SPIRITUAL INSTRUCTION FOR PART IN THE ASSEMBLY (1)
[p. 167] SPIRITUAL INSTRUCTION FOR PART IN THE ASSEMBLY (1)
Luke 23: 55, 56; Luke 24:1 - 12; Luke 24:28
JT These scriptures are known in measure to us, and are suggested now because they indicate the great pains taken, divinely, to lead the saints not only into faith, but into spirituality. We are to be in the assembly only according to divine guidance and instruction. Luke’s gospel, being priestly in character, presents the Lord as concerned sympathetically with us, taking account of that to which we are all prone. This latter may not appear on the surface, but it is really what hinders us from understanding the spiritual side of the position. Even joy of a kind may hinder. “While they yet did not believe for joy”, Luke says (chapter 24: 41). The Lord discerned that in them and would adjust it.
I thought we might notice first what we have already dwelt upon; how saints may be outwardly regulated by the commandments of the Lord, as in 1 Corinthians, in the external ordering of the assembly, and yet be wanting as to faith and as to what had been presented in doctrine and teaching. The scriptures just read indicate this, and also show how we are helped into a spiritual apprehension of the truth. “It came to pass as they were in perplexity about it, that behold, two men suddenly stood by them in shining raiment”, Luke 24: 4. These men represent the spiritual and heavenly side.
CCE This is not quite the same setting as in Mark where the Lord reproaches them with their unbelief and hardness of heart. Mark is severe in his treatment.
JT Luke is more sympathetic in his feelings and they are dealt with less severely. In Mark, it is a question of preachers or ministers, while Luke has in view the assembly and so takes up the thought of public order and position, and he stresses the necessity of being marked by spirituality. The underlying state of the [p. 168] persons concerned is more apparent. The women are said in Luke 23: 55 to be those “who had come along with him out of Galilee”, and “having followed, saw the sepulchre and how his body was placed”. Then the two men remind them — “remember how he spoke to you, being yet in Galilee” (verse 6). The women in Luke are not so wanting as Mark presents them. “They remembered his words; and, returning from the sepulchre, related all these things to the eleven and to all the rest”. There is more definiteness in what they do than in Mark’s account. In Luke’s record, the Lord is presented as our High Priest and sympathetic towards us. And thus this gospel is applicable today when souls are being graciously helped as to the assembly. Great sympathy and consideration is needed for them. Severity is not the note touched. In individual cases the Lord is severe enough, but here it is as walking with them, as loving to be with them. It is remarkable what a long section, verses 13 - 35, is taken up in recording the Lord’s service in love to secure two who were going down to Emmaus.
FJF “Shall two walk together except they be agreed?” Amos 3: 3. There were two agreed to go the wrong way. How often we need adjustment even as walking together. We may not be walking in the light.
JT It has not the character of “if two of you shall agree on the earth concerning any matter, whatsoever it may be that they shall ask, it shall come to them from my Father who is in the heavens”, Matthew 18: 19. This is what is to characterise two of the assembly. An agreement of this kind — to go down together to Emmaus — is to be deprecated. They were talking to one another in unbelief, even though they showed themselves conversant with what had happened. We should first see from these scriptures how right we may be outwardly in observing the commandments, and yet be unbelieving. They “remained quiet on the sabbath, according to the commandment” (Luke 23: 56), yet these women had “prepared aromatic spices and ointments”.
[p. 169] Those were not intended for a risen Christ; but for a dead One. These were devoted women, yet this is the state of their minds. That was what had been occupying them and it would be at a sacrifice that they got the spices and prepared them; their thought was of a dead Christ.
BHT It showed devotion on their part, did it not?
JT Yes, devotion, but there is not really much value in the devotion of unbelief. This is written for us. Were any to have talked later with these two, how they would be able to instruct such not to go that way!
JHH Does their course show what characterises christendom today?
JT Yes, and there is a great deal of unbelief even in those nominally in the truth. They “having followed, saw the sepulchre and how his body was placed”. How — that is, they had observed all the externals, such as the placing of His body in the sepulchre, and the keeping of the sabbath — all in themselves right observances; a commandment of the Lord is noted, yet in all this their thought was of a dead Christ.
FJF If we pursue that line, it amounts only to ritualism; whereas we ought to be on the line of what faith brings us into.
JT They were right as to externals, for love observes the commandments. We may come together and be right in form; we may even break bread and yet be wanting inwardly. If we are not touched spiritually, we may go through the whole meeting in this way.
HWR Mary of Bethany is a contrast to this. “For in pouring out this ointment on my body, she has done it for my burying”, Matthew 26: 12.
