ADMINISTRATION (1)
ADMINISTRATION (1)
JT I have been thinking of that feature of the dispensation which we speak of as administrative — administration. It occurred to me that a consideration of the administrative feature of this dispensation would help to clear the position at the outset. Some of us, elsewhere, were looking at the Lord’s services, as risen, before He ascended, having in view that they indicate His present personal activity for the assembly during its sojourn on earth. We were enabled, by the Lord’s help, to see that each evangelist presents some feature of this service. We began with John and worked backwards to Matthew, on the principle that John is intended for our own times, especially — that is for recovery. And, working backwards, we arrived at Matthew, who is evidently the administrative evangelist. Then we touched on the first chapter of Acts, because it gives us a further feature of the Lord’s activities before He ascended, after He rose. It tells us the number of days (namely) forty. The feature of the first chapter of Acts is that the Lord “assembled with them”. Acts 1:4. It says, first of all “having, by the Holy Spirit, charged the apostles, whom he had chosen, he was taken up: to whom, also, he presented himself living, after he had suffered, with many proofs, being seen by them during forty days, and speaking of the things which concern the kingdom of God; and, being assembled with them, commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to await the promise of the Father, which, said he, ye have heard of me. For John, indeed, baptised with water, but ye shall be baptised with the Holy Spirit after now not many days”, Acts 1:2 - 5.
[p. 262] So that Luke, in this further narrative regarding the Lord’s activities and service during the period of His sojourn here after He rose, emphasises the fact that He employed the Spirit, It says, He charged the apostles “by the Holy Spirit”, Acts 1:2 which indicates that the book of the Acts is on the line of the activities, or services, of the Spirit, and the use, so to speak, that may be made of the Spirit during the present time. So that they were to learn, from the Lord’s manner of workmanship, how the dispensation was to be maintained, and the place that the Spirit was to have in it. So, it says, “He was taken up” Acts 1:11 from them. Then it says what the qualifications were to be, of the one who should take the place of Judas — that he should be one who had assembled with them during all the time the Lord Jesus came in and went out amongst them, from the baptism of John, until He was received up. That is to say, from the time when the Spirit descended and abode on Christ until He was received up. And he was to have been familiar with the Lord’s manner of coming in and going out amongst them, and to know how to assemble. The apostle Peter stands up amongst the brethren, after the Lord had ascended, and calls attention to what the Holy Spirit says, by the mouth of David, about Judas. You will observe the emphasis laid on the “Holy Spirit”. In the second chapter he stands up with the eleven, but here he stood up in the midst of the brethren, and during the ten days that elapsed between the Lord’s going up, and the Spirit coming down, Peter stands up amongst the brethren, calling attention to what the Holy Spirit had said about Judas, and proceeding, after having called attention to the qualifications that were necessary for the apostle who was to take Judas’ place, to the necessity for the completion of the number twelve. I mention the number twelve because I think [p. 263] It is one of the keys to the position. It says, “He was numbered with the eleven”, Acts 1:26 making twelve, which is the great administrative number in Scripture. One calls attention to that particularly, because of the place the number has in the gospels, and in Acts, and again, in 1 Corinthians 15, which gives us a list of the Lord’s appearings after He rose. It says, “He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve” 1 Corinthians 15:5. The appearings there are constructive — that is, they lead on in a constructive way, first with Cephas, and then the twelve, indicating, I think, that the Lord, in appearing to the twelve, would impress them with the idea of what was becoming to their administrative position during His absence. The apostle there also says that, “He appeared to all the apostles” 1 Corinthians 15:7. That is another thought. But before that, we have the statement that He appeared to the twelve. So that Peter, in standing up with the eleven, is obviously on an administrative platform in Acts 2, but his great theme is to call attention to the Lord on high, and to the presence of the Holy Spirit, who had come down in consequence of that. It was an administrative action.
WJH The administration was commenced by the presence of Christ on earth, and continued afterwards, in the power of the Holy Spirit, in God’s people.
JT And the presence of the Spirit was a wonderful evidence of the nature of that administration: that is to say, it is an administration of heaven’s bounty. What we are speaking about here, is not the administration of rule only, which may be punitive in its results — the primary thought in administration here is that it is the bounty of God that is administered. It is an administration of positive blessing for man. I think the first great idea of it in Scripture is Melchisedec. God in Melchisedec, of whose history we know nothing, asserted His sovereign right to [p. 264] bless administratively. That is, the blessing comes in by way of an appointed administrator. That is what one would like to get hold of — how God meets conditions here by, so to speak, a system or an organisation. It says that “Melchisedec, king of Salem, brought forth bread and wine; and he was the priest of the most high God”, Genesis 14:18.
