Pages 1 - 146, Notes of Readings and Addresses in the U.S.A., 1939 - 41 Volume 152.
Revelation 1:1 - 13; Revelation 22:16,17
I have the thought, among others, of stressing representation. Only God really is entitled to representation, and this is found in Christ, who is said to be "the image of God". It is a mediatorial thought, and extends from God to Christ, and from Christ to those whom He may select, and right down even to a righteous man, or to a disciple, for the Lord Jesus Himself says, "And whosoever shall give to drink to one of these little ones a cup of cold water only, in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward", Matthew 10:42. Such is the extending chain of representation of which Scripture speaks, and I have selected this book because it affords copious material for such an address.
It is the "Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to him, ... and he signified it, sending by his angel, to his bondman John", Revelation 1:1. You will notice by the pronoun His, that the angel belonged to the Lord Jesus; it was not any angel, for there are myriads of them; other angels are alluded to in this book. The bondman is His too; it is the bondman of Jesus, and he proves that he is indeed such, in that he "testified the word of God", as we are told, "... all things that he saw". The Lord made a selection on the ground of experience, as we might say. Of course He knows all, and needs not in one sense to have any experience in order to know things; but He puts the selection of servants on this basis, and He had that great experience with this bondman. The Lord allowed him to be very familiar with Him. Indeed one marvels at times at the liberty accorded by the Lord to His disciples. John had the
liberty of being in the bosom of Jesus and of leaning on His breast. The preposition in implies acceptance. John would not have taken the liberty if it had not been there, it flowed out from what was in Christ; liberty flows out from what is in Christ. Moreover, he leaned on His breast, indicating support, which John also took advantage of. So that trustworthiness in John was of long standing; and if age is of any value at all, it is in this, that it affords long-standing confidence between the Lord and the bondman, seasoned confidence; confidence that has stood the test of every weather. So that the Spirit may well say of John, "his bondman".
Now as I was saying, the thought of representation is here in that sense, and John in his prefatory remarks, which run on to the end of verse 8, embodies this point, that there was good reason for the use of the word His. He would say, The Lord has indicated to me that I am His, not only through redemption, but through long-standing trustworthiness. So he says: "John to the seven assemblies which are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is, and who was, and who is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne; ... and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us, and has washed us from our sins in his blood, and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father: to him be the glory and the might to the ages of ages. Amen", Revelation 1:4 - 6. What richness in the bondman!
Now I wish to point to the book as setting out this great principle of representation. This book is indeed a great holy and spiritual drama; it is unique. And, of course, there must be a personnel to set this out. So John, in order to bring the saints into it, addresses the assembly under the symbol of seven -- seven assemblies in a certain province. The whole book is written to them, to those seven assemblies; and the personnel in
the scenes depicted is supposed to be understood by them. One would like to be drawn into the current of the book. Although one whole, it is a series of great prophetic subjects largely represented in persons; and what is set out in such a wonderfully symbolical way is already current. Indeed, from the time the revelation was given the actual scenes represented had a certain existence. The assembly is to be in this; it is a question of selected assemblies under a symbolic form, seven of them, designated by the Lord Jesus and made prominent throughout; a letter being written to each of them by the Lord, showing that the saints of our day are included. Thus we all are addressed, and this makes the book of special interest and importance. At any given time, it is the current saints that are in mind in this book. We belong to one of the assemblies, and hence the book is for us.
What John saw was to be written in a book and sent to the seven assemblies; each is to have a copy, as it were. So John puts himself alongside of us, saying in verse 9, "I John, your brother and fellow-partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and patience, in Jesus", Revelation 1:9. That is how the New Translation reads. John is in isolation, he is on an island; but he is in "the tribulation and kingdom and patience, in Jesus". They are one idea: "the tribulation and kingdom and patience" are all governed by one article; your New Translation will show you that too. It is an idea that attaches normally to a true follower of Jesus, to a true witness of Jesus; although he may be isolated he is in "the tribulation and kingdom and patience, in Jesus"; not of Jesus, but in Jesus. These things are in Jesus; they are fixed; they cannot be affected by any public condition. The severest conditions are included in the first word, "tribulation"; and the kingdom in Jesus is immutable. Other kingdoms may fall, and some may rise, but this one never falls; it is immutable; it is in Jesus.
Well, John puts himself alongside of us in that way, and he says, "I became in the Spirit on the Lord's day", Revelation 1:10. He is a real christian, a real follower of Jesus, a bondman of Jesus; but he is a fellow-partaker, a companion of the saints in these things. He is assuming that the saints are in these things: "the tribulation and kingdom and patience, in Jesus". It is the tribulation in Jesus, it is the kingdom in Jesus, and it is the patience in Jesus; and he is assuming that the saints are in them all, associated with him in holy bonds never to be dissolved. That is the position in this book.
Then he says, "I became in the Spirit on the Lord's day" -- recognising that the Lord Jesus has to do with time, and that He can select a day to call His own day. His own authoritative day. How can I recognise the authority of Jesus more than by being in the Spirit? He says, "I became in the Spirit on the Lord's day". The Spirit here and Jesus on high at God's right hand are correlative, and John was exactly in his orbit; he could not be more so than he was at this moment. He was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and in his orbit. You say, How could he move? He is limited as on an island, and no doubt in a prison, but he moves spiritually, unlimited by the island, or the prison, or the cell. That is what christianity is. And he says, "I heard behind me a great voice as of a trumpet". It is like Samuel called up out of his rest. Samuel complained, asking why he should be called up out of his rest. He came up to speak a word about Saul; he condemned Saul. John is called back here to condemn what corresponds with Saul in our own day, the man after the flesh in the place of rule. This book calls attention to that man and shows how he is to be dealt with finally, as seen in the man of sin; for that is what he is, the full development of sin. He is seen as taken, and the false prophet too, and cast alive into the lake of fire. That is what this book brings
out; it is one of the last things you get before you get the heavenly city. John is called out from the holy enjoyment of the Spirit on the Lord's day, to see all this; very different from what he had been engaged with "in the Spirit".
That is only one feature of the Apocalypse; the book is enchased by the most glorious representations of divine Persons; also of the assembly and other families of the redeemed. And in this respect it is remarkable that the first thing John sees is the assembly. He says, "And I turned back to see the voice which spoke with me; and having turned, I saw seven golden lamps", Revelation 1:12. These lamps represent the assembly, Revelation 1:20. Someone may say. You are beclouding Christ; you are putting the assembly before Christ. Well, the Spirit of God does here, verbally anyway. The truth is that the assembly belongs to Christ, and if it is brought into view first, it is that Christ might be there. She is His bride and witness and she makes way for Him. God is bringing out assembly truth, and in order to make assembly truth practical He needs to get assembly material. Assembly truth is one thing, but assembly material is another; and then assembly material must be put into form and built up. When that is done there is a place for Christ.
So John says, "I saw seven golden lamps, and in the midst of the seven lamps one like the Son of man", Revelation 1:12,13. I need not say more about that, but if there is anybody here who does not understand assembly truth, I would advise you to make inquiry. There are a good many here who could tell you something about it, thank God! The next thing is assembly material, and if you began sincerely to inquire about assembly I truth, those who are in the assembly will conclude that you are assembly material, and they will soon make room for you. There is a place for you; it is waiting. Your seat is empty. There is a place for you, and as
soon as you take your place you will see something of the Lord Jesus, that is, in the assembly. That is where He is to be seen. Of course, we see Him crowned with glory and honour at the right hand of God, but He is to be seen in the assembly. In this book He is seen in the assembly, not exactly sitting or standing, but walking in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks.
It is important in the understanding of this book to see that the first thing John saw was these seven lamps, meaning the seven assemblies, and in the next two chapters, the Lord writes letters through John to each of these assemblies. They are all written in the same book; it is all one book, but a letter to each assembly is in the book. That brings me to the end of chapter 3. And again I would appeal to any here who may not understand what I am speaking of, to inquire about it. If you are a christian at all, inquire about the truth of the assembly. You see, it is at the very forefront of the book, in the prefatory part, and now it is in the body of the book. In the beginning the first thing seen by the prophet is the assembly; and in the next two chapters it is addressed in the writing of the Lord Jesus to the seven assemblies. I do say, dear brethren and young people here, that this ought to be attractive to you. The holy scenes of which I have spoken are wonderful, and we all, as of the assembly, are essential to them. Why should you not be in this great scene? You are essential to it. The Lord comes to Ephesus and knows every saint that should be at the meeting. He knows every saint in Ephesus. If He comes there and misses certain faces, He takes account of that; they are essential to what He has in mind. Each one is essential to what is in mind, so that if there are those here who do not understand what I am speaking of as to the assembly, I would urge you to inquire as to the truth of it. The Scriptures are available, and the Holy Spirit, as we seek it, guides into all the truth. There are
also books which He has aided others to write, which help in the understanding of the Scriptures. The next thing is, are you material? And then, Are you in your place as a stone in the building?
Now that is the end of chapter 3. In chapter 4 we have a new scene, or at least another phase of the book. Then chapter 5 is another one; chapter 6 another; chapter 7 another; chapter 10, particularly, another; chapter 11 another, etc. One scene after another is brought before your eyes in the most holy way; they are presented in persons; certain principles or things represented in persons. In that connection we have the angel of Jesus, and the angel, or angels, of the assemblies; and we have angels otherwise designated. Now that brings out what I am saying in a very specific way -- angelic representation. In speaking of the Lord, John says, "his angel"; and He says Himself at the end, "I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify these things to you in the assemblies", Revelation 22:16. Are the assemblies all to be dissolved? No. The final and great result is one great thought, namely, the bride. In all these varied glories in this book the result is that the saints in the assemblies are all saying to the Lord Jesus along with the Spirit, "Come".
At the end of the book the assembly is brought into view for a purpose different from that at the beginning. It is now the bride. When the bride appears there is no blemish; there is no reproof, there is no criticism on the part of the Lord; but in the early chapters we have criticisms. Nevertheless the assemblies are before the Lord, and He says each one has an angel, "I Jesus have sent mine angel", the Lord says, "to testify these things to you in the assemblies". Each of the assemblies has an angel, and that brings up a very important matter, as to whether I am representative of the assembly that I am in. If God be working in the city in which I reside I should come in for that, and for the very best
of it. Why not? It is for me. Each assembly has its own distinction; but if that distinction is of any value, it is because of the work of God there. Character in a natural sense taken from the locality is of no value at all. If there is a distinctive characteristic in the town in which I am living, I am apt to imbibe it. That is detrimental. One great thought of the assembly is that it is heavenly, and that is what comes out concretely in chapter 21. It comes down out of heaven from God. I need to get that great thought into my soul if I am to get the gain of what is before us. And so, if I live in this town I must be representative of what is here. If there is anything of God in this town, I do not want to be behind in that; I want to be fully in it. Sometimes we hear brethren referring to those who are leading, those who are holding things for the Lord, as they and them instead of we and us. The sooner you begin to say we and us the more quickly you will come into the front rank in the work of God.
Now, I trust all understand that I am trying to make things practical. The Lord is seeking to bring us into the great idea of the assembly, and this book is remarkable as to how it presents the assembly. It presents it in concrete things; whether it is the local gathering in Ephesus, or whether it is the bride, the ideas presented are concrete. They are not beyond my understanding. A great city is not beyond my understanding; nor is a local company of saints; nor is a bride. These are all spiritual thoughts, but also practical, and I want to be in the current of them. If I am in this town in relation to the local company, I want to be representative of it wherever I go, but representative only of what is of God. What is the good of carrying anything else? Phoebe went to Rome; she had never been there before, I suppose. It was a long way. She went to Rome from Cenchrea, which was near Corinth. She is connected with the assembly in Cenchrea; that is the point the
apostle makes. Who is she? She is in a sense the angel of the assembly there. Picture her in Rome, in the house of a spiritual sister, and another sister goes to see her. Will Phoebe bring out the latest social ideas in Cenchrea? No! She will not. She is a servant of the assembly at Cenchrea, and she will talk about the saints in Cenchrea. In Rome she will represent the assembly at Cenchrea; that is what she would wish to do, I am sure. She had the apostle Paul's recommendation. What better could she have? She was a representative; she was an angel, you might say, in that sense.
You will see what I am seeking to make clear. God intends the heavenly character of the assembly to be reflected in the localities where the saints are, and as each one in a given place reflects that, he is a representative of the work of God there. All that is embodied in the seven epistles. That principle runs through them all. If we link them all together we shall see how the golden thread of angelic representation is unfolded. When the Lord Jesus says, Mine angel, that is a literal angel that represents Him, but when He says "To the angel of the assembly in Ephesus write": that is the assembly's angel, -- some person or persons in the town that the Lord takes account of in that way. If the representative is poor, then He will rebuke him. If the representative is acceptable and according to heaven, He will praise him. Alas! there are only one or two assemblies free from rebuke! I am speaking of representation, in this way, so that God might have, through His work in His people, representatives on earth at the present time. I believe He has them.
To confirm what I am saying, it is noteworthy that the saints in the beginning had the idea of representation. You see it in the house of Mary when Peter was released from the prison, a most interesting story. James was killed with the sword and Peter was put into prison, and the whole assembly began to pray about Peter. That is
one encouraging thing about the present time, that the saints all over the world are praying about the same thing, and you may be sure God will do something about that. The assembly was praying unceasingly about Peter. Presently Peter was released and came to Mary's house. A maid came to listen and recognised his voice. Peter was there at the door. Those inside thought they knew better than Rhoda; they said, It is his angel. I speak of this in connection with angelic representation. Where did they get the thought? It is plain enough that the thought of angels in those days included representation. The Lord Himself says that even "little ones" have angels representing them in heaven. Rhoda said, It is Peter! Peter has just been speaking to himself; sometimes it is wholesome to talk to ourselves; it is indeed. We are told that he was asleep in the prison and an angel of the Lord came and smote him on the side. Why did he not smite him on the cheek? I suppose the angel was thinking about the side of the Lord Jesus, which had been smitten. Peter would understand that. He awakened Peter, telling him to put on his upper garment and his sandals, and follow; and he did. They passed one guard after another and nobody said anything. They went to the outer gate and it opened of itself; then they went down one street and the angel left him. Peter spoke to himself then. What a scene that was! What an experience! "Peter, being come to himself, said, Now I know certainly that the Lord has sent forth his angel and has taken me out of the hand of Herod", Acts 12:11. It was an accurate conclusion. He spoke to himself. He just says that and goes to Mary's door, and the people inside say, "It is his angel". They did not believe in such an intervention, although evidently they had prayed for it. This reminds us that we might pray for things we do not expect to get. In spite of unbelief God answered the prayers of the assembly, and Peter was at the door. Rhoda insisted
that it was Peter himself, and it was. It was not his angel; it was the real Peter, that God had delivered. The Lord Jesus had sent His angel and delivered him out of the hand of Herod and from the expectation of the Jews. What triumphant thoughts these are at the present time! What God can do! Let us therefore continue to pray and expect answers. If we write of the general pressure to brethren hundreds or thousands of miles away, urge them to pray. Young men go up before the Tribunals and say, I cannot take a sword. They urgently need our prayers. That is the word for today: Pray! It is a time of isolation: we cannot move around to see the saints as we used to do, but we can pray. The assembly prayed concerning Peter in the prison, and Peter was delivered.
You will understand that I have spoken of Peter's imprisonment and deliverance in connection with the idea of representation. Now the Lord in His final word in Revelation 22:16 does not say anything about John. He says, "I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify these things to you in the assemblies". I suppose the you there would be the real ones. The Lord would discriminate most accurately in saying, you. "I Jesus ... testify these things to you in the assemblies". "He that has an ear, let him hear", Revelation 2:7. Who will hear that word; hear what the Lord is testifying to, giving us a full view pictorially in a most holy way of the prophetic history to come? There are hearers. He says, "I am the root and offspring of David, the bright and morning star", Revelation 22:16. This is the last word, as it were, as to this whole matter. Let us wake up to the fact that we are right in the midst of all these things now, dear brethren, and that the Lord would say, I am testifying to you. That is a word for us all here. He would say, I have testified unto you, whomsoever it be, by Mine angel; that is, in the indirect way the Lord has been faithfully ministering to us all these more recent
years in the assemblies. There are those who cut loose from the assemblies, free-lances, who profess to be servants of Jesus, but the Lord says, "I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify these things to you in the assemblies". It is in the assemblies. And then He says, "I am the root and offspring of David, the bright and morning star". Where are we in regard of all this wonderful testimony that has been going on? The Lord says, I have done it by Mine angel. We are on prophetic lines here; it is not direct ministry to the assembly, such as Paul's; it is prophetic; but it is, nevertheless, "in the assemblies". Where are we in regard of it? If prophetic ministry does anything, it separates us from the world, delivers us from ourselves; it makes God everything, so that He has a place amongst us. It makes Christ everything, for in the new man Christ is everything and in all. He says, "I am the root and offspring of David, the bright and morning star. And the Spirit and the bride say, Come". That is what I wanted to finish with: the thought of the bride in this concrete way. There are seven assemblies, which is very simple; there is the great city coming down, which is in itself comprehensible, because it is measured; it is a measurable thing. It is not infinite, it is finite. Then there is this most precious thought -- the bride. The spirit of prophecy says, "And the Spirit and the bride say, Come". If someone has an ear to hear that voice, and say, Come, to the Lord Jesus, that is really the great end of this book; that the Lord has reached the concrete thought of the bride; the saints active in marital affection; and she wants Him to come. It is not simply to come for her, for His glory is her glory, and the come would mean coming out in display, when she is to be in display with Him. That is a great thought in the book, dear brethren, and the Lord would put it upon our hearts that we might be saying day and night to the Lord Jesus -- Come!
Leviticus 8:31 - 36; 2 Chronicles 13:4 - 17
J.T. Before proceeding to dwell on the service of God in the difficult times of which the Scriptures speak, times illustrated in 2 Chronicles 13, it is thought well that we should look at it under normal circumstances. This chapter in Leviticus depicts the consecration of the priests; it is the disclosure of the mind of God as to Christ and the saints; Christ as the true Aaron, and ourselves as the sons of Aaron. The mind of God as to the priests is depicted in the chapter so that we might have understanding of the priesthood. As the consecration takes place, the verses read show that Aaron and his sons were to abide at the entrance of the tent of meeting day and night, seven days, to keep the charge of Jehovah. Then we are told in the last verse that "Aaron and his sons did all things that Jehovah had commanded by the hand of Moses". Thus we have the position from the divine side and the service inaugurated under favourable circumstances.
W.B-w. Answering to what took place at Pentecost at the beginning?
J.T. Yes. Aaron and his sons had charge of the service of God and they were to keep that charge day and night for the whole period, the whole spiritual period; there was to be no cessation in the service. Abijah's speech recorded in 2 Chronicles shows that the service went on in Jerusalem although the kingdom had become divided, and a state of rebellion existed. It is very beautiful to see how Abijah is able to set out the position, showing that the kingdom was set up in the hands of the sons of David. First he says, "Ought ye not to know that Jehovah the God of Israel gave the kingdom over Israel to David for ever, to him and to his sons by a covenant of salt?" And then he exhorts the
Israelites too, saying, "do not fight with Jehovah the God of your fathers; for ye shall not prosper". God answered him, giving complete victory, and it is because the service of God is continued in spite of difficulties.
C.G. Why do you think the seven days is brought in in Leviticus?
J.T. I think it would be a complete period of testimony; it is to go on during the whole period, night and day; as with Anna, the prophetess, she departed not from the temple, "serving night and day with fastings and prayers", Luke 2:37.
C.G. You get the same thought with Joshua in the tabernacle, do you not?
J.T. Yes; he remained in the tent, Exodus 33:11. It shuts out the idea of optional feeling as regards the service of God. No one can say that it makes no difference whether he is there or not. He is to be there; the service is to go on. Trifles should not be allowed to hinder us.
C.A.M. It is a case of whether we are going on with God or whether we are fighting against God. If we really give God His place everything will be clarified, will it not?
J.T. Quite so. You can see the urgency of the word in the verses read in Leviticus. "Ye shall abide at the entrance of the tent of meeting day and night seven days, and keep the charge of Jehovah"; and "Aaron and his sons did all things that Jehovah had commanded by the hand of Moses". That is to call attention to the perfection of what God had inaugurated, and of course that is to continue.
Ques. Would you say, too, that in Leviticus the service is to go on in freshness?
J.T. Yes. The priests are provided for by boiled flesh. It says, "Boil the flesh at the entrance of the tent of meeting; and there eat it and the bread that is in the basket of the consecration-offering, as I commanded,
saying, Aaron and his sons shall eat it". So they have suitable food where they are, at the entrance of the tent.
R.W.S. What is the thought in the allusion to the handful? The note to the word consecrated at the end of verse 33 says, shall your hands be filled, and, took a handful.
J.T. "Ye shall not go out from the entrance of the tent of meeting seven days, until the day when the days of your consecration are at an end: for seven days shall ye be consecrated" -- that is, shall your hands be filled. They would be wholly occupied with God's service. You do not take on anything else; one's profession, or the like, should not interfere.
C.A.M. As to this charge and being wholly in these things, would not the fact that it is a charge, and that it is to be continued the entire period, emphasise that it is not optional?
J.T. I thought that the consecration means being wholly occupied with this thing, filled full. The apostles said, for instance, "It is not right that we, leaving the word of God, should serve tables", Acts 6:2. They had in mind that they should keep to the one thing; although Paul served tables, but clearly the apostles had in mind that they should be occupied with one thing, the word of God. Here, of course, it is the charge, "keep the charge of Jehovah".
W.B.W. The conflict is not contemplated here. The enemy is not seen working from without in this chapter.
J.T. It is normal. We see in the end of Exodus that as the tabernacle was set up every item in it was functioning; nothing was idle. In Eli's time they had beds there; the priests evidently slept there, which was never thought of primarily; day and night they were to keep the charge. So that we have in the psalms the word, "Behold, bless Jehovah, all ye servants of Jehovah, who by night stand in the house of Jehovah. Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, and bless Jehovah", Psalm 134:1,2.
The house of God is not a place for sleeping, nor is it a place for eating, except the Lord's supper; we have houses to eat in and houses to sleep in. The house of God is not for ministering to one's natural desires or needs.
R.W.S. "... that ye die not" -- is that the other side to it? As these things become our life there is life, but as we depart from them and become lax there is death.
J.T. I think there is too much optional feeling amongst brethren; we may be there, or we may not be there; it makes no difference in our minds. This chapter would reverse that thought -- "that ye die not", It is a most serious penalty; it alludes to one's neglect of the service of God, we being charged with it.
W.B-w. "Ye shall abide at the entrance of the tent of meeting day and night", verse 35. You would not be neglecting it if you were abiding there.
J.T. Quite. "Aaron and his sons did all things that Jehovah had commanded by the hand of Moses", showing the service was carried out as directed; and of course that standard is set up and is to continue; any deviation from it comes under penalty, "that ye die not", verse 35.
