THE ASSEMBLY AS SEEN IN THE CLOSE OF THE GOSPELS (2)
[p. 19] THE ASSEMBLY AS SEEN IN THE CLOSE OF THE GOSPELS (2)
John 20:14 - 31; John 21:1 - 14
JT We are not only in the dispensation to which the assembly belongs but we are actually in assembly circumstances, and the understanding of what we have already considered is possible. It is thought, that having looked at the earlier chapters read, especially chapter 17, which we but lightly touched on, we should now link on the operation of the Spirit, the sphere of it and conditions of it, with that wonderful prayer in which sonship as applied to ourselves is contemplated. The Lord said, “And the glory which thou hast given me I have given them”, referring to what we have as sons of God. Then the last verse of the chapter, which we were able to speak of a little, contemplates a condition fit for heaven; we might say the highest. We read of glory in the highest and that glory is involved in what is said about the Father imparting His love for the Son to us. “The love with which thou hast loved me may be in them and I in them”(John 17:26), contemplates our being in the highest heavens; that is, those heavens into which we shall enter, to which the creature has access. Now it is on the same principle that we are in assembly circumstances. Mary represents the feminine side of our position, involving the sisters, but with a view to the assembly as feminine herself. The assembly circumstances can hardly be viewed as confined to brothers, for there is the sisterhood as well, and the conditions contemplated being found in them.
AEH On the line of the Lord coming to us as we were saying this morning, does it not seem remarkable that although the masculine element had been in activity, the Lord is attracted to the spot in relation to the feminine side [p. 20] first?
JT Well; that is suggestive and the references to Him in this gospel are not without importance in view of this very matter. That a woman like Mary Magdalene, who was freed of what was so terrible, out of whom seven demons went, should be in mind is significant. She sets out the assembly as attractive and loved by Christ and marked by intelligence, not only by what is sisterly but by intelligence.
AEH Does it suggest the need of working out moral issues in order that the true feminine grace and charm should be seen?
JT Well, I think the difficulties in our localities are often linked up with the sisters. The enemy knows that they are essential to the thought of the assembly, and the fact that they do not have any formal part in the assembly services may seem to militate against their formation. How many sisters think of what they can contribute to the meetings, or whether they can carry any burdens? If they do not, to that extent, the meetings, and conditions in localities are weakened. Mary Magdalene represents a person who progressed speedily. She really was dark at the beginning, but she grasped the thought of learning, calling the Lord, “Rabboni”, my Teacher; that is, she committed herself to Him. Her instruction came that way, from Him.
AEM Where do you find out how the sisters stand?
JT Well, the brothers talk to the sisters; the question is, what is underlying our conversations. Are sisters regarded as able to look into and follow up what is before us spiritually? We should recognise that they are here to do so, but then do we follow that up? I was thinking that the sisters ought to take on some intelligence and rely on their intelligence. For instance Lydia, the Lord opened her heart, we are told. She was a practical woman. She had a business, and a house. She calls it her [p. 21] house. The Lord would say to us all, that though we are occupied with ordinary things, He would constitute us fit for having part in spiritual things. The Lord opened her heart to attend to the things spoken by Paul.
TEH Would you help us as to the women at the riverside? They play a large part in the testimony coming into the western hemisphere.
JT Quite so, and in Philippians Paul speaks to two sisters, saying that they should be of the same mind in the Lord.
HGH Would verse 13 show Mary’s need of intelligence? She said, “They have taken away my Lord” John 20:13.
JT Where was her intelligence? No one had taken Him away, of course; He moved of Himself. She was defective, but she learned quickly as she came into touch with Him.
JKP Does the manner in which the Lord speaks to Mary indicate the idea that you are setting out? He addresses her first as woman, and then more intimately as Mary. Does this help as to how we converse with sisters to find out the extent of the work of God in them?
