SERVICE IN VIEW OF RESULTS
[p. 215] SERVICE IN VIEW OF RESULTS
JT We may read the gospels as seeking a knowledge of Christ, and we may read them with a view to seeking the example He sets before us; and the suggestion is that we might get some apprehension of Him in this sense in Matthew, as setting before us in this chapter the idea of energy in service, and the results that accrue; that He served for results; and Matthew gives us the results immediately. He gives an epitome of them before he enters into the details. He gives us in the last paragraph of this chapter a remarkable outline of the results of the Lord’s service. It says, “Jesus went round the whole of Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the glad tidings of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every bodily weakness among the people. And his fame went out into the whole of Syria, and they brought to him all that were ill, suffering under various diseases and pains, and those possessed by demons, and lunatics, and paralytics; and he healed them. And great crowds followed him from Galilee, and Decapolis, and Jerusalem, and Judaea, and beyond the Jordan”. It seems to me it would be of help to us, not only those who may have special ability in the service of the testimony, but to all, to view the Lord in this light, and the immense results presented here in brief, obviously to catch our eye in the book before we enter into it in detail, that christianity or our position in this world is intended to be resultful. In Romans 15 we see the spirit that marked the apostle Paul, the immense area covered, and the manner of his preaching, how he fully preached, and that it was not in fleshly energy, but in the power of the Spirit, as he says. I think we may see by the Lord’s help how this works out in the Lord’s service in Matthew. First that, as anointed, having been baptised, He is “carried up into the wilderness by the Spirit”, as it says “to be tempted of the devil”. That is where we view ourselves in active service severally or as of the assembly. The lesson is we begin with making room for the Spirit, so that the Spirit is free, because that is objectively the great position on earth. The Holy Spirit is here, and if here, room has to be made for Him; otherwise He is either grieved or quenched.
WAT Is it the thought He was carried?
JT I think so. It is to call attention to the fact that in Him, at the very outset, room was made for the Spirit to act. Later He acts by the Spirit, but first the position is there must be room for the Spirit, whether in each of us individually or viewed as in the assembly.
Ques Would it show the importance of being empty vessels so to speak?
JT Yes, of all that would mark us in the flesh. There was nothing to be displaced with the Lord. In us there is much to be displaced. Nothing can be more important than to make room for the Spirit. It is what marked Pentecost; they began with that. The Holy Spirit was free to come in under the conditions. The conditions that were in the hundred and twenty are described first, and then the Spirit comes. If the Spirit has to be occupied with displacing or battling with our wills and the flesh in us, there is little or no testimony.
WAT Is it not almost the same with John in Patmos, that he was carried in the Spirit?
JT He was “in the Spirit on the Lord’s day”.
WAT This is a little different, is it?
JT It shows how thoroughly he was free of himself, that instead of being occupied with natural things, although isolated, he was in the Spirit. He was also in prison, but he was in the Spirit, and the book of Revelation helps because it all follows on that.
FGW In Mark’s gospel the Lord is driven, but in Luke He is led; how does that bear on this, “carried up ... by the Spirit?”
JT It is a very interesting comparison. Mark gives what is most urgent, the driving. I think it is well to call attention to the urgency and the necessity for it from the divine side, and on the other, how the holy nature of Jesus recoiled from having to do with the devil at all. It is to His glory that it should be so, but it is urgent that it should be so from the divine side, so that Mark says He was driven out into the wilderness, meaning, I suppose, that He was in thorough isolation with no support at all, nothing at all to rely upon as to external circumstances — driven out into it. Then Luke would point out that He was led in it, as the best reading is, which means that He was not simply led into it, but led in all His movements in it, which is another side, and a side to be relied upon, that the Spirit will be with us, in having to do with the devil; whereas here He is carried. Although having power in Himself, it is the Spirit’s power, the Spirit doing it; not that He is using the Spirit, but the Spirit carrying Him of Himself, showing how entirely under the control of the Spirit He was.
FGW Would Mark in that way give the feature that should mark the servant, that he would be slow to touch evil in any way?
JT And if he has to touch it in any way, to deny entirely any outside support. The devil is met in the strength that God gives you, so that the Lord comes out as the Stronger binding the strong man. It is to bring out the great power that is in Christ, “He was with the wild beasts”, we are told in Mark.
FGW Does Luke go with Romans 8 at all?
