PRAYER AS SEEN IN THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES (3)
[p. 54] PRAYER AS SEEN IN THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES (3)
Acts 6:1 - 8; Acts 7:54 - 60; Acts 8:14 - 17
JT It was pointed out yesterday in relation to prayer in chapter 4 that the apostles were increasing in power; instead of their power diminishing, it was increasing. They had asked for this, and it says, “And when they had prayed, the place in which they were assembled shook, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and spoke the word of God with boldness” (verse 31). Then we are told, “With great power did the apostles give witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all” (verse 33). Following on this we have an allusion to apostolic administrative authority extending to many: “as many as were owners of lands or houses, selling them, brought the price of what was sold and laid it at the feet of the apostles; and distribution was made to each according as any one might have need” (verses 34, 35). This would be evidently a development by experience; it was better that there should be direct specific administrative authority for it than that it should be left open in the sense of having all things in common. Following on this we have Barnabas laying money at the apostles’ feet, as one who had represented a great accession to the position; it is said that he “being possessed of land, having sold it, brought the money and laid it at the feet of the apostles” (verse 37)(Acts 4:31,37). He had been surnamed Barnabas by the apostles, showing there was steady development and increase.
Chapter 5 enlarges on this feature, after the death of Ananias and Sapphira, in connection with this matter of money. It is said, “And great fear came [p. 55] upon all the assembly, and upon all who heard these things. And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders done among the people; (and they were all with one accord in Solomon’s porch, but of the rest durst no man join them, but the people magnified them; and believers were more than ever added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women); so that they brought out the sick into the streets and put them on beds and couches, that at least the shadow of Peter, when he came, might overshadow some one of them. And the multitude also of the cities round about came together to Jerusalem, bringing sick persons and persons beset by unclean spirits, who were all healed” (Acts 5:11,16). This is the acme of the apostles’ increased power in the book. It stands related to prayer, the prayer mentioned in chapter 4, so that what God had instituted, the power of the anointing, made great headway and afforded great representations of divine power. God’s witness to Christianity. It seems to me that this is a matter that should be kept in our minds; however small things may be, let us have the idea of the ornament, the anointed vessel, in connection with which God is operating, and how it is developed in power in connection with prayer.
Now in chapter 6 we have a breakdown. “But in those days, the disciples multiplying in number, there arose a murmuring of the Hellenists against the Hebrews because their widows were overlooked in the daily ministration” (verse 1). It would look as if the administration of money was failing, but in any case there was the spirit of complaint which is a bad sign; it is met by prayer and then by the appointment of the seven deacons. Following on this there is the provisional position in relation to the Jews, in relation to Jerusalem, gradually ebbing and ceasing as we shall see in the next section, chapters 9, 10 and 11.
JS [p. 56] What would be the great spiritual import in the recovery of the Levite seen in Barnabas?
JT It shows that true levitical service was taking form. Barnabas is an outstanding, true levite, not any more a typical levite, but a true levite, a true servant of God. Following upon him is Stephen, and then Philip who also represents the levitical order in Christianity in addition to the twelve. In connection with prayer these three men come in.
CHH Would it be an evidence of the grace of the anointing that five of these men selected in chapter 6 have Greek names?
JT Yes, it would be; I think grace entered into it because the Grecians, the Hellenists, were the complainers; that is the indication of grace operative in an emergency, that you consider the persons who are involved. If they are complainers, why are they complaining? Is there sectional feeling arising? Well, if there is, meet it, so that it will be overcome. Apparently it was overcome; it looks as if it was a sectional matter.
JRH You have stressed the importance of apostolic authority. Would the attitude of these levites you have mentioned in regard of apostolic authority be applicable today?
JT It links on with the apostles having to do with these three men; of course, with the seven deacons, but particularly with these three who develop into great servants, not in serving tables but in spiritual service. Barnabas is knighted, so to speak, by the twelve, and surnamed “Son of consolation”(Acts 4:36); Stephen and Philip each purchased to himself a good degree; that is, they did not need to be knighted, they are great enough without that; they purchased to themselves a good degree. Sometimes you see men avoiding titles; they are greater than the title, greater than any title would make them.
[p. 57] That is what comes out here; development is on these lines. A man is what he is, a title does not add to him.
JS Do you have recovery of what is priestly, of the priesthood in principle, in Stephen?
JT Well, he purchased to himself a good degree and great boldness in the faith (1 Timothy 3:13). He does serve as a priest in praying, that is the point we are making in regard of him; his face was seen “as the face of an angel”. That is, he is beginning to reflect the heavenly which is now breaking forth on the scene.
HGH What is the thought behind the division of service? In the first scripture we read, do we not all have part in this service of prayer? But in chapter 6 there are those set aside for the administering of the money, so that the apostles could give themselves to prayer. Do we not all have part in the service of prayer?
