ADDITIONS TO THE SERVICE OF GOD
[p. 401] ADDITIONS TO THE SERVICE OF GOD
1 Chronicles 22:1 - 19; Isaiah 38:9 - 20; Jonah 2:1 - 10; Habakkuk 3:17 - 19
JT I had in mind that, with the Lord’s help, we might see in these scriptures how David’s thought of addition is worked out, that is, with ourselves, how addition, particularly in the service of God, comes about. Rachel at a much earlier date had the thought of addition, Joseph’s name signifying that. He was the eleventh son of Jacob and another son was needed, and Rachel expected the addition; and so, although we may come into great wealth, more is needed and particularly in the way of service. So whilst David had supplied great abundance for the house, according to our first scripture, he said to Solomon, “Thou shalt add to it”. Many other instances might be cited to show how the service of God was added to, particularly under Solomon and Hezekiah, but these three will suffice, first in Hezekiah, then in Jonah, and finally in Habakkuk.
In each case it is through discipline, particularly in Hezekiah and Jonah, the power of composition not acquired by mere mentality, but through discipline, bringing people by the discipline of God to test and experience something of death. One principle of the present dispensation is death working out in this way. In Hezekiah we have a composition which adds to the service of God; he says, “The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I this day”; and then, advancing to a higher note, “We will play upon my stringed instruments all the days of our life, in the house of Jehovah”. Jonah looks towards God’s “holy temple”, and Habakkuk hands in his composition “to the chief Musician”. In all this we see how additions are made in our time, these scriptures being written for our learning.
WL You mean additions to the house [p. 402] of God?
JT Chiefly to the service of God; that in the consciousness of our own souls, we may contribute as in assembly.
Ques Does the matter of “subjection to the Father of spirits, and live” (Hebrews 12:9) enter into this?
JT Very much so, for the discipline is all under the “Father of spirits”. Discipline has our inward beings in mind, not merely external functioning, but inward state; that we should be partakers of God’s holiness. No believer is exempted by the Father of spirits, and we are all called upon to endure so that God may conduct Himself toward us as toward sons, and that we may be partakers of His holiness.
Ques So discipline would be with a view to the formation of the work of God in the soul?
JT Yes, and especially so in view of His service. We are brought into wealth: Solomon was brought into great wealth supplied by his father. We come into great wealth, but we are to add. Contributions in the power of the Spirit are in mind. The principle of addition must mark our services or we shall become stagnant.
WL What is the particular addition in Isaiah 38?
JT I think it is life. “The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I this day: the father to the children shall make known thy truth” (verse 19). I think that is the peculiar touch you get from him as experiencing death, as you might say, in his spirit. He did not enter into the article of death, but he felt it in his spirit, and as coming up in the power of life he contributed after this example.
Rem The addition at Philippi was not from mental activity, but from chastened spirits.
JT Yes. What we are now speaking of is exemplified in the prison, in which Paul and Silas were greatly afflicted. They would take it as discipline and also as sharing in the sufferings of Christ, but in prayer they sang praises to God. The work at Philippi was marked [p. 403] by prayer, and it is seen in the sufferers in the prison leading to praise. In prayer they sang praises, and the prisoners were listening. It is the sort of thing we are to look for, as giving character to evangelical testimony. They went to Lydia after they were released from prison. They had been in her house before, now they went there after they had suffered; there was some little touch in that. What happens after, or while, we suffer has a peculiar effect. The Lord presented Himself living “after he had suffered”.
JHT As left here are we responsible to bring in addition to the service of God? God says to Hezekiah, “I will add to thy days fifteen years” (Isaiah 38:5).
JT That would not mean that he would simply live that length of time, it would be in view of some result.
WL It was after he had been sick and had recovered that he wrote what we have read.
JT Quite so. That is in keeping with what we have said as to whether one is gaining by discipline — what we do after.
Ques Would that come under the heading of the peaceable fruits of righteousness? Hezekiah says, “By these things men live”. He had got the gain of the discipline.
