NOTES OF READINGS AND ADDRESSES, LONDON, MAY, 1922 - READING (4)
NOTES OF READINGS AND ADDRESSES, LONDON, MAY, [p. 55] 1922 - READING (4)
JT We left off at the beginning of chapter 12. Attention was called to the fact that the Lord addressed the disciples as His friends.
Ques What does that mean?
JT I think it refers to trustworthiness.
AMH Why does He go on from the thought of trustworthiness to say that they are not to fear?
JT Danger might test our trustworthiness; we might surrender in view of danger. Therefore the question comes up as to oneself; how much can one entrusted with?
PL Do we not see trustworthiness in the woman at the end of Proverbs: “the heart of her husband doth safely trust in her”. Is that a feature of housekeeping?
JT It is indeed. The test of it is the absence of the One who has placed confidence in her.
JS Is that why you said the outstanding element in Philippi was Lydia rather than the jailor?
JT Yes. The Lord had opened her heart, and she says, “If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and abide there”. So that it turns on whether one is prepared to hold to what is entrusted to one at all costs — whether one is faithful. The apostle Paul stands out in a special way as holding a trust. He says, “I have kept the faith”.
Rem You confess His name in contrast to denying it.
RB In his third epistle John alludes to the friends particularly. He says, “Our friends salute thee”, and “Greet the friends by name”.
JT I think that he had confidence in them;
[p. 56] they were to be greeted by name. In John 15 the Lord says, “I have called you friends”. I think you see in John the baptist the true idea of a friend of Christ. He rejoiced to hear His voice as the Bridegroom. He was the friend of the Bridegroom, and he was prepared to let Him increase; that is, he was ready to go down for the Lord’s sake.
HH Friend is an unofficial thought?
JT It is. It springs from intimacy. Another feature that comes out in this chapter is the Holy Spirit. He says, “Be not careful how or what ye shall answer, or what ye shall say; for the Holy Spirit shall teach you in the hour itself what should be said”. That assumes the presence of the Spirit in a known way, and available in any emergency, as to what is to be said.
Rem At the end of 1 Timothy it says, “Keep the entrusted deposit”, chapter 6: 20.
ENH If we had the sense of what we have in the Spirit we should be able to face opposition.
JT Taken generally, verse 12 applies to the preparing of discourses and so on. We have to learn what the Holy Spirit would teach us in every hour. What do you say?
JBC-l I think that would be desirable. I was thinking of what you said at the first reading in connection with the Lord being led of the Spirit — led in the wilderness. We have to be led in ministry also. This chapter fits in with that. The Lord sets out the truth to the disciples, then they were to be tested. So that in the temptation, when the Lord answered, He generally said, “It is written”, but finally He says, “It is said”. I suppose that is a deeper thing.
JT And then the Holy Spirit provides what you are to say. We need to get our sermons fresh. This point is important. Do you not think so?
EJMcB I entirely agree. If we were in line [p. 57] with the presence of the Spirit here, we should have discourses which were spiritual.
FHB If that which is preached is to go to man as the word of God, it must be the Spirit speaking.
JT Yes; and the Holy Spirit keeps us near the death of Christ. I was thinking of Samson’s great exploit: he found ready to hand the thing that he used. He had been bound by his brethren, which is a very sorrowful consideration, but the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and the bands were broken as threads of burnt flax. Then it says he found a fresh jawbone of an ass; Judges 15: 15. It was a fresh one, and with that he slew a thousand men, “heaps upon heaps”. Our discourses should be in freshness. It says, “The Holy Spirit shall teach you in the hour itself what should be said”; that is not very old!
DLH Do we get an illustration of this in Stephen — the mighty word of the Spirit of God, which confounded everybody?
JT I think we should learn to live by the week, and by the day, and by the hour. The hour would refer to any specific service, giving an address, for instance; the day would be one’s experience with God individually, and the week would refer to our church relations, beginning with the first day of the week — the Lord’s supper.