JT I think it does, “As many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God”, verse 14. I think Luke brings out the position of the Son as led by the Spirit, but Matthew is to show that full room is made for the Spirit to act. Carrying is a deliberate action. It is urgent, of course, but it is deliberate. Driving is [p. 218] more urgent, but carrying is deliberate, that every precaution would be taken in carrying.
Ques Why does Luke say, “Full of the Holy Spirit?”
JT It would mean just what we are saying, that nothing would interfere with His free action.
FGW In the last chapter of Daniel it speaks of those who do exploits. Has this the doing of exploits in view, in being carried up?
JT That is very good. Up to this time there was no exploit. Of course what came out in the cross was greater; here He is simply binding the strong man, but on the cross He annulled him who had the might of death. The binding is important because it gives you a free hand to move on according to your own strength and wisdom, so that here He says, “Get thee away, Satan”, and Satan has to leave. It says, “Then the devil leaves him, and behold, angels came and ministered to him”. Now He is free, and I think there is that which corresponds in our own experience. Those whom God would use are as a rule put through some such test as this.
JWT You mean they have to meet the power of the enemy in some way?
JT Yes; the Lord orders it so that we find our strength. It is important to know your measure. The young men are said to be strong because they have overcome the wicked one, but there are other dangers afterwards. “Angels came and ministered to him”, which in our case would be providential help from God, and that help might lead to some means that would enable us to go into the world, so we have to watch that we do not abuse the result of any angelic service.
WAT Is the ministry of angels what we may count on as found in the path of the will of God?
JT I think we may look for that, but we have to be on our guard that we do not abuse or misuse what may come to us under the providence of [p. 219] God.
JWT How would you say we could do that?
JT You can understand how a man that is helped of God in his service might begin to think about turning it to account to improve his position in the world. Of the Lord here it says, “The devil leaves him, and behold angels came and ministered to him. But having heard that John was delivered up, he departed into Galilee: and having left Nazareth, he went and dwelt at Capernaum”. He moves in relation to the testimony, not staying in Nazareth where He was brought up. He has no thought of anything like that; nothing to be added to Him I think. It was His own country; that is, where we are brought up is where we would be apt to build ourselves up, to show we have emerged from a lowly estate to a greater estate. I mean, the government of God may put it in our way and we are tested. The Lord went into Galilee, which was a despised place in itself, and then He left Nazareth where He was brought up and went to Capernaum, because Capernaum, according to this chapter, represents the place of testimony in the Old Testament. So that Isaiah 9 is immediately quoted; He is moving in relation to the testimony.
FW I was going to ask as to the bearing of the fasting for forty days and nights and then hungering, which apparently precedes the attack of Satan.
JT I suppose the thought is that He is fully tested in His circumstances before Satan comes. He is at the extremity of need in His circumstances, as you might say, and it will be observed that the word “tempter” is used here, which is peculiar. The tempter, being a tempter, watches his opportunity; he comes at the opportune time, “Afterwards he hungered. And the tempter coming up to him, said ...” He waited till He hungered, till there was the evidence of His extremity. It is when we are tested in our circumstances that the enemy seeks to take advantage of us.
FW You mentioned in prayer as to the young [p. 220] leaving that which is natural in a day like this. I was wondering whether this was part of the way things are worked out with us. The Lord here fasted and did without that which was natural, you might say, and it is when He hungered that Satan comes in. Do you think an occasion like this would be in a peculiar way the object of an attack of Satan?
JT Quite. I think it shows that, and the testimony is carried on as we know what fasting means. It is denying ourselves of what is legitimate, and as doing so we are exposed to the attack of the enemy.
FW So that if we are governed by an ulterior motive other than the Lord’s interests we shall probably succumb to Satan?
JT This chapter brings out the motives behind, you mean? We have a wily foe, because the word employed here is “tempter”. That is a word all young people should take notice of, because a tempter is skilful in his tempting and waits the opportunity when he is most likely to succeed. Forty is a symbol in scripture of a full period of testing. Can I continue in self-denial for that length of time? It is the thought of training; I will need to do it later for power, “This kind does not go out but by prayer and fasting”, chapter 17: 21. It is a training which in later days I can use effectively to bring in excess of power. Sometimes you need more power than ordinarily, and that is the way the training enables you to bring it in.
Ques Would the condition of natural weakness involved by fasting throw one more on to the power of the Lord?