JT Yes. Not only contributing to the house of God, but furnishing instruction to all of us who are in discipline. “Of which all have been made partakers” (Hebrews 12:8) is an important word. It is to the end that we should gain, that after the discipline it should appear we are more spiritual than before, and thus can add.
Ques Does Jacob furnish a good example of what you have been suggesting, as to how one gets the gain of discipline? He reached the house of God, and at the end he worshipped, leaning on the top of his staff.
JT Quite so. Of the three patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and himself, Jacob specially represents the results of [p. 404] discipline.
Ques And David dancing before the ark?
JT Yes; more particularly in 1 Chronicles 21 - 1 Chronicles 29. The greatest results in the Old Testament for the house of God, accruing immediately from discipline, are seen in him. Hezekiah gives his experience as under the discipline, and his “writing” is a contribution to the house of God. Habakkuk also tells of his experience in discipline, and the chapter from which we read is a contribution to the service of God. It is a poetical composition and it begins on an instrument which would denote a certain experience of depression. At our beginnings it is usually so, we are not clear as to why things are so severe. Hezekiah says, “I have cut off like a weaver my life; he separateth me from the thrum: — from day to night thou wilt make an end of me”. It is usual that we do not see things clearly at the outset of God’s disciplinary dealings with us. He says, “As a lion, so doth he break all my bones. From day to night thou wilt make an end of me”. Then he tells us, “Like a swallow or a crane, so did I chatter; I mourned as a dove; mine eyes failed with looking upward: Lord, I am oppressed; undertake for me”. He has come now to the point of blessing — he asks God to act for him. This composition is after he is recovered, so that he sees all things clearly. The end is reached. Hence the definiteness and upward trend in the composition. In going over the history, he touches the points that specially affected him and by which he was formed. He says, “By these things men live” — that is the teaching of the experience.
Ques Would our compositions be very much clearer and sweeter if an affliction was rightly gone through with God?
JT I think that is the point. Hezekiah’s contribution is after he had been sick and had recovered. He goes over the ground so that others can read and gain by it.
Rem Not be discouraged by it. Job reached the end.
JT Yes — “the end of the Lord” (James 5:11). The book of Job is, of course, the expansion of all this; “the end of the Lord” (James 5:11) is in view from the outset.
JHT You get an example of adding in Acts 11:24 — “A large crowd ... were added to the Lord”; and then Barnabas “went away to Tarsus to seek out Saul” (Acts 11:25). In chapter 13 we read that there were in the assembly prophets and teachers “ministering to the Lord and fasting” (Acts 13:2).
JT Exactly. You see how Barnabas’ unjealous action led up to a great result in Antioch; a contribution to the service of God. What constitutes this incident one of peculiar importance is that Antioch was the starting-off point in the gentile field, the assembly in all its rich significance in the service of God being in view. “Ministering to the Lord and fasting” (Acts 13:2) was a striking forecast of the great addition, in which, as completed, there will be glory to God unto all generations of the age of ages.
Both Barnabas and Paul came in in a remarkable way on the line of addition. The dispensation begins with the suggestion: there were three thousand added, and then we are told what characterised them, that they were in keeping with what they were added to. Then it is said that the Lord Himself added, as if the whole company numbering about three thousand were such as He could add to, that is “those that were to be saved” (Acts 2:47). And we get in Acts 5 that in spite of severe discipline in the case of Ananias and Sapphira, believers, multitudes of men and women, were added. This shows that discipline, being essential to assembly order and holiness, must not be regarded as preventing growth, but promoting addition such as God can own.
JHT What had you in mind as to Genesis 30, when you said another son is necessary; was it to make up the number twelve?
JT Yes; the number twelve was essential to the divine plan, that is, the means of love operating. I [p. 406] think that numeral in Scripture refers to what is easily manipulated. As under God’s hand. He can manipulate us for Himself; and in the service of God, it is essential that the chief Musician should have us under His hand.