DLH Have you any scripture to help us in regard to reference to the day?
JT Well, you have the use of the word by the Lord; He says, “Take up his cross daily”. That is one’s own cross.
EJMcB It says in this chapter, “If then God so clothe the grass, which is today in the field”. He would support a man by the day.
JT “Give us our needed bread each day”. In Revelation you have time mentioned in so many days, months and years. “Days” refer to human experience. “Years” would be the same time from the divine side. The first day of the week is connected with the assembly. The Holy Spirit furnishing what is needed for the hour is very important to notice, because it keeps us in exercise as to our service being in freshness. There is no limit with the Lord, or with the Spirit; there is abundance so that there can be freshness — fresh supplies from the Lord.
JM We read in Isaiah, “He openeth mine ear morning by morning”.
JT That helps greatly. In John 9 the Lord says, “I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day”. One would not lay down any rule, but I believe the Lord would help us to begin with the first day of the week, so that the freshness of the death of Christ is kept before us. Then the Spirit teaches us what to say.
AAT What place has the mind?
JT You could not be taught without a mind; the believer’s mind is renewed, and thus can take in divine things. We have the mind of Christ. But one would plead for freshness, that things may be living.
JBC-l Do you get the principle that you are alluding to in the shewbread? When the fresh shewbread was presented to Jehovah, it then became the food of the priests; Leviticus 24: 9.
JT Yes, quite. The shewbread was for the priests in that sense. We are surrounded on every hand by the principle of staleness; there is nothing really living where that is found.
GR What is the force of the word, “I became in Spirit on the Lord’s day”?
JT It shows that the Holy Spirit and the Lord’s day are intimately connected. I always like to get what I may have to say afterwards at the Lord’s supper, and I certainly should never think of going to partake of the Supper with a word in my mind,
[p. 59] because that would be disregardful of the position which the Lord takes there. If we accord Him His place He comes in as Head, and that is really what keeps Christians in movement in a spiritual way — in freshness.
Ques Do you not receive something from the Head at the Supper?
JT Yes, there is abundance there; all the fulness of the Godhead dwells in Him bodily. That indicates the resources available. There is another point in chapter 12 to be noted, and that is the imminence of the Lord’s coming; in view of that a state of watchfulness should mark us.
JBC-l Do you suggest that the service and fresh exercise connected with the house is on the line of headship? The thought of the Lord’s coming would bring these exercises right up to date.
JT Yes, quite. So the Lord says, “Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season?” It is not what you had last year.
Ques Had you anything further in your mind as to Samson?
JT Only to call attention to the fact that he had found something fresh, and he used it — a new jawbone. Then it says, “he was sore athirst, and called on the Lord ... but God clave a hollow place that was in the jaw [or ‘the hollow rock that was in Lehi’, i.e., the jawbone], and there came water thereout”, and he drank of it. The Holy Spirit and the death of Christ go together.
But to refer again to the faithful and wise steward. The stewardship is over His house, so that food may be supplied. Every brother ought to be concerned as to this, to give a measure of corn in season to the household. The point is faithfulness now. The [p. 60] provision is infinite. God has infinite wealth for us in the recognition of the Spirit.
Ques How would the principles of faithfulness and prudence work out?
JT We are to be faithful in regard of what is entrusted to us, and to use it prudently.
JJ Would Joseph in Egypt illustrate it? He was faithful in the administration of corn.
JT Yes, quite so. One important thing is to know how to “measure”. The right measure or portion should be given.
AJHB Peter in Acts 10 is an illustration; he knows when to stop.
Ques Would the “friend” in the earlier part of the chapter grow into this?
JBC-l It is brought in to affect us at the present time. We cannot plead friendship if we are unfaithful as stewards. The Lord has a great deal to say to the stewards, and friendship would be no plea if there were unfaithfulness.
JT The test now is faithfulness, so that Paul, in writing to Timothy, committed certain things to him, and he in turn was to commit them to faithful men who should be able to teach others also.
