NEARNESS TO CHRIST AND PUBLIC SERVICE (5)
[p. 220] NEARNESS TO CHRIST AND PUBLIC SERVICE (5)
JT This morning we were occupied with chapter 9, mainly with a view to seeing the instruction in it for those who are specially serving the Lord’s people. It is said that the Lord called the twelve to Him, and gave them power and authority over all demons, and to heal disease and sickness, and to proclaim the kingdom of God. We saw how, when they returned and told the Lord what they had done, He took them apart to a desert place, and the crowd came, and He proposed to feed them, putting the responsibility on the twelve to feed the multitude, which they were not able to do. That is to say, whilst power is committed to those who serve, they are also tested as to whether the results of their service can be cared for. The Lord said, Feed the multitude, and the disciples were not able to feed them.
Then we saw that the Lord was praying in a certain place, and He questioned the disciples as to what the crowd said about Him, who He was; then He challenged them as to who they said He was — “who do ye say that I am?” They were able to answer that, they were able to give an account of Christ personally, in Peter saying, “The Christ of God”.
And then He said, “of a truth, there are some of those standing here who shall not taste death until they shall have seen the kingdom of God”, so He takes Peter and John and James up to the mountain — we got to that point. Whilst yesterday we had the composition of the assembly, in the man, and the woman, and the child in chapter 8, I thought that in chapter 9 those who serve are specially in view, the import of the instruction in the chapter leading up to [p. 221] the change — as praying — in regard to the Lord’s appearance. He is praying as He introduces the subject of His Person, then He is seen praying on the mount; as if these two features are more spiritual — the question of His Person, and of the transfiguration. He became ‘different’, it says.
If the Lord prays, there is something urgent; the truth of His Person is an urgent matter; what the saints say about Him. Then as to the transfiguration, I think it points to the necessity in servants (in all of us, indeed) of taking on change. It says that “as he prayed the fashion of his countenance became different and his raiment white and effulgent”. The place prayer has in these two settings is to be noticed. First, as to the knowledge of Christ, what we can say about Christ personally, who He is; and then how heaven regards Him, as seen on the mount; and the change — as in Him, true in us.
Ques What is your thought about becoming different? Does that apply to the servants?
JT I think so. As you progress spiritually, you would become different. We have reached here special spiritual settings, I think. We have two prayers here; first, the Lord praying alone, and the introduction there of the question of His Person; and then He is praying on the mount, and His countenance becomes different and His raiment white and effulgent. One is changed in appearance and circumstances as one prays.
HH Would 2 Corinthians 3 touch on that in regard to the servants or saints?
JT I think so. We are changed into the same image, and it is by beholding the glory — “By the Lord the Spirit”.
HH Would you say that as we advance on spiritual lines it is so?
JT That is the setting of the truth here; first a [p. 222] knowledge of His Person, who He is; and then what He is on high — changed.
HH We ought not to be the same as we were a few years ago.
JT That is what I thought. “The fashion of his countenance”, it says — this is a pattern for us — “and his raiment white and effulgent”. “Glory” is also there.
JB What distinct glory would it be?
JT It belongs to the heavenly. “As is the heavenly” — seen in Him, what He is now — “such are they also that are heavenly”. Then in the next chapter, the one we had read to us, our names are there, meaning that we have a heavenly status — we are known there.
JMcM Is the change directly connected with prayer? — “as he prayed”; and in Corinthians, as we behold; is the change in us also connected with prayer?
JT I think that is the point. As He prayed, in chapter 3, the Holy Spirit came down, and a voice out of heaven said, “Thou art my beloved Son”. Then in chapter 5 He prays, and the power of the Lord is there; it says, “The Lord’s power was there to heal them”; it was a question of prayer. Then in chapter 6 He prays all night, and the apostles are brought in and He names them.
JMcM Does this change then take place in a praying, dependent man?
JT That is the idea; not only on earth, but above, so that the idea goes right into heaven; the point is that God owns it, for it is as He prayed that He was changed.
