DIVINE ENERGY RENEWED IN REVIVAL (1)
[p. 500] DIVINE ENERGY RENEWED IN REVIVAL (1)
JT I was thinking of the renewal of divine energy in the Lord taking up Paul in his ministry; the renewal of the whole position. The whole dispensation, indeed, takes on the character of revival, evidences of renewed divine energy, going on until the end although in reduced measure, but still retaining the idea of renewal, renewed energy. It is thought that we might look at Paul in this sense.
It is clear that the movement now in view began with the introduction of Cornelius who may be taken as a representative of the gentiles, but certain features were needed to lead up to and introduce the movement in Paul and Barnabas, especially in Paul, for the chapter contemplates Paul coming into the lead in the divine movement. It is thought that it will be a help to us here to review a little of the divine way in revivals. The Lord may be pleased to continue the movement here in this city and enlarge it, and it will be advantageous to the brethren if a new clear apprehension is had of this feature in the economy; that is, the feature of revival.
The chapter read is unmistakable as entering definitely on an inaugural position in the sense of revival, and Antioch, not Jerusalem, is stressed. “Now there were in Antioch”, it says. That is how the thing is begun. It was what was there; not simply a revival in the place. The thing was already there, and suitable for the divine movement, and that divine movement is characterized by the place given to God, the service of God. “Now there were in Antioch, in the assembly which was there, prophets and teachers”, and then the list is given. Then the Holy Spirit says in verse 2, “And as they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, Separate me now Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them”. So that the Spirit of God is stressed too as at Pentecost. He is acting Himself; that is, God acting in the character of the Spirit.
CAM Would you say it is a principle that God acting in the Holy Spirit requires material, spiritual material to operate?
JT That is a good point to bring up, because it was so in all revivals. It is hardly suitable to speak of Adam himself, but there was something in the sense of revival in Abel, and then in Seth, and in Enoch. We may see what was there; and so in the great movements in Noah himself and in Abraham; and then in Joseph and Moses and David, divine instruments already there, carried down from previous movements, even inclusive of the creation of Adam and all that flowed out from him and Eve; but the revival was in Abel. I do not know whether I am saying too little, but I am sure the brethren will get the idea at once, that it is a matter of divine energy revived. The energy is always there, for God does not change; Christ does not change, and the Spirit does not change. But in the saints there is change.
And in Antioch there is what is called the assembly; “the assembly which was there”; it is not simply persons or a number of persons, but the assembly which was there.
RWS Was it not a key city such as the city we are in? It says in chapter 11 that those who preached went as far as Antioch “and the report concerning them reached the ears of the assembly which was in Jerusalem, and they sent out Barnabas to go through as far as Antioch” (verse 22); and then he found Paul and brought him to Antioch, and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch. Does that all bear on what you had in mind?
JT Very much, it is very helpful too as to the point before us. It is a sort of key position, and so [p. 502] is this a key position. The government if God has made it such in comparatively recent years, and God recognizes such circumstances, and His testimony would follow whatever there is in that sense.
AAT I notice it says as they were ministering and fasting that the Holy Spirit spoke. What kind of service is that?
JT It is good to bring that up, because it is a question of what they were doing, and it was not any political or social matter. It referred to God. These men were competent; they were qualified men. There were prophets and teachers, and they comprised “Barnabas, and Simeon who was called Niger, and Lucius the Cyrenian, and Manaen, foster-brother of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul”. These are the men. The inference plainly is they have already got a reputation from heaven. They are able to take the matter on, and it is as that was happening it says, “And as they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said”, (this was a divine announcement, you might say) “Separate me now Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them”. So it is to set aside all pretension to human innovations and introductions and the like. It is a question of God and what people are doing towards God, persons qualified to act for God, to carry on the service of God; that is what they were doing.
ANW Does this revival idea develop as an offset to a decline in another place such as Jerusalem, if it is fair to speak of Jerusalem in that way? Is it God offsetting failure in another place with new life in a new place?
