LOCAL POSITION OF THE TESTIMONY MERGING INTO THE GENERAL
[p. 312] LOCAL POSITION OF THE TESTIMONY MERGING INTO THE GENERAL
Luke 4:16 - 32; John 6:59 - 65; John 7:2 - 14
JT These scriptures may help us to gather up the truth as to the local position of the testimony, merging into the general position, specially with regard to the ministry at Nazareth, the local position, the place to which the Lord belonged, then at Capernaum where He dwelt, and finally at Jerusalem which would represent the general or public position of the testimony, where He taught in the temple.
This well-known passage in Luke furnishes facts that bear on these remarks and support them. The Lord was already serving; verse 15 tells us He taught in their synagogues; attention is thus called to Him as the Teacher, then He came to Nazareth where He was brought up. In service we are peculiarly tested in relation to the place where we are brought up; then again, one brought up in a locality is taken up by God to represent Him in some way in the place, to bring in divine thoughts there, and to bring them in according to God, in a suitable way, so as to draw forth as far as possible the approval of the people in the place, not to antagonise them. If the truth does that, we have to leave it, but the vessel is to enhance the truth in the town or city.
The thought is not to bring out the truth in a general way from these passages, but to show how God would cause His light to shine in any town or city, and the responsibility of those whom He may use to adorn or enhance it, not to discredit it. If there is hardness of heart we learn what may be looked for.
Rem Does Luke particularly bring out the thought of commending the truth, the kind of [p. 313] ministry which would appeal to the brethren, while with John there is what is authoritative as to Christ and His glory, and which would produce opposition?
JT Well, this passage in Luke brings in opposition, too, in a striking way, affecting not so much the disciples but people generally in the town, whereas in John 6 the disciples are affected, they murmur. I think we see by comparison that the truth was deeper and fuller at Capernaum and the disciples say, “This word is hard; who can hear it?”
AJG Does the anointing play a great part in the commendation of the truth?
JT That is the thought presented in Luke, not in John, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me”. A ministry in public calls for the anointing; whereas according to John’s standpoint, the Person is in view, who He is. We have to keep these two lines in mind. There is the anointing for service, ensuring that the testimony comes into a town in a dignified way.
PL “What manner of entering in we had unto you”. 1 Thessalonians 1:9 The Spirit of God says of Paul in Thessalonica that “he went in among them”, Acts 17:2. He did not hold himself apart in any clerical way, but was as one of themselves there. The “manner of our entering in” would be in keeping with that. “On three sabbaths reasoned with them from the scriptures, opening and laying down that the Christ must have suffered ...”. Acts 17:2,3. It shows how calculating the minister is to be. The results carry the assembly forward in the place. All is carried on by the apostle in the assemblies afterwards according to the Lord’s manner in Luke 4 in Nazareth. The Lord would bring out the thought of how one is in the place where he is brought up, how He can take such an one and bring His testimony in through him, so as to assure the inhabitants that He is thinking of them [p. 314] and would thus honour them indeed, but not to make them local, though they remained local in Luke 4 after the Lord had spoken to them. The truth of God, whilst recognising our bringing up and our histories, would steadily lead us out of all that into the general position of our calling. Hence the “assembly of Thessalonians”: 1 Thessalonians 1:1, 2 Thessalonians 2:1 they were called Thessalonians, the Galatians were called Galatians, but the calling of God would take us out of all that.
PHH Would you say a little more about the thought of where we have been brought up?
JT The Lord is known here, known in the place. He knew those whom He addressed after He had spoken; it says He knew their thoughts: they were Nazarenes like Himself. He was called a Nazarene; they were the same, the inhabitants of the same town, so that the Lord knew their thoughts. They say, ‘Do here what you did in Capernaum, add to our town’ — but God meets that with this beautiful presentation of the truth in that town. The Lord had spoken in many towns, but the Spirit of God does not tell us so much about any town as about Nazareth, simply to bring this out, how God would have us adorn the truth in that place.