Ques You said that, as the anointed Man, He would bring God in. As we pray, are we changed, so that God is reflected in us?
JT In prayer He was on our side; prayer [p. 223] is man as before God in dependence. The change is in those who are dependent, in those who pray. It brings in the power of God; God is pleased with those who pray; the gospel of Luke specially emphasises the delight of heaven in those who pray. We see it, as I said, in chapter 3 — as He is baptised He is praying, and the Holy Spirit comes down upon Him in a bodily form as a dove — meaning that the Holy Spirit is there in its entirety, and there in an undisturbed way; the spirit of prayer affords restfulness for God — He rests there. The Holy Spirit came down in a bodily form as a dove and abode upon Him, and there was a voice from heaven, “Thou art my beloved Son, in thee I have found my delight”, (chapter 3:22). Then in chapter 5 He is praying, and all sorts of people are there, and it says, “The power of the Lord was present to heal them”, (verse 17). Later, in regard to the appointment of the apostles, He prayed all night. I think that Peter understood it instinctively when he fell at His knees; he understood that that was the idea, that the power of intercession in a man was there.
Then we see the servants, the most spiritual of them, in this place of exaltation, in presence of the change, in presence of the glory — it is all for them. And yet, alas! the next paragraph tells us that a man brought his boy to the disciples, and they could not do anything for him. All this instruction, whilst it is to encourage those who serve specially, is also to keep us humble as to our capabilities. In spite of such a favour, granted to the disciples, here is a man in the greatest distress, and they are not able to help him. He says to the Lord (chapter 9:40), “I besought thy disciples that they might cast him out, and they could not”.
Ques How does that stand in relation to “power and authority over all demons” (chapter 9:1)?
JT Well, they are not using the power and authority they had. Evidently there is some want [p. 224] there; the power is not effective. Why is the power not effective?
JB The education was as to prayer.
JT That is the point. As the Lord says elsewhere, “This kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting”, (Matthew 17:21). So that, whilst we may have gift and power, if they are to be effective, it must be in dependence on God and self-denial.
JMcM Is that “the kingdom of God” — a dependent Man, pleasing to heaven, praying, and power coming down?
JT That is the idea. They are to see the kingdom — the kingdom of God, in Luke. That is what they see on the mount, a dependent Man; that is where power lies; hence the great value of prayer in the service of God.
SL Is not the scripture you quoted — “This kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting” — a very powerful feature in christianity, in our moral life?
JT It is indeed. The kingdom is seen in those marked by these things.
HH I suppose nothing tests us more than prayer — as to how far we can intelligently take up divine interests together, or individually. Is that in your mind? Monday night meeting for prayer is often more testing than the reading.
JT You wonder how many there are who “by night stand in the house of the Lord”. This comes in after the great principle of unity in the Psalms. Those who stand by night in the house of the Lord are His servants; they lift their hands in the sanctuary and bless Jehovah; (Psalm 134).
They stand means that there is energy in the service. The Lord shows us the way in Luke; He prayed all night. What is so interesting here is that the kingdom is seen — “I say unto you of a truth, There are some of those standing here who shall not taste death until they shall have seen the kingdom of God”. Elsewhere it is “the kingdom of God come in power” (Mark 9:1); but the point is to see the kingdom of God, to see the thing itself, and that it centres in a Man praying. We speak of the kingdom and what it is, but that is the secret of it, it centres in a Man praying.
Ques Would you say that assimilation is in relation to this?
JT Yes. As you pray there is a change: “The fashion of his countenance became different and his raiment white and effulgent” — it is the change. Applying this to ourselves, as you come down, there is a difference — you are not what you were before.
Ques Do you think we should pray till we feel the change? We may leave off too early.
JT No doubt. As you enter in prayer consciously into the presence of God, you become changed. You have often begun, I am sure, in prayer, and ended with a very different feeling from that with which you began. God makes you conscious that He hears, and not only that, but that He is pleased with your attitude; all that enters into “the kingdom”; here it is a question of seeing the kingdom of God.
