FEATURES OF THE TESTIMONY IN THE LIGHT OF THE TRANSLATION OF THE ASSEMBLY
[p. 392] FEATURES OF THE TESTIMONY IN THE LIGHT OF THE TRANSLATION OF THE ASSEMBLY
JT I have before me the present movements of the Lord by the Spirit in the light of translation to heaven. The idea of the assembly’s translation, as in accord with the Lord’s ascension, has been current for a long time amongst the people of God; the Lord would bring it before us and keep us moving in that light, going over the ground of the testimony in its different features. As we take up any one of the features we always find something fresh. The ground that may have been covered before will always yield something fresh if covered again in the Lord’s company. We have in this book (chapter 1: 2) the significant fact that one man falls irretrievably. “Ahaziah fell down”; there is no recovery for him, and another ascends, as it says, “When Jehovah would take up Elijah into the heavens by a whirlwind”, chapter 2: 1. These are two most significant facts in this book — the irretrievable ruin of one man by his fall, and the elevation of another by the power of God into heaven.
NKM It looks as though the feelings of God entered into the taking up of Elijah; it says, “Jehovah would take up Elijah”. Is that significant?
JT Yes; it was a note of determination or decision on the part of God. It had long been in mind, there is no variation in the mind of God, He would do it. What He has indicated as regards His people will come about. The time of our transference to heaven is drawing near, and this passage would indicate that there is to be no relinquishment of energy but rather an increase of energy in going over and covering the ground of [p. 393] the testimony.
HFN Would you tell us what is the difference between Enoch’s translation and Elijah’s translation?
JT I think Elijah’s translation is more figurative of the Lord’s ascension. Elijah is a public man, answering to the Lord’s own testimony, and what is in keeping with it; but Enoch is a disciplined man as his name signifies. It would denote the kind of man he was, and what befits us now, to be in obscurity. He walked with God after his son was born, and this is a very important matter for us today, because at the end of the dispensation the family side, the household side, is accentuated. It behoves parents to walk with God in view of the conditions in the world, so that we should not leave our children behind. It would appear that Methuselah did not come into the deluge, although he died almost the day before, showing there must have been an answer to Enoch’s faith in walking with God after his son was born. The children of the saints seem to have been specially in the mind of God in recent times. The enemy would seek to rob God of victory in the households, but God will not allow it; as Moses said in Egypt, “We will go with our young and with our old”, and then “our cattle also must go with us; there shall not a hoof be left behind”. I believe Enoch’s translation enters into that side. He has the testimony before his translation that he pleased God personally. There is nothing about his public testimony, although it must have been there; he pleased God and he walked with God. But Elijah is a great public man; he stands for that side. God gives us no account as to where he got his training; he just appears abruptly and the power is there at once. He stands out as a great public man for God, and now God would take him up. What do you say to that?
HFN I think that is very helpful.
JT It is not that we want to be public. No one who loves God desires to be public; the spirit of [p. 394] christianity is the reverse of that, we would be out of sight, but the testimony may require that some may become public, or become known, and Elijah represents that side. There is not much publicity now in regard of the testimony. Those who are going on in it are hidden away, but there may be something of the “unknown, and well known” of 2 Corinthians 6: 9, and God would honour that, as He honoured Elijah.
HFN Have you in view the last features of the testimony?
JT Yes, the last features, without saying anything of what Elisha represented afterwards, but just confining ourselves to the idea of translation to heaven by the power of God, and what goes on in view of it.
There is to be no slackening of energy, but going over the ground of what might be called the features of the testimony; because each of these places denotes something specific.
EJMcB Do you understand that, in view of our translation, we ought to go over the ground of the testimony ourselves?
JT I believe so. Meetings such as this, and larger and more general ones, are occasions when the Lord is with us to bring out some features of the testimony. You will observe it does not say that Elisha went with Elijah but that “Elijah went with Elisha”, suggesting that Elisha moved himself; it was not that Elijah told him to move first, but “Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal”. Very much like “Where two or three are gathered together unto my name, there am I in the midst of them”. The Lord is there to help us to bring out something.
EJMcB Would Enoch be more a question of the faith side and Elijah the Spirit side?
