FEATURES OF THE ASSEMBLY (3)
[p. 246] FEATURES OF THE ASSEMBLY (3)
Matthew 13:44 - 46; Matthew 16:1 - 20
JT The thought is to look at chapter 16, reverting back a little to chapter 13 and, perhaps, to chapters 14 and 15. These should only be touched on briefly, our main point now being the formation of the assembly in chapter 16. This afternoon, God willing, we shall hope to look at the mount of transfiguration, and the function of the assembly in chapter 18. The summit of our inquiry is in chapter 16, and the special features of glory in the mount of transfiguration to follow. In chapter 18 the assembly is seen functioning and representative of heaven here upon earth. This chapter 13 is rather important in view of what has been said, because of the special glories involved: that is, the parable of the treasure in the field, and then of the pearl of great price. These are all exalted thoughts contributory to the end we have in mind.
SMcC Yesterday allusion was made to the geographical spheres in which the testimony seems to prosper. Would there be some indication of this in verse 44: “... sells all whatever he has, and buys that field”. It is a particular field. Would it suggest certain areas which the Lord seems to lay claim to in which the treasure is?
JT Yes, “that field”.
SMcC It is not the world generally, but a specific area.
JT I think that is what is meant, pointing back to Noah and his family; God had in mind the assembly in Japheth; not in Shem but in Japheth. There is a spreading abroad of certain influences, which had come in in Japheth.
ABP The dwelling place of Japheth is referred to. “Let God enlarge Japheth, and let him dwell in the tents of Shem”, (Genesis 9:27). Is that what you have in [p. 247] mind?
JT Well, just so; which would point to Asia and the part that Europe had in Asia. The early assembly developed from Jerusalem, carrying with it the metropolitan idea, so the assembly is alluded to in the singular in the Acts right up to chapter 9, and even then it is questionable that the full thought of assemblies (in the plural) was known. It awaited Paul’s ministry, and it is he and Barnabas who selected elders in each city, so that the assembly should be self-contained, as it were. We have in Thessalonica, which is distinctly a Pauline assembly, an allusion to the fact that they took their pattern from the assemblies in Judaea. The brethren will remember that. It is in 1 Thessalonians 2:14 — “For ye, brethren, have become imitators of the assemblies of God which are in Judaea in Christ Jesus”. It is remarkable that Europe should look eastward in the early ministry of the testimony through Paul. It would be like dwelling in the tents of Shem, but eventually we know that those who were brought in through Paul’s great work in Asia turned away. “Thou knowest this, that all who are in Asia ... have turned away from me”, (2 Timothy 1:15). This included the seven assemblies. So gradually there is a falling away from Shem and little or nothing through Paul after that in the east; the movement is towards the west. It is the earth of Japheth that takes in the different assemblies. We have to deal with geography in these matters. “The earth is Jehovah’s, and the fulness thereof”,(Psalm 24:1). And He does with it what pleases Him, and He was not pleased to turn east much after the assembly at Jerusalem. The movement was westward and it is westward still.
EGMcA That is seen in the fact that the assembly is composed chiefly now of gentiles. There are not many Jews.
JT I suppose the idea is not only that, but that a part of the gentiles was prophetically indicated for the assembly especially. In Paul’s movements you have him attempting to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not suffer him. Then we have the man of Macedonia seen in the vision calling him over into Europe so that the work entered into Philippi. It went back to Ephesus, but in the main the movement was westward.
JAP Ruth’s movements were westward from the field of the Moabites to that which Boaz told her to stay in.
JT Well, there is a suggestion there of staying in the field that is specially before the Lord — Boaz’s field. There may be some suggestion in that which would connect with the use of the word ‘field’ in our chapter, “the kingdom of the heavens is like a treasure hid in the field”.
CAM Do you not think that the fact that this country is so large is an encouragement, and so in one sense enlargement is the word for Japheth, spreading enlargement?
