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ASSEMBLY SERVICE

JT No doubt the letter of these scriptures is familiar to us, but perhaps their typical import is not so much understood. They bear on assembly service. The workmanship in the building of the tabernacle and all its parts, and all the details connected therewith are found in the intervening chapters, from 25 to 39. The closing verses call attention to the divine pleasure in the things seen typically in the tabernacle and its varied parts. In the antitype, the saints particularly, all coming under the view of Moses, who is typical of Christ, anointed and set in their positions and functioning in those positions, are all according to the will of God. As viewing us thus and resting in us, He is pleased with us; and under these circumstances, the cloud covering the tabernacle indicates that the Lord is pleased with the saints. Moses cannot enter into the tabernacle, and there is no need for any further commandments for the moment; all is according to God and He is pleased with us.

That is, in general, what is in mind in proposing these scriptures; and what may be noted is that the first verse of chapter 24 is a continuance of the communications of Jehovah to Moses in the preceding chapters, but the verse indicates that God would have His people near Him in an elevated sense.

AN Would the detail given in these chapters answer to “Look that thou make them after their pattern, which was shewed thee in the mount” (Exodus 25: 40), and that we should answer to all that is shown?

JT That is the thought. Our Mediator is Christ, He only could build the tabernacle, as Moses in the type was the only one who could do so, for he alone saw the ^[p. 250] pattern.

AN That would answer to what we get in Hebrews; Moses as servant but Christ as Son.

JT Christ as Son over the house, and then it goes on to say He builded the house. In the antitype the work is Christ’s, and God is pleased with the saints as brought in and set together in this way.

He begins this part of the subject in the first verse of chapter 24, as wishing that they should come near, but in an elevated sense. We do not come together as men around do outwardly, that is on the level of the world. The divine thought is that we should come together in an elevated sense. In the first verse, which is really a continuation of the previous chapter, He says to Moses, “Come up unto the Lord, thou, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel”. It is imperative that we should understand what is in the mind of God, because morally it is that the saints should come together on an elevated principle.

Ques Why is it that in chapter 25 Moses is alone, and in chapter 40 it is Moses who could not enter? Aaron is not mentioned.

JT I think the meaning in chapter 40 is that we no longer need to be told what to do, and Moses represents that side. He has everything to do with the tabernacle; all was under his supervision; but now it is God, as it were, saying, ‘That is all ended; what is effected is to be entirely for Me’. “A cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle”. God claims it all. It is really an honour to Moses; the time has come when his service is over for the moment, in the sense of commandments, and God claims all the fruits of his work. It is a great honour to him, and this is implied in that he could not enter into the tent of meeting. In the cloud God had taken entire possession of the fruits of his labours; it was no discrepancy in Moses. It is a very great comfort for any who have part in ^[p. 251] the service when there is no more room for you. God takes possession of all the labours of Moses.

HH Would that be touched in the Supper, when we enter into the assembly proper?

JT Yes; as we come together in assembly, the time arrives when there is no need to be told what to do. Eternity will not be marked by being told what to do. The present time is the education time, the formative time. The time comes when there is what is for God’s pleasure, and this is not to be interrupted by any exhortations. What is before Him is perfect, answering to His house.

Ques Is there any thought that Moses, the greatest man on earth, is not great enough to sustain the glory?

JT I think that is right. Aaron is not mentioned, as already observed, but he is not excluded. The instruction refers rather to those represented in Moses. The tabernacle here is the fruit of Moses’ ministry. If you are building a house, you wait until the workmen have finished all before you enter in to dwell there; and to use that figure, I think that is what is meant. It was no discredit to Moses, it was an honour to him for his work was done. God has no complaint to make, He says, ‘I want all that’. I think that is what the tabernacle means, it is just the public side of the assembly position. In Solomon’s structure it is what is for God eternally; here it is what comes under man’s eye in the wilderness, but even though it be thus, God says, ‘I want that, it is altogether suitable for Me’. It is in mind that we might see how that works out as we come together in assembly.

Rem At the end of Psalm go Moses says, “Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us ... yea, the work of our hands establish thou it”.

JT That is right. Moses had a great idea of the work of God. His contribution to the psalms is not large, because we have to remember the books of the ^[p. 252] Psalms are really in the service of God. They consist of many utterances put together by skilled hands for the service of God, and Moses had not a great part in it. But he speaks about the work of God, that the work of His hands might be established.

Rem That would be characteristic of the man of God: “A prayer of Moses the man of God”.