JT Just so. This is the public effect. The previous chapter shows what a man Elijah was. He was well known even to the king. The king would not [p. 395] know anything about us. Ahaziah had sent messengers to Baal-zebub the god of Ekron to enquire whether he would recover of his disease, but the angel of the Lord tells Elijah to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria and say to them, “Is it because there is not a God in Israel, that thou sendest to enquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron?” When the messengers tell the king what Elijah had said, the king asks them, “What manner of man was he that came up to meet you?” and they tell him, “He was a man in a hairy garment, and girt with a girdle of leather about his loins. And he said, It is Elijah the Tishbite”. He is well known; he is known by his garments. That is what comes out here, a public man known by the marks of a servant of God, suitably attired in accord with the time.
NKM What do the garments suggest?
JT Self-denial, and John the baptist corresponds with this. It says Elijah was “a man in a hairy garment, and girt with a girdle of leather about his loins”. These were the marks of identification. The king had no doubt about it; he knew it was Elijah.
FK Does it bear on the public position at that time?
JT Yes; the matter required this kind of garment. John the baptist’s time required extreme separation and self-denial, he was a man wholly outside the claims of nature in the power of the Spirit of God. If we do not wear the garments we are not known. If we wear other garments we are in a dangerous position; these garments would save us.
HFN Do you regard chapter 2 as education in view of the formation of the vessel for the Lord’s coming?
JT Yes; the continuance of the testimony, the idea of formation. The Lord would have us instructed in the fulness of the testimony in view of translation.
[p. 396] We do not want to be ignorant when the Lord takes us away; we want to be instructed.
HFN Will you give us an outline of the main features that are in your mind?
JT The first thing to notice is the movement from Gilgal, that is the starting point. Gilgal has a great place in the history of the testimony from Joshua’s time; it was where the twelve stones taken up out of the bed of the river Jordan were set up; and it was where the reproach of Egypt was rolled away in connection with circumcision the second time.
Gilgal is the place which denotes self-judgment by the Spirit, as it says, “the putting off of the body of the flesh, in the circumcision of the Christ”, Colossians 2: 11. It is one of the features of spiritual geography, corresponding somewhat with Luke 19 and the corresponding scriptures in the other gospels where the ass is tied. It illustrates the idea of spiritual geography.
If I am not living in that I shall be living in the ordinary environment as regards either myself or my children, and in view of what we have been saying as to the households, this geography should be known; we ought to be conversant with it. If we are not in this, we shall live in the ordinary environment of the world, and be governed by the features that govern the ordinary course of this world. It may not be in a bad sense, but if, for instance, I have the university, the social, or the business circle prominently in my mind, it will give character to the household, and the children will not be held in the right relation but in relation to the world. But if the household is held on the principle of faith, this kind of geography is in mind always, and the children will be brought up in that environment. However little it may enter into them, they will not forget it in after years; it is bound to come back to them. Gilgal evidently is the starting point: “the circumcision of the Christ”, the cutting off of the flesh, the denial of the flesh.
[p. 397] The reproach of Egypt is rolled away at Gilgal, and any marks of the world there are a disgrace.
EJS Would it correspond to having the interests of Christ paramount in our households rather than anything in connection with this world?
JT That is what I was thinking; we go over the features of it. Our morning readings, and the like, are not stereotyped, but we go over the ground. It is important to go over the ground. Abraham was told to “walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it”, Genesis 13: 17. It is a good thing to “walk about Zion” — to move about on the principle of faith.
TH Do you mean walking about in connection with what God has brought to light in the death and resurrection of His beloved Son?
JT Quite so. There are a variety of features, and the land is very extensive. It is to be traversed throughout. Moses was shown it, and Abraham and Isaac walked through it. I think Abraham is the first one with whom we find this kind of spiritual environment; he lived in relation to Bethel, one of the most prominent features of it.
WP Is there any significance in the fact that Elijah, with Elisha, in passing by these historical places, was on his way out of the land in contrast to Israel of old, who, when at Gilgal, were on their way into the land?
JT If we take it up dispensationally, I suppose it would be the Lord leaving the Jewish order of things and going out; as a matter of fact, He suffered without the gate, but these places each had their spiritual meaning. I think the Lord’s journey from Galilee to Jerusalem had a somewhat similar bearing.
WP In John 10 the Lord compasses Jordan.
JT Yes, and that was after the Jews surrounded Him; as much as to say, It is all over now, I cannot go any further on these lines; then He crossed the [p. 398] Jordan to the place where John baptised at first. He began over again, which would have christianity in view. Looked at dispensationally that is how it works out.
