THE THRONE OF GRACE (3)
THE THRONE OF GRACE (3)
JT In considering the throne of grace and what is attendant on it, we have so far read in chapters 4 and 7. The house of God is before us in chapters 14 and 15, but on a higher level in chapter 15. Possibly later we can look at the last chapter which deals with our subject directly and literally, not parabolically. So we can see how much has entered into Christianity. Chapter 7 is of particular moment in our subject as showing how the gospel works out in subjective conditions amongst men favourable to the truth, favourable to the work of God. We looked at the centurion yesterday at some length and I believe profitably, we failed to reach the woman of the city who is said to be a sinner, but she is a very important part of the picture. She represents love, not as it was seen in the centurion and his servant, or as to the Jews, but love begotten because she was forgiven; it arose from grace operating in herself and hence she becomes a representative of the truth. She is among the persons who love, of whom there may be many or few, but those who have love in their hearts, love begotten because of forgiveness. She loved much because she was forgiven much, a very happy basis on which to have love — the basis of forgiveness. And this is sure to work out in qualities that would make for the assembly. The next chapter, eight, deals with those who form the assembly, the man, and the woman, and the child. The woman is conscious of virtue entering into her; she becomes something; she has something she had not before, and that something comes from the Lord. The Lord Himself discerns that virtue had gone out of Him and this virtue involves her. So the chapter gives us in type the constitution of the assembly as we may say, formed of men, women [p. 140] and children. So young people of twelve years are clearly involved; a twelve-year-old girl may be in fellowship, but the work of God must be there. It is secured in chapter 7, for chapter seven is primarily the work of God by the Spirit, which affects certain things in men, women and children. These things may be seen in actual formation by the Spirit and also may be seen in things working in a hidden yet real way in souls. For the moment that serves our purpose to enlarge on what serves God in making the position favourable. This may be seen in a peculiar way just now, because certain governments allied together are in general favourable to the truth, and make a way for it.
SWP What are we to look for in young persons desiring to break bread? Are we to consider for their tender years and the simplicity of their desires, or rather a distinct work of the Spirit in them?
JT The work stands in relation to the work in their parents. The person in question (chapter 8) is a young girl, Jairus’ daughter. The matter of the woman comes in between the man and the child. “And it came to pass when Jesus returned, the crowd received him gladly, for they were all expecting him. And behold, a man came, whose name was Jairus, and he was a ruler of the synagogue, and falling at the feet of Jesus besought him to come to his house, because he had an only daughter about twelve years old, and she was dying” Luke 8:40 - 42. This is important to notice, that in chapter 7 it was an only son of the widow; here it is an only daughter. Well, that is the case of the child so far, and then the woman comes who had the flux of blood for twelve years. Her case offers much material for the subject of the truth generally, because it is a full grown person who is suffering from an inward condition. It is a question of inwardness in her condition. She intervenes between the beginning and end of Jairus’ case. The Lord said as to her, “Some one has touched me, for I have known that power has gone out from me” (Luke 8:46). The Lord is now speaking of virtue in dealing with men, man or woman, and the result was such that she could not hide. The feminine side is generally secretive. “And the woman, seeing that she was not hid, came trembling, and falling down before him declared before all the people for what cause she had touched him, and how she was immediately healed” (Luke 8:47). The Lord calls her, ‘Daughter’, which means that she is taken into the divine family, a very important matter. Taken into the divine family as subjectively equal to it, because she had faith. The Lord therefore says, “Thy faith has healed thee” (Luke 8:48). It was what she had. And then we are told, “While he was yet speaking, comes some one from the ruler of the synagogue, saying to him, Thy daughter is dead” (Luke 8:49). Then they say, “Do not trouble the teacher” (Luke 8:49). They give it up as a hopeless matter. “But Jesus, hearing it, answered him saying, Fear not: only believe, and she shall be made well. And when he came to the house he suffered no one to go in but Peter and John and James and the father of the child and the mother” (Luke 8:50,51). That is both parents are in this matter; that is something for the brethren to note — the kind of persons that have to do with these young people. Who are they? The parents of course have their service, and then the kind of servants eligible for the service. The Lord “suffered no one to go in but Peter and John and James and the father of the child and the mother” (Luke 8:51). That is, two parents and these three brothers; the others have to be put out. Some in the house “were weeping and lamenting her” (Luke 8:52). This weeping is of no help at all. The Lord says, “Do not weep, for she has not died, but sleeps” (Luke 8:52). The report was a deception. It is not as serious as it looks to others. It may have gone very far, but still there is some sign of life; very dim [p. 142] perhaps, but there is something there. Therefore the case is not abandoned. The people said she had died, but they were deceived. “But he [the Lord], having turned them all out and taking hold of her hand, cried saying, Child, arise” (Luke 8:54). “Having turned them all out” — these persons who have not the right view or understanding of the matter are put out. We have to take notice, if we are having to do with young people, what kind of people are useful, and those who are useless. “But he, having turned them all out and taking hold of her hand, cried saying, Child, arise” (Luke 8:54). He calls her, Child. “And her spirit returned, and immediately she rose up; and he commanded something to eat to be given to her. And her parents were amazed; but he enjoined them to tell no one what had happened” (Luke 8:55,56). The parents are not told what to give her to eat, just that she must get something to eat eventually. The Lord here tells Peter, James and John and the parents that something must be given her to eat. It is characteristic of the Lord. “Have ye anything here to eat?” (Luke 24:41) the Lord says; young people are to have enough to eat profitably.
