SPIRITUAL SUBSTANCE
[p. 226] SPIRITUAL SUBSTANCE
2 Kings 4:2 - 7; Luke 24:14 - 43; Acts 13:1 - 3
JT Among the scriptures read I should like to refer specially to the Lord’s question in Luke 24:41, “Have ye anything here to eat?”. The Lord directs this question to every local assembly. Something to eat is more than having light, or standing by correct assembly principles or maintaining outward order. Something to eat means fresh and living food. “They gave him part of a broiled fish and of a honeycomb”. The broiled fish came directly from the fire, it was not boiled but had been roasted. In boiling, the fire works in an indirect way on the offering, because there is a vessel and also water between the flesh of the offering and the fire, while with roasting the fire operates directly. It says of the passover lamb, “Ye shall eat none of it raw, nor boiled at all with water, but roast with fire” (Exodus 12:9). That represents the Lord, as on the cross He came under the direct influence of the fire of God’s judgment. After His resurrection He came into their midst and asked the disciples if in the place where they were, they had anything to eat: “Have ye anything here to eat?”. They gave Him a piece of a broiled fish; that was something which had been brought into accord with His death. They had a broiled fish and a honeycomb there. The honeycomb was a mutual production; it had been brought about by many bees which had all worked mutually upon it. They had that in the assembly there; the fish was broiled and the honeycomb was complete. Perhaps the Lord comes to Berlin and asks, “Have ye anything here to eat?”. What could you then offer to the Lord to eat? Perhaps you would refer to the Bible and say, ‘We have the Bible’. Certainly the Bible is of the greatest importance; it is the [p. 227] living and powerful word of God. But the Lord in Luke 24:41 did not mean that; He asked about the food which they actually had there. When the Lord puts this question to us, we must all answer Him as to it.
In 2 Kings 4:2 Elisha put a similar question to that poor woman, “Tell me, what hast thou in the house?”. In Luke 24:41 the Lord asked the company of believers in a place, “Have ye anything here to eat?”, but Elisha asked an individual believer, “What hast thou in the house?”. In 2 Kings 4 we have a woman who has lost all and who indeed is found in debt (verse 1). When Elisha asks her what she has in the house she answers, “Thy handmaid has not anything at all in the house but a pot of oil” (verse 2). She evidently did not know the value of this pot of oil, for it stood there quite unused. It is certain that if we do not use the pot of oil at home then we have nothing in the meeting which we can give to the Lord. Therefore the first question which must occupy us should always be, ‘What have I in my house?’. I myself am the house. What have we then in ourselves? Every true believer has the Holy Spirit indwelling in him. When a believer has the Holy Spirit and knows how to make the right use of Him, then he is able to pay his debts and carry out his responsibilities. The pot of oil is a figure of the Holy Spirit. Many believers need light about the Holy Spirit. We must not only know that the Lord Jesus has sent Him down at Pentecost, but also be instructed how we can make use of the Spirit dwelling in us, the pot of oil.
Ques Do we find that in Romans 8?
JT Yes, at the end of Romans 7 the believer, so to speak, stands on his own feet, “So then I myself with the mind serve God’s law” (verse 25). The believer there recognises and feels his responsibility to God. In Romans 8 he is then “in Christ Jesus” and the [p. 228] Spirit of God dwells and operates in him, so that instead of being in debt he has great wealth available, he has now means at his disposal. If I have nothing myself then perhaps I find another there who has something, as in John 6:9, where Andrew makes the remark, ‘There is a little boy here who has something’. When anyone makes room for the Holy Spirit then he has vast wealth at his disposal. As soon as the believer allows the Spirit to work in him, he can take some part in the meeting. He is then, as it were, a bee and helps with the others to prepare the honeycomb.
Ques Why did Elisha not wait for the answer to his question, “What shall I do for thee?”, but directly asks the woman further, “Tell me, what hast thou in the house?”.