GAvS Would you say that administration is necessarily beneficial, that it confers benefits which are being dispensed abroad by the activity of the Spirit?
JT That is right. I cannot conceive of God coming out administratively, except in a positively beneficial way. Merely to deal with evil, governmentally, would not at all convey the idea. The primary thought is positive blessing.
EEL Then, would the position be that man, having demonstrated his utter incapacity by crucifying the Lord, and God having exalted that same Lord to His own right hand in glory, the Holy Spirit is shed forth abundantly on men — that Spirit, in whose power alone, men can really live for God?
JT That is the thought I had. That is, God comes out at the outset with the very best. It says, “Therefore, being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this”, Acts 2:33. It is wonderful how God meets man’s murderous attitude in the death of Christ — it is a wonderful thing to get hold of this. It is very elementary in a way, but nevertheless, there is nothing greater, administratively, than the thought of God’s act in the gift of the Spirit.
EEL It may take many years to arrive in one’s own experience at the position, that it is only in the Spirit that one can live to God.
JT I think the first chapter of Acts is our side, it is educational. We have to learn Christ in resurrection,
[p. 265] and to learn how He uses the Spirit, and how He assembles. So that we may see, now that we are in the position of administration, how to serve, and how to exercise our great function. In that way the Lord’s instruction comes first — how He acted. Then we see what they did — what the brethren did, not the apostles, although Peter is the leader. We see how the brethren acted, how they were influenced, and what their thoughts were during those ten days. The ten days form the test. We are, so to speak, after the education, left to ourselves. And what they did shows how they were in accord with the education. And what strikes one is that they were concerned that the (for want of a better word) administrative organisation should be complete. According to the record, the Lord says nothing at all about the vacant apostleship — that was left to them.
THG How would you say that Melchisedec came in in regard to Acts 2?
JT The Lord being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He hath shed forth this. That is, I apprehend, administration. That is what is seen in Melchisedec, and it marks the present time.
GAvS And for that reason it would be redolent of grace.
JT Exactly. Can anything exceed the grace that shines in this chapter? “God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ”, Acts 2:36. Then it says, He “received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit”. Acts 2:33. And in Jerusalem, mark that, it is shed forth — in the very place where the foulest crime had been committed against God. But I would particularly emphasise the ten days, so that we might see that we are brought into this administration. We are the beneficiaries of it, of course, as well as the apostles — that is, we also have part in it. Therefore, the question is, are we equal [p. 266] to taking our part in that wonderful position — to taking our part in the administration of the bounty of heaven? The brethren were concerned about the vacant apostleship. There is no such position today, of course, because we are not in apostolic times. But the lesson for me now is this — the inquiry as to how things are at the present time, how much is there available that is suitable for this administration.
GAvS When you speak of the test of those ten days, as applicable to us, have you the exercise before you as to how far we are tested in regard to the concern on the part of the people of God as a whole, as to the familiarity with the course of things since the baptism of John, as expressing what came out in the descent of the Holy Spirit, until the Lord was risen up into heaven? Is there, necessarily, among the people of God now such a concern that there should be an appreciation of the whole pathway of the Lord Jesus?
JT Exactly. You see Melchisedec was available. We do not know anything about his personal history. We know whom He typified — but there was one in availability to God at that time. Well now, what is there available today? That is the question that comes up in one’s own mind, and which, I think, should arise in every local company, and, in a more extended way, in each of us in relation to the whole assembly on earth. What is there available today that God can use in connection with this great administration? One thinks of the formative work — the ten days of the first chapter amplify what we are, as educated, so that we might be available — if there is anything lacking. There was a vacant apostleship in this case. Of course, it is not that now. But what is there lacking? The thing is, to supply what is lacking. The ten days bring that out, and the exercise runs in scriptural channels. Peter stands up in the midst of the brethren, and he refers to what [p. 267] David said in the Scriptures by the Holy Spirit. All that is brought in, and also, what are the qualifications required of the nominee for the apostleship? All this shuts out human contrivance, or innovation. We know how modernly people have resorted to human methods, because they say it is impossible now to have things as they were. But you have no such sentiment indicated in these ten days.