JT I think that is the lesson to be learnt. The tempter said, “If thou be the Son of God, speak, that these stones may become loaves of bread”. That was very adroit. It was a challenge to the salutation from heaven in chapter 3. The enemy was fully aware of that salutation and of the Spirit coming upon Him. It was an effort to get the Lord out of the position of dependence,
[p. 221] as if to say, You have power to take yourself out of these circumstances, and if you are the Son of God, why do you not do it? Instead of rendering homage to the Son of God he wished to get Him out of the position of dependence by using the very title.
FW Why does the tempter use the title “Son of God” here?
JT I suppose it is his adroitness to suggest that the very dignity that belongs to Him ought to be used, skilfully hiding that fact that he wished to allure Him out of the position of dependence. But the Lord declined to take up the title Son of God. What was proper to man was the point. It was in the mind of God to show how truly Man He was, not yet to show by His movements that He was the Son, but that He was in man’s place, truly a Man maintaining man’s place.
Ques Could we say that the whole world has been tested by the Sonship of the Lord?
JT Quite. It enters into Philippians 2, because there it is Man in Christ over against man in Adam. He had subsisted in the form of God, and the announcement from heaven indicated who He was personally, and Satan’s intent was to allure Him out of the position of dependence, and throw Him back to His deity. “If”, he says. It was not that he wished to honour Him as God, but to use that to allure Him out of man’s position of dependence. So that it is the mind that is in Christ Jesus that is before us here. He refused. He “did not esteem it an object of rapine to be on an equality with God”. Satan could not tempt Him on those lines. That is what he is seeking to do, to throw Him back on to that principle, whereas He is in a position that involved another principle. The principle of deity had long been existent, but the principle of manhood had never really been set out according to God. It was never set out in Adam, nor in Israel, and the point was that there should be a Man here according [p. 222] to God.
HMG The answer is given that “Man shall not live by bread alone”. It is man in that regard.
JT I think so. The testing out of what the deity is — what God is essentially — is not the point at all. It is a question of what man should be.
FGW So that His being carried up was to bring out the perfection that was there?
JT That is right, and I think that is in view in Philippians: “Let this mind be in you”. It is not that which was in Christ as God, but in Christ Jesus — the Man.
FGW Applying the principle to ourselves, does it suggest that unless there is a certain formative work in the believer he does not come in for this peculiar kind of testing? It suggests there is a formative work in the believer and the Spirit would delight to bring it forward to show what perfection has been wrought.
JT So that we are in the presence of His Manhood, not babyhood. It is what man should be, that is, man in the wilderness and having been there for forty years, because it is the Deuteronomic position here. It is not the Red Sea here; it is man having the Spirit.
FW On the same principle would it be as gold tried in the fire?
JT It would, only gold usually represents what is of God towards man. I think what is before us is the divine thought which was never realised in Adam nor in Israel. It was no question of the Deity; that is not the point. God is not submitting that to a test down here. It is not what God is, but what man is or should be. Satan would throw the Lord back on His deity, but that is not the point, the point is what man should be.
Ques Are you thinking of the position of obedience that is proper to man?
JT Quite.
Ques That is why you spoke of the Lord as an example for us?
JT Just so. It is what man should be, how man [p. 223] should live, so that he brings in Deuteronomy as the scripture that deals with Israel in that position.
Ques Is that seen in what is said at the end of the previous chapter; “Thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness?” I wondered whether there was One there in whom all righteousness was fulfilled.
JT That shows the kind of Man that was there which is very important, and He says, not it becometh Me but us.
Ques In that way do you link the thought of righteousness with obedience and dependence?
JT Righteousness is what is right; the rights of God come in first. He has a right to man’s obedience.
JOS Satan is not able to understand the mind that is in Christ Jesus.
JT Well, he did not understand. No doubt he thought he could divert the Lord by throwing Him back on His deity, which the Lord refused. He does not allude to His Sonship at all, it is a question of what is proper to man, and that of course brings us in. As has just been remarked, “Thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness”. That is the ground we should take. So that it says, “Man shall not live by bread alone”. How the mind is directed back to the great prominence given to the word “Man” in Genesis 2. Now the thing is to be exemplified in the most perfect way. How delightful to heaven! How all the references to man in Genesis, especially in the early chapters, would come into the Lord’s mind. It was in the mind of heaven; now it was all to be verified in the most perfect manner, and what the Lord would do is to bring us into the spirit of all this and see what we are brought to. So He says, “But by every word which goes out through God’s mouth”. Now it is not simply what is written, but God’s mouth, the Lord having in mind undoubtedly to suggest the blessedness of having direct contact with God, that it is not what He writes to us, but what comes from the [p. 224] mouth of God. How delightful it would have been if Adam had responded in this way at the beginning when he heard the voice of the Lord God, walking. That voice could only speak good to him, but he hid himself from it. Now the Lord is facing God as it were. It is a question as to what comes from the mouth of God; it is God and man brought together. It is delightful to think that what had been in the mind of God is now materialising and taking form, and God is never to be robbed of it. God has got man, “Thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness” is just to bring us into this.
