READINGS IN MATTHEW'S GOSPEL (7)

READINGS IN MATTHEW’S GOSPEL (7)

Matthew 11: 25 - 30; Matthew 12: 46 - 50; Matthew 13:1-3; Matthew 13:51,52

JT So as to make clear the links which are in mind in the chapter, we may look first at the beginning of chapter 11. It says, “And it came to pass when Jesus had finished commanding his twelve disciples, he departed thence to teach and preach in their cities”. The Lord, according to chapter 10, has appointed His twelve disciples. He named them apostles showing that their position was authoritative. Then, in chapter 11 the Lord Himself resumes His teaching. So that, as we have noted, it says, “when Jesus had finished commanding his twelve disciples”. Such finishing thoughts are characteristic of Matthew and are important as pointing out certain sections of the book, and particularly here as relating to apostolic service. The instruction was finished. After that we have the allusion to John’s mission, which, alas, is discreditable to John. He sent his disciples to ask the Lord, “Art thou the coming one? or are we to wait for another?” verse 3. The principle of finishing matters is important to bear in mind in the instruction, and it is clear that this was needed in John’s case.

AI Chapter 11 speaks of the Lord teaching and preaching in various cities. There were many who turned away from his teaching, but is it not important that it brought to light those who were ready for it?

JT Well, it is. And it has to be admitted that John was not ready, although he had served well. But he was imprisoned and evidently disheartened. So he raised the question of another. The Lord afforded no such suggestion in His ministry. He had made it plain that He was the One. Chapter 1 shows that He was the Christ. John had been taught immediately that it became him to fulfil all righteousness. But still John failed here, which is surely something for us to bear ^[p. 135] in mind lest we should fail of a finish in our instruction.

WFK John said, “He must increase, but I must decrease”, he evidently did not continue thus.

JT He did not maintain it. That is in John’s gospel. That gospel does not afford all the instruction about John, but Matthew gives us this side of the instruction; and undoubtedly it is intended to bear on the assembly and those who minister in it; that there is the idea of commandment and finish. The twelve were there and the Lord had finished His instruction in regard to them.

AR Does the answer help? The Lord says to them, “Go, report to John what ye hear and see. Blind men see and lame walk; lepers are cleansed, and deaf hear; and dead are raised, and poor have glad tidings preached to them”. Is that the idea of helping John to a finish?

JT Just so. The Lord calls attention to the facts of His ministry; that the ministry was resultant; that it yielded something definite. And then there is the added thought: “And blessed is whosoever shall not be offended in me”.

RWS In chapter 7: 28 the words are finished. It says, “It came to pass, when Jesus had finished these words”. In the section read in chapter 11 He finished commanding, and in chapter 13: 53 it says, “When Jesus had finished these parables”. Is there some progress in the manner of what is finished as we move into the realm of the assembly?

JT I think that is good. Chapter 13: 53 says, “When Jesus had finished these parables he withdrew thence”. There is the idea of finish in the ministry which we all should learn in pursuing the truth. And there can be no doubt that we have now arrived, in the history of the assembly, at the time of the finish. What the Lord is aiming at undoubtedly is the finished product; that the result of His ministry should ^[p. 136] go up to heaven, not unfinished, but finished — fit to be there.

EAL What do you think of John’s question, “Art thou the coming one? or are we to wait for another?” Why should he ask One about whom he had no doubt, whether He was the coming One?

JT I would say that he failed, but in all fairness to him and which indeed the Lord, too, intimates, he was affected by the persecution. If the Lord were the Christ, as chapter 1 said, why should John, His forerunner, be in prison? I suppose that was the difficulty with John and, of course, it is not written to discredit John, but rather that we should be ready for the idea of completion, and not fail. As it says, “He that has endured to the end, he shall be saved”, chapter 24: 13. The end is the thing that tells the tale of the ministry. The Lord is surely not at fault in the ministry. The fault is in those who are being ministered to, whether we are enduring to the end, because it is a time of endurance.

AR You have said that the finished product would be seen in Colossians: “... that we may present every man perfect in Christ”, chapter 1: 28. Is that the idea?

JT Paul had that in his mind in ministry. I suppose we might say the law made nothing perfect and perhaps John’s failure here would be to confirm that. Although Paul had failure, too, he finished his course. He continued to the end.

