- look on the face of Jesus. I wonder whether we have all looked at the face of Jesus; there is nothing repellent about it; it is most attractive. All that God is in love towards us, dear brethren, shines there.

Paul tells us in the passages read of appearings to himself, and I wish to speak of him in this connection in order to set out what I have in mind with regard to service. Having spoken much of the sufferings that he endured in his service, he says, "I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord", (2 Corinthians 12:1). How full his heart would be as he wrote those words! Dear brethren, let them not be altogether foreign to us! If we have not already done so, let us begin to think of the possibility of getting into the realm of revelation. Amongst the records of Solomon are "the visions of Iddo", (2 Chronicles 9:29). These would bear on the glory of Solomon in a peculiar way, as "visions and revelations of the Lord" bear on the glory of Christ. It is needful for us to pay attention to this because we are so prone to live and move and have our being in relation to what is material: is it not so? The famines in Scripture of which we have spoken, having their reflection in what is current today, would bring out where the people of God are, and how affected we are by what is material; whereas God would use what seems to be very adverse, to direct us to the sphere of revelation.

The apostle says, "I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. I know a man in Christ, fourteen years ago, (whether in the body I know not, or out of the body I know not, God knows;)" (2 Corinthians 12:2). It was

no dream; it was nothing imaginary; it was a reality, the experience not simply of an apostle, but of a man in Christ, which term applies to every true christian. In religious circles, people speak of seeing this and that -- sometimes the very worst suggestions of links with the devil; but they are not visions and revelations of the Lord. Unless we can bring the Lord into the things we see -- or fancy we see -- they are of no value whatever; they should be renounced as evil.

In order to amplify what I am saying, I would refer to Paul's list of those to whom the Lord appeared after He arose; and I would direct your view to the forty days of the Lord's sojourn here after He arose. It is inscrutable, but full of spiritual instruction. Unless we understand something of those days, we are scarcely equal to the assembly or to its privileges. The apostle, in bringing forward this list, was endeavouring to allure the Corinthians on to spiritual lines; and that is what I have in mind, that there is a spiritual realm -- a realm of visions and revelations. The Lord "appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to above five hundred brethren at once ... Then he appeared to James; then to all the apostles; and last of all, as to an abortion, he appeared to me also". And then with what beautiful humility he speaks! "For I am the least of the apostles, who am not fit to be called apostle" (1 Corinthians 15:5 - 9). That would never be my judgment of him; but he said it, and this sets before us a truly humble person. He said, "I am the least of the apostles"; and not only does he say this, but also, I am "less than the least of all saints", (Ephesians 3:8). This corresponds with Psalm 16:2, in which our Lord in spirit expresses His lowly mind here: "my goodness extendeth not to thee". We bow as marvelling at such words, but He uttered them, and they are surely intended to imbue our minds with the humility

seen in the service and testimony of our Lord. The Lord Jesus said further, "to the saints that are on the earth, and to the excellent thou hast said, In them is all my delight" (verse 3). That is how He spoke, and so the apostle speaks of being the least of the apostles -- not fit to be called apostle, he says, "because I have persecuted the assembly of God" (1 Corinthians 15:9); but yet he says, "he appeared to me also".

I go on to the passage which records this appearing in his own words -- in the apostle's speech before Agrippa and Festus in Caesarea. It is in the presence of "great pomp"; for we are told that the king, Bernice, Festus and the great ones of Caesarea were there. How wretched that show of worldly glory must have been to Paul! Not that he despised official dignity, for he addressed them with respect -- "most noble Festus", and "king Agrippa". That is an important matter too, for the powers that be are ordained of God; but mere worldly show was nothing to Paul. His eyes had seen the King, the Lord of hosts, and one view of that glory dissipates all this world's glory. And that is what the Lord would bring us to, dear brethren -- to view the glory of this world, as Paul did. The Lord would bring us down; in fact, He is doing it now through reduction in our circumstances -- little by little; but this makes for inward expansion; and the Lord would take us aside and give us a view of His glory.

In Paul's account of the first appearing, he tells us that the Lord said to him, "stand on thy feet". That is a significant word; he had fallen to the ground, which was right in its place; but the Lord says, "stand on thy feet; for, for this purpose have I appeared to thee". I urge upon all, especially those who are serving, to get some idea of an appearing -- if not an appearing, some direct contact with the Lord with regard to our responsibility here in the

service to which we may be called. Paul is available; the Lord said to him, "stand on thy feet". That expression as used in Scripture means that one stands up in the sense of responsibility, and in the sense of power too; and it also implies balance, that one does not need to lean upon another. One great idea seen in the Levite is that he stands on his own feet.

In Mark 3:16 - 19, which is the servant's gospel, you will find that the list of apostles is not made up of twos, but that they are listed singly. Now that is a matter of importance. I do not deny that two are better than one, and that Matthew lists them in twos, but Mark would put upon each servant the responsibility to stand on his own feet; then there is the thought of a special impression made on him by an appearing; and then that he is to be sent. Look at the Lord's own words to Paul, which he cites here: "for, for this purpose have I appeared to thee, to appoint thee to be a servant and a witness both of what thou hast seen, and of what I shall appear to thee in". There are to be further appearings; one will not suffice; as the Lord said -- "and of what I shall appear to thee in". The Lord intimates to him that the gain of the first appearing is to be sustained. The Lord sustains, and a sustained person maintains himself; that brings in his responsibility.

We find here that the apostle is delivered from the people and from the nations. The Lord knew how strong the pull of national feeling was with this great servant. He loved Israel, and could say that he had wished he could be accursed from Christ for Israel, (Romans 9:3). That is an extraordinary thing to me; but Paul speaks in the past tense, thus the wish to be accursed from Christ was not continuous with him; but what he says brings out the strength of his affection for Israel. Too much of it, as we see elsewhere, would hinder him in his service; so that the

Lord said, "taking thee out from among the people, and the nations, to whom I send thee"; implying that if we are to be able to serve people, we must be delivered from them. If people influence me by natural things, I cannot serve them truly or effectually; I must be delivered: and then I am sent to people from whom I am delivered; thus, I am free. Paul asserted that he was the servant of all. "For if I announce the glad tidings, I have nothing to boast of; for a necessity is laid upon me; for it is woe to me if I should not announce the glad tidings", (1 Corinthians 9:16). "For being free from all, I have made myself bondman to all, that I might gain the most possible" (verse 19). "To all I have become all things, in order that at all events I might save some" (verse 22). That is how the matter stood.

I read the passage in Acts 22 to show how all this was amplified later. The apostle is now speaking to his own people in Jerusalem, and after recording the first great appearing to him, he says, "when I had returned to Jerusalem, and as I was praying in the temple". Now that is a fine thing -- praying in the temple. That is how he speaks about himself to the Jews in Jerusalem. The first commendation that occurs about him is, "behold, he is praying", (Acts 9:11). I should like to be able to say that of every young woman and of every young man here -- Behold, he is praying. Is it so? I believe the leading feature of Paul's whole life and the secret of his success -- both as a christian and a servant -- was that he prayed. He says, "as I was praying in the temple, that I became in ecstasy". Maybe some of us have never thought of that word "ecstasy", which is one that stands out in the vocabulary of Scripture. It is not mentioned as something that is unobtainable, but as something that is. "I became in ecstasy, and saw him saying to me, Make haste and go quickly out of Jerusalem, for they will not receive thy testimony

concerning me". Now you see the bearing of what I have said -- "taking thee out from among the people, and the nations". If I am held by national feeling, I shall never be able to serve according to God. I must be wholly free from all that, for God has given it up; although He will return to it by and by. It is in His purpose with regard to the earth, to have a nation; and that is coming in presently, but not now. The assembly cannot be made to fit into any nation; it is a universal thought; accordingly, if I am to serve effectually, I must know something of this experience of prayer and ecstasy, and of the Lord's saying in effect, Leave your national setting -- do not halt any longer; they will not hear you. How well the Lord knew; they did not even hear Him, but said, "Away with this man" (Luke 23:18). That was their judgment -- the judgment of the most favoured, the most religiously cultured nation the earth has had. Today apostasy is fast laying hold on all the so-called christian nations. They are turning away from Jesus and are looking for another, whom they will get. All these nations will be in it -- let us not be deceived. They will all acclaim that man -- the beast, and wonder after him (see Revelation 13:8).

With reference to the third scripture, while it is not an appearing of Christ, it is a divinely ordered vision. It is the impersonation of a Macedonian man in a vision, which is an action of heaven. The servant is not now in Jerusalem; he is away, near to Europe; and he is not sure as to his course; but he is a dependent servant. What a model he is! -- so near to Christ that the Spirit of Jesus could say to him, Do not go that way. The Spirit of Jesus forbade them to speak the word in Asia; where then was Paul to go? The true servant asks, What am I to do now? where am I to serve next? This, dear brethren, applies to the smallest bit of service. Isaiah stands out in this respect. In answer to the divine inquiry, "Whom

shall I send?" he says, "Here am I", (Isaiah 6:8). That is the attitude of a waiting servant -- one ready for orders. He will be directed, for the work is very extensive; servants are needed in all directions. The nearer we get to the Lord, the more we shall discover how great the need is. I believe that voice, "Whom shall I send?" is to be heard all the time. The answer is, "Here am I". It was from Isaiah. He had just seen the glory. "In the year of the death of king Uzziah, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and his train filled the temple", (verse 1). John refers to it later: "These things said Esaias because he saw his glory and spoke of him", (John 12:41). That is the clue. It is the man who says, "Here am I, send me" that was sent. I am persuaded of this, that servants are not taken on save as they see the glory. How can we serve effectually save as we see the glory?

Paul saw this vision "by night". I do not know just what this may mean; although you get it several times. I suppose there is a stillness and hence opportunity for abstraction in the night, and the Lord takes advantage of this. In the vision of which I am speaking the man of Macedonia says, "Come over ... and help us" -- what an appeal that is! Selfish considerations must not intrude in the presence of it. That man was thinking not of himself alone, but of the Macedonians. There are many such calls, and the Lord will stand by everyone who really serves Him in answering to them. Paul answered immediately, and went into Macedonia, but, oh, what suffering this service entailed! At Philippi he was thrust into that inner prison and scourged, and his feet made fast in the stocks. All that lay between the vision and the man of Macedonia, but he reached the man; that is the point. A true servant will never stop short; he goes forward and reaches his objective. The gaoler, you may say, was the man; and he asked

for lights. We have now to do with very hard soil. People come to our meetings and listen to the truth, and you wonder why they are so unimpressionable; but this man was impressionable, although he must have been a hard kind of man, for he was a Roman gaoler. But now he is respectful and hospitable to the Lord's servants, showing tender-heartedness and impressionableness. He is manifestly a subject of the work of God. He is material for the assembly -- a man who asks for lights wants the whole truth.

Passing on to the last scripture, I want to show you how the servant comes in for an appearing in times of great doubt. The ship was about to be broken up, and Paul was on it. Dark days when neither the sun nor the stars appeared, preceded this incident, and the ship was rocked by the waves; there was every evidence of the ship's foundering, but he said, "And now I exhort you to be of good courage, for there shall be no loss at all of life of any of you, only of the ship. For an angel of the God, whose I am and whom I serve, stood by me". I would that I could use that language as he did! "Whose I am"; that brings in the divine right to us; no one can be independent. Paul belonged to God; he was a levite of God. "Whose I am and whom I serve". There is nothing said of Paul's actual service as on the ship, for he, as a prisoner, was on a ship bound for Rome from Caesarea, and there is nothing said as to what he may have done on the way, but you may be sure that his hands were not idle. How much he could have done! Some of us know how much can be done aboard ship. There is no need for idling at any time and no true servant of God will idle. Time is relatively one of the scarcest things I know of; and you may be sure that the apostle used the time profitably. He does not say, Whose I am and whom I have served, but "whom I serve", and we may be sure that during those dark

days on the Mediterranean, he spent a great deal of his time in prayer, and the angel stood by him.

You may ask why it is an angel, for this is the only recorded occasion of angelic relations with him. Distance is implied as under the extraordinary circumstances; it refers to the history of the assembly. It is a prophetic position; defection had already set in; the ship -- the external body, as we say, was breaking up; God was not pleased, but He continued to care for His people and His servant, and He sent His angel. As of old, when the angel of Jehovah left Gilgal and went to Bochim, that meant a change in the state of the people; and so, in these circumstances, prophetically, at least, there was a change. It was "an angel of the God", who was in full sympathy with heaven and in sympathy with Paul, and he stood by him that night. What a cheer it must have been to the apostle to have an angel standing by him speaking to him! We must not think that the angels are far away from us. I do not wish to be visionary in the ordinary sense, but spiritually so. They are not far away from us; they are ministering spirits sent out to minister on account of us; they are active agents here. They are "sent out for service on account of those who shall inherit salvation", (Hebrews 1:14). Paul says, "And now I exhort you to be of good courage, for there shall be no loss at all of life of any of you, only of the ship. For an angel of the God, whose I am and whom I serve, stood by me this night, saying, Fear not, Paul; thou must stand before Caesar; and behold, God has granted to thee all those that sail with thee. Wherefore be of good courage, men, for I believe God that thus it shall be, as it has been said to me".

As I close, I want you to ponder this position -- a servant standing up in such circumstances in the sense of having been spoken to that very night by an angel from heaven. What freshness and power

there would be! He was not speaking of something that happened years before. He was speaking on the deck of a sinking ship, not in platitudes, but in the freshness of a very recent experience with God. "Fear not, Paul; thou must stand before Caesar; and behold, God has granted to thee all those that sail with thee". Why should that be said to Paul? -- because he was a feeling man -- he was a man of affections. He did not wish one on that ship to be lost, and the angel assured him that nothing should be lost, save the ship. He would feel the loss of the ship, as understanding its significance, but what we are concerned about now is not any more the salvation of the public body; we accept sorrowfully the loss of that; we are concerned about the safety of the members of Christ, that if the assembly in its public character is lost, it stands in the counsel of God; for the heavenly city remains and will come down from God out of heaven; nothing will be lost; it will come out, having the glory of God. John supplies all that. John, therefore, so to speak, stands in the outward ruins of Paul's structure, and presents what cannot be ruined; he presents the heavenly city coming down from God out of heaven, having the glory of God. That is what John sets before us, an angel having shown it to him (Revelation 22).

Paul said that all those in the ship would be saved, and it is put most beautifully: "all those that sail with thee". I want all to take that in; it is a question of sailing with Paul -- all that sailed with him were given to him. I often think of this passage, believing that if we really value the saints, in spite of the public breakdown, the Lord says, I will give them to you. Every person that sailed on that boat arrived on the land safe. All that is prophetic. There is much instruction in this chapter, and in the next one, as to church history, but the point now is that there is a man serving under these circumstances to whom an angel

speaks, and who speaks immediately in the power of it, and his word has effect. He really became master of the ship. There is power with him.

Well, what I have presented has in view that we might become spiritually acquainted, in our service, with the realm of revelation.

SERVICE IN THE ASSEMBLY

Exodus 34:1 - 8; John 12:1 - 8

J.T. I was thinking of service in the assembly as seen in Ephesians, the vessel of divine glory. That begins now; as the apostle says, "to him [God] be glory in the assembly" (chapter 3:21). Ephesians contemplates that it is continually there. I thought that the Lord would help us to see, in these passages, a little of how service on our side flows out of the manifestation to us of God and of His glory.

Our actual service in the assembly, as far as one has observed, is somewhat irregular, and wanting in the intelligence proper to it. The section from which we read in Exodus is between the showing of the pattern of the tabernacle, etc., to Moses and the actual structure itself. It comes in between these parts including also the account of the great break-down in Israel. The break-down in chapter 32 leads to the character of Christ -- typically, and in some degree substantially -- coming out more fully in Moses. He is directed to hew for himself: "Hew for thyself two tables of stone like the first". It is left to him. So that he is the mediator on our side, and in a more pronounced way than on the first occasion of his ascent to the mount. We might begin with that, so as to have a little thought of the order of man that goes up.

W.H. Do you mean that he would set forth Christ in that way?

J.T. Yes; but I think he also sets forth the kind of man in which we are before God, having, through the great sorrow that had occurred, acquired an increased likeness to Christ. From the outset there were certain features, but they were not so accentuated as here, for, in the previous chapter it is said, "Jehovah spoke with Moses face to face, as a man speaks with

his friend". What follows that in chapter 33 brings out the desire of Moses to see the glory. All this shows the kind of man that was there.

Ques. Does this kind of man become formed in the saints, so that we may be suitable to the assembly?

J.T. Yes; it makes way for that. Moses is to be hid in the rock, according to chapter 33, as Jehovah's glory passes by; which alludes typically to the position "in Christ". It is the desire to see the glory that indicates what Moses represents as typifying the believer, but what comes out generally in chapters 32 and 33 makes Moses more fully than before a type of Christ as Mediator.

F.R.B. Would you say what was in your mind in drawing attention to "for thyself"?

J.T. That it was wholly on his side. Whilst the covenant is from God's side, the material for the "writing" is on ours. There is the man in whom God had confidence, and the tables would be as his production, and God would take them and write on them. That is, God had confidence that the two tables would be equal to the two He had already written on. So, it says, "he wrote on the tables the words of the covenant, the ten words" (verse 28).

F.R.B. Would that bring out the glory of the mediator?

J.T. Well, I think it brings the mediator into greater evidence as to what he was. The Mediator now is "the man Christ Jesus", not simply Christ Jesus; we have to keep that in view. So that in Moses hewing out for himself it is the man that is in evidence.

P.P. Do friendship and confidence go together?

J.T. Friendship precedes confidence. Moses acquired a great place with God. He acquired great moral power with the people, but then that was the outcome

of the place with God which he acquired through the break-down. So that God spoke to him as one would speak to his friend. "Hew for thyself" would indicate what the saints are abstractly as in the Lord's hands -- what we are as His production.

Rem. It would cost Moses exercise: "Hew for thyself". He would go through labour to prepare the stones.

J.T. As this thought enters into the experience of the saints it involves intelligence. We would know what was required -- dimensions, etc.

W.C.G. Moses was distinguished from all others here. No other man was to be seen on the mount with him.

J.T. It is different from the first ascent, because evidently he had Joshua with him then. Now it is to be this man alone, so that he stands out. We have the idea of "the man" associated with Moses; "the man Moses".

Ques. As understanding this, we would be on his side?

J.T. Yes. Of course, the new covenant comes in here in type -- the love of God being in our hearts, there is power through which we come in with Christ. John 12 would show how thoroughly those at Bethany were in accord with Christ. They made Him a supper. It was a feast marked by quiet dignity. There is not a word said by anybody, except when Judas breaks the silence, and the Lord corrects that; it is a matter for correction. It is a scene of great spiritual power. So that we do not need to keep speaking; on the contrary, it is the ability to keep silence that often indicates spiritual power. Judas complains; and the Lord rebukes him to justify the worshipper, Mary. This is an important point. What marks the assembly proper is not necessarily what is spoken. I do not say there is not speaking, because there is, but underlying the speaking there is ability for silence.

F.I. Making the supper for Him -- are you viewing that as corresponding with "Hew for thyself two tables of stone"?

J.T. Yes, in the sense of confidence. The Lord did not give any directions, made no comments, no criticisms. There is no speaking at all.

Ques. When you speak of service in the assembly, do you mean when the people of God are come together "in assembly"?

J.T. Yes. When we come together in assembly our intelligence and spirituality are tested.

Ques. Is that service Godward?

J.T. I am thinking of that entirely. But I thought of dwelling for a little on what transpires here, for whilst God has confidence in Moses in the hewing of the stones, He gives him directions; for the assembly must be under directions.

W.W. It says, Moses "went up to mount Sinai, as Jehovah commanded him".

J.T. Yes. He says also to him, "be ready for the morning". If we had this before us on the first day of the week, we would have better meetings. "Be ready for the morning", it says in verse 2, "and go up in the morning to mount Sinai, and stand there before me on the top of the mountain". It is a very great occasion. Moses needed this instruction.

H.C.L. Are you setting Moses forth as the pattern for us?

J.T. Christ takes us -- prefigured in the stones -- up, and as there we know how to act in the presence of the glory. John 12 corresponds. Those at Bethany were equal to the presence of the Lord.

E.McK. Would that be indicative of the mount of Olives in the sense of praise and worship?

J.T. Quite. The mount of Olives, I think, alludes to what is spiritual. But we do well to take note

of these instructions. Whilst confidence underlies assembly service, we also come under divine directions. It is said that the law perfected nothing. There was nothing perfected in the Old Testament days; but a feature of christianity is perfection, and what underlies perfection is the relation and sense of sonship. "For it became him ... in bringing many sons to glory, to make perfect the leader of their salvation through sufferings", (Hebrews 2:10). We have the idea of perfection there.

W.C.G. Do you think the verse in 1 John 2:5 is on that line; "whoever keeps his word, in him verily the love of God is perfected. Hereby we know that we are in him"? Are not these persons brought to the top?

J.T. Very good. There can be no elevation according to God without that.

P.P. Referring to the Supper, do you think when the brethren come together we should be ready?

J.T. Think of the magnitude of the assembly! The Supper is provisional, but that into which we are introduced by the Supper is eternal. "To him be glory in the assembly in Christ Jesus unto all generations of the age of ages", (Ephesians 3:21).

The two tables necessarily enter into the Corinthian epistles; the question of the will of God and the kind of man in which that is set out; so that the body of Christ is involved. The spirit of the two tables would be 1 Corinthians 11.

J.H.C. It says, "Jehovah came down ... and stood beside him there". Is this the answer?