SL So that the sense of having had an audience is a very great thing.
JT It is indeed. You have a sense, not only that you are heard, but that you have pleased God.
JMcM You come away with the sense, “If we know that he hear us ... we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him”, (1 John 5:15).
HB What would be the subject of the prayer; would it be in relation to the Lord’s interests?
JT Oh, surely, and His general interests; for, having access to God, we know that He is not local. “The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him”, (2 Chronicles 16:9). He is the heart-knowing God; He is occupied [p. 226] in a universal way, and the nearer you get to Him, the less local you are, and the more available you are. I believe that one great defect in these days is that we are too local, not general enough.
JMcM Would not the sense of being in the presence of God annihilate distance?
JT That is right. You feel you are in touch with the whole field of His operations.
Ques Does it necessitate going in and sitting before the Lord? This is not the work of a moment?
JT Exactly. Sometimes we purpose things, but we have not waited on God about them. David purposed in his heart, and Nathan said, “Do all that is in thine heart; for the Lord is with thee”. But the Lord said to Nathan that night, You have spoken too quickly; (2 Samuel 7:3,4). David had not as yet gone in and sat before the Lord. The Lord told Nathan to go and say certain things to David His servant, and one of the things he was to tell him was that Solomon would build the house, not David. That is, he was too quick in making the resolution. But David then goes in and sits before the Lord, and he does not say one word about building the house; he had found out that the mind of the Lord was different from his mind. Often it happens in that way, that what you begin with you do not finish with — the mind of the Lord may be different. Here is a blessed Man praying on high. We are not told what He prayed about, but He prayed, and as He prayed, the fashion of His countenance became different.
Ques Is it individual in Philippians 4:6, “In everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God”?
JT It is general there.
Ques Would it not have the same effect as beholding the glory of the Lord?
JT It has, for you get into the presence of God. The question is often raised, What is the “holiest”?
[p. 227] but people would arrive at the truth of it much more quickly if they said, What is my closet? The Lord says, “Enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly”, (Matthew 6:6). You will soon find out the holiest if you practise that, it becomes a very simple matter. The Lord does not occupy young believers with the holiest; He occupies them with their Father, and going in to Him. You know something about your closet; go there and shut the door — meaning that you are alone with God; and the Lord says your Father will reward you openly. If you have gone there several times, you know something about the holiest. The point in Hebrews 10 is to draw near to God.
SL I think you said some years ago that that might be when you awakened in the night.
JT Quite so; the point is, to draw near to God.
JMcM Is that seen in Asaph? When he went into the sanctuary he understood things; (Psalm 73:17).
JT The sanctuary really is the presence of God.
HD'AC I think a great many get into the holiest without being able to describe it in that language. They have really changed their man, they have gone in through the veil, and they know they are with God, and in His holy presence with infinite delight, though they could not describe it.
Rem It is not so much a question of what we pray for or about, but the drawing near to God in the secret of His presence.
JT Quite so. It is right to have needs, but the thing is to get to God.
Rem In the chapter we were reading this morning it says He was alone praying, and others were with Him. How do you understand that?
JT The Lord is never seen praying with others. Here He is praying alone, and on the mount He is [p. 228] praying, but in chapter 11:1 He is praying in a certain place; that is a locality. There one says, “Teach us to pray”. They want to pray, too, that is what the Lord is leading up to. If He is praying in a certain place, we may be sure that He has that place in mind; something is needed specially in that place. I have no doubt it arose from what He had found in Martha’s house; things were not right there.
Ques Do you think that this change is in order that the persons should be taken account of? 2 Corinthians 3 has been referred to, but is not that connected with being epistles of Christ?
JT Quite so; but others see the effect of our beholding the glory of the Lord.
Rem What happened here is seen by those present.
JT And it would be reflected as they came down.
SL You spoke of the raiment in regard to circumstances; would you say a little about that?
