THE WORK OF GOD (3)
[p. 400] THE WORK OF GOD (3)
John 11:1 - 5; John 11:33 - 44; John 12:1 - 8
JT It was remarked yesterday that the Lord went over the Jordan again to the place where John was baptising at the first. It says “he abode there” and “many believed on him there” (John 10:40,42). The previous part of chapter 10 shows that He was completely rejected by the Jews. In verse 24 the Jews surrounded Him, for the testimony among them had completely ceased. When a similar state of things comes in amongst us, we need not hope that a way will be made for the testimony; we have then to withdraw ourselves and go out. The Lord here shows the way, in that He slipped away over the Jordan to the place where John was baptising at the first. He begins, as it were, anew, but in completely new circumstances, and leads us to a place down here which is prepared for Christ, as we see it in the beginning of the next chapter.
HD'AC John did not come to maintain the existing state of things but to prepare a place for Christ. Is that not so?
JT He, as it were, led the Lord into the sheepfold and gave testimony to Him. Here they said, “John did no sign; but all things which John said of this man were true”. His testimony among the Jews is now over and what immediately comes before us after this is the family. Bethany represents the centre of the Jewish remnant, but under the figure of a family. Therefore it says on the one hand “Lazarus of Bethany” (chapter 11:1) — he is here expressly connected with his locality, because this town represents the place of the remnant, of which Lazarus is characteristic — and on the other hand “the village of Mary and Martha her sister”.
JOS Why does John mention here in verse 2 what he does not bring forward until chapter [p. 401] 12?
JT You mean, that Mary anointed the Lord with ointment — I think, as the end of this path of service, and in Mary we see it reached.
Rem Therefore it is thus mentioned beforehand.
Ques Was Mary the woman in Luke 7?
JT No. The name of that woman is not given, there is no connection at all with her. There is no reason to think that this Mary in any way resembled the woman in Luke 7.
Rem That is said of Mary of Bethany in chapter 12.
HH Is that Mary not mentioned for the first time in Luke 10?
JT Just so. What comes before us here is, I think, the family, the Jewish remnant which clings to Christ, as seen in a brother and two sisters. It has to do with Lazarus of Bethany and shows that the town is before us and what should be there for Christ.
HD'AC Bethany lay very close to the metropolis of the religious world, but was separated from it.
FWK Separated by the mount of Olives.
JT Anyone who went from Jerusalem to Bethany would be greatly reminded of spiritual realities as he went over the mount of Olives.
GRA What does the name Bethany mean?
FWK ‘House of dates’ or ‘of figs’.
JT I should like to know whether we have really understood the end of chapter 10. The surrounding of the Lord by the Jews and the going away of the Lord to the place where John was baptising at the first are very important.
JOS That would be a return to first principles, I suppose?
JT Just so. Set free from the religious world which sets itself against the testimony of Christ, we begin anew. We go back to the beginning in order [p. 402] to get our principles elsewhere. We all bring with us many of the manners and feelings of the religious world which has become objectionable.
L This world really answers to the great house? (2 Timothy 2:20).
JT Yes, it answers to that today. Paul had said “our way not entirely shut up” (2 Corinthians 4:8), and indeed in the second epistle to the Corinthians the enemy had nearly closed up his way. But if Paul were to settle in Rome, London, Paris or Berlin he would find no open door at all in the religious profession. His way would be completely shut up. He would then have to do what we have done, according to the words, “Let every one who names the name of the Lord withdraw from iniquity” (2 Timothy 2:19).
But when we do separate ourselves we do not merely remain standing there, putting away all that is wrong, but we have to begin again with the first principles. So the Lord went away to where John was baptising at the first and there He abode. It is as if He found in these principles a way out. His remaining there shows that suitable conditions were there; in Jerusalem they were not present. At the end of chapter 7 it says, “Every one went to his home. But Jesus went to the mount of Olives”, but here it says “he abode there. And many came to him, and said, John did no sign; but all things which John said of this man were true”. They recognised that what John had said of Him was true. So we also begin afresh with those who recognise the truth and these believe on Him there.
PL So in Philadelphia the Holy and the True becomes the gathering point to first principles.
JT Quite so. On this ground we have here an excellent commencement to our path, namely, first principles, then those who recognise the truth and then also those who there, in those circumstances,
[p. 403] believe on Jesus. These circumstances provide a great advantage.
L In addition is it really a matter of love to Christ? They came to Him.
