HOUSING IN THE UPPER ROOM
[p. 394] HOUSING IN THE UPPER ROOM
JT This section has been before some of us several times of late and what is in mind now is to call attention to the housing of all that is needed for the inauguration of the dispensation — the apostles and Mary the Lord’s mother, with several women, and His brethren; I thought we might keep before us the importance of being housed as belonging to what represents the authority of the Lord and His relatives, His mother and His brethren, reminding us that even His natural relatives were secured in the truth. They were all in the upper room awaiting the great moment when heaven will declare itself in the coming in of the Holy Spirit to give character and support and maintain the whole dispensation from the beginning to the end.
HPW Would you say a little as to what you mean by housing?
JT Well, the gospel of Matthew makes much of the house as a place, the Lord is seen so often speaking in houses. In one place (chapter 9) two blind men followed Him and named Him ‘Son of David’ asking Him to have mercy on them, but He said nothing to them until He came into the house, they followed Him and He then spoke to them. Throughout the gospel of Matthew we have the idea of the house and it is intended to work out as the assembly where the Lord’s rights are preserved, maintained and asserted. As stated in chapter 18 the assembly is representative of the Lord as gone into heaven. And so here. I mean it only in that sense, the idea of a place. Here it is called the upper room, but I have used the word ‘house’ (as a verb) as what represents authority — such accommodation. It says, “They returned to Jerusalem”, meaning they had been to the mount of Olives and seen the Lord go up. He goes up from Bethany according to Luke, but here He goes up from the mount of Olives, and two men appeared to the disciples. They “stood by them in white clothing, who also said, Men of Galilee, why do ye stand looking into heaven?” Then they returned and went up to the upper chamber, the apostles, several women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and His brethren — they were all there, as if He had gone up and left them, and now they did not take up natural links and go to their own homes, but to this place, already well known, evidently the upper room of the gospels in which the passover was held.
Rem This is the beginning of things. How does it apply to us now in these days? Have we the Lord’s authority still with us, and disciples and the Holy Spirit still here?
JT Well, He is not here in this passage, He is not mentioned yet, but that is a good question, the answer to which the Lord may open up to us. We have not the apostles now but the Lord said, according to Mark 13: 34, the Lord gave His bondmen the authority, not His apostles. The idea of bondmen attaches to us if we are true believers so that the authority comes with them. And then the Lord’s relatives — not now His natural relatives but spiritual relatives — they are all taken care of. We are not left to ourselves, but set together under His protection and care, the principles of the house being in the assembly.
Rem So that things are still maintained although we have not apostles and natural relatives.
JT That is just the point.
HPW All the eleven here are mentioned by name. Would it be right to say that all they stood for spiritually was in that upper room — Mary the mother of Jesus and His brethren — all their interests [p. 396] in this upper room, not on natural lines but on lines they had learned something about with the Lord Himself?
JT Quite so. The angels had not told them what to do, they just asked the question, “Why do ye stand looking into heaven? This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven, shall thus come in the manner in which ye have beheld him going into heaven”. They could have told them where to go, but they do not. It is left to bring out what there was at that particular moment as the fruit of the Lord’s handiwork before He went up to heaven. There was that which could be relied on and cared for by the Lord.
HPW Spiritual instincts.
JT Quite so. These men would be there to set those instincts going. Peter and John went home after they had seen the sepulchre but they do not do that here.
Rem The thought of the brethren takes precedence over the natural side. Could you help us as to that?
JT What is in mind is to see what was there when the Lord went up, so that we might see the basic thought of what was here at the beginning. Then, in the beginning of chapter 2, we shall see what is going on in heaven. We know from Luke 24 the Lord was received up “into heaven”, and Paul says He was received up “in glory”, so we have some idea what was there as He went up. The change ten days after is to bring about conditions on earth to provide for testimony for Him here; so that we might get what is basic and work it out to get concrete conditions.
Ques Would you say a word about the difference between Bethany and the mount of Olives?