RB Why does the Lord change the word from ‘stewards’ to bondmen? He says, “Blessed is that bondman”.
JT He regards us as bondmen, as in His service. One holds oneself as the Lord’s bondman. Stewardship involves official responsibility more.
RB As regards what one may have to give one is a steward, but as a bondman one is in a peculiar relation to Him.
JT Now we shall have to move on to chapters 14 and 15. There is, however, one point to notice as to the woman who had been “bent together” eighteen years in chapter 13; she yielded nothing to God in that [p. 61] time.
JS Why is a woman specified?
JT Because it is a, subjective state of things that is in view; man had lost his moral dignity. We have to learn to lift up our heads — to lift up our faces to God.
FHB Man was made to stand upright.
JT Quite. God made him so, but Satan made him bent. God is restoring men to His primary thought.
JBC-l Two features which mark the virtuous woman in the end of Proverbs are strength and dignity, and these two features were lacking in this woman’s case.
JT She was certainly wanting in dignity. The one who cannot lift up his head is not dignified.
Ques Does the state of the woman indicate the deficiency of those who should be giving meat in due season? They were not looking up, and therefore had no supplies.
JT I think what our brother suggests is right; the thought of dignity enters into it. God made man upright; he was to look up into God’s face, and the house of God should be marked by this. It refers to moral dignity; you lift up your head in liberty before God. Satan had bound this woman, but the Lord came to undo the works of the devil, so she was made straight. God looks for it that those who compose His house here should walk in the dignity that becomes it.
Ques Would you suggest how Satan acted to bind this woman. What would he bring in?
JT I suppose the tendency is to keep man occupied with what is on the earth. As it says in Romans, they worshipped the creature — even quadrupeds and reptiles — whereas the divine thought, was at man should look up to God. Being “wholly unable to lift her head up” was degradation, whereas God primarily intended man to be in dignity. In [p. 62] John dignity is brought in in a family way — “thy son liveth” the Lord said to the nobleman; natural nobility would be replaced by spiritual nobility. But this case in Luke is more moral. Through God being known in grace in Christ man should look up to Him.
HFN Would it correspond with the end of Hebrews 7: “He is able to save to the uttermost”? Is this lifting up of the head a deeper exercise than lifting up holy hands?
JT They go together, only the latter is priestly exercise.
HFN Would the principle be seen in Nebuchadnezzar? He lifted up his eyes to heaven.
JT Yes. Then his understanding returned to him, and he “praised and honoured” God. You recall how it was said of Jehoiachin, king of Judah, that his head was lifted up by the king of Babylon; Jeremiah 52: 31 - 34. That means that he was restored in a measure to his dignity. Here man is brought back into moral dignity. Even a slave may adorn the doctrine; and how can that be except by moral dignity? In spite of his menial conditions, which he does not seek to alter, he adorns the doctrine of God our Saviour. To see this would lift us out of the thought of dignity as man regards it.
Now a further point one would like to call attention to is the fact that their house is left to them (verse 35). I refer to it in connection with the ranks of fifty. There is sometimes a danger of local brethren influencing meetings too much. One may have acquired weight through ministry or otherwise, and thus may have a feeling that the local meeting is his. As soon as I assume that it is mine, then it is left to me. The Lord is not there. Note, it does not say here, your house is left unto you desolate, but it is “left unto you”. That is, you have to labour at your own charges [p. 63] now.
FHB I think I should retire then.
JT Well, I think it would be a good thing to do, because it gives the Lord an opportunity to come in.
DLH I should think it would be well to retire before that point.
PL Would you say that these instructions regarding the manners of the house are given that those who come into it may adorn it in a dignified way?
JT Just so. These things should help us in regard to the house. If the house of God is to be the pillar and base of the truth, then it must be free from all these things that do not adorn it. We want to apprehend the moral dignity that grace puts upon it. Then it is not ours — “your house” — it is the Lord’s. In chapter 14 we have a dropsical man. The Lord had been invited to the house of one of the rulers, and He noticed how people chose the upper seats — the first places. That is a most baneful thing among the saints. It is not he who commends himself is approved: it is whom the Lord commends. It is His house and so it is what He will do, so that safety lies in taking the lowest place. Then He may say, “Friend, go up higher”.
