GOD'S MERCY
GOD’S MERCY
Psalm 78:60 - 72; 1 Samuel 22:5; 1 Samuel 30:21 - 25
JT I was thinking of the mercy of God in connection with these passages in the Old Testament, and I hope we may see from them how it enters into the gospel, how it is seen in Romans, and how it works out in our acquiring the spirit of mercy, the spirit of the kingdom.
Ques Did you say that mercy comes in in relation to the gospel?
JT Yes. I hope that the Lord may help us to see that in believing the gospel souls are brought on to the ground of mercy. 1 Samuel 22 shows that David having gone into the cave, certain had gone out to him and he had become their captain. But the prophet Gad seems at that juncture to represent the mind of God that they should get on to the ground of His sovereignty. According to Psalm 78 God had chosen David, and Judah, and his people were to go there. “Depart, and go into the land of Judah”.
Romans emphasises that mercy is the platform for us. Much would be developed on that platform later, as the believer would discover, for Ephesians emphasises the mercy of God: “But God, being rich in mercy, because of his great love wherewith he loved us” (Ephesians 2:4), but the first step, evidently, in order that we might be available to God for His purpose, is that we should get on to the ground of mercy.
David, after this, even although the anointed of God (he was both priest and king), found himself in circumstances among the Philistines which necessitated God acting on this principle, or all was lost. Ziklag coming in represents the great principle that where all was lost, all is recovered on the ground of mercy. Then there is the statute set up in regard of [p. 537] those who were unable to go the whole way — that they should share alike with those who did go to the battle. David made it a law for Israel.
PW “For I said, Loving-kindness shall be built up for ever; in the very heavens wilt thou establish thy faithfulness” Psalm 89:2. That was the purpose of God and the psalm is written by one of the four wisest men of the earth, than whom Solomon was said to be wiser. It has struck me as very interesting that His purpose is to build up mercy for ever.
JT It shows that the mind of God is to have mercy; that comes out in Romans 3.
Ques Was it your thought that in chapter 30 the principle of mercy comes in for the people, in connection with David?
JT I think so. David dwelling in the land of the Philistines involved a complete lapse. He was out of the way when the work of the enemy was done, but God wrought on the principle of mercy to carry out His thoughts, so that chapter 30 is confirmatory of Psalm 78 — that all was on that principle. David comes into it in chapter 30, and so again becomes a type of Christ; the sense of the awful disaster so affects him that he weeps; but all is recovered.
But the divine thought is, I think, disclosed in the message of the prophet Gad in chapter 22:5. A prophet is one through whom God intervenes from His own side. The believer in his early days can reckon upon that — that God will come in from His own side and convey His mind. In this case the word was that they should get into the land of Judah, because that land, as in the mind of God, would suggest to David and his people that God was acting on the principle of sovereign mercy, and that they were to be imbued with that spirit.
Ques How do you regard the work of God in relation to mercy?
[p. 538] JT It shuts out oneself as having any part in it; it is a lesson that has to be learned early in our history. A sense of it would be conducive to more regard for God, more dependence upon God, and more praise to God.
HFN How would you distinguish between what comes out in connection with the cave of Adullam and the movement suggested by the prophet Gad? What would answer to that in our spiritual experience?
JT Christ is presented in the gospel as David, so David came before the people earlier in the slaying of Goliath. So far as the history goes, it is more a personal Christ as typified by David. The gospel of God is concerning His Son; the Person is presented; hence in 1 and 2 Samuel we have a more life-sized picture of David than we have in Chronicles. 1 Chronicles gives David in connection with the ark, and therefore on more limited lines, but 1 Samuel is a life-sized picture, as you may say, of Christ personally. The first mention therefore that we have of David’s name in 1 Samuel is when he was anointed; his name is not given in the book until he is anointed; the meaning, I apprehend, is that the person, as anointed, is made prominent by God. As we know, the word David means ‘beloved’, that is to say, it is the Person of Christ as here on earth under the eye of the Father, under the eye of God, for His pleasure. “God, who set me apart even from my mother’s womb ... was pleased to reveal his Son in me, that I may announce him as glad tidings among the nations” (Galatians 1:15,16) Paul says, so that the Person of Christ is to be rightly presented, and then believed on. David, after standing out before Israel in the slaying of Goliath is loved by Jonathan and his name is celebrated by the maidens of Israel, and then he is loved by all the people; that is, it is a question of the person. As David appears in the midst of his brethren he is ruddy, as it says, beautiful-eyed, and of beautiful countenance.
