THE LORD DISCERNED BY HIS FEATURES
[p. 92] THE LORD DISCERNED BY HIS FEATURES
JT The object the Spirit had in writing the gospel of John is stated at the end of chapter 20, so that chapter 21 is clearly an appendix. Among other things it serves to show us how the Lord is discerned here without a formal announcement. He is discerned by those who, although they were in a wrong course, yet had this advantage, that they had already been acquainted with Him, and so they discerned Him by His moral features.
JMcF What were His features?
JT Well, no one but He could act in this way. The feminine speaker in the Canticles discerned the bridegroom by his hand: she only saw one feature — his hand; he put his hand through the door; that was all she saw, and she discerned it was he. John here discerns the Lord without any announcement.
He says to Peter, “It is the Lord”. I just mention that in a general way, as one great point in the chapter. It is a remarkable chapter, because it begins with the disciples as really in a wrong position, and it is a very noticeable fact that Peter and Thomas are the leaders in this position; men who, as we know, had not appeared in a very good aspect lately. It is important to take account of people who take the lead in any movement.
Rem Referring to Peter and Thomas, the one denied Him, and the other was unbelieving.
Ques Would you say it was dangerous to see such men leading?
JT Yea. It is important to take account of the leaders in any cause or course. What has their history been? Are they trustworthy? You notice in verse 2 that “there were together Simon Peter, and Thomas called Didymus, and Nathanael”, and [p. 93] so on.
WHM It is interesting to see here that if Simon Peter was the one to lead them off, he was the first to come back.
JT Yes; he makes a good recovery. He really was aided into his false position in the palace of the high priest through influence. “The disciple who was known unto the high priest brought him in”. It is very interesting to see the recovery of one who fails when the groundwork is genuine.
Rem There was affection there.
JT Failure in any one who has reputation amongst the saints is serious, because it involves others. Peter says, “I go a fishing. They say unto him, we also go with thee”. The position of leadership is a very serious one in the things of God.
Ques Would you say that this really follows after the light of the assembly had been brought to them in chapter 20?
JT Yes. This chapter is really the filling out of the subject. The immediate object of the writing of the gospel was that the saints might be believers in the Son. “These things are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name”. That is the object the Spirit had in writing; but there was a want of completeness in the scope of the record, inasmuch as it did not go on to the end; and the appendix shows us the end in the millennium with regard to the Gentiles. John’s “I suppose” makes room for the infinite bearing of the ministry of Christ. The negative proposition makes room for the infinite bearing of the Lord’s ministry. It goes beyond what is material, and what is in time. It is an immense gain for us to be acquainted with the Lord, because even from the point of view of failure occurring, you have the advantage of knowing the Lord when He touches you in your circumstances. Often our circumstances [p. 94] become the means of the Lord speaking to us; something happens, and you say, “It is the Lord”. You do not attribute it to second causes.
TMG It shows that you know Him.
Ques Recovery brings us back to the point of departure, but does it not also include a further step in our acquaintance with Him?
JT Yes. Abraham has to go back to the place of the tent and altar where he had been in the beginning. There could be no further progress until he got back to that point, but the Lord does not leave him there. Once He gets us on the move, He leads us on.
Ques Was the Lord bringing Peter back to the point of departure when He said, “Lovest thou me?”
JT Yes, that was the point of departure; but then He leads him on when He sets him to work He says “Feed my lambs;” “Feed my sheep”. The Lord’s dealing with Peter ends with, “This spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify God”.
TMG Peter had said he would follow Him to death.
JT I believe in resolutions in your soul. The Lord holds you to them. I think if there is anything the Lord dislikes in us it is indefiniteness; most believers are quite indefinite.
Rem If you depart from your resolution the Lord will bring you back to it.
J.T., He recalls you to your vow. You make a vow, and that vow is valued according to Moses’ valuation, according to the currency of the sanctuary. We find in the book of Leviticus, chapter 27, that God puts a distinct value on your resolution; and if you depart from that, He brings you back to it.
Rem What marked Laodicea was that they were neither hot nor cold.
JT Yes, there was nothing definite there.
[p. 95] Rem While He may have to discipline one in that connection, still He would support and encourage in what is of Himself.
JT Yes, He will discipline you if you depart from the resolution. The Lord called Abraham out of his country, and from his kindred, and from his father’s house unto a land that He would show him. Well, Abraham answered to that, in time; that was the call, and he answered to the call; but he departed from it when he went into Egypt, where he had never been sent, and the Lord disciplined him until He brought him back. The Lord loves you to go forward, and make your resolution; you owe it to Him to do that. He did that on our behalf.