JT Just so. There is scope for the gospel, and one of the most remarkable features is the Commonwealth of Australia. It began as a penal colony and then gold was the great outlook, and now God has turned it into spiritual results; there are a large number of gatherings relatively. Out of six millions of people, a comparatively small number, we have about one hundred meetings; but in New Zealand, with less than one third the population, there are sixty meetings, showing relatively there is movement there to the south and west.
JMcK The footnote says the field is in contrast to a city or town. The testimony as seen in Acts 16 was moving out into Europe — judaism is connected with Jerusalem, the city, but the assembly is connected with the field, which God is finding for Himself in the various countries [p. 249] around.
JT That bears on what we are saying already as to the Lord going out from the Jewish house in chapter 13 and sowing in the field.
JMcK There is another suggestion in Genesis 2. You have the river flowing out from Eden before you have the thought of the man and woman coming to light. Where it flows it speaks of the gold of that land as good.
JT There is much in that as to enlargement, and in view of the woman coming in, in view of the human family. The family, the environment of the family, is in chapter 2; so that the gold of that land is good. You have indicated there that the earth is the Lord’s and it can be utilised by Him. It is after Noah you have the division of the earth in view of the assembly, for Shem was the leading idea of the three; but when looking at Japheth, we see he had the second place. Shem had the honoured place; Jehovah is the God of Shem, in view of Abraham and the Messiah, in view of the forty-two generations of the first chapter. You can see Shem had a great place, and has yet a great place, for Christ has come in that way. But then we have to provide in our consideration for Joseph’s part in Egypt; that is, Christ separated from His brethren. In the Colossian epistle there is an allusion to that position. The Lord is in a much more limited sphere amongst the gentiles, but a most fruitful one. He has worked there all these centuries. Luke would indicate that the movement was to be quick. The Lord goes to heaven quickly, so that the administration should begin; so that the testimony of the present dispensation would be short; but in truth it was large and so the second treatise of Luke makes for enlargement, as if there is a change of mind; not as though there is a change of mind in heaven, but a change of mind in the second treatise as Luke refers to it. The forty days of the Lord’s sojourn with them are alluded to, whereas Luke’s first [p. 250] treatise does not make provision for that. As far as facts are narrated we might think He went up immediately after He rose, but there is delay in Acts 1 and that delay is extended and extended, extended to Paul. Much had to be brought out and worked out in view of the assembly. So the time is gradually lengthened out and it is lengthened out still; so that the mind of God should be fully unfolded. There is plenty of time devoted to it, so that Mark says, “The Lord ... sat at the right hand of God” Mark 16:19: sat, as if to indicate intent and deliberation. “Go into all the world, and preach the glad tidings to all the creation”, Mark 16:15. That would take time.
CAM We often connect the epistle to the Colossians with the forty days, and what you say shows how that was needed to make room for all Paul’s ministry.
JT What should we do if there had been any haste developed by the twelve? So there was plenty of time given. The book of Acts shows that Paul had full scope. As it says, “For I have not shrunk from announcing to you all the counsel of God”, Acts 20:27.
SMcC Do you regard the treasure and the pearl as referring to the Pentecostal assembly, or do they both find their answer in Pauline ministry?
JT I would think so. It is just what we are saying as to the Acts, the second treatise written to Theophilus. There are notable additions to what you find in Luke; and especially in the suggestion of the extension of time to have things opened up. The Lord Himself delayed forty days and Paul touches on that, so as to link the whole matter on with his position, his ministry. He speaks of the Lord appearing to Cephas first and then to the twelve, and then to James and then to all the apostles, “and last of all... to me” (1 Corinthians 15:8). It would appear that all the appearings in 1 Corinthians 15 would include everyone but Paul: “and last of all, as to an abortion”,(1 Corinthians 15:8) he says, and obviously it did not [p. 251] enter into the forty days. It was long after, “last of all”. It is linked up with what the twelve had; the five hundred brethren, for instance.
JRH In connection with the treasure hid in the field, I was wondering if Paul entering into Europe and finding the man of Macedonia sets out the treasure hid in the field there. He had to find him.