JT Yes, He becomes the attractive centre, and chapter 11 opens that up in the family and that leads us to a place where Christ is received and honoured.
Ques Does not the ministry of John the evangelist have in it the special thought of bringing us back to the right beginning?
JT Quite so, and to bring before us the family circle where such conditions are to be found, into which Christ can come. Lazarus of Bethany is there, the first who is brought before us. He was of the village of Mary and Martha her sister. It is as if each one of them gave character to the place.
FWK Is it not striking that the place is called the village of Mary, not so much that of Martha, whose name is usually mentioned first, and then it says, “It was the Mary”? Does that show that in the Lord’s mind a town is characterised by the most spiritual person there?
JT That is really an excellent thought and I hope that we shall hold it fast, because the Lord has an assembly before Him according to its highest spiritual characteristics.
FWK These can come into expression in a sister.
JT But He does not pass by the least spiritual. When Martha came to meet Him, He remained there where she had met Him (verse 30). Mary also came there and the Jews from her house followed her. Then in Mary’s presence the Lord wept, not so much in Martha’s, and He shows by that, that He honours those who share the deepest spiritual sensibilities.
[p. 404] Ques What kind of sickness had Lazarus? Has it a spiritual meaning?
JT The Lord says, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified by it”. These illnesses, that of the man born blind and that of Lazarus, are not regarded as a consequence of the government of God but first and foremost as an opportunity to manifest the works of God and then the glory of God. What kind of sickness it was is not told us, but the Lord says rather that it is not unto death but for the glory of God.
PL Might we expect anything like that today, a sickness for the glory of God?
JT To judge of that demands spiritual discernment. According to John there is a sin unto death and one which is not to death, each having a result in the government of God. But there are also sicknesses and circumstances about which we can say nothing, we can only say that the glory of God is wrought in them.
PL Those are the sicknesses which are most searching to us collectively.
JT Quite so. Sickness of that kind greatly helps our localities. But how thoughtfully the Lord moves. When He heard of it He remained two days then in the place where He was.
Ques Would you tell us what a sin unto death is?
JT In each case that can only be spiritually judged. Something can come in that is incurable; the name of the Lord has been dishonoured and if the person concerned took ill, it would be a question if one should pray for him. But we should turn again to what lies at the basis of the Lord’s service here, namely, a place to which the Lord comes on account of the conditions which are found there. He can come to a place to bring everything into order again, as He did in the seven assemblies in Revelation.
[p. 405] But in Bethany there was that which attracted Him and that should be the outflow of the service of chapter 11, a service characterised by remarkable thoughtfulness on the Lord’s part — He remained two days then in the place where He was.
Rem And that in spite of the fact that He “loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus”.
JT That was the direct basis of His service; it was a service of love to the family.
HD'AC In so doing there came to light a wonderful power for liberation from the most depressing circumstances.
Ques Why is Martha’s name mentioned first, here in verse 5?
JT In that way, as already remarked, it is stressed that He does not overlook the weakest. From Luke 10 it is evident that Martha was less spiritual than Mary.
FWK Could we say that when it has to do with the Lord’s valuing spiritual state, then Mary came first, but when it is a question of love, then the least spiritual is just as much loved as the most spiritual?
JT In most places one is inclined to undervalue the less spiritual ones. Many a time you hear that this or that brother is giving a spiritual lead in such and such a place, but this chapter shows that the Lord took everyone there into consideration. So the Lord can bring forward those whom we perhaps overlook by being too much occupied with the spiritual ones.
Rem We should always consider what is in chapter 1, “as many as received him, to them gave he the right to be children of God”.
Ques Is there not a reference to this in Leviticus 27? Everyone had his worth according to Moses’ valuation, and his valuation really answers to the Lord’[p. 406] s.
PL Corresponding with that, John refers to little children, young men, and fathers.
JT When one is visiting different localities it is very important to be as fair as possible to everyone.
HH The last chapter of Leviticus says these are the commandments of Jehovah (verse 34).
JT If some of us had gone to Bethany we might perhaps have gone immediately to Mary. There are, naturally, circumstances in which we have to turn to the most spiritual.
HD'AC In certain circumstances one has specially to consider the older ones; Martha was the elder. Younger people are often more spiritual, but we have also to concede to the older ones what is due to them.