JK Is there any thought of adjustment for the parents having to stand by and wait for the woman to be healed?
JT It was not an interruption, it was all one work. The whole chapter is taken up with humanity in the man, woman and child. The first is the man, the demoniac, the woman is the inward condition, having in mind the affections, and finally the child, the girl.
NB Who would correspond to Peter, James and John in a locality today?
JT The brethren whom the Lord is using. Because there are useful men whom the Lord is using in the localities. I suppose Peter, James and John are outstanding in [p. 143] that sense.
CCT According to this chapter, it seems that parents would be thankful to have Peter, James and John come in, men who would look after the child?
JT Yes, and they should be.
LES So the thing is participated in on the part of both mother and father.
JT Well, the father gives what we might call the moral standing or status in which the child is brought up, and, of course, he is responsible. Ephesians gives directions for the fathers. “And ye fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and admonition of the Lord”, Ephesians 6:4. The moral qualities are so important, and the mother is nearest to the child and is more with it; she is the person to watch what it is given to eat, to watch what they read, to oversee it. I am sure we do not realise enough what dangers there are in what they read. They tell each other what they read and lend books to each other.
CCT No doubt the magazines went out of the jailer’s house very quickly.
JT Quite so. Elisha took up the Shunammite’s boy, who was sick and had died, and put him on his own bed, and then went around the house, as if to look around and see what he had been reading, what was lying around the place, in the bedrooms and the like.
HB Matthew mentions the flute players.
JT He does, that is the extension of what is here. Matthew is generally severe in an instance like this because he outlines the Jewish condition and system.
LES Do you not think our young people sometimes are damaged by the influence of neighbours and companionship of that sort?
JT Yes, what you might call Moabitish neighbours. Affiliation with them because they are neighbours. There is no virtue in that at all. They may [p. 144] be Jewish, or Unitarians, but they are still neighbours, that is where the damage is.
ABM In this case that we are considering everything is clear on the surface, but there are people inside the house and the Lord only takes in these three and puts the others outside. Would that speak of outside connections and the damage in them?
JT We are to seek to promote truthfulness in our young people. It is one of the main things with them to be deceptive as regards their companionships and it is the vocation of the mother particularly to watch that.
CCT How does the Lord deal with the thing?
JT He puts the thing right. The Lord does not take much account of the girl coming into it at all, but much is made of the parental thought, but there is really some life there, some spiritual life that can be counted on in the girl.
SWP Peter, John and James are elements that are watchful over this spark of life; they do not allow it to go out; they nurture it.
