THE PURPOSE OF GOD IN A DAY OF SMALL THINGS
[p. 126] THE PURPOSE OF GOD IN A DAY OF SMALL THINGS
JT There seems to be a division of the book at the end of the sixth chapter, and I thought it would perhaps furnish a good close for our series of readings, especially as it brings before us the priestly kingship of the Lord Jesus as set over against the empires of the world.
FL The empires of the world are shown in the chariots with the horses, and then there comes in the Melchizedek, or priest-and-king character. When Melchizedek first appears there was a confederacy of the powers; Abram overcomes, and then he, who was priest and king, comes in.
JT There were two groups of kings in the conflict and Abram overcomes, delivering his brother, and then the priest appears.
FL Yes, so there are two groups here, towards the north and the south.
JT It might be well to make clear that both agencies are used of God. That is, the horses in this chapter are not regarded as powers against God, but are used in His service. The Gentile monarchies were subservient to God, but in the character of horses; that is, they have no hearts or consciences. They have to be controlled by external means, or pressure. On the other hand, the priest seen in the second half of the chapter sitting upon his throne is a man, and with a man’s sensibilities and sympathies, and with a man’s intelligence, so that the will of God is seen perfectly presented in him, in his kingdom.
FT The Gentile powers are viewed here as carrying out the disciplinary will of God, and His Spirit gets rest in necessary judgments being executed;
[p. 127] but there is that restraining hand over the governing powers of the earth. Though they have neither conscience nor regard for God, in the true sense, yet God lets them go so far and then stops them; but His Spirit is quieted.
JT Yes, they suggest the means by which God preserves a measure of order and repression of evil, pending the setting up of His throne upon which the Lord Jesus shall rule.
WCR It says the four chariots came out from between two mountains; and the mountains were mountains of brass.
JT Alluding, I think, to the judgment of God. They carry out the judgment of God.
WCR What are the two mountains?
JT I suppose fulness of governmental power for the repression of evil in this world.
WCR When the seals are opened you get different horses coming out there, the white, red and black, but there is a man riding the horses there. Is that any different?
JT Revelation 6 is more local. These are universal, beginning with the setting up of power in the hands of the Gentiles in Nebuchadnezzar. Revelation 6 is more limited, because it came in later and refers, I apprehend, to the course of things in western Europe, generally the Roman empire. But these are universal; they go into all directions.
AFM Why are the nations different in the way of colours?
FL I suppose in the Revelation the colours are in accordance with the results that follow, or rather connected with them. That is, the white for conquest; the red for war; the black for famine; the pale for death. I suppose the colours here would be in connection with the characteristics of the empires.
JT I think the mountains of brass represent the power available in the government of God for the [p. 128] repression of evil in the world, so they continue on in that light, and we, as Christians, recognise that.
Romans 13 refers to the establishment of government by God.
FL How much we have to be thankful for in the regard of the governmental ways of God! That is, the very worst government there ever was on earth is better than no government. It has been our lot to be under what must be ranked as good governments; we should, therefore, pray for them with all the more liberty.
JT Quite; we see they are ordained of God, pending the introduction of the government that is altogether according to His own mind. The Christian in that way has an immense advantage because he sees why things are. The conditions on this earth would be intolerable aside from what these horses typify. Whether they are red, black, white or grisled, we recognise them as having come in from between the two mountains of brass. Being horses, they are without consciences or hearts, so we must not expect too much from them. Whatever does come through them in the way of good we owe it to God, who curbs and controls them by “bit and bridle”, Psalm 32: 9.
AFM Is that why they are called “the four spirits of the heavens”?
JT Yes. It is remarkable that they are spoken of in that way, showing how they are of God from this point of view.
JB They come forth from “standing before the Lord of all the earth”. The earth is in view.
JT Quite, and God’s supremacy in it. He is Lord of all the earth; sovereign Ruler. The Lord, when rejected, according to Matthew’s account, lifts up His eyes to His Father as the “Lord of heaven and earth”, Matthew 11: 25. There is a recognition of His sovereign rule. Christ, to whom the throne of [p. 129] the world belonged, according to the Father’s appointment (Psalm 2) was present, but He accepts rejection and pursues His course as a Priest merely; He will reign as Priest at the end, according to our chapter, but He exercises the function of Priest, you might say, first.
