GARMENTS SUITABLE FOR ASSEMBLY SERVICE

^[p. 178] GARMENTS SUITABLE FOR ASSEMBLY SERVICE

2 Corinthians 3:17,18; Luke 24:1 - 4; Luke 9:28 - 31

JT What is in mind is the dress which the saints take on in assembly service, suggested in the word as to Moses and Elias, of whom it is said that they appeared in glory and spoke with Jesus. I thought that there would be help for us in taking up the verses in 2 Corinthians, which speak about the saints becoming glorious by the ministry of Christ, “transformed according to the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Lord the Spirit”. As coming together in assembly, we take on this glory: we are capable of it as having the Holy Spirit and knowing redemption.

The types show us that the saints put on priestly garments: that is the thought that runs through what is spoken of as to Aaron and his sons; in Exodus 28:40,41 it is said, “And for Aaron’s sons thou shalt make vests; and thou shalt make for them girdles; and high caps shalt thou make for them, for glory and for ornament. And thou shalt clothe with them Aaron thy brother, and his sons with him; and shalt anoint them, and consecrate them, and hallow them, that they may serve me as priests”. We have there clearly set out that the service of God is to be carried on in garments of glory and ornament; and I thought that we may learn from these verses in 2 Corinthians how the Lord’s present service enters into this and promotes it as we are together, we being seen in such dress as is suitable for assembly service.

JHB Would you say a little that would help us by way of introduction as to what is meant by glory in this connection? We have been more accustomed to think of it as relating to the future condition in which we shall be, but would you tell us what it means as taken on at the present ^[p. 179] time?

JT It is new covenant glory in the passage read in 2 Corinthians. The glory seen in Moses and Elias would more accurately be described as heavenly glory: they represent the saints as in heaven; but new covenant glory is more what meets us initially and becomes effective in us down here. 2 Corinthians 3 is full of the thought. It speaks of “a glory which is annulled” in verse 7, that is, the glory of the first covenant as over against the glory of which we are speaking, and of which it is said: “How shall not rather the ministry of the Spirit subsist in glory? For if the ministry of condemnation be glory, much rather the ministry of righteousness abounds in glory. For also that which was glorified is not glorified in this respect, on account of the surpassing glory”. We have there a remarkable volume in the thought of glory.

In chapter 4:16,17 we have a further thought which refers to the heavenly side: “Wherefore we faint not; but if indeed our outward man is consumed, yet the inward is renewed day by day. For our momentary and light affliction works for us in surpassing measure an eternal weight of glory”. That is another thing, but it is the weight of it. This new covenant glory is specially referred to as taken on now; it is ministered to us. The other is the outcome of affliction, what is wrought in us through affliction or discipline: it “works for us in surpassing measure an eternal weight of glory”. So that our prospect is, in that relation, an eternal weight of glory. We are being made ready for it; it is in connection with affliction; but the new covenant glory is what is ministered to us through Christ: “by the Lord the Spirit”. It is a question, therefore, whether we can take it on as coming into the environment of it in the assembly. It is a thought that is always present with the believer, but as come together on the great occasion, that is to say, in assembly for the service of God, it is to shine peculiarly; and the Lord being there and the Spirit (divine Persons all ^[p. 180] present and active with us) it is where it is seen peculiarly.

PJB Is it connected with the thought of liberty?

JT It says so here: “the Lord is the Spirit, but where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty”. That is, the saints sit together in spiritual liberty, so that we are all looking at the glory of the Lord with unveiled face. The allusion is to Moses’ face shining as he came down from the mount; it is glory relating to the new covenant, peculiarly as effectuating it. The thought in Christ being the Mediator of it is initially that He died to make it a fact; but as “the Lord the Spirit” it is His present activity, His present service, so as to make it effective in us. First it is the glory of the Lord; but the parenthesis, verses 7 to 16, contemplates it as the glory of the Spirit, too — “the ministry of the Spirit” which subsists “in glory”.

JHB I am thinking we need to get a clear thought as to what “glory” means. You referred to ‘dress’ connecting that with glory.

