THE POWER OF THE LORD IN DELIVERANCE
[p. 248] THE POWER OF THE LORD IN DELIVERANCE
JT We had the early part of this chapter yesterday, presenting as it does the Lord in the exercise of His service, the twelve being with Him and certain women who had profited by His service, ministering to Him of their substance. The Lord is seen in His public service with those who were associated with Him in it. The apostles represented by Peter (chapter 5), had come to the judgment of sin as to their state, and before opening that day, the Lord prayed all night. He spent the night in prayer before He called the twelve; so that they represent such as He would use in the ministry, persons who have judged sin and judged themselves sinners, thus presenting to us in the twelve the kind of men that are to be of use; then the women such as Mary Magdalene, out of whom seven demons had gone, also are marked by similar moral features. They had ministered to Him of their substance; and then a great crowd coming together, He speaks the parable of the seed sowing in order that the result of the testimony should be in regard to those persons who associated with Him. He says that the good ground is an honest and good heart which, having heard the word of God, bears fruit with patience. Having heard the word of God, you keep it and bring forth fruit with patience. Thus we have one side of our public position in those who bring forth fruit with patience, and who have things, and who are marked off as doers of the word; keeping the word of God and doing it, they are marked off as the brethren of Christ. I thought it might help us to see in the second part of the chapter the other side, the power of Satan acting [p. 249] first in the women and the other side represented by this man, who had demons, coming out of the city. We are reminded of what cities are; a shameless condition. It says, he “had demons a long time, and put on no clothes, and did not abide in a house, but in the tombs”. Being a man coming out of the city, these features remind us of what the city was. He “had demons a long time”; he was a man experienced in demoniacal possession, but spiritually it would be a man versed in the ways of Satan, experienced in these ways. The work of the Lord in him is that the demons come out, and he is found at the feet of Jesus, sitting, clothed and sensible. We have now a man who would have been long versed in the ways of Satan, and in whose service he would have been shameless, now the very opposite, sitting, clothed and in his right mind, and sensible. This man is now available for the Lord; not only is it a question of fruit bearing, which would apply to all brothers and sisters alike as having honest and good hearts and keeping the word, but, as to our side, commissioned to “Return to thine house and relate how great things God has done for thee”. That is the side, perhaps, that we need to be reminded of, because it is in connection with this that we get gift. As you begin to relate how great things God has done for you, power would come in, and enable you to do it according to God.
Rem Does this side represent the natural man away from God?
JT Yes, and we find that with this man there is disregard of personal control, a shameless condition; the house is disregarded. He did not dwell in a house; he put on no clothes, but abode in the tombs.
Rem I was thinking of Cain; as abandoned of God, he went and built a city and dwelt in it.
JT That is the idea, I am sure. It is a shameless state to put on no clothes.
[p. 250] Rem God clothed Adam, but Cain went out from the presence of the Lord.
JT Adam was taught how to put on clothes by God, for we read that “Jehovah Elohim made Adam and his wife coats of skin, and clothed them”, Genesis 3: 21. This man would not be that. As Paul said, “if indeed being also clothed we shall not be found naked”, 2 Corinthians 5: 3. And then the house is disregarded; the shameless personal condition seems to me a striking picture of modern times.
WA This would be really the characteristic features of what is seen in every man.
JT It is a shameless condition; thus pointing to the city as truly abandoned to wickedness, dead morally, no response Godward. There is nothing for God in all that man can get up in the way of recreation and pleasure. That is where the man dwells. The divine order of things is totally given up. The man lives with demons, not only one, but with a legion, and they were there a long time. All these things are developing rapidly now.
Rem Would “a long time” cover the whole course of man’s life?
JT I suppose that is the idea; long experience in the ways of Satan.
Rem “There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof is the ways of death”, Proverbs 14: 12. This man is found dwelling in tombs.
JT It is well that we should have a picture, dear brethren. Perhaps in this part of the country you are not so confronted with such things, but they enter into even the smallest hamlets; in principle they are found in every community of men. It is well for us to see them as they come under God’s eye.
Rem One feels that it is well that that condition of things is exposed to us, so that we have reached an estimate of the character of the power of Satan that exercises its influence upon men in this world,
[p. 251] and where men as his agents are pushing things on for their own pleasure.
