HEAVEN'S OPERATIONS
HEAVEN’S OPERATIONS
Luke 7: 44 - 50; Luke 10: 38 - 42; John 11: 23 - 27
JT These scriptures are very familiar to us, and we may see from them how any current testimony, any special feature of the truth stressed, is effective, at least in some, if only in one. The special truth in Luke 7 is the gospel, and the woman is the characteristic effect of it. Nothing is said of this person being evangelised by anyone, the chapter is intended to convey to us that the gospel was prevalent, not only the service of it verbally, but the testimony of Christ as relieving man spoken of freely. John having heard what the Lord was doing, the Lord directs his messengers to tell him what was current, and moreover, it is said that the publicans, the tax-gatherers and the like, justified God, having heard; that is what was current. This woman represents the result of what is current. And then Mary, in chapter 10, represents the result of what had been announced from heaven on the mount of transfiguration, “This is my beloved Son hear him”; she was affected by that, she was listening to Christ. Martha was not affected here, but in a later testimony, that is the special testimony to the Son of God in John 9: the Lord calls attention to Himself in that chapter as the Son of God, and He is worshipped as such: that is the truth that governs that section. So that Martha, in her confession of faith, recognised that. The Lord had challenged her as to what she believed, whether she believed what He said just then, that He was the resurrection and the life; her confession was, “I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, who should come into the world”. She was affected by the current testimony; she believed it; she makes a confession of her faith, and that is in relation to what is current, what is [p. 206] special; and then all these instances lead to what is systematic or collective in the testimony, and in Luke 8 we have the Lord, at the beginning of the chapter, moving in the cities and villages systematically, regularly; the twelve were with Him, and certain women also were with Him and ministered to Him; that is, there is a public systematic testimony collectively. In chapter 11 we have the local setting of the saints, the Lord seen praying in a certain place; and the outcome of what we get there is John 12, that is, the state of things at Bethany; the local conditions at Bethany are the result of the special testimony. There is always a special current, and the result bears on something for God. That was what I was thinking of.
MWB Would the fact that each testimony in its true result is found in what is collective imply that if we have not reached what is collective we have not reached the desired end that the Lord has in view in the testimony?
JT That is what I was thinking; the result must culminate in what is collective and, we may say, local. Any special testimony, if it affects us rightly, must bear on that. If what the Lord is helping us in in our own times is effective, it will bear on what is general and what is local too; what is for God and for general testimony. It must bear on these things and give character to them, that is, if it is effective in us. The point in these passages is not that any of these persons were special subjects of testimony or service at the moment, but they come into the current of things.
MWB Does the fact that they were three women suggest that it is the subjective result that is manifest in them?
JT I think that is plain. These are two of the five women in Luke who bear on assembly formation. The first is in chapter 4, where the Lord stands over the feverish woman and rebukes the fever and she serves them. The second is here in chapter 7, where [p. 207] we have a lover of Christ; He turned towards her, indicating that that was what was in His mind. The third is in the next chapter, the woman who had the issue and who fell down and told all the truth — transparency. The fourth is Mary, this one in chapter 10, indicative of intelligence, for she listened to what the Lord was saying. The fifth is in chapter 13, where the woman had been crooked, that is, the devil had affected her; the devil had made a speciality of her in bending her over so that she could not look up. The Lord released her, laying His hand on her, meaning that He is identified with that feature, and she glorified God. That is the full thought, a vessel in which God is glorified. These two are selected today, not so much for that side of the truth, but rather to show the effect of what is current.
Ques Do you suggest that the gospel rightly received produces a lover of Christ?
JT Yes, that is the thought. There is a great deal current today that many are oblivious to; they do not read, they do not make enquiry much, they are more or less formal in their attendance at the meetings, and they do not come into the current of things unless there are people who tell them things specially. Thank God, there are those who do tell us, but that is not enough. There are saints who are intelligent, and they reach the full results; otherwise they do not. No one should say, ‘I did not know about these things’: if you do not know, it is that you are not attentive enough. There is not the slightest evidence that anyone evangelised this woman, yet she loved Christ and served Him and the Lord turns to her, as much as to say, ‘That is the result I am seeking’.
Ques Would she be one of wisdom’s children always attending at the posts of her doors?
JT That is it.
FS Would the fact that she came to such [p. 208] a household suggest that if you are after something you get it?
