READINGS IN MATTHEW'S GOSPEL (4)
READINGS IN MATTHEW’S GOSPEL (4)
Matthew 10: 1 - 42; Matthew 11: 20 - 30
JT What is to be considered here is the matter of apostleship, although the word disciple comes first. It says, “having called to him his twelve disciples, he gave them power over unclean spirits, so that they should cast them out, and heal every disease and every bodily weakness. Now the names of the twelve apostles are these”. Then the apostles are clearly set out and Peter comes first, as it says, “first, Simon, who was called Peter”.
AAT Is the word ‘first’ in connection with his position amongst the disciples? That is, it is not exactly an order but the principal place he took?
JT Peter had the first place in the Lord’s mind, in the apostleship, and it has been well attested that Peter has been honoured in that service. God had given him the leading place, and so here the word ‘first’ is used. “Having called to him his twelve disciples”. They are called disciples, but it says, “he gave them power over unclean spirits, so that they should cast them out, and heal every disease and every bodily weakness”. So that clearly the Lord’s mission involves relief for mankind, relief from satanic power operating on man. Much could be said, of course, on that, and much has been said in ordinary writing as to ‘Man’ and why the Lord selected man for this service, and why they have power. Here they have peculiar power to relieve man.
Ques Is there anything that would correspond to this in our day, the assembly day?
JT It would be a question of ability or the power that may show itself in brothers, as it has done and is doing. It is a question of divine sovereignty, that there should be power in man to relieve others. In due time Christ died and rose,
[p. 151] and remained on earth for forty days, and then, it says, He has “gone into heaven, angels and authorities and powers being subjected to him”. So that power is clearly in the hands of Christ, the Father having given all things to be in His hands. So that if there is power of this kind, that is manifestly useable to help others, we should recognise it.
JM In giving the twelve power, had the Lord in view an extension of His own gracious work as seen in verse 35 of the previous chapter?
JT That is what is in mind. It says there, “And Jesus went round all the cities and the villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the glad tidings of the kingdom”. We have already spoken of that this morning, but it is now in order that we should again refer to the kingdom and what it is in itself.
Ques Are these twelve, apart from Judas, in the foundation of the assembly as mentioned in the epistle to the Ephesians, “built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets”?
JT Just so. There is only one thing to be added to that, and that is to say, the Lord had them in hand, and in due time He brought in another and another; that is, Paul first and then Barnabas. So that there were additions, but in the book of Revelation the twelve are obviously in mind, in the foundations of the city, not Paul, but the twelve, Peter being the leading one. The question is whether we understand the full bearing of the power that is involved, because it is a question of power. Where is man to be, and where are all moral thoughts to be, unless there is something of this kind in the hands of one Man, and that one Man is Christ.
GMS Are the apostles put in pairs here, each pair being connected by the word and?
JT That is the way it stands. “First, Simon, who was called Peter, and Andrew his brother”;
then again, “James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas, and Matthew the tax-gatherer; James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, who was surnamed Thaddaeus; Simon the Cananaean, and Judas the Iscariote, who also delivered him up”. Now the question is — why they should be paired.
GMS I was wondering if it would bear on the present exercise as to two brothers in a locality sharing the responsibility for the preaching of the Word.
JT I think that is good. The question is, however, whether it is assumed or whether there is any such thing as an appointment. I think the general idea is that persons are qualified; that is to say, God brings them forward on moral lines, not on official lines.
Rem So that the first two pairs include the brother. That is not only to identify them, is it? I was thinking of Paul and his apostolic writings, how he includes another with him; for instance, in writing to the Corinthians, he says, “Paul, a called apostle ... and Sosthenes the brother”. I wondered whether it was the brotherly element that came into evidence in the working out of the exercise of gift.
JT Very good. I think what is perhaps more important now for the moment, according to what we have just said, is that things are placed on moral lines at the present time. That is, a man comes up and we cannot give an account of it, but he can do things. He is used of God to convert a man or a woman. He is used of God; the thing happens, and another thing happens, and another happens, and we cannot but admit it and recognise that God is working. No matter who the person may be, it becomes evident that God is working. And so the late development of the truth in the house of God [p. 153] began about 120 years ago, but how and why did it come about? Well, evidently God had begun to work in persons, and so there were men such as Mr. Darby, Mr. Bellett, and many others, and things were being done by them. It is a question of what a man is able to do, as the Lord Himself says, “What she could she has done”. It is a question of what one is able to do. Then there were women too in the service, such as Phoebe and others. It pleases God to take the sisters up in the same sense, but then limiting them, which is another thing that has to be considered. I believe God will do something for us in that respect, as to sisters. Why should they always be sitting idle at a time like this, and no liberty inwardly to say anything? Perhaps God has something to say about it.