[p. 539] He was full of life, the energy of life was there and what goes with it — personal beauty. Well now, the antagonism of Saul emphasises this; he became rejected of Saul, which would mean that the believer sees that Christ is rejected, so that David becomes the centre. But we may go all that way without seeing that underneath the coming in of Christ is the sovereign mercy of God. Hence Romans, whilst it begins by presenting the Son — “concerning his Son” (Romans 1:3) — yet when you come to the body of the epistle, the doctrine of it, it is the ark — the mercy-seat, the lid of the ark, which is referred to; it is Christ in that sense as the means by which God approaches man in mercy. This, I think, is what is meant by the prophet Gad indicating to them to depart and get into the land of Judah, that is, to get on to that line.
RB It is remarkable in that connection that he was directed to leave the stronghold. I thought the stronghold, in connection with what you said, might refer to what we might be naturally; but he was to leave that and go to Judah — is that what you mean?
JT I think the position in the cave was right so far. The cave is mentioned first, suggesting that the believer accepts the reproach of Christ, and the stronghold is what he finds under the protection of Christ. But he is not to be content in all that, he is to get on to the line of divine sovereignty and purpose.
HFN Could we connect the stronghold with Romans 10 — the confessing with the mouth Jesus as Lord, and then would the other thought be more following on in the light of the mercy of God as in chapter 11?
JT Just so. The mercy of God is emphasised in chapter 11. I suppose the stronghold lies in the confession of Christ as Lord, when one is saved. But the gathering to David at the cave did not involve [p. 540] any numbering; the people were not numbered there. There were four hundred there, but in the reference in Chronicles where they come to David, the number is not given; nor is it given at Ziklag, it is only given when they reach Hebron, indicating, I think, that God only begins to count us as we reach Christ, not simply on the line of the sovereign mercy of God, but on the line of resurrection.
HFN You were connecting that the other night with the epistle to the Colossians; would you mind saying a word on that?
JT Well, 1 Chronicles 12, you will remember, speaks of different centres of gathering; the first one is Ziklag, where certain persons are mentioned by name, but the number of the persons who came there is not given. Then in the stronghold (verse 8) certain names are given, but the number is omitted; but when you reach Hebron (verse 23) the number that came to David from each tribe is given. It is as if God begins to count when in our souls we reach Christ as risen, when we reach Him in relation to divine purpose in resurrection.
Rem Did they not gather to David in the wilderness until it was a great host, like the host of God.
JT Yes. That is a general thought, indicating the gathering influence of David.
GN Those who are counted in Zion, are they counted on the principle of mercy? “And of Zion it shall be said, This one and that one was born in her ... . Jehovah will count, when he inscribeth the peoples” Psalm 87:5,6.
JT Yes. I think that writing up goes a little further than counting, because God is definitely committed to you in the writing up, and it is on the ground of your birth, the place of your birth. What do you say to that?
GN I suppose Hebrews 12 (mount Zion) is not resurrection ground exactly, but more the sovereign mercy of [p. 541] God.
JT That is right. It is what God sets out in Christ, but when David takes the fort of Zion, the stronghold becomes the city of David, that is to say, the sphere in which he has dominion.
Ques Would Romans 1 - Romans 8 give us the thought of numbering, and chapter 12 more the thought of writing up?