Ques Would this link up with the tree of life?
JT I think it would.
WAT Righteousness and life are brought together.
JT That is right.
WAT Would the principle of Isaiah 50: 4 be here in regard to the words from God’s mouth, listening to Him and what He has to say?
JT What a wonderful range is opened up in the Lord’s own mind as at the age of twelve He is in the temple hearing and asking questions. There can be no doubt He touched on Genesis in His questions and perhaps in His answers. We are not told but the whole range would be before Him; He would know what God was set for, that it was a question of having man wholly in His affections, so that He is now ready for all that would come from God’s mouth, for it is not simply one thing, but “by every word”, not simply the thoughts presented in sentences but words — every word. His ear was wakened morning by morning as the instructed, it says.
WAT It suggests a nearness which I think is most important. You cannot hear unless you are near.
Ques How do we secure those divine communications?
JT It is a question of whether we have an ear to hear, because most believers rely on the Scriptures. Of course, we should all rely on the Scriptures, but then [p. 225] most believers overlook that it is a question of God speaking. The Holy Spirit being here, there is a living voice and that voice is the voice of God, so he that has an ear is to hear what the Spirit says. He is speaking all the time, and one cannot afford to miss one word. It is not a question of revelation as we say, or new scriptures, adding to scripture, but divine thoughts, what comes to us as divine thoughts by words. It is constant. It is not what the Spirit said, but what the Spirit says, and what He says to the churches. That is, there is something that God is speaking to; He is speaking to the churches, and we want to hear all that He says to the churches.
Ques Would you say these temptations that were presented to the Lord were the same as were presented to Adam?
JT Exactly; it is the same kind of thing, something to exalt you, you know. The first was to throw the Lord back on His deity. That was the adroitness of the enemy’s onslaught. Then, in Matthew, the next is the religious side, but Luke gives us the political side second, because he is dealing more with the gentiles, and a Roman citizen would think rather of political honours than religious honours. But Matthew is dealing with the Jewish era, and he brings in the religious side second.
Ques Would our energy in service cause us to tempt the Lord at times? If it is misplaced it is likely to tempt the Lord.
JT What appeals to us is position. The devil sets Him on the edge of the temple, a very dangerous position, and one that rather exposes the ignorance of the enemy. The position to be set in is not the edge but the holiest inside, a position that takes us out of sight altogether, where we are with God. We do not reach God on the edge of the temple; we reach Him in the holiest. Satan did not suggest that. What was in his mind was that man naturally would like a conspicuous place.
Rem It says, “The devil takes him”; he would not have been able to take Him into the holiest.
JT Quite right, although Judas got in there. I mean to say, the thing had come into man’s hands really, and the sorrowful side is that Judas could get in there. The Lord Jesus never went in there; the holiest belonged only to the priest, but Judas got in, for it was there the money was cast down. Satan is thinking now a young brother wants to preach. What does he want to preach for? Is it because he would like to be conspicuous? He would rather be on the platform than in the holiest, rather than in his closet shut up with God. That is what the enemy thinks of. The natural mind is just that too, whereas the Lord says in chapter 6, ‘if you want to be honoured, enter into thy closet and shut thy door, and pray to thy Father in secret, and He will reward thee openly’. It is much safer to be rewarded openly by the Father than to be on the edge of the temple. The edge of the temple suggests the enemy’s word here, “Cast thyself down”. You cannot count on God to keep you on the pinnacle, but you can trust Him if you go into the closet, and He will honour you if you are there.
FGW Is that taken up in Psalm 91, “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High?”