JT She showed faith and intelligence in doing it at that time. These had heard the Lord say He would rise again, but the truth was not in their souls. The angels had to remind them of it. “Why seek ye the living one among the dead? He is not here, but is risen remember how he spoke to you ...” We may be right [p. 170] in externals, in keeping the commandments as laid down in 1 Corinthians, but what of the truth in Colossians and Ephesians?
WS Was the fact that they remained quiet on the sabbath, indicative of their state?
JT They had certainly kept that commandment, but I should not think they had much of a day. Observing the law is right enough but what of the inward state and one’s outlook?
JS A right inward state would enable them to see by the conditions in the sepulchre that the Lord was risen.
JT How slow they were to discern it! “They found not the body of the Lord Jesus” and “they were in perplexity about it” (verses 3, 4). These were devoted souls; they correspond with a large number of brethren, some breaking bread with us. Underneath there is love for Christ, and the Lord knows this, but their inward state is marked by perplexity. They do not really reach anything definite. This chapter is intended to adjust us with regard to this. It should impress us with the lengths to which love goes in order to adjust us.
WS Perplexity develops into fear. “And as they were filled with fear” follows in verse 5. Perfect love would cast out fear.
JT “Behold, two men suddenly stood by them in shining raiment. And as they were filled with fear ...” Light was there, but they were filled with fear. That was their inward state. The passage goes to show that heaven knew what they were really aiming at, and knew that they loved the Lord, yet they were in inexcusable darkness. They had to recall His words. Why had they forgotten them? Why had they ignored them?
FJF They should not have been looking for the dead body of the Lord.
JT If they had been remembering His words, which they had heard, “being yet in Galilee”, they [p. 171] would not have been looking for a dead Christ, but for the living One.
CCE Often a state of confusion of mind prevents us from remembering what we hear.
JT How little we take in! How little of what is ministered to us is carried in our minds! They had seen the Lord crucified, had seen how His body was placed in the sepulchre, and the next great event for faith would be His resurrection, but they were not looking for that. It is a question of applying the truth that has come to us — whether we are ready and prepared in heart to apply it. The Lord says of Mary of Bethany, “against the day of my burying hath she kept this”. She was intelligent in what she did. She had learned that He would die, and discerned that it was near. Ministry brings certain things to our attention; what are we going to do as to this? Has it any present application? Is it not applicable to our business affairs? — household matters? — to the assembly? There comes the time when we should be able to apply what we have. The Lord had instructed His disciples as to His death and resurrection. The former had taken place and the next great event, the resurrection, was to be expected, and they were not looking out for it. The Lord’s resurrection had been much spoken of to them, yet, when the time came that He rose again, they could not apply that truth. The two men had to remind them how they had heard that He would rise. Their fear was due to their state. Perfect love casts out fear. The term ‘angel’ is not used here in Luke but they are recorded as being men, which is indicative of intelligent and sympathetic feeling with the women.
FJF It needs spirituality to be ready to take the next step when the time arrives.
JT Yes. You have heard hundreds of things: there is a time to apply them. Many of us go through assembly meetings in a routine fashion, right in externals, but without any inward application of the things that have [p. 172] come to us from the Lord. There is a time for everything. We must have things in order, of course, but what of the inward state?
MA There is a time in the meeting when we should be in expectancy.
JT The assembly is the place of expectancy, and heaven will gratify what is normal. Those women should have been looking for what the Lord had said should take place, looking for Himself, the Living One. The word from the two men was what was needed. We get such words in the assembly. The presence of the men shows how heaven is ready to serve us in this way.
JHH It used to be said that we remember a dead Christ when we come together to break bread. In the light of this truth, does that fall short?
JT A dead Christ is before us in the emblems; but we remember a risen, absent Christ. “He is not here”, but elsewhere. We are here, and it is here that we have to remember Him; in the emblems we think of Himself as having died, the suggestion being that in love for us He has been into death. In Luke, the aspect in which the Supper is regarded is as a remembrance. In the early years after the recovery, it was more Matthew and Mark’s aspect that was taken up amongst brethren, and the emblems were regarded as food. The import of Luke’s presentation was not so clear then as now.. It is a question of being able to apply such a truth. The emblems refer to a dead Christ. It is food, surely; but it is also the memorial of Christ, One gone away.
FJF Does the thought of an oath of allegiance enter this memorial, testifying that we are here in fidelity to the absent One?
JT Yes. Matthew and Mark say nothing of the memorial, Luke nothing of eating. It is “this do”. The Lord actually entered into the state of death. He says to John, “I became dead, and behold, I am living to the ages of ages, and have the keys of death and of hades”, Revelation 1: 18.