JT It is a suggestion of how heaven may say one thing in certain circumstances and it differs in other circumstances, meaning that circumstances are [p. 397] capable of being expanded. What God has arranged for the inauguration of the dispensation down here is capable of expansion and variation of expansion, so that these thoughts might have full place and plenty of scope for the working out of them. Bethany is the place of love. The Lord went there because there were those who loved Him there, and those whom He loved. “He led them out as far as Bethany, and having lifted up his hands, he blessed them”. And He was carried up from the place of love, showing what heaven thought of Him. The mount of Olives is a suggestion of the place of power spiritually. It was an elevated position but far away from Jerusalem — a spiritual matter indeed.
HPW Do you mean that each of those who were housed in this upper room would have certain specific spiritual impressions and the Spirit of God would use that in support and working out of things in the assembly? How do basic conditions work out with us?
JT Quite so. I thought we might dwell a little more on the basic side in our own souls — how each of us works things out, even from new birth. That is where our spiritual history begins when we are born again — that is basic and things are worked out from that.
HPW Each of them would have a special impression of Christ and so should we.
JT Exactly. These men were called out by the Lord. He brought them up to the mountain that they might be with Him, under His influence. Then in view of His death these twelve were with Him when the Supper was instituted, both in Matthew and Mark and Luke. In Luke they are called apostles — twelve apostles — they are now material which He can use in due time. And then as regards His own mother, she knew things about the Lord that no other person did and that would be the [p. 398] property of the assembly in time. John was as her son. She was in a peculiar position and John was, too — he would perhaps get impressions of the Lord from her that no one else could get. There were several of the women, meaning that the feminine side was needed. The Lord’s brethren were now secured by Him, they were not with Him at the beginning but He had secured them all. And all that would work out as to what each of us may experience as we go on in the truth as the Spirit of God has His way with us.
JPH Would you say a word on verse 13, “And when they were come into the city, they went up to the upper chamber, where were staying both Peter, and John”, and others? What about the thought of staying?
JT They are at liberty there. They are not under any obligation, they are not visitors. It is a building that could be taken away from them, it had been used before. This room which we are in might have been destroyed like others, but it has not been.
God protects such things as are needed in the testimony. The Lord Himself had inaugurated this upper room, He had told them where to find it.
GHM Does the expression ‘guest-chamber’ used by Luke refer to the atmosphere of the place?
JT There is evidently liberty with the Lord, “Ye shall say to the master of the house, The Teacher says to thee, Where is the guest-chamber ... ?” It shows what can be brought about for the Lord’s interests here. This matter of housing the brethren is a great thing — getting the right place for them.
SM Does it take the assembly to fill this basic thought out?
JT The whole dispensation would be involved with this. We are dealing now with the very greatest things which have been here for eighteen hundred years or more. The Lord had this in mind, it was not [p. 399] an accident. These disciples turned and went to the upper room where they were staying. They were authoritative persons and reliable persons whom the Lord could trust.
Rem What you are saying involves that each one of these had been under the Lord’s hand, formed by Him.
JT Exactly. His own handiwork. No others will have it as they had it, “Ye are they who have persevered with me”, Luke 22: 28.
Rem The assembly can represent the Lord here.
Rem They “gave themselves all with one accord to continual prayer”.
JT They felt the Lord had gone. That is the setting in which the Lord’s supper stands. We have to go on to the second chapter to get what is going on in heaven. He went in there and a cloud received Him out of their sight — they did not see much, what is in mind is what comes out of heaven.
Ques Is it necessary to have these basic matters in our souls to get the good of what comes out of heaven?
JT Quite so. They did not see much of what went into it. They all saw Him go up, now the next thing is what comes out of heaven and what is going on there; so you have this powerful breathing. But I do not want to go on immediately with the second chapter, although that is the thing to be reached.
Rem The setting in the first chapter is a definite necessity for the coming out of heaven of the Holy Spirit, there is complacency found there that the Holy Spirit could sit upon.
