THE ASSEMBLY AS SEEN IN THE REVELATION (1)
[p. 28] THE ASSEMBLY AS SEEN IN THE REVELATION (1)
JT This chapter is suggested because of its preliminary and introductory relation to our subject. It is thought that we should first consider the personnel used of the Spirit in the inauguration of the assembly, and then the particular servant, John, who is used in connection with it in this book. The idea of the persons employed will perhaps help us to compare the early chapters of Acts with the gospels as to the inauguration of the assembly. Then we should take account of the breakdown and of the parting of the ways between what is real and what is unreal in the profession, and, in view of that, consider why John should be the one taken up and stressed throughout the book of Revelation. Finally we might see how we come into and remain in assembly service and testimony, the moral basis of it being seen in this book, namely that of overcoming.
Therefore we should think first of Acts 1, Acts 2 and Acts 3 as presenting the persons more particularly used in the inauguration of the assembly. Then we might refer to the person employed to write the assembly gospel, as we may call it, that is Matthew, comparing him with John. It is thought that we should specially consider this because the cleavage in the history of the assembly requires stringency. We must see that the burden of maintaining assembly service has been increased, and Matthew suggests this. He speaks of distances to be covered in view of having part in it, for instance, the distance that the magi had to come in order to worship at Jerusalem, and that in the end of the gospel the disciples had to go to Galilee to meet the Lord. Then the callings of the servants are [p. 29] mentioned. Peter was a fisherman; so were John and James, and the Lord spoke of making them fishers of men. Matthew was a publican; there is no doubt his calling, too, would make demands. The suggestion is that of demand in maintaining assembly service, that we must give up the idea of ease. If we have to do with the Lord and His administration we must learn to travel and to suffer. Even in the exercise of local responsibility we must learn to suffer to maintain principles. What is in mind involves that the Lord is calling us to suffer, not so much in the sense of persecution but through physical demand and physical endurance.
CHH You said that we have arrived at the parting of the ways. Just what do you refer to?
JT The idea of separation. The change occurs in the addresses to the assemblies in Revelation 2 and 3, in the idea of overcoming, because in Thyatira overcoming comes in as a necessity for hearing what the Spirit says. There is a change. In order to hear what the Spirit is saying we have to be overcomers, and that would include physical difficulties.
HH These last four assemblies are extant at the present time.
JT Quite so; therefore there is the necessity for laying ourselves out to suffer in the sense of endurance and labour. Paul enlarges on travel and the like.
WFK You spoke of the personnel of the assembly. Peter was given the keys of the kingdom, not of the assembly, yet it was on Peter’s confession that the assembly was to be built. Do you see a difference between Peter and John in that?
JT Matthew must be kept in mind too in contrast to John; but, as you say, Peter had the keys, he represents administration. John is a man that loves and is loved; but in his own gospel he is not said to have a distinctive commission. He was an apostle, of course, but the Lord refers to him in a mysterious [p. 30] sense, to be kept under His own hand to be used as exigencies require: “If I will that he abide until I come, what is that to thee? Follow thou me”, John 21: 22. I think this book of the Revelation illustrates what the Lord meant, that John is a man who is under His hand at any time for an emergency.
RWS When the Lord says in Matthew 18: 19, “Again I say to you”, does that allude to what you are speaking of as the parting of the ways?
JT That is what I thought. Matthew 18 will, I hope, come into the matter. The first part of that particular section which commences at verse 15 refers to what existed at the beginning, the inaugural constitution of the assembly. Verse 16 has regard to the witnesses, two or three, and verse 18 to the assembly which represents God on earth, so that it is to be told things: “Tell it to the assembly”. Verse 18, “Whatsoever ye shall bind on the earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever ye shall loose on the earth shall be loosed in heaven”, also refers to the primary position, but verse 19, “Again I say to you”, refers to fresh conditions that had arisen and had to be met, the “again” meaning that there is a change in circumstances, and the Lord brings down the responsibility to two: “two of you”, not any two, for persons nominally in the assembly have to be weighed. It is “two of you”, they are particular ones. So the Lord says, “if two of you shall agree on the earth concerning any matter, whatsoever it may be that they shall ask, it shall come to them from my Father who is in the heavens”. It is “my Father”, not yours. “For where two or three are gathered together unto my name, there am I in the midst of them” (verses 19, 20). This latter part, after the word ‘again’, alludes to the time when there would be a parting of the ways, a reduction in numbers of the persons able to meet the difficulties, coming down to “two of you”, and what heaven would do for them.