WP When Elijah passed through these places on his way out of the land, was it not to show that everything connected with God’s ways with Israel had fallen through, but that God was going to maintain things in spite of the failure of the people?
JT Quite so. All these things would be taken up in spiritual power through Elisha, but they have their significance and correspond with what we have now in a spiritual way on the principle of faith. Christianity is the dispensation of faith. If I am living personally and householdly on the principle of faith, I shall take these things up and go over them. They are suggestive of the immensity of the field to be covered today in the realm of faith.
GJE Must we start from Gilgal?
JT That is where the Lord starts with us. He loves to see us take the step ourselves, and He is with us from that point. Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal; it would have been dangerous to go otherwise. If He goes with you the thing will be maintained throughout and the other points will be reached.
GJE Is it a test that comes to Elisha?
JT It is to bring out just where he was — what was going on in him. The Lord would bring out what is in us. The work of God is the great thing, and it shows itself in its testing; it shines here in the fact that Elisha would not stay in any place without Elijah.
PH Is it a question of the spirit of Elisha in his desire to be with Elijah and to get a double portion of his spirit?
JT I think it brings out the trustworthiness of Elisha, because he was coming into a place of immense [p. 399] responsibility and was he equal to it? How was he to qualify? Was it in him? The work of God may be going on in us but it is tested. The work of God is always true to itself. If it is not in us we shall not answer to the test and we shall be exposed. Elisha qualifies right through.
NKM It came out in what he said in answer to his first test — “As Jehovah liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee!” His faith was connected with a living system of things.
JT That is it. It is an important matter. Peter said, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God”. We have in this book the idea of a believer taking the initiative and God being with him. Faith is tested in that way. The four lepers (2 Kings 7: 4) were in a predicament. It was a question of life and death. What were they to do? And so they reasoned the thing out as a believer ought to do. You say, the Lord will show me. But you are a subject of the work of God, and there should be something in you to give you the power of initiative. The work of God is such an important matter that He would test it. I do not require divine guidance to take a breath. It is necessary for me to breathe and I do it. So here it is a question of the work of God in me, so that if I am in a position of stress not knowing what to do, I have to realise that God has given me faculties to be used. So the four lepers say, “Why sit we here until we die?” That is negative but it is light. There is light in what is negative. “If we say, We will enter into the city, then the famine is in the city, and we shall die there”. That is also light. Then they say, “Let us fall unto the host of the Syrians: if they save us alive we shall live; and if they kill us, we shall but die”. So they decided thus, and as they went into the camp of the Syrians God worked powerfully. That is what this book brings out: the effect of the work of God. As we take the initiative God is [p. 400] with us. Elisha leaving Gilgal is evidently taking the right initiative, for Elijah goes with him. He never faltered; he went right across the Jordan and came back again. A wonderful experience to go over twice!
NKM The sons of the prophets seem to be in great contrast; they had light but did not move in relation to it.
JT They knew that Jehovah would take up Elijah; they had learnt it from others; they were not in it, though not exactly opposed, but subsequently they become infidel and would mislead even Elisha. They were a dangerous class, yet there are potentialities in them, and some of them may develop well.
But this movement from Gilgal is an important matter in that it is known that Elijah is with Elisha.
EJM Does this question of abiding here answer somewhat to the challenge to the Colossians: “If ye then be risen with Christ”, Colossians 3: 1? You were speaking of the work of God being challenged in connection with Elisha, and the Spirit of God challenges the work of God in a believer; if that is so, certain results follow.
JT I think that is right. Colossians is on the ground of the work of God, not like Romans and Corinthians where it is principles that govern us externally, though, of course, the Spirit is in them.
But the work of God is in view in Colossians, and the Spirit is only mentioned once. That means He is putting forward His work in us, and that is tested by the teaching of the epistle. Is that what you mean?
EJM Yes; Elijah did not anticipate that Elisha would stop though he put the challenge to him.
JT Nor did he wish him to stop; he would have been very grieved had he done so.
PH He tells him where he is going, to Bethel.