JT It is one’s very immediate circumstances. His raiment became white and effulgent.
HD'AC The Greek word is ‘lightning’ — it would have a very striking effect. I think the most remarkable thing in the millennial day will be His relationship with God; that the Ruler is the One who is so near to God, and loves to go in to God, sitting as Priest on His throne. It comes out in His very robe.
HH Would it involve holy conditions on our side?
JT Surely. The raiment is white and effulgent; whiteness would be purity, and the effulgence would be the effect, I suppose, of the glory.
Then chapter 10 would develop the question of reception We had this morning the idea of reception; the Lord, it says, received the crowd; and then, in chapter 9:48 He says, “Whosoever shall [p. 229] receive this little child in my name receives me, and whosoever shall receive me receives him that sent me”. He is developing this question of reception, among other things, how He receives a large number at once. All that would help us, I think, on the line of hospitality, and also as to how the result of the work of God is received amongst us. Now, “a little child” is, I suppose, to test us as to whether we are discriminating in favour of certain distinguished persons, whether human distinctions influence us in our manner of reception. He takes the little child; there is nothing there in the way of human distinction or attainment. He, “having taken a little child set it by him, and said to them, Whosoever shall receive this little child in my name receives me”. It is to test us as to whether we can act apart from the recognition of human attainment or distinction, in our reception. He set a little child, it says, by Him, as if that is His ideal; that the one who is the subject of the work of God is divested of all that is merely of man in the way of attainment or sophistication. He is set there by the Lord, and then the Lord challenges us as to whether we can receive such an one as that; in doing it we receive Him; and in receiving Him, we receive Him that sent Him. So we have the principle of reception placed on a most simple basis, and yet in a most practical and extensive way; it implies the reception of God Himself.
Ques Are you applying this in connection with the receiving to the breaking of bread, as we say?
JT Well, it is general, I think. The reception of a number, as in chapter 9, refers to what may be done by a company in a locality; when you come to “a little child”, you have the kind of persons that are to be received.
Rem To receive a distinguished person might distinguish me, but to receive a little child would not do [p. 230] so.
JT No. Characteristically there is nothing added to the child. It has not been educated or sophisticated in regard to this world, it has not attained anything — it is the Lord’s ideal here.
JMcM Are we in danger, in this connection, from the “man with a gold ring”?
JT Yes; a poor man comes into your synagogue, James 2:2 says, and a man comes with a gold ring, and you make a great distinction. That is quite in keeping with this.
Rem When the city was in trouble, it was not the great man who delivered it, but the “poor wise man”, (Ecclesiastes 9:15).
LDB Would you say of the little child, it is the Lord’s ideal?
JT Yes. You can make something out of a little child; you bring him up in the way he should go. The Lord knows what He is going to make out of us, and the more sophisticated we are, the more difficult it is for Him. “Except ye be converted, and become as little children”, He says, “ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven”, (Matthew 18:3). Here He sets a little child by Him, and says, as it were, That is My ideal.
FS So He says, “he is great”, (Luke 9:48).
JT Quite so, and here it is a question of representation; the principle of reception involves representation. In receiving a little child, you receive the Lord, and in receiving the Lord, you receive Him that sent Him.
Ques Just previous to that they had spoken of “the glorious greatness of God” (verse 43); would the possibilities be set forth in the child?
JT In the child there is something potentially for God. “Little children” are the material God is working with. It is a question of the work of God. In John 6:9 you have “a little boy”; he is more than a little child, the little boy had something. The “little child” is purely and simply the work of God unaffected by human culture. It represents the saints as the work of God.
FWW So the Lord put the little child by Him, receiving him in that way.
JT Yes. Elsewhere He put him “in the midst”, but here He identifies Himself with him. Hence, in our reception, it is a question of the work of God. Can I take account of the person as the subject of the work of God, and care nothing for his natural or worldly distinctions?
FWW Is not that the principle underlying all service, to take account of the work of God?