[p. 31] C The book opens with the words, “Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to him, to shew to his bondmen ...”; so that there is evidently something additional in mind. Then in Matthew 18: 19 it is, “Again I say to you”. Are they similar lines of thought?
JT That is what is in mind, that this book contemplates the time of the parting of the ways, as we take the liberty of saying. You can see that it is a new position altogether opened up: It is the “Revelation [or apocalypse] of Jesus Christ, which God gave to him, to shew to his bondmen what must shortly take place; and he signified it, sending by his angel, to his bondman John”. It does not say, His apostle John. You might say, His prophet, but it is “His bondman John”. All the other apostles are omitted, although some of them must have been alive at the time. We may be guided as to time by historical mention. This book was written after Paul’s service had taken wide effect. The seven assemblies were really, you might say, Paul’s assemblies, because they were all in the province of Asia, where Paul had laboured. Luke tells us that “all that inhabited Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks”,
Acts 19: 10. That was what Paul was ministering, particularly at Ephesus. So we have there the historical facts as to the time that this revelation was made to John. There is no allusion to the assembly at Jerusalem; it is a matter of the seven assemblies in Asia; therefore it is Paul’s assembly that is in mind particularly, but John is the one called upon under the Lord’s hand in the emergency, evidently because he is a loved and trusted one.
HH Does the thought enter into it that “all who are in Asia, of whom is Phygellus and Hermogenes, have turned away from me”, 2 Timothy 1: 15?
JT It does enter in because it shows how early the defection began, even in Timothy’[p. 32] s time.
AAT Would you distinguish between John’s personal love for the Lord and the love of the assembly for the Lord? He seems to be singled out as a servant, and distinguished.
JT What is stressed in regard to John is not his personal love for Christ, but Christ’s personal love for him. But surely his personal love for Christ is included, and the Lord can trust him. So this book illustrates what the Lord said to Peter, “If I will that he abide until I come, what is that to thee?”. He is a man held in reserve, and the secret is that the Lord loved him. His own name is not mentioned in John, his own gospel, it is just “the disciple whom Jesus loved”. But his own personal name is here, meaning that he has a history as to what his character is. His character is known historically. He is a reliable man; that is the point. It is reliability that is needed; we have light, but reliability is needed and readiness to suffer, even if it be physically, to maintain the principles of the assembly.
SJH Would you say a little more as to what is involved in the parting of the ways? Then there is an angel mentioned here. Is it on account of all Asia having left him?
JT That is right. 2 Timothy shows what the facts were. Paul mentions certain ones specifically, but all Asia had turned away; not forsaken exactly, but turned away, which would not mean an open schism but rather a secret condition. So that when we come to the examination of Ephesus and the other assemblies we find there was more or less loyalty to Christ in all of them; but the disloyalty began early, even in Timothy’s time.
HB It appears that the turning away would be in the leadership; Paul mentions Phygellus and Hermogenes, who were doubtless leaders. Is this the way the Lord acts in recovery, through these qualities seen in [p. 33] John?
JT Demas is spoken of too among those who had deflected. No doubt the Lord will help us as we proceed with the account of each church; in chapters 2 and 3 we shall see that leadership is at fault.
RH You alluded to the link between Matthew and John, the way John is presented in Revelation. Would you say a little more about that?
