GOD WALKING
[p. 204] GOD WALKING
Genesis 3:8; 2 Samuel 7:6; Hosea 11:1 - 3
JT Our subject is God walking, which involves the tabernacle, for the Spirit of God alludes to that in saying, “but I went about in a tent and in a tabernacle;” and then His people walking with Him; and our being taught how to walk as Hosea indicates. The reading is, “And I it was that taught Ephraim to walk”. The first passage clearly intimates that God intended, in walking in the garden, to draw man into a walk with Himself. His voice was heard. “And they heard the voice of Jehovah Elohim, walking in the garden in the cool of the day”. He intimates He is not putting any burden on them. It is not the heat of the day, but the cool of it; as if in view of the great subject which stretches out throughout Scripture, He would be considerate of us. Jacob says to Esau that the little ones would die if they had to journey a great distance, so that there should be compassionate interest in us as to this matter, and yet it involves the greatest privileges; walking with God. He walked in a tent and in a tabernacle, He said, and it is clear that if we are to have part in this walk, the meetings are to be in mind, and we are not to be in a natural way in our houses when God is operating among His people, walking.
Ques Would hearing the voice of Jehovah Elohim involve a spiritual alertness?
JT That is the suggestion, that it was to be heard, and although they were hidden in their sinfulness, they heard His voice. “And they heard the voice of Jehovah Elohim, walking in the garden in the cool of the day”.
[p. 205] Rem We know today we would not at all hear the voice of the Lord unless there is spiritual alertness with us.
JT That raises the whole question as to whether we are in movement with God, or whether we are neglecting or avoiding what involves His way of walking in a tent or in a tabernacle. Absenteeism among the people of God is very damaging. Absenteeism is a word that has become very current: people staying away from their employment; but the employment itself is apt to divert us, because of what it includes; that is, material means, and, therefore, there is absenteeism from the assembly — the forsaking of the assembling of ourselves together.
Rem We have later on that Enoch walked with God. I suppose he would set out a feature of what you have in mind.
JT That would be it. It is simple. Enoch did not ask God to walk with him; God is already walking.
HH That is very good. I was thinking as to what you just said as to Hebrews, and how the whole setting of Hebrews would encourage us not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together. The light is becoming more precious than ever. We are very near the end. The Lord wants us, and we might say, we want Him. I was wondering whether the cool of the day provides an opportunity for reflection on our part, thinking of what is taking place.
JT Genesis is a root book. The roots do not always show themselves, but nevertheless they are there, and we get in this word ‘cool’ a root which would suggest consideration on God’s part for us. It looks for consideration on our part for Him, too. Clearly enough, Adam and Eve were not considering for Him, and yet they heard His voice walking.
ABP Would the thought of the voice of Jehovah [p. 206] walking in the garden suggest the title ‘Word of God’ as brought in in John’s gospel?
JT You say it suggests the title ‘Word of God’?
ABP I wondered if it would be that kind of thing that in His walk or as He walked rather, there would be the speaking. The walk of the Lord is emphasised in the early part of John, and the title ‘Word of God’ — I wondered if there might be a link.
JT There is the suggestion, I suppose, in Genesis of the beginning, and the word is an active word, not a static word. It is “in the beginning”. “In the beginning was the Word” (John 1:1). Genesis begins, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth”. There were operations at the beginning. It is an active idea, and John’s gospel undoubtedly suggests the idea of movement because it says, “And, looking at Jesus as he walked” (John 1:36). John the baptist looked at Him. It was in the beginning of things according to John. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God”. Then there is the idea of all things receiving being through Him — His activities. Then the prologue runs down to the end of verse 13, and soon we have the idea of walking, Jesus walking, but clearly in view of redemption, His entering into death. That is, taking up what was essential in the beginning of things. John saw Him and says, “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world”. That was a great matter. Then the next thing is, “Again, on the morrow there stood John and two of his disciples”. John stands and sees Jesus walking and others are affected and they follow. They walk, too, but they walk on the principle of following, but clearly it was a question of a way being made in the darkness. John contemplates the darkness remaining, so that it was a question of a way being made.
