THE WORK OF GOD (5)
[p. 332] THE WORK OF GOD (5)
John 1: 32, 33; John 4: 10 - 14; John 7: 37 - 39; John 14: 15 - 17; John 20: 22
JT I thought we should look at some scriptures in John’s gospel which refer to the Holy Spirit, to see in a brief way the part He has in the work of God, which we have been considering.
This morning we dwelt on the second and third days, referred to in John 1 and 2, and we noted that the work of God was there compressed into three days, involving the assembly emanating from the two hours of John the baptist’s day. The two disciples followed the Lord and abode with Him, after which one of these disciples, Andrew, found his brother Simon, and led him to Jesus; and when Jesus saw him He named him: “Thou shalt be called Cephas”, He said, which signified a stone. This thought we had before us a good deal, leading to the truth of the assembly as emanating from the divine abode, and being fully developed in the ministry of Paul, who was called out of heaven, and who brought out the great truth of the mystery, which was not spoken of in the earlier ages of God’s ways.
So the assembly belongs to heaven, it comes down from God out of heaven — not strictly forming part of the work of God in the day next mentioned. The next day introduced the Lord’s direct ministry, being occupied with the call of Philip, who found Nathanael. We noted that Philip was acquainted with the Scriptures, and referred to them in his ministry; this is in keeping with all ministry to the Jews. The Scriptures are invariably commented on in ministry to the Jews.
So Nathanael comes to Jesus, and the Lord says of him, “Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile”. He represents the tribes of Israel raised up [p. 333] by Christ; he recognised the Lord as the Son of God, the King of Israel. He is to be recognised in that way presently by the ancient people of Israel. Now that comes in in the first day of the Lord’s direct ministry. Then the third day is the second day of the Lord’s ministry, but it is called the third day; and in that day He brings in the wine. That is, He establishes the millennial day of enjoyment.
That was briefly what we had this morning, and the suggestion now is that we should look at the truth of the Spirit, as necessarily entering into the great subject of the work of God. The Holy Spirit is carrying on that work. We cannot really understand the work of God unless we understand that it is by the Spirit. The passages read are to call attention to the Spirit as the Agent employed in the work of God, in the individual believer first, and then as the divine Person here, dwelling with the saints, acting sovereignly, but ever remaining in the unity of the Godhead. God is one; the work is one.
The Holy Spirit came in sympathetically as the Father expressed His appreciation of the Son. The Godhead is seen there. The Holy Spirit comes in in relation to the Son, as expressive of the Father’s appreciation of Him. So that the position is clearly defined. “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work”, the Lord says; John 5: 17. The Father sealed Him; John 6: 27. And the work of God in a man is that he believes on Him whom the Father hath sent.
The position is very clearly set there — the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. John bare record, saying, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him”; but then it goes on to say that the One on whom the Spirit descended baptises with the Holy Spirit; John 1: 32, 33.
Ques Why do you speak of the Spirit remaining in the unity of [p. 334] the Godhead?
JT God is one, and the operations are carried on in infinite unity; but the Holy Spirit being here now, the Son is marked off, according to John’s record, as the One who baptises with the Holy Spirit.
Rem “He shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak”, John 16: 13.
JT Yes, quite so, but the baptism of the Spirit means, I think, that the results of the work of God are merged into one whole. He takes away the sin of the world, and He baptises with the Spirit. The baptism of the Spirit takes the place of the sin of the world; instead of man’s will being active and a hopelessly disjointed state of things in the earth, we have one whole; in the baptism of the Spirit, the Spirit pervades all; so that instead of disunion it is spiritual affection.
JM So that all that follows is in accord with what is set forth in this first scripture.
JT I think the position is clearly defined there.
Ques Would you kindly say what bearing that has at the present moment?
JT Well, it all holds good. There is a merging by the power of the Spirit into a general unity, for God being One the result of His work must be one; that is the divine thought; and I think it is brought about by the merging involved in baptism.
JM So that the work of God seen in a soul would be in the coming into a unity that already exists.
JT That is what I think baptism by the Spirit means. It really involves that one loses one’s independency. It is worked out in 2 Corinthians 12; there is drinking into one Spirit, which is my own action; but then there is that which Christ does. He baptises with the Spirit; He has in view the merging of the saints into a unity where independency is abandoned. The truth of the baptism of the Spirit in this gospel belongs to the first and second chapters. The first and second chapters are introductory, so that it is [p. 335] just the general thought of the Spirit you get there; His work in detail begins with the third chapter.