JT It looks as if that is the case. Antioch is recognised and what was there. That is a word to be noticed: “the assembly which was there”. The word ‘there’ is not really in the original, but it is the idea;
“which was”, only it is in Antioch, but it has an existence.
AR In some cities in this country they would not let Niger break bread. I mean there are restrictions in this country in connection with race and the like.
JT If we take up the use of the word, I think the southern part of this country (and it is a little bold to use these words in the capital) has lost advantages from God because of restrictions placed on certain people. That brought on the Civil War. These things are to be noted by us and we are to avoid them; not to prolong them but to avoid them.
CFE Is it possible that these revivals are met with opposition?
JT Usually; only I think God is not stressing opposition in revivals. He is rather stressing what He is doing, not what men might do against Him. And so you take Abel; it is true that opposition was there, murderous opposition, and God is calling attention to Abel right down in the testimony; “the blood of righteous Abel” speaks; it has a voice, and that is something to be borne in mind, that revival carries something in the sense of a voice from someone; and there was the blood of Abel but then the word is mentioned indeed even including Abel. It is a question of what God is doing that we ought to be occupied with.
P When Enosh was born people began to call on the name of the Lord. Is that in the sense of revival?
JT That is a good word to bring in, because it was from a certain time. “Then people began to call on the name of Jehovah”, Genesis 4: 26. That was at a certain time and that time was marked by Seth calling his son Enosh, which means a weak sort of person, a person not to be made much of. He makes way for the power of God. “For when I am weak, then I am powerful”, 2 Corinthians 12: 10. I think the [p. 504] idea is that it is the state we are in; if we are going to do anything here we are to be feeble and make way for God to undertake for us. You may say, We have not got much gift here, but that only makes way for God. God can do things in spite of that, and therefore, “when I am weak, then I am powerful”. That is what is meant at that particular juncture. The word appears often as denoting man in a certain condition. That is to say, the human race is continued because God is not taking up any other race; not even angels. It is the human race He is continuing with, but already recognized, however, weak and needing divine power.
VCL Are we thus able to move the divine calendar forward by the state of soul and exercise we may be in by these revivals?
JT It may be a question of the state of the crops. The state of the crops indicates what part of the year we are in. The state of the crops indicates not simply decline but divine power, growth in the cereals. I do not know whether that is clear?
VCL I was just thinking it is not just sovereignty, that God comes in completely of Himself, but He is warranted in all that He does because of what is there.
JT Quite so; it is not just divine sovereignty. It is that in a sense, but it is what is in the crop; that is to say, what the earth yields, and the crops are indicative of what time of the year we are in. As for instance, in Egypt in the time of the plagues certain crops came up quickly such as flax. The flax was prompt. There was life shown. Wheat is slow. Barley is earlier than wheat, and therefore we can determine the state of things by these matters. Barley therefore is a type of the Lord Jesus as risen from the dead; whereas wheat is the type of what comes in later than that. The saints are the wheat. We are also living, only Christ is before us;
“[p. 505] the first-fruits, Christ; then those that are the Christ’s at his coming”.
CAM There would be no crop from this man that comes under the governmental hand of God; darkness comes upon him as being made blind.
JT Just so. We must have the sun and the earth. There may be too much earth sometimes, and too much sun. In Egypt there is too much sun and in the south here sometimes; but you must have the two ideas: the light in the sun and the earth. The earth is a subjective thought where life operates, and that is what is in mind in this particular revival; that is, the idea of eternal life. At the end of the chapter, what is called attention to is eternal life. Verse 48 says, “And those of the nations, hearing it, rejoiced, and glorified the word of the Lord, and believed, as many as were ordained to eternal life”. That is something to think of too as we proceed, this matter of eternal life; but the matter of the crops is, I think, very instructive.
AR God says, “The feast of the unleavened bread shalt thou keep ... at the appointed time of the month Abib”, Exodus 34: 18. That month suggests the month of corn ripening.