A.C. Referring to the food of the sons of Aaron; there is another scripture, Deuteronomy 18, that speaks of this, "the shoulder, and the jawbones, and the maw", Deuteronomy 18:3.
J.T. The shoulder is a question of strength; the jawbone is for mastication, and the maw is for digestion. That is general constitutional food for the priest, but this is boiled flesh; the flesh of consecration. It is a thing by itself, a higher suggestion as to food. It is the ram of consecration. Consecration means that I am devoted to this one thing for the whole period, and this food supports me in it.
A.C. One is impressed with the continuity of the service -- day and night.
J.T. The food here is boiled flesh, the flesh of the
consecration offering, implying that the priests are absolutely devoted to the will of God. There is nothing optional in it. The priest is always ready to do the will of God; he is devoted to the will of God in His service, and if I am appropriating Christ in that way I shall be equal to the continuance of the service.
Ques. Would the idea of obedience enter into these verses?
J.T. Clearly; the Spirit of God tells us that Aaron and his sons did all things that were commanded by the hand of Moses; that is a fine tribute, that you do what is enjoined.
R.W.S. In addition to the flesh there is the bread in the basket. It says in verse 31, "Boil the flesh at the entrance of the tent of meeting; and there eat it and the bread that is in the basket of the consecration-offering".
J.T. Bread in these connections is usually an allusion to the humanity of Christ, only it is not fine flour, it is actually baked; it is kept in a basket: "the bread that is in the basket of the consecration-offering", Leviticus 8:31 It is cared for in a utensil, showing that it is a special thing; both the flesh and the bread are special. The flesh is boiled. Except for some general references in Ezekiel 46 the word 'boil' in this connection is scarcely used save in this chapter and in Exodus 29, where the same subject is treated of. The bread with which the flesh was eaten was in the basket of the consecration-offering; this would mean I think, that it is of very great value, kept in a vessel; and if it is not all eaten, "that which remaineth of the flesh and of the bread shall ye burn with fire", verse 32. It was not allowed to be carried over; it is to ensure freshness in every eating.
W.B-w. What is the difference in the action of the fire between roasting and boiling?
J.T. The roasting is direct action of the fire, as we have often noticed, like Matthew and Mark; these gospels speak of the Lord saying, "My God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me?", Matthew 27:46. Luke and John omit that part. All the evangelists, of course, record the death of Christ; death is there, only you may have death in a modified way, so that less suffering is attached to it. So, spiritually, you omit what refers to extreme suffering at certain times.
A.N.W. Why is making atonement linked with the consecration in verse 34? It says, "so Jehovah hath commanded to do, to make atonement for you".
J.T. It is the exalted feature of the atonement as applying to priesthood. Of course that atonement applies to all christians, but then there is the exalted appropriation of it; that is, a priestly appropriation of it. The priests have a more exalted thought of everything, and God looks for a true appreciation of His things. Some are not able to appreciate them fully, but priests ought to be able to appreciate them. Paul's thought of the death of Christ would be of this character; he says, "who has loved me and given himself for me", Galatians 2:20; and, "as the Christ also loved the assembly, and has delivered himself up for it", Ephesians 5:25. These are exalted thoughts as to the atonement; not simply the appeasement of God, but all that enters into it, involving love; not only love to God, though there is love to God in it, as the Lord says, "On this account the Father loves me, because I lay down my life ... .", John 10:17. We love Him too.
Ques. Would you say then that from a priestly standpoint, deep pressure and suffering only bring out the holiness of God? Psalm 22 says, "thou art holy, thou that dwellest amid the praises of Israel", Psalm 22:3.
J.T. Yes; only the boiling here would mean that the priests advance more to the Person of Christ and what is in Him; not only what He has done, but what He is Himself, what is in Him; because the consecration-offering includes the Lord Himself. We are linked up with Christ in this chapter; it is the consecration of
Aaron and his sons, so that it is personal between Him and us, so to speak.
F.S.C. Is this word consecration the same as we get in relation to the Nazarite in Numbers 6?
J.T. There is a link; in Numbers it is separation; in Leviticus 8 it is "filling of hand". It is priesthood -- filled out before God, with Christ; typically seen in the chapter under consideration. It is spiritual positiveness, whereas Nazariteship is more negative -- what is to be refused. As the days of his separation end, the Nazarite comes into and is marked by great spiritual wealth before God, corresponding with the priest in our chapter.
W.B-w. Does the basket refer to believers individually, or is it collective, referring to what took place at the day of Pentecost?
J.T. It is the idea of a containing vessel. The Israelites were to borrow utensils, or demand them of the Egyptians, and among these would be containing vessels. You keep things in a suitable way. Hence the woman of Sarepta whom Elijah visited, had the meal in a barrel, and the oil in a cruse. The vessels are mentioned, as though God would have things properly kept; in many instances you get this. In John 2 there were six waterpots of stone; in chapter 4 you have the woman of Samaria taking in the thought of a vessel from the Lord's ministry: "the water which I shall give him shall become in him a fountain of water, springing up into eternal life", verse 14. In him, implies the containing vessel; so she leaves her waterpot and goes away into the city, meaning that she understood the teaching. She is the best example we can get of a person absorbing the teaching.
J.T.Jr. Would it be like the Thessalonians, learning how to possess our vessels in sanctification?
J.T. That is it exactly. Let each one know how to do it. Some have said that our ministry is made, perhaps, too plain. The Lord does not always make
things so plain. In what He is saying, the woman of Samaria absorbed or discerned the force of His teaching without His having to say to her, You are a vessel. He does not say that; but He does say that the water He will give anyone shall be in that person a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life. Inferentially, that person is a vessel, and the woman saw that without needing to have it explained.
C.A.M. That is very interesting. If we dwell on that in our minds we shall see the great value of being in the spirit of inquiry when the Lord makes a suggestion.
J.T. Yes; He says, for instance, to the disciples, "Have ye understood all these things? They say to him, Yea, Lord". Then the Lord immediately says, "Every scribe discipled to the kingdom of the heavens" -- notice, it is one discipled; he is a learner, taking account of things, weighing them up -- "is like a man that is a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old", Matthew 13:52. He keeps the things he has learned.
C.A.M. I was thinking of Luke 24, and the Lord making Himself known to the two on the way to Emmaus; the way He did it; the wisdom He used; the time that elapsed as He conversed with them; His going into the house; breaking the bread and giving it into their hands, etc., whether all that was not perfectly timed in accordance with their spirit of inquiry?
J.T. I am sure it was. The whole chapter is touching in that sense, the Lord coming down to where we are; so that He even goes in the wrong direction with us; that is, if we are in the wrong direction He even goes as far as that. If He has to do that, He is humbled in doing it. He went away from Jerusalem, but the two were brought back. They were turned back, not by His wonderful exposition of the Scripture, but by the impression left upon them when He broke the bread and vanished!
A.P.T. You were speaking about optional matters. Is it not incumbent upon us to follow out the assembly service weekly, each meeting inclusive of every other meeting, as far as we are able to do so? Do you think that is the suggestion in the ministry this afternoon, that we should addict ourselves to the meetings on Lord's day and other meetings throughout the week?
J.T. I think that is, perhaps, the word for us now, whether each one takes it to himself. Even the announcements you make you yourself are apt to forget.
J.S. Is John 7 an exemplification of the working of the vessel? "Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water", John 7:38.
J.T. Just so. They are under control; rivers are under control and have banks, so that the water is not lost; the idea of the banks is that the water is conserved, kept in a course so that it will be of use. This is God's thought; the river is moving and carrying fructifying power with it. It conveys the idea of influence for good. In John 7 the use of the word 'river' would imply that the water is under control, it does not issue forth just anywhere and become lost, spilt upon the ground. The allusion, I suppose, is to Genesis 2. The river flowed out of Eden, it entered the garden, and from thence it was parted into four heads. The word heads is the literal word and is, I think, what is meant; the water is under control, four main streams under control, and it becomes universally beneficial.
J.T.Jr. Would you say the believer thus is to have himself under control? Romans 7 bears that thought, that we are to have control over ourselves.
J.T. Quite so. If you have received anything in the way of help of that kind, the brethren are to get the best service from it. You do not say everything that comes into your mind; you are concerned as to what you are going to say, to whom you are going to speak, and you get before the Lord about it and control what you have;
you do not have to say everything you know. It is just one thing at a time. Meetings for edification ought to be marked in this way.
Going on to our second scripture, Jeroboam had eight hundred thousand men under him and Abijah had four hundred thousand men, showing that those who had departed from the truth had the greater number; hence numbers do not determine anything. Abijah gives a clear account of the position. There is not much to say about this king; he is like a brother to whom God gives a place at a given time, and he does well under certain circumstances. If you inquire into his history in 1 Kings, you would not expect much, if anything, so that we are not to judge a man just by part of his history; we must get the whole of his history, and especially the part in which God used him. This chapter gives a remarkable account of a service in which God used this king, Abijah; he went up, we are told in verse 4, to the mountain of Zemaraim, which is in mount Ephraim. This is to his credit; he took elevated ground. He says, "Hear me, Jeroboam, and all Israel! Ought ye not to know that Jehovah the God of Israel gave the kingdom over Israel to David for ever, to him and to his sons ... ?" 2 Chronicles 13:4,5. Jeroboam had eight hundred thousand warriors, but he was not of the house of David; he is disqualified at once. Other things, of course, modify this, but this is the truth, Jeroboam was not of the house of David. Abijah says: "But Jeroboam the son of Nebat, the servant of Solomon the son of David, rose up and rebelled against his lord. And vain men, sons of Belial, gathered to him and strengthened themselves against Rehoboam the son of Solomon, and Rehoboam was young and faint-hearted, and did not shew himself strong against them. And now ye think to shew yourselves strong against the kingdom of Jehovah in the hand of the sons of David; and ye are a great multitude, and ye have with you the golden calves that Jeroboam
made you for gods. Have ye not cast out the priests of Jehovah, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and made you priests as the peoples of the lands? whoever comes to consecrate himself with a young bullock and seven rams, he becomes a priest of what is not God", 2 Chronicles 13:6 - 9. That is a very good setting out of the truth from the standpoint of the book of Chronicles, because it is a question of the house of David. Abijah is not saying anything as to his own qualities or those of others, but that the service of God is going on according to the appointment, and that the kingdom is in the hands of the sons of David. These are the important points; that is, the counsels of God and the service of God as over against a man like Jeroboam who is not of the house of David, and has brought in idolatry. The fact that he has a great number with him does not prove anything. Five hundred thousand of Jeroboam's chosen men were slain in the battle, 2 Chronicles 13:17.
C.A.M. The first thing he seems to emphasise is the matter of sonship in connection with David. "Jehovah the God of Israel gave the kingdom over Israel to David for ever, to him and to his sons by a covenant of salt".
J.T. Yes. I think it is a great point at the present time to keep the purpose of God before us, whatever has happened. Someone might say, David -- what was he? Think of this, that and the other thing about him that was discreditable! But we are dealing now with the purpose of God; Abijah is dealing with the purpose of God, that God made a covenant of salt with David and his sons. The true King is the Son of David, "I am the root and offspring of David", the Lord says, Revelation 22:16.
Rem. The covenant of salt is going through.
J.T. Yes. Salt means what preserves; it prevents corruption.
Ques. Did not Abijah appeal to the men of Israel -- "Ought ye not to know?"
J.T. They ought to know; what he is saying is public knowledge; the Scriptures testify to it, and this is most important at the present time. The testimony of Scripture is always conclusive.
R.W.S. Is there something of the abstract side in verse 10 where he says, "But as for us, Jehovah is our God, and we have not forsaken him". Despite elements of forsaking, the general position was right; is that your thought?
J.T. I think it is in keeping with Chronicles, which gives the abstract side of David's history; David's great sins are omitted, or at least the worst of them are. This man must have come under divine influence for the moment, because his history does not agree with this generally, but his speech here agrees with the purpose of God. As you say, it is an abstract condition and unless we get to the abstract in a day of cloudy departure, we shall never get to the real truth of matters. The truth must go through, the Son of David is the ruler; it is a covenant of salt, it will never fail.
Ques. Would you say the house of Chloe and the house of Stephanas in Corinth were holding on to the abstract truth? The current conditions were challenging the Lord and His authority in Corinth, yet there were those who were true to the position and you might say holding in their affections what they had been brought into as the mind and purpose of God.
J.T. Yes. If the abstract state were not in some sense corresponded to in Corinth you could not have the epistle at all, so that the apostle enjoins them to purge out the old leaven, and yet he says, "according as ye are unleavened", 1 Corinthians 5:7. That is the abstract. You cannot have the assembly without that.
A.C. The Lord says, "Ye are the salt of the earth", Matthew 5:13. In alluding to salt, would Abijah have in mind that there were some preservative features?
J.T. Yes. There is not only the stability of divine
purpose, but also the great preservative element in the presence of the Spirit of God down here. The Holy Spirit has been here ever since Pentecost and so divine things have been preserved. That is the idea in the salt. The things of God go through, and will go through; the point for us is to be in that; then we are practically the salt of the earth. It says of Mary that she took "a pound of ointment of pure nard", without a word being said in John about the alabaster box. The box would preserve, but she herself was that, in keeping with John's gospel; like the woman in chapter 4, -- she was a vessel too. So that there is the power in the saints of God through the Spirit that preserves things and carries them down. Hence Jude, in order to carry the truth down, says, "But ye, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, awaiting the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life", Jude 1:20,21.
R.W.S. In our chapter the truth is carried down. Each item Abijah mentions, he mentions as functioning normally.
J.T. Just so, that is what I was thinking. He goes on to say in verse 9: "Have ye not cast out the priests of Jehovah, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and made you priests as the peoples of the lands? ... But as for us, Jehovah is our God, and we have not forsaken him; and the priests that serve Jehovah are the sons of Aaron, and the Levites are at their work: and they burn to Jehovah every morning and every evening burnt-offerings and sweet incense; the loaves also are set in order upon the pure table; and the candlestick of gold with its lamps to burn every evening: for we keep the charge of Jehovah our God; but ye have forsaken him. And behold, we have God with us at our head, and his priests, and the loud-sounding trumpets to sound an alarm against you. Children of Israel, do not fight with Jehovah the God of your fathers; for ye shall not
prosper", 2 Chronicles 13:9 - 12. What a strong position that is! He cites the fact that the service is going on despite the conditions, and that "we have God with us at our head". It is like the remnant in relation to Emmanuel in Isaiah, as the Assyrian comes up and goes too far, the remnant says, "God is with us". If the enemy interferes with Emmanuel's land, God will deal with him.
C.A.M. A true priest really has everything. Abijah shows that Judah had everything pertaining to the service of God. Do you think the gospel of Luke shows that Jerusalem, whatever else could be said about it, was at least in a central position and that the service was there?
J.T. The Lord leaves the disciples engaged in the service; they were continually in the temple praising and blessing God. That is the end of Luke. In the beginning of the Acts we have at the end of chapter 2 the description of what was there; it shows the service of God going on whatever happens.
F.S.C. It says in 1 Kings in regard to Abijah that God gave him a lamp for David His servant's sake.
J.T. That is in agreement with the position here. It is a question of David. It is the purpose of God, what God has decreed must go through, and that is the point he makes here. I think this is the saving position of Abijah, that he can say this. He does not call attention to himself, but to David; he does not say, "the son of David", but, "the sons of David". It is the general position right down to Christ.
A.B.P. The chronicler records, "And the rest of the acts of Abijah, and his ways and his sayings, are written in the treatise of the prophet Iddo", 2 Chronicles 13:22. That would bear on what is said in this chapter, it forms a basis for prophetic ministry in a sense.
J.T. Yes. That his life was recorded by the prophet is very suggestive. That service begins with David's life, of which Samuel, Nathan and Gad wrote. The acts of Solomon were also written by prophets, and now
"the acts of Abijah, and his ways and his sayings, are written in the treatise of the prophet Iddo". A prophet discerns and is likely to record the doings of a servant according to his motives, and that is really how they should be recorded. What motives have you? You may fail in them, but the underlying motives are what God looks at. He looks at the heart.
A.P.T. Is that so with Zacharias in Luke 1? God was looking at the underlying motives -- he really had right thoughts in relation to the service of God.
J.T. Yes. There must have been something that God would carry through to bring him out in such a remarkable way at the end of the chapter, because he speaks wonderfully after his mouth was opened.
S.F. Was not Abijah's testimony rendered in the sphere of Jeroboam's influence -- in the territory over which was king -- in mount Ephraim? He rendered his testimony in the sphere of rebellion.
J.T. Quite so; it was in the territory of Jeroboam, where the testimony was needed.
A.N.W. The loud-sounding trumpets are there as well as the service of God, and as the attack is made by Jeroboam they are sounded; that is part of the service: "and the loud-sounding trumpets to sound an alarm against you", 2 Chronicles 13:12.
J.T. I suppose the allusion is to Numbers 10it speaks there of the use of these trumpets at such a time. It would confirm how the service of God is carried on even in the battlefield: "And if ye go to war in your land against the enemy that oppresseth you, then ye shall blow an alarm with the trumpets; and ye shall be remembered before Jehovah your God, and ye shall be saved from your enemies", Numbers 10:9. They were doing that, they carried the testimony right into the battlefield; they did not neglect that part of it.
Rem. Would that not be encouraging, that in spite of all the pressure in Europe the service goes on?
J.T. That is the whole point of our reading. Think of our brethren, many of them under great pressure, and how stimulating it is to hear from time to time that the meetings go on as usual! And they will go on, doubtless, by God's help.
F.N.W. Is the threat to the service of God at present largely political, and are we to expect the threat religiously according to this chapter?
J.T. Well, the present attack is not directly against the saints, though the enemy is evidently trying to dislocate the service of God. It is an international matter, it is a world matter, but it affects us as in the world, and the question is how we move. In chapter 15 God says to Asa, "Jehovah is with you while ye are with him", 2 Chronicles 15:2. We are to find out what God has in His mind in all that is transpiring, because the nations are under Him, and as God sees us exercised in that way He says, I am with you. That is the point Abijah makes here; he says, "And behold, we have God with us at our head", a very remarkable thing; not captain, but head, corresponding with what David had said, "thou art exalted as Head", 1 Chronicles 29:11. Who can stand against the wisdom of God?
J.T.Jr. You might say the highest point is touched in that reference of David; he says, "thou art exalted as Head above all", I suppose David there touches the highest point of his ministry.
J.T. I thought that Abijah seems to have been helped of God; it would seem he was taken out of himself; he was taken to the mount of God and God helped him to set out the truth in this striking manner, ending up with this remarkable statement: "And behold, we have God with us at our head, and his priests, and the loud-sounding trumpets to sound an alarm against you", 2 Chronicles 13:12. If Jeroboam had read Numbers 10 he would have known that Abijah must have meant that he was an enemy of God's people.
Rem. Despite his testimony Jeroboam went on to make a desperate attack by ambush; it shows the hardening of the heart.
J.T. Quite so, and that is what is going on now; this testimony that Abijah sounds out from the mountain has been going on for one hundred years or more, calling attention to the purpose of God, that the rule is in the hands of David and his sons; and calling attention to the service of God, the priests of God and the Levites of God, and that God is with certain people. Well, what are the others doing? They are carrying on, and attacking what is of God, so that their position is most serious.
Ques. Do you think the remedy with us is to thoroughly judge ourselves?
J.T. Quite so. These trumpets imply that. We should hear them, they are loud-sounding ones, meaning that the testimony is sounded out.
W.B-w. We are to keep going on with the sons of David in the kingdom, in the public side; and with the sons of Aaron in the house, in the private side; is that how the service goes on?
W.B-w. And when the crisis comes in the battle they cry out to Jehovah, verse 14.
J.T. You can see how lawlessness moves in verse 13. After all this wonderful speech of Abijah it says, "But Jeroboam caused an ambush to come about behind them; and they were before Judah, and the ambush behind them. And Judah looked back, and behold, they had the battle in front and behind; and they cried to Jehovah, and the priests sounded with the trumpets". They sounded at the right time. "And the men of Judah gave a shout; and as the men of Judah shouted, it came to pass that God smote Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah", verses 13 - 15. It is remarkable, showing how the opposition has gone on in spite of
the testimony God is giving, but that God is dealing with it and will deal with it. The book of Revelation, of course, opens up with this solemn fact of what God will do; what God will do with all the elements of opposition to Himself.
R.W.S. Is this ambush like the enemies of the truth going back to ministry of one hundred years ago in order to attack and refute current ministry?
J.T. Quite so; the ambush, I think, is the idea of encirclement. You see, there is no hope for Judah at all; the enemy are just getting around them and they are in the midst, but the men of Judah (and there you have the purpose of God) shouted, and God moved for them.
A.R.S. This scripture seems to throw a great deal of light upon all the divisions of the last one hundred years; it is rebellion that is at the bottom of the whole history. Why is it that though Abijah makes such a very clear statement, and seems to be a valuable man, yet he only lasts three years?
J.T. Well, this is his best year; this is the best bit of work he did. You would not think much of him if you confined yourself to the book of Kings; but I think it is wonderful that God can use a man who is not perhaps equal to what he is saying, but is saying what is right. We have already had it that there were things that Joab dedicated, and that Abner dedicated and that Saul dedicated. What is right is right, in whomsoever it is found.
C.A.M. Do you think that where there is a rebel condition, or some unusual situation, it would be like God to use an unlikely sort of man? As you say, there does not seem to be anything to say in favour of this man except what this chapter gives us, but evidently he was the right man for the moment.
J.T. You have an instance of it too in Balaam: remarkable prophecies, but the man not at all in keeping with them. So with a man like Jehu, greatly used against
a certain evil and yet poorly formed. We must go on with what is done, if right, and value it because of what is in itself. So Abijah exposes Jeroboam's evil conduct; he exposes the evil, but he brings out the good in a beautiful way, and from an elevated position -- from the top of the mountain.
Matthew 11:7 - 15; John 1:26 - 34; John 3:27 - 30
I wish to speak of Christ and John the baptist. In the first scripture Christ is speaking about John the baptist, and in the second and third scriptures John the baptist is speaking about Christ. As prone to speak of one another, we have a good example in these scriptures of how it should be done. To speak to one another is commended, that is, among those who fear the Lord. Those who do not fear Him may speak to one another unprofitably. There is much of that kind of speaking, but we are enjoined that our "word be always with grace, seasoned with salt", Colossians 4:6. Those who feared the Lord, it is said, spoke often one to another. We are not told what they said to one another, but they spoke often to one another. The conversation was not unprofitable, nor unholy, for it is said that "Jehovah observed it, and heard, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them", Malachi 3:16. Remarkably touching! We may be sure every word was profitable. If one of the saints not present who feared the Lord was spoken of, it would not be to traduce his character, or to criticise unreasonably. Jehovah would soon rebuke that. It is said that He hearkened and heard. His ear and His interest are called into attention as to what is being said. I believe we have but little idea how interested heaven is in the saints. As soon as one begins to repent of his sins, before he is a saint at all, he is causing joy in heaven; there is joy in heaven "for one repenting sinner", Luke 15:7. It has often been remarked that it is not only one that has repented, but a 'repenting sinner'. If a christian does wrong, as judging himself he causes joy in heaven; he is a repenting sinner. So that we can reasonably say even as to this that heaven is full of joy all the time; for there are many repenting sinners, not only those who are just converted,
but those who were converted years ago, in that they are characteristically repenting persons. When the apostle Paul said to the high priest, "God will smite thee, whited wall", Acts 23:3 he did not know that he was speaking to the high priest, but he repented immediately. He recovered himself. He adjusted himself at once, and that is one of the most wholesome features among the brethren. We are not to carry unforgiven sins, but to deal with them immediately; thus joy is caused in heaven and reconciliation is caused on earth, and healthy conditions are maintained among the saints.