Rem According to John, Nazareth is discredited, “Can any good come out of Nazareth?” John 1:46.
JT God’s view of a town is different from man’s view. Nathaniel would never say that again. God’s thoughts are not as our thoughts. If a place is under reproach it is all the more necessary that the truth should be brought out by one brought up there. God would have us adorn the truth in our own place and adorn it in the home setting, too.
Rem It is necessary for us to fill our place in our own locality before we can move out further.
JT Yes. One is to be known as ‘one in the place’; you are commendable there. Paul says, “Certain also of your own poets have said ...”, Acts 17:28 and we [p. 315] should be people like that, people that God can refer to: one of your own has said it, he spoke the truth well.
EG Does this come out in Titus 2: in all their behaviour and relationships they may adorn the doctrine?
JT Just so, every one of us, even the slave, can do that.
Ques Does this section stand in relation to teaching rather than preaching?
JT Both, but particularly teaching. First, how one is in a town according to God: God can refer to him. In the day of judgment God will refer to these matters; whether it be Nazareth, Capernaum or Jerusalem, God will bring up all these matters, how things have been said and by whom they have been said. In the day of judgment it will be more tolerable for Sodom than for Capernaum.
Rem Is Epaphras referred to in Colossians in this way: “One of you”? Colossians 4:12. Had he the necessary qualifications?
JT A very good example.
PHH Would Samson be an example of what you are saying? It says, “The child grew, and Jehovah blessed him. And the Spirit of Jehovah began to move him at Mahaneh-Dan, between Zoreah and Eshtaol”, Judges 13:24,25 his own locality. Does that bear on our bringing up in a locality?
JT It does indeed. Timothy too had a good testimony among the brethren. As a child he knew the Holy Scriptures; he followed the faith of his mother and grandmother. It was a great matter for the town that he was there; he carried on what his mother and grandmother had, and could give effect to it, fitted by the knowledge of the Scriptures. Hence the importance of households having family readings with the children, so that they develop into vessels in a position where God can use them as [p. 316] adorning what they have heard and learned — gift usually comes in on those lines.
Rem The Lord went down with His parents and was subject to them in chapter 2.
JT Yes, He went down to this very place. Now all this is coming out in a Person and in His ministry.
AJG Is the testimony effective, not only by what is read and said, but by the whole demeanour and actions of the person? The Spirit of God engages us with every detail as to the Lord here: His standing up, unrolling the book, and so on, and the eyes of all in the synagogue being fastened on Him.
JT That is what I was thinking. How beautiful the whole picture is! One can visualise it. The synagogue would be a suggestion of the local gathering. At Nazareth they had the idea presented to them in perfection, how things were to be done, how the Scriptures were to be read: the Lord stood up to do it. In our Bible readings the reading of the scripture is not a mere formal thing, the Scripture ought to be read with unction by one who has known it from a child, one who values it and reads with feeling and power. In some gatherings quite young brothers are allowed, or asked, to read, but the question is, do they read it according to the pattern? What a moment this was! He stood up to read, entering into the synagogue to do so according to His custom; that it was His custom ought to be noticed: What was in His mind was to read.
Rem We get the thought in Nehemiah: they read in the law of God distinctly and gave the sense (Nehemiah 8:8).
JT The man read to be heard, he was on a pulpit of wood for that purpose, and there were persons there with him to support him. Stress is laid on the occasion, it was a public occasion; the second day was not that; and much is made of how things were [p. 317] done, and how the sense of the Scriptures was conveyed. Ezra read himself and others joined with him, making the occasion a profitable one, leading up to another occasion which was on a higher level spiritually.
Rem Our gatherings need to be invested with this kind of dignity; apart from this there is not adequate testimony.
JT So attention is called to the reading, the ear has to be attentive to the reading — the Lord stood up to read Himself. “And having rolled up the book ... he sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed upon him”. There was something there that would never be forgotten by anyone who had divine sensibilities, not simply because of who was reading, but how it was read; all that entered into the occasion.