JT The Lord was undoubtedly intending to bring out what was there. He knew well what was there and He will bring it out. First of all it says, “But Mary stood at the tomb weeping without. As therefore she wept, she stooped down into the tomb, and beholds two angels sitting in white garments, one at the head and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. And they say to her. Woman, why dost thou weep? She says to them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him. Having said these things she turned backward and beholds Jesus standing there, and knew not that it was Jesus” John 20:11 - 14.
JKP [p. 22] Following on that, the Lord addresses her as “Woman” and later as “Mary”, as though He would bring out what was there in feminine quality.
JT Very good. “Woman” is the word we should keep in mind. The Lord said in chapter 2, “What have I to do with thee, woman?” John 2:4. It is a solemn thing that He has to say that. Then the Lord spoke to the woman of Samaria, saying, “Woman, believe me” (John 4:21). He had the feminine side in His mind, and she yielded wonderfully to Him; so did Mary Magdalene. The thing now for us to see is how the yielding marks the sisters, because in the reference to His own mother, she is speaking as if she is the important person at the marriage.
APT In 1 Corinthians the help comes from the man’s side if a woman wishes to learn anything.
JT Let her ask her husband at home.
ANW Is there not scope for the sisters through asking their husbands at home? Philip’s daughters probably prophesied at home. Is there not more scope for them there?
JT Well, the Lord brings out in John’s gospel the place the woman has, and how she comes into view in His approval. Chapter 19 helps us in this inquiry for it is said, “And by the cross of Jesus stood his mother, and the sister of his mother, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala. Jesus therefore, seeing his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, says to his mother. Woman, behold thy son” John 19:25,26. Now we must bear in mind that the Lord is pointing to John, and not asking her to behold Himself. Then He says, “Behold thy mother”, meaning that the disciple is capable of regarding this sister as his mother in the house. They can be in a house on a holy principle, the woman as a mother and the other as a son. It says therefore, “From that hour the disciple took her to his own home” John 19:27. So that the link is to be there while they are both on [p. 23] earth; that is remarkable and demonstrates the holy links which can be between a brother and a sister who are not related naturally according to flesh. They are related by the Lord Himself asserting that relation, that Mary was John’s mother and John was her son. John took her to his own home. This is to show how a holy, wholesome state of things may be established among us, if the sisters and brothers were on that level.
FSC What teaching would you get out of that, the Lord transferring His mother to John?
JT It shows what the Lord can do, how He can use the saints. He valued her as a mother, but now that relation was going to cease. She was to remain on earth in the flesh and He was going to provide for her, not merely in the sense of ordinary accommodation by a home for her, but holy, wholesome relations between herself and John.
AR There is an exercise among us now, about young sisters seeking husbands outside. I wonder if there is underneath that an unholy state of things.
JT Well, quite so; there is something in that. There is enough in what we have said to arouse serious concern as to conditions. As in assembly conditions or circumstances how much do the sisters contribute to those circumstances? All that is in mind, because we have to look at the assembly.
FKC John would have a good influence through Mary being in his home. She would be able to tell him about the Lord, when He was younger, and of His intimate links with her all through His life.
JT Undoubtedly she would tend to help him spiritually about things that no one knew but herself. But then another thing comes out, that John was remarkably efficient spiritually in dealing with sisters. He writes to one of them in his epistles, “The elder to the elect lady and her children, whom I love in truth” 2 John 1. Notice that, an apostle loving a sister in the truth and her children, “and not I only but also all who have known the truth, for the truth’s sake which abides in us and shall be with us to eternity. Grace shall be with you, mercy, peace from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love. I rejoiced greatly that I have found of thy children walking in truth, as we have received commandment from the Father. And now I beseech thee, lady” 2 John 1 - 5. One has to call attention to the respect of the address. “I beseech thee, lady, not as writing to thee a new commandment, but that which we have had from the beginning, that we should love one another” 2 John 5. Then he proceeds to tell her about the antichrist and how she is to exercise discipline in view of him. Therefore he says, “For many deceivers have gone out into the world, they who do not confess Jesus Christ coming in flesh — this is the deceiver and the antichrist. See to yourselves, that we may not lose what we have wrought, but may receive full wages. Whosoever goes forward and abides not in the doctrine of the Christ has not God. He that abides in the doctrine, he has both the Father and the Son. If any one come to you and bring not this doctrine, do not receive him into the house, and greet him not” 2 John 7 - 10. Notice the woman’s position in the house and how she exercises discipline. “For he who greets him partakes in his wicked works” 2 John 11. Now we cannot afford to spend much time on this point, but we would do well to think of all this and the place the sisters have even up to the point of using discipline and that in a most severe way, in refusing a false brother any access at all into the house.