JT Well, the Lord Jesus is said to be the “Lord of glory”, which would include all glories; He effectuates all glory. God also is said to be the “God of glory”, and the “Father of glory”, so it is a wide thought. The “Lord of glory”, as applying to Christ, means that He effectuates everything. For instance, He says to His Father: “the glory which thou hast given me I have given them” (John 17:22) — how He did that is not said there; the fact is stated that He gives it, but it is a procedure, a service: it involves His authority; that we are made amenable so as to take it on. So here, it is “the glory of the Lord”, not the “Lord of glory”; it is “the Lord the Spirit”, but “the glory of the Lord”. “The Lord the Spirit” would mean, I think, two divine Persons effectuating the thing. The glory that shines in Him as effectuating the covenant is to be imparted to us, taken on by us, on this principle that we are looking at Him, and He and the Spirit are operating ^[p. 181] in us accordingly. That is the objective idea in it, we looking at Him, His face being unveiled; then the result is “even as by the Lord the Spirit”.

I think if we take in the thought that He is the Lord of glory we shall see that all glory is under His hand, and He effectuates all. There is a vast range of glory as we see in 1 Corinthians 15: “different is the glory of the heavenly, different that of the earthly”, etc. Israel has its glory; even the nations have their glory, they bring it to the city in Revelation 21. The Lord imparts glory to all of them, but this in 2 Corinthians is a particular glory, that of the new covenant; not the new covenant as applying to Israel, for that would be on a lower ground. We have the terms of it in Jeremiah and Hebrews 8 and 10, the exact terms of it for Israel; that is on lower ground, it is divine teaching, they will be all taught of God in that, in the measure in which they need to be taught as here below. Also, “Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more”. That is not so great a ministry as we have here. The Lord will come in and teach Israel what they need to know as a nation here on earth, and He will teach them forgiveness, too. He will minister that to them. But He takes that same instrument called the new covenant, and ministers it to us. It is not made with us at all, but He lifts it up to a higher plane. He is not simply the Teacher of the new covenant, but He is the Spirit of it: “Now the Lord is the Spirit” — that is the thing to get hold of.

Then, it is the glory of the Lord that we are to take on; we look at His glory and He works in us at the same time by the Spirit. “The Lord the Spirit” implies that He is obliged to take up authority with us because we are so refractory naturally. He needs to use His authority. One could cite many instances of the saints missing this glory because their wills are active. The Lord uses His authority that we might take on glory. No self-willed brother or sister can take on the glory ^[p. 182] of the Lord, because He carries it out as we are in subjection. What I have said at some length conveys the truth, I am sure.

GY Is this seen in local companies, or is it seen in the saints as a whole?

JT “We all” is a great thought; it is not “ye all”, notice. Wherever the apostle says “ye all” he usually refers to local companies, but here it is “We all”; it is the general thought. It would mean too that this may take place, not only when we are together in assembly, but at any time; that is, it is a general thought. The Lord is carrying on this service with us always, only it is specially effective when we are together in assembly, when we are most ready for it.

JCS Does the love of God, made effective in our souls, result in the outshining of the covenant glory in the saints?

JT That is the idea. Romans is more precise as to the Spirit’s action: “the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given unto us” (chapter 5:5). That is a precise statement, but here the Spirit is combined with the Lord — “the Lord the Spirit”. Nothing is said here about our receiving the Holy Spirit, or about the love of God being shed abroad in our hearts, the instruction is set in relation to Exodus 34, where Moses came down from the mount with shining face. Aaron and the elders were there, and all Israel; and they were afraid of Moses, they would not go near him. If I am in that state of soul I shall never take on the glory. So Moses graciously got them to turn to him and to come to him; of course, he had to put the veil over his face, but the glory was there. The lesson for us is that we are not to be afraid of the Lord. He is our Lord, and certainly will not brook our wills; but still, He is “the Lord the Spirit”, and the Spirit is most gracious, for evidently “the Lord the Spirit” involves that the Holy Spirit is in the service. So that there is authority and extreme graciousness ^[p. 183] at the same time in the process. Hence the saints are brought under, and the more subject I am in looking at that glory, the more I can fix my eye on it, and the more the transformation goes on.

