ANGELIC SERVICE
ANGELIC SERVICE
JT This chapter introduces the gentiles. It is a testimony of God, and what impressed one is the spirituality of the facts presented. Beings outside of divine Persons are employed in the service, such as the angel, then Peter himself, and others, all contributing to this, as if it was divinely intended that the gentiles should be brought into a spiritual condition and state of things, not what had obtained in Israel, a legal condition, but a spiritual condition. The man in question, that is Cornelius, is introduced as having certain characteristics which were intended to accredit the whole position. He is said to be “pious, and fearing God with all his house, both giving much alms to the people, and supplicating God continually”. Then it is said he “saw plainly in a vision, about the ninth hour of the day, an angel of God coming unto him, and saying to him, Cornelius. But he, having fixed his eyes upon him, and become full of fear, said, What is it, Lord? And he said to him, Thy prayers and thine alms have gone up for a memorial before God”. So that the person involved is evidently a marked subject of the Spirit’s work, and having moral conditions too, as described in what habitually marked him; that is to say he was pious and feared God with all his house, gave alms to the people, and supplicated God continually.
AJG These features of piety and the fear of God marked him before he received the Spirit. Are you suggesting that they indicate a certain moral foundation to spirituality?
JT I thought that, exactly. The facts indicate that though he had not received the Spirit as yet, he was already a subject of the work of the Spirit.
[p. 397] That is to say the Spirit has to be apprehended as working in us before we receive Him formally, as having believed in the redemptive work of Christ.
Rem This would be the evidence that the Spirit had already worked in him.
JT That is what I thought. He is presented in this way before he is said to have the Spirit, because the fact that he received the Spirit is not stated until we come to verse 44. But we get these characteristics, that he was pious, and fearing God with all his house, and giving much alms to the people; and then the visitor to him is an angel. It is not the direct visitation of the Spirit, but an angel; and then as the narrative proceeds we are told that Peter went up to the house-top and became in an ecstasy and saw certain things, which are recorded in verses 11 to 16, and then it is said, in verse 19, that as Peter continued pondering over the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Behold, three men seek thee; but rise up, go down, and go with them, nothing doubting, because I have sent them”. So the Spirit of God is Himself engaged in the transaction not simply as sent, but Himself, as a divine Person, is engaged in the transaction.
SC Is it in your mind to draw attention to the objective side in regard of the Spirit?
JT That is just what I was thinking. It is the objective side. The Spirit is to be regarded in the book of Acts as a divine Person acting.
JC-S So that what the various actors in this chapter do is all co-ordinated to the great end of bringing in the gentiles in a spiritual way?
JT In a spiritual way, and giving full place to the Holy Spirit as leading in the transaction, as also indicated in chapter 13 in regard of Paul and Barnabas.
AJC Is it the same with us as we invite divine intervention?
[p. 398] JT Well, I am not sure why you say that.
AJC You were referring to Cornelius as being continuous in prayer and Peter pondering, so that I thought in this way they invited divine intervention.
JT Well, you can hardly say that according to the facts. Cornelius is said to have had the qualities which are the fruit of the Spirit’s working in a man before he receives the Spirit, and then he is directed what to do by an angel. Cornelius said, “What is it, Lord?” and the answer is, “Thy prayers and thine alms have gone up for a memorial before God”. What is stressed is his prayers and his alms. The actual intervention is direct from God, I would say. It is direct divine intervention. Peter is the instrumentality of it eventually according to what is indicated earlier. He had the keys of the kingdom of the heavens. He had opened to the Jews earlier, and now he opens to the gentiles.
Rem It is not the Spirit that speaks to Cornelius, but an angel.
JT That is right. The angel is one who is sent out to minister. “Are they not all ministering spirits?” Hebrews 1: 14. They are not divine Persons, they are not men, they are spirits, and they are ministering.
FW Does that emphasise that the movement is now from heaven entirely?
JT I thought that was important, especially because of our brother’s question as to whether the intervention was invited.
JC-S Do you take it that the conditions, commended in Cornelius, were the product of the Spirit Himself in him?