JT Quite so, without stating what he had done himself. He does not call attention to the tabernacle in the psalms. It is God: “Thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations”. Exodus 24 is to bring out what God’s circumstances are up there. If we are to find a habitation for Him here, we must remember what are His circumstances up there. They saw that; they saw the God of Israel and what was under His feet. I think the allusion is to what would be in the tabernacle, that is, God will not be content with less than that to which He is accustomed. Love will always descend, that is what the tabernacle brings out, coming into circumstances less than the Deity is accustomed to. There was nothing under His feet in the tabernacle.

The first verse is a divine proposal. There is the position; can I proceed with the proposal? Moses understands and it says in verse 3, “Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord, and all the judgments: and all the people answered with one voice, and said, All the words which the Lord hath said will we do”. Now I think that the position is that the proposal is in verses 1 and 2, and the means of going on with the proposal is the ground of obedience. God indicates what He has in mind, but can He proceed with His mind? Am I in the way? Very often this is so; a brother is in the way in a meeting, or conditions are in the way.

Ques What answers to this elevated place now?

JT It is more or less the public side of the assembly position, and Exodus is that, it is the anointing, what comes under man’s eye. God’s proposal is that our comings together should be above the level of christendom. We pass others going to churches as we come out of our houses; look at their steps. Are they anointed steps? Are they dignified? Those who know and love God and have the Spirit move differently; there is a moral elevation about them. They may repair to a very humble meeting-room, for the first meeting place was an upper room; that is, a prescribed place. In the end of Luke they went to the temple, God was still graciously waiting on the Jews; but in the first chapter of the Acts they went to an upper room, showing that the assembly is in mind and God is now moving on an elevated plane. Those who saw Jesus go up were impressed by His going up. “This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven”. Solomon went up to the house of the Lord; it is moral elevation, literal elevation, but there is a moral touch to it. They went to the upper room; they did not go to the temple. When brethren come together on the first day of the week it is as those who know God; they move out from their dwellings, which are called in the Psalms, “the dwellings of Jacob”, where God has a place, where the children are under influence and rule, and all is in the order of the anointing; every step taken is in that way, and when they enter the upper room it is in dignity.

Ques Would you explain what you mean by the anointing?

JT Paul says, “Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ ... is God”. You are established with the brethren, that is the idea. Paul says, “and has anointed us”: God puts His own dignity upon us. It represents the Spirit and the Spirit received as the earnest of our inheritance, but in the public effect of it, persons with the Spirit and walking in the ^[p. 254] Spirit. If I walk in the Spirit as I leave my house, I am in dignity; I have the assembly in mind and the house of God. I want my feet to be dipped in oil; that is what is meant. There is testimony in every movement of the saints as they approach the assembly.

Ques What is meant by “They saw God, and did eat and drink”?

JT It is preparatory to chapters 35 to 40, and a question of preparing God’s house, but before He asks for that He takes them up to see what His circumstances are up there.

Ques Would you tell us what it means by Moses first writing, and then telling, the people?

JT These verses are an indication of the intelligence that belongs to the workman. Moses is not told to do this here; it is the man himself brought into evidence. He does it, as much as to say to Jehovah, This is Your proposal, but can we proceed? He is virtually saying to God, Can we proceed with this? Is it possible, is it workable? In Ephesians it is as regards heavenly places, but in Corinthians it is in regard of what is down here. It might be said, That is very beautiful, a very fine picture, but you cannot work it out. But God intimates that you can work it out. Moses comes to the people and sets out what God says. Can it be worked out in this town? It says he “told them all the words of the Lord, and all the judgments”; he did not take anything out; and “All the people answered with one voice, and said, All the words which the Lord hath said will we do”. If they had known themselves better they would not have said it, but the point in this matter is obedience. Without obedience you cannot work this thing out, and it is a great matter for young christians.

Rem You get the principle in Hebrews: “He became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him”, Hebrews 5: ^[p. 255] 9.

JT That is the idea, to follow obedience as in this third verse. In principle, this affords workable material, and you now have material to go on with. As soon as they say, ‘We will do it’, Moses wrote all the words of Jehovah; as much as to say, ‘You have committed yourselves to this’.

GA I would like to ask you to comment on what Moses did intelligently, in taking blood and sprinkling it on the book.