JT That supports what we are saying. It is not simply that you go by the sun. The astronomer goes by the sun, of course, and the mariners do too, but the farmer does not; he goes by the earth. These are all important because God takes them up as instructive among us.
JE Are the words of the Lord Jesus in John 4 helpful? The fields are already white. Does that help in this matter of revival?
JT The Lord indicated that life was operating earlier than people thought, because it was there in Him.
JESJr Would you permit some crops from other states to be transferred to [p. 506] Washington?
JT Yes; they are here today.
JESJr I mean so they can grow up here.
JT It is the largest number I have ever seen here.
EAL The earlier reference to Cornelius seems to be interesting in this connection. In chapter 10 it says, “But a certain man in Caesarea — by name Cornelius, a centurion of the band called Italic, pious, and fearing God with all his house” (verse 1), and then later on it says, “having called together his kinsmen and his intimate friends” to hear Peter (verse 24). Revival is understood mostly by us in a collective sense, but the revival of necessity must come through the household.
JT Very good. You mean that Cornelius was a household man.
EAL Yes; it is noticeable in this city that there are those who have opened their houses to the saints with the idea of supporting the testimony.
JT Cornelius was a forerunner; he was a little before the time. He was recognized before he had the Spirit. He was really a subject of the work of God already as mentioned in Acts 10. He was a subject of the work of God but he needed perfecting. He needed Peter. He needed a person whom God could use. Cornelius was not to be used; Peter was to be used, for God had not given up the primary thought in the dispensation, and that primary thought was in the twelve apostles. He had not given that up, but He took up a man that could be symbolical of the work He was carrying on. It is a question of, “What hath God wrought!” He is now working in gentiles, but He is not giving up the kind of workman; that is to say, the twelve apostles; but now He is coming to others: Paul and Barnabas, but particularly Paul. God had a right to select a man like Paul, and so we have Paul in our chapter. He is mentioned the last of the list, which is remarkable.
[p. 507] Although he had been working successfully, the Spirit of God holds to the general position as it might have been seen by any observer at that time, that Barnabas was distinguished among the twelve and called the son of consolation. The twelve had called him that, so that the twelve were still in mind.
SMcC Would the choiceness of assembly formation as now seen be particularly in mind in this revival? Paul is the vessel used particularly to complete the word of God.
JT Yes; although God says, I have my ministers, including Barnabas who is distinguished, but he is distinguished by the twelve. The twelve distinguished him directly in that they were permitted to name him. He is thus distinguished and takes the lead in this new movement. The fact that the list begins with Barnabas indicates this.
ANW There is remarkable variety in the few names mentioned. You have Barnabas first, “and Simeon who was called Niger, and Lucius the Cyrenian, and Manaen, foster-brother of Herod the tetrarch” (that element is there) “and Saul”.
JT A sort of representation of nobility. God is no respecter of persons. They are all men and He is working with men, only there are persons of distinction and God has His grades and distinctions, and He is holding to them. He has a right to do that. The blessed God might say, ‘Paul is distinguishing himself; I do not need to distinguish him’. But God is saying, ‘It is just wholesome to let him stay where he is’. He is Saul; he is the last one to be mentioned. If he were asked to put his name down, he would put it down last too; “less than the least of all saints” he says, because he persecuted the assembly of God.
EAL Is there a significant contrast in verse 9 where he takes up the challenge? He is the first to [p. 508] speak there. Is that to bring out that he is taking the spiritual lead there?
JT God intended that; let him do things; let him purchase to himself a good degree and much boldness in the faith. God is not pushing him forward.
ANW He is not exactly called Paul; he is that.
JT Just so; “who also is Paul”, meaning he is a small man. He said he was not worthy to be called an apostle.
CAM I think it is a great consolation to see that God has His hand over the personnel in any city, especially in a place where He is going to work. It prevents looking on one another in a haphazard way or with personal feeling.