WJH Those who take part in this administration have a personal appreciation of the ways of the Spirit of Christ. They have learned to amplify them from the Spirit. For ten days they continued in prayer, and waited till they were endued with power from on high, realising that they could do nothing, except in the power of the Spirit.
JT That is it.
EEL Would the familiarity with the Lord Jesus, from the baptism of John until the day in which He was received up, remove from our minds the wrong thought as to manhood that we have drawn from our intercourse with fallen man?
JT That is very good. One feels, in order to have part in this, we have to study the gospels. The epistles are intended to lead us up to the gospels, and, in order to have part in this, we must follow that path from John’s baptism until He was received up. I believe we must look at it in its fourfold presentation in the gospels. In John, of course, we have the Person, as we have often said. We have got to keep that in our minds to start with, and who the Person is. So that John the baptist says, “I saw and bare record that this is the Son of God”. John 1:34. It is the Son of God right through — He is in supreme control, even on the cross, and He is not carried up in John — He ascends. Luke is the Man, and hence, John’s baptism begins with Him in prayer. You have Him in varied connections in prayer in Luke; the gospel emphasises that. One can understand how [p. 268] important it is to follow that path from John’s baptism until He was received up if one is to know how to pray. It is one of the greatest features of the time of this dispensation that we can pray. The Lord Himself said, “... how much rather shall the Father, who is of heaven, give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him”, Luke 11:13. It is as if to impress upon us the maximum result — the great result of prayer. Well, then, in Mark He is the Servant. There it sets forth how things were done. Mark says, “He has done all things well”. Mark 7:37. Then, in Matthew, it is the King. So that we learn from Matthew how government and rule are carried on at the present time. And, in order to be available to God effectively in this wonderful administration, we must learn from the gospels how the Lord Jesus came in and went out from John’s baptism until the time He was received up. That is the way things stand in the first chapter of Acts.
GCMcK In connection with administration, what is the point of mentioning in Luke that the Lord is seen so often in prayer? Is it to show that if the spirit of dependence is maintained the saints will be in a suitable condition for administration?
JT It is the avowal of one’s own impotency. It is beautiful to see in the third chapter of Luke, when you start with the first prayer, how the Lord Jesus is the last to be baptised. There was no effort put forth to be the first. You see Him praying, and He is acceptable to heaven. The point there is to see the Lord identifying Himself with the people of God, and, in doing that, He was acceptable to heaven. If I am acceptable to heaven I shall be acceptable to the people of God. The next thing is, you may need to exercise power in this world. Is there need? The need in Luke 5 comes in from all sides, and the Lord retires from the need into the wilderness, and He is found there in prayer. The presence of the [p. 269] need does not give you the power. To have people coming to you from all parts, large congregations to hear you, is apt to elate one. Hence, the Lord retires, and He is in the wilderness praying; and then it says, “The power of the Lord was there to heal”. Luke 5:17. So you see, if you are to be helped in healing in this way it is by prayer, and it is in the wilderness. You retire, from the presence of the crowd, with the need into the wilderness. Then you find that you cannot do it all, the need is too great — of course, I am referring to the saints. So the Lord, in chapter 6, appoints His twelve apostles, and the work is to be extended, so that the praying for the whole field would lead us so into the presence of God that one is not at all envious if others are being used. It is a great thing to make room for others, because if another brother comes forward and God is using him, all is well. It is a community idea, and one’s wealth is added to on the principle of community. So the Lord appoints twelve and descends, and stands with them in the plain. Then, in chapter 9, He is praying alone, and He raises the question of His Person. He says, “Who do ye say that I am?” Luke 9:20. That is another great feature that comes out in prayer. You learn who the Lord is. You are not carried away by the wicked teachings current today about the Person of Christ. Prayer saves you from that. Then, again, in the same chapter, He is transfigured in prayer. That is another effect, you are changed. The next thing is, He is praying in a certain place. Now He has come to the question of local fittings or furnishings, and one of the disciples says “Teach us to pray”, Luke 11:1 and He teaches them to pray. That means that you get all the local furnishings by asking for them. So He goes on to show that the Father, who is of heaven, gives the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him. You get the Spirit brought in, in your locality, instead of the flesh, by asking God. And so, in [p. 270] Luke 22, He is praying in Gethsemane. Wonderful spectacle! That is to say, you learn how to suffer by taking account of the Lord, how He prayed and how He acted in Gethsemane, and how angels came and ministered to Him. One desires to raise the question, because it fits in, that prayer is essential to our efficiency in this administration. Then the knowledge of Him, from John’s baptism till He was received up, includes the first chapter of the Acts, because here we have the forty days. John gives an account of three distinct manifestations of the Lord in chapters 20 and 21. Paul mentions six distinct manifestations or appearings. But Luke, in Acts 1, mentions forty days. And so he says, “... having by the Holy Spirit charged the apostles whom he had chosen, he was taken up; to whom also he presented himself living”. Acts 1:2,3. So that all this education is necessary for us before we can enter into Acts 2.