[p. 173] WS In 1 Corinthians 11: 26 we read, “For as often as ye shall eat this bread, and drink the cup, ye announce the death of the Lord, until he come”.
JT The memorial is an inward thought. The Lord misses us. We may be present bodily, but the object of the memorial is that we might be present spiritually; thus He has us with Him. Luke speaks of the two going to Emmaus and says, “behold, two of them were going on the same day, ...” Luke 24: 13. In a sense, these two were occupied with the Lord. “They conversed with one another about all these things which had taken place”. That meant that they were conversing of Him, but not in faith and intelligence. Spirituality is needed in the assembly, faith, of course, but spirituality. We may say much, but is it in spiritual intelligence?
LW How are spirituality and intelligence produced in us?
JT First let us get the thought that it is possible to be right outwardly and wrong inwardly, to have darkened minds and yet love the Lord. These two men represent the sympathy of heaven, and at the same time, they indicate the wrong inward state of these women. They were in shining raiment, in contrast to what marked the women. They were not shining. Brothers and sisters often come in to the assembly on the Lord’s day and go out no brighter, not taking on the glory (2 Corinthians 3). It is what happens spiritually that affects us in assembly. In the two men we have what is intended by heaven to adjust us, for the assembly is a place of shining. The shining raiment is the reflection of the glory of God. We are to realise to what lengths the Lord went to secure these results — that God should shine upon us and that we should reflect His glory. It is now in the face of Jesus, and the assembly normally is radiant with it. The two at Emmaus were adjusted, not by His expounding to them from the Scriptures, but by the spiritual touch which He gave them in the breaking of bread. It was that which [p. 174] affected them.
LW A burning heart was not enough.
JT It is important, of course, as showing reality at bottom, but the spiritual side was lacking. It is little understood, but essential for part in the assembly.
SS We may know all the facts, but is it only when He Himself is manifested to us that we are spiritually affected?
JT We may say nice things in regard to facts concerning the Lord’s death and be wanting in that spiritual touch that is needed in the assembly. There was never such an exposition of Scripture as is mentioned in this chapter, yet it did not alter their course. Although the exposition was perfect, there was not yet the spiritual impression that the breaking of bread affords. The state of their souls was such that they were not capable of being spiritually affected by an exposition of Scripture. This was effected in them by the Lord as He broke the bread.
BHT It does depend, does it not, on how we come to the meeting?
JT A good deal depends on that. One often thinks of the anointing in this respect. The idea of the anointing should be in our households. There is a dignity proper to the saints in coming to the assembly, so that we may move into things there in a comely, spiritual manner. Certainly we should have regard to externals, but we should, too, be essentially marked by the dignity of the Spirit when we sit down; and be able to say “Lord Jesus” by the Holy Spirit. What a beautiful effect there would be in that! Spirituality will respond to it. If I am unspiritual there will hardly be response, no change in me; no shining out of the glory of God, which is suggested in the raiment of the two men here.
LW Do we get the touch in the breaking of the bread, when He makes Himself known to us?
JT Exactly. “And they drew near to the village where they were going, and he made as though he would go farther”. There was something in His attitude which [p. 175] indicated that He was not occupied with their objective. The Lord has another objective; and He made as though He would go farther. Their objective was the country (Mark 16: 12). The Lord was not governed by that, but He graciously allowed them to constrain Him, as though to say, It is not in My mind, but I will do even this to secure you. At table He took the bread and blessed, and gave it to them. “And their eyes were opened, and they recognised him”. The actions here are all His. Although this is not the Lord’s supper, it bears most instructively on it. We are in the realm of divine activities. As spiritual we discern these in the assembly.
CMM What does “this do” comprise? There is no eating in what the Lord did here.
JT Here you see it. “Having taken the bread, he blessed, and having broken it, gave it to them”, Luke 24: 30. He did not eat here, nor at the institution of the Supper. He broke the bread, having given thanks.
CMM Eating, then, is not included in the thought of memorial?
JT No. That is Matthew’s and Mark’s view. The memorial side is Luke’s. It was in the breaking of bread that He was made known to them (verse 35). That is what they understood.
CMM There was a spiritual impression in the way it was done, but how does that work out practically?
JT While the brother is giving thanks and breaking the bread.
CMM You mean in the manner of doing it?
JT The more spiritual he is, the more spiritual his action. It is, however, not in the brother but in the act.
Ques What he does — not how he does it?
JT I would not like to exclude the manner of doing it. The spiritual side comes in especially in the breaking of bread.