Rem He said, “I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free”.
JT Yes. And Peter unquestionably meant what he said: he would lay down his life for Him; he meant that, and the Lord graciously brought him to it. Peter was really called to be a leader; but leadership is moral. The Lord is a great Leader; and the way to lead is indicated here. The Lord brings Peter back to true leadership.
Ques When Peter says here, “I go a fishing”, you would look at that as being an independent line of his own?
JT Yes; he is the leader, but in this instance he is leading in lawlessness; to go back to that out of which he has been called is lawlessness.
JMcF Is there not something significant in the question the Lord asked them? “Children, have ye any meat?”
JT I think it is very touching to see that He should address them in such an endearing way, and that He should have such consideration for their need. I believe that if we are to help one another, there must be a ministry of Christ. If there is failure in a brother you minister Christ to him; you give [p. 96] him a certain moral power to judge himself. The probing of Peter did not take place until they had dined.
Ques Would that suggest the ministry of Christ to the soul now?
JT Yes; I think it requires a certain moral power to judge yourself: it requires power in your soul.
Ques Would you say Peter came out a better man afterwards?
JT Yes, he did; he had to go through all this to be a true leader.
Ques You spoke about acquaintance with the Lord. How is that brought about?
JT I think it is brought about through a true ministry of Christ to the soul. Repentance is really that: you hate yourself in the presence of Christ.
Ques Would Romans 12 suggest your thought? “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice”.
JT Yes; you see that your body can be used in the testimony, and you present it to God. It is a living one now, it is not dead; that is to say, the body is possessed by the Spirit of God, and it is worth something. Presenting it to God is said to be intelligent service; in the light of all that preceded it is intelligent to do that.
Ques “As for me, and my house, we will serve the Lord”. Would you say that is a vow?
JT That is a very definite statement. As head, you are responsible to the Lord for your house. It is a remarkable thing how the introduction of the testimony into Europe is connected with the household in Acts 16. What is made prominent in that chapter is the household; the “brethren” are merely alluded to. The testimony was received into the house by a woman; she had respect to the testimony of the apostle, and she invited him to come [p. 97] into her house, if he judged her to be faithful to the Lord. Therefore she held her house for the Lord.
WK “It is the Lord” seems to be prominent here. Is there any point in that? They do not say “Christ”, or “Jesus”.
JT No doubt they always referred to Him in that reverential way. It was befitting that in their circumstances they should recognise the Lord. His authority was really set aside by them in having gone to fish without His word, and in returning to what He had called them out from.
WK It was in that character they were to be recovered. They were to be in subjection to Him.
JT Yes; the Spirit records three times “it is [or ‘was’] the Lord”.
WK They had the inward sense of who it was. Was it by His actions they knew?
JT Yes; He says, “Children, have ye any meat?” And He also says, “Cast the net on the right side of the ship”.
Rem If you depart from the Lord you get nothing spiritually.
JT One of the most interesting things in Scripture is to find out what a leader is. There were princes in Israel; but their moral qualifications preceded the official. In other words, a leader is a leader; he is what he is. In the opening of the book of Numbers, Moses and Aaron are to take the heads of the tribes; they were leaders; they had distinguished themselves; they were not simply officially appointed; they were princes. When you come to Numbers 7 you will find that the leaders were united; and their unity is seen in their appreciation of the testimony; each one gave the same thing. There was unity of appreciation of the testimony, a remarkable expression of unity. I have no doubt that true Christian leadership is seen in this chapter; that is [p. 98] to say, the true leader feeds the saints, and he dies for Christ’s sake; he dies for God’s glory; he is prepared to lay down his life for God’s glory.
Rem That is contrasted in David and Saul; and that is what Peter was brought back to. He had undoubtedly made the resolution to do this, and the Lord brought him back to it: to be a feeder, and a leader.
JT Yes; “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, when thou wart 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”.
Rem When Peter said, “Though all should forsake thee yet will not I”, he meant it, and the Lord brought him back to it.
JT So he says at the end, “Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath showed me”. He came to it beautifully; and he thought of the saints and says, “I will endeavour that ye may be able after my decease to have those things always in remembrance”. He was true to his mission.
Ques Would you connect God’s discipline with that?
JT I think the discipline of God is the means of our preservation and growth. It is a very great thing to be able to see the Lord’s hand in things that happen to us. Something happens, and we are apt to attribute it to second causes; whereas faith sees the Lord’s hand; and directly you see His hand, you begin to think about His head. The bride in the Canticles discerned the hand and she begins to speak of his head, and about his locks, his eyes, his cheeks; every feature is described.