JT Yes, that might be right. I think we should include Paul in the appearings, because there is a long lapse from the last appearing of the Lord to the apostles, if that was included in the forty days, and a long period of delay until Paul arrives, “last of all, as to an abortion”,(1 Corinthians 15:8). Whether he really entered into the Lord’s relations with Israel in the future, or whether he just came in, born out of due time, out of the apostolic time, but he had a time of his own really. The Lord has given him wide scope. So He says of him, “an elect vessel to me”, (Acts 9:15) as if the moment is deferred for him. Though coming in late, he is the most important of all, opening up the truth of the assembly as it has not been opened up before or after. He has that in ministry, the mystery of the assembly.
ABP I wondered if the long discourse at Troas, speaking until midnight, would have any connection with the imparting of this doctrine to the saints?
JT Yes; just so. That would be prophetic, I would think.
AC He could say he had laboured more abundantly than they all. He comes in as an abortion and yet is measured above all the others in his activity, as feeling the thing and entering into it.
JT The brethren are to be reminded of the need of studying and looking into matters intelligently. The historical side has to be taken into account, also the geographical side and the prophetical side. Paul’s long discourse at Troas rather alludes to the need of further instruction as to the Lord’s supper. The long discourse of Paul would mean they needed more [p. 252] instruction than they had; they were deficient. And this applies to our own times. That is to say, the ministry God has provided to bring out the truth of the Lord’s supper and assembly service.
JMcK Paul says He “was pleased to reveal his Son in me” (Galatians 1:16). Is that the last feature of revelation God gave to man down here?
JT Quite so. He completed the word of God. The completion of the word of God was in his time. All this is instruction for us so that we may have a right view, each of us, as looking into the Scriptures, like the Bereans, searching the Scriptures daily.
ASB Is there something in the fact in Acts 16 in regard to the call of the man? The principle of treasure, as the apostle meets those gathering at the river to pray and the women assembled sitting down?
JT A most interesting account; what was opened up in the vision to Paul, and how he answered to it; what he met at first, the awful cruelty he met in the jail, but then what results, what a prize, what wealth was gained! So he says later, “because of your fellowship with the gospel, from the first day until now”, (Philippians 1:5).
ABP Was the appearing to the five hundred during the forty days or after?
JT I think we should have to say it was during the forty days. It is not easy to say where there were so many, but, of course, there were a great many in Galilee, and if the Lord intended to fit it into the forty days He could easily provide five hundred brethren. There is another suggestion of what the five hundred may mean. We cannot number them in this country, but in Great Britain and Australia they can number them without any difficulty. If the Lord intended it. He could have them there; but He is restricting us here, because there must be something in the idea of numbers. According to [p. 253] Acts 2 we have the actual number given, never again presented in that way as results; the whole work of God at a given time: three thousand at one time.
GMacPh Is this a remarkable idea of the assembly: the thought of treasure and how we should regard the ministry of the assembly as coming from our ascended Head through human vessels, that we may be adorned by the ministry?
JT The idea of treasure should be before us. Clearly it should be connected with the saints, God’s inheritance in the saints, and whether numbers enter into that. It is said of Reuben, “Let Reuben live, and not die; and let his men be few” (Deuteronomy 33:6). The suggestion there is that they are easily counted; not vast numbers, seething in the cities, who have nothing in mind at all about heaven; but these are persons who are easily counted. A crowd of names would be suggestive of easy counting, one hundred and twenty persons.
CAM Would the list of names in the end of Romans fit in? That would be the setting for counting. There is a very accurate matter in mind as to each one. In Ephesians there is no counting, is there? I mean, it is all one whole. Would you say that that is the point; it is more the pearl in Ephesians?