JT The man met the Lord, it says, “A certain man out of the city met him”. That is what the Lord has met, and what we may expect to meet. In the early part, verses 22 to 25, He has power over the wind and sea. Satan as prince of the power of the air comes in in a very subtle way, so that he has a direct influence on man. “The spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience”, Ephesians 2: 2. He works in men, the sons of disobedience. They are developed in it, like this man, “a long time”, but he met the Lord.
Ques How do you apply that today?
JT The action is on his side. Initiative is on the side of evil. The sequel shows that the Lord is not carrying things in this section of the world, where things are against Him. This is how we find things now, not a general revival or any great movement of God, but a state where, in the main, things are against us. Evil has the initiative; evil can move. The man met the Lord. The movement is on the side of evil.
Rem The Lord is not dealing with it in a general way, in mass, but in individuals, breaking Satan’s power and delivering them.
JT The first thing to see is that this man is dominated by evil; that evil has the initiative, so that the Lord is met by him on arriving. You will observe that He “arrived in the country of the Gadarenes, which is over against Galilee”. Galilee was the place of the Lord’s own sphere, and as you will see He returns thither in the power of that return, the people receive Him gladly; the influence is very favourable there; but in the country of the Gadarenes, the influences are against Him. Worldly influences are dominated by Satan. The man met [p. 252] Him. Paul, I suppose, could be taken as a type of the world dominated by Satan. He left Jerusalem with letters from the high priest breathing out slaughter against the disciples of the Lord. He represents the world as dominated by Satan. He was going to Damascus; and he was thus taking the initiative. The Lord met him. He related what great things had been done for him. That is what one would like to do; to relate things. We see how Peter and then Paul himself can relate so beautifully what the Lord had done for them. Paul was the most gifted, perhaps, of servants and could relate in a most beautiful way what the Lord had done for him. He did so on more than one occasion.
Rem One feels this is what always takes place with one who has had to do with the Lord. He has something to say about it.
JT In relating it, you get on wings; you begin in a simple way to relate what the Lord has done for you. But it is here what “great things God has done for thee”. In Luke it is always God. You begin to relate what great things God has done for you. You get on the wing sometimes, and moving on as Paul did when he was relating it to Agrippa. So powerful did Paul become that Festus cried out, “Thou art mad, Paul; much learning turns thee to madness”. “I am not mad, most excellent Festus, but utter words of truth and soberness”. “This was not done in a corner. King Agrippa, believest thou the prophets?” The king says, “In a little thou persuadest me to become a Christian”. Paul said, “I would to God, both in little and in much, that not only thou, but all who have heard me this day, should become such as I also am, except these bonds”, Acts 26: 24 - 29. He was in the enjoyment of the great things which God had done for him and was relating it most powerfully owing to the experience he had had in it.
[p. 253] Rem If we had more of that in our preaching sometimes, we would be more effective.
Ques Would you say that with all the schemes of social improvement by which they try to better the condition of things, they have failed to cover their shame?
JT Yes. This man represented rather the city, the shamelessness. Men who speak froward things are truly shameless.
Ques What would the state of this man represent — a sinner or one who has the knowledge of sins forgiven but unintelligent as to the character of the world or the system he is in?
JT He represents the world in its shamelessness. He takes the lead in things. Such men as those who write — men who speak froward things, authors, men who write books and plays and amuse people, and whom unintelligent people call leaders of thought, leaders of the world. That is what is in view. They are long versed in these ways and the power of Satan. There is personal shamelessness, and disregard of the house; the family thought is broken up, for churches are depleted, and where God placed a record (for God has been there) there is no regard for God; there is no response to God. Places of the dead emphasise the times.
Rem Would you say that all carries weight in the world?
J.T. Yes, quite!
Rem The standards are all wrong in that way.
JT Yes. They are ever against what is of God. We shall see, as has been remarked, that God made coats of skins and clothed Adam and Eve therewith. Cain was disregardful of that, the family thought being broken up. That is recorded in Genesis, brother slays brother.