JT Yes. Will you destroy the weak brother for whom Christ died? (Romans 14:15.) Something you are doing may destroy the work of God — that is, the “little child”.
Ques Is there any danger that, in refusing to receive one, we may refuse to receive Christ?
JT That is how the Lord puts it. If we do not accept the product of the work of God, we are not accepting Christ.
JMcM Are we still considering the fruit of the sowing?
JT Well, the sowing underlies all this, but I think it is more now that the apostles had been at work. The apostles were remiss in this matter, for they were occupied with who should be the greatest; that is not the spirit of the little child.
Rem Moses prayed, “Let thy work appear unto thy servants”, (Psalm 90:16).
JT Just so. You would see it in a little child, and hence you could receive him.
JB Do you think this would induce tender consideration for the little ones in the assembly?
JT Just so; the test is whether we can take account of them purely as the work of God. A man, it may be, has been a clergyman. Well, that makes [p. 232] him a subject of special interest to you, but if his profession adds to him in your eyes, it will only be a hindrance to him. You receive him simply as a subject of the work of God. Paul came in, not as a Pharisee of the Pharisees, but as a little child — led by the hand.
Now, the time of the Lord’s receiving up had come (verse 51), that is what He is leading up to; He was to be received up into heaven, and He wishes, in the meantime, that there should be receiving places on earth; so I think we are introduced now to the assembly, not only as the place in which the little child is received, but where Christ is received, where conditions exist suitable for Him. He set His face stedfastly to go to Jerusalem; He did not expect to be received there, He was going to die there, but “he sent messengers before his face. And having gone they entered into a village of the Samaritans that they might make ready for him. And they did not receive him, because his face was turned as going to Jerusalem”. There was one village that did not receive Him; that village was not in accord with heaven. The days of His receiving up into heaven were fulfilled, and in the meantime He would be received on earth, but this village did not receive Him.
That is how, I think, chapter 10 stands. He sends out the seventy to every city and place where He Himself was about to come. He sends them two by two now. I suppose that the testimony of two would be conclusive as to what was suitable to Christ. They knew what was suitable to Christ.
FWW What do you understand by that in its application?
JT I think it is that in local conditions you want an adequate testimony as to what is suitable to Christ, that is the primary thing in the local company. We have been speaking of the little child [p. 233] as the work of God, but it is a question now of Christ Himself being received.
FWW Suitable conditions in localities where the Lord will come.
JT That is the idea; two sent by the Lord would convey what conditions are needed.
FI Is it that those localities will be prepared by the servants for the reception of Christ; not exactly the companies themselves, but the servants?
JT Yes, the two. It would be their obligation to see that conditions obtained suitable to Christ; so that the first thing they look for is a son of peace — “If a son of peace be there”. You cannot have conditions suitable to Christ if there is not a son of peace. He cannot rest where there is trouble — we must see to that.
Ques Why is it a son of peace? Is it someone local?
JT The Lord implies that there would be many places to which He will come, and there is to be a son of peace at least in each; it is a question whether I am a son of peace, wherever I am locally, because if I am not, I cannot suitably receive Christ. He may be received into my house, He might come in as He came into Martha’s house — she received Him, true enough, into her house, but then, was she “a son of peace”?
HD'AC Rather the opposite, I should think.
JT “Dost thou not care?” She made the Lord an offender as well as her sister. There is not much in receiving the Lord under those conditions. The days of the Lord’s receiving up were fulfilled. That last chapter of the gospel tells us how He was received up into heaven; He was carried up; Luke thus shows the interest of heaven in Him. But in the meantime He is to have places to come to, and so He sent out these seventy.
FWW In the sending out of the twelve, and of [p. 234] the seventy, they seem to operate from houses in both cases, what do you think of that?
JT Well, I think that is how the work of God is carried on now. An excellent illustration of it is in Philippi; the assembly there was formed in this connection. The Lord opened the heart of Lydia to attend to the things spoken by Paul and she opened her house; that is to say, she is “a son of peace”. The Philippian assembly is marked by that. The apostle went back to her house after he was released from prison, before he left the city.