JT She was the first to serve the Lord; she received Him into her house. As already remarked, there are circumstances when it is advisable to go to the most spiritual. Paul after his release from prison went first to Lydia. It does not say there, ‘into her house’, but “to Lydia; and having seen the brethren, they exhorted them and went away” (Acts 16:40). But here it has to do with the whole family and so the Lord, when Martha comes to meet Him, remains in the place where He met her, and now Martha becomes the messenger to Mary. She did not make much ado about it, she went secretly to her, but then Mary had also to come to that place. So Martha had the advantage, in first meeting with the Lord. He remained there where that happened, but Mary shows what the grace of God had made her, and in that way her spiritual superiority immediately comes to light.
HPf According to her activity one might have thought that Martha was more spiritual, but she was not; Mary sat at the Lord’s feet.
HD'AC Mary fell at the Lord’s feet; she was the worshipper. She had a far greater consciousness of the greatness of His Person than Martha.
JT Quite so.
HH Is this chapter an advance on the 9th, in that this one sets forth the work of God in connection with the family and that one, on the other hand, in connection with the individual?
JT It clearly goes further, for we have here not only the works of God, but the glory of God, and the glory of the Son of God, and on this account the details are also given of what the Lord did at the grave. In verse 40 He says to Martha, “Did I not say to thee, that if thou shouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?”. Then the stone was taken away and it says, “Jesus lifted up his eyes on high and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me”. Now we are on most holy ground, everything that went up to God there shows us the wonderful dependence on the part of the Son of God. One can scarcely find a passage which brings more fully into expression the attitude of Christ as God’s Son in dependence upon His Father, as His words in verses 41 and 42. When we understand this, we can see the glory of God and that of the Son of God shining forth in radiancy.
AM What do the four days in the grave mean?
JT That corruption had already set in; that is the important point. Whether it is four days or four thousand years makes no difference. The Lord Himself lay only three days in the grave. Unbelief is met here in that corruption is no hindrance to the power of God.
Ques Why did the Lord wait the two days when He heard that Lazarus was sick?
JT In order that circumstances should come in, in which He could glorify [p. 408] God.
HPf People could not then say that he was only in a trance.
JT Quite so.
Rem Love for Lazarus would have moved Him to go immediately when He was called, but love to His Father held Him back two days.
JT Yesterday afternoon we saw that the bride in Song of Songs 2:7 note says, ‘I charge you, ... that ye stir not up, nor awaken love till it please’. We see that here; all this delay is love. It was true Martha, and later Mary, said, “Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died” (verses 21,32), but keeping a man alive is not nearly so great as raising him from the dead, also it is not all God’s thought to detain man in present conditions of existence. Throughout the millennium men will be kept alive and preserved from death but that witnesses only to the power of God which can do so. The millennium, however, does not set forth the purpose of God. Before ever sin came into the world, God’s thought was life out of death. Love wanted to bring in that life, therefore we should not urge on love, but let it take its way. Mary and Martha would have had the Lord there before but that would have been driving love, stirring it up. Love in Christ would do far more than that for them, for it was not only a matter of bringing about their relief but of the glory of God and the glory of the Son of God. In that way our greatest blessings are bound up with the glory of God.
PL Have we not in that the great principle that holy consideration makes way for the activities of love?
JT Consideration is important, to give love room to work.
HD'AC The Lord waited two days and spoke of walking by day, in order that one should not stumble in the night (verses 9,[p. 409] 10).
JT Yes, the day had twelve hours. The beloved in the Song of Songs charges the daughters of Jerusalem by the gazelles and the hinds of the field and refers in that way to the rapidity of Christ, and that in order that love may be free to act. We may be sure that love will not delay when it is free to act.
— L. Did the weeping on this occasion make love free to act?
JT We see what follows now: the Lord was deeply moved, His deepest sensibilities came into expression.
HH On this occasion all the innermost thoughts and feelings of the Lord came to light, not only in His sympathy but in view of His imminent death.
JT In verse 33 it says, “Jesus therefore, when he saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, was deeply moved in spirit, and was troubled”. The Lord here was moving forward against death, which lay upon the family.
Ques Yesterday afternoon you said that in David and Solomon the heart and soul of the Old Testament came into expression. Do you not think that here the Lord brought into expression the heart of heaven?
JT Yes, God in reality now found expression, in that a vessel fitted for it was down here to express His feelings. As was remarked yesterday, divine feelings are expressed on earth today through the Spirit in us, “with groanings which cannot be uttered” (Romans 8:26).
HD'AC And that goes far beyond what we have in another place where it says, “Now is my soul troubled” (chapter 12:27). Here it is in spirit.
