PRIESTLY SPEAKING
[p. 355] PRIESTLY SPEAKING
Exodus 4:22,23; Malachi 3:16 - 18; Malachi 4:4
JT The Spirit of God has been calling attention to the service of God in recent years, and would bring all the saints into this service. The idea of it is prevalent in christendom, but the kind of persons employed in it, according to God, is not understood. Generally the idea is of official or paid service; but the Lord says: “The bondman abides not in the house for ever: the son abides for ever. If therefore the Son shall set you free, ye shall be really free” (John 8:35,36) and in this freedom we serve. That is, we are set free in the understanding of sonship. Hence it says in Galatians: “Thou art no longer bondman, but son” (Galatians 4:7): and “because ye are sons, God has sent out the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father” (verse 6). It is in speaking to the Father in this liberty and intelligence that we have part in the service. So in Exodus, where the service of God is in view, the word to Pharaoh is: “Israel is my son, my firstborn ... Let my son go, that he may serve me”. This statement indicates what was in the mind of God for His people, that they should be in the relationship of sons to Him; and we find at the end of the Old Testament that there are those, however few, who answer to this. God says of those that fear Him, and speak often to one another: “I will spare them as a man spareth his own son that serveth him”. What comes out further in Exodus is that whilst the service is to be carried on in the liberty of sonship, the One who leads in the service, that is the Hebrew servant in chapter 21, takes the place of a slave, and elects to be in that relation for ever. But it is not the slavery of bondage, but that which is exercised in the liberty of love. That is, the person selects that relation deliberately, saying: “I love”. He remains in that attitude of service in the liberty [p. 356] of love, and hence it is not the slavery of bondage at all, but implies that he is entirely at the will of his master; and the Lord, taking that relation up, is clothed with heavenly dignity. In chapters 28 and 29, Aaron is to be clothed with the garments of glory and beauty — heavenly dignity. Then the persons engaged in this service of priesthood — as we are told later — are holy and intelligent, so that they know what to do; and what they do, they do in holiness, guarding the holiness of God and His dwelling. That was what I had in mind.
Ques Would the intercourse that is spoken of in Malachi be found today?
JT It is here tonight: “they that feared the Lord” — not slavish fear, reverential fear.
Ques So we may be conscious now that the Lord hearkens?
JT Yes. The Lord hearkens and hears: that really implies that He has part in the peace offering; Jehovah has His part in that. No one is more interested in what is said in a meeting like this than the Lord.
Ques It is of great importance that we cannot serve the Lord in Egypt.
JT Serving is when you get out of Egypt — “Let my son go”. The proposal was that they should serve at the mountain where Jehovah appeared to Moses; the mountain was Jehovah’s appointed place; it was there that He appeared to Moses, calling him by name twice: “Moses, Moses”. He told him to take off his shoes because the place was holy, but that was after Moses had turned aside to see; that is that the young brothers and sisters do not come to the meeting only because they are invited, but they are interested, keen listeners, to hear what God has in mind. It is then that heaven takes notice of us. And following on that we have the thought that Aaron met Moses there, and kissed him. Those [p. 357] would be two persons who would speak to one another. Jehovah said He knew Aaron; He knew that he could speak well, so that when he and Moses are speaking together you get wonderful speaking. And so it is today with spiritual saints meeting together as fearing the Lord; you get speaking that you do not get anywhere else.
PL In the scripture in the end of Exodus 4 we have Moses telling Aaron all the words of Jehovah, and then Moses and Aaron gathering the elders of the children of Israel and passing on the word of Jehovah; and the culminating thought — they bowed their heads and worshipped.
JT I suppose that Aaron gives the idea of the speaking that is suitable to those that fear the Lord. Jehovah said that He knew him that he could speak well. One would like therefore to hear him speak; and the idea of speaking well would run down to Malachi, so that those saints who feared the Lord spoke often one to another. They would speak well; their conversation would not be light and frivolous; God has no pleasure in that. We are enjoined that our speech should be always with grace, seasoned with salt.
Ques The priests’ lips keeping knowledge — would that be the idea?
JT That is right. What they say has some weight in it. In the fulness of the thought it is Christ — “Never man spake like this man” (John 7:46); they marvelled at the words of grace which came from His mouth. So that an illustration of it in Aaron’s case would be when Israel thought of returning to Egypt, it says Aaron spoke to them (Exodus 16:10). The children of Israel turned toward the wilderness as he spoke — a very important effect of his speaking there. The saints instead of turning towards the world turn towards the wilderness, and see the glory of God as it shines [p. 358] there.
PL Would the forty days speaking on the part of the true Aaron result in that? In the upper room in prayer are they facing the wilderness exercises?
