THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD
[p. 402] THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD
Genesis 22: 15 - 19; 2 Corinthians 1: 18 - 22
JT These scriptures speak of encouragement and establishment. Nine or ten times in the first chapter of 2 Corinthians the word “encouragement” is used, which is a matter of very great importance to us. The Lord has us in mind for encouragement. There is much discouragement, and much occasion for it, but this chapter is full of encouragement. Then establishment goes with it. Hence in Genesis 22, where we have in type the resurrection of Christ, we have Abraham and his young men going to Beer-sheba, which typically implies the faithfulness of God, the well of the oath, and Abraham dwelt at Beer-sheba. That is to say, God has already wrought in raising Christ from the dead, typically, when He swears to Abraham. It says in the New Testament “because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself, saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee”, Hebrews 6: 13, 14.
So in these verses the angel of the Lord calls to Abraham a second time, “By myself I swear, saith Jehovah, that, because thou hast done this, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, I will richly bless thee, ...and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth bless themselves, because thou hast hearkened to my voice”. The secret is obedience. God has done all the rest, as it were, in raising Christ, and now it is a question of obedience. It is said in the passage we have read in the New Testament that every promise of God is yea and amen in Christ; that is, Christ in heaven. We are seen here; the assembly is formed, in principle, at Beer-sheba, where God’s faithfulness is proved. The statement, “God is faithful”, is mentioned at least three times [p. 403] in the epistles to the Corinthians. It is a matter to be taken to heart at the present time, when there is so much pressure, to count on the faithfulness of God. One feels that Christ in heaven is but poorly apprehended by us. It is not said that Isaac came down with Abraham after he was typically raised from the dead. The suggestion is that he typifies the Lord as gone into heaven, angels and principalities and powers being made subject to Him. And Abraham below represents the assembly where the faithfulness of God is needed and proved, the Spirit of God being here, answering to the position of Christ in heaven.
RM Is that why the place is named?
JT The meaning of the name is “the well of the oath”, and the facts in chapter 21 prove clearly what it means; it is the place of the faithfulness of God. When Jacob was going into Egypt with his family, Joseph having sent for him, God appeared to him, the God of his father Isaac, at Beer-sheba, a striking example of what we are saying. Whatever happens we can count on God, that He is faithful.
AN Would that be the thought in Psalm 37? It opens with adverse conditions, but the exhortation is to “Confide in Jehovah... dwell in the land, and feed on faithfulness” (verse 3).
JT “Dwell in the land” goes beyond what we are saying; nevertheless it is true for us. The land is the heavenly position, involving the assembly; that is where we are to dwell. Another says, “I dwell among mine own people”. The great defect and weakness with many is that they do not dwell with the saints; they have their dwelling, their interests elsewhere.
Ques Does the heavenly position you speak of correspond to what we have in Ephesians?
JT Quite so. That epistle contemplates Christ in heaven, the Spirit here, and the assembly formed.
“[p. 404] There is one body and one Spirit... one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in us all”. That is the second part of the epistle, but the basis is that Christ is not only risen but glorified; and indeed anticipatively the assembly is said to be risen too, “raised us up together, and has made us to sit down together in the heavenlies in Christ”, Ephesians 2: 6.
The New Testament direct reference to this chapter is in Hebrews 6: 13 - 20. Here the type is carried forward to the thought of our entering into the holiest, where we have an anchor sure and steadfast.
AR You said a little earlier that it was not the heavenly position that was in view. Is the holiest something different, something we touch down here?
JT Quite so; it is a position that was wrought out in the wilderness. Before they entered the land it was there in the tabernacle. Therefore it is a privilege open to us now, and the passage read in Genesis leads to it and involves it; but it also involves that Christ is in heaven, as Hebrews teaches, the Minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man.
WH In calling attention to the thought of the oath, God’s faithfulness, is it in your mind to encourage us, that what is established in Christ in glory should have its answer now, and God is set to support this?