JT We do, but I think there are details here that have to be observed. The money was being laid at the apostles’ feet. Rome has made a great point of acquiring money and making a public show with it. Now the twelve speak, and “having called the multitude of the disciples to them, said, It is not right that we, leaving the word of God, should serve tables” (verse 2). That is, the money no doubt would have increased and would have occupied the time of the apostles, of the twelve, to the detriment of the spiritual service that was committed to them. They were not called to be deacons; they were gifted men, every one of them, although Paul who had more gift than any of them did serve as a deacon, meaning he would do anything; he never implied that he had too much to do, he never did, and yet he served “more than they all”. There is a certain amount of wisdom here: they say, so to speak, We see that this money matter which has come to our feet is [p. 58] causing complaint in regard of the distribution to the needy ones, and it is giving occasion to sectional feeling. The devil was in that, the door was being opened to the devil; wherever you get a party spirit or sectional feeling, the devil is in it. The twelve closed that breach; so far so good. The twelve called the multitude of the disciples to them and said, “It is not right that we, leaving the word of God, should serve tables”. They probably thought it would result that they would have more to do with tables than with the administration of the heavenly things which were committed to them; hence this additional department was opened up which proved a great success, because not only was the attack nullified, but these three men became outstanding spiritual servants, almost linking on with the apostles. It was a development out of themselves, not by appointment, but a question of what one may be as the work of God operates in him, purchasing to himself a good degree and great boldness in the faith.
JRH The relation of these three men with the apostles is very interesting. Should it not help in all those who seek to serve the saints to be subject to authority as to it?
JT We cannot get along without the apostles; apostolic authority is the outstanding initial feature of the position, meaning the representation of Christ in authority, so that all that comes out in this section is subject to them.
ANW The reciprocation here is good: the apostles ask the brethren to choose, and the brethren make the choice and place the men before the apostles.
JT The multitude is brought into it, too. It is not a democratic affair, but it is wise, because the saints were being divided. Well, let the saints have a voice, let them speak. So the word was, “Look [p. 59] out therefore, brethren, from among yourselves seven men, well reported of, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we will establish over this business”. That is to say, it is still an apostolic matter, only the brethren are brought into it, which is sometimes necessary; it is sometimes well to give the brethren a voice, to let them speak, especially when there is cleavage and sectional feeling.
JS What do you understand by “leaving the word of God”? What is involved?
JT It is negatively mentioned here; they are not going to do it. It would never do to give up a commission from the Lord to preach and teach in order to serve tables. This arrangement places the money in its right setting in the hands of seven deacons. It is still right to keep the idea before us.
CAM You made reference in connection with purchasing a good degree to the fact that these men were subject to the light of heaven. Would you think that in this part of the book the light of heaven is coming into such men as these, so as to bring about a greater correspondence with heaven?
JT That is, the seed sown by the twelve is working well. It is bearing fruit outside of their own number, because they have nothing more to say to Stephen or Philip. Barnabas they have to say to, because he was a Jerusalem man and they sent him to Antioch. These two men, Stephen and Philip, are a new point of departure; the heavenly view comes into evidence in Stephen’s face. God is going to make room for Paul, make room for the ministry. We shall soon have Paul in the picture; he is already here as an antagonist, a young man who held the clothes of the persecutors of Stephen.
CA That is a very remarkable thing; it seems to be making room for the light above the brightness of the sun that is going to come [p. 60] in.
JT That is right, we are going to get heavenly light.
ANW The link between Stephen and Paul is very striking.
CHH Is there a similarity between this extension and the additional seventy which are added to the system in Moses’ day?
JT That is the sort of thing. Then, too, the seventy palm trees were symbolic. These numerals help us; the seventy palm trees and the twelve springs of water would point to this position in which God is operating. Now although the apostles had to do with the seven deacons and laid their hands on them, yet they developed beyond the immediate control of the apostles, like the seventy in Luke 10:1 “Now after these things the Lord appointed seventy others also”. There are twelve in Luke 9 and seventy in Luke 10; that means a great enlargement. It is the same thing here with the seven deacons; the principle is here only; it is a division of seventy, but it is the same idea as in Luke; they go forward beyond the apostles, that is, God is going to spread out, making room for Paul. Peter comes hi again, to open the door to the gentiles so that the heavenly matter may be developed: “God would make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the nations, which is Christ in you the hope of glory”, Colossians 1:27.
CHH Would it help us locally to have this extension in mind? The apostles laid their hands on them, they committed themselves to the seven.
JT Yes. In the young brothers coming on the spirit of rivalry is apt to come up. It is a selfish thing which will come up unless we are cautious. The apostles here act very wisely: “Look out, therefore, brethren, from among yourselves seven men, well reported of, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we will establish over this business: but we [p. 61] will give ourselves up to prayer and the ministry of the word. And the saying pleased the whole multitude: and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolas, a proselyte of Antioch, whom they set before the apostles; and, having prayed, they laid their hands on them”. These young men can never say, We are outgrowing the apostles, for Peter and the others can say, We prayed for you and laid our hands on you. There is not a young man whom the Lord is using today who has not been prayed for before he is able to walk in the path of service. If a young man is taken up, he cannot say, I am getting on by myself; he has his roots in the elder brethren. If things are normal that is where his roots are. Here they prayed for them and laid their hands on them. What impressions would be received by the laying on of the apostles’ hands! Paul speaks to Timotheus of “the gift of God which is in thee by the putting on of my hands”, 2 Timothy 1:6. In one sense none of these men could be equal to the twelve; even Paul in a certain sense was not equal to them. He made himself more useful to heaven, but as to his official position he is not in the foundation of the heavenly city. God, of course, stabilises everything; what He has inaugurated stands, like the earth that is standing for ever.