JT It suggests she was not oblivious to the current of opposition, she brooked it; it was to bring out the effect of the testimony on her.
Ques Have you in mind, in pointing out this woman, that there was not only the fact that she loved but it was seen and known so that the Lord points it out, turning to her?
JT Quite so. The fact that He turns to her is, I think, to call attention to what is there; He could occupy Himself entirely, for the moment, with it, as if to say, ‘This is what I had in mind’. As (to use a figure) with any one who produces things, he has an idea to produce something, whether it is the contemplation of vegetables or trees or flowers, or anything else; he has an ideal, and when it is reached, he is occupied with it and will occupy others with it. This woman is the result attained, and I believe she is brought in to remind us of the importance of being engaged with what is current, and never to offer an excuse as to not knowing: things are to be known, and, if they are to be known, I should know them.
Ques When you say ‘what is current’, have you in mind what God would occupy us with at the moment?
JT Just so. What was prevalent was affecting people here. The Lord’s message to John is calling attention to what anyone could see; they were to go and tell John what was happening.
Rem Even a man like Herod heard what was going on.
JT Quite so. The Lord said, “Blessed is whosoever shall not be offended in me”, but there is nothing new said to John; it was what was current, what anybody could see.
Rem It is only as we are alert that these things are discovered [p. 209] to us.
JT Yes, you have your instruments set, as it were, to what is current; you have an ear to hear. It says in Acts 11 that certain “things came unto the ears of the church which was in Jerusalem”; that is, the church had ears.
MWB I suppose it discloses a lack of interest if we do not move ourselves so as to be acquainted with what is going on, spoken of in general terms.
JT I think so. One is speaking now in a very practical way; if others know, if others speak of these things and are affected by them, they are common things, in a sense; why should they not be so to me? Why should I not be listening? The Lord will turn to me if I am listening, He will call attention to me.
MWB So it is a question of the violent taking things by force; there has to be energy exerted, otherwise things are known in a general way but never taken up.
JT Quite so.
Rem Two of John’s disciples heard the testimony of Jesus and followed, and the Lord turned to them.
JT Just so. John did not specially preach to them there; it was the thought of his heart he gave out for anyone who had ears to hear; they heard it and they moved and got to the place where the Lord resided.
Rem And the woman in Luke 7 would be the normal result for everyone.
JT That is the thought, she is the full product; He turned to her and said to Simon, “Seest thou this woman?”-the Lord, as it were, was thoroughly committed to the result and pleased with it.
FS And would He in grace make an appeal drawing attention to the woman so that we may follow the lead she had given in that direction?
JT That is the thought, I am sure, in the record. It is a wonderful gospel picture, known to us no doubt, but the product is perhaps not examined [p. 210] thoroughly, how the Lord turns to her and speaks of her as a lover of His own.
Ques Why did the Lord go over this detail again, in reference to what the woman had done?
JT It was so delightful to Him, is it not so? And He uses the superlative degree, “She loved much”.
Ques Is it interesting, in that way, that her love comes out in what might be called a background of Philistine opposition?
JT It is. I suppose it draws out the strength of her love. She might have avoided going into that house and waited for another opportunity, but she overcame the current against her, for the feeling against her in that house must have been very keen. It is the setting of love that overcomes that.
Rem It meant great reproach for her to go into Simon’s house; we avoid reproach sometimes, but the Lord would have us accept it.
JT To bring out the setting of love she had.
MWB Do you think the Lord allows circumstances of a testing character in order to bring out the love that exists there?
JT I think He does.
Ques So would Simon suggest what is current in christendom generally, whereas the woman is moving in the current of what is spiritual?
JT Yes. We see the readiness of the Jews to come to Jesus on behalf of the centurion and what happened in Nain: “This report went out in all Judea concerning him, and in all the surrounding country”; it was a widespread matter. And then it says, “The disciples of John brought him word concerning all these things: and John, having called two of his disciples, sent to Jesus, saying, Art thou he that is coming, or are we to wait for another?”, and they repeated John’s message to the Lord. “In that hour”, it says, “he healed many of diseases and [p. 211] plagues and evil spirits, and to many blind he granted sight. And Jesus answering said to them, Go, bring back word to John of what ye have seen and heard that blind see, lame walk, lepers are cleansed, deaf hear, dead are raised, poor are evangelised”. That was what was going on. And then the Lord speaks about John and shows in His remarks that the tax-gatherers justified God, having been baptised with the baptism of John; they heard. “All the people who heard it, and the tax-gatherers, justified God, having been baptised with the baptism of John”; that is, they were affected by the current testimony. And then we have, “Wisdom has been justified of all her children”, and this one is brought out; it is a question of what is going on, and wisdom’s children coming into evidence, wisdom’s ways in the chapter; the effect is in this one, this special case.