Rem And then she gets to him.
JT Yes; but it is his hand that first stirs her [p. 99] up; she was drowsy, and the beloved withdrew his hand; and then she sets out to find him.
Rem There was fragrance left where his hand had been; sweet smelling myrrh.
JT Yes; it has been likened to the suffering of love. The Lord stands outside Laodicea, knocking. I think the recovery here in John 21 is beautiful; it is complete. The Lord meets them in grace, and without any reproach. Then He turns directly to Peter, who was really the leader of the apostles; and having probed him to the bottom, He goes on to show that the Levites must not interfere with each other’s work. No Levite has any authority over another Levite; the only one who has authority over the Levite is the. Priest. Peter asks the Lord as to John, What shall this man do? That is one Levite questioning about another Levite’s path and services. The Lord says, What have you to do with that? This leads back to the book of Numbers. We find there were three families of the Levites, and they were all under the supervision of the priests. The Levites were primarily given to Aaron and to his sons, so that they were directly under the supervision of the priests, and they had not to interfere with each other’s service; each Levite gets his work to do, and it is his business to do it.
JMcF I suppose Romans 12 would answer to that?
JT Yes; “As we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office”; and “having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of, faith; or ministry, let us wait on our ministering”. Each one has his work, and let him do it.
Ques What is your thought about the world not being able to “contain the books that should be written?” Is it God’s estimate of the ministry of the Lord?
JT It is the Spirit of God through John giving the ministry of Christ its full infinite bearing. It has been said that approach is equal to revelation in Christianity, but it must be borne in mind that that refers to Christ. He only could compass the revelation; we could not compass it.
TMG There is no limit to it.
JT And I think the Lord’s ministry is guarded in that way here. It is, in a sense, concluded in chapter 20, because there it is shown that the object of it was that we might believe; but chapter 21 gives it its full and infinite bearing. It is important to have an estimate of things; you do not pretend to compass them, but you do have your thoughts and estimate about things. John gives us here, by the Spirit of God, his estimate of the Lord’s ministry.
Rem I suppose you would say that nothing that Jesus said or did could be lost, or fall to the ground; it must come out in some way or other?
JT Yes; and His sayings are not local. Epistles were written by the apostles applying to local needs of the saints; but in the gospels the bearing of all the Lord’s saying is infinite.
Rem I suppose it is in the saints that all is written?
JT No doubt every divine thought will find some expression in the assembly. Still the assembly is a finite thing; it is not infinite.
JMcF I suppose our brother refers to the heavenly city.
JT Yes; but then even that is finite.
Rem Your thought is that nothing finite can compass the greatness of the revelation.
JT Yes, of the revelation of God. “No man hath seen God at any time, the only begotten Son [p. 101] which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him”.
Rem The glory of God fills the city.
JT In Hebrews 1 it says, referring to the Son, “Who being the effulgence of his glory and the expression of his substance, and upholding all things by the word of his power”. That is all said of the One who revealed God. Well, we cannot assume to compass that with anything else; that is according to what God is. The revelation is infinite, and the One who has declared Him is infinite.
Rem And in the light of that your soul will worship.
JT Yes; we have a Great High Priest over the house of God, and we approach in connection with the Priest. The High Priest compasses the revelation, and He approaches in the full light of it; we approach with Him. “Let us draw near”.
Rem Our blessing lies in the study of that Person who is equal to the revelation.
JT “Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; and having an High Priest over the house of God; let us draw near”. You have part in the approach, but you do not compass it.
Rem You never could come to the measure of what He was.
JMcF Does the tabernacle foreshadow the revelation?
JT Yes, I think so. The tabernacle was a necessity in view of the testimony.
Rem The Lord is “the minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man”.
JT I have no doubt that Peter, at the end of his course shows what a true board of the tabernacle [p. 102] is; he laid down his life to glorify God. That was what Jesus did. You and I glorify God, each one of us, in submitting ourselves to His will. This was seen in Peter in accord with what the Lord said to him, and the Spirit adds, “this spake he, signifying by what death he [Peter] should glorify God”. The Lord’s word was, “when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee”. That shows resignation. The boards of the tabernacle were of the same wood as the Ark, and they were covered over with gold, only there was nothing inside. Romans sets us up in the wilderness as boards; we are fit material for the tabernacle. Ephesians shows you the tabernacle set up; we “are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit”.
TMG You mean Romans takes us up individually.
JT Yes; you see the thought in chapter 7; Paul says, “I delight in the law of God after the inward man;” and then in chapter 8 he has power to answer to that through the Spirit. I think Romans prepares you for the tabernacle.