AA Paul uses a forceful word in writing to the Philippians as to the sisters who contended with him in the glad tidings.
JT Quite so. The footnote indicates that it might read ‘Those women’; it is a feminine word. They assisted Paul in the glad tidings. So that we say we are here today, a goodly few brethren together, and the question is — Are we doing anything? Is anything being done in the conversion of souls and the building up of the assembly, and is the service of God rightly understood and freely taken part in?
VCL Would you say there is no such thing as a passive place in the assembly? All that is connected with the assembly must be active, even if in silence?
JT Well, we have been speaking of the women in Philippians and how they assisted Paul. They are women and they can do things, and God honours them. It is just a question of the evidence of the work of God; that is how everything is determined. It is not a question of persons assuming to do things [p. 154] but the work being here to be done, and there are those marked by doing it.
PL Paul would know the power, would he not?
JT That is the very point he raises.
PL When he came to Corinth, it was “not it persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power; that your faith might not stand in men’s wisdom, but in God’s power” 1 Corinthians 2: 4, 5.
Rem I think the sisters would like a little help as to where that which you have referred to might be liberated by them.
JT I think we have women’s names given that would help us. It is a question of whether there is interest enough in the sisters to take the thing up There have been sisters who were peculiarly supported of God in relation to the teaching. They were very quiet and sober, but what they said carried weight. The question now is whether sister: are taking things on themselves, on moral lines, and doing things because there is that which has to be done.
AA How are we to understand the passage “The Lord gives the word: great the host of the publishers”, Psalm 68: 11. I understand the word ‘publishers’ is feminine. Does it mean the though of the celebration of what is being spoken?
JT I would think the word ‘publishing’ would mean by word of mouth. You do not mean publishing in the sense of publishing books?
AA No, not at all. Publishing by word of mouth. Is it the thought of a celebration of victory in that sense?
JT Just so, because our mouths are to be used and our hands are to be used. There are other things we might say, but in this particular case, the sisters are clearly in mind. I think God would speak to all of us, and not simply to them, because the [p. 155] amount of help and labour afforded by the sisters amongst us is somewhat defective.
AHG Would the service of the sisters have its place in the houses that are mentioned here? It says in verses 12 and 13, “And as ye enter into a house salute it. And if the house indeed be worthy, let your peace come upon it”.
JT It says, “As ye enter into a house salute it”. That is to say, the servants of God, in the carrying forth of their mission, are bound to come into the houses. So that readings in houses, for the setting out of the word of God, are evidently in mind, and the sisters can provide for that. But the twelve, in entering on their service, would enter into houses, and they would receive from the sisters in the houses. That would raise the question of the bringing up of young children, which is another great service that clearly should be in the hands of sisters. We have been speaking of the age at which children may come into fellowship, and how the influence of the mothers is to be there, so that the children should come into the truth and not be carried away with novels and other things in the schools.
MAW Would Lydia’s house and herself fit into that? She was a person with power, for Luke says, “she constrained us”, Acts 16: 15.
JT Yes. She had constraining power.
AB You were referring to the enriching of the service of God, through the influence of the sisters. Would Martha and Mary, in John 12, support that?
JT I think so. Earlier Martha had been cumbered with much serving, while Mary had sat at the Lord’s feet, but in John 12 they are both happily in the service.
HFN In Exodus 35 it says, “And every woman that was wise-hearted spun with her hands, and brought what she had spun: the blue, and the [p. 156] purple, and the scarlet, and the byssus. And all the women whose heart moved them in wisdom spun goats’ hair”. Would that bear upon what you are saying?
JT I think it would. Exodus fits in largely; it begins with sisters, and what they do, and sisters have a great place in what you are referring to.
Ques Would you say something as to what is committed to the twelve in these chapters?
