THE ENERGY OF LIFE
[p. 108] THE ENERGY OF LIFE
Acts 1:1 - 5; Acts 9:32 - 43; Acts 20:8 - 12
JT I thought we might say a little more about life this afternoon. Last evening we began with the work of God in our souls, the initial work of God in new birth. I was pointing out that that which is born of the Spirit is spirit, and that it shows itself at the beginning in certain instincts, which disallow the flesh, as Jacob supplanted Esau. As it develops, the believer acquires moral strength, so that he wrestles with God, and sees what God has made available, through the death of Christ, by the gospel, and he values it, and seeks it from God, and obtains it; so that, as spiritual life develops in us, it is marked by energy and appreciation of what God makes available to us in the gospel. The Spirit is in John 4. He becomes in the believer a well of water, springing up into an entirely new order of things, which is called eternal life.
This afternoon I thought we might begin at the top, and see the thing in Christ, because that is how God begins dispensationally. He begins with Christ, and everything is worked out according to that pattern. Hence, I thought that in reading the first chapter of this book we might see something of Christ alive from the dead. It is said, “He presented himself living to them”. God has that high standard before Him in the development of life, and His thought is to bring us into accord with that. So that the book of Acts is not from the standpoint of the believer’s need, but from the standpoint of the divine requirements and testimony. We begin at the top. We begin with Christ alive after He suffered. I thought that it would be a fitting theme for us on the first day of the week, because it is the day in [p. 109] which we are free to enter into the land, to apprehend Christ as He is presented in the sheaf of first-fruits. “Christ the first-fruits” (1 Corinthians 15:23). It is really life out of death; there could be no profit for God in man simply dying under penalty. In man dying under penalty there is only the great white throne, and the dead, small and great, stand before Him, but in the sowing of Christ there is a crop for God, a yield for God. That is, I think, what is in view in presenting Christ alive. He is the first-fruits, and the crop comes in in connection with Him. We have part with Him as the first-fruits.
WJY Would it be right to say on this line the object is Christ risen, and not Christ ascended?
JT That is what I think. His forty days on earth after He rose, presenting Himself alive, afford us a view of life, and, as you were saying last night, the Spirit in us leads up to that.
WJY New conditions down here upon earth.
JT Yes. He was seen by them during forty days. That is not recorded in the gospels — that is, the number of days. It is recorded here because this is the complete form on which things are worked out, in the Acts. So that those who formed the nucleus of the dispensation had an opportunity of witnessing Him for that period of time. They would gather up a remarkable apprehension of Christ in the variety of ways in which He was seen of them during the whole period of forty days.
WJY I think it has been a difficulty for many that it has been stated that the truth of eternal life is connected with earth, whereas they, in their minds, have connected it with their heavenly position.
JT It appears that it is what God brings into the scene where death has been, and in John’s epistle, where I do not think the word ‘heaven’ appears, we have the life worked out in relation to the saints. He says that the Son of God has come, but He came by water and blood, “not by water only, but by water and blood” (1 John 5:6). “And it is the Spirit that beareth witness”. So that in connection with His coming we have the thought of purification — moral and judicial cleansing. The water is put first, because what is more prominent is the removal of the man who brought in death. The water is that aspect of the death of Christ which sets the man aside from us. The blood sets him aside judicially from before God.
HW Why is He presented in that way, when the water sets forth the removal of the man after the flesh?
JT Because water is not for God. Water is for us. It is not atonement. Blood is atonement. Blood comes first in John’s gospel — “blood and water”. It is a question of what is due to God there. God is considering for us, and our coming into the thing in the epistle of John, and so the water is placed first, because we need to apprehend how thoroughly the man that brought in the guilt and death is disposed of. The water effects complete cleansing in our souls from sin — from all that has polluted. The blood is atonement. It is the judicial side. It will work out in millennial times in the practical purification of the earth by judgment. Now it works out in our judging ourselves, so that we are “born of water and of the Spirit”. The element of water in the birth is, I think, that you learn at the outset to cleanse yourself. It is the idea of purification from what is natural.
Ques Where would the washing of regeneration come in in that connection?