JT Yes, quite so; because He brings in intelligence in regard to the pearl, as to the man: “Again, the kingdom of the heavens is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls”. I think Paul’s ministry would indicate that he was aiming at something, not exactly on the line of numbers, but of quality in Ephesus. So that he has it, the assembly. The ministry of the apostle discloses what is in the mind of God really, in the way in which it is set out. The book of Revelation is laid out by the Lord Himself for John. We get a clue there as to how Scripture was written, and if applied to Ephesians then we see a great deal [p. 254] is left to the divine side. Even the matter of gift is not enlarged on until we come to chapter 4. The gifts come down from the heavens above from the Lord Himself. “Having ascended up on high, he has led captivity captive, and has given gifts to men”, (Ephesians 4:8). The main thought in the epistle is the laying out of the divine counsels in chapters 1,2 and 3, particularly, and then the gifts in chapter 4, as if we are brought into it, that is, the working out of it intelligently in the assembly, everyone doing his part, “with a view to the work of the ministry, with a view to the edifying of the body of Christ”, (Ephesians 4:12). The gifts come in there; but chapters 1, 2 and 3 are more the divine side, the divine plan as to the assembly, and then in chapter 3 Paul shows what his knowledge of it was. Someone had to understand it to write about it. This is worthy of attention, because it lays the basis for many opening up the Lord’s mind to the assembly which we are undertaking now. We are dealing with the matter in a restricted sense. Ephesians opens up the whole matter; it is a question of counsel.
HB In Acts 18 Paul does not stay at Ephesus but goes back again and Aquila and Priscilla come to light.
JT Well, Apollos went to Corinth, meaning the Corinthian side was secured. Paul passed through the upper quarters, meaning the heavenly side, God preserving His full thought in that light. He had a man who knew that, and could expound it to us; and then the room made for the gifts so that up till now we have this working out in the assembly, the formation of the assembly as already mentioned in chapter 16 of our gospel.
ASB Is that why it says in chapter 19, “And all the men were about twelve”? Acts 19:7 Not exactly the rigid application of twelve but all the principles entailed in the working of [p. 255] it out Very good; so what you have is, as it were, the unexpected suggestion of the outgoing to the gentiles in Ephesus; and the twelve — the number that is used habitually for administration in the Scriptures, for the unfolding of — heaven’s way of dealing with matters.
GMacPh The apostle says of Timothy he had no one likeminded who would care with genuine feeling how the saints got on. A beautiful pearl! There is the idea there of the beautiful pearl.
JT What has been said about Ephesus is true; there are certain reservations in the divine mind until we reach that point, and the whole matter is disclosed. Paul spent three years in Ephesus; and it was to indicate that there is time enough with God to deal with that matter as was necessary. It was necessary so that there should be the unfolding of the divine mind at Ephesus. It was necessary there should be persons to take care of the treasure, the precious thing, and therefore the elders are called over to Miletus. The elders came over there to Paul, and he went over his service with them, and the length of time he had taken to declare to them the whole counsel of God.
SMcC There is an interesting reference to the fact of giving attention to things. Paul says, “... by which, in reading it, ye can understand my intelligence in the mystery of the Christ” (Ephesians 3:4). He called upon them to exercise there this particular feature of reading in view of understanding his intelligence in the mystery.
JT It would look as if the idea of devoting time is necessary. It is hard to get time for the things needed; time is precious. But heaven would say, ‘There is time’. Nineteen hundred years have now been taken in. There is no such dispensation as this earlier. God would say to us, If necessary take the time because the thing has to be unfolded. It is [p. 256] more important that it should be unfolded than that there should be large numbers. That is how the matter stands in the third chapter of Ephesians. It is a parenthesis; and the Spirit of God is here to open it up. The parenthesis really is an addition and it includes Paul’s intelligence of the mystery; as if the Ephesians are to be reminded that it is worth their while to wait for Paul. Apollos is in Corinth and Paul has been up to Jerusalem, and now he is going back as if he were going to finish the matter of revelation. It is the finish of the matter in Ephesus. After that there was not much to disclose, no more disclosures. So Paul’s intelligence indicates that the Lord had someone that knew this great matter; what is now unfolded to the apostles and prophets.
ASB Is that why it says in Acts 20:31, “remembering that for three years, night and day, I ceased not admonishing each one of you with tears”? It is to stir up our minds; the detail that enters into it all.