[p. 254] Rem The state of Babylon in Revelation 18: 2, 3, depicts the dwelling place of every unclean thing; what this will be in its full bloom.
JT Yes. Of the foolish woman, it says, “her guests are in the depths of Sheol”, Proverbs 9: 18. One who goes in does not know that her guests are there. That is where men find their entertainment; men are given up to the dead, where God has no response — where there is no life.
Rem In Ezekiel God showed the prophet what people could do in the dark. It is the only sphere they can work in. You cannot have things like that in the light.
JT The prince of the power of the air is what God contends with. The change here is so delightful; the man is clothed and in his right mind. This is the kind of man alluded to by Paul; in writing to Timothy, “God has not given us a spirit of cowardice, but of power, and of love, and of wise discretion” (2 Timothy 1: 7), so that he may be able to do the work of an evangelist, when relating how great things that God has done; he is free to do that.
JN Was he quite in order to go into the city when he was told to go unto his house?
JT The Lord said, “Return to thine house and relate how great things God has done for thee”, and he went away and “published throughout the whole city how great things Jesus had done unto him”. I do not say there was any reproach in it. It was happy news; certainly it was fine service from the Lord’s standpoint, as testifying what the Lord was doing. The man related the things as he apprehended them. It would be in relation to the testimony of God. I think it is very fine to go to the city, though, as you say, he was sent to his house. It certainly does say, He went that way into this city, which, of course, would be a wider sphere. The woman in John 4 went to the city where she was known, showing what work was effected in her. “Come, see a man who told me all things I had ever done: is not he the Christ?” She presented the thing as she apprehended it, which is the most effective way.
JN In Matthew it is two, here it is one.
JT It gives us man as a system. You find two in many instances in Matthew, but in Luke it is what might be in any one person. Matthew deals in twos, in setting up a system of man in the world, but in Luke it is a matter of taking individuals out of the world, where things are seen at their worst, dominated by Satan; this particular individual was a long time under him, but now he becomes of service to Christ.
Rem Luke is more the abstract side. He met the man going out of the city. You can see the pattern of the man inside the city.
JT That is what I thought. God was working in the man. We see that in Saul of Tarsus; when he saw Jesus he fell to the earth.
In verse 28 we have the man addressing Him as Son of the Most High God, and evidently the demon has something to do with it. Then, “What is thy name? And he said, Legion”. I think man’s responsibility is seen in what is said. His will is under the influence of the demons. They influence what he says in calling Jesus the Son of the Most High God, diverting from the real point. That is not the point now.
JN What is the point now?
JT That He is Lord. Satan will never say that. Peter said, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, Lord”. Satan will never say that. This man could not say that. He was brought to it later, when the demons went out.
Rem When the Lord commanded the unclean spirit to go out of the man, the demons had no question as to His authority; they besought Him that [p. 256] He would not command them to go away into the bottomless pit.
JT Satan would divert us from that, as at Philippi. You will remember how the woman said, “These men are bondmen of the Most High God”.
Rem What a triumph! The Lord allows the demons to go into the swine and they rush down to destruction, but the man is sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. What a testimony! That soul would be a trophy for Christ and well able to relate what great things God had done. He would be in the same condition as the twelve already there. It would be a great help to the twelve to see how the Lord had dealt with this man.
JT He was entirely a disciple of Satan; but from the unordered state of things he was brought into the ordered state of things. It is such a state that the Lord takes the man out of, so that the power has to be superior to the power of Satan. The next man is Jairus. He is another man. He has a daughter, showing now the suffering from death, and in the meanwhile between this coming into view and raising up of the girl, Jairus’s daughter, we have a secret thing which is neither Satan’s power nor death, but something of the state in which another is, a secret plague, not a question now of satanic power or of death, but of what another has become secretly and for a long time, and as the man had been under the power of Satan a long time, so with the woman, she had been twelve years in this state. Solomon says, “they shall know every man the plague of his own heart”, 1 Kings 8: 38.
Rem This is not partaking of anything in this world?
JT No. You may shut yourself up in anything and never see such, and yet this incident shows up our circumstances, and they are shown up perfectly by God, and [p. 257] met.
Rem She had come to the age of responsibility.