J.T. Yes. We are to have the full height of the divine thought before us; the top of the mount. You go up as in accord with the two tables. The Mediator takes us up. The two tables are the prominent thing first of all; the idea is of that in which the will of

God is maintained here; material capable of taking divine impressions.

F.I. At the top of the mount you "apprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height" (Ephesians 3:18).

J.T. Yes. You get the idea of height here, and yet it is not all the way up, because Jehovah comes down to us. We never come into the realm of Deity; we are not equal to that. It is said of Jesus that He has "ascended up above all the heavens", (Ephesians 4:10). That is beyond us. It is beyond the created sphere. The top of the mount, I think, is symbolical of the height of the created sphere, and Jehovah comes down there; He comes into that. We do not go out of the created sphere, but God, being outside of it, comes into it.

Rem. The first two tables were shattered beneath the mountain.

J.T. Yes; typically that sets out the whole position under the first covenant.

H.B-t. Why two tables? Why would not one do?

J.T. I think it is the idea of testimony; one could be made as large as two, but God is pleased to write on one and then on another. In many instances throughout Scripture, "two" signifies adequate testimony; as the Lord says, "the testimony of two", (John 8:17).

W.C.G. Would the "fleshy tables of the heart" (2 Corinthians 3:3) correspond?

J.T. That is what I was thinking. It is the mediator bringing in what God could write on; so that it is the saints, as was remarked.

W.H. It requires spiritual energy to go up -- spiritual desire. Is that what you refer to?

J.T. Quite so. There is every evidence that that was in Moses. He wanted to see the glory. He

would not lose any opportunity for this. It will be noted that the energy here is in the mediator; the saints are seen only abstractly in the tables, as was remarked.

F.W.W. Do you suggest that what is seen in Moses is the attitude of heart in which we should come together on Lord's day morning?

J.T. Yes. "Be ready for the morning". Keep in mind that it is not simply the breaking of bread: that is introductory, as a memorial. What we have in mind is eternal. Of course the love that is presented in the Supper is eternal too, but the thing itself is necessarily for time. The assembly is for eternity.

R.McB. You would be moved by the Supper, would you not?

J.T. There is that in it that tends to set us free, so that we should move with Christ as Head, but we should always keep before us the assembly viewed as in Canaan. The first day of the week is the day of the assembly.

H.B. Would "the morning" here suggest the beginning of a new day?

J.T. It would. It involves, also, that there is freshness and vigour. You get it several times in Exodus, and usually there is special instruction attached to it.

P.H. So that it says, "Moses rose up early in the morning".

J.T. Verse 3 says, "let no man go up with thee, neither shall any man be seen on all the mountain; neither shall sheep and oxen feed in front of that mountain, And he hewed two tables of stone like the first; and Moses rose up early in the morning and went up to mount Sinai, as Jehovah had commanded him, and took in his hand the two tables of stone". That is how he stands there. We have to keep our eyes on the two tables of stone,

they suggest, as we have said, the kind of man in which the will of God was carried out down here, and therefore qualified to go up: but there is to be no man or beast near; that is to say, the scene is to be apart altogether from the natural.

Ques. When you spoke of the created sphere, you meant what is spiritual; the spiritual order of things?

J.T. Yes. The heavens and the earth are the created sphere; that in which God intends to set out His thoughts, and is setting them out. But there is what is beyond that. Jesus went beyond all heavens; involving what is evidently uncreated.

W.S.S. The prayer in Ephesians suggests the power to go up, the power that wrought in Christ when God raised Him up. Is it the thought that the power is available, and we are to use it?

J.T. That is right. The first chapter is the exceeding greatness of God's power towards us, the power in which He wrought in Christ; but in chapter 3 it is the Father's Spirit working in us, strengthening us in the inner man. It is what operates in the inner man, that enables us to go up.

J.P.G. Does this require our being in condition to ascend God's holy hill?

J.T. Moses is the mediator here, the saints are seen abstractly -- in the tables; but practically those who ascend must have "clean hands". The moral requirements are seen in Psalm 15 and Psalm 24.

F.W.W. In the gospels the disciples were taken up; here Moses goes up with the tables.

J.T. There is correspondence. Here there is nothing of what is natural -- no man and no cattle were to be on the mountain. Oftentimes we bring the man and the cattle with us; that is to say, the natural, or the things that attach to the natural. Of course Moses was a man, but when men and cattle

are connected in this way, natural relations are in view.

J.B. "They saw no man ... save Jesus only with themselves", (Mark 9:8).

P.P. Natural personality is no good in the assembly.

J.T. No good at all. 1 Corinthians puts the natural man out. The natural had got in there and clogged the service of God. The sheep and cattle would be the things in which he lives. Something like "household stuff" (compare Nehemiah 13:4 - 9).

F.I. Moses was to "stand there" before Jehovah. If the sheep and cattle are brought up, you do not stand there.

J.T. They would divert your mind -- we are not before God suitably if these natural things fill our minds or have any place there.

Ques. "Henceforth know we no man after the flesh", (2 Corinthians 5:16). Would that be standing on the top of the mountain?

J.T. That is the idea. You are clear of the natural. The two and a half tribes spoke of how much cattle they had. That type of believer would be apt to think more of the grass on the side of the mountain, than the glory of God which passed before Moses.

W.W. If the passover had been kept, and the opportunities for sacrificing taken advantage of, there would have been less cattle, they would have been sacrificed.

J.T. The sheep and the cattle, and the man that looks after them, are on the earth; the cattle are legitimate belongings in their place, but they cannot be brought on to spiritual ground.

G.F.G. Is the thought expressed in the reference to Lazarus in John 12:1, "where Lazarus was which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead"?

J.T. That is just it. There is correspondence with Christ at Bethany.

Our chapter says, "Jehovah came down". To get the link with John 12, we have to get the glory itself. The glory shone -- "This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified by it". What shone at Bethany was the glory of God, and the glory of the Son of God, because the Father is brought into it. He lifts up His eyes on high to His Father. That is, He was occupied with the high things, and with His Father on high; the glory would shine and radiate thence. He said, "but I knew that thou always hearest me; but on account of the crowd who stand around I have said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me. And having said this, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth", (John 11:41 - 43). There you get divine Persons occupied in taking a man out of death, and the glory shone. It is the Father and the Son acting. You see the moral elevation in the Lord's look. That corresponds with Jehovah coming down, as it says, "Jehovah came down in the cloud, and stood beside him there, and proclaimed the name of Jehovah". The mediator goes to the top, and Jehovah comes down.

G.F.G. The Lord came down, as it were, to Bethany.

J.T. Yes. The position was that they all saw the glory -- Lazarus had been raised. Mary and Martha were present too when the Lord "lifted up his eyes on high". Their service would take character from what they had experienced. We have to follow the Lord's movements, not only what He says, but also what He does, to understand headship. If He lifts up His eyes on high, He means to convey the idea of high things to us. It is the Father He is speaking to.

L.M. What is setting our minds on things above? What are the things above?

J.T. You get a list of things in Hebrews 12:22 - 24; "mount Zion; ... the city of the living God, heavenly Jerusalem; ... myriads of angels, the universal gathering; ... the assembly of the firstborn who are registered in heaven; ... God, judge of all; ... the spirits of just men made perfect; ... Jesus, mediator of a new covenant; and ... the blood of sprinkling". That is an array of glory we have come to, and corresponds pretty much with the "things above". It is not simply "things in heaven", but, the things above. We have to distinguish between the idea of what is above, and what is in heaven. "Above" has a moral thought in it.

F.I. As Head, does the Lord bring His influence to bear upon that which is already prepared?

J.T. That is right. That is what John 12 brings out. I think it is well for us to take note of the silence; not that heaven is a place of silence, far otherwise; but silence is an important element in the assembly; to know how to be quiet, not in a listless way, not as a member of a congregation, but to be quiet in spiritual power: that enters into the assembly. Here "Jehovah came down in the cloud, and stood beside him there, and proclaimed the name of Jehovah. And Jehovah passed by before his face". I think that is very wonderful. It somewhat depicts what is in the assembly; how God comes in -- in conditions according to His mind, and stands beside us there.

J.H.C. "Moses made haste, and bowed his head to the earth and worshipped".

J.T. I think that synchronizes with what we have in John 12. The glory shone in John 11, and then the Lord comes in; He "came to Bethany"; it is where Lazarus was, the dead Lazarus whom He

raised. "There therefore they made him a supper, and Martha served, but Lazarus was one of those at table with him"; and then we have Mary's action of worship. It is a scene of spiritual power, in which Christ is supreme, and in which, we may say, He is worshipped. It is well to bear in mind that Moses sometimes typifies the believer, though generally he is a type of Christ.

F.W.W. While we have the thought of the Supper in connection with this, would you say that the atmosphere of it should be found in all our comings together during the week?

J.T. Well, I think that is right; it will be especially so on Lord's day afternoon. The Lord's day is the most auspicious day for meetings. The atmosphere is better on the Lord's day than any other. That is obvious. John 12 is a scripture that we constantly turn to; it never wears out, it is so full. What impresses me, too, is the spiritual power seen in silence -- silence that makes everything of Christ.

Ques. You would say that is true worship?

J.T. Well, I think it is the power in which there is intelligent worship, because Mary is the special feature; but that special feature comes in where you have this environment. This is the environment that yields such worship as Mary can give. Had she brought it out in different surroundings it might not have filled the house, because the house really means the saints, and in this sense it may be there is no space to fill.

F.W.W. In that way, do you think there should be a carrying over of the odour?

J.T. Yes. If the house be filled -- that is, if the saints are filled -- they are sure to carry it with them; and so it affects the meetings that follow.

Rem. Your thought is that we should reach this place and stand there; Jehovah appears, and makes His name known. We reach the assembly.

J.T. Well, there is an analogy.

W.C.G. Do you suggest that the "tables" are the work of God in the soul?

J.T. Yes, in the sense of which we are speaking. It is the kind of man that does the will of God "Hew for thyself". We are on the side of Christ as the Mediator; He brings us up.

W.C.G. We appropriate the Mediator, and the mind of God is in Him.

J.T. So that the tables are essential to the scene; they are the particular things that he was to bring up. In Deuteronomy Moses is told to make an ark of wood, but here it is the tables; it is the writing material that is in view here, rather than Christ Himself as the ark. It is what God can write on. What is illustrated is the elevation of the assembly, and that in its members, it comes down here in testimony according to the divine impressions received.

Ques. Does the lack of power which you speak of lead to utterances such as Peter's in Matthew 17?

J.T. Just so; he did not know what to say; but at Bethany they did not say anything; not that they did not know what to say, if speaking were needed. The one who broke the silence was a wicked man, alas! It is a most sorrowful consideration that he was there, but it only brings out that the assembly, as it is actually down here, is in view. What we are considering is a great sphere of spiritual power as seen in silence, and Christ supreme in it. "There they made him a supper". All is done by them; this does not go as far as chapter 20. There He is active as "in the midst". In chapter 12 He only speaks to protect the worshipper.

F.W.W. Is this more how we assemble ourselves together, than what happens when we do?

J.T. It is more the power in which we are together in assembly.

F.I. Each member of that company had already been adjusted under His hand.

J.T. Yes; Lazarus, Martha, and Mary. He came to Bethany, where Lazarus was. And the question of time is important; it is not a set religious time; the assembly is not governed by current religious custom. It is six days before something else which is a fixed Jewish feast -- the passover. It comes before; and it is in connection with a risen man, the dead man that Jesus raised.

P.P. Is worship the result of wonderment? (Judges 13:19,20).

J.T. Well, here it says that "Moses made haste, and bowed his head to the earth and worshipped". He made haste to do that in the presence of the glory. The scene at Bethany somewhat corresponds. "Then took Mary a pound of ointment" -- her action was in excess, because it was no part of the supper; it went beyond the supper: the scene in which she was, enabled her to do this. The occasion had arrived, it was before the time she intended to do it; she intended to do it later on -- at His burial.

H.E.F. She was "ready for the morning".

J.T. Quite so. She took advantage of the opportunity. The scene was equal to it. That is what I think is meant: she intended to do it later, but this opportunity offered and she seized it. Ability to take advantage of opportunities marks those who are spiritual.

F.I. Is that why you lay emphasis on the fact that it was not a set time?

J.T. She had a set time in her mind; that is, the day of His burial; but she did it before. I think it shows the latitude there is in the spiritual realm; it is not governed by times or seasons; it is a question of what is spiritually suitable.

F.I. It is what comes as a result of Christ being Head, with us; the movements are those that He produces.

J.T. Quite so. Whilst, as we were remarking, we are not told that He said anything, you may depend that much had passed that drew out this from Mary. She might not have another opportunity. As far as we know, she did not. But the Lord regarded it according to what was in her mind. There is no set time governing the assembly viewed spiritually. Luke mentions the day (Acts 20), and the hour (Luke 22), but he is referring to the public position. Yet even here the spiritual touch appears, for the Lord gave no direction as to time, but simply, "this do in remembrance of me". In Acts 20:7 it says, "And the first day of the week, we being assembled to break bread" -- not that they were told to do it, but they acted spiritually. And the first day of the week is the most auspicious time for it. The day enhances the Lord's supper.

Ques. Why does it say, "six days"?

J.T. Well, I think to show that where spirituality exists there is readiness. Had it been seven, there would have been the suggestion of completeness of preparation.

D.McG. Would the odour of the ointment be a preservative in regard to the breaking of the silence? What I thought was, that the one who broke the silence had no apprehension of the odour. It was spiritual.

J.T. It is very humbling that Judas is the one to break the silence. It is always the flesh that breaks in on the holy, spiritual silence that marks the assembly, where every whit speaks glory! Every one says glory! (Psalm 29). It takes great power to take part audibly and suitably there.

H.B. The hymn reads:

"Till, blest fruit of deep emotion,
Voice by voice in silence fails".

W.C.G. How is spirituality brought about?

J.T. The history of Bethany helps. Luke gives us the initial idea of Bethany. It says that the Lord came to a certain village, and a certain woman received Him into her house, and that she was cumbered about much serving. She was not gaining spirituality by that. Then you find in spiritual education that there is some person that the Lord would call attention to. He has worked beforehand in that person, so that there is a concrete example of what is in His mind. Hence, it says that Mary sat at His feet and was listening to His word, and she is persecuted by a sister: "Lord, dost thou not care that my sister has left me to serve alone?" That is, Martha is really persecuting the Lord as well as Mary; "dost thou not care?" That is the beginning of Bethany -- John 12 is the end of it. It shows what God can bring out of a state of things such as Luke describes in chapter 10:38 - 42. Now we have no persecution by Martha; on the contrary, she is serving happily. It is Judas who is the persecutor.

H.C.L. Why is Mary occupied with the preparation for His burial?

J.T. I think it brings out her spiritual intelligence. She knew He was going to die. I think she saw He was on His way, and she anointed His feet: His own feet were carrying Him, and she anointed them.

F.W-n. Was it at His feet she learned the dignity of silence?

J.T. No doubt. Mary had learned silence; she had learned how to listen to His word. Those feet had a great place with her.

Rem. She had kept His word.

J.T. Quite so. She represents the intelligence of the occasion. Lazarus represents the dignity of the occasion; he "was one of them that sat at the table with him" -- with Jesus.

R.D.H. There is no box mentioned here; just a pound of ointment.

J.T. I think that would mean it was well kept by her; it was kept from contamination without a box; an alabaster box is that by which the contents are kept pure. I think it is a tribute to her own person. Spiritually she had the pound in herself; she loved "our Lord Jesus Christ in incorruption", (Ephesians 6:24). The psalmist speaks of "All that is within me", (Psalm 103:1). Let us look into what is within us, and see if it is clear of corruption. Can we call on all that is within us to worship God? It challenges us as to the purity of our thoughts, whether the water has been effective? Mary knew the value of the ointment and used it accordingly. It was not too precious for Him. The Lord also knew the value of it. Judas valued it, but I would not take his valuation!

W.S.S. Mary's worship goes on in spite of Judas.

J.T. Yes, showing the great power that was present. In heaven everything will accentuate praise, but now there is opposition, and the service seen here shows that the worship of God may proceed notwithstanding this. God takes account of that fact, of the adverse conditions that we are exposed to, and yet His worship goes on. We are to be able to worship in spite of low conditions; one person may have power to rise above such conditions and lead the saints in worship. That is what Mary does here.

G.M. That would be a sure evidence that such a person had been "on the top of the mountain".

J.T. Yes it would. Another thing comes out -- Lazarus is a witness without speaking. People believe on Jesus because of him. He is not said to speak. That goes with what we are saying. It is the effect of spiritual power in the person.

QUALIFICATION FOR SERVICE AND TESTIMONY

John 20:21 - 23; Luke 24:46 - 49; Mark 16:15 - 18; Matthew 28:10, 16 - 20

I have read from the four evangelists, having in mind that if we are to have the whole truth in connection with any subject, we must take them all into account. My subject now is "Qualification for Service and Testimony", and I desire to dwell upon it in its general features, to the end that, as in service and testimony here, we should be "perfect and complete, lacking nothing". It is within our reach to be thus perfected. The apostle had it in mind in writing to the Colossians "to present every man perfect in Christ" (chapter 1:28). I am thinking, for, the moment, of service and testimony, and I wish to dwell on John first, because John is particularly intended for our own times. I apprehend that we approach all the evangelists now through him as being the last of the writers. All has to be considered in the light of the latest communication, and, in regard to this question of representation of Christ, John qualifies us in the most exalted way. I think we get the highest and most spiritual touches from him as one who was intimately conversant with the Lord; as one who had, in a peculiar way, liberty of access to Christ.

Before he mentions this matter of representation in service, he speaks about the message which the Lord sent to the disciples through Mary Magdalene. She herself is qualified before the message is entrusted to her. The chapter dwells at length on her, presenting her as running, that is to say, in accelerated movement; and then we find Peter and John also running; but Mary is, according to the record, more spiritual than either; not more intelligent, but more spiritual.

She remained at the sepulchre, we are told, weeping -- that is to say, she was marked by deep feelings -- an impressionable person. Persons of great intelligence are not always as impressionable as persons with feeling. She had the feelings, and so the Lord takes account of all this, and manifests Himself to her, showing that feelings which are the outcome of affection for Christ are honoured; as Paul said to Timothy, "remembering thy tears" (2 Timothy 1:4). Tears are the token of feelings -- of ability to be impressed, and so the Lord manifests Himself to her; adjusting her at the same time, impressing her with the fact that relationships, henceforth, were to be heavenly, not earthly. He had not yet ascended to His Father, He said, and so must not be touched; and in saying this, He sent her to His brethren with the message, "I ascend to my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God" (chapter 20:17).

Cannot we see, beloved brethren, that she was impressed, and being impressed, she was impressive -- that the message was delivered not only in word, but in spirit? But then, great as the message was, and great as the messenger was, for she was equal to it, it does not say that it caused joy. What caused the disciples to rejoice was the sight of the Lord. That is to their credit, for John always emphasizes what refers to Christ personally, and so the Lord confirms that in saying again, "Peace be unto you" -- the peace and joy of seeing the Lord. They rejoiced; and their joy was to be confirmed. And then He says, as if to honour all that, for there is nothing said here about their being perturbed, as in Luke: "as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you", and having said this, "he breathed on them". It is a question, in John, of a personal transaction, of having to do with Him, or of His having to do with us, not mediately, but directly; and so we have this most extraordinary occurrence, "he breathed on

them". It was the impartation to them of His own blessed Spirit. Think of that! He says, "Receive the Holy Spirit".

There is another feature implied here, it is divinely given ability to receive; so that the transaction is perfected. His act was to breathe upon them; their part was to receive. "Receive", He says, "the Holy Spirit". It is not a question of the sealing of the Spirit; that is not what is in view. It is a question of our having personally to do with the Lord, or He with us. It is not, as it were, an administrative act on His part. Administration refers to what He received from the Father and shed forth at Pentecost. Here is a personal transaction of a most intimate nature, and of the disciples having to do with it intelligently; so they received it.

John would thus set us up here in the midst of the present state of things, as those who are having personal transactions with Christ. Think of the character that it imparts -- not simply in what we say, but in what we are. It is a question of the kind of spirit that animates us -- no less than the Spirit of Christ -- the Holy Spirit; and then He says, "Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them". So that, as the sins are owned, we can forgive, and as forgiven in the spirit of forgiveness the sinner is set free; he has come into practical contact with the Spirit of Christ, and is encouraged.

I will not enlarge on the retaining of sins, although it is an important side of our position to know what to retain, for God is not to be trifled with; and notwithstanding that it is a day of small things, where divine principles are held, sins are retained when this is necessary. It is not a question here of gift or apostolic authority. They are regarded as disciples. The Lord would constitute us as disciples qualified to forgive, by imparting to us His own spirit. It is the Spirit of Christ, and if in that spirit a sin has to

be retained, it is most solemn. No one acting in the Spirit of Christ, will retain a sin against another, until all possible means have been used to bring about conviction and self-judgment. It is a service of liberation to the children of God, that they might be free, like ourselves, to enjoy christian privileges.

I go on to Luke. I want to show that the dispensation, although it is about to close, is to maintain its original character. It is not to be belied; and so the Lord, in Luke, works through our understanding. It is not here a question of the Lord breathing into us, but of working through our understanding; through ministry; through the breaking of bread; through the interpretation of the Scriptures; through the opening of our understanding that we might understand the Scriptures -- that He might qualify us to be witnesses of the dispensation of grace; so that at the end there is really no change. He says, "ye are witnesses of these things". It is not here that they were witnessing, but that they were qualified to speak of certain things, because they saw them. It is a question thus in Luke of competency to bear testimony through becoming acquainted with what is to be testified to. It requires an understanding, and this the Lord gives. Paul says "the Lord will give thee understanding in all things" (2 Timothy 2:7).