JT I do not think we get either the numbering or the writing up in Romans. There is no numbering at Ziklag, nor was there in the stronghold. It is when we come to Colossians (of course we are now speaking in a spiritual sense) that we are numbered. It is not that God does not take account of every believer in another sense. The book of Numbers brings that out, for the males in Israel were numbered from twenty years old and upward for military service, and the Levites were numbered from a month old and upward, so that no believer is omitted in the mind of God. But then there is the question of reliability. God has His own way of looking at us; He may look at us in one sense as accounted for military service, or in another sense for levitical service, but if God is thinking of us from the standpoint of reliability and continuance, then there is another principle, and I think that He means that in reserving the numbering for Hebron. The numbering has in view believers not only as having come to Christ, and coming to Him as rejected here — in the cave, so to speak, and not only as exercising the power of God as in the stronghold, but as in relation to a world that was before this one, and as having a taste for it, so that we can say, “We are not drawers back to perdition, but of faith to saving the soul” Hebrews 10:39. These might have gone back if they wished, for they had opportunity, but now they seek a better country, “Wherefore God is not ashamed of them, to be called their God; for he has prepared for them a city” Hebrews 11:16. He commends [p. 542] them, and owns them, as those having their faces set on His world.
ASL Would that be the reason why Christ is presented in Colossians as “the beginning, firstborn from among the dead” Colossians 1:18?
JT That is very good; it helps.
ASL That is what is meant by Hebron.
JT Yes. Hebron was built seven years before Zoan; Hebron is “before the world” 1 Corinthians 2:7.
WW Would Philadelphia answer at all to what you are speaking of — apprehending the Lord in that light?
JT I think so. In Philadelphia the Lord is before them personally, “The holy, the true” Revelation 3:7.
ASL Would it be warrantable to say, if Christ risen from the dead is the beginning according to the thought of God, we only truly begin according to that thought when we reach Him as risen with Him?
JT Quite so, and confirming what you say, the word to Laodicea is on that line — “These things says the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God” Revelation 3:14. In the letter to the Colossians it was enjoined that it should be read also to the assembly at Laodicea; (Colossians 4:16). So that this testimony at Hebron has been, as you might say, presented at the present time to Christendom, the nominal people of God. The Lord in speaking to Laodicea implies that if Philadelphia is counted, Laodicea is not counted at all. He does not say one single thing in the way of approval; there is nothing worth taking account of in Laodicea notwithstanding that this testimony has been current — Christ, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God.
WW It appeals to the heart to think of how that sovereign mercy of God is exercised by the Lord in relation to [p. 543] Laodicea.
JT Yes. The testimony has gone forth, but those regarded as Laodicea have not profited by it. Therefore, there is no reckoning made of them. So that it becomes a very searching matter as to whether we are gathered to the Lord at Hebron.
ASL That is the thought of God for all His people at the present time — “raised with him through faith of the working of God who raised him from among the dead” Colossians 2:12. It is what we are entitled to lay hold of in faith — that is our proper place as risen with Him.
Hence you can understand the word to Philadelphia, “I also will keep thee out of the hour of trial, which is about to come upon the whole habitable world, to try them that dwell upon the earth” Revelation 3:10. Earth-dwellers are those who do not go in for Hebron, they have not taste for that which is before the world, they want the present world, the present order of things.
Ques So would mercy meet me in a place of need, but in view of another place? In Luke 10 the neighbour “shewed him mercy” (Luke 10:37), the need is met, I suppose, but in view of another place.
JT Yes, in view of another place, so that he is put on the beast and brought to the inn; it is a question of movement, and the great terminus is seen in Ephesians 2: “God, being rich in mercy, because of his great love wherewith he loved us (we too being dead in offences) has quickened us with the Christ, (ye are saved by grace,) and has raised us up together, and has made us sit down together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus” Ephesians 2:4 - 6.
HFN Would you mind saying a little more in regard to the scripture read in 1 Samuel 30 as bearing upon the thought of mercy, following in connection with what you were saying as to the word of the prophet Gad; how would the thought of mercy be connected with that chapter?