DP Was John a subject of the Lord’s teaching, or does he have a separate ministry?

JT He has a separate ministry; though he is the Lord’s forerunner, yet he has a separate ministry, but the Lord associates him with Himself: “Thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness”. There is no suggestion of any incompleteness in the ministry of righteousness in which the Lord had part.

ETP Paul says to the Philippian saints, “Having confidence of this very thing, that he who has begun ^[p. 137] in you a good work will complete it unto Jesus Christ’s day: as it is righteous for me to think this as to you all”, Philippians 1: 6, 7.

JT Quite so; but a feature of Colossians is the completion of the word of God.

RWS At the last reading you suggested that chapter 10 brings out moral fibre. Is it in view of comfort that the Lord is with us all the days? Otherwise, we would scarcely get through the rugged conditions which Matthew contemplates.

JT Quite so; so the idea of continuance is in the appointment of the apostles; although, as the Lord Himself says, “not one of them has perished, but the son of perdition, that the scripture might be fulfilled”, John 17: 12. But the apostles stood their ground in the testimony and they added one, also. There is no indication that the apostles gave way in any characteristic feature; therefore, they are seen in the heavenly city at the end, their names are there.

VCL Would the excellence of the ministry of John and Peter in their closing letters show that they were in this teaching of the Lord?

JT Yes, especially in the link with Paul. See how Peter commends him. Although Paul had rebuked Peter earlier, yet Peter is maintained in true brotherly feelings. We have been speaking of the idea: “If even a man be taken in some fault, ye who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of meekness”, Galatians 6: 1. The word ‘restore’ as used there refers to the person being set up in completeness after his failure. I believe it is important to keep that in mind as to links with the ministry, that failure should not destroy them. In the apostles it is what the Lord set up. It did not fail; it stood its ground to the end, and is seen in the heavenly city.

AI Is not the present ministry in line with the Lord’s service as aiming at ^[p. 138] completion?

JT That is just what has been said. The Lord is aiming at the finished product, because it is intended to be fitted for heaven. The Lord comes for it and takes it up there.

ESW Have you in mind that there are stages in our assembly instructions, and one stage is to be completed before we are to move on to the next?

JT I believe that is seen in the structure of the gospel of Matthew as we have observed. But at the same time there is the idea of growth, which is uniform.

AR Things are being done. According to what the Lord said, John was to get from the disciples the word that things were being done.

JT Exactly. They were to tell John what was being done. They were being done well. It was not a partial matter. Things were done completely.

FHL The Lord refers to the period “from the days of John the baptist until now, the kingdom of the heavens is taken by violence”, verse 12. Would that be a definite period?

JT I suppose so; “from the days of John the baptist”. That would be that John the baptist is honoured in his ministry. He is regarded as coming down from the Old Testament. He belongs to that order, and he was doing well, but now he is in prison and limited, and of course we have to admit that any of us is liable to give way in suffering or in persecution. The Lord would strengthen us so that it should not be so at the end of the dispensation.

Now when we come to the end of chapter 11, we see that there is no danger of failure on the part of the Lord; not the slightest suggestion or possibility of failure with Him. He had been rejected by those He had ministered to, but instead of being dejected Himself — God forbid the thought that He ever was — He “rejoiced in spirit”, according to Luke 10, in the time of His rejection, and turned to the Father saying, “I ^[p. 139] praise thee, Father, Lord of the heaven and of the earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and has revealed them to babes”. Matthew 11: 25. That is the Father’s will, the Father and the Son enter into a conversation with each other, as it were, in view of the babes; and the work is complete as far as it went. The babe condition was there, but the babes were being ministered to; they were not simply babes. They were being ministered to, and the Lord adds further, “Come to me”.

ABP Would you say that John was engaged with the circumstances which were unfavourable, whereas the Lord had a dispensational outlook?

JT Yes. He had the whole dispensation in mind, undoubtedly. The conversation was, as it were, between the Father and the Son without formally being indicated. But it was a conversation, for the Spirit says, “Jesus answering said”. We can only conclude that the answer was to His Father and it was in relation to the beginning of the work; that is, the babe condition which would culminate in a perfect result.

JS John the baptist did not accept Christ’s rejection, but the Lord, although rejected, triumphs over the rejection.