ANW We want to understand the idea of the twelve better. Paul may be wonderful, but he is not one of the twelve.
JT That is how it stands in 1 Corinthians 15:5: “that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to above five hundred brethren at once”. Cephas is first; Peter failed and the Lord appeared first to him in grace. The next item is the twelve, viewed in their love capacity. The word ‘twelve’ denotes the love capacity. Later He appeared [p. 62] to all of the apostles, it does not say the twelve; it is all of them, that is authority, but in love’s capacity they come in after Cephas. The Lord has much more pleasure in appearing to us in love’s capacity than in authority.
JRH There are many services carried on among us in a local way, such as announcements, and care of various matters arranged among the brethren. Would these qualifications required here apply to such?
JT I think the facts as to these seven men are recorded as they are to help us in diaconal work. It is not just any one who can serve; it is to be a person full of the Holy Spirit. And then the outstanding one gets a paragraph by himself: “And Stephen, full of grace and power, wrought wonders and great signs among the people”. So these are not just ordinary men, not ordinary believers: they are full of the Holy Spirit.
JTJr There is the idea of manhood, men, seven men; and then you have Stephen, a man full of the Holy Spirit.
JT Yes, seven men, although women might serve as deaconesses too; Paul enlarges on that thought elsewhere. They may serve in the same capacity, but here it is seven men.
ANW It is very striking the word the Lord used when He said, “The Son of man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many”, Matthew 20:28. Is that diaconal service?
JT Quite so.
JRH This matter of being well reported of would cover the moral side.
JT People taking on these services — you may call them offices in a certain way — ought to be qualified in some sense according to the state of these [p. 63] men.
SP Does this divine arrangement completely cover this sectional disturbance amongst these brethren and hold it under control so that it does not raise its head again?
JT I think it is important to have our eyes open for any breach like that, so that the enemy should not have access to us. The wisdom of the apostles is to be noted here, “Look out therefore, brethren, from among yourselves seven men”. The greater number are Hellenists, Stephen is one of them. When they looked into the matter a lot of people would come into their minds. It would look as if the Lord helped them in general, as if the multitude got help from the Lord to make a choice; they did not allow personal feeling to come in, the greater number of the local brethren chose Hellenists.
SP It was not men naturally capable of handling money who were chosen, not men who were good accountants.
JT No, “full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom”.
WL Would that suggest that the spiritual must dominate the material?
JT That is the idea. I think the spiritual predominated anyway, in spite of the feeling that had arisen among the Greeks, because the choice they made was spiritual.
RWS Casting lots is out of place now, is it not?
JT You do not get that here. The apostles evidently accepted the choice of the multitude. The matter is settled, not only by the twelve, but by the multitude with the twelve. The twelve accepted the choice of the multitude.
AR The apostles had a right to decide for themselves who was to do the work, but bringing in the brethren helps in unity.
JT I think they did that in effect, laying their hands on those chosen and praying for [p. 64] them.
CHH There seem to be great results from that, “A great crowd of the priests obeyed the faith” (verse 7). Would that be the effect of breaking down the religious system around us?
JT Just so, “A great crowd of the priests obeyed the faith”. The work of God is going on, that is the point, but going on in connection with prayer, because it is said of the apostles that “having prayed, they laid their hands on them”. We are not told what they prayed as in chapter 4. They may have prayed at length; all may have prayed, we do not know; but the point is that they prayed, and that is to show the place prayer has in all this.
JS Is verse 8 confirmatory of their actions?
JT It shows that Stephen is outstanding. We get no more of this matter in detail, but what we do get is chapter 7, one of the most wonderful chapters, that a man taken up in this lowly service should serve so wonderfully.
CT It seems here that after prayer increase takes place: “They laid their hands on them. And the word of God increased”. Is that the outcome of prayer?
JT That is the setting; it is to bring out the place prayer has in the dispensation. We are not told what they prayed in their prayer, but the point is they prayed. Who knows how much they prayed? It is an important matter; every one of the apostles may have prayed at a particular time. Then you get increase of the word of God: “And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples in Jerusalem was very greatly multiplied, and a great crowd of the priests obeyed the faith”. The Spirit of God has put these things together to remind us of the importance of prayer, and the prayer meeting should not be neglected. There are things that follow on it; we always expect things to happen on the Tuesday and Wednesday, and right through the [p. 65] week. This is the order of things that where prayer is made there is increase. The Lord spent a whole night in prayer before He selected the twelve. These twelve are praying before this selection of seven is confirmed. This results in increase of the word of God, then increase in praise, and then the priests, the most difficult soil, yield. That is all in connection with prayer.
JRH Would it be right to connect this prayer in verse 6 with the note in verse 2, ‘pleasing to God’? It was not merely a matter of pleasing the apostles, though they may have been pleased with the choice of the multitude, but their prayer would bring in pleasure to God.
JT Yes, it brings in God, that is the idea. God is affected by prayer. Why does He not carry on without prayer? These are the facts we have to learn, what prayer is in the system.
JWD The hour of prayer should be the summing up of what we pray for every day in connection with the divine system operating.