JT Yes, only recognising clearly what God had done in the man. The things that are mentioned are the fruit of the Spirit’s work before the Spirit is received; that is to say, it is a question of new birth. As the scripture says, already he was a pious [p. 399] man, and fearing God with all his house. He had his house under control, and then moreover he gave much alms to the people and supplicated God continually, but we are not told what the thing was that he asked for from the Lord. I say that, for it is right to keep the facts in mind, in that the facts indicate divine intervention among the gentiles, as Paul said later, “this salvation of God has been sent to the nations; they also will hear it”, Acts 28: 28.
JC-S So it is merely an extension of the work of God on earth, an extension to the gentiles?
JT Yes. And we being gentiles here today, I suppose all of us, the question is whether we are taking on these spiritual features, including recognition of angels; first of all recognising what the new birth means, what it implies, but then what angelic service means, and then what the direct service of the Spirit Himself, the Spirit of God, implies, because He speaks of Himself as sending the men to Peter. He says to Peter, “Because I have sent them”; so that the Spirit of God Himself sent those men to Peter.
JC-S So that the Spirit in that way was really assuming charge of matters here, was He?
JT That is the thing to see, the place He has in the economy, which perhaps is more or less obscure in our way of thinking.
RRT Chapter 13 has a similar thought. The Spirit says, “Separate me now Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them”. “They therefore, having been sent forth by the Holy Spirit”. Is that a similar thought?
JT It is a fuller thought really, I think, a fuller thought as to ministry, but attention is called to the Spirit, both as to His intervention in the case of Cornelius, and then the ministry that flows out from such as Paul and Barnabas, because they are sent [p. 400] out by the Spirit. Therefore what is called missionary work, through missionary organisations in the world, is hardly in keeping with these facts, because the true missionaries, the servants who go out in the gospel, are sent by the Spirit, directly sent by the Holy Spirit, not by men, but by the Spirit.
FW Does that mean that in these arrangements which men make the fact of new birth is really ignored?
JT And I think the fact of the Spirit being in the position of sending is ignored also, because in the human organisations called churches, men assume the place of the Spirit, in that men, such as bishops ordain others who thus enter nominally into the service of God, whereas it is a question of the Holy Spirit doing these things.
EB Then would it be right to say that the assembly, and its completion by the incorporation of the gentiles into it, was distinctly in the mind of the Spirit?
JT I should say so, nothing is more plainly taught in the chapter than that.
JC-S Do you regard this chapter as preparing the way for the unification of the work of God under Paul?
JT Well, it is. All that has been effected first in Peter and the other eleven apostles is taken account of in this chapter, so that it is not really a separate work, it is all one work, the work of the Holy Spirit.
ATS Is the reference in verse 5 to Peter’s surname intended to draw attention to the divine work in him?
JT I am sure that is so. Peter is the spiritual name that he receives; it is given in two languages, Greek and Aramaic. It is a spiritual thought; it means material for the [p. 401] assembly.
JC-S Does it suggest that what is going to be introduced from among the gentiles is not to be on a lower level than that?
JT Quite so. That is clearly the case; the epistle to the Ephesians contemplates Jew and gentile brought together, but Romans contemplates the Jew first, which is to be observed too; but at the end of this book Paul announces that the salvation of God was sent to the gentiles. Now the particular place that the Jew has or had is dropped, for we hardly have any Jews now, yet we have the assembly; in fact the assembly is more stressed than ever.
JC-S We cannot have any right conception of the assembly apart from the Spirit and apprehending the spiritual nature of it, do you think?
JT So the spiritual nature of it applies to the one body. “There is one body and one Spirit, as ye have been also called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all”, Ephesians 4: 4 - 6. Great stress is laid on the unity of the Spirit.
Ques Is this something that we should seek to have, the definite direction of the angel, and then greater still the definite direction of the Spirit?
JT That is very good. I am very glad you brought that out, because angelic service is not thought of very much, and yet we are sharing in it every day. It is a question of the governmental service of God.
AJG Do you mean that we need to be spiritual to discern it?
JT I think so. Why not discern it in our prayers, because the angels are sent out to minister on account of those who shall be heirs of salvation.