JT You refer to the forty days after the Lord’s resurrection? See how He went after the two on the way to Emmaus. They say: “Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way ... ?” (Luke 24:32). The speaking was not enough to turn them back, but it made their hearts burn. The thing is to follow that up. If you leave them alone their hearts may get cold; but the Lord followed the thing up, and went into their house with them, and in the house He manifested Himself to them, and then they returned to Jerusalem. So that it shows the importance of a meeting like this. If the speaking is good it makes the heart of the saints burn, maybe. Sometimes we have to follow them up into their houses.
Ques Is the result of the turning in Exodus 16 the unfolding of the glory?
JT The glory of Jehovah appeared in the cloud; that was as they turned toward the wilderness instead of looking back.
Ques So we get on these occasions something of the glory, do we not?
JT I think it is God in grace following up the speaking. The speaking is not enough; the real work is done in the manifestation of the glory.
PL So that in Mary coming in with her message in John 20, does the Lord follow it up with the glory?
JT That was the confirmation. It must have been a wonderful time when Moses and Aaron spoke to these elders; the people believed and they bowed their heads and worshipped.
Ques The Lord says to Martha in John 11, “Did I not say to thee, that if thou shouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?”
JT [p. 359] That was what they needed, to see the glory; that is the confirmation.
Ques What is it to see the glory of God?
JT The shining out of what He is. Christ, of course, is the shining out of God.
Ques Would you say that would be fresh light?
JT Well, sometimes it takes that form. Something comes in that impresses you that it is God, and God shining out according to what He is, not in judgment but in favour. This happens more often than we are liable to think. The important thing is to have eyes to see it. What happened at Bethany was the raising of Lazarus — that was the thing there. What happened to the two at Emmaus was that the glory shone in their own house. It took place in the simple breaking of the bread and the giving of thanks.
Rem There we have light again.
JT And their account of it is how He was made known in the breaking of bread.
Rem The people believed when they heard that Jehovah had visited the children of Israel, then they bowed their heads and worshipped (Exodus 4:31).
JT The effect was very pronounced; but what gives rise to what we have been remarking is the thought of speaking. I believe that Aaron is typically Christ in this way of teaching us how to speak — the effect that speaking of that kind has upon the saints. So that when we come to the book of Malachi, spiritually, this mode of speaking has to be learnt. In truth, these persons were the priests. In chapter 2 it says the priest’s lips should keep knowledge; they seek the law at his mouth. Well, we never get anything so commendable about either Aaron or his sons as we get here as regards these people. The Lord hearkened and heard. He heard what they were saying.
[p. 360] Ques I should like to enquire how we get exercise in speaking?
JT That is a good question. We shall need to learn, because heaven is the place for speaking. Paul speaks of the tongues of angels. They must be good speakers, but on the mount of transfiguration the heavenly men, Moses and Elias, are speaking with Jesus. They are able to speak to the greatest Person in the universe. You may say, ‘Well, one is Moses and the other. Elias’, but Luke does not mention their names first; he just says two men. The allusion is to the heavenly saints, the men that are to be in heaven. They will be great enough to speak to the Lord. So that question is important, how we are to acquire the ability to speak well.
Ques It will be an exercise in prayer?
JT Well, that is it — a question of exercise before God, that He might teach us how to speak. Hence in Mark’s gospel was a man who had an impediment in his speech. He was not exactly dumb. The speaking one to another points to what will be in heaven. So that with this man in Mark, the Lord touched his tongue, and spat, and looked up to heaven, and groaned. Think of all that entered into that. He felt it. He groaned in the presence of all this. Then He says, “Be opened”, and the man spake right. That means that his whole power of speech was regulated — no impediment. The next thing is what he is to speak about. I believe that the whole formation in man’s vocal powers is deranged by false thoughts — “their throat is an open sepulchre” (Romans 3:13).
Rem I think we are not able to learn until we have unlearned.
JT Quite so. They could not frame to express the word. Our speaking apparatus is so deranged by false thoughts and words passing through that the Lord has to put it right that we might frame to speak properly.
PL In contrast we have: “His lips lilies, dropping liquid myrrh, ... his mouth is most sweet” (Song of Songs 5:13,16).
Rem We should be speaking in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.
JT Yes, we must learn how to frame to convey heavenly thoughts and heavenly impressions, a pure language. It was said in Nehemiah’s time that they could not speak the Jews’ language. Evil associations hinder our speaking the language of Canaan. If we wish to speak right we must hear right. “They that feared Jehovah spoke often one to another”. We are not told what they said. It was the kind of speaking that pleased God. He hearkened and heard. And then it says: “A book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared Jehovah, and that thought upon his name”. And He says, “They shall be unto me a peculiar treasure ... and I will spare them as a man spareth his own son that serveth him”. So that is why I think we might look at these verses in connection with Exodus 4. A son is in mind; and the thought of God is carried through, and appears at the close, however few there may be of those that fear Him.
