THE LAST WORDS OF DAVID

^[p. 42] THE LAST WORDS OF DAVID

2 Samuel 23:1 - 4; Psalm 72:20; 1 Chronicles 23:27

JT These closing words of David furnish us with three subjects: first kingship, then prayer, and then levitical service. The passages contemplate maturity, mature experience in the service of God. It is thought that, considering David and what he says from this viewpoint, we should be helped as to these points, and also as to maturity in the things of God. Kingship is a subject of very great importance now; always indeed, but particularly now when communistic principles are so prevalent and are consequently apt to affect the saints. It is not simply kingship here, but the kind of man that should hold the office of king. What David says has more an oracular character, as those of us who know the Scriptures will understand. “David the son of Jesse saith”, 2 Samuel 23:1. It was such a one as that speaking; “And the man who was raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel saith, The Spirit of Jehovah spoke by me, and his word was on my tongue. The God of Israel said, The Rock of Israel spoke to me, The ruler among men shall be just, ruling in the fear of God; and he shall be as the light of the morning, like the rising of the sun, a morning without clouds; when from the sunshine, after rain, the green grass springeth from the earth”, verses 1 - 4. If we look at these verses as compared with what is abroad today, the anointing being known amongst us, we shall get help. We are so apt to fall under the influence of what is current in the world, and a passage like this calls us into the divine current of thought as to what is coming, and what should be held among the saints, as in the kingdom of God. The testimony of the Spirit coming down at Pentecost was, “God has made him, this Jesus whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ”, Acts 2:36, and also, “This Jesus who has been taken up from you into ^[p. 43] heaven, shall thus come in the manner in which ye have beheld him going into heaven”, Acts 1:11. When He comes back, He will be what He was when He left; and that is to remind us that there is no change in Him or in heaven. Whatever changes there are here, we have access to heaven, and the point is to keep in accord with that and reflect it.

PHL Would you connect that with Psalm 45, “A Song of the Beloved”? “A sceptre of uprightness is the sceptre of thy kingdom ... therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee”, Psalm 45:6,7.

JT Indeed, I think the link with that book is helpful, because one of the verses read is at the end of that book. “The prayers of ^[p. 58] David the son of Jesse are ended”, Psalm 72:20. It is as if the king is already in evidence as the chapter indicates, and there is no longer need to pray. Everything is there infallibly in Christ.

CAM What significance is there in the fact that the Holy Spirit put David’s last words in this part of Scripture? They follow the words of the song in chapter 22, after God had delivered him out of the hands of all his enemies? God is his Rock. There is a striking difference between God’s ways and men’s ways, in that God would end with a song.

JT David wrote that song. It is a reminder of the history of Moses, the man who, as he was about to finish his testimony, wrote the song of Deuteronomy 32. He wrote it to order, apparently immediately, and then we have the blessing of the tribes in the next chapter. There seems to be a link between Moses and David viewed in their experiences, and it would challenge us as to whether we could do anything like that — write a celebration developing our history, and then occupying ourselves with others. Moses occupied himself in Deuteronomy 33 with the blessing of the tribes. He had written his song first and recited it too. Here, chapter 22 is apparently so well liked by David himself,

^[p. 44] as a spiritual composition, that he includes it in the first book of the Psalms. It is Psalm 18. Only there is an addition in the psalm to show that love prompted the writing of it. Here it is, “David spoke to Jehovah the words of this song in the day that Jehovah had delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies, and out of the hand of Saul. And he said, Jehovah is my rock”. In Psalm 18 he says, “I will love thee, O Jehovah, my strength”, Psalm 18:1. The introduction in 2 Samuel 22:1, is beautiful. In the first book of Psalms, Psalm 18:1, “I will love thee, O Jehovah, my strength”, is added to the song itself.

CAM It is very interesting as to Moses’ end being in a way parallel. Is it not important at the present time to stress how David followed Moses? Those two great personages stand out in a special way in the minds of the saints today.