JT He is unchanged by the opposition to Him, by the refusal of His testimony and of His work.

AR The Lord said that a little one in the kingdom is greater than John the baptist.

JT Showing that John belonged to another dispensation which made nothing perfect; and yet, according to the Lord’s word, he is the greatest of those born of women; but these babes that are coming into evidence to make up the new order of things, are greater than John the baptist.

JS Does that indicate the Lord is beginning anew?

JT I think so. It is babes; but clearly it is babes ^[p. 140] of quality; that is, such as can be used in the beginning of a dispensation.

SMcC Why does the Lord use the title here, “Father, Lord of the heaven and of the earth”?

JT I suppose it is in keeping with the beginning of things. The heaven and the earth involve the physical sphere of the testimony; therefore, it directs us back to Genesis 1 where it is said that the earth had been submerged, but is taken out of the water, so to speak. It is brought into being as an order of things in which God operates. Life, the power of fructification, is in the earth and it was needed for the new order of things which God intended to bring about. It will be needed in the millennial day, too, but there will also be new heavens and a new earth, eventually. The Lord is intimating that the present heavens and the present earth are the sphere of the testimony of christianity; and this is also true as to the millennial world.

ESW There is found, at this point, a Man on earth who is able to completely answer to the Father in heaven.

JT That is what is thrown into prominence in the Lord’s own attitude, because it says in verse 25, “At that time, Jesus answering said, I praise thee, Father, Lord of the heaven and of the earth that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them to babes”. The heaven and the earth composed the sphere, according to Genesis 1, in which the testimony should take form and be carried on right through the millennial day, as we have said.

JS These are the operational spheres.

JT Exactly.

FHL In Psalm 8 it says, “Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou established praise”, verse 2. Is there a link with the babes here?

JT Quite so.

ABP Is there a similarity in the Lord’s circumstances ^[p. 141] here and those of the apostle in 2 Corinthians 4? It is a pressure chapter, and he also refers back to the beginning: “Because it is the God who spoke that out of darkness light should shine who has shone in our hearts”, verse 6.

JT Very good; showing that the operational sphere was in the heart of the apostle, and, we may say, in the hearts of the saints. It reminds us too, I think, of Samuel’s ministry; that none of his words fell to the ground, as being wasted. The operational sphere involves the ground where the seed germinates. The good soil is the hearts of the saints. Samuel’s words were not lost. They fell into the hearts of the saints.

SMcC Is the thought that as coming to the new order of things, the great and extended operations which come into view would be involved in relation to the assembly?

JT I would think so. The babes point to the material that would be used in the operations. In chapter 12, it says, “At that time Jesus went on the sabbath through the cornfields; and his disciples were hungry, and began to pluck the ears and to eat. But the Pharisees, seeing it, said to him, Behold, thy disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on sabbath. But he said to them, Have ye not read what David did when he was hungry, and they that were with him? How he entered into the house of God, and ate the shewbread, which it was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those with him, but for the priests only”, verses 1 - 4. And then in verse 9 it says, “And, going away from thence, he came into their synagogue. And behold, there was a man having his hand withered. And they asked him, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath? that they might accuse him. But he said to them, What man shall there be of you who has one sheep ...”. leading up to the healing of the withered hand. And then again, verse 25: “But he, knowing their thoughts,

^[p. 142] said to them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation”. And in verse 28, it says, “If I by the Spirit of God cast out demons, then indeed the kingdom of God is come upon you”. All this is to be emphasised because it leads up to the importance of what is here, as the Lord says, “behold, more than Solomon is here”. I am coming now to the idea of what is greater than persons. It is a kingdom that is coming that is in mind and it is greater than Solomon. It is the greatness of the kingdom; that is, the sphere of operations. It is a kingdom and it is greater than Solomon or Jonas, so that we are in the operational realm of the Christ, in view of the assembly, where you have that which subsists in this character: what is greater than the persons mentioned.

JTJr Would David eating the shewbread show he was ahead of his own dispensation and really, you might say, in line with our own? He entered into the house of God and ate the shewbread. He had the liberty to do that.