DP Would the disagreement between two sisters in Philippi affect the local position?
JT It would; apparently it was not too serious but it was enough for Paul to call attention to, that they may be of one mind in the Lord. There is a [p. 25] great deal of friction in the local gatherings because of these things, particularly among the sisters.
TS If the sisters are functioning rightly, would there be more and better singing assemblywise in our service?
JT Yes, quite so. Their voices should certainly merge there.
AEM It seemed to require the Lord’s personal attention to adjust Mary, but there was some measure of adjustment with the men, at least one of them. It says John believed after the evidence of the empty tomb and the clothes.
JT I think it brings up the difference God has put between man and woman as to intelligence. A man will learn quicker, and so both John and Peter laid hold of the position in the sepulchre quickly, whereas Mary did not. That arises from the difference between the sexes, and we ought to recognise this. In the world the woman is regarded as having the same ability, but that is not true and we might as well face that. Peter and John laid hold of the situation more quickly than she did, but on the other hand she remained at the sepulchre because of her affection. The affection is stronger in a woman than in a man, but the intelligence is not and we see it coming out here. If we accept these facts, then we should seek to operate on these lines. Therefore we have a woman here who lingers at the tomb. The great hold that the Lord is able to secure in her is because she has affection. She was ignorant but she had great affection.
JAP Do we need both sides?
JT Certainly we need both; we need affection, but intelligence too. The epistles to the Corinthians contemplate those two things. “I do not suffer a woman to teach nor to exercise authority over man” (1 Timothy 2:12), but at the same time the Spirit of God makes great allowance for them and when it [p. 26] comes to the subject of marriage in 1 Corinthians 7 you see how it may work out in the sister who does not marry at all, that she does better.
JTJr In 1 Corinthians 11 he speaks of directions, praises them for keeping the directions but then he introduces the “but” in verse 3: “But I wish you to know that the Christ is the head of every man” 1 Corinthians 11:3. That is, the “but” seems to allude to something missing; is that correct? “As I have directed you, ye keep the directions. But I wish you to know that the Christ is the head of every man, but woman’s head is the man, and the Christ’s head God” 1 Corinthians 11:2,3. That is, the “but” seems to introduce the subject you have in mind in stressing the woman’s place in relation to man.
JT So it runs down, because the woman is in mind in all that instruction and the whole matter of womanliness in the woman as to how she represents authority in her house. It is a question of something on her head that shows she has a head. It is not hers exactly, but authority is delegated to her husband and she is to show that in her attitude, that she is under authority.
HH Have we two good examples in Romans 16, where we have good assembly material? We get Phoebe, and also Rufus, well spoken of by Paul, and Paul speaks of Rufus’ mother as his mother too. That would be suggestive of good assembly material.
ANW Then too, John says to the elect lady, “But hope to come to you, and to speak mouth to mouth” 2 John 12. He evidently has a sense of mutuality there.
JT Then another illustration on this subject is Peter’s using a figure or expression similar to what we have in 2 John, “She that is elected with you in Babylon salutes you”, 1 Peter 5:13. That raises an inquiry as to who the “she” is, that she should be brought forward with such distinction in a great epistle like Peter’s. You feel how you are reminded,
[p. 27] as if it is his own wife for instance, that it is comely that she should have such regard for the brethren, so that she salutes them.