JT Moses represents the ministerial side of the position in the testimony; he was faithful in all God’s house, a very great tribute to him. Moses had to do with God’s house and was faithful in all of it. David had to do with it too, but he fills the house with song. He is the sweet psalmist of Israel; so that when he is incorporating this song of chapter 22 in the Psalms, he gives us an added touch, the resolve to love Jehovah. You might say it is a vow in his soul — to love Jehovah. We are reminded in these two men of the finish of a life of faith, of the importance of finishing well. However we have got on at the outset and in middle life in the service, we must look to the finish. That is what one sees in these three passages, what David was at the end, how he was engaged with what a king should be. He had been one himself, but he does not assume to be the standard king, although he is regarded as that later by God; he speaks abstractly here about the king, and what he should be. He is occupied with that after he has finished his course. Moses was occupied with the blessing of the saints; he ^[p. 45] was fresh at one hundred and twenty years, “his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated”, Deuteronomy 34:7. David was decrepit at seventy years of age, but the first book of Chronicles draws a veil over that; we have in David an active spiritual servant in the end of this book of Chronicles. He is occupied in his last words with the young men, that they might begin younger in their service than previously.

ANW I suppose that, when he is speaking abstractly in the third person like this, he must have had Christ in his vision; whereas when he comes to verse 5 it would not apply to the Lord. He has to confess, “Although my house be not so before God”.

JT Yes; he has Christ in mind in these four verses; and also, of course Psalm 72 has Christ in mind under the head of Solomon, so that David says, “The prayers of David ... are ended”. Everything is verified in Christ.

FSC Have you in mind the closing days of the assembly here?

JT I was thinking as to our finish, whether it be the assembly or each of us. These two men are set before us in clearness of vision and maturity of judgment at the end of their ministry — David and Moses.

AR David and Moses were both morally greater at the end than they were at the beginning. Their whole history was cumulative.

JT Yes; that is the point, what we are at the end, and how accumulation of the fruits of the work of God ought to mark us, so that the very best is at the end.

JTJr Would Psalm 18 show how all must be worked out in individuals as having to do with God? David alludes to all the sorrows he had been through, and how God came in and took him out of them. “He reached forth from above, he took me, he drew me out of great waters”, verse 16. Is that not the secret of ending well, that you have a link with God ^[p. 46] individually?

JT The psalm depicts his own experience; and, as you say, it is full of the thought of what God was to him — “Jehovah is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my rock, in whom I will trust; my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower”, verse 2. The whole psalm is full of the deliverances of God, how God cares for His servants. It shows how qualified David was to speak of kingship, of what a king should be; that is, “the ruler among men”.

FHL Is it not because of the character of that rule that the young men of twenty can come into service, because peace has been established under such a king?

JT Just so; David would say in effect to the young men, You need not fear; I began as you are. He says in Psalm 37:25, “I have been young, and now am old”. He would say to the young, God can make you what He has made me. It is a question of what God can do with us. This wonderful psalm shows what God can do with a servant. I suppose that is why we have a life-sized picture of David in the Scriptures, to show what God can do with a young man, because David started very young; he slew Goliath as a young man, and he says in effect to the young men. You need not fear, it is all a question of dependence upon God.

ABP Would it be right to say that if any distinctive features develop in a saint, it is not necessarily with a view to having that saint prominent, but rather to create capacity to understand and express the features of perfection in Christ?

JT What Christ is, is thus brought near to us in one who is like ourselves. Of course Christ is brought near to us personally in the gospels; but then James speaks about men of like passions to ourselves, so that while young people are to look to the Lord and learn from Him, they are also to learn from saints more advanced than themselves; that is, in the sense of examples; and I think that a man like David is a model for the young men. He ^[p. 47] brings the features of Christ nearer and nearer to us, being a man of like passions to ourselves.

JS So that Paul would correspond to David, would he not, in the setting forth of Christ? He says, “Be my imitators, even as I also am of Christ”, 1 Corinthians 11:1.

