MAN AS PRESENTED IN CHRIST AND THE ASSEMBLY (6)

^[p. 354] MAN AS PRESENTED IN CHRIST AND THE ASSEMBLY (6)

Genesis 2: 4 - 25; Acts 2: 37 - 47

JT I have suggested these two scriptures because they are analogous to each other, both referring to man. Much history intervenes, but still the histories are of man and God’s dealings with him. Genesis brings out man’s physical nature and propensities before sin came in, God’s interest in him, and how it would develop what was there. It was in the main a question of need, need calling forth certain elements in man which God would see developed and have pleasure in. The moral question had not yet been raised; although the basis of it was there, the thing was not actually raised, for man was still in innocency. The second scripture, however, contemplates moral questions, but it was man, God having wrought in him on moral lines. As we look into these portions, we shall see a striking analogy and how the moral side is brought to bear upon the present time. The present time is extraordinary in the history of the race and God would show that He is alive to it and would meet the condition, especially bringing out what was there according to the chapter read — what God had placed there. So the abstract idea of man continues. It is thought we might take up this idea as applicable to us at the present time and see what there is in that sense, as meeting under God the present situation and relieving it; not only bringing out what is needed, but ensuring that God may still find pleasure in man. The first scripture, Genesis 2, contemplates, of course, Genesis 1; that is, what happens according to that history. There is a renewal of interest on God’s part, giving us the history of chapter 1, and bringing out what was additionally there and how ^[p. 355] the race, or order of being under review, is taking on a dual character, the second part of this dual character arising from necessity and bringing out the principle of superior intelligence.

FI I would like to know what you mean by ‘dual character’.

JT It is intimated in chapter 1, but not actually effected in the record until chapter 2.

FI Do you mean that the dual character is male and female?

JT Exactly. The latter is made necessary by certain conditions in the former, God saying it was not good that the man should be alone. We shall see as we proceed that the dual character is essential to the working out of the great thought God has as to man, and can never be lost sight of. Any doctrine or principles amongst men that tend to obliterate it are contrary to the mind of God.

Ques Is that suggested in 1 Corinthians 11: “Neither is woman without man, nor man without woman, in the Lord”?

JT Just so, a very important scripture bearing on what we are saying, showing how the female side is brought into the administrative side in Christianity. There is a comeliness that is essential according to God’s mind for the working out of the being that is before us. It requires a certain seemliness, but still the administration is proceeding.

Ques In quoting the scripture, “It is not good that Man should be alone”, is that not only from man’s point of view but also from God’s?

JT Yes, and akin to that is what is said of Adam himself in verse 20 of the chapter, “as for Adam, he found no helpmate, his like”. That is, there was a necessity, there was a void occasioning a necessity, and God discerned that and spoke of it saying, “It is not good that Man should be alone”.

^[p. 356] But what is to be observed, I think, is that this superior intelligence which subsequent facts developed is essential to work out what God intended to have pleasure in, and that superior intelligence is seen in the Lord Jesus, as I think we shall see in Acts 2. Genesis 2 is an additional working out of the great subject and the necessity that occasioned it, necessity in the fact that God required this superior intelligence in man; hence He brings out immediately what required the sense of intelligence in man. “Out of the ground Jehovah Elohim had formed every animal of the field and all fowl of the heavens, and brought them to Man, to see what he would call them; and whatever Man called each living soul, that was its name. And Man gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the heavens, and to every beast of the field; but as for Adam, he found no helpmate, his like”. Of course, the next paragraph brings out how that necessity or requirement was met by God Himself, but it also brought out the superior intelligence that God intended to be displayed in man.

Ques Is it that man felt the need of something for his affections?

JT Yes. Man felt it, but God spoke of it first; He said, “It is not good that Man should be alone, I will make him a helpmate, his like”.

Ques Do you mean that the exigency served to bring out what was already in the mind of God?