JT The child — yes! The girl is dead, not as a consequence of sin. She has just come to the age of responsibility, which shows the state we are in. It shows how truly helpless our state is as men, women and children. The circumstances are infinitely hopeless. First, satanic power; second, secret plague, and third, death of the child not because of sins but because of sin. “Death reigned from Adam until Moses, even upon those who had not sinned in the likeness of Adam’s transgression”, Romans 5: 14.
Rem In 1 Kings 8: 38. Solomon says, “what prayer ... soever be made by any man ... when they shall know ... the plague of his own heart, and shall spread forth his hands toward this house; then hear thou in the heavens”. If you discover the plague in your own heart, He will hear that one. The woman discovered it.
JT She knew one there who had virtue, and if she but touched the hem of His garment virtue would come out. The Spirit is the solution to this. It says she was immediately healed. The woman declared unto Him before all the people for what cause she had touched Him, and how she was healed immediately. And He said to her, “Daughter, be of good comfort: thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace”. She is brought into relationship. We see here what is meant when it says virtue goes out of Him. It was in her touching the garment, showing how power, virtue, increase, were going out in all that was connected with Him. “Daughter” — that would be a familiar touch. In a certain sense there is virtue in the garments apart from His Person. I think the garments refer to what is here in the saints. In Psalm 133 you have the skirts and the garments. “The precious oil upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, upon Aaron’s beard, that ran down to the hem of his garments”, Psalm 133: 2. The garments are [p. 258] not Himself, that is quite obvious. It is what is immediately and intimately related with Him. She knew that. It was the garment He had on, that the woman touched, not one that He had taken off.
Rem So that He really came out from Psalm 133.
JT Everything hinges on that. She is brought into relationship with that Person who says, “Be of good courage, daughter; thy faith has healed thee; go in peace”. So that in this case you have a new thing — the christian side. Romans 7 deals with relationship, because in Romans 8 the son is brought into the family, having received the spirit of adoption; we are now under the light of purpose, under the family influence. The case of the little girl is more a spiritual matter; for when the Lord came to the house, He did not allow anyone in save Peter, John and James, and the father and mother of the child, that is to say, we have family relationships now in the woman; the term “Be of good courage, daughter” sets her in relationship with them. We reach what is spiritual. It is a question of raising the dead, and so it is the households, the family. He brings in three disciples, the most spiritual, Peter, John and James, and the father and mother of the child, so that she is brought in, raised up into the spiritual side of things.
JN Is that why He puts out the others, the weeping and the wailing, the flute players and minstrels?
JT That is what I thought. Matthew enlarges upon that. The sentimental things are put out, too. We get in christianity music very much developed. It is no help spiritually. It may be very nice, but we have to guard against natural sentiment at this point; things are too serious to be regarded naturally. The woman had enough of it, but she is now brought into relationship with Christ. She does not want to break the link; she is part of the garment herself.
[p. 259] As a result of this, there is life, not flesh, spiritual life brought into christian relationship and set in the family.
Rem It is not a question now of weeping. What He would have them to take account of is the power there is for recovery. We want that, but to have it, we have to put out the flute players — sentimentality, etc., which you refer to.
JT So that Peter, James and John represent the spiritual side. Peter represents authority, the administrative side, administration according to God; John, the family touch, affection; James, I think, is wisdom. These are the kind of influences we need. The father and mother of the child represent the family, and in addition to that, we have the Lord Himself. The girl is brought in there. What is seen is a young fresh life. So He took her — the child — by the hand.
Rem He enjoined them not to tell anyone about it.
JT It is not for the world. You do not want to bring things down to the world. You must maintain a line of demarcation between the one and the other. If you carry out these precious things to the world, they will not listen. It is not that you do not preach the gospel; it is that this kind of thing is not to be told. Your life is hid. This is our life in principle. All this is going on in a hidden way. You are raised in Colossians in freshness — fresh young life. He commanded that something be given her to eat. That life has to be sustained. He is the food of our life.
Rem I was wondering as to the Lord taking her by the hand.
JT “When Israel was a child, then I loved him” — taking him by the hand, but when it is taking by the hand, it is not identification, but support. He laid both His hands on the woman in chapter 13. That is identification.