AB The force of the scripture would be impressed by the spiritual touch in the reading.
PHH The thought of the scribe and of the priest is combined in Ezra. Are you suggesting that this spiritual feature should be with us in connection with reading?
JT The priest’s lips keep knowledge, whether it is speaking or reading, not his mind merely; though knowledge enters into his way of doing things. Divine sensibilities in the one who reads miss nothing of what is in the scripture.
Rem In Matthew it says He went up into a mountain and sat down and opened His mouth and taught them.
JT Peter too alludes to his own mouth — “The nations by my mouth should hear the word of the glad tidings”, Acts 15:7. The anointing attaches to the mouth.
AB Preceding public speaking, Ezra had directed his heart to seek the law of Jehovah and to do it (Ezra 7:[p. 318] 10).
JT And we have his genealogy; it is traced right back.
Rem Household reading is very important. Complaints are made that children do not get what they want in our readings.
JT It would be very much more honest if parents challenged their hearts as to how they had taught their children. The Lord at twelve years old understood. He is the pattern. Fathers and mothers very often leave everything to the meeting with regard to their children.
Rem Exodus shows how the foundations are laid in the household, a Iamb for a house.
CH The local setting is emphasised in that the people say, “Is not this the son of Joseph?” They knew all about Him, His sisters and parents.
JT That is the point. They noticed this. Then they go on to say, “Physician, heal thyself; whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country”. If that is the kind of result from the teaching there is really no effect; they are only thinking of their locality. These general meetings are apt to become merely local occasions and what there is in them for the assembly in a general way is hardly thought of. The Lord’s remarks would deliver us from that. If we have a great occasion in London it is not to add to London or to anyone there. The Lord may have to say to us as to what we are thinking about in our big meetings: they say, “Whatsoever ... has taken place in Capernaum”. Why did they not say they were thankful for what He had done in Capernaum? It is their own country that is in their minds. The Lord would say to them, ‘That is not the thought at all’. God was honouring them by presenting such a testimony to them, but the Lord brings in what had happened of old in the days of Elijah and Elisha, and thus exposed what was in their hearts, undue local [p. 319] feelings. They were enraged — He was cutting across their feelings and their desires.
PHH Does that mean that, while allowing fully for the local setting, you would always have in mind the general position, what relates to a wider sphere?
JT If the occasion has not contributed to the general state of the assembly it has been a failure.
PHH In Corinthians Paul says, “We have no such custom, nor the assemblies of God”. 1 Corinthians 11:16.
JT That is the idea. What is ministered in any place ought to help generally and those in the place should not think of themselves in the thing, but the whole assembly.
Ques Does Ephesians 4 give the right outlook — “Until we all arrive ...”? The Lord is on high and has given gifts for “the edifying of the body of Christ, until we all arrive ...” Ephesians 4:12,13.
JT We see how God acts sovereignly. If we make things too local He will move out. They were all filled with rage, ignoring entirely how they had admired Him, and showing how local they were. “Rising up they cast him forth ... but he ... descended to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and taught them on the sabbaths. And they were astonished at his doctrine, for his word was with authority”. Evidently they were going to get more here. The Lord is leaving one city where He has been persecuted and going to another, and John opens up to us something of the results. Matthew says that the Lord left Nazareth and dwelt in Capernaum. He had a house there. It is not now the Babe, nor the Boy brought up, but One who lives there, One who may be seen in the streets every day, He is known. He descended to Capernaum, a six hundred feet drop; it would not be a comfortable place to dwell, I suppose. If I move my dwelling, is it for my own convenience or for the testimony’s sake?
If for the testimony’s sake, it will probably be to my own disadvantage materially.
PHH The Lord says, “Thou, Capernaum, who hast been raised up to heaven”. Luke 10:15. Is that the advantage that Capernaum had by the Lord coming down?