WSS With regard to Moses, it says his face shone because of the Lord talking with him. There would be an unfolding of glory to Moses, and a corresponding result was seen in Moses. Does that illustrate what you have in mind?

JT Quite so, but they were afraid of him. Here we have the contrast to that: “we all, looking on the glory of the Lord, with unveiled face” — we are not afraid of Him. A truly subject person does not need to be afraid of Him; he has full liberty to look at the Lord.

RSC Do we have an example in Stephen? We are told that they saw his face as the face of an angel, and later he was looking up into heaven.

JT That helps as an illustration of what we are saying. He is a person capable of taking on from the environment in which he is. They saw his face “as the face of an angel” at the beginning of his address, which probably alludes to judicial glory, but it is glory, nevertheless. At the end of his address he looks into heaven; it does not say anything about his face being as the face of an angel there, because it is on a higher plane than at the beginning, where it was judicial; there his face was as the face of an angel. There is not much of judicial glory in the world’s courts, but there was here in the midst of an adverse council — we are told they saw it. But having delivered his address (which is judicial throughout) and finally convicted them — they are convicted, “cut to the heart” — he looks into the heavens and says, “Lo, I behold the heavens opened”, and the Spirit tells us that “he saw the glory of God, and Jesus ...” (Acts 7:54,56). I believe this is covenant glory; that is, it was what God was ready to minister to Israel at that time, the glory of the new covenant.

^[p. 184] In the first six chapters of Acts we have God’s overtures to Israel; He was ready to minister to them the new covenant. Jesus was there. They were said to be “the sons ... of the covenant” (chapter 3:25), and God was ministering it to them; the ministry of the twelve was really that in principle, but the Jews did not want it, they refused it. Hence, Stephen’s face is as the face of an angel at first because it is a question of what is judicial. They are going to be set aside and deprived of all that was theirs for the moment, but then, Stephen looked up into the heavens, and the Spirit tells us that he saw the glory of God; it is up there! The covenant was not abrogated, it still holds good; Stephen saw Jesus standing there, and Paul is alluding to what took place afterwards, that is, the present ministry of the new covenant, lifted on to a higher plane, and now ministered to ourselves — gentile believers. It can only be ministered by One who is the Spirit of it. It is not only divine teaching and forgiveness of sins, but it is a ministry of divine glory and of love.

JCS Would you say that in the refusal of the light that was shining in Stephen’s face there was a postponement (as regards Israel) of the covenant glory, which is taken up in a far greater and more powerful way in regard to us?

JT That is it exactly, so we have Jesus in heaven, and the glory up there — no longer in Jerusalem. All is secured, it is perfectly intact up there; but who is going to get the good of it? What happened to Stephen’s own face? He reflected morally what belongs to the new covenant, as he knelt down and prayed for his persecutors as they were putting him to death. That is the spirit of the new covenant, and that spirit is carried through now in Christ, with ourselves.

WSS Does that come out in 2 Corinthians 4:10: “always bearing about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our body”? Would the feature of the covenant glory shine out there in the life of Jesus being manifested?

JT Quite so. “We have this treasure in earthen vessels” — christians have it in earthen vessels, especially Paul; so the more he was disciplined, the more the light shone, and that is how the thing is carried on among us. It is in those who are subject to the discipline of the Lord, accepting our bodies as mortal, that the light is seen.

WSS “Therefore, having this ministry ... we faint not” (chapter 4:1). This ministry, therefore, enables us to go on in our pathway in the way which the chapter develops.

JT So the gospel Paul preached really took that character; so what we are speaking of enters into christian testimony. “The radiancy of the glad tidings of the glory of the Christ” (chapter 4: 4).

AG “Beholding ... the glory of the Lord”. Is that moral glory connected with His own Person, or is it beholding Him in His present position in glory — or is it both?