JT Well, I thought that as John is taken up here by the Lord as a bondman he would link on with Matthew. He stresses the idea of obedience right through, of overcoming on that principle. Matthew’s line would be that too, stressing the idea of a command. So that the Lord says to the women, “Go, bring word to my brethren that they go into Galilee”,
Matthew 28: 10. The angel had said the same thing, “Go quickly and say to his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and behold, he goes before you into Galilee, there shall ye see him. Behold, I have told you”, Matthew 28: 7. I stress that point; they have been told to do something and they do it. “Going out quickly ... they ran to bring his disciples word”, we are told, pointing to the suggestion that we must lay ourselves out to serve and serve quickly and well, for it is a command. “As they went to bring his disciples word”-notice it is not now a ‘command’ but a ‘word’-”behold also, Jesus met them, saying, Hail!”, meaning that He is respectful to them. He looks to them to be respectful too, as if to encourage them. “And they coming up took him by the feet”, which is not a good thought. They would hold Him back, and that is not to be admitted; there is to be no holding back when a command is involved. Now in order to make the truth clear it is said in verse 16, “But the eleven disciples went into Galilee to the mountain which Jesus had appointed them”. There again it is a command or authority; they had to go there, to Galilee, to where Jesus had appointed them. “And when they saw him, they did homage to him [p. 34] but some doubted. And Jesus coming up spoke to them, saying, All power has been given me in heaven and upon earth”. Now He is speaking to them in Galilee. He continues, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations”-this is a command again, ‘Go and do it’-”baptising them to the name Of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have enjoined you” (verses 18 - 20). I thought we should have these verses before us to make the position clear, that Matthew links on with John, or rather, that in the Apocalypse John links On with Matthew really in stressing these principles: that things have to be done, and that overcoming implies that they are done. And so the Lord says to Philadelphia, “Thou ... hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name”, Revelation 3: 8. The women had gone out quickly from the tomb, but when the Lord meets them He does not say, “Behold, I have told you”, but “Go, bring word to my brethren”, bring them word.
JJ What is the distinction between ‘command’ and ‘word’?
JT Well, ‘word’ conveys what is in the mind. A command may be anything in the sense of authority, but ‘word’ conveys intelligence in what is being said. There is a reason for it, a good reason for it, a thought which always goes with the idea Of ‘the word’ or ‘logos’. It is not only what is said, but that behind it there is good reason for it.
RWS So that this whole matter Of ordering and enjoining would militate against the independence which might mark us On this continent, and which we need to overcome to be assembly persons.
JT I think the Lord has helped us there too in the parting of the ways, to withdraw from iniquity “Let every one who names the name of the Lord withdraw from iniquity”, 2 Timothy 2: 19. Naming [p. 35] the name of the Lord would be authority, but withdrawing or departing from iniquity is doing something more; it is the positive side. I think in view of the assembly the Lord has greatly helped the brethren all these years not to carry the leaven with us as withdrawing from iniquity. What is said about it in Matthew 16: 4 greatly helps: “He left them and went away”; that is, He left the Pharisees. Then He enjoins His disciples about the leaven of the Pharisees, not only to leave them but to leave their leaven; that we are to judge it and not to carry it with us, and in judging it we are able to carry something positive with us.
RH Do these thoughts of the parting of the ways and of suffering link On with the Lord’s charge to the disciples in Matthew as to the sword and the cross? As He sends out the twelve it says (chapter 10: 5), “When he had charged them”, and then in verse 34, “Do not think that I have come to send peace upon the earth I have not come to send peace, but a sword”.
JT Just so, and then in His leaving those who are disloyal, war is implied. So the sword is used in the sense Of “the word of God” which is “sharper than any two-edged sword”. With the great volume of ministry that we have on paper, and also what there is in the hearts and intelligences Of the brethren it is a question of the word of God being used in warfare.
RH I was struck by the difference between the Lord’s charge in Matthew and in Luke. In Luke it is the idea of a son of peace, but in Matthew it is worthy persons and a worthy house; and then He speaks of the idea of a sword and of accepting the cross.
JT I think all that is apropos Of what we are saying in linking On Matthew with John, John being the lover and the one whom Jesus loved. He is now called a bondman; that is what he is characteristically.