JT It was made greater than Nazareth; it was enhanced by such a Man dwelling there. In Matthew’s account it says that light sprang up there (Matthew 4:16). That is very beautiful and instructive as entering into what we are saying. Light springs up; it is not presented as coming down, it would all arise from what the Lord was in the place, how He lived there.
PHH It is a reference to what was there.
JT There was substance behind it; light springs up out of what is substantial. In Genesis it is, “Let there be light”, Genesis 1:3 but in John, “In him was life, and the life was the light of men”; John 1:4 a substantial thought is behind it. In Capernaum, if the Lord lived in any house or street, the light would be diffused every time He moved. John shows the result of all this. “These things he said in the synagogue, teaching in Capernaum”. What is the effect? “Many therefore of his disciples having heard it said, This word is hard; who can hear it?” The Lord says, “Does this offend you? If then ye see the Son of man ascending up ... ? It is the Spirit which quickens, the flesh profits nothing”. He is not appealing to the natural mind. It is a definite service by the great Teacher going on in the place, but He is not satisfying murmurers. He is teaching, not simply to be understood by the natural mind, but in relation to the Spirit of God.
PHH “Communicating spiritual things by spiritual means”. 1 Corinthians 2:13.
JT He is not descending to the natural mind, not whittling the truth down to make it acceptable to the natural mind; one would prostitute the truth if one did that. He says, “If then ye see the Son of man ascending up where he was before?”
[p. 321] That did not illuminate them any more than before, so the Lord says, “It is the Spirit which quickens, the flesh profits nothing ... . No one can come to me unless it be given to him from the Father. From that time many of his disciples went away back and walked no more with him”. This describes what is frequently the position; the truth is more than people can receive. They will go a long way so long as they can receive things through their natural minds, but a time comes when they murmur. The truth is, they are tired of the thing; the ministry is not flattering them, they are not satisfied, they have not found what they sought, something to build them up in their own way. It is the cause of many withdrawing; the truth is too much for them. Peter sets out the position — “Thou hast words of life eternal”. John 6:68. The Lord is not making it one bit easier for the natural mind; He is not gratifying it at all, in fact, He is going further. The Son of man ascending up — do we follow that? It is the Spirit that quickens; we need quickening. It is what every christian ought to know, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” John 6:52 Such questions denote the lack of a spiritual mind, and there is no hope of getting on without that. We are really better without the murmurers; they are hindering. There are people who begin to murmur in the meetings; they do not understand, they have come among us for something which they fail to find. Jesus says to the twelve, “Will ye also go away?” John 6:67. He had ever the thought of the twelve, the brethren, as available at any time when called upon. The meeting must go on, the service of God must go on; that is the idea of the twelve, those who can move together, not jealous of one another. “Will ye also go away?” Then Peter comes in and answers the Lord’s questions. “Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast words of life eternal; and we have believed and known that thou art the holy one of God”. John 6:67,68.
[p. 322] There is a man that has been learning and who knows what to say.
PHH Would that fit in with your remarks about being qualified for ascension? Had Peter the idea that there was One there who could go into the sanctuary in connection with the service of God, “the holy one of God”? I wondered if it was a reference to Aaron, the saint of the Lord.
JT That would include Paul’s doctrine. Paul qualifies us to ascend. Peter’s remark shows that he had been learning all the time; he would be ready for anything further, for the line of ascension: “Raised us up together, and has made us sit down together in the heavenlies”. Ephesians 2:6. Peter would be ready for that. The Lord can take up any one of the twelve. If there is anyone He cannot use He makes it known; it is disclosed. We have to be ready for this test.
Rem J.N.D. has a note with reference to verse 67 to the effect that the word ‘will’ implies not simply the act but the will or disposition to do it: ‘Is it your will or disposition?’ ‘Do ye also wish to go away?’ The Authorised Version does not give the full thought of this passage. Peter says, “We have believed and known that thou art the holy one of God”. John 6:68 Why is the name of Simon Peter used?