JT God is putting His finger on the thing that is despised and is showing that He is not despising it.
GMacPh Do prophecy and teaching come under the attention of heaven?
JT Good; the two sorts of gifts. There were prophets and teachers; prophets are gifts who will bring God to people, and teachers would regulate people, and name the things that they are to be taught, which is very important because a simple man might come in, as we are told in 1 Corinthians; a simple person, or may be an unbeliever, might come in and he recognizes that God is there, not a teacher but God, and he recognizes that through the prophetic word. Then there is teaching; we need teachers, persons who can call things by name.
EAL In verse 20 it says, “And after these things he gave them judges till Samuel the prophet”. Does that stress the prophetic side of things?
JT It is indicative of God’s time of moving in a certain way. The idea of prophecy began, as it were, with Samuel. Abraham is called a prophet but Samuel is given distinction because he is taken up especially to illustrate the bearing of prophetic ministry at a time of decline, and so none of his [p. 509] words fell to the ground. That is remarkable, because many of us feel we say many things that do not seem to tell much, but it was not so with Samuel. None of his words fell to the ground. It is meant that they were held in the souls of the saints, and if that characterises our meeting here we will have something.
EAL Recently we had in 1 Corinthians 13 all about love, and then the first verse of chapter 14 says, “Follow after love, and be emulous of spiritual manifestations, but rather that ye may prophesy”.
JT That was to bring out that prophecy was a particular gift and is needed, and that, I think, is so now. That is the reason God has called attention to the very term prophetic ministry. It has acquired a name amongst us.
CAM Recently you mentioned that a lot had been said about eternal life in the last one hundred and forty years; do you think that what has been said about it has not fallen to the ground, but that the meaning of eternal life has become clearer to us so that we will arrive at something?
JT No doubt, especially in view of the millennial blessing. “There hath Jehovah commanded the blessing, life for evermore”, Psalm 133:3. That is the characteristic blessing of the millennium — life.
RWS The wicked world was to develop great men. Could this be looked at as a sort of offensive in view of checking the wicked world, God commencing in this small way with a brother who is content to be small?
JT Do you mean an offensive for attack? Quite so. Even in the latter days God raised up a man similar. It was an attack because the whole of Christendom was to be attacked, and so it was. Clericalism got a death blow. The brethren took its place. “All ye are brethren”. It is a divinely [p. 510] chosen name.
AAT At Thessalonica and at Corinth the assemblies were the products of Paul’s ministry especially, but at Antioch the work had started there before Paul got there; yet he served there a year. The conditions that were there at the time we are reading about had some relation to his ministry.
JT Quite so. Barnabas and Paul, we are told, served in the assembly for a whole year, which is remarkable, because they were really forming the assembly, but they served a great crowd. The idea was that the crowd should be developed into the assembly; the word ‘crowd’ is to give way to the word ‘assembly’ and that was the result of their ministry during that whole year. There was a definite period: a whole year was used in the service, and therefore the assembly was there; and not only that but the products are called Christians. That is another thing. The word ‘called’ is there not simply an accidental thought; it is the idea of divine communication. That is implied in it. It is a divinely given term covering Christianity. They were first called Christians at Antioch. That was after that year. I think it is important that we should all see what Antioch was as a starting-off place; not that it was ever characterised by anything much after that. Cornelius lived in Caesarea, but Antioch was in the north.
Ques Is there any thought in the laying on of the hands of the apostles? They laid their hands on them and let them go.
JT It would not mean they appointed them bishops and the like. It meant they let them go; laying their hands on them would mean that the assembly in Antioch identified themselves with these two men. They were happy to have them go for the sake of the Lord, but they would have been happy to have them stay. We do not want to get rid of gifted men. For the Lord’s sake we are glad to have them go, but it is a real sacrifice to have them go.
GMacPh Is it in your mind to help us in connection with the quality of the work of God in the assembly, and the kind of persons that are suggested?
