THE WORK OF GOD (4)
[p. 317] THE WORK OF GOD (4)
John 1: 43 - 51; John 2: 1 - 11
JT Six days were required for the formation of the physical system in which man is placed, but the spiritual order of things is established in three days.
Rem You refer to the three days mentioned in the second chapter of John’s gospel.
FHB Does that carry on as far as the eternal state?
JT I think it carries on to the millennial state of things. From one point of view it is the end. He says, “Behold I make all things new”, Revelation 20: 1 - 5.
EM Is the third day linked with the thought of eternal life?
JT Yes. “After two days will he revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live before his face”, Hosea 6: 2.
EH Does the third day bring in resurrection too, as the foundation of it all?
JT Yes, it does, and we have it carried on, afterwards the Jews asked for a sign, and He said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up”.
Ques Would you make a distinction between these two days?
JT They are linked together peculiarly, in that they refer to God’s work in Israel. The Lord is prophetically announced as the One who raises up the house of Israel. Ezekiel enlarges on the subject, and Isaiah speaks of it. The dry bones, being the whole house of Israel, are made to live; and as made to live they are become as one stick in the hand of Christ; Ezekiel 37. And, following that, we have in chapter 40 the frame of a city as seen by the prophet in the land of Israel; and being there, the house is [p. 318] described to him. We get the same connection here; the Lord cleanses the house in chapter 2; and then announces that if they destroy this temple He would raise it up in three days.
Ques What is the difference between the third day when the marriage was celebrated, and the third day when the temple was raised up?
JT Well, I think they synchronise; the wine of joy which the Lord shall bring in, will be dependent on His death, and the establishment of the temple of God. These two chapters are a sort of introduction, and the division of days is, I think, of symbolical significance, showing how God divides up His work. Things are carefully arranged, each day having its own work.
Ques Is it the first day when John speaks of Him as the Lamb of God?
JT Yes; John’s day is apparently divided into two. From the second part of John’s service springs the truth of the assembly. We read in verse 43, “Jesus would go forth into Galilee, and findeth Philip, and saith unto him, Follow me. Now Philip was of Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter”; not of Andrew and Simon, you will notice, meaning that Peter had already acquired notoriety, that is to say, his name had become known, he was representative; Andrew had found him, and brought him to Jesus, and Jesus gave him his name, and he is connected with Bethsaida. Well, Philip was of that town, but Andrew did not find him; the Lord found him. It is another movement originating with the Lord Himself. As the day arrives in which the Lord’s own work begins. He takes the initiative, and He finds him who represents the service that should be employed which would raise up Israel; so Philip finds Nathanael — being called upon to follow the Lord, he finds Nathanael. Philip is versed in the Scriptures.
[p. 319] It is important in regard to the ministry to the Jews that the minister should be well versed in the Scriptures; this is indeed important for any ministry, but especially in that connection. In the epistle to the Hebrews the first chapter is based on quotations from the Old Testament scriptures. Hence Philip says, “We have found him of whom Moses in the law and the prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph”. The writer of the epistle to the Hebrews shows an extraordinary acquaintance with the Old Testament scriptures; so does Stephen, who also addresses the Jews.
Andrew says nothing to Peter about the Old Testament scriptures. The testimony as regards the assembly emanates from the dwelling-place. Andrew had been with the Lord for about two hours in His dwelling-place; and it is evidently the influence arising from that abode that induces Andrew to seek Simon. It is like Paul, coming out of heaven, you might say. The light that governs the assembly is out of heaven, not out of Jerusalem. The light from heaven shone into Paul’s soul, and with that light the announcement that the saints whom he persecuted were “ME”. The conception of the assembly is from heaven. So in Romans Paul cites the Old Testament; the gospel is witnessed, he says, by the law and the prophets; but not the assembly, he comes to the assembly in the last paragraph.
EH Do you mean that Andrew comes out, as it were, from heaven to seek and find Simon Peter?
JT That is it. In the end of Romans it says, “Now to him that is able to establish you, according to my glad tidings and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, as to which silence has been kept in the times of the ages, but which has now been made manifest, and by prophetic scriptures, according to commandment of the eternal God, made known for obedience of faith [p. 320] to all the nations — the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever. Amen”, Romans 16: 25 - 27. “Prophetic scriptures” are New Testament writings.