RGC If we are under the direction of the Spirit our attention will be drawn to the treasure hid in the [p. 402] field?
JT Well, we see more particularly governmental action, keeping us free from the enemy’s power which would interfere with the work of God; governmental action controlling things for us such as trade unionism and all that. In these southern countries in which we are, trade unionism has acquired more power than anywhere else, and why should it be? These countries are almost entirely of British descent. Why should it be that such a condition of things should prevail in these parts? All that is peculiarly advantageous to the British nation is thrown to the winds in trade unionism. I am not raising the question of what precisely we may count on in that sense, but we are entitled to count on the provisional actings of God because of the nation of which we are, and the advantages the nation has had all these centuries in the ways of God.
AJG So that the ministering spirits are sent forth from God to keep the way open, so to speak, for the development of His work at the present time.
JT To keep the way open. That is what I would say. They are not the agents directly of spiritual service as the Spirit is, or the gifts of the Spirit are, but the angels are the direct agents of God in the government of this world. Because it is “One God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in us all”, and the angels are His ministers to this end.
JC-S So that they often place limitations upon a certain procedure, and indeed remove obstacles, do you think?
JT Quite so, such as the cessation of the war; it was a miracle really, but a miracle in this sense, that so much happened in such a short time, which looked to be the very opposite to what might have been expected. It was God acting. And now we are faced with the conditions arising from combinations [p. 403] of men, dating back to Genesis 11; that is to say, to Babel. These conditions have arisen, and they have taken more root in these countries than they have anywhere. Why should it be? It is a question for us who are living here, who are residing here, to find out why it is so.
AJG And to imitate Cornelius’ example in supplicating God continually?
JT Very good. Continually.
Ques Do you think that the enemy had in mind to attack the expression of the assembly in these parts?
JT He certainly had, because God is working, and Satan wants to defeat what God is doing; and we have to take it to heart as to what can be done in testifying to what is right in these conditions. Why should men and women be disallowed to earn their living in the ordinary sense, because of these arbitrary conditions that have arisen? The master takes the place of the servant and the servant takes the place of the master according to these conditions. Is it because we are neglecting this idea of piety, of bringing God into these things, because God may frustrate them, and is doing it too, in measure. He is doing it in other countries, especially in America. We should have these characteristics peculiarly, but this intervention of God is seen there, and it was seen too, in the recent war. Well then, the question is whether we are supplicating God about these things.
JC-S It may be that we have taken them as a matter of course without really seeing that there are facilities at the disposal of God to check it.
JT That is just the point. Our point would be to supplicate God night and day continually.
GG Would the thought of suffering be needed? We must be ready to [p. 404] suffer.
JT That is it. That is a good point too, because God has appointed that we are to suffer. It is given to us on behalf of Christ not only to believe on Him but to suffer for His sake.
AJG Then would the testing conditions that these matters bring in be used to develop in the saints the piety that is necessary, as an underlying basis for spirituality?
JT Quite so. So that we pray; we can tell as we go back to the very beginning of Acts how God came in governmentally. In Acts 12 He came in in a most remarkable way in the case of Peter himself, opening the door of the prison for him, and there are other instances of that kind.
RRT It was an angel that smote Herod so that he was eaten of worms in that same chapter.
JT Very good.
EHB Is it interesting in regard to Cornelius that God took up a man that was a servant of what was set up of God in the way of government?
JT Quite so. The Roman Empire was used of God. God took it up instead of Israel, and hid His face from the house of Jacob. God took up the government that He had ordained in this world, and always the leading one. First it was the Babylonians, and then the Persians, and then the Grecians, and then Rome. These were all ordained of God, and this man Cornelius was an agent of the Roman power.
EB Are you suggesting that, while we would seek to be preserved from any political entanglements, the saints are under obligation to what is of God and to men generally, to utilise their place of intercession with God as having the Spirit?
JT Just so. So that Romans 13 tells us that “the powers that be are ordained of God”. They are agents of God for good. The authority “is God’s minister to thee for good”, and of course we continue [p. 405] to pray for authorities, but carefully avoid being political in that sense, for we belong to heaven. Our politics are in heaven, from whence also we look for the Saviour.