Rem Simon really had not got hold of what was current, so he falls into the category in verse 30.
JT Yes, he renders null the counsel of God; he is in another current; that is not wanting today. But there is a spiritual current, and if brethren are not alive to it we cannot say just what will happen, but they are certainly losing and they are not a testimony to what is current.
Ques Do you regard John as one who had dropped out of the current for the moment?
JT Yes, although he knew what was current, but apparently his faith failed.
Ques Sometimes the gospel is apparently received without the lover of Christ being produced; would you help us a little with regard to that?
JT Well, that is the thought. If a lover of Christ is not forthcoming there is not much, however much may be said about confession and forgiveness. There is something here today that the Lord turns to. In chapter 10 He turns to the disciples; in chapter 22 He turns to Peter when he is confessing, and the cock [p. 212] crew; there is something going on that is interesting to heaven when the Lord turns to it, and this is par excellence what He has in mind, a lover.
Ques Would you say that a divine Person came into manhood in order that He might be loved? Is that right?
JT I think that is a fair way of putting it.
Rem And here is the result of it.
JT A lover in the presence of fierce opposition, of scorn. What a wonderful result she was! Then you find in the next chapter the Lord “went through the country city by city, and village by village, preaching and announcing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God; and the twelve were with him, and certain women who had been healed of wicked spirits and infirmities, Mary who was called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna, wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward, and Susanna, and many others, who ministered to him of their substance”; that is, the bearing is a collective systematic testimony, which is the first thing we get in these three instances. There can be no doubt that this woman represents what is seen publicly with Jesus, ministering to Him; and then here we have those who ministered to Him of their substance.
Ques What would the substance be?
JT I think what this woman had, for after all, what is there but love? No doubt they were material things, but then spiritually what is the Lord thinking about now? What love supplies.
Ques Would you say that John raised the question as to whether he was to wait? The woman refused to wait, she takes her alabaster box now.
JT Very good. John was not ministering to Him; how could he in a state of unbelief? The Lord speaks to the woman of “Thy faith”; she was a possessor of things, she had love and she had faith and she had myrrh, all these things.
[p. 213] Ques Is love indicated in the bringing of myrrh? She brought an appreciation of His suffering love and was prepared to suffer to bring it.
JT That is it, she was in complete correspondence with Him. He was suffering; she knew that. She knew those feet had carried grace to her involving His sufferings. On the other hand, He would sympathise with her, for she was suffering too; hers was a suffering love; the myrrh was quite in keeping with her state. The opposition must have been extremely severe in that house; she was under scorn. Think of what was going on in that Pharisee’s mind, what feeling there was! She brooked all that; she carried on her service to Jesus in spite of all that. It was the love that would suffer for Him that He might be ministered to.
Ques She “has not ceased kissing my feet”, what would that indicate?
JT It is the persistency of the love, I think; it is continuous.
FS So is the Lord going through the country city by city and village by village to encourage and minister to all those who are effected in the same way?
JT Yes, I think the effect of that ought to be seen in the kind of testimony that is carried on publicly. This is the order, “city by city, and village by village, preaching and announcing the glad tidings ... and the twelve were with him”. That is the idea, that the love is now operative in them; they are with Him in this position. These women show the subjective feature. The twelve are the authoritative side, but the women supply the comforts, the joys: they ministered to Him of their substance.
Ques Would it indicate too that they moved in a mutual way?
JT Well, the movement here, I think, was in a way that indicated that the Lord is organising, that He has certain under His hand. It is not Himself [p. 214] alone now, He has the twelve, those who will carry on under His orders, representing His authority, and those who, at the same time, have affection and are showing it by ministering to Him.
Ques “That I may cause those that love me to inherit substance”; is this an instance of that?
JT That is it.
Rem Then how Hiram, who was ever a lover of David, would minister to him!
JT Quite so.
MWB And both are the result of what is ministered in the previous chapter, both the ministering to Him and being with Him in His movements evangelically.