AB In regard to the word ‘elect’ it is most interesting as bearing on what you have already said in regard to Mary Magdalene out of whom went seven demons. That must have intimated the state in her.
JT Well, she and the Samaritan woman are remarkable as potential assembly material. They were both evil, but the evil had been dealt with; it was not there any more. Then the Samaritan woman understands how to use her body. She left her waterpot and went away to the city which means clearly that her own body was to be that; it was to be the vessel of living water.
AMacD Was it not the woman lying at Boaz’ feet that stirred him?
JT That is a very important and delicate subject which can only be handled by spiritual persons. It shows the moral power that was there that maintained seemliness under those circumstances and so it led up to a holy bond according to God. It is a thing that is to be guarded lest we be found in unseemly circumstances of that kind.
HH In Revelation 12 where Satan is cast out of heaven, it is said that there is no more room for him; he never can go back. Is it not important for us to have done with a thing? Mary Magdalene was free of those demons for ever.
JT Satan would never have scope with the woman again.
AR The Lord’s working in John seems to connect with Genesis 2; a man and a woman. It says Eve is taken out of man and shall be called woman.
JT I think that is a good suggestion, because John’s gospel has many references to women. The idea of man and woman that we get in chapter 20 [p. 28] must lead up to the assembly, because we must not forget that John is the writer of Revelation. Possibly he wrote it before he wrote this book, but he is the one who deals so largely with the Spirit, with Christ and the assembly — Christ viewed as the Bridegroom and the assembly as the bride. He depicts her coming down “as a bride adorned for her husband” Revelation 21:2, a magnificent thought, that the Husband has His full place and that she was adorned not for herself but for Him.
RA Do you think that in saying “Mary” the Lord has in mind that there is something to correspond with the name?
JT The name Mary, I suppose, works out in the thought of suffering, and no doubt she would represent that and the assembly represents that too. She is a partaker with the Lord, as at the Supper. She is qualified to be called the Lamb’s wife.
JB In Ephesians 5 you have the man and woman as the great thought in that chapter. The apostle could say, “This mystery is great, but I speak as to Christ, and as to the assembly” Ephesians 5:32. Would that be in keeping with what you have in mind?
JT Very much, because it is a suggestion of a right subject for conversation. “I speak as to Christ, and as to the assembly”, Ephesians 5:32 as if it were one of the main themes of conversation in the apostle’s mind. If you meet the brethren, you bring up that subject.
ABP In Acts 1:14 certain of the disciples “gave themselves all with one accord to continual prayer, with several women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren”. Would that show the conditions you have in mind?
JT I think it does. That whole passage contemplates suitable moral conditions as the Lord went up to heaven, as it were conditions that could be trusted. It was an upper room, a private place for [p. 29] them, as if the Lord would say the persons who are here are reliable; I can trust them. Anyone who brought anything derogatory to Christ would be disallowed. So we have the word ‘several’ used as to the women in Acts 1:14, meaning there were more than Mary but she is mentioned specially, “Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren”, a holy circle whom the Lord could rely on to look after His interests; that entered into the ten days of which we have spoken.
JW The Lord said to the assembly at Thyatira, “Thou permittest the woman Jezebel” (Revelation 2:20). Would that stand in contrast to Mary who is amenable to the teaching of the Lord?
JT Quite so.
RWS Is Mary governed by her instincts and then by the instruction furnished by the Lord’s own words to her? It says first she turned backward, and then she turns round and then the Lord speaks with her.