Ques The Spirit is the One by whom the work is carried on; is the Spirit speaking part of that work?
JT Quite so; that comes in under the head of the Comforter. From chapter 13 the Holy Spirit is thus seen. He speaks as a divine Person here; He comes in in connection with the house, and that is where He speaks.
Ques Would the first chapter of Genesis suggest that He is always connected with the subjective work?
JT Well, I think so, He was hovering over the face of the deep; but before the work begins God says, “Let there be light”. And so I think it is important, speaking of new birth, that that takes place in the light. God is not going to operate in the dark, He operates in the light.
Ques Do you mean one is not born again unless he has accepted the gospel?
JT No, I do not mean that; they are collateral. The Holy Spirit was hovering over the face of the deep in Genesis 1; it does not say He was doing nothing else, but God did not bring order out of chaos until light came in.
Rem It is significant that the first mention of one particular Person in the Godhead is the Spirit of God.
JT It is. Moses mentioned that as having come to know God.
Ques What about Nicodemus? Was he born again?
JT I think so.
Ques Had he heard the gospel?
JT He said, “We know thou art a teacher come from God”. There was light there, do you not think? He knew something. There were those who were affected by the Lord’s miracles, but He did not trust [p. 336] them. He did not commit Himself to them because He knew all men — a great fact for us to remember. He knows all men. “But there was a man from among the Pharisees, his name Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews; he came to him by night, and said to him, Rabbi, we know that thou art come a teacher from God, for none can do these signs that thou doest unless God be with him”, John 3: 1, 2. You see that is the moral element; he recognised that God was there. Nicodemus had already light, but he needed something more, he needed the truth.
WHM Where does quickening come in?
JT Quickening, I think, involves a new place, it is found in connection with Christ risen; if I am quickened I am made to live, but I am not made to live in connection with this world, I am made to live in connection with another. It goes further.
Ques Is not the thought of quickening in chapters 5 and 6?
JT It is simply the statement that the Father quickens, and the Son; the truth of quickening as to us is in Colossians. Divine operations are in the light; if one is born anew, he is born anew in the light. That was the first thing God commanded — light.
PSP It says, “Except a man be born again he cannot see”. Would it involve ability to see, and is that the condition necessary to the reception of light?
JT Quite so, but the kingdom of God is there; that is, the light is there so that a man may see it.
Ques Then you attach no significance to the fact that Nicodemus came by night?
JT That would refer to his fear of consequences; the point is that he came.
Ques Would you infer that there could be light, and no further result?
JT Quite so. That is an important remark. You see we have light now. “The true light already shines”, John says; 1 John 2: 8. He was careful to say that John the baptist was not that light. The true light is that which, coming into the world, sheds its light on every man; it is universal; and with it grace is active, grace is on the throne, grace reigns through righteousness. And that is the throne that stands today, there is no other; and men often rejoice in the light, as the Jews did in John’s light, but they have it only for a season, unless there is a work of God in them.
PSP Would you suggest that one might be born again, and yet not progress from that point?
JT Yes, there are many like that; they do not accept the truth. But the Lord brought the truth to Nicodemus. He says, “Ye shall know the truth”; not only were they to have the light, they were also to have the truth.
PSP Then that is a distinct work of God, the fact of one being born again. And does it not suppose that there shall be a superstructure?
JT It does. I was going to say that in John 8 the Lord said, “Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free”. The truth brings in reproach where it is accepted. One may appreciate grace and the light of grace, and remain in a human system without reproach; in fact men do not object to that. The gospel is something that men in the world can appreciate to some extent; it enhances human circumstances.
EH Does the reception of the truth always imply a work of God in the soul?
JT It does. Those who believe and know the truth are born of God. They have liberty; they know how to use the creatures of God; 1 Timothy 4.
But what I wanted to remark was that the truth accepted as a principle involves reproach in this world, and suffering. Those who believe and receive and know it, and value it, are in [p. 338] reproach.
JM So that the reception of the truth would lead to movement out of this present scene, and that would involve reproach. The grace side has relieved men where they are.
JT The truth takes you out of the world.
Ques Is the reproach the hindrance?
JT Well, very often souls are hindered because they are afraid of the consequences; the consequences are too serious in their estimation, hence they remain in religious positions to which no reproach is attached. Religious positions do not entail reproach.
EP God desires that all men should be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth.
Ques I suppose what should mark us here is the reproach of Christ, and the Spirit?
JT Yes. It is a remarkable thing that the strong delusion comes on all those who receive not the love of the truth.
Ques Does not the Spirit work on the line of the truth?