JT Well, I thought it was emphasised in the fact that subsequently David’s conduct implied the forfeiture of what had been secured through him. His position among the Philistines was a false one, and so he would recognise that the disaster at Ziklag was God’s government; it was morally right that things should have gone that way. He is not, of course, a type of Christ in the Philistines’ land, but he is as he feels the awful disaster at Ziklag; he wept until he had no more power to weep. Everything, you might say, was lost, but now he is used because he comes into the mind of God, and then becomes a type of Christ, and asks for the ephod. Some of us were speaking about the development of priesthood in him, which is another subject, but he gets the mind of God at Ziklag, and the mind of God is that everything is to be recovered through David personally, that is to say, Christ comes into view. David shines, too, in the grace in which he deals with the weak ones; and that is what Romans develops — how to deal with the weak ones.
Ques Do we get a numbering in Romans 12 in the presenting of the body?
JT I think you are taken account of there whoever does present his body a living sacrifice has signalised himself. What you find in the gatherings at Ziklag and at the stronghold is individuals signalised by what they do, but at Hebron it is the entire number and no individuals signalised save two — Jehoiada, prince of the Aaronites, and Zadok, a valiant young man.
Ques In Romans 12 the individual is signalised in the one body, is he not?
JT Yes, but he is not taken account of according to God; it is not the body of Christ in Romans; it is simply the idea of unity. The body of Christ is brought in in Corinthians, but only in the way of teaching, by way of light; it is the character of the thing there, it is His body, not the body, that is to [p. 545] say, the reckoning is not yet full, nor complete. The reckoning is in Colossians, where it is the body; Christ is the Head of the body, there it is the full reckoning; it is fully taken account of according to God.
JS Do you connect the numbering with “all the saints” (Colossians 1:4) in Colossians 1? You have the expression, “all the saints” (Ephesians 1:15). Do you connect loving all the saints as in Colossians with the point reached?
JT I think all are in view; one point in Colossians is that saints are loved at a distance; very few of us understand that — how to know and love saints at a distance. The apostle had never seen the Colossians, he had never been there. It is a question of loving and caring for saints at a distance, and that is what underlies the truth of the assembly. The truth of the assembly as formed locally is in knowing your neighbour and loving him, but the assembly to be known in its universal character implies that you know and love saints at a distance, and you love them all.
ASL “And as many as have not seen my face in the flesh” Colossians 2:1.
Ques Is that the thought of love in the Spirit (Colossians 1:8)?
JT That is the idea of it; it is loving like God. It is the one mention of the Spirit in Colossians and it is in connection with love. It is a question of loving those who are born of God, of loving the saints everywhere.
WW I suppose the sense of sovereign mercy quickens the affections in that connection.
JT It does.
HFN If the Colossians love the saints at a distance, would Paul’s embrace illustrate the Ephesians’ love?
JT That is very interesting indeed. You allude [p. 546] to Acts 20. We have one word in the beginning of the chapter — “Paul ... embraced them” Acts 20:1. The word there for embrace is the one generally used for salute, but the circumstances governing any case would lead us to understand whether it meant a mere formal salute or an affectionate one. The circumstances in this case plainly indicate that it was an affectionate salute, involving an embrace; and an embrace is more than a kiss, it involves power, it involves the use of the arms. That was Paul’s part and he would represent divine love, I think, in that act whereas their act, at the end of the chapter, was a kiss; they kissed him ardently, but the word is different. I think Ephesians would bring in the kind of love that belongs to heaven. It is a question in Ephesians, not of distance, but of being quickened together. That does not mean ‘together’ in a local sense, but in a universal sense. We are raised up together, and made to sit down together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus; that implies, I think, that it is a love that embraces.
HFN I think that is very helpful. Would that flow out of “God being rich in mercy” Ephesians 2:4?
JT That is how it stands: “because of his great love wherewith he loved us” Ephesians 2:4. He would have us all together in a most exalted place, so that we know how to love there. When we go to heaven, we must know how to love as heaven loves.
Ques Would Paul’s embrace of Eutychus in the chapter be the embrace of Romans?
JT Yes. It is not the same word at all as in verse 1; it is enfolding him in his arms; it is not so much the expression of affection, but of warmth of interest and of care; the boy was dead; it is the personal touch in the way of revival.