JT We mostly refer others to the fact that we have all in Christ in heaven, and that is quite right, but for a believer that is not enough. In Romans 7:24 the deeply exercised believer asks, “Who shall deliver me out of this body of death?”. In Romans 8 the believer then discovers the Spirit in him. Elisha asked the woman, “What shall I do for thee?”, and then he refers to what she has in herself in her house. It is a question of what you possess in yourself.
Ques Is Romans 7 the broiling of the fish?
JT In Luke 24 all is the common possession of a company of believers in a place but it is arrived at through personal exercises like those in Romans 7.
Ques Do the brazen serpent and the springing well in Numbers 21 answer to what we find in Romans 8?
JT Yes, the brazen serpent demonstrates that God has already dealt with sin in the flesh according to His own thoughts. The fire, the judgment of God has, so to speak, exhaustively taken effect upon it. The brazen serpent is a type of Christ who has been [p. 229] made sin for us, or as it says in Romans 8:3, “God, having sent his own Son, in likeness of flesh of sin, and for sin, has condemned sin in the flesh”. Our souls should in faith hold on to this great truth. The springing well is a figure of the Holy Spirit. In Numbers 21:17,18, Israel sang to the well; that for us is Romans 8. Israel sang, with their faces towards the well, of princes, of nobles of the people, who in the presence of the Lawgiver have hollowed out the well with their staves. The Lawgiver is the Lord Jesus, and under His leading the princes have dug the well. The digging must take place in us, before the oil of 2 Kings 4 can spring up in us. Everything that is a hindrance must first be put out of the way. The springing up of the water or oil speaks of the full recognition of the Holy Spirit in us. When the Holy Spirit has become in us a springing well or fountain, then we also can make a contribution in the meeting. One very often finds, alas! that only a few brothers take part in the readings. In this way the honeycomb, which the Lord is so glad to find in the midst of His own down here, does not come about. If such a honeycomb is really to be completed, then all the bees must take their part diligently in its construction.
Ques Is that the product of mutual labour?
JT Practical working together of all brothers and all sisters is God’s thought for the assembly. The honeycomb in Luke 24 presents this thought.
Rem Bees fetch their food from afar.
JT Yes, some of them have very hard work, we have really to marvel at their industry. When they find no honey on one flower then they go to another. I only refer to that to show that it is very important for us that we should industriously gather nourishment from God’s word. Many a time in the reading we leave the taking of part to only a couple of brothers and all the others remain silent. That has [p. 230] certainly made many readings of little value or completely ruined them.
Ques Do the swarm of bees and the honey in the carcase of the lion which Samson slew show that the working together of the bees takes place in the scene of death?
JT In Luke 24 we have both, the dead, broiled fish and then the honeycomb. All nourishment for us comes out of the death of Christ. Paul in 1 Corinthians stresses the cross and the Spirit. If we have both active in us, then there is sure to be something for God there. The apostle begins with the cross (1 Corinthians 1) which puts us away as men in the flesh. The Spirit is mentioned for the first time in chapter 2 verse 4. The first epistle to the Corinthians begins with the cross, “For I did not judge it well to know anything among you save Jesus Christ, and him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2). Their faith was not to rest on men’s wisdom but on the power of God (verse 5). Then Paul further speaks of the Spirit, who searches the depths of God (verse 10). What fulness the Spirit brings into the assembly when we give Him room and liberty to operate! He searches the depths of God and communicates them to us. In 1 Corinthians 3 the believers are the temple of God, where the light of God shines out and the thoughts of God are to be found, for the indwelling Spirit of God makes believers into the temple of God. In 1 Corinthians 3 we are the temple of God, which is holy, but in chapter 6 our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, “Do ye not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which ye have of God; and ye are not your own? for ye have been bought with a price: glorify now then God in your body” (1 Corinthians 6:19, 20). That shows what the believer’s body is; our body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. In 1 Corinthians 7:40 the Holy Spirit is brought in in connection with the marriage of the believer;
[p. 231] the marriage chapter is one of the most difficult. In 1 Corinthians 12 the Holy Spirit is the administrator of the gifts and service in the assembly, “For also in the power of one Spirit we have all been baptised into one body” (verse 13). In 2 Corinthians 1:21,22, the Spirit is the anointing, the seal and the earnest in our hearts. In 2 Corinthians 3, He is connected with the new covenant. In 2 Corinthians 5:5 He is the earnest of our inheritance. The second epistle to the Corinthians closes with “the communion of the Holy Spirit” (2 Corinthians 13:14). The apostle wishes that we should have part and fellowship in all the blessings which are bound up with the Spirit. We see what an immeasurable wealth is present in the pot of oil which is in my house, and what the assembly can receive from it. Endowed with all these treasures we should really have something in the assembly which we can give to the Lord as food. We should not have everything in the Bible only and carried in our mouth, but should also have it in a living way by the Holy Spirit operative in us.