JT Just so; He noticed it Himself first, but it is remarkable that Adam felt it; the quest was there. “He found no helpmate, his like” — the words are used as applicable to him.

Rem He found nothing suitable to himself that he could name.

JT That runs through the history of the whole race, and the lower creatures bear that out; they are ^[p. 357] inferior, and Adam knew and saw that and was able to name them accordingly.

Rem It does away completely with the thought of evolution.

JT It does indeed. Then, as we have already mentioned, the Acts brings out this superior intelligence as seen in the Lord Jesus. The gospels all bear on the Acts, but the superior intelligence that was in Him is marked in the endings of the gospels, the Acts supporting the facts that indicate that intelligence was there and the need of the assembly was there. It is provided by God on moral lines rather than physical or creative lines.

Ques Is that seen first in Matthew 16 — “On this rock I will build my assembly”?

JT Just so, He had it in His heart; and as we have often noted, in the parables in Matthew 13 He brings out in figure how He Himself found a certain treasure hidden in a field — He found it there, He found it hidden — He does not tell us what the treasure was, but it was hidden. Then He hid it, and He went and bought the field, selling all that He had — it ought to read. “sells all whatever he has”. The thing was there and hidden and the field was bought because of that, but it is put in the present tense — it is with what the man has he bought that field. Then the next parable is that He was looking for something. He likens Himself to a merchant seeking goodly pearls and he found one and went and sold all whatever he had — it is the past tense — and bought the pearl. It was no hidden article or thing that he found; nor is he hiding it; it is not to be concealed, its value was manifest or known to him, but he went and sold all he had in order to secure it. So we can see that what is said in Genesis as to Eve has its analogy in the Lord Jesus, not only in the early part of the Acts, but particularly in Matthew, where it is worked out, for ^[p. 358] Matthew is the only gospel that tells us formally about the assembly. The Lord speaks of it there as His; He says, “My assembly”.

Ques Are you thinking that this remarkable intelligence shines out in these parables?

JT Remarkable intelligence, first as to the treasure in the way in which it was secured in buying the field, and then the skill or knowledge which the merchant had of the pearl; the word used refers to his skilful experience in that particular commodity.

Rem So he picks out one pearl.

JT And we are told it was of great value. Perhaps the brethren have not caught what I am trying to show. In the parabolic part of Matthew the person who found the treasure hid in the field — the Lord Jesus being in mind — sells all that he has, that is, what was current, current values; he disposes of all these in order to secure that field. Then in the case of the pearl, which was a matter of merchandise, a public matter, that anyone could weigh and see, he sold all he had, that is, whatever belonged to him historically, in order to secure it. It could be seen by all who had that knowledge that there was something supreme, supremely superior, and the man — representing the Lord — sold all whatever he had in order to get that.

Ques Would you amplify the difference as to the “has” and the “had”, Matthew 13: 44 and 46?

JT I think the “has” refers to the gospel as effecting the current activities of the Lord; the “had” is a question of what is historical; that is, what was in the mind of the Lord as to the assembly, involving all the Lord had. The current matter is what He has, that is what He is using in current operations.

Ques Would the selling of all that he had go back as far as emptying Himself (Philippians 2: 7)?

JT I think it would, and therefore I ventured to use the word “historical”, for it is an historical ^[p. 359] matter, what the Lord was actuated by in view of the assembly. You therefore have to consider what He had according to facts, as to the creation or any other facts there might have been in history that had application, that the Lord gave all that up for the sake of the assembly.

Ques Do you link the one with redemption and the other with purpose?

JT Well, you might say that, for there was calculation in it; the word “purpose” is quite usable, I think, in that connection. There was calculation in the transaction; it was a direct transaction. The field was indirect, but the pearl was bought directly because it was valued. The field in itself would be valueless as soon as the treasure was taken out of it, but there was nothing of that kind applicable to the pearl.

WC Does the city with a pearl at each gate (Revelation 21: 21) indicate the great price paid, a proof of that superior intelligence you have referred to?