Melchizedek in Genesis 14, shows how, in Christ, priesthood and kingship are combined. The two groups of kings, the one under Chedorlaomer, the other the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah, were of course contending for their own rights on earth; they were not thinking of the will of God, but of themselves, yet God was controlling with the “bit and bridle”. The Lord of heaven and earth has His universal rights. Abram understood this, and refused to take anything from the king of Sodom.
FL So Psalm 24 starts: “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof”. We never surrender that. And the fourth chapter here states how they are the “eyes of the Lord, which run to and fro through the whole earth”. Very well, these governing powers may exercise authority on the earth, but we never surrender the claim that “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof”, and back of all, His eyes run to and fro through the whole earth in view of His people being here. But in the light of this chapter Christians should be in submission to the powers that be.
JT So that in the meanwhile we carry on, as the Lord did, priestly functions. The Father was the Lord of heaven and earth, and the Lord spoke about babes. The Father’s things were revealed to babes. Whilst He maintained these Gentile powers and used them, yet He was now taking up a new thing, and the Lord pursues His own service in humility and obscurity; which indeed marks Christianity. The Gentile powers continue, but the priesthood of Christ is carried on and He is developing, as you [p. 130] might say; a company of priests, for they are seen here in the latter part of the chapter. He is developing that out of the babes. So the chapter opens up a very great deal in that way; I think our position is clearly defined as regards these horses. We leave them where the Lord has placed them, give thanks for them, pray for them, as Paul directs Timothy to do; but we pursue our own way in the exercise of priestly service. The reigning time will be here presently.
FL “Have quieted my spirit in the north country” is a remarkable expression.
JT You feel how great the need is today for something of this kind in the north country. There is no right minded person but recognises the dreadfulness of the conditions that arise in this world among men when ordered government is overthrown. Man’s will is acting, and Satan behind it; and so personally you are thankful that God introduces and maintains government to restrain that and maintain order and peace. It says, “that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty”. (1 Timothy 2: 2) That is what we are concerned about.
FL In that way our spirits become quieted. We are confronted with circumstances that are full of anxiety; and yet in the light of what the Lord holds in reserve, behind all, we have quietness of spirit. It is not that we do not sympathise and feel, but we see the issue, we know the end. Here God’s Spirit is quieted in that way.
JT Yes. We must not undervalue these horses. They are of great importance pending the public establishment of the throne of God. As it is said, “God ... ... hath appointed a day, in which he will judge the world in righteousness, by that man whom he hath ordained”, Acts 17: 30, 31. It will not be then by these horses, but “by that man whom he hath ordained”. And as to this God has given [p. 131] assurance unto all in that He has raised Christ from the dead.
AFM Do these horses extend to the present day? Do they refer to the four great monarchies and would you say we are in the presence of the last one, the Roman?
JT That is, those called “grisled and bay”. “The strong go forth”, it says in verse 7, “and seek to go that they may walk to and fro through the earth”. That evidently is the Roman system, because it has branched out in all directions and is stronger really than any of the empires; and it continues, in the principle of it at least, until now.
AFM I suppose the elements of the other three are there?
JT No doubt.
FL It is marked by peculiar power. It is weakened by the clay, and it is that which we have today. It was that under which the Lord was born; and under which we now are, and it will be restored to fuller power after we are gone.
JT Yes, the Lord ministered under it and recognised it, too.
FL “Render therefore unto Caesar”. (Matthew 22: 21)
EHT Do the colours indicate certain conditions that existed at certain times?
JT I should say so. Red, for instance, would point to some distinctive feature of the first empire.
EHT Then in the colours there must be an advance at the end as to evil. In view of that, the Lord comes in at the end and destroys all.
JT That is true as we see elsewhere, but the point here is, that they are employed by God for the government of the world, pending the establishment of Christ’s kingdom, which latter is spoken of later in this chapter.
WCR They are not exactly against what is [p. 132] of God now: the teaching of this passage would therefore apply at the present time.