So we find at the mount of transfiguration that the Lord made a selection of certain disciples and took them up on to the mount with Him, and He was transfigured before them; His countenance became different. There were two men who appeared in glory speaking with Jesus. I That is a beautiful scene; spiritually we may visualise it. It does not say that He was speaking with them, but that they were speaking with Him. We are told what the subject was; they were speaking about His departure at Jerusalem. The original word is 'exodus', and it reminds one of the book of Exodus. The Lord was going out of this world through the death that awaited Him at Jerusalem. Moses and the children of Israel went out of Egypt through the Red Sea. Moses and Elias were speaking to Him about His exodus. What a theme! I would like to have heard just what Moses said, and what Elias said. I am only referring to it, because it is a conversation between the Lord Jesus and two of His disciples; heaven was listening to that!
At the time of our Lord's history as recorded in Matthew 11 John the baptist had been arrested and was in prison. He was a comparatively young man. Possibly some here picture John as an older brother, but he was beheaded when he was not yet thirty-five years of age; his work was done under that age. Now he sends a message to Jesus. The character of it was on account of
the exceeding pressure that he was in. Why should he be cast into prison? Why should any of the Lord's people or servants be greatly pressed by conditions? It comes about in the government of God. Why should it be? The enemy would seek to cause such a condition to lead to scepticism. Unconverted people are constantly saying, If there be a God, why should He allow such things? Why does He allow such a man as John the baptist to be put into prison? We might just as well go back and say, Why should Job be attacked by the devil? or Why should there be a devil? Is God required to give an answer to us for all that He does? Does He regard Himself as obligated to us? Faith says, "Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?" Genesis 18:25. This right attitude saves us from scepticism arising from the governmental dealings of God. These things are often a veil, but there is the holiest into which we can go through the veil to see all God's mind in Christ; though we must keep in mind that "his ways past finding out!" His way is in the sea, and His pathway in deep waters, so that we may as well humble ourselves and recognise that God is not obligated to us to give us an account of all His providential actions. Simple faith would say that God is right. This preserves us from speaking foolishly like Job's wife who said to her husband, "Curse God and die".
Well now, to come back to these verses in Matthew 11, the Lord had said certain things to John's messengers which were for John. He said these things to recover his faith. It must have been a sorrow to the Lord that John should have any question about Him, so He sent a word that no doubt revived him. Then He turns to the crowd and says, "What went ye out into the wilderness to see?" Now those of us who are in fellowship have professedly come out into the wilderness, and this challenge is a question that comes right home to every one of us. When you came into fellowship, what did you expect to see?
Many have come out and gone back. In the Lord's own history many of His disciples went away back and walked no more with Him. This is a challenge to us. What did each of us come out to see? Those who went to John did not find a reed shaken by the wind; he was not a man that would listen to the whisperings of everyone who came to be baptised. Suppose one of those who came to John said, I want to tell you something; there are a lot of people in Jerusalem that do not like you. Well, John would not be shaken with that wind. He would say, Did you come out here to frighten me? There are some people who would try to disturb servants in that way. In Nehemiah's time people came and told him that some were about to kill him and that he should enter the temple to protect himself; but he said, "Should such a man as I flee?" No servant of the Lord is worth the name of a servant if he flees because of such rumours. The principle in service and military activity is that of "the lion, mighty among beasts, which turneth not away for any", Proverbs 30:30. John would not listen to such stories. John would say, Did you come out to be baptised? Well, this is the baptism of repentance, not the baptism of story-telling or accusation. John would stand his ground, he was not like a reed shaken by the wind. Then the Lord says again, "What went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment?" If I come out to see a man like that I show myself in accord with the Romish church which makes much of religious vestments. The Lord says, those that wear such garments are in kings' palaces. You certainly will not see them in the fellowship marked by Christ's death, nor would you have seen them on John the baptist. He was clothed in camel's hair, with a leathern girdle about his loins. In truth, the questions the Lord is asking concerning John answer themselves; he was neither a reed shaken by the wind, nor a man clothed in fine garments. "But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? yea, I say unto
you, and more than a prophet". If they came out to see a prophet, there was more than that there. This is what the Lord would stress, and so it is today: there is more in the fellowship than any of us came out to see. The more we look into the truth of Christ and the assembly, the more we find to be there. John was a lion, he stood up against what Jerusalem represents. He says, "Offspring of vipers, who has forewarned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce therefore fruit worthy of repentance ... the axe is applied to the root of the trees; every tree therefore not producing good fruit is cut down and cast into the fire", Matthew 3:7 - 10. God is dealing in judgment with the leaders of Jerusalem, but in John we find a man who is as bold as a lion, and who did not wear fine clothes; he made no show at all. I suppose he looked as though he never went to town to buy anything, he just appropriated what the desert supplied. His clothing and food indicated this -- his food was locusts and wild honey. He had been in the deserts, not just the desert -- it was the full thought. As to ordinary outward circumstances, such was John the baptist.
Well now, I want to bring out how beautifully the Lord speaks about him. "Verily I say to you, that there is not arisen among the born of women a greater than John the baptist", Matthew 11:11. There was none greater than he among those born of women, and then the Lord says, "if ye will receive it, this is Elias, who is to come". Doubtless they had never thought of that. They had thought much of John the baptist, but they had hardly thought he was Elias that was to come. It was a question of whether they could receive this. One truly affected by John's ministry would receive the Lord's statement. He would say, The Lord says that John is Elias; I believe that; he has brought the light of God into my soul, I received deliverance through him, he led me to confess my sins, he baptised me; to my soul John's ministry is no
less, it is as great as that of Elias. In this way the servants of God are defended at all times.
What did you come out to see? Young people say, I would like to break bread. What have they in view? The Lord says, What did you come out into the wilderness to see? Some have come out because others have, persons of their own age. The devil has a good advantage over you and over the meeting you are in, if that is all; brethren are suffering all over the world from that very thing. So I stress the fact that John was a desert man. It was not that he lived in Jerusalem and went to the deserts to preach; he made no attempt to be a great man from Jerusalem, although at one time Jerusalem would have highly honoured him, John 1:19 - 27.
As people come into the wilderness as breaking bread, God would hold them there. Israel went out into the wilderness. What did they go out for? There had been much light and instruction in view of their going forth: "Let my son go, that he may serve me". They were to serve God in the wilderness; that was what they were to do, but not in Egypt's religious ways. These were refused; Moses refused Egypt's ways. The people came to Sinai where they were to be taught to serve, and where they were to serve; but as in the wilderness they soon began to complain. They said, We remember the good times we had in Egypt; indeed they began to tell each other lies! They began to speak about how well off they were in Egypt, and really they had just been slaves. "When we sat", they said, "by the flesh-pots, when we ate bread to the full". As sure as possible, if you begin to turn away from the truth, if you want to go back to Egypt, you begin to tell lies; you complain, and probably say something about the leading brethren. There is always some excuse for complaint, but it is just falsehood, it is unreality. Still, in such circumstances we usually find a hopeful side; some may be saved. We want them with the truth, but not on their terms.
So Moses said to Aaron, "Say to all the assembly of the children of Israel, Come near into the presence of Jehovah; for he has heard your murmurings. And it came to pass, when Aaron spoke to the whole assembly of the children of Israel, that they turned toward the wilderness, and behold, the glory of Jehovah appeared in the cloud", Exodus 16:9,10. That is like the gospel of Luke. Why should not Moses himself have spoken to the people? Moses from the very nature of his office would have been obliged to speak sternly to them, to rebuke them. Aaron represents the priesthood of Christ, and there was no rebuke as Aaron speaks. "Never man spake like this man", is said of the Lord Jesus. God said of Aaron, "I know that he can speak well". Applied to Christ, such speaking would be words of grace; they marvelled at the words of grace that were coming out of the Lord's mouth, Luke 4:22. So in our dealings with the young, they may have to be rebuked, but let grace have its full scope, for we must have them if possible; only we must have them on God's terms.
When Aaron speaks to these delinquent people "they turned toward the wilderness, and behold, the glory of Jehovah appeared in the cloud". If that does not really hold you, nothing will. If you are kept by other influences you will be a continual trouble to the brethren and a detriment to the testimony. The ministry of grace is to be set before the young, but if you fail to be affected, there is scarcely any hope of recovery. Where grace is despised, the parting of the ways is come; they may as well go. It is mortifying to say it, but they will be a weight and disgrace to the testimony, they may lead others away too. It involves the fellowship; there is to be no provision for the flesh. You are not going to get anything outwardly but what is of the desert if you go out to John; but there is the glory, what the Spirit provides in the assembly. What holds you is the glory; there are the Lord's sufferings and His glories; it is from
glory to glory every first day of the week. If that does not hold you, you should not be there.
Now we shall look at John speaking about the Lord. The two passages are well known to us, it is a question now of how John speaks about the Lord. It is of the very greatest importance that we should be able to speak rightly about Him. The Lord asks the disciples, "Who do men say that I the Son of man am?" They told Him; they knew what men were saying about the Lord. It is an important thing to speak about the Lord in the ears of the people we meet. The Lord enquires, "who do ye say that I am?" Peter says, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God", Matthew 16:14 - 16. Peter, John and Nathanael were outstanding confessors of the Son of God. "Who is he that gets the victory over the world, but he that believes that Jesus is the Son of God?" It is a question of what you say. John the baptist says, in the verses read, "I baptise with water. In the midst of you stands, whom ye do not know, he who comes after me, the thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to unloose". What a beautiful testimony! John the baptist's remarks about Jesus always affect the hearts of those who love Him.
Then we are told that John was baptising and he sees Jesus coming to him. John was baptising. The flesh might say, John, He is coming to you. Satan was there by the banks of the Jordan to inflate him, but John was proof against that. We are so ready to be inflated! If some great person should stop us on the street to speak to us, we would feel dignified, but John was proof against that sort of thing. He sees Jesus coming to him and says, "Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world". That is a sacrificial thought. John did not know Christ naturally, although he was related to Him, John 1:31. Clearly John's link with the Lord was to be spiritual; he came to know Him spiritually. That is the only way to know Him now. Paul says, "if even we
have known Christ according to flesh, yet now we know him thus no longer", 2 Corinthians 5:16. In christianity it is not a question of what money people have, or what honour in this world, but of what they are spiritually. John saw Jesus coming, he knew Him by His walk, it was a sacrificial walk. It is a Person going down into death for others. Everyone of us has to die, either as carrying out our baptism or actually. Jesus was immune from death, but for the moment, in figure, John sees Him as a sacrifice. He is a Man who lays down His life for His own, for His sheep, for all. In truth, if we are to know each other rightly, it must be in a spiritual way. John says he did not know the Lord, but He who sent him to baptise with water. He said to him, "Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and abiding on him, he it is who baptises with the Holy Spirit". And he saw and bore witness that this was the Son of God. God had prepared John for this occasion, and He gave him the privilege of seeing this wonderful sight. He was fortified by God so that the devil was shut out. John was told that the Spirit would descend upon the Son of God; he was fortified, and he saw this wonderful thing, heaven opened and the Holy Spirit descending as a dove. John was assured and satisfied; he says, "I have seen and borne witness that this is the Son of God".
The next time he sees Him walking, and says, "Behold the Lamb of God", a beautiful word! Yesterday he called Him the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, and now he leaves out the latter part; it is just, "the Lamb of God". The more you speak rightly of Christ the more full your heart will be. There were two disciples there and they were affected by what John said; the disciples heard him speak; it was in the power of the Spirit of God, and about the greatest Person. No wonder they followed Jesus! The two disciples left John and followed Jesus.
There remain to be noted the verses read in chapter 3:
"John answered and said, A man can receive nothing unless it be given him out of heaven. Ye yourselves bear me witness that I said, I am not the Christ, but, that I am sent before him. He that has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices in heart because of the voice of the bridegroom: this my joy then is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease". This passage indicates that as we speak well of Jesus and of what He says, we shall increase in light. We get from John what we do not get from anyone else, it is the outcome of right speaking about the Lord and the brethren. God honours it, and we shall be able to speak more than we ever thought we could speak. The Lord has said that the smallest one in the kingdom is greater than John the baptist, but at the end of John 3 I believe he is morally as great as any of them. God honours John by giving him to say these things in chapter 3, and his speaking here really runs into christianity. It is difficult to say where John the baptist's speaking ends in chapter 3; so advanced is he, that you might say, in this passage he merges among christians. He knew how to speak in the most spiritual and intelligent way about the Lord Jesus: "He must increase, but I must decrease. He who comes from above is above all ... He who comes out of heaven is above all, and what he has seen and has heard, this he testifies".
2 Samuel 23:1 - 4; Psalm 72:20; 1 Chronicles 23:27
J.T. These closing words of David furnish us with three subjects: first kingship, then prayer, and then levitical service. The passages contemplate maturity, mature experience in the service of God. It is thought that, considering David and what he says from this viewpoint, we should be helped as to these points, and also as to maturity in the things of God. Kingship is a subject of very great importance now; always indeed, but particularly now when communistic principles are so prevalent and are consequently apt to affect the saints. It is not simply kingship here, but the kind of man that should hold the office of king. What David says has more an oracular character, as those of us who know the Scriptures will understand. "David the son of Jesse saith", 2 Samuel 23:1. It was such a one as that speaking; "And the man who was raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel saith, The Spirit of Jehovah spoke by me, and his word was on my tongue. The God of Israel said, The Rock of Israel spoke to me, The ruler among men shall be just, ruling in the fear of God; and he shall be as the light of the morning, like the rising of the sun, a morning without clouds; when from the sunshine, after rain, the green grass springeth from the earth", verses 1 - 4. If we look at these verses as compared with what is abroad today, the anointing being known amongst us, we shall get help. We are so apt to fall under the influence of what is current in the world, and a passage like this calls us into the divine current of thought as to what is coming, and what should be held among the saints, as in the kingdom of God. The testimony of the Spirit coming down at Pentecost was, "God has made him, this Jesus whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ", Acts 2:36, and also, "This Jesus who has been taken up from you into
heaven, shall thus come in the manner in which ye have beheld him going into heaven", Acts 1:11. When He comes back, He will be what He was when He left; and that is to remind us that there is no change in Him or in heaven. Whatever changes there are here, we have access to heaven, and the point is to keep in accord with that and reflect it.
P.H.L. Would you connect that with Psalm 45, "A Song of the Beloved"? "A sceptre of uprightness is the sceptre of thy kingdom ... therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee", Psalm 45:6,7.
J.T. Indeed, I think the link with that book is helpful, because one of the verses read is at the end of that book. "The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended", Psalm 72:20. It is as if the king is already in evidence as the chapter indicates, and there is no longer need to pray. Everything is there infallibly in Christ.
C.A.M. What significance is there in the fact that the Holy Spirit put David's last words in this part of Scripture? They follow the words of the song in chapter 22, after God had delivered him out of the hands of all his enemies? God is his Rock. There is a striking difference between God's ways and men's ways, in that God would end with a song.
J.T. David wrote that song. It is a reminder of the history of Moses, the man who, as he was about to finish his testimony, wrote the song of Deuteronomy 32. He wrote it to order, apparently immediately, and then we have the blessing of the tribes in the next chapter. There seems to be a link between Moses and David viewed in their experiences, and it would challenge us as to whether we could do anything like that -- write a celebration developing our history, and then occupying ourselves with others. Moses occupied himself in Deuteronomy 33 with the blessing of the tribes. He had written his song first and recited it too. Here, chapter 22 is apparently so well liked by David himself,
as a spiritual composition, that he includes it in the first book of the Psalms. It is Psalm 18. Only there is an addition in the psalm to show that love prompted the writing of it. Here it is, "David spoke to Jehovah the words of this song in the day that Jehovah had delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies, and out of the hand of Saul. And he said, Jehovah is my rock". In Psalm 18 he says, "I will love thee, O Jehovah, my strength", Psalm 18:1. The introduction in 2 Samuel 22:1, is beautiful. In the first book of Psalms, Psalm 18:1, "I will love thee, O Jehovah, my strength", is added to the song itself.
C.A.M. It is very interesting as to Moses' end being in a way parallel. Is it not important at the present time to stress how David followed Moses? Those two great personages stand out in a special way in the minds of the saints today.
J.T. Moses represents the ministerial side of the position in the testimony; he was faithful in all God's house, a very great tribute to him. Moses had to do with God's house and was faithful in all of it. David had to do with it too, but he fills the house with song. He is the sweet psalmist of Israel; so that when he is incorporating this song of chapter 22 in the Psalms, he gives us an added touch, the resolve to love Jehovah. You might say it is a vow in his soul -- to love Jehovah. We are reminded in these two men of the finish of a life of faith, of the importance of finishing well. However we have got on at the outset and in middle life in the service, we must look to the finish. That is what one sees in these three passages, what David was at the end, how he was engaged with what a king should be. He had been one himself, but he does not assume to be the standard king, although he is regarded as that later by God; he speaks abstractly here about the king, and what he should be. He is occupied with that after he has finished his course. Moses was occupied with the blessing of the saints; he
was fresh at one hundred and twenty years, "his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated", Deuteronomy 34:7. David was decrepit at seventy years of age, but the first book of Chronicles draws a veil over that; we have in David an active spiritual servant in the end of this book of Chronicles. He is occupied in his last words with the young men, that they might begin younger in their service than previously.
A.N.W. I suppose that, when he is speaking abstractly in the third person like this, he must have had Christ in his vision; whereas when he comes to verse 5 it would not apply to the Lord. He has to confess, "Although my house be not so before God".
J.T. Yes; he has Christ in mind in these four verses; and also, of course Psalm 72 has Christ in mind under the head of Solomon, so that David says, "The prayers of David ... are ended". Everything is verified in Christ.
F.S.C. Have you in mind the closing days of the assembly here?
J.T. I was thinking as to our finish, whether it be the assembly or each of us. These two men are set before us in clearness of vision and maturity of judgment at the end of their ministry -- David and Moses.
A.R. David and Moses were both morally greater at the end than they were at the beginning. Their whole history was cumulative.
J.T. Yes; that is the point, what we are at the end, and how accumulation of the fruits of the work of God ought to mark us, so that the very best is at the end.
J.T.Jr. Would Psalm 18 show how all must be worked out in individuals as having to do with God? David alludes to all the sorrows he had been through, and how God came in and took him out of them. "He reached forth from above, he took me, he drew me out of great waters", verse 16. Is that not the secret of ending well, that you have a link with God individually?
J.T. The psalm depicts his own experience; and, as you say, it is full of the thought of what God was to him -- "Jehovah is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my rock, in whom I will trust; my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower", verse 2. The whole psalm is full of the deliverances of God, how God cares for His servants. It shows how qualified David was to speak of kingship, of what a king should be; that is, "the ruler among men".
F.H.L. Is it not because of the character of that rule that the young men of twenty can come into service, because peace has been established under such a king?
J.T. Just so; David would say in effect to the young men, You need not fear; I began as you are. He says in Psalm 37:25, "I have been young, and now am old". He would say to the young, God can make you what He has made me. It is a question of what God can do with us. This wonderful psalm shows what God can do with a servant. I suppose that is why we have a life-sized picture of David in the Scriptures, to show what God can do with a young man, because David started very young; he slew Goliath as a young man, and he says in effect to the young men. You need not fear, it is all a question of dependence upon God.
A.B.P. Would it be right to say that if any distinctive features develop in a saint, it is not necessarily with a view to having that saint prominent, but rather to create capacity to understand and express the features of perfection in Christ?
J.T. What Christ is, is thus brought near to us in one who is like ourselves. Of course Christ is brought near to us personally in the gospels; but then James speaks about men of like passions to ourselves, so that while young people are to look to the Lord and learn from Him, they are also to learn from saints more advanced than themselves; that is, in the sense of examples; and I think that a man like David is a model for the young men. He
brings the features of Christ nearer and nearer to us, being a man of like passions to ourselves.
J.S. So that Paul would correspond to David, would he not, in the setting forth of Christ? He says, "Be my imitators, even as I also am of Christ", 1 Corinthians 11:1.
J.T.Jr. Did he have that in mind in Acts 13? He alludes to David immediately as he and Barnabas move out in the formation of the assemblies. David was known to the Israelites as one who was lovely.
J.T. He is viewed as the man raised up in that chapter: God "raised up to them David". When David was little in his own eyes, God took him from the sheepfolds and from following the flock, Psalm 78. If God raises up a man like that, He may raise up any of us, and it is for the sake of His people. So that in Acts 13, it is said that David served his own generation by the will of God; not by his own will or ambition, but by the will of God he served his own generation. I think he is a striking model as representing certain features of Christ, especially kingly features; and that is why one suggested this chapter that we might aspire to service by the will of God. He served by the will of God.
A.N.W. He seems to acknowledge it here in verse 1, "the man who was raised up on high". That is not resurrection, is it?
J.T. Christ also is said to be raised up in Israel, Acts 13:33, but He is raised up too from among the dead. Acts 13:34. The raising up in this sense as seen in David is that a brother addicts himself to the ministry and progresses in it in the power of the Spirit. He is not ambitious to be great outwardly; it is a question of the will of God. God takes him in hand, so that he is one raised up.
C.A.M. Apparently there is a special meaning in this word, "saith", 2 Samuel 23:1. What you say would awaken a desire in our souls to be able to say something at the end.
J.T. The word has oracular force. It is not only that it is an experienced man speaking; the word has an added force, signifying a formal pronouncement or speech, but it is this man saying it. Balaam uses the same word, "the man of opened eye saith", Numbers 24:15; he says, such a one as that. God is in this saying manifestly, as indeed in Balaam's case, because he could not have said the things he did if God had not helped him at the moment. David amplifies and qualifies what he says by saying, "The anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel saith, The Spirit of Jehovah spoke by me, and his word was on my tongue". He "spoke by me", David says, so that you are listening to a man who has experience; he has power to make this assertion, or address, in an oracular sense, and it is to the intent that it should come home with peculiar force to us.
A.B.P. Did David's experience as a king fit him to understand and receive this word?