He is one ready to do what he is told to do. I think that is what is meant in the word ‘bondman’, and [p. 36] the first great Bondman represented in Scripture is a lover. So that bondmen are lovers, as the Lord says in John’s gospel, “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (chapter 14: 15). So the link between Matthew and John is seen, I think, in that John here in Revelation is working out the idea, especially in what he says to the assemblies; he is working out the principles of obedience and overcoming, and overcoming involves keeping the Lord’s word and not denying His name.
HH Do you get the lover in John 13, in His bosom and on His breast?
JT Just so; I think that is where the link lies between Matthew and John. Matthew makes a good deal of obedience. The change-over in chapter 18 is, “Again I say to you”, and it brings in two of the assembly; they pray about things, there is the burden of prayer. Then two or three are gathered together, the power of gathering being recognised, so that independence is simply shut out.
WFK Must we be subjects in the kingdom before we can be assembly material? I was thinking that here in Matthew they would do Him homage; that would be as the King.
JT Just so; that is the point with the women and the apostles; they both did him homage; but the kingdom hardly carries with it the deity of the Lord, I mean it is not stressed. The kingdom is a question of authority, but the idea of worshipping Him involves His Person. So the first mention in Matthew as to worshippers is when the magi came a long way to worship and do homage to Jesus.
WFK The chapter we read brings in a kingdom of priests unto God. I was thinking that we have to come into the kingdom before becoming assembly material.
RWS Is there anything in the occupations of these two apostles? You alluded to one being a tax-gatherer and the other a fisherman.
[p. 37] JT I think the government of God enters into the matter of our calling. We are enjoined to continue in it whatever it be. Undoubtedly in the government of God our calling is calculated to affect us as taken up in God’s kingdom. The Lord may use it in the sense in which it has trained you and affected you in a constitutional way. After all, as persons born into the world we all need ordinary education. But God oversees everything and knows everything beforehand and He intends that there shall be something in our calling that will affect us and be useful in His service. Hence He says to Peter and Andrew, “I will make you fishers of men”. The Lord used the word ‘fishers’ there to link on with their natural occupation. That thought was to attach to them in what they were to be spiritually.
ARC If I understood you rightly, you said it was wrong for the women to hold the feet of Jesus. Would you point out the defect?
JT I should not want to hold the Lord’s feet. He is on a journey. Why should my wife or my children hold my feet if I have to go and serve the Lord? That is what enters into it.
ARC I suppose the joy and the affection they felt at seeing the Lord risen was more on natural lines.
JT It might be an Israelitish thought. They sought to hold Him for their own purpose. Not that you would limit them exactly, but they held Him by the feet when He was on a journey to go into Galilee.
SJH You spoke about physical suffering: do you think that is one way our affection is shown in overcoming? The Lord helps us in long journeys and other taxing matters.
JT Just so; you lay yourself out to suffer. It is remarkable how many journeys are being made now, how much application has to be made to the railroads for transportation and for gas to drive our cars, all in faith, so as to attend these meetings. I am sure God [p. 38] has great regard for that. But to refer again to our brother’s remark as to our calling, and how much it may enter into our usefulness in the divine service, I would say that Matthew was a tax-gatherer and we know what that means-much that is objectionable; but at the same time it had something to do with Matthew’s education and how he would view things, not in a wrong sense but in a right sense, and undoubtedly God has that in mind in what persons are called to do in working with their hands.
J W. Paul was a bondman. Would he represent a journeying brother and John be more stationary?
JT I think that is good. The Lord in His parabolic teaching spoke about a man on a journey, how he would get all the loaves he needed by prayer. Paul had a circuit of journeyings: “In journeyings often”, he says; and again in Romans 15: 19 he speaks of travelling “from Jerusalem, and in a circuit round to Illyricum”, which was a very very long journey, involving much territory to be crossed. He says, “I ... have fully preached the glad tidings of the Christ”; that is, he did not diminish his skill and zeal and workman’s ability because of the journey.
“I ... have fully preached”: the thing was well done, however great the journey he had to make.
WWM Might we sacrifice to make a journey to a meeting such as this, yet be careless in attending our local meeting if we are tired, and not be prepared to sacrifice to be there?