JT Yes. The Spirit being here, what is here is comparable to what is above, equivalent really to what is above; there is a divine Person above and a divine Person here, the same term applying to both. What the Lord is in heaven as a Priest to take care of our interests up there, the Spirit is here to take care of our interests here, and in His power we have access to the holiest by a new and living way, which Jesus has dedicated for us through the veil. That is the position, an impregnable position that cannot be moved, as it is said, “We receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved”, Hebrews 12: 28.
Ques Does the encouragement you speak of come by our reverting to what Beer-sheba stands for, the faithfulness of God?
JT That is the idea exactly, reverting to Beersheba. Abraham dwelt there and Isaac after him went there, as we learn in chapter 26.
HB In Acts 2 do we get the assembly idea, but from the standpoint of the indwelling Spirit?
JT Yes. The assembly was inaugurated there; it is the great inaugural chapter, and amplified by the great results that God graciously gave to Peter s gospel address, three thousand being converted. Perhaps we have nothing like it later. God was showing what He could do at the beginning in order to encourage the brethren, giving them a start in the assembly.
AM Is 2 Timothy 2 something like the return to Beer-sheba? “Remember Jesus Christ raised from among the dead, of the seed of David, according to my glad tidings”. Then it says, “The firm foundation of God stands, having this seal”. Would that be like Isaac raised from the dead, and the foundation of God standing at Beer-sheba, to which Abraham returned?
JT That is very good and confirming. It was to encourage Timothy, and it is what encourages us. It has already been remarked that Isaac is not presented as having come down with Abraham and the young men. The Lord says to Mary, “Touch me not, for I have not yet ascended to my Father”, indicating that the assembly was being formed in relation to the Lord Jesus ascended in heaven, the brethren being recognised as His brethren, God being their Father as He was Christ’s Father. It is set up in a relationship that is invulnerable; it is a question of standing there. Abraham dwelling there [p. 406] would enjoy typically the faithfulness of God, and we enjoy it as we do here today.
AN Would that not be set forth in principle in the day of Pentecost, when the apostle enlarges upon the resurrection and exaltation of Christ as the basis of all future operations?
JT Yes, and then at the end of Acts 2 we have the system inaugurated in the apostles. Those that believed were added, and they persevered in the teaching and fellowship of the apostles. Christendom has gone all astray in being diverted from the teaching and fellowship of the apostles. We have independent teaching, independent doctrines, and independent associations or institutions, religious institutions, without any proper regard for what the apostles taught, and the fellowship that was attached to that.
WH You stressed earlier that Abraham came into all this assurance on the ground of obedience. Would that be the line on which we come in for the present encouragement of all that is established in Christ?
JT Hence the gospel through Paul was announced for the obedience of faith among all nations. Without obedience there can be nothing for us. ‘Isms’ of different kinds are current, whereas the point at the beginning was the teaching and fellowship of the apostles. Then they continued in the breaking of bread and prayers. These are all very simple things that brethren continually enjoy, or should enjoy. “And fear was upon every soul, and many wonders and signs took place through the apostles’ means. And all that believed were together, and had all things common, and sold their possessions and substance, and distributed them to all, according as any one might have need” — meaning that love was there — “And every day, being constantly in the temple with one accord, and breaking bread in the house...” That was not in the temple, nor is it today in a temple of brick and mortar, but in a house, or a room without any pretence. Then they “received their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God, and having favour with all the people; and the Lord added to the assembly daily those that were to be saved”. That is how the assembly was inaugurated, and was intended to continue; but it has not continued. Hence there had to be a break away from the errors, both in doctrine and religious custom, that had been brought in. Thus it is a time of a remnant, the Lord is gathering twos and threes back to the original teaching and fellowship of the apostles.
RM Does Paul as our model show us the way to it in addressing Agrippa in Acts 26? He says, “I was not disobedient”.
JT Quite so. The point for us is to be obedient. The Reformation afforded some light, but not light as to the assembly. Not for several hundred years after that did the saints come into the clear light of Scripture, as to the assembly, and they have continued in it ever since.
Ques Would you say our encouragement follows on the same lines?