In Antioch (Acts 13:1 - 3) the disciples really had something. In the assembly there, there were five prophets and teachers, who served the Lord. They ministered to the Lord and in that way they gave Him food.
Ques Was that also the case with the women in Luke 8:3, who “ministered to him of their substance”?
JT That is just what we are speaking about. The women had substance and served the Lord with it. Perhaps a sister may say, ‘What shall I do then? I am not allowed to speak in the meeting’. But if we really understand that the assembly is a body, we should also know how to make use of the spiritual substance of a sister. For 1 Corinthians 12 the body of Christ is regarded as a living entity. If we had a body which could do nothing more than speak, then [p. 232] we could not turn to account the spiritual substance of our sisters. We must not forget that speech only serves to express what is present and formed in the body. The Lord has ordained that the brothers are to speak in the assembly but they express what is to be found there. The assembly is in a certain sense a vessel in which spiritual power and spiritual abilities are to be found; these only come into evidence and expression in what the brothers say. Thus a spiritual sister who receives a fresh impression from the Lord will tell the brothers about it at home and see to it that a brother gives expression to it in the meeting. Of course, if the sisters think they have no substance, then the assembly is thrown upon the substance of the brothers only.
Ques Should not the sisters like the bees go searching, in order to find choice thoughts in the word of God?
JT Yes, that would be good. The women in Luke 8 had substance with which they ministered to the Lord. The woman in 2 Kings 4 had a pot of oil, the Holy Spirit, of which she only needed to make the right use in order to have abundance. Those who were scattered through the persecution on account of Stephen announced in Antioch the glad tidings of the Lord Jesus and a great number believed and turned to the Lord (Acts 11:20,21). In this way the assembly in Antioch came into being. A few persecuted and scattered believers came to Antioch, their names are not even mentioned, but the result of their service was the assembly in Antioch, from which Paul undertook his missionary journeys. With great rivers the source is often unknown, you do not know exactly where they come from, but they gradually rise to great powerful rivers. Such an outflow of power also proceeded from these unknown persecuted believers. If we were compelled by a persecution to forsake Berlin,
[p. 233] and had to be scattered, then we should all be in a very depressed state. In what sorrow must those dear saints have been who were scattered on account of Stephen! If I were driven from house and home I should first of all be thinking of my means of livelihood. Those faithful ones, however, made the laborious journey from Jerusalem to Antioch, on which they were exposed to hunger and difficulties and the cruel persecution of the enemy, but they did not think at all about themselves and their hard lot. In spite of their tribulation they spoke the word to the Jews for whom Stephen had prayed. Does that not touch our hearts? Then when they came to Antioch they announced the glad tidings also to the Greeks or heathens and the Lord’s hand was with them. That should go to our hearts; in spite of all difficulties and pressures we should go on faithfully with the testimony of God. We hear today something similar from Russia, that the beloved saints there are scattered but, for all that, proclaim the gospel. Also in China the believers are suffering much but they go on faithfully with the testimony. In Antioch the hand of the Lord was with those poor scattered ones and a great number believed and turned to the Lord. That was the beginning of the assembly in Antioch. The names of the scattered disciples who proclaimed the glad tidings in Antioch are not given us.