JT I think that is very good. The first parable is indirect, the field has to be considered. There are two transactions; he found the treasure and he hid it, and then he bought the field; somewhat wider and more complex in its bearing, but it is current, it is a current matter, for it is what he then had, what he has now; but, as regards the pearl, it is a previous transaction and involves calculation as to what was to be expended.

Ques Would the treasure involve the moral question and the pearl rather relate to the Acts?

JT It does, I think; what the field cost and what entered into that. In fact, I would say it is generally worked out in Paul’s ministry, what the gospel would result in in a current sense, involving the moral side of things and then what territory was involved. It is called “the field” and then “that field”, that is to say, it is a question of what part of ^[p. 360] the earth was implied, for the word “field” in itself would not mean a whole continent, it would not mean all the earth. The field is designated as the world in verse 38, but that is specific; the word “field” in verse 44 would not imply such an idea.

Ques Is the transaction of Boaz a type of this? He purchased all that belonged to Elimelech and Chilion and Mahlon. That has a wide bearing, but he had in mind to purchase Ruth to be his wife.

JT That would help. The field is of value in that sense because it was bought with her, but in the parable the field is only of value because the treasure is in it. That raises the whole question as to where the gospel has been preached and when, and what is current now. So in relation to the passage in Genesis 2 as to the rivers, etc., we have to consider in what part of the area would that field be? If we are buying land, we must consider whether it is suitable for building; if so, house property, or some other kind; or whether there is gold in it, or coal, or diamonds. Hence I can understand that the Lord would indicate that current operations in view of the assembly were in a certain direction, in effect towards the West. I am only referring to Genesis 2 because it is God’s way of calling attention to what the earth was, what the garden of Eden was and the different items that are mentioned, and how there are these rivers effecting value in the territory.

Ques Do you think then that the preaching of the gospel needs priestly discernment?

JT I think so. It is a question of where the material is that is needed.

HAH Does the preacher in Ecclesiastes refer to this when he says, “One man among a thousand have I found, but a woman among all those have I not found” (Ecclesiastes 7: 28).

JT That is good — something to follow up — because the preacher is speaking; it is a question of ^[p. 361] the preacher and that idea must enter into the current operations of the Lord. Another thing that comes up in Acts 3 is that the heavens must receive the Lord Jesus until “the times of the restoring of all things, of which God has spoken by the mouth of his holy prophets since time began”, and the question raised there, in the mind at least, is, What is the Lord doing now?

WH There appears to be great wealth in connection with the flowing of Pison — ‘freely flowing’ is the meaning of its name. Would that suggest an operation of the Spirit of God as moving westward?

JT That is good. I think the Lord, when He was speaking here on earth in His ministry according to Matthew, must have had great interest in all that, and there can be no doubt that the recent history of man has brought to light what there is physically on the earth more than ever before, and incidentally what there is for the assembly, where there is no material and where there is material. It must be of intense interest to the Lord to keep those things in mind.

Ques Why in the case of the first two rivers does it say they “surround” certain territory?

JT The surrounding would mean that they have influence. “The name of the one is Pison: that is it which surrounds the whole land of Havilah, where the gold is”. These words would of course imply what there is for the assembly, and “the gold of that land is good”. Besides the gold there is bdellium and the onyx stone. They are there, the Lord knows they are there, meaning that the Lord would hide what was there so that it should not be damaged until He had the means of procuring it.

WSS Does the flowing of the rivers apply to what you were referring to in regard to the Lord personally — “whom the heaven must receive” — ^[p. 362] the activities of the Holy Spirit proceeding from the Lord’s present position?

JT Exactly, it is a question of what the Spirit is doing in relation to Christ. What is the Lord Himself doing? He does not tell the disciples much as to what He would be doing. The kingdom is the Father’s matter. What is His matter? It lies in relation to the Spirit, and that they should be His witnesses, and that witness should be universal. We cannot very well name what He is doing; “whom the heaven must receive”, we are told. It is not that He is quiescent there. He is on His Father’s throne, implying that He is in accord with the Father’s mind, what He is thinking of.

