THE CHARACTER OF THE MANHOOD OF CHRIST
[p. 7] THE CHARACTER OF THE MANHOOD OF CHRIST
JT It occurs to me that we cannot understand christianity, until we see the kind of man Christ was as taking human form here under God’s eye. We have to see this before we can understand aright what christianity is; and this passage, it seems to me, would suggest what He was. His thought in becoming Man was to do God’s will, “Lo, I come to do thy will, O God”, “A body hast thou prepared me”; i.e. He answered in every way to God. He, in carrying out God’s will, established a title to live down here; and not only so, but having established that, He becomes the sacrifice.
AN God’s thought in regard to man was set forth in Christ personally.
JT Having established a title to live, and that publicly, He is eligible, or qualified to take man’s place as sacrifice. All the perfection of Christ comes out under the eye of God, in the burnt-offering; the more the light shone in, the more the perfection shone out. It is not so with us, “The word of God is quick and powerful — is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart”, Hebrews 4: 12. The word of God turned in on us, discloses something very different from what was in Christ. The inner springs of Christ were all active Godward.
JMcP You get that in the Psalms.
JT Yes, sometimes they rise to the full height of Christ’s exercises, “Lo, I come”, only the Lord could say that.
RG The greatness of Christ lies at the foundation of all our hopes.
JT Yes, and you get the order of man, which is to remain in the presence of God, so that the covenant is that by which we are formed after the will of God.
[p. 8] When you think of man, you must go back to the garden of Eden. The moment the Lord appeared as Man here, every thought connected with man came into evidence. The problem to be solved was — can this Man justify God in regard to every thought of God for man? The problem was infinitely solved in Christ’s walk here, so that we get Him as Man in perfection before God, in the midst of lawlessness and corruption, answering to the mind of God. That is Man according to God.
Question as to the covenant.
JT He is to God’s pleasure, and effectuates the covenant, and by the covenant brings in a new race — a race with the law written in their hearts and minds, knowing forgiveness by the Spirit, and the law of God transcribed in their hearts and minds. In the Lord’s birth, you have the announcement “good pleasure in men”, indicating that it was a race that God had in mind. The Lord sets it all forth in His own Person, and then removes the man that offended, and in doing so, brings in a race or order of man, according to God’s pleasure. That indicates our position, so that on the one hand we have “By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ ...” that is, sanctification is in the death of Christ; that is the removal of the lawless man. Then it goes on in verse 15, “Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us” — a witness in regard to God’s covenant. Man is retained before God so that the covenant might be effectuated. You get the ministry of the new covenant, that is a ministry of the Spirit, a ministry which forms man after Christ.
GN In the old economy the sacrifice was inferior to the priest; in christianity they are equal.
JT The offerer and the offering are equal. Take Moses and Aaron; Moses was very much superior to Aaron, and in many respects you get that. Necessarily the priest was superior to the offering, as the latter was [p. 9] a mere creature; now the offerer and the offering are equal. The Lord has brought in a new order of man — it is very important — He has retained man before God; then the Spirit comes in, so that there is the ministry of the new covenant.
AN Explain how we are formed by the new covenant ministry.
JT The Spirit is a witness to us; then He refers to the terms of the covenant “their sins and iniquities will I remember no more”. It is what the Spirit is doing to us in principle. In christianity it is even more; it is an epistle of Christ. The saints are to be a transcript of Christ — His letter. You delight in God’s will; instead of it being a burden to you, it is a delight. An order of man is brought out like Christ.
AN You are in accord with the death of Christ, as regards the removal of the man.
JT Fellowship involves that. You put forth your hand. No one can partake of the Supper for you. It is deliberate, and what you commit yourself to is the removal of the man that sinned, “By the which will we are sanctified, through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ”. You commit yourself to it, and if so, it is inconsistent to allow your own will. If you do God’s will, you are a transcript of Christ, so that you fill out the rest of your time to God’s will. There is great testimony in that to God. If we accept that we are here in order that God would secure His thoughts in us, pending the establishment of things publicly, then there is a testimony to the order of man that God intends to retain before Him, and that here, where sin reigns. The apostle describes it in Romans 8, “that the righteous requirement of the law should be fulfilled in us ...” That is a testimony for God, because it was what God intended in the world. He intended that Israel should walk in His will, so christianity takes the place of Israel, and the righteous requirement of the law is fulfilled in us.
RG Force of “witness to us”?
JT He witnessed to us the virtue of the offering. The Spirit witnesses the significance of it.