JT That is very good. We are very busy men and the war has turned the world upside down, but God is saying. There is time for this; time for the work of God; time to give attention to these things. Let the nations and all that go on; God would say, My hand is on that too. But let us remember this matter of the assembly is now in mind, and let there be time for that; God will help as to the time. I am sure it is right to have a wide outlook of the truth. God had a man such as Paul who knew. John was a reserved man too in one sense, but Paul had things committed to him and amongst these was the truth of the assembly.
JMcK Paul’s word to Timothy was to give himself wholly to these things.
JT Yes; and it is well to take time and look into these matters and see if they will not unfold to [p. 257] us more by taking time; the Spirit of God will come in and flood us with light if we take the time.
JRH It speaks of the treasure being hid. Is there a reference to ministry in that?
JT Oh, yes, there is. You see here in our chapter, after Peter’s confession the Lord “enjoined on his disciples that they should say to no man that he was the Christ”. That is, we are not casting our pearls before swine, because men would not understand, even if we did. The principle in this parable is to hide the truth. It is God’s way to hide the truth. He gives it to selected ones and not to the multitude.
HB Is it somewhat on the principle of the badgers’ skins and the goats’ hair?
JT Quite so; it not only conceals, but it shuts out what would damage. It is like the badgers’ skins.
CAM I was just thinking in connection with what you said about taking time. The Lord evidently means us to take in much before His actual coming, inasmuch as we have the Bible reprinted in this remarkable form, and also a great move as to printed ministry. God intends us to read it. It should encourage us.
JT It took a long time to bring out this Bible. The early translation in 1611, called the King James version, made the Scriptures available in English, and then the so-called Revised Version followed, but the truth was tampered with. In the early days of the present revival they had meetings down in the south of France to bring out this Bible. It took a long time with able men to do it. What should we do without this Bible in our readings! The blessed God provided the time for spiritual men to translate again accurately, and the question now is, what use are we making of it. What wealth God has given to us in the Scriptures, and specially so in the accuracy [p. 258] of the New Translation as we have it! So it is time for us to see what there is in the way of wealth for us to acquire. We are to be ready to go to heaven; and to go with intelligence as to what is there, what belongs to heaven and the assembly’s place in it.
Ques Philip went up and sat with the eunuch in the chariot as he read the Scriptures, as though the eunuch was a selected person.
JT Very good. He was a great man, prime minister of Ethiopia, I suppose. He was a busy man, but he was reading the Bible. He was an important man in the country, but was giving time to read the Bible, and Philip would tell him, ‘I have time too’. The eunuch invited him to sit with him, and Philip evangelised to him Jesus. He had time to do that.
EF Would you help as to the thought of hiding the truth?
JT We are to go on with these meetings. I believe that is what God is saying. They are increasing constantly and the Lord is helping.
EGMcA We get this right seed in the beginning of our reading: “To you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of the heavens” Matthew 13:11, and then the Lord speaks in these parables. The meaning of these two we are having this morning is found or discovered in the writings of Paul; they are different phases of the setting forth of the assembly.
JT I think that is right. It awaited Paul, especially for the second one, the pearl; because it suggests the knowledge that Paul had: “My intelligence in the mystery” (Ephesians 3:4). And the Lord would anticipate all that. He would have a man like that. What a man the Lord had in Paul! and what Paul had in Timotheus, and successive generations of men, teaching others after them. The Lord thought of all that aforetime, and so I think these two parables, especially the second one, allude to Paul’s ministry.
GMacPh [p. 259] The assembly is a wonderful vessel in which are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
JT Just so; a very wonderful vessel.
JMcK The assembly of God purchased by the blood of His own. That brings in what we have in these two parables.
JT Just so; the cost involved, the overheads involved. “The blood of his own” (Acts 20:28)is a very touching word.
AEW The seeking is in relation to pearls. Would the finding of the pearl suggest that God is concentrating on the assembly?
