RECOVERY
RECOVERY
JT The object the Spirit had in writing this gospel 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, they had already been acquainted with Him, and they discerned Him by His features.
Ques What are His features.
JT It is His moral features. No one but He could have acted in the way He did. The feminine speaker in the Song of Songs 5: 4 discerned the Bridegroom by his hand. She only saw one feature, his hand; he put his hand through the door, and she discerned it was he. John here discerns that it was the Lord without any announcement; and 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 saints really in a wrong position, they had returned to their nets, and it is a very noticeable fact that Peter and Thomas are the leaders in this position; men who had not made a very good showing 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 Christ, and the other was unbelieving.
Rem It was dangerous to see such men leading.
JT Yes. No matter what a cause may be, it is important to take account of the leaders in it. What has their history been? Are they trustworthy?
Rem It is interesting to see here that if Simon Peter was the one to lead them off, he was the first to come [p. 487] back.
JT Yes; you mean he makes a good recovery. He really was aided into his false position in the palace of the high priest through the influence of “that apostle” who “was known to the high priest”. It is very interesting to see the recovery in one who may fall, when the ground work is genuine.
Rem There was affection there.
JT Failure in anyone who has had 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.
JT Yes. This chapter is an appendix, but it is needed as filling out the subject. The immediate occasion of this 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 that; it goes on to show the end in the millennium with regard to the Gentile. John’s supposition in verse 25 makes room for an infinite bearing; and the negative also makes room for the infinite bearing of the Lord’s ministry. It goes beyond what is material and what is in time. I think it is an immense gain for us to be acquainted with the Lord; even from this point of view. If failure occurs you have the advantage of knowing the Lord when He touches you in your circumstances. Often our circumstances 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.
[p. 488] Rem It shows that you know Him.
Rem 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 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. If He once 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 to him, “Feed my lambs”. “Feed my sheep”. And His dealing with Peter ends with this; “This spake he signifying by what death he should glorify God”.
Rem Peter had said he would follow Him to death.
JT I believe in making resolutions. 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.
JT 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. In the book of Leviticus, chapter 27, God puts a distinct value on your vow; and if you depart from that, He brings you back to it.
Rem What marked Laodicea was that they were neither cold nor hot.
JT Yes, there was nothing definite there.
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 [p. 489] 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. 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, and so 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. Peter unquestionably meant what he said: he would lay down his life for Christ; 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 the 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 one had been called is lawlessness.
Ques Is there not something significant in the question Jesus asked them, “Children, have ye any meat?”
JT I think it is very touching to see that He addressed them in such an endearing way, and that He had 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, and you minister Christ to a brother you give him a certain moral power to judge himself. The probing did not take place until they had dined.
Ques Would that suggest the ministry of Christ to the soul [p. 490] 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; when he was “converted” he strengthened his brethren, as the Lord had foretold. He had to go through all this to be a true leader.
Rem You spoke about acquaintance with the Lord. How is that brought about?
JT I think it is brought about through the ministry of Christ to the soul. Repentance is really that you hate yourself in the presence of what Christ is.
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 come to 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. That is said to be intelligent service; and 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. You, as head, are responsible to the Lord for your house. It is remarkable 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 into her house, if he judged her to be faithful to the Lord. Therefore she held her house for the Lord.
Ques “It is the Lord” seems to be prominent [p. 491] here; is there any point in that? They do not say Christ or Jesus.
JT I think it was befitting that in their circumstances they should recognise Him as Lord; His authority had been impaired; they had gone to fish without His sanction, without His word.
Rem It was in that line that they were to be recovered. They were to be in subjection.
JT Yes; in the passage it is said three times, “It is (or ‘was’ ) the Lord”.
Rem John had the inward sense of who it was. Was it by the Lord’s actions they knew Him?
JT Yes; He said, “Children, have ye any meat?” He also said, “Cast the net on the right side”. If you are not directed by the Lord, you get nothing spiritually. 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; and when you come to chapter 7 of the book of Numbers you will find that the leaders were united; and their unity is seen in their appreciation of the testimony; each 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 to say, the true leader feeds the saints, and he dies for Christ; 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.
