CONFESSORS OF THE SON OF GOD (5)
[p. 373] CONFESSORS OF THE SON OF GOD (5)
John 11:1-6; John 11:17-27; John 9:1-12; John 9:24-31
JT It is thought that Martha’s confession of Christ as the Son of God links with Nathanael’s who was designated by the Lord as an Israelite indeed. The group at Bethany, composed of Mary, Martha and Lazarus, are to be viewed in relation to Israel — the remnant, and thus they link with Nathanael. Those at Bethany, however, are in the relation of a family — a brother and two sisters, loved of Jesus. It is thought that we should bear in mind that love dominates this particular phase of our subject. The Lord says, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the [p. 377] Son of God may be glorified by it”. It is for the glory of God. Notice it is said that the Son, not and that the Son of God may be glorified by it, and then the Spirit adds, “Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus”; the glory of the Son of God is the point, and that necessitates love. The scene brings out the love of Christ, the love of the Son of God; we should keep this in mind.
APT Persons who have been brought before us so far are masculine, but we now have what is feminine.
Rem The brother has to die in order to bring this light into the sister’s soul.
JT He goes through the actual experience of death in order to bring out the glory of the Son of God. In the interim between his death and his resurrection in which the glory is seen, the truth is confessed by Martha. She says, “I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, who should come into the world”. She speaks of Him, not simply as one who is able to raise the dead, or who can do things, but He who came into the world. Jacob said, “I wait for thy salvation, O Jehovah” (Genesis 49:18). The promised Seed spoken of in Genesis 3 is referred to in various [p. 374] ways throughout the Scriptures. Evidently Martha had this particularly in mind, that He “should come”. Evidently she had light; she said to the Lord, “If thou hadst been here, my brother had not died”, meaning that He would keep him from dying. Then she says, “But even now I know, that whatsoever thou shalt ask of God, God will give thee”. She had in mind that God would do things for Jesus, and that He could have kept her brother from dying. Probably, in her mind, she would be assured that, if Jesus were to pray to God to keep Lazarus from dying, he could not have died. This does not place the Lord on a very high level, because creatures may do that. We may, by prayer, save a man, as James says, “and the prayer of faith shall heal the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up” (James 5:15). The Lord says, “Thy brother shall rise again. Martha says to him, I know that he will rise again in the resurrection in the last day”. Apparently, she knew something about Scripture; she was orthodox. The Lord immediately said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he that believes on me, though he have died, shall live”. She then makes a confession of faith, showing that she must have taken in the truth and believed very quickly.
ANW She makes the confession before receiving her brother back, showing that it resulted from what the Lord said to her.
JT She received the truth in her soul through His word. She received His testimony (John 3:33). The Lord challenged her, “Believest thou this?” It is all He says. She says, “Yea, Lord”. That is very definite. “I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God”. Clearly, she has taken in the truth.
AEH The death of the brother seems to help her to clearly apprehend the glory of the Son of God.
JT The Lord remaining two days in the place where He was allowed for Lazarus to die. The sisters sent to Jesus saying, “He whom thou lovest is sick”.
[p. 375] The Lord had in mind that he should die; saying, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified by it. Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus. When therefore he heard, He is sick, he remained two days then in the place where he was”. Lazarus’ death must be regarded as taking place in the ordinary course of God’s dealings; the Lord did not hinder it, He remained away, it was deliberate.
APT According to the note, the word used for lovest in verse 4 is “the love of friendship”, but when the Spirit says, “Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus”, the word is said to convey the settled disposition of the person (necessarily resulting in activity), rather than as an emotion.
JT What was said at the beginning should be kept in mind, that this is a love matter. “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified by it”. This involves the working out of love. The whole passage shows how love actuated the Lord. It was an established, continuous love, not one that had just sprung up; He had loved them. It is to bring out, I think, the durability and reliability of love in the Lord’s relations with us as a family, and this enters into all that we are suffering now, both in this country and elsewhere. The Lord’s love will go through to the end — to the utmost limit in relieving us.
APT It is His settled disposition toward us. We are the Lord’s loved ones.
JT That is what it means. There is no change in Him. If there is any change, it would be in us and this may call for discipline. “I rebuke and discipline as many as I love” (Revelation 3:19).
ANW That “The Father loves the Son, and has given all things to be in his hand”, is not exactly apparent [p. 376] today.