J.T. I think so. He would revert to his own history no doubt. This word would be put into his mouth at the moment; but it is in the mouth of an experienced man. Balaam had no experience at all corresponding to what he uttered; it was a question therefore, of God holding him firmly, so that he could not say anything else save the word of God. David needed not to be held like that; he had been through the thing, and he is qualified to speak, but still God helped him to say this. He had already helped him, because it says, "The Spirit of Jehovah spoke by me, and his word was on my tongue".
A.R. Balaam spoke things he did not like to say, whereas David's soul is in what he is saying here.
J.T. You can see that. He judged himself as he continued; saying, "Although my house be not so before God ...". What he says earlier is abstract, pointing to Christ.
C.A.M. Do you think that is the beauty of the thing? Because in after years a man might give the impression,
especially if he is long in speaking, that he is occupied with himself. But David, while to some extent occupying you with himself, really works in what he says to occupy you with Another -- Christ.
J.T. Yes; you feel he is not occupying you with himself; although you are very thankful to know that some of these features marked him, verses 1 and 2 applying directly to him.
F.H.L. Is that not the great divine end, that there might be the shining out of these features of Christ as formed in us, so that the presentation is really Christ?
J.T. That is the thought, and that He must rule; "the ruler among men"; not lording it over God's heritage. Every brother in the assembly ought to rule to some extent, because that is the divine thought, that brothers should rule; but then, how is he to rule among men unless he rules himself? That is the first thing; you are not lording it over the brethren, you are one of them, even as Solomon. The king according to Deuteronomy was to be a brother. Paul was a brother although he ruled; his letters to Corinth are exemplary of this matter. He would sit down among the Corinthian brethren and talk to them as one of them; still, he had a rod; he could rule. There is great need for rule amongst the brethren, because often when things come up no one appears to lead in reaching a judgment; and often there is want of subjection to one another, and dissension. The point here is a ruler among men. Let others rule as well.
G.V.D. Is it significant that Israel is mentioned two or three times, as if the saints themselves are princely?
J.T. That should mark our care meetings. God is honouring these meetings; they have a much greater place now than they used to have; and I think it is from the Corinthian standpoint that the thing has been developed: "If then ye have judgments as to things of this life, set those to judge who are little esteemed in the assembly", 1 Corinthians 6:4. Let such judge business
matters, matters of controversy; that is to suggest to us that the younger brethren, or those least esteemed, come into this matter of ruling among men; so that it is a question of having moral weight amongst the brethren, and in this we must be just in what we may say, "ruling in the fear of God", verse 3.
J.S. In the world, we often see the spirit of antichrist. We should see the opposite to this, the spirit of Christ, amongst the saints.
J.T. I think that is what the Lord is effecting; although we are extremely obscure in the religious world, hardly known, still God has something of this kind where there is righteous rule. The brethren sit down and talk about things and arrive at a righteous judgment. Well, God has that over against all that is going on in the world; so the words here may be rendered as the note states, 'a just ruler over mankind'. As I am among the brethren, I exert an influence for good over them. This marked the Lord with the disciples.
A.P.T. Would David give the lead to this thought of the care meeting when he came up from the sheepfold? He was very little esteemed; the other brethren want to shut him out apparently, but the kingly features were being developed there.
J.T. That is very beautiful. The first account we have of David is evidently by a young man, a servant of Saul. He says, he is "of good presence", 1 Samuel 16:18. That would mean that he was influential in his presence; not only in what he said, but in his presence.
Eliab questioned him on the battlefield, as to why he came, saying that he came to see the battle. That is a sort of chiding to be expected from an elder brother who rests on his years. David says, "What have I now done? Was it not laid upon me?" 1 Samuel 17:29. As a matter of fact, his father had sent him. And then his brother says, What have you done with those few sheep? Well, he had left those with a keeper; he cared for the
sheep; that is what marked David in his early days. His history is certainly most instructive, especially as to the sense of obligation to care for the saints. When general meetings come about, a brother arranges to go here or there, often without any inquiry as to who is not going; who is looking after the local affairs. The saints that cannot go have to be cared for. David is exemplary in that way; he left the sheep with a keeper.
A.P.T. How are we to know who is to stay behind?
J.T. We ought to find out from one another. We cannot leave things at loose ends in the city in which we are. The word in Timothy is, "How shall he take care of the assembly of God?" 1 Timothy 3:5. You cannot leave it without care.
A.N.W. As to that word 'among', the apostle in Acts 20 reminds the elders that while they are over the flock, they are among them: "Take heed therefore to yourselves, and to all the flock, wherein the Holy Spirit has set you as overseers", Acts 20:28.
J.T.Jr. Would the will of God come in, in that connection? "If the Lord will", I will go to such and such a place. David ministered to the will of God.
J.T. James adds to that, "if ... we should live", James 4:15. I suppose we have to put something more than mere physical life into the word "live", for we could not move at all if we did not live in this sense. But associating life with the will of God lifts it to a higher plane. If a man says, I will go to sell and buy, leaving God out, that is his own will; there is no true life in that at all, but his saying, "If the Lord should so will and we should live", shows there is life in the movement.
A.A.T. I notice David says, "ruling in the fear of God". Is the idea that he brings God in?
J.T. Clearly, because we have come "to God, judge of all", Hebrews 12:23. The Judge of all the earth does right. So that we have to reckon with God in what we are doing.
A.A.T. Is there any connection with Matthew 18:20, "For where two or three are gathered together unto my name, there am I in the midst of them"? Would that bring in the fear of the Person?
J.T. Quite so; we are gathered to His name, which would mean that what the name implies must govern us.
A.A.T. It is quite a contrast to the kings of the world who generally have no fear of God before their eyes.
J.T. That is the point here. These truths are disregarded in the world, and of course those seeking to maintain them are hardly known, but still God has His own way of making things known "for a testimony to them". If there are a few of His own in any town. He has them in His mind, and would help them to carry on according to these principles, and thus there is "a testimony to them".
R.W.S. Psalm 2 says, "And now, O kings, be ye wise, be admonished, ye judges of the earth. Serve Jehovah with fear, and rejoice with trembling", Psalm 2:10,11.
J.T. That is good. And then it says something more: "Kiss the Son", verse 12. That is the thing, bringing love into it. The Son is the King set in Zion, all the kings of the earth must come into that. It is not simply bowing down, perhaps with the heart far from Him, but kissing Him.
T.W. Will you say something more about that opening verse of Psalm 18"I will love thee, O Jehovah"? Why was that necessary?
J.T. I think it is an adornment. David had resolved that he would love Jehovah. What a fine thing it is to come through an experience such as David depicts! It is not love for God in the ordinary theoretic way, but through experience, because of what you have found Him to be to you. It is an assertion, I should think, in
view of the character of the book of Psalms. He prefaced the whole psalm with that word, "I will love thee, O Jehovah".
T.W.H. It is spoken to Jehovah personally.
J.T. Quite so; the psalm is a psalm "of David, the servant of Jehovah, who spoke to Jehovah the words of this song in the day that Jehovah had delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies and out of the hand of Saul". It is in the day that he experienced his deliverances granted him by Jehovah; that is, he is recounting his experience, but he prefaced the psalm with the thought, "I will love thee, O Jehovah, my strength". How can he refrain from saying that in the light of what is in the song, of what God has been to him?
C.N. You did not read verses 6 and 7. I just wanted to inquire as to the sons of Belial. There are those who rule among men without the fear of God.
J.T. "Although my house be not so before God, yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in every way and sure; for this is all my salvation, and every desire, although he make it not to grow". This is David's unalterable confidence in God on the ground of an everlasting covenant -- "all my salvation, and every desire". "But the sons of Belial are all of them as thorns thrust away, because they cannot be taken with hands; and the man that will touch them provideth himself with iron and the staff of a spear", 2 Samuel 23:5 - 7. That is the sort of thing that is current. They cannot be taken with hands; they are as thorns thrust away.
C.N. "And they shall be utterly burned with fire in their place".
J.T. That shows how utterly worthless they are.
C.N. In view of this, the moral qualifications in the first two verses are of the greatest importance. Would you mind saying a word about the God of Israel and the Rock of Israel in verse 3?
J.T. "The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel
spoke to me". The God (Elohim) who created is now the God of Israel, according to the history entering into this. He is the One to be worshipped. The word Rock has a great place with David and particularly in these chapters. From the New Testament we know that that Rock is Christ; it is a foundational thought; the whole position of Israel is on that firm foundation.
J.T.Jr. The word 'saith' here suggests the help we need in the ministry meetings. "The God of Israel said", verse 3 -- "his word was on my tongue", verse 2. In the ministry meetings, there should be evidence when a brother is speaking, that he has something from God; it is coming from God, there is no doubt about it.
J.T. It ought to bring in the sense of reverence and supremacy in our souls if it is a word from God. "The Rock of Israel spoke". As the Rock is speaking you are made to feel that you are on a firm footing; you are on firm ground; "The firm foundation of God stands".
C.A.M. Would the allusion to the Rock in Corinthians connect with what you were saying earlier about ruling among men? It seems to be quite a test to us as to our influence over others. In Corinth, while they were reigning as kings the apostle Paul took a totally different attitude, so that he conveyed an impression of God. You have connected what the apostle wrote in Corinthians with the use of the linen towel in John 13instead of wearing the cloth, as the clergy do and as we are likely to do, there is a way of exercising an influence that really gives an impression of what the Lord did in His great service to the disciples.
J.T. Quite so; thus it is there, when Judas went out, that you get the statement of the Lord, "Now is the Son of man glorified", John 13:31. That is moral glory shining as Judas was going out to betray Him. The chapter is full of moral glory, the glory of the Son of man; but the acme of it would be that He was about to suffer death. Judas going out was the signal that that was about to
happen: "Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God be glorified in him, God also shall glorify him in himself, and shall glorify him immediately", John 13:32; that is, that Man must be glorified at once. It is the lowly Man, who goes down. His greatness is seen in going down. He is sure to have influence wherever He goes, as the soldiers said, "Never man spake like this man". If a sister is sick of a fever, she is sure to be difficult to get on with. He stands over her, that is. His moral greatness is to impress her, and the fever leaves her, so that she arises and serves. That is what is so needed, moral weight amongst the brethren, so that you acquire power with men; power with God too. You are not asserting yourself, it is simply what you are; that is what is needed -- influence for good among men. God gives it to you, and what you are with God, you are with men.
J.S. I was thinking of Pilate whose rule was without the fear of God. The Lord put him in his right place: "Thou hadst no authority whatever against me if it were not given to thee from above", John 19:11.
J.T. Quite so; Pilate had no moral authority, nothing in himself at all. It was only official.
A.A.T. In connection with the ruling of ten cities, is that the kind of rule we are speaking of now?
J.T. I think so; according to what you are now you will be then. Rule in the millennium will be on that principle of influence.
A.B.P. You spoke earlier about the least esteemed having part in the judgment of a business matter; is that because the least esteemed is assumed to be grounded in righteousness?
J.T. Yes; there may also be some allusion to their manners at Corinth. The leaders were big men, ruling as kings. They were likely to say of a lowly brother not in sympathy with them, He is nothing, he is of no account at all. You do not like to hear that amongst the
brethren. Paul would say of one, they so regarded, Let him rule in this matter.
A.N.W. As having no personal motives, he would be unprejudiced and unbiased.
J.T. He would not belong to one of the cliques at Corinth.
F.N.W. Would the anointing come into this?
J.T. Yes; that is God's side. It means that God loves the man David and trusts him, so that He commits Himself to him. God is committed to him in anointing him, so that He says, "I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man after my heart, who shall do all my will", Acts 13:22. He committed Himself to him so that you cannot set that man aside; God will stand by him.
C.N. Does verse 4 show how great his influence would be?
J.T. That is good; "And he shall be as the light of the morning, like the rising of the sun, a morning without clouds; when from the sunshine, after rain, the green grass springeth from the earth", 2 Samuel 23:4. That is what he is like. It is really the Lord Himself. What a beautiful metaphor it is! All this points to the coming day of glory that we ought to be intensely desirous of seeing as loving the appearing of Christ. It will all come out there. As we had earlier, He sits on the throne of His glory. Glory is the foundation of that throne; the moral glory of Christ is underneath; so in Psalm 72, where Solomon is seen as a type of Christ in millennial glory, we can understand why it says that David's prayers are ended.
A.A.T. You are emphasising prayer.
J.T. Well, he was a man of great prayer. Prayer of course, arises from need; so that it would be prayer in regard to influencing things rightly amongst the saints.
A.P.T. Would Joshua, Solomon, and Timothy be like this in exercising influence? The psalm begins, "O God, give the king thy judgments, and thy righteousness
unto the king's son", Psalm 72:1. I wondered whether there was any thought of this being carried on amongst us.
J.T. That is the whole point running through the Psalms; "He will judge thy people with righteousness, and thine afflicted with judgment. The mountains shall bring peace to the people, and the hills, by righteousness. He will do justice to the afflicted of the people; he will save the children of the needy, and will break in pieces the oppressor. They shall fear thee as long as sun and moon endure, from generation to generation. He shall come down like rain on the mown grass, as showers that water the earth. In his days shall the righteous flourish, and abundance of peace till the moon be no more. And he shall have dominion from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth", Psalm 72:2 - 8.
A.C. Referring to David as a man of prayer realising his need, what is the significance of "The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended", coming in at the close of this second book of Psalms?
J.T. Although the king is mentioned in the first book very strikingly, the second book brings out the king reigning in the Solomonic feature of kingship. It is perfection of royalty and rule, so that it has Christ in mind, and there is nothing more to pray for. You have everything there, you cannot add to what is there. Verse 15 -- "prayer shall be made for him continually" -- indicates how the king is regarded by his subjects, and would not weaken David's estimate of Christ.
A.C. In closing the first book David said, "Blessed be Jehovah, the God of Israel, from eternity to eternity! Amen, and Amen". Psalm 41:13.
J.T. The end of the second book is more full. "Blessed be Jehovah Elohim, the God of Israel, who alone doeth wondrous things! And blessed be his glorious name for ever! and let the whole earth be filled with his glory! Amen, and Amen. The prayers of
David the son of Jesse are ended", Psalm 72:18 - 20.
J.S. Is it because David has the glory of Christ so before him -- the whole earth filled with His glory -- that he can say his prayers are ended?
J.T. I think so. We may apply it to our own apprehension; all is perfect in Christ above. The second book finishes in this way; it would refer to what is in heaven; you cannot add anything to what is in heaven. At Pentecost the Holy Spirit came down from a perfect condition of things up there, but then the believer looks around on Jerusalem and on the earth generally, and sees how awful conditions are, how perfectly incongruous with what is up there! You need prayer down here, Asaph is overwhelmed by the way things are: he says, in Psalm 73:3 - 8, "For I was envious at the arrogant, seeing the prosperity of the wicked. For they have no pangs in their death, and their body is well nourished; they have not the hardships of mankind, neither are they plagued like other men: therefore pride encompasseth them as a neck-chain, violence covereth them as a garment; their eyes stand out from fatness, they exceed the imaginations of their heart: they mock and speak wickedly of oppression, they speak loftily". This is all going on now, and how are you going to reconcile this with the previous psalm where the prayers are finished? Well, the man is overwhelmed till he finds in the holiest that which corresponds with what is above. He says, "Until I went into the sanctuaries of God; then understood I their end", Psalm 73:17. It is in the sanctuary that I get what corresponds with what is up there. Perfection is up there; you do not need to pray for anything up there. I get into the sanctuary and see that God is going to bring everything down here into accord with what is up there, and that sets me at rest in my mind.
C.A.M. All David's anticipations of glory are realised in Solomon -- the Son -- typically Christ. When
we reach the end of all this experience, these prayers, etc., a question arises, how is the purpose of God to be reached and continued here livingly in a suitable way?
J.T. Book 3 of Psalms shows us that what is down here is incongruous with what is up there; wicked men are flourishing and the psalmist says, I was overwhelmed about it until I went into the sanctuaries of God. Then I understood. In truth, Book 3 means that everything down here is to be brought into accord with what is up there; but we have to go through the thing and get to God. We have not yet finished our prayers on this line; so that we go into the sanctuaries of God and understand there the end of all the present violence; all that is going on today must come to an end.
F.N.W. Would 2 Corinthians 3:18 correspond with what you have said? Looking on the glory of the Lord we are transformed according to the same image; but later in the epistle, sad conditions are contemplated in the assembly, some walking according to their own will.
A.N.W. You would not want to hear prayer after the Supper. Is it not after the Supper normally that we touch conditions like this?
J.T. I think that is right. We have gone into heavenly places.
F.H.L. Would not Hannah touch something like this when a son came to light? She exulted in God.
J.T. That passage you allude to is poetical, beginning with "Hannah prayed" 1 Samuel 2:1; but there is not a word of prayer in it, evidently, because she is on too elevated a plane for prayer. There may be some suggestion of prayer in principle, but it is rather a song; it is a remarkable contribution to the service of God. In the assembly we rise to the heavens: "... and has raised us up together, and has made us sit down together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus", Ephesians 2:6. In this part of the service it is not the time for prayer, but for worship,
and you go out on that note into the sphere of ordinary responsibility. Going out thus we have power in the world.
Rem. How beautifully the apostle ends up in Ephesians! "To him be glory in the assembly in Christ Jesus unto all generations of the age of ages. Amen", Ephesians 3:21.
A.P.T. At the Lord's supper, is there an anticipation of the millennium in our hearts? Everything has been secured in Christ.
J.T. That is the thing. One great feature of the service in the assembly is to come to that in an experimental way; thus you go out as a man of power. In the service you come to perfection; you come to everything finished immutably in Christ.
A.B.P. Is that a result of the covenant?
J.T. The new covenant comes into the Supper and tends to liberate us; but our being raised up together and made to sit down together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus implies the status we have up there.
A.B. Is that in the sanctuary?
J.T. It involves that. It is only those who have the power to enter the sanctuary who come to that. The power to enter the sanctuary underlies all assembly service; it is an individual experience you acquire. Like Asaph, in Psalm 73, he was oppressed until he went into the sanctuaries of God. How he came to go into them is not stated, because he was not a priest; he was a Levite. I suppose he was a real priest in his soul. This ability to enter the sanctuaries of God underlies all the service of God.
A.R. I thought Psalm 73 included the prayer meeting.
J.T. It would. The prayer meeting involves that we have access to God.
A.N.W. The word used is the plural, sanctuaries, Does that include the holy of holies?
J.T. I suppose so. I suppose he alludes to what then existed.
C.A.M. You have emphasised that the connection with the Minister of the sanctuary really involves heaven; and this matter of peace, of millennial conditions entered into in our spirits in the morning meeting, is really prior to our entering into what is wholly heavenly and eternal.
J.T. That is right. It is "from glory to glory".
A.R. Do you not think we touch perfection in Christ, in the assembly? The more that affects us, the more we seek to bring the saints into it.
J.T. Just so; we were speaking of it the other day, and one was impressed with the fact that the first day of the week begins with glory. The first "first day of the week" began with the Father raising the Son by His glory. What a suggestion that is, governing that whole day! But then all the saints must be brought to that, and the Lord goes out to do it. He appears to Mary Magdalene, a most devoted woman, but she has not the light of the glory in her soul; yet the day begins with that. So also the two on the way to Emmaus are brought back to that; the whole day is filled out with bringing all into the light of the glory. The last service in John 20 is late in the evening; the day is finished, you might say, and it is the brightest part of the whole service.
Well now, the verse in 1 Chronicles should not be overlooked. It is to bring in the young brothers and sisters. David, an old man passing away, is so full of the service that he says in effect, All the young people must be in this. Here we are at this meeting; called a special meeting. Young people predominate as to numbers. What are their motives in coming to these meetings? Is there any social side to it? Do they come to see one another? Have they in mind to see the old brothers and old sisters too, or do they just come as young people to see one another? May be they wait
until the meeting is over, thinking that is the best time. Well now, David would say, I have you in mind for levitical service. These are my last words about it, and all the twenty-year old ones are to enter into this. There must surely be some spiritual thought in a man like David saying this, because it is not said that he got a word from Jehovah. According to what is written, it is what David says; it was not, Thus saith Jehovah. It is what David says in his last words. It is a man of great experience in the service of God, reaching to a type of Christ, saying, Bring the young people into the light and power of spirituality in service; make true Levites of them.
F.H.I. What does the age twenty suggest?
J.T. It suggests that at least you have the Spirit. Numbers says that for levitical service you must be at least twenty-five; but the general age for this service in Numbers is thirty, which means more than having the Spirit. Numbers says the military men are to be from twenty years old and upward, but the Levites must be thirty; only there is a clause in Numbers 8:24, that lets them in at twenty-five. David says, Bring them all in at twenty. What does that mean? That is an experienced man talking, and he tells us he has been young and now he is old, and he says in effect, Why should you not bring them in? It is their opportunity; but let them be among the old people. Solomon was sitting on the throne with David; he was quite young. It is not the young with the young, and the old with the old, but the young and the old together.
A.R. Like the ass and the colt, in Matthew 21:2.
F.H.L. Did Moses have this in mind when the youths were sent up to offer to Jehovah in Exodus 24:5? He would be with them.
A.R. 1 Chronicles 23:28 says, "For their place was by the side of the sons of Aaron for the
service of the house of Jehovah". It is not only that they might serve, but to be by the side of the sons of Aaron, the priests.
J.T. It is remarkable instruction. The scholar and the teacher are put together in 1 Chronicles 25:8.
1 Samuel 21:10 - 15; 1 Samuel 22:1 - 5; 1 Samuel 23:1 - 6; 1 Samuel 30:11 - 15
I wish to make clear in what I have to say that systematic conditions are essential in the service of God. We use the word system much in regard to what men have religiously, and we use it rightly, because, generally, system is made the leading essential feature with them, for they have to labour without the Holy Spirit in these humanly devised institutions; whereas in divine service, while system is essential, it is pervaded by the Spirit of God and controlled by the Lord Jesus, all emanating from the Father, love being basic in it. Hence the introduction of the idea of twelve, the twelve tribes, the numeral denoting love in systematic operations.
Observation of creation leads to the assumption, aside from revelation, that God wrought systematically in framing the worlds. The principle of balance enters into the creation, and unseen elements working in relation to it; visible elements too, but the holding elements are invisible. Much has been discovered as made by God. He knows all that He has placed in the creation, and there is far more in it than any creature mind can take in. The further the investigation, the more baffled the human mind becomes; even figures fail; and the elements at work, some of which are now harnessed for man's use, are invisible, but felt as there. All are perfectly regulated structurally, indeed the word is "framed": "the worlds were framed by the word of God", Hebrews 11:3. "He who has built all things is God", Hebrews 3:4 we are told. The word 'built' is first applied in Scripture to woman, not to the world. In either case systematic framing or ordering is evident.
