PRIESTHOOD AND SERVICE (3)
PRIESTHOOD AND SERVICE (3)
JT Verse 19 shows how christians can develop in priesthood; it says that “Mary kept all these things in her mind, pondering them in her heart”. We ought to keep within us and ponder in our heart what God brings before us by His Spirit. The apostle Paul says to Timothy, “Think of what I say, for the Lord will give thee understanding in all things”, (2 Timothy 2:7).
Rem That is a very encouraging word for all those who are searching for their way in the religious confusion of this world.
JT The Scriptures speak of “an honest and good heart”; those who hear and keep the word in an honest and good heart are those who “bring forth fruit with patience”, (Luke 8:15). It is therefore a question of hearing the word of God and putting it into practice: the word is received and put into practice with intelligence, and so fruit is produced with patience.
Ques Why does it say that fruit is brought forth “with patience”?
JT It is Luke who speaks of that in his account of the parable of the sower. Matthew gives the effective result — hundred, sixty and thirty, while Mark gives the result the other way round — thirty, sixty and hundred. In the parable itself, Luke speaks of a hundred-fold, but in his explanation he omits the hundred-fold return, as if he intended to bring us into agreement with God in the gospel. It is a question of bringing forth fruit with patience, and God has marvellous patience with us all, and we should be in accord with Him in bearing fruit.
Rem We are often impatient in seeking the good path, therefore we are often disappointed; but God is a God of patience and we must be in accord with Him.
EP God speaks to us, and His thoughts made [p. 19] known little by little; He does not tell us everything at once.
TD Why does the fruit diminish in the parable in Matthew’s gospel and increase in Mark’s?
JT Matthew gives the history of the assembly, but Mark gives service. In vessels which have failed, the end is better than the beginning, as in the case of Mark himself, and Jacob, and Peter, and particularly of Paul, whose ministry was deeper and more powerful when he was a prisoner than at the beginning, having gone to Jerusalem against the testimony given by the Spirit.
TD Could it be said that there is increase now as to the Spirit’s ministry?
JT That could be said in relation to individual service, as in Mark, but not concerning what is collective, as in Matthew.
TD At Pentecost there was much light, but men were not faithful so that there has been decrease in the testimony. Now is there recovery of all that there was at the beginning?
JT Fruit is seen in the quality of what is formed in the saints, rather than in the quantity. John makes us see in his gospel how God takes account of weight and measure, as we read of Nicodemus, for example, who brought “a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds weight”, (John 19:39). That was pleasing, but it was the contribution of a disciple living in secret. Take now the case of Mary of Bethany, who took “a pound of ointment of pure nard of great price” (John 12:3); one pound against a hundred, but John likes to dwell on the importance of quality. I am sure that, at the end, we can expect that.
EP If we think according to God and not according to man, there will be increase.
JT Creation as a whole suggests quantity to us. There were many gifts at Corinth, but there does not [p. 20] seem to have been much love, now the “greater of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13:13). We can have quantity and lack love; what we have in quantity may show deterioration, like “wood, grass, straw” (1 Corinthians 3:12), while things in small quantity are precious. We should notice here that “Mary kept all these things in her mind, pondering them in her heart”. That is Mary’s spiritual history, and is that of a young believer who listens to what is said of Jesus, who receives these things and keeps them and ponders them in the heart; that is the way of progress. It is good to be at meetings such as these, but do we keep all that we receive and ponder it in our hearts? That is the essential.
Then there is “the law of the Lord”, verse 23. Mary and Joseph brought the little Child to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord “as it is written in the law of the Lord”. Then in verse 25 a priest appears in the temple. As we increase in the knowledge of Christ, we come to the temple and understand that it is there that there is a true appreciation of Him. Simeon gives the thought of a true priest; it is said of him that he was “just and pious, awaiting the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it was divinely communicated to him by the Holy Spirit that he should not see death before he should see the Lord’s Christ”. It says then, “And he came in the Spirit into the temple”; we have now a man “just and pious” on whom is the Holy Spirit. He wears, so to say, priestly garments; the priest was to be clothed with righteousness (Psalm 132:9), and he was to be anointed (Exodus 40:13,15). Simeon is really anointed, since the Holy Spirit is upon him; he received his communications by the Holy Spirit; “it was divinely communicated to him by the Holy Spirit”, and prepared in this way, “he came in the Spirit into the temple”. These are traits which we must note for they indicate what a priest is according to God; there is much more with Simeon, in this connection, than with Mary and with the shepherds.
GM [p. 21] It is very important to notice the number of times that the Holy Spirit is mentioned in connection with Simeon.
JT Yes, all that is to draw our attention to what priesthood is according to God.
Rem Such a person will hold nothing in his arms other than Christ.
EP From the moment when the Spirit told him that he should not see death before seeing the Lord, Christ would be distinctly in his heart.
HCh The Holy Spirit operates to lead us to Christ and to occupy us with Him.
JT Then we shall be able to speak of Him in a comely way, as we see here with Simeon.