The Lord is graciously helping His people, I believe, on these lines, working through our understandings by ministry; opening our understandings that we might understand the Scriptures; dividing the Scriptures as He does, into the law, the prophets, and the psalms. One needs, at the present time, to take note of these features. We are to take care as to "rightly dividing the word of truth" (2 Timothy 2:15), so that the saints may be instructed, and qualified to witness as knowing the things; the Lord says, "ye are witnesses of these things"; but being a witness of the things is not enough; having the doctrine, being able to present the facts of the gospel, is not sufficient. It is important

to have the facts, to be witnesses of the facts of the things, "that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures" (1 Corinthians 15:3). It is important to be able to present the facts; but we need more than that, if we are to represent this dispensation. We need power from on high. The Lord says, "tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high". It is the kind of power -- the Spirit of God, of course, but it is power from on high -- different from any power by which religious activity is carried on by man in this world. And you are to be clothed with it. Clothing is a public thing -- that I am manifestly serving in the power from on high. It is the idea of elevation.

He also says, "I send the promise of my Father upon you". It is what is external here -- the public evidence that my service is in power from on high, and I am free from all national feelings. "That repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem". It is not to honour Jerusalem. Far otherwise! No more than it was to honour the conduct of Saul when he was converted. It was the magnitude of grace. It is to call attention to the magnitude of grace, that the testimony should begin in that wicked place; but it is to all nations. We are to be imbued with the love and grace of Christ in dying, and then in rising, so that in Him these things should be presented to men; but I am carrying on my service, you are carrying on your service, clothed with power from on high. You are not limiting it, but maintaining the character of the dispensation as unalterable. Let us never lose the sense of what the dispensation of grace is. This is not only the doctrine of the thing -- it is the thing itself, which is to continue, and is never to be lost sight of.

I will proceed to Mark, and I want to show that which is not included in John and in Luke -- that all

is to be on the principle of faith -- that I am acting from sources outside of man or man's ken -- that I am treading a path that neither the vulture's eye hath seen, nor the lion's whelps have trodden. I am not only to preach to all nations; but I am to go "into all the world". That is how it reads. That requires activity, energy; but it requires more than that; it requires a power in me to resist the world. Think of what the world is; think of what the world is as developed in the wicked one! So he says, "Go ye into all the world". Nothing inviting in that! It means conflict, for the world "lieth in the wicked one" (1 John 5:19). It is not the world as in John 3 which God loved. No, it is not that. It is what Samaria was to Elisha. After he went through with God the exercises requisite for service, as mentioned in 2 Kings 2, he went to Samaria from Carmel. What was Samaria? The centre of wickedness -- the city of Ahab and Jezebel; to go into that means suffering; but that is the world in Mark. "Go ye into all the world". Do not make any choice. We are not to select our spheres -- to pursue the line of least resistance, as they say. It is all the world that has to be faced if we are to be of any use. Not to preach the gospel to it; but to preach the gospel to all the creation. It is a question of the creation. Have you ever thought of that, what the creation of God is to Him? "For thy pleasure they are and were created" (Revelation 4:11), it is said. The creation is for the pleasure of God. "The whole creation groans together and travails in pain together until now (Romans 8:22)". Is that nothing to God? We groan within ourselves; but we are already in possession of the first-fruits of the Spirit. We look for complete deliverance of the creation, and so we prove the world's opposition, in preaching to the creation. Paul says, "the glad tidings, which ... have been proclaimed in the whole creation" (Colossians 1:23).

Well now, what marks believers in this gospel is that they are immune from satanic power. It is not here a question of God's kingdom attracting them. It is a question of what they are inherently as men of faith. The point here is faith. "He that believes and is baptised shall be saved", whoever he is. He belongs to the creation of God. He leaves the world behind him -- he is baptised. No one is saved who is not baptised. Baptism, in its true sense, means that I leave the world behind -- I break with it. The world is a moral system -- the creation is not. This wicked moral system has degraded the creation. I leave it. I have come into the light of a faithful Creator, who is, withal, the Father, as made known in Christ. I am a believer. I am baptised. He that believeth and is baptised is saved -- he leaves the world. Baptism is that I leave it definitely. I break with it. I am saved; but more than that. "These signs shall follow those that have believed" -- not those that preach. "In my name they shall cast out demons", etc. It is a question of what those having faith are able to do. We are to be in this world superior to it -- knowing what it is; facing it, but knowing that we are possessed of a power enabling us to overcome it; that I can go into it and be superior to it -- that is Mark. I do not take these things up literally. It is a question of what they are spiritually. The power of demons, deadly things, serpents or disease -- all these things are overcome in Christ's name by those who believe. Think of what God has in the world in those who have faith!

I now go on to Matthew, and finish. Here the Lord sends a message to His disciples through a woman; -- not "I ascend to my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God" (John 20:17), but "tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me". If I am to be of any service, I have to seek Him out. He has all power in heaven and

on earth. If I want to serve I must find Him. I must take a journey. I must not be light and trifling, and just commit things to memory, as if anything would do in the service; no, we must take the journey to find Him; "there shall they see me". He does not say that I shall see them. They will need me, and if they need me they must seek me out. And so they go to the appointed place -- a mountain -- the place of strength, and they see Him. He came up to them. In John 16:22 the Lord says, "I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice"; but in Matthew I have to go and find Him; He came up to them, but they saw Him first. You say, Is not the Lord looking out for me? Well, He wants you to come and find Him. You must go and find Him out if you are to serve; you must take the journey. He has wonderful things, and you cannot get them anywhere else; they are worth going for. "When they saw him, they worshipped him". His position is that of the King. He has the things; you must go if you are to get them.

Another point before I close. The most solemn thing in Matthew is that as the women were going with the message, the soldiers went to the chief priests and told them what had happened, and as a result they took counsel together how to defeat what God had done, and in so doing they formulated a lie. They said to the soldiers, "Say ye, his disciples came by night, and stole him away" (verse 13). They bribed them, and secured them against possible consequences. "They took the money, and did as they were taught" (verse 15), and so the lie continued, it was perpetuated. We have to face that condition, a system of things in which a lie has been formulated, passed on, and continued. The most wicked lies about Christ have become standardized in the profession, and they continue. It was when the women left with the message that these soldiers left, and the lie was formulated. It says, "the eleven disciples went into

Galilee" -- to the place of reproach. We can only hope to meet the situation indicated by taking this journey. The Lord came up to them, as they went to Him, and He said, "All power has been given me in heaven and upon earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations". It is the most extraordinary command of all -- it is not to preach, it is not to remit; it is to make disciples. What can we do with that? How can I make a disciple if I am not one? It is a question of spiritual influence. Think of it, dear brethren: "make disciples of all the nations". How can I do that? Only by being the thing myself. I must go to Galilee, so to speak. I must take that journey; I must find the Lord there; and so I apprehend Him as the all-powerful One. He says, "All power has been given me in heaven and upon earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptising them to the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit". The nations were thus to be brought into a wonderful sphere of things. We know something of it -- the light of the revelation of God. They were to be brought into that; then "teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have enjoined you". It is a question of authority in Matthew, and moral power in the ministry so that we can influence others to become disciples. The Lord adds, "And behold, I am with you all the days".

In having these four features together in our souls we might hope to represent God in some way in these last days, and so be effective to the children of God and to all men, and to all nations. May God bless His word!

THE SERVICE OF MAN AND WOMAN IN THE ASSEMBLY

1 Corinthians 11:11,12; Romans 16:3,4; Luke 2:25 - 38

These scriptures treat of the man and the woman and that is why I have read them, wishing to show the relative positions and functions of the sexes in the assembly; and not only to apply these scriptures in a literal sense, but also to enlarge a little on what is conveyed spiritually in the man and in the woman respectively. The first scripture is selected from a chapter which treats somewhat fully of the relative positions of man and woman, and it is not without signification that the chapter also introduces and develops the assembly in the exercise of its functions in a locality, which, rightly understood, makes room for Christ as the full representation of the man, as the assembly is the full representation of the woman; and makes room also for the universal position of the assembly as the one great thought and object of Christ in the current dispensation. The chapter in introducing the Lord's supper prefaces it by instruction that leads on to the apprehension of the Lord Jesus as Head of the assembly.

I make a few remarks first as to what belongs to the man, introducing them from the reference to Christ in Revelation 12:5 as the "man child". The better translation gives, "a male son", which seems tautology, but spiritually is full of meaning. A son of course would be a male, but the additional word "male" calls attention to the idea, as absolutely presented in Christ in relation to rule, for it goes on immediately to say, "who shall shepherd all the nations with an iron rod"; that is to say, it is to be rule in an absolute sense. He "shall shepherd all the nations", and shepherding is ruling with skill

and with feeling, not arbitrarily, but it is in the "male son" -- the word is "son" not "child". The idea as seen in Christ is necessarily to be taken on in all relations in which rule, or government is required.

In Judges 4 we have a woman taking the lead in the service of God in relation to a man: Deborah being the woman, and Barak the man. In the New Translation of the Bible, we are told in a footnote, that Deborah is said to be "a woman prophetess". Of course, the word "prophetess" means that she is a woman who prophesied, but in the original the feminine idea is stressed. So that if circumstances amongst the people of God require a sister to take any kind of prominence in the testimony, she never loses her feminineness, she is always a woman; she never takes on the masculine character, for wherever that appears in a sister, you may be sure the flesh is active. If weak conditions require that a sister should become prominent, she never loses her sisterly character; she always has "power" on her head, as 1 Corinthians 11:10 teaches; and that goes forward into the assembly normally, she never loses her relative position and function, she is always herself.

In speaking thus, I may say that I am impressed that sisters are not functioning as the Lord would have them to, and correspondingly the meetings are wanting in increase. It is no question of alleging that of any particular meeting, but generally it is so. I believe the Lord would call upon the sisters amongst the people of God to take their part, and as they do, the idea of the assembly will come more into evidence. I believe the idea of the assembly coming into evidence, not theoretically or doctrinally, but practically, is largely dependent on the sisters functioning according to their true relations. If they do, the brothers will not be eclipsed or detracted from

in any way, they will the rather be enhanced. Deborah never lost her relative position, she calls upon Barak to act, but the Spirit of God makes it plain that the initiative was with her. She evidently discerned what perhaps we should not have known, were it not that the Holy Spirit tells us hundreds of years later, that Barak had faith. The Spirit of God in Hebrews 11, calls attention to the faith of Barak and says nothing about Deborah. She would, I am sure, accept that as right: she would say, I have more prominence than I should have had; had Barak more energy, I should have less prominence, and that would not have grieved me at all.

From these remarks you will see why I read the two verses in the first scripture, which say, "For man is not of woman, but woman of man. For also man was not created for the sake of the woman, but woman for the sake of the man". But then, it goes on, "However, neither is woman without man, nor man without woman, in the Lord. For as the woman is of the man, so also is the man by the woman, but all things of God". So that we have set out in the chapter a beautiful order of things. God is regarded as the supreme Head, an appellation first ascribed to Him by David. David says, "Jehovah ... thou art exalted as Head above all", (1 Chronicles 29:11). It awaited the Lord Jesus to come in to set out this wonderful truth, for He not only said things, but He exemplified them. One who contents himself with merely saying things will never be a model: if I show a thing, it is established in the mind. The Lord Jesus set out this great principle of God-headship, as I might call it, in His life here -- "The head of Christ is God", and "Christ is the head of every man, but woman's head is the man", "but all things of God".

There is a beautiful position set out for us in the passage, which is to be seen in every phase of life,

in the household, and everywhere; wherever men and women are together according to God, this great truth will be seen, and God is pleased and glorified in it. If there is one thing one cherishes more than another, it is to afford God a little pleasure. In the life of Jesus it was constant, and now in the assembly this great thought of graded headship set out in any way is highly pleasing to God. It is the order that He has ordained and it is pleasing to Him as He sees it; and the angels see it too, it is a spectacle for heaven, leading to that remarkable statement in Ephesians 3:10, that "the all-various wisdom of God" is to be seen now in the assembly by "the principalities and authorities in the heavenlies". What moral victory there is for God in His people as His thoughts are in any little way expressed in them!

I wish now to show how it is worked out in a man and his wife, for Scripture affords us concrete examples of its teaching. As I said, things are not only told to us, but shown to us. Here we have it in a man and his wife, Aquila and Priscilla: this couple has a unique place in Scripture in several respects, but in particular, that they are never mentioned apart, they are always seen together. I need not say that there is some suggestion of Christ and the assembly in that: were we to understand the position we should see that Christ, normally being its Head, is always seen in relation to the assembly. Of course He has His place and glory as in the Deity in which the creature can have no part, but as Man in heaven having effected redemption, the assembly is His body, His wife indeed, and in this sense He and she are inseparable. This marks the present time and gives a special character to the dispensation. In the future too it will appear. Aquila and Priscilla are mentioned six times, always together. The suggestion fits in with Paul's ministry, this man and his wife being specially identified with the apostle. First of all, they

are introduced to us as in Corinth, they were of a certain craft; apparently both occupied in the same craft -- tent-makers. It seems that they worked together, and Paul joined them -- not because they were christians, it does not say that; but "because they were of the same craft" (Acts 18:3). All this comes in where the great thought of the assembly is worked out locally, that is Corinth.

Aquila and Priscilla are mentioned three times together in Acts 18. The idea of wisdom would be there; the first epistle to the Corinthians shows that the idea of divine wisdom was prominent in Paul's service there, and Priscilla would not fail to suggest that "The wisdom of women buildeth their house", (Proverbs 14:1). Wisdom is a feminine word; the feminine idea in this sense leads to the assembly. "The wisdom of women buildeth their house; but folly plucketh it down with her hands". So that you can understand how that thought would be present, at least to the mind of Paul, as to Priscilla -- what a fine sister she was! I am speaking of her because of the way she is mentioned in these different references. Her name appears first as often as Aquila's does. You will find, "Aquila and Priscilla", and then "Priscilla and Aquila", and then you find "Aquila and Priscilla", and then again "Priscilla and Aquila"; is that accidental? No, it is educational: that is to call attention to what is possible, and what is possible should always be aimed at; it should never be regarded as impossible. If it were possible in these two, it is possible in any two, and it is possible in Christ and in the assembly as His body. So that we find these two, as I said, interchangeably having precedence one of the other. Not that Priscilla would ever take precedence of her husband: were we to enter their house -- and we are told that there was an assembly in their house -- that assembly would be adorned, as I may say, by the seemliness and the grace of this

sister, Priscilla. She would never becloud, she would never stand in the light of her husband: he would the rather shine in her graces, for the woman is of the man.

That great principle is set out in Genesis 2how often it is spoken of at our marriage meetings, and rightly! I do not say Adam suffered, but certainly he had an extraordinary experience, and that is a deep sleep, not an ordinary sleep, but a deep one; the allusion, of course, is to the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. And Jehovah takes a rib, and out of that rib He builds a woman. That word "build" is a remarkable word, it is the first time it is used in Scripture. It is not applied to the universe; the word "framed" (Hebrews 11:3) is used there. Building implies special skill, and belongs to the woman. This was one of the items of the work of the sixth day, the greatest work-day of all -- and God presents her to the man. What will the man say about it? He was asleep when it was done apparently, but he knew; he could name all the other creatures, and he named this one. And there it is: as one remarked elsewhere, He lost a rib, but it is given back to him a thousandfold: he lost nothing, he gained. But then, this gain should not be merely theoretical, it should be practical in the assembly -- in the household, of course, in every sphere of life, but specially in the assembly. In the highest thought of it, it is a question of what the assembly is to Christ, but then it should be seen surely in the practical working out of the assembly, in the sisters in relation to the brothers.

Now I want to show briefly how all this is foreseen in the gospels, for the gospels are generally to support what we have in the Acts and the epistles. So Luke gives us two persons at the beginning; as the Lord Jesus is brought to Jerusalem to the temple, these two are there. The early chapters in this gospel should be studied in relation to our subject. Luke only, mentions these two persons, and I believe no brother

is in the assembly save as he understands what is presented in Simeon, and that no sister is in the assembly save as she understands and moves according to what is seen in Anna -- they are models. First of all, as regards Simeon, you have the word "behold" -- "behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon". He is not an ordinary man, but one distinguished as spiritual. He looked for Christ, he was a man of hope, a man who counted on what God had said; he expected God to do what He had said. But then he was a man in Jerusalem: now that is not an ordinary circumstance; the preposition "in" there means more than simply circumstance; it is characteristic, and it enters into the position of the brothers in the assembly. He is not only local. Of course Jerusalem is a locality, but it had a place that no other earthly city ever had or ever will have; it had a metropolitan position, it was the divine centre. "A man in Jerusalem" was in the very centre of what God was doing -- that is the point. The facts mentioned show it applied characteristically. I speak thus, dear brethren, so that we might become less local and more general. That is, that we may be in the very centre of things, our position is there, we are concerned about everything that concerns God, whether it be general or local, whether it be fifteen thousand miles away or local -- we are in the centre of things. There is very little of this attitude amongst us. Were there more of it, we would support what is general in every way we are able.

I need not now enter into the many ways in which we may support what God is doing, say in China or in New Zealand or Australia; for China is not in principle any more to God than New Zealand is -- let us not forget that; God is no respecter of persons. He never intends the promotion of what is popularly called "missionary". What is missionary properly means persons sent out by the Holy Spirit on whom

the hands of the assembly are placed, they are released, let go by the saints, and they are "sent forth by the Holy Spirit", and then they go. It does not say where they were sent; what follows in Acts 13 is the record of where they went; they went down to Cyprus, through the island, etc., etc. I say that by the way, that we may not take on the characteristics of what is around us, that we may be able to stand against what is current religiously. We are so prone to take it on. There are those who would give a hundred pounds with a view to Chinamen being converted, who would not give a cent for the conversion of Englishmen! I say that advisedly. I would desire to be in full sympathy with all that God is doing: a man in Jerusalem is concerned about what God is doing wherever it is.

To return to Simeon a certain thing was revealed to him "by the Spirit"; that is to say, he recognized the Spirit; he is dependent on the Spirit for his understanding of things. "It was divinely communicated to him by the Holy Spirit, that he should not see death before he should see the Lord's Christ": until he had seen the Man who should do everything for God: he was expecting Him, and he went by the Spirit into the temple, and the Child is brought in and he takes Him in his arms. The facts are known to us, I am only referring to them now to draw attention to this brother brought forward by Luke, as I verily believe, to show us that our setting is not simply in our houses or our businesses, but, so to speak, in Jerusalem; it is a spiritual position. I am in it spiritually, and I come into the temple spiritually, and in the temple I receive Christ. His being brought is characteristic; there is always someone to bring Him in. The thought is, of course, that I should bring Him in. Here He was brought in by His parents, which, of course, is literal and historical. It may be that a brother just converted has some little thought

of Christ, and a spiritual man takes this little thought -- I say "little" because the Lord Jesus here is just a Babe -- and magnifies it, he makes it of use universally. What a service that is! And how beautifully he speaks: he says, "Lord, now thou lettest thy bondman go, according to thy word" -- He is regulated by the word: it is no mere sentimental thought, as often expressed by people who say they want to die, and the like: it is a question of the word of God, the mind of God for each of us -- "for mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all peoples; a light for revelation of the gentiles and the glory of thy people Israel". That is the brother! He is able to take up any thought of Christ that comes into the assembly by whomsoever, and give it its proper setting, give it, perhaps, a universal bearing; here it is a question of the light of God concerning the gentiles, and the glory of His people Israel. How the whole scene was lit up with Simeon's remarks! There never was such a time before in the temple.

Then, without going into detail: Anna came in at the same hour, that is to say, the sister is not absent, she is there, and this has the significance of being an example for us. How beautifully Anna comes in and shines! She does not take the Child in her arms, that had already been done. Hers is another part in the service. He is in the proper position in the arms of Simeon. She comes in at the same hour: she praises God. The Spirit of God does not give us Simeon's age, but He gives us a clue as to Anna's age, and I do not think any of us will lose anything if we try to work out how old she was. Every moment of this woman's life is spiritually interesting.

I would like to be such as that, that the brethren, if they have to talk of me at all, can talk of me from the beginnings of my history. What can they say

about the beginnings? And then the middle life? and the late life? When God writes up His people, He goes back to their birth (Psalm 87). Anna "lived with her husband seven years from her virginity" and she was "a widow up to eighty-four years". If the Spirit of God wished us to know definitely how old she was to the minute, as we say, He could have told us how old she was, but He wishes us to have an insight of her whole life. She might have been 106 -- one might figure it out that way: but every moment of that woman's life was spiritually interesting. And now at the end she does not miss the greatest privilege that the temple of God had afforded, nor can any one of us afford to miss it.

One great secret of the spiritual poverty amongst us is that we do miss such occasions, and we do not feel we miss them. We cannot afford to miss what goes on in the assembly. The assembly is a place of wonders; the Spirit of God is in it. If we have spiritual eyes to see and ears to hear we shall see and hear wondrous things, as Manoah and his wife saw the angel do wondrously (Judges 13). Anna did not miss the presence of Christ in the temple, she came in then and she "gave praise to the Lord"; and the Spirit of God tells us she did not depart from the temple; serving night and day with fastings and prayers. And now, when the great moment arrives, she is present and makes the most of it, adds to it, and "spoke of him to all those who waited for redemption in Jerusalem". Jerusalem, as I said, represents the centre of the whole realm of God's interests. How wide her outlook was! We are told whose daughter she was, she was the daughter of Phanuel, and to what tribe of Israel she belonged, that is Asher. These are points of great interest. Asher was to be possessed of sons: although she was a daughter she was spiritually a son; she was marked by the dignity and liberty spiritually that belongs

to sonship. His bolts were to be iron and brass -- there was strength and compactness about her, and her feet were dipped in oil (Deuteronomy 33:24 - 25).