PL The Lord knows where to find His friends.
JT That is the point; He will find them out. If the upper rooms are filled. He has no room for His friends, so that He has to resort to a certain procedure to bring about normal conditions, and that may take time. But if He is over the house He will do that.
PL The friend in the lowest room is seen in Paul. It came to light at Corinth.
JT That is another principle to notice. We are drawing near to the house now, because the Lord is just leading into it. It is wise to take notice of these signs that we have on the walls, because that where they are. Solomon says, “Keep thy foot [p. 64] when thou goest into the house of God, and be more ready to hear”; and James says, “be swift to hear, slow to speak”. The point at the beginning of this chapter is of great moment in regard to the house. Let the Lord say to you, “Friend, go up higher”. You have proved that you are a friend.
HFN Does the same thought come out in Revelation 4, when the Lord says to John, “Come up hither”?
JT I think so. John had been true. He had taken the lowest place at Patmos, and the Lord gives him the highest, we may say, in Revelation 4.
ASL It is in the smaller companies that there is room for the development of friendship. “Greet the friends by name”. Is not that a significant note for the last hour?
JT Quite so; that is very interesting. The Lord knows the friends; they are called by name. “Less than the least of all saints” would be their estimate of themselves. Paul reached the highest point when God took him up to the third heaven.
AMH Does this work out in your spirit or in your service?
JT It says, “When thou art bidden of any man to a wedding”, chapter 14: 8. It does not refer to your service. It refers rather to an invitation, where the Lord is showing you what He is in His bounty. It is therefore a question of how you act under any circumstances. We are brought together; there are different formations, and the Lord would bring them out. He has His own way of bringing the friends forward. It is an occasion suggested by Him; He invites, so that it is to bring out who is to be distinguished. It is for Him to say, not for me. You may be effective in ministry, but the Lord is considering what is behind all that. He sat over against the treasury and beheld how the people cast money into [p. 65] it. He was looking at the motives that were behind what was given.
AMH Do you think that there would be a sort of adjustment going on if we made room for it in the meetings locally, rather than settling down to any official order?
JT Yes. The Lord has His own way of indicating who is to be honoured.
JBC-l This seems to come back to what you referred to earlier in connection with the freshness of supplies and service. Without freshness we have stagnation. This dropsical man is an example of what results from stagnation. The Lord healed him and let him go.
JT Dropsy is a water disease; the water had taken an abnormal form in him. There was inflation.
JBC-l The healing was not only the act of the Lord as Lord, but the act of the physician. He healed him, and let him go. Do you think that adjustment amongst the brethren is necessarily the act of the physician?
JT It is very blessed to know that we have got Him here in that way, so that, if there is any disease like this, He relieves us, and would enable us to take the low place. Now the man who heard the Lord say these things seemed to form a judgment of them; he says, “Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God”. He heard the Lord say these things, and then the Lord brings in the remarkable parable of the great supper, which includes the house.
FHB Is this parable brought in in contrast to eating bread in the kingdom of God?
JT It is a greater thought. The Lord opens up the great result of His death. It refers to Pentecost, the great celebration that God made in grace, Christ having died, risen and ascended. “All things are ready”. Whilst it was in the kingdom, it involved the house. “That my house may be filled”.
FHB The man’s thought was a kingdom set up in a future day.
JT Quite; but the Lord immediately goes on to speak of Christianity in its present form. It is a marvellous opening up of God’s proposal, but the house is the centre of it.
DLH Have you any thought in regard to the man who was to invite the poor, the maimed, the halt and the blind? Would he suggest anything equivalent to what characterises a royal priesthood?
JT I suppose so. You are not looking for a return. You do it in a certain magnanimous way, without looking for a return.