AMcKH In Daniel 10: 13, it says that “the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days; and behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me”.
JT That is a good word. We have already alluded to Michael. He was an archangel, and he contended with the devil in regard to the body of Moses, showing that even our bodies come under angelic service.
HH Daniel had been praying three weeks. Do you think the three weeks of Daniel’s prayers fitted in with the time this angel was detained? I was thinking of what you were saying as to prayer. Daniel in answer to his prayers, is given understanding by an angel as to the whole course of God’s ways with His people down to the end.
JT That is right. All these things are most instructive, and come down to our every-day service as to our prayers. God is available to us, and how great indeed that these great beings, angels, sometimes called men, are available for that kind of service!
SC Could you help us in regard to Peter’s prayer here? “On the morrow, as these were journeying and drawing near to the city, Peter went up on the house to pray, about the sixth hour” (verse 9).
JT We are not told what he prayed about, but he went up on the house to pray, showing that if we have an hour to spare, we can have recourse to prayer in that hour. It would appear that they were preparing the meal. It says, verse 10, “and he became hungry and desired to eat. But as they were making ready an ecstasy came upon him: and he beholds the heaven opened”; that is, they [p. 406] were making ready for the meal, I would think. He had time on his hands, and he went and used that time in prayer, but we are not told what he prayed for.
JC-S There seems a kind of affinity between what Peter was doing and what Cornelius had been doing.
JT Quite so. Well, as we proceed now we come to a very important incident. Peter himself was ready for the persons who had been sent to him. It says in verses 21 and 22, “Peter going down to the men said, Behold I am he whom ye seek: what is the cause for which ye come? And they said, Cornelius, a centurion, a righteous man”, and so on. They give an account of what happened to Cornelius and then it says, “having therefore invited them in, he lodged them”. Another thing that comes to our notice, worth speaking of, is that a servant like Peter had liberty where he was staying, to invite into that house, showing the place that the servants of Christ ought to have in houses in the service. “He invited them in”, it says. He did not go to Simon, the occupant of the house, to invite them in; he invited them in and lodged them.
JC-S That would suggest that the house was sympathetic with Peter, in what he was doing.
JT Quite so. Such houses are part of the system that God is going on with, the economy, in which God is operating, Christian households like Lydia’s and like this one. Peter was staying there, and it was just part of the system so that it could be used, as it says in verse 23, “having therefore invited them in, he lodged them”. Notice that, Peter did it.
SC Paul and Silas instinctively went to the house of Lydia after their release from prison, did [p. 407] they not?
JT Quite so. They knew that the house was open to them. Such houses belong to the system, the economy, that God has brought in. So it is a question, if we are inviting and entertaining the brethren in the Lord’s service, is the house available to them as part of the divine system?
AJG Are not the persons and houses in the system very important as practical support to what is spiritual in the presence of what is hostile?
JT Quite so, and how important that is, when you think of all these organisations that men have built up, especially the place they have in these countries down here in the south. Yet I do not know where God’s work is more prospered than it is in these very parts, showing us the real conflict that is on, and the conflict must be centring in prayer. The prayer-system is a system too, because it is a question of what God has set up in Christ in heaven, the great High Priest.
HH Is it not remarkable that the Lord has sent so many of His servants here to Australasia at the present time? Do you think that has a link with Peter himself as to heavenly truth in the testimony?
JT We need to be sure that we are sent, of course, each of us, so the word is, “Here am I; send me”. It certainly is encouraging to think of the number that there are available at the present time to visit the saints in different parts of the world.
FW Is all this heavenly intervention needed to make room for the activity of the Spirit?
JT Well, I think it well to keep in mind the part that heaven has in these matters. It struck me today, and it has never struck me more than this very minute, the power that the angels have in the service of God, and how much place they should have in our prayers. Even the Lord Himself was ministered to by angels. He speaks of them, saying [p. 408] that He could call upon His Father, and He would furnish Him more than twelve legions of angels; (Matthew 26: 53).
FW So that our prayer would hardly be for the alleviation of difficult circumstances, but that the work of God might go on, there being room made for the Spirit.