JT Quite so, that is why I read this passage in 2 Corinthians. It was a question of whether Paul was coming to Corinth, a very simple matter, but really involving the idea of Christ’s coming. Paul had not come, and the Corinthians were doubtful as to whether he was truthful. He says that he was not untruthful, “For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, he who has been preached by us among you... did not become yea and nay”. He did not become what they thought of Paul, that he said yea and did nay. But he says, “Yea is in him. For whatever promises [p. 413] of God there are, in him is the yea, and in him the amen, for glory to God by us”. He was true and [p. 408] sincere and in love he desired to be with the Corinthians, but their condition forbade it. He tells us elsewhere that to spare them he stayed away.
Ques Is there any connection between Paul staying away from Corinth until things were ready for his coming, and the word in Malachi 3, where much is made of the Lord’s coming to His temple suddenly, and the result that would follow? Did Paul wish to avoid having to bring in judgment on them?
JT Yes, it is in keeping with Christ’s coming. Christ’s movements were in love, as they are now. He has promised to come for us, and He will keep His promise, only we have to learn to wait. The Corinthians had to learn to wait for Paul.
JM Would it be right to say we have little conception of what it is to have a visit from the Lord?
JT Just so. We spoke elsewhere of Samuel’s circuit, and of the Lord’s own circuit, as we may say. He came in and went out among His disciples while He was here, from the time of the baptism of John until He was received up. Then He is coming according to John 14, “I will not leave you orphans, I am coming to you”. That is a present thing. It may happen weekly or oftener; we might expect it at such a time as this in some sense. Then there is the final thought of His coming, which is depicted in 1 Thessalonians; He descends from heaven with an assembling shout. All these suggest the need of our being on the watch. “What I say unto you I say unto all, Watch”.
JC Are you suggesting that dwelling at Beersheba would provide suitable conditions for the Lord coming in?
JT Well, it would be the sense of faith and dependence on God. These are conditions that the Lord Jesus would honour at any [p. 409] time.
FI Would not the faithfulness of God be seen practically as we take account of the present position of Christ? It says earlier in Acts 2, from which you have quoted, that Jesus has been made both Lord and Christ.
JT That would be the answer to all that had been promised in the Old Testament down to the Lord’s coming. God had made Him both Lord and Christ, meaning that He was in the place of administration; He was in the position in which He could fulfil every promise of God, every purpose of God. These are great matters, because they beget stability in the saints. Then there is too the idea of establishment. It goes on to say, “Now he that establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, is God, who also has sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts”. These are stabilising things; they are vital and enjoyable.
GS In the scriptures read, does encouragement strengthen our links with divine Persons, whereas establishment rather strengthens us with the brethren? The apostle says, “He that establisheth us with you”.
JT Quite so. Encouragement is largely what God is to us Himself. He is the God of all encouragement; it is what He is Himself at the present moment, but there is what is to be established for ever. “Who also has sealed us”; marked us off as His own property inviolably. No one can touch us with impunity. He has marked us off by sealing, and has “given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts”. That is the present portion for our hearts.
Ques Does Paul in Philippians put the saints on the same ground as this? “He who has begun in you a good work will complete it unto Jesus Christ’s day”.
JT Just so; and the corresponding responsibility on ourselves, “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you both the willing and the working according to his good pleasure”.
Ques Would the appreciation of God’s faithfulness develop trustworthiness in the saints?
JT That is what comes out in Abraham. He was a reliable man. “Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do... For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him”. Abraham grew, in God’s estimation, in reliability. So in John 20 the Lord shows that He can trust the brethren. It is a great matter to be reliable, to be trusted by the Lord and by one another, speaking the truth one to another. We are apt to be, not lying, but dissembling; perhaps failing to keep promises, failing to come to the meetings to fulfil our duty. What marked Abraham above all other things, was that he grew in reliability under the eye of God. He is called the friend of God. The Lord calls His disciples His friends; very few have come into the appreciation of that. John in his epistle says, “Greet the friends by name”, meaning that we are to know one another personally, speaking and writing to one another.