JT Just so. You can understand that. These men are outstanding, men exemplary of the divine system. We shall see that they have part in the upper matter in the next chapter; that is to say, the mount of transfiguration. Let us see what part they have in that. Luke 9:28 says, “And it came to pass after these words, about eight days, that taking Peter and John and James he went up into a mountain to pray”. That is, they are honoured in that way, the same persons. So we are now coming to the system the Lord is inaugurating to care for things and look after things. And these men are distinguished, touching the matter. We could read the whole gospel but it would take too long to get through at this time. But there are men, women and children; that is a most important matter, because in all our gatherings we have these elements [p. 145] and we are to know how to deal with them, especially the young around twelve or so. Chapter 7 brings out how conditions may be favourable. Chapter 7 is very extensive, including persons not really Christians, but who are favourable to Christianity. That is important to bear in mind, because God in His government can use such conditions — favourable conditions. That is, the governments of the United States, or England or Australia, or even heathen countries, are at times found to be favourable in a remarkable way to Christianity. There is not much there, perhaps, but it is simply that God in His government has ordered it to be such. It helps the brethren in going around, even through heathen countries. We are to bear that in mind in regard of chapter 7. And in chapter 8 here, just touching on the period of the assembly, is the idea of virtue going out of Christ to a person who needs help. This woman really refers to assembly material which is to be secured in the same way. And the man with the mind set right — what an influence in the care of divine interests are men with right minds! God has given us the spirit of power and love and right-mindedness. In chapter 9 we see the upper trend in Luke, these three, Peter, James and John, taken up and honoured in a most remarkable way; it would mean the whole assembly, because the Lord is inaugurating and fitting out the system. The whole system is to be affected by this position on the mount, for they come down to meet the demon below. The idea is what they met after coming down from the mount. It was actually the devil, a child demoniacally affected, one of the most sorrowful things we have to do with. And we have to do with it. The next thing after chapter 9 is the matter of where the Lord is going to proceed. They were to go into every city and place. “Now after these things the Lord appointed seventy others also, and [p. 146] sent them two and two before his face into every city and place where he himself was about to come”(Luke 10:1). Now that gives a wide range of things, because it is every place, every city and place; it is the universal position and the Lord is about to proceed. It is a wide range of things and the Lord is proceeding — He is not in one place, He is proceeding, moving about. These thirty-five pairs of men are moving about before the Lord, but He is about to come and they know it and therefore they are concerned that these places should be right that the Lord might be free to go about in them.
SWP This is the beneficent sway of grace over men.
JT It is ourselves, what we have in our hearts, the magnificent thought of it. That is the throne, not a material throne, but a figure of speech. Not a literal throne, but a figure of something. And that figure is grace and grace in power to enforce its operations.
LES Would Luke link on with Paul who says to the Corinthians: “Paul, a called apostle of Jesus Christ, by God’s will, and Sosthenes the brother, to the assembly of God which is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called saints, with all that in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both theirs and ours”, 1 Corinthians 1:1,2?
JT Just so, “both theirs and ours”, the universal thing, all brought into it. The Corinthian epistles work this out.
NB In regard of these three brothers handling matters, they go together, do they not? Sometimes in our localities one goes and another by himself.
JT Better two to go, then there is combined witness if there are two together.
NB One brother going and later on another brother going separately.
JT [p. 147] This chapter is authoritative in that matter, they go two and two. The apostles are mentioned sometimes two by two and sometimes one by one; it is a question of the context. The context here would mean that two brethren should go together. There is combined witness and they can tell the brethren confidently that this is so. Such and such is so, and you have two witnesses.
LES The two is a happy matter as binding the levites together in their service. Two and two would save us from clericalism.
JT The best examples are Peter and John, Paul and Barnabas, Paul and Timotheus. They are examples of the power of two and two. So here it says two and two.
HB This thought of two would be heralds to provide conditions for the Lord coming and being happily there.
JT The setting in the chapter is most important — what the Lord says. The point is, sons of peace. You look for a son of peace. The whole chapter bears on sons of peace, the kind of people they would link up with, which shows that God is working — for the sons of peace are a result of God’s work.
CCT The assembly is in view.
JT Yes, that is clear from chapter 8, as speaking of the assembly, in the principle of virtue going out, and operating here as in chapter 9, bringing out what is there. Then the honouring of the three apostles of the Lord and what was to be seen there and their influence on what was below. It shows how the work of God, the influence of heaven, is asserting itself. In chapter 10 these thirty-five pairs of persons go about universally where the Lord is intending to go. Chapter 10 branches out into the precious and important truths of the relations between divine Persons, and our being brought into [p. 148] them, our names being written in heaven. The incident in chapter 9 shows that the names of the brethren are known up there; and then down here — the influence of the brethren down here is moral, what kind of people we are, how we behave ourselves.
LES Would the levitical system link the local position with what is heavenly?
JT Heaven is stressed in what is going on here. It is a remarkable scene. These men are coming into it, Moses and Elias — these are wonderful men coming out of heaven. Christianity is formed of wonderful persons and we want to belong to it and take character from it, to know that we belong to heaven.
ABM Would that serve to adjust a great deal that needs adjustment amongst us?
