THE SERVICE OF GOD IN THE FOUR GOSPELS (5)
[p. 442] THE SERVICE OF GOD IN THE FOUR GOSPELS (5)
JT This gospel affords much less material for our subject than the other three. The introduction of the service of God in this gospel relates rather to those who serve God. Those who serve God need service too. So that we have Mark himself, the writer of this gospel, spoken of as ministering to two great servants, that is, Paul and Barnabas. He failed indeed, but he was restored, because the apostle Paul says of him in later years that he was profitable to him for ministry. It can be understood, therefore, how this gospel would bring forward this feature.
So John the baptist is immediately introduced in this gospel and the prophet Isaiah who speaks of him, says, “Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, who shall prepare thy way”. His ministry was preparatory to Christ.
In order that what is before us may be clearly understood, I would say that Matthew has been regarded as bringing in worshippers of Christ, an important phase of the truth. Magi from the east came to worship the King of the Jews. They expressly came to do that. Then Luke gives us much more for our subject than any of the others. He introduces a son of Aaron and a daughter of Aaron as if to call attention to the service of God as coming down from the old economy, and God still ready to help, so that the angel appears to Zacharias on the right of the altar of incense in the holy place as he serves. He shows that there was, underneath that service, unbelief, and discipline comes in. But Zacharias is restored so that he is not only a priest, but a prophet by the Spirit of God. In Luke 2 the priesthood is seen, not carried on by the sons of Aaron but by persons manifestly [p. 443] qualified according to the new order of priesthood. Of course, Christ is the great high Priest, stated to be of the tribe of Juda. A change in priesthood is taking place. It is not merely legal, but it is in power. Simeon and Anna come in in that way, but having no connection with the sons of Aaron. In the fourth reading, the gospel of John introduces worship from the lips of a Samaritan woman. She introduces the subject and the Lord Jesus takes it up and gives us wonderful instruction, telling us that God is a Spirit and must be worshipped in spirit and in truth, and that the Father seeks worshippers. Now we have come to Mark, and it was remarked that he furnishes less material than any of the other evangelists. But he commences with “Beginning of the glad tidings of Jesus Christ”, and there is this preparatory ministry which is immediately introduced. “Behold I send my messenger before thy face”.
So that John the baptist should be before us now in order to bring out this ministry. This principle runs down in the service of God. There are those who serve in a secondary way, but it is all the service of God. The Gibeonites were brought in in a remarkable way; they were hewers of wood and drawers of water but they belonged to the service. So that, however we come into the congregation, we are under divine protection. However menial our service it belongs to the service.
HH I wondered if it had any relation to the present day.
JT John the baptist deserves consideration as he is presented in each of the gospels. John the evangelist gives us a more spiritual view of his service than any of the others do. It shows how entirely unselfish he was. He was so unjealous that when the Jews sent from Jerusalem to make much of him he denied not, but said, “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness”. Although John was older than the Lord Jesus he was morally after Him. He said, “The latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose” (John 1:23,[p. 444] 27).
EMcA Would you connect the presentation of John with what you brought out in regard to Zacharias? He had been adjusted. Now you get John appearing on the scene as a result of that exercise and he immediately speaks of Christ rather than of himself.
JT I think that is the principle that governs our subject this morning; what this service is. Who is ready to carry it on? I have got to take a second place, secondary but essential. John is outstanding as representing this principle. Luke gives what is seen in John the baptist. His name was to be John. John means grace; gracious, ready to serve others. Elisha poured water on the hands of Elijah. That was secondary service but it was a very important one. It enabled Elijah to serve better. He was the leading man at the time. It is to promote what there is and make it as good as possible.
LS The great remark from this section of Isaiah is, “Behold your God!” and it is in regard of serving (Isaiah 40:9), so that it brings out the deity of Christ. We are impressed with that here. “Behold I send my messenger before thy face, who shall prepare thy way”.