JTJr Did he have that in mind in Acts 13? He alludes to David immediately as he and Barnabas move out in the formation of the assemblies. David was known to the Israelites as one who was lovely.

JT He is viewed as the man raised up in that chapter: God “raised up to them David”. When David was little in his own eyes, God took him from the sheepfolds and from following the flock, Psalm 78. If God raises up a man like that, He may raise up any of us, and it is for the sake of His people. So that in Acts 13, it is said that David served his own generation by the will of God; not by his own will or ambition, but by the will of God he served his own generation. I think he is a striking model as representing certain features of Christ, especially kingly features; and that is why one suggested this chapter that we might aspire to service by the will of God. He served by the will of God.

ANW He seems to acknowledge it here in verse 1, “the man who was raised up on high”. That is not resurrection, is it?

JT Christ also is said to be raised up in Israel, Acts 13:33, but He is raised up too from among the dead. Acts 13:34. The raising up in this sense as seen in David is that a brother addicts himself to the ministry and progresses in it in the power of the Spirit. He is not ambitious to be great outwardly; it is a question of the will of God. God takes him in hand, so that he is one raised up.

CAM Apparently there is a special meaning in this word, “saith”, 2 Samuel 23:1. What you say would awaken a desire in our souls to be able to say something at the end.

JT ^[p. 48] The word has oracular force. It is not only that it is an experienced man speaking; the word has an added force, signifying a formal pronouncement or speech, but it is this man saying it. Balaam uses the same word, “the man of opened eye saith”, Numbers 24:15; he says, such a one as that. God is in this saying manifestly, as indeed in Balaam’s case, because he could not have said the things he did if God had not helped him at the moment. David amplifies and qualifies what he says by saying, “The anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel saith, The Spirit of Jehovah spoke by me, and his word was on my tongue”. He “spoke by me”, David says, so that you are listening to a man who has experience; he has power to make this assertion, or address, in an oracular sense, and it is to the intent that it should come home with peculiar force to us.

ABP Did David’s experience as a king fit him to understand and receive this word?

JT I think so. He would revert to his own history no doubt. This word would be put into his mouth at the moment; but it is in the mouth of an experienced man. Balaam had no experience at all corresponding to what he uttered; it was a question therefore, of God holding him firmly, so that he could not say anything else save the word of God. David needed not to be held like that; he had been through the thing, and he is qualified to speak, but still God helped him to say this. He had already helped him, because it says, “The Spirit of Jehovah spoke by me, and his word was on my tongue”.

AR Balaam spoke things he did not like to say, whereas David’s soul is in what he is saying here.

JT You can see that. He judged himself as he continued; saying, “Although my house be not so before God ...”. What he says earlier is abstract, pointing to Christ.

CAM Do you think that is the beauty of the thing? Because in after years a man might give the impression,

^[p. 49] especially if he is long in speaking, that he is occupied with himself. But David, while to some extent occupying you with himself, really works in what he says to occupy you with Another — Christ.

JT Yes; you feel he is not occupying you with himself; although you are very thankful to know that some of these features marked him, verses 1 and 2 applying directly to him.

FHL Is that not the great divine end, that there might be the shining out of these features of Christ as formed in us, so that the presentation is really Christ?

JT That is the thought, and that He must rule; “the ruler among men”; not lording it over God’s heritage. Every brother in the assembly ought to rule to some extent, because that is the divine thought, that brothers should rule; but then, how is he to rule among men unless he rules himself? That is the first thing; you are not lording it over the brethren, you are one of them, even as Solomon. The king according to Deuteronomy was to be a brother. Paul was a brother although he ruled; his letters to Corinth are exemplary of this matter. He would sit down among the Corinthian brethren and talk to them as one of them; still, he had a rod; he could rule. There is great need for rule amongst the brethren, because often when things come up no one appears to lead in reaching a judgment; and often there is want of subjection to one another, and dissension. The point here is a ruler among men. Let others rule as well.

GVD Is it significant that Israel is mentioned two or three times, as if the saints themselves are princely?