JT “These twelve Jesus sent out when he had charged them, saying, Go not off into the way of the nations, and into a city of Samaritans enter ye not; but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of the heavens has drawn nigh”. That is to say, it is a question of the kingdom of the heavens, and the service of it committed to these twelve men. That is the point now that should occupy us, this wonderful service, as indicated in this chapter, because in the revival that we have part in now, the question is whether we can apply these chapters literally, but the service goes on nevertheless. It goes on as it did at the beginning, only that there is the acknowledgement of a broken condition of things. It is a day of small things, but nevertheless the full idea is here. The assembly is here. It remains intact really and will in the eternal day appear, and appear according to the mind of God. The thing now is for each of us to do what he can, and carry on the work that comes to his hand, and do it as well as he can, and God will approve him, and increase his power. That, I believe, is the real position at the present time and should be in all our minds.
JTJr Is it not significant that the power here is in regard to what is physical? That is, it evidently alludes to what the human body is as having been affected, so that the power that is coming in is to affect the person [p. 157] physically.
JT So it is prescribed in James 5: “Is any sick among you? let him call to him the elders of the assembly”.
JTJr So that even at the present time this power can be arrived at in some way as in the scripture you alluded to in James.
JT That would indicate that there is something within the assembly to meet every condition. It is not only what comes down from heaven, but what is here all the time, in the presence of the Spirit of God.
AA Do you see an exemplification of this in Acts 5, “so that they brought out the sick into the streets and put them on beds and couches, that at least the shadow of Peter, when he came, might overshadow some one of them. And the multitude also of the cities round about came together to Jerusalem, bringing sick persons and persons beset by unclean spirits, who were all healed”.
JT That is all in full keeping with what we are saying, and the point that is being made is that the assembly is furnished with everything it needs. Although there is a broken condition, the Spirit of God remains here nevertheless; He has not withdrawn. The work of God proceeds therefore, and it is for us to do what we can. It is not that a person has an official place, but he is doing what he can. There used to be pretension that certain ones were evangelists and should be respected in that light, and furnished with all that they needed in that light, but I do not think the Lord has supported that. What the Lord is supporting is practicability, and each one doing what he can, and the Lord manifestly helping. The full thought is what God is doing. There can be no question if God is working, for there are signs of it.
ACSP Is that borne out in the verse in Acts 14, where the apostles return? It says, “And having [p. 158] arrived, and having brought together the assembly, they related to them all that God had done with them” (verse 27).
JT That is just it, and the assembly was recognised there. If the assembly is not recognised, God will not come in for the person who disregards it.
Ques Have we not in the past limited this thought of power to the healing of moral diseases? Now I understand you are drawing attention to the fact that there is power for whatever is required in order to carry on the work of God, even to the healing of bodily infirmities.
JT So that if persons are ill, well, why are they ill; what is the explanation of it? May there not be some moral reason for it, and if there be some moral reason, let it be dealt with in that sense. At the same time, we must recognise always that the Holy Spirit is here, and He works according to what there is in relation to the assembly. The needs of the assembly are to be met and the Spirit of God is ever ready to meet them.
GMS Would you say a word as to verse 20, “Ye are not the speakers, but the Spirit of your Father which speaks in you”.
JT That shows that the Spirit is taking up the vessels; whatever vessels may be available, the Spirit is ready to take them up. The Spirit is the actual Worker. It says, “Ye are not the speakers, but the Spirit of your Father which speaks in you”. The Spirit speaks in us; therefore it would be a question of making way for the Spirit in all these matters.
Rem What you are saying is widening the sphere of possible service for all that have power.
JT I think it is. I think any of us who go around can see that there is remarkable evidence of the work of God, and brethren ought to be on the alert to take it on, and, if they have ability, to use it and implement it by spiritual application. We [p. 159] have the Collected Writings, but then there are current writings too, and they should not be neglected. They should be used and read, and prayed about, so that there should be progress in the different assemblies.
AB Referring to the question of what is physical, the passage in James, which has been alluded to, refers to the “elders of the assembly”. You were emphasising what is resident in the assembly as being of first importance in this matter?
JT James refers to what was at the beginning. He is not referring to the late work, what we call the revival of the truth. We are concerned now with the revival of the truth of the assembly; that is in mind, and God is working on those lines, and the main thought is to lead on to the truth of the assembly and what answers to the heart of God in worship. That is what is in mind.
JM Would you say that “the latter glory of this house” (Haggai 2: 9) would enter into what is in your mind?