JT We are to serve a great Servant. Mark is prepared to serve Jesus, Son of God. Our position is to serve a great Person to begin with. We are subsidiary. It is in the wilderness, as not calling you to anything in the flesh. You are not going to be made any distinctive person. It is to be subsidiary to a great idea. It is the Son of God, carrying the thought of His Person. “Beginning of the glad tidings of Jesus Christ.”
EMcA Is there an indication in the food and clothing of John the baptist of his subsidiary spirit? It is that by which he is sustained and maintained.
JT It is remarkable that we get his clothing and food. You are at once reminded that you do not need to expect gratification for your flesh if you are to be with Him because the idea is that we are to be prepared, and John is to be preparatory, to prepare His way, to present Him. Luke says that he was in the deserts until the [p. 445] time came for his showing unto Israel. He has removed all thought of natural gratification in the service of God. He is making His ways straight.
Ques Would making His ways straight involve ministry in a prophetic sense and working among the saints with that in view?
JT The prophet is working with souls to make room for Christ. The way is not physical in the sense of making roadways. John is baptising in the wilderness and preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. There must be the dealing with sins. There is so much lawlessness today: persons who have turned away from the truth and great systems that have been built up around us. The baptism of John brought into our own times is that there should be the acknowledgment of that. In dealing with the present situation there must be the acknowledgment of guilt. If I am building up that system I am committing sin.
JD That would be the first preparatory service, making room for Christ on the basis of repentance.
JT So that in the next chapter we get a man who was a paralytic, a man that had no power. He could not carry his circumstances; his circumstances carried him. He had no power, but four persons carried him to Christ and let him down on his bed, through the roof to where Jesus was. The whole circumstances of the man are brought and let down through the roof before the Lord, and the first thing the Lord says to him is, “Thy sins are forgiven thee.”
LS Do you think that Peter in his epistle would have this in mind when he says, “This is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you” (1 Peter 1:25)? I was thinking of the connection in the soul of the word that is preached in the glad tidings and what it effects in regard of the moral sin question.
JT Peter says, Let none of you suffer for sins. If I am disciplined for sin what glory is it? “Christ indeed has once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18). The Lord says, “Child, thy sins are forgiven thee”. This man is brought into the new order of things. He goes out carrying his bed. Evidently he had been at the meeting, a religious man. “Begin not to say in yourselves, We have Abraham for our father”. That will not do. “The axe is applied to the root of the trees” (Luke 3:8,9).
HH The servant needs to know what sin is, otherwise sins may be dealt with lightly.
JT This is an important point in relation to service. How can he deal with a soul to help him to bring him to repentance? One has gone there himself. It is the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. I am going into the water but I am going to repent, but it is for the remission of sins. So we get all Jerusalem going out to him. They had no place there otherwise. That is his ministry. That is the way he is preparing for the Lord.
RWS Is it now the thought of another world and is that why there should be such clearness in regard to the repentance?
JT Quite so. It is connected with the gospel here; it is the “Beginning of the glad tidings of Jesus Christ, Son of God”.
HH Would “Jesus Christ” refer to the order of man, so that repentance is necessary so as to change over to that order of man from the sinful order with which I have been connected?
JT Paul, in Romans 1:1 says, “Paul, bondman of Jesus Christ, a called apostle, separated to God’s glad tidings”. Paul enlarges on things to this point. That is the order of man. It is a question of the gospel here, the beginning of it. It is a very abrupt introduction, but it is the sort of thing needed in dealing with a supreme matter of this kind. It is the beginning of it, and now we are to have to do with the entering in of it.
HH Do you think in a certain sense you get suggestions in this chapter and the one that follows of the [p. 447] recovery of Mark, the adjustment of himself, by bringing before us One who is perfect in service?
JT I think that is the thought. The book of Jonah was written by Jonah and he had judged everything. Repentance must be present. Here it is in the wilderness and the baptism is said to be of repentance for remission of sins. It is characterized by repentance and it is for, and in view of, the remission of sins. And remission of sins requires, not only repentance, but confession.