We have often heard these things, but they are very apropos to what is before us now -- that the sisters should be marked by the features seen in Anna. She came in contact in some way with all those who looked for redemption in Jerusalem. She spake of Him -- she was no gossiper, no idler; she was a son of Asher engaged in the temple service and in speaking of Christ to all who looked for redemption in Jerusalem.

May God bless the word.

THE SERVICE OF GOD

Romans 1:9; Romans 7:6,25; Romans 12:1

J.T. I have been thinking of the service of God, and in considering the subject, I thought it would be wise to look at Romans first, as conveying the initial idea concerning it, and then, perhaps, later we may look at it in a deeper sense as presented elsewhere, in connection with priesthood. The epistle to the Romans deals with the subject rather extensively in an initial way, reminding us that the service of God belonged primarily to Israel; the apostle, in chapter 9, tells us that the service belonged to them.

These passages in Romans show how christians come into the service of God in a practical way. The apostle, at the beginning, tells us that God, whom he served in his spirit in the glad tidings of His Son, was his witness, showing that it works out from the inner man. Service as in the hands of christians does not consist in mere outward forms; we begin with our spirits.

Then in chapter 7 we see how it is to be "in newness of spirit", and also that in the service we recognize God's law; then finally, in chapter 12, it is carried on in an intelligent way -- "which is your intelligent service". We know what we are doing.

H.H. "Israel is my son, my firstborn ... Let my son go, that he may serve me", Exodus 4:23. Would that come into line with what you have before you?

J.T. Well, it does; it presents the mind of God as to the kind of persons who are to serve. Romans prepares us, as leading us into sonship, for that service. I thought that we might take it up from that point of view in our next reading -- that is, as based on sonship. The apostle, more than any other I suppose, illustrates that truth, in that in his spirit he served God in the glad tidings of His Son.

Galatians opens up to us the truth of sonship as apprehended by Paul, and prepares us for this great service, which I hope we may be able to look at later in Leviticus.

Ques. What is the difference between "my spirit" and "newness of spirit"?

J.T. "My spirit" would be the man himself. "Newness of spirit" is that I serve in a new way -- in the spirit of the service in contrast with the letter of it; "not in oldness of letter".

Rem. "The old" was what he had been engaged in previously.

J.T. Exactly. The first thing is to see to it that we are in the thing ourselves, because a man's spirit is the man himself, especially in all that he is in relation to God. The spirit belongs to God; it is oneself, one's most inner consciousness. So the apostle in saying, "whom I serve in my spirit", was wholly in the thing; he was in the thing in his inner consciousness and motives; his service was not perfunctory in any way.

Ques. Is that the thought in chapter 7:25, "with the mind I myself serve"?

J.T. That is right, "I myself", only there it is the mind, leading up to the intelligent side. The mind is that which can be employed by the inner self. "I myself" is the inner consciousness in relation to God. The mind is something different, "We have the mind of Christ", we are told (1 Corinthians 2:16).

J.J. Is the mind a faculty?

J.T. Yes, it is. It is available like a member, so that it has to be kept under control.

Ques. Is "I myself" the inner man?

J.T. The "inner man" involves a little more than that. The man is the whole being with all his intelligent faculties. The spirit is the innermost part,

so that it goes to be with the Lord, as the Lord Himself said, "Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit" (Luke 23:46), and Stephen committed his to the Lord. The "inner man" is not only the person's consciousness, but intelligently so, in the faculties by which a man is expressed.

Ques. Is there any link between this and John 4, "the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit"?

J.T. That corresponds with Romans 7:6, that is to say, the service of God does not comprise merely outward form, it involves the spirit, so that one's whole being is in it. A man's spirit is the means by which God can put Himself in touch with man. The conscience is that through which God speaks on the responsible side, but I think the spirit refers to God, as it were, normally; we have received it from God, and it is that by which He has direct access to us.

Ques. Is that why it says, "God is my witness"?

J.T. Just so. The apostle is quite conscious of his relations with God, and that God knew his motives; whether he were speaking or ministering there was always the consciousness that he was serving God in his spirit; it was always so.

H.H. God claims that from all who serve, would you say?

J.T. I think so; your whole being is to be in the thing, so that you can refer to God as your witness in the path: "For God is my witness". One in that state has peculiar power in his ministry.

The apostle is occupying us with the initial ideas here, that is to say, we are directed to our spirits. The point is not so much as to what are the glad tidings of God's Son, but rather as to where we are in our spirits in relation to the service of God. With the apostle it is not so much that he was serving

God in the glad tidings of His Son, but that he served God in his spirit. With one coming out of the current religious organizations the tendency would be to carry with him their methods and practices, and this verse in chapter 7 is to save one from that; the service is to be in "newness of spirit"; the inner texture of the thing is new. We are very much coloured by that in which we have been brought up, that is, "the oldness of the letter".

J.J. "Newness of life" in chapter 6 would go with that.

J.T. It is the same, only that it is applied to life; it applies to your everyday, practical life. Whereas chapter 12 introduces the idea of service, we are in marital relations with Christ in chapter 7, "in order that we might bear fruit to God".

Ques. Would preaching Christ of contention be the contrast of that?

J.T. The contrast is really current religious methods, whether in the so-called worship of God, or in service in any way. In that day they were Jewish methods; in ours, that which represents judaism. We have to be on our guard. We need what is new, that is to say, what is of God, new from God.

E.S.H. Our spirits need to be liberated in view of this.

J.T. Quite. We are really on advanced ground here in that we have "been made dead to the law by the body of the Christ, to be to another, who has been raised up from among the dead", and then in verse 6 "that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in oldness of letter". As having our attention called thereto, I think we shall all recognize the danger of carrying on with current religious ways in the service of God.

Rem. Saul was told to go into the city and it should be told him there what he must do, as if there were not a thing he could do rightly.

H.H. It required "newness of spirit" for such as the apostles to serve in the glad tidings of God's Son.

J.T. Indeed, and in no one more than in the apostle Paul, as one who had been brought up "at the feet of Gamaliel" (Acts 22:3), and who, "according to the strictest sect" of the Jews' religion, had lived a Pharisee (Acts 26:5). So, as it has been remarked, he said, "What shall I do, Lord?" (Acts 22:10) -- a very fine question -- and the Lord said, "Rise up, and go to Damascus, and there it shall be told thee of all things which it is appointed thee to do". The Lord, of course, could have told him everything that he should do, but he had to learn it in the assembly, and hence he goes to the city and is among the brethren for certain days and learns from them. He would never forget that in all his ministry; however much he shone more than they later, however much greater his gift than that of any of them, he would never forget, nor would the Lord have him to forget that he began by receiving instruction from the brethren. That was where the new thing was; the Holy Spirit was among them, and so the point was to arise and get baptised and have his sins washed away that he might receive the Spirit. He speaks of some "who were also in Christ before me" (Romans 16:7), that is, those particular brothers had, in the mind of the apostle, that distinction over him.

H.H. According to that chapter there were many worthy ones in his mind.

J.T. Yes; there were many whom he could salute as worthy, and it is of all moment to recognize in coming into contact with God in our spirits that the new order of service is among the saints who are walking in the light. We do not get it directly at the

outset from the Lord, we get it among the brethren. This is a humiliating process, but a wholesome and necessary one; so we may not assume that we get everything from the Lord. The Lord would say, It is there, and you must get it where I have placed it. It comes from the Lord, but it was already there at Damascus among a despised few, but it was there and Paul had to learn it there; "go into the city, and it shall be told thee".

Rem. That is very interesting, because according to Galatians 1:12, he received nothing of man.

J.T. He makes a point of that in Galatians, referring to the ministry special to him, but as a young christian he had to begin by recognizing what was already there. We cannot get past that, we must recognize what is already amongst the saints and placed there by the Lord. Antioch presents the full thought. There were those there who ministered to the Lord and fasted and prayed; they had the full sense of the danger of the flesh. It is of great importance that we recognize at the outset what God has set here; we must begin with that, God will not let us go past it. Indeed, the apostle had to be rebuked by Ananias. Ananias had announced wonderful things to him as to what was in the mind of God about him, that he should know God's will, and see the just One, and hear words from His mouth. That was a most remarkable distinction that Paul had; but while listening to all that, he was not moving. He was listening to the mind of God about him, which would in a measure exalt him, but he was not moving on lines that denoted a humble spirit, so that Ananias says, "why lingerest thou? Arise and get baptised, and have thy sins washed away" (Acts 22:16). He had to go through that process. That would bring the Lord in, and would set aside all that Saul might glory in. In view of the mind of God attaching to him

thus, if all his old dignity attached to him at the same time, his would be a most sorrowful state.

Rem. It was a most humbling thing for a Jew to be baptised.

J.T. Yes. He recognized that he had to go to the very bottom, to start there in the midst of the brethren. If you have been a religious man, and you become converted, the light is sweet to you at the start; but then after a little you may not be letting the things go that distinguished you here; you may have listened to the mind of God about you opened up in the gospel, and yet be retaining your personal dignity. Now that is a state of things that is very damaging both to yourself and to others. Paul would never forget that he had to be rebuked, for it amounted to that, by this humble brother, as evidently Ananias was, for we do not hear much of him in the testimony. Ananias said, so to speak, Why are you retaining all this, why are you not being baptised to wash away your sins -- the whole past history -- calling on the name of the Lord? You are to recognize another name now, and to acknowledge that your name is gone. Philippians 3 shows how fully Paul came to this later.

Rem. It is to be "in newness of spirit".

J.T. Yes. Christ is in heaven. He appeared to Saul upon earth, speaking kindly to him, and He reminded Saul of what was among the saints, "Why persecutest thou me?" (chapter 22:7) He was not persecuting Christ personally in heaven, what he was persecuting was the Spirit of Christ in the saints, and he had to learn what that was in Damascus, which he did. We have to learn that what is in heaven is placed down here. You have to get things where the Lord has placed them, and that may mean that you have to humble yourself before some person whom you have hitherto despised. This particularly applies to any

one in distinction, religious or otherwise. It is all very well to say, The Lord spoke to me, and I am the Lord's servant, but the Lord has placed everything of Himself here, and we have to get it where it is.

Rem. Where He is pleased to put His name.

J.T. Yes. His name was in Damascus and Saul was told to arise and go into the city, and then he had to be led there.

Rem. Grace amongst the saints would help us to go down.

J.T. Quite. We are to be like trees "that be planted in the house of the Lord" (Psalm 92:13); we begin there, and we grow up there, so that our roots are not outside in the religious world, or in the world of literature, or in the commercial world; our roots are not in these things; we come down to the very bottom and begin as a little child. "Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven", (Matthew 18:3). You grow up in a new environment altogether, you are "rooted and grounded in love" (Ephesians 3:17), and that is where the Holy Spirit is.

Ques. Do you mean that we learn things in the local assembly?

J.T. Yes. I think you begin in your local meeting. If I am converted as a man having some distinction in the locality, am I equal to identifying myself with the company there and learning from them? I cannot carry anything in there, I cannot in any way add to that company, I have to get everything there, because the new thing is there. God has brought in what is wholly new, and I am to grow up in that.

Rem. I was wondering if Matthew 11:29 would come in here, "learn from me; for I am meek and lowly in heart". These features are seen amongst the saints.

J.T. Exactly; but then you see there the Father's will, "I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes" (verse 25). The things were already there revealed to the babes, and all the subsequent chapters in Matthew develop these new things that the Father had revealed to them. The law of Christ was to govern everything, "Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am meek and lowly in heart". He is not the teacher there, but the model; but then the "things" are all there in the babes.

Rem. We learn as being together in a way that we could not otherwise.

J.T. So Colossians would show what there was here. They had received the Christ, Jesus the Lord, and were to walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him; they were not to be led away through philosophy and vain deceit. The point is to hold rigidly to what is new; not to allow the old in any way, however dignified it may appear.

J.J. In Philippians 3 Paul goes over what he was as a man, including persecuting the assembly.

J.T. Yes. He had everything which could distinguish him as a religious man, but what things were gain to him he counted loss for Christ.

Ques. Does the thought of behaviour come in, "That thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God"? (1 Timothy 3:15).

J.T. Yes; we have to behave ourselves in the house of God; it is a dignified place. The book of Psalms is intended to help us as to the dignity and spiritual character of the house of God. God has set everything there in a practical sense; it is the sphere of the blessed Spirit of God, and all that is heavenly and new is brought in there. Every one, even if it were a Caesar, a Herod or a Herod's foster-brother, whoever he might be, would have to learn there, and

to grow up there; that sphere is more dignified than any sphere in the world.

Ques. Do you see the Lord growing up in His place in Luke? It is referred to in Zechariah 6:12.

J.T. Yes; I think that is very beautiful.

H.H. If we had a right appreciation of the kingdom of God and of the truth of the assembly as being here, that would keep us in proper relation to the maintenance of right order.

J.T. Quite. The apostle begins by saying, "What shall I do, Lord?" That is the acknowledgement of the Lord's authority. The answer states where the Lord has put the instruction, where the new thing is. The Lord has reminded him that He had met him in his persecuting career; that He had met him when he was dragging off both men and women and delivering them up to prison. But now Paul has met Christ in His people, and that involved what was new. So it says that he was with the disciples certain days before he began to preach; in those days he would be learning the new thing, learning to serve in "newness of spirit".

Rem. In Ananias and Barnabas he had two good models at the outset. Ananias was prepared to receive him; he says, "Saul, brother", and Barnabas is quite prepared to introduce him to the brethren; that is a spirit that would make room for all that is of God.

J.T. Yes. I suppose Ananias would represent the local brother, what is in the local company, because he is not mentioned as distinguished by gift, but he was godly, and that is a great point in a local brother. There was moral power in the man. He was a pious man and held in regard by the Jews even (Acts 22:12). That is what ought to make up an elder in any local company. He says, "Saul, brother"; there is the spirit of the brother; and that is what Saul came into contact with at Damascus; there was nothing repelling in that. The Lord had prepared Ananias really for the service,

so that there should be nothing repellent in him, and that the future apostle might be rightly impressed with christianity as in its local setting. But then he had to do later with Barnabas who was a gifted man. How the brethren regard you locally is one thing; how those gifted may regard you is another; you have to stand alongside the gifted brothers, they have their own distinctions. But Barnabas is an excellent example as to how a gifted brother receives a younger brother who has gift. It is as if he were to say, "This young man can serve here to the best advantage". It was a great opportunity for Barnabas to serve at Antioch, but he went to Tarsus to seek out Saul; he went after him and brought him there, and then they laboured together. The greatest test is among the gifted brethren. The Spirit of Christ was prominent in Barnabas.

Ques. "Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty; God hath shined", (Psalm 50:2). Would what you have been saying in regard of Ananias and Barnabas answer to that?

J.T. I think so; the shining out of Zion is seen in these touches in regard of the service of God. The epistle to the Romans is divine shining, in so far as it goes, and certainly the apostle was like a precious stone, he reflected the light, in that he was serving God in his spirit in the glad tidings of His Son.

J.J. Would you say a little as to the difference between the spirit, the mind, and the intelligence?

J.T. The component parts of a man are spirit, soul, and body; the mind is more the faculty that may be employed; "with the mind I myself serve". The spirit is yourself. If I can get in through that mind and that body of yours, I should get to yourself inside. No doubt it is expressed in you, but there may be that which hides the real self. I may hide my real self by certain manipulations, by cleverness and the like, but if I am simple, myself is manifest in my actions and words; the body is light.

Rem. So that the believer has to be renewed in the spirit of his mind.

J.T. The mind is the intelligent faculty, and so we have here, "with the mind I myself serve the law of God". The thing is new; it is "newness of spirit"; we cannot ignore that there are principles or laws governing the service of God.

J.J. So the spirit is the man and the mind is the faculty of the man.

J.T. Yes; it is the intelligent feature. By it he is able to distinguish the law and serve it; mark, it is not simply the ten commandments, but the law of God.

J.J. Do you connect "your intelligent service" with the mind or the spirit?

J.T. With the mind; we are said to be "renewed in the spirit of your mind" (Ephesians 4:23), and to have "the spirit of wisdom", (Ephesians 1:17). Now when I come to the law, I see it is all new; but there is the law of God governing service, and the intelligent christian recognizes that; he serves the law of God in his mind; therefore I would take it to include the principles that govern the service of God. So that although the thing is new, we are not without law; we are in an order of things that is governed by law as much as any other; hence the apostle says, "If any one thinks himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him recognise the things that I write to you, that it is the Lord's commandment", (1 Corinthians 14:37). In being born again you are born throughout, that is to say, born from the top; every part of you is affected by the work of God, so that in my spirit I am affected. Mary says, "my spirit has rejoiced in God my Saviour" (Luke 1:47); she was intelligent now in regard of God.

Ques. Would you say these chapters introduce us into the divine system?

J.T. I think, so far as they go, you are in a new order of things; you bow to the law of God. And then chapter 12 is a direct appeal to us for our intelligent service; it is a question of intelligent service in the presenting of our bodies a living sacrifice.

Rem. Your body comes under the control of what you are.

J.T. Quite.

J.J. Would that involve the headship of Christ?

J.T. I suppose Romans gives the germ of everything, so when you come to intelligence you begin to apprehend what is in Christ. What has He done with His body? The Lord's supper brings to our intelligence how He used His body. He has led the way for us. His body was the vessel in which He glorified God, that in which He served God, and it was that in which He showed His love to God and to us: "This is my body which is given for you", (Luke 22:19). With the Lord there was utter unselfishness in the use of His body, and this epistle prepares us for that service; I begin with my body, it is available to God; it is presented a living sacrifice on the principle of a vow which is never recalled. I place it on the altar of God -- not a dead thing, but a living thing, made living by the presence of the Spirit.

J.J. Directly the law of God was stated the Hebrew servant comes to light.

J.T. That is very beautiful; when the law of God is introduced it is exemplified at once; it is not a mere abstract code, it is exemplified in the Hebrew servant on the principle of love. He had his body and he used it. He went to the door-post to have his ear bored through; the ear really is the man in his intelligence. The use I make of my body is to be intelligent; I am to know what I am doing. Monks or nuns may use their bodies to deny themselves, but that is not intelligent; it a question of intelligent service, of a living sacrifice. What has been remarked

about Matthew 11 fits in here, "learn from me". The Lord leads the way for us in everything.

J.J. Do you think the bringing in of "the Son" seven times in the first eight chapters of Romans would refer to affection being behind all this service?

J.T. Paul's gospel particularly was intended to appeal to the affections of men: "God, who ... called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me" (Galatians 1:15,16), that is to say, One whom I love. There is the greatest difference between presenting Christ doctrinally, and presenting Him as loving Him. I believe that Paul in his gospel addresses would greatly affect hearts. He says, "the Son of God, Jesus Christ, he who has been preached by us among you (by me and Silvanus and Timotheus)" (2 Corinthians 1:19); a three-fold testimony. They all loved the Lord, and they presented Him among the Corinthians in their ministry, all to the end that their hearts might be attracted to that Person -- the Son of God.

The compassions of God all came out in Christ. When the dead man, the only son of his mother, was being brought out of the city of Nain, it says, the Lord had compassion on her. And the young man was raised up and the testimony was, "that God hath visited his people"; God was there (Luke 7:11 - 16).

E.S.H. Would the tenth leper returning be an example to us? He had been the object of compassion, but he came to the feet of the Lord Jesus; and he glorified God (Luke 17:15).

J.T. Quite. One sees the great importance of our bodies in this connection. Corinthians enlarges on the necessity of sanctification, our bodies being the temples of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19); and in 1 Thessalonians 4:4 every one is to know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour. Romans is yielding the body a living sacrifice.

Rem. The apostle speaks of bearing in his body

the brands of the Lord Jesus (Galatians 6:17). Evidently his body was presented a living sacrifice.

J.T. Certain marks were forbidden in the Old Testament (see Deuteronomy 14:1; Leviticus 19:28). They were not to disfigure their bodies; but Paul's "brands" were those of the Lord Jesus.

It is very beautiful to see in Paul's history how he used his body. In Acts 14:19 he is stoned and left for dead; but the brethren encircled him, and he rose up and entered into the city, that is, he was living; it was a living state of things. Martyrdom is the opposition of the enemy to render the body a dead thing. The bodies of the two witnesses in Revelation remain in the street of the great city three days. What a triumph, apparently, for the enemy! But they rose up; there was a testimony to life; they rose up and went up to heaven in life. God has great regard for the bodies of His people. Moses, alluding to men generally, speaks about God carrying them away as with a flood (Psalm 90:5). The millions of people that pass away annually are regarded en masse, "as with a flood"; but when it comes to the saints, it is not so. Moses is buried by God, Enoch and Elijah go up to heaven individually, and so the Thessalonians are told that "them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him" (chapter 4:14). The saints are taken care of individually by God in regard of their bodies and all with a view to the testimony of life. The two witnesses go up in life, in the power of "the spirit of life from God" -- that is the idea. Already, in a provisional way -- although our bodies remain mortal -- this epistle teaches us that our bodies are living; and then they will be quickened finally on account of God's Spirit that dwells in us, not as taken out of the grave, but as alive here. Already, as the Holy Spirit has His place with us, our bodies are available -- a living sacrifice.

Rem. "Many bodies of the saints which slept

arose", (Matthew 27:52). May we have a word as to that?

J.T. That is different from Romans 8. It might easily have been said, "Many of the saints"; but it is "many bodies of the saints". God pays great attention to our bodies, and we should do so.