JT That is good; there is some incentive in that. Bethel has a great place historically. It is one [p. 401] of the earliest spiritual geographical points. It is where Abraham was, the house of God. Of course it could not be anything else than an abstract principle in the Old Testament, but now it is a question of the saints. Some young christian may say, I never saw the house of God, I never felt it, I was never in it. But if you love the Lord and His people you will be interested in this movement proposed by Elijah. Elisha went down with Elijah. Elijah had said, ‘I am going to Bethel’. If you have never seen the house of God or been in it, go now, and the Lord will show you the way. If you want to get to these points, the Lord will go with you.
NKM Elijah said, “Jehovah has sent me to Bethel”.
JT It is imperative for every young christian to go there, and to understand something of the house of God.
HFN How would you regard the difference in experience between touching Bethel as Jacob touched it, and Elisha’s experience in going there with Elijah?
JT I think all that Genesis affords enters into this, because it is a question of spiritual geography, so that I must think of the whole history of the place and go back to Abraham and learn from him. Abraham was there; he went a long way off from it, down into Egypt, and he was told to come back, and there he reared up an altar. That was the great expression of the work of God in him, when he reared up an altar. Then when we come to Jacob he would teach us more about it. He would tell us how he went away for twenty years, and had a sorrowful time, and that when he should have come back he went to Shechem, and his household got into disgrace there. That is what Jacob would teach me, to go to Bethel and to bring up my children in relation to the house of God, so that they will not be strangers in it. You can understand how this would be in the [p. 402] mind of Elijah; he would dwell on these facts with Elisha.
HFN It is most encouraging. The divine thought increases and enlarges at every phase of the history.
JT Then the next point is Jericho. It says, “Elijah said to him, Elisha, abide here, I pray thee; for Jehovah has sent me to Jericho”. Some young christian here may say, Jericho represents the world. It was well walled when the children of Israel went into the land and Rahab lived on the wall; a person with a very poor reputation. But that is not what occupied the minds of Elijah and Elisha in Jericho. It is said of Jericho that the Lord Himself entered and passed through it. What would have been in His mind when He did that? The history of Joshua would be in His mind, and so I think it would be in the minds of Elijah and Elisha. It was a question of the great power of God in the ark, the Person of Christ, the way the ark was carried round every day by the priests. The question of the Person of Christ is what the Lord is engaging us with now: what a Person He is, who He is! Although He came into such small circumstances, He never lost His personality; He was always what He is. So that Jericho came down; and that is one of the greatest things for us, to apprehend the Person of Christ as the ark of the testimony and what is effected by Him, so that without a word being spoken the world comes down — before that the walls fall flat.
WB Is it something of what comes out in Luke 19, where they say, “Blessed the King that comes in the name of the Lord: peace in heaven, and glory in the highest”?
JT It is something like that: the Lord going into His capital in the greatness and glory of His Person, and the environment that was there. The Pharisees wanted Him to rebuke His disciples. We [p. 403] often find the enemy seeking to get the Lord to rebuke His disciples, as Balaam would get the Lord to curse His people. But the Lord would never be moved against His disciples by the Pharisees; He will not rebuke those who love Him, at the behest of the Pharisees. “Rebuke thy disciples”, they say to Him. What a thrust against Himself that He should alter a state of things like that! The multitude of His disciples were praising Him; it was not the mere shout of a crowd; it was intelligent praise; they did not say, ‘peace on earth’, but “peace in heaven”. It was a priestly touch. They knew what they were saying. Peace on earth was deferred, but peace in heaven was assured; the Pharisees wanted the Lord to rebuke His disciples, but the Lord said, “If these shall be silent the stones will cry out”. That is the situation. It is the presence of the Person and the suited environment.
LB On the seventh day the ark was carried round Jericho seven times. Would that correspond to the prominence given to His Person in the present day?
JT Yes, the thing has become more intense; instead of slackening, the Lord would call upon us to be more intense, especially as regards Himself, because the world comes down on those lines.
EJS What particular phase of the world would Jericho give us?
JT I think it is the world in its ramifications. In the rebuilding of it, God was shut out. There was a curse attached to the rebuilding of it. It was rebuilt in Ahab’s time, and the thought of that would be in the mind of Elijah.
EJM It is striking that this book starts with the revival of Moab. Moab gets out of hand; the family conditions get beyond control, which really means the revival of Jericho.
JT I should like to hear more [p. 404] about it.
EJM Do you not think there is now a very serious form of opposition to Christ? More serious exercises come from those who have been brought up in the light, and have turned away from it, than from people in the world.