JT Just so. “The latter glory”, I think, as regards ourselves, is the work that is going on now and has been going on for these past 120 years. It is “the latter glory of the house”. Of course, the former glory is what the apostles set up in the early days, in Jerusalem, and then the work moved toward the West, first into Europe and then to America.
VCL Would what the Spirit is doing now in the assembly help us to understand that it is not the thought of a remnant at all, but that whatever the Spirit attaches Himself to, even in a broken day, has a measure of completeness about it?
JT I think that is good. Although the word ‘remnant’ was much used in olden times, I do not think it is now. I think we are to have in mind the whole idea of the assembly, and that is available to us and we can see it. Those of us who move [p. 160] about can see how it does work, and how brethren are coming to see things that had not been seen before, and not the least in this connection is the truth as to the blessed Spirit of God Himself. How much is made of Him that had not been made of Him!
JP How are we to understand the latter glory of the house being greater than the former?
JT I think it would be the sovereignty of God working out the truth into the millennium. We have not come to that yet, but the latter glory will be worked out in the millennium presently.
Ques You would not expect the same power now in regard to gifts of healing and so forth, as was found at the beginning, would you?
JT I do not think so. There were sign gifts then, and that was the evidence of miraculous gifts, for God was working in order to promote the whole thought of the assembly, which is to come out eternally. The assembly is to be the greatest vessel and is to come out eternally. It is now being worked out patiently, but it is being worked out in its entirety; and if there are those who want to work at it, God will support them.
WC Would it help if we had before us the great end in Ephesians 4 — “the working in its measure of each one part”? Had you in mind that this constant service is that every member of the body should function?
JT That is the idea in Ephesians. Colossians does not go so far, nor does Philippians; Ephesians gives us the prime work of God, and the result is seen in the assembly, which is shown to us by itself in the book of Revelation.
Rem The conditions that the Lord indicates in verse 16, as He sends them out, would be very testing to us unless we had a real sense of the support of the Lord in the service.
[p. 161] JT It is clear that what we are dealing with now is the primary work of God at the beginning. The Lord here is before us as working alone, but presently the Holy Spirit came down, and so (as we have had it already) John has to be added to the synoptic gospels, because room is made for the Spirit in a peculiar way in that gospel. The Spirit is made room for more in John in that sense, and so it is here, “Behold, I send you as sheep in the midst of wolves; be therefore prudent as the serpents, and guileless as the doves. But beware of men; for they will deliver you up to sanhedrims, and scourge you in their synagogues; and ye shall be brought before rulers and kings for my sake, for a testimony to them and to the nations. But when they deliver you up, be not careful how or what ye shall speak; for it shall be given to you in that hour what ye shall speak. For ye are not the speakers, but the Spirit of your Father which speaks in you”. That is to say, the blessed Holy Spirit is here and remains here until the fixed time when the assembly will be completed.
Rem “Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world”, 1 John 4: 4.
JT Exactly. That is John’s epistle.
AHG Would you say why it is “the Spirit of your Father” in that connection?
JT Well, the Spirit had come into evidence because the Lord Jesus had become Man, and the Spirit began to operate, but at the same time it is said that “the Spirit was not yet, because Jesus had not yet been glorified”. As we are dealing with it here, Jesus is not glorified. He is just here on earth as a Man, but He is working Himself.
Ques Would the verse in Galatians support what you say? “He therefore who ministers to you the Spirit, and works miracles among you, is it on the principle of works of law, or of the report of faith?”
[p. 162] Galatians 3: 5. I was thinking of the operations of God in that way as contributing to what you say.
JT The dispensation of faith has now started. It was not fully started, according to this chapter, but it has started now, and faith is the principle on which things are being done. We have come into faith, not sight, but faith. In fact, it goes so far as to say, in Romans 14, “whatever is not of faith is sin” - a very solemn thing! We must keep faith in view, for it is the great principle of divine workmanship at the present time. The millennium will come in on the principle of sight, but we are waiting for that.
Now, in chapter 11, verse 20, we have, “Then began he to reproach the cities in which most of his works of power had taken place, because they had not repented”. These works of power were miracles really; they were just miracles accomplished on the behalf of men, for healing them and the like, but only to bring out that God was here working with a view to eternity and in view of securing them for His own thoughts, in His service.
PL And that all that is insensible to that in these much-responsible cities could only go on to judgment?