JT I think the allusion is to Moses coming down from the mountain. He was the mediator of the covenant. Israel was afraid to look at him, but we are not afraid to look at Christ. That is the point the apostle is making: “we all, looking on the glory ... with unveiled face”. We can look at Him; we are not afraid of Him. It refers really to the glory resulting from the effectuation of the new covenant. He has died to make the love of God effective for us, and now He makes it effective in our souls, and thus we are not afraid to look at Him. There are many who are really afraid; they are not at liberty with the Lord and hence unable to look at this wonderful thing — thus the transformation is not taking place. The great thing is to look at the glory. There is what Christ has done in dying for us, and is doing now in heaven, having sent down the Spirit, who sheds the love of God in our hearts. “The Lord the Spirit” is a combined thought; I am able by the Spirit to look at the glory, and as I do so I take on the glory; the Spirit makes it operative in my soul.

AP Does the veil apply to us?

JT It was on Moses’ face; now the veil is on Israel’s heart, and when their heart turns to the Lord the veil will be taken away; but the allusion in verse 18 is to the face of Jesus having no veil on it.

Ques Exodus 34 says that “Moses called to them”, and they turned to him. Is that something like the service of the apostle here, having in view what had taken place in the first epistle?

JT It really enters into the two epistles, particularly the first. The apostle was trying to get them right, trying to get them in proper relations with himself, which, of course, means proper relations with Christ, for there was really a turning away from Christ among the Corinthians; and the apostle was endeavouring to bring them back to right relations with Christ. Here he is urging them to look at Him in this glorious way. How attractive it is! There is authority there, but it is the shining out of God in the new covenant — “the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ”.

HLT In normal conditions do we get enlargement of this in the morning meeting?

JT It is going on normally all the time, as we are amenable to the Lord. Of course, a man who is sitting at a desk writing an invoice cannot be looking at the glory, but there are opportunities even in such circumstances when we ought to be able to do it. Think of it as often and as long as you can! That is how the process goes on. Then when we come together on the great occasion we are ready for it; everything is in our favour then: we all are to look at the glory then — together.

RSC Would you suggest that it should be the habit of our souls to look in that way, and as we look we should have the spirit of Stephen developed in us,

^[p. 187] and also the dress that is suitable for the service of God?

JT That is what I was thinking. We need to dress for the care meeting; and for the disciplinary meeting — the saints need to be in judicial dress for that. We all know how in court they change their dress according to the character of the occasion. The disciplinary meeting is a solemn matter; but this of which we are talking is the great love occasion, and the Lord wants us to be with Him in suitable attire — “in glory”. So it is “from glory to glory, even as by the Lord the Spirit”. He is serving us to that end.

BP Did the Lord unfold the glory of the covenant to the two going to Emmaus?

JT No doubt. What glory shone out! One would love to have listened to what He said about Moses! Exodus is full of glory: it is a remarkable book for glory. In the instance to which you allude the Lord would cause it to shine. He made their hearts to burn; so that is the idea of it, but then He went in with them, and sat down at table, and took the bread and blessed it, and having broken it, gave it to them, and then vanished. The truth is now out; that is to say, there is the Person in His true garments. He is the One who has effected the new covenant; and they returned to Jerusalem immediately, and were in the assembly as He came in. The glory, we may say, was in His face, only all were not ready for it.

WHU With reference to the garments of glory and beauty of which you spoke, in Exodus, is that distinctiveness in a priestly way?

JT That is the idea. God specified the kind of garments needed. Exodus 28, the whole chapter, except the verses read, refers to Aaron himself, but in introducing the subject at the beginning of the chapter, verse 4, reference is made to Aaron and his sons, showing they are never out of view; they serve with him. In chapter 29 they are consecrated with him. So what we ^[p. 188] are considering now is the kind of dress that is suitable to us as of Aaron’s house.

JSC What is the thought of “from glory to glory”?

JT The fulness and richness of it. We are not limited. The assembly is the doorway into infinitude. We are now dealing with the introduction: but this leads on to glory to God “in the assembly in Christ Jesus unto all generations of the age of ages” (Ephesians 3:21). That takes us further on than this, but it is the continuation of this. So we want to get the idea of dress at the start, to take on the idea of glory. We read in Luke that two men appeared in glory speaking with Jesus.

JTC There are three glories mentioned in John 17, and one has special reference to the assembly, a glory that is given by the Lord Himself.