JBS In John 20 the Lord breathed into them, and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit”. John 20:22. The charge of the Holy Spirit would shut out what is of man.
JT Quite. He breathed into them, so that His own Spirit should mark them.
EEL There are two things spoken of. They were all filled with the Spirit, and they spoke with other tongues as the Spirit gave utterance; Acts 2:4. Would you say that the former is normal in Christianity, whilst the latter indicates the resourcefulness available at the special time in which it is needed, when men of every tongue and nation are gathered together?
JT Yes. The sound from heaven filled the house. In John 12 it speaks of the odour of the ointment with which Mary anointed the Lord’s feet filling the house. This is a sound from heaven filling the house. It is an announcement from the outset that heaven asserts itself in the sound in the house. There is then to be a hush of every other sound. It is a voice. And then it says, “And there appeared to them parted tongues as of fire, and it sat upon each one of them”. Observe that — each one of them. There is the collective idea; but, at the same time, each one of them has his own distinct individuality in this position. So that you wonder sometimes why is it people are so silent in the house, in the assembly? There are ten thousand words, which, of course, are altogether out of proportion to what is becoming to the house of God. But there are the five words; and one often wonders why it is that brethren are silent, why there cannot even be five words. The Spirit comes here in the character of “cloven tongues as of fire, and it sat upon each one of them”. It is one Spirit, but “each” of them. “Unto everyone of us is given grace”. Well, the Spirit sat on each of them here. That does not mean simply the apostles — it means all that were there.
GAvS Were the one hundred and twenty a representative company?
JT Yes. They were the representatives of the Lord’s handiwork. It says, “... the crowd of names”. Acts 1:15. The name of each of them meant what the Lord had effected. The name indicated what was there for the Lord. There were one hundred and twenty varieties of the handiwork of Christ, and the Holy Spirit takes them up. So that we have a variety of at least one hundred and twenty under the control of the Spirit. I believe that is what God is aiming at — a variety in life and unity. If there is a difference, it is a difference in glory.
WJH It is a difference of administration, but the same Lord.
JT Yes. It is nice to look into the countenances of the saints, however numerous. You may number them. As you look into their countenances, each one reflects something distinctive of Christ. “The crowd of names” Acts 1:15 [p. 272] would mean the distinctions.
GAvS Then you would infer that we take account of one another in the value of the Spirit’s work that is reached in each other?
JT Yes. That is how you take account of the saints. And so I apprehend that “the crowd of names” Acts 1:15 would indicate that we take account of what each one is distinctively, because a name is a distinction.
GAvS In that sense, would we have a very wide aspect of what distinguishes them spiritually?
JT I think so. For instance, I know you. I may not know you very well, but when I do know you, your name in my mind will be what you are, and my name in your mind will be what I am. The name that you bear, humanly speaking, is arbitrary, but I clothe your name with what you are.
WDR Why does it say “tongues as of fire”?
JT I think because of the flesh. In principle it is God’s announcement, “Jehovah will have war with Amalek from generation to generation”. Exodus 17:16. I think the fire is to deal with flesh, whether in me or in others. But the result here is that they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them to speak forth. You see they are educated. It was a time for speaking now, but speaking by the Spirit; and hence, as I was remarking, why are some of us so dumb?
THG In that way would the brethren be continuing the sound which at the commencement filled the house?
JT I think so. You look for it in our meetings — you look for the sound of heaven.
THG You remarked the other day that all that had breath shall praise the Lord — would what you say be linked up with that?
JT Yes. In attending a meeting, what is there should be in correspondence with the house of God.
[p. 273] In leaving it, there should be a sense of the heavenly influence, that heaven was asserting itself.