Ques Is that why the Gentiles are introduced in the sheet coming down out of heaven?
JT Exactly; the sheet is most significant; it contains “what God has cleansed”.
Ques Is it because the assembly is entirely heavenly that we are slow to take in the thought of it?
JT Yes, I think so. It is a conception born and developed in the dwelling-place where He dwells.
Ques So that the reference to the assembly in John would be according to the purpose of His love; not exactly according to His ways?
JT Yes. The Lord was there alone, but He would have a companion. It is seen in John’s gospel: “Every one went to his home, but Jesus went to the mount of Olives” (John 8: 1); because I think He had a link with heaven there.
Rem The assembly is a necessity to Christ even in heaven.
JT Yes; as we learn from the type (Genesis 24) there was need in the home of Isaac. And Andrew went out and found Simon, and led him to Jesus; and Jesus looked on him. That look suggests what the eye would delight in — not merely that he would be material, but that there was something the eye could take account of with pleasure.
SL Is not the assembly the top-stone of God’s revelation?
JT Well, it is; and so the city is said to be the bride, the Lamb’s wife. It is composed of what the Lord looked on in Simon, and what He named. It comes down from God out of heaven; it belongs to heaven.
WHM “In thy book all my members were written; during many days were they fashioned [p. 321] when as yet there was none of them”, Psalm 139: 16. Is that the thought of the assembly?
JT Yes, I think so. But the dwelling-place suggests that there was affection; and Andrew’s movement and service would meet that in principle. I think that his movement in leading Simon to the Lord would foreshadow the great movement of Paul as taken up from heaven. The Lord had been in heaven for a considerable time, having ascended; but the full thought of the bride had not yet come out.
FHB You spoke of a need in the home; there was the need in Abraham’s house of someone to satisfy the affections of the son.
EH We read in Mark 10 of one who ran up and knelt before the Lord, and asked him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?” and we are told that Jesus, looking upon him, loved him. That would probably be more on the natural side; whereas in Peter it was more what was spiritual.
JT Quite so; the full development of what Peter represented here would answer to the need of the home. I think what the name suggests is really the assembly.
PSP And you would suggest that we should clothe the saints with assembly thoughts when we see them?
JT We shall, if we get the Lord’s point of view, i.e., the vision of the Almighty. We are certainly taken up for one thing, and that is for the assembly. The apostle developed the truth of the gospel as fitting into the ways of God. It is said to be the gospel of God “concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh” — he brings that in — “and declared to be the Son of God with power, by the resurrection from the dead”, Romans 1: 1 - 4. That is, it was what came in in the ways of God. That is the ground on [p. 322] which the gospel stands in Romans; and having developed all that, the apostle comes to the truth of the assembly.
Simon was to be kept in regard to that day, awaiting the Lord’s ascension to heaven, and full opportunity given to Israel in regard to faith through repentance. Then afterwards you see Him in heaven waiting on the Jews. Certain ones had a part in that heavenly relationship not yet fully known; and from that springs the movement that brings in the assembly. That is to say, the apostle Paul; he it was who received the ministry of the assembly. That ministry issued from those two days.
EM When the Spirit came on the day of Pentecost — was not the assembly started then?
JT Well, you see the ground of the testimony at Pentecost is Israel’s responsibility. It was still, I think, their day. The bearing of John the baptist’s ministry entered into that too; and so in Acts 3 they are still regarded as the “sons of the prophets”; and Christ is in heaven just temporarily as it were; God would send Him back if they repented.
JM Would not that arise out of the first day?
JT Yes, the two hours of it.
JM And that would go on to Stephen’s death, or the apostle Paul’s conversion?
JT Yes; then we have our own day, which has to be introduced there where Peter appears. The second day assumes that that is finished, and the Lord goes to Galilee. That, I think, is on the principle of sovereignty. He does not go to Jerusalem; the movement is in Galilee. Israel has got to surrender its natural rights.