JT It is the same thought. It is an expression used just twice; once in Matthew, referring to the millennial world, where there will be practical purification. The pollution of the world will be washed away by judgment. Now it is by our judging ourselves. Baptism is a symbol of it, I think. But to refer to our brother’s suggestion, the epistle of John [p. 111] works out the great truth of life in connection with the Son of God having come. It does not say that He has come and gone — come and ascended to heaven. It is that the Son of God has come, and come by water and blood. There is no thought of His going, in John’s epistle. It is that He has come into the sphere of testimony, to bring in life, and life is brought in and presented as in Him. “This life is in his Son” (1 John 5:11).
WJY It does not mean that what we enjoy here on earth we lose in any way when the time of ascension comes. We do not lose it.
JT It is the victory over death; life in the Son where death has been, is the great thing God had before Him in regard to man, but it works out in the assembly. In fact, He works out all His thoughts on the ground of eternal life, because if men are to live for ever acceptably to God, He works out His thoughts in them. In this chapter we have Christ seen alive. He presented Himself alive to His disciples during forty days so that they might apprehend what the divine thought was. They would see it there in a concrete way in Him, and the coming of the Spirit would enable them to live in that in a spiritual way, even whilst down here.
HW Is it what John speaks of in the epistles, “Which thing is true in him and in you” (1 John 2:8)? You see the thing set forth in Christ first.
JT Quite so. It is important to note that in John’s epistle it is not what ascended to heaven, but it is the Son of God having come. There is nothing said about His going. We are in a faith system. We apprehend Him as having come in. He is apprehended by faith, and the life is in Him, and we have got it in Him. “This is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son” (1 John 5:11).
WJY Your suggestion is that the forty days He lived upon earth a Man in resurrection under the eye [p. 112] of God are a pattern to us of what eternal life truly is.
JT That is what I thought. The ten days that ensued until the Holy Spirit came down bring about the exercises of the fifty days spoken of in the book of Leviticus. They were to number fifty days from the time of the offering up of the sheaf. No doubt the forty days would enter into it, too, but for ten days the Lord would place them on their own resources. They would work out in their own exercises what they had seen, and in the coming in of the Spirit and His taking that up — you have the two wave loaves. There is correspondence with Christ in us. Even whilst we are still in the flesh, provision is made so that we should correspond with Christ.
EB The Lord having presented Himself alive in this connection, was it really for the assembly period, for the present moment?
JT That is it. He was setting before them what God would lead them to in a spiritual way by the Spirit. So that the epistle gives us an authentic account of the thing. “That ... which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life” (1 John 1:1). The thing was there, and they were witnesses of it, and John sought to bring the believers into that.
HW “That ... which we have seen” and “handled” — would that refer to the Lord as known in resurrection?
JT Yes. It was true of Him before, too. I think what is presented in the gospel is that Christ, as He is risen from the dead, has eternal life. What is presented in the gospel preached, I mean. The apostle is working it out. We have to understand how he came into the land, to lay hold of Christ, and apprehend Him as He is out of death. He could be here for forty days unseen by the world outside. He could go in and out, notwithstanding closed doors.
[p. 113] And yet it was Himself. There were many proofs that it was Himself.
LBB So that eternal life is not something you can take account of outwardly?
JT The effects of it you can take account of outwardly, but the thing itself is outside the range of men in this world. The apostle saw it.
WJY Is your thought that during the forty days a perfect example was before them, and then there were ten days of soul exercise on their part, and then the Spirit comes to give them power to carry out their exercise?
JT That is what I thought, so that they could bring out of their dwellings what would correspond with Christ. There is no leaven to deal with when we are translated to heaven; it refers to us as we are now. By the Spirit the flesh is so effectively dealt with that it has no entrance.
CSS Do you connect baking with the laying hold?
JT You cannot be in the enjoyment of this, which is so perfectly seen in Christ in this passage, and allow the flesh. Some of us are like dough — not baked at all, and some of us are half-baked. That is, the fire has not become wholly effective. We have not applied the fire. The Spirit came in the character of cloven tongues and of fire. The fire is the power that one has of effectively disallowing the flesh, so that, although it is admitted to be present, it is not active.
HW Are you referring to the two wave loaves?
JT Yes.
HW You suggest that answers to the assembly position?
JT Yes, it answers to the individual exercises of each one in the light of the sheaf of first-fruits. The sheaf is offered up by the priests. The next thing is, how may I be brought into accord with that? It is [p. 114] because I am left down here as I am that the fire is necessary, so that, notwithstanding the sin in me, I am brought into accord with Christ.