Ques Have you in mind that those whom the Lord speaks of as friends are those who dwell at Beer-sheba, and are not governed or prompted by what is natural?
JT Quite so. We find that Isaac in chapter 26 refused to enter into social links with the king of the Philistines. Jehovah appeared to him at Beer-sheba and said, “I am the God of Abraham thy father: fear not, for I am with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham’s sake”. And he built an altar there, meaning that he would sacrifice, which is a feature of a pilgrim, and he [p. 411] called upon the name of Jehovah, and he pitched his tent there, and there Isaac’s servants dug a well. Abimelech, Ahuzzath his friend, and Phichol the captain of his host come to him there. Isaac says, “Why are ye come to me, seeing ye hate me?” They reply, “We saw certainly that Jehovah is with thee, and we said, Let there be then an oath between us”. Isaac stands out as a pilgrim like his father, refusing to join in social relations with the Philistines, although making a covenant of peace with them, which is quite right. The same day Isaac’s servants “told him concerning the well that they had dug, and said to him, We have found water. And he called it Shebah; therefore the name of the city is Beer-sheba to this day”. The friends of God are found at Beer-sheba.
Rem There were those who spoke to the Lord on the occasion of the death of Lazarus, but He remained two days where He was; He did not come at once.
JT He wanted to bring out all that was in His mind, not yet disclosed. Therefore He remained two days away, but the result was victory. We have to wait on the Lord, and in waiting we may be tested, but we prove eventually that He will do the very best for us.
JC Is not that how Saul was tested — in waiting for Samuel?
JT Quite so. He failed to wait for him, and missed the blessing. I believe it is a great moment for God’s people. He is going to do something for us in a spiritual way. We are not to be helped socially in the world; He is looking for rigid separation from the world. Nor is He going to help us particularly industrially, but He is going to help us spiritually.
JC The same day that the heavenly man, Isaac, sent the Philistines away, [p. 412] water was found.
JT That shows how God honours us.
HKR Will you say what is in mind in giving us the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts?
JT I shall endeavour to distinguish between the things Paul mentions by which we are established. The first is anointing. We are marked off as persons who have the Spirit, but persons distinguished by the Spirit in an external way. That means our ways and walk, and of course ministry and preaching and the like. Then the second thing is that He has sealed us, which would mean that we are marked off as His property; we belong to God. Thirdly, we have something in our hearts to keep us going spiritually until the Lord comes; that is the earnest of the Spirit, what the presence of the Spirit implies as a present portion for us.
RM So we have the three divine Persons mentioned in that verse?
JT Quite so. It is always noticeable. In the baptismal formula, for instance: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
AM What is the link between the faithfulness of God and the word of the apostle not being yea and nay. Is it important to hear the word, as with Abraham, who hearkened to God’s voice?
JT I would say that Paul is showing how completely he is identified with the Lord, which is a great matter in ministry — the idea of representation. So he says, “Having therefore this purpose, did I then use lightness?” They had indicated that he did use lightness, but he is showing that what was in him was according to what was in Christ. He is in keeping with his preaching. “The Son of God, Jesus Christ, he who has been preached by us among you, by me and Silvanus and Timotheus” (three witnesses) “did not become yea and nay, but yea is in him”. It is as if the apostle just moved over from himself to the Lord Jesus. “For whatever promises of God there are, in him is the yea, and in him the amen, for glory to God by us”. That is how the matter stands; the servant is in entire keeping with God.
JC Is the apostle in that way taking his stand by the swearing of the oath?
JT That is what I thought. It is a remarkable thing that God deigns to swear, and I think it is largely to confirm young Christians, as indeed the new covenant is to confirm young Christians. All Christians do not need an oath from God; they believe God, as Paul did. All true Christians believe God, but young ones are not quite so sure, and no doubt the young element was questioning Paul here. So the thought is that he is in keeping with the oath of God, on which our position stands in the covenant.
Ques Is “the second time” involved in that? He speaks to Abraham a second time.