JT It may not look like it publicly, but it will come out incontestably, and even the results of the present sorrow will prove it. It is a love matter in regard of the family of God, and it will develop into the glory of the Son of God; “that the Son of God may be glorified by it”.
APT What He is, as He says, “I am the resurrection”, enters into His love.
JT Everything that He is and has is subservient to His love. He exercises His power in love to us. The testimony here is, “Behold how he loved him!”
AR The Lord says in verse 11, “Lazarus, our friend, is fallen asleep”. Is that the way to look upon the saints who have died — as fallen asleep?
JT That is the tenderest way to refer to death. A common expression used is very objectionable to me — So and so passed away. There is no affection in that. Scriptural expressions are “fallen asleep”, “fallen asleep through Jesus”, “died in the Lord”, “dead in Christ”.
RWS The disciples seemed not to understand the Lord when He said “Lazarus ... is fallen asleep”. He is obliged to speak plainly to them.
JT You get that in John. He has to come down to their level of understanding. He says to them plainly, “Lazarus has died”. It is clear that Martha is a learner. She shows that she is capable of learning and learning quickly, and confessing what she is learning. Luke leaves her as complaining of her sister, but John would bring out what was there. John would make much of the work of God, however small. See how he leaves Nicodemus; and how he records Thomas’ profession in our chapter (verse 16).
JWD Do you say that Martha’s quick apprehension of the truth and confession of the Son of God is connected with the durability of Christ’s love?
JT That is the teaching. The fact that He loved them is stated at the outset. Jesus said, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified by it. Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus”.
ANW How did she come to make her confession before the glorification of Christ?
JT Because she is a learner; in this gospel the saints are said to be all taught of God. Martha learns quickly and directly from the Lord; and then she stated what she apprehended. He drew it out of her. “Believest thou this? She says to him, Yea, Lord; I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, who should come into the world”.
JWD It is a sister speaking; I was thinking that sisters might develop more in spirituality if they spoke more of the actual truth learned.
JT Your exercise is, of course, that they should speak of divine things. Anna spoke of Him “to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem”.
JWD Brothers speak and preach. A great deal comes into our souls in this way. Here is a sister who is actually using words to express her apprehension of the Son of God.
JT The Spirit of God teaches us on that point. Luke is concerned about public order, and he records, in chapter 7, the incident at Nain. A dead man was carried out and the Lord says, “Youth, I say to thee, Wake up. And the dead sat up and began to speak”. Luke would show us that he is to be a true brother in the meeting, a priest. The silent brother is in the way really. The Spirit of God does not contemplate that brothers should be permanently in the assembly and not speak to God, or to the saints. The daughter of Jairus, also raised up by the Lord, walked — “immediately the damsel arose and walked, for she was twelve years old” (Mark 5:42). So that walk is the point with the sisters, and speaking with the brothers; but then the sisters are to learn in the assembly. They are to be in the assembly, but not to [p. 378] say anything in it; if they have to say anything, let them say it to their husbands at home.
Rem You would encourage sisters when together themselves to speak about the things of God.
JT Yes. Look at the group at Joppa. The Dorcas meetings, so called, are the outcome of that situation; and what do they say at such meetings? It is most unlikely that they bring up spiritual subjects. They would be speaking about the garments; the cut, and the pattern, the material. They showed Peter the garments, but he put them all out; this indicates that they were not spiritual.
WGT Philip had four daughters, who are said to have prophesied.
JT They did service in that they prophesied; but it would not be in the assembly.
SMcC The opening chapters of Luke give us a good example of godly conversation between sisters in the house of Zacharias.
JT Mary went to the hill country of Judah. She got her communication from Gabriel and went to the hill country to Elizabeth, and when the salutation of Mary sounded in the ears of her kinswoman, the unborn babe of the latter leaped with joy. It was a highly spiritual matter, and their conversation was spiritual. Why should sisters not speak on a spiritual level? It is their disadvantage if they do not.
SWP One has heard it said that if one does not understand the conversation and the spiritual communications, one must leave it. Martha is not content to leave this matter; she goes to meet Jesus.