JT Yes; and the first one would be verse 44: “The kingdom of the heavens is like a treasure hid in the field, which a man having found has hid, and for the joy of it goes and sells all whatever he has, and buys that field”. I would say that is the extended idea in the Lord’s mind, the joy of opening up the truth of the gospel to the myriads of the nations, and it has come down to us now. We are told there is joy in heaven over one sinner that repents. Think of the amount of joy the Lord had in that!
ABP Is the idea of the treasure carried forward in Matthew 16? “Thou art Peter, and on this rock I will build my assembly, and hades’ gates shall not prevail against it”.
JT Quite so. Think of what all these years have yielded, beginning with Paul and Barnabas; it is not confined to them, but beginning in that service. What the Lord had in Paul and Barnabas in their missionary journeys and all that came out of them! What joy in heaven! What joy the Lord had! The gospel meetings and all these services, what they cost Him, and yet the joy of it! The word “which a man having found has hid”, would mean that the man appraised it. He is not opening up the truth of what is in His mind; not letting that be broadcast in [p. 260] the news or the radio or the histories, but the Lord hid it. It was not to be disclosed to the natural man. It is a question of the Spirit. “God has revealed to us by his Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God”, (1 Corinthians 2:10). But then the unfoldings — what joy the Lord has, and what joy the Father has in it. In that way we see what the gospel service implies. Take the eunuch and the history we have; how pleased heaven was with Philip, as if it were a treasure that had not been thought of. Philip was one of those men ordained to look after the poor saints, and that he should discover such a treasure in the opening of the truth and the securing of the man as well. What joy in that. “But when they came up out of the water the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, and the eunuch saw him no longer, for he went on his way rejoicing. And Philip was found at Azotus” (Acts 8:39,40). So the gospel goes on. Philip had four daughters that prophesied. I only speak of that in a general way to show what there is in this verse; what God is doing in these centuries in the gospel field.
EGMcA What you remarked in regard to the missionary trip shows very beautifully in what field the treasure was found and the hidden character of it. The value of the pearl — He did not buy another; it is just one.
JT It is more calculated; he is a merchant. We can understand what that means. When going to Europe recently they wanted to know what I could buy. I was not thinking of what I could buy for a few dollars, but what there was in England.
TLS This is very precious as coming from Matthew, a man that was accustomed to the idea of money — the treasure and the pearl.
JT The Lord likens persons who understand the truth to the householder bringing out treasures: “For this reason every scribe discipled to the kingdom of [p. 261] the heavens is like a man that is a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old” Matthew 13:52. The merchant here may be likened in that way. He is a merchant, a man who has to calculate. He is going to buy valuable things, involving much expenditure. He has to calculate, but he has in his mind what he wants. He finds it. It was greater, I suppose, than any idea that he had; not that I would speak of the Lord in that way, but as to the facts here: “Again, the kingdom of the heavens is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls; and having found one pearl of great value, he went and sold all whatever he had and bought it”. He was seeking but he found it. The word ‘found’ is notable; it is not brought to him by some vendor of these things. It is found by the seeker. That settles the matter in his mind. “He went and sold all whatever he had and bought it”, which would refer back to divine counsel, I suppose. This is a matter of divine counsels; the greatest matter in the whole realm of testimony is this matter of the pearl, and I believe it refers to the counsels of God; what expenditure there was to have that thing. Matthew is intended to open it up to us, but Ephesians is the heavenly teaching that discloses it to us.
EGMcA “Having found one pearl of great value, he went and sold all whatever he had and bought it”. Would that indicate what the assembly is to His affections? He sells all that he has and buys it. He never went to look for another one.
JT That is the idea. His ideal; the matter is settled by this find. Now it is a question of opening up the thing in detail. We must go on now to chapter 16. Before this, in chapters 14 and 15, we have the two feedings of the multitude and the two thoughts that come out pre-eminently; in the first feeding, the Lord lifting up His eyes to heaven, and in the second not lifting up His eyes to heaven; the [p. 262] first alluding to what is in heaven and the second to what is by the Spirit here. Then follows Peter’s confession: the Father had made a revelation and put it into Peter’s heart, how to answer the Lord’s own question. The Lord’s question was: “But ye, who do ye say that I am? And Simon Peter answering said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God”. This confession agrees with what has been said as to the treasure and the pearl: what the Father had in Peter and then the Son taking on Peter. “And I also, I say unto thee that thou art Peter, and on this rock I will build my assembly”, the Son taking him on as material for the building.