JT I am sure that is a good thing to suggest. We have spoken of it before in our locality. Many brethren are ready for a journey to preach or to give an address at a distance, but the question is whether the local position is taken care of in my journeyings.
Am I neglecting my local responsibility? Because, after all, local positions are involved in the Apocalypse; several local positions are mentioned. Ephesus is one. There are seven of them, and they have to be [p. 39] attended to. Take the matter of the Nicolaitanes, for instance, persons who bring in bad doctrine and teaching and influence: if those who have the truth and love it are away all the time we are exposing our local gatherings to these Nicolaitanes. So that I believe the Lord would help the brothers who have gift not to make everything of it, because leadership is also important. Teaching and leadership generally go together, and if I am away all the time, or most of the time, I cannot be a leader locally.
RWS The bride in the Canticles says, “Mine own vineyard have I not kept” (chapter 1: 6); but when the exercise has been gone through she says at the end of the book, “My vineyard, which is mine, is before me” (chapter 8: 12).
JT That helps. In our section there is great weakness, because most of the brothers cannot preach, and the few brothers who are gifted are invited to preach so constantly that the local positions are in danger of being neglected. So I think Matthew’s gospel would say, ‘Look after the vineyard, look after the administration as well as the preaching’. In fact Matthew does not stress the preaching, though Mark does. It is administration and building that he would stress and the order of the assembly; that is, if there is a difficulty that we should “tell it to the assembly”; is there anybody there to speak to? We have to look out for brethren who can be told and who should be told about the thing.
AAT How do you regard Paul in this connection? Did he have a local position? I know that he had a universal position and that he travelled oft; but how would these remarks apply to him?
JT They do apply to him. According to Acts 14 he and Barnabas went to Antioch of Pisidia and elsewhere and when they had fulfilled their mission they returned to Antioch and were there certain days “Having arrived, and having brought together the [p. 40] assembly, they related to them all that God had done with them, and that he had opened a door of faith to the nations. And they stayed no little time with the disciples” (verses 27, 28). That is, they were for a while local men: “They stayed no little time”. We are told, in chapter 11, “that for a whole year they were gathered together in the assembly and taught a large crowd” (verse 26). This was at Antioch, and then he tells us himself that for the space of three years he laboured at Ephesus, and for eighteen months he worked at Corinth. So in those instances the saints certainly had a local brother in Paul.
Ques It says in Mark 2: 1, “He entered again into Capernaum after several days, and it was reported that he was at the house”. The note says, ‘At home’, in the sense of ‘not away on a journey’. Is that anticipative of local conditions?
JT Just so. The Lord Himself clearly had a central position in Capernaum. He deliberately went down from Nazareth and dwelt at Capernaum. That would mean that He would be there as a local Person. It is called, “His own city”, Matthew 9: 1.
RH It says in Matthew 2, “Having been divinely instructed in a dream, he went away into the parts of Galilee, and came and dwelt in a town called Nazareth; so that that should be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophets, He shall be called a Nazaraean”.
JT There is the local idea in that. It also says, “He came to Nazareth, where he was brought up” (Luke 4: 16), and that “He went and dwelt at Capernaum” (Matthew 4: 13), so that He could be found there. I think this is a matter of importance, because the Lord is concerned about what there is to be seen in the way of testimony. It is not simply what is to be heard, but what is to be seen. If a brother is often away preaching, you do not see him much at his local meeting; that is a weakness. What is to be seen in the local position is part of [p. 41] the testimony.
EAL What you are saying is making evangelism much broader than one’s being merely a speaker. A more important thing is to be a model.
JT Just so; it is what the example may be. So the first two who acted in moving together in the service were Peter and John, seen in Acts 3, and the word is, “Look on us”; not simply, Listen to what we are saying, but “Look on us”. And so in John’s gospel the two who are seeking the Lord call Him ‘Rabbi’ and say, “Rabbi (which, being interpreted, signifies Teacher), where abidest thou? He says to them, Come and see”; not,’Come and hear’. “They went therefore, and saw where he abode”. They would see that the Lord had a home.
HB Paul says, “Corinthians” (2 Corinthians 6: 11); and “O Philippians”, Philippians 4: 15. Does that show that our locality should mark us?