JT Very good. On the edge of the temple one is greatly exposed. Do you cast yourself down dependent on God or dependent on yourself? Because Satan here misquoted the scripture, and that is what a person is exposed to when he is in that state of aspiration in religious things. We are exposed to misquotation. There is a good deal of that abroad, inaccuracy in ministry and misuse of scripture, a thing to be noticed here. But the Lord does not rebuke the devil for it; He refused it, and it is written down here for us to learn the great danger of the misuse of scripture.
Ques Is it important to see that in Luke the devil [p. 227] left the Lord for a season, and later He said, “The prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me”.
JT Here in Matthew he just leaves Him.
JOS Does the third temptation shew what Satan had before him all the time, so the Lord names him?
JT Yes; he is exposed. He is no longer the tempter but the adversary, that is to say, he may overthrow you.
Ques Would you say he has no opening with this Man? Satan is no match for Him.
JT That is what comes out. He keeps on though on this principle with all of us, although he has been defeated by the Lord Jesus, and that is the thing to watch. So “Satan” would mean that he was not only Christ’s enemy but the general enemy. He is the enemy of God and all men; that is what “Satan” implies.
Ques And it is not sufficient to tell the enemy he is a defeated foe; we have got to tell him something else?
JT We have to shew him something else, that you have on the whole armour of God, the same armour that Jesus had. It is the whole armour, so there is nothing vulnerable, and there is not any armour for the back, you know. It is all for the front, showing that you face him; you do not turn your back. He has to do that, “Resist the devil and he will flee”; you never have to. He had to leave the Lord here.
JOS Do you see Paul in Acts 16, facing the enemy? He was grieved by what the woman said, “These men are bondmen of the most High God”, and he faced the enemy: “I enjoin thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her”.
JT He was grieved, feeling the first thing. That is, you feel how victorious the enemy’s action is, and how specious it was: “These men are bondmen of the most High God”. It is the same thing as the pinnacle of the temple. He would elevate you to throw you back on your own dignity. “These men are bondmen of the most High God, who announce to you the way of salvation”. That was the devil’s adroitness, and it happened many days, and the apostle felt it. It is when you feel things that the power comes.
Ques I suppose having the spirit of God you would be sensitive to all the power of the enemy, would you not?
JT It is the sensitiveness with which God feels things. Now, to get the full scope of the scripture, what we see here is that the Lord, having heard that John was delivered up, “departed into Galilee: and having left Nazareth, he went and dwelt at Capernaum, which is on the seaside in the borders of Zabulon and Nepthalim, that that might be fulfilled which was spoken through Esaias the prophet”. He is now free and cared for providentially; He lacks nothing now; He is not hungering now; He is not turning stones into bread. He is leaving things in God’s hands to provide for Him; angels ministered to Him. But He hears that John is cast into prison, that he was delivered up. That is He is observant of what is happening in the field of service. We are not to be oblivious to that. Other servants are there. I am referring to this as an example, that we are not to think of ourselves as the only persons that God is going to use. There are others, and John represents that side. It says that Peter stood up with the eleven, which means that there were others. And here was John, and the Lord knew what he was doing, and now he is cast into prison. Well, there is a great need of help. It is not that I wish to push myself in the service. The need exists. I look abroad on the field — that is a great matter — and see where the need is. Now John is cast into prison. A great servant has been removed through death, and I begin to think how that is going to be met; not that I should have prominence, yet the need is there. But the Lord does not immediately act, and the next thing is that He moves into Capernaum. He leaves Nazareth, His natural place, for now, protected by the [p. 229] angels of God. He may expect conflict and material support. He leaves Nazareth and goes to a point which scripture indicated was to be the place of light. That is to say, the true servant stresses scripture. The Lord knew well enough where all these texts were. We know from Luke 4 how He quoted exactly what fitted the position at Nazareth, but the passage here is very wide. He does not quote it, but the Holy Spirit speaks of it as fulfilled by His movements. He is not quoting it to support His position, but fulfilling it in what He is doing. It is an important matter that the whole scheme of God is one, that the whole thing existed on His coming into manhood, so the whole scheme is one, and everyone of us fits into it. We are in the scheme of God or nothing, so the question is, Am I fitting into the divine thought? As the Lord says of Paul, “This man is an elect vessel to me”, (Acts 9: 15); he is going to fill a wonderful place. And so here the movements of the Lord fit in with the mind of God. How great a thing that is morally, so that Isaiah 9 is exemplified in the Lord’s movements in leaving the town of His bringing up for the town of Capernaum. Nazareth, although despised, was really a much healthier position than Capernaum, but the Lord is showing that He is fitting in with the mind of God, and we must never be other than that. If I am not, I am lawless.