JT That is to her credit. The Lord is ready for her. He had foreseen, of course, all this. Mary sits still in the house, and we have to tax our spirituality to understand this. Why did Mary stay in the house? Why did Martha leave the house? She went outside the town to meet Him. I think the Lord honoured [p. 379] Martha in that He remained where she met Him; He did not yet go into the town. Mary came there (verse 30).
AEH Did I understand you to say that as we advance in spirituality we are able to go on further in cases of difficulty than if we were merely occupied with public order?
JT Yes. I think we should be prepared to go on with persons to secure them for eternity. If there is a work of God we want to nurture it, because what God has done is done forever.
AR In chapter 12, Martha is serving. “There therefore they made him a supper, and Martha served” (John 12:2).
JT Martha is our concern now, as to how she came to make this confession in verse 27, and what part it occupies in the glory of the Son of God. What we are speaking about is most important. She is learning. She is a sister with not a very good history; she had complained about the Lord Himself when He was in her house, and also about her sister. That is how Luke leaves her, but John would say this sister has continued learning; so that we must not be impatient. Martha is a very unlikely sister according to Luke’s presentation, but according to John, she is able to make a good confession of the truth of the Son of God.
Let us look at the instruction Martha got. First, the Lord says to her, “Thy brother shall rise again”, and then, “I am the resurrection and the life: he that believes on me, though he have died, shall live”. That covers all the dead in Christ. He is “marked out Son of God in power ... by resurrection of the dead” (Romans 1:4). Although they have died, they shall live. Then He says to her, “and every one who lives and believes on me shall never die”. That includes ourselves. That is, if we are alive at the coming of the Lord, we shall be changed and never enter into death at all. What He says to Martha really involves the whole truth of [p. 380] resurrection.
AT Would you say that Lazarus was secured for the testimony, and Mary, and perhaps not Martha?
JT She is. She is making a good confession now. Luke does not credit her with that, but, as we were remarking, we must never abandon a sister or brother. We see her at the end of Luke 10, and in the beginning of chapter 11, the Lord is seen praying. May we not say that He is praying for Martha? He had just been to her house and had to rebuke her. He is praying at a certain place and a disciple says, “Lord, teach us to pray” (Luke 11:1). Then He says, “When ye pray, say, Father”, and He says finally in verse 13, “How much rather shall the Father who is of heaven give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” The whole teaching there is morally connected with Martha and her house. He had just had to do with her; hence the passage may be linked with what is before us now in John 11. It says of her that she came out of the town to meet Him.
SMcC After Martha’s confession of the Son of God she went away and called her sister Mary secretly.
JT She is a true sister here. At first, in Luke, she is seen as owning a house and receiving the Lord into it, but she criticised Him, and she was unfair to Mary. Now she is a learner; there is interest in the Lord and assurance with her that if He had been there before the death of her brother, it would not have taken place, and that even now God might act in answer to His prayer. Now, after receiving light from Christ, and expressing it, she goes off to her sister secretly, saying to her, “The teacher is come and calls thee”. There is no secret boasting, or saying, I had the honour of seeing the Lord first. No. “The teacher ... calls thee” — a very beautiful link is now manifest between these two sisters.
JH It is the working of love, as she had learned it from [p. 381] Christ.
JT Exactly. She is making much of the sister now.
Rem Luke shows us Mary as a learner, but John shows us, Martha thus.
JT They both have the features of a sister; and are on good terms.
JH Do you think the apostle’s word to Euodia and Syntyche would bear on what is before us (Philippians 4:2)?
JT It does. They were to be of the same mind in the Lord. We should not give up abruptly a failing one. John’s ministry is largely a question of life, and life begins down in the ground, speaking agriculturally; it is a question of roots — getting at things secretly. People do not always come out openly and say that they are wrong, but presently, whilst they do not say much, you see that they are in principle right; their instincts are right, and if they are, then make the most of them. Martha has confidence now in the Lord and moves in love toward her sister; and although she later calls attention to the time Lazarus had been in the tomb, she is subject. In chapter 10:24, we read that “The Jews ... surrounded him, and said to him, Until when dost thou hold our soul in suspense?”. Martha is not of that mind. The Lord did not say to her that He was the Christ, but she deduced it from what He was saying. That shows a true learner, one who can express in words the impressions received.
