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VESSELS FOR SERVICE

JT The thought in mind is that of pouring out, as seen in Exodus 25: 29. In this chapter, verses 23 to 30, we have the table of shewbread and the vessels of service attached to it for the service of pouring out. In Isaiah 22: 23, 24 we have a detailed reference to vessels of service; “small vessels, as well the vessels of cups as all the vessels of flagons”. The verses in Isaiah help to show how all are to be in the service of God. Each vessel represents a person who should function in his place. The table in the sanctuary in Exodus 25 affords a basis to speak of administration in relation to these vessels, however it may be in the Lord’s mind to use us. The idea of pouring out is the general thought in regard of the vessels, as it is said in Exodus 25, “And thou shalt make the dishes thereof, and cups thereof, and goblets thereof, and bowls thereof, with which to pour out”. In Titus Paul says, “The Holy Spirit, which he poured out on us richly”. So the thought of pouring out is linked with the Holy Spirit given by Christ from heaven and then administered by Him in the assembly. The result intended is that each person, being dependent on Christ, should function according to the Lord’s pleasure and so be available for divine service in the assembly whether in relation to Himself, or the Father. The service of God is not an empty form, not mere ritual, but is worked out livingly through persons viewed as vessels, whatever they may have, or whatever use the Lord may make of them.

CMM ^[p. 2] What does the shewbread imply?

JT Again it refers to persons. It typifies the saints viewed administratively. In Exodus it is viewed as ‘the bread of the presence’; it is bread or food, always there before God. That is the general thought in the type.

PL In Matthew 26, Mary, having broken the box of very precious ointment, poured it out on His head, as He lay at table. There was the pouring out.

JT Yes. The Lord said, “In pouring out this ointment on my body, she has done it for my burying”. Mary of Bethany was a very distinctive vessel. We have another vessel in the woman of Samaria in John 4, who came out of the city with her water-pot, and left it after the Lord had met and instructed her as to living water. As a result she arrived at the idea of belonging to that system and functioning, being useful in it. In 1 Kings 17 we have another, the woman of Sarepta, who had things in her house in vessels; the meal was in a barrel and the oil in a cruse. That was where they should be and they were therefore usable, and so she was serviceable to Elijah as a type of Christ. Jehovah says He had commanded her to maintain Elijah and she did. He had been served by ravens before, but now this woman was to care for him.

WOS Paul speaks of himself as being poured out as a libation in a sacrificial service (Philippians 2: 17).

JT Yes. He was something that could be added to the sacrifice and ministration of the Philippians. We should be ready thus to add to whatever is going on that is of God.

CdeKF There was pure gold in Mary of Bethany.

JT Yes, the Lord said, “Wheresoever these glad tidings may be preached in the whole world, that also which this woman has done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her”. She, like many others,

^[p. 3] thus comes down the line to us as illustrating the material usable for service and for preaching.

PL The “sons of oil” in Zechariah 4 have two golden tubes that empty the gold out of themselves.

JT Yes. The gold is not in us naturally. All begins with Christ and every vessel hangs on Him. It begins with Him, but does not end with Him.

HWR There were different sizes of cups and vessels, so we would each have our own measure.

JT It is not a one-man ministry; each believer is a vessel. Paul, speaking of his measure, says to the Corinthians that it was “to reach to you”. He did not serve beyond his measure, but effectively through the power of his ministry. It was not going a journey to preach. Divine measures are exact, whatever they are in view of; this is specially seen in Exodus.

HW The Lord as Minister of the sanctuary has all the vessels under His hand and knows the measure of each.

JT Yes. Exodus is typical of what we have in mind, the true tabernacle which the Lord has pitched and not man, and all the vessels are His. In Genesis all service to God is without direction from God, but in Exodus all is measured.

HW So that there is to be full recognition of God right through.

JT We serve in parts and by direction and the service goes on under Christ.

SPS Is this indicated in Isaiah in the word, “They shall hang upon him all the glory of his father’s house”?

JT The prophet was directed to make known what Jehovah would do. There was one to be removed so that way might be made for Christ; Eliakim typifies Him.

SS What is meant by saying that the measures are ^[p. 4] exact?

JT It is a question of God’s thoughts. In creation itself He must have wrought on the principle of weight and measure, and so likewise in Exodus God does not leave things indefinite in His service. Things are not left open for anyone to do as he pleases. All is to be according to God’s mind.

HWR God is a God of measure, as seen in Job 28: 25; Job 38: 5.

JT Yes. Nothing is left open to be decided by man’s mind. Christendom is simply a monstrosity from the divine standpoint, as things are carried on according to human standards.