GMacPh Is that the personnel of the assembly, the kind of persons the assembly is composed of?
JT Just so; see what this is — the Father Himself is in it. You can see the correspondence with the pearl and the treasure in what eventually happened in chapter 16. The Father Himself furnished the answer to the enquiry of the Son from the disciples. There was one whom the Father could use to make a statement. “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God”. The Father put that into Peter’s soul, making him material. Therefore, the Lord goes on immediately: “And I also, I say unto thee that thou art Peter”, alluding to the material the Father had produced to be used in this wonderful structure.
GMacPh The composition of the assembly is choice and select.
JT The Father’s action is the first thing to think of; we must begin there. Even the two parables we have been speaking of must be excluded when we come to the very top, or the acme of our subject. This is what the Father is doing. That is the thing to get into our souls. The Lord says, “Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona, for flesh and blood has not [p. 263] revealed it to thee, but my Father who is in the heavens”. That is, you are going back to the Source. I should say this chapter is the formation, and the very beginning is what the Father is doing.
CAM Would you say in that way the Father is stressed in the beginning of Acts? There is the dispensational idea connected with the Father; but really the material in Peter was here before Paul came on the scene at all.
JT Just so. This antedates Paul, of course. But it is a question of the Father, and so we have to begin here and see how the formation takes place. It comes under the Lord’s hand, because the Father loves the Son and has given all things to be in His hand. We are coming to the economy. The Father Himself has brought this about of Himself; the Son took this ground. The Father’s matter is entirely of Himself, and then all is given into the hands of the Son. It is a question of the economy; but the primary thought is revelation — the Father’s own action.
JK The Lord says, “I will build”. Is that going back to what the Father is doing?
JT Showing the order of the economy now; everything is in the hands of the Son. Peter is taken up; so that the Father is beginning here and the Lord links on in that way. The Father brought it about. The Lord names it: “Thou art Peter”. “And I also”; there is another One speaking into whose hands everything is given. “The Father loves the Son, and has given all things to be in his hand” (John 3:35). The Lord is taking on Peter and the building. It is a question of the Father now — what is coming in from the Father.
ABP This links on with the apostle’s prayer in Ephesians. He bows his knees to the Father. “For this reason I bow my knees to the Father” (Ephesians 3:14). And then we see what comes out of [p. 264] that.
JT Just so; and what is stated there, what the Father would do. The thing to do is to pray to the Father; Paul had that in mind. Then the Son comes into that, “in order that ye may be fully able to apprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height; and to know the love of the Christ which surpasses knowledge; that ye may be filled even to all the fulness of God”, (Ephesians 3:18,19). That is how the matter works in Ephesians.
GMacPh Does the hymn suggest that? ‘Father of glory! Thought beyond all thought!’ (247:1).
JT Yes; ‘Thought beyond all thought’. You just feel we are on the very fringe of things, but still there is one who understand these thoughts - Paul knows. “Ye can understand my intelligence in the mystery”, (Ephesians 3:4). The Father is the Source of all. Then there is the workman — the great Workman who does all His will is the Son; all is in His hands. He takes up the material; He claims it as His own. What will He do with it? He names it first of all. “Thou art Peter”. What will be done eventually? What is Peter constituted? He is typical of the material the Father has furnished. And then, what of Peter? Because we have to think of him as ‘first Peter’. Paul is not on the scene yet; it is Peter.
JMcK The Lord says, “My Father who is in the heavens” has revealed this to Peter. Do we get the idea of where this administration is coming from — even the Father?