JT Yes, the movements are remarkable and evidently governed by right instincts and you might say by some supernatural power. “Having said these things she turned backward and beholds Jesus standing there, and knew not that it was Jesus”. She turned in the right direction. “Jesus says to her, Woman, why dost thou weep? Whom seekest thou? She, supposing that it was the gardener, says to him, Sir, if thou hast borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away. Jesus says to her, Mary”. What a moment it was! What a spiritual moment it was! He is laying the foundation of the assembly really, without mentioning it, in this woman’s soul. She is to be a messenger to the assembly; the most august company in the universe is in that upper room and she bears the message [p. 30] to them.
CDeB Would that answer to John 10:3, “the sheep hear his voice”. The moment He mentioned her name she responded immediately.
JT Chapter 20 has the assembly in mind. It is not the sheep, as in John 10, but the assembly that is in mind. Our readings are with the assumption that we are in assembly circumstances. We are able to understand assembly matters and call them by name when we meet them. We have a sister here now who is intended in the Lord’s mind for the assembly.
AP Would arriving at the thought of Rabboni, my Teacher, be added to the idea of instinct, something more to be learned in the way of divine teaching? Does all this experience and exercise that Mary passes through tend to bring her to that point?
JT That is right. She is ready for it, and she had never used the word before, my Teacher, Rabboni.
HH It is evident that she carried this message correctly, which is not always done. “Go to my brethren”.
JT Quite so. I do not think she carried it verbatim; she carried it in her own estimate of the thing. In verse 18 it says, “Mary of Magdala comes bringing word to the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that he had said these things to her”. It would look to me ass if she would put them in he own words.
HH But she would convey the right sense.
JT She certainly did. It is more to one’s credit, not to put things verbatim, as we have heard them from others, but to put them in our own language. If we are to graduate into assembly speaking we ought to put things in our own language, name them in our own way, and speak of them.
HH That is very helpful and suggestive.
JT If a sister who has been at a meeting tells you what is said, she puts it in her own language if [p. 31] she understands it. We have now come to what the word ‘therefore’ alludes to. “When therefore it was evening on that day, which was the first day of the week, and the doors shut where the disciples were, through fear of the Jews, Jesus, came and stood in the midst, and says to them. Peace be to you”. The thing in the instruction is turning, and she has done her part in it. The Lord will see that her part is to be there (and running through). We are now dealing with assembly matters and assembly formation, and this woman has her part in it and it will be an eternal part too.
AR Bringing word is a most important thing, is it not? It is not news, it is an expression of what the Lord had committed to her rightly conveyed to the disciples. Her communication paves the way for the Lord to come.
JT Just so. We ought to notice the use of the word ‘came’. We began with the idea of coming and going in love, an order of things, divine Persons having part in it. The deliverance from the present situation is involved in this, that we have something that leads us outside of what is current. So we must not forget to notice the Lord saying, “Touch me not”. She would be ardent and touch Him, but He forbids her, “for I have not yet ascended to my Father”. The Lord is telling us that the idea of ascension comes in at this point, not simply going up, but ascending; and the relation in which we are set, to “my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God”. Therefore, we are at the very top, so to speak, of the family thought, in the elevation of it, for His Father is ours and His God is ours.
JTJr She had these things in her. It would be a similar thought to what we had this morning, the Father’s love for the Son in us, and now this great thought, “I ascend”. She has to take a journey with these great thoughts in her heart.
JT Yes, what a merging thought, “My Father and your Father, and to my God and your God”. It is ascending. It is an upper region to which He is going, and all these precious family relations are there. It is an out-of-the-world condition of things. Mary Magdalene comes bringing word, meaning that there is intelligence in what she is bringing to the disciples. It is not simply a message, but word to the disciples that she had seen the Lord and that He had said these things to her. The next point, already alluded to, is that the day is mentioned, “When therefore it was evening on that day, which was the first day of the week, and the doors shut where the disciples were, through fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and says to them, Peace to be you”. There is the time and the place, and what a time! The first day of the week is mentioned twice in this chapter, a hallowed day that is to run through, indicating an eternal state of things. Then there is the Lord coming, not simply as in Luke, where it is said that the Lord stood in their midst, but John says, “Jesus came”.