JT All the more reason for keeping our families in hand. It is very marked how insistent the Lord is as to the households.
PH I was thinking of John 12, “Now is the judgment of this world”. Is it not in that chapter that we get such wonderful family conditions exhibited at the beginning, and everything in that chapter moves towards the Lord? Would that be parallel with the falling down of the walls of Jericho? — “Now is the judgment of this world”.
JT I think so. We see the moral weight that Lazarus had. Family conditions were set up at Bethany and Lazarus had moral weight, and enters into the power of the overthrow, so that the fact that he was risen became an item of faith.
EJS Would you say that faith and an appreciation of the greatness of Christ are two great principles which should enable us to overcome these things that Jericho represents?
JT Yes, the place that Christ has personally as the Ark and the holiness that belongs to it; then the priesthood and the military service, all under perfect control, no noise, no bustle, no natural effort, all in perfect order. What a spectacle to the Jerichoites! They would say, What do these people mean? they are not saying anything. What is that they are carrying? It must have seemed most mysterious to them. And so it went on and on for the whole period. Then on the last day they went around seven times. It became more intense. The whole position was a mystery. That is Colossians exactly. The mysterious things are hidden, but they are [p. 405] powerful, and capable by the mighty power of God of overthrowing strongholds.
GJE Would you say that in the spiritual life of a christian we all have to come to Gilgal before we can go out in testimony to the world? Do we not learn in the house of God how to carry the ark?
JT We see how it is maintained inside. No one can carry the ark who has not gone into the holiest to see how it is regarded before God. It is as I come out of the house in testimony that Christ has His place.
GJE Perhaps we have not all followed this order. As a young man I tried to knock down the walls of Jericho with my own weight without going to Bethel, but we must go in before we can come out.
JT I think that is very suggestive. There has been much evangelical activity in the past; place has been given to music, oratory, money, etc., without any reference to the ark or the house of God, because the start has not been at Gilgal.
WP Therefore we see popular evangelisation and the world going on together.
JT All these evangelical societies have merged into the world; not that we accuse anybody, but it is important to have our eyes opened.
HFN You have been speaking about the house holds. Would it enter into Elijah’s soul how Jericho had been burned with fire but certain things had been gathered out of the city — silver and gold, vessels of copper and iron? Would Bartimaeus give us copper and Zacchaeus gold? Would they be vessels saved out of Jericho?
JT Yes. Rahab gives us the idea of these precious metals mentioned, alluding to the work of God. We have to understand them spiritually. Rahab is representative of the work of God, she is the only one personally mentioned; but applying it to the antitype, there is much precious metal, alluding [p. 406] to what there is for God, so that we can well face the position. If the world is brought down by our testimony we shall not be without spoil; there will be converts. There must be spoil for every bit of the world that I bring down.
Rem So that the four lepers you referred to went into tents of the Syrians and carried out spoil, and then they went back and made it known.
JT Yes; that is the idea. It is a question of the work of God. So with the battle with the Midianites in the book of Numbers, these very things were brought out — things that went through the fire, the evidence of the work of God. So that it is not only what is negative in bringing down the world; we are getting something and there is something for God.
AP Is your thought that the walls of Jericho had to come down that Rahab might remain?
JT Yes, Rahab represents the idea; she remains in Israel to this day; there is the idea of continuance “to this day”. She represents what accrues to God. As the Lord entered and passed through Jericho He got a son of Abraham in Zacchaeus.
HR Do we get the two sides put together in John 12: 31, 32: “Now is the judgment of this world” and “I, if I be lifted up out of the earth, will draw all to me”?
JT Exactly. God has His part.
WMB What is the idea in the rebuilding of Jericho?
JT The revival of the world in Christendom, or even in a Christian household. Any revival of the world where it has once been overthrown will come under the curse of God.
Rem And it was a Bethelite who rebuilt it.
JT That is very significant; it is a man who has a reputation, like the pope or the archbishop — men who are characteristically leaders of the public religious system, they rebuild Jericho.
[p. 407] Rem Would you say in an individual way such a man loses his own family? The man who rebuilt Jericho lost his whole family in it, his firstborn when the foundations were laid and the youngest when the gates were set up.
JT That is very solemn in connection with the household matter we have been speaking of.
NKM Is not the expression “they two went on” very important?