WR Revelation 2:1 says, “To [p. 207] the angel of the assembly in Ephesus write These things says he that holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lamps”. Is that a present movement in respect of the Lord?
JT It was a circular movement, I would think. It does not convey the idea of going anywhere. It is in the midst of the seven lamps, but earlier He was entering into death to take away the sin of the world. He was walking in view of that, and then walking as if to establish the idea. In that idea there is the idea of leadership, making way, so that they followed Him, and the Lord inquires why they follow Him, and they call Him “Rabbi”, showing how the work is taking form and that teaching was needed. Then they ask where He abode and He says, “Come and see”, and they went, and filled out the day with Him. It was a teaching matter in where He abode.
FNW Does the first chapter of John link with the scripture in 2 Samuel? “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us” (verse 14).
JT Just so; so that it says, “I went about in a tent and in a tabernacle”. The original is put that way in this translation. It would mean, I think, walking continually. It conveys that idea. He went about. Of the Lord Jesus it says, “Who went through all quarters doing good” (Acts 10:38). It was not exactly that in the wilderness; it was going about in a tent and in a tabernacle. It was the principle of walking in that sense, in those circumstances, and the tent and the tabernacle would be of great value, which John would have in mind.
HH “O God, when thou wentest forth before thy people, when thou didst march through the wilderness” (Psalm 68:7). That is all connected with the ark going through.
RMS Is rest in view? “They abode with him that day” (verse [p. 208] 39).
JT I suppose it was something of that kind in the tent and the tabernacle. That is what Exodus and Numbers set out, but Jehovah makes a point here to David, “For I have not dwelt in an house”, that is, a fixed abode. John contemplates a house. The Lord calls the temple “My Father’s house”. That is fixedness, and a place of abode in a fixed relation. God has established that now, but He is saying here that it had not arrived. He was content until then with what had been provided, what He had, a tent and a tabernacle. I mean to say, He is saying to David that He has not been considered for; there was no great provision made for Him. David had thought of having a very comfortable place for himself, a house of cedar, and he is comparing that with what God had, and God takes that up in His word to him; and the voice to us is whether we are thinking of God. He has been thinking of us.
GVD What is the line suggested in Matthew’s gospel in which the Lord is named “Emmanuel”, which being interpreted is ‘God with us’?
JT That is in keeping with Matthew; not walking with us yet but with us, although the principle comes out in the gospels, but the dwelling place was in mind. That is, the assembly. The Lord says, “The Son of man has not where to lay his head” (Matthew 8:20). There was no provision at all under the circumstances He contemplates. At Bethany He found something, but it is remarkable that in early morning He was going back to Jerusalem and He was hungry. What kind of a breakfast was there? What consideration was there with all that was at Bethany? I mean to say, the challenge is to us as to God. What thought did Adam and Eve have of Him, surrounded by such evidences of His bounty? What thought did they have of Him?
HH Do you mean the supper in John 12 when Mary anointed those feet that had been doing this [p. 209] walking? I suppose it would be appropriate to connect that with our appreciation of Christ now.
JT Very good. That is the supper they made. The supper they made was not an everyday matter. What the saints may do on a special occasion to a servant or to the Lord, as they did, is one thing, and, of course, it is to be valued, but what they do every day is the thing to get at. It was not, clearly, an everyday case at Bethany.
HH I am sure you are touching a very practical point.
GVD Is Rebecca marked by the consideration that should mark us, when she saw Isaac walking in the field, she said, “Who is the man that is walking in the fields to meet us?” (Genesis 24:65). And then she covered herself with her veil. Was that consideration?
JT Just so. She was not going to show herself to others, which is implied in the marriage phraseology; avoiding all others. It is a sort of vow made by people who are getting married, which is well to notice, that you do not cast your eyes on any others. That is the idea; she was for him. She was for his eyes and he was for her. He would be for her, but she was for him. That would be the point.
ABP Is the walking of Genesis 3 by way of example? A perfect idea?