JT I think so. These twelve are, of course, qualified persons who will join in in a public testimony, preaching and healing, but the women have the supply of what the Lord needs. What does the Lord need? Who knows what He needs but those who love Him? He has needs. We think we are the only ones who have needs, but He has needs: they ministered to Him.
Ques Would administration come out in connection with the twelve?
JT Yes, it is an administrative number. It denotes that love is current, and not only in the women, but in those who have ability and gift. It is not perhaps so easy for those who have gift to serve Christ and move together with others, but here they do; it is a beautiful scene, and manifestly the outcome of chapter 7.
Ques With regard to the Lord’s needs, an instance is seen of that in John 4: “Give me to drink”.
JT Quite so.
M Would David’s three mighty men indicate those who were prepared at great suffering to minister to the Lord’s heart when they drew water out of the well of Bethlehem?
JT That is a beautiful example. So much [p. 215] did David value that that he poured it out before the Lord.
FS Unless we are moving in the sympathetic current of what has been given we shall not be able to detect what the Lord needs.
JT It hardly enters into the minds of any of us that the Lord is needing anything; He is just looking after our needs, of course He is, but He is looking for affection.
Ques Is it what the Lord ministers to us in this way that produces a company set together who learn to move and minister to Him, and thus there is something for the glory of God?
JT Just so. First we have the kind of persons. Mary is mentioned as one out of whom seven demons had gone. Some think she is the one mentioned in chapter 7 and no doubt, in principle anyway, she is; a person who had been entirely possessed by Satan, seven demons, she was a person of that kind. Then you have others, such as the wife of Herod’s steward. It is very much like Acts 13 where you have a variety of persons ministering to the Lord and fasting, some from the lower classes and some from the better classes, as we speak, showing how the gospel affects all kinds of people; and now they are together ministering to Christ. It is assembly formation, as the apostle says, “Consider your calling, brethren”, the kind of persons that are called.
Rem It is “many others”, we should covet to be one of the many, should we not?
JT Yes. Without their names being mentioned.
MWB Why is it in this order here?
JT I think it is the administrative order; not only have you love, ministering to the Lord, but qualified persons to help men. Subsequently these men are sent out to do the same things as the Lord is doing. I think it is the public testimony; it is independent of the world, they did not have to make public collections to carry on; these women supplied [p. 216] what was needed. It is a self-contained thing, taking nothing from the world, as John says.
Ques How would you distinguish between the preaching and the announcing?
JT I think the preaching is more the exercise of gift, it is one who is sent that preaches. Announcing is not just the same. It is remarkable we have the two words.
Ques Is it seen in its dual character in Philip? He preached “the Christ” in Samaria, but to the Ethiopian eunuch he “announced the glad tidings of Jesus”.
JT Just so.
FS Would this give us the right setting for the gospel, that it is in an atmosphere that ministered to Him, not simply ministering to the needs of men?
JT Yes, the twelve represent what ministers to men in the system; the women represent what keeps it going independently of the world.
MWB Might we move on to the next point?
JT Yes. I think it is interesting to link this section up with John ii. Martha got nothing in this section, as Luke presents her; but, if the Spirit of God introduces her, she will not pass out of the scene without some divine effect being produced. She is not equal to this testimony; she is not prepared for it; hence it is that many miss the blessing, because of unpreparedness, self-occupation; another alongside them, who was ready for it, gets it; Mary was ready for it. The announcement from heaven in chapter 9 was not in her ears; it was in the ears of Peter, John and James, but it was a current testimony, and she was equal to that, so that the Lord commends her; He says of her, “Mary has chosen the good part, the which shall not be taken from her”. I think He would call attention to what is current and raise the question as to whether we are all getting any good of it, whether [p. 217] we are affected by it; if so, the Lord would call attention to us.
Ques Would Martha, up to this point, be listening to the teaching of the law, which has now been set aside?
JT That is right. She is on the old line, which is also current of course. It is not what is of God for the moment; that was the announcement from heaven on the mount. We might say, ‘Well, how did Mary know?’. That is the point; she did know, she was acting on it-she was listening to Him.
MWB She was in exact keeping with what the Father said. We would desire to be in keeping with what the Father wishes as to Christ.
JT Yes.
Rem It was a wonderful thing she had got, something that would not be taken away from her.