THG I suppose that really happens in connection with the two on their way to Emmaus. The Lord had been with them, and, when He had left, a divine impression remained.
JT It is a great thing in our meetings to maintain touch with heaven. The house of God is the gate of heaven. That was the first impression formed of it in a man’s mind. It was in Jacob’s mind. I am sure it is God’s intention it should be maintained, heaven asserting itself.
Ques What is the difference between the gift of the Holy Spirit and God sending forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba, Father”, Galatians 4:6?
JT There it is the Spirit of adoption; God has actually given you the Spirit of His own Son. Here it is the Holy Spirit upon us. The public effect is in view here.
HWB Would you say a word about the “rushing mighty wind”?
JT It is to call attention to the fact that the presence of the Spirit here is irresistible. There is nothing on earth to compete with it. “Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world”. 1 John 4:4. We are impregnable, we cannot be overcome as the people of God, as in faith we recognise the Holy Spirit.
THG Would that sound be continued in Colossians 3:16, “... singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord”?
JT Just so. Now you see men from the provinces of the empire present, and they all hear. It is one thing to speak, but it is another thing to hear. It says, “We do hear them speak”. They spoke so as to be heard. “We hear them speaking in our tongues, the great things of God”. There was a man mentioned in Proverbs who spoke froward things.
[p. 274] The newspapers, magazines and novels are the froward things. The young are exposed to them and damaged thereby. What we have here are one hundred and twenty persons speaking, as the Spirit gave them to speak, the wonderful or great things of God, and they were heard.
EEL I was wondering whether you were intending to convey that our voices should be heard administratively, that we should be found proclaimers of this wonderful gift of the Spirit, received of Christ in an orderly way, by baptism in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and the remission of sins.
JT What one feels for oneself is, one is so little impressed with the greatness of the position — the great things of God. Some of us were speaking about the little maid in Naaman’s house. She is impressed, she speaks with emphasis — Oh, that my lord was in Samaria with the prophet; for he would heal him of his leprosy. She is impressed. In the better translation it is an ejaculation.
HWB Would your thought be carried out in Romans 10:18, “Have they not heard? Yes, verily, their sound went into all the earth and their words into the ends of the world”?
JT Their sound — that is right. Well, now, in referring to Peter’s address, the earlier part has to do with the company — those that were in the house, and the effect of the coming in of the Spirit. Peter’s address has to be regarded in the light of the twelve. It says he stood up with the eleven. Now we come to what we may call commission, testimony — the testimony of gift. Speaking the great things of God is one thing which any Christian can do, because he is impressed like the little maid. It is quite another thing to preach. The preaching has a great part in the administration. A preacher can say things in a way that an ordinary Christian cannot say. According to Mark, the Lord had gone up into the mountain,
[p. 275] and He had called those to Himself whom He desired, so that He might send them to preach. So that we must have great regard for those who are fitted to preach, and we should see that the ox is not muzzled who treads out the corn, because everyone cannot preach. The fact that you can speak is no proof that you can preach. They speak here. It does not tell us it was “the twelve”. I apprehend it was all of them. But when you come to preaching, then it is a question of gift.
GAvS What you mean is that no one should undertake to preach who has not gift.
JT No one should preach without gift. Of course, one has to discover that one has got gift. But how can one preach except he is sent? Peter stands up with the eleven here. Those were the ones that the Lord had called to Him, according to Mark, that they might be with Him — that He might send them to preach.
GAvS Do you mean that these twelve, going out in this way, as having had that distinct impression wrought upon them of Christ, in consequence of their familiarity with His pathway, had produced in them that which spiritually made them competent for preaching?
JT That is right. We should look out for those who can preach, and see to it that they are allowed to preach.
WDR How are we to know them?
JT Gift makes room for itself. It brings you before great men. You cannot deny its power. It is effective in the souls of men.
WJH You would distinguish between speaking and preaching?
JT Any Christian can speak. The “little maid” spoke. Then, again, you get the four lepers in the second book of Kings, whose exercise was that it was a day of good tidings, and that they should [p. 276] speak. They recognised the character of the time. But there is nothing in either case about being sent, showing that any Christian can speak about the Lord, can witness; but when it comes to preaching, then you must look for ability, divinely-given ability, and make room for that. That is special.
GAvS Is that what you had in view when you spoke of not muzzling the ox?