ASL The embrace you previously referred to (verse 1) you spoke of as indicating affection involving [p. 547] power.
JT Yes; the embrace, I think, involves power; it is God’s way.
GN I suppose that the sense of mercy should ever be maintained. When Israel were come into the land, they were to take of the first of all the fruit, and to put it in a basket and to bring it to the priest and say before the Lord, “A perishing Aramaean was my father ... and Jehovah ... looked on our affliction” Deuteronomy 26:5 - 7.
JT And the more you have a sense of mercy, the more you regard the objects of it; and you not only begin with mercy, but you will have a deepened sense of it when you are up to the Ephesian position.
I think this question of being counted is very searching, because God is adding to the brethren, and the meetings are becoming larger. We speak of rooms being too small, and we are delighted, of course; we rejoice to think of what God is doing; but then, how does God number? To Sardis the Lord says, “Thou hast a few names” (Revelation 3:4), that is to say, they are marked off for some reason; not a few persons, but a few names, and He says, they “have not defiled their garments, and they shall walk with me in white, because they are worthy” (Revelation 3:4); and their names are in “the book of life” Revelation 3:5.
RB Would you say the numbering begins when the saints arrive at the apprehension of Christ risen?
JT That is the idea in Hebron. Take the assembly, you can understand that if the Lord will have companions, He will count only those who are really that. I am not saying that any one is not taken account of from the time he repents and confesses his sins, because heaven takes account of such, but then such an one merely is not a companion of Christ; he has to go much further than that. Hebron implies companionship; it has reference to those who are fit for companionship with [p. 548] Christ.
RB You make a distinction between the numbering and the writing up?
JT I think there is a distinction; being in the writing up, you are in the ‘who is who’ book of heaven. The writing up is that those written are ennobled by heaven; they are put down as especially noteworthy; it is more a question of persons that are distinguished when it says that God writes up His people.
RB When the seventy returned, the Lord said, “rejoice that your names are written in the heavens” Luke 10:20.
JT Well, that is where the names are written; they are written in heaven; but when God writes up His people He refers to the place of birth. We must distinguish between the places where we are written — whether in the book of life, or in heaven; when God writes up His people, it is where they are born — “This one and that one was born in her” Psalm 87:5. Christ Himself is there. He is accredited to Zion.
Rem Paul speaks of some who laboured with him whose names are in the book of life (see Philippians 4:3).
JT In Romans 16 you have a long list of worthies, which I think would be like Ziklag and the stronghold, but in Colossians the distinguishing feature of the persons mentioned is that they are a praying people; they are like Jehoiada the prince of the Aaronites, and Zadok a valiant young man. The great principle of Colossians from that point of view is prayer, because Colossians is not final; you see the hill-tops of Zion, as it were, but you are not there yet, hence the great need for prayer. What marks off the distinguished ones at Hebron is that they are priests; like Paul himself, they combat in prayer; it is a tough uphill climb from that on until you reach Zion — [p. 549] Jerusalem.
JS Does verse 69 give finality, “He built his sanctuary like the heights”?
JT That is finality; it is in Jerusalem.
Ques Does mercy furnish us with the position, and grace with the behaviour suited to the position?
JT Yes. That is good. They run together; he that showed mercy is the one who distinguished himself as the neighbour. “I will have mercy and not sacrifice” Matthew 12:7. I have thought, that going on to Judah you learn mercy, you get immersed in the principle of mercy, and the weak ones furnish the occasion for the law to be established, involving mercy, for really they were not entitled, you might say, from the ordinary standpoint to share with the others, but on the principle of mercy they were. It is a question of the state of their souls; their wills were not active at all; it was a simple question of weakness: “two hundred stayed behind, who were too exhausted to go over” 1 Samuel 30:10. It was a difficulty that could not be overcome, the will was not in it and in such cases we must have mercy and make allowance. They are simply not able to get over the difficulty and we must have patience with them, we must not deny them any privileges, because they are weak; they must share in all the privileges of the assembly, we must not shut them out at all.