J.J. Epaphroditus was an example of one who used his body as a living sacrifice (Philippians 2:30).

H.H. "A body hast thou prepared me" (Hebrews 10:5); does that give the initial idea?

J.T. The Lord gives the lead in everything -- certainly as to our bodies. He held His body, too, in regard of the law of God! As has been remarked, when the law was unfolded, the Hebrew servant with his body is available, ready to go to the limit of suffering on account of love. There was ascending love, there was collateral love, and there was descending love: "I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free" (Exodus 21:5). His body was available in all these connections.

Rem. The apostle Paul was anxious regarding Timothy's body; he said, "Use a little wine for ... thine often infirmities", (1 Timothy 5:23). We should be concerned for one another.

J.T. It is important that our bodies should be in a right condition if we are to be used in the service of God, because we cannot serve without bodies. We need to recognize that the Holy Spirit dwells in the believer's body now, and it is that really which makes it living. If the Holy Spirit uses my body, it is obvious that I am a living person.

Ques. What does the Lord refer to in saying, "The light of the body is the eye" (Matthew 6:22)?

J.T. The eye is the organ that takes in light; the point is, if it is "single", or simple, the whole body is luminous; it is an organ in relation to the whole body.

Ques. How does the soul stand in relation to these things?

J.T. The soul is that in which you are in touch with men more; the compassions of God are expressed in your soul. The spirit is that in which you are in relation with God, but in your soul you are more in relation with men. "Thy whole body will be light", is a remarkable statement. One may say, This brother has light; but is his whole body light? Every part of his body is to emit light.

Rem. "I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection", (1 Corinthians 9:27).

J.T. That means that he did not give rein to his natural desires. In Romans 8:10 he says, "if Christ be in you, the body is dead". All the natural propensities that expressed themselves in your body, in your unconverted days, are mortified, that is, if Christ is in you. The body must become dead first before it is alive; it is alive as it is a vessel for the Spirit free from the working of sin.

THE SERVICE OF GOD - CONTINUED

Leviticus 8:13 - 36; Acts 13:1,2

J.T. These passages may be linked on, I believe, with the teaching of Colossians and Ephesians rather than with Romans. You will observe that in the New Translation Leviticus 8:13 reads, the sons of Aaron were brought near; and verse 6 says Aaron and his sons were brought near. The chapter is well-nigh a repetition of Exodus 29, with certain variations which fit in with the teaching of Leviticus, that is, after the instructions are furnished, which are to regulate the offerings of the people. The Lord spoke "out of the tabernacle", we are told at the beginning of the book, having reference to anyone who brought an offering, so that the earlier chapters are to regulate and govern the offerers and offerings. The believer is seen, therefore, in a certain advanced stage in his education, and thus is equal to the teaching of this chapter, which has reference to the consecration of the priests -- typically Christ and the saints who form the assembly.

It may be well to point out that the subject of service is in view throughout the whole of Exodus: God said, "Let my son go, that he may serve me" (chapter 4:23), having in mind that the service should be in His sons. In that book, Aaron is introduced by God Himself first as the Levite, meaning, I apprehend, that God in view of service first refers to secret history. He is the heart-knowing God. There is no public history in regard to Aaron prior to his introduction by God. There is much history in regard to Moses; from his birth we have a record, but we have nothing in regard of Aaron, although he was older than Moses. He is called "the Levite" by God, meaning, I suppose, that He, knowing the end from the beginning,

names him. God alone can do that. Aaron was that potentially, but there was doubtless something in him that furnished a basis for the name. He was not simply a Levite, but the Levite, a term having its own spiritual significance as brought out later, and he was Moses' brother. "Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother?" (Exodus 4:14.) We are reminded, therefore, that the service is in one who is a brother, not only in name but in fact, for the Lord says of him, not only that he can speak well, but "he cometh forth to meet thee: and when he seeth thee, he will be glad in his heart". It is well to note these facts, because they underlie effective service. The servant is glad in heart, he takes a journey to meet his brother, and when he saw Moses, when he met him on the mount of God, he kissed him; that is to say, he carried with him the qualifications that ensure successful, effective service.

J.J. That all came out when Moses told Jehovah that he was quite unequal to the service.

J.T. Quite; he told the Lord that he could not speak, but Moses was brought down by divine discipline. He was brought down to a very low ebb; in fact, after all the discipline, God met him on the way at the inn and sought to slay him, reminding us how serious it is to have to do with God in service, that He brooks nothing of the flesh. Even at the end of a long course of instruction, there may be elements of the flesh, and God will not suffer them, and so He sought to slay Moses. The thing was that circumcision had to be applied, and Moses acquires the title of "A bloody husband" (Exodus 4:25), denoting that the Lord has the right to insist on circumcision. Colossians goes with that. Romans does not develop the truth of circumcision. In Colossians 2:11 you get "the putting off of the body of flesh", that is, every vestige of it, "in the circumcision of the Christ". Moses is brought to that point; then Aaron is introduced,

meaning that there was another history, a collateral history of which we have no record, but a history which God knows. Without that collateral history, whatever public history there may be, there is no real qualification for the service of God. "Aaron the Levite thy brother" refers to a certain secret history allied with the spirit of a brother.

J.J. The two are blended.

J.T. That is what I thought, so that God says, "Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother? I know that he can speak well", (Exodus 4:14). I have no doubt that he was accustomed to speak to God; God knew that he could speak. It is not so much speaking in ministry publicly, but ability to convey thoughts.

Ques. Is that a divine principle?

J.T. I think it is. The secret history is of all moment. It is known to the heart-knowing God. That feature is brought out in the Acts; there was the open history of the twelve, the open history of Peter and the others, but in connection with the coming in of the gentiles, it is the heart-knowing God (Acts 1:24, 15:8). We have to do with God, who knows the heart; He is not occupied with public history now, but with hearts; He knows hearts.

H.H. Would the apostle's sojourn in Arabia answer somewhat?

J.T. No doubt the secret history went on there. I think it goes on with all of us if we are to have a part in the service. God alone knows what you have been through, and He gives you a name.

Rem. David had a secret history before he came out to meet Goliath.

J.T. Exactly.

J.J. Why do you connect that with Leviticus 8?

J.T. Exodus is the truth on the divine side and is the background of this chapter. Leviticus is more from our side; if any one draw near to God. God

drawing near to us, is in Exodus. If one draws near to God there is sacrifice; you have regulations, and then sacrifice comes in at the end of the regulations. Jehovah said to Moses, "I will be with thy mouth, and with his mouth" (chapter 4:15). That is the next thing. He knew Aaron's heart; He knew he could speak, but He would be with Moses' mouth, and with Aaron's mouth, and He would teach them what they should say. Then Moses was to be to him for God, that is to say, there is an element of divine authority in the service. "If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God", (1 Peter 4:11). And God said, Aaron shall be to thee for a mouth. So that the servant carries authority in his ministry if it is rightly presented in an anointed mouth; but there is authority in it.

J.J. Would you say there is sympathy in connection with Aaron?

J.T. Yes, "Aaron ... thy brother"; the mouth through which it comes is sympathetic, as the apostle in writing to the Corinthians said, "Paul, a called apostle ... and Sosthenes the brother" (chapter 1:1). Authority is vested in Paul, but he joins himself to a brother, not simply a brother, but "the brother", and so again in the second epistle we get "the brother Timotheus" (chapter 1:1). These features underlie this great subject of service. That section of Exodus underlies all, and after you have these facts presented, you have the effectiveness of the combination of Moses and Aaron in that they gather the people together and the people worship. Then later you have the genealogy of the tribes given until you arrive at Levi. After Reuben, Simeon, Levi, the Spirit of God stops, because He wishes to bring out these servants, Aaron and Moses, "This is that Aaron and Moses" (chapter 6:26); they are the concrete expression of service. I do not think we shall have the service according to God either Godward or manward unless we understand the earlier chapters in Exodus, because they underlie the calling of Aaron to the priesthood

in chapters 28 and 29. Aaron is to minister unto the Lord in the priest's office.

J.J. Would the rod of God in the hand of Moses suggest authority?

J.T. Quite. "Cast it on the ground", that is, as released from Moses' hand it becomes a serpent, meaning that if I get out of that divine hand I am in the hands of Satan. That is another important and solemn matter. One getting out of the divine hand of authority becomes an agent of Satan. As taken back again by Moses it becomes a rod, which is a useful implement of authority. Then the hand put into the bosom becomes leprous, but when put in again and taken out of his bosom it becomes normal. These are to teach us what good and evil are in the service of God; how that with the natural man there is nothing for God but satanic power and sin, whereas in Christ there is divine power and healing. In meeting with evil the Lord says, "Get thee behind me, Satan" (Matthew 16:23). That is authority, but based on moral grounds.

J.J. Moses' rod was really a shepherd's rod; one who wields authority must be a shepherd, would you say?

J.T. Undoubtedly it was a feature of those whom God used in the Old Testament.

E.S.H. Would you say that the instincts of service were right with Moses, and that he thought the people would recognize that he was their deliverer?

J.T. Moses' history helps us negatively as well as positively. One has often thought that Jacob's history, Moses' history, and David's history are set down in full length so that we might be helped negatively and positively. In Moses, the lesson is, that we should not attempt to serve in natural energy; however conscious we may be of right motives, there must be the disallowance of the flesh.

J.J. Why was Moses so timid at the start?

J.T. I think he had been so brought down after forty years of discipline.

Ques. You were saying that service was in view from the outset, when God said, "Let my son go, that he may serve me". Would you connect that with the thought of "My son, give me thine heart" (Proverbs 23:26), and then, "out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh" (Matthew 12:34)?

J.T. We are set up in sonship as a matter of light. There was little or nothing to indicate sonship in Israel when God said, "Let my son go, that he may serve me", but it was there potentially. God could speak thus. Sonship is a matter of light to start with, but unless the heart be yielded up, you cannot have sonship developed; so that the book of Proverbs is to develop the heart of a son.

H.H. And there is authority and power to meet what was on the side of evil in connection with Moses and the rod; the power of evil has to be met.

J.T. That is very important. It comes out in the letters to the Corinthians, having in view to banish all distance. There was power in the apostle to bring down everything that exalted itself against the knowledge of God (2 Corinthians 10:5). Therefore the Lord's example in meeting Satan in the wilderness is important for us, because it is a question of moral power. The enemy was completely overcome, and at the end the Lord could say, "Get thee hence, Satan" (Matthew 4:10). Overcoming is a matter of moral power. The apostle challenged the Corinthians as to whether he should go to them. He had the power to deal with evil. The Lord forewarns the apostles in regard of evil, and in Mark He gives the authority or power to deal with every form of it.

I thought we might see now in Leviticus 8 the relation of Aaron and his sons. It is not simply those who offer, though really they are the same persons, but they are now seen in relation to Christ -- Aaron

and his sons are brought near. It is an allusion to the position in relation to the tabernacle where God was. We are not to serve at a distance, we are to be brought near.

Rem. And with something to offer.

J.T. Yes; the required offerings were all there. We did not read the first part of the chapter, but the requirements were all there first; "Take Aaron and his sons with him, and the garments and the anointing oil, and the bullock of the sin offering, and the two rams, and the basket of unleavened bread". These are all understood if we have gone through the earlier chapters, so that we become intelligent in offering. We have the divine requirements of the offerings, and we have the requisites for sanctification, and consecration -- that is, the consecration of those who were known in this relation, "Aaron and his sons with him". Then there are the baskets -- the containing vessels; the requisites are all there as the consecration proceeds; they are known elements, the basket of unleavened bread besides other varieties of confectionery.

J.J. What is the thought in touching the ear, the thumb and the toe of Aaron with the blood? One could understand it in connection with the sons.

J.T. It is intelligible, I think. The earlier verses contemplate the personal dignity of Christ, He is anointed without blood. You have the general thought of bathing first; Aaron and his sons are bathed; but there is nothing said about blood in the earlier verses, meaning, I apprehend, that Christ, in becoming Man, indicates that for our consecration there must be the principle of cleansing. The blood meets the claims of God; death must take place; so Aaron comes in in the second part in the sense that He has been through death. God "brought again from among the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep in the power of the blood of the eternal covenant" (Hebrews 13:20). He stands on that basis.

As we progress in this great subject, as in others, we look for increased understanding and spirituality, so that we have these requisites given at the outset as understood. They are all provided now, but they are not always seen as ordinary individuals draw near with their offerings. In chapter 8 it is assumed that the offerings of the previous chapters are understood.

Rem. It is obedience; it would be according to the commandment that they brought these things.

J.T. What was commanded was understood. It is one thing to act in obedience (it is always right to do so), but I am to act in spiritual intelligence, so that I understand the meaning of the things, and as we go through the earlier chapters we understand the things that are brought forward.

Ques. Have you anything particular in mind as to the basket?

J.T. It is of course a containing vessel. In having to do with spiritual things, there are no loose ends; nothing is loose or off-hand; everything is in its place. The idea of a containing vessel is important in Scripture, and that is the idea of the basket here; to contain certain things for the moment. The baker in Genesis 40 had three baskets of confectionery on his head and the enemy got at them. In our consecration we have to watch that things are contained, and are kept right. The enemy has no footing here, everything is under divine control.

T.W. Are the divine requisites still available?

J.T. The question is whether there is the basket -- that containing vessel to keep things intact, because this principle of consecration and of keeping things, must proceed to the end of the dispensation.

Ques. Do you suggest that the saints are the containing vessel?

J.T. That is the idea. What the basket contains has reference to Christ's humanity, the truth of Christ's humanity. It is a question of unleavened bread, oiled

bread and wafers. You come to very fine spiritual distinctions and discriminations, and these are all in the basket, ready as they are needed.

J.J. Would you say that in Acts 13 the assembly at Antioch was like the basket with all the requisites for the consecration of Barnabas and Saul?

J.T. That is the idea of it; the full thought of the assembly was there; in the assembly at Antioch, in the local company there, these elements were present.

Ques. "Filled with the full knowledge of his will, in all wisdom and spiritual understanding" (Colossians 1:9); is that the idea of the basket?

J.T. In Colossians 2 you have all the fulness of the Godhead dwelling in Christ bodily; that is, all that God is towards us in Christ is available in Him bodily And then we are complete, -- filled full in Him. The thought of filled full is that we have all that He is as Man before God. What you would look for is the containing vessel, so that there are none of the requisites for consecration lacking. There they were in the basket, and as needed they were appropriated; they are essential to consecration -- the truth of Christ's humanity.

E.S.H. It should be an exercise to have the basket in our hands. The baker in Genesis 40 had the baskets on his head.

J.T. Quite; hence in the gospels you have the baskets to gather up the fragments. This is an important matter; secret soul history goes on before, and now you are to have part in the service of God, but it must be with the confidence of the brethren. At Antioch you see how the brethren are brought into the service. "Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them". The saints are brought into the thing. What one is in service requires that one should be known to the saints. They are not likely to hear you unless they know you.

J.J. I suppose that was true of Paul; what would you say marked Barnabas?

J.T. Energy and maturity. It is a question of manhood, "that we may be no longer babes" (Ephesians 4:14). The teaching of the epistles to the Colossians and Ephesians was that they should not be babes. That is the thought in these two epistles. The Corinthians were that, and they were enjoined to be men. The Lord says, "the men whom thou gavest me", (John 17:6). You cannot serve God save in manhood in the sense of maturity as seen in Barnabas. The two rams here denote energy in maturity.

H.H. Speaking of Barnabas, it is interesting to see how after arriving at the Antioch assembly he went to seek his brother Saul and brought him to them, and they remained at Antioch twelve months. Barnabas sought his brother because he knew how valuable his service would be.

J.T. They remained at Antioch. Barnabas is spoken of as a Levite; he sold his lands; he acts with right sense. That is an element of importance; you are not to be extreme in your views, you are to use practical wisdom. He did not simply leave the lands, he saw that they could be sold and that the price could be used for the furtherance of the testimony, and thus he gets his name from the apostles, that is, from those who had authority. They named him "Son of consolation" (Acts 4:36); he became too the link between what was at Jerusalem and what God was about to do among the gentiles. "He was a good man and full of the Holy Spirit and of faith", so that he seeks out Paul, and they laboured together for a whole year in the assembly, and they taught a great crowd (Acts 11:24 - 26). The disciples were first called christians at Antioch.

Ques. Do you suggest that every local company should be self-supporting?

J.T. So long as you do not make local companies

congregational churches. It is all well in a way, but you can be self-supporting only in relation to the whole, because the local companies need the gifts, and the gifts are never given locally, they are always universal. So that there is an interdependence that maintains a catholic state of things, and you are conscious that you need all that God has provided for His people. The gifts that God has given to the assembly are for all; they are given "with a view to the edifying of the body of Christ; until we all arrive at the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God" (Ephesians 4:12,13). So we are never really independent or self-contained, we are always dependent on all that God has provided for the assembly.

J.J. Would you say that these elements of consecration were lacking at Corinth to a large extent?

J.T. Well, it was so. Not that they did not know and have the right example put before them, for the Son of God was presented there. The Son is a full thought, a complete thought; it is not infantile. Paul said that the Son of God had been preached by him and by Silvanus and Timotheus. The Corinthians had had the full thought presented to them, but they were in the babe state for they had not gone on.

Ques. Would Romans lay the basis for taking up service according to Leviticus?

J.T. Yes. We have in Leviticus 8 the service in an advanced stage, so that you have Aaron and his sons. You now see yourself in relation to Christ, and you are consecrated according to what He is. The hands are filled with the excellences of Christ; it is a full-grown man that is in view for service.

Ques. Would you say that the clothing mentioned in Leviticus 8 is now found in the assembly?

J.T. Clothing would refer to personal or official dignity. The anointing here is not on the ear, the thumb, nor on the great toe of the right foot, it is

sprinkled on the persons and on their garments. The anointing of the leper after his cleansing is on his ear, his thumb and his toe, and all that is left over is poured on his head; and the oil is in the left hand of the priest. But here the anointing with the oil and the blood is on the persons and their garments. The blood alludes to the application of the death of Christ and the oil to the Spirit, not only to the individual, but to the saints together as priests, that is, in relation to the assembly. The anointing with these shows the circumstances in which the service is to be carried on.

J.J. What is the thought of the boiling of the flesh?

J.T. That comes in at the end, and alludes to Christ being made available as food. In the type the victim was already slain; but death alone is not sufficient in these circumstances; you have the thing made available as food by the process of boiling -- not roasting. It is not here a question of the judgment of God, but of the food made available. The flesh is boiled, there is the indirect action of fire. It is that kind of food that sustains priesthood.

Ques. Would you say that what took place at Antioch was a voice out of the tent of meeting?

J.T. The Holy Spirit said, "Separate me Barnabas and Saul"; but the voice from the tent of meeting in Leviticus is to call us in. It is an allusion to 1 Corinthians 1:2, where we are "called saints"; God has called out of the tabernacle, and then as we are there we are regulated by the law governing the offerings, and now we are ready for the consecration. We understand these requisites and what they mean; we see that is not now simply an individual matter, but that we stand related to Christ; it is Aaron and his sons, and they are brought near. It is very touching, to my mind, that God would have us brought near and consecrated in that nearness, and then, as consecrated, to abide in the tabernacle for

the whole period; we are never to go out; we are never to regard ourselves as separate from the tabernacle. At Antioch they ministered to the Lord and fasted. It is not that they were told to do that; Acts 13 agrees with this chapter; this type had been fulfilled. It would be Colossians and Ephesians.

H.H. Being consecrated for the priestly side of things is distinct from going out in service.

J.T. They are not the same thought. "Ministering to the Lord" is distinctly priestly. When I am ministering to man, I am more a levite, but it is the same service; one is Godward and the other manward.

E.S.H. "In the midst of the assembly will I sing thy praises" (Hebrews 2:12) -- is that similar?

J.T. Quite. Aaron and his sons; "he that sanctifies and those sanctified are all of one" (Hebrews 2:11). You see here how they are brought near, and then the application of the blood of the bullock, that is to say, the full thought of the death of Christ apprehended, then the burnt-offering and then the consecration offerings. So that we have all that Christ is in His intrinsic preciousness to God in our hands and we present it to God; it is waved before Him, showing how delightful the service is, the servants being viewed collectively as before God. And then, all is burnt "on the altar over the burnt-offering". After the individual application of the blood in verse 24, you have the general application of it in connection with the Spirit, in the anointing oil and the blood being sprinkled. We are thus viewed as equal to generalization; we are not ambitious for personal distinction, we are merged, so to speak, in this anointing. If you retain personal distinction it cannot be hidden, it is sure to show itself, but as sprinkled with the same blood and with the same precious anointing oil we are all merged, and not only ourselves, but all our circumstances. All is merged in the same

precious death and the same precious anointing, and thus we are in good company; we are not likely to quarrel at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation!

Ques. Is that the thought in the words of the hymn, "By the Spirit all pervading" (Hymn 14)?

J.T. Yes; but I suppose that alludes to eternity. We are dealing with the present time, where we are all merged in the one sprinkling, in the one anointing; and we are to abide at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. We are thus set up in companionship; all being merged in the death of Christ, and the anointing of the Spirit; it is a very precious companionship. There is no room in the chapter for any kind of ambition or personal distinction, it is a question of what we are collectively as at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, to keep the charge of the Lord for the whole period -- "seven days" -- the whole dispensation of the assembly period. Chapter 9 is Israel but this chapter 8 is exclusively Christ and the assembly.

Rem. Abigail said, "the soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living with Jehovah thy God", (1 Samuel 25:29).