JT Well, I think it is God coming into an ordered domain. He had been there in His Spirit earlier, brooding over the face of the waters. There was nothing much there; no suggestion at all of any provision, of any comfort for God; because the Spirit of God is God feelingly. But now He has an ordered situation in this third chapter. The second chapter enlarges on it in the most beautiful way; how God thought for Adam and brought Eve in. He was so thoughtful of Adam in providing Eve for him, and the garden, surely he is going to think for God in the [p. 210] garden. But did he? That is the idea; that we should take to heart what provision is to be made in our minds.
ABP I suppose actually it was personal ambition that brought in the distance. It left a handle for Satan to suggest that they should become as gods.
JT Quite so. The contrast to that is brought out in Philippians, as you know. The Lord did not have any such thought as that, and therefore He brought in consideration for God in all His outlook as a Man here. He thought for God. In His prayer, and His word to the woman of Samaria of what the Father sought, He was thinking for the Father’s heart, the Father’s desires. Well, Adam had desires. Undoubtedly Adam was looking for a wife. He could not have put it into words, but he found none at all his like. But God thought for him. “It is not good that man should be alone” (Genesis 2:18). And presently this wonderful creature is standing beside him and he is calling her by name, and speaking to God about her. Well now, are they together to have any thought for God? Is God going to get anything from Adam out of this thoughtfulness that He has expended on him, and is Eve going to join in? What actually happened is that they were ambitious. Young married people are very likely to be ambitious. It is a painful thing that young people are ambitious. They are markedly so, even those in fellowship; whereas the thought set out is that God is looking for results from a married couple, and in a wider sense, from Christ and the assembly; and the Lord led the way in it in that He was thinking of God. “The Father seeks such” (John 4:23). He unfolds the thought to the woman. “God is a spirit”. It is a remarkable thing that He should have told her that. “God is a spirit, and they who worship him must worship him in spirit and truth”.
CN Does the teaching which follows this [p. 211] in Genesis 3 show that God in working takes on the issues Himself and is now pleased to make a way through for Himself?
JT Quite so. God is coming in now to an orderly situation. He Himself thought of it, and He is coming into that. He is coming into an ordered situation, and that is what the service of God implies. It is an ordered situation, and there is divine movement towards that. What does God find with us? I think that is the lesson here. What does He find?
CN Well, He does not find much response, if any, from these two, and I thought that what follows shows that He took the issue on and made a way out, so that there should be results. Do you agree with that?
JT Quite so. They had made a terrible issue themselves. He had to deal with the whole matter. He first speaks to the devil, and then He speaks to the woman and then He speaks to the man. It is by speaking, as has been remarked. John contemplates the Word. “The Word was with God, and the Word was God”. He spoke to the devil and the woman and the man.
CN He brought in the seed of the woman.
JT Quite so.
FNW “And Man and his wife hid themselves”. Do you think it is a question in our marriages whether we are helping one another along the lines of the work of God, or whether there is a lack of transparency in me, and whether my wife helps that along? When you get this hidden state in a couple, as in Ananias and Sapphira, it has a deadly effect on local companies.
JT There is that; and then there is a couple like Aquila and Priscilla. They are mentioned equally by the Spirit of God, and undoubtedly their hospitality and readiness to help together in hospitality [p. 212] and speaking is in mind, as excellent examples for young married people.
HH Your thought is that God has an ordered condition of things before Him. God walked in the garden having that in mind, and God has never given up that idea. God has a beautiful ornamented condition of things before Him. He does not surrender it, but He would bring us into it. Is that so?
JT Quite so. And so it is in the houses of the brethren and in the assembly; “rejoicing and seeing your order, and the firmness of your faith in Christ” (Colossians 2:5). That is the word to us. It really implies ornamentation; an ordered state of things. God has that in His mind. Hebrews contemplates it in chapter 9; what the tabernacle meant. It was a type of the universe; we are all in the universe, whether physically or morally. We are now dealing with the moral side, and we are all in it, and it ought to influence us in all our relations in the sense of order.