JT Oh. He does; and if the truth is not bowed to He is hindered at once.
Ques Is not the Spirit’s work connected with the truth?
JT He is the Spirit of truth; so it must be.
Ques You distinguish between the letter of the truth, and the love of it; and do you think Christendom has embraced the letter of it?
JT Well, yes, in the measure in which they have fitted it in with worldly religion.
All limitations of the position that God has called us to are marked by the letter; but it is the letter brought within the range of man’s intelligence; you will find the more you look into it, that things are made acceptable to man as he is. Paul said to the Romans, “Ye have obeyed from the heart the form of teaching which was delivered to you”.
PSP As to the subjective work, would you not say that new birth is the commencement of it?
JT Yes, it is, only my exercise was that you might note that God is operating in the light; He brings the light in first, and then operates.
PSP It is not intended that a soul should remain in darkness.
JT No, he is in the light; the light is there for him, you see. Then the next thing is the truth; and so the Son of man must be lifted up, as you get it here, in order to set aside the state of man — “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up”. That is the truth. While one may have divine instinct, he is apt to credit the flesh and adorn the flesh with the very instincts that the Spirit produces — whereas the flesh is to be set aside.
PSP The Psalmist says, “O send out thy light and thy truth”, Psalm 43: 3. How would you distinguish between the two thoughts?
JT Well, I was referring to that the other day. They go together. However much truth you receive, the light remains. The light is a general thought; the truth adjusts us. It is by truth the universe stands. There must be an absolute balance, or things would go to pieces. And so, the truth of Romans, for example, which is the great word of righteousness, adjusts you in regard to God, and in regard to your neighbour, indeed in regard to everything; you are thus prepared to be in the building. The Lord says: “I am the way, the truth and the life”.
Ques Apart from that adjustment that you refer to, is there any freedom?
JT There is no freedom without it. There are several things in John 8; one is that the Lord is the Light of life. He is also the truth and the Son; the truth sets free; but then the Son sets free. The [p. 340] truth of the house comes to light in that connection. The servant abides not in the house for ever, but the Son abides for ever. “If the Son, therefore, shall set you free ye shall be free indeed”.
JM You said the light and the truth go together; in the first chapter of the first epistle of John we are exhorted to walk in the light — you were saying that the truth adjusts us.
JT Yes, and so “the blood of Jesus Christ. God’s Son, cleanseth us from all sin”. Well, that is the truth about the blood. And “if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” — that is the truth about sins. “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us”, 1 John 1: 7 - 9. These are essential features of the truth to maintain you in fellowship in the light.
Rem “He that practises the truth comes to the light”.
JT Well, that confirms what we were saying. The two things go together; the light brings out that his works were wrought in God. You are not afraid of the light, as a subject of the work of God.
Ques Does it suggest that in practising the truth you come into accord with the light?
JT Well, I think so; and you are not afraid of it — “For everyone that does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light that his works may not be shown as they are; but he that practises the truth comes to the light, that his works may be manifested that they have been wrought in God”, John 3: 20, 21. John speaks of a thing or person according to what it or he is abstractly; the one who does truth comes to the light.
EH Would it not be right to say that Christ is the truth? But then you are bringing it into “the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin”. That is the truth. It is part of the total of the full truth.
JT The revelation of God is the light, the truth works out rather in what man is, as seen in Christ — “Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent”. That is, He became a standard; everything is measured by Him or tested by Him. So that the truth, I apprehend, works out rather in what man is in Christ; the light is what God is in Christ.
PSP Would you say the truth is the application of the light to the soul in that way?
JT It is the application of Christ as man here. That is a side perhaps that is not recognised. But it must be so. The Son became man. You have thus a perfect standard of things — a test for everything.
OJM I suppose if the light of Christ has shone into my soul, I am not then afraid to come to the light.
JT Just so; the nearer you come to it, the more you see how God has provided for you.
Ques Was the woman in John 4 adjusted by the light?
JT Well, when the Lord referred to her husbands He was applying the truth. What He said previously involved the light. The presence of a Man here, who in every way answered to God, involves the truth here, by which everything is to be measured. Hence, “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God”. The glory of God is Christ. You set up a plumb-line; that is the idea of truth; things must be on that principle; Christ is the standard. In John 4 God is presented as giving the living water to believers. But the woman had to be adjusted by the truth. The water in chapter 3 refers to cleansing. The water in the next chapter refers to the inward parts “it shall be in him”.
Ques “If thou knewest the gift of God”, is that the Son or [p. 342] the Spirit?