J.T. There is the linking up with all. Here we have a company of persons in this wonderful relation, the sons of Aaron accepted in all the acceptability of Christ. They have been brought together in one double action -- the death of Christ and the anointing of the Spirit, and then remaining for the whole period at the door of the tabernacle of congregation. It is a wonderful position to abide in; the nourishment is the boiled flesh, which is Christ, that is Christ made available as food for the priests. The basket containing these precious bake-meats is there; they are very suggestive as emblematic of the humanity of Christ. The wafer, a cake of oiled bread, and an

unleavened cake are very fine distinctions, known alone to God and the priests.

F.I. Is the basket found in the local company?

J.T. We have to begin there; every one who is converted is taken up locally. The book of Numbers is to emphasize that side of the truth; we are taken up locally in relation to the standard and the ensign of the father's house. Whatever there is locally is available to you; you begin there, but you progress into the universal side. A brother told me lately that it was only recently that he had been able to pray for all saints. I have been in a prayer meeting where so far as I remember the prayers did not extend beyond what was local. When we come to Colossians and Ephesians we are enlarged; it is a question of love to all saints and prayer for all saints, and correspondingly we are in the apprehension of what there is for all universally -- the universal provision. Ephesians contemplates the universal provision for all. When He ascended up on high the Lord gave gifts to men, and He has given all that is necessary for all times, "till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ", (Ephesians 4:8 - 13).

As we progress locally we begin to see that what is elsewhere belongs to us too; we need to take it in. We should become accustomed to see what God is doing elsewhere, what He has provided everywhere, and that it is for all of us. You feel yourself responsible for everything that is of God; the charge in responsibility attaches to what there is down here.

J.J. Some never move away from their local meeting.

J.T. Ephesians has the whole assembly in view. "Using diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace. There is one body and

one Spirit", (chapter 4:3,4). It is a remarkable thing, as has often been noticed, that the body comes first; because to keep the unity of the Spirit I must be in right relation to those who are immediately near me. Then "one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in us all", (chapter 4:5,6). That is how I arrive at the universal thing; it all lies in the Spirit, and I do not need to travel for that. Take a bedridden brother or sister; such are in the unity of the Spirit, and if you talk to them, you find that many know what is going on in connection with the Lord's interests. An aged sister told me that she travelled over the world; this was said in reference to her service in praying for the people of God; and she added if people were asleep she did not disturb them, for her visits were often made in the night. "Bless ye the Lord, all ye servants of the Lord, which by night stand in the house of the Lord", (Psalm 134:1).

In Proverbs 31 we have, in a concrete way, the service of one who is called "a woman of worth" (verse 10); there is the element of priesthood there, for she is concerned about every interest of the Lord.

Ques. Would you say a word about fasting?

J.T. There is a remarkable presentation of it at Antioch, as they ministered to the Lord and fasted. It was as they were doing that that the Holy Spirit said, "Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them", as if the Holy Spirit would honour that. There is not only the giving up of things that are in themselves, perhaps, objectionable, but also the giving up of things that are legitimate, denying myself what is legitimate, so that the service should be unimpaired. The Holy Spirit attaches great value to that.

Ques. The Lord says, "for their sakes I sanctify

myself" (John 17:19); would the saints at Antioch have the same spirit?

J.T. Quite. We see, too, how the services are transferred from Israel to the assembly. In Acts 13 the thing is formally recognized. In Romans it is the Jew first; it was still the transitional period and full provision is made for the Jew, so that the apostle says, "to whom pertaineth ... the service of God" (Romans 9:4); it was theirs. But now at Antioch you see the service of God transferred from the Jew to the gentile. It was according to God that they ministered to the Lord and fasted.

Rem. There is that which can only be done by prayer and fasting.

J.T. Prayer brings God in, and fasting shuts man out; the two things ensure power.

Ques. What was in your mind as to the meeting-place of Moses and Aaron -- "the mount of the Lord"?

J.T. The allusion is to Genesis 22:14, "On the mount of Jehovah will be provided". Moses and Aaron met at the place of heaven's provision.

LEVITES MERGING WITH THE BRETHREN

Acts 3:1 - 11; Acts 4:23 - 37

J.T. I thought these scriptures might help us to see that all levitical service merges in the company. It is the divine thought, and was so even in Old Testament times, that the testimony should be connected with an ornamented vessel. Peter and John obviously represent the best men there were, but although distinguished in their service, they merged in the company. "They went to their own company", it says. The maintaining of a balance is necessary to save us from disaster, for in spiritual things, as also in physical things, there must be balance. Thus, however distinguished one may be in his service, in returning to his own company he merges in it. In the company the Holy Spirit operates, so the equalization principle maintains a balance throughout. In chapter 4 we find that the apostles witness, not necessarily Peter and John, but the apostles. In the divine thought they were not to overshadow the others. Then again, we read that the money which Joses brought was laid at the apostles' feet, and he is surnamed Barnabas by them. I think in these cases we have a principle which should govern the whole dispensation in regard of levitical work.

The company is the sphere of the Spirit, in which He maintains the mind of God and the necessary balance which saves us from clericalism, or the exercise of undue personal influence by any of us. On the one hand, these chapters bring out the sovereignty of God in those whom He is pleased to use and put forward, and on the other hand, His rights in the assembly, to make room for all the varied vessels. The apostle says, "unto every one of us is given grace", (Ephesians 4:7). The first chapter of the Acts shows that after the Lord ascended, those who saw

Him go up returned to Jerusalem to the upper room. Peter and John were there, and His brethren were there, and Mary the mother of Jesus also. But Peter standing up to call attention to the scriptures which governed the position, stood up in the midst of the brethren -- not in the midst of the apostles, but in the midst of the brethren. But when he stood up to preach the gospel, he stands up with the eleven, we are told. So that there are in these cases certain balancing circumstances, all involved in the sovereign rights of God, and all culminating in the company. All is in view of the enrichment of the company in which the Spirit of God operates.

G.N. Do you think that love is greater than gift in the assembly?

J.T. That is how it works out. The most distinguished servant merges in the company. The others were not overshadowed by Peter and John. "Being let go, they went to their own company, and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said unto them. And when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord". It is a movement of turning to God. Everything is, after all, determined by priestly state amongst the saints. There would be the sense of being brethren, and, moreover, John would specially take account of that relation. You notice that the Lord, according to Luke, sent Peter and John to prepare for the passover in view of the institution of His supper; and I think the one represents the authority of the Lord, and the other family affections.

Ques. It says the man who was healed held Peter and John. Would that bring in the thought that paying attention to the ministry of Peter and John would promote these priestly conditions?

J.T. I think so. These servants returned to the company with this product of their service. They brought the man in with them apparently. When

they stood before the council the man who was healed stood with them, and the council "when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding nothing how they might punish them, because of the people: for all men glorified God for that which was done. For the man was above forty years old, on whom this miracle of healing was shewed" (chapter 4:21,22). As entering into the company with him, there would be an immense acquisition. He held Peter and John. The two things go together. The family thought comes in to regulate us generally. Fellowship is general as well as local, and I think the family thought governs the general thought of fellowship. Then Peter would come in by way of authority in the ordering of the house of God.

Ques. Would this save us from individualism and independency?

J.T. That was what I thought. You merge in the company. All the fruit of your labour is brought in there.

Ques. It says of Paul and Barnabas after they were sent out from Antioch and had gone through the cities, that "they sailed away to Antioch, whence they had been committed to the grace of God for the work which they had fulfilled. And having arrived, and having brought together the assembly, they related to them all that God had done with them" (Acts 14:26,27). Does that suggest what is in your mind?

J.T. Yes, very aptly. They returned to Antioch from whence they had been committed to the grace of God, for the work which they had fulfilled. They gathered the assembly together as they returned -- not the elders in it, but the assembly. It definitely confirms this. I think Peter and John represent what is ornamental in chapter 3. They say, "Look on us". Morally they were more beautiful than the Beautiful gate of the temple. They represent a fine thought of unity in testimony; they represent the mind of heaven

for that moment. So Peter says, "Look on us". The temple had been regarded as an ornament from God on the earth, but it was about to be superseded, not merely in an arbitrary way, but by what was superior. The divine way is to bring in something superior; and Peter and John were morally superior to the temple. They represented heaven, where Jesus had gone.

F.W.B. Would you say the family thought governed the universal idea of fellowship? What would you say about the local?

J.T. The local idea is not developed in these early chapters; but Peter, from his epistles and his early service, unquestionably represents authority.

F.W.B. Would the family thought apply locally?

J.T. It ought to take form locally, but there is only one family. There are many assemblies. John's ministry is universal. He begins by saying, "In him was life, and the life was the light of men" (John 1:4). "The true light was that which, coming into the world, lightens every man", (verse 9). And so, right through his gospel, epistles, and the Revelation, he has in view what is universal. "God so loved the world", (chapter 3:16). All is on that line. He brings in the "whosoever". In the epistle whoever is born of God you love, not necessarily because he is your neighbour, but because he has been born of God.

Rem. Peter had something superior to the silver and gold he spoke of.

J.T. Quite so. The silver and gold represent the best a man has. The combination of these two servants greatly helps to the understanding of fellowship. They bring in something. One has to disappear as a levite, unless he can bring in something.

F.F. He would not hinder fellowship.

J.T. Not at all. It adds to it. Here is a man coming into the company, and he is holding them both. There is no disunion in his mind. He does not favour

Peter more than John; and that saves us from setting up one against another.

Rem. In that sense he would not be a charge to the company, but would contribute to it.

J.T. Quite. He is not to be carried; and he is not a partisan, because he holds them both.

G.N. What do you mean by authority?

J.T. Peter had the lead on moral ground, I think. There is not a divergence between them. Peter says, "Look on us". They were brought into perfect unison through the work of God. Unity is the feature here.

Rem. That would be delightful to the eye of God.

J.T. Yes. The product of their labour holds them both. He recognizes them as the vessels whom God used.

Rem. So that he leaped and praised God. God gets the praise.

J.T. Yes; he was not praising Peter and John. If we do not return to the company, we stand on the dignity of our service, and that means clericalism. They returned to the company, and merging in it saved them. The other apostles are not named, but they are all recognized there; "with great power gave the apostles witness". Each gets his own place. Every servant must have his place. God comes out with the best. He would enhance His testimony, and so He says, "that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem ... but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued [clothed] with power from on high". They were to have proper clothes on -- heavenly clothes. In rendering that testimony it is not the "cloth" that some wear but moral qualities.

H.H. It shines out in what they say, "Look on us".

J.T. Yes; "clothed with power from on high".

W.A. Is it not significant, this power being in the name?

J.T. Yes; that brings in another thought, "in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazaraean", that is, that whilst heavenly dignity marked them, being clothed with power from on high, yet they were identified with what was most despised on earth, "Jesus Christ the Nazaraean".

E.F. The One who was despised had the highest place in glory.

J.T. Yes. Peter and John while representing two features, each has his distinct shining in the foundation of the city. Each will shine -- every one a precious stone radiating a feature of Christ's glory.

E.F. And no matter what any one may have individually, all merges in the unity of the saints. You have every element of unity together in that sense.

J.T. Yes. God would see the shining of all those precious stones. Think of what we are brought into! They are all set there. "God has set certain in the assembly", (1 Corinthians 12:28). They were not there before; they were set there by Him, with the greatest skill, greater than any jeweller could set a jewel. Think of the resplendent light shining upon us! Every one of these men was the handiwork of Christ, and now the light of heaven was shining and radiating in these precious stones. This man would look around and begin to see what he had come into. Caesar could not give him such a place.

H.H. He had reached a little bit of heavenly territory, as we read in Genesis 2:12: "The gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone".

J.T. Yes; and so it is good. The heavenly city brings out the setting of each of them. They were all present here apparently, and each got his place

in the company. Peter and John are not once mentioned; it is the apostles.

J.S. Would it suggest that each went back to his own position?

J.T. Yes. Peter would just merge and take his own position there. "God has set certain in the assembly", so he would just find his own place, and so would John. Matthew would too, and so also James. Every one of them would find his place, and one would not eclipse the other.

H.H. It is beautiful. So that you have the unity formed now, not merely by the two, as in chapter 3, but marking the whole company.

J.T. Yes. When we have the Lord appearing, it says, He appeared to over five hundred brethren at once; then He appeared to the twelve, and also to all the apostles. It seems like a repetition, but it is not so. The five hundred would include the apostles, but they are brethren there. He would, however, shine on the twelve as appearing to them. I can understand Peter saying to himself, I prefer to be here among the brethren, because it is what is going to abide.

H.H. It reminds one of what is recorded in 1 Chronicles 28:2 when David was getting things ready for Solomon, and he gathered all the princes and mighty men of Israel, representing the universal thought, and "David the king stood up upon his feet, and said, Hear me, my brethren".

J.T. Very good. In 1 Corinthians 15 we see how the apostle Paul sets out in order the appearings of Christ, so as to show how He would affect the saints in every relation here. Peter is called Cephas. He would emphasize in that appearing the material of the assembly. As He appeared to Cephas He had in mind the kind of material that would form the assembly. The next appearing is to the twelve; as if He would say, This precious material must be nurtured and cared for, and for that you must have

administration. It is the bounty of heaven, and that is to be dispensed in the sense of what Christ is, and so He appears to the twelve, and then He appears to above five hundred brethren. If you have the material of the assembly nurtured and cared for, it is enlarged and you get the brethren. Then He is seen of James; because we have what one man can do at any time. He would distinguish one man; for one man can do much if he is with God. James 5:17 says, "Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not upon the earth by the space of three years and six months". So the Lord appeared to James, then He appeared to all the apostles, taking them by themselves, because with all else we must have authority; but authority wielded by those who are under the direct influence of Christ. Luke tells us that He appeared to Simon, but that was to emphasize grace. Paul says He appeared to Cephas, because He is thinking about the assembly.

H.H. He speaks of Epaphras "one of you ... labouring fervently for you in prayers" (Colossians 4:12).

J.T. Yes. Possibly his account of the Colossians led the apostle to write the epistle. Then Paul says, "last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time"; and he goes on to say, "I laboured more abundantly than they all". There is no diminution of power. We may be sure God has His reserves, and comes in often unexpectedly.

E.F. It shows that the whole thing had been formed in the divine mind beforehand. It only needs bringing out.

J.S. The apostles going back to the company would show that they were by no means on independent lines.

J.T. Just so; they all had the company in view. I think the swarm of bees in the carcase of the lion in Judges would be suggestive. It was naturally a most unfavourable place, but they were industrious, and there

was honey in it. All the industry is for the company. We are not to consider for ourselves, but for the company.

H.H. One has often thought of the two going to Emmaus. Would you say they would be a great asset to the company when they came that night?

J.T. Yes. "They found the eleven, and those with them, gathered together, saying, The Lord is indeed risen and has appeared to Simon", (Luke 24:33,34) Then the two related how He was known of them in breaking of bread; and then Jesus Himself came in.

G.N. "And having been let go, they came to their own company". They were free from every influence that would hinder them from getting to the company, so in every levitical service the company should be before us?

J.T. Yes. And then see the fulness of it. The company must have afforded them a retreat after all their toil and suffering, and in having the support and prayers of the company and the divine response shaking the building, how greatly encouraged the two servants must have been.

You observe that they reported what the chief priests said, "And they, having heard it, lifted up their voice with one accord to God". They had direct access to God there. Prayer through priestly access to God means the carrying on of the testimony. You see therefore the gain of coming into the company.

W.S. In that way the Lord used the pressure that the company might turn to Himself.

J.T. That is how the Lord uses pressure. They said, "Lord, thou art God, which hast made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is: who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things? The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ. For of a truth against thy holy

child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together". It is very beautiful how everything centres round Christ. "And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word". They did not pray for the apostles but for servants -- bondmen. That shows a humble spirit without pretension. And then it says, "And when they had prayed, the place in which they were assembled shook, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and spoke the word of God with boldness". See how a new impetus comes in! It is now a filling in answer to prayer, so that the testimony goes on in heavenly power.

F.W.J. You have every human power referred to in verse 27.

J.T. Yes; that is interesting. And the power of the Holy Spirit is able to cope with all that. He acts in answer to prayer. That is the position. The apostles merge in the company there, and the prayers are the product of this. "And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all". And then further we read that "Joses, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas ... Having land, sold it, and brought the money, and laid it at the apostles' feet". There is a great movement here, and I think we might look for something like that in recognizing the company.

E.F. The testimony is in power, and everything fell into accord with it.

J.T. Yes. We see everything now serving the testimony; it is so great.

J.S. The laying of the money at the apostles' feet as they were all thus together would be the recognition of all that was there.

J.T. Yes. I think the apostles in that way represent the authority of the Lord; all the apostles are in view, not merely Peter and John now.

J.D. This condition of things produces a "son of consolation".

J.T. Yes. You see now how God adds. You see God adding, bringing in elements of help.

G.N. What is the son of consolation?

J.T. I think Barnabas represents the golden taches of the tabernacle -- a means by which everything is bound together. He brought Paul to Jerusalem and introduced him. Then he went after him again to Tarsus and brought him to Antioch. He has no personal interests. He is a brother who can bring brethren together. The tendency always exists of divergencies in the assembly, but Barnabas overcame all these things. The fact that he had judged his course in having possessed land, brought him into the true levitical position, that is to say, he gets his city to dwell in. The Levite belongs to the family of the firstborn ones enregistered in heaven. I think that when Barnabas sold his land and laid the money at the apostles' feet, he became a true levite. In the next chapter you have the attack of the enemy. Satan saw that this was a wonderful thing -- something he would not overcome, but he would corrupt it.

H.H. We see the thing set up from the divine side in all its perfection, and these principles should govern us today.

J.T. That is it.

J.S. Speaking of Barnabas as a true levite in the spirit that marked him, I suppose it is not so much his gift, but rather the influence for good which he had.

J.T. Yes. One sees in a man like Barnabas, how one man may stand out for good. He was a man who had means and knew how to use it; he brought the

money and laid it at the apostles' feet, his object being to help the testimony.

Ques. Is it the same thought as the widow casting in her all?

J.T. Just so. Think of the contrast in Solomon's day: two and twenty thousand oxen and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep sacrificed at one time (1 Kings 8:63). Think of the food that was there for the people of God in all that. So here: "For neither was there any one in want among them; for as many as were owners of lands or houses, selling them, brought the price of what was sold and laid it at the feet of the apostles; and distribution was made to each according as any one might have need".

J.S. So that when you come to the assembly there is no lack.

J.T. No. I think that is the way the Lord is encouraging His people in our own times by mutual contribution; and how large a contribution becomes, as brought into the company.

F.W.B. What is the selling? Is it getting rid of the thing through exercise to produce something?

J.T. Well that is how it works out spiritually.

G.N. You sacrifice for the testimony's sake.

THE WILDERNESS POSITION AND THE SERVICE FLOWING FROM IT

Numbers 11:16,24,25; Numbers 14:10; Numbers 12:5; Numbers 16:19

In reading these verses, dear brethren, I am thinking of the wilderness and the position of God's people in it. This book is pre-eminently the wilderness book; indeed, its primary title was "In the Wilderness", and so in the opening of it, we have Jehovah speaking unto Moses "in the wilderness". Our position in it is thus assumed, and God at the very outset reminds us that He is thinking of us in that position. He thinks of us in every legitimate position in which we may be, and indeed, even where we may be contrary to His mind; but He thinks of us particularly in every position involved in the path of His will for us in this world. So it is in this book, we have "the journeys of the children of Israel ... Moses wrote their goings out according to their journeys by the commandment of Jehovah", (Numbers 33:1,2). God would impress upon us that He follows all our movements with intense interest, noting down the occurrences.

The wilderness is a very familiar word to us, but perhaps not so well understood as we may imagine, and perhaps the import of it not definitely accepted as divinely presented to us. The idea of it is what is adverse, but divinely ordered; what the world becomes to the believer, affording him no resources. In Exodus 3:18 God sent the message to Pharaoh that he was to let His people go that they might serve Him in the wilderness. It may seem a matter of small moment that these words are added, it may seem that it might have sufficed to say to Pharaoh that God wished His people to serve Him, as in chapter 4:23: "Let my son go, that he may serve me", but elsewhere stress is laid on the place of service. In christendom today the nominal service of God is

not carried on there at all, it is carried on where there are worldly resources, and the world is taxed to provide them, whether it be the buildings, the salaries of the clergy or the furniture. The world is taxed to provide, as if it could provide, whereas God informed Pharaoh in type at the outset that the world could not provide the means for divine service. He intimates plainly that it was to be carried on where there were no resources visible, so that the world and its resources are ignored wholly, that the ways and means, the pattern, the dimensions might proceed from above. Hence you find that before God speaks of His dwelling and service He indicates the direction whence the means for them should come. Moses and Aaron and seventy of the elders of Israel are invited up: that is the principle, that things have to come from above (Exodus 24). The passage says "they saw the God of Israel; and there was under his feet as it were work of transparent sapphire, and as it were the form of heaven for clearness. And on the nobles of the children of Israel he laid not his hand: they saw God, and ate and drank" (verses 10,11).

They are there in God's realm as nobles and they are there without fear, so that in the proposal to build the tabernacle in the next chapter, what is required is understood, at least there is a general impression conveyed that the details awaited the instructions to be received by Moses during the forty days in the mount. Then Moses is detained, called up higher, and there is unfolded to him the pattern of the tabernacle, which was, as we are told in the New Testament, "the figurative representations of the things in the heavens", (Hebrews 9:23). God is not in any way dependent on this world for the means for His service; we are relieved of all that and shut up to God, so that the divine thoughts can come into evidence; and who that knows God in any way does not prefer to have God's designs and provision

generally for His service or worship, instead of man's? The greatest ecclesiastical architect, Wren, or any other, utterly fails to provide a building suitable for God. The young believer begins to see that he has to do with God and that His service is not in an environment in which man's art and device prevail. All must be of God, and in His temple everything reflects His glory (Psalm 29:9).