WCG She formed her household after the mind of Christ, whereas Martha formed hers after her own ideas.
JT The Lord opened her heart “to attend to the things spoken by Paul”.
Rem Paul was like one of these messengers.
JT Quite so. The great thing is to attend to the things said by them. Lydia was baptised and all her house, and she put it to them, “If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and abide there”, (Acts 16:15).
SL If there is no peace, there will be no food for those who come amongst us.
JT “If a son of peace be there, your peace shall rest upon it” — that would bring in their peace, what they had in relation to Christ. It is not now so much what they would say, as their peace coming and remaining upon a son of peace.
Ques Do you think the apostles found those conditions, in principle, with those praying women at Philippi in Acts 16?
JT That is what I thought; it was like the tree planted by the river; the Philippian assembly is introduced in connection with prayer. There was a place there “where prayer was wont to be made”; it was planted in that connection, and Lydia is “the son of peace” in the place.
Ques Would the principle of “the son of peace” be that such an one is contributing to that which is acceptable to heaven?
JT I think so. The son of peace is not a trouble-maker, anyway.
Ques Would what is said of Chloe show the importance of a household in a locality, in regard to conditions that are suitable to God?
JT Quite so.
Rem We are told to “seek peace and pursue it”, (1 Peter 3:11).
JT It would be a son of peace who would do that. I think Martha’s case is brought in here to show that, whilst the Lord was received — “A certain woman ... received him into her house” — yet conditions were not suitable; so we may have the readiness to receive the Lord, and yet conditions may not be suitable.
FI Would you say that before there are the proper assembly conditions in a locality to receive the Lord, there must be proper conditions in regard to the household?
JT That is the setting of it, I think; the work of God operates in a household, and the household contributes to the assembly.
FI So you would expect to find households established before the principles of the assembly could be set up.
JT The work of God, I believe, as we see at Philippi, proceeds in relation to households, and they contribute to the assembly; hence you have Lydia’s house, and the jailer’s house.
JMcM Would the way they went, as lambs in the midst of wolves, have to do with their reception?
JT Quite so. Then they were not to go from house to house; you do not make much of the social side with the local brethren, that is not what you want; you are thinking of a place for the Lord, as David said, “Until I find out a place for the Lord”; you are thinking of conditions locally, not of your own comfort. Whatever house you go to, you stay there. You are not thinking of yourself in the matter, or any special preferences, you are there to see to it that there is a place for the Lord — He is coming. It is your responsibility to see that there is an adequate testimony rendered, as to what is suitable to Christ.
JMcM They were sent forth as lambs.
JT There is nothing offensive about you. Often people say, The ministry is very acceptable, but the person’s conduct is not quite acceptable; the person and his ministry are to be in agreement.
FWW Would you say a word as to the Lord’s reception of the seventy on their return?
JT We see there the final touch as regards the servants, that we are not to live in our service, or in the success of it.
HH Why were there seventy?
JT I think it points to abundance, and then there is the thought of responsibility plus the Spirit — ten times seven. They represent the resources that the Lord has. He is never limited to any servant, He has got others — we have to remember that. He could send out seventy; then He asked them to pray that the Lord of the harvest might send out other workmen; (Matthew 9:38).
Rem It says that John rebuked one who was casting out demons, who followed not with them; evidently John was shut up to the twelve, but the Lord had seventy.
JT Yes; he was restricting the Lord to themselves — a very common thing with official servants. He said, “We saw some one casting out demons in thy name, and we forbad him, because he follows not with us” — he was casting out demons nevertheless — [p. 237] John should have been thankful for that. Note, he says, “Follows not with us”.