JT That should mark our care meetings. God is honouring these meetings; they have a much greater place now than they used to have; and I think it is from the Corinthian standpoint that the thing has been developed: “If then ye have judgments as to things of this life, set those to judge who are little esteemed in the assembly”, 1 Corinthians 6:4. Let such judge business ^[p. 50] matters, matters of controversy; that is to suggest to us that the younger brethren, or those least esteemed, come into this matter of ruling among men; so that it is a question of having moral weight amongst the brethren, and in this we must be just in what we may say, “ruling in the fear of God”, verse 3.

JS In the world, we often see the spirit of antichrist. We should see the opposite to this, the spirit of Christ, amongst the saints.

JT I think that is what the Lord is effecting; although we are extremely obscure in the religious world, hardly known, still God has something of this kind where there is righteous rule. The brethren sit down and talk about things and arrive at a righteous judgment. Well, God has that over against all that is going on in the world; so the words here may be rendered as the note states, ‘a just ruler over mankind’. As I am among the brethren, I exert an influence for good over them. This marked the Lord with the disciples.

APT Would David give the lead to this thought of the care meeting when he came up from the sheepfold? He was very little esteemed; the other brethren want to shut him out apparently, but the kingly features were being developed there.

JT That is very beautiful. The first account we have of David is evidently by a young man, a servant of Saul. He says, he is “of good presence”, 1 Samuel 16:18. That would mean that he was influential in his presence; not only in what he said, but in his presence.

Eliab questioned him on the battlefield, as to why he came, saying that he came to see the battle. That is a sort of chiding to be expected from an elder brother who rests on his years. David says, “What have I now done? Was it not laid upon me?” 1 Samuel 17:29. As a matter of fact, his father had sent him. And then his brother says, What have you done with those few sheep? Well, he had left those with a keeper; he cared for the ^[p. 51] sheep; that is what marked David in his early days. His history is certainly most instructive, especially as to the sense of obligation to care for the saints. When general meetings come about, a brother arranges to go here or there, often without any inquiry as to who is not going; who is looking after the local affairs. The saints that cannot go have to be cared for. David is exemplary in that way; he left the sheep with a keeper.

APT How are we to know who is to stay behind?

JT We ought to find out from one another. We cannot leave things at loose ends in the city in which we are. The word in Timothy is, “How shall he take care of the assembly of God?” 1 Timothy 3:5. You cannot leave it without care.

ANW As to that word ‘among’, the apostle in Acts 20 reminds the elders that while they are over the flock, they are among them: “Take heed therefore to yourselves, and to all the flock, wherein the Holy Spirit has set you as overseers”, Acts 20:28.

JTJr Would the will of God come in, in that connection? “If the Lord will”, I will go to such and such a place. David ministered to the will of God.

JT James adds to that, “if ... we should live”, James 4:15. I suppose we have to put something more than mere physical life into the word “live”, for we could not move at all if we did not live in this sense. But associating life with the will of God lifts it to a higher plane. If a man says, I will go to sell and buy, leaving God out, that is his own will; there is no true life in that at all, but his saying, “If the Lord should so will and we should live”, shows there is life in the movement.

AAT I notice David says, “ruling in the fear of God”. Is the idea that he brings God in?

JT Clearly, because we have come “to God, judge of all”, Hebrews 12:23. The Judge of all the earth does right. So that we have to reckon with God in what we ^[p. 52] are doing.

AAT Is there any connection with Matthew 18:20, “For where two or three are gathered together unto my name, there am I in the midst of them”? Would that bring in the fear of the Person?

JT Quite so; we are gathered to His name, which would mean that what the name implies must govern us.

AAT It is quite a contrast to the kings of the world who generally have no fear of God before their eyes.

JT That is the point here. These truths are disregarded in the world, and of course those seeking to maintain them are hardly known, but still God has His own way of making things known “for a testimony to them”. If there are a few of His own in any town. He has them in His mind, and would help them to carry on according to these principles, and thus there is “a testimony to them”.