JT Quite; they are not seen here as scattering Israel, Judah and Jerusalem, but in relation to the whole earth. It is the government of the earth here that we are under; they are under Christ, They are said to be “the four spirits of the heavens, which go forth from standing before the Lord of all the earth”.
AFM But the position these chariots occupy will be taken up by the Lord when He comes.
JT Only He does not take up any of these horses. How delightful it will be for God the Father to have One to rule who is capable of entering into His mind and who is in every way to His pleasure! It is a Man, One who is subject to God; “The BRANCH” as He is called here. He is alluded to as “The BRANCH”, growing up in His place. The Antichrist comes in his own name, but the Lord Jesus as here, as Man, was in dependence on God and moved according to His will.
JB “Then take silver and gold, and make crowns, and set them upon the head of Joshua, the son of Josedech, the high priest”. What is the thought there of the silver and gold of which they made the crowns? In chapter 3 it is said a “fair mitre” was put upon his head.
JT The latter was the high priest’s head dress, but now he has additional glory and the “crowns” would refer to kingly dignity. Of the Lord, it is said, “On his head were many crowns”. (Revelation 19: 12) He is to be “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS”. No doubt each crown will have reference to some distinctive glory and rule.
FL When He comes and all His holy angels with Him, He shall sit upon the throne of His glory. It is not the perpetuation of anything that was here. I was thinking of how beautifully this scripture connects with Psalm 110; “The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool. The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies. Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning; thou hast the dew of thy youth. The Lord hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek. The Lord at thy right hand shall strike through kings in the day of his wrath. He shall judge among the heathen, he shall fill the places with the dead bodies; he shall wound the heads over many countries. He shall drink of the brook in the way: therefore shall he lift up the head”.
JT So that the kingdom is taken up by the Priest, as if God were to emphasise the fact that henceforth government is to be in the hands of one possessed of human sympathies and affections.
AFM It is not Zerubbabel here; it is the Priest.
JT Yes, I think therefore it helps to connect it with the Lord’s position as carrying on His ministry on earth. There was testimony to His kingly dignity, but He was rejected and slain. But God has raised Him from the dead, and now He carries on His priestly service in heaven; presently He will sit as a Priest on His throne.
AFM Of course you distinguish between the character of the priesthood there and that which He carries on now. He is priest after the order of Melchizedek, but the character of His service now is not Melchizedek.
JT Not yet. The function is Aaronic, as we have often noticed, but the order is Melchizedek, who “without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life, but made like unto the Son of God, abideth a priest continually”. (Hebrews 7: 3) But as regards the manner of His service, it is Aaronic. That is, it is His service inside now. He is not yet in publicity, but nevertheless the service is priestly and it is carried on in all the sympathies of a Man; but then all these sympathies which we know, and which bring down such mercies and blessings now shall be seen in public rule presently. God having raised Him from the dead, “will judge the world in righteousness, by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men”, Acts 17: 31. The assurance God gives of His estimate of Christ is in the resurrection; “in that he hath raised him from the dead”; and the testimony of that is now in the gospel.
FL The service of the sanctuary, the Aaronic priesthood, is what we know now.
EHT “He shall grow up out of his place”? What significance has the place and the growing up out of it?
JT I think it refers to the Lord; His birth and humanity here on earth. That is, He is known, so to speak, locally. He accepted the circumstances into which He was born and grew up in dependence on God. He was a carpenter and despised as such, but the poor of the flock recognised Him; Zechariah 11: 11.
AFM Would that indicate the perfection of His own obedience? All others had left their places angels had departed, and men had departed, but here is a new order of Man come in, and He grows up in a certain sphere.
JT That is the idea. God appointed a way for Him. He brought Him in in the most humble circumstances; born in a manger and brought up in a poor family, He did not seek to alter anything. The word “BRANCH” here is from the same root as “grow up”. “I was cast upon thee from the womb”, Psalm 22: 10. He was entirely dependent upon God.
from the outset. Isaiah says, “He shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground; he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him”, Isaiah 53: 2.