Ques Have we in Joseph an example how the number twelve is easily manipulated: his brethren sat before him, the firstborn according to his birthright and the youngest according to his youth (Genesis 43)?
JT Yes, but when we come to what is ministerial in Exodus, we have a different arrangement. The tribes are set in precious stones on the high priest’s breastplate, but evidently according to the sovereignty of love; “according to their names”, it is said. This would be the distinction of each in the testimony. “Judgment” would indicate that the arrangement of the names represents the mind of God as to all, and this would correspond with the ordering of the camp in Numbers.
Ques Is Solomon’s addition suggestive of what comes, apart from affliction?
JT The thought is principally sonship. Apart from that you cannot have addition, in the sense in which we are speaking of it, according to God. “Let my son go, that he may serve me(Exodus 4:23)”. That is the divine thought, and Solomon represents it, so that it is sonship. But then what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? So that Solomon would partake of discipline. Sonship implies that we are consciously in the position, happy and free in it. Solomon is the counterpart of David; they sat on the throne together at the beginning, according to 1 Chronicles 23, and under both we have the opening up of the service of the Levites and priests in courses so as to get the very best out of them. That is what the Lord is aiming at now, to bring us all under His own influence in sonship and in relation to one another in love and holiness.
Rem In the opening of 2 Corinthians we have a note that had its spring in [p. 407] affliction.
JT Yes. The whole epistle of 2 Corinthians may be viewed from that standpoint, it is the energy of life working through death. Sweet odour for God is furnished too: “For we are a sweet odour of Christ to God in the saved and in those that perish: to the one an odour from death unto death, but to the others an odour from life unto life” (2 Corinthians 2:15,16). We see in the epistle the principle Hezekiah sets out; it is life through death — “The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I this day”; and from that he goes on to the higher altitude spiritually: “we will play upon my stringed instruments all the days of our life, in the house of Jehovah”. I suppose he intended to spend the fifteen years in that way, but he did not, as the records show.
Ques Does his history show the pains God takes with every instrument individually with a view to the service of praise collectively?
JT Yes. He says “we will play upon my stringed instruments”, as if he were furnishing the instruments and others joined in. Not only had he gained, but others were gaining from his experience.
Ques “We who live are always delivered unto death” (2 Corinthians 4:11): is that the maintenance of this living condition?
JT Yes. “We who live”, that is God taking an account of us thus and putting us through circumstances that help.
JHT In 2 Kings 20, going to the house of Jehovah the third day is stressed. Is it one having faced the article of death?
JT Just so. Kings and Chronicles do not give the contribution. I think it is a tribute to Isaiah’s part in the service of God that he gives us this. The whole book of Isaiah is full of poetic feeling; we can understand what a man he was from this point of view; adding to what was there, not simply content with what had been. No godly Israelite would read Isaiah without being greatly stimulated. One could point out several songs; more even than appear on the surface, and [p. 408] characteristically he adds this beautiful contribution by king Hezekiah. Men of this kind are very important among the saints of God, men who add things and make them available for all. “We”, Hezekiah says, meaning others besides himself. As spiritual, we cease to think unduly of ourselves individually and merge with the brethren; and whatever I have is also for others.
Rem “Draw me; we will run after thee!(Song of Songs 1:4)”
JHT Is it right to say in a general way that Hezekiah’s contribution is a psalm, and Jonah’s in the nature of a spiritual song, and Habakkuk’s a hymn?