GG Is the breaking of bread an individual act?
JT We are all committed to it. It is the action that [p. 176] is alluded to, and all that goes with it. We come together to break bread (Acts 20: 7).
JR These two had not been present at the institution of the Supper.
JT Cleopas is not mentioned as an apostle; and we do not know who the other was, except to surmise that it was his wife.
HWR Even though they had not been at the institution of the Supper, their hearts were now affected. This was by the spiritual touch, was it not?
JT Certainly. We were not there, either; those present were competent and accredited witnesses to bring it to us.
FJF Those two would return in shining garments? Where heaven, or one who represents it, draws near, there is shining. “The children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses’ face shone”, Exodus 34: 35.
JT They will contribute to the assembly now. They will have very different countenances, downcast no longer. And we are to reflect this shining. You like to see a change in this sense in the face of a brother. If we are spiritually impressed, we shall go out differently. Our countenances will shine. Passing through without an inward change is to be deprecated.
HWR The effect is cumulative. We do not go back from that. Divine things are always cumulative, are they not?
JT There is definite progress made, week by week.
JR Is there a present significance for us in the order of the Lord’s action that He first took the bread and then blessed it?
JT There would be several loaves or cakes on the table for the Passover feast. We have only one loaf now, so we need not imitate the action of taking. The Lord took the bread, thus formally detaching what He was instituting from the Passover. Doubtless the disciples had often been at meals with the Lord and He would [p. 177] always give thanks. It was an ordinary meal at Emmaus, and so the Lord also took the bread there.
CCE Similarly there would have been several cups on the Passover table. The Lord singled out the cup.
JT Yes, with the idea of detaching what He was instituting from the Jewish feast. The apostle says, “The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of the Christ?” 1 Corinthians 10: 16. It is not, ‘take and break’.
CMM To break bread is a definite act, not an afterthought. You would stand at the table to give thanks, would you not?
JT Yes; otherwise one might not know what you are doing. We are to be simple and intelligible in what we are doing. These two who went to Emmaus moved back to Jerusalem. That shows how they had been affected. They were constituted spiritual. They understood now what the Lord meant them to do. He said nothing further to them after He had broken the bread, but He disappeared from them. “Rising up the same hour, they returned to Jerusalem”. There, they contributed to the assembly according to the way in which they had been affected. They do not speak of the exposition of Scripture which they had been given, but of what had been spiritually accorded to them.
Rem The Lord vanished in order that they might go back to the assembly.
JT They came with a different walk, different conversation and different feelings. They had spiritual matter now to be contributed to the assembly, and they now recognised the authority of the Lord. We read, “they found the eleven, and those with them, gathered together, saying, The Lord is indeed risen and has appeared to Simon”.
FJF They were not saying now that He was dead, but that He was risen.
JT Yes, and that grace marked Him, for He had appeared to Simon: Simon had denied Him, “And they [p. 178] related what had happened on the way”, not that they had enjoyed a discourse on the Scriptures, but “how he was made known to them in the breaking of bread”. It is a spiritual matter with them; “And as they were saying these things, he himself stood in their midst, and says to them, Peace be unto you” (verse 36). What the Lord aims at here is spirituality. It is expressed in Himself risen from the dead. It is in One really Man: “Handle me and see, for a spirit has not flesh and bones as ye see me having” (verse 39). It is corporeal, but spiritual. This was a leading thought in the Lord remaining here during the forty days before His ascension.
NG In what condition does Jesus stand in our midst?
JT He does not come in corporeally. Regarded thus, He is in heaven, but the Spirit of God being here, the Lord can come in, and it is really Himself that comes, but in a spiritual way; that is, through the Spirit.
FJF Does the Lord making as though He would go farther apply now?
JT The going farther referred to what was in Jerusalem spiritually. That was His objective.
RD It was remarked that they had affection, but we see that affection for Him may not prevent the natural element coming in.
JT Affection is the basis upon which all this was built. The Lord’s service was largely to get them into the assembly. The commandment of the Lord is a great thing; but in the assembly, the spiritual element is essential. There may be love, but we may be in darkness in our minds. This chapter shows how the Lord’s priestly service goes on in order that souls may come into the assembly, and then He comes in and, as here, adjusts them further. He says, “behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself”. He is in His own sphere. He even comes down to an act of eating so as to assure them. How lowly His grace to come down to us, to get us into the thought of what He is now!
[p. 179] Rem He manifested Himself to them, showing them His hands and His feet.
JT He testifies His love. We realise the length to which His love will go; how His feet will travel to Emmaus, and farther; His priestly service to adjust us as to spiritual conditions.