JT That is good. We get their names here. Their names already are known. They are not coming up now as leading brothers; they are already known to be that and the name, therefore, of Barnabas is first. This list implies quality, I would say, because the Holy Spirit is pleased to identify Himself with those men, and He says, “Separate me now Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them”. That is to say, the Spirit of God would not take on novices. The book of Numbers implies that the Levites began as novices at twenty-five years of age. They were just journey-men; they were not fully developed workmen. They began at twenty-five. These men are not twenty-five; they are full-fledged levites, and the Spirit of God is saying they are good enough. They were equal to the work He had for them.
PO It says, “And as they were ministering to the Lord and fasting”. The idea of fasting seems to be important.
JT It does; it is a question of making way for the power of God, I would say. Fasting is a question of power. “But this kind does not go out but by prayer and fasting”. I believe fasting is to make way for the power of God.
AAT Is fasting individual or collective?
JT These two men are just workers. We have often spoken of Solomon’s workmen. They are viewed as so many persons. It is not an assembly matter. The assembly is never said to preach or to teach. The persons in it can do both. Therefore, what is in mind here is these two men as preachers or teachers. They are chosen of the Spirit of God [p. 512] to remain in this great work of evangelizing the gentile world, and Paul tells us how successful he was, how much he laboured and how much he travelled.
SMcC When they ministered to the Lord, what Person is in mind there?
JT I would say God. What do you think?
SMcC I had thought so. What character of meeting would correspond to this in our time?
JT If we say ‘ministering to the Lord’ it would be the Lord’s supper. The Lord’s supper is all a question of the Lord personally, whereas this goes further. It is a question of God under the term ‘Lord’; therefore it would be the service of God, not the Lord’s supper. Just recently a brother got up and we did not know he was giving thanks for the Lord’s supper, but he was, and he spoke as if it were for God and the Father. The thing was so mixed up we could not tell what he was aiming at. This is more than that, more than the Lord’s supper; it is the general idea of the service of God, I would say.
SMcC Does that not help as to the prominence the service of God has acquired in recent years amongst us?
JT That is what I thought. The Lord would denote God here.
ANW You will notice that the fasting precedes the prayer in verse 3 but it succeeds the ministering in verse 2. Would the fasting add to the ministering to the Lord?
JT I would think so. The whole passage would indicate to us that God is saying that this new revival is marked by the service of God.
GMacPh Mr. Darby has a footnote which says, “possibly Jehovah”.
JT That confirms what we are saying. Jehovah would mean God.
EAL [p. 513] Mr. Darby has said that the notion of a clergyman is a sin against the Holy Spirit. This is the opposite of that; it is service God-ward.
JT It is the Holy Spirit that is in mind here. It is not simply God or the Lord, but the Holy Spirit; what is said is by the Holy Spirit directly. “Separate me now Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them”. The Holy Spirit is exalted, as it were, in this section.
Ques When you speak of the service of God, just what meetings do you include under that term?
JT Prayer would be that; only we can pray to the Lord and to the Father and God; but what would be particularly in mind is just what we are saying; what we have now through grace and what has been revived: divine service, not on the clerical principle but by the brethren, those who are priests unto God, and that word ‘priests’ includes all of us. Peter says, “a holy priesthood”. We are all constituted priests unto God. It is that kind of service, the service of priests God-ward.
ANW Is that not particularly interesting here in that they are designated prophets and teachers? That is not service to man. Their service would be man-ward but it takes the phase of ministering to the Lord.
JT That is just so. The gifts came under the heading of prophets and teachers. That would be service man-ward but at the same time that service man-ward may be turned over God-ward. That would be, I suppose, what we rightly do on the first day of the week. After the Lord’s supper we have the service of God as such. Of course, it would be the whole matter of the Lord’s supper entering into it, leading up to the service of God, the Father.
VCL When you include the Holy Spirit in the term ‘the Lord’ here, do you really then imply that the Spirit fills a position on the Lord’s Day [p. 514] morning?