JT If you look at the persons that accompanied Paul in Acts 20 you will see how they are called according to the places they come from. It says in verse 4, “And there accompanied him as far as Asia, Sopater ... a Berean”; notice that-he belonged to the place; “and of Thessalonians, Aristarchus and Secundus”; they belonged to the place; “and Gaius and Timotheus of Derbe, and of Asia, Tychicus and Trophimus”. They are all referred to in relation to their localities. It seems as if this is a point of importance, that the testimony is not simply what is heard by mouth from a gifted person in preaching and teaching, but that it is also what is seen in him, and that involves his position in his house and in his local gathering.
Ques Does Samuel illustrate that? It says of him, “He went from year to year in circuit to Bethel, and Gilgal, and Mizpah ... and his return was to Ramah; for there was his house”, 1 Samuel 7: 16, 17.
JT That [p. 42] is right.
SJH What would you say about brethren in a foreign country who cannot return home on account of war and the like; are they local there?
JT It is a question of getting the principle and seeing how it can be worked out. Under the present circumstances, of course, many of the Lord’s servants cannot get to their local positions and others have to stay at home. Then there are brothers who are held as prisoners of war. All these are counting on a change in the circumstances and their prayers are going up constantly for this. God is hearing them, too, and presently He will make a change.
SJH But for the time being are they local somewhere in the country where they are?
JT That is so. Some of us are a poor testimony to that. It is a question of whether in travelling you can be a local man as effectively as you can be a preacher.
Ques Is the question of inviting a brother important? How are his local responsibilities taken care of?
JT That is a matter I am sure that requires attention, as to what is to be seen as the testimony is developed; whether it is neglected or whether it has been cared for. What is there to be seen in this city?
JLP Would it be in the apostle’s mind that the saints at Philippi were to take that on? “What ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, these things do; and the God of peace shall be with you”, Philippians 4: 9.
JT That is true; so he sent Timotheus to Corinth, as has been often remarked: “For this reason I have sent to you Timotheus, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, who shall put you in mind of my ways as they are in Christ”, 1 Corinthians 4: 17. Timothy would read this to the Corinthians. Paul kept in mind that they still needed to have him before them [p. 43] as a model.
CHH Would the exercise of David enter into this as having a keeper for the sheep? He would not leave them unattended.
JT Just so. So in the beginning of Acts we have reference to “All things which Jesus began both to do and to teach”, Acts 1: 1. The doing is what is at home, what is local, what is in one’s walk.
Ques As to the other side, the servant’s side, is there any principle involved in 1 Corinthians 16: 12? “Now concerning the brother Apollos, I begged him much that he would go to you with the brethren; but it was not at all his will to go now; but he will come when he shall have good opportunity”. It would not be right to say, No, would it?
JT The apostle did not condemn the attitude of Apollos. I judge it lay in the state of the saints there. An element adverse to Paul existed there and Apollos sympathised with the apostle and would evade any appearance otherwise. But as to the point we are considering, the danger of neglecting local responsibility, if you are invited to go a long way to serve the saints, you must calculate as to the time needed and whether local needs admit of it, and decide before the Lord accordingly.
RH You referred to doing and teaching. In Matthew 4 and 9 the Lord is seen preaching first, and then teaching and then healing. What would you say about that?
JT I was thinking of that. Matthew itemises what the Lord did in chapter 4 and again in chapter 9, to show what a Minister He was: “Behold my servant whom I uphold, mine elect in whom my soul delighteth!”, Isaiah 42: 1. Heaven was thinking of His general service, not of what He was locally as in Luke 4. Matthew has come to the time of enlarging on what the Lord did, the immensity of what He did, and all the kinds of things that He did are mentioned. In Matthew you have even lunacy.