JT He had spiritual understanding. You get an illustration of this in chapter 12 of this book; he epitomises what Jehovah said as regards the passover and adds to it other thoughts, as if the Mediator makes it intelligible to the saints, and God is pleased with that. After the ministry of the new covenant, there are those present who can unfold it.

JS It says that Moses built an altar and twelve pillars, showing that it is workable.

JT It is workable on the ground of obedience. If I am not obedient, I am not material, I am standing in the way.

Ques Would Peter have that in mind in his first epistle, “Unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ”, 1 Peter 1: 2?

JT Yes, I think so. The committal in chapter 19 and this one are the same in principle, we have to come up to the moral elevation; we would not like to be like the churches around. Israel later asked for a king. Unless we make up our minds that things are not to be like current religion, they cannot be worked out.

EJS In verse 2 it speaks of different degrees of nearness: Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders. Would you say what they represent?

JT I think it brings out what is in the mind of God as to His will, involving counsel, involving some near and some more distant. He is not obliged to ^[p. 256] give account of His matters. We have to learn to be subject at the outset, and accept what God proposes.

AN Would that come in in Ezekiel? The Levites went astray in the time of Israel’s departure and they could not come near, but the sons of Zadok could come near (Ezekiel 44: 15).

JT Quite so; and here it is especially Moses. Moses is the mediator, which points to Christ having a unique place. There are several things mentioned in verses 4 and 5 where it says, “Moses wrote all the words of the Lord, and rose up early in the morning, and builded an altar under the hill ... And he sent young men of the children of Israel, which offered burnt offerings, and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen unto the Lord”. It implies there will be sacrifice; the divine will will be effected by sacrifice. There are the twelve pillars implying that God has His own number; His own counsels require certain numbers and Moses had that in mind. Everything that Moses does here is in keeping with the moment. God has His own number, and Moses says that that number must be maintained, there must be no deviation from it. Then it says, “He sent young men of the children of Israel, which offered burnt offerings, and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen unto the Lord”. I think the idea is that there was to be youthfulness. To bring things in a mere outward way, without freshness, would be to take on the character of what is old, to say nothing about the weakness. What God has in mind is freshness, showing that the priesthood should consist, not of old brothers exactly, but youths.

HB Why did David number the Levites from twenty years old and upward?

JT The Levites were presented to Jehovah from thirty years old and upward, and in Numbers 8 the age is reduced to twenty-five, which would greatly add to the numbers; it suggests that the nearer we get to God the more He loves us. They are brought ^[p. 257] near to be presented to Jehovah, and He says, ‘I like them, I would like more of them’ In the days of David the age was reduced another five years, to twenty years, and that gives many more still, as if God would say, ‘I like young people in this capacity’, that is, in levitical capacity. That is going on today, God is reducing the number and bringing all the young into assembly service.

F Does that answer to Colossians?

JT That is the thought. The new man in Colossians is youthful and fresh. I think the stress is on the word ‘youth’, the energy of life, newness of life. This is the first covenant, of course, literally, but the second in principle; Moses stresses that. It says in verse 8, “Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which the Lord hath made with you concerning all these words”, His words and theirs. Then you find a great volume of blood, which ought to make us very humble, speaking of the blood of Jesus and indicating that the death of Christ is a testimony to love, and love in obedience. The Lord’s saying, “This is my blood, that of the new covenant”, is to call attention to it. As He handed them the cup, He says, “Drink ye all of it”; each one of them was to drink out of it; there was plenty of it. One is glad if there is enough in one cup for a large company. The Lord says, “Drink ye all of it”, and they all drank of it. It is a testimony to love, that is the idea.

Ques You suggested that this is typical; would Acts 1 and 2 bring this out?

JT I think so; the public position was the point in Acts 2. John builds inwards, and so does Paul; he takes us inside. But at Pentecost we have the public position, the anointing. The Holy Spirit is said to have come upon them in the form of cloven tongues of fire, and they all began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them to speak forth; it is ^[p. 258] speaking forth. After the conversion of the three thousand, you have described throughout the chapter who they were and what they were doing. They continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine, meaning they were obedient, and the service of God can now be carried on by willing and obedient people.

Rem I would like to refer to the question as to the first and second covenant.

JT You cannot understand the remaining chapters of this book without understanding this chapter, because it is a question of the love of God brought in as flowing through the death of Christ, and shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. If God has that material, He can proceed with the tabernacle and the service. So that after we get the blood of the covenant and all leading up to it, there is the idea of going up, as if we can proceed in the service now. It says in verse 9, “Then went up Moses, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel; and they saw the God of Israel: and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness. And upon the nobles of the children of Israel he laid not his hand: also they saw God, and did eat and drink”. It is wonderful that they are called nobles there, the higher you go the more ennobled you are.