EH We read of Galilee of the nations (Matthew 4: 15), would that bring in the thought that in the millennium the nations would be brought into blessing as well as Israel?
JT Yes. Here it is Israel; they are to be [p. 323] recovered as in a remnant. Galilee is in this connection, I think.
Ques The revival of Israel will be on the line of the sovereignty of God’s will?
JT Certainly, and in circumstances that will in no way gratify their pride, or recognise natural claims.
FHB I thought that the Lord finding Philip would be the Lord finding the remnant in another day; and then the remnant will find the ten tribes, like Philip finding Nathanael.
JM You said the persons found brought out the effectiveness of the service?
JT It is a question of the result of one’s service. What a find Simon was! Andrew brought him to the Lord. And then, what a find Nathanael was!
JM The necessity of being where He dwells is important if we would be engaged in this blessed work.
JT The Lord has got His own motives in calling you into service; and you may not know the end, but He does; He knows what you can do. The Lord would have intelligent response and enquiry in our hearts as to what His desire is.
The Lord did not tell Philip to find Nathanael. The Lord knew. He says, “Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee”. The Lord sees all; but who is to be employed in finding these great treasures?
Rem Saul’s name was mentioned at the stoning of Stephen; then afterwards the Lord finds him Himself.
JT Yes; the Lord saw him at the stoning of Stephen, and He had taken account of him and the exercises, the “pricks”. “It is hard for thee”, He says, “to kick against the pricks!” Doubtless the light that shone there affected Saul’s conscience, but he was kicking against it.
Ques Do you mean that he was convicted there?
JT I think it affected his conscience; he held [p. 324] the clothes of the men who stoned Stephen, he saw what happened, and would be affected by it.
Ques You were previously speaking of the continuance of the work of God — is the assembly a revelation?
JT Well, it is a revelation; but then, it is a masterpiece of God, it comes out in that way; what God builds, what Christ builds, and what is being built by those whom He employs now.
The Lord, in taking up Paul, allowed others to help him, and bring him into the fellowship, as we speak. He called him Himself, however, and it is a remarkable distinction that He did so. And as the Lord, when speaking to Moses, mentioned his name twice, so Saul is addressed, “Saul, Saul”; showing what a place he had in the Lord’s mind. The Lord knew what should come out in that man, and how he would know the longings of His heart in connection with the assembly.
In Acts 13 the Holy Spirit said, “Separate me now Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them”. The time had come for the wonderful service that would result in the bringing in of the assembly for the heart of Christ; it was to be no longer delayed. Barnabas and Saul had been in Antioch for a considerable time, working among them. Saul undoubtedly was more particularly in the mind of the Spirit, although Barnabas is mentioned first, which is a peculiar touch of grace and consideration.
Rem It was the Lord Himself that called the apostle.
JT Yes. He says, “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?”
Ques Have you any thought as to why the name is repeated?
JT It is that the person has a particular place in the mind of God; the repetition of the name, I [p. 325] think, involves that. You find it also in the case of Moses, and of Samuel, and others.
Ques Would it be that he had a distinguished place in connection with the work of God?
JT Well, it shows what a great place he had in the Lord’s mind. The Lord said he was an elect vessel unto Him. The Lord had great pleasure in a vessel like that. We all know, if we have obligations and matters to attend to, what a great thing it is to have one that can be relied upon, one that can be trusted. Ananias, replying to the Lord’s intimation regarding Saul, said, “Lord, I have heard from many concerning this man how much evil he has done to thy saints at Jerusalem”; as if he knew better than the Lord. If the Lord takes a man up you may be sure He knows better than we do what his capabilities are. So the Lord said to Ananias, “Go, for this man is an elect vessel to me, to bear my name before both nations and kings and the sons of Israel”, Acts 9: 13, 15.
Ques Would you say Barnabas had discernment as to that, when he went to Tarsus to seek out Saul?
JT I think he had. Barnabas had an unjealous sympathy with the Lord. “Separate me now, Barnabas and Saul, for the work to which I have called them” — I was remarking that the Lord would have a peculiar pleasure and restfulness in having a vessel like Saul; He has got a man now that He can trust.