JT Yes; the Lord was on that line, and what I especially have in mind in chapter 12 is to bring out that there was that which was here; not simply persons; not simply that He is greater, which, of course, is true, but there is what is greater. It is a question of a realm of things; a system of things into which the Lord would carry all these operations in view of the assembly, which comes in in the closing verses that have been read.

JTJr Does that develop from the babes? We have the Father’s pleasure in the Lord, personally, at His baptism and also here; but the Lord brings the babes in here. Does that show that what God can operate in is beginning to take form in this order of things?

JT The idea here is what is greater than Solomon. That it is not now a question of babes but a system of things, formed of men, of course; but still, not the persons so much as the things, the system which would be needed to bring about the ^[p. 143] assembly.

AR It says in verse 6, “But I say unto you, that there is here what is greater than the temple”. Did you have that verse in mind also?

JT I intended to refer to that verse, too. Chapter 11 treats of the Persons of the Deity, the Father and the Son, but in chapter 12 it is a question of a system of things. Of course, the persons forming the structure are there in the disciples viewed as the apostles, in chapter 10, but the system is alluded to over and over again right down until we come to the verses which treat of the material for the assembly, those who do the will of God, as seen at the end of the chapter.

TNW Does not the system include the Spirit’s presence here?

JT It does.

SMcC Ephesians 4 alludes to the stable and fixed system of things and three concentric circles are referred to. In the last, it is said, “One God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in us all”, verse 6. Would the ‘in us all’ link in some way with what we are saying now?

JT Yes; there are three concentric circles, beginning with the body, then the kingdom, and then the Father’s operations, all working out the same thing. That is to say, it is systematic thing; the Father over all, through all, and in us all; which would mean that it works out in us; not in babes, but in full grown men. That is the point in Ephesians 4: we are viewed as full grown men, no longer babes.

TEH Who would be included in the invitation: “Come to me, all ye who labour and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me”.

JT Well, the persons described, those who labour and are burdened. We have been speaking of the babes, but now we have to view them in another sense, that they are burdened. They are individuals having responsibility,

^[p. 144] and the Lord is saying that He is the Centre for them. Although He has been rejected, He is presented to Israel. He is the Centre for all who are labouring and are heavily laden. “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me”. He is the Centre of burden-bearing, but He also is the Teacher by example — ‘learn from me’.

WWM That would offset the failure of John the Baptist.

JT Quite so; I think the conversation between the Father and the Son, leading up to chapter 12 is to bring out the quality of things; the quality in the system is mature; it is not a babe condition; it is a mature condition, only it is to be worked out in a family relation, which is involved in the verses read in chapter 12.

WFK The Lord speaks of hiding from the wise and prudent. Is there anything hidden today?

JT Well, there is a judicial hiding, I would think. “Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent”; that is to say, it is judicial. God is hiding things from men who are assuming to know; He is teaching the babes.

RWS Chapter 12: 28 says, “If I by the Spirit of God cast out demons, then indeed the kingdom of God is come upon you”. Would that, as regards the saints, be the protective side of the kingdom to shield them from all that is pharisaical, and would verses 48 to the end bring in the inside where there is joy in the family link?

JT Verse 28 alludes to the great fact of the Lord’s presence among the people. This would lead up to the closing verses read, because they lead up to the assembly; that is, the character of those who form it, those who do the will of God. “But while he was yet speaking to the crowds, behold, his mother and his brethren stood without, seeking to speak to him. Then one said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren are standing ^[p. 145] without, seeking to speak to thee. But he answering said to him that spoke to him, Who is my mother, and who are my brethren?” verses 46 - 48. We can say now that the change is formally asserted, that it is a question of the will of God, “And, stretching out his hand to his disciples, he said, Behold, my mother and my brethren; for whosoever shall do the will of my Father who is in the heavens, he is my brother, and sister, and mother”, verses 49, 50. It is a family matter; not a family of babes, but a family of mature persons; those who do the will of the Father.

VCL The family idea is extended in connection with the Father’s will, but would the yoke idea in chapter 11 be a special expression of love to those who are in the service, and thus under burden?

JT I suppose the yoke associates Him with us. The Lord has that in His mind when He said to John the baptist, “Thus it becometh us”; and to Peter, in chapter 17: 27: “Give it to them for me and thee”. “My yoke is easy, and my burden is light”. His burden would be whatever the Father put on Him. It was not burdensome or irksome to Him. It was joyous, and it indicates what service really implies in the new system, in christianity.