JT Now all the instructions as to what was suitable to the house having been given, the Lord can bring in this great proposal of God. See how great it is; there is nothing lacking in it. It is a public thing; it includes the saints that have been brought up to it as seen at Pentecost.
Ques Do you suggest that because the house is introduced here the disciples are ready for it?
JT I think they were to form part of it. They were to be brought up to it. It refers to Pentecost, where the great result of the Lord’s ministry is seen coming out. It was truly a time of eating bread, and God would have men to come. In Acts 1 we find that the Lord, after He rose, was with them for forty days; He showed Himself alive by many proofs during all that time. They received His finishing touches spiritually in His going in and out among them. “Being assembled with them” showed that He was developing them inwardly by His presence and by what He said to them during those forty days; they would learn how to assemble as seeing Him “assembled with them”. Then having seen Him go up, it says of them that they returned to the upper room. That is the inside — the formation. The chapter shows the inward state of those who [p. 67] formed the house. The house of God was to be a heavenly institution here. The Lord could have told them before He ascended who was to take Judas’ place, but He left them to decide.
Rem What marked them too was prayer.
JT Yes, and the authority of the Scriptures.
HH What is the idea of the house of God; what is the force of the expression?
JT It is that in which God resides provisionally here now, and, as residing in it, it is the place in which His order and love are seen; His bounty is there, too, as we see here.
DLH Is not the thought here that it is a place of great provision?
JT Say a little more about that.
DLH I suppose we get the excess here. “A certain man made a great supper”. I thought there was something peculiar there, something exceptional. The Spirit is here, and where the Spirit is, there must be provision. “He shall receive of mine and shall shew it unto you”. It is a wonderful thing that we are in. It seems to me that we very little apprehend the greatness of Christianity. Christianity is for all.
ASL Is there any scripture which gives the house of God more richly than Psalm 36: “They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house”?
JT I think Leviticus 23 helps in regard to what we were saying as to the great bounty that is there. It will be remembered how, when they came into the land, they were to bring a sheaf of first-fruits. Then fifty days after — which has reference to Pentecost — they were to bring out of their habitations two wave loaves of fine flour, baked with leaven, and in connection with those there is a profusion of offerings, indicative of the great spiritual wealth existing there. What is seen here in the parable is the delight that God has in telling out the wealth of grace that is [p. 68] presented to man through the death and resurrection of Christ. In order to show what grace was, He first sends to those that were already bidden. Alas, how little they valued the grace that had come down in a Man, labouring amongst them all those years!
Ques What is the difference between inviting and compelling?
JT I think in order to compel you must be in the grace of the One who invited. The invitation was in Christ’s ministry. You go out into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in. It is as if you were to say, You must come. It is imperative — morally so.
WGB Job 30 gives us an example of how much compulsion would be needed. It says, “Among the bushes they brayed ... they were children of fools, yea, children of base men: they were viler than the earth”. That is where grace found us.
JT Yes. Now chapter 14 presents grace from God’s side — the house; chapter 15 shows how the thing came into the mind of the prodigal, but first only in a very poor way — “have bread enough and to spare”; but when he arrived there, there were other things — the music, the dancing and merry-making. We cannot look for this now in a public way, but the Lord would have us to think of what was at the beginning. What beauty marked the house as set up in the world before men! The elder son came up to it and heard the music and the dancing. It was there as a testimony to all. What attraction there was! But the elder son would not go in.
Ques Does the thought of Zion in Psalm 132 help at all?
JT I think it suggests what we have here — the sovereign side. We see here (chapter 15) “the exceeding riches” of God’s grace.
ASL Ought we not always to evangelise with [p. 69] the house in view, as a home for those who may receive the gospel?
JT I think that is the way the truth is set out according to Luke’s presentation of it. It is the house of God; not the Father’s house yet — that is John — but it is the house of God here as set up provisionally for the support of the gospel, that into which the believer is brought.
ASL You were referring just now to the actual state of things which makes it impossible to point out anything as the house of God now.