RWS Psalm 2 says, “And now, O kings, be ye wise, be admonished, ye judges of the earth. Serve Jehovah with fear, and rejoice with trembling”, Psalm 2:10,11.

JT That is good. And then it says something more: “Kiss the Son”, verse 12. That is the thing, bringing love into it. The Son is the King set in Zion, all the kings of the earth must come into that. It is not simply bowing down, perhaps with the heart far from Him, but kissing Him.

TW Will you say something more about that opening verse of Psalm 18: “I will love thee, O Jehovah”? Why was that necessary?

JT I think it is an adornment. David had resolved that he would love Jehovah. What a fine thing it is to come through an experience such as David depicts! It is not love for God in the ordinary theoretic way, but through experience, because of what you have found Him to be to you. It is an assertion, I should think, in ^[p. 53] view of the character of the book of Psalms. He prefaced the whole psalm with that word, “I will love thee, O Jehovah”.

TWH It is spoken to Jehovah personally.

JT Quite so; the psalm is a psalm “of David, the servant of Jehovah, who spoke to Jehovah the words of this song in the day that Jehovah had delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies and out of the hand of Saul”. It is in the day that he experienced his deliverances granted him by Jehovah; that is, he is recounting his experience, but he prefaced the psalm with the thought, “I will love thee, O Jehovah, my strength”. How can he refrain from saying that in the light of what is in the song, of what God has been to him?

CN You did not read verses 6 and 7. I just wanted to inquire as to the sons of Belial. There are those who rule among men without the fear of God.

JT “Although my house be not so before God, yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in every way and sure; for this is all my salvation, and every desire, although he make it not to grow”. This is David’s unalterable confidence in God on the ground of an everlasting covenant — “all my salvation, and every desire”. “But the sons of Belial are all of them as thorns thrust away, because they cannot be taken with hands; and the man that will touch them provideth himself with iron and the staff of a spear”, 2 Samuel 23:5 - 7. That is the sort of thing that is current. They cannot be taken with hands; they are as thorns thrust away.

CN “And they shall be utterly burned with fire in their place”.

JT That shows how utterly worthless they are.

CN In view of this, the moral qualifications in the first two verses are of the greatest importance. Would you mind saying a word about the God of Israel and the Rock of Israel in verse 3?

JT “The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spoke to me”. The God (Elohim) who created is now the God of Israel, according to the history entering into this. He is the One to be worshipped. The word Rock has a great place with David and particularly in these chapters. From the New Testament we know that that Rock is Christ; it is a foundational thought; the whole position of Israel is on that firm foundation.

JTJr The word ‘saith’ here suggests the help we need in the ministry meetings. “The God of Israel said”, verse 3 — “his word was on my tongue”, verse 2. In the ministry meetings, there should be evidence when a brother is speaking, that he has something from God; it is coming from God, there is no doubt about it.

JT It ought to bring in the sense of reverence and supremacy in our souls if it is a word from God. “The Rock of Israel spoke”. As the Rock is speaking you are made to feel that you are on a firm footing; you are on firm ground; “The firm foundation of God stands”.

CAM Would the allusion to the Rock in Corinthians connect with what you were saying earlier about ruling among men? It seems to be quite a test to us as to our influence over others. In Corinth, while they were reigning as kings the apostle Paul took a totally different attitude, so that he conveyed an impression of God. You have connected what the apostle wrote in Corinthians with the use of the linen towel in John 13: instead of wearing the cloth, as the clergy do and as we are likely to do, there is a way of exercising an influence that really gives an impression of what the Lord did in His great service to the disciples.