Rem In speaking to Martha there is a peculiar appeal on the part of the Lord to bring her into it.
JT Undoubtedly, and, knowing the end from the beginning, He knew she would come into a testimony, but not this one; she missed this one; we do not want to miss anything the Lord is stressing. In that section in John the Lord calls attention to Himself as the Son of God; heaven had already done this and directed that we should hear Him; Mary came into that, but Martha missed it. But now the Lord calls attention to Himself; He says to the blind man whose eyes had been opened, “Dost thou believe on the Son of God?”; it is the Lord calling attention to Himself as Son, and He is doing it now.
MWB In the instances we have looked at: in the first, it was what was generally current, the evangelical thought, what was available; in the second, it was the distinctively secret information as to the Father; then it was the Lord drawing attention to Himself.
JT [p. 218] Well, the setting in John 9 is that the blind man is cast out; this testimony is to him. It is not so public as Luke 7, nor is Luke 10 so public as Luke 7. As you say, Luke 9 is the Father’s voice on the mount; here it is the Lord’s own word to an outcast for his consistency with the truth, his consistent assertion of the truth as it came to him. The Lord heard that man was cast out and He found him, and said, “Dost thou believe on the Son of God? He answered and said, And who is he, Lord, that I may believe on him?”. He was equal to the test: “that I may believe on him”, he was ready for it, but he had not the testimony of the Son of God as yet: as soon as he heard it, he worshipped Him. That governs this whole section, I believe, till you come to chapter 12, where you have this wonderful scene at Bethany. I suggested these verses because they show that Martha’s confession of faith includes what the Lord said to this man, “I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, who should come into the world”; that is her confession of faith. The next chapter shows she was equal to that; she was in her right place; she had lost the spirit of complaint and was ready to serve now.
MWB Mary is listening in Luke 10; would that be essential if we are to follow on the lines of John 9 to 12?
JT I think the listening is part of the local furnishings. The Lord “entered into a certain village; and a certain woman, Martha by name, received him into her house”-the house was Martha’s. And see what comes out! Mary was sitting at His feet and listening to what He was saying; that is the element that is essential to a local assembly, that is, are we intelligent?
Ques Does it not in that way bring out the great feature of headship?
JT I think it does; it is the kind of thing that is [p. 219] needed in the assembly for assembly service. What He was saying would be the disclosure of His mind. What is His mind? ‘I cannot afford to miss one word’, she would say; she was in the attitude of hearing all He said. She was not asking questions; it is right enough to ask questions, but better, if the Lord is speaking, not to interrupt at all; let Him say what He will, and in that way we get all that is in His mind; what could be greater than that! How essential it is to our local companies that this kind of thing is there. Judas, not the Iscariote, said to the Lord, according to John 14, “How is it that thou wilt manifest thyself to us and not to the world?”. Well, that was a good question. The Lord’s answer is, “If any one love me, he will keep my word”. It is not ‘my commandment’ here; He had already spoken of that, but now it is “My word”.
Ques The “word” here is in the singular. Would it be that listening to His word would be everything that would express Himself?
JT I think that is right; not any particular word, but what He had to give.
Rem No doubt there would be the word of the Father too.
JT Yes, there is the Father’s word. “Sanctify them by the truth: thy word is truth”; there is that. I think the Lord would bring us to what is in His own mind. Now, take the saints together in assembly, what is in the Lord’s mind? His word indicates to us what is in His mind. If we take John 13 to 17, we get an example of what is in the Lord’s mind. Well, we want to follow that current, what is in His mind; His word declares what is in His mind, and Mary would get that. Were she in assembly she would know what was in the Lord’s mind. So the Lord says, “If any one love me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our abode with him”.
[p. 220] His word implies tabernacle requirements, what divine Persons require, the Lord’s word would disclose that; you find out what is required as in His mind. There are conditions there for Them to come, and with one person.
Ques Would it be right to say that this village did not get its name until Mary and Martha came there?
JT The idea is that it is a place, every city and village; in Luke 10 it is “every city and place” that all bears on this section, which includes local conditions. How can there be local conditions suitable to heaven save as we understand what is in the Lord’s mind? He has a mind about the saints in assembly, how we are to proceed.
Ques Would you think a company of listeners would get the Lord’s mind in that way and move from Luke 10 to John 12, where it is no longer her house, but “the house”?
JT That which was filled, you mean?-quite. “The house”, not Martha’s house, but the house where the Lord is being entertained.