JT I always feel that in the morning when the brethren are going forth to business the family reading and prayer afford great power in the soul. The question is how much of that there is in the mornings. We have the morning and evening lamb in the types, they balance each other; the day is filled out with the morning reading and with what comes in in the evening. The whole day is filled out without loss if the morning and evening lamb are of equal value. The dispensation is maintained throughout the day.
SJH Is there anything today corresponding with this action, “whom they set before the apostles”? In a care meeting we seek wisdom to select someone for a service and make some decision as far as we can. Is there anything beyond that? Is being “set before the apostles” confirmation and power?
JT The elder brethren’s experience has a certain weight in the assembly, experience with God; “In the multitude of counsellors there is safety”, Proverbs 11:14. But authority properly is vested in the assembly. Care meetings can make no definite decisions; they may perhaps arrive at certain things but the authority is vested in the assembly, and that involves the twelve, the authority of the apostles’ teaching.
SJH So anything we arrive at in the care meeting should be set before the assembly?
JT The Lord is there in the care meeting. We do not have to bring everything before the assembly, or else there would be too much to attend to. We have a suggestion here, “It is not right that we, leaving the word of God, should serve tables”. There are details of things that could be served by others; many things can be done that we do not need to bring before the assembly. Still, we have a divine institution in our minds all the time.
CHH I suppose we can always count on results from prayer. You were remarking that the murmuring in Luke 10 was met by the Lord praying in Luke 11, and you see the sequel in John 12. In time you see results.
JT Just so. Here the murmuring is met really by prayer, because that is what they did. If we were told what they said in their prayer we would know whether it went beyond this matter, but the point is it was there. What did they pray about? The selection was made by the multitude and the apostles accepted that selection. Then what did they pray about? They prayed for Stephen, perhaps especially, and for all the others. Did they ask the Lord to increase His work in these men and make them greater servants? We do not know; we are left to judge between the lines. The twelve apostles would have a wide outlook and this is no [p. 67] small matter, for these seven men are full of the Holy Spirit and well reported of. We have concrete additions in our services. These men may be more than deacons, who knows? But they become what the apostles prayed they should be; prayer entered into what they became afterwards.
SP We can see the effect of these prayers: in verse 3 they are to choose “seven men, well reported of, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom”; in verse 5 “they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit”, and in verse 8 “Stephen, full of grace and power, wrought wonders”. Is that the widening out of the result of prayer, further than what they ask?
JT That seems to be the point for us just now, as to what our outlook may be in this matter of prayer. Sometimes in prayer meetings the ground covered does not extend five miles from the room. It ought to extend all over the whole field! If we are truly with God it will extend over the whole field. I believe when the twelve prayed about this matter their outlook was wide, and the results in these two, Stephen and Philip, are probably the outcome of this prayer. That ought to encourage us to keep on praying. Paul says in the greatest epistle, “Praying at all seasons, with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit”, Ephesians 6:18.
WL Would verse 4 really give us the outlook of the apostles in view of this deacon service?
JT “But we will give ourselves up to prayer and the ministry of the word”; they had that in their minds. They would cover the field all the time in this matter of prayer.
AB In chapter 4 it says, “The heart and soul of the multitude of those that had believed were one” (Acts 4:32). In that section spiritual ministry in the power of the Spirit seems to take precedence and [p. 68] everything is subservient to it. Now the money matter has come in and caused dissension and the principle of oneness in the assembly seems to have broken down, but prayer and spiritual ministry would bring in recovery and spiritual prosperity.
JT There is healing; the breach is closed, and then we have Stephen. The Spirit of God seems to reserve great space for Stephen from the time his face shone like an angel. Let us read what it says, “And all who sat in the council, looking fixedly on him, saw his face as the face of an angel” (Acts 6:15). We should not use the word ‘shone’; it says “as the face of an angel”. That is taken on anticipatively, because our passage says of Stephen “Being full of the Holy Spirit, having fixed his eyes on heaven, he saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and said, Lo, I behold the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God” (Acts 7:55,56). Well, Stephen now is in his own realm, because he is a link between the provisional state of things in which the temple is recognised and the state of things in which the temple is not recognised. “Not a stone shall be left here upon a stone which shall not be thrown down”, the Lord says in Matthew 24:2. So that now Stephen is in his own realm in looking into heaven. The epistle to the Hebrews has been called ‘the book of the opened heavens’, and Stephen is preliminary to it: he is looking into heaven and reflects what is in heaven. He has already done it anticipatively.
JS Do you think the assembly is taking on the heavenly character as seen in Stephen?
JT That is the thing. We are looking on to Paul, we are looking on to light from heaven, a vessel coming down from heaven, the sheet coming down from heaven; we are leading on to that. The Spirit of God takes account of things and He has [p. 69] reserved a great place for Stephen. God has taken up a man and God will reserve a place for him, he will not be shut up; not that he preached the gospel, but it is in this great testimony that he indicts Israel. Now we get in the fullest way heaven opened up to him, as much as to say, You have done well. Heaven previously opened on Jesus; now it is opening on Stephen. All this comes in as the result of the apostles’ prayer; Stephen himself, with stones falling on him, kneeled down and prayed.
ANW Do you connect this with Joshua 10? God is listening to the voice of a man and the day is extended; Stephen was going to be martyred, but God was going to extend that day.
JT You mean the sun stood still, the day is lengthened out.