JS Does the epistle to the Colossians come in in connection with the forty days?
JT It is on that line. We are said there to be “risen with him through the faith of the operation of God” (Colossians 2:12), so that we are brought into correspondence with Christ in Colossians in the sense that we are circumcised in His circumcision, and baptised with Him in baptism, and raised with Him by faith. Notice the words ‘by faith’. We are not circumcised by faith, or baptised by faith, but risen by faith. It is the faith of the operation of God, meaning that I apprehend the power of God. It is effective in Christ, and it is to be effective in me. The thing is already done for faith, and I take account of it that way. Then we are quickened with Him. This is not by faith, because it is actual. Circumcision is actual, and burial is actual, and quickening is actual, but resurrection is on the principle of faith, and that maintains the dispensation, because it is in faith: I have power in my soul to enter into the position because I am quickened.
Ques Is there a distinction between resurrection and quickening?
JT The only person out of death is Christ, but the power of God in Christ — I believe in it. It is not the faith that He is risen, it is faith in the operation of God. I believe in the power; not merely in the historical fact that Christ is risen, but in the power that raised Him. So that God can regard things that be not as though they were, and so can I. The quickening is an Æactual thing, which is effective in my soul by the Spirit, and what is so precious in Colossians is that everything is of Christ. If you love Him, you value that. So that faith and the Spirit’s work go together. Now that power is operative [p. 115] in your soul to quicken you. Presently the body will be quickened as well as the soul.
WJY If faith is really operative, I suppose we would submit ourselves to the Spirit?
JT That gives the Spirit His range.
WJY We should sow to the Spirit?
JT Quite. In the measure of our faith the Spirit has range in us, and no more than that. I thought that chapter 9 helps us as to life in its bearing on the testimony practically. It is not only that I live for my own enjoyment. God satisfies the desire of every living thing. Every desire I have is satisfied as I apprehend my place in Christ. He satisfies the desire of every living thing, but then there is more than that; in my being satisfied spiritually, I am available in testimony. “The trees of the Lord are satisfied”, or “full of sap”, and, being full of sap, they are ornamental, and they afford shelter, and there is fruit and greenness, and all that which delights the eye of God, and man, too.
CSS Is that in Psalm 1?
JT Yes, and in Psalm 104 particularly. The Psalm develops the bountifulness of God in the creation. There is plenty of nourishment for the trees, and they afford shelter for the birds — in a good sense here. The stork has a house for herself there. Peter, discerning what God is about to do in Paul’s ministry, accepts it, because the thought of life is to mark every local company for testimony. We have the idea in the Scriptures, not only of life in persons, but life in localities. Peter, I think, anticipated what God intended to effect in the Gentile world, and so he went to “all quarters”, and he intimates in the case of Æneas that grace was acting now in connection with a new order of things. He says to Æneas, “Jesus, the Christ heals thee”. He had the testimony in view, so he says, “Rise up, and make thy couch for thyself”. That is, he intimates that,
[p. 116] in the new line of things God was bringing in, in Paul’s ministry, the local companies everywhere should learn to do things for themselves. There should be that sense of obligation, not depending on Jerusalem, so to speak, but learning to do things for themselves. And then, consequent on that, there is a living woman, a woman raised from the dead. Peter presents this woman living. We have a man making his bed for himself, and then the living woman.
WJY On both occasions the power of Christ operated first?
JT Quite.
WJY Would it correspond in measure with John 7 — “Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water”?
JT I thought so. In a man that can make his bed for himself, and a woman living, you have the testimony of John 7, because that is the effect of life, the Spirit being here.
Rem Man making his bed for himself would involve that he not only has life, but power.
JT Quite. He is not dependent on a visiting person. He values him when he comes, but he sees that what is to be done is done locally, and then the living woman is like a green fir tree. That is what Ephraim says he is, “I am like a green fir tree” (Hosea 14:8). He stands the test of all weathers. A fir is, I apprehend, an evergreen, and, therefore, if you come to the locality where spiritual life is (the living woman) you have the greenness in all weathers — however trying things may be. Life is there in evidence, whatever happens. I do not suggest that the fir is a fruit tree. It serves that one thought, that it stands out in its greenness, whatever happens. God says, “From me is thy fruit found” (Hosea 14:8). That is another thought.
WC The fir tree withstands the elements.
CSS [p. 117] Are you speaking of individuals, or companies?