JT Simon Peter was the name he had acquired in the testimony. It was the man that learned himself. In his second epistle he speaks of himself as Simon Peter. “When thou shalt be old”, the Lord says, “thou shalt stretch forth thy hands”. John 21:18. There was complete resignation to the will of God, when he was old.
PHH Whoever may be turning away in our localities, we are to go on to the height involved in Paul’s teaching.
[p. 323] AJG Does that bring to light the work of God in the place?
JT John is on the line of “Thou shalt see greater things”, John 1:50 a line that supports Paul, whose great thought in his ministry is that we are united to Christ, raised up together, made to sit down together in the heavenlies in Christ.
If there is no quickening with persons they are an incubus. If there are murmurers they may as well go; not that we want anyone to go away, but John speaks of things as they are. Luke would say, Do all you can to retain them, but John deals with things in the abstract.
Rem F.E.R. spoke of our dragging unwilling people along with us.
JT “Will ye also go away?” John 6:67 — the Lord was ready even for that, but how delightful is Peter’s answer; this is not a revelation, it is the outcome of what he had believed and known; it is the work of God.
Ques Is Paul’s service, when he spent three years among the saints in Ephesus, on this line?
JT It shows that all should be done to save. Plenty of time was given by Paul. The letters to Corinth would show how far grace will go, just as Luke does.
PL Departure furnishes the dark environment for betrayal; the betrayal of Christ enters largely into it.
JT Judas is called a devil; it is a solemn thing. If I have been a preacher or a teacher I have had a trust, and betrayal of that is of the character of Judas’s course, the betrayal of a trust.
PHH In chapter 7 His brethren say, “Manifest thyself to the world”.
JT This is what relatives, if they are not spiritual, will do for you. The suggestion is, ‘Make something of yourself’, but they really mean, ‘Make something [p. 324] of us — we want to benefit by your prominence’. Ambition and pride lay behind it all. They could not have been converted then; it is a sorry picture. The Lord refused to go in identification with His brethren.
AJG “The world cannot hate you”, the Lord says, showing what they were then.
JT The Lord indicated He was not going up with them. It says, He went up in secret, incognito, but He soon becomes known. “When it was now the middle of the feast, Jesus went up into the temple and taught”. He does not want publicity, but He wants to teach publicly. Whatever we have in our meetings belongs to the whole assembly.
PL The circle of testimony widens: Nazareth, Capernaum, and finally the temple, in spite of every combination to narrow it down.
JT We see this in chapter 7, a crucial chapter. The Lord carries on His ministry there and He goes up in secret, for the truth must reach the public ear. “Great the host of the publishers”. Psalm 68:11.
Rem There is a difference between recognition of the public side and the seeking of publicity.
JT “In the last ... day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried saying, If anyone thirst, let him come to me and drink ... this he said concerning the Spirit”. The positive thing is here for all those who believe on Him. I think the Lord would help us on these lines. Whatever He is giving us belongs to the public position.
AJG In this chapter there seems to be, in spite of the general hostility, an undercurrent of exercise and enquiry. Is that what we may look for?
JT We may reckon on the spirit of enquiry so long as the Holy Spirit is here.
PHH Does the crying stand over against going up secretly? The thing must go on; it is a matter of [p. 325] urgency.
JT He cries twice in this chapter. See verse 28: “Ye both know me and ye know whence I am”. The Lord is known, who He is. He cries about that. In the abstract He is known. And then He cries about the rivers of living water.
Rem There is no denying the authority of the ministry.
Rem Crying involves feeling entering into the matter.
Rem The prophetic word becomes known outside. If you think of Micaiah, he was hated on account of his prophetic ministry, it was well known, there was no denying its power.
JT The first cry is, “Ye both know me and ye know whence I am”. In spite of the blatant apostasy He is known, there is comfort in that. Then there is the positive thing for man, the positive blessing of the Spirit, the living water.
PL The position is defined in the Lord’s Person; and the wonderful character of His administration in the two cries set over against the apostasy today.