When we come to the moral system of things, what has been called the moral universe, this idea is obviously there. There is what is visible, namely, persons, and what is invisible. Our Lord Jesus Christ has come into it
visibly. He has part in invisible Deity, but He has come into manhood, in incarnation. The Lord worked systematically from the very outset of His labours, selecting twelve, that they might be with Him as Mark says, Now we are dealing with moral things. In order to have part in this, the first requirement is divine selection; I cannot volunteer. The Lord went up into a mountain and called whom He Himself would, Mark 3:13. He made His selection, appointing "twelve that they might be with him, and that he might send them to preach". The system was thus sovereignly inaugurated. It is a question of divine selection, wisdom and love being there, infinitely; dear brethren, the Father, the Son and the Spirit were all there. The Lord spent the night in prayer before He appointed the apostles, Luke 6:12. He prayed to His Father. In Acts 1:2 He is said to have charged the apostles by the Spirit.
I have said all that to make the subject clear. I had in mind a word from the Psalms which refers to Genesis, and shows how God even then, in the days of the patriarchs, said, "Touch not mine anointed ones, and do my prophets no harm", Psalm 105:15. That is the book of Genesis; but when we come to the book of Exodus, systematising becomes a leading thought. God in sending Moses to Pharaoh said of Aaron, "it shall come to pass that he shall be to thee for a mouth, and thou shalt be to him for God", Exodus 4:16. Not, a god, but God. That is God's way in systematic testimony. Then at mount Sinai and at Horeb we have the most elaborate system inaugurated; angels were there, but Moses and Aaron were there too. Moses was doing things much by himself at first, but God did not intend that there should be one-man ministry. It is true that Christ is Head, but still it is not one-man ministry, for the Lord associated the apostles with Himself in it. So that as Moses was doing all of a certain service, Jethro his father-in-law advised him to appoint others to help
him, which he did, Exodus 18. These should look after tens or hundreds or thousands, so that the people should be served in a systematic way.
At mount Horeb in the light of the covenant, the system is appointed and arranged, that is to say, God is going to do His best; that is the principle. The principle of the covenant is that God does His best for us in any given circumstance. The circumstances vary and God may vary what He does, but He does His best in the circumstance. So that we have to understand our circumstances and to see how God can do His best for us. "I have borne you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself", He says, Exodus 19:4, and I am going to constitute you a kingdom of priests, a holy nation. Israel was to be a nation of priests, that was God's thought, not simply one priest and four sons, but a nation of them. Could He have done better than to suggest this? Hence Peter says by the Spirit, Ye are "built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ", 1 Peter 2:5. As I said, Exodus, and particularly Numbers, set out the systematic ordering of God. Every male in Israel was needed, whether for military or for levitical service, from twenty years and even less. Levites taken from a month old are all held for service, although they did not enter into it until they were twenty-five years old. I am speaking now to the young ones here; you are held for service. I will come to that later in the last scripture read, but now I wish to show how this matter of systematic service developed in the history of David -- a wonderful man taken on by God -- and to speak of the system formed in relation to him.
I read 1 Samuel 21 because it points to persons whom God proposes to use, but who through unbelief find themselves in the most incongruous associations. It is futile to attempt or to assume to serve unless one's associations are right. To present
oneself for service while you are in unsuitable associations is an insult to God; He preserves His own rights in these matters. So when in the history of God's people we come to the rebellion of Korah, we find a Levite, one very near to a priest, but still not a priest, aspiring to priestly service. Because a man can preach he is not thereby constituted a priest; a man may preach and still be unconverted. God says, 'That will not do for Me'. God reserves His rights in His own house. Abraham says, "Oh that Ishmael might live before thee!" Genesis 17:18. He wanted to push him in because he was his son; that will not do for God. The religious systems around us largely expect that kind of service from those who have natural ability and education; the ministers are very largely drawn from that class. But God says, 'That will not do for Me. I am looking for true conversion and for the possession of the Holy Spirit in those who serve Me;' "I will be hallowed in them that come near me", Leviticus 10:3. Nadab and Abihu offered strange fire, and they were slain. Another man makes a cart to carry the ark of God, 2 Samuel 6:3 - 8; Abinadab might have thought, I have had the ark in my house for years, and my sons surely know how to care for it; but his son Uzzah, not being a true priest, erred as to it, and he suffered death.
Now according to our chapter, 1 Samuel 21, David had got into a very false position; three times here he is called a madman. Think of an anointed man being called a madman by the uncircumcised! Why? Because he is acting like one; his whole position here is false. Of course, he acted as if mad to save himself, but the Spirit of God records these things for our learning. The passage goes on to say, "David departed thence", and I would say to anyone in bad associations in any degree, Flee them, otherwise you are ostracised from the holy service of God. "David departed thence", it says, "and escaped to the cave of Adullam". Notice
that he departed from the false position. I want to show how Adullam is a symbol of independency of worldly things and of Philistine influences. On the battlefield David would not be afraid of Achish king of Gath. There never was any such thought with David on the battlefield as cowardly fear of his enemies; but in Gath he is afraid, he flees, and rightly so. Now at Adullam he is where God can support him. I want to make it clear that we must flee evil associations, however we have got into them, and reach the cave of Adullam where God can support us, can add to us, and lead us intelligently into His system of things. In this position David acquires a prophet. Gad, a leading element officially in the system. He then acquires a priest, Abiathar. The Lord Jesus in speaking of David as seen in these chapters calls them "The section of Abiathar, the high priest". It was no mean system that was developed there. I want to say to every young person that if you are in any evil association, God is waiting for you to leave it so that He may set you up in the most august of systems. We are living in a great high-priestly time. One has often wondered at the Lord calling these chapters "the section of Abiathar the high priest"; he was a young man here and hence could not possess much experience, but he came to David, and David was in the cave of Adullam. It is called a stronghold. The true king was there apart from worldly or Philistine influences; he becomes attractive there, and influential. I would say to all, that, as there, you are where God can support you. David is now a type of Christ and people of all classes come to him; I cannot go over the list; I suppose every one of us could put ourselves into it. However discontented, distressed or bankrupt a person might be, under the influence of David he is changed; there is no idea of these four hundred men continuing with David as bankrupt and distressed people; they are in the process of being changed. As in the Philistine country
with Achish, David is a believer in a false position, useless to God and to His people. Now in the cave of Adullam his anointing is showing itself; he is a type of Christ as the rejected King, and he becomes a captain over those who came to him. We never hear again of those people as discontented; they came into the realm and under the influence of David.
Then there is another thing; as in Adullam, the king is interested in others. He is not neglectful of his parents. One of the crying discrepancies today is disregard of parents by young people, forgetfulness of what they have been to us. David provides for his father and mother at cost to himself, I should say; getting the king of Moab to find a haven of rest for them. Young people need to be reminded to obey their parents in the Lord that it may be well with them; that is the first commandment with a promise, "that thy days may be prolonged in the land that Jehovah thy God giveth thee", Exodus 20:12. Then we have the prophet: David is doing right now and exercising divine principles, and the prophetic ministry comes in to help him; Gad comes in. It is the first mention of Gad, he is called David's seer. Why should David be so honoured as to have a seer? It is a question of the kingdom. I have been speaking of David as a failing believer, but now he is restored, moving in righteousness, influential for good, caring for his parents, and he is provided with a prophet; he needs prophetic ministry to guide and keep him. But in a greater sense, David is king here; although rejected, he is inaugurating a kingdom, and for this a prophet is needed. Christ is King, Priest and Prophet.
The prophetic ministry applies peculiarly at the present time. The more we take up this attitude the more we shall find prophetic ministry at our side. Gad would say what was needed to be said; he could tell David what to do, that he should leave the place where he was. The path of faith is a movable thought. In
the world there is walking in the counsel of the ungodly, standing in the way of sinners, sitting in the seat of the scornful: when we turn away from God that is what we find, but as turning back to God, putting ourselves where God can use us, we are added to by persons who can help us spiritually, and these are added in a systematic way. So that the prophet Gad says to David, "Abide not in the stronghold; depart, and go into the land of Judah. Then David departed, and came into the forest of Hareth", 1 Samuel 22:5. It is movement. Am I ready for such a prophetic word? Gad, David's seer, served him well; later, when David did something wrong, he served him well again. I speak of him now as an element of the systematic state of things God would have His people in. I want the ear of every young person at this time. God is building up a system; He has been building it up, but He is building it now in connection with current circumstances, for there is a new set of circumstances today. Sets of circumstances necessitated the addresses to the assemblies in Revelation. What are our circumstances? Can God introduce this systematic idea into ours? That is the point. He is doing it in the passage before us, and we have the moral course pursued in David. Gad is used for this purpose, and his advice is, "Abide not in the stronghold; depart, and go into the land of Judah" That word is to be noted. In reading any scripture we have to observe the vocabulary. Every word has a meaning. What gave rise to this word "Judah"? In Genesis 29 you will find its meaning: it is praise. Jacob touches on this poetically in Genesis 49:8; and other references, such as Numbers 2:3, show that Judah represents sovereign purpose or counsel. It is now not simply that I am moving in circumstances that are morally right, but I have a place in the divine purpose; I was thought of before the worlds. I want to get into that line. It is a resting place for my soul, that I have a place in the divine purpose, and I never can be
robbed of it. It is fixed: "For the gifts and the calling of God are not subject to repentance", Romans 11:29. So David goes to the forest of Hareth; there is something in that too, here, no doubt; a forest hides and protects.
I go on now to the attack of the Philistines against David, not against him directly, but against a city. To make a present application; a matter looms up in some local company, and a believer asks, Am I interested? Is it my business? Or he may say, That matter belongs to someone else. Perhaps it does, more immediately, but it certainly belongs to each one of us; as being an Israelite, every tribe belongs to me. The Colossian saints, we are told, had love "towards all the saints". However far away from you they are, in Australia, or South Africa, your love is toward them, their affairs are yours. David says to Jehovah, "Shall I go and smite these Philistines?" He prayed about it, that is the next point. David in prayer becomes a priest himself, for in truth we have the prophet, priest and king in these chapters. The prophet is Gad; David himself is a prophet too, but he is here a priest. Something is happening in a city that does not come immediately under his control; he had an army of only six hundred men; he had better leave that matter, it might be said. But if he is to be king of Israel, it is his matter; he is already anointed king, he is kingly in his affections; thus he would save the men of Keilah from the Philistines. He enquired, "Shall I go and smite these Philistines? And Jehovah said ... , Go and smite the Philistines, and save Keilah". David smote them and saved the inhabitants of Keilah. Then it is mentioned that Abiathar with the ephod is there. I wish to show you young people how this systematic thing spreads out as you do something for God and for His people. God may tell you the work is your matter, or you may ask Him about it, showing your interest. David succeeds in this service and God says, I will add another to enhance your system,
namely Abiathar. He comes in with an ephod. You are acquiring priestly power, such a person is added, and added contributively, for he came with an ephod. He was a refugee, but he is the high priest here, so that he is dignified in this section; the Lord refers to these chapters as "the section of Abiathar the high priest", Mark 2:26. I want all to see that on these lines you are coming into the most dignified system conceivable. It is our High Priest that is in mind; it is high-priestly time; our High Priest has "become higher than the heavens", Hebrews 7:26.
Abiathar having come with an ephod, David immediately uses it, showing he is now entirely in the divine way. Whatever God gives to him he makes use of at once. He preserves God's people in Keilah, but the citizens of Keilah are ungrateful and would deliver their saviour to his enemy. Persons who serve must sometimes come in for the basest ingratitude; we have to face that; but God is there and the ephod is there, a priestly state contributed to by Abiathar, and David is able to get the mind of God. See how the truth works out: there is complete dependence on God, David is set up supported by God, so that Saul is unable to overcome him, though he has only a handful of men, a small army as compared with that of Saul, nevertheless there is a touching word in this passage, that "Saul sought him every day, but God did not give him into his hand", 1 Samuel 23:14. Why should it be put that way? How critical conditions were! Even public conditions God may turn this way or that way for His own ends. Saul was there, near to David, destruction was thus very near him, but God did not deliver him up. It is to bring in complete dependence; it may go that way or this way in a moment. It is a question of God. The heavenly warfare is always critical and we can never afford to withdraw from an attitude of dependence on God; it is needed at every moment. The peace of God only garrisons my heart as I make known my requests to God
by prayer and supplication -- not simply that I have prayed about it, but that I pray about it. It enters into my prayer and supplication. "Be careful about nothing; but in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses every understanding, shall guard your hearts and your thoughts by Christ Jesus", Philippians 4:6,7. Night and morning, midnight and midday -- it is the state of my soul. I need God every moment; and this includes public affairs, especially as they are the present time, for they are most momentous. If I have prayed about them I shall have assurance; and we need constant assurances. God gives this too, taking account of our weakness. You can see what I am speaking of, this matter of a system in divine things. David had already the sword of Goliath, the best in the world, none like it; then he has Gad the prophet; now he has Abiathar with an ephod.
I now come to chapter 30. David loses everything. It is a terrible experience, his loved ones all taken, the families of his men lost too! That brings us to a most momentous crisis: what is David to do? Well, he has been using the ephod, and he uses it again; it is the way out; priestly access to God. We must never omit that; whatever happens let us have recourse to God; the door is open, thus the priestly state in self-judgment is to be maintained. God's door is always open to this man. He likes a man that trembles at His word; so "David strengthened himself in Jehovah his God", 1 Samuel 30:6. This history is well known to most of us; I just touch on it now for I want to come to the "young man", verse 13. The crying need of the time is for exercised young men. The book of Genesis gives a great prototype of the young man: at seventeen years old he flees youthful lusts and follows righteousness, 2 Timothy 2:22; that is Joseph. "David strengthened himself in Jehovah his God", we are told. He inquired of the Lord, "Shall I pursue after
this troop? shall I overtake them? And he said to him, Pursue; for thou shalt assuredly overtake them and shalt certainly recover", verse 8. How beautiful is this direct intercourse with God! Think of waking in the middle of the night and being able to have intercourse with God! Your heart becomes full of peace instead of trouble. But what about the need of young men and young women in the systematised state of things inaugurated by David? That is what I am coming to. His men are with him to weep "until they had no more power to weep", verse 4. How salutary is this in such a day as ours! The present moment is a crisis for the assembly! The history of the assembly is, we may say, a history of crises. There is the present one, and how am I to pursue in it? Can I move systematically or am I a free lance, an unattached person? God will attach you at once if you are suitable for the fellowship. David is pursuing under the direction of God, and now we are told that they found an Egyptian in the field. Well, we may say, he is not much, an Egyptian in the field is not much spiritually. Let us look into his history; he gives it himself, and one is of but little value unless he can give an account of himself. What is your history? What are your associations? Well, those of this young man are not good, but still there is intelligence in him. There is something remarkable about him. Why is he left behind? Why is he rejected? We are told of the man in John 9 whose eyes had been opened, that they cast him out. This man says, "I am a young man of Egypt, servant of an Amalekite; and my master left me, because three days ago I fell sick", verse 13. That would mean spiritually that he was complaining, conditions were not right where he was. Many come into fellowship just to imitate others, they are not sick at all, not dissatisfied with what they are professedly leaving. Happily this young man was not pining over what he left. Some young people come to the meeting, and while there keep
looking at the clock; it is the meeting on the street they are looking for, a car ride, or something like that after the meeting. They are more sick of the meetings than of the circumstances outside. This young man fell sick in the service of the Amalekite, and he was left; this fact would make him all the more useful and interesting to David, but then, he is not only sick, he is starving; but suitable food is immediately provided. Are you young people here reading suitable books, absorbing what will bring you out from Amalekite conditions -- conditions in the world? They supply this man with food. David did not do this directly; such services belong, under the Lord, to the brethren; He said to Peter, "Feed my lambs". Here they "gave him bread, and he ate; and they gave him water to drink, and gave him a piece of fig-cake and two raisin-cakes, and he ate, and his spirit came again to him; for he had eaten no bread, nor drunk any water, for three days and three nights", verses 11, 12. This matter of good spiritual food as building up a constitution is most essential, especially because we are faced with serious conditions among the young, sometimes seeing them turn aside without any excuse. What is the secret? It is a poor constitution built up on unspiritual food. Here there is basic food in bread and water, and the fig and raisin-cakes are stimulating. Young people need stimulation spiritually. When we can pray about a young man in the meeting who is set up constitutionally there will be special energy in our prayers; but when the things of the world are sought, we have very little confidence in praying. It is with heavy hearts the brethren turn to God as to those thus marked. The secret of it is the poor food.
This man is brought to David and he questions him. He answered, "I am a young man of Egypt, servant of an Amalekite; and my master left me, because three days ago I fell sick". David is going to add him to his system, that is my point. God has a remarkable system,
a spiritual system, with needed features added as available, including places for young people. The man further says, "We made a raid against the south of the Cherethites, and against what belongs to Judah, and against the south of Caleb; and we burned Ziklag with fire". What intelligence this young man had! At times it is painful as coming in contact with so-called christians, to note the ignorance that comes out; sometimes they can hardly find a book in the minor prophets! Well, look at this apparently ordinary young man, a private in the army, see the intelligence he had! He had the knowledge of a leading officer as to what was going on. When young people who are interested in the things of the Lord meet a man who can instruct them, they ask him questions, so that they know, and if they meet a brother who travels, they ask him about the saints in other localities. Information thus received enables us to pray for the saints intelligently. This young man says, "We made a raid against the south of the Cherethites". Who are the Cherethites? This young man knew something of them; some of them it would seem were closely linked with David, as mentioned later; the first notice of them in Scripture is here. The man says they also invaded what belonged to Judah. Who was Judah? I have already referred to the meaning of this name, 'praise'. Through David, who was of this tribe, "the praises of Israel" were arranged. The Amalekites would damage all this; that is Satan working through the flesh. This man refers to all in a knowing way; see the intelligence he had! I am seeking to show through him how young men and young women may acquire needed knowledge; if you do not know, make enquiry and "the Lord will give thee understanding in all things", 2 Timothy 2:7. I need not say that there are wonderful things to be known. It is said in the prophets, "we shall know, -- we shall follow on to know Jehovah", Hosea 6:3.
It is further said that the raiders went up against the south of Caleb. Who is this Caleb? A most interesting man, having no equal in a certain sense; he is a man of "another spirit", Numbers 14:24. He had another spirit in him -- the opposite of that which marked those who refused the heavenly land. Spiritually, these Amalekites hate that, they hate all that refers to the service of God. This young man knew something about these groups of persons who were linked with the people of God and the service of God, which, as I said, is quite remarkable. And as he can lead David to the marauders, the man becomes an important adjunct in David's system; but on the solemn condition that he must not be put to death, nor delivered into the hand of his master. The spiritual meaning is that he is going to be in a new system of things set up by David. In this chapter we get David's spoil, David's legislation and David's affections for his old friends. No one is forgotten in this new system of things. Two hundred people stayed behind; they stayed behind by the stuff and they are considered for, too. It is a circle of administrative affection and everyone is rightly cared for, especially the friends where David used to visit; he sends them presents. This young man is added to such a system: "And David said to him, Canst thou bring me down to this troop? And he said, Swear to me by God, that thou wilt neither put me to death nor deliver me up into the hand of my master, and I will bring thee down to this troop", verse 15.
The chapter is full of precious typical instruction as to the new system of things into which we as christians are brought by God through Christ and in the power of the Holy Spirit. We are richly and affectionately cared for, and nothing in the way of service you have done will be forgotten. That is our system of things, and we invite all not in it to come into it. As worthy, you will be added to the system, you will know something
of those who are already in it, and you will never be killed or delivered to your previous Amalekite master. You will be in a blessed system where what is of God prevails.
2 Kings 2:1 - 11, 2 Kings 4:29 - 37
I wish to speak of how the truth is developed and valued in the localities where saints are walking as governed by light that governs the assembly. Unless we are controlled by that light we shall make room for man, and the Lord may have to say unto us, "your house is left unto you". That is how the Spirit of God records this remark of the Lord in Luke 13.
The book of Revelation teaches us as to local responsibility. We do not get, in the Lord's remarks to the assemblies, the Pauline doctrine governing them all; Paul's epistles suffice for that. The Lord in His remarks to the assemblies commends all possible from His point of view, and, as I might say, condemns as little as possible. He enlarges in dealing with us on what is good, and whilst maintaining what is right, minimises what is bad. He leaves the good to shine in its glory; that is what He does. The Lord selected seven of the assemblies from the province of Asia to set out what He had in mind, and He tells us that He walked in the midst of them, "of the seven golden lamps". So that He comes to them, and it is only as He is in a locality that we really learn how the truth should be in that locality. That is why I read these verses in 2 Kings 2. Elisha would not leave Elijah; if he is to know Gilgal, Bethel, Jericho and Jordan, it is to be in the company of Elijah. So that one's efficiency and value in a locality is not simply that he is there: he may be there without any efficiency, or with very little; or he may be a burden. To be there rightly he must learn something of being there in the company of the Lord; realising that in that company, however short the Lord's visit, there would be some impressions as to His thought of the place and of what there is in it now.
The Lord comes to this town, we will say, and there are those who used to be connected with His name here; they are no longer here in that position. He takes account of them in their changed attitude. He will have to say to them as to it in due course; later on when everything is brought into the light, He will say as setting out the true side of the matter, "thou knewest all this" -- a most crushing word from the Lord in Daniel 5:22. There will be no answer to it except for each one involved to bow his head and own to his shame that what he knew was the truth he failed to walk in. Elisha would not be in this class, and he is a good example for us as to our localities.
Elijah began the movement; he started from Gilgal with Elisha, meaning that a brother or sister in a particular locality is in his mind. He is assuming that some locality is in his companion's mind, we will say Gilgal: Elijah would start with him there. The book of Joshua teaches us about Gilgal; so does the epistle to the Colossians. It is a place of sharp knives, where sinful and worldly traits are dealt with in detail, sharp knives alluding to thoroughness in dealing with them that they might never appear again. That is what Joshua would teach us, and that is what Colossians would teach us, as Paul says, "in the putting off of the body of the flesh, in the circumcision of the Christ", Colossians 2:11. This is the matter dealt with in full reality, because the circumcision of the Christ is the thing in the absolute meaning of it; in His dying for us on the cross all this was effected. He was made sin for us, and thus sin in the flesh was utterly judged and set aside to God's glory. The Lord Jesus was "holy, harmless, undefiled, separated from sinners", Hebrews 7:26. He thus could be our substitute in effecting circumcision -- the putting off of the body of the flesh. It is a question not only of the sins, but of the roots of them. It is the body of the flesh, the totality of the flesh; the putting off of it in the circumcision of Christ.