It is in these seventy that the very highest thought of the levitical position comes in. The Lord says, “Yet in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subjected to you, but rejoice that your names are written in the heavens”; that is to say, He now connects the servants with the tribe of Levi. The levites were all first-born ones, and that is what gives the servant his dignity, the place that he has in the family of the first-born; so the Lord says, “Your names are written in the heavens” — corresponding with “the assembly of the firstborn who are registered in heaven”,(Hebrews 12:23). That is what I am to rejoice in, not in the success of my service.
FWW Thus the dignity of their service would be enhanced.
HD'AC The Lord saw Satan as lightning fall from heaven, and He saw just as clearly in heaven the names of these dear servants.
JT It is very different from current clerical dignity. “Your names are written in heaven”. It lifts us out of all the littleness of mere official service; we are not to live in that, but in the fact that we are heavenly. The thought of this moves the Lord to joy and praise; it says, “He rejoiced in spirit”. We are being led here into the most blessed thoughts in relation to service; the Lord’s feelings are disclosed. He says, “I praise thee, Father ... that thou hast hid these things from wise and prudent, and hast revealed them to babes: yea, Father, for thus has it been well-pleasing in thy sight”. The whole passage (verses 17 - 24) is full of the most blessed thoughts concerning us — our heavenly position, the place accorded us in the Father’s mind and heart. Wonderful indeed!
I thought, in closing, we might see that the local furnishings are given in the opening verses of chapter [p. 238] 11. They were not found in Martha’s house; He found a complaining spirit there. And then it says, He was praying “in a certain place”, as if He would have that place properly furnished, and one of His disciples says to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray”. He did not say, ‘Teach me to pray’, he felt the need of all being taught, for our ignorance is rarely individual only, it is usually general. If one feels a need, he is pretty certain that others need the same thing. If the Lord is pressing anything, you may be sure it is because there is a general necessity. So the disciple rightly says to the Lord, “Teach us to pray”.
Ques What do you say the need was?
JT The local furnishings; the furnishings that are requisite for a visitation of Christ. He did not find the furnishings in Martha’s house, He found her complaining, He found one sister complaining against another, and in doing that, really complaining against Him. So we can understand the Lord feeling that this would not do, heaven has to interfere here; it is a question of prayer, of bringing God into this, so that the conditions should be altered. So He is praying in a certain place.
And the passage goes on to tell us that a certain man was on a journey, that is to say, we are in a period of journeying. Chapter 10 shows us how the Samaritan was journeying. It is not a time of rest, it is a time of toil; brethren who move about know what this means, it is a time of journeying. The Lord Himself is seen in chapter 8 journeying. Here is a man journeying, and he arrived at a certain place at midnight — that is an unselfish man, and he ought to be cared for. Local furnishings have to do with those who are journeying; that you care for them. “A friend of mine” — the basis is friendship, too — “in his journey”, says the man, “is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him”. How will he get the furnishings? He will get them by asking, by [p. 239] persistent asking. The furnishings are there, hence there must be the asking to get them. You can have them, but ask for them. The man who has the means is taking care of his family; “My children are with me in bed”, he says.
FWW So the local assembly should always have something with which to further the testimony.
JT That is it, especially people who are journeying; they are friends of yours. When he comes, you do not look at the servant as unrelated to you; he is a friend of yours.
Ques In the third epistle of John we get them, do we not?
JT Quite so, they are friends there.
FWW The same occupation often forms friendships.
JT Hence, as one is truly serving the Lord, others who are doing so are regarded as friends.
Ques So that you would wait upon God that such might be received according to Him?
JT Yes. He asked for a certain number of loaves, “Let me have three loaves”, that is, he knows what is necessary. And then the Lord goes on to develop the subject, and He points out that if a child asks for a fish, a father will not give him a serpent. “But of whom of you that is a father shall a son ask bread, and the father shall give him a stone? or also a fish, and instead of a fish shall give him a serpent? or if also he shall ask an egg, shall give him a scorpion?” He is working up to the great fact that the Holy Spirit is available through our asking the Father for Him; that is the secret of local furnishings, for these we must make room for the Spirit of God.