JT I think so. We are dealing with mystery there, inscrutability. God is God; thus there is one God. That particularises it; but God includes the three Persons. Therefore the baptismal formula is: “To the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit”. God in the Trinity is in mind, and God in the Trinity is in mind generally in the service that is alluded to here.
EAL In regard to your remarks about the prayer meetings on the Monday following the unique privileges we have on the Lord’s Day, would you say that in the main the responsibility as to the prayer meeting is not truly understood or followed up? If you link the prayer meeting as you do and as is generally understood, so closely with what is service God-ward, why should there be such a sad falling away in the main on the Monday night prayer meetings? We get much fewer numbers relatively at the prayer meetings than at the Lord’s supper.
JT It is well to bring that up; one does not forget that the sisters usually have wash-day on Monday, but it is really humbling, as you say, that there is a falling off, and that the prayer meeting is not as well attended as the service of God.
ATD Would you say that the Spirit speaks as we are ministering and fasting in this way?
JT Well, yes. I think it is remarkable that it is mentioned that God is being ministered to when this appointment is made. “And as they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, Separate me now ...” It is remarkable that notice is taken of what they were engaged with, and that is that they were engaged with the service of God.
RWS It would be through some brother, would it not?
JT Undoubtedly. The Holy Spirit is not incarnate. He speaks through qualified vessels. He is [p. 515] included in the Deity and personally He is deserving of recognition in that sense; only He has taken such a lowly place and He is content to keep it to carry out the divine behests as the blessed Spirit, because He is God: “the work to which I have called them”. He is over the levites in the service. He is a divine Person in the Deity as much as the Father is. It is a cardinal fact that the divine Persons are on the same level in the Deity. That is inscrutable. We cannot take that up; we are dealing with revelation.
CAM Would it therefore be right to say that the thought of the Spirit in connection with the well would be that the Spirit is regarded characteristically rather than personally?
JT Quite so. The Spirit is a divine Person, of course.
CAM In John 4 the Spirit is looked at rather characteristically. The idea of the well comes in there.
JT “Rise up, well! sing unto it”, Numbers 21: 17. John 4: 14 is, “The water which I shall give him shall become in him a fountain of water, springing up into eternal life”. That is distinctly a subjective thought; at the same time, it is a divine Person that is alluded to, and yet in a lowly way. He is subservient to the general position. He makes the truth of the worship of God real and intelligible and powerful. It is carried on in that subjective way; and the important thing for us is that the Spirit remains with us, so that there is power for the springing up God-ward in our services. When we come to the service of God on the first day of the week the three Persons are there. We assume that They are there; we say that They are there in effect, but we may overlook it. The Spirit is there at the very beginning. When we sit down together in the meeting the Spirit Himself is there; God is there; but the Lord is to be apprehended as coming to us [p. 516] and it is important to keep that in mind. The power of the service lies in the permanent presence of the Spirit.
GW How does using diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit fit in?
JT That is just what we are saying. He is there to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace.
Rem I was thinking of Ephesians 2: 18 where it says, “For through him we have both access by one Spirit to the Father”, meaning through Christ. In that instance the Trinity is acknowledged in the service.
JT And two of the Persons are instrumental and the Father is the supreme Object of both. “By one Spirit” is instrumental, and “through him” is instrumental, and the Object is the Father.
AR Would you say something about love in the Spirit? It says, “But I beseech you, brethren, by our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in prayers for me to God”, Romans 15: 30?
JT That is a good word to bring in; and another word is the communion of the Holy Spirit in 2 Corinthians 13. These things are all implied in the service of God that we have here, the service carried on by the Lord.
GMacPh The three times that the Spirit is mentioned in this part of the chapter He is referred to as the Holy Spirit. Does that have an allusion to His part in the Deity as a divine Person? In verse 2 it says, “And as they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said”, and in verse 4, “having been sent forth by the Holy Spirit”, and in verse 9, “Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit”.