JT Yes; it can never be seen again as it was; but it exists, and it is a great thing to have the light of it. That is the great advantage of looking into it. The saints are “built together for a habitation of God in the Spirit”.
Rem Whilst the house cannot be seen, I suppose the thing exists just the same; the blessing and all the fatness are there.
JT I am sure of it. It has been said to be submerged in a public way. I suppose the crowds have come in: that is what this gospel seeks to check; chapter 14: 25, 26. It has become in that way submerged. Now the saints are seeking to get back to the original, and in the measure in which we do get into the light of it, we get something of the joy and blessedness of it.
ASL What I feel is the constant danger of letting the truth of the house of God go because of this submersion.
Ques What do you mean by the crowds coming in?
JT I think historically it came to pass by the admission of unconverted people. It was never intended at all by the Lord that the house should take a great public form. It was to be seen in little companies of saints throughout the world. The Lord said, “Fear not little flock”.
[p. 70] ER Are the music and the dancing going on now in the house?
JT I think we may say humbly that we are enjoying some of it this afternoon.
Rem The house of God properly is what is of God, and living..
JT “Whose house are we”. Therefore our wisdom is to get back to first principles, and seek to avoid the crowds. The highways and hedges are searched for guests, but even in this very chapter the Lord checks the crowds; chapter 14: 25 - 35.
AMH Have you got the obscuring cause indicated in Ezekiel: “Ye have builded your houses against my house”? The bringing in of human thoughts, feelings, and features obscures what is so beautiful as being of God. If we bring in anything of man, it can only obscure. The “great supper” is distinct from the house.
JT It was in the house, but distinct from it. Besides obscuring the house of God with our own houses, there is “household stuff”, that belongs to our own houses, brought into the house of God. That is another thing that has done great damage to the house; so it is an extricating time for us — a very humiliating kind of work. Not that we can ever hope to set up what was at the beginning, but we want elbow room; what is unsuitable has to be taken out of the way. The Lord had in view small companies of people governed by these principles. In the measure in which we have reached that, we can look for expansion. There is no termination to the music and the dancing, although the number participating may be very small. David danced and played before the ark; 1 Chronicles 15: 29.
Ques What do you mean by household stuff being brought into the house of God?
JT Family relationships and distinctions having recognition among the saints. They are to be cast [p. 71] out. We read of Nehemiah casting forth all the household stuff of Tobijah the Ammonite out of the chambers in the courts of the house of God. The priest having become allied to Tobijah had prepared this chamber whilst Nehemiah was away. That is where the test comes.
DLH He had a natural relationship to the priest.
JT Yes, but he had no place in the house of God; Deuteronomy 23: 3. Now it says the multitude thronged Him (verse 25). The last paragraph of the chapter fits in with the teaching, so that people should not come in crowds. A test awaits every one that comes; that is the principle of discipleship.
JBC-l Is the position of chapter 15 available right through to the end of the dispensation? If it is the dispensation of God which is in faith, then all that Luke points out is available to the end of the dispensation.
JT Yes. Looking into the scriptures greatly helps us as to the church. I was seeking to show here yesterday evening that in Ezra’s and Nehemiah’s day the people came together in the seventh month; they were all in their cities — things were settled down in regular order, and they would have the Scriptures read. They came to Ezra and set up a pulpit for him in the open space before the water-gate. He read distinctly from morning until noon, and gave the sense — he and the elders with him. Then on the second day, the chief of the fathers, the priests and the Levites came together — a more select or exclusive meeting. They came not only to hear the word read, but to get the understanding of it, and they found written that they should dwell in booths. It shows how we may arrive at first principles and consequently first enjoyment by looking at the Scriptures. So they purposed that they would do this; they would put he thing into practice, with the result that they went [p. 72] up into the mountain. It brought about an exercise, and the exercise resulted in a return to a practice that had been given up from the days of Joshua, so that they dwelt in booths; Nehemiah 8: 16. They arrived at the enjoyment the saints had at the outset, so by attention in that way to the Scriptures we come back to the thing itself, without pretending to have it openly. They went up to the mountain and brought down olive branches, myrtle branches, palm branches, and branches of thick trees. These were the materials. Anyone can see what principles they represent. When these are put together we have booths to dwell in.