EMcA You mean to say that the reason I might not be getting on in these great truths of God is because I have not recognized the height of the glories of God on account of not having a moral foundation in my soul? That helps me in the progress upward.
JT The foundation has to be laid. Luke says there is joy in heaven over a repenting sinner. I never cease to be a repenting sinner down here. That is the word used in Luke 15.
HH A man does not forgive himself. If I have done what is wrong, I must remember it.
JT Repenting sinners are remarkable in Luke and cause joy in heaven every day. “There shall be joy in heaven for one repenting sinner, more than for ninety and nine righteous who have no need of repentance” (chapter 15:7). The men of Ephesus knew only the baptism of John. They stood for all the doctrine that was introduced by John’s ministry. In Acts 19:1-3), it says, “Paul ... finding certain disciples ... said to them, Did ye receive the Holy Spirit when ye had believed? And they said to him, We did not even hear if the Holy Spirit was come. And he said, To what then were ye baptised? And they said, To the baptism of John”. In the previous chapter it is said of Apollos that he “taught exactly the things concerning Jesus, knowing only the baptism of John” (chapter 18:25). But John taught, saying that they should believe on Him that was coming after him. Now, as soon as Paul states the truth, it says that these twelve men were baptised [p. 448] to the name of the Lord Jesus. Fine men those are to begin with in Ephesus, and they get the christian position in baptism. Peter refers to the ark and says, “Into which few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water: which figure also now saves you, even baptism” (1 Peter 3:20,21). So that we have in Peter the idea of salvation by water, by baptism, and Paul says we are saved by power — two important points in the truth.
JD I like your remark in regard to going into the water of baptism. You go in as a repentant one.
EMcA Is that why it says they were baptised unto the name of the Lord Jesus in Acts 19:5 rather than just Jesus? “When they heard that, they were baptised to the name of the Lord Jesus”. Is that a recognition of our sinful condition and acceptance of the authority of the Lord?
JT Quite so. It is to the name of the Lord Jesus. That is, you are moving that way. You are committing yourself in that way in being baptised to that name. In Acts 10:47,48, Peter directs that they should baptise Cornelius in the name of the Lord: “Can anyone forbid water that these should not be baptised, who have received the Holy Spirit as we also did?” This is another thing. The first is I am committed to that and I am willing to be committed to it, but Peter’s thought is you are in it in power. The presentation is different. Baptism is not only a form. Paul would have you understand that there is power attached to it. There is power connected with it.
LS Would you say a word as to the last chapter of Matthew, baptism to the name of the Father ...?
JT In Matthew 28:19, the disciples were to baptise to the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. It is the same presentation as Acts 19. Your baptism introduces you into all the blessed rights of the divine economy represented in the Father and the Spirit. In the name of the Lord Jesus is power and protection. Baptism to the name of the Lord is committal;
[p. 449] baptism in the name is power and protection. He that believes and is baptised shall be saved. It is a current thing.
Ques You are speaking of the power being in the name. “All power has been given me in heaven and upon earth” (Matthew 28:18). It is in that name. Would you say the principle of baptism remains?
AMcN Do you say that the principles of baptism are maintained on the principle of repentance, making room for the Lord to come in and work with them at the end of the book?
JT It works out at the end of the book. The first nine verses of Mark 16 leave us with a very uncertain state of things, even amongst the women. The Lord takes the matter up and brings out steadfastness. He takes up the eleven and deals with them in a disciplinary way and rebukes them for their unbelief. Having adjusted them He says to them, “Go into all the world, and preach the glad tidings to all the creation”. The message is to preach to the creation, those with whom we have been linked. That is how the matter stands. “He that disbelieves shall be condemned” (Mark 16:16).
JD What is the relation between John’s clothing and food and the levitical service that might mark one today? Would you say something about it?
JT We would certainly wish that all those here, the young people, might have it before them, this matter of repentance. How is the way of the Lord to be made? What happened here was that there went out to him all the district of Judaea and they were baptised by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. We are not secondary in this matter. We are preparing the way for the great Minister, the Servant of God. How much way have I made for Christ? You have not made any unless you have produced repentance. That is the great point in ministry, to lead to self-judgment.