Of course I am not overlooking that the people brought the material for the tabernacle, but in the anti-type that is from God, the saints are themselves the material and they are of God, they are heavenly, as Ephesians 2 shows. It awaited the wilderness position to bring this out. Israel were to go out of Egypt with abundant substance. It was announced to Abraham four hundred years before that they should go out with "great property" (Genesis 15:14), and no believer is of any value morally in the assembly unless he have substance, that is to say, the result of the exercise of his exit out of Egypt. I do not go into the wilderness as a pauper spiritually, I am there with a measure of substance and heaven will direct the use of that, it is to fit into the divine scheme. Think, young believer, of having something that God can use according to the pattern which He had ever in His mind, think of having something that God can use now! I would not like to be out of that, I would like to have some little or much that God can use in His own dwelling. As I said, the tabernacle was "the figurative representations of the things in the heavens".

Now that is the position in the wilderness as regards the service of God and I am concerned about that now in Numbers. Exodus gives us the tabernacle set up, Leviticus gives God in it calling us to Him, with everything provided in the priesthood; and then Numbers is the working out of what we see in these two books; this is in the world -- a contrary place. I have the light of Exodus and the light of Leviticus,

and now I am here in the wilderness not as an individual unit, but in relation to the tabernacle. In Matthew 14:24 we read, "the wind was contrary". The Lord is seen there on a mountain; having sent the multitude away and compelled the disciples to go into a ship, He went up and was alone praying; but the ship in which the disciples were was tossed in the sea, the wind being contrary; that is the position. Let no one for a moment assume that the wind will ever change in that respect, it will always be a contrary wind; but Numbers is to prepare us for it and to show how we are sustained and carried through in spite of this.

Now I want to dwell first of all on individual service. Moses is the great type of that, he is said to have been, as a servant, faithful in all God's house. There are those who are specialists, or pretend to be, but Scripture hardly confirms anything like that. The idea of service is to extend to all God's house, each has his own part, of course, his own gift, his own measure, but every truly commissioned servant will have the whole house in his mind. If he is not able to help directly in any matter, he will be thinking of it; if he is not actively able to help, he will pray; even if bedridden, he or she can embrace the whole of God's interests.

It is as the tent begins to move -- chapter 10 contemplates the tabernacle set up -- that the power of the wind is felt in opposition, and alas! you get here in Moses, and we can all recognize something of this in ourselves, a bitter complaint. He tells Jehovah of the burden that is laid upon him, that he did not conceive all this people. The complaint is against God. He makes no allusion to his great office, nor to the fact that Jehovah had honoured him as no man hitherto had been honoured; his complaint is that He had put too much upon him. One sympathizes with Moses, as on that occasion he

saw the Israelites every man at his tent door weeping. They were the tears of murmurers, they were not tears of humiliation; a murmur of resentment went through that camp and Moses felt it.

So it is that we are tested in the service of God, and I want to show you how, although a man in this position of honour with God may for a moment fail, God stands by him. He came in in a visible way (for us, of course, by faith), to meet the opposition and provided that His servant in his weakness and complainings should not lose ground. It is as sure as possible, if I begin to complain that there is too much upon me, and I am not considered for, that I shall lose ground; I shall lose ground with those whom I serve. But the first divine appearing here is to maintain Moses in the full height of his service. God says in effect, I will come down and speak with you in the presence of the elders, I will act according to your suggestion and lighten your personal burden, but in doing it, I will preserve your dignity, your honour (compare Numbers 11:16,17).

I speak thus, dear brethren, so that in service we may know what resources there are. How tenderly, how compassionately the Master stands by the servant, even although he has brought the shade upon himself: alas! we do bring dark reflections upon ourselves in moments of unbelief. Here Moses complains against God -- as if He did not know, as if He were unfair. So He says, "Gather unto me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom thou knowest to be the elders of the people, and their officers; and take them to the tent of meeting, and they shall stand there with thee". He will never pass by His servant save He is obliged to by permanent unbelief, and so He says, as it were, Moses, I put it on you to select those men. What confidence God had in His servant! He says, "Gather ... them to the tent of meeting.

... And I will come down and talk with thee there". Thus the honour of the servant is maintained.

Well, that is the first thing; then Jehovah says, "I will take of the Spirit which is upon thee, and will put it upon them". How Moses must have felt that! It was God saying, I have thought this matter out, and I have not put one ounce of weight upon you that I have not provided for in the power I furnished you with. While there are seventy-one personalities in the service, instead of one, the power is not increased, that is to say, God's calculation as to power was then as it was at the outset; the measure was not increased, but the personality is increased. Jethro earlier had suggested this, but now God has ordered it; some of the power Moses had is actually transferred to others, so that we have seventy persons in addition to Moses, all of the same spirit and power that Moses had. Two of them remained in the camp and prophesied. Joshua says, "My lord Moses, forbid them!" like many a young brother who would stand for some selected labourer, as at Corinth. Moses says to Joshua, "Enviest thou for my sake? would that all Jehovah's people were prophets, and that Jehovah would put his Spirit upon them!" Beautiful spirit! the spirit that every servant of Christ should inhale fully. No servant of God who serves in the spirit of Christ will detract from or rival another such servant. What a camp Israel's would be if they were all like that!

The next chapter shows how Aaron and Miriam were moved to attack Moses; they were jealous of him: "Has Jehovah indeed spoken only to Moses? has he not spoken also to us?" Well, that was true, but Moses was not saying anything different to it, he had just said, "would that all Jehovah's people were prophets!" It was wicked to impute to Moses such a charge as arrogating to himself the whole service of God; he had no such thought. Indeed,

the service of God is never a one-man affair, it is a question of personality, and increase of personality, and all in the power of God, in the Spirit of God, in the anointing, so why should they question in this way? The Holy Spirit speaks of "the man Moses".

We see in this chapter the seriousness of envying one whom God uses; in this instance, one whom God had honoured in such a signal manner as to come down and speak to him at the tent door, in the presence of those seventy men. The Holy Spirit immediately calls attention to the man, not the servant Moses. We want to see the man, the man as he is in his business, as he is in his workshop, particularly as he is in his house. Moses had married an Ethiopian woman. Why should he not? He was not accountable to Miriam for that, and so the Holy Spirit speaks of "the man Moses". He "was very meek, above all men that were upon the face of the earth" (Numbers 12:3). That brings to mind "the man Christ Jesus" (1 Timothy 2:5). What a Man! Luke gives us the Man; we have to study Luke in order to understand Mark; Luke gives the Man, Mark the Servant.

Well, God takes this matter in hand and He interfered suddenly. It may have been in secret that they spoke against their brother, but "Jehovah spoke suddenly to Moses and to Aaron, and to Miriam ... If there be a prophet among you". We see here how God distinguishes between servant and servant. "Jehovah came down in the pillar of the cloud, and stood at the entrance of the tent, and called Aaron and Miriam; and they both came forth. And he said, Hear now my words: If there be a prophet among you, I Jehovah will make myself known to him in a vision, I will speak to him in a dream. Not so my servant Moses: he is faithful in all my house. Mouth to mouth do I speak to him openly, and not in riddles; and the form of Jehovah doth he behold. Why then were ye not afraid to speak

against my servant, against Moses?" (Numbers 12:5 - 8.) That is solemn, and most important instruction; it is a solemn warning against rivalry and opposition founded upon jealousy against any servant of the Lord. You see how Jehovah goes down Himself, making the attack on His servant a personal matter; He shows that whilst He cares for all His servants, He makes distinctions between servants, as in Moses here; He spoke with him "mouth to mouth".

In chapter 14 we have another appearing; it is in relation to the gospel in its heavenly character, alluded to in Hebrews 4; it is the gospel of the land, as I may call it; the gospel that witnesses of heaven, the heavenly calling. The spies brought down an excellent report, confirmed by the grapes which they brought from Eshcol. Refusal of their testimony was a most serious matter; the epistle to the Hebrews shows that it was the great turning point, apostasy was dealt with from this point onwards; that is to say, what leads to the habit, which has been observed from that very day till now, of taking a lower line when God is emphasizing an upper line, of taking a line that is contrary to what God is emphasizing. That is generally a great feature of opposition, the contrary wind. This was to be the test, for they sent out twelve men to bring back a witness from the land and there it was, the grapes of Eshcol, the pomegranates and figs tell the glad story, they all witness of the wealth of the land. Then the enemy began to work, and only two out of the twelve stood their ground in connection with what God was emphasizing. Caleb stands by and witnesses to the good land, and that God would bring His people into it, as He delighted in them. How wonderful is this truth! It declares that God delights in us and gives us the very best He has, and exercises His power to put us in possession of it against all opposition.

Now you see what is at work; opposition to what

God emphasizes as the very best thing for us, and they were about to stone the witnesses of the truth, but the glory appeared; that is the comfort. The scripture says, "all the congregation bade stone them with stones. And the glory of the Lord appeared in the tabernacle of the congregation before all the children of Israel". The opposers now see what they have to contend with, it is not simply two men, Caleb and Joshua, but it is God, and not only God, but God in His glory shining out against them. We can well afford to stand by the truth, for God will never fail us, as we see here. How irresistible and condemnatory of the wicked opposition was the appearance of the divine glory at this time! We can always reckon on it, dear brethren, and so we need not fear to stand firmly by what God emphasizes; the glory will appear in some form, God will come in unmistakably and show where He is so that the evil is exposed and withers away.

Following on this, in chapter 16, you have the great rebellion against Moses and Aaron. Korah and the Levites with two hundred and fifty men of the congregation, a most powerful combination. The Levites who had stood by Moses in an earlier uprising, are now against him; and the glory appears again. We may learn from this chapter that God will stand by the whole position; it is not simply a question of one servant or two servants, the whole position occupied by christendom is typically indicated in this chapter. "And Korah gathered all the congregation against them unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation: and the glory of the Lord appeared unto all the congregation". The glory is appearing now to all the congregation. The rebels gathered all at the door of the tabernacle, It is an attack on the whole position, what God had set up in testimony, typically it is against Christ in heaven and the Holy

Spirit here in the assembly. It is the boldest and most far-reaching of the enemy's attacks.

This opposition continues and has to be resisted. This entails sufferings, even to martyrdom, but the truth will stand, it must stand; while Christ is in heaven and the Holy Spirit here christianity will not cease to exist; we may stand courageously by it, for in doing so the glory stands by us; we shall prove that. This is a very wonderful divine intervention, and so in verse 42: "And it came to pass, when the congregation was gathered against Moses and against Aaron, that they looked toward the tabernacle of the congregation: and, behold, the cloud covered it". The cloud is covering what symbolizes the whole testimony; can we doubt that this applies at the present time? There is no doubt. God has preserved the truth, christianity is in principle preserved. Christ is in heaven, all power committed unto Him, and the Holy Spirit is here in the assembly; the tabernacle thus exists, and the glory covers it.

The general failure of the public assembly must be fully owned, yet the Lord in addressing Philadelphia has the whole body in the true sense in mind. "I ... will keep thee", He says (Revelation 3:10). The recovery of the Lord's supper involves this. It had been in captivity, but is restored; it maintains before us the whole thought of the assembly. In Matthew 26:26 and Mark 14:22 the Lord in instituting the Supper said, "Take, eat: this is my body"; that is His own body, but in 1 Corinthians 10:17 it extends to the saints: "we, being many, are one loaf, one body". There you have the whole thought and, we may say, the glory covers it. How often we have proved that! How precious to be together in the light of this and of Christ as the Head! The breaking of bread is primarily local but it has also a universal bearing, it involves the whole assembly. We must maintain what is local, but we must also maintain strenuously what is universal, one whole

thought, and so it says, "the Spirit and the bride say, Come" (Revelation 22:17); as soon as the Lord announces Himself the whole assembly responds with the Spirit; and so He said to Philadelphia, "I also will keep thee out of the hour of trial, which is about to come upon the whole habitable world, to try them that dwell upon the earth". This implies His coming for us, and the Lord Jesus has never less than the whole assembly in His mind in announcing His coming.

THE SPIRIT HERE BRINGING DEMONSTRATION OF SIN, RIGHTEOUSNESS AND JUDGMENT

John 16:7 - 11; Exodus 23:20 - 23

It will be evident, dear brethren, as having read these scriptures, that I have the Holy Spirit in mind. John presents Him in a unique way, and by a term peculiar to his writings, namely "the Comforter", a word, as most of us will be aware, denoting that He is here beside us to look after the affairs of the assembly. There can be no doubt that this peculiar appellation employed by the beloved disciple had in view, among other things, that others were putting forth their hands, by profession, to look after and dominate the affairs of the assembly. That great movement of the enemy which has continued ever since, and which has reached enormous proportions -- that error had already set in. No doubt it is in view in all the evangelists; and the Lord's remarks in the synoptic gospels that a word spoken against the Spirit should never be forgiven, is a solemn warning to all those who have taken His place, arrogating to themselves the office and service that belong alone to Him. John does not mention that solemn sentence of the Lord's but he does bring forward the Spirit under this remarkable appellation, which denotes that He is the One in charge, and that, as in charge, He is armed with power to deal with all contingencies. So that -- quoting the Lord Himself -- John says of the Spirit that, having come, He brings into this world the conviction of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment, one of the most important services possible; a service which became effective at Pentecost, the bearing of it extending on to our own times; so that those who recognize the Spirit today, discern the demonstration that He has effected.

From the outset of God's ways on this earth the Spirit is seen. We are reminded by His very early introduction in the Bible -- which indeed was indited by Himself, I need not say -- and the manner of it, that all results for God subjectively, hinge and depend upon the Spirit. In the catastrophe spoken of in the opening of Genesis, He is seen hovering over the face of the waters; He is hovering or brooding, as in the attitude of feeling that something must be done. That is what His attitude conveys. The chaos there was incompatible with God; it discredited Him who made the heavens and the earth in the beginning, for the earth now "was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep" (Genesis 1:2). Something must be done! The Spirit will never leave conditions that are unsuitable to God unattended to; that is foreign to Him. Whatever conditions may exist which compromise the holy name and testimony of God they must not be allowed to continue. Something must be done; and that, dear brethren, is what we readily see in the attitude of the Spirit at the outset, in the first mention of Him in the Bible. It was a grievous situation. What was made to be inhabited was now without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep -- a most pathetic description drawn by the Spirit Himself in a few words but, in relation to the need He describes, He stands by, and the heart is filled with hope and assurance, that if something must be done, it will be done unfailingly.

Then, when we come to the passage I read in John 16, the Lord contemplated what was primarily imperative, in view of the existence of sin in this world; He contemplated righteousness; He contemplated judgment, and He says that when He, the Spirit of truth, is come He will bring in demonstration to the world concerning these things. "I will send him", He says. How that speaks to our hearts of

the deity of our Lord! How touching too, that another divine Person, equal in the Deity, should be so regarded as that He may be sent! Then as come, He would bring demonstration -- meaning that He would act in such wise as to expose sin. It is not here a question of convicting a person so that he might repent; the point is that the idea of sin should be fully set out, and that the Holy Spirit would effect this. And what you find in the passage is that it is demonstrated under one head. That is the divine way of dealing with a specific matter. In dealing with it the whole thing in view comes into evidence. Books innumerable might be written, and have been, dealing with the matter of sin and how it is to be controlled. The Holy Spirit is brief and concise; He brings in the demonstration in few words, dealing with one point, but that one implying in a sense all else.

The demonstration of sin is here seen negatively. It might be said, Surely the wickedness of the Jews in crucifying Christ will be mentioned? Of course it is in view, in the Acts and throughout Scripture, but the demonstration of sin is in a negative setting here. People say, What have I done? But then it may be what have you not done? Sin may be manifested negatively, as it is positively. So the first great demonstration is that of sin, and what is it? "because they believe not on me". That will not be the only demonstration of sin that will be brought to bear upon the wicked dead as they stand before God, but it will be brought before those to whom the gospel has been preached. God will go to the utmost pains to justify Himself in casting the wicked into the lake of fire; He will not confine Himself to negatives then, although believing not on Christ as presented, will be in view. The books will contain everything, and He will go into the matters of each one. But the Holy Spirit, as I said, brings out the

demonstration based on a negative, but, how much enters into it, "because they believe not on me".

The Holy Spirit is contemplated as having come "from with the Father" in chapter 15:26. What holy thoughts were current -- we may say reverently -- between the Father and the Spirit about Jesus as here upon earth. I am speaking now from the standpoint of God's way of coming into our view, into our hearts. I do not assume to understand at all the relations between divine Persons in absolute deity, but in coming into our view, in coming to serve, words are employed that fit into our intelligence, and are intended to affect our hearts. So if the Holy Spirit is come out from being with the Father, what can it mean but that He is conversant with all the thoughts of the Father -- there are His own thoughts too -- as to the Son? What He was here on earth under the eyes of men, what He was as speaking to them, what He was in His ministry, what He was in His life generally. That such a blessed One, known so well, so infinitely, by the Father and the Spirit should not be believed on, is the very consummation of sin; it is the height of it from Their point of view. Can any one resist believing on that blessed Person? To do so is the most consummate form of sinfulness. Such is the view presented here. The Holy Spirit would show us in what is written here, how He can deal with the whole matter by taking up one specific thing.

Then, the next demonstration is that of righteousness. How much could be written about righteousness in this sense! Books could be written about Abel and Enoch and Noah and Abraham, and all the men of faith, for righteousness shone in them. Much could be written, but we have compression here, and in the compression the most perfect setting out of righteousness. And what is it? "Because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more". Were it desired of us to

demonstrate these things, would we ever do so in this way? But it is the divine way, and again the mind is directed to the blessed Person of Jesus, the Son of God. "Because I go to my Father", He says. That is righteousness; the whole idea enters into that. You may find it difficult to follow, but, dear brethren, think of what Jesus was in the way of righteousness down here. He loved it. We have to learn everything from Jesus. It is not only that one may regard oneself as accounted righteous, but have we the love of righteousness? We can only be in the assembly according to God as loving righteousness. Think, in spite of the Lord's perfect righteousness here, how He was treated! You may say it was only for a few years, others have suffered for a much longer period, but again it is the idea of compression. How compressed was the power of Satan, and the wickedness in men's hearts against Jesus, every moment of His life in testimony here. What is the full expression of righteousness in Him? That He goes to the Father.

Beloved, think of Him with the Father. How infinitely right it is, that such an One should go to the Father! Although it is true that He was carried up into heaven, yet from John's point of view -- He goes to the Father. But I only touch on that. Jesus is with the Father. Is it not right? It is infinitely right! All that the word "right" means is in that, and that is what the Holy Spirit as come, makes clear. We may say, How did it come about? Well, Jesus had followers, and they were known. Peter denied for a little while that he was one of them, but he soon recovered himself through the Lord's grace to him, and boldly charges others with the guilt that was once upon himself, but was so no longer. No one could speak more boldly of denial of Jesus than Peter; he was stronger on that point than any. It is always the case where sin is truly

repented of and judged before God; we have more power as to that point than any. Peter was one of the followers of Jesus, and there were many others there on that memorable day at Jerusalem when the Holy Spirit came down upon them. The Lord Jesus said here, "I will send him unto you", and if the Holy Spirit comes down from heaven upon those followers of Jesus, what can be a greater demonstration of righteousness, as seen in their Master being with the Father? It is evident. "Having therefore been exalted by the right hand of God", says Peter, "and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this, which ye behold and hear", (Acts 2:33). It was undeniable. Some spoke about their being drunk with wine, but it was manifest folly, as Peter pointed out. It was no less than the Spirit of God in all His fulness come down from heaven to these disciples. Jesus was with the Father; there was complete evidence of righteousness in that fact.

Then thirdly, there is the demonstration of judgment. How much could be written about that too if it were a mere matter of detail, but the Spirit of God is dealing in a compressed way, and dealing thus with the whole matter. So the demonstration of judgment is "because the prince of this world is judged". He is the author of sin; the personification of it, as I may say, is in him: "the devil sinneth from the beginning", (1 John 3:8). It is not only that he sinned at the beginning, but he sins from the beginning. We may say that he can do nothing else. He has acquired a place as the prince of this world, but he is judged. It may be said that he is still in power, and so he is in a way, but what is stated here suggests to us great principles reached and established as demonstrated by the Spirit. The execution of the judgment is only a matter of time. So in our dealings with sin as in the assembly, the

great point is to deal with what is manifest, and in dealing with it, to make it plain that it is sin, to set the thing out clearly; as Job says, "hast thou plentifully declared the thing as it is?", (Job 26:3).

When Jephthah had to fight the Ammonites he set the matter out fully; he showed how Israel had acquired their inheritance, and that the Ammonites' claim was unrighteous (Judges 11). If we can establish the point of righteousness, the right and wrong of a matter, it is morally settled. If we are not able to enforce it -- we may actually die for it, and thus we enforce it morally. That is really what came out in Jesus. The cross was the great crisis of all these issues, and although the Lord Jesus went down outwardly in death, all these great principles were established, and they cannot be overthrown.

So it is, that one great point in the assembly as seeking to maintain righteousness is to establish all the facts of a thing and so make it plain. The Holy Spirit will enable us to do it. He is here in that respect, to bring in demonstration, so that there can be no question, and every conscience affected by the work of God will discern it. What is the assembly here morally unless there be in it the power of discernment, the principle of judgment? It fails of its mission, and loses its status in this world, save as there is in it the principle of judgment, the means of discerning right and wrong, and the power to remove the wrong and to establish the right. It must not be allowed to go to the wall; right must stand. That is the mind of God. This demonstration of the Spirit stands, and will stand; and thus the devil, the prince of this world, knows that he is judged. It is John's way of presenting the truth; he has a peculiar way, an abstract way, which is most important to notice. He is looking at the history of christianity, and he adopts this way of dealing abstractly, the most certain way of establishing things,

even though there may not be the power apparent to maintain them. But the Holy Spirit being here, if we give place to Him, they will be maintained; the great features of christianity are thus set out abstractly, so that they might be always before our view. They stand, and will stand.