JT It is individual. You may apply it to an individual or to a company.
CSS “How good and how pleasant it is” (Psalm 133:1) — is that the thought?
JT Yes; the woman gives character subjectively. She is presented to the saints and to the widows living. You had her making garments, but now it is a living person. That would exercise all these saints and these widows, because now they have a person out of death — an immense testimony!
CSS In the working out of life, is it the same idea as eternal life, or would there be a distinction?
JT This is more the form it takes in the testimony. The Lord, in chapter 1. presents the idea of what is for God. You enter into that for enjoyment, but then there is the testimony — the effect of that. God being the living God, you find the reference to what is living generally in scriptures that refer to the Jews; and it was important that Peter, being an apostle of the circumcision, should exercise the idea of life, in view of what was coming in among the Gentiles. The conditions in Judaea should correspond with those about to be set up among the Gentiles. From Jerusalem, round about Illyricum (which was an immense tract of territory), the gospel was to be announced by Paul, and, in the announcing of it, a number of assemblies were formed, and these assemblies would all be marked by these two things — making their beds for themselves, and living. Peter anticipates all that, guided by the Spirit, and prepares for exchange between Paul’s assemblies and what was in Judaea, so that the assembly at Thessalonica imitated the assemblies of God which were in Judaea. They could do so, because Peter’s ministry had laid the foundation for what was universal.
WJY Would it bear the application that in [p. 118] Peter we see how one spiritual man could be used to improve local conditions?
JT I am sure that is right. The Lord appeared to Cephas, and He appeared to the twelve; and He appeared to five hundred brethren at once; and He appeared to James. In appearing to James, He meant to impress James in a special way, so that He might set out what one man can do — how much one man can do. Five hundred brethren, of course, would be five hundred impressions of Christ, but one man gets an appearing by himself, and there would be, therefore, a remarkable impression made on his soul, and I take this to indicate what one man can effect in the things of God; like Elias, whom James speaks of. One man shut up the heavens for three and a half years by prayer, and again he prayed and the heaven gave rain; (James 5:17,18). It is a most important side in connection with the testimony. Peter, in this movement, going into all quarters, and anticipating the work coming in through Paul, laid a gauge of railway, so to speak, which would correspond with the gauge of the Gentile world. You do not have to change trains, so to speak. You could start from Illyricum, on the shores of the Adriatic, and proceed eastward in the same carriage, because the principles of Peter, and those of Paul, agreed. The assemblies in Judaea and the churches in the Gentile world were now governed by the same principles. It was no longer a metropolitan influence. Each had learnt to make its bed for itself, and there was life locally, so that brethren going from Illyricum or Rome to an assembly in Judaea would be quite at home. They were all governed by the same principles. That is an immense thought in connection with the working out of the testimony of God, that the same principles should rule everywhere. We should not admit of local customs or national customs. Peter, later in his epistle, confirms Paul’s doctrine in saying they were “living stones” (1 Peter 2:5). As coming to Him they were living stones, and that would divert them from Jerusalem. “Ye ... are built up a spiritual house”. That all confirms Paul’s universal principles. The Corinthians were the temple of God.
Ques Was the evidence of life in making the bed, for themselves, or for those outside as well?
JT It is a principle of doing things that are to be done. If you want to be comfortable, you need to make your own bed. You must not expect others to do it. Peter and John went down to Samaria. That was right then, but the time was coming when that had to cease, and they had to learn to do things themselves.
Ques. You see the Spirit coming in an independent way?
JT It is autonomy. You are not exactly independent. You are inter-dependent, but you are not looking to any centre like London or Melbourne for help. You learn to do things yourselves in every locality.
WJY The principles of life are active in every place.
HW There would be exercise in doing things for ourselves to be in line with the features of the house of God.
JT That is it; so that the train can start from here and go right through. One has observed, in going about, local customs in connection with things of God — particularly in other countries — and it is a thing to be avoided.
EB God has wrought sovereignly in connection with new birth in every locality, so that He might bring these conditions about.
JT That is it. Life is of its own kind.
WW If things are not running on these lines, as suggested in that part of the chapter, there is the danger of specialising.
JT She was “full of good works and alms-deeds which she did”.
WW She had one line before her mind. When she was raised to life again it would be on different lines. It would not be on a narrow gauge.