JT We are to think of the power of heaven. We are to know that heaven affects real persons. We know how heaven affects the earth physically. The same is true spiritually — what power heaven has! And now to go on. Chapter 11 is also very interesting, as to the way things are done by divine Persons. A divine Person comes in here, and things are to be done, and He does them. You learn how things are to be done. If prayer is to be made, a divine Person prays and when asked teaches others. It is a wonderful thing to see the power of prayer in chapter 11, “How much rather shall the Father who is of heaven give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” (Luke 11:13). The Holy Spirit is the great point subjectively, because the subjective work is with Him and by Him. It is necessary to have the Holy Spirit to have part in the work at all.
JK Would you look for that in any asking their place?
JT Certainly I should. How do they speak of things? You can tell the way they speak of things.
CCT People can tell by living with [p. 149] them.
JT The basis comes out in chapter 7. It is a question of affection. Is the person, whether he or she, an affectionate person? And if they love, they will love the Lord and the saints too. They do not want for their companionship other than the saints.
LES It may be a good thing to ask a young person, if he is a brother, to pray. Would you say that?
JT If he is young brother, certainly. The word to the young man is, “Youth, ... Wake up”, in chapter 7. And he sat up and began to speak. If he can speak at all he should be able to speak to God.
SWP “And her parents were amazed” (Luke 8:56) would indicate they had not followed closely what had taken place in the young person, consequently they say she is dead. We have to understand that we have in our households a lot of potential material, and we should see that the work of God goes forward.
JT It is a good thing. We are generally trained to take things too much for granted. We should be amazed at things, because they are wonderful. One of the names of the Lord Himself is ‘Wonderful’. Luke 12 is very long, but should be paid attention to, the thirteenth too. The fourteenth is a landmark dealing with the house. In the twelfth it is said, “In those times, the myriads of the crowd being gathered together, so that they trod one on another, he began to say to his disciples first, Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy; but there is nothing covered up which shall not be revealed, nor secret that shall not be known; therefore whatever ye have said in the darkness shall be heard in the light, and what ye have spoken in the ear in chambers shall be proclaimed upon the housetops” Luke 12:1 - 3. That is important, as to what is said in secret and whispered about, even creating hard feelings. So transparency is the important [p. 150] thought here.
JWD I was very struck with what you said about chapter 11, and now transparency is a most important matter and has an important place in the spiritual life of the meetings.
Rem Hypocrisy may not always be in taking account of another. It may be a hidden matter, a person assuming to be something they are not. “But there is nothing covered up which shall not be revealed” (Luke 12:2).
AEJ In each gathering should there not be discernment about persons and matters?
JT Just so. In one of our meetings we have been reading about the persons standing upon a sea of glass. You can look around and see everything. Another thing coming out in Luke 12 is godliness. “Fear not those who kill the body and after this have no more that they can do” Luke 12:4. If we have this element, we are not liable to turn aside from persecution, denying the truth — it is very practical. “Fear him who after he has killed has authority to cast into hell; yea, I say to you, Fear him” Luke 12:5. And then godliness worked out in our weakness and dependence on God. “Fear not therefore, ye are better than many sparrows” Luke 12:7. We are coming to the idea of the value of a Christian, the importance of Christians personally, and their value. Chapter 13 is also very important in reference to what happens abroad, railway accidents or the like, whether they are instances of the government of God or not. They may or may not be. The government of God is inscrutable. Sometimes the point is only that people report that this is a big matter, a great happening in the minds of men. But, God, what is He doing? We have to challenge ourselves as to whether we need to repent. “No, I say to you, but if ye repent not, ye shall all perish in like manner” (Luke 13:5). So in the big happenings in the government of God, including those happening [p. 151] to us, we are to challenge ourselves as to whether we are going on rightly or whether we need to repent.
AEJ They call on every one to repent.
JT It is just the voice of God which is speaking. These men say these are terrible happenings involving so many. God is speaking in it all, and thus the wonderful thing is that the testimony of grace can go on.
CCT The woman with the spirit of infirmity was able to glorify God.
JT She had been bound by Satan for eighteen years, thus bringing in the need of remembering things that have happened.
HB The woman said to the prophet, “What have I to do with thee, O thou man of God? Art thou come to me to call mine iniquity to remembrance ... ?” (1 Kings 17:18).
JT Sometimes it is better for them to be remembered. God has in mind their removal. He says, “Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more” (Hebrews 10:17). There are certain things which do not need to be disclosed or confessed, but others have to be dealt with.