RWS In chapter 18 of this same book, Abraham does not seem to be hindered by his wife in leaving. He sees that Jehovah is moving on and he goes on with Him.
JT Abraham went with Him. That shows Abraham was considering for Him. He had been considering for Abraham. Abraham joined up and went with Jehovah, and Jehovah was ready to speak to him and hear his pleas. Then we are told Abraham returned to his place and Jehovah went on His way. He has something on His mind. The visit to Abraham was, as it were, on the way. It was not the prime thought. God is on His way now to the fulfilment of all His thoughts, but there is a special sort of thing that He would join in with, namely the assembly, which implies order, and Matthew, I believe, has that in mind. The Father brought it in really, but the Lord brought it in: “On this rock I will build my assembly” (Matthew 16:18). As if He would rely on us in this wonderful time of movement, finding accommodation.
CAM In this verse you started with, the reference to the man and his wife would seem to have a special significance in that there must have been a companionship leaving God out; do you not think that there might be a tendency with any of us, that unless God makes some gracious intervention, we would be liable to leave Him out?
JT I think Aquila and Priscilla come in conveniently in a spiritual sense in how they link up with Paul, and how they link up with Apollos. I am already touching on this because of Psalm 20 and Psalm 21, which we have already dwelt on, some of us, as to the king. These two Psalms are full of the king and what people think of the king; namely, him whom God anointed; who represented God in authority here. Now, the idea there supports all gift, all anointing in the great system. There are not the clergy and the laity, but there are the anointed, the gifted persons as anointed. They are provided for especially. The people speak of the king; they had great affection for him. For instance Moses was king in Jeshurun, meaning in the affections of an upright people.
Now, it is said in Acts 18:1, “And after these things”, after the things that happened at Athens, where there was nothing at all in the way of accommodation for Paul, only criticism, “having left Athens, he came to Corinth; and finding a certain Jew by name Aquila, of Pontus by race, just come from Italy, and Priscilla his wife, (because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome), came to them, and because they were of the same trade abode with them, and wrought”. Notice that. They had no holiday in their house; no special time of leisure; but he abode with them and he wrought, because he was of the [p. 214] same trade as themselves. They wrought and he wrought, but they afforded him something, and then we find in the end of the chapter that “a certain Jew, Apollos by name, an Alexandrian by race, an eloquent man, who was mighty in the scriptures, arrived at Ephesus” (verse 24). Notice how their race and nationality and personal identity are noted. “He was instructed in the way of the Lord, and being fervent in his spirit, he spoke and taught exactly the things concerning Jesus, knowing only the baptism of John. And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue. And Aquila and Priscilla, having heard him, took him to them”. Now these are important matters us, for while there is no clergy or laity at all in Scripture, yet there is the difference between gift and non-gift, although every saint has a gift in some sense. “But to each one of us has been given grace according to the measure of the gift of the Christ” (Ephesians 4:7). But then there are those especially favoured and anointed for the service of God and service to the saints. But Aquila and Priscilla represent what married people are to do in relation to the servants, and what the servants are to be in relation to them, but what they ought to be in extending a covering wing to those who serve. Adam and Eve did not show any of it. But we find it down through the Scriptures, and it opens up into the idea of Christ and the assembly, and what provision is made for God there.
AR What does he say about them in Romans? Paul speaks of Aquila and Priscilla.
JT Quite so. In Romans 16 there is worthy mention of them. First we have a sister there. We do not know whether she was married, but she is a remarkable woman. She was “minister of the assembly which is in Cenchrea; that ye may receive her in the Lord worthily of saints”, (that is, the assembly at Rome are enjoined to do that) “and that [p. 215] ye may assist her in whatever matter she has need of you” (verses 1,2). Because she was a sister that assisted, too, in whatever was to be done. The Lord says, “But I am in the midst of you as the one that serves” (Luke 22:27). But then there were those who ministered to Him of their substance and were with Him, so that the allusion to Aquila and Priscilla is striking. He says of Phoebe, “For she also has been a helper of many, and of myself”. Then he says, “Salute Prisca and Aquila, my fellow-workmen in Christ Jesus, (who for my life staked their own neck; to whom not I only am thankful, but also all the assemblies of the nations)” (verses 3,4). So that they had a great place as a husband and wife among the saints universally; “all the assemblies of the nations”. What a place God gives to young people who can minister and care for the Lord’s servants!