JT Quite so; thus it is there, when Judas went out, that you get the statement of the Lord, “Now is the Son of man glorified”, John 13:31. That is moral glory shining as Judas was going out to betray Him. The chapter is full of moral glory, the glory of the Son of man; but the acme of it would be that He was about to suffer death. Judas going out was the signal that that was about to happen: “Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God be glorified in him, God also shall glorify him in himself, and shall glorify him immediately”, John 13:32; that is, that Man must be glorified at once. It is the lowly Man, who goes down. His greatness is seen in going down. He is sure to have influence wherever He goes, as the soldiers said, “Never man spake like this man”. If a sister is sick of a fever, she is sure to be difficult to get on with. He stands over her, that is, His moral greatness is to impress her, and the fever leaves her, so that she arises and serves. That is what is so needed, moral weight amongst the brethren, so that you acquire power with men; power with God too. You are not asserting yourself, it is simply what you are; that is what is needed — influence for good among men. God gives it to you, and what you are with God, you are with men.

JS I was thinking of Pilate whose rule was without the fear of God. The Lord put him in his right place: “Thou hadst no authority whatever against me if it were not given to thee from above”, John 19:11.

JT Quite so; Pilate had no moral authority, nothing in himself at all. It was only official.

AAT In connection with the ruling of ten cities, is that the kind of rule we are speaking of now?

JT I think so; according to what you are now you will be then. Rule in the millennium will be on that principle of influence.

ABP You spoke earlier about the least esteemed having part in the judgment of a business matter; is that because the least esteemed is assumed to be grounded in righteousness?

JT Yes; there may also be some allusion to their manners at Corinth. The leaders were big men, ruling as kings. They were likely to say of a lowly brother not in sympathy with them, He is nothing, he is of no account at all. You do not like to hear that amongst the ^[p. 56] brethren. Paul would say of one, they so regarded, Let him rule in this matter.

ANW As having no personal motives, he would be unprejudiced and unbiased.

JT He would not belong to one of the cliques at Corinth.

FNW Would the anointing come into this?

JT Yes; that is God’s side. It means that God loves the man David and trusts him, so that He commits Himself to him. God is committed to him in anointing him, so that He says, “I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man after my heart, who shall do all my will”, Acts 13:22. He committed Himself to him so that you cannot set that man aside; God will stand by him.

CN Does verse 4 show how great his influence would be?

JT That is good; “And he shall be as the light of the morning, like the rising of the sun, a morning without clouds; when from the sunshine, after rain, the green grass springeth from the earth”, 2 Samuel 23:4. That is what he is like. It is really the Lord Himself. What a beautiful metaphor it is! All this points to the coming day of glory that we ought to be intensely desirous of seeing as loving the appearing of Christ. It will all come out there. As we had earlier, He sits on the throne of His glory. Glory is the foundation of that throne; the moral glory of Christ is underneath; so in Psalm 72, where Solomon is seen as a type of Christ in millennial glory, we can understand why it says that David’s prayers are ended.

AAT You are emphasising prayer.

JT Well, he was a man of great prayer. Prayer of course, arises from need; so that it would be prayer in regard to influencing things rightly amongst the saints.

APT Would Joshua, Solomon, and Timothy be like this in exercising influence? The psalm begins, “O God, give the king thy judgments, and thy righteousness unto the king’s son”, Psalm 72:1. I wondered whether there was any thought of this being carried on amongst us.

JT That is the whole point running through the Psalms; “He will judge thy people with righteousness, and thine afflicted with judgment. The mountains shall bring peace to the people, and the hills, by righteousness. He will do justice to the afflicted of the people; he will save the children of the needy, and will break in pieces the oppressor. They shall fear thee as long as sun and moon endure, from generation to generation. He shall come down like rain on the mown grass, as showers that water the earth. In his days shall the righteous flourish, and abundance of peace till the moon be no more. And he shall have dominion from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth”, Psalm 72:2 - 8.

AC Referring to David as a man of prayer realising his need, what is the significance of “The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended”, coming in at the close of this second book of Psalms?

JT Although the king is mentioned in the first book very strikingly, the second book brings out the king reigning in the Solomonic feature of kingship. It is perfection of royalty and rule, so that it has Christ in mind, and there is nothing more to pray for. You have everything there, you cannot add to what is there. Verse 15 — “prayer shall be made for him continually” — indicates how the king is regarded by his subjects, and would not weaken David’s estimate of Christ.