JT I was thinking of that. John 17:5 refers to a glory that is incommunicable — but then the Lord says, “the glory which thou hast given me I have given them”. I have no doubt that is sonship, but I do not like to specify too much. In imparting to them the spirit of sonship, He had to go through a process with them. How am I brought into sonship? I have to be told I am a son, but that does not really bring me into it characteristically. Because I am a son, the Spirit of God’s Son is given to me, crying, Abba, Father. That is the process. He imparts sonship glory to us through a process. Well, how does He impart covenant glory, which is a lower glory than sonship? It is through a process — “even as by the Lord the Spirit”, that is, I have to be subject. He exercises His authority over me. There is more than authority, there is the Spirit’s power in my soul operating at the same time. That is the practical way of looking at it. Divine Persons are operating to this end. Authority must be there, and the Spirit operating in my soul, shedding abroad the love of God there.

^[p. 189] FC In the last few verses of Acts 7 we read of how Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit”, and then kneeling down, he cried with a loud voice, “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge”. Would that be a concrete case of one who took on the glory as a witness?

JT That is an excellent example of it. That is how Jesus effected the covenant; He died for the people so that their sins should be remitted and God’s law written in their hearts; for us that God’s love should be effective in our hearts.

JHB So this glory, taken on by the saints now, is what only spiritual persons see and recognise?

JT Quite so. We realised liberty in our spirits in assembly here this morning. The saints really do take on glory. Of course, it is not the physical thing; but our countenances do change: we are moved inwardly and there is an outward effect.

WSS One has often seen the faces of the brethren shine.

JT I have, I am sure. The whole scene becomes glorious. “In his temple doth every one say, Glory!” (Psalm 29:9).

WSS There is to be a practical realisation of it in which we can rejoice.

JT As soon as what I am inwardly begins to be amplified by a touch, maybe some hymn of thanksgiving, my whole being is moved spiritually. That is the thought. If everyone is like that, you have a scene of glory.

CDL What do you understand by “according to the same image”?

JT It is Christ’s image we are transformed to, but, being that, it is a similarising thought, affecting each of us, so that we are all made alike. I think it is that. A certain sameness is effected in the saints; we are all alike in one sense, yet each has his distinctiveness.

Rem Gideon saw that in his brothers.

^[p. 190] JT That is an illustration of it. One often refers to that feelingly as illustrating the way the Lord views His brethren. What kind of a man was Stephen? Suppose you asked that of Saul! He said later, “Lord ... when the blood of thy witness Stephen was shed, I also myself was standing by” (Acts 22:19,20). Anyone might say to Saul, What sort of a man was he? What did you see? What did the Midianitish kings see in Gideon’s brethren? They saw them like him, every one like the son of a king. So with Stephen: he was like Christ. No one would be more feeling about it than Paul. He saw Christ there: it was his first great view of Christ as seen in that martyr.

WSS It practically illustrates the passage in 2 Corinthians 4 — the life of Jesus being manifested.

JT So we were speaking of different glories. Judicial glory is an important glory which Stephen represented at the beginning of his address, but at the end it is covenant glory that shines: that is, he was like Jesus towards his murderers, asking forgiveness for them.

Ques Do we only get the gain of this by “beholding”?

JT By being able to fix our eyes on this glory.

AP What is the liberty referred to? “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty”. Liberty for what?

JT As participating in it you are able to name it; the thing itself is something. It is not simply liberty to do something. Christian liberty is something real: “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free” (Galatians 5:1). That is something, but I think the application would be as we are sitting together in assembly; we are in holy liberty, the Spirit of God permeating us.

AP Would it be liberty with the Lord?

JT Yes, and with one another. The Spirit of the Lord is not repressive save of our wills, but releases ^[p. 191] what is of God in us. Every fibre of good is active in that liberty.

WSS There is an entire absence of legal feeling.

JT Yes, you can understand how liberated the two at Emmaus were! They say, We must get to where that is to be enjoyed. They went off to Jerusalem immediately.

JHB What is your thought as to Luke 24:1 - 4, where we get the fact that when they came to the sepulchre two men suddenly stood by them in shining raiment?