Elijah typically would be in Gilgal in relation to this truth in an exemplary way. He and Elisha are there together. Elisha is a young brother; Elijah is an old one, an experienced one, an honoured servant of God. And we are told before anything is said about these places that God is going to take him to heaven. His race is finished, an approved one here, and so he is an example to be followed. As he moved about Gilgal, Elisha would be near him; he would not be away from him; any absence from Elijah in those movements would be an irreparable loss. It was the learning time for Elisha: it was the teaching time for Elijah. The moments were precious, as they are now. So Elisha would never be away from his master, a remarkable suggestion, because so many are given to absenting themselves from such privileges, thinking nothing of them, some turning their backs on them. How solemn that is! But Elisha did not do this. As he says to Elijah, "As Jehovah liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee!" 2 Kings 2:2. Elijah tested him; Elijah here is heaven's representative; he is going there and he is already a heavenly man in his mind. Christ is the heavenly Man, "the Son of man who is in heaven". He comes in amongst us and conveys what Gilgal means; He is teaching us. This is preliminary, but really it is the basic part of what I have to say. It is a question of Gilgal, of where they were, and Elijah says, 'I will go with you from here'. Elijah did not wish to leave Elisha, he went with Elisha; that is, he conveys the idea for the moment that he is ready to go with him, to give him all the benefit of his company, and he does. I would say to you young people, the Lord is ready to give you all the benefit of His company; and Elisha would have that. Elijah says, "for Jehovah has sent me", verse 2, because it is a question of God's will right through here; no question of the prophet's will, but of God's will. Any one who is moving apart from God's will is, I need not say, lawless. The will of
God must prevail. Elijah says, "for Jehovah has sent me to Bethel" -- but you stay here. Well, will he stay? He went back there afterwards, after Elijah was caught up, but he had been there before with Elijah. No one can be in these places rightly save as he has been with Christ in them. So Elijah says, I am going to Bethel and you stay here; but Elisha says, "As Jehovah liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee! So they went down to Bethel", verse 2.
There were sons of the prophets at Bethel; there were not any at Gilgal, so far as the statement goes. The sons of the prophets in these chapters are very uncertain people; they may say the right thing, but it is just as likely that they will say the wrong thing. They are at Bethel, and they would render information to Elisha; but he says, "I know". The brother that is with the Lord in the locality is the one who knows His mind best. These sons of the prophets are not presented as with Elijah at all; they can talk very freely as to what is going on and they know a little; but presently we shall see that they are very, very wrong. Elisha says to them, "I know". They said, "Dost thou know that Jehovah will take away thy master from over thy head today? And he said, I also know it". His very movements showed it, but what about theirs? Yet they can talk and tell Elisha something. It is the brother that is in the place with the Lord who can judge things and knows; visiting brothers have to be extremely careful; God has placed the responsibility as to His interests on those in the locality. He will work it out in the locality and through those in the locality, that is what He will do. Elisha represents these; he is with Elijah there, but the sons of the prophets are not; you cannot trust what they are saying. It is an important thing to be able to correct such persons: he says, "be silent", you are not telling me anything that I do not know. How did he know? He was with Elijah. If it be a question of the international
position in this world, any one with Christ in the assembly can say, I know; I may not put it into words, but I know; I know intuitively what things are, what the trend is, what the outcome is to be, that God's will must prevail. The sons of the prophets may be there, but they are not with Elijah; they know something, but do not trust it, because presently you will see that they are telling Elisha that Elijah may not have been caught up into heaven at all. How serious that was! In a typical sense, they were questioning the whole truth of Christ's present place in heaven. These men are at Jericho, but they have not been with Elijah there. So that it is the brother who is with Christ in the locality, or the brother with whom Christ is, who knows. Sometimes certain brethren in a locality are eliminated from the councils of the brethren: that is not right; the "least esteemed" in the assembly must be recognised as capable of taking part in its affairs, 1 Corinthians 6:4. A group of brothers looking after things is not of God; the one who is with Elijah in the place is the one that will know. The sons of the prophets did not know, they are not characteristically with Elijah at all, they are onlookers.
It is at this juncture, at Bethel, that Elijah calls Elisha by name: "And Elijah said to him, Elisha", verse 4. I love that thought, a believer having his name announced, as it were, by the Lord in the locality. You are there specially. This is the only time Elijah says it. Earlier we have, "Moses, Moses"; he is addressed by name on a most important occasion when he is to enter into all that is coming out of the burning bush. Moses is peculiarly distinguished at that point. And so with Elisha here, his name is sounded out at Bethel. Each of us as taking his place in the appropriation of his privileges at the Lord's supper is noted in heaven; he is worthy, if he is truly there as one who washes his robes, Revelation 22:14. But this is something more than that; this is a brother who is clinging to Christ, as you might
say, one who will not leave Him. How the Lord loves that! He will give you all of His company that you want, but He values your taking it. It is at this juncture that Elijah says, "Elisha". How lovely that word "Elisha" would sound in his ears as spoken by his master! He greatly revered the prophet; he never had any thought of displacing Elijah. No, he poured water on his hands, as if to make them even more effective; he loved to work with him and walk with him. In Revelation the Lord speaks of making the overcomer a pillar in the temple of His God. That particular overcomer is known characteristically as a temple man, as Elisha is a house man, for it is a question of Bethel -- the house of God. He is a man like that, he is not a man that would build a big home for himself; when he did have an abode of his own it was just one room on the wall with a bed, a table, and a candle. But he was a man who valued the house of God, he was characteristically that; his name is spoken of there; his name is called there by Elijah. He says, "Elisha, abide here, I pray thee; for Jehovah has sent me to Jericho", verse 4. We get the same reply as before from Elisha: "as Jehovah liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee! And they came to Jericho", verse 4.
What Elijah and Elisha could say to each other in Bethel! What a history Bethel had! How much Elijah could have told about Bethel and what happy seasons they could have in speaking together of the house of God! But it is in that place that the sons of the prophets join in to say to Elisha that his master should be taken from him that day; and Elisha says, "I also know it: be silent!" Elijah undoubtedly approved what Elisha said to them. At Jericho they say the same thing to him: "And the sons of the prophets that were at Jericho drew near to Elisha and said to him. Dost thou know that Jehovah will take away thy master from over thy head today? And he said, I also know it: be silent!"
verse 5. He did not care for their remarks. What good is the voice of brethren of this kind? They are not with Elijah; they are in the locality, but they are not with Elijah there, and they have not the mind of God as to it, but Elisha has, and they cannot tell him anything; he knows.
Then we read, "And Elijah said to him. Abide here, I pray thee; for Jehovah has sent me to the Jordan"; Elisha replies as earlier -- "and they two went on", verse 6. A wonderful journey this! In every place Elijah is conveying the mind of heaven as to it, and Elisha is drinking it in. So they went on together, there is not a jar between them, those two great servants. They are thoroughly one in enjoying the truth. Elijah is surely enjoying the young man's desire to be with him; wherever he is going, Elisha says, I am going there. The Lord loves that. As I said before. He will afford you all of His company that you wish; if you wish it you will get it, and it is the true way of progress in the things of God -- companionship with Christ. Especially, He would impart to you what you need to know that belongs to your locality, what feature of the testimony He would set out in it. Later on, Elisha can go to any of these places and talk to the young brethren and say, I was here with Elijah; you were not. He can tell you the truth, he has received true impressions from Elijah, and you can have them. That is the true idea of service, imparting true impressions of what you have received in companionship with Christ. Of course we read the Scriptures and study, for we are enjoined to do it, but companionship with Christ is the chief thing, getting His mind about things.
Jericho also has its sons of the prophets. They stood to view afar off. Well, they will never get much light because they are remaining at a distance, "afar off". It is a question of being in the place with Christ -- that is the thought. One of the most interesting features of the
truth was revived in a pertinent way about twenty-nine years ago in England: a bad state of things arose in a certain town and many knew the trouble; many letters were written and everybody was told about the trouble, but hardly anybody knew the real state of things, for the reason that they did not go there. They stayed away and wrote and never got the thought. Not that one could not set out the principles without going to the place, because principles are eternal and universal, but if I have to deal with the position locally I must go there. I must be there characteristically, though I will not do the thing that is to be done there; I will let the local people do what is needful. That is the principle. Why should they not? You say. They do not know what to do; they will make mistakes. But the Lord will make them understand.
The Lord is very jealous about this matter. It is the assembly period we are in. The book of Revelation speaks of seven assemblies and the Lord is concerned about each of them; He holds them in esteem, and it will never do if the local brethren's affairs are handled by others. It is contrary to the mind of God. The Lord will give them understanding, and what is to be done they must do; as they are subject and seek His mind the Lord will not leave them. If they cling to the Lord as Elisha did to Elijah, they will get His mind; not these men who are looking at the matter through spy glasses! What is there in their advice? We are told they said, "The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha", verse 15. Very good, so far! "And they came to meet him, and bowed themselves to the ground" -- very good! -- "and said to him. Behold now, there are with thy servants fifty valiant men; let them go, we pray thee, and seek thy master". Now look at this! Look at these 'valiant' brethren, these men that are respectfully looking on at what happened at the Jordan, but did not go there. Look now what they are saying. "There are with thy
servants fifty valiant men" able to co-operate in this matter. But what help did they convey? They were, really, infidel about the resurrection and ascension of Christ. Typically, that is what verse 16 means. It says, "lest perhaps the Spirit of Jehovah have taken him up, and cast him upon some mountain, or into some ravine". Look at the misrepresentation of Christ in their words! As if the Spirit of God would take Him and cast Him upon some mountain or into some ravine! The truth is, they did not go down to the Jordan; they "went and stood opposite afar off", verse 7. They did not rightly see and understand what happened, they did not take it in. But Elisha did, experiencing the whole matter with Elijah, and he saw him go up in the chariot of fire.
Well, that is all clear enough. It is for all of us to see what the Lord is going on with at the present time -- local companies. He is forming them, He is schooling them, He visits them to serve them in this way. Principles can be enunciated by brothers residing elsewhere, for God gives gifts to men and these are to be used universally, and among these are gifts of government, 1 Corinthians 12:28, but elders are never seen serving save in their own localities. How can an elder know the brethren in a locality unless he lives there? Think of Matthew 18 being carried out by telephone! Personal contact is enjoined; "Tell it to the assembly" -- that is the idea. We are told in our chapter that the sons of the prophets urged Elisha, stressing the fifty strong men; they urged him until he was ashamed, he succumbed to them. That will not do; Elisha failed. We must learn from this incident and refuse such unholy influence in the things of God.
Well now, to proceed with my subject; we read earlier, "And it came to pass as they went on, and talked, that behold, a chariot of fire and horses of fire; and they parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a
whirlwind into the heavens", verse 11. Elisha had previously asked for a double portion of Elijah's spirit, and this was the condition for it. He will not get that at a distance, he will get it as he is there and sees him go up: "if thou see me when I am taken from thee". If Elisha were there with the others at Jericho, would he see him? No; and they were infidel about what had happened. Go to the place, that is the idea. "If thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so to thee; but if not, it shall not be so. And it came to pass as they went on, and talked, that behold, a chariot of fire and horses of fire; and they parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into the heavens", verses 10,11. One man saw that and hence was a witness to it; these men at a distance are not witnesses, when they do witness, they witness lies. A witness must see the thing that he witnesses to, otherwise he has no authority. As the Lord says, "and ye too bear witness, because ye are with me from the beginning", John 15:27.
I go on to chapter 4 now, just to finish; I wanted to show how Elisha himself had to learn this again. Here is a child given to a wealthy woman, a Shunammite. The child grows and dies, a very humbling thing; he dies at noon. He had been out with the reapers, a boy taking some interest in the work, but reaping, not sowing. Sowing is the first and more important thing -- ploughing, harrowing and putting in the seed. The Lord says, "others have laboured, and ye have entered into their labours", John 4:38. It is largely a time of reaping now and very important, of course. But this boy was with the reapers and his head got sick and he died. His father could not do anything and sent him to his mother, and he sat on her knees until noon and then died. How very solemn! A child of promise, a gift from God, but he dies. This is a most searching matter, but I am not speaking now of the state of things in the house; what I want to finish with is that Elisha himself has to learn
more fully this matter of being where the need is if he is to help. He is at mount Carmel. Mount Carmel is a somewhat general idea, not a locality in the sense of a local meeting; it is where Elijah did his great work and slew the prophets -- overthrew idolatry. Now the mother of the child who died would go there; she knows where to go. I want you to bear in mind that Elisha's local position was Shunem, that is where he lived; this woman afforded him an abode, one room, as Scripture shows. That is where he resided, but he is not there now, he is away at Carmel. Well, you say, if anybody knows everything about that Shunammite and her house, it is Elisha, and he can settle the matter even at Carmel. But can he? Here is Gehazi, his servant, and the sequel shows that he was not a spiritual man: "And he said to Gehazi, Gird up thy loins, and take my staff in thy hand, and go thy way". Go as fast as you can, he says, and he gave him all the regulations that would shut out unspirituality. Gehazi uses the staff, but that in itself is of no advantage, and Gehazi comes back again to the prophet saying, "The lad is not awaked". There is no life in that staff, although it represents Elisha's experience; but there is no life in it any more than in a letter written as to a local matter, the writer ignoring the necessity of being in the place.
I knew an old brother in England who was regarded as an assembly specialist. He tried to settle certain matters in this country and yet he lived on the other side of the Atlantic. Letter after letter came, but they never settled anything; they did harm. I know, for I had to do with the whole matter. Thus Elisha must go to Shunem. He has sent Gehazi, saying, "If thou meet any man, salute him not, and if any salute thee, answer him not again", verse 29; he is able to tell him how to keep out unspirituality; but Gehazi comes to tell him that nothing has been accomplished. The mother of the child knew that the prophet must go himself, and she
said, "As Jehovah liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee!" These words he had used himself and hence would understand the urgent character of them. He is the local man, a man of God; she calls him earlier a holy man of God, the only one I believe that is so designated. She says to him, "I will not leave thee", she knew he was the needed man, but he must go to where the need was. He was a prophet of God, but he was also a local man at Shunem, he lived there. And so we are told that he followed the woman. She is a spiritual woman, she has need in her heart, her dead child is in her house, and any true man of God will follow her as she seeks him. The Lord followed Jairus to his house in similar circumstances. So the prophet went.
We must now consider what he does as he reaches the house where the lad is. There is no change; the staff has effected nothing. See what exercise there is with Elisha! No doubt he profited by the earlier experience of his master Elijah who did something very much like this. The passage says, "And when Elisha came into the house, behold, the child was dead", verse 32. How solemn that is! There is no change at all. It is a question now not of refusing to salute by the way, but of shutting the door; he shut the door on himself and the child. This is a very intense matter, it is most urgent, for it is a child of promise. Think of a child of christian parents, prayed for, brought up in the truth, turning his back on them and dying morally! That is the position -- he is turning his back on his parents, he is dead morally, he is in the world. I do not say this child went into the world, but he is dead, he had trouble in his head. "And when Elisha came into the house, behold, the child was dead, and laid upon his bed", verse 32, as much as to say. This is your matter; the Shunammite's mind ran thus, and the man of God seemed to accept this. He shut the door on them both and prayed. He
prayed to Jehovah first; then "he went up, and lay upon the child, and put his mouth upon his mouth, and his eyes upon his eyes, and his hands upon his hands, and bent over him; and the flesh of the child grew warm", verse 34. Where did that heat come from? Not from I the staff! It came from God, but through Elisha, a spiritual man. He is identifying himself with the locality and with that dead child in the locality, and the dead child becomes alive. It is through the local man; that is the point I want to press. It is an important matter, because the enemy would becloud the whole position by not allowing the principles governing local assemblies to work out; so if the Lord would do the best He can in the locality, let Him do it.
We are told, "the flesh of the child grew warm. And he returned, and walked in the house", verses 34, 35. Now it is a question of what is in the house. Maybe there is bad reading there; what is the effect of that upon the child? That is the suggestion I think. "And went up, and bent over him. And the lad sneezed seven times, and the lad opened his eyes", verse 35. That is wonderful! This is the matter to come to: that you have the local man and he is acting on right principles; he is identifying himself with the dead child, and the dead child is made alive. Then Gehazi is brought into it, a poor kind of man, but still, he is the prophet's servant and he uses him while he is a servant. "And he called Gehazi, and said, Call this Shunammite. And he called her; and she came to him. And he said, Take up thy son", verse 36. What a beautiful thing that is! "Take up thy son. And she came and fell at his feet, and bowed herself to the ground; and she took up her son, and went out", verse 37. Shunem was never before such a town as it was then. This lad had been brought back to life there; the whole family, as I may say, is affected. The lad is brought to life on these principles. May God help us to maintain them!
Exodus 18:1 - 3; Hebrews 11:13 - 16; 1 Peter 2:11,12
I wish to speak about strangership, and I think I have selected the most suitable passages for such a subject, believing they will aid me in what I have to say. The first scripture speaks about Moses in this respect. He represents the service of God, the ministry. Of him God says, "he is faithful in all my house", Numbers 12:7. Having part in the house of God tests us much; the apostle was concerned that those who served in it should know how to behave; saying to Timotheus that he wrote to him, pending the time of his coming, "in order that thou mayest know how one ought to conduct oneself in God's house", 1 Timothy 3:15. Then, so as to make clear what that meant, that the house was not like the temple at Jerusalem built by Herod or Solomon or Zerubbabel, he says, "the assembly of the living God, the pillar and base of the truth". Such is the great and glorious designation of the house of God; and so great, correspondingly, is the necessity for knowing how to conduct ourselves in it. For in truth it is composed of the saints, not of stones cut out with hands, but of living stones, who are marked off as coming to Christ who is the Living Stone; and as having come, they "are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ".
So that Moses fittingly comes in at the beginning of the subject I have chosen, and he brings in this question of strangership as soon as his first child is born. It is very significant that this characteristic of true believers is written in indelible letters on the household of this great servant of God. Previous to this Moses had not been the head of a house. He had been brought up as a foster-child in the leading royal house of the world, really as a son in it, and was sophisticated according to the learning of that house, skilled in all the wisdom of the Egyptians.
I suppose he could shine in any court of this world in that period; he could represent Pharaoh in any court or diplomatic circle. He was an unmarried man. Pharaoh's daughter really had become his saviour. He had been laid in the Nile by his mother, and could have only subsisted there a short time, as you can understand, but Pharaoh's daughter came down to wash herself, which is not without significance. Not that such personages should not do so, but it is not without significance that she should come thus where this babe was lying in the Nile. It was in the sedge, not out in the stream where he would have been carried away to the delta, but in the sedge where he was held and protected, but still in the water. Household baptism was wrapped up in that fact. Pharaoh's daughter found the babe in the ark that his mother had prepared for him, and the babe wept, portending something of value in the service of God, namely sympathetic feeling, of which Moses was never short in his time of service.
Well, he was nursed by his mother, under the wisdom of God; for his sister was wise, and his mother was wise, and through their skill the real mother of the child became his nurse. So that he is under good influence, living by his mother when he should do so, showing how children are to be brought up under a mother's care, not only physically, but morally. The mother has the means and place of influencing the child when he needs influence. The secret of many departures later has been in the lack of this. New-born babes desire milk; spiritually they are to desire the sincere milk of the word, the pure mental milk; for a child soon begins to use his mind and that mind has to be ministered to, and the mother is the vessel for that in his early days. Moses remained in Pharaoh's house for forty years, until he became great. Forty years is quite a mature age, although Moses lived three times forty; but at that age he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, hence qualifying for this
great office of service that marked him, particularly during the latter forty years of his life. He chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God. Whoever they were outwardly, in whatever station in this world, they were the people of God -- the greatest distinction -- and Moses whole-heartedly identified himself with them. There may be some here who have never thought of identifying themselves with the people of God as such; maybe you are a society person; but then, what is your society? Moses says, Mine has been Egyptian, but it is not so any more; henceforth it is the people of God. What a fine resolve! Heaven took account of that resolve.
Well, Moses occasioned the wrath of Pharaoh and fled the country, "not fearing", we are told, "the wrath of the king", Hebrews 11:27, not fearing it. You say, Then why did he flee? That is to be understood spiritually. Faith is never marked by fear of man -- never! And it was by faith that he selected his society; faith was active. The Lord Jesus says, "Fear not those who kill the body and after this have no more that they can do", Luke 12:4. That is all they can do. The most powerful man on earth, now or at any time can do nothing more; he cannot go beyond that; a limitation that is placed upon people of power in this world. The Lord says, Do not fear them, even although their attacks may be direct, do not fear them. They can only kill the body. "But I will shew you whom ye shall fear: Fear him who after he has killed has authority to cast into hell; yea, I say to you. Fear him", verse 5. That is a great word at the present time; and I suppose it explains why it says Moses did not fear the wrath of the king: he feared God. He fled into Midian and sat by a well, as much as to say, I have been a powerful man in Egypt according to the flesh, but the Spirit of God must be my power henceforth. There he watered the flock of Jethro's daughters: he knew how to use the well: he
used it unselfishly for others first. He is qualifying to be a great servant of God, and from that time till the end of forty years he is occupied in caring for sheep. A great Egyptian prince, as he was according to man's estimate, is now just a shepherd; he is working evidently for whatever his father-in-law is pleased to give him. There is never a word said about salary with Moses, though he fed the flock of Jethro for forty years. Think of a man like that! What a discipline! What a school! And what a graduation! God graduated him from that school into the next school, forty years later. He called out his name, "Moses!" You understand that, you young children here; this very hall is used for just that purpose. His name was called out, "Moses, Moses!" Why did God call out his name twice like that? God was in the bush; the bush burned and the bush was not consumed, and Moses turned aside to see why the bush was not consumed. God says, There is a man of interest; he is interested in what I am doing, and that calls forth My interest in him. And He says, "Moses, Moses! ... loose thy sandals from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground", Exodus 3:4,5. God says, so to speak, You are graduating into a much higher school than you have ever been in before. And Moses obeyed God -- he was a subject man.
I have exceeded what I intended to say on this part of Moses' history, but it is to reach the thought of strangership. The first forty years in Midian he tended the flock of Jethro, and during that time he married one of Jethro's daughters whose name was Zipporah. It is said that he "was content to dwell with the man", that is, with Jethro; content to do it. You may say, Why should he not be? But think of who he had been in this world! Were he not converted to God, would he have been content to dwell with a Midianitish priest, and marry one of his daughters who was a shepherdess? No! He would have married some
princess in Egypt. But he did not; he was content to dwell with the man, not simply with his wife, but with her father. It may be assumed that thus he was quite at home, but no, he was not quite at home; no man of faith is quite at home in ordinary human circumstances, however much he may accept them. He is a heavenly man, his home is elsewhere; and so as this babe is born he names him Gershom. "And she bore a son, and he called his name Gershom; for he said, I have been a sojourner in a foreign land", chapter 2:22. Moses would recall how as a boy he had wept in the ark; he would carry down the history which doubtless his mother would have told him. It is most important that fathers and mothers, as bringing up children, should remember; as one says, "I have been young, and now am old", Psalm 37:25. We can never deal with the young rightly unless we revert to the time and experiences we had when we were young. We must sympathise with the young, or we shall not influence them.