FL In Revelation 5, where it is a question of taking the throne of power and judgment, He is presented as the Root of David. This lays the foundation of all kingdom power and administration, but at the end, in Revelation 22, when He is speaking as the blessed Man, “I Jesus”, He is presented as “the root and the offspring of David”. That is, the Branch comes out of David, as Zechariah speaks of Him. I think as the Branch of David, He is the Offspring, and that is connected with the Man, Jesus, but the fifth of the Revelation is His greatness and glory as Redeemer, and so He is “the Root of David”.
JT Yes. “Root” implies His deity, but it is very beautiful to think of Him born into these circumstances according to divine appointment, the Father’s appointment, and He never raised His finger to alter them. He grew up where He was placed, and His beauty came under God’s eye without His circumstances being altered at all. That is what pleases God. So in due time that Man is to rule.
JB At the end of Luke 2 when Jesus was twelve years old, it speaks of His going to Nazareth and being subject to His parents, and then it says that He “increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man”.
FL Psalm 110 is very beautiful in that connection; “thou hast the dew of thy youth”. That is what came out in Him in that way.
JT He retains His youthfulness.
DR “He shall rule them” (the nations) “with a rod of iron”. Would that have a connection with what comes before us here?
[p. 136] JT That is involved also in the word to the overcomers in Thyatira (Revelation 2: 26, 27). They should rule in that way, too. I suppose it refers to the power by which all evil is broken up, but as regards the Lord’s rule, He has true sympathies and affections. The sway is moral. Of course he has power by Him to repress evil, a sinner one hundred years old shall be cut off, but generally speaking the millennium is moral sway. There shall be no need of armies or navies, or anything of that kind. It is moral sway. The character of the rule is priestly. It is a Priest upon His throne.
FL So everything comes to “the valley of decision”, Joel 3: 14. All is assembled into the valley of decision, and when the decision is made and all evil is separated from that which is in submission to the Lord; and the evil is dealt with and broken with a rod of iron, from henceforth everything is administered in grace and sympathy. What is the residue, is ruled in entire grace and sympathy.
JT Yes, that is it. The iron may always be there, but the allusion, I think, is to the shepherd’s rod. He “shall shepherd all the nations with an iron rod”, Revelation 12: 5.
AFM Would the introduction of the temple here, enforce the thought of the priesthood taking precedence of the kingdom? “He shall build the temple of the Lord: even he shall build the temple of the Lord; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne”. The temple comes in first.
JT The passage is very beautiful, as introducing the thought of the Man. He considers for God. “He shall build the temple of the Lord”. When Jesus was here He found the temple corrupted and He used the scourge of small cords to cleanse it, and the word is, “The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up”. That is, He showed how He considered for [p. 137] God. He was concerned about the house of God, and now if the house of God is to be built, He builds it. “He shall build the temple of the Lord”; and then He bears the glory. That He can sustain the glory, refers to His personal greatness.
JB He says, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up”. He is the one that builds it there.
AFM Then will be fulfilled, the word, “The latter glory of this house shall be greater than of the former”.
JT Quite. All this would be a word for the people in that day, for they were not building. There is always a local application of the truth. They were not doing this, and the point was that they should do it. If “The Branch” is to do these things, this is what Joshua should be doing.
EHT In saying He sustains the glory, is it your thought that in building the temple, and sustaining it, the mind of God is always seen? Is that what you have in mind as to glory?
JT He sustains the glory. I suppose the ark is alluded to. The ark is referred to in this way. He “delivered his strength into captivity, and his glory into the enemy’s hand”, Psalm 78: 61. Now that shall never happen again, because Christ sustains all that is for God.
FL What is your thought about “the counsel of peace shall be between them both”?
JT I suppose it is between God and Christ. Peace is the subject, it is the “counsel of peace”. What a change from what we have now in the different national counsels!
FL And what a delusion is the assumption that it can be reached in any other way!
JB They slew the Prince of Peace, and the earth can never have peace until He comes back.
RLC This all beautifully leads up to the remnant. One asked “What are those wounds in thine hands?”, He received them in the house of His friends, but the poor of the flock that waited on Him knew that His word was the word of Jehovah; chapter 11: 11.