AR Why was Stephen allowed to do this? Why was it not Peter rather than a servant like this?
JT That is just the point: we get an emergency, and a man fit to meet it. It is no accident. God has all this arranged. God has got a space for Stephen to fill out.
JTJr Stephen represents a great product of the ministry of the twelve.
JT That is what I thought we should see. He is an outstanding development from the appointment of these seven men. Did not the prayer of the twelve enter into this great service he rendered? Supposing Peter was there outside the door when he was bearing witness; suppose Peter looked through the door and saw Stephen’s face, what would he see? Suppose Bartholomew was standing there: they would look at each other and say. Our prayer is answered. Prayer as mentioned in chapter 6 has a great place. We are not told what the prayer was; we must leave it as to what extent it covered.
JS Is it not remarkable that he does not appear to have died in weakness as most [p. 70] men do?
JT No, he died like the Lord.
AL You said that Stephen was not an abnormal case, he was a normal case developed from prayer. In our local assemblies today where young men are not developing rightly, would that result from wrong administration?
JT Very often it is the breaking down of administration where the weakness lies. We had yesterday morning the appointment of Matthias to close the breach; the full administrative number was there; it runs through. The Lord appeared to the twelve, He recognised Matthias as of the apostles; He recognised all of them in authority. So that if administration is broken down we may get malformation in younger men, but we get no malformation here. If Peter and Bartholomew were looking in and seeing Stephen’s face, how rejoiced they would be! There would be no jealousy with them; Peter would say, My face never shone like that!
ANW Do you mean the gap in the twelve means defective administration, that eleven means defective administration? I mean nowadays.
JT Certainly; it is constantly happening; the elder brethren break down and the young men may come in and do the thing, but they are very likely not supposed to do it. A great responsibility rests on the elder brethren, that the young men may carry on in power.
CHH Chapter 10 shows the apostles are not to be left out.
JT Peter is seen in chapters 9, 10 and 11 acting very wisely, but the product of this prayer is what is now engaging us. They say, “It is not right that we leaving the word of God, should serve tables”. So they prayed as to this matter of the seven, and there must be results. What did they say? We do not know, but we do know the results.
[p. 71] NW Are you suggesting that it is happy if a brother is serving well in a locality to pray that the Lord may use him in a wider way?
JT It is a question of how wide our prayers are. We come together with a specific thing before us but in the presence of God we become enlarged. I do not know whether Solomon had mapped out his prayer, but he went the whole length, further than you might expect. Look at the territory he covered, look at the time he covered! He came right down through the whole of Israel’s history!
ANW There must be something very significant in the fact that the Lord spent a whole night in prayer before selecting the twelve.
JT I suppose it was twelve hours. The Lord would not waste a minute of it. Think of the territory He covered! He would look beyond Israel, look down the dispensation, because all these twelve men had gift and they were to influence the whole dispensation. The Lord’s prayer would extend right down, I am certain.
Ques Is it necessary for the word of God to increase? In cases of breakdown such as this, it is an important thing that there should be increase.
JT It comes in after the prayer, increase of the word of God, increase of numbers. Even if numbers do not come, there is increase of the word of God. In John 9 there were no converts apparent, not even the man’s parents, but as with Noah, the word of God was there. Noah preached for a hundred and twenty years without a convert, but the word of God was there.
SMcC In Ezekiel 1:27 it speaks of the man at the end of the chapter, “From the appearance of his loins and upward, and from the appearance of his loins and downward”. He had a certain appearance. I was wondering if that is not seen in Stephen, the [p. 72] power in what he was upward, as well as in what he was downward and outward in his testimony.
JT I think that is very good. In Ezekiel it is a question of the man’s loins, of his affections, and Stephen I think would correspond with that.
FKC In Stephen’s indictment every salient point of Israel’s history is covered in great detail, coming down to the seventy-five souls in regard of Jacob. Would you not say he was intimately acquainted with Israel’s history?
JT He had read his Bible, read it no doubt from his youth, so that it stood him in good stead when the time came for him to serve.
AR Would it be right to pray like this in a prayer meeting on the Monday night, in view of Tuesday night in the ministry meeting? Some young brother may excel.
JT That is the way to look at it. The thing is very practical and very simple. The Lord has not told us to pray on Monday night exactly, but the Lord is with us, although the sisters may be tired and some of them do not come; but the Lord is with us. The prayers uttered usually require the saints for the answers. When Zacharias, John the baptist’s father, prayed for John, of course he himself would be required for the answer. But he did not believe, and that is where the difficulty lies; we do not reckon that we are needed for the answers. Persons who pray on Monday night are at the ministry meeting on Tuesday night and the reading meeting on Thursday night, and they ought to be available to the Lord for the answers.
CT Is that why we should have the ministry meeting so near the prayer meeting, so that we may get the answers immediately?
JT That is a good time to have it.
JWD Do you mean that in the prayer meeting the brethren pray for distinctive ministry and help,
[p. 73] and in the meeting for ministry I should be exercised to be the living answer to that prayer?
JT You are available for the answer to the prayer. Heaven is attentive to us and takes account of who is in a locality according to the prayers that are uttered; so the next thing is, are those in the locality available to make the answers effective? For instance, it is said in Revelation 8:6 that the angels “prepared themselves that they might sound” after the angel at the golden altar makes the prayers of the saints efficacious by the incense. The angels “prepared themselves” before they sound; they are available for the answers.