AR What you said about helping one another now is very remarkable.
JT Quite so. I was thinking of that. God can do everything for us if necessary. He allowed these two to do things for Paul. I think we will see how God has provided us with models, and the Scripture affords abundance on that head in every respect — models, as in the Thessalonians. But now it is God coming into an ordered state of things which is called the world. It is said, “He was in the world, and the world had its being through him, and the world knew him not” (John 1:10). It is exactly what we get in Genesis 3. The Creator came into the world; the world was made by Him; the beautiful ordered world of the garden, and, you might say, the world knew Him not. The same thing comes out in John’s gospel. The Lord Jesus was in the world, and the world was made by Him and the world knew Him not. It goes on to say, “He came to his own, and his own received him not; but as many as received him, to them gave he the right to be children of God”.
[p. 216] Those are the ones now to look to; those that have received Christ, as to how they hold themselves in their personal relations and then their married relations and then their household relations. “As many as received him”. Martha received the Lord into her house. You may say, that is a worthy thing to do. We may do that, but not treat the persons right. Priscilla and Aquila are examples of married persons.
AR The Lord says, when you go into a city, if there is a son of peace, stay there.
JT That would be the idea and, of course, that brings up the question of children; how they are in this matter; whether they can add to the position. There are no children yet in the garden, but Adam and Eve were there, and the Spirit of God gives us in a few words the whole position. But Jehovah came in; “Jehovah Elohim” (it is beautiful that we have that compound title) “walking in the garden in the cool of the day”. His voice was heard. There is no order in the world now, of course. There is murder; violence all around. But there is something for God in which there is order, and He comes into that.
CAM I suppose that is the reason why those details about Aquila and Priscilla and Apollos are very interesting, because as we think of one another in everyday matters we might think, Well, everything is absurd and confused, but in bringing God in and not exercising our wills we will find there is a marvellous companionship ordered of God.
JT Quite so. God did wonderfully in what He set up in the way of companionship in the garden, and we come in and join in it. But what He found is another matter. The issue involves so much.
EMcK I was wondering what He found in the Lord in Matthew’s gospel on the mount of Transfiguration. It was really what He was looking for in the first man. Then He says, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I have found my delight: hear him” (Matthew 17:5).
[p. 217] I was wondering whether the Lord then speaks about an ordered state of things in regard to the assembly in the following chapter.
JT That really involves all the synoptic gospels. God began there. But John was there before; it was a matter of making a way for the Lord. The old was in some sense making way for Him and He appears at the Jordan in the beginning really of a new order of things, involving order. John was in it. We know what was said about Him, that it had all this in mind; and the Father’s voice — it is not said it is the Father’s voice, the point is the voice; “the voice of Jehovah Elohim”. It is not what was said, but the voice. The voice was there and it was for those who heard, and for us now to know that it was the Father’s. The terms used show it. And then on the mount it is the Father again, and Peter says, “this voice we heard uttered from heaven, being with him on the holy mountain” (2 Peter 1:18). These are all most important points, as to what is before us as to this matter of walking, and whether we are taught to walk and have part in the thing that has been inaugurated.
TW What would you say about the Lord Jesus saying, “If I therefore, the Lord and the Teacher, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another’s feet” (John 13:14)?