JT It is to augment what we have been saying in relation to the idea of liberty, and the glory into which we come through the ministry of the new covenant, as taking on glory. We see how this was in the divine mind at the resurrection of Christ: it leads to the realm of glory. There is just that suggestion. These two men represent what is coming, what is involved in the resurrection. “Two men suddenly stood by them in shining raiment”. That is all I had in mind. At the resurrection the divine thought is presented; it is going to be a glorious state of things, and the assembly is the home of that glory at the present time.

WSS I wondered whether the two men in shining raiment in Luke 24 suggest to us the product of Luke’s gospel, of the glory seen on the mount.

JT Yes, I think Luke has glory in mind peculiarly. The glory seen on the mount is in relation to the kingdom of God. Matthew presents the transfiguration in relation to the Son of man coming in His kingdom; that is future, and it is His personal glory, the holy pomp in which He appears. In Mark 9:1 the Lord says, “until they shall have seen the kingdom of God come in power”, referring to what is needed in the ministry; but Luke has in mind the present form of the kingdom of God, the ^[p. 192] moral side.

WDP Could you speak of it as a sphere of glory? Peter said, “It is good for us to be here” (Mark 9:5). Would that refer to a sphere of glory they were enjoying?

JT Quite so. What is in mind in Luke is the kingdom of God; it is heavenly, of course, but what is down here, the moral side of the kingdom. Hence, we have “two men” speaking with Jesus, before we get their names: the thought of men is stressed.

Ques Is there a connection between what we have here in Luke and what we have in Acts 1?

JT There is a link between the three pairs of men. In Acts 1 it is in relation to the ascension; but they are in white raiment. At the resurrection they are in shining raiment. On the mount, which is really third in order of the three, it is a heavenly scene, but it is what is to work out morally in the kingdom down here. Hence, the two men are said to appear in glory: the other evangelists do not say that. Luke has in mind a glorious state of things, and the assembly is the home of that glory. I am only seeking to bring out the magnitude of our position here in this world, that the assembly is the home of divine glory. You have it in a three-fold way; in the resurrection, the ascension, and now in a scene of glory; it is glory in each case. The two persons represent adequate testimony, and the Lord would say to us, All I am putting before you in these details has in mind a great matter being opened up to you, that is, it is a question of glory, and you yourselves are to be the residence of it, and if you are to be that, each of you must be glorious; you must take on glory, first, covenant glory, then sonship or family glory, involving heavenly glory.

RSC Is there the suggestion that the two men in Luke 24 solved the perplexity of those who came to the sepulchre?

JT That is the thought. If I am dull and depressed on Monday, I am to remember that God has glory in mind for me, for me to enjoy; nothing else is in His ^[p. 193] mind for me, and everything is to bring me to that. The very discipline, that at first may depress me, is intended to make me glorious! Stephen’s being stoned was to make him glorious.

BP There were two here who were in the good of that glory.

JT Yes; it says, “as they were in perplexity about it ... behold, two men suddenly stood by them in shining raiment”. That is the solution to your perplexity, if you take it in. The point is to look at the glory. It is the inability to look at the glory that causes our difficulties.

JCS We need to open our hearts to the shining of this glory. It is very formative, and has a practical bearing on our everyday life.

JT We need to turn aside in moments of perplexity, and retire in secret, or wherever we may be, to look at this glory. It is the solution to everything. That is God’s thought for us, nothing less than that! The thought is seen in Stephen: he saw the glory of God and Jesus. What an outlet from all the perplexities here below!

Ques Does the raiment suggest we are in moral correspondence with this?

JT “Raiment” means what openly attaches to me, what I appear in.

RS Does Stephen come out as a priest?

JT Yes, he was a priest: he kneeled down and prayed. Never did garments of the kind appear more glorious, save in Christ Himself.

RS “That they may serve me as priests”, it should read, not “in the priest’s office” (Exodus 28:41).