JT Yes, the next section, beginning with the seventh chapter, develops a good many subjects that lead up to the coming of the Lord, but the place Christ has in the purpose of God is the point up to the end of the sixth chapter. The purpose of God is to have this Ruler; to bring in peace and have Him on the throne. The hidden wisdom of God was there. It was all there in the lowly Jesus, but the princes of this world did not know it. They did not see the immense advantage to mankind that there was in that Man: all divine wisdom was there, but the princes of this world did not know it; “had they known it”, says Paul, “they would not have crucified the Lord of glory” (1 Corinthians 2: 8), but they did crucify Him and hence are deprived of all that wisdom. It is all reserved now for us.
AFM Does the fourteenth verse show, that He is not alone in all this?
JT “The crowns shall be for Helem, and for Tobijah, and for Jedaiah, and for Hen the son of Zephaniah, for a memorial in the temple of Jehovah”. It seems as if we have suggested there a royal priesthood. “Ye are ... ... a royal priesthood”, Peter says. (1 Peter 2: 9)
FL There is moral significance in all this that it was brought about by those who had come from Babylon. You have to come out from Babylon, the dominating system.
JB You refer to the tenth verse?
FL Yes, so to them is committed the taking up of the silver and gold for the crown for the pre-eminent one, and then they seem to come in in association with [p. 139] Him.
JT In view of all this it is well worth while coming from Babylon.
AFM It would also suggest suffering. Coming from Babylon involves that. And then you see the pre-eminent One crowned on account of His suffering.
FL “If we suffer, we shall also reign with him”. (Romans 8: 17)
JT I suppose these crowned ones would be an allusion to the present priesthood of the saints, as a memorial in the temple? Peter in his epistles brings in the great gain that accrued to the Jewish remnant, and among the many things mentioned was this great fact, that they were a royal priesthood, and their service was to show forth the virtues of Him who had called them out of darkness into His marvellous light. Peter treats of God’s government, which involved that those who received the Messiah were not set up in Jerusalem, according to the promises made to the fathers, but they have greater things, and, whilst the Gentile power continues (”Honour the king”), they are to carry on priestly functions, and thus show forth the praises of Him who had called them out of darkness.
FL I think we get an idea of this in the gospels. The Lord had those who were separated from the order of things under Himself, and now He says to them that they shall sit upon twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. It is very clear that He apportions thrones to them. It does not belong to them in a tribal way, because nine of the tribes were not there; and those gathered out of Judah, Benjamin and Levi are to sit on thrones of other tribes. It is the sovereign disposition of those that had come from Babylon, as it were, and who were associated with Him in government.
JT It says in the fifteenth verse; “And they that are far off shall come and build in the temple of the Lord; and ye shall know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me into you”. Those afar off shall be added showing how interest shall be increased.
F.L. Who are those?
JT I suppose the Gentiles shall work at it. The king of Tyre helped in Solomon’s day. I suppose the Lord being over the nations, they shall be available to Him.
DR “Ten men shall take hold, out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you; for we have heard that God is with you”, Zechariah 8: 23.
FL It would seem to suggest the time in which the Lord takes up His rights in the earth as a whole; He gives a foothold around the temple to the nations, that they may feel that they have an attachment to that spot in connection with His person and His rule.
JT Yes, 1 Corinthians shows how at the present time Gentiles (Christians) have a part in it. “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God?” 1 Corinthians 3: 16.
JB Of Solomon’s temple it was said; “Mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people”, Isaiah 56: 7. The temple was not confined in its influence, or the light that was there, to the house of Israel.
JT Solomon was really in the mind of God to be head of the nations, all nations should come. In fact this book shows that not only shall they come to build the temple, but to worship the Lord at Jerusalem and keep the feast of tabernacles there, showing how complete the result shall be; Zechariah 14.
JB God has an earthly centre, and that is the centre of the whole earth.
AFM I suppose the building of that temple would be that the second chapter might be fulfilled, where God says, “Lo, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the Lord”.
JT That is the end in view. I suppose this [p. 141] chapter shows how the dwelling is prepared. A priest builds it, but those afar off builded it also.