AM The vessels are of pure gold. We are to accustom ourselves to regard the saints as God sees us, “holy and blameless before him in love”, Ephesians 1:4. There is no admixture.

JT There is no admixture, but there is to be no isolation because of variation of measure. It is not dependent on man’s mind, but on God’s mind. The Lord Jesus is in God’s mind in Isaiah 22 and all is to hang on Him. The Christ is the One who does things. The Lord in Mark 8 asks His disciples, “Who do men say that I am?” Peter answers for the disciples and says that they would say “Thou art the Christ”. Previously it had been said that “He does all things well”. When there is something out of order with us such as failure in speech, as the man in Mark 7 “who could not speak right”, we are to think of the Lord’s feelings. “He groaned”.

DS What does pouring out imply?

JT It refers to the action of Christ in using the saints. He is the great Superintendent of all in the service of God, so that all is done perfectly and right. When the service proceeds, we all have pleasure in it as under the hand of the Lord.

HWR Do the sisters have part in this, or does it refer only to what is audible and therefore the service of ^[p. 5] the brothers?

JT In singing the sisters’ voices afford them an outlet, and possibly they use their voices better than brothers. They are instruments of music, “which I made”, said David — none should be silent.

HW The Lord provides what is poured out, through the sisters as well as the brothers.

JT Yet the person is being used; there is great need of usability as in the divine system. We are not to be silent.

AG The cup at the Lord’s supper has a stimulating effect in connection with the pouring out. In Corinthians we are all made to drink into one Spirit. In John 4 the Lord directed the woman of Samaria; He gives the water, but it has to be drunk. We often sing ‘One spirit, glorious Lord’ as we are stimulated by His love. The cup is an allusion to the Spirit.

CMM What would be the meaning of the four different kinds of vessels referred to in Exodus 25, the cups, dishes, goblets, bowls?

JT It is a question of variety, such as should be seen in the assembly. There is resemblance with us all, as being according to the grace given by Him, like Christ, but there is variety; all are made of gold. The use of gold alludes to the state of righteousness before God.

WOS All are made serviceable for pouring out. David’s mighty men brought the water to David and he poured it out before the Lord. No vessels are mentioned there (1 Chronicles 11: 17 - 19).

JT Yes. The water poured out represented those three men, what they were before God. They sacrificed their lives for David. His action showed how he viewed it and hence their place among the mighty.

JHH Is there significance in the table being ^[p. 6] portable?

JT The whole tabernacle was portable. We have to do with the true tabernacle which the Lord has pitched and not man, but things are portable now. The wilderness position is always movable, and we are to be ready to move, we are not to be stationary. Solomon’s system involved what was stationary and suggested millennial conditions. It was a fixed matter, but not so under Moses; everything then was movable. It was a question of vessels for pouring out, the kind that had to be made, and were made in perfect order. The waggons in Numbers 7 teach us that all these things had to be moved. If they were heavy, the Levites who carried them had waggons. Certain Levites carried the boards and the coverings, which were heavy things, so they had waggons, but the Kohathites had no waggons. The precious things, the golden things, which point to Christ or the things that are like Christ or of Christ, were carried by the Kohathites on their shoulders, and that is why they were provided with staves; they were for them, that their burdens might be carried on their shoulders. I think it suggests for us what is most valuable, hence what needs to be most protected.

JHH Is it in any way linked with Revelation 21, “the tabernacle of God is with men”?

JT I think that shows that it is not the Solomonic character of things in Revelation, but the Davidic. David is in the mind of the Spirit in Revelation. He is alluded to in what we read in Isaiah 22. It appears that Revelation is in mind, therefore in the address to Philadelphia mention is made of the key of David. Then again in Revelation 22 Christ is said to be the Root and Offspring of David. So that Revelation has in mind the tabernacle idea, I would say that it is the movable thought, and I suppose our position in heaven eternally will be a movable one. We shall not be fixed.

^[p. 7] PL Our environment will be marked by the flexibility of love. Love cannot be static; it is marked by agility too.

JT Quite so. The gospel of John contemplates ‘the hind of the morning’, corresponding with the title of Psalm 22. All that you speak of is involved in the service of God as we are now speaking of it. The feminine thought is seen in the beginning of Psalm 22. Mary of Magdalene would be a suggestion of the hind of the morning, and what the feminine thought as taken on by the saints, is for Christ. There is agility as we were saying; flexibility and agility, both the result of our being affected by Christ Himself. Things are done in an orderly sense, but done quickly with agility, so that the most possible is procured for God.

HWR There is more intimacy in the idea of the tabernacle than of the temple.

JT I would say that, because of its movability, whereas in Solomon’s system all was fixed.