ASL It would be the sense of mercy maintained in our souls that would enable us to be gracious.
JT That is so. You have the sense of it; you say, I should never have got over that difficulty except for the mercy of God.
Ques Would it be right to say that mercy is God’s sovereign favour, or would that be grace?
JT Grace adapts itself to man’s need; mercy conveys the sovereignty of God — His intervention when all was lost on the ground of human responsibility.
[p. 550] Ques Would you say why it is for His “great love” (Ephesians 2:4) in Ephesians?
JT Everything is great in Ephesians. Ephesians gives you the fulness of whatever it touches; it is not only His love, but His great love; it is not only His mercy, but the richness of it. The full result of it is that we are set down together in the heavenlies. I do not sit down as a unit, but He has made us sit down together; it contemplates that I love the brethren and would not be without them in the place of blessing; you wish them there with you; it is part of the blessing to have them. That is the kind of love developed in Ephesians.
“Nor, what is next Thy heart
Can we forget;
Thy saints, O Lord, with Thee
In glory met” (160:8)
But now this question of the law of the kingdom is one of the most important ones, because it involves the weak ones. We must be on our guard against shutting out any of the Lord’s people from anything that would be in any way a help to them.
Ques What about those who will not move in relation to the truth, who have a will and will not move in relation to Judah?
JT That is another matter. You have to move on without them, of course, if they do not come. Moses says, “Come with us, and we will do thee good” (Numbers 10:29), but they did not come, and of course they are devoid of the good. But with these two hundred it was not that they were not disposed to be with David, it was simply a question of weakness — they were faint — and that is a great thing to see, and we must not deprive any such of any good there is whatever is going they must have a share in it.
WW You would hold every one as being a believer and having the Spirit in relation to it, [p. 551] would you not?
JT Quite; in fact, every Christian in the abstract you would regard as qualified to share in the good; but another question enters into it when they will not come; then what can you do but go on?
HFN Would this have any reference to the weak brother in Romans 14?
JT That is exactly what I thought of.
HFN I think what you were saying the other night is very searching — that whilst David addresses them peaceably, they are spoken of by the Spirit as “wicked men”, “men of Belial”. Would you suggest that we might come under that spirit in refusing to recognise the mercy of God?
JT I think it is very searching. David did not call them anything different, nor would you address your brethren in any other way than as brethren, but the Holy Spirit has His own judgment of what goes on, and although we may elude the judgment of the brethren, yet if they were sons of Belial, the Holy Spirit knew it, and gave them their name.
ASL We may not be sons of Belial, but we may drop into that kind of spirit.
JT Just so.
Ques Do you take it that what is recovered and shared here may be regarded as the truths and privileges that have been recovered in these last days?
JT Well, you might say that, but I do not think what was recovered at Ziklag goes much beyond Romans; what was recovered does not represent the purpose of God. But what you allude to — the truths that have come to light — we must share with our brethren whatever their circumstances.
GN “Jehovah loveth the gates of Zion more than all the habitations of Jacob” Psalm 87:2. Is that the test where mercy is administered?
JT That is it. I have often thought in connection with that — “Jehovah loveth the gates of Zion” (Psalm 87:2) — that if there is a spot where mercy is administered,
[p. 552] it is assembly-wise, I apprehend, and God loves that.
Ques “The habitations of Jacob” Psalm 87:2. Are they connected with responsibility?
JT I think that is right, but the “gates of Zion” (Psalm 87:2) — gates would indicate a place of administration.
Rem The principle with regard to the weak was made a statute for ever.
JT Quite; it remained. “And it was so from that day forward; and he made it a statute and an ordinance for Israel to this day”, meaning that at the time this book was edited the thing was in force. It is a question of how long the principles that are set up continue to be such, or do they become a dead letter and fall to the ground? When Scripture says a thing continues to this day, it means it has lasted to the time of writing.
RB Would you say it should be continued now?
JT I should say so. The question is whether all the great truths and principles which the Lord revived have continued amongst us. It is mentioned that the thing continued up till “this day”.