WGB What principles would they represent?
JT I think the olive branches would refer to the recognition of the Spirit. The myrtle branches would refer to a living state of things. What do you say?
EJMcB I think so. I thought that the cutting down of the trees represented what God had wrought in His people. Originally, when they were brought out of Egypt, they were a people who had been wrought in by God.
Ques Do you think that the principles of the house work out locally? What about the universal thought?
JT They work out locally, but there is only one house of God; there may be any number of assemblies.
JBC-l The Lord helps His disciples in regard to the universality of it, but we have to work it out locally.
AMH So that the more careful attention to Scripture may result in things being done that have not been done in our time or in our fathers’ time, but they are not innovations.
JT Quite. There are no “pine branches”, it should read “wild olive branches”. Men may be in a measure “wild”, but if they have the Spirit, they must be included.
WCG Would the clothing of the prodigal support the same thought of the booths?
JT It does not say the prodigal was brought into the house; I think, in principle, he was the house. What would you say?
DLH I think so. We do not read that he was brought into the house, nor do we read that any rags were taken off him.
Ques You mean that the house is composed of such as he?
JT Yes; see the magnificence of it! When he was clothed you have, “It was meet that we should make merry”. His elder brother comes up to the house, and this is what he sees.
WGB What is the difference between “bring forth” and “bring hither”.
JT “Bring forth” would refer to what is inside.
Ques What does the robe signify?
JT It is Christ as He is, the heavenly Man. The greatness of God’s thought in the gospel is seen here. The priests in the type had the skin of the burnt offering, but this is Christ as He is now. I do not know anything more magnificent. It is the best robe.
Ques. How is it put on?
JT I suppose it is the work of the Spirit, only it is from the divine side here. It is the magnificence of the proposal that we ought to dwell upon. If we could only see one clothed like that — what a trophy of grace!
Ques What is the thought of the killing of the fatted calf?
JT It is brought in to complete the picture. It is a question of food — the very best food. It is not the fat calf simply, but the fatted one — made ready for the great occasion.
[p. 74] Ques Is the testimony what goes out in the way of music and dancing?
JT That is what the elder brother hears. I think that it is there so as to be known as available to man. “All my springs are in thee” — that is in Zion. You take a dancer or a singer in the world — where are their springs? They are from beneath, but all the springs of the singers and dancers here are in Zion; Psalm 87: 7.
PJF Would the mention of bondmen bring in the thought of exercise on our part that we might be used?
JT The thing is to see the magnificence of the picture. I would go elsewhere for details. It is a great picture of what God had made available to man — to any one who comes.
Ques Does it set forth the elements that are here in the poor in spirit?
JT It is brought in from heaven. “Bring forth the best robe”. We are not far away from heaven in the house of God. “Bring forth” refers to the house. What Christ is in heaven is put upon the believer. The elder son came near the house, but he would not go in.
DLH Does not the report of the happiness of God’s dear people reach those outside? I think it does.
JT I know it does. One has noticed that, and this happiness is realised as we get back to first principles; we make room for it. We want to be clothed with the very best, in the sense of what man is in Christ. Luke makes a great deal of clothes, but there is nothing like this; we have got the best. It is not priestly clothing, it is a question of dignity — of what Christ is in heaven, having accomplished righteousness. It is the full expression of supreme dignity in man, that is, of what man is in Christ. It is put on. The believer is clothed with it. This is [p. 75] how he appears. You want to make it clear that you have got the best that God can provide. We come to the full height of this gospel here; this is the great end of the divine proposal. What comes in after is another line of things. The best robe is more than reconciliation. Reconciliation is through death, but this is something brought out. Christ, having accomplished righteousness, is put upon us. It is more positive.