CCT The Lord addressed the woman, saying, “Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity” (Luke 13:12). She was made straight immediately and she glorified God.
JT So the Samaritan woman is not addressed by the Lord as “Woman” until the time of her being exposed; the Prophet exposed her. The Lord says, “Woman”. It is a direct word to her; it refers to humanity according to God.
ABM Would you say grace reigning through righteousness is the basis of repentance?
JT It is, only repentance springing from love. She loved much because she was forgiven much. We shall see more in relation to it in our last chapter because repentance and remission of sins is to be [p. 152] preached. Now coming to chapter 14, we read in verse 7, “And he spoke a parable to those that were invited, remarking how they chose out the first places, saying to them, When thou art invited by any one to a wedding, do not lay thyself down in the first place at table”. The lesson here is humility; there is a great lack of it. Peter says, “Bind on humility”, and “humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God”, 1 Peter 5:5,6.
LES Under grace the whole man is morally changed. The texture is changed. This chapter would enter into our public relations. Beginning at the scripture we started from in the consideration of grace, the work of God would have in mind that the whole moral texture would be changed.
JT Yes, the whole man, not simply one thing put right, but the whole man is put right — the man is healed. There needs to be humility particularly.
CCT We have no thought here of the wedding garment, it is rather the place at table.
JT “When thou art invited by any one to a wedding, do not lay thyself down in the first place at table, lest perhaps a more honourable than thou be invited by him, and he who invited thee and him come and say to thee, Give place to this man, and then thou begin with shame to take the last place. But when thou hast been invited, go and put thyself down in the last place, that when he who has invited thee comes, he may say to thee, Friend, go up higher: then shalt thou have honour before all that are lying at table with thee; for every one that exalts himself shall be abased, and he that abases himself shall be exalted”. This parable is the outcome of the case of the dropsical man in the beginning of our chapter. Dropsy is a disease which had a tendency to inflate, and we are prone to it, because of what we think we have in the knowledge of things, of the Scriptures, of the light. We may have the dropsy, in [p. 153] spite of our great knowledge. In fact, it might be through having that knowledge that we have dropsy. We have to learn not to make allowance for it.
JK Why does it say, “When thou art invited by any one to a wedding”?
JT Well, I believe it is a festive occasion, it is brought up here parabolically because much feeling, and right feeling, enters into weddings. The question is whether we are going to allow the feelings to inflate us, to turn the wedding into a time of inflation. Our ideas in Christianity are to be taken from the assembly and not from the world. Marriage is a time of display in the world — unequalled display — the clothes that are worn. We ought to discern these things and put away what is worldly. Women’s clothes cause a great commotion in the business world — they form a great place in commerce. The money spent on wedding garments is very great. We have to understand what is here to deflate us. The Lord says, ‘Do not take the first place’, do not have personal distinction in mind. Learn not to be worldly; you are in fellowship and your clothing is to denote that. Do not go in for what surrounds a worldly bride and the like.
AGV Grace would produce this humility.
JT It is the calculated way to work the thing out. Luke is a methodical man, a physician, a trained man. He is taken up by heaven to write two remarkable treatises, ending with Paul in prison.
JWD Paul speaks of himself as “the least of the apostles” (1 Corinthians 15:9), and “less than the least of all saints” (Ephesians 3:8). A man trained in the divine system should be marked by the greatest humility. It is impossible in connection with the first man.
JT I think this chapter bears that out. The dropsical man appears at the beginning. “And behold, there was a certain dropsical man before him. And Jesus answering spoke unto the doctors of [p. 154] the law and Pharisees, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath? But they were silent. And taking him he healed him and let him go” Luke 14:2 - 4. Notice that. He can be trusted, a man that can be let go. He could be trusted; it was all right to let him go, like Lazarus. “And answering he said to them. Of which of you shall an ass or ox fall into a well, that he does not straightway pull him up on the sabbath day? And they were not able to answer him to these things” Luke 14:5,6. So the Lord has the last word.
NB What would you think of going to a wedding of those not in fellowship?
JT I would not go. You would not want to go to an ungodly wedding, nor a funeral either. It is worth our notice at this point. Many say, Well what harm is there in it? Well, what good is in it? The Lord says, Let the dead bury their dead. And also, God is not the God of the dead. He makes a difference.
CCT With relatives, too.
JT Yes. There are differences, of course, for the Lord attended a wedding in Cana of Galilee.