JT The idea of experience enters into all of them, of course. I should think a hymn is the product of restfulness, that is, those who know how to keep their sabbaths. Habakkuk seems to come near to that. He is perfectly restful in the God of his salvation. He says, “Yet I will rejoice in Jehovah”, though discipline may not be removed from him. Hezekiah was out of the difficulty, the sickness was removed. Habakkuk says, “Though the fig-tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines ... yet I will rejoice” (chapter 3:17,18). That is an indication of being in power. The discipline may be there, but he is above it, and he gets on to the highest thought to hand it over to the chief Musician. He is definitely and formatively contributing to the service. Hezekiah is out of suffering and so is Jonah. Jehovah commanded the fish and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land. I should think that as writing he had passed through all the experiences that are spoken of, for the book is one. It is one book, and he has gained not only from the extraordinary experiences of chapters 1 and 2, but also what is mentioned in chapter 4. In the latter he tells us of his folly, that he did well to be angry, and then he allows God to have the last ward. The book is evidently the production of a man marked by disobedience, but who through discipline submitted to the will of God.
[p. 409] Ques What are the thoughts conveyed in the temple and the chief Musician?
JT The temple is important in Jonah’s composition: “When my soul fainted within me, I remembered Jehovah; and my prayer came in unto thee, into thy holy temple”. The element of holiness is there, which is a good addition to Hezekiah. Hezekiah says, “the house of Jehovah”. Jonah says, “thy holy temple”. These are thoughts that run together.
In Acts, Antioch is of special interest and importance, because we get there a collective product — “they were ministering to the Lord and fasting” (Acts 13:2). It is the beginning of the service amongst the gentiles. Much is made of the teaching of Barnabas and Saul: “for a whole year they were gathered together in the assembly and taught a large crowd” (Acts 11:26), so we get an excellent start there and addition follows, particularly in Acts 16, where Paul and Silas were in prison and in praying were praising God with singing. Here we get prayer culminating in praise in Hezekiah, Jonah, and Habakkuk, whether in the house, the temple, or to the chief Musician.
Rem The overcomer in Philadelphia is to be made a pillar in the temple.
JT That is a suggestion directly for ourselves because Philadelphia includes the present time. What He promises to the overcomer in any assembly alludes to what the overcomer in that assembly would understand and value, and I think the Lord assumes that the temple of God is understood in Philadelphia.
Ques Would Habakkuk’s rejoicing spirit be the spirit of an overcomer, in the midst of failure?
JT In a very striking way. Indeed we may say all three are overcomers — Hezekiah, Jonah, and Habakkuk. It is the overcomer really that contributes.
Ques Is such suggested in the stringed instruments?
JT I think that is an allusion to spiritual skilfulness; whereas a wind instrument would denote life.
[p. 410] Hezekiah and Habakkuk reach the stringed instruments; Jonah does not. Stringed instruments imply spiritual intelligence, as I said. “I will sing with the spirit, but I will sing also with the understanding” (1 Corinthians 14:15). The Father of spirits had been dealing with Hezekiah and Habakkuk. God deals with us in regard of our service to Him. The Spirit is my link with God.
Rem It is encouraging that God should take up such an one as Jonah; unlikely material, yet he is brought through discipline to this result.
JT Do you not think that is the way God takes? Think of working out such glorious results in a family like Jacob’s — a most difficult family. Here is a man who had light and yet is sent to preach and did not go. He says he fled to Tarshish because he knew Jehovah was gracious. He was considering his reputation, as if this would be impaired if God did not judge Nineveh. He was angry because He spared the city. But God spared it on the grounds of repentance. Jonah ignored this and boldly said to Jehovah that he did well to be angry; truly a hard man! But in God’s school he comes round and contributes to His service of praise. In writing the book, finishing it with God’s unanswerable vindication of Himself, Jonah justifies Him. God intends us as coming into the fellowship to be contributory to it. In Acts 2 all were contributory, first they persevered in the teaching and fellowship of the apostles, then in breaking of bread and prayers; and what follows shows they were contributing, everyone as in a community, adding to the community; and then the Lord added to that.
Ques Do we find Peter and John adding in Acts 3?
JT Yes. They stand out from the surrounding state of things, saying to the lame man, “Look on us”. Peter took hold of the man by his right hand; he did his best for him, and the result was contribution: he walked and leaped and praised God. He was equal to what he was added to.