JT That would mean that angelic service enters into it, making way for the Spirit. Angelic service has entered into the wars which have been fought; there have been two wars which have greatly affected the testimony of God, extending back to 1914. The effect of these wars is still current, and intended by the devil to interfere with the work of God; but angelic service is a great matter to have in mind, because certain men have been used by God to bring the war to an end. God does that, but He does it, I am sure, at the solicitation of His people.
Rem So that He might make a way through for us by angelic intervention.
JT Well, that is the point.
JC-S Perhaps in our minds we have made much of the spiritual character of the assembly, and have overlooked the fact that this runs alongside of it.
JT I certainly think we have overlooked the great service of angels. They existed before men, they were there at the creation of the earth: “The morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy”, Job 38:7. And their service has continued ever since.
AJG And does not the fact that they are all sent forth to minister to the heirs of salvation, only emphasise the importance of what God is doing at the present time?
JT Just so. We cannot tell how many there are, they are innumerable. One angel, we have [p. 409] often remarked, destroyed 185,000 men at once in the early days (2 Kings 19: 35).
VNP It is reassuring to take account of angelic power, and then the power of the Holy Spirit.
JT The two ministries are to be kept in mind. I believe what the Lord is directing us to today is the ministry of angels, whether we are keeping it in mind or not. Of course, we never think of obscuring the ministry of the Holy Spirit, but I am certain we have obscured in our minds the ministry of angels.
JC-S Probably our circumstances in the Southern Hemisphere in relation to the matters you mentioned might have been different if we had given place to it.
JT Well, that is just the question. I believe it is so, too.
EL Is the ministry of angels connected with God’s indirect dealings?
JT That is correct, although what we have before us now is direct, because the Spirit of God says, “I have sent them”. “But as Peter continued pondering over the vision, the Spirit said to him, Behold, three men seek thee; but rise up, go down, and go with them, nothing doubting, because I have sent them” (verses 19 and 20). Well now, the three men were sent by the angel. Cornelius says to the angel (verse 4), “What is it, Lord? And he said to him, Thy prayers and thine alms have gone up for a memorial before God. And now send men to Joppa”. That is to say, Cornelius is directed by the angel to send men to Joppa, and the Spirit takes it up saying He had sent them, showing how the two ministries are inter-related.
AJG And the men, in speaking to Peter, combined them; they say, “Cornelius ... has been divinely instructed by a holy angel” (verse [p. 410] 22).
JT Very good, I am glad you mention that, it shows the respect for the holy angel. The second epistle to the Thessalonians stresses the idea of the Lord coming with the angels of His power. And then again we read in Jude of the holy myriads. The book of Revelation needs only be alluded to in this respect because angels are so active in it.
RRT Cornelius had been divinely instructed by an angel, but it would seem as though the angel could not complete the instruction; it was necessary that Peter should be sent for, so that they might hear words and instruction from him beyond what the angel could give.
JT Very good. So the angels do not go so far as apostles do, or ministers of Christ who have gift. Angels are not said to have gift as men have. The law was given by Moses, ordained through angels in the hand of a mediator. They have part in the giving of the law, but they are not said to have direct part in the introduction of Christianity. It is a question of the apostles whom the Lord had chosen.
Ques So Paul’s ministry is in the power of the Spirit?
JT That is right. The Lord Jesus has given gifts to men, and they are used in the inauguration of Christianity, but angels are not, they are ministering spirits, however, to all those who are heirs of salvation.
VNP Why does it refer to joy in the presence of the angels of God, over one repenting sinner?
JT Well, that shows they are sympathetic attendants, and so they desire to look into these things, as we are told in the first epistle of Peter. Angels desire to look into things, showing how sympathetic they are.
JC-S So that the service of angels makes way for the spiritual ministry that comes along, and, as [p. 411] it were, it subsides then, though it still continues merging in the other, so to speak.