ABP In regard to Thomas, it says he was not with them when Jesus came.
JT What a miss that was! It shows that the Lord is not present permanently, but that there is a coming and going, and that marks this present time. God is going on with us, and building us up in our constitutions by this coming and going, these appearings of the Lord. They are the great events of this time. The more we understand it, the greater it is. In John 20 there is the inauguration of the assembly in principle, and the whole idea is brought in awaiting the assembly principles that we have in the Acts.
AEH The word “Mary ... comes bringing” conveys a living thought that is characteristic of the whole assembly history.
JT Scarcely a woman came with such an impression as this. It is a present event, but the importance of it is the message, what she said, what she could carry. It is really the inauguration of the assembly.
JVS Further impressions follow as He shows them His hands and side.
JT Let us read it, “The doors shut where the disciples were, through fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and says to them, Peace be to you. And having said this, he shewed to them his hands and his side”. These things are mentioned in a certain order. He came, and stood, and said, “Peace be to you. And having said this, he shewed to them his hands and his side. The disciples rejoiced therefore, having seen the Lord. Jesus said therefore again to them, Peace be to you”. It looks as if the Lord is intent on our understanding that these things are wonderful; it was the inauguration of the assembly, and we are told of the movements that enter into the matter.
ANW Does the tense of “came” in verse 19 imply what is inaugural; in verse 26 the word is, “Jesus comes”. That seems to emphasis the inaugural character of the first coming.
JT Yes, quite so. I think that it is good to see the distinct character of the first coming; the second is not so important. Chapter 21 brings out how the assembly in these circumstances leads up to what is coming historically or prophetically, namely, the Jews being brought in. The assembly’s part is finished in the first passage in John 20: 17 - 23 — the Lord’s first coming, but the second coming in verse 26 has in mind a state of unbelief in one. Thomas is there when the Lord comes “eight days after” and attention is called to his unbelief, but attention is also called by this to what is to characterise the coming situation, the introduction of the Jewish period. The millennium is to be a period of sight. The Lord teaches us by Thomas who represents the Jews, and shows how they will be established in the truth by the facts, by sight. The Lord “says to Thomas, Bring thy finger here and see my hands; and bring thy hand and put it into my side; and be not unbelieving, but believing. Thomas answered and said to him, My Lord and my God. Jesus says to him. Because thou hast seen me thou hast believed: blessed they who have not seen and have believed”. The Jewish period is there indicated. Thomas is established by what the Lord shows to him, and Thomas acknowledges and confesses Him as “My Lord and my God”. The Jewish position is confirmed in all that, and then what we have is also touched on, which is very precious for us to carry in our hearts. “Blessed they who have not seen and have believed”. I suppose in the millennial period it will always be understood that we are those who have been brought into being and into the assembly on the principle of faith. It is a faith period now, but then it will be a sight period. What is effected in the faith period is touched on here, and we should be encouraged to have faith as the Lord says, “Have faith in God” (Mark 11:22). How can we stand at the present time if we have not faith in God?
HH “To whom coming, a living stone, cast away indeed as worthless by men, but with God chosen, precious” (1 Peter 2:4).
JT Quite so, blessedness now is to those who have not seen and yet have believed. They saw Him going up and the faith period began then. “A cloud received him out of their sight” (Acts 1:9). Two men stood by them as they gazed into heaven. It is not [p. 35] that now, but going back into the upper room and learning to see things spiritually. The upper room stands for that.
AR We do not see, and yet we do see, the Lord coming among us; we never see Him bodily, but we know He is there.
JT It is on the principle of faith.
ABP The Lord says in Revelation 22:16, “I am the root and offspring of David, the bright and morning star”. Does that link on with the incoming we have been speaking of in regard to Thomas, and should that fill the hearts of the saints in this dispensation especially as being at the end of it? Would that all go to develop sentiment to fill out and intensify assembly service?