No Israelite can raise a voice as regards the fairness of God in taking up the assembly first historically, because the suggestion arose from Israel’s own day; it was the day of Israel’s opportunity. He could say, It was all there for you. And so the testimony of Pentecost, and what follows, was on that line. It was all there for them. Now the testimony that Rachel represents is on the same line. She was the first loved; Jacob loved her first, but got her last.
FHB Is it not remarkable, seeing this gospel [p. 326] has in view that which is spiritual and eternal, that it should be introduced with what is dispensational, and it ends with what is dispensational? Before He winds up the present heaven and earth. He will establish His will and purpose in it.
JT Yes; He can do that in three days. It all shows the importance of being spiritual in reading John. These things are spiritually apprehended.
Ques Would you say the spiritual order of things of which you have spoken touches both the millennium and the eternal state?
JT The suggestion in the home is eternal, because that is where He lives. He is the Son of man which is in heaven. So, as has been remarked, the light comes down; and the sheet comes down three times, but goes up again, and it remains up there. That is the thought of the assembly. I think it is conceived in eternity, and it belongs to eternity. So that Ephesians is on the ground of eternity. There is no word in human language to convey or express the full meaning of what we call eternity, it has to be realised; not comprehended, but apprehended; it has to be spiritually realised.
And see, the Spirit’s power
Has ope’d the heavenly door,
Has brought me to that favoured hour
When toil shall all be o’er.
Now, that is about all I can say. What can I say about it? It is beyond the finite mind, but I am brought into it, now!
Ques There are a great many quotations from the Old Testament in the epistle to the Romans.
JT Yes; and the same applies to the epistles generally that treat of what belongs to the ways of God. But the assembly is out of heaven. God gave inklings of the assembly in type, but still silence had been kept as to it in the “times of the ages”, Romans 16: 25.
[p. 327] Rem No one could have invented the idea of the church.
SL You mentioned previously that things were developed on the ground of relationship.
JT Yes, they are. God’s primary thought is the family, and it ends there: “I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom every family in the heavens and on earth is named”, Ephesians 3: 14, 15. The family is God’s thought; it originates with Him. So in the assembly the final thought is that we are sons.
SL And as has been remarked already, we view the saints in the light of that when we meet them.
JT Yes; and typically the family of Levi represents that very thing. One might assume that there must, in a family, be the first-born, and the second-born, and so on; but in God’s family there is not that thought. There is the first-born, i.e., Christ, but all the others are first-born ones. The Lord has His own distinctive place, an Only-begotten with the Father. Whereas every Levite would represent a first-born in another family; the twenty-two thousand of them represented twenty-two thousand first-born ones in Israel. So that all had the same relative place.
In Hebrews 12 we read of the assembly of the first-born who are enregistered in heaven. So, clothing each other with that dignity helps greatly as to loving one another. There is much that is merely social, and when that enters into the calculations of the saints there is a withering effect. Those who know what it is to be where He dwells dismiss all such things; and they clothe the saints with His dignity, they are first-born sons.
Ques You are speaking of the assembly now as of the first-born ones?
JT It is the assembly of the first-born who are enregistered in heaven.
[p. 328] Ques But there are others that are seen, though not first-born ones.
JT But the principle of sonship pervades all the families.
PSP You were speaking of Christ as being the Only-begotten, and then you referred to the Levites as being first-born ones; do you mean that the assembly of the first-born is distinctive? they are not only-begotten ones. Does the first-born in Hebrews 12 refer to Christ, or to those who are first-born ones?
JT I think it is an allusion to the Levites, the twenty-two thousand had that place; that is their family distinction. In Joshua you have their inheritance, and it is in keeping with their distinction — the elite of God.
FHB He is the First-born One; they are firstborn ones. So He is the Son of God. He must have the pre-eminence.
EH The Only-begotten of the Father is the One who has died.