RHS Is the sabbath, which was a sign between God and His people, set aside here in view of the liberty of family relations?

JT Yes; the Lord went through the cornfields, meaning He was not under Jewish legal requirements. He was not afraid of doing things on the sabbath. He went through the cornfields. The disciples not only went through the cornfields, but it says that they began to pluck the ears and to eat. That is to say, they were in liberty; all this is making way for that which belongs to christianity.

AR Does Matthew have sons in mind? The Lord says, “whosoever shall do the will of my Father”, in this ^[p. 146] gospel, chapter 12: 50, but in Mark it is the will of God.

JT He has sons in mind. The Lord says, in chapter 17, “Then are the sons free” and He associates Himself with Peter in that freedom. Therefore it is the liberty wherewith Christ sets them free.

TEH Is that the kind of liberty that would be experienced in 2 Corinthians 6, in contrast to being yoked together diversely with unbelievers? Then God says, “I will be to you for a Father, and ye shall be to me for sons and daughters”, verse 18. Is that the idea of the relationship enjoyed in liberty?

JT Just so. The Father there is Jehovah Almighty. The power that is there to support us in the liberty implied is Jehovah Almighty; and that liberty involves that we should not have mixed marriages or commit ourselves to unholy alliances of any kind.

JTJr The Lord would defend what the disciples did as right. They plucked the ears and ate. And then in verse 49 He stretches out His hand and points out His disciples as if He is calling attention to what is here.

JT And then in verse 12 He refers to the value of a man as compared with a sheep. The idea of man is seen in the chapter, which ultimately will be seen in sonship. Manhood in Matthew’s gospel is seen in sons; the sons are free.

FNW Why does the Lord say, “The will of my Father who is in the heavens”, in the end of chapter 12? In the sermon on the mount He says, “Your Father”.

JT Chapters 5 to 7 refer to the mount which we have called the mount of legislation. There are seven mountains in this gospel, as we have noted. I suppose the Lord would liberate His people before He appoints the twelve. He sets them up in liberty, but in the sense of doing what is right. He sets them up. He goes up to the mountain and they go with Him, and there He legislates. He formulates law and sets them up in the law which He formulates; not which was, although He ^[p. 147] would say in that section that whatever was formulated by Moses must not be discarded, there is something in it. Whatever was written aforetime was written for our learning; only there was something strongly additional: “I say unto you”. This gives the idea of the mount of legislation. So that the persons there are said to be blessed. There are nine classes of blessed persons in the beginning of chapter 5, and at the end of that chapter the disciples are exhorted to be perfect as their Father is perfect; not there His Father but their Father. That is, they are in principle, in liberty. It is not simply Jehovah, but the Father and those that the Lord would teach are to be like their Father who is in the heavens.

AR He says here, “Have ye understood all these things?” One often wonders whether we understand the idea of sonship.

JT Well, that is the next thing to come to, so as to keep to our principle of getting over the ground. The next section begins in chapter 13 which we may call specially the parabolic chapter. It is divided into seven parables. In the first part the Lord leaves the house where He was; that is, the Jewish house. He comes out of that and speaks in parables and the question then is whether they understood. That is the next question to consider now in the order of our present inquiry. We should pick out and sort out the truth and make comparison so that we get the full truth. “Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free”, John 8: 32. Each one is to know and be in the liberty that belongs to it.

VCL Does the parabolic ministry help us to be ready for the ministry of assembly truth?

JT That is just what I was thinking. It is parabolic because there were persons who were not genuine. “He that has ears, let him hear”. Parabolic ministry requires an ear to hear as in the Lord’s ministry in Revelation. We must have ears to hear.

JTJr The state of the brethren comes out in these ^[p. 148] parables in the kind of soil and what it produces, I suppose. These characteristics would probably be present in every meeting.