JT Yes. You must see that a preacher is not hampered, for instance, by want of means; that he is not hindered by another being put in his place who has no ability.
THG The ox who is treading the corn puts his head down and feeds at the same time.
JT Yes. So that here we have not only the one hundred and twenty able to speak of the wonderful things of God, but, in Peter’s address, you see one of twelve divinely qualified to preach these wonderful things. He could speak of those things with more effectiveness than one of the sisters who were present, because he was a preacher. The administration was enhanced and adorned and enforced morally by the ability of the preachers. It is all on the line of administration. A preacher makes the thing so plain and powerful that it affects men. So that one is impressed even in the preacher with the bounty of God — that God has gone to the trouble of qualifying a man, of preparing him, so that you might have the thing enforced in your soul.
HWB Paul speaks of it, “... that by me the preaching might be fully known”. 2 Timothy 4:17.
JT He does, and it would be made known, he says, by him. So that the preaching has a great place in the administration. And the more you look into it the more you see that a qualified preacher is a gift from God. Gift is not merely that he has power. He is from God. Christ gave “some apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some shepherds and teachers”. Ephesians 4:11.
[p. 277] It is the love of God that has done it, and hence we must make the most of those gifts, because they are the provisions of divine love to enhance and enforce the administration of the bounty of heaven.
EEL What about doing the work of an evangelist when one is not available?
JT I think that that stops one from dubbing oneself an evangelist. We used to have brethren who called themselves evangelists. We do not hear of that now; not that there are no evangelists, but that there are those who are like John, and it is a question of “the disciple whom Jesus loved”. John 21:20. If you love Jesus, you will do the work that comes to your hand. If it is the work of an evangelist, and you have got ability for it, you will do with your might what your hands find to do.
WDR What about the broken condition of things we are in now? When one looks around, one does not see many that could be called preachers; but we know of some who love Jesus, and who love to tell out the gospel of the grace of God. Would such necessarily have to be qualified preachers for that?
JT They would come under the fourth verse (Acts 2), where there is ample room for everybody, brother and sister, to speak. Verse 14 is restricted to preachers.
GAvS By preachers, do you cover more than the proclamation of the glad tidings?
JT All ministry is on the line of preaching.
JH In Acts 8 it speaks of the persecution of the church that arose at Jerusalem, and it says that those who were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching Christ.
JT That is right. There Philip is the model. It goes on to say that Philip went down to Samaria. He was a preacher. He was the only one in Scripture [p. 278] formally called an evangelist. There you see the gift developed.
Ques From whom did he receive the gift?
JT From God. It says, He received them as man for men and for the rebellious also, that God might dwell among them.
HWB That is another reason for saying that by the foolishness of preaching He might save those who believe.
JT It was not in words of man’s wisdom, it was in the demonstration of the Spirit and in power. It was not a question of human eloquence. The Greek scholar, I suppose, would ridicule Paul’s manner and speech. To him it was foolishness. But the foolishness of the preaching saved those who believed.
Ques Would the characteristic of the preacher be he would stand up in the good and gain of the complete thought of the twelve?
JT That is right, and he knows how to use the Scripture. Peter proceeds to quote Joel. He is speaking to a Jewish audience who would listen to the prophet, Joel. Peter knew that. Paul did not quote Joel on Mars hill — he quoted their own poets. So that the preacher knows what to do. Peter quotes Joel, and it fitted the position exactly. Then he refers to David. He calls attention to the fact that David had not ascended into the heavens. The more you look into his address here the more you see its masterfulness, and, therefore, it is a model for us if we are to preach, and one knows what scriptures to quote, and is acquainted with the armoury of Scripture, and the material there is for ministry. If one refers to any in the Old Testament one refers to him intelligently. Peter points out that David was a patriarch and a prophet. He does not say David was a king. He points out that David did not ascend into the heavens, although he quotes David as showing that the Lord should not see corruption.
[p. 279] Then he goes on to show that everything depends on Christ; thus he makes everything bear on the present position. He uses the Old Testament scriptures and preaches Christ. Some people object to go into the Old Testament, but here is the model. He brings in the Old Testament, but he brings it in to preach Christ, for the Old Testament testifies of Christ. So that he brings everything to bear on the present position, and Christ at the right hand of God, to show that whatever there was available of the bounty of heaven, it was all the result of the position of Christ at the right hand of God.