WC Would the Lord have this in mind in John 4 where, after referring to the Spirit, He says, “Lift up your eyes and behold the fields, for they are already white to harvest. He that reaps receives wages and gathers fruit unto life eternal”?

JT I think He would have that in mind as to the use of the word “field”, but it is plural, of course, “fields”. It is a question of life eternal, and they were white to harvest, meaning that the state of the crops should indicate the time. The sun, of course, determines time, but the state of the crops also indicates time, and the question is whether the state of the crops alludes to the church period or Israel’s period in the future. I am only saying these things that our minds should be active as to what is meant. We have had a great deal on prophetic lines; in early days the prophetic map was opened up to the brethren, prophecy all bearing on the coming day, the millennial day. The Lord is waiting for that, the restitution of all things, but what is going on in the meantime? Well nigh two thousand years have elapsed, and what is He doing? I am only referring to this that we might consider what the Lord ^[p. 363] is doing.

AJG Do you mean that in view of those times the woman should be brought to light? You were saying the woman was necessary for the man in an administrative setting. Is that what the Lord is doing at the present time?

JT I think that is right. The Lord is not really set in His prophetic position until He secures the woman — “whom the heaven must receive until the times of the restitution of all things” — but the principle of the assembly was hidden and the book of the Acts brings it out; it brings out what the Lord was thinking about in chapter 1 and right through the book. Then Paul is brought in, one who has thoroughly got the Lord’s mind; he has the double ministry which involves the assembly, and he says, “My intelligence in the mystery” (Ephesians 3: 4) — he has got it for us.

AJG So that Paul’s ministry covers both the treasure and the pearl.

JT That is what I was thinking, only the treasure is a current matter, whereas the pearl is more purpose extending back to the counsels of God and to eternity; but the field is a current matter.

Ques Would that throw light on God’s governmental ways recently in these countries, one devastated and another escaping?

JT It is very important to think of that, what God has done in these different countries. The Lord would say, When you are taken out of the field it is nothing to Me, but I am taking you out that you should be according to My mind. Paul’s ministry is intended to do that.

HFN Would that be supported by what Paul says in Romans 15, how he had fully preached Christ “in a circuit round to Illyricum” and connecting it with the offering up of the nations, “acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit”? Then he goes on to speak of the preaching of Jesus Christ ^[p. 364] and the revelation of the mystery. Would that involve the two thoughts you are speaking of?

JT It would. One has that in mind, the wide sweep of territory, but notice it is westerly, extending to the Adriatic, but always in view of what was there. How will the Lord regard it when we are all gone? It is terrible to think of what will happen according to the book of The Revelation. But the Lord is intensely interested now in working out this matter; it is a question of this field, that is, a specific part in which the treasure is.

Ques Would the man of Macedonia indicate the way in which this selection of territory works out, where the gold is?

JT I think that is the point. “Come over and help us”. Paul is to come westward because there is need, a man needing help, and the territory from Jerusalem round about to Illyricum clearly points to that; that is where the apostle Paul expended most of his labour.

Rem It is striking how that was guarded, for they attempted to go to Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them, showing how the gold was guarded.

JT Just so, and it is to bring out what is in that territory, how much the brethren can stand, how much they can endure for the Lord’s sake.

Ques Would it help to settle the minds of young people as to the lack of so-called missionary work amongst us? Young men in the army are raising questions, as a result of contact with others, as to missionary work in other lands where the truth of the assembly has hardly taken shape at all.

JT I think it would settle it in their minds anyway, and they need to have it settled.

GCS Would this be “the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter”? Proverbs 25: ^[p. 365] 2.

JT Just so. Matthew is the kingly gospel and the idea of that is that there is power to work things out.

Ques Would you open up your thought as to the gospels converging on the Acts?