JT In order to enlarge on what you say, the question of the house is to be noted. After the passage read in chapter 12 it says, “And that same day Jesus went out from the house and sat down by the sea”, chapter 13: 1. That is, He has left one position and has taken up another. It is not yet another house, but a position by the sea. And then in verse 36 it is another house, different from the one in verse 1. In verse 36 it says, “Then, having dismissed the crowds, he went into the house”. So that He left one house and went into another, “and his disciples came to him”; that is, they came into the house. It is not a Jewish house; it is a christian house, and that is what is intended in these meetings, that they are places of liberty, and the teaching of the parables is to help us to see that we are not in a religious house, a cathedral or the like, but in a house in which there is liberty: “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty”, 2 Corinthians 3: 17.

ESW The inquiries of the disciples in the house would evidence their desire to understand. Should that be so amongst us? Where there is inquiry in the house, it shows that we wish to understand.

JT Quite so; and that comes into what we have alluded to in verse 36: “Then, having dismissed the crowds, he went into the house; and his disciples came to him saying, Expound to us the parable”. We have talked often with each other; we have questions, and it is right to have them, but the question is whether we are looking for an exposition of things, getting things expounded as Moses did in Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy has that principle: the footnote to chapter 1: 5 indicates that Moses began to expound the law, meaning that it was made plain. Deuteronomy is plain and simple and has a peculiar touch that Exodus has ^[p. 149] not.

GH It says in Luke 19: “As they were listening to these things, he added and spake a parable”, verse 11. The Lord would take into account whether they were listening or not.

JT It is well to listen, but then the question is whether we have the idea of exposition, that Scripture is expounded to us. These meetings ought to have the character of exposition.

WWM It says in chapter 5, “Seeing the crowds, he went up into the mountain, and having sat down, his disciples came to him”. So that it would be the disciples who get the teaching. He would say, ‘your Father’. And now, in chapter 12, He leaves the crowds and goes into the house, and His disciples come to Him. That is the position we are in this afternoon. We have come to be taught.

JT Quite so; and another thing to be noted in that verse in chapter 5, is, He went up into the mountain and sat down. It is no easy matter to go up into a mountain. Those of us who are old may not be able to climb a mountain; but at the same time, if we are to get the instruction that the Lord has in mind for us we must sacrifice something, and so here His disciples came to Him and said, “Expound to us the parable of the darnel of the field”.

TEH They would know that if any one speaks it is to be as the oracles of God.

JT That is a feature of 1 Corinthians 3, “Do ye not know that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” verse 16. Our meetings should take on that character, and of course if we accept that they have that character, then we will try to attend the meetings and not allow such small things as showers of rain or snow to interfere with us.

SMcC Would the desire for exposition involve preparedness on our part to listen and to hear the truth being opened up and set out in an orderly ^[p. 150] way?

JT If the brethren come, they sacrifice something; but then the question is whether there is real sacrifice in order to get the truth, and a recognition that there is such a thing as the temple of God, and to inquire there. That is what the Psalmist says: “... to inquire of him in his temple”. It is a place where you can inquire and get exposition of the truth, and so the brethren should be ready for help whenever they come to these meetings.

RWS The idea is an opening up of the truth?

JT Yes; “... opening and laying down”, Acts 17: 3. That is what Paul did in Thessalonica: he opened up and laid down. The truth is opened up and then laid down in an authoritative way. It is not simply a question of what a brother thinks. It is laid down, to be understood in the mind; laid down authoritatively, so that one can say, It is so. Is there not such a thing as that? It is not a question of guessing, but having certainty as to the truth. “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free”.

JS The Lord’s movements here involve going up into a mountain and sitting down, and then coming down and going aboard ship.

JT Quite so. It required energy. He went from city to city. It cost Him something to get about. There were horses, asses, and the like in those days, but we have no record that the Lord rode except into Jerusalem.

RWS The Lord says, “The field is the world; ... and the enemy who has sowed it is the devil; and the harvest is the completion of the age”, etc. That fits in with what you have said as to authoritative teaching. It is not drawing a bow at a venture. It is such and such.

JT Yes; the Lord spoke with authority and not as the scribes.

SMcC One who goes through this course of instruction acquires great wealth, he has treasure.

JT Yes; therefore, it says, in the last verses read,

“^[p. 151] Jesus says to them. Have ye understood all these things? They say to him. Yea. Lord”. They immediately answer in the affirmative. And then He goes on to say to them, “For this reason every scribe discipled to the kingdom of the heavens is like a man that is a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old”, verse 52. That is to say, he has certain treasures, new and old. The Old and the New Testaments are implied.