TD It seems to me that we should also notice that the Spirit Himself spoke to Simeon, while it was an angel who spoke to the shepherds.
JT We are now in surroundings where God speaks by His Spirit. Priests should be brought near to God. When Aaron and his sons were to be anointed, they had to be brought near (Exodus 40:12,14); they were brought to the entrance of the tent of meeting: “Thou shalt bring Aaron and his sons near, at the entrance of the tent of meeting”. That signifies that service was not to be carried on at a distance, but in nearness. We have been brought nigh by the blood of Christ, and we have access to the Father by one Spirit. Righteousness and piety are what qualify for priestly service. When the remnant was recovered in the days of Nehemiah, coats were given for the priests (Nehemiah 7). It is not enough to know that one is a priest because one is a believer, but there must be the wearing of the priestly garment, as David says, “Let thy priests be clothed with righteousness”, (Psalm 132:9). How can we claim to be anointed and to have communications by the Spirit, if we are not clothed? This thought of the garments belongs to our family relations, our business and so [p. 22] on.
PG In all that, it requires that the heart be concerned, not only the intelligence.
Ques Could it be said that we receive so few divine communications because we are lacking in righteousness and piety?
JT If I am not wearing the priestly garments, it may be that God speaks to me, but to blame me. This was the case at Corinth, where the apostle could not speak to the believers as spiritual men.
Rem Often it seems to us that we should receive the answer to our prayers, but we should be concerned whether our spiritual state is in accord with the prayers we are making.
JT It says, “Lifting up pious hands”, (1 Timothy 2:8).
HCh I should be glad if you would say something more on what characterises the priests’ garments.
JT It is righteousness and piety. It is a question of practising righteousness, as John says, “If ye know that he is righteous, know that every one who practises righteousness is begotten of him”, (1 John 2:29). There is now a true priest in the temple ready to receive the precious Child; we have heard the shepherds and the angel speak of the Lord Jesus, let us listen to what this priest says of Him. He is ruled in everything by the word of God, even in what concerns his death. The better we know God, the better we commit ourselves to Him, whether we should live down here a long or short time. Henceforth God has Christ before Him in the realm of testimony and Simeon can depart. He blesses God and says, “Lord, now thou lettest thy bondman go, according to thy word, in peace; for mine eyes have seen thy salvation”. He is ready to depart according to God’s word; in the Child he recognises the salvation of God, and, set free from all national feeling, he says, “mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all peoples; a light for revelation of the gentiles and the glory of thy people Israel”. A true priest is not affected by his nation; Simeon places the nations before Israel. National sentiments and prejudices are very damaging to the testimony.
EP If we always put the Lord in the first place, we shall lose all that is national. The Lord’s will is the same for all His own.
JT That thought agrees with the epistle to the Romans, where we see the nations first coming into blessing, and then the Jews. Paul, like a man unaffected by what is national, could present the nations as an offering to God. In divine things we ought to keep ourselves from what marks us in any particular way. The apostle Paul wished to be a curse from the Christ for his brethren according to flesh, Israel, and yet he speaks in this very epistle of his service in order that the offering up of the nations might be acceptable to God, so free was he of what characterised him naturally.
Rem The danger is of having in the hands a little of what is not of Christ.
CL Simeon’s hands were full of Christ.
JT He was a consecrated priest (Exodus 29); the priests received the offerings and waved them before Jehovah. What was in the hands was for God; there was nothing but what was for God. This priest here held the Lord Jesus in his arms, and, set free from all national sentiment, he can speak of Him, “mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all peoples; a light for revelation of the gentiles and the glory of thy people Israel”.
Rem The shepherds saw the Lord, and Simeon has not only seen Him but has taken Him into his arms, so finding himself in relation with God and with God’s interests down here.
JT “He received him into his arms, and blessed God”. It says that it was the parents who brought in the little Child; “And his father and mother wondered [p. 24] at the things which were said concerning him”, they were attentive to all that was said about Jesus. That all shows the importance of ministry, that is, of having attention directed on to Christ, and it is only the Holy Spirit who can do that.
Rem Lydia was very attentive to what Paul said to her.
JT Paul had, so to say, the last word from God; he completed the word of God, and Lydia’s heart was opened to attend to what he was saying.
Rem There are many christians who receive the ministry of the twelve, but who do not accept what Paul says.
JT Paul gives the whole; it was given to him to complete the word of God in all its extent. He takes account of the ministry of the twelve, but he had also a gospel which was his own (he calls it “my gospel”, Romans 2:16), then he had the ministry of the assembly, and he thinks of it according to the light which he had received from God. Paul goes over the ministry of the twelve but it gives it a new setting.
EP Hence the necessity of reading all the epistles, in order to have all the ministry.
JT With Mary as with Lydia, we see how a believer makes progress.
PG Solomon asked for a heart that hears (an understanding heart), and Samuel, too, was ready to listen.