JT “Take now thy son, thine only son, Isaac, whom thou lovest” — it is that thought. But it is important to recognise that in the family the saints have equal glory; they are all equal in nobility, they are all first-born ones, as in Numbers. And then in Joshua they are supported with the inheritance equal to that, forty-eight cities are given to them; and then the offerings of the God of Israel, and the God of Israel Himself — God Himself is their portion. Well, I think all that enters into the thought of the dwelling, the abiding place. And we can well afford to look at the second and third days in that light, because we are, as it were, looking down on the operations. So that the first day of the week in John 20 is the assembly’s place.
Then the disciples were again within, and Thomas with them. That refers to this day, the day in which the movement begins with the Lord; and Philip is [p. 329] employed, and goes out and finds Nathanael. That is, the true Israelite is found, he is found sitting under the fig tree. So that the principle of movement is the same. The Israelite in that day shall have to move out of the moorings that he has got into in his natural pursuits. Jesus said to Nathanael, “Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee” (John 1: 48), showing that the Lord had His eye on them, and He knows where they are.
The Lord did not say of Nathanael, “Behold one truly an Israelite, in whom there is no guile”, until he began to move; Jesus saw Nathanael coming to Him, and then He said this to him ... . They are not truly Israelites as sitting under the fig tree. It is the movement John emphasises.
FHB And He regards him as the fruit of the work of God — One in whose spirit there is no guile.
JM I suppose the exercise is seen in Isaiah 53, when they begin to move towards the Lord.
JT Yes. Philip says, “we have found him”. It is a beautiful witness. And then he quotes Moses and the prophets; they wrote about Him. Jesus, the son of Joseph, who is from Nazareth. Philip knew the Scriptures; and although Nathanael questioned, Can anything good come out of Nazareth? yet he came to Jesus. Philip says, Come and see! That is the thing.
WH He used the same words as the Lord did to the two of John’s disciples who followed Him.
JT Nathanael moves to the Lord here on Philip’s testimony. It is a great thing to testify so that people move to Christ. The “popular” evangelist says, “Let them go back to their own churches”; well, that is not the true movement at all. When the Lord sees Peter coming to Him, He gives him a name.
Rem The kind of people that shall inhabit the [p. 330] earth in a later day are represented in Nathanael: “An Israelite ... in whom is no guile”.
PSP The work of God does not end with the assembly.
JT No, it goes on to the bringing in of a guileless people on the earth — like the Lord Himself, in whom was no guile.
Ques What is the characteristic feature of the third day in connection with the work of God?
JT Well, you will observe that in these two earlier days the record gives us more what the Lord said than what He did, i.e., He is naming what is brought before Him. Now, it was God’s work that Adam was called upon to name. So that these earlier days refer to what God had been doing.
On the third day, the marriage day, there was deficiency, and now it is not what He says — it is what He does. There were six water-pots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, but they were empty, and the Lord says, “Fill the water-pots with water”, and they filled them up to the brim. The water of purification comes in on the third day. That is, the millennial world shall be set up on the ground of purification, a purified world; and the water of purification becomes the wine of joy; it is turned into wine.
Ques Why is His mother not recognised in connection with these three days?
JT She is recognised in that she submits. When the mother of the Lord undertakes to tell Him things, He says, “Woman, what have I to do with thee”; but then you will observe in verse 12, He descends after this to Capernaum, “He, and his mother, and his brethren, and his disciples, and they continued there not many days”.
The millennial day is a thousand years, but then that is not much in God’s reckoning; it is only a matter of testimony. I mean, it is nothing compared [p. 331] with what we have in the way of duration. The Lord recognised His mother and His brethren; we know from Revelation she has a great place with God; she is clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars; Revelation 12: 1. But it is that she is taken up sovereignly. I think it is a great thing to see how the work of God culminated. Think of man and his world! When God begins He selects three days and finishes his work.
Rem Man has had a long time, and has made a sad mess of things.
Ques Why were six days required in Genesis for creation, and only three days here?
JT The point is, God is showing what He can do. That is what testimony largely involves, how quickly God can do things. See how quickly He will change your body, for instance — in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye.
WHM You referred to the thought of sonship, and families — in Isaiah 56 we read of a name better than of sons and of daughters.
JT Well, sons and daughters would refer to what we are here in our ordinary life: “Ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty”, 2 Corinthians 6: 18. It is not the full height of our calling, but, I think, sonship is.