ANW I was thinking about the young sister Rhoda, she saved the situation in connection with Peter. She made effective the answer to prayer that the others apparently did not.
JT She stood by it, too, the only one available there, although they all had been praying; she was the only one available to help Peter.
AHP The thought of prayer reminds us of the healing of the breaches; it is in view of the work of God going forward. I wondered if Stephen’s prayer at the close of chapter 7, “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge”(Acts 7:60), would pave the way for the coming in of Paul’s ministry, the furthering of the ministry.
JT I do not think so. The Lord had said similarly, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do”, Luke 23:34. That was answered. They were treated as manslayers and the city of refuge was opened up to them, but it was not so here; Stephen did not ask about any sin but the one against himself, he did not take the ground the Lord took in asking the Father to forgive them. All Stephen asked about was this sin, the one perpetrated on him, but even if that one was not laid to their charge, there were others enough to terminate [p. 74] the system without it, so that the judgment of God, the judicial dealings of God went forward immediately.
JRH I suppose personally he showed the spirit of the dispensation in his prayer.
JT He maintained it in regard to the sin against himself. He did not pray in the general dispensational way that the Lord did, because the time had come for the abnegation of the system. He himself was used to go forward in view of that. Philip in the next chapter is used to go out to the Samaritans and further on we get Paul.
AHP In that way the indictment in chapter 7 is final.
JT The court is set, so to speak, Stephen’s indictment is accepted, the Jews answer it by gnashing of teeth against it; they settled the matter themselves. I do not think that Stephen intended to alter that at all but he was in keeping with the dispensation in asking for the forgiveness of the sin against himself.
CAM Would you say his prayer was answered in the Lord’s singling out Saul of Tarsus, an individual rather than the national idea?
JT I think the selection of Saul of Tarsus was an abortion; it refers to the future; that is, he was taken up before the time. But the present situation is going through; the judgment of God is going through. I would not connect him with the general position, the Spirit of God did not want to change the position. Nor did Stephen want to change the general position; it was standing and Paul was still in it, still amenable to the judgment of God. Why did it not fall on him personally? Because, I think, God was beginning to look forward to the Jews coming back in the last days. “For I do not wish you to be ignorant, brethren, of this mystery, that ye may not be wise in your own conceits, that blindness [p. 75] in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the nations be come in; and so all Israel shall be saved”, Romans 11:25. Paul comes into Christianity as an abortion, not referring to what was happening then, but to the future; he was before the time.
JTJr This judaising principle that was working against Stephen should not have part in our meetings.
JT You see what Judaism was. It was exposing itself. Here is a most perfect setting out of the truth in the indictment. “And hearing these things they were cut to the heart”. Well, if they had been convicted in their hearts, they would have fallen down and acknowledged their guilt; they would have been saved. There is not the slightest evidence of this; they gnashed their teeth at him. “But being full of the Holy Spirit, having fixed his eyes on heaven, he saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God”. So that the Jews’ position was sealed; the matter was finished, and anything that Stephen gave expression to would be as regards himself, that he was in keeping with the Christian dispensation. He was not calling for judgment against them, the indictment did that.
CHH Would it be similar to John 8, those who were accusing the woman going out while the Lord was writing on the ground, the exposure of the judaising position?
JT I think Stephen exposes them in the indictment. Stephen was a thorough Christian; he was in keeping with our dispensation. He would say, I am not casting a stone upon them, they are casting them on me. The one without sin, let him cast a stone, the Lord said in John 8:7; but Stephen is not doing that, he is going out in the spirit of Christ, the spirit of forgiveness.
RA So it says, “Having fixed his eyes on heaven”(Acts 7:55), like the Lord Himself before His going out:
He “lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father”, John 17:1.
JT It is all very beautiful, it is the continuance of Christ in the martyr. Paul characteristically says later, “Thy martyr”; that is the position, that is what a martyr is. It is a good thing to look at a martyr, to be, as it were, an advocate. To set out the guilt of a man is one thing, Stephen has done that; but as to what he was personally, he was like Jesus as far as he could go. ‘Do not lay this sin from which I am suffering to their charge’; that is the position, so that he represents Christianity. It says, “They stoned him”, and what was he doing? He was praying. There is a long note on this word “praying” here: ‘’invoking’’,calling on’... . No one can be called upon really but God, so that the word has great force as used here’. He was invoking, invoking the whole Deity, that is the idea; there is no other object in invocation but God in His infinitude. Stephen is doing that; he has ceased indicting and is now invoking; “And kneeling down, he cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And having said this, he fell asleep”. What a sight for heaven that was! What intelligence as to the whole position: the state of the Jews and what he was himself as a Christian, a follower of Jesus; how he maintained that in the fullest measure!
AR What a sight for this young man Saul! What a sight for heaven! What a sight for him after he was converted!
JT That is another thing; he “was consenting to his being killed”(Acts 8:1).
I turn now to this next point that comes before us in chapter 8. Stephen is buried, and now we have this prayer, the service of Peter and John in regard to the Samaritans. That is the next point filling out this section in the progress of the testimony.