JT Therefore we are dealing with the dispensation of the Holy Spirit. That is what is stressed, as if to say it is still Pentecost. That is the great beginning,
[p. 517] the great inaugural thought; but this is a continuation of it in freshness in the sense of a revival. This revival has taken the form of a great ecclesiastical movement among the gentiles.
GMacPh The assembly is the habitation of God by the Spirit. Would holiness suggest the conditions in which the Holy Spirit would operate amongst us?
JT Just so; because the Spirit is here in a subjective sense, and He is here dispensationally. That is to say, He has come to stay; not to come to us as the Lord does, but to stay; and, therefore, we recognize that the assembly is constituted by the fact of His presence. Therefore, the Spirit is present when we come together in assembly.
RHS Is the selection of those who are to take the lead in recovery a sovereign matter or an outcome of faithfulness to the truth?
JT We have already spoken of that. This movement is not only sovereign; it is something that is there already and recognized. The gift of the Spirit primarily is a sovereign matter. The Lord Jesus received of the Father and poured out this which they saw and heard. That was a sovereign matter, which gives character to the whole dispensation, but these revivals are in character the same only they have their own distinctions. Is that what you have in mind?
RHS I was wondering whether recovery comes because of what is faithful in some who take courage and stand against conditions in the meeting.
JT The evil condition was on the island, not, of course, in Antioch. We have now entered on what was in the world that the evangelical movement had in mind, and it is very striking that this is what the two men found. It would be calculated to make them discouraged, but I think God knew how capable they were of going through discouragement. “They therefore, having been sent forth by the Holy Spirit,
[p. 518] went down to Seleucia, and thence sailed away to Cyprus. And being in Salamis, they announced the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. And they had John also as their attendant”. That is, they are fully equipped and still there is not much being done. Therefore it says, “And having passed through the whole island as far as Paphos”, (it is remarkable; the whole island was traversed) “they found a certain man a magician, a false prophet”, his name is Bar-jesus, as if he were the antichrist in spirit. They meet this remarkable man, which would be the Jewish system, and that is going to be condemned. God is going to leave it and go to the gentiles. Therefore it goes on to speak of “the proconsul Sergius Paulus, an intelligent man”. This is the kind of man that is needed for this movement, but there are not many of them; he is the only one. That must have been a test to them. So it goes on, “But Elymas the magician (for so his name is by interpretation) opposed them, seeking to turn away the proconsul from the faith. But Saul, who also is Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, fixing his eyes upon him”, (let us notice that the man himself, Paul, is brought into view) “said, O full of all deceit and all craft: son of the devil, enemy of all righteousness; wilt thou not cease perverting the right paths of the Lord?”. We have already alluded to the word ‘Lord’ here, that it means ‘God’. “And now behold, the Lord’s hand is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season”. This is a terrible curse on the Jew. “And immediately there fell upon him a mist and darkness; and going about he sought persons who should lead him by the hand. Then the proconsul, seeing what had happened, believed, being amazed at the teaching of the Lord”. It is a question of teaching, and an intelligent man is taught.
AAT When you say ‘intelligent’ that is hardly the way we would speak of it today. The word ‘intelligent’ means a college-educated man, but was not this intelligence divine in some way?
JT It is a word introduced in connection with the Lord’s supper. “I speak as to intelligent persons”. The revival is in connection with the Lord’s supper, and it is a question of intelligence.
ANW He did not want merely to hear Paul; he wanted to hear the word of the Lord.
EAL In regard to the last word you read about the proconsul, his official status is mentioned rather than his name. The attack is on the governmental position.
JT It shows the government of God is recognised, the powers that be, the four monarchies. It is stressed that God is with them and therefore the official name of Pilate, the governor, is mentioned in Matthew. God is carrying that thought into Christianity.
AAT I notice it says, “then the proconsul, seeing what had happened”.