JT Second epistles are usually of that character, confirm what is said in the first.
JC So the apostle writing to Timothy says, “If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself”. Is that what you have in mind?
JT Quite so. Christianity, in principle, is Christ. It is maintained in the power of the Spirit here in keeping with what God is in Christ.
HKR Is that where the value of our elder brethren comes in? They have experience of God, and are governed by what He says, so that the younger gain much by learning from the elder?
JT Hence the importance of the young keeping with the elder. There is a stabilising effect with the experience of the elder brethren.
Ques Does Paul in chapter 3 develop the covenant side of the truth?
JT I think that is what is meant. “Do we need, as some, commendatory letters to you, or commendatory [p. 414] from you?. Ye are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read of all men”, meaning that he loved the Corinthians so much that they were his very letter. Wherever he went he spoke about the beloved Corinthians. The Lord had used him to convert them. That is what should mark the brethren; we speak well of the saints; we do not criticise them unduly.
Ques Is it remarkable that in the address to the Laodiceans the Lord presents Himself as “the Amen, the faithful and true witness”?
JT That is at the end of the assembly’s period down here. The Lord is seen standing before us as the Amen, the faithful and true Witness. The assembly had not been that; that is the point. But the Lord is bringing about something now, after all these centuries of unfaithfulness in Laodicea and Thyatira and the others. Philadelphia is outstanding as according to the mind of the Lord Jesus, and He is bringing Philadelphia about now, through present exercise and ministry.
Rem It is said to Philadelphia, “Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee out of the hour of trial”.
JT It is a very great comfort to know that the Lord will keep us, especially when we think of the things that are portending now in a military sense.
Ques Has Paul that in mind when he writes to Timothy, “The things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also”?
JT Quite so. He does not say gifted men, but faithful men. Gift in itself will not help us. There are many gifts abroad who are not faithful and they are not available to us.
AR Would you say why it emphasises so much that things are “in him”? There is no danger of breakdown if [p. 415] things are in Him.
JT Exactly. That is how things are inviolable in Christianity. It unites two divine Persons, yea, three divine Persons; the Lord in heaven and the Spirit down here, and the Father over all, and through all, and in us all. Hence the Lord says that no one can perish in His hands, and no one can perish in His Father’s hands, who is greater than all. That is how the economy stands. It is impregnable. So that whatever is portending or threatening, the Lord will take care of us. “I also will keep thee out of the hour of trial, which is about to come upon the whole habitable world, to try them that dwell upon the earth”. That is our hope.
Ques Would you help a little as to “the glory of God by us”?
JT That would be in the sense in which Paul glorified God in his faithfulness and ministry. What is public is in the assembly, and that is where the glory is to be seen, in our ways and walk and ministry.
WH Would it not be encouraging that Paul, in writing his first epistle to Timothy, when defection was coming in rapidly, uses the expression, “God’s house, which is the assembly of the living God, the pillar and base of the truth”? 1 Timothy 3: 15.
JT Very assuring. One is to know how to behave oneself in it. The truth is that God has set out everything from His own side through Christ. He accomplished redemption, He has placed Him in heaven, and sent the Spirit here. Everything is set up by God from His own side. Now our part comes in. But God is working with us; He does not leave it to us. “It is God who works in you both the willing and the working according to his good pleasure”. But the thing is impregnable to start with, and will be so at the end, and will go up into heaven.
Ques Is the Spirit of God bringing the faithfulness of divine Persons before us in these last [p. 416] days, with the object of strengthening faithfulness on our side? The saints at Colosse and Ephesus are both said to be faithful.
JT Quite so. I think the Lord glories in a faithful man.
AM Would you say that, while we cannot do the work of God, we can hinder and divert it?
JT Quite so, alas! Yet God is going on patiently with us. It is a marvel to consider how He has gone on patiently for nineteen hundred years, and at the end bringing out something that He can translate to heaven. I believe that is what is in His mind, and He is allowing what is going on in the world to test and bring out what is in the brethren, and make us worthy of translation.