JT It is the idea of walking. You get a great deal of it in the epistles, and what we are at now is manifestly applicable to present conditions. It is walking and God has inaugurated the walk; walking by Himself in relation to an ordered state of things, and walking in a tent and in a tabernacle also in view of external conditions; and then whether He has those that can walk with Him. Israel are those that were brought out with Him and at Sinai they are taught how to walk. God is going on; He is going about and He is to be in the tabernacle, but who are to walk with Him? I think the idea of teaching is [p. 218] in the book of Numbers; how we are taught to walk in relation to God. In Numbers 9 and 10 they begin to walk, to move. Two sets of the tribes move according to the trumpet blast; and then the sanctuary — making a provision for God; that is how the movement is to be, and so the walking begins. It is for each of us to understand it; how we are to have part in that walk, because the order is very precise in Numbers. It is not only the twelve tribes, but there are four sets of them, and the sanctuary in the midst of them, and the Levites in the sanctuary. God is there, and each is to be in his place.
CAM In Luke 24, when the Lord made as if He would have gone further, was it all that they might come into that matter you were alluding to?
JT They began to walk themselves immediately after. He made as though He would have gone further. He would say in effect, It is a question of the provision you are making. They are challenged as to the provision. He was persuaded to go in with them, and that is the point; that God is giving us an opportunity to persuade him; He is not going to be a burden to us.
FNW Is the walking of God largely in the wilderness setting until the rest is reached?
JT That is right; that is what it is. That is what He alludes to in 2 Samuel. The house is the settled abode.
ABP You spoke of the order in Numbers 10; the setting of the tribes. Would there be some instruction in the five abreast walking out of Egypt to Sinai? They went out in ranks of fives; but in the wilderness there were four threes of them, and an extra one; that is, the camp of the Levites, those who cared for Jehovah and loved Him, so to speak, and considered for Him all the time. That is what God is looking for; an inner circle. If the inner circle is right the outward will be [p. 219] right.
JT It is the speaking at Sinai that regulated that. “The Lord spoke unto Moses saying ...”. How often that is said.
ABP I thought there might be a connection with Genesis 3. They followed Jehovah as they were under the leadership of Moses, but then the instruction would establish the order of which you are speaking.
JT The speaking, the idea of the word, is in Moses. The speaking is to convey what is in God’s mind; that brings the four threes into position. When they are settled and encamped there is always the position of the Levites. It is the inner circle. God has those that He can rely upon. We were speaking lately of how the Lord stressed upon the apostles as He was about to die, whether they would understand and be custodians of the truth as it came out in Him; whether there was an inner circle. He had them in the garden; He put some here and some there, and three special ones were to be near Him. That is the idea in the garden. There are none of them called to be near Him at the cross. What they may have done is another matter. Some of them were there standing at the cross, but there was in His heart the idea of persons left as He died who had the truth and would be custodians of it and care for Him. So in the book of Leviticus Jehovah speaks out of the tabernacle; He is in His house, in the tent or tabernacle, as He says here, and we have the unfolding of the truth there as to the offerings in the early chapters, 1 to 7, and the priests had the custody of all that. They understand, and everyone that came up would go to the priests. God’s interests are cared for and the needs of the saints, too.
SF Is the spirit of that in David in Psalm 132:4,5: “I will not give sleep to mine eyes, slumber to mine eyelids, until I find out a place for Jehovah, habitations for the Mighty One of Jacob”?
JT That is very good; that is a priestly way.
[p. 220] So that he goes on to say, “Let thy priests be clothed with righteousness, and let thy saints shout for joy” (verse 9). God looks for that. He looks for it all the time. He is telling us that we are priests and ought to be able to do it.
FNW He speaks of the ark in the wood and then invites Jehovah into his rest, and Jehovah answers, “This is my rest for ever; here will I dwell, for I have desired it” (verse 14).
RWS After Numbers 21 the encampments seem to be more normal, more energetic. Would that be the working out of it?
JT Yes. After Numbers 21 it requires the Spirit in an active way springing up, so that you have the prophecy of Balaam; that is, light from God to lead us to understand how great the saints are; what the whole position is; not simply the tabernacle, but the dwellings of the people, what God would see in them and that He could be there. Numbers is very particular as to anything that is in the camp, that there should be nothing unsuitable in the camp. Everything is to be ordered, and nothing impure. So that Balaam’s prophecy coming in after Numbers 21 unfolds the mind of God in the wilderness, about to enter the land. “How goodly are thy tents”. How God was pleased with them. There is nothing to distress Him; all is orderly.