JT He saw what had happened to the Jew. That is really the truth. But God is not giving up the Jews; it is only for a season. The gentiles are not going to have it all the time. The time of the gentiles is running out, and God is going to come back to the Jew again. But Christianity is running along with the powers that be, and therefore we are ready to carry on until the Lord takes us. This man is typical of the Jews coming into the light when that takes place.
ATD When he saw what had happened he believed, being amazed at the teaching of the Lord. Do they go together in our lives?
JT They do in the sense of intelligence. It is very important that we should keep in mind at these Bible readings that we have, generally as well as locally, that the Lord is aiming at making us intelligent. We are so apt to say we had a good meeting [p. 520] and to forget what is said. We do not carry it through the whole meeting even, so as to become more intelligent in the truth.
CAM If we pursued this line we would be able to discern as to the ecclesiastical system which is becoming darker and darker, but it may be that even in our own settings some darkening thing is coming in that prevents revival.
JT It is a question of getting the gatherings right.
AAT I notice that all Paul’s ministry in those days covered a certain area. We could name all the seven churches, but where are they today? They seem to be almost dead and the light seems to be in the west. There is no revival in that area is there?
JT Well, the light that you are alluding to has become Mohammedanism, showing how solemn it is that God’s judgment enters into the dispensation in that way; it will enter into it wholly because God is going to send a strong delusion that men will believe a lie; for the assembly will be taken to heaven and another dispensation will begin. We are at the close of this great dispensation and the idea is not that it should peter out, but that it should maintain its freshness and be received up into heaven in freshness.
RWS Does intelligence as well as affection indicate that we should address the Lord Jesus not only as to the loaf but also as to the cup?
JT Everything should be addressed to the Lord in the Supper. It is the Lord’s supper. It is not the Father’s supper nor the Spirit’s supper, but the Lord’s supper.
RWS There are still some who address God in relation to the cup.
JT I think there is a missing then of something that the Lord cherished, that it is entirely a question of the Lord in His supper. We begin with [p. 521] that.
GMacPh The apostle speaks in Romans 6 of the form of teaching being observed from the heart. Is that continued throughout the dispensation? Acts 2 begins with the apostles’ teaching, we have here the Lord’s teaching, and in Acts 28 we have the apostles’ teaching.
JT What is being referred to is certain thoughts that we used to have, namely that we addressed God in relation to the cup. I think the teaching that the Lord has furnished would insist that we should address the Lord Jesus in all that refers to the actual celebration of the Lord’s supper, because it is His supper, not the Father’s nor the Spirit’s.
SMcC Would you think that the addressing of God in relation to the cup proceeds out of overemphasis on the covenant in regard to the Lord’s words, “For this is my blood, that of the new covenant”, Matthew 26: 28. Some have emphasized the new covenant to the exclusion of the setting with which the Lord connects it there.
JT I would go with that. Many of the brethren here today, perhaps, do not know what we are speaking of, but it is a question of the accuracy of Scripture and the accuracy of Paul and accuracy as to the Persons that should be addressed in the Lord’s supper.
Ques You might refer to the love of God without actually addressing Him.
JT But it is more the love of Christ. He loved the assembly and gave Himself for it. I do not think it is just right to say God loved it there. He purchased it with the blood of His own; but it is the Lord’s supper and if we accept that we will change our minds in some things. Another thing that enters into that is that it is a memorial of Christ’s death. “This do in remembrance of me”, Luke 22: 19. It refers to Christ. The memorial also entirely refers to [p. 522] Christ.
EMcK We begin with having the full service in mind, but addressing divine Persons we have a right to address.
JT The Lord takes the matter in hand and it is what He leads to then. We have not got a regular ritual, and yet we have certain forms that we should use and that are the only ones proper to use; after that it is a question of the lead that the Lord takes; it opens out to what God is.
PO Hence the importance of intelligence entering into it; it would suggest a capacity for taking in spiritual thoughts.
JT The word intelligence applies to taking in as well as giving out.
PO It also would suggest a disciplined mind, would it not?