Ques Do you apply that to the saints today?
JT Yes, as they come together in the fear of the Lord. They took to heart what God said. You see what was going on here. Jehovah had said, “Your words have been stout against me”. And they said: “What have we been speaking against thee?” They had said it was vain to serve God, there is no profit in it. They were calling the proud happy, and so on. This was going on at the time, and it says, “They that feared Jehovah spoke ...”..
Ques Would Anna in Luke’s gospel be included in this company? She spoke of Him.
JT She is the continuation of this company in the New Testament. Then you see in Elizabeth and Mary, the Lord’s mother, what excellent power of speaking they had.
Ques Those in Malachi were decidedly before God and felt their responsibility?
JT What we ought to say is that God has His true priests here in the last days, and that He is pleased with them.
Ques Do you connect the priests with keeping His charge (Malachi 3:14)?
JT Yes, they were for that — keeping the charge of Jehovah. Now in the fourth chapter the verse read calls attention to God’s rights in all this, so that whilst our meetings may be happy and our conversation priestly, and delightful to God, we do not forget the great principles that govern the dispensation — “Remember the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, the statutes and ordinances”. God says, as it were, I can trust these people, and I put it on them now to take up the full thought of the dispensation, that they may have that in mind. So that they were directed back to Horeb and to Moses His servant. He stands out as the model servant, faithful in all God’s house. That is the reason why the Lord for the last hundred years has been stressing the idea of the service of God, and the principles that govern it. The true saints will leave out nothing, neither the statutes (the fixed things), nor the ordinances (which are more details).
Rem It is interesting that the same words were used in Exodus 19:8 and chapter 24:3, before the law and after?
JT Some christians think that certain things are non-essential. The order of the Lord’s supper, the way we address the Lord then, and addressing the Father — these are matters of great importance if we are to understand the service of God, and we should [p. 363] not think them of little importance. We should see that they have their place.
Rem I have often thought of Revelation 22, where it says: “The throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him”.
JT So you see in the prophet Ezekiel, that he is taken to see the frame of a city, but when he arrives there it is not the city brought before him, but the house. The city is there, of course, as a background, but what is in mind is the house, and the service of the house, and these same people, the sons of Zadok, these are the people. Everything is on the principle of the most careful measurement. The priests are the sons of Zadok. He was the priest who served under David, the great head, who knew what to do.
PL And would the remembering of the law of Moses, the commandments of the Lord, make necessary the working of these things out in an evil day (chapter 4:5), after the law of the house is set out? In 1 Corinthians 14 you have room made for the prophetic word. Is that made needful when these commandments are taken up and worked out?
JT The prophetic word is the power to turn, “He shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers” (Malachi 4:6). You feel the need of that today. The households are so deranged. When the will of God is in question what is needful is a powerful prophetic ministry.
PL “But I beseech you, brethren, ye know the house of Stephanas, that it is the first-fruits of Achaia” (1 Corinthians 16:15). The hearts of the fathers and children were together there.
JT All this is in keeping, I think, with David. The service of God brings in the families of the Levites particularly, and the priests.
Ques What do you mean by the necessity for the prophetic [p. 364] word?
JT The Lord graciously provides in calling attention to these things; and then the prophetic ministry is a ministry of power. It is not simply that it teaches, but it says that he shall turn the hearts of the fathers to the children.
PL So that it says the secrets of his heart are made manifest under the prophetic word in 1 Corinthians 14. Also the woman in John 4, her heart was laid bare: “I perceive that thou art a prophet”.
JT So that a great deal is said not only of what the prophet taught but of the men themselves, what they were. I suppose Elijah represents that side.
Ques Is that seen in Haggai and Zechariah — the building went on?
JT These two prophets not only prophesied but they gave a lead in the thing to be done. They worked themselves; they built. Haggai is the only book, I think, in which we get actual dates given from the time the word is given until it took effect. The first great message of Haggai took effect in twenty-three days.
Ques Is it in a certain sense the call of repentance that would flow out of the mouth of the prophet when Nathan came to David? He said, “Thou art the man!” (2 Samuel 12:7).
JT The general thought of prophetic ministry is that there is power in it — God is there. As the prophetic word is seen in Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, in these last days peculiar light from God is given so as to work out the law given by Moses and all that pertains to spiritual order in a day of ruin. Elijah peculiarly stands for power — “There shall not be dew nor rain these years, except by my word” (1 Kings 17:1). It should raise an exercise in our localities unless this word of power is found there.