FL The concentric circles come out after the Lord’s suffering and death, as we get them in the twenty-second Psalm. It is very beautiful. “I will declare thy name unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee”. That is the first circle. “Ye that fear the Lord, praise him; all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him; and fear him, all ye the seed of Israel”. That is another circle Then “All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord; and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee. For the kingdom is the Lord’s; and he is the governor among the nations”. There you get the full result of redemption and it includes what we have here.
JT It is so refreshing to have these things before us, especially now; and to see how God moves to bring about His own designs, and the agencies that He uses in carrying them out.
GWH Only one of the circles mentioned in Psalm 22 is in evidence now.
FL Yes, the second of Hebrews gives it to us, but hidden in the assembly is really the remnant, “the children which God hath given me”, Hebrews 2: 13. Then the other circles come into view after the assembly is translated.
JB You alluded before to the eighth chapter of Zechariah. At the end of that chapter there is a very blessed account of the coming day with regard to the nations, beginning at the eighteenth verse. We get the circles marked out very blessedly there it seems to me.
JT Yes, it says, in verse 20, “Thus saith the Lord of hosts, It shall yet come to pass, that there shall come people, and the inhabitants of many cities; And the inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, Let us go speedily to pray before the [p. 142] Lord, and to seek the Lord of hosts; I will go also. Yea, many people and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the Lord. Thus saith the Lord of hosts; In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold, out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you; for we have heard that God is with you”. A remarkable result!
AFM You regard these chapters we have considered as reaching the highest point in the prophecy?
JT I think that the six chapters set out the great thought in the mind of the Spirit as to the purpose of God. Then the seventh chapter begins a new theme. It says, “And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Darius”. It is another date.
AFM I was referring to the earlier chapters that we have noticed during these meetings; they present the highest thought that we have in this prophecy. There would be nothing greater than what we have considered?
JT I think the sixth chapter is the completion of the main subject. Of course the others have their place too, and are important, but I think the end of the purpose of God is outlined in those six chapters, ending with the Priest on His throne. There is much that fills in in these following chapters. For instance, in the ninth chapter the Lord is seen coming in lowliness and grace. And then, as regards His priestly service, as I was remarking, I believe the service in the gospels might fit in here. Whilst these horses, the dominion of these powers endure, Christ is carrying on His priestly service. So the eleventh chapter shows us Christ engaged with the poor of the flock. That is what He is doing for the moment. With Israel the bond is broken; they are scattered, but He goes on with the service to the poor of the [p. 143] flock, feeding them, and they recognise that what He said was the word of Jehovah: Following that you have grace poured out upon the house of David, the house of Nathan. And then there is repentance, and in the thirteenth chapter it says: “A fountain opened to the house of David, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness”. All these are details showing how the great result is brought about in them, and then, as I remarked, as regards the end of the book, it says; “And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem, shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles. And it shall be that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain”. And then it says further, in the twentieth verse, “In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses, HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD; and the pots in the Lord’s house shall be like the bowls before the altar. Yea, every pot in Jerusalem, and in Judah, shall be holiness unto the Lord of hosts; and all they that sacrifice shall come and take of them, and seethe therein: and in that day there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the Lord of hosts”.
FL We are something of travellers in these days; we come from New York, Council Bluffs, and the like, but here they come up from all parts of the earth every year to Jerusalem, to keep the feast of tabernacles. A brother once said to me, Where do you get these meetings in Scripture? I said, You get the spirit of them, I think, in the feasts of the Lord; the people were to come together under the impression of the goodness and blessing of God. You get the spirit of these meetings that we are now holding, and one is struck with the thought here [p. 144] that when they came up in their annual pilgrimage it was to celebrate the feast of tabernacles. It is very beautiful the way it is put.
JT And the feast of tabernacles suggests the simplicity of men dwelling together according to God. Families are to be near to each other.
AFM There would be a little foreshadowing in that of the eternal state.
JT I think it is an indication of it, the simplicity in which men shall live and God with them.
JB The feast of tabernacles runs into the eighth day.
JT Yes.