Ques And were they not all of one mind there, men and women of substance?
JT Quite so, the order is perfect there. He came to Bethany six days before the passover, meaning He is not observing man’s days; He has a time of His own, not regulated by man’s pleasure, and surely the Lord has a right to use time at His pleasure; it was He who inaugurated days, working in each of them; He should be free to use them as He pleases. Hence our first day of the week is the Lord’s day, it is His using a day as He pleases; it is not the sabbath; He passed by that, and selected the first day of the week. He came to Bethany six days before the passover. So in chapter 13 He was not observing the passover, no doubt He did, but it was “before the passover” that certain things happened. Our feast days are not the feast days of the Church of England, or any other such [p. 221] days; they are the days the Lord has selected. So Jesus “six days before the passover, came to Bethany, where was the dead man Lazarus”. He came in relation to him. So you get this beautiful state of things which is all the result of what we have been speaking of, that they had all become affected by the current testimony.
MWB Why is it particularly the Son of God in that part of John?
JT I suppose the time had come to bring that out. The washing in John 9 is not washing off anything that was in itself impure; it was what the Lord Himself had made and put on the man’s eyes. That is, it is the removal of the world in which Christ was in His flesh and blood condition, He took flesh and blood to set aside in fact the whole order of things into which He came.
MWB “A man called Jesus”, he says, “made mud”; you would make a distinction between Jesus as here in the world of divine ordering as it was then connected with judaism, and this new title of Son of God?
JT Yes. The time had come for Him to bring this out as to the world into which He came. Of course He greatly added to it. Many say they would have liked to have been here when the Lord was here; but the Lord died out of that condition, never to resume it, and the title “Son of God” as brought in there has to do with another condition of things. That is something it is important for us to get hold of. I think in that section it is not simply the revelation of God, as earlier in the gospel of John, but that He brings in another world. The man whom He takes up and who worships Him is representative of the sheep that the next chapter brings out, the one flock, and that for the moment is provisional, the new order of things involving the assembly, pending the coming of the Lord when we shall have an entirely new world [p. 222] regulated by the Son of God. I believe that is what is in mind, not this world, even with Christ in it; that has to come to an end; it is Christ in another world with Christ in a new condition, what He is now.
Ques So that the washing of the man’s eyes would be not knowing “Christ according to flesh”? “Old things have passed away, behold all things have become new”.
JT That is it.
MWB So it is not exactly the view of the Son of God as spoken of at the end of Matthew 14, for instance, where they worship Him in the boat, or in Psalm 2, which speaks of the Son of God. It is the same Person but in a different setting.
JT I think so. He is the Inaugurator of another world, He is in a new condition.
Ques Would it be the same thought as John gives us, “This is the victory which has gotten the victory over the world, our faith”, that is, the faith of the Son of God?
JT Yes, and “Who is he that gets the victory over the world, but he that believes that Jesus is the Son of God?”, 1 John 5: 5. It all goes with this, I think. Then the Lord opens up the truth of the Shepherd to this man, in the next chapter. I believe the one flock is provisional, the new order of things; but we are concerned now with the effect of it on Martha; in her confession of faith she says she believes that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God who should come into the world, and she goes off to tell Mary, and the Lord does not check her. I believe that is the end reached in her.
Ques It says in Proverbs, not only that substance is inherited, but “I will fill their treasuries”. Does Martha come in now as being a treasury, like Mary?
JT I think so. The Lord does not put the words into her mouth; they are manifestly the out come of her own faith. He says, Do you believe this?
[p. 223] He challenged her as to what she believed, and her answer is her confession of faith, and it is in her own words, but the words correspond with John 9.
Ques Does sorrow, in that way, make room for enlargement in the thoughts of Christ? There was no room for enlargement with Martha in Luke 10 for she was encumbered. Does it not set our sorrows, as moving together, in a wonderful light as making the way for the Lord to make disclosures to us?
JT Yes. If He takes any one of us up, He may have to wait, but He will reach His result. Staying away for two days was deliberate; and we may make up our minds that, if He has come to us at all, He will have His way with us; and we may as well bow at the beginning that He may not have to inflict such severe things upon us; but He will reach His end.
Ques Martha adds “the Christ” as well as “the Son of God”; is that the full thought reached?
JT Yes, the full thought of what Christ is for God.