JT Exactly so, to intensify the thing. The Lord has helped us greatly as to assembly service and what we say when He comes in.
FNW Would the word in the first of Acts, “a cloud received him out of their sight”, Acts 1:9 help us to get on to spiritual lines?
JT It does, that is what is intended. Now we have the third manifestation; we have just spoken of the first and second and it says in chapter 21, “This is already the third time that Jesus had been manifested to the disciples, being risen from among the dead”. We are in a period of manifestations, as if there is light shining around us in that sense on the principle of faith. It is the third time. It looks as if the third manifestation would lead us into millennial conditions to be apprehended now on the principle of prophecy. It is wholesome and sanctifying to come into things on the line of prophecy. The brethren began with that at the revival, and it greatly affected the saints by bringing the Lord into prominence. We think of prophecy now in the sense of ministry, but we should not forget what is coming,
[p. 36] as set before us in the prophetic word of the prophets in the Old Testament.
AEH What do you think of the disappointing first expedition in chapter 21 before the prophetic line of things is opened up?
JT We have seven distinguished brothers here but they move in the wrong direction. “Simon Peter says to them, I go to fish”, and they are led wrongly although seven in number and distinguished, at least most of them were, and they get nothing. There must be something in that as to the possibility of wrong leading. One knows, we all know more or less, how many sorrowful things have happened, men leading others in the wrong direction; all the divisions resulted from this; 1845, 1848, 1881, 1884, 1890, 1908. These were all of that character, men going a certain way in the wrong direction and others following them. Is there not a danger at the present time of that, of being led astray? It seems to me the Lord has been very good to us in saving us from these terrible divisions for a good many years now, but is there not a great need for watching, especially among those of us who have ability to serve, lest there should be any rivalry? Here there is no evidence of rivalry at all; they are moving together. It is a great matter to have before us that the Lord might spare any one of us from becoming a leader for the wolf to get in.
AEH It helps to notice that recovery starts from a real exposure. Peter had to recognise he was naked.
HH On the other hand, these crises have yielded much for those who have faced the thing.
JT Well, the encouraging thing is that the Lord had something, which enters into what we are saying. The Lord had something, and He gives it a dignified name. The food was not simply something to eat; He used the expression, “Come and dine”. It is the thought of dignity that is intended to deliver us from all this into which these seven men fell.
AEM Has the Lord always watched these situations very carefully through the history? Is that why we have been saved? It is a comfort in view of possible dangers of this kind, that the Lord is the first to move when there is such a thing happening.
JT Yes, that is very beautiful, and then what follows, how much He cares for the sheep and the lambs, and He appoints Peter to feed them and lead them. It is all very beautiful, not only for the sheep but for Peter himself, and how ready he was to recover himself. Very few of these men who have led wrongly in our times recovered themselves, but Peter was able to do it.
JHE Would this be the expression of grace on God’s side?
JT Quite so, “Come and dine”. He prepared the dinner and invited them to come. Then we must not forget there were one hundred and fifty-three fish. “Bring of the fishes which ye have now taken”. The Lord would say, I am going to eat them too. It is the setting up of a mutual condition out of apparent disaster, a beautiful and fruitful and mutual condition.
JW Why does Peter always give preference to John? In John 13 he makes a sign.
JT He makes it easy for John to be first. It shows he is ready to help John. He beckoned to him. Peter acts without words, reckoning that John was spiritual, because he is the one who discerns. John could take liberty in speaking to the Lord.
FSC Are you referring to what God can do in the present conditions in the world to bring about His ends in the nations?
JT I think the Lord would enable us to meet these awful conditions that have arisen on the earth.
[p. 38] God would show that He has something to work with and operate in to offset them, so there is deliverance not only for the saints, but right principles. It would be a great time truly if the whole truth might be enlarged on that the Lord has made clear to us in the ministry.