JT The passage in Genesis 1 refers to Christ typically in the superior knowledge that came out in Adam, that God intended to bring out in him. God brought the creatures to him to see what he would call them, and then reference is made to the fact that there was no suitable helpmate for Adam — that showed his intelligence. I would connect that in the book of Acts with the intelligence that marked the Lord in chapter 1. He was in heaven ten days before the Spirit came down. He went up after the forty days and the Spirit came down. What was in the Lord’s mind? He did not answer the question of the disciples as to the kingdom of Israel; He said it was the Father’s matter, but they were to wait for the Spirit. We can do nothing without the Spirit, but we can do much with the Spirit, and that much has reference to what the assembly is, because the Lord is occupied now, not with prophetic subjects, but with assembly matters. It is like Isaac in Genesis 24; he is occupied with one thing, that is Rebecca. He is meditating in the field — that is all he is doing; he is coming from Beer-sheba, but he sees the camels coming — that is an indication to him as to the current situation.

Ques Does it help to see that in Genesis 25 Abraham sends the other sons away eastward to the east country?

JT It does help. One has heard lately of the idea that there is another family that God may be bringing out on lower levels than the assembly, but there is no such family. Israel is yet to be brought out, but that is future. God is working now with the ^[p. 366] assembly; that is what is current, and there is nothing in the Lord’s mind more than that.

AJG Do you think the antitype of Adam’s intelligence in naming he woman is seen when the Lord says, “Why persecutest thou me?” naming the assembly in that distinctive way, calling it “me”?

JT Yes. He uses the word “me” in the sense that it covers the assembly.

HFN Would you mind saying a little more as to there being nothing for the Lord outside the assembly?

JT That is what I understand — the Lord is engaged with the assembly. He was on earth for forty days and then went up to heaven and was there ten days, and the Spirit came down. The Lord remained on earth forty days according to the book of the Acts, but not according to the gospel of Luke. From Luke it would seem that He went up the same day He arose; not that we should conclude that, but there is the suggestion that the Lord was in haste, so to speak, to be up there to work out this thing that He had in mind, to work out the assembly. He was going to heaven, heaven received Him; it is not His official place in relation to Israel. Chapter 9 begins to speak of the Lord going up to heaven, and in chapter 24 He goes up and there is no mention of a forty-days’ period. There was the fact that He was going up and that there would be a great gospel movement — “that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name to all the nations beginning at Jerusalem”. The Lord went up saying all that, and I believe the position is, that He is where He wished to be, and to be quickly, to begin this great work which has gone on all these centuries. The time of the restitution of all things has not come in yet, but this thing has come in, the Lord’s activities amongst the saints are in view of the assembly.

^[p. 367] Ques Would that be what the Lord had in mind in the words, “It is expedient for you that I go away...”? John 16:7.

JT Quite so. And see how quickly the Spirit did come, and immediately He began by Peter to open up the truth of the gospel. The hearers say, What are we to do? Did Peter direct them to the prophets? No, they were alluded to, but it is a question of the Spirit. “Peter said to them, Repent, and be baptised, each one of you... for remission of sins, and ye will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For to you is the promise and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God may call”, Acts 2: 38, 39.

Ques Is Peter’s understanding seen in the way he makes the word of the prophets bear on the situation?

JT Quite so, not the present but the future operations.

Ques Is the Lord’s present position indicated in Ephesians 5: 31 — “Because of this a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall be united to his wife, and the two shall be one flesh”?

JT Quite so.

Ques Is it suggestive that the only names that Adam gave after the deep sleep were what he gave to the woman, and, at the end of one hundred and thirty years, something after his own order, like himself — Seth? I wondered whether the woman was of himself, while Seth was like himself.

JT Yes. Seth meant “appointed”, an appointed condition; the man comes in again. Much history had been gone through in relation to the two other sons’ names. Seth is the appointed one, and then it says, “people began to call on the name of Jehovah”, for Adam recognised the mortal condition of his son, a poor dying ^[p. 368] creature.