JT Well, exactly. There was much going on in Jerusalem and in Judaea at that time, and such pretentious things. But the point is to bring out the reality of the work of God; what God was doing first and foremost for the benefit of men even physically, but really to bring out the divine thoughts in the assembly. This great family, this great organism, that God had in His thoughts eternally, is being formed now and we ourselves, our very selves, have part in it. When we have a meeting like this, I say God is manifestly in that, although it is without any pretensions and without anything to show, such as the systems have in what they are doing.
WmH [p. 163] So that over against the rejection in the cities, there was that which was well-pleasing in the Father’s sight in a new generation, suggested in the babes, coming into view, the product of the work of God.
JT Quite so. It is very remarkable how God seems to be helping the brethren; whatever comes up, the spirit of grace seems to prevail, and God shows His hand is with them. The Lord is with the brethren, and it is a question of our being with them. The word ‘brethren’ is a remarkable word, as we often speak of it, “Go to my brethren”, what a word that is! “... and say to them, I ascend to my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God”. That thought in John 20 is entering into all that God has been doing amongst us for many years.
EAL Is the Lord, in His ministry in Matthew, laying the basis for the reception of the Holy Spirit? The first thing He commences His ministry with is, “Repent, for the kingdom of the heavens has drawn nigh”. Then He reproaches these cities here because they had not repented. And then we have in Acts what the apostle says, “Repent, and be baptised, each one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for remission of sins, and ye will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit”, Acts 2: 38.
JT That was the word at Jerusalem. “Repent, and be baptised, each one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for remission of sins, and ye will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For to you is the promise and to your children”, Acts 2: 38, 39. There is a promise attached to it. So that our chapter, as we proceed with it, will bring this out. “But I say to you, that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in judgment-day than for thee. At that time, Jesus answering said, I praise thee, Father ...” [p. 164] That is a beautiful expression, and this is what I thought we might finish with. They are the Lord’s own words. It is not ‘your Father’. It is just ‘Father’. “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. Yea, Father” (again, ‘Father’) “for thus has it been well-pleasing in thy sight. All things have been delivered to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son but the Father, nor does any one know the Father, but the Son, and he to whom the Son may be pleased to reveal him”. And then this wonderful word that we often quote, “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; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest to your souls; for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light”. It is a wonderful chapter, and these few verses, referring to the babes and the Lord’s communication with the Father as to them, are one of the most wonderful passages in the gospel.
AA What is the force of this word, “Jesus answering said”? Does it suggest the response on the Lord’s part in the intimacy of communion with His Father?
JT I think it would. You have a similar thought in the book of Revelation. In chapter 14, verse 13, we have, “Blessed the dead who die in the Lord from henceforth. Yea, saith the Spirit ...” The “Yea” is, so to say, an answer to a question. “Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours”. These verses in Matthew are beautiful; the passage is one of the most precious in the gospel of Matthew.
JTJr Does He not refer to this again in the last chapter of Matthew, when He says, “All power has been given me in heaven and upon earth”. Is He not alluding to that in resurrection?
[p. 165] JT Quite so. That is the end of Matthew, and there is much in it in view of the work of that particular time. The disciples were to baptise to “the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit”. There is only one name given to the three divine Persons.
JM Does Peter respond to the invitation “Come to me” in saying, “Lord, to whom shall we go?” The Lord becomes the centre here, but in the verse quoted from John 6, Peter arrives at it in his own soul.
JT Quite so. “All things have been delivered to me by my Father”, the Lord says, “and no one knows the Son but the Father, nor does any one know the Father, but the Son, and he to whom the Son may be pleased to reveal him”. And then the “Come”. “Come to me, all ye who labour and are burdened, and I will give you rest”. These are the Lord’s own words, so it is a spiritual appeal to any who are burdened. “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”. I think it is one of the most wonderful passages, as I said before, in the gospel of Matthew, if not the whole of Scripture. There is such a spiritual appeal, to any heart that is burdened, and how many are burdened! They do not speak of it often, but how many are burdened! The Lord’s word here is, “Come to me, all ye who ... are burdened”, and then how He meets it all!
MAW Does it not go beyond the body now? It is “rest to your souls”.
JT I think it does. I think it is a wonderfully blessed word, a spiritual word that is an appeal universally to any who are burdened. The answer to it is really Christianity, the presence of the Holy Spirit in the assembly.