Moses, if asked why he named his son Gershom, would say, Because I am a sojourner in Midian; I am in a foreign land. He is speaking by faith. This is not the language of an ordinary man; if he were only an ordinary man he would not be in Midian; he would be in Egypt, shining as a leading light, as people say, in the world, in the court of Pharaoh. He is not an ordinary man, he is a man of faith; and morally no one who is not of faith, is of any value in the sight of God. So that this is a matter of faith. Now what I want to show is that as years went on he arrived at the point I have already alluded to, when God appeared to him in the bush. Let every one of us recall in his history, every man of faith and woman of faith and child of faith here, when you had a direct transaction with God. No one is of any consequence in the testimony of God until he has had such. God appeared to Moses in the bush, and he turned aside to see. It was a remarkable thing: the bush burned and
the bush was not consumed. He turned aside to see why that was, and God says, "Moses, Moses!" Then He told him to take off his shoes, etc., as I have already remarked. That was one great turning point in his life, and it was at the mount of God.
And now in Exodus 18 he is at the same mount, forty years after he went to Midian; and Jethro having heard what God had been doing for Israel, came to Moses there. Jethro was "priest of Midian", he was not an Israelite, nor, as you might say, did he belong to Moses' religion. People like to think of their religions. I am satisfied with my religion one says; it was good enough for my father, it is good enough for me. That is one of the poorest things one can say. The question to decide is, What is of God? "And Jethro the priest of Midian, Moses' father-in-law, heard of all that God had done to Moses, and to Israel his people; that Jehovah had brought Israel out of Egypt. And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, took Zipporah, Moses' wife, after he had sent her back, and her two sons, of whom the name of the one was Gershom -- for he said, I have been a sojourner in a foreign land", Exodus 18:1 - 3. Then verse 5 says, "And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, came to Moses with his sons and his wife into the wilderness, where he encamped at the mountain of God". That is the same place to which he had led the sheep of Jethro when God appeared to him at the mount of God. Now let everybody challenge his own heart as to whether he understands the mount of God. Whatever your religion may be, does it represent the mount of God? The mount of God means that God provides all that is necessary for His service -- for His people who are His house. It is the place of divine resource; and if I am not there, I had better get there. Religion in itself according to this world is nothing; it is a question of whether the mount of God is there. Abraham originated that idea, "On the mount of Jehovah will be provided", he said,
Genesis 22:14. And that is the principle; everything that is needed, that is requisite for the service of God is provided by God on His mountain. Moses is there now, encamped there with Israel, and Jethro comes there. Was he ever at the mount of God before? I cannot say, but he is at it now, and it is to his great advantage that he is. If there is anybody here who has not come to that place, then I would urge you to look into this matter and see why you are not at the mount of God, where God provides things for man. God will never provide you with a cathedral, or a choir; not with that sort of thing at all; not with things of man's art and device to be used in His service. Everything that is provided comes from the mount of God and is according to Himself.
Jethro came there, and he brought Moses' two boys and their mother. It says of the other boy, "and the name of the other, Eliezer", verse 4; which means, "El is my help". You will see by what I have been saying, that this parent is stamping God, as it were, on his household; it is the secret of the preservation of our children; from the very outset our children are stamped, I might say, with the name of God. First, "I have been a sojourner in a foreign land", as much as to say, I can never be at home in this world; my son is stamped with it, and I want him to be brought up that way. Someone may say. You will never be a successful man. Oh, yes, Moses would say, "God is my help"; that is the name of my second boy, and I will bring him up in the light of that; I am not a man of this world, and I depend on God in everything. I will bring up my children in dependence on God.
In the New Testament God promises us, "Wherefore come out from the midst of them, and be separated, ... and I will be to you for a Father, and ye shall be to me for sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty", 2 Corinthians 6:17,18. Moses would say, I have proved that.
He proved it in the presence of Pharaoh in the exodus. And so he says, My second boy must be brought up in the understanding that God will help him. If I cannot go out with people, and take part in the things of this world, and hence may appear at a disadvantage in my business, yet I know God will help me. Moses brought up his family in the light of these two great facts.
Now going on to Abraham in Hebrews 11, I am not speaking of him exactly as a leading servant, but as a leading father; his name means father. First he is "high father", and then he is "father of a multitude"; and we have a description of him in this chapter as a man of faith. I have spoken of Moses as a father, and of how his father-in-law helped him with his wife and children, so that grandparents are brought into the service of bringing up children; and we are told here that Abraham dwelt in the tents with Isaac and Jacob. "By faith he sojourned as a stranger in the land of promise as a foreign country, having dwelt in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise", verse 9. That is, he would have in mind to help his son and grandson, so that he dwelt with them; and he dwelt with them in tents. There would be two tents, I suppose; Abraham would have one, and Isaac would have one. It is not good for families to dwell together in that sense; it is better for each family to have a tent, and to let the grandfather come into the son's tent where the grandson is, and influence him there for good, showing his paternal interest in his children and grandchildren. That is the effect here, implying that Abraham was really a father, he had a true parental heart. You can see him coming down the fields or down the garden to Isaac's tent: Isaac is there and Rebecca is there -- comparatively young people -- and Jacob, who at the most could not have been more than fifteen years old. From the time Jacob was a babe, until he was fifteen years old, Abraham would have been accustomed to
come to the tent of Isaac his son, and to sit with his son and grandson. And you can understand how Abraham would say, Well, Isaac, I have been thinking of such-and-such a thing today. He could go back many years beyond a hundred; he was about one hundred and sixty years old when Jacob was born. He could say to Isaac, Jehovah appeared to me before I left Ur of the Chaldeans -- adding many details of deep interest. How sanctifying that would be! A most spiritual man in later times says of that event, "The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia", Acts 7:2. What a day that was! I do not suppose Abraham could say, "The God of glory"; it was Stephen who said that. But anyway, it was the God of glory; and we can understand how Abraham would say to Isaac, Jehovah said to me, "Go out of thy land, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house", Genesis 12:1. And Jacob was sitting there, a boy of twelve, we might say, listening to his grandfather; these words would sink into his heart: they should have sunk in anyway, and doubtless they did. That is what was said, "Go out of thy land, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house".
Well, that is the position. Verse 13 that I read says, "All these died in faith", that is, those who were pilgrims and strangers; you could hardly refer to Noah in that way, or to Enoch. But I am speaking only of Abraham here. He moved out of the land of the Chaldeans at the word of Jehovah and came into the land of Canaan and died there. The word is, "All these died in faith", that is, I apprehend, Abraham and his immediate family as mentioned in verses 8 - 12. These are the ones; but they died. How did they die? Did they die distressed or without hope? No! They died "in faith". It may be translated, as we may see in the note, 'according to faith'. That is how I want to die. If the Lord pleases to call me to sleep, as He may, I want to go that way, "according to faith". "All these died in
faith, not having received the promises". But the writer further says, "but having seen them from afar off and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and sojourners on the earth. For they who say such things shew clearly that they seek their country. And if they had called to mind that from whence they went out, they had had opportunity to have returned; but now they seek a better, that is, a heavenly; wherefore God is not ashamed of them, to be called their God; for he has prepared for them a city", verses 13 - 16. My point now, just to close, is that they confessed to strangership. Moses confessed it in the name by which he called his first boy; it indicated that he had been a stranger in a strange land. He could not take up any offices there in the sense in which they are ordinarily taken up; he was a foreigner. Midian was not the land of promise, so that Abraham differs from Moses; he was actually in the land of promise, but still he is a stranger; as it says here, "By faith he sojourned as a stranger in the land of promise as a foreign country", verse 9; that is, he dwelt in the land of promise as a stranger. It was promised to him, and yet when he got there he lived in it as a stranger. The meaning is that the literal land is still under foreign domination, and Abraham's entrance into it as his inheritance awaited redemption -- the death, resurrection and ascension of Christ. Thus only could there be a city which has foundations, of which God is the artificer and constructor.
"All these died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them from afar off and embraced them", verse 13. The actual land was under their feet; that was not at a distance; it was the faith realm that was afar off. Abraham began to see there was something even beyond the land of promise, the faith realm; because, after all, Palestine is there yet. Where is Abraham? The Lord Jesus, in replying to the wicked doctrine of the Sadducees, referred to "the
section of the bush", in which it is said God appeared to Moses; there God says, "I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob", Matthew 22:32. It is not, I was the God of Abraham, but I am. Then the Lord adds, "God is not God of the dead, but of the living". Where is Abraham living? In the realm of faith. He is with Christ, but he looked forward beyond the land of Canaan to the heavenly realm; that is where he lives in the measure in which he may live now. Presently he will have part in the first resurrection, and he will live eternally in the heavenly land, not in the earthly Canaan. Abraham will not come back here to the land of Canaan literally; his lot is in a better land. What does Scripture say here? Scripture says plainly that they seek a country. In the very land of Canaan they are seeking another country. And what is that country? What does God say about it? "And if they had called to mind that from whence they went out, they had had opportunity to have returned; but now they seek a better, that is, a heavenly; wherefore God is not ashamed of them, to be called their God; for he has prepared for them a city", verses 15, 16. God did not promise Abraham a city when He told him to go out from the Chaldeans; this city is a new thing that has come into view, and it is heavenly. It is about to come down from God out of heaven. Abraham waited for it: "for he waited for the city which has foundations, of which God is the artificer and constructor", verse 10. So my thought in regard to Abraham is that in the very things which were legitimate and which God promised him literally, he was a stranger; he was not even at home there. He was looking for better things. God would help us to look for better things than the temporal mercies which He may grant us. That is the word that characterises the epistle to the Hebrews -- better things; so that we may learn not to be content or be satisfied with what nature calls the very best. There are
things better than that, and these are what Abraham looked for. He died according to that principle -- in faith; he died in faith, so that the things he looked for were not yet realised. But now they are realised, because every promise of God is yea and amen in Christ. There is just that word in Peter, "Beloved, I exhort you, as strangers and sojourners, to abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul", 1 Peter 2:11. That enters into this matter, for the youth amongst the brethren, and their parents need to be watchful of it: "abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul". It is amplified in the word, "having your conversation honest among the gentiles, that as to that in which they speak against you as evildoers, they may through your good works, themselves witnessing them, glorify God in the day of visitation".
May God bless the word to us all, parents, servants, and young people. These all enter into what I have endeavoured to bring before you, and I trust God will use the word to help us all.
2 Corinthians 4:13; John 12:41; 1 Peter 4:11; Malachi 3:16 - 18
What I have in mind is in relation to speaking. It is peculiarly a time of speaking: God is now speaking from heaven, and Luke has in mind the quality of the speaking. It belongs to the priestly state, for the priests' lips should keep knowledge, as Scripture says, It is to be observed that he who prefigured Christ as Priest, he who became the first high priest of Israel and the father of the priestly family, is introduced in the Scriptures as one who could speak well: that is, Aaron. Impediments in speech are not rare, and where they exist they occasion discipline; but God made man's mouth, inclusive of all the organs of speech, and made it perfectly. It is this very fact that He brings forward, when one who was to be a great servant complained that he could not speak. Inability to speak, therefore, is not to be put forward as an excuse for non-speaking, for silence. Luke records of the young man of the city of Nain who was raised from the dead, that he sat up and began to speak. We have to make a beginning in speaking. The voice of a risen young man, and the theme of his speaking, would be of deep interest. Lazarus, who also was raised from the dead, is never said to have spoken, another singular thing. Yet he was the occasion of many believing on Jesus. So that speaking is not everything in service; something more than speaking is needed. Without other essential things speaking is in the way and may become a trial to the saints. There are those who think they are heard because of much speaking, which the Lord rebukes.
So you will understand what I have in mind; and I refer to Aaron because he stands at the very beginning of what I may call organised testimony. Organisation belongs to God, and Aaron was brought forward in the
divine system with this commendation, that God knew he could speak well. Moses was to be God to Pharaoh; he was to represent God, and Aaron was to be his prophet. That is the idea of organised testimony into which speaking enters. Confirming this we have with Barnabas and Paul the great accompaniment of good speaking in the preaching of the gospel, although Paul's traducers at Corinth said his speech was contemptible, which I would call a lie. They said that, but the Spirit of God says he and Barnabas so spake that a great multitude believed. You have to put those two things in juxtaposition. They "so spake that a great multitude of both Jews and Greeks believed", Acts 14:1. Indeed, speaking is stressed in that remarkable chapter: one man heard Paul speaking and was affected by his speaking, not only by what he said, but by the act of speaking itself. Paul said something specific to the man "with a loud voice". "This man heard Paul speaking, who, fixing his eyes on him, and seeing that he had faith to be healed, said with a loud voice. Rise up straight upon thy feet", and he did. Acts 14:9,10.
Well now, I shall lean on my four scriptures to aid me in bringing out this matter. The first shows that speaking is based on and is the outcome of faith. The second shows that it is the outcome of seeing the glory of Christ; not simply reading about Christ, but seeing the glory of Christ. The third declares that "oracles of God" are to be enunciated. And fourthly it is stated that the saints characteristically speak one to another. They have no discrimination, as preferring one to another; the mutual feelings in the saints of God are in view characteristically as having love amongst themselves; that is, the most honoured brother speaks to the simplest, if I may so classify them. They "spoke often one to another". The divine system affords such condescension, humility in listening to perhaps the least, as he might be estimated. The Lord Jesus listened to two speakers: one was
Moses and the other was Elijah. There is no complaint on the part of Moses on the mount of transfiguration that he could not speak; he had learned how -- he and Elijah. I suppose they spoke one after the other. There would be no interruptions as there are sometimes in our speaking together, unnecessary interruptions. One can understand how Moses would speak of the types of the Lord's death, for it was about His death they were speaking, the greatest subject morally -- the death of Jesus. One can imagine Elijah remarking to the Lord something on what happened at Carmel, and the altar he built where he slew the prophets of Baal. What speaking it must have been! I mention it because Scripture says they were speaking with Jesus, not He with them. The Lord listened to them, and of course spoke too. So that speaking in a mutual way belongs to the kingdom of God, for what transpired on the mount of transfiguration was that. It was the kingdom of God. The kingdom of the Son of man first; the kingdom of God come in power second; and thirdly the kingdom of God by itself in dignity and greatness: these are the phases of the truth that shone out on that great occasion on the mount, as seen in the three synoptical gospels.
Now the first scripture speaks about faith. When one is to speak by invitation, which is very proper, he has to inspect himself see to his spiritual condition. Then what is of paramount importance is faith, whether I can speak as believing: "I believed", says the psalmist, Psalm 116:10. Not that faith is very prominent in actual record in the Old Testament; it was there in Abel, in Enoch, in Noah, in Abraham, in Isaac, in Jacob, and in all the rest of these enumerated in Hebrews 11; but the word 'faith' is not formally mentioned. The thing was there: it underlay all the testimony. Faith began as sin entered; I mean, as God acted to meet sin, faith began. Sin was to be met on that principle, on the principle of faith. So that one may speak of Adam himself
giving his wife another name -- Eve. I should say that name was, as it were, baptised. Ishshah, her first name, did not need to be baptised, no death had come in yet; the name Eve did. You will understand what I mean: death had come in; Adam and his wife were clothed with the skin of an animal, which pointed to death; they knew sin was upon them, but it had to be met; and God was already meeting it in type. Adam spoke and called his wife's name Eve, the mother of all living instead of the mother of all dying. She could not be the mother of all living except through the death of Christ.
Psalm 116 is cited by Paul in the verse read in 2 Corinthians: "according to what is written, I have believed, therefore have I spoken; we also believe, therefore also we speak", 2 Corinthians 4:13. So that in approaching the service of speaking it is not only that I have believed, but that I believe. Every step from my solitary sanctuary in the preparation of what I have to say, is to increase on the previous one, in faith. It is a matter of the dispensation of God which is in faith. And so the Holy Spirit has liberty and the speaker stands up, not with the thought that he believed historically, for he may have done this and not be in faith now; it is present faith in regard to what I am going to say; do I believe it now, or have I just read it and committed it to memory? Paul says, "we also believe", that is, we believe now. Hence the preaching is on the principle of faith to faith; the speaker is counting on the hearers to have faith too. Have they had a sanctuary of enquiry? Have they waited on the Lord as to what is going to be said? It is not with them a question of what they are going to say, but of what they are going to hear. Have they faith in regard to that? For unless there is faith in the hearers the ministry must be ineffective. Hence the need of exercise and sincerity in coming to listen to ministry. It is profane to come carelessly or indifferently.
Now the next thing is not with regard to faith, but to the glory of Christ. One of the greatest thoughts in Scripture is the glory of Christ. There is the glory of God too; there is the Father of glory, and the Lord of glory, but this is the glory of Christ. Well, if that comes into my soul, and I am going to speak about Him, it is because I have seen that glory. Thus John says, "These things said Esaias because he saw his glory and spoke of him", John 12:41. It dissipates any thought of glory as to myself that I may have in my service of speaking, one of the greatest dangers in serving is to have any thought of personal glory in the service; it is a dead fly in the ointment of the apothecary. How often it breaks through the screen! So John the evangelist, quoting by the Spirit from Isaiah 53 says, "Lord, who has believed our report? and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? On this account they could not believe, because Esaias said again, He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, that they may not see with their eyes, and understand with their heart and be converted, and I should heal them", John 12:38 - 40. A terrible judicial sentence! "They could not believe". As quoted here, it is the second time Esaias spoke. But my verse is, "These things said Esaias because he saw his glory and spoke of him", verse 41. Now one rejoices in the great increase of ability in service, but I would urge on all of us who serve, to seek to understand and get a view of the glory of Christ. Where is that glory to be seen? It is in the sanctuary as one retires there, for if one is to speak to men, he must speak to God first. If I cannot speak to God I cannot rightly speak to men. Of one it is said, that he had power with God and men; and according to this verse the need is to see the glory of Christ if one is to speak to men rightly of Him. For that we need the power of elimination; the ability to govern our minds, so as to eliminate from them at a given time all that is extraneous to the moment, and to
let what is needed for the moment come into them. This is one of the most important exercises and requirements that I know of in the service of God; a supreme matter in the christian's life is to learn how to control the mind. It is thus free, and the Holy Spirit gives a view of the glory of Christ in relation to what is immediately to hand. Something will come, something is sure to come to you as you wait on God on those lines, and it will give character to what you have to say. "These things said Esaias because he saw his glory and spoke of him". One of the most beautiful verses in the beautiful gospel of John is that verse: "he saw his glory and spoke of him". That glory is described vividly by the prophet Isaiah in chapter 6.
The next thing, dear brethren, is the oracles of God. It is said of Israel that they had much advantage because to them were committed the oracles of God. Oracles are speakings from an oracle; in Scripture they are speakings from the temple of God. That is more than my closet, my retreat before my service: it involves the assembly, it involves the saints, that is to say, those who have the Holy Spirit. I can speak much better to those who have the Holy Spirit than to those who have not. The latter need the gospel. In Acts 14 Paul spoke to those who had not the Spirit, as I have already said. The more spiritual the auditors, the more elevated the ministry; for there is a drawing out, instead of forcing it back. And why should it not be so? As we are together as of the temple there should be scope for the ministry of the Spirit. "Do ye not know that ye are the temple of God?" 1 Corinthians 3:16. We may well take the words to ourselves: "Do ye not know that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?" The Holy Spirit has liberty in the saints and thus there is a spiritual current, that is the idea of the oracle; it is a place of immediate communication from God, not what I get in my closet, but what I get when I am on my feet
as I minister. The oracles of God emanate from the oracle. It is a question of the Holy Spirit and it raises a great inquiry in the ministry, as to how far those who listen aid those who speak. It is obligatory upon us to do so in so far as we may, and that is by disallowing what interferes with the free action of the Spirit among the brethren. The principle enters into this meeting, into a Bible reading, into all meetings for ministry. Think of the magnitude of it, that God speaks! Actual communications from God issue forth for His people. "If any one speak -- as oracles of God". 1 Corinthians 14 governs all this. The epistle contemplates lawless conditions in the assembly, even to the extent of an evil spirit, a terrible thought: the apostle has to say, "I give you therefore to know, that no one, speaking in the power of the Spirit of God, says, Curse on Jesus", 1 Corinthians 12:3. Think of the possibility of a state in an assembly, ostensibly the assembly of God, where the Lord Jesus would be cursed! Where He would be hated! You may say, There is no such thing now. Well, let us examine our hearts and see how much there may be there in lightness and evil thoughts as to those sitting by us, thoughts brought in from the wicked world around us by young people. Let us examine our hearts as to evil thoughts. And so the apostle says, "If any one love not the Lord Jesus Christ let him be Anathema Maranatha", 1 Corinthians 16:22. God speaks severely to us in these matters. He is jealous of the assembly, of His temple, and would have us to judge ourselves lest we bring in what is antagonistic to Christ and to God as we sit listening to ministry. But then, as I said, the speaker himself has to see to it above all, that if he speaks, let it be as oracles of God. Not that he is an oracle exactly; it is more the idea of oracles, that is, communications of that character. What a great matter that is in the world of darkness around us! Young people come out of schools that are full of darkness, full
of hatred to Christ; doctrines from the very pit are proclaimed by the teachers. We hear them in our business places too. The darkness is dreadful. But in contrast, think of the greatness of what is existent now: God speaking on the principle of oracles! What a great honour it is to have any part in this! "If any one speak -- as oracles of God", says the apostle Peter. It is not a matter of guess work or of speculation, but of what I am assured is the truth, as weighed before God in the light of Scripture; it is prompted by the Spirit, it emanates from Him. What is said in this way has the character of the oracles of God. All speaking in the assembly should take on the character of definiteness: "We also believe, therefore also we speak". The apostle spoke what he knew to be true. This, however, does not preclude godly inquiry, for others are to judge what is said, Of the Bereans it is said, "daily searching the scriptures if these things were so", Acts 17:11. I would like to have said to those Bereans, Have you examined what Paul said tonight? Yes. And have you found any error? No. That is what I should expect. He spoke as oracles of God. What a wonderful thing it was, Paul going out into the dark heathen world and speaking definitely the truth! He knew it was true. John greatly stresses the idea of truth, and of believers knowing it definitely.
And finally, there is the speaking one to another according to what I read in Malachi: the saints speaking one to another. It is not the way they did things on Mars' hill: that was a place of speaking; we all know that the Greeks were speakers; they studied oratory and excelled in it too. Some of them brought Paul to Mars' hill, having said "What would this chatterer say?" Acts 17:18. That is what they said about him. And again, "He seems to be an announcer of foreign demons, because he announced the glad tidings of Jesus and the resurrection to them". With all their supposed intelligence
they seemed to regard the resurrection as a god: "strange gods" -- "Jesus and the resurrection" -- as if Jesus was one god and the resurrection another. That indicates the intelligence of Mars' hill! So that the speaking between the saints contemplated in this remarkable passage in Malachi is not a Mars' hill affair. Those who frequented that famous place "spent their time in nothing else than to tell and to hear the news", they were there to hear and to tell some new thing.