JT The Spirit; there is no asking for the Son, the Son has come: “God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son”. That He did of Himself; and it involves the light. But the Spirit is presented in John 4 as a gift to be asked for from Him.
Ques Does it refer to Pentecost?
JT Yes, only the bearing of it is continuous. If one desires it, it is available. Chapter 4 is the light of the gift; it is not what He has given, but what He is giving. “If thou knewest the gift of God and who it is that says to thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water”, John 4: 10. “God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son” that is past; John 4 is the present thing! God is giving the living water.
Ques No one but a converted person would ask for the Spirit?
JT Well, no; really it is based on light. “If thou knewest the gift of God and who it is that says to thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water”.
EH “Thou wouldest have asked of him”. Is that of Christ?
JT It is.
Ques Is it possible that many may have the Spirit, but not as living water?
JT Well, I think that is so.
Ques Does “shall become in him” suggest the work of the Spirit within?
JT I think so. It involves satisfaction. You will never thirst for ever. The fountain of water springing up refers, I think, to the movement of the inner man — organs that act of themselves, and that are not exactly controlled by a man’s will, or head. The Holy Spirit becomes in a believer the fountain springing up. One said: “My reins also instruct me in the night seasons”, Psalm 16: 7. It is almost like a dual personality in him; the reins instruct him.
JM This would suggest the movement of a soul who had got a measure of light.
JT It does — “If thou knewest”. John is true to the principle that things were all done in the light. And in asking, you ask for what you know is available. If she had known the One who stooped so low as to ask a drink of her, she would have asked of Him and He would have given her living water.
Rem It is important to notice the word ‘If’.
JT Yes, it is a question of light. The Lord’s attitude and words when speaking to the woman convey wonderful light. Jesus sat as He was, on the well. There was no alteration; He was weary, and He needed a drink of water, and He asked for it. What a position that was! God is brought to her attention. So that if she knew Him in that position, she would have asked of Him; because if He came so low — He was God Himself — what would He not give!
Rem That is how God gets His delight. He is delighted with truth in the inward parts. The Spirit is there; He sheds abroad the love of God in our hearts, and there is a response in the water springing up.
JT It is not, so to speak, the upper intelligence; it is more amplified in chapter 7; it is the lower affections. Those by which she had been governed in her wrongdoing are now to become the organs of life God-ward. That is what the Holy Spirit does.
EH They would be springing up into everlasting life.
PSP Would you encourage people to come to the Lord on this line, i.e., to obtain something from Him?
JT That is the thought. It is a time of giving, and hence it is a time of asking.
[p. 344] Rem If we knew the position of the One who stoops so low we could hardly refrain from asking.
EH If the woman had had the light in her soul that the Person who stooped so low was so wondrously great; that He who sat on the well in weariness, and thirst, was the One into whose hands all things were given of the Father, and that all power, too, rested with Him, she would have asked of Him.
PSP Would you say that the Spirit is given in response to desire?
JT Well, this passage would so teach us, as we have been saying.
Rem The reception of the Spirit entails adjustment.
JT The woman asked for water, but the truth must come in; so He says, “Go, call thy husband”. Well, that brought forth the truth. And it was to that very fact that she alluded later, when she said “He told me all things that ever I did”. There was adjustment.
Rem So that the conscience comes in before the heart.
EH The two things that came by Jesus Christ, grace and truth, are really bound together here; we have them in connection with this woman.
Ques Would you say that after the adjustment has been effected, God gets response?
JT Yes, I think it is remarkable that the truth of worship and the disregard of privileged places comes out here. After the believer has got the gift of God, the thought of privileged places disappears — “Neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem worship the Father. Ye worship ye know not what; we worship what we know, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour is coming and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth; for also the Father seeks such as his worshippers”, John 4: 21 - [p. 345] 23.
EH The activities of the Spirit in this chapter come out both God-ward and man-ward. First you have worship, and then she goes out to others and brings them to Christ. So in that way it touches on chapter 7.
JT It seems to me that she got the thought from the Lord that her body was to be a vessel of living water. What she left (her water-pot) indicated that she had apprehended that. So she goes away into the city, and says to the men, “Come, see a man who told me all things I had ever done; is not he the Christ?” She became a vessel in that way. But then chapter 7 enlarges on this, because if this service is to be carried on, it is to be carried on in relation to a glorified One; and all that intervenes is to qualify the vessel for the flowing out of the rivers of living water.
Rem So that in principle you go back to the garden of Eden.
JT Yes, you do. And it is a glorified Christ that characterises the position in chapter 7.