AC In closing the first book David said, “Blessed be Jehovah, the God of Israel, from eternity to eternity! Amen, and Amen”. Psalm 41:13.

JT The end of the second book is more full. “Blessed be Jehovah Elohim, the God of Israel, who alone doeth wondrous things! And blessed be his glorious name for ever! and let the whole earth be filled with his glory! Amen, and Amen. The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended”, Psalm 72:18 - 20.

JS Is it because David has the glory of Christ so before him — the whole earth filled with His glory — that he can say his prayers are ended?

JT I think so. We may apply it to our own apprehension; all is perfect in Christ above. The second book finishes in this way; it would refer to what is in heaven; you cannot add anything to what is in heaven. At Pentecost the Holy Spirit came down from a perfect condition of things up there, but then the believer looks around on Jerusalem and on the earth generally, and sees how awful conditions are, how perfectly incongruous with what is up there! You need prayer down here, Asaph is overwhelmed by the way things are: he says, in Psalm 73:3 - 8, “For I was envious at the arrogant, seeing the prosperity of the wicked. For they have no pangs in their death, and their body is well nourished; they have not the hardships of mankind, neither are they plagued like other men: therefore pride encompasseth them as a neck-chain, violence covereth them as a garment; their eyes stand out from fatness, they exceed the imaginations of their heart: they mock and speak wickedly of oppression, they speak loftily”. This is all going on now, and how are you going to reconcile this with the previous psalm where the prayers are finished? Well, the man is overwhelmed till he finds in the holiest that which corresponds with what is above. He says, “Until I went into the sanctuaries of God; then understood I their end”, Psalm 73:17. It is in the sanctuary that I get what corresponds with what is up there. Perfection is up there; you do not need to pray for anything up there. I get into the sanctuary and see that God is going to bring everything down here into accord with what is up there, and that sets me at rest in my mind.

CAM All David’s anticipations of glory are realised in Solomon — the Son — typically Christ. When ^[p. 59] we reach the end of all this experience, these prayers, etc., a question arises, how is the purpose of God to be reached and continued here livingly in a suitable way?

JT Book 3 of Psalms shows us that what is down here is incongruous with what is up there; wicked men are flourishing and the psalmist says, I was overwhelmed about it until I went into the sanctuaries of God. Then I understood. In truth, Book 3 means that everything down here is to be brought into accord with what is up there; but we have to go through the thing and get to God. We have not yet finished our prayers on this line; so that we go into the sanctuaries of God and understand there the end of all the present violence; all that is going on today must come to an end.

FNW Would 2 Corinthians 3:18 correspond with what you have said? Looking on the glory of the Lord we are transformed according to the same image; but later in the epistle, sad conditions are contemplated in the assembly, some walking according to their own will.

ANW You would not want to hear prayer after the Supper. Is it not after the Supper normally that we touch conditions like this?

JT I think that is right. We have gone into heavenly places.

FHL Would not Hannah touch something like this when a son came to light? She exulted in God.

JT That passage you allude to is poetical, beginning with “Hannah prayed” 1 Samuel 2:1; but there is not a word of prayer in it, evidently, because she is on too elevated a plane for prayer. There may be some suggestion of prayer in principle, but it is rather a song; it is a remarkable contribution to the service of God. In the assembly we rise to the heavens: “... and has raised us up together, and has made us sit down together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus”, Ephesians 2:6. In this part of the service it is not the time for prayer, but for worship,

^[p. 60] and you go out on that note into the sphere of ordinary responsibility. Going out thus we have power in the world.

Rem How beautifully the apostle ends up in Ephesians! “To him be glory in the assembly in Christ Jesus unto all generations of the age of ages. Amen”, Ephesians 3: 21.

APT At the Lord’s supper, is there an anticipation of the millennium in our hearts? Everything has been secured in Christ.

JT That is the thing. One great feature of the service in the assembly is to come to that in an experimental way; thus you go out as a man of power. In the service you come to perfection; you come to everything finished immutably in Christ.