HFN One was struck by the reference in prayer at the beginning of the meeting to the thought of continuance; that enters into what you are speaking of.
JT Well, one has been impressed with the thought of continuance, that is, the continuance of the saints’ interest in the things of God, and the maintenance of right principles.
PW In the New Translation ‘mercy’ is translated ‘lovingkindness’. It is very sweet to connect the thought of love with mercy.
ASL And it endures for ever.
GN What distinction would you make between expressing grace and showing mercy?
JT I think mercy comes out more when there is inability, helplessness, when the person can do nothing.
[p. 553] Grace shines more when his will is at work and you overcome him. Mercy is not said to reign, but grace is said to reign through righteousness. I think that Luke 10 is an illustration of mercy — the man was helpless. “According to his own mercy” (Titus 3:5) God saves us, but it is “by grace, through faith” Ephesians 2:8.
Rem You “obtain mercy” (Proverbs 28:13) and “find grace” Hebrews 4:16.
JT Just so. The man was helpless and the Samaritan showed mercy. He was in a half dead condition, but his will was not working. But grace is that you overcome his will and the man is brought down.
Ques In Ephesians 2 is it mercy to the Jew and grace to the Gentile?
JT Well, it is mercy in both cases. But Romans is the reign of grace. From God’s side everything is on the principle of mercy, because every one is brought in as dead, but grace is needed on account of our wills.
Ques What is the difference between the goodness of God that leads to repentance and the mercy of God?
JT Oh! there is goodness for you even before you are converted. I have often thought of the witnesses that God gives. “He did not leave himself without witness, doing good, and giving to you from heaven rain and fruitful seasons, filling your hearts with food and gladness” (Acts 14:17); that is what Paul alludes to. A man is hungry and he gets his hunger satisfied, and then he begins to think it is a good thing; it affects him. “If therefore thine enemy should hunger, feed him; if he should thirst, give him drink; for, so doing, thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head” Romans 12:20. It is giving him things that he does not deserve; that is what God does; that is goodness. Goodness may be fuller than that, but it certainly is that by which God leads man to repentance.
Ques Had the prodigal son a sense of the source of goodness when he said, “I have sinned against heaven” Luke 15:21?
JT He had not then tasted of divine goodness. He knew the thing was there — there was bread enough and to spare.
Rem He does not say, I have sinned against God; but against heaven.
JT “And before thee” Luke 15:21. He had not appreciated the goodness of heaven.
Rem In Nehemiah 9 where the Levites confessed before the Lord the failure of those who had returned from the captivity, they speak of their not having been mindful of God’s wonders that He had done among them; but they are the subjects of mercy and it speaks of God as a God of mercy, “ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and of great loving-kindness” Nehemiah 9:17.
JT Quite so. I think what has been remarked about sinning against heaven leads to a very interesting thought as to heaven in its bounty. The covenant made with Noah has continued with the Gentiles even although they have turned away from God, not wishing to retain Him in their knowledge, like the prodigal, but heaven has never ceased to benefit man; as Paul says, “God therefore, having overlooked the times of ignorance” (Acts 17:30); He never changed; His goodness went on, seedtime and harvest have not ceased, and that goodness came out of heaven.
ASL And it is going on still.
JT Yes; that is a good suggestion, because it shows what goodness there is.
ASL It all comes from heaven.
JT Exactly; so that sinning against heaven would be that the Gentiles had disregarded the bounty of God and the goodness of God.
HFN Would you say a word in regard to the link between the “tribe of Judah”, “the mount Zion which he loved”, and “His sanctuary like the heights”,
and then how “he chose David his servant”? Are these four things — Judah, Zion, His sanctuary and David — bound up with divine sovereignty?
JT It is certainly a wide range of thought in connection with mercy; He has chosen Judah and the mount Zion which He loved. I think “which he loved” means that He has found a spot where His mercy is fully expressed, where He can show what He is to man; He loves that spot; and then He builds His sanctuary like the heights; I think all that is bound up in Ephesians.