JT It was what the Lord left here. He had taken great pains with it. The persons who were to be nominated for apostleship should have “assembled with us all the time in which the Lord Jesus came in and went out among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day in which he was taken up from [p. 400] us, one of these should be a witness with us of his resurrection”. That refers to the persons who were there that the Lord had formed for a purpose.
Ques Would you say why Peter speaks of Judas thus?
JT It is to bring out the awful things that we have to deal with now.
Rem Do we not see that the one thing has to go out before the other comes in?
JT It has to go completely out, and what a terrible character it has — “bowels gushed out”. It suggests what the devil can use, employ and hire; the saints can keep themselves free and refuse to be hired. So this brother who is to take Judas’ place is a man of experience who has “assembled with us all the time in which the Lord Jesus came in and went out among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day in which he was taken up from us” — the whole period of the Lord’s ministry.
RTH Peter refers to what the scripture had said.
JT That is another thing that must be made room for — the Scriptures. The brethren would do well in every locality to become Bereans and look into the Scriptures when anything is said that seems contrary, it does not matter who said it.
Rem We have the unction from the Holy One; 1 John 2: 20. Is your thought that the upper room prepares us for this?
JT The upper room is not exactly on the earth, it is elevated.
Rem You were speaking of what is going on in heaven.
JT That is going to come out. In the meantime the Holy Spirit is come, He proceeds from the Father as a testimony to what is there. He will testify of Jesus and tell us all things to come. We will be enlightened about everything we should know — He will guide us into all the truth; John 16: 13.
JH [p. 401] Just as these were basic things for the Spirit to come to, do you look for persons with these normal features amongst the brethren so that the Holy Spirit, having now come, may be completely free in the service, unfolding the truth to us?
JT Yes. We have to wait for Paul to give the full thought. We have to wait, maybe for years, before we get the full truth. Sometimes the brethren are apt to be hasty instead of waiting.
JPH Is that the thought of leading — the Spirit leading?
JT He is guiding, too — “He shall guide you”. The blessed Spirit becomes our guide.
Rem In the upper room there is something on earth corresponding with heaven.
JT Yes, if things are not clear, wait. The Lord will give us understanding if we consider what is said. If the Holy Spirit is operating, listen and the Lord gives understanding.
Ques Is it not important that we should have an ear? “He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies”, Revelation 3: 13.
JT And then we have Peter here — he is not just one of the eleven, he is Peter.
HPW You are really stressing that the personnel that you refer to in this upper room would bring a contribution to that upper room as having come under the personal tuition of the Lord. Is not that a very great thing for us all, every brother and sister, that our secret links with the Lord should be such that they bring out certain characteristics that should be usable by the Spirit and contribute to the position?
JT Quite so, not forgetting the sisters.
Ques Is the thought of housing carried forward until the Lord Jesus comes?
JT Quite so. “If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and abide there”. They were to seek out sons of peace.
[p. 402] Ques Would it be a support in each gathering if we have these features? Should we not look for it and pray for it?
JT Yes. In verse 14 it says, “These gave themselves all with one accord”. We shall see that in chapter 2 before the Spirit came.
Now in chapter 2, “And when the day of Pentecost was now accomplishing, they were all together in one place. And there came suddenly a sound out of heaven as of a violent impetuous blowing, and filled all the house where they were sitting”, and then in the end of the chapter they are all together — they are together at any time, whether physically or not, they are all of one mind, one thought. That is a very important side. So they “gave themselves all with one accord to continual prayer, with several women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren. And in those days Peter, standing up in the midst of the brethren”. That is another point, it would suggest the idea of what we call a ministry meeting, according to 1 Corinthians. “Standing up in the midst of the brethren, said, (the crowd of names who were together was about a hundred and twenty,) Brethren, it was necessary that the scripture should have been fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke before, by the mouth of David, concerning Judas, who became guide to those who took Jesus”. So we have a word from Peter here, and it is to be noted that it is Peter, not any one of them; and he gives us instruction as to Judas which we need, because it is the kind of man that antichrist would spring out of — he is the “son of perdition”. Then the next thing is the matter of apostleship — the completion of the apostolic number. “Of the men who have assembled with us all the time in which the Lord Jesus came in and went out among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day in which he was taken up from us, one of these should be a witness with us of his resurrection”.