Ques Is that illustrated in the movements of the Lord’s servants in Acts — Peter and Philip and others?
JT I think so; the Holy Spirit mentions them as fitting in with the mind of God. It is very delightful to fit in with the mind of God communicated hundreds of years before.
Ques Would what you have been saying be beautifully illustrated by Nehemiah? He felt the need, and circumstances were so ordered that he could be free for the service.
JT Quite so. So here it is the one place where it [p. 230] says the Lord dwelt. John 1 says, He dwelt among us, that is to say, amongst certain persons, but here He is living in a certain town, and it brings up what I am in my private circumstances before I start preaching — what the neighbours see every morning.
Ques Would it be connected with the verse we have read in Romans? “For I will not dare to speak anything of the things which Christ has not wrought by me”.
JT Well, you see, He is not working yet; He is just living there. It is a question of what they see in you in your town every day, and what they see in me in New York. The neighbours live all around you, and it is what they see in you every morning, what your manner of life is, whether there is light in it. Think of living next door to the Lord Jesus! What you would see every day if you were observant! What the passage in Isaiah required was light; that is, the mind of God requires that there should be light in those circumstances, not in my ministry yet, but in my everyday life. The mind of God requires light in that, not while I am in the meetings only, but where I live, in my house.
WAT It says it was on the seaside, as if you would be near to the vast expanse of things; you would not be too local, in that way. Would it take account of the vast range of the interests of God?
JT I think so. One’s personal circumstances ought to bear on his whole ministry. What was that young man in his youth? What was the manner of his life? How was he at home in his father’s house? How was he after he got married? What has he been in business? All that necessarily enters into a man’s position in the service of God, and we cannot take short cuts in the service of God. We have to go through things daily with the enemy, and then in our ordinary movements in regard to our living associations. We have to move in relation to God and fit in with the divine scheme. It is said of the Lord Jesus in Philippians, “Taking his place in the likeness of men”, not in the likeness of man, but in the likeness of men. But “having been found in figure as a man, humbled himself”.
Ques Is verse 16 of our chapter that which was to be seen in the Lord here?
JT That is what I was just coming to, “That that might be fulfilled which was spoken through Esaias the prophet, saying, Land of Zabulon and land of Nepthalim, way of the sea beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations: — the people sitting in darkness has seen a great light, and to those sitting in the country and shadow of death, to them has light sprung up”. That is what is alluded to. The great light was where He dwelt, not His ministry yet, but where He dwelt.
Ques Is the same feature seen in Simon Peter and Andrew? They were working when the Lord called them.
JT That is the next thing that comes out. It is very beautiful to see the order in the Lord’s blessed life, and how it is recorded that it might be an example for us all, for it is not a question of a divine Person acting as a divine Person, but in manhood. That is the point, what man is to be, so it is where He is living as a Man that there is light; light radiates from that house where He is living.
Rem Saul was at Tarsus first before he came to Antioch.
JT The Lord told Ananias from the very outset where he came from, so we must never forget that is where he is to shine before he takes up his ministry.
Ques You mean that, as set forth here, what we are precedes what we say?
JT That is the idea. In our everyday life there is light. That is the divine requirement for service.
Ques Have you in mind that the quotation from Isaiah apparently refers to the Lord dwelling at [p. 232] Capernaum?
JT Clearly. They were sitting in darkness but the light shone on them, “The true light was that which, coming into the world, lightens every man”, John 1: 9.
JOS Does the Lord refer to this thought when He speaks of Capernaum being raised up to heaven?
JT Yes; He refers to this wonderful testimony in it. Of course, there was more in it than this; it was the great sphere of His testimony. Now the next thing is, “From that time began Jesus to preach”. You might say it is from the time you are sent out, but it is not. He was anointed, and all this precedes His preaching; it was after He overcame the devil and shone in His private life that He began to preach. Then the next thing is, “Walking by the sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers”. Now it is a question of discernment as to likely material for the service, what God is seeking; because after all, what is our service if there is no result, and we want to get the most likely material wherever it is. The servant needs discernment. The Lord was walking by the sea, but it was not a mere walk for pleasure or health; He was looking around for material, so to say.
Rem The apostle Paul takes Timothy because he is well reported of by the brethren.