HH Would going out to John and to the Jordan and being baptised, mean that you renounced everything [p. 450] in self-judgment? In this way there is opportunity for a new start.
JT What is presented here very briefly is a result of John’s ministry. Mark gives you the results immediately. Think of the result here. There went out to him all the district of Judaea and they were baptised by him, confessing their sins.
Ques This is the great, broad principle of confession of sins. To whom is the confession made, to God or to the brethren?
JT I would say to confess to God. The evangelist says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins” (1 John 1:9). There is joy in heaven every time you move in this direction.
LS That would be the point in the book of Jonah; the greatness of the sackcloth and the city of Nineveh in repentance.
JT God hears Jonah and he is vomited and sent to Nineveh a recovered man. Then there is the wonderful result. That is to say they repented, from the king down, in sackcloth and ashes. They covered the cattle as well as the people. How general the idea was. Where did they get the sackcloth?
JK Do I understand that as this baptism is really entered into, the result of it will be seen in the change in food and clothing and then speaking of the greatness of the Person?
JT Before the food and clothing of John the baptist is mentioned, you get the success of his ministry. Mark gives you the facts of his success to show that he was entirely successful. He moved the whole of Judaea and Jerusalem. They came out confessing their sins; all the people having been baptized. Luke gives you much more but Mark confines himself to the success of the servant. Now he tells you the kind of clothing he wore.
L Would you say something about the confession of our sins?
JT [p. 451] Sometimes the enemy would say that is just an accident; that is not God speaking to you. I think John the baptist’s ministry is intended for that. It is the baptism of repentance and we are able to say, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins”. Well, if that is so you might say, ‘ I do not need to confess to the brethren ‘. But there are matters that must be brought to the assembly and judged there.
Rem You are laying a pretty serious task before one who preaches the gospel. There must be a thoroughness in his own soul before he can stir another one. The work of the confession of their sins stood. It is the thoroughness of the work so that the Spirit of God may endorse the thing. It is not just a question of counting the numbers that have confessed the Lord.
JT We are so apt to be shallow.
RWS Are there not certain things that spiritual persons can restore when a person is taken in a fault?
JT There are certain things that must be brought to the assembly.
GH Would you make the distinction between confessing before the person individually and confessing before the assembly?
JT In regard to confessing to one another, it might be nothing more than that you might get help from the one you confess to. There can be no forgiveness except by God. Even if I forgive you that does not settle the matter. You are to settle it with God.
Rem What would the fruits worthy of repentance be?
JT They would show that you really judged the matter. Your sin is not really judged unless you forsake it. It is the forsaking of it that shows that you are judging it.
LB Is repentance connected with one’s state and the thought of confessing with the acts committed?
JT You have got to make confession.
[p. 452] B Would you help us a little more as to coming to the door of the tabernacle; that is coming to the assembly?
JT If something is a public matter that causes disgrace to the testimony, the matter should be settled before that person takes public part.
In regard to his clothing, it says, “And John was clothed in camel’s hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins, and ate locusts and wild honey”. They had already confessed their sins and here is John’s garb, as if to say it is no wonder that God uses him. His circumstances are in keeping with the truth. What do you say, Mr. D.?
JD I think that is the idea. There was nothing about him that would appeal to the social side, or would exalt the flesh, and it is a witness to the power of the ministry. He was in full keeping with what he was saying. So the servant today should be in full keeping with what he is setting forth.
JT If I am an evangelist, what kind of clothing do I wear? What is my food? We know well enough what goes on abroad but what about the clothing of the people of God and their food and living associations? John dwelt in the deserts. He was clothed with camel’s hair and a leathern girdle about his loins. He was entirely in keeping with the superiority of his ministry.
EMcA His father was told that he was not to drink wine. The camel’s hair would indicate that he was in full keeping with the committal to God.
JT In the camel is external simplicity setting forth what is internal.