[p. 403] Now they have something here which the Lord could have settled if He had wished to; but He did not. There is no need to write thousands of miles away to find out something, there is the assembly of God to settle matters for us at all times.
Rem All this occurred whilst they were awaiting the promise of the Father — waiting for the intervention of heaven.
JT They did not decide to wait until the Holy Spirit would come, they went to work immediately so that the number might be complete.
JH Is this in a sense a model to us; they exercise every concern to do all that they could, but they could not go beyond selecting two, leaving room for the Lord to add His thought? Is that how we get the Lord’s thought about a thing — fully exercising our concern about it in a godly way?
JT He had already opened their understanding. That was a remarkable thing. But they do not yet get the Spirit, and therefore they are models for us now. The Lord is perhaps testing us as to what we know.
GHM We must turn to One who is the “knower of the hearts of all”.
JT Yes. We are on the borderline of the new dispensation. There were principles that obtained in the old dispensation which were still authoritative, such as the lot — it is used here.
Rem It is a beautiful principle — first prayer and then looking up the Scriptures. It was written in the book of Psalms — the Psalm tells them what to do and they do it.
JT Just so. They appointed two and gave their reason; a man of experience with Jesus, you might say — the way He did things from the beginning — that which was from the beginning and He who was from the beginning. This man would know Him as from the beginning.
[p. 404] Rem In selecting these two do they select them as those who have already got what you speak of as basic?
JT “All the time in which the Lord Jesus came in and went out among us” — the Lord is doing that now in a spiritual way. “I am coming to you” that is the idea. Sometimes He went to the mount of Olives alone, and came to them in the morning — it is the way He did things, the life of the Lord Jesus.
Ques In what sense is the principle of the lot carried forward into this dispensation?
JT It is a tried principle, used here but not afterwards. It is a principle that fits in here. Some old things have a hold.
Ques Does it take on a different turn when it says, “The Holy Spirit said, Separate me now Barnabas and Saul”, Acts 13:2? That is on the lines of today.
JT Quite so, more the present time.
HPW It is very beautiful to see that heaven took note of all that had happened, because when the Spirit came It sat upon each one of them, so that each one should have this personal impression from the Lord Jesus Himself which is ratified and confirmed by the coming of the Holy Spirit.
JT Although there is a crowd here, we have each one of them mentioned.
GHM Each one of them would involve the hundred and twenty?
JT Yes — brothers and sisters.
HPW Emphasising again the importance of brothers and sisters bringing something to the common wealth.
JT Yes. These are great matters. We are on the borderline of another dispensation. This dispensation is not going to be replaced by another of its own kind, but there is another matter coming in — a Jewish system.
Ques Have we not to be ready in view of all this [p. 405] for adjustment? God is sovereign and raises up whom He will to help us.
JT If there is a Peter who can tell you, listen to him, but test what he says by the Scriptures. He is not asked to say anything but does it as if it is the right thing to do.
GHM The one that was chosen had part in service and apostleship. What do you understand by the service?
JT What they carried on in the time of the Lord. The service the Lord carried on which they had part in. Verse 24 says, “Thou Lord, knower of the hearts of all, shew which one of these two thou hast chosen, to receive the lot of this service and apostleship”. It must include more than apostleship, “from which Judas transgressing fell”. It is viewed as one thing. In Luke 4:18 the Lord stood up in the synagogue at Nazareth saying, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me”. One and another came unto Him including Judas himself.
GHM Does it not seem akin to what the Lord carried in His affections — His Father’s business?
JT Quite so.
Ques Might these men be of the seventy?
JT Yes, they were sent ones.
Ques Do you make a difference between the house being filled and the cloven tongues of fire that sat upon each of them?