JT Very good; it is important to find the most likely material.
WAT So in the every day path and your own place you have before you to be on the look-out for that which is to be brought in, so to speak?
JT You are under obligation now, for you are commissioned. You must shew results, according to the parable of the talents, and you want to work where you get the results.
Rem Two brothers would be good material for fellowship.
JT That is so. You notice they are actually working here. “He saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they [p. 233] were fishers; and he says to them, Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men”. He saw them casting a net in, which is an important thing, and you may depend they were doing it well. If they are doing that well they will very likely be useful in the service of God, because the thing must be done well.
FGW In the early days tangible results loomed very largely in the eyes of those who took up publicly the Lord’s service. You would not exactly encourage tangible results but more the sense of divine support?
JT I think you want to have in your mind what God needs. Do you think God has results in mind in your service? It may not be converts, but it may be something else — the perfecting of the saints.
FGW Not so easy to count.
JT Quite so.
Ques Do you not see in Ephesians 5 the results of this light having shone into the soul?
JT Just so. The point here is that the light was there, not the result of it but that it was there, and it ought to be there in every one of us, that our private lives should be light, and from that point you begin to preach.
HMG You were speaking about fitting in with the service of God. Would the call of the Lord, “Come after me”, be that fitting in?
JT He said, “I will make you fishers of men”. Making is a feature of Matthew. “Make disciples of all the nations”, chapter 28: 19. It is not simply by preaching, but the question of moral power with people, and that is what comes out here: “I will make you fishers of men”. Then the next two are James and John. They are “in the ship with Zebedee their father, mending their trawl-nets, and he called them; and they, having left the ship and their father, immediately followed him”. It does not say He would make them anything but He called them, and that is enough. If He calls, I leave all the rest with Him.
[p. 234] Rem To follow Him would be to walk as He walked.
JT And more than that. It is a question of what He will do with you. He told Peter and Andrew what He would do with them, but not James and John. I think it would suggest they would have more confidence, they would leave it to Him. Some of us need to be told what we are going to be, others do not. It is enough for the Lord to call us, and we leave all the rest with Him.
WAT It says they were with Zebedee their father. Is that a further thought?
JT I think instead of family relations, His call would mean there was something behind it.
Ques Do you think the principle of leadership is seen? Of Moses it is said that he led his sheep to the backside of the desert to the mountain of God.
JT That is very good. It is very beautiful here. In Peter’s case He says, “I will make you fishers of men”, but of James and John it only says “he called them; and they, having left the ship and their father, immediately followed him”. There is a test. Of course, Peter and Andrew left the ship, but these leave the ship and their father. It means there is an element introduced that overcomes natural claims. They “left the ship and their father”.
Ques Would it be what Abraham was called to do?
JT Exactly, to leave his father’s house. “They, having left the ship and their father, immediately followed him”. I gather from Mark that Zebedee was a man of some distinction, for it says that he had hired servants, and John tells us himself that he was known to the high priest, so there must have been some distinction. In their trade they were probably fish merchants as well as fishers, so to leave that would be a wrench.
Rem One asked to be allowed first to bury his father.
JT They do not; they leave immediately.
FGW Have you anything to say on the passage in Romans?
JT [p. 235] Not more than I am saying. It is how all this is exemplified, and the apostle Paul, the extent of his journeyings and the result, the offering up of the nations, and how it was all in the power of the Spirit of God. The going out of all this is sure to be resultful according to God.
Ques Would the whole of Galilee here correspond to the circuit that Paul speaks of?
JT I thought so. It is the whole area here, because you will notice at the end of the paragraph we have “Galilee, and Decapolis, and Jerusalem, and Judaea, and beyond the Jordan”. It was a wide area, and it would correspond with the whole area now, making disciples of all the nations. That is what Paul had in mind. He had moved as far as the Adriatic, and he would go as far as Spain which was the utmost westerly limit. That is what he had in mind, and in the midst of all that apostolic and evangelical service, he speaks about being a deacon to carry money to the poor saints at Jerusalem, showing the readiness to do anything in the service of the Lord.
Ques Why was the Lord subjected to these temptations seeing that there was no possibility of failure?
JT Oh! it was to bring out the perfection that was there, which is delightful to God; as the meat-offering, which refers to His humanity, was tested by the fire to bring out the perfection that was there; and then, as we said, it is an example for us.
Ques It is God-ward, not man-ward?
JT That is right.