JT In answer to his desire, God gave Solomon wisdom and great expansion of heart. Not much is said here of Joseph but of Mary in particular; light came to her in a wonderful way to bring her into the full knowledge of Christ. Whilst His father and mother wondered at what was said concerning Him, Simeon blesses them, and says to Mary, “Lo, this child is set for the fall and rising up of many in Israel, and for a sign spoken against; (and even a sword shall go through thine own soul;)
[p. 25] so that the thoughts may be revealed from many hearts”. While we move forward and make progress in the truth, God does not show us an easy way in this world. The apostle Paul warned those who had been converted through him, that they would have sufferings, as we see particularly in the epistle to the Philippians. “A sword shall pierce through thine own soul also”: one naturally so close to the Lord had to pass through such sufferings, and later, Mary had to recall those words of Simeon when she was at the foot of the cross of Jesus.
Ques Could it be said that all our exercises with regard of Christ lead to sufferings?
JT It is morally right and for our gain that we have part in suffering. It may be that we try to avoid them, but Paul says to Timothy, “Take thy share in suffering”, (2 Timothy 2:3). He does not say simply, Have part in the fight, but “Take thy share in suffering”.
There are other very interesting points in this chapter, amongst them that which concerns Anna, who was a prophetess, a true priest in active service; this side of active service, is also to be noted. She had continued until a very advanced age, like Caleb, whose energy was maintained; our spiritual strength should not decline as we grow old. It says that “she did not depart from the temple”, and that she served God with fastings and prayers, night and day. What activity! She “gave praise to the Lord and spoke of him to all those who waited for redemption in Jerusalem”; being accustomed to being in the temple, she was there just at the right moment. Being found in spiritual activity, we gain much: “she coming up the same hour gave praise to the Lord, and spoke of him to all those who waited for redemption in Jerusalem”. She did not miss this great occasion.
Rem This is a great encouragement for the sisters, and besides, if they cannot speak in the assembly, they can do [p. 26] so in secret.
HCh So that the sisters have their place in priestly service.
JT Yes, there is this side of the service, which includes speaking to other individuals of the Lord, to all those who wait for redemption. Anna spoke to God, praising Him, and she spoke of Him to all who waited for redemption.
EP She has the character of an overcomer, of whom Revelation speaks. The state of Israel was so very sorrowful that she could have given up the position, but the word of God was kept in her heart by the Spirit of prophecy; in this way she is an overcomer.
JT Verse 39 marks the end of an exercise: “They returned to Galilee to their own city, Nazareth”. It is in the town where one lives that everything is to be put into practice. “The child grew and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom, and God’s grace was upon him”. What an opportunity His parents had of seeing the fulfilment of all that had been said about Him: they had received all the necessary communications, but what was the effect produced by these communications?
They did not fail to go to Jerusalem each year, yet, during the first twelve years there was evidently decline with Mary. When Jesus was twelve years old, His parents went up with Him to Jerusalem, to the feast of the Passover, and an extraordinary thing happened; when they had completed the days of the feast, they went a day’s journey, supposing Him to be in the company that journeyed together, but He was not there. This is what happens to many christians, they believe that He is in some company here or there, but He is not. Like Mary, there are persons who make progress for a time, then at the end of several years they get no further; they have made the day’s journey thinking that Jesus is in the company, but He is not.
Rem If His parents had enjoyed His presence [p. 27] during those twelve years, they would not have been satisfied to travel one hour without Him.
JT We can have external order and be lacking in spiritual power internally. We can think that the Lord is with us and continue with a round of meetings where He is not with us. Spiritual sensibilities being lacking with us, we should not see that He is not there. In contrast with that, we see the Lord in the temple occupied with His Father’s business. Mary had never thought that the heavenly Father of Jesus had business. She said, “Child, why hast thou dealt thus with us? behold, thy father and I have sought thee distressed”. It was not a question of Joseph, therefore the Lord replies, “did ye not know that I ought to be occupied in my Father’s business?” His Father had business, and Jesus was found down here because of His business.
Rem How much time is lost in seeking the Lord where He is not!
JT They thought that He was amongst their relations and acquaintances; they were thinking of the natural side. If they had remembered the wonderful words of Simeon, they would have known that the Lord was down here in connection with God’s business. There was considerable decline between the day when they had listened to Simeon’s words and this moment. We are companions of the Christ if indeed we hold the beginning of the assurance firm to the end (Hebrews 3:14). Perseverance is necessary.
EP The church makes progress on account of the continual exercises.
TD It seems that they had not profited much in their town, Nazareth; however, the Child grew.
JT They had returned to Jerusalem, and there they ought to have proved the words which they had heard, but they had declined in faith and hope. Though having the company of this glorious Person, they were not at the elevation suited to His presence. The Holy [p. 28] Spirit does not give any details at all of these twelve years, but we can say that marvellous things took place which none could take account of so well as Mary.
Rem Previously Mary heard and kept in her heart the words of Simeon; now she has the privilege of hearing the very words of the Lord Himself.
JT Without doubt, a certain recovery took place with Mary through this humiliating experience. It says in verse 51, that she “kept all these things in her heart”. Of Jesus it says, “he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and he was in subjection to them”. What a testimony to Mary and Joseph! Then we read, “Jesus advanced in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and men”.