JT Notice those “high caps”: “for Aaron’s sons thou shalt make vests” — a sort of inner garment. It is not all show; if you take off the outer garments you find glory deeper than what is on the surface. The word “transformed” is not superficial, but substantial. Normal christians are not superficial; they are substantially glorious. If you probe them deeply, if you attempt to irritate them, you find there is glory there. The Lord says to Saul, “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?” (Acts 9:4) These were the people whom he had dragged out from their houses to prison, and they did not resist him, as James says. The glory was deeper than the surface. Here it is, “for Aaron’s sons thou shalt make vests”. Joseph had a vest of many colours: there was a glory there deeper than on the surface. Think of the will and hatred of his brethren who could carry that vest of Joseph’s to their father and say, “Know now whether it be thy son’s coat or no” (Genesis 37:32), without a tremor of feeling, although they had been murderers at heart, in the presence of the moral glory that was to be seen in their brother. Here in Exodus we have: “for Aaron’s sons thou shalt make vests; and thou shalt make for them girdles” — that is, the idea of service — “and high caps shalt thou make for them, for glory and for ornament”. Those high caps allude to spiritual understanding; not mere mental ability. The apostle Paul prays that the Colossians might be filled with the full knowledge of God’s will, “in all wisdom and spiritual understanding” (chapter 1:9). So it says, “for glory and for ornament. And thou shalt clothe with them Aaron thy brother, and his sons with him; and shalt anoint them, and consecrate them, and hallow them, that they may serve me as priests”. Then they are to have linen breeches, suggestive of purity and sobriety. “And they shall be upon Aaron and his sons when they enter into the tent of meeting, or when they come near to the altar to serve in the sanctuary; that they may not bear iniquity and die”.

JHB Have you a further thought about the two men in Luke 9?

JT It is to bring out the heavenly side; “appearing in glory” — a beautiful form of words. “Two men ^[p. 195] talked with him, who were Moses and Elias, who, appearing in glory, spoke of his departure which he was about to accomplish in Jerusalem”. Someone was speaking just now about the opening up of Exodus by the Lord to the two going to Emmaus: this would be the kind of thing. It is a question of His departure — the word is really “exodus”, that is, the way He would go out of this world. What kind of an exit was it? The book of Exodus is typically what it was. Moses would understand, and the Lord would have opened it up to those two going to Emmaus. “Having begun from Moses ... he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself”. So I suppose the conversation here is to remind us as to what is becoming to us down here, the way the Lord went out at Jerusalem, the moral glory that shone in that outgoing — what sufferings, what entire subjection to His Father’s will! It was the kind of way He went out at Jerusalem, the moral glory that shone in that outgoing, that was the theme of the conversation. We can learn from them: the heavenly glory of these two men, Moses and Elias, the suitable dress they wore; they were ‘at court’, in the presence of the King, the Lord of glory, and they were dressed properly.

WSS Might it be remarked just at that point that the apostle Peter had in view his own departure when referring to this scene of glory? He says, we “were eye-witnesses of his majesty” (2 Peter 1:16).

JT He was going out that way. He says, “Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shewed me” (2 Peter 1:14). How was he going to do it? The Lord had told him: “When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest; but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not” (John 21:18). He is entirely submissive to the will of God in his ^[p. 196] second letter.

JHB Would there be something corresponding, in assembly service today, to this of which we read in Luke 9? It was a very wonderful plane to be on, to be able to speak with Him.

JT They are at liberty to speak to Christ, that is how it is put. It was not that He was speaking to them. It is a question of the liberty these men had with Christ: they are speaking with Him.

Ques Should we need this sense of glory in our hearts at the Lord’s supper?

JT Yes. On that great occasion we are talking to Him with all this glory in our hearts. In our service in assembly it should shine; it is the time for it peculiarly. The memorial side in its place, the covenant side in its place, and the heavenly side in its place. We come ready for everything, and shine suitably in every relation. We ought to shine as leaving our own houses. It is a question of the anointing. We are different in walking down the street. Ordinary church-goers are not the same as “holy brethren” who walk to the assembly. The anointing is what gives us dignity. “He that ... has anointed us, is God” (2 Corinthians 1:21).

JHB Do you think the same thought is suggested when the psalmist speaks of oil causing man’s face to shine (Psalm 104:15)?

JT Yes.

Pages 197 - 403 — “God’s Inheritance in the Saints”. Notes of Meetings in Manchester and elsewhere, 1939 (Volume 145).