The revival in Samaria took place through a man whose name is given us. “And Philip, going down to a city of Samaria, preached the Christ to them” (Acts 8:5), and as the apostles in Jerusalem had heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them (Acts 8:14). Of the happenings at Antioch, however, not only did the apostles hear but the assembly in Jerusalem (Acts 11:22). The assembly in Jerusalem had “ears”, that is, a lively interest in what was going on at Antioch. They sent Barnabas to them, in order to have a [p. 234] living link with them. Barnabas went away to Tarsus, and brought Saul to Antioch (verse 26). Barnabas and Saul taught a whole year among them and the disciples were first called christians in Antioch (verse 26). The nearer we come to the end the greater our difficulties and tribulations will become. Peter writes, If any of you suffer “as a christian, let him not be ashamed, but glorify God in this name” (1 Peter 4:16). The name “christian” which was first given to those in Antioch, is the name in which we suffer but in which we may also glorify God.
Then another lovely truth comes to light. Antioch is now bound up with Jerusalem by indissoluble bonds. It says, “Now in these days prophets went down from Jerusalem to Antioch” (Acts 11:27). They were not sent out to Antioch like Barnabas from the assembly in Jerusalem to establish the connection. The fact that they came to Antioch shows that the connection was already existing. One of them, by name Agabus, stood up and signified by the Spirit a great famine which was going to come over the whole earth (verse 28). That set the love in activity, which was present in the hearts of the new converts in Antioch. They had received from Jerusalem spiritual gifts through Barnabas and the prophets and now they gave back material gifts to them, “they determined, according as any one of the disciples was well off, each of them to send to the brethren who dwelt in Judaea, to minister to them; which also they did, sending it to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul” (verses 29,30). The link between Jerusalem and Antioch comes very beautifully to light. The spiritual gifts flowed in the one direction and the material gifts in the other direction. Barnabas and Saul had brought back again the material things. As the loops and clasps held the curtains together in the tabernacle, so that the tent of testimony might be one whole (Exodus 26:11), so [p. 235] Jerusalem and Antioch were securely bound one to another. The best proof of the fact that ministry in the power of the Holy Spirit has been received is when brothers with their material substance, commence to serve the brothers who have brought blessing to them. Paul writes of the assemblies of Macedonia that their deep poverty has abounded to the riches of their liberality (2 Corinthians 8:2). Heaven rejoices when it sees liberality with us; it is not so much a matter of how much we give. The poor widow who only put two mites into the treasury, gave, according to the words of our Lord, more than all, “For all these out of their abundance have cast into the gifts of God; but she out of her need has cast in all the living which she had” (Luke 21:4). What delight heaven finds in such a small gift!
In Acts 11:29, disciples in Antioch are mentioned who were well off, who possessed material substance and shared it with the brethren in Judaea. In Acts 13:1, however, five men are named who in the assembly in Antioch, possessed spiritual substance, “They were ministering to the Lord and fasting” (verse 2). The Lord could now come to the assembly at Antioch and ask, “Have ye anything here to eat?”. They could give the Lord food in abundance. I have intentionally gone over the whole development of the assembly in Antioch in such detail, because we are shown in it the divine way by which an assembly can arrive at the point, that the Lord has there something for His joy. Acts 13:1 - 3 represents the ultimate result of this development; in the assembly at Antioch there were these five men with spiritual substance and the Holy Spirit had purposed of two of them in particular that He would have them completely for Himself and His service. The Holy Spirit said, “Separate me now Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them” (verse 2). If a local assembly develops after the pattern of [p. 236] Antioch then the Holy Spirit will Himself choose out His men in that place and such will have the fellowship of all those who serve the Lord in truth. In Antioch there were such spiritual conditions present that the Holy Spirit in His sovereign position as a divine Person down here could speak to the assembly without being quenched (1 Thessalonians 5:19).
Ques Could the Holy Spirit speak so freely to them because they were ministering to the Lord and fasting?
JT Yes. The speaking of the Holy Spirit is the highest point of what we have been speaking about. It is a reward for those who are serving the Lord and fasting, that the Holy Spirit separates them entirely for Himself.