JT 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 [p. 492] feeder, and a leader. The Lord says to him, When you were a young man you did what you liked. That is what marks a young convert. But when you are old, you will not do what you like; you will resign yourself to the will of God.
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 — “I will endeavour (he says) that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance”. He was true to his mission.
Ques Would you connect God’s discipline with that?
JT I think God’s discipline is the means of our, preservation and growth. It is a very great thing to be able to see the Lord’s hand; something happens, and we are apt to attribute it to second causes; whereas when faith sees the Lord’s hand you get occupied with Him. The bride in Canticles observes the bridegroom’s head, his locks, his eyes, his cheeks she describes every feature.
Rem And she gets to him.
JT Yes, but it is his hand that stirs her 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 suffering love. The Lord stands outside Laodicea, knocking. I think the recovery here is beautiful; it is complete. The Lord meets them in grace, and without any reproach; and then He turns directly to Peter.
Peter was really the leader of the apostles; and having probed him to the bottom, the Lord goes on [p. 493] 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 says of John, “What shall this man do?” That was one Levite questioning another. The Lord says, “What have you to do with that?” This leads one back to the book of Numbers. There were three families of the Levites, and they were all under the supervision of Eleazar. 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 nothing to do with each other in that sense; each Levite gets his work to do, and it is his business to do it.
Ques I suppose Romans 12 would answer to that, the Levites were the “living sacrifice”?
JT Yes; you have a further thought there. But I think in regard to the body, “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”, and so on; so that 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?”
JT It is John’s estimate of the ministry of the Lord being infinite. It is the Spirit of God through John giving the ministry of Christ its full infinite bearing. It has been said that the approach is equal to the revelation, but it must be borne in mind that that refers to Christ. He only could compass the revelation: we could not.
Rem There is no limit to it.
JT And I think the Lord’s ministry is guarded in that way here. It is limited in chapter 20, because [p. 494] the object was that we might believe; but chapter 21 gives it its full infinite bearing. It is important to have an estimate of things; you do not pretend to compass things, but you do have your thought about things. John here gives us his estimate of the Lord’s ministry.
Ques I suppose you would say that nothing 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; but in the gospels the bearing is infinite.
Ques 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, you know; it is not infinite.
Rem I suppose our brother refers to the heavenly city.
JT Yes; but then that is finite, is it not?
Rem Your thought is that nothing finite can compass the greatness of the revelation.
JT Yes. The revelation of God. “No man hath seen God at any time, the only begotten Son 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; but the Son is great enough to do so.
Rem 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 the Priest. Our High Priest compasses the revelation, and He approaches [p. 495] in the full light of it; we approach in Him; “Let us draw near”.
Rem The garments of the high priest were the same as the curtains of the tabernacle.
JT Yes. And there was the Urim and the Thummim; there was light and perfection; and the heart of Christ is equal to include every saint. No son of Aaron was equal to that. Nothing puts us to the test more than local association with each other; the breastplate is to teach us that the saints are to be in our hearts; they were all there in the heart of Christ.
Rem Our blessing lies in the study of that Person who is equal to the revelation.
Rem “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 fully compass it.
JT You never could come to the measure of what He was.
Ques Does the tabernacle foreshadow all the revelation?
JT Yes, I think so. The tabernacle was a necessity in view of all that Moses was receiving; the tabernacle was intended to be a suitable abode for the ark.
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 is an instance of what a true board of the tabernacle is; he laid down his life to glorify God. That was what Jesus did. You and I glorify God in submitting ourselves to His will. “This spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify God”.
“[p. 496] 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. Romans sets us out in the wilderness as boards; we are fit material for the tabernacle. Now Ephesians shows you the tabernacle set up, “Ye also are built together for a habitation of God in the Spirit”, Ephesians 2: 22.
Rem You mean Romans takes us up individually.
JT Yes, I think so; you see the thought in chapter 7. The apostle 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.