EF You were speaking of ‘invoking’, ‘calling on’ God in His infinitude. Yesterday you were speaking of addressing divine Persons. Do we ever speak to God as such, involving the whole Godhead?
JT The Godhead? Yes, certainly. That is what he is doing here. We do not invoke anyone else but God.
EF I understand there is one God, the Father, Deity expressed in Him. Do you have in mind in saying ‘God’, that you are calling upon the Godhead in that sense?
JT Yes, when it is invocation; when no name of a divine Person is given it is general. That is the position. It has a peculiar form here.
SMcC Do you think now in chapter 8 Philip would be humbly reminded that he is certainly not out-distancing the twelve? He is like those of us who may serve in a small way now: we have to learn and be adjusted in relation to others in serving; in that way we are dependent upon the twelve.
JT That is good. It is really a sectional matter, chapter 6 is a sectional matter, Samaria entering into it, Samaria being a rival of Jerusalem. The Lord Himself had set it out in speaking-to the Samaritan woman, “For salvation is of the Jews”, John 4:22. The salvation of the Jews had not been fully set aside yet; the sending down of Peter and John from Jerusalem is to settle this sectional matter of Samaria. Samaria never got any good out of sectional feelings; they must be given up; that is what is meant. “And the apostles who were in Jerusalem, having heard that Samaria had received the word of God, sent to them Peter and John; who, having come down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit”, Acts 8:14, 15. The pretension of Samaria is wiped out, I mean truly; every truly converted Samaritan would be thankful it is wiped out, for after all, they would say, ‘we are only mongrels;
[p. 78] we were never anything but mongrels, but we are converted to God through Christ’.
JRH Do you mean in this action of the apostles that the unity of the work in Samaria with that in Judaea was fully shown out?
JT The pretensions of the Samaritans are dissipated. We are apt to have national pretensions and assumptions.
JRH It may be a different place, but one work.
JT Yes, but there is more in it than that, the pretensions of Samaria have to be dissipated. They never had any value, they always lived in the idea that Jacob was their father and he was not at all. The Lord sets their pretensions aside in conversation with the Samaritan woman; He says, “Ye worship ye know not what; we worship what we know, for salvation is of the Jews”, John 4:22. That was the position that the Lord asserted. What happened here is the filling out of it, so that the Samaritan matter is settled, that is what is meant. Jerusalem would own the apostles, hence Jerusalem sent out Peter and John; two apostles from Jerusalem have to pray that the Samaritans shall get the Holy Spirit in spite of all their pretensions. They were sent down solely for that purpose, to set aside the pretensions. Any one who has pretensions must have them dissipated if he is to get on.
CAM All that is worked out in the assembly. This matter of John 4 is all to see a reflex in the assembly.
JT Any pretensions that any of us may have must be dissipated, because we shall never get on if we hold on to prejudices. What about Philip? He would probably have to get to God about this: ‘Why did they not get the Holy Spirit through me?’ You hear people say, ‘I got the Holy Spirit as soon as I believed’. You cannot be sure of what you are saying; you might say what is contrary to Scripture.
[p. 79] The Samaritans did not get Him at once. Perhaps you are like them; perhaps you have some prejudices in your mind that have to be dissipated through the truth.
JS Was it necessary that this department in regard of money should be established by the apostles before the testimony could move on?
JT You mean the matter of Simon Magus?
JS I was thinking of the setting up of seven deacons to take care of the money matter.
JT One of the apostles said to Simon Magus, “Thy money go with thee to destruction”(Acts 8:20); that is how a deacon looks on money in the hands of an unconverted man. But what is it in the hands of deacons? There it is something, because love is behind it.
JS Do you regard Simon Magus as a mongrel?
JT Quite so, he is a bad man. Peter discerned him, but Philip did not discern him; that is another thing to notice. A great servant may fail in a point and another great servant puts it right.
RWS This unadjusted matter had gone on for centuries.
JT It had indeed.
AHP Why is the prayer specific here that they might receive the Holy Spirit? Is that to help the saints in the understanding of the importance of receiving the Holy Spirit?
JT There is more in it than that, it brings out a principle. What we said about the Samaritan claims is involved in it. We cannot assume to get the Holy Spirit just as we are converted, just as we believe. This shows that certain people did not get Him, although they were baptised. Peter and John have to come down and pray.
ANW And lay their hands on them.
JT First it says, “Peter and John; who, having come down, prayed for them that they might receive [p. 80] the Holy Spirit; for he was not yet fallen upon any of them, only they were baptised to the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid their hands upon them, and they received the Holy Spirit”. It is a very precise transaction and it settles it once for all; but no one can say he receives the Holy Spirit automatically as he believes. Further, the time that intervenes may be indefinite.
JS Was Peter unlocking the door for the Samaritans? He had the key.
JT In a way, but it was Peter and John here; John is in it too. When you come to the use of the key Peter did it alone, John was not in it; that is in chapter 10.
AR Therefore when we speak to the young applying for fellowship, it is not enough to ask if they have the forgiveness of sins, but have they the Holy Spirit? That side is sometimes overlooked.
JT That is the line Paul followed at Ephesus: “Did ye receive the Holy Spirit when ye had believed?” Acts 19:2.
SMcC “And Simon also himself believed; and, having been baptised, continued constantly with Philip”, Acts 8:13. It must have been a very humbling matter for Philip to think that this man was so near to him that he “continued constantly with Philip”, and yet he was exposed by the service and ministry of others. We have much to learn in that regard.