RG The greatness and virtue of it?
JT Quite so.
JMcP Christianity is built up on one offering.
JT Yes.
AN We think of the ministry of the new covenant more in relation to our blessing than in regard to what it is to accomplish in the service of God.
JT Yes. God intended something in Adam, and that failed, and something in Israel, and that failed; “They, like Adam, have transgressed the covenant”. Christ takes it up and maintains it, and that is to be continued; and nothing else will do for God. This epistle is intended to establish in the church, what is set forth in Christ in the gospels. The covenant is “I will”. Hebrews is not type and antitype; it is a book of contrasts, so when the types are alluded to, it is what they were literally, not typically.
Rem “Thy will be done on earth”.
JT That is the principle on which the new order of man will be brought in. The disciples felt in the Lord’s presence, they did not know how to pray. What constitutes a man great is the way he acts in the presence of light. If there is an accession of light, how are you to act, how are you to be affected? The disciples were properly affected, “Teach us to pray”, they say. That is a right desire. So the Lord says: “When ye pray, say, Father, thy name be hallowed; thy kingdom come”. Then in Matthew 6, “thy will be done as in heaven so upon the earth”. It is the idea the Lord brought in. All His instruction was on that principle, that they might be established here in the will of God.
GN Are there conditions in connection with the new [p. 11] covenant?
JT God assumes all the responsibility. It is what God will do, “I will write”, etc.
GN What is the will of God?
JT That is a large subject! You must recognise it as a principle. The moral of Romans is that you might prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. You have to prove it. It takes the whole christian course to prove it ... The first thing in regard to you and me is to set aside our wills. Instead of bringing pleasure, they cause grief every day to God ... the Lord is always unique; in every way that we correspond, there is some distinctive mark as to the Lord. The law is put into our mind, but He came with it.
RG It is a great victory to have a generation like that, in a scene of confusion.
JT That is the testimony. There is no testimony but that. That is what marks the millennial state of things, the law written in the heart; that is what will mark Israel. The church on high will be the vessel of glory, there is the shining of glory in the face of Jesus in the church. The heavens declare the glory of God; that is what the psalmist says; nothing on earth declares it. The Lord comes down and brings that principle to earth — God’s will. Everything in heaven moved in accord with God’s will — no deviation there — that is the idea of glory. Now, the Lord brought that to earth — brought to earth what governed heaven — makes a complete circuit and goes back to heaven. Now, that is reflected in the church. And then Israel is formed after the law, so that God’s will is done on earth as in heaven. Now the testimony is all that is set forth in a contrary scene. All in the coming age is witnessed to. You must have God’s will vindicated on earth, so the thought of the will of God is recognised; then you can introduce the idea of approach, but not otherwise.
Question as to God’[p. 12] s will.
JT It is what is in the Lord’s heart. The fact that He says, “Lo, I come” shows that the disposition is there. It is the order of man. You get two things in Romans 8, the Spirit of Christ, referring to the order of man like Christ, and who is to continue on earth; and the spirit of adoption, referring to what is in God’s heart.
JMcP “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God”.
JT The Lord as man was the glory of God here; the ministry is to make you equal to that. All that man is, is out of accord with what God is. Well, Christ is God’s glory, and the ministry of the new covenant is to bring us into accord with God’s standard; so “we all ... beholding ... the glory of the Lord, are changed”, etc. In the 8th of Romans you get the Spirit of Christ; that is the spirit of the Man; then the spirit of adoption is the Spirit of God’s Son. The Lord not only kept the law, but magnified it and made it honourable. Exodus 20 gives the law. It is the assertion of God’s rights. Before you can have the tabernacle, the law must be answered to. The second thing is the sacrifice, and that depends on the will of God. Before you can have the sacrifice, you must have the law answered to.
JMcP What is the secret of approach?
JT You know God; you may love God, and not have title to approach. They loved God in the Old Testament, but had not the title to approach that we have. The measure of our approach is the measure of the revelation; it is the measure of liberty accorded to you. With Christians, it is the place Christ has — nothing short of it.
AN I thought it was as you were formed by the ministry of the new covenant.
JT Yes, that is your measure, but what God grants is another matter. On our side, it follows on the ministry of the new covenant. On His side, it is a question of sovereign pleasure — what He wills. He is pleased to [p. 13] accord us the privilege, but it does not follow that because you love God, you have title to approach, as the Old Testament saints had not the same privileges, though loving God. God determines privilege. He accords to us the privilege of entering the holiest, but we could not have it, if He did not accord it to us. He is sovereign. He discriminates; He accords to us the greatest privilege.