I go on to Exodus just briefly, so that we may see how the principle set out in the Spirit appeared as Israel crossed the Red Sea. Jehovah said to Moses, "Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared. Beware of him, and obey his voice, provoke him not; for he will not pardon your transgressions: for my name is in him". Now that is a passage, dear brethren, that bears on the subject before me in a very striking way. Not that the Angel is comparable with the Spirit. An angel is a creature, the Holy Spirit is a divine Person, and that in itself indicates the great difference between them, and between Israel and ourselves. Yet there was with Israel the principle of one there sent down from heaven. Moses and Aaron and Miriam led the people outwardly: God led them by the hand of Moses and Aaron, and Miriam also had part in this. God sent those three before them; they were the leaders, but this Angel was a type of the Spirit, ever present, always wakeful, always watching the camp of Israel. How well we may use the word "Comforter" in regard of the blessed Spirit! "Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep", (Psalm 121:4). Moses slept, and so did Aaron and Miriam and Israel, but the Angel was ever awake. How comforting it must have been for faith to look at the tent of meeting as the camp rested, and see the cloud, the sure evidence of the divine presence. Jehovah was always there; angelically, we may say, but nevertheless really present. How precious is the thought! If one were to wake at night, as a godly Israelite might -- and there were

such, for God speaks of the thousands of them that loved Him -- he would look out of his tent and see the cloud over the tent of meeting. How comforting! How he would lie down again in confidence and rest! "He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep".

One often thinks of that. It is most touching, but not as great as our own position. Think of a divine Person being here, and under this remarkable appellative that John uses, "the Comforter", the Paraclete, One beside us, looking after our affairs with infinite ability to do so, and doing so day and night. Some of us here know something of the present, active energy of the Spirit; His care, His attention to things, His readiness to take up local matters and deal with them. Of course He uses the saints, as available, in this service, for He is not incarnate. He has firsthand knowledge of every person concerned in local difficulties; He is infinitely fair, and He will bring everything out according to the mind of God. "The love of the Spirit" (Romans 15:30) enters into all His services.

The word here in Exodus is, "Beware of him". Although it is said about the Angel, it is equally applicable to the Spirit of God. The Lord's solemn words about Him are a warning as to any infringement of His rights and services, any disregard of the Spirit in quenching or grieving Him. The passage goes on to say, "provoke him not; for he will not pardon your transgressions: for my name is in him". I do not say there is no pardon now. Indeed, there was pardon then, according to Leviticus, so that the transgressions here must be great, such as were unpardonable. There are such today; there are unpardonable transgressions. This means that if God speaks to our hearts, there has to be continual heart searching in our relations with one another, and our relations with Himself. Think of unpardonable things! The New Testament speaks of them,

as well as the Old. It says, "my name is in him". How true that is of the blessed Spirit! All that God is, is here in a divine Person, God dwelling by the Spirit here in the assembly: "an habitation of God through the Spirit", (Ephesians 2:22). How great a fact this is! All that God is is here. It is no less than that, but in this wonderful attitude of service, ready to take care of every matter amongst us. May we not allow Him to do so?

It may be asked, How can we remove and disallow what hinders -- what is of the flesh? There is only one way of making way for the Spirit, either in an individual or in a company, and that is by self-judgment. The apostle Paul, in dealing with these matters, brings in the cross and the Spirit. He brings in the cross in 1 Corinthians 1, and then the Spirit in chapter 2. If we recognize the cross, we shall realize the power of the Spirit. The passage in Exodus proceeds, "But if thou shalt indeed obey his voice, and do all that I speak; then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies, and an adversary unto thine adversaries. For mine Angel shall go before thee, and bring thee in unto the Amorites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites: and I will cut them off". So that we see, dear brethren, from this passage, as applied to ourselves, how the Holy Spirit, as we make room for Him, leads us forward and brings us into the greatest things, into the purpose of God realized now in the assembly. For that is what Canaan means today. It is what the Holy Spirit brings us into. He does not translate us to heaven. The Lord Jesus translates us to heaven, but the Holy Spirit brings us now into Canaan, which is the purpose of God to be reached in the assembly. That is what the Lord has in view.

In the section from which I read in John, beginning with chapter 13, you will be struck, if

you meditate upon these chapters, by the place the Father has, and how the Lord is set to draw us into part with Himself where He has gone. But it is in the assembly, and so here, the Angel would go before and bring them into the land of the Amorites, and the Hittites, and so on, and would cut off their enemies. We go into Canaan not simply as a matter of faith. Faith must be with us, but it is by the Spirit we enter into Canaan. Christ has gone in through death, and the Holy Spirit empowers us to go in. So, "as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God", (Romans 8:14). We go into Canaan as sons, but we go in in the power of the Spirit. So here it says, he "shall go before thee, and bring thee in unto the Amorites ... and I will cut them off".

I think you will see by what I have said how the Holy Spirit is available to us. It is His function to look after matters, to deal with evil, and to bring us into the good, to bring us into the purpose of God. He is bent upon it, to bring the assembly to Christ in the land. That is His service. It may be said, How does He deal with sin? Well, I have been speaking of it, but "beware of him". We may well say that in the light of Acts 5:3: Peter says to Ananias, "why has Satan filled thy heart that thou shouldest lie to the Holy Spirit?" How swift was the judgment! It is a solemn chapter, but it is set down there as a testimony to us that the Spirit cannot be impugned. We must beware of Him, and obey His voice. We must not sin against Him; we must not grieve Him nor quench Him. Giving Him scope amongst us, He will bring us into the land of purpose. The Lord bless His word.

STONES MENTIONED IN GENESIS

Genesis 28:10 - 22; Genesis 29:9,10; Genesis 31:45 - 49; Genesis 35:9 - 14; Genesis 49:22 - 25

I wish to speak, dear brethren, very simply about the stones mentioned in these passages, which include almost all the references to stones in this book; and in the language of the inquiry in Joshua 4:6, we may well ask, "What mean ye by these stones?" The Scriptures have a language of their own, God having set in creation a variety of things which are under men's eyes, through which He intends to speak to us, and amongst these things are stones. We have in Scripture not only what the Spirit of God says, but what He shows; and in these stones certain things are shown.

We have in Genesis 2 the first mention of stones, they are precious stones. These of course are the most interesting, and the onyx stone is alluded to. In chapter 11 we have an allusion to stone as conspicuous by its absence, by its non-use by the Babel builders; and there I apprehend you get the divine clue that the Babel builders -- world builders -- do not employ what is permanent, whereas God employs building material that is permanent; and that, I apprehend, in the main, is the significance of the stone. We would have it so; what God builds is for ever; and He would have us to see that what the world is building is not permanent. According to the sweeping statement of John, "the world passeth away" (1 John 2:17) -- a very searching and important word, especially for young people to notice, for the world offers much that is attractive outwardly. However solid it may appear, however permanent the institutions in it may appear, some of them extending back for more than a millennium, they will not continue; "the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but

he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever". That is an immense thing for the young people and for us all to see, that "he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever".

The Babel builders had no idea of the will of God; they had, as Scripture says, eliminated Him from their knowledge; they gave Him up, and had recourse to their own ingenuity; and hence they disclose what the world is. They had bricks for stone, bricks, humanly made things, and slime for mortar. Whereas faith takes up the stones. Those Babel builders were energetic enough as you know. They said one to another, "let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven" (chapter 11:4). They had their own thoughts and schemes but the material they employed discloses the nature of their structure. They had bricks; their own man-made things: whereas faith takes up things made by God, or more accurately, things given of God, for Christ is the Stone; the great idea of stone is primarily in Him. We have His eternal personality in the Deity in John 1; whether we go backwards or forwards there is permanency, and particularly in regard to the will of God, for when we come to that side it is a question of moral worth, and in Christ we have perfection. We have perfection in that respect as in all others. There is His personal worth, which every lover of Christ extols, but then there is His moral worth; what came out in Him here in the carrying out of the will of God. Morally there is nothing greater than that; it is what marked Christ in coming here into manhood; "Lo, I come ... to do thy will, O God" (Hebrews 10:7).

Well, now I wish to speak of stones in connection with Jacob, and one would like to begin with the young ones here, so that each may get something. One idea of the stone among other things, is its permanency; it is also alluded to in Scripture as symbolic of what is hard. Now, what is hard, or what

from God's side may appear hard, is really with a view to what I may call softness; this is seen by comparing Genesis 28, the head pillowed on a stone, with John 13, the head pillowed on the bosom of Jesus. The one leads to the other. Things may seem hard, and I know well enough how the young ones look at things as coming into contact with what is of God, especially the house of God. I will not enlarge on Genesis 28, except on this one point. Things may seem hard, but Jacob arrived at this spot under the will of God, or rather under the will of his parents, which in this instance implied the will of God. For parents as seen in Isaac and Rebekah, in this respect represent God, particularly in Isaac who was representative of God as blessing Jacob. He had blessed him, and the blessing was irrevocable. Authority following upon blessing should be easy to accept. In Ephesians 6:1,2 the apostle enjoins children to be obedient to their parents, reminding them that this is "the first commandment with a promise".

Jacob had been blessed by his father, and now he is moving under the direction of his father, which is an important matter, but the state of his soul was very low. The salvation of a young person is in this respect by submission to the will of God, whatever the state of his soul; however doubtful he may be, doing the will of God is his salvation. That is to say, he moves on principle, he moves in divine light furnished to him; disregarding his own feelings. And not only is Jacob here moving under the direction of his father and mother as blessed, but he had the knowledge that his mother undertook all the penalty attaching to his deception; he had the thought of a parent suffering in his stead. She had had a transaction with God about Jacob, as godly parents have about their children, and she said, "On me be thy curse, my son!" And now he is moving under the direction of Isaac and Rebekah. He begins at Beer-

sheba, which is a very fine place to start from, as suggesting the faithfulness of God. Whatever your failings, God is unchanged, God is faithful. To the refractory Corinthians, "God is faithful" is said three times (1 Corinthians 1:9, 10:13; 2 Corinthians 1:18), for God would cover the heads of the young lest they might be despondent over their state. The time comes when you can look with confidence within and take account of the work of God in you, but earlier you have to rely on light as to God.

So Jacob arrives here and takes a stone for a pillow; it belonged to the place, that is a point to notice; God is going to deal with Jacob in connection with this experience; this place and this stone are never to be lost sight of. There is apparent hardness in this experience, this stone, but it is your own selection, you may say. God allows you to do this, and then He holds you to it and shows you that after all you made no mistake. What you may have thought a mistake and what occasioned you hard experiences was under God's ordering and God's will. Of His will you are in the path of obedience, and the first great impression of the house of God that you get is connected with a journey and such an experience as this. He made a stone a pillow for his head. The sun had set and he spent the night there, an experience that was never to be forgotten; here "the mighty God of Jacob" appeared to him. He is in heaven above and Jacob is lying on the earth; heaven is engaged with Jacob, and a ladder is set up on the earth reaching up into heaven. There is one man lying there alone, to the rest of mankind very little known, but heaven is looking down on him, God is there and the angels of God ascending, for they began at the bottom of the ladder. Love begins with God, and love shows itself where it is needed, and it was needed there. Jacob needed it particularly then -- a lonely traveller, behind him the hatred of his brother. He needed such consolation. Doubtless he did not

expect it, but God loves to surprise us -- love would surprise us -- and the angels were ascending on the ladder, as though they would convey to Jacob that they are communicating to heaven everything that love would wish heaven to know; not that heaven did not know, but God would have him to know that it knew. There was a means of communication between God and Jacob, that he is now learning. It is a time of hard experience and God is coming in in the hardness, and the very hardness is to be a monument. He takes the stone that was his pillow and sets it up for a pillar and pours oil upon the top of it. He has the mind of God in a measure, and this stone set up and anointed is a testimony to this. What is of God is to be anointed. If it has proved effective in my soul it will prove effective in another.

The anointing implies that the experience is not to be exclusively mine, I am not to be selfish about it. There are those who get light and are not anointed. They do not pass it on. The idea of anointing is that the experience from God characterizing you is made available to others; others see it and get the good of it. The stone would be the house of God; Jacob calls the place Bethel. You see what an impression he obtained through this experience. I hope that we may get into our souls the value of divine impressions, and that we may not be selfish, as to them. They belong to others. That stone stood for twenty years anointed on the top of it.

In order to complete this thought I will go on to chapter 35 to show how he has advanced. I do not think he had advanced very much for the number of the years. Many of these days were spent without much profit spiritually, but the Spirit of God gives us a paragraph in chapter 35, verses 9 - 15, to show the result of the twenty years. You will observe in the verses I read that it stands by itself, it includes what happened at Peniel, seen in chapter 32. It is

the Spirit of God putting together the result of the twenty years. God loves to write up His people, to write up their histories. The paragraph begins with God appearing to him after he came out of Padan-aram, as though He would confirm and consolidate in his soul the result of this experience. That is what God does for us. Nothing must be lost and the consolidation fixes it so that it is part of us for ever. He appeared to Jacob after he came out of Padan-aram, and said, "Thy name is Jacob: thy name shall not henceforth be called Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name". Now he is regarded as spiritual; his name is Israel, that is to say, he has made headway in his soul; he is now in Bethel again. It includes chapter 32, although in that chapter God withheld His own name; but now in Bethel He tells Jacob His name, as though God would say, You have now come into My house suitably and so intelligently, I can disclose My name to you. God had told him to "go up to Bethel and dwell there". He knows how to go; he buries the idols; he is in the house now under divine direction and in intelligence. He is no more Jacob; he is an Israel; God has ennobled him, He has made him suitable for His house. Who of us is suitable for the house of God naturally? None. We do not know how to behave ourselves in it naturally. We have to be ennobled to be in it according to God. We do not sit down together in the smallness of the flesh; we do not sit down in legality, but as ennobled, in divine order, in submission; we are there as sons of God.

God reveals His name to Jacob, and that is what I would stress. He says, "I am God Almighty". He is no longer on the top of the ladder in heaven. He is standing by Jacob. What grace! Now we have the full idea of the house; it is no longer that of a mere stone, but a man in Bethel, there according to God, who is talking with him: "And God went

up from him in the place where he had talked with him"; where the feet of Jehovah rested. Hallowed spot! how blessed such a spot as that, where the feet of Jehovah rested, where He talked with Jacob! That is the full idea, and instead of a stone for a pillar, it is "a pillar of stone". It denotes the full progress of Jacob. It is not something that is to pass away in a moment, it is a permanent thing, and a drink offering is poured upon it. Jacob understands that God is pleased with him. Blessed realization! I do not know of anything more to be commended to the young people than that. We are very apt to be pleased with ourselves, but how much do we think of God being pleased with us? It leads up to our realization of the joy of being accepted in the Beloved, that we are pleasurable to God in Christ. The drink offering signifies what satisfies God, as I may say, what refreshes Him; and surely that is the thing that ought to be before each of us, dear brethren, to be in the house of God as ennobled by Him, and in the intelligence of our souls as Israels, as princes with God, to minister refreshment to Him.

I come now to Genesis 29 briefly to show how in the idea of the stone on the well's mouth you have another thing. We should note the energy of Jacob. You may say he is anointed, for who could deny that there was some dignity in him as he moved out of Bethel. The scripture says, "Jacob continued his journey"; the original, I think, is that he "lifted up his feet", there was a spring. It was a question of a foot journey and there was spring in him, and he went "into the land of the children of the east". It was a long way, but there must have been faith; although the drink offering was not there in chapter 28, the oil was there; the sense that was with him of a wonderful experience with God, that no one else had had; that God was with him and would bring him back. He looks around as he gets to Haran. Another

point for young people, have your eyes open to see. The Scriptures are full of precious things strewn there by the Spirit if only our eyes are open to see. A feature of a man of faith is the power to look around and see what is of God. He looked and he saw a well. It was no accident, there was a well, and three flocks of sheep were lying by it. What an open book that is to faith! But there was a great stone on the well.

Now you see he is in the presence of a difficulty. One might say much about the great stone, it undoubtedly refers to the judgment of God. The well was there, the water was there -- the system of grace beginning with Hagar, that was the first well -- but there was a heavy stone on it. That is now the test, what will he do with this stone? It means sacrifice now. He had made no engagement as to this with God at Bethel; this is a new matter. He knows the water is there, the flocks are lying by it, but, for the moment, he does not do anything. He asks, "My brethren, whence are ye?" That is the thing you want to know, who people are if you are going to serve them. As it was said to Hagar earlier, "whence camest thou? and whither wilt thou go?" You find this throughout Scripture, an inquiry as to whence people are. It is important to know this, if you are to serve them. They knew Laban, they tell Jacob, but yet he does not roll away the stone. He says, "Lo, it is yet high day, ... water ye the sheep". Why should they wait? It was really the Old Testament position, a position of limitation. There was virtue there; there was grace there, but there was the stone and who could roll it away? These flocks were needing water earlier than others, why should there be anything hindering them? He discerns the position at once; that is to say, he is anointed and has intelligence, and he is bringing his intelligence into activity, but he does not do what is needed.

We need more than speaking, we need power; and with Jacob power came into action when he "saw Rachel ... and the sheep of Laban his mother's brother". Now you see there is a motive. Much might be said on this, but I am dwelling upon one thing, the anointed man, the man who has had to do with God only a little way back, but he has recognized the idea of anointing, and he has to convey to others what he has got; but he is not moved to action until he sees Rachel. That is love. We are to serve by love, not simply by light. He had light, he could speak to others about what they should do, but what is he doing? Only as he sees Rachel and the flocks of Laban does he rise and roll away the stone. One might make much of Rachel as a type of Israel; she was an object for Jacob's affections, and hence as he sees her he is moved to serve. There is now more than the anointing, more than light; there was affection and he rolled away the stone. How much that is needed now! Working by love is that you will not allow any impediment to prevent those you love receiving the blessing of God. He does not put the stone back, though that was the custom. I have no doubt he is here a type of Christ, as removing permanently what hindered the blessing of God flowing out; but I am thinking of how we are to serve by love, Christ's service to the assembly being the example. The suggestion is that there is an object for our affections. It is said that Jacob served for a wife. He rolled away the stone and watered the sheep of Laban, his mother's brother. He served by love in rolling away the stone and watering the sheep.

Now I wanted to speak about the witness in Galeed, and it brings out a state of things that I am afraid often exists among the people of God, often with those of us who have light. He was now moving back to Canaan to his father, according to the word of God. He is leaving Laban now. He is not now thinking

of Laban's flock, his love has waned; trouble has arisen. In other words, brethren have gone on well for a while, love has been active, but the time comes when we agree to differ; agree to be absent one from the other; one of the most pernicious principles of the flesh. The supreme idea in the epistle to the Ephesians is that in all lowliness we are to endeavour to keep the unity of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace, the uniting bond.

Now here is "a heap of stones". He asks them to gather the stones, and they make a heap of stones and eat upon the heap. It is very nice to see brethren eating together, it is the appointed way in the Lord's supper that we should eat together, and drink together; it is the divinely appointed way of keeping us together, of keeping Christ in our hearts. But here are people eating and drinking in order to separate, as about to separate. They are not to live at war with one another, it is simply that they agree to differ, a most pernicious principle, whether we speak it or act it, it is contrary to the mind of God. Why should a thing be left in abeyance? If it is right, it is right, why cannot I see that it is right as others do, instead of eating upon a heap of stones? It may have seemed nice to agree not to have war, we do not want open division, but there may be cleavage without open division, and if there is cleavage there is room for Satan. Satan has a footing, and he will not be content with a footing, he will seek more than cleavage.

I dwell on this, that they eat on a heap of stones. They were pious in it, they say, "The Lord watch between me and thee, when we are absent one from another", but we never read of Jacob visiting Laban again. As a matter of fact, love had gone, the love that was there, the interest that was there when he watered the flock of Laban in the presence of Rachel had gone; now there is nothing left but

this heap of stones. I do not deny that there may be something in it, the preservation from war, they were not to pass that heap of stones. But then there was the want of love, it is a poor state of things that we should settle down to eat on a heap of stones, and then say, "The Lord watch between me and thee, when we are absent one from another". Why should we be absent from one another? The whole trouble among the people of God arises from being absent from one another. Christianity means presence, the Lord's supper implies this. The Lord is absent, we know, but the Lord's supper is to bring Him in. The saints are together in love and the Lord is brought in through our remembrance of Him; that is the idea of it.

Now I proceed to the last scripture, where you have "the stone of Israel". Jacob is now touching a high level, as blessing Joseph. Here he is occupied in blessing Joseph with his other sons. In spite of their history, they are all blessed. A most encouraging thing, that in spite of the terrible things that have to be said, the twelve are all blessed; quite in keeping with the faithfulness of God. The same thing is seen in the history of the assembly, but the Holy Spirit would lead us up to the plane of Joseph, that is to say, Christ as separated from His brethren. He now sees Him as a fruitful bough by a well. That is what God would bring us into; He would lift us up into the full thought of Christ, that there may be the maintenance of the dispensation characteristically. That is what is presented in Joseph; Exodus opens up the administration of that. The fruitful bough by the well whose branches run over the wall; that is the fruitfulness of Christ. And then His sufferings; the awful opposition to Christ. "The archers ... shot at him".