[p. 44] But now returning to our subject as to Matthew and John, we get John in this first chapter of Revelation in a peculiar and special way. We are told, “Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to him, to shew to his bondmen what must shortly take place; and he signified it, sending by his angel, to his bondman John, who testified the word of God, and the testimony of Jesus Christ”. John is here called a “bondman”, and the angel is sent to him, and then we are told what he did: he “testified the word of God”; the word ‘testified’ here would mean the way in which he brought the word of God to bear in this book, “The testimony of Jesus Christ, all things that he saw”. The Lord signified what He received from His Father, “sending by his angel, to his bondman John”. That is, certain signs had been used to indicate the revelation to John who testified the word of God. It continues, “John to the seven assemblies which are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is, and who was, and who is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne; and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth”. This is John’s address to the seven assemblies. Then he says, “To him who loves [p. 45] us, and has washed us from our sins in his blood, and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father: to him be the glory and the might to the ages of ages. Amen”. That is what John says to the seven assemblies, what the Spirit of God is now saying. This introduction indicates what a servant he was, and the moral power he has to address the seven assemblies. Had he been in each of them? It would appear so. It would look as though he had some knowledge of them. He had not been used to form the assemblies; apparently that was Paul’s work. But he evidently knew them and knew what to say; and what he says involves the peculiar character of this book, that the Lord “loves us, and has washed us from our sins in his blood, and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father”. Then in verse 9 he tells us, “I John, your brother and fellow-partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and patience, in Jesus”. What an experience he had had! a “fellow-partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and patience, in Jesus”. These features, as the note tells us, ‘are intimately connected, being brought together under one head by one article in the Greek’. John was a thoroughly balanced brother in his experience. The brethren will have noticed, no doubt, that these qualities, “tribulation”, “kingdom” and “patience”, are intimately connected; that is, the brother John is presented to us as marked by partaking in the tribulation and kingdom and patience in Jesus. The preposition used indicates being in these things in power, that is, he was affected by them. Then he goes on to say that he “was in the island called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus”. He then says, “I became in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a great voice as of a trumpet”. What he heard was about the assembly under seven heads. Then he says, “And I turned back to see the voice which spoke with me; and having turned, I saw seven golden lamps”; that is, he speaks of seeing the assembly before he saw Christ; “And in the midst of the seven lamps one like the Son of man”. It is well to note what he sees, because it brings out the character of the work of the brother or minister; and then he is able to describe the Lord, not as by Himself, but in the midst of the seven golden lamps; that is to say, it is the Lord in relation to the assembly and it is an assembly man speaking about it with feeling. We can see the Lord is setting out the situation fully about the assemblies, and He is seen in their midst.
ARC Is that why the official side is not seen here? John [p. 46] is a bondman.
JT He is not mentioned as an apostle, but as a bondman, and then as a brother.
ARC He is a valued brother.
JT Quite so; he is a bondman, and what underlies bondmanship according to the type in Exodus is love. The bondman loves his master, his wife and his children, three features of love. He is balanced in his love. And so here John is balanced in his character. Of course, that is inspired; but nevertheless it is important to see that the assembly is kept in mind from the very beginning and mentioned here even before the Lord, who is mentioned then as seen in the midst of it. Therefore the dispensation is Christ in the midst of the assembly, and it goes right on to the end.
HB At the end He says, “I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify these things to you in the assemblies”, Revelation 22: 16. Have you that in mind?
JT Quite so; the last reference is that. We have hardly covered the ground as intended, but I think there is some idea of what was in mind, that is, to bring out John as over against Matthew and the others, that he is the only one of the assembly servants that is seen operating in this book, and doing so to the end. The assemblies are kept in mind right through according to what they were when the Lord was in their midst.
CHH Would you say that the positions in which John had been relative to the Lord when He was here are carried along in their meaning into this book? Only one who had been in the bosom of Jesus and on His breast could occupy this position at Patmos. Would that be so?
JT Quite so. How much more there is in all this if we only had time to go into it! I am sure the Lord would have us keep in mind the position in which John sees Him. He is seen in the midst of the seven golden lamps. Those who have love are still viewed as light-bearers in God’s kingdom to keep that functioning. The Lord is in the midst of them and in judicial robes, so that everything is discerned and dealt with. That is our position.
Rem It says that John saw the voice.
JT That is remarkable, that the voice is identified with the Person.