Ques You have referred to Philippians several times; does this connect itself with the end of that epistle? There is the prayer to God making known your requests; the result of that is, the peace of God [p. 240] shall keep your heart; the next thing is, “The God of peace shall be with you”; and at the end of the chapter, “My God shall supply all your need”, (Philippians 4:9,19). One is thus a son of peace.
JT Yes. We need the Spirit of God for the local furnishings; room must be made for Him. They had the Spirit at Corinth, but they were not giving Him His place. Here the Lord says, “How much rather shall the Father who is of heaven give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” Whatever we may have in the way of material things, education and knowledge, in our meetings — whatever we may have in that connection — we need the Spirit of God.
Rem And He would set us free from being local, so that we are ready to receive those who are on a journey.
JT We must not rest without being conscious in our localities that we have the Spirit of God; the Father gives the Spirit to those who ask. It is “the Father who is of heaven” here, the Holy Spirit as of heaven. The required conditions are heavenly. By the presence and action of the Spirit, the local conditions reflect what is in heaven.
Rem So the local assembly should be characterised by the Spirit pervading the whole meeting.
JT That is the thought; and the Lord’s teaching here is to show, I think, that that is available through prayer.
Ques Do we not sometimes take it for granted that the Spirit of God is there?
JT No doubt we do, but we want to be sure that He is there, and that nothing else than the presence of the Holy Spirit and what He effects is furnishing suitable to Christ.
HB Would you say a word about the dumb spirit (verse 14)?
JT Well, that is over against the Spirit of God. One sometimes feels that there is a dumb spirit in the meeting. You hear of Quakers’ meetings, where they do not speak at all, sometimes; that is not the way of the Spirit of God.
HD'AC What is the way to help brethren who, year in and year out, never pray? Brothers growing old will sometimes even talk in a meeting, but they will not, or do not, pray. How is that to be met?
JT The Lord here, it says, was casting out a demon and it was dumb, but the demon having gone out, the dumb man spoke.
HD'AC One would not like to think of a demon in one of those brothers.
JT Not at all, but that is the setting of it here. Why should I be dumb?
HD'AC I would try to create exercise with him, as to why he was so dumb.
JT You would ask him, Who made your mouth? and what did He make it for?
Rem The young man who was raised up in chapter 7 “began to speak”.
JT That is the thing; only the speaking must be according to the Spirit of God.
FWW You cannot rightly speak to men unless you can speak to God, can you?
JT I think that is the order; speak to God, and then you can speak to men — you thus have power with God and with men.
FWW When the Lord asked, “Whom say ye that I am?” the answer immediately came, “The Christ of God”.
JT One wonders whether people who are dumb in the meetings speak to God in secret, whether they enter their closet and pray to their Father in secret; for the idea of the holiest is that you learn there how to be with God; and it is in the power of that education that you take part in the public assembly. You know how we speak to God — five words with the understanding; (1 Corinthians 14:[p. 242] 19).
Rem You acquire power with God by prayer.
JT Yes. “A man” wrestled with Jacob; there was sympathy and encouragement, so that Jacob said, “I will not let thee go, except thou bless me”, (Genesis 32:26). He got power with God — that is, in the closet. He was left alone, and as left alone, a man wrestled with him and Jacob prevailed with him. So, I think, that if young people enter into their closet, and shut their door and pray, “thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly” — they will be honoured in the public assembly, and they will know how to speak to God there. Hence it says, “I will ... that the men pray in every place, lifting up pious hands, without wrath or reasoning”, (1 Timothy 2:8). They are to do it intelligently, as priests to God.
WCG Is not Jacob a remarkable instance of a man being changed by prayer? Before he had put himself behind all the others; after that he went first, and met all that was coming. He was changed.
JT Yes; and another thing that comes out with Jacob is that he puts Joseph before his mother; that was contrary to nature. You get intelligence as you wrestle with God; that is to say, you get a view of Christ, that He must have the pre-eminence.