JT The Father is the Source of all, and the Son is the One who does things. “I have found David ... who shall do all my will”, (Acts 13:22). Christ is the Doer of things. So He takes up the apostles, and He spends the whole night in prayer about them. What would He say to His Father about them in prayer? He says to Peter, “I have prayed for thee” (Luke 22:32). All that refers to administration and [p. 265] we come into that.
SMcC How do we come into this now, this revealing? This is special to Peter. We do not have this in an individual way now as set out in this chapter. How do we come into this?
JT Well, I think the answer to that is, to take note of Peter and how he came in. In Matthew it is Peter first; Matthew has that idea in mind, a leading man amongst the apostles. “First ... Peter”, awaiting Paul. But it is not the assembly, Paul’s assembly, that we are dealing with in chapter 16; it is Peter’s assembly in measure; what there was there in the twelve — the Lord taking the twelve to Him. That is the general idea; how the twelve are brought forward, and hence, when Peter is seen acting after the Spirit came down, he preaches, but he preaches with the eleven. He stood up with them. We have to keep our eyes on them and see how things are done.
JAP “Grow up to salvation, if indeed ye have tasted that the Lord is good. To whom coming, a living stone ... yourselves also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house”, (1 Peter 2:2 - 4). Do we come in there?
JT Those are Peter’s own words. That is how Peter operates. He brings us in as living stones, a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices.
JRH Would “the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of him” (Ephesians 1:17) bring us in?
JT Well, quite so; I suppose we have to await Paul, because Paul is in mind, no doubt, in the pearl, but Peter operated at the beginning, and it is said that the twelve apostles of the Lamb are taken account of in the heavenly city in the foundations. Paul is not. He must be regarded in another light — what is operating inside in the way of perfection.
ABP Is there an unfolding process in the reaching of these impressions? I wondered if it would be seen in Paul in the words of the Lord Jesus to him [p. 266] on the way to Damascus. It really contained the embryo, what was involved in the opening up of the truth. If oftentimes we searched into impressions we received, we would find a great deal hidden in them which would be opened up through meditation.
JT Paul says, God revealed His Son in me; not so Peter. He did not reveal something in Peter - it is to him. But Paul says, “But when God, who set me apart even from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me”. (Galatians 1:15). It would point to the inward side of things; and so Paul’s prayer. It is the Father’s Spirit working in the inner man.
EGMcA Why was the opening up of the truth of the Son of God held for Paul when the revelation of who Christ was was given to Peter? Why did he not carry that out?
JT That is a very interesting question. Peter never makes the Son of God the subject of his ministry, but Paul constantly does.
EGMcA He mentions it once in his epistle.
JT Only once, but Paul constantly.
ASB Peter says, “According as our beloved brother Paul also has written to you”, 2 Peter 3:15.
JT I am sure Peter would be very simple with those coming into the truth. Peter would say. If you want to understand that you had better go to Paul. The Lord has His specialists. That is an important thing. The Lord has His men, those He can use, and He has placed them and we may call them specialities. Peter is one, Paul is another, Paul especially so.
EGMcA Would there be anything in the position Peter had in Jerusalem in connection with the Jewish side that would prevent them taking up the large subject of the Son of God, whereas Paul was set free in regard of [p. 267] that matter?
JT I believe the Lord took all that into account, because Paul in speaking of himself goes up the stream much further than we might think from reading Acts 9. God had laid hold of him from his birth, not simply from his conversion, and that is important. The Lord is now operating from His own point of view and this speciality He has in mind, because they come down the line now and we have to wait and see what may develop in any crisis. The brethren have already looked into the delay or extension of time contemplated in the second treatise of Luke, the forty days added and then further time added in the appearings to Paul. So we have special matters from the Lord all coming out as the time arrives for each, and there can be no alteration in it either. We may think or do what we may, but the Lord has His own mind and He stands by it.
EGMcA The Lord not only has His special thoughts but He has special men to open up the truth; it is not all given to one man to set forth.
JT Just so; and the Lord is saying that. Peter says. What about this man? The Lord says, Never mind about this man or that man; your business is to follow Me. The Lord implied that Peter had enough. There was much Peter had and he was to make all he could out of it.