DD Referring to going in, has not the believer to be in accord with the One who is in, before he approaches?
JT Yes, but the title precedes that. God indicates His pleasure for us in that He has given Christ a place in heaven as Man, as Forerunner. He went in, in Acts 1, but there was a cloud, there was no indication that the disciples were to go in. “Whom the heaven must receive”, Peter said, “until the times of restitution of all things”. ‘Repent and He will send Him back’; but when you come to Acts 7, the heavens are opened and Stephen, says “I see ... the Son of man standing on the right hand of God”; there is indicated the mind of God for christians. The heavens are opened; I read there the title, the mind of God for us at the present moment. God must determine the place of every family, “Of whom every family in the heavens and on earth is named”. I want to see what Christ’s place is. That is our place now. We see in the early part of Acts, there is no idea of Christ being a Forerunner; He has gone into heaven, and to be concealed there, it would appear, until the times of restitution of all things; but in Acts 7, the heavens are opened through, and that is the basis of christianity. The ground is now laid, in principle, of the present dispensation.
AN Is there any difference in what the holiest is, to us, and what it will be by and by?
JT In the millennium, the veil is again recognised; they will have [p. 14] no title to enter.
AN Then this chapter has no application to Israel?
JT No; the covenant and sacrifice will have application to them, but the sacrifice in itself does not take you in.
JF What was your thought as regards the Spirit of Christ, and the Spirit of adoption?
JT The Spirit of Christ is the spirit of Man in testimony here, and if you have not His Spirit, you are not of Him. The Spirit of adoption is in relation to God as Father.
Question as to the covenant.
JT The thought of the covenant is the order of Man. Israel had the covenant; but we go further, we go within. Salvation will be when He comes out. In early Acts you have the cities of refuge; the Lord added to the church such as should be saved. In Hebrews the external assembly is not in itself salvation for us; you require to lay hold of the heavenly position in Hebrews, for salvation. It is insisted on in Hebrews. So it is the book of the opened heavens.
JM Why does it say “boldness”?
JT You have no timidity. It is in contrast to the tabernacle, “the way ... was not yet made manifest”. It is new in contrast to the old; and “living” refers to the resurrection of Christ, and the power of the Spirit in your heart, so that in approaching God your affections are active.
JMcP What shall we see inside the holiest?
JT The means by which God brings to pass universal blessing. You get into the secret of God; you see what Christ is, as Man before God. The tables within the ark suggest Christ as doing God’s will. It is all a question of Christ, so that there you learn the secret of God.
RL “We have such an high priest”.
JT What a thing to get into the secret of God, to see the Man by whom He effects this glorious system,
[p. 15] a Man who had the law in His heart! Our priesthood is determined by our relation to Christ.
GN We are priests by calling.
Ques Question as to “true heart”.
JT What a thing to have a company of people with a pure heart — like David’s mighty men. As you enter the holiest, you are in accord with it; you can lay your hand on the ark, because you are formed according to it. Your exercises are in accord with the will of God. You think only of it.
JM Do we enter the holiest as individuals or as a company?
JT In Hebrews you have not the assembly convened at all, except where it says “not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together”. Hebrews shows the privileges that refer to christianity; you get light as to those, but you do not get the assembly convened; so I take it, entering the holiest is a matter of your soul’s apprehension. The holiest was prominent in the wilderness.
Question as to the holiest in distinction from the sanctuary.
JT The latter is a sanctified place set up; but with the holiest, the idea is, there is nothing holier, hence it is the immediate presence of God. When God’s thought is brought to pass, everything is in accord with the ark.
HH “None ought to carry the ark of God but the Levites”.
JT We have to learn to recognise God’s will. If there was one question raised in the recent difficulty, it was to recognise God’s will. The ark is the means by which God brings to pass every thought of His, and when this is accomplished, all is in accord with the ark, so that His will is done on earth, as in heaven. David danced before the ark; it was his way of expressing his delight in the will of God. It is a grand thing to see the means by which God has brought to pass His thoughts;
[p. 16] then all is an accord with the ark, so that Christ is the centre of everything.
You know we speak of the Lord, and we ought to speak of Him, but you will never understand the ark, unless you see that it is the expression of God’s will. Take a man in this city — obscure, unseen, and desiring to do God’s will, what a thing that is for God, what a delight to Him!