Rem We would enter into this after the Supper.

JT That is the idea exactly.

HH Going up to the mount of Olives after singing a hymn would correspond to this.

JT That is the thought, I think. After the Lord had told them about the covenant, then they sang a hymn and went to the mount of Olives.

AN Drawing near to God. It is workable; it is a delight to God.

JT That is what you come to in these last days. God has shown that it is workable; what they had at Pentecost is workable. I think that it is so; it is of ^[p. 259] great moment, because in the minds of many it is not workable. As they said in Nehemiah’s day, “Even that which they build, if a fox go up, he shall even break down their stone wall”. The locusts have no king, it says, and yet the thing is workable, it does not break down. The thing goes on; Satan attacks and alas, there are losses, but the thing is workable on the ground of obedience.

AN In Ezekiel, the first thirty-nine chapters deal with evil, then we get the house, its size, its chambers and so on.

JT That is right; and the prophet is taken to a high mountain, to the mount of God, to see what there was. He saw the frame of a city, and then he comes near to it. God is not giving that view without intending to carry it through. The sons of Zadok are a type of those who kept God’s covenant in a dark day, and that is our day. God will bring things through with men like that.

Ques Do you think that if we appreciated the covenant more, we should be like the disciples who went to the mount of Olives?

JT The Lord stresses what the covenant was, and then they sang a hymn. It does not say that He did, nor that He told them to do it; but the effect of what He said to them sets them free in their spirit, and then they move out to the mount of Olives.

JS We should give due place to the covenant before going up. In Song of Songs 3 we get, “Who is this that cometh out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense ... ?”.

JT So that, as we were remarking, the Lord had told them about the covenant, and when they had sung a hymn they went to the mount of Olives, moving out from the position where the Supper applied into a realm where there is no opposition, where it is all spiritual. Going up means going into the realm of spirituality.

^[p. 260] In the latter part of verse 10 the allusion is to the circumstances that belong to God in His own sphere. The tabernacle was to have no flooring but the sand of the desert. Jehovah was to travel that way with them in love, and He says to them in effect, ‘I am coming down to be with you’; love will always do that. He has come into our circumstances in love. His circumstances up there are better than we can afford down here in the wilderness. The point is, what love will do, showing the lengths to which God will go in order to be with His people.

Ques If God is to walk with us, will He show what conditions are suitable?

JT That is what comes out in chapter 25.

Whilst love will come down to be with us, yet it will come down on its own terms, and they are better terms than any that we can supply. The next chapter shows love’s terms, and what is required. The order of the tabernacle is a question of God’s terms in order to be with us.

Ques I would like a little help on the point of Moses’s seeing God. He had already seen Him in the bush.

JT It is to bring out all that. The bush indicates a lowly position, a thorn bush. To think that God would go into such circumstances was a great stoop.

“I am come down”, He says; He would have us to understand that He is stooping in love. He has His own terms of love and they are the best. It is for us to submit to them; hence there is the need of obedience, and it is this that underlies all that follows. “By sanctification of the Spirit, unto the obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ”, 1 Peter 1: 2.

He gives the Holy Spirit to those who obey Him, and that is the secret of the workability of all this.

LDM Do you think this chapter works out on ^[p. 261] kingdom lines?

JT That is right; the kingdom brings in subjection and subdues us, so that if we do not submit ourselves to the terms of the kingdom, we shall have no part in the house. Chapter 25 brings out a wonderful amount of material, which is His own work in us; the saints viewed as subjects of His work by the obedience that accepts the position.

When you come to the last scripture we read, it says at the end of chapter 39, “Moses saw all the work, and behold, they had done it as Jehovah had commanded-so had they done it; and Moses blessed them”. Then God speaks again in chapter 40: 9 and says, “And thou shalt take the anointing oil, and anoint the tabernacle, and all that is in it, and shalt hallow it, and all its utensils; and it shall be holy”. That direction continues to the end of verse 16, and from there to the end of verse 33 we have the items of the tabernacle, each set in its place and functioning. This is a most important part of the instructions for the saints to understand if we are to be in our place in the local assembly or in the assembly as a whole. I am not idle or negligent; God has assigned me a place and I am functioning in it. That is what is conveyed in these verses. Then in verse 34 it says, “And the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of Jehovah filled the tabernacle”.