RHS It is noticeable that when He went to His own country to teach they were offended in Him, verse 57.

JT That proves what we have been saying. These things that we are dealing with now are spiritual; they do not fit with mere nature. So it says, “It came to pass when Jesus had finished these parables he withdrew thence. And having come into his own country, he taught them in their synagogue”. He recognised His natural relationships, but it says that those in His own country “were astonished, and said, Whence has this man this wisdom and these works of power? Is not this the son of the carpenter? Is not his mother called Mary, and his brethren James, and Joseph, and Simon, and Judas? And his sisters, are they not all with us? Whence then has this man all these things? And they were offended in him”, verses 53 - 57. However much there may be to confirm the truth you cannot trust nature as to it.

EAL It says in verse 10: “The disciples came up and said to him, Why speakest thou to them in parables? And he answering said to them, Because to you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of the heavens, but to them it is not given”. The Spirit gives us this knowledge?

JT That confirms what we already said, that the understanding of the parables implies the need for the Spirit of God, involving new birth. So here the Lord uses the expression, “mysteries of the kingdom of the heavens”; and He says, It is not given to them; that is to say, unconverted persons. Parabolic ministry is so necessary because the parable really hides the truth. In order to get it we have to search as for hidden treasure, and that is why the Spirit is needed. So the Lord asked these questions in verse 51, “Have ye understood all these things?” And they said they had.

FHL The Lord has to speak of the judicial blindness and deafness that had come upon Israel, but He said, Blessed are your ears and your eyes.

JT God has been opening up the truth in the sense of revival probably during one hundred and twenty years, and we have come into the end of the period. And how great is our privilege!

SMcC It is striking how the completion of the age is referred to three times in this chapter. It seems to be an expression peculiar to Matthew, except that Mark uses it once. None of the others use it; but Matthew does five or six times.

FNW It says in chapter 13: 35, “I will utter things hidden from the world’s foundation”. Would that give peculiar quality to the treasure that is being developed in these finished products?

JT Quite so. We are in a hiding time, for these things are not for the ordinary religionist. They are for persons who are exercised; the work of God proceeding in them. If we do not have that in our meetings we will not get much.

CN So in chapter 11 the Lord attributes the unfolding of the treasure to the good pleasure of the Father. It says, “thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them to babes. Yea, Father, for thus has it been well-pleasing in thy sight”. Is it the pleasure of God to unfold the truth to us?

JT The Lord links up all with the Father, the pleasure of ^[p. 153] the Father.

RWS How do you view the answer the disciples gave the Lord in verse 51? He says to them, “Have ye understood all these things?” And they say, Yes.

JT I would think He would accept it as if the principle of the truth was there. If they had in principle laid hold of what He was saying, the Lord would accept it.

RWS I wondered, in view of subsequent history, whether it was abstract or was the truth there in some sense?

JT I would think so. The Lord accepts what they say, or He would have said something more.

JTJr They are beginning to value what He has been giving them.

JT The householder would mean a married man with a family. The Lord likened the one who understands to a householder. He said to them, “For this reason every scribe discipled to the kingdom of the heavens is like a man that is a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old”, verse 52. The scribe is an accurate man, described as a writer, and writing tends to accuracy. But then he values things; he has them in his treasury, and brings them out. They can be displayed.

EAL I think you have said concerning this passage that they were industrious learners.

ESW The Lord’s acceptance of their, “Yea. Lord”, would show understanding is a progressive matter. They had begun to understand, but it is a question of going on and understanding more and more.

JT “The Lord will give thee understanding in all things”, 2 Timothy 2: 7.

ETP Was the apostle Paul hindered in his exposition of the truth when he had to say the Corinthians were babes, not ready for meat?

JT Quite so.

SMcC This word discipled: “Every scribe discipled to the kingdom”, is important, is it not? It is not a question of taking on things loosely. It involves training.

JT Yes; like Enoch. He was the seventh from Adam which would mean, I would say, that he took up things as they started from Adam. His name would indicate, as far as I understand, that he was a disciple. He learns things on that principle.

VCL Is the objective here individual responsibility and reliability in view of right functioning in localities?

JT That is good, because the scripture contemplates localities, and so we have the idea of local assemblies, places of learning. And we are not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together.