It may be profitable to suggest here that we ought to be on our guard as to things we report. To be able to tell a new thing is an attraction. That it is new does not prove it is true. The thought on Mars' hill was, not to tell some true thing, but some new thing; and you may be sure that the reporter, if he were going to be a little prominent in the day's session, would add to the report, and what he added might make it a lie. Let us be on our guard as to carrying new things. What value are they if they are not true? and if they are true and are not useful, what is the advantage of telling them? We are to be set to edify one another. "Whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are amiable, whatsoever things are of good report ... think on these things", Philippians 4:8.
The passage read in Malachi says, "Then they that feared Jehovah spoke often one to another; and Jehovah observed it, and heard, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared Jehovah, and that thought upon his name". "Feared Jehovah" is said twice, and it is recorded at a particular time when others were not doing so. "Then they that feared Jehovah spoke often one to another; and Jehovah observed it, and heard". I think that is very beautiful, that Jehovah should turn His ear to hear what a group of people who feared Him were saying. I should have liked to turn in too and hear what they were saying. "Jehovah observed it, and heard". He heard exactly what these people were
saying. Notes of it would, I am sure, make good matter for printing. Those people were characterised by the fear of the Lord, and the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; so that I learn in the fear of the Lord how to say wise things and to avoid folly. The book of Proverbs is on that line, to keep me from folly and to maintain me in what is wise and helpful. And so, it says, "a book of remembrance was written before him". A book of remembrance does not mean He wrote down everything that was said; God put down something about these people that He would remember. It is a beautiful touch. Think of God making notes, as it were! He does not need to, being God, but He comes down to our way of doing things so that all should be understood as accurate. What caused Him to turn aside to hear these people? It brings up the whole question of the position today of those who form the assembly: whether we are attracting the ear of heaven and whether any note is being made up there as to what is transpiring among us, over against what you get in public print every day. It is a question of what heaven takes account of. And then the passage says the book was written "for them that feared Jehovah, and that thought upon his name". It is not only what they said that is noted, but what they thought; that was, "upon his name"; they cherished the name of Jehovah above all other names. So that "they shall be unto me a peculiar treasure, saith Jehovah of hosts, in the day that I prepare; and I will spare them as a man spareth his own son that serveth him".
We come back to Exodus 4, to the great divine thought of sonship: it is not now in millions of Israelites, but in the few, the greatly reduced number, that are the true remnant. The very shrinkage makes for quality, makes what is worth while for God to note in the few that feared Jehovah and thought upon His name. He says, "I will spare them". Does that not fit in at the present time when there is so much suffering among our
brethren? Will God not spare us? I think He will. Things might be far worse than they are; they are bad enough in certain places, but in general they might be worse. And as we promote these features in ourselves, will there not be a sparing of us? I am sure there will. Our prayers are not always answered immediately; it is said of Jabez, "And God brought about what he had requested", 1 Chronicles 4:10, but it may have taken months or years. I know that desires I have had for forty years, and expressed in prayer, are coming about now. You may ask me what they allude to, but I will not tell you. But what I am saying is right: if you have to wait years, it is worth while waiting. On whom are you waiting? God. Saul lost the kingdom because he could not wait, whereas David says, "I waited patiently for Jehovah", Psalm 40:1. "Be watchful unto prayers", 1 Peter 4:7. Waiting on God is worth while; if the answer does not come, pray again. God brings "about" what we pray for.
Then Jehovah says, "ye shall return and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not". Under these circumstances there is improvement in discernment. The present is a most educational time and we are not to miss it. A brother wrote to me the other day from England, saying, Is it not the finishing course? I believe it is and I do not want to miss it. But I am referring to discernment: as God spares us and makes us more discerning we do not call things by their wrong names, we know how to name things according to what they are as presented to us; so that we "discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not".
1 Corinthians 11:16; 1 Corinthians 14:33; Galatians 1:1,2; Revelation 2:1
J.T. What is in mind is to show how the administrative service of the assembly is in subdivision in localities; but that in the subdivisions, there is catholicity; that is, uniformity in procedure and custom. "The assemblies of God" is a very dignified term. "We have no such custom", the apostle says, verse 16; that is, contention is not allowed in the assemblies of God. Then in chapter 14 it is said that God is not a God of disorder but of peace, "as in all the assemblies of the saints", verse 33. In Galatians we learn that the assemblies in a district may be affected together by an evil principle or doctrine; that is, the influence of it may extend to a district, but not universally. Finally, the Lord, in view of the failure of the assemblies, asserts this principle of local responsibility as being He "who walks in the midst of the seven golden lamps", Revelation 2:1. He visits them and speaks to each of them, and there is a different word for each one.
W.B-w. Is Acts 9 the first place in which "assemblies" are mentioned; that is the plural? "The assemblies then throughout the whole of Judaea and Galilee and Samaria had peace", Acts 9:31. They are unified and all walking in the power of that. It seems that after Saul of Tarsus was converted "the assemblies", in the plural, come into view.
J.T. That is right; one had that in mind. The thought came in under Paul's ministry; he was not yet recognised as a minister of the gospel, but it is very significant that the word 'assemblies' appears in this connection first. It was a single idea at Jerusalem earlier, but we get it later in the Acts several times, in the plural; and elsewhere, too, besides the passages read. It speaks of the Thessalonians being imitators of the
assemblies in Judaea; but Peter in the end of the chapter in the Acts that you alluded to, went to all quarters, no longer confining himself to the central position. And then we have Aeneas directed to make his bed for himself, which is the principle in mind in the local gathering.
C.J.E. In the first scripture you referred to, is the contentious person the opposite of a subject person?
J.T. Quite so. You read of a contentious king in the Old Testament, Hosea 5:13, note. It is also said, "It is better to dwell in a corner of the housetop, than with a contentious woman, and a house in common", Proverbs 25:24. The allusion would be to a state of contention in the assemblies: it is better to be alone in the corner of a housetop than to be in that -- a very pronounced way of condemning contention. So that the apostle announces here, "we" -- emphatic -- "have no such custom". That is, he would disallow it himself and so would those with him, and the assemblies of God are of the same mind. And the next passage read confirms this: "For God is not a God of disorder but of peace, as in all the assemblies of the saints", 1 Corinthians 14:33. It is the way in which God makes Himself known in the assemblies. When the Lord came into the first one, He said, "Peace", as if that were to mark it. That was the inauguration, and it was to mark the assembly in its subdivisions.
A.R. Have you in mind that the assemblies of God are to take character from God Himself as belonging to Him?
J.T. That is the lesson, I think. The first part is in that dignified word -- "the assemblies of God". We have the "assemblies of the saints", but "the assemblies of God" is a characteristic word in view of dignity and representation.
C.A.M. I suppose that designation in itself would put them on a different footing from any other assemblage in the world. The word would be understood, in
a way, in Greece, but the political assemblies there would hardly be free from contentions.
J.T. Mars' hill, where they came together to hear the news, would be marked by that. "What would this chatterer say?" is their query in Acts 17:18. And anything Paul said they would question.
C.A.M. You mean legislation is put through on that principle.
J.T. Yes. There is a very significant term in England - "The King's Opposition". In the House of Commons the party not in power has that designation. It is legalised opposition, whereas in the assembly of God there is no such thought.
F.H.L. That seems to be in view here, because it says, "But if any one think to be contentious, we have no such custom, nor the assemblies of God", 1 Corinthians 11:16; as if contention is the work of the active natural mind.
J.T. Yes; there would be the thought in my mind that I will question what this one says, and what that one says, There used to be a great deal of that in earlier days amongst the brethren, but, thank God, there is not much of it now. God has helped us as to unity.
A.R. Why does he say, "we have no such custom, nor the assemblies of God", as if he is speaking about himself and others, and then about the assemblies of God?
J.T. I think it is to stress that his custom is not different from that of the assemblies of God. He did not admit of such a custom. If he had to contend for the truth, he had to; but he did not admit that it was a right thing for any one to have a different opinion. Of course many assert that it is right, and say, This is my opinion, or, That is my mind; and we must leave it and agree to differ. But Paul did not want that at all; the we is to show that he did not. Why should I have a
different mind? If we are the temple of God, we need not differ; we may arrive at one mind. So in Philippians we are told that we are to be not only of the same love, but of the same mind: "that ye may think the same thing, having the same love, joined in soul, thinking one thing", Philippians 2:2.
W.R-n. Being "perfectly united in the same mind and in the same opinion", 1 Corinthians 1:10.
A.N.W. You referred to the imitation on the part of the Thessalonians. Would you say a little more about that? It is, "imitators of the assemblies of God which are in Judaea in Christ Jesus". Is that a matter of imitating assembly procedure?
J.T. I should say so. It is disregarding national feeling. National feeling is a very baneful thing amongst the brethren; that is, we ought to be able to judge right or wrong, whatever nation is guilty of the wrong. To say wrong is right is immoral, no matter who is guilty of the wrong. So I think the fact that the Thessalonian saints were able to imitate the assemblies of God in Judaea in Christ Jesus meant they were free from national feeling and recognised the early ministry. The meetings in Judaea would be the product, largely, of the twelve apostles (Peter particularly being accredited of God), and they are said to be "in Christ Jesus". They are the assemblies of God in Christ Jesus -- a very exalted term in every way -- and the Thessalonians are commended for imitating them; showing that the work of God enables us to link on with what is of God in every locality, provided it has the moral superiority that is worth imitation. We do not say we will not learn from brethren at a distance, or in another country; we are to be ready to learn from others if there is something of God to be learned.
W.B-w. Suppose some new procedure starts in one locality and certain ones go with it, how do we determine whether it is right or wrong?
J.T. By the Scriptures. The Thessalonians evidently determined that things were right in Judaea at that time. According to the epistle to the Hebrews, they would hardly copy them later. The assemblies in Judaea must have lost ground from the way the writer speaks of them; in fact, they were neglecting the assembling of themselves together. They must have retrograded. Persons taught of God would not have imitated them then. Of course, the way of finding out what is right and wrong lies in the Spirit, Scripture being the standard. We have the Spirit of God and He guides us into all the truth. We do not say the assemblies of Judaea were right because they were there, but evidently they were going on with God, because they were "the assemblies of God in Christ Jesus". The very designation shows they were right. The assembly at Thessalonica is said to be in God the Father; this shows a beautiful link between them and those in Judaea.
W.B-w. These questions of whether a woman should wear long hair and whether she should be covered seem to be points that might bring in the contention.
J.T. Quite so. It is remarkable how much contention they have occasioned; but the apostle has in mind that we should not contend about them; we should wait on God and obtain His mind.
A.A.T. There has been a good deal of contention about baptism.
J.T. Yes. We should not contend. Scripture says, "And a bondman of the Lord ought not to contend", 2 Timothy 2:24. On the other hand, we are told to contend "earnestly for the faith", Jude 3that is, contending for the truth in a godly way is quite admissible; but contending characteristically is wrong; as a person saying, I have a different view and am holding to it. Of course, baptism is being used very much for that sort of thing, and I am sure because of that we should
avoid contention about it, but God would help us to bring the truth to bear on souls.
C.A.M. What you said about the Spirit and its bearing on this, is very important. Where a thing is beclouded in the eyes of any of us as to right and wrong, would it not be a just thing to say that our view must in some way conflict with the cross of Christ, as in chapter 1; or with the Spirit, as in chapter 2 of this epistle?
J.T. Disunion is the first thing the apostle speaks of in the way of exhortation: "Now I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all say the same thing, and that there be not among you divisions; but that ye be perfectly united in the same mind and in the same opinion. For it has been shewn to me concerning you, my brethren, by those of the house of Chloe, that there are strifes among you ... . I am of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas". The "I" is emphatic right through, as much as to say. That is my judgment; I am of Paul; who can question my right? That is the first real difficulty the apostle mentions. And as was said, he brings in the cross immediately in chapter 1 (1 Corinthians 1); and in chapter 2, the Spirit (1 Corinthians 2). So that these two great thoughts would militate against the idea of strife and contention.
A.R. While in the main there is unity in regard to the truth, there is sometimes failure in the working out of right principles. Why is that?
J.T. That is true. There is not much contention about the truth in a general way, but sometimes great contention privately as to the application of it; and I believe what dims our vision is that personalities are involved. We think of the persons rather than of the principles governing the matter.
A.R. That is what I was wondering. A matter may come up for adjudication, and one will say, I am for Paul; and another, I am for Apollos; whereas really you are not to be for either.
J.T. No, you want the truth unhampered by party bias.
F.H.L. The apostle says, "Be my imitators, even as I also am of Christ", 1 Corinthians 11:1.
J.T. Yes, "my imitators". That would be as to his conduct. Usually when a matter arises among us, what blinds us is the persons involved. What Paul is combating here is schools of opinion.
Ques. Is that why he says there are ten thousand instructors but not many fathers?
J.T. Quite so; think of the number of schools of opinion you would have if you had ten thousand instructors! It is remarkable that he uses such a large number; it is prophetic, so many instructors governing the history of christendom. They are developed in the seminaries; the fathers are not turned out in seminaries, but through experience with God. That is a family thought. The order of the truth as brought out in Corinth is intended to overthrow the partisan spirit there: the cross, in chapter 1 (1 Corinthians 1); the Spirit, in chapter 2 (1 Corinthians 2); and the temple, in chapter 3 (1 Corinthians 3).
F.S.C. Is 1 Corinthians 3:16, "ye are temple of God", a collective thought?
J.T. Yes; it involves the presence of the Holy Spirit in a collective sense. That is what is meant by the temple. The Spirit of God dwells in the saints collectively.
A.N.W. Perhaps we have to hold the matter of leadership a little more guardedly than we have done.
J.T. The most distinguished leader ought to be able to sit down among the brethren and be one of them; that is needed for the temple to function. The brethren, the saints, are the temple in virtue of the fact that the Holy Spirit dwells in them; it is no theoretic matter. Normally, the Spirit has a place amongst the brethren. We must let Him have place, because if we make much of party leaders, He will not have any place.
J.T.Jr. Does it mean that though there might not be a distinctive gift in the local meeting, the temple would make way for the Spirit to bring in God's mind?
J.T. Yes; God uses whom He will. The gifts are used in the temple; they belong to it. That shows the error of appointing any one in the assembly; it is a question of what a man is, of what is there; the Holy Spirit will use whom He will. Of course, the later chapters, 12, 13, and 14, help us on that line. The thing is to be together as brethren, because the idea of brethren must precede the idea of gift.
W.B-w. How does that work in a general way? For instance, brothers are invited to serve here and there.
J.T. It is a question of what a man is, of what there is when we sit down together. The Holy Spirit will use whom He will. If a brother is invited to a place to serve the brethren (the word invite means that room is made for him in the town), that is quite in order and scriptural; and love will make room for brothers resident in other parts. But in readings day in and day out, week in and week out, it is a question of the temple and of the Spirit dwelling. There is no warrant for setting up a brother in a prominent way. The Spirit will use whom He will; and in that way true leadership comes to light. It is not by appointment, it is because of what a man is. God has set certain in the assembly -- apostles, prophets, teachers, 1 Corinthians 12:28. It is 'set for himself', see note.
E.T.B. If we recognise a gift, is that different from appointing somebody?
J.T. Very different; it is a question of what a brother is as furnished of God. Normally, the saints discern this. One has often said that what is called the canon of Scripture, that is, the books that have been recognised as inspired, has been determined by the saints on the principle of the temple. In the temple, as recognising the Spirit, we know what is of God. Every one taught of God today can see that the books in the Bible we have in
our hands are inspired. The Apocrypha is not, although the king James' translators retained it, but not as inspired. The Roman Catholic system recognises it as Scripture, but the Holy Spirit amongst the saints gives a true judgment. "He shall guide you into all the truth", John 16:13. Thus they recognise what is of God. If we realise that the Spirit of God dwells in us, we shall discern what is of God as it is presented to us. And so it is that normally the brethren soon discern a gift, and he finds his place. We do not appoint him, it is what he is, and the Holy Spirit will use him.
A.A.T. Does a gift function in administrative matters? If you want a judgment about a matter, do you ask a gift?
J.T. There is the gift of government, and there is 'the word of wisdom', and 'the word of knowledge'. All these are by the Spirit, and as existing, they should be available where needed. They are set in the assembly, they have their part in the temple, the Spirit uses them and the saints will make room for them. Thus we can arrive at a true judgment. You can reach the mind of God.
J.T.Jr. It is not like the Supreme Court of this country where the judges have their own opinions, and are often not unanimous. In the assembly the Spirit would always lead to unity.
J.T. That is the principle that is urged from the outset. In the epistles, unity is required throughout, so that we do not assume to have different opinions. Abstractly we are of one mind. We ought to assume that in our minds and to make the most of what a brother says, Gradually, if present, the gift of wisdom will come to light, or whatever other gift is needed, such as the gift of government.
A.R. Would not 1 Kings help us in regard to what you are speaking about? The sanctuary was called the oracle, the ark being there (1 Kings 8). The oracle was permeated with the mind of God.
J.T. Quite so. That is what came out in Numbers 7. Moses would go in to speak to God; but it says, "And when Moses went into the tent of meeting to speak with Him, then he heard the voice speaking to him from off the mercy-seat which was upon the ark of testimony, from between the two cherubim", Numbers 7:89. That is, it is authoritative; and I believe the passage indicates to us how Moses got all his communications. Compare Exodus 25:21,22.
A.D. The writer to the Hebrews says, "Remember your leaders who have spoken to you the word of God", Hebrews 13:7. That would show that their ministry is from the oracle.
J.T. So that we are enjoined by Peter, "If any one speak -- as oracles of God", that is, what you are saying is right. Not that we are infallible, but still in principle you have tested the thing out and what you say is right. That is the ground you take; you are not guessing. In principle you know what you say is right. That is the idea in all these meetings.
J.T.Jr. It speaks of the oracles of God being entrusted to Israel. Is that thought carried forward now -- they are entrusted to the assembly?
J.T. Yes; it is very important to notice that. We have the cross and the Spirit in chapters 1 and 2; and then the Spirit, not by Himself, but in the temple, in chapter 3; that is, He speaks in the temple. That is one line of thought in our subject. We find in chapter 14 what God is: He is the God, not of disorder, but of peace, as in all the assemblies of the saints. That is what He is in the assemblies of the saints. So that if you get a meeting that is not marked by the peace of God, God has not His place there.
W.B-w. "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. I suppose the epistles to the Corinthians would
support the idea of what is authoritative. There are plenty of commandments of the Lord in these epistles. Paul spoke the truth about the matter.
J.T. It is the test of spirituality: "If any one thinks himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him recognise ... . the Lord's commandment".
W.B-w. Certain questions came up on chapter 7, such as marriage, but the commandment of the Lord is there.
J.T. Quite so; you can visualise how matters stood at Corinth when this letter was read; what these leaders would say. Paul wrote, If they are spiritual, they will recognise that what I am saying is the mind of God. They were thus tested by it.
A.R. What he was saying was coming from the oracle really.
C.A.M. Do you not think we are liable in a natural sort of way to feel that this is optional? I have a right to think whatever I like. Statutes and ordinances and commandments are directed against such disorder.
J.T. From the very youngest of us, brothers and sisters, we should never assume to be on a different line from the brethren. Abstractly, the ground to take is that you want to be with them, not only physically, but in heart and mind. Of course, difficulties will arise, and all must be according to Scripture, but I refer to the attitude of mind in individuals in a gathering, that such an attitude would ensure peace. No one is to be independent or contentious. God is the God of peace in all the assemblies of the saints -- a very remarkable thing; that is what He is amongst us, and so peace should be looked for. It seems as if God would accredit the saints in using the word in that way. Instead of saying, "in all His assemblies", he says He is the God of peace in all the assemblies of the saints. How delightful it is even in a meeting like this that God is characteristically in it as the God of peace. Not simply that He ordains peace, but
that He is amongst the brethren as the God of peace.
F.S.C. Going back to chapter 3, it says, "If any one corrupt the temple of God, him shall God destroy", 1 Corinthians 3:17. Does that apply to more than the flesh?
J.T. It does. Corrupt and destroy are from the same original word: the man is destroyed. God employs the word against a man: "If any one destroy" -- that would be a man, an instrument of the devil, who was not a christian at all; and there were such at Corinth. They are Satan's emissaries, false apostles; the apostle was aiming at them.
A.R. Job says, "I had heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee: wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes", Job 42:5,6. Is that how ministry affects persons, so that we see God in the ministry?
J.T. God is doing it; prophecy brings God in. It is a triumph in an assembly that God is there in the way of conviction, but then, He is also there in peace. All this gives you a sense in your soul that He cares for you.
J.T.Jr. Being amongst you would be the local thought, that as the result of the prophetic ministry God is there.
J.T. Yes. In all the assemblies of the saints He is the God of peace, but He is that amongst you; that is, the local assembly at Corinth. How changed the convicted man was! It was a miracle really, and he reports "that God is indeed amongst you".
W.B-w. If you had come to Corinth you might have had to listen to one of those false apostles giving a word there. What attitude would you assume in that case?
J.T. If you were with God you would be very much concerned that you might not come under the influence of that; because, according to chapter 12, a man might get up and speak by an evil spirit. How awful that would be! But it is clear there was power in the assembly
at Corinth. God was there. Prophecy is the evidence of this, as 1 Corinthians 14:24,25 shows.
Ques. Would the power of God exhibited with Samuel when Saul went to him at Naioth, be something like this?
J.T. Exactly; that illustrates what is before us here. They were prophesying: they were not simply a school of prophets, they were doing the work under Samuel's presidency; and when the messengers of Saul came, that is what they saw, and they prophesied too. Then Saul himself came and he also prophesied, showing what power there was, typically, under the influence of Christ. God was there; the prophesying was in progress, Samuel standing as president over the prophets. It is said, "the Spirit of God came upon the messengers of Saul, and they also prophesied". 1 Samuel 19:20
A.R. So that ministry does not merely soothe the mind, it affects the moral conditions of the saints.
J.T. It does. The man is judged of all; that would mean that all are listening to the prophesying, and they see a man convicted. Every one is in the matter, and they judge him; the whole assembly is in transparency. A remarkable scene is contemplated there. The same thing is true of 1 Samuel 19 to which we have been referring.
E.S. Might the presence of God amongst us be emphasised in a threefold way: the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, mentioned in the last verse of the second epistle?
J.T. Quite so; so that we have in the two epistles, communion in three ways: the first is the communion of the Son of God; then the communion of His death in the Lord's supper; and then the communion of the Holy Spirit. All are from the same original word meaning fellowship.
Well now, Galatians shows that a whole district mayTHE SERVICE OF GOD MAINTAINED IN DIFFICULT DAYS
CHRIST AND JOHN THE BAPTIST
THE LAST WORDS OF DAVID
THE SERVICE OF GOD MARKED BY SYSTEM
TRUTH LEARNED IN LOCALITIES IN COMPANY WITH CHRIST
STRANGERSHIP
SPEAKING
THE ASSEMBLIES OF GOD