Ques Why the four rivers?
JT Oh! I think that it is to show the fulness and generality of the supply. As has been remarked, Scripture begins with a river, and it ends with a river. In Genesis 2 the river becomes parted in Eden — in the privileged spot — into four heads; it becomes universal in its bearing.
Ques We see the truth here brought out in connection with a woman; was it because failure had been brought in by a woman?
JT I think so. Sin had been seen in its lowest depths in her.
Ques Had you something further to say with reference to the river in Eden?
JT It was divided into four. In Revelation it is one, a pure river of the water of life, bright as crystal. I think it is the influence of pure government.
[p. 346] But John 7 is really greater than either, because it is what flows out through human sympathy; the lower parts are those through which the river flows.
PSP It is a man that is referred to in chapter 7, in chapter 4 it is in connection with a woman.
JT It is really the believer. “This he said concerning the Spirit, which they that believed on him were about to receive”, John 7: 39. Mark you, it is not those to whom the Spirit is given. In chapter 7 it is those who receive Him.
Ques What does that involve?
JT I think it involves the appreciation of the gift.
Rem All this that we have been looking into is in connection with the individual, is it not? But when we come to chapter 14 we find there what is collective.
JT Yes, chapters 14, 15 and 16 tell of the Spirit as here personally. “Another Comforter”, the Lord says; not in His relation to the individual, as working in him, but as with the company. “He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you”. And, as was mentioned here last evening, He is here personally, to take charge of the truth and announce it, and, indeed, as one might say, to take charge of the company, and of the servants of God. So that He journeys on with the saints right to the end, and at the end He is there with them. It seems as if the present time is marked by the gracious activity of the Spirit in leading the saints into unity, so that they may be suitable to Christ and to desire His coming.
Ques Would you say that under the Lord’s hand, in connection with His disciples, there had been formed a vessel that the Spirit could take possession of?
JT Oh yes! The Spirit is here in a sovereign way, as the Lord had been, amongst them. He took the Lord’s place. How great that place! He said, “Separate to me now Barnabas and Saul”. It is the [p. 347] Holy Spirit acting sovereignly in connection with the service of God.
RWG The word ‘Comforter’ certainly gives an enhanced thought of the Holy Spirit.
JT The word, I suppose, involves one who takes complete charge. What a great fact it is that there is One here who has taken complete charge of all the interests of Christ. If the word ‘vicar’ is applicable to any, it is to the Holy Spirit. He is here on behalf of Christ, taking care of the church; and He brings the church to Christ. We are not, however, taken to heaven by the Spirit, as translated, but we are brought to Christ now by the Spirit. So that the Spirit and the bride say, Come. As you draw near to the Lord, and become acquainted with His way, and fulness, how resentful you are as to the insult offered to the Spirit. According to these passages He is here on the behalf of Christ, to take full charge of the saints.
EH So, as has been indicated, there is a peculiar aspect in which we have the Spirit in John 14, John 15 and John 16.
JT As presented in those chapters, He is a divine Person here, capable of taking complete charge of the assembly; and men have come in and arrogated to themselves His office, and set Him aside completely. What does heaven think of that? It is well to see what the complete bearing of the sin against Him is, so that we may not be found in it, in any way.
EH “Another Comforter”, that is what the Lord was — a Comforter.
JT Just so; and it is well to have before us what the nature of the sin against the Spirit is, and how it is continued, and how it stands.
Ques Would you say a word about chapter 20?
JT Well, it was just to call attention to the spirit in which the saints forming the assembly are sent out to the world. They are sent out in the Spirit of Christ: “As the Father sent me forth, I also send you. And having said this, he breathed into them, and says to them, Receive the Holy Spirit: whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted to them; whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained”. The Lord breathes into them, and then says, as it were, I have the fullest confidence in you. I can trust you with the remission of sins and the retention of sins, and whether you remit or retain, I will endorse it. Remarkable results of the work of God!
Ques Is that collective or individual?
JT Well, it is said to the disciples; they are not presented here as the apostles, but as disciples.
Ques What is the difference between what we have in John 20, where He breathed into them, and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit”, and the Spirit descending on the day of Pentecost?
JT The day of Pentecost presents what is external.
Ques Is it more in the character of anointing?
JT Yes, in Acts — He sat upon them — it is the baptising there. Here He breathed into them, and note, it is not the belly but the upper parts, the lungs; meaning that it is the higher intelligence and affections of the saints that are in view, because it is important it should be these, if they have to do with the forgiveness of sins and representing the Lord here as He represented the Father.