JMcK Is there an allusion in the thought of the camel’s hair to what is characteristic of John? What would mark John would be what the camel’s hair suggests.
JT Matthew’s account is remarkable. John is speaking of the Lord here. But in Matthew the Lord is speaking of John to the crowds and He says, “What went ye out ... to see?” I am professedly in fellowship, what have I come out to see? A reed shaken by the wind? (Matthew 11:7). The Lord is going over this matter with those who were professedly affected by John’s ministry. That is a fine tribute. That is the Lord speaking of him. “John has come neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He has a demon. The Son of man has come eating and drinking, and they say, “Behold, a man that is eating and wine-drinking, a friend of tax-gathers, and of sinners”. The Lord is now pointing out the difference between Himself and John. That is what they say of John and that is what they say of Jesus. No matter how you come, if from God, they will speak against you. John is wearing the clothing that is suitable to his ministry, showing that he is a successful servant. They are confessing their sins. His clothing was of camel’s hair. That was what marked John in the desert. “And he preached, saying, There comes he that is mightier than I after me, the thong of whose sandals I am not fit to stoop down and unloose. I indeed have baptised you with water, but he shall baptise you with the Holy Spirit.”
JB The conditions would be very different in Mark and Luke.
JT The camel’s hair is undoubtedly suitable to the wilderness. He maintains his wilderness character; he paves the way for Christ. “He shall baptise you with the Holy Spirit”.
L Is there significance in the fact that the camel can drink and hold a greater amount of water than any other creature?
JT That brings in another matter. Think of Rebecca drawing water for Abraham’s servant and his ten camels until they had drunk enough.
Then verse 9, “And it came to pass in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptised by John at the Jordan. And straightway going up from the water, he saw the heavens parting asunder, and the [p. 454] Spirit, as a dove, descending upon him”. We have now the Lord Jehovah coming in, the way has been made for Him. It is Jehovah coming in in this lowly way. Have I made way for the Lord, is the great question for the servants.
JD Do you think there is an allusion to the thought of the Deity, “There comes he that is mightier than I after me”?
JT John has made a way for Jesus in the heart of souls. “And it came to pass in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptised by John at the Jordan. And straightway going up from the water, he saw the heavens parting asunder, and the Spirit, as a dove, descending upon him. And there came a voice out of the heavens: Thou art my beloved Son, in thee I have found my delight”. The way is made for Him and He is here in His glory. It was a most wonderful scene and John had made a way for this. John had made a public way for the Lord to come in among a repenting people.
“But after John was delivered up, Jesus came into Galilee preaching the glad tidings of the kingdom of God, and saying, The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God has drawn nigh; repent and believe in the glad tidings” (verses 14,15). The service is now begun.
JMcK I would like to ask if you could help in connection with, “Straightway going up from the water”. What is involved in that, from the water, not out of the water?
JT The Lord was going in the way made for Him and now heaven is waiting for this. He goes up from the water. Straightway going up from the water, he saw the heavens parted and the Spirit descending upon Him. Mark only gives you the word from heaven to the Lord Himself. Jehovah has come in this way and heaven owns it, so the position is now set for the service of the Lord to go on.
JD [p. 455] What was your point in the last scripture; Simon’s wife’s mother being raised up and she ministering to them?
JT In Simon’s mother-in-law we have an instance of how a sister may serve those who are in service. Persons in service need to be served. This evangelist says of the mother-in-law of Peter when she was restored, “Straightway the fever left her, and she served them”, that is, the Lord and those who were with Him. Those who are serving need service and it is a great matter to see that there is provided what they need. We get illustrations of this throughout the epistles, how the servants of God were provided for; received in peoples’ houses. All this is very important.
CT “In thee I have found my delight,” is that the sanction for service?
JT Heaven approves you to yourself, not with others, to encourage you. So that here heaven says, “Thou art my beloved Son.” It is for the Lord Himself in this position. Immediately after that the Spirit drives Him out into the wilderness.