AH Were you going to say something further in referring to Genesis 2: 24?

JT Yes. It is a question of the present occupation of Christ, because Peter says, “Whom heaven indeed must receive till the times of the restoring of all things...”, Acts 3:21. According to the note the reading “since time began” refers to the holy prophets, literally ‘his holy since-time-began prophets’. That is, the whole prophetic area or period points to the times of refreshing which God would send; that the Lord would come, that God would send His Son — this is yet future; in the meantime the heavens must receive Him. All that brings out what has been alluded to. What is Adam engaged with? He is engaged with Eve — “Because of this a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall be united to his wife, and the two shall be one flesh”, Ephesians 5: 31. The Lord is engaged in that way now, and it is a question of our coming into it. Of course, we may get all the knowledge we can of prophecy, for the millennial day will be a great period and God will do great things with men in flesh and blood, as we are now, but in the meantime He is doing great things in regard to the assembly, and the Lord is just engaged in that way while waiting for the time to which the prophets allude.

Ques So should we arrive at an understanding of the times by the state of the saints and the way in which the church comes into evidence as we know it in the divine mind, rather than by the study of prophecy?

JT I think that is right, and I think we can all see that the Lord is blessing the ministry. Many are addicting themselves to it, and it is in keeping with the Lord’s mind to bring out the features of the assembly, not only that we should know them, but that we should walk in them, so that the service of God should take character from them.

^[p. 369] Ques Are you connecting the great things and the superior intelligence of the man with the assembly at the present time?

JT Quite so. It is not a question of Christ ruling Israel and the nations; He is appointed to rule over the house of Israel for ever, but He is not doing that now, He is occupied with the assembly day and night, and with the most superior intelligence developed in the “gifts”.

Ques It says in Hebrews 11 that God has provided some better thing for us — would that suggest the assembly?

JT I think so.

Ques Would what we have had throw special emphasis on the saved? Are those that are saved from the coming judgment brought into this special sphere where the assembly is?

JT Quite so. But think of what is happening, how cheap human life is now; God is not regarding men or women as cheap; they have cost too much. The two parables we have referred to allude to that, and He is going on on those lines. How precious they are! If men are not valued in the world, they certainly are valued amongst the brethren.

We have spoken of the great journeyings of the apostle Paul; he says “in journeyings often”, 2 Corinthians 11: 26. It is the time of going out now, the time of travel, of covering distances and getting at the saints. It is a question of the Lord’s activities, what He is doing, and it is a matter of superior intelligence; it is a question of whether the brethren are really following the things God is developing in the truth and being formed by them. That “ye can understand my intelligence in the mystery”, Paul says, Ephesians 3: 4.

AM Would the reference to “one thing” and “forgetting the things behind” (Philippians 3: 13), show that Paul had the mind of Christ and that he wanted ^[p. 370] others to be on the same line with one thing before them?

JT I think so, and what that wonderful chapter of Philippians goes on to speak of is the bodies we shall have — “we await the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour, who shall transform our body of humiliation into conformity to his body of glory”. That does not indicate any cheapness, but great value in the saints, and I am sure that is what God would say. He would bring out His mind in the brethren over against the awful things that men are doing and devising, involving the cheapness of human life and cruelty, implied in their operations without any regard for God’s rights in man at all; whereas the saints regard God’s rights in man.

CH Peter says, “Be saved from this perverse generation”. You were speaking of salvation and evidently that is part of it.

JT Yes. I think the brethren will use this opportunity for looking into matters and seeing what God has been doing in all these years of sorrow and how the saints have stood the suffering.

Ques Do you think it is in principle what was said to Ruth, that she was to glean in the field that had been reaped? Is that a particular word for us now, whatever emphasis is being laid on as to the truth, that is the thing to follow?

JT Quite so.

Ques You were speaking in prayer of the Lord opening understandings. Is that what the Lord would delight to do for us today?

JT Quite so; that is what it says, “Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures”, Luke 24: 45.