JT The whole position was ordered of God to rebuke this Samaritan assumption. But still Philip came into it. What excuse would he have when he saw the exposure of Simon? ‘Why did not I see that’? I am sure he felt that, because he is honoured afterwards.
CT How do you connect the laying on of hands and receiving the Holy Spirit [p. 81] today?
JT The laying on of hands is just identification. We do not use that form, but we identify ourselves with the brethren when we announce that a certain person is going to break bread that day. We are identifying ourselves with him.
CS Would submitting to the word and seeking to do the will of God prove that we had received the Holy Spirit? We are obedient to the truth as laid down by the apostles.
JT Chapter 5 says, “And we are his witnesses of these things, and the Holy Spirit also, which God has given to those that obey him” (Acts 5:32). They obeyed before He was given, the evidence of obedience must be there before we get the Holy Spirit. If you are not clear, that may prevent you from getting the Holy Spirit. Bad teaching abroad today hinders people from getting the Holy Spirit, as with the twelve men at Ephesus. They had not even heard of Him. If they had been attentive to what John the baptist taught them, they would have known that there was One coming; they had not really learned all that John taught. That is what is going on today, there is so much bad teaching, and there are so many careless people listening to it. They do not get the Spirit because there is so much bad teaching.
JWD Here it supposes they heard the word of God. Would that not involve some comprehensive idea of divine outshining? “The apostles who were in Jerusalem, having heard that Samaria had received the word of God, sent to them Peter and John” (chapter 8:14). They would have had considerable light imparted to them in the preaching.
JT Yes, they had light and yet not the Spirit.
JWD The Holy Spirit could not be received where there is defective understanding of the truth.
JT Yes, I would say that. Peter says that God gives the Holy Spirit to those that obey Him. Before [p. 82] they get the Holy Spirit they have the feature of obedience through the earlier work of God.
CS There are sometimes questions asked of those seeking fellowship that are difficult for them to answer. Is that a proof that they have not the Holy Spirit?
JT The fruit of the Holy Spirit would be the evidence of the presence of the Holy Spirit; that would help us in seeking to determine whether a person has It or not. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, fidelity, meekness, self-control”, Galatians 5:22. Look carefully into his history and see if he has these fruits.
CT Ananias’ service was that Paul might see.
JT He was already converted, fallen down, yet he did not have the Spirit.
CS Would that be a ground for refusal of fellowship?
JT Certainly; any one who has not the Spirit would not be in the assembly.
JHtJr Would what is said of Cornelius, “pious, and fearing God”, have an influence? “While Peter was yet speaking these words the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who were hearing the word” (Acts 10:44).
JT Of course he had not received the truth of the gospel. “While Peter was yet speaking”; I suppose Peter preached enough of the gospel and they received it before the Holy Spirit fell upon them. Peter was still preaching when the Holy Spirit came upon them.
CHH If there are pretensions and sectional feelings as in Corinth, would you say they had not the Spirit characteristically, which might happen anywhere?
JT I think the Corinthians had the [p. 83] Spirit characteristically.
CHH They were spoken of as being carnal, that is what I mean.
JT I think the way the apostle speaks of the Spirit in chapter 2 would prove that they had the Spirit, and then in chapter 3 he says to them, “Do ye not know that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?”(1 Corinthians 3:16). That would prove it.
CHH I mean ‘characteristically’. They had It abstractly, but was it in a concrete way expressed?
JT The expression of it would be greatly marred by their conduct, but as called the assembly of God, they had the Spirit undoubtedly; it is stated here, “the Spirit of God dwells in you”.
JRH What was your thought as to the Holy Spirit, that He “was not yet fallen upon any of them” (chapter 8:16)? This matter of ‘falling’ we have in the case of Cornelius and his household too.
JT It alludes to the manner of receiving. The Lord Jesus speaks about It as being ‘received’, “But this he said concerning the Spirit, which they that believed on him were about to receive”, John 7:39. So Paul says to the Ephesians, “Did ye receive the Holy Spirit when ye had believed?” Acts 19:2. ‘Falling on’ is not simply the action of gravity; it is an energetic action of the Spirit. Peter says it was the same thing that happened at Pentecost; he likens it to that. It seems to be God’s way of dealing with persons collectively; several of them received the Holy Spirit at once.
Ques Would verse 24 show that Simon was unable to pray, not having the Spirit? He asked Peter to pray for him.
JT “Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and supplicate the Lord, if indeed the thought of thy heart may be forgiven thee”(Acts 8:22,24). You mean he could not pray before he had the Spirit?
[p. 84] Rem Peter has to pray for him, he is apparently unable to pray.
JT Peter told him to supplicate the Lord himself. We do not know whether he did or not. However, it indicates that you may supplicate the Lord like Cornelius before you have the Spirit.
PW What about Acts 1:8: “But ye will receive power, the Holy Spirit having come upon you, and ye shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea and Samaria”? How do you understand the Lord’s speaking there?
JT That is what we are talking about, it is the way the Spirit comes in collectively; It came upon them collectively. So It did in Caesarea, in Cornelius’ house; It came upon them collectively, but each one received the Holy Spirit.