Ques Does Ezekiel 43: 2 give the link with Exodus 24, they saw the God of Israel?

JT I think it does. There is another thing in Ezekiel that we do not get here, a man stood beside him. You are made restful in the presence of Christ as Man beside you.

JMcB Everyone should function in a spiritual way. Is this the anointing?

JT The anointing is to be dignified by us, we are publicly suitable to God. As you leave your house with your wife and children it is there too; you are not going about like worldly people, you come into ^[p. 262] the assembly in dignity. The footsteps of the flock enter into that, and it is delightful to God. There are notices to be given out and it all has to be done in dignity. The public position is seen in the anointing. The ark is set in its place and all are functioning, every item, and every christian is doing what he should do. He has his place to fill; let him see that he fills it in dignity. God is thus pleased with us.

Ques Have we left enough room after the Supper for the new covenant? Should the volume of the blood be contemplated?

JT In Mark 14 the Lord dwelt on the covenant before they sang a hymn and before they moved out. Of course this movement with us is entirely a spiritual one, where the covenant is stressed, the movement then follows; that is the order, I think. I do not like a hymn to the Father or giving thanks to the Father, immediately after the Lord’s supper is finished. It is well to dwell on that which sets us free, “perfect love casts out fear”. Another great difficulty one finds is that when we do begin to speak to the Father someone leads us back again. That is confusion. When there has been a direct lead to the Father, we should not go back, we should proceed on the line we are led on, go up by the gates. The thing is to go right in; if someone speaks to the Father in the spirit of adoption, the thing is to go on that line, we are on high ground and should keep to that. There is a great deal in Ezekiel about the high level, seven steps and eight steps, high levels.

Ques Is it the principle of ascension?

JT Quite so. In the corresponding position in Ezekiel, there was liberty to move and to keep on the high level; we go up together. Moses went up here alone, but he always has that distinction. With regard to our hymns after the Supper, the thing is to be intelligent and go forward. It is the spirit of adoption, and the thing is to move on those lines.

^[p. 263] This position is really for intelligent persons. The apostle in Corinthians says, as it were, I give you credit for being intelligent. We ought to be intelligent, the assembly is composed of intelligent persons; they know what to do.

Rem Sometimes the Father is addressed, and then the Lord, in the same thanksgiving.

JT Well, the Father is God, of course. It is confusion when this is done.

FI In verse 35, Moses could not enter. The Mediator does not come in, the work is finished.

JT That is right; His work is finished, and the Lord knows that well. He will now take another line with us. God is teaching us, it is a refining time, “That ye may judge of and approve the things that are more excellent”. He has indicated something great, and the thing is to go on with that, for that will please Him. We have to go to 2 Chronicles 5 to get the full thought of the assembly, and there you have the priests ministering. We are told that they could not enter; that is to bring out that official service ceases. It is now a question of relationship in the family. God recognises the official position up to a point, but now He says, ‘I love you because of what you are, you are answering to My thoughts, and I want you in that connection in relation to My eternal counsel’. God impresses us with what we are to Him in relation to His eternal counsel.

FAW In Exodus 24 Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu went up, and they saw God and did eat and drink. In chapter 40 the cloud covered the tent of meeting. What would be the difference as to these thoughts at the present time?

JT In going up, we do not move physically, of course, but it is a question of the attitude of mind, and that covers the whole instruction in Exodus. It indicates people who are outside the world, morally above it, and that governs the whole section of Exodus ^[p. 264] up to the end. It enters into this position in the tabernacle we are all set together in this way and are functioning, and God delights in us. I do not say we have the eternal thoughts of God in Exodus, but it is the public position of the assembly before God showing how He is pleased with His people. God would say, ‘Whatever you may think of them, I want them, they belong to Me. They have no status at all, religiously, but they suit Me. I want all of them’. He covers the position with a cloud and with glory, He is inside as well as outside. The general thought is elevation and worship, but God is taking possession of the whole matter and showing that He wants us.

Ques As to the public side, in the latter part of Numbers we get the carrying of the tabernacle, putting it up and taking it down. Would that come in as to our coming to the meeting and leaving it?

JT Just so; when we leave the meeting we are like a heavenly people, and our faces ought to shine. It is a great thing in the thoughts of God at the present time as to what His people are publicly. See them in the hotels, for instance, they are different from the world. That is a very great deal to God.

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