JT To come to chapter 20, I think there we have resuscitated life. I suppose the reference would be to assembly history. It may be, therefore, regarded as life, such as we have it now, brought in after failure. It is brought in through affection. “Enfolding him in his arms”, it says. It does not appear that he was wholly dead. He was capable of resuscitation. “They brought away the boy alive”. The living boy is youthful life. In some gatherings there is more of the life of experience with God than of the youthful feature. We need both, to have things according to God. And I think what you get here is a suggestion of life in those who are young. “They brought away the boy alive, and were no little comforted”.
JS He was a youth before he fell, and when he was “come up again” he was a boy.
JT When it says a youth it means a young person. A boy is more than that. There is responsibility. You hold a boy of twelve, or fifteen, or eighteen years as responsible in some sense. He is responsible. There is nothing so attractive, naturally, as youthful life. How much more so in a spiritual way, as young people are budding out and showing the evidence of spiritual life. There is a certain freshness about them.
CSS They are going through the baking.
JT Quite. There is a freshness about youth. It is a great loss if we have not got it.
CSS Speaking of restored life, is that why the Spirit of God has been bringing the question of life so much before us of late?
JT It is a great feature in John. It shows that [p. 121] it comes in at the end of the dispensation. It is the secret of recovery. God has resuscitated His people. He has made us to live. Paul enfolded him in his arms. It is the principle of Philadelphia — love of the brethren. We do not love at a distance from one another. We drink out of the same cup. It is the principle of family interests and affection.
WBP Do you think things had really died, and God is bringing life amongst the saints as a whole?
JT Yes. The people of God ceased to listen to Paul. You see here how serious it was with Eutychus. If it were not for Paul’s intervention he would have died.
WW In that sense can we administer Paul’s cares now?
JT I think you know. How do you deal with the young people here?
WW I should like to deal with them on these lines. The assembly was “not a little comforted”.
JT The Lord is reviving this spirit of affection among the brethren, so that there is care and interest shown.
WJY Do you refer in a practical way to the last ten years? There has been a very evident movement in connection with the young people of our meetings.
JT One is struck with it. It is most encouraging. A boy has to be controlled, of course, and guided, but there is a freshness and vigour in a young person which does not mark an old one.
WC You say the thing is essential to the life of an assembly?
JT Quite.
WC Is that on the ground of restored life?
JT It is. Dispensationally, I think it is what our brother has referred to — that which God, having come in, has brought about. The thought of the Lord’s supper being made prominent, and that He is coming to us, brought about affection that marked [p. 122] the assembly at the beginning. I think Paul represents the fulness of Christian affection. It is there presented as in no other person. He knew the love of Christ more than anyone else, I judge, because he says, “who loved me, and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). And, knowing the love of Christ, he could express it to others. I think the Lord is reviving that thought, and bringing about affection like that, and, further, there has been great concern about young people. They are given to know that they are cared for and loved, loved into life.
LBB What would be indicated by this youth being overpowered by sleep — that there was indifference?
JT Yes, indifference to Paul’s ministry.
Ques Is there anything in the fact that in chapter 10 Peter descends to the saints, and in chapter 20 Paul descends to the youth?
JT It is descending love. When you descend you do it of yourself. The New Jerusalem descends from God out of heaven. It is the liberty of love, I think.
WJY I think that last thought in connection with what is youthful is very encouraging. There was a time when it seemed as if what was youthful was being stifled by mere doctrine. One is thankful for the brotherliness which has recovered the youthful element among us.
JT It marks the brethren. The principles governing the believer’s household have been emphasised, and, I think, accepted. The people of God accept the principles that govern the believer’s household. The gospel was announced in Europe to the gaoler, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house” (Acts 16:31). There is no doubt that the Lord intended that the households of His people should contribute to the assemblies in Europe, and it has come [p. 123] to pass.
CSS Is there the suggestion that the youth had got above his brethren?
JT I think he had an eye on the world. Paul was discoursing a long time.
EB The recovery here was in connection with the saints being together in the light of breaking bread. Is that largely how recovery is going on at the present moment?
JT The Lord has emphasised the thought of the truth of His supper, and I think it has promoted affection such as Paul had. We count on affection. It has led to consideration for young people. So that you have, that they break bread and take the boy away alive. That is how the matter stands.
JW The window seat is not a good place for the young people. They want to get into the warmth of the circle.
JT Yes. This young man was sitting in the window opening.