The whole position is becoming clearer; and as we go on to the Lord’s act of raising the dead, we see how Martha will learn from that. “Martha, the sister of the dead, says to him, Lord, he stinks already, for he is four days there” (verse 39). She still needs to learn: although she had made the confession as to Christ she did not fully enter into it in her soul. This is evident in her suggestion that her brother has been dead too long to be raised. Though he were dead a thousand years, the Lord could raise him. The Lord says, “Did I not say to thee, that if thou shouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?” (verse 40). We often make confessions, but are not equal to what they mean. The Lord would bring Martha into it; saying to her, “If thou shouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God”. We must go on with our confessions and let them work out fully.
CHH Would that suggest that our light may be ahead of our state, as it was with Peter?
JT Yes. So that if we make a confession, the next thing is the exercise needed to maintain ourselves in it.
AR Time tests us as to the truth we profess to hold. The Thessalonians were tested by time.
JT They were wrong on two points: the resurrection; that is, as to whether those who had fallen asleep have part in it; and also as to the day of the Lord. Whilst we may make a good start, we may have difficulties later on. Martha comes, however, into this scene of glory. The Lord had started the idea in love, and it finishes gloriously. He brings the Father into it in a striking way, so that they may not miss anything. “They took therefore the stone away. And Jesus lifted up his eyes on high and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me; but I knew that thou always hearest me; but on account of the crowd who stand around I have said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me” (verses 41,42). The Lord has in mind that there should be faith; and He speaks for the gain of those standing around. The Lord said earlier, in verse 15, “I rejoice on your account that I was not there, in order that ye may believe.” The point now is believing, coming into the realm of glory through faith.
RWS Mere orthodoxy has no place in it.
JT Not at all. The need is of believing. The Lord says to His disciples in John 16:31, “Do ye now believe?” Without faith, we must remain outside all this. Martha stands out here as the believer. She is the one the Lord selects to bring out this principle [p. 383] in the scene of glory. The principle of laying hold of the truth through faith and confessing it.
AEH Is she an illustration of “God’s dispensation, which is in faith” (1 Timothy 1:4)?
JT Yes; and it is a sister’s faith. It is a leading part of the faith once delivered to the saints. She gets the truth immediately and confesses immediately; and in the next chapter she is seen at table, serving.
AR Would the man in John 9 having his eyes opened, also illustrate faith?
JT Yes. That is the final thought we have in mind. Chapter 9 brings out the idea that everyone of us is taken up, not in relation to governmental difficulties in us, but sovereignly. Every believer is taken up sovereignly. “Neither has this man sinned nor his parents, but that the works of God should be manifested in him”. Whatever I may be, if I am a believer I am taken up sovereignly, because God is going to display His works in me.
Rem This is a marvellous action of God — to disregard for the moment the man’s sinful history and deal with him in a primary way to manifest His works in him.
JT It is very instructive to thus see the bearing of this chapter.
WR It would be what the Lord saw in him inwardly.
JT Yes. It is that the works of God may be manifested in him — operating so that they can be seen. God is doing something with him.
FC Is that why Paul says in Ephesians 2:10, “For we are his workmanship, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God has before prepared that we should walk in them”?
JT It is quite in keeping with Ephesians.
AR The disciples say, “Rabbi”, which means “teacher”. There was a new lesson to learn; that [p. 384] God operates sovereignly and we have no right to question it.
JT The Lord evidently saw the man first. They did not bring the man to Him. He saw him. It is a question of the sovereignty of God. That is the whole position really.
JWD Why is it plural — “works”?
JT In our readings here, every confessor of the Son of God has been seen as setting forth some feature of the truth, but God has in mind to set out the whole of the truth in this man. The Lord made His own selection of this man, who was capable of great things.
Rem The Lord has rights in the assembly. Ananias has to come into that in relation to Paul.
JT The Lord selected Saul, and said of him, “This man is an elect vessel to me” (Acts 9:15).
FC “He spat on the ground and made clay of the spittle.” How do you understand that?
JT Well, “Jesus answered, Neither has this man sinned nor his parents, but that the works of God should be manifested in him. I must work the works of him that has sent me while it is day. The night is coming, when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. Having said these things, he spat on the ground and made mud of the spittle, and put the mud, as ointment, on his eyes”. This is the preface of the chapter. It is a very extraordinary case. “Having said these things, he spat on the ground and made mud of the spittle, and put the mud, as ointment, on his eyes”. Surely you might say that the inner being of the blessed Lord is brought into this matter. It is a question of God, and what He is doing. It is God, in His infinite essence, entering into the matter of meeting the dire condition man was in.