ABP Is that a result of the covenant?

JT The new covenant comes into the Supper and tends to liberate us; but our being raised up together and made to sit down together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus implies the status we have up there.

AB Is that in the sanctuary?

JT It involves that. It is only those who have the power to enter the sanctuary who come to that. The power to enter the sanctuary underlies all assembly service; it is an individual experience you acquire. Like Asaph, in Psalm 73, he was oppressed until he went into the sanctuaries of God. How he came to go into them is not stated, because he was not a priest; he was a Levite. I suppose he was a real priest in his soul. This ability to enter the sanctuaries of God underlies all the service of God.

AR I thought Psalm 73 included the prayer meeting.

JT It would. The prayer meeting involves that we have access to God.

ANW The word used is the plural, sanctuaries, Does that include the holy of ^[p. 61] holies?

JT I suppose so. I suppose he alludes to what then existed.

CAM You have emphasised that the connection with the Minister of the sanctuary really involves heaven; and this matter of peace, of millennial conditions entered into in our spirits in the morning meeting, is really prior to our entering into what is wholly heavenly and eternal.

JT That is right. It is “from glory to glory”.

AR Do you not think we touch perfection in Christ, in the assembly? The more that affects us, the more we seek to bring the saints into it.

JT Just so; we were speaking of it the other day, and one was impressed with the fact that the first day of the week begins with glory. The first “first day of the week” began with the Father raising the Son by His glory. What a suggestion that is, governing that whole day! But then all the saints must be brought to that, and the Lord goes out to do it. He appears to Mary Magdalene, a most devoted woman, but she has not the light of the glory in her soul; yet the day begins with that. So also the two on the way to Emmaus are brought back to that; the whole day is filled out with bringing all into the light of the glory. The last service in John 20 is late in the evening; the day is finished, you might say, and it is the brightest part of the whole service.

Well now, the verse in 1 Chronicles should not be overlooked. It is to bring in the young brothers and sisters. David, an old man passing away, is so full of the service that he says in effect, All the young people must be in this. Here we are at this meeting; called a special meeting. Young people predominate as to numbers. What are their motives in coming to these meetings? Is there any social side to it? Do they come to see one another? Have they in mind to see the old brothers and old sisters too, or do they just come as young people to see one another? May be they wait ^[p. 62] until the meeting is over, thinking that is the best time. Well now, David would say, I have you in mind for levitical service. These are my last words about it, and all the twenty-year old ones are to enter into this. There must surely be some spiritual thought in a man like David saying this, because it is not said that he got a word from Jehovah. According to what is written, it is what David says; it was not, Thus saith Jehovah. It is what David says in his last words. It is a man of great experience in the service of God, reaching to a type of Christ, saying, Bring the young people into the light and power of spirituality in service; make true Levites of them.

FHI What does the age twenty suggest?

JT It suggests that at least you have the Spirit. Numbers says that for levitical service you must be at least twenty-five; but the general age for this service in Numbers is thirty, which means more than having the Spirit. Numbers says the military men are to be from twenty years old and upward, but the Levites must be thirty; only there is a clause in Numbers 8:24, that lets them in at twenty-five. David says, Bring them all in at twenty. What does that mean? That is an experienced man talking, and he tells us he has been young and now he is old, and he says in effect, Why should you not bring them in? It is their opportunity; but let them be among the old people. Solomon was sitting on the throne with David; he was quite young. It is not the young with the young, and the old with the old, but the young and the old together.

AR Like the ass and the colt, in Matthew 21:2.

FHL Did Moses have this in mind when the youths were sent up to offer to Jehovah in Exodus 24:5? He would be with them.

JT Quite so.

AR 1 Chronicles 23:28 says, “For their place was by the side of the sons of Aaron for the service of the house of Jehovah”. It is not only that they might serve, but to be by the side of the sons of Aaron, the priests.

JT It is remarkable instruction. The scholar and the teacher are put together in 1 Chronicles 25:8.