JT Yes, it is really a question of Himself, of all that He was. We are therefore in the presence of circumstances which go far beyond the mere powers of comprehension of men in this life. This is the beginning of what is so beautifully portrayed in [p. 410] Psalm 114, where in the presence of the Lord, the sea, the Jordan, and the mountains and hills break forth into movement. These sighs were not sighs of weakness; there was power behind them, but a delegated power, through a Man, the Son of God as Man, therefore it says, “Jesus lifted up his eyes on high ...”.
The power of God is exercised in a Man, in the Son who was down here as Man in dependence upon God. He called, “Lazarus, come forth”. He cried that with a loud voice, as He whom God had sent. That is, to my mind, what we should lay hold of. He is the Son of God, the sent One down here.
HH “That the world may believe that thou hast sent me” (chapter 17:21). It is the glory of the Son of God, to act in unison with the Father. This glory of the Son is something very attractive and important; we view in it the Son in His mediatorial position. That is generally very little understood by us.
JT God and man each hold the position which is fitting.
HD'AC God remains God, and man remains man.
HH The mediatorial position of Christ means that He remains Man for ever.
JT Consequently God is always accessible to the saints.
We shall now look briefly into chapter 12. Earlier Lazarus had been raised and set free, as it says, “Loose him and let him go”. Then the Lord comes six days before the passover to Bethany where Lazarus was.
Ques What do the graveclothes mean?
JT They stand related to man in the flesh who has gone into death; there they will be done away.
Ques Do the saints help in that?
JT That is more a spiritual concern; it has a very important application to our day. The Lord [p. 411] does what we can not do, but what we can do, He does not do, for He wishes us to do it. It is good to remember that. Many a time we think that everything is at our disposal, but here we are reminded that there is something that we could never do. Nevertheless the Lord leaves us to do what we are able to. He says, for example, “Take away the stone”, and then “Loose him and let him go”. But then it says in chapter 12:1, in a very noticeable and instructive way, “where was the dead man Lazarus”, that is to say, where he was. According to God’s thoughts he was Lazarus of Bethany, but what a Lazarus he is now, what a change had happened to him. He had been dead, but Jesus had raised him from the dead.
Ques Concerning the stones to be rolled away from the tomb at the raising of Lazarus and the resurrection of the Lord, what was the difference? In the latter case the stone was very great and they could not roll it away.
JT They found it rolled away.
HH “An angel of the Lord ... came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it” (Matthew 28:2).
JT Here, I think, is stressed what we can do. We see therefore in the raising more its spiritual meaning for us. We have to notice, however, that the occurrence happened where Lazarus was. He was found in the place where God had put him, namely, at Bethany; he was not away on holiday. What do the brethren think of that?
Ques What do you mean by that?
JT If the Lord goes to S — -, where would you be? Every one of us belongs to a place and the Lord goes to a place in view of us. Therefore it is said here, “where Lazarus was”.
HD'AC As one who had died and was now living again, he must have been a wonderful testimony in the place. There they made the Lord a supper.
JT “There therefore they made him a supper”. Our thoughts are in that way specially directed to the place. On that account we should not be absent from our place unless there is a competent, godly reason for it. God’s thought is to raise up a testimony locally. Lazarus was raised again in view of his locality.
PL And when John, who wrote the Revelation, was far from his locality on the island of Patmos, he supports this principle, for he was there “for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus” (Revelation 1:9).
FM Philip will also have had a godly reason. He preached to the Ethiopian eunuch.
Ques Is the supper here the breaking of bread?
JT No, here they made Him a supper. The Lord prepares the Lord’s supper, not we.
Rem “Lazarus was one of those at table with him”.
JT We have here the three members of the family, each one in his place. Lazarus represents the dignity, the result of the work of Christ; Martha served and Mary anointed the Lord. It is Christ’s circle in the light of the glory of God. This happened in contrast to the fact that the Jews in their enmity surrounded the Lord. He is now surrounded by a circle of lovers, that is what God has in mind at the present time in every place.
PL In this vessel He administers in every place the glory of God.
JT In verse 9 we see how Lazarus is a testimony and that in association with Christ.
PL Our aim in the loosing of our brother and in letting him go free should be to see him in his locality alongside of Christ.
JT Just so. Then as the brother is seen in association with Christ the religious world takes counsel [p. 413] to kill Lazarus also. Because in his testimony he stood alongside Christ, he must also be killed with Him. That is what is to be expected.
HD'AC And that was what Saul of Tarsus sought to do.