HWR The eternal state will be marked by intimacy between God and men.

JT Just so, God and men, not Jews, or gentiles, but men. The greatness of that order of being is in mind.

JR After the loaves were set in order on the table, frankincense was poured upon them. Would these vessels be used to hold the frankincense in view of that?

JT No doubt, although that is not recorded in Exodus, but in Leviticus. Exodus deals with the making of the vessels and their usable qualities. In the record given in Exodus we have the number of the kind of vessels. The vessels were formed, and there were four kinds. The loaves in Leviticus were divided into two rows, six in each, as if to suggest administration, and a working together in it, two ^[p. 8] sets of six each, side by side. In Exodus too, God’s thoughts come out as to intelligence and measure.

CMM Is it right to say that if there is to be a pouring out, there must first be a pouring in of the supply that God gives, according to our spiritual measure? I was thinking of that expression, “the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ”.

JT I think it would be more drinking in than pouring in. Would it not be like the woman of Samaria to whom the Lord spoke of drinking of the water that He should give?

CMM It comes from the well of water.

JT That is what I was thinking. It is a question of drinking.

AM Is that involved in the expression in Ephesians 3, “that ye may be filled even to all the fulness of God”? At the end of the chapter Paul says, “To him be glory in the assembly in Christ Jesus”. The filling comes first.

JT That is filling to all the fulness of God. Ephesians contemplates infinitude, but we are in it in the sense of being filled, not in ourselves, but filled to all the fulness of God. We do not belong to the Deity, we are not part of the Deity, but yet very near it. Of the Lord Himself it is said, “in him all the fulness of the Godhead was pleased to dwell”. But that cannot be said about any one of us. It is a wonderful thought to apprehend, but we have to begin with the thought of measure, the breadth and length, and depth and height, and then know the love of Christ which passes knowledge. The fulness of God is not measurable. It is, I believe, an allusion to the eternal condition. We are in that which is fulness but when we come on to the fulness of God, we come to infinitude.

HW What you speak of is expressed in Christ in whom God has come into expression.

JT ^[p. 9] Quite so. It is a question too of breadth and length and depth and height, without saying of what. Even the love of Christ is spoken of as that which passes knowledge. Creature measure is to be known but the love of Christ passes knowledge. You cannot limit the fulness of God either, for it passes knowledge.

HW Would you connect it in any way with what the Lord Jesus said, “My Father and your Father ... my God and your God”?

JT It is very near to that. The Lord brings us into the same kind of love that He has as Man according to John 17: 26, the same sort of relation that He has. And so in John 20 it is first “my Father and your Father”, and then “my God and your God”.

JHH Does what you are saying mean that our full ability to understand is reached now?

JT It certainly is. The present is the educational time. We are soon coming to the fixed time in the sense of formation, but we are not in it yet. We are all in the educational time, and we are to know the love of Christ that passes knowledge, and at the same time we are to know the breadth and length and depth and height, the full measure of what has come out in Christ in the christian economy.

Ques Is He getting glory in the assembly now from our present knowledge?

JT I think He is. The first day of the week introduces the final glory. In that sense there is what is going on now, what is current in the saints throughout the whole world. Christ being the divine Operator, and the saints being the vessels of the operations, what is going on in us and among us at the present time, especially on the first day of the week, the supreme day of the week, brings out the glory. The Lord Jesus is referred to in Psalm 19 ^[p. 10] as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoicing as a strong man to run a race. That is what is going on every Lord’s day in a universal way. So the question is whether we are in this thing and learning in it. It is the educational time, too, as well as the time of joy. It is the Bridegroom’s time; He is coming out of His chamber and rejoicing as a strong man.

PL “From the rising of the sun even unto its setting my name shall be great among the nations”, Malachi 1: 11.

HWR Should we have a sense of the Bridegroom on Lord’s day morning?

JT I think so. We shall not go home in any right or satisfied way unless we do. We have to do with the Bridegroom. John spoke of the Bridegroom, as having joy in hearing His voice. It is the time of hearing His voice.

HW That would involve the peculiar joy that enters into the occasion for the Lord Himself.

JT That is what, I have thought, is the joy that was set before Him. That is the time we are in. It was anticipated in the days of His flesh here, but for the joy that was set before Him in the days of His flesh. He endured the cross and despised the shame, and is now set down at the right hand of God. What was the joy that was set before Him? He endured the cross in view of that; He has come into it now and we will come into it too.

HWR If there is a Bridegroom there must be a bride.

JT John the baptist did not say anything about her, but Scripture says much about her; the bride is the assembly.

HWR If we are conscious of the Bridegroom on the Lord’s day morning we are conscious of having part in the bride.

JT Just so.

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