JT It is very beautiful, I think, “Abide here, I pray thee; for Jehovah has sent me to the Jordan. And he said, As Jehovah liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee! And they two went on”. It is very grand: they are in association now.
WB “And they two stood by the Jordan”.
JT “They two went on” and “they two stood by the Jordan”. I think, as has already been remarked, we should pay special attention to the fact that Elijah says, “Jehovah has sent me to the Jordan”. It is a question of the will of God. “Jehovah would take up Elijah”, and He would that he went to those places with Elisha. It is what God is doing, pending the great event, moving with us to these places to make us conversant with them.
HFN If we miss this last point we shall miss what is distinctly for Christianity.
JT Yes, we shall come short. It is like Colossians, presenting every man perfect, that is going the whole way. “They two stood by the Jordan”. That is the position we want to come to, to stand by it. “And Elijah took his mantle, and wrapped it together, and smote the waters, and they were divided hither and thither, and they two went over on dry ground”.
That is association with Christ. You stand together. We are quickened together with Him.
NKM “Can two walk together, except they be agreed?”
JT That is the question. “And it came to pass when they had gone over, that Elijah said to Elisha, Ask what I shall do for thee, before I am taken away from thee. And Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me. And he said, Thou hast asked a hard thing: 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”. I think we ought to notice this beautiful thought of intimacy — they 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. And Elisha saw it, and he cried, My father, my father! the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof! And he saw him no more. Then he took hold of his own garments and rent them in two pieces. And he took up the mantle of Elijah which fell from him, and went back and stood by the bank of the Jordan; and he took the mantle of Elijah which had fallen from him, and smote the waters, and said, Where is Jehovah, the God of Elijah? He also smote the waters, and they parted hither and thither, and Elisha went over” (verse 9 - 14).
CV What would the mantle suggest?
JT I think it is the external side. It would be typical of Christ in the gospels. Notice that the mantle fell; it comes on us, not as He was here, it is what comes from Him as ascending. It denotes the power that we have which marked Him.
EJS So that is this last part of the journey, death, resurrection and ascension with Christ?
JT Yes, it is being quickened with Him, and then the being it yourself, acting yourself as He acted, so that you yourself go over. This is a question of going through the thing experimentally.
EJS So that your suggestion is that we should move in connection with the work of God so that we do not hinder [p. 409] it.
JT That is what marks the present time. It is what He is doing; He is working universally and the spiritual movements of His people bring the work of God to light. I think that is the setting of this chapter.
PH Would the thing in principle be the same as the putting off and the putting on in Colossians 3? It says Elisha rent his own garments and took up the mantle of Elijah.
JT Yes, that is the idea. He saw Elijah go up, “and he cried ... the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof ... . Then he took hold of his own garments and rent them in two pieces. And he took up the mantle of Elijah”. He never lost that thought of “the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof”; as he was about to die it came to light in the king’s mouth (2 Kings 13: 14).
EJM What does it mean, “the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof”? Is it the symbol of victory?
JT It means all the power of God operating in Israel; not now simply operating in Christ Himself, but operating in the saints. The power of God as in Colossians and Ephesians — “according to the power that worketh in us”. That is the idea. There is nothing new brought in, in that way, it is “the power that worketh in us”.
HFN Would it correspond to Paul’s word to Timothy — “God has not given us a spirit of cowardice, but of power, and of love, and of wise discretion”? Is it more a military thought?
JT Yes, it is a military thought. It is the power that works in us. Elijah asks for a double portion, and that is the form it takes, this military feature, because of what they had to deal with in the nations around them.
NKM Is that what we get in Colossians”Walk worthily of the Lord ... strengthened with all [p. 410] power according to the might of his glory unto all endurance and longsuffering with joy”, Colossians 1: 10, 11?
JT Exactly. It is the power that works in you. I am praying with a sense of that, that God might operate in me.
Rem At the end of Luke He led the disciples out as far as to Bethany and then they returned to Jerusalem; is it in that power they return?
JT Yes. They would not have done that if they had not come in contact with heaven; they would have waited until the next day. It denotes the energy there was.
Ques “Thou hast asked a hard thing”; is it the thought of the sufferings of Christ and the cost to God?
JT I suppose so. God loves us to be insistent in asking great things.
Rem “Jehovah hath done great things for us”, Psalm 126: 3.