JT Just so. The merging is seen in verse 44; I mean the direct merging and action of the Spirit. “While Peter was yet speaking these words the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who were hearing the word”. Notice the two words used there, one is plural, “these words”, and then, “those who were hearing the word”, which refers to what is in the mind of God. And then it says further, “And the faithful of the circumcision were astonished, as many as came with Peter, that upon the nations also the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out: for they heard them speaking with tongues and magnifying God”, so that the direct work of the Spirit is now in mind. Then in verse 47 we read, “Then Peter answered, Can any one forbid water that these should not be baptised, who have received the Holy Spirit as we also did?” “And he commanded them to be baptised in the name of the Lord”.
JC-S That is, they were not coming in on any lower ground, were they?
JT Very good.
EB Would it be right to think of those who have come to this place from distances, some very great distances, that the angels have served in bringing us together, some from overseas, and many from distances by land? Could all that enter into our prayers thankfully to God?
JT Quite so. How important that is, because in view of the meetings that have been held during the past years the brethren have travelled through all parts of the earth to attend them, and we are bound to count on angelic service in such movements, whether it be by ships or planes or trains or whatever it be. The angels have attended to these matters, in the order that is kept in some sense in the world, so that we can travel about without being [p. 412] molested. We have to give thanks to God that through angelic ministry He protects us.
FDA There is perfect timing here. We have often proved that in brethren moving about, the perfect timing in their arriving at their destinations.
JT Yes, very good. Some of us will be waiting now weeks before we can get a ship to go back to our places where we live. That has happened often in these parts, but if we keep on praying God helps us. There is nothing really more comforting than that, in all these details.
AJG Would you say that the fact that the present dispensation is characterised by the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit means that God Himself has entered into the dispensation feelingly?
JT Just so. These angels too, are feeling. They were in existence before men, of course, and they are called sons of God. It is a comforting thing, because it implies the dignity that belongs to them.
RF They were also in activity at the birth of Christ.
JT Just so.
Rem Two angels were active in taking Lot out of Sodom.
JT Very good.
JC-S The gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out.
JT That is what Paul says in his epistle to Titus; Paul’s ministry to Titus is that very thing. “But when the kindness and love to man of our Saviour God appeared, not on the principle of works which have been done in righteousness which we had done, but according to his own mercy he saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, which he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Saviour”, Titus 3: 4 - 6. It shows the liberality of the love behind it all, its pouring out, plenty of it. Why should we be without the [p. 413] Spirit therefore?
AJG Would you say a word as to why, when the Spirit itself was given on the day of Pentecost, Peter said of the Lord, “Having therefore been exalted by the right hand of God, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this which ye behold and hear”. Why is it put in that way? He received the Spirit of the Father and then poured it out?
JT It would be an administrative thought, the Lord being the Administrator of everything directly, so that in the giving, the Spirit is poured out.
AJG And the Father being recognised in the supreme place in the economy?
JT That is what I thought.
HH Would this chapter 10 take into account that the Holy Spirit is already on the earth?
JT Quite so. He has already been given, poured out. So that as has already been remarked, there is no inferiority in those coming in now in this chapter. The Spirit is here. It is the same Spirit. It is the Spirit that is here on earth that is given in that sense. The Lord Jesus gave Him at the first, and He is here ever since.
EB Would the fact that the Holy Spirit is mentioned here so plainly prevent us from being satisfied with the benefits of angelic service? We might be very well satisfied to settle down with the providential care of God, but we do not rightly take it up unless it frees us for what is spiritual, would you say?
JT I am sure. So that Ephesians gives us the full thought. We are said to be “fellow-citizens of the saints, and of the household of God, being built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the corner-stone, in whom all the building fitted together increases to a holy temple in the Lord; in whom ye also are built together for a habitation of God in the Spirit”. These [p. 414] are the most exalted thoughts, I think, that we get as to what we are brought into. It is no question of angelic service now, but the Spirit and the habitation of God in Spirit.
FW So you remarked earlier that Acts 10 gives us the bringing of the gentiles into this.
JT That is right.
JC-S So that Ephesians would give us the full development of the mystery.
JT Yes. The angels do not come into that, they are just ministering servants, whereas we are sons in the house, Christ being Son over it.
EB-s And the Spirit’s voice is being heard in the assemblies.
JT Quite so. “The Spirit speaks expressly”, for instance; He speaks in the house.