AEH What was done would seem to make him more blind.
JT So it would, if possible. That is what the natural mind would say. Is there something underneath [p. 385] that is not yet visible? Well, let us see; verse 7 reads, “He said to him, Go wash in the pool of Siloam, which is interpreted, Sent. He went therefore and washed, and came seeing”. Sent is the keyword. Is he a man that would go against natural senses? Will he say, How can I go to Siloam, being more blind than before? There is no such question in his mind. He would be a spectacle bumping against obstacles and walls, you might think. It is a question of what is in the man. He is entirely subject, and we are told that “he went therefore and washed, and came seeing”. It is a question of God, and the man selected to manifest His works. This is the result.
AR Would you say that he corresponds with the One that sent him? The Lord says, “I must work the works of him that has sent me”.
JT Yes. We are dealing with the deepest things here, spiritually deep matters. The work of God goes down deeply. There is not a question in the man’s mind when the Lord says, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam”. Siloam means sent. The man goes and washes and comes back seeing. He says to the neighbours, I saw, and to the Pharisees he says, I see. The first is historical, the second moral — his present state. The work of God is manifest in him.
APT The man could speak of himself with regard to the work of God. “The neighbours therefore, and those who used to see him before, that he was a beggar, said, Is not this he that was sitting and begging? Some said, It is he; others said, No, but he is like him; he said, It is I”.
JT You might link it on with Romans 7, “I, myself”. It is a real person, conscious of what God has done for him. The chapter is most interesting in detail. One thought is that the man, in his own progress, as a believer in Christ, is cast out by the religious people. Verse 34 says, “Thou hast been wholly born in sins, and thou teachest us? And they cast him out”. It is [p. 386] the very opposite to what the Lord said of him. He is an outcast, and is now ready for the fellowship. “Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him, he said to him, Thou dost thou believe on the Son of God? He answered and said, And who is he, Lord, that I may believe on him? And Jesus said to him, Thou hast both seen him, and he that speaks with thee is he. And he said, I believe, Lord; and he did him homage”. He is the first one of all those we have spoken of who is said to do the Lord homage. This man is therefore a suitable one to finish with, because the Lord Jesus is to be worshipped as the Son of God. It is a part of our service to worship Him. The man confesses his belief. He says, I believe, Lord; and he worshipped Him. Martha says, I believe, and told the Lord what she believed, but this man believed the Lord and worshipped Him.
ANW The apostle John says, “Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God” (1 John 4:15).
JT I am glad you brought that in. “God abides in him, and he in God.” What a scripture that is! I think we ought to have the worshipping of the Son of God before us. The Magi from the East came a long way to worship Him; they had that in their minds all the way to Jerusalem. They came to worship Him; not simply to see Him, like the Greeks, but to worship Him. Of course, the Father is to be worshipped as we have said; the Lord teaches us that. The Lord also says, “That all may honour the Son, even as they honour the Father” (John 5:23). According to John the Lord made a selection of signs and He did them before His disciples. It is said after the first one, that they believed on Him. They were disciples before, but not fully. We want to go the whole way in the idea of believing. Finally John tells us that “Many other signs therefore also Jesus did before his disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that [p. 387] ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing ye might have life in his name” (John 20:30,31). As having life in His name, we are His witnesses.
JH Who are in mind in the “ye”?
JT I would take it to be you and I; that is, every christian. It is a book that is written for the last days, as we often remark. The true idea of life is pretty well lost in christendom. Creeds, forms and ceremonies have been taken on, whereas John would bring out life. It is not held in great ecclesiastical names, but “in His name” — Christ’s name.
CHH Then we are at no disadvantage. The disciples had things done before them, but these things are written to put us on the same platform.
JT That is so. John writes in this book before us, with all the power of inspiration, that we may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing we may have life in His name. All other names are put out of the way.
AR We have life in His name, holding it in His name. The sonship of Christ produces generally in the hearts of the saints stimulation and enjoyment. The tendency in us is to drop from that level, and hence, we need ministry to maintain us.
JT The very acme of things in christianity stands connected with the precious thoughts of the Son of God.
APT Is “in his name” characteristic of christianity?
JT Yes. His name implies all that He is.