HH So the journeying after the teaching of the brazen serpent is understood in the household.
AR Moses says to them in Deuteronomy 2:7, “He hath known thy walking through this great wilderness: these forty years hath Jehovah thy God been with thee; thou hast lacked nothing”.
Ques Why do you think God brought Himself forward in this way in relation to the fact that He is the One that taught Ephraim to walk?
JT Numbers, I think, is the answer to that. We have already touched on it; the position of the tribes [p. 221] around the tabernacle, and then the mind of God in Judah. Judah is first with two other tribes, and when the movements begin he leads toward the centre. The orientation of the whole position is towards the centre, so that we are inspired by the prospect that is before us every time we move.
Ques Do you think that in meetings like these we get divine teaching in this way to move?
JT That is the idea. He says, I taught Ephraim to walk. But undoubtedly it could be extended to the whole thought of Israel.
JAP It is remarkable that there is vengeance on some persons who refused to walk in their assigned positions, such as Korah and Aaron and Miriam. They did not like the assigned work God gave them.
JT The book assigns a place to every one of us and it is for us to keep our places and move accordingly.
Ques Would Peter be an example of one taught to walk through discipline and pressure? I was thinking of his pathway, how the Lord took him on and carried him through extraordinary circumstances until he is seen in the beginning of Acts serving.
JT The Lord covered his whole life really in His interview with him according to John 21:18. He says, “When thou wast young”. It is a thing that challenges every young person. “When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst where thou desiredst” (that is not a lovely walk when young people hike off as they wish to do), “but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee”. He girded himself at the first. It is like a young person doing himself up for a show to make himself presentable; but, “another shall gird thee”. That is resignation to the will of God. Undoubtedly the idea is in the Son of God. John shows it is in the walk of the Son of God. John the baptist says, “And I have seen and borne witness that this is the Son of God”,
([p. 222] chapter 1:34). Peter had the light of the Son of God from the Father, but he never preaches it nor teaches it. Not that he was wrong in not doing that; it was a levitical matter that he did not, but when he comes to the close of his life he speaks about the Son.
HH In speaking of the old persons over against the young, is there not more the referring to the Holy Spirit on the part of those who are older? It is not the energy of the flesh; it is more the relying on the Spirit. Is that not a point of importance for all of us now, in turning to the Holy Spirit for support and help?
JT When he was putting off his tabernacle. It is beautiful, I think, to read Peter’s second epistle in that light. When we are getting older we think of the Lord coming, and we ought to all the time, but we also think of possible dissolution, having to die. Peter thought of it that way. He thought a great deal of the Lord’s coming, and the glory, but he also knew he would die, before the Lord had revealed it to him. But he speaks about the Son of God and the heavenly glory and “such a voice”. And the stretching forth of his hands would, I think, correspond with your suggestion that the Spirit is made much of.
FNW The next remark of the Lord in John 21:19 is, “But he said this signifying by what death he should glorify God”.
JT Just so. The second letter is by a man that has come the whole way down. The Son of God is before him.
HH I thought of what our brother had in his mind about the soul history of Peter, learning lessons, not too quick at learning them, but still they were learned.
ABP Does fatherhood connect with teaching how to walk?
JT Just so. The wording in Hosea would indicate that. He said, “When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son”. See how it links on with the Lord Jesus prophetically. “As they called them, so they went from them: they sacrificed unto the Baals, and burned incense to graven images. And I it was that taught Ephraim to walk”. That would be a prophetic allusion to a fatherly affection like Joseph. Some of his great grandsons were born on his knees.
ABP Paul in speaking to the Thessalonians says, “as ye know how, as a father his own children, we used to exhort each one of you, and comfort and testify, that ye should walk worthy of God” (1 Thessalonians 2:11,12).
JT “See what love the Father has given to us, that we should be called the children of God” (1 John 3:1). It culminates in that. Let us take our places in that.