AEJ You would not hesitate to go to a wedding where the bride puts on the apparel which Peter speaks of.
JT The hidden Man of the heart. I would not, I would seek to be there. The first parable here relates to humanity, but the Lord is leading up to more than that. “And one of those that were lying at table with them, hearing these things, said to him, Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God” Luke 14:15. That is something, a remark that you can build something on. It is really something like we have — young men make remarks and we work the truth out of them, make something out of them. So the Lord says, “A certain man made a great supper and invited many. And he sent his bondman at the hour of supper to say to those who were [p. 155] invited, Come, for already all things are ready. And all began, without exception, to excuse themselves” Luke 14:16 - 18. Now this parable is evidently alluding to the beginning of Christianity, to an ordered condition of things in which men are satisfied with themselves, such as were in judaism. They are satisfied with themselves; they can get along without the Lord, without the gospel. How much there is around of that. People can get along with this means or another means.
JK Would it be right to say that legitimate things might turn us to Egypt where we are likely to be overcome?
JT That is so. That is what you get here. But what does the Lord Himself say? “Then the master of the house, in anger” Luke 14:21. These things seem to be very legitimate, but the Lord is angry about it. They are resisting the master in his anger. It is not so severe as Matthew — they are called murderers and are destroyed, which is serious. But Luke modifies things, yet the anger is there. The psalm says, “Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish in the way, though his anger burn but a little”, Psalm 2:12. These excuses are all ordinary matters. You may say. Why should he not attend to his oxen, attend to his wife, and so on, but the anger of the Lord is seen. Who is going to attend to Him? How is this anger going to be appeased?
HB Numbers 32 speaks of Jehovah’s anger. Is it the same principle?
JT Quite so. These excuses are common amongst such people. You understand they have some link with God, and you ask them to go to a meeting for prophetic ministry, they cannot go. They have that place or the other place to go to, they excuse themselves. That should not be found amongst ourselves. We have been given the light of the Scripture, “not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the custom is with some”,
([p. 156] Hebrews 10:25). It has become the manner of some, which is to be deplored.
SWP “Every scripture is divinely inspired, and profitable for teaching, for conviction, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; that the man of God may be complete, fully fitted to every good work”, (2 Timothy 3:16,17). All these things are to help through grace in that light.
LES The glory of the throne of grace is based upon the idea of sacrifice. It is more blessed to give than to receive.
JT Another thing here is that the master of the house accepts the degradation of the persons he is obliged to ask. “Then the master of the house, in anger, said to his bondman, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring here the poor and crippled and lame and blind. And the bondman said, Sir, it is done as thou hast commanded, and there is still room” (Luke 14:21,22). The Lord is brought into the thing beautifully. How He is descending, accepting the reproach attached to the persons whom He is inviting. But there is still room and therefore the Lord does not stop, He says, “And the lord said to the bondman, Go out into the ways and fences and compel to come in, that my house may be filled”(Luke 14:23). The leading thought in this section comes in here — “that my house may be filled” (Luke 14:23). It is not here the great house as in 2 Timothy, it is “my house”. How the Lord regards His people, and that house must be filled. Really meaning that He is going to have suitable persons there; His own selection. Outwardly it may involve reproach to Him, for the apostle says, “For consider your calling, brethren, that there are not many wise according to flesh, not many powerful, not many high-born”, (1 Corinthians 1:26). That is to say, reproach in that sense is attached to us as brethren, but at the same time they are such as the Lord would have. You can understand it must [p. 157] be so; being God, He is entitled to have whom He will, and to give the very best, the most honoured distinctions, for this is a question of sonship, and you cannot have anything greater in the house.
CCT Is the house the full thought of God’s joy fulfilled?
JT Exactly. He is not ashamed of these persons who are brought in from the highways and hedges. We know God in accepting us has in mind sonship and redemption, so He has the very best persons in the universe.
HB Would Acts 10 suggest persons coming from the gentile nations? Paul says to the Colossians, “Christ in you”.
JT Peter would make excuses about them. He did not care about these people represented in the beasts, and creeping things, but Peter is to go on. Everyone is to come to it. The house is to be filled with God’s own selection; “he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world”, (Ephesians 1:4).
AD Is the contrast seen in the close of the previous chapter where the Lord says, “Behold, your house is left unto you” Luke 13:35.
JT Just so, but God’s house is not left like that. I think we might end with that — the idea of the house — because it is a question of the place of affection — the family place.