JT We can now pass on to the second chapter. The sound would be one thing and the parted tongues would be another thing. The sound filled the house — it is an allusion to other things — the ointment of Mary of Bethany filled the house. It is the sound of the wind, which would allude to the inwards of God, speaking reverently. God was moved in such a powerful way in regard to the Lord Jesus having gone into heaven and in regard of His request. “Having [p. 406] received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit” — they were all brought into this.
HPW It is a unifying matter and they are all in it, and yet in spite of that the cloven tongues sat upon each one of them giving individual spirituality and yet unified, providing the atmosphere in which God Himself was.
JT One of the most marvellous days in the history of the universe — the Holy Spirit coming in at the behest of Jesus from the Father. The Father is involved in the mighty power that was moving.
Ques What is the significance of the day of Pentecost?
JT It must have been the Father’s thought in heaven. In Matthew 11 “Jesus answering said...”. What did He answer? There must have been something. Such things as that would suggest that the Lord understood what was going on in heaven. There were dates there, and it was fixed that this should happen on this particular date. The great fact is here that it had happened. It shows that the idea of time comes into heaven — it will not be always there, but at the present time it has in view the testimony.
LHR Does it link with Leviticus 23 — the new oblation — so many days after?
JT Quite possibly. Heaven must be reckoning according to what happened in Jesus, what the Holy Spirit had in Him, in Mary His mother, and then His wonderful life until He was baptised, and then His wonderful ministry — three and a half years, and then the three days of His death and burial — “Three days and three nights in the heart of the earth”, and then His resurrection and the remaining forty days here, leaving ten days before the Spirit came so that it must synchronise with the day of Pentecost.
Rem When the Spirit came down on the Lord Jesus it was as a dove. Here it is different.
JT It was the kind of thing that took place [p. 407] when He began His ministry. Here we have power. All things can be reached. We are told here the ones that were reached, but it would become wider after Stephen’s testimony.
Rem We are in remnant conditions now, but we have this power. God is no doubt working, but we are in lowly conditions.
JT The Lord knows, therefore He says, “Thou hast a little strength”, Revelation 3: 8.
Rem It says it “filled all the house where they were sitting” as though there is a sphere where what is heavenly is to be paramount.
JT Sitting is an attitude of thoughtfulness. The Lord is sitting according to Mark on the right hand of God, time is taken to look into things and make decisions. You wonder at the length of the dispensation, yet the sitting position is held, not forced, and it is for us to learn to sit and look into things, look around and get the right thought.
Ques Why does it refer to the Spirit as sitting upon them, too?
JT He is taking up a place that He is not going to leave. He is remaining with us. There is the possibility of our partaking of the Holy Spirit and not being real believers, but those who are real believers respond to the Spirit. It gives great assurance as to the dispensation itself.
Ques Have we to learn that certain things in time synchronise with the plan of heaven? So the day of Pentecost would be a certain thing in time. The suddenness of the noise coming out of heaven would suggest that everything was prepared and the Holy Spirit sat upon them.
JT There is infinite accuracy in the things of God. It is very wonderful — more so than what happened when creation took place. Everything must begin with the birth of Jesus. It is a question of what God decreed. “Lo, I come”. He never imposed [p. 408] upon Him to come, He does it Himself. The Spirit was sent, but never Jesus. Much is spoken of as coming out of heaven. In this chapter the sound from heaven, in chapter 9 light from heaven, in chapter 10 the sheet from heaven.
LHR What is the thought of it being a violent and impetuous blowing?
JT It is the thought of power. We are told that the breath of God is applied to the lake of fire, showing the relation of the actions of God. All is of Himself and from love. Everything is because of love, even the lake of fire. It is a necessity on account of love. It is violent but it is all for blessing, hence what follows proves that — three thousand persons are converted.
GHM Are you presenting the magnitude and importance of the Spirit being here that we might take account of it?
JT It is the same Spirit.
Rem Elihu says, “The breath of the Almighty hath given me life”.
JT In Isaiah it speaks of “The breath of Jehovah, like a stream of brimstone”, chapter 30: 33.
Ques Is that the same breath in a different character?
JT Yes, it gives light.