SPIRITUAL EDUCATION (1)
SPIRITUAL EDUCATION (1)
JT What I had in mind in suggesting this scripture was to call attention to the different communications the Lord had with His disciples before His death, and after His death and resurrection, before His ascension; these forty days were intended as educational. Before His death He instructed them largely as to outward conduct and service, but these forty days were largely to instruct them and impress them inwardly, so that they should be spiritual, and one might add, heavenly. The testimony was to be carried on and established, not only according to righteousness, but in the Spirit; that is, it was really to be outside the range of the natural man.
JM What took place before the Lord’s death would be in the presence of opposition from the world, but afterwards He was not seen of the world.
JT Yes. “The world seeth me no more”, John 14: 19. He was outside the range of man. His disciples, although men in the flesh, were in touch with a Man out of death, which was a very wonderful thing. He showed Himself alive to them, in these forty days. He presented Himself living, so that on each occasion when He visited them, there would be an impression of a Man out of death; not a spirit, but a real Man.
Ques You take it that the Lord saw His disciples each day of the forty days?
JT Well, during that period. We know from John 20 that He visited them on two successive first-days. He went in and out amongst them during that period, and I believe it was to form them in a [p. 356] spiritual way; not only to instruct them as to the way Christianity should be introduced, but also as to the spirit and character of it. They would take character themselves from what they saw in Him during these forty days.
Ques “He breathed into them” - was that the same thought? John 20: 22.
JT Yes, that is John’s gospel. The records of the gospels, of course, show the thing in detail. All the four gospels are included, we may say, in the first few verses here; they enable us to apprehend what took place, and the apprehension of this establishes us in faith and spirituality The gift of the Spirit was that they might retain and enjoy the impressions they had received during these forty days.
JT Luke, in this treatise is on the line of the Spirit. He has in view the dispensation in which the Holy Spirit is to be active; he enlarges on what the Spirit does. He presents to us that what the Lord did during the forty days was done by the Spirit; Acts 1: 2. Each of the gospels gives a particular account in that connection. Matthew occupies us with the angel sitting on the stone, with a countenance like lightning, which was the assurance for faith that there is nothing to fear in the political world. Mark tells us about a young man in white garments; that is suggestive of the energy of life that should mark the testimony in a public way. Luke gives us two men clothed in bright raiment, which would be another feature. I suppose the scene was in accord with his gospel, that there should be men for God’s pleasure. John gives us two angels in white sitting where the Lord had lain; he enlarges on the spiritual side. Luke sums them all up here, as we might say, to show that the apostles themselves, through whom the testimony has been given to us, were men who had been in contact with Christ for [p. 357] forty days after He rose; they were thus qualified for the ministry that was delivered to them, in a unique way.
WH All this indicates how the testimony is to be maintained.
JT Yes. Are we really believers? Are we formed by the wonderful things presented to us in Christ risen? In a word, are we spiritual? Being in the light of what is unseen, and being formed by it, a certain lustre is shed on all that we do publicly.
Rem There is a defect if that is lacking.
JT The prominence given to the Holy Spirit here is noticeable. “Having, by the Holy Spirit, charged the apostles whom he had chosen”.
Ques. Why is that said?
JT I think it is to impress us with the place the Spirit has in the dispensation. The apostles would in that way learn how the Holy Spirit would be employed in the establishment of Christianity. It is told here as in keeping with the divine object in this book.
Rem The testimony was to be carried on in the power of the Spirit.
JT Yes, they should be in accord with what they saw in the Lord’s service in this respect. This state of faith and spirituality is brought about, not by study only, but by intercourse with God and Christ; the soul learns it in quiet secretly. The forty days suggest an education carried on in an unseen way.
JM That is most important for us. The thought of secret intercourse with God, in order to be pleasurable to Him here, and effective in His service and testimony.
EM It involves our going in to God.
JT Yes, that is included. Going in to God must be in the appreciation of Christ. It does not in any sense refer to physical movement, it is spiritual.
[p. 358] Rem It is not merely a question of study; it is more. I suppose, it is intercourse with divine Persons. In that connection what is said is striking. “He presented Himself living, after He had suffered”. That is a very strong statement, during these forty days “He presented himself living”.
JT Everything that happened is not recorded, but there is enough recorded to establish our faith. The more you go in, the more you see what John meant when he said, “I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written”, John 21: 25.
Rem The apostles were in touch with Christ after He rose from the dead. It is wonderful to know what it is to be in touch with Him on the other side of death.
JT That is the point. The Lord would move the affections. After we accept the gospel through faith, He would form us inwardly as to what is living. “To whom ... ... he presented himself living”. It is a living Christ that we have to do with.
Ques Why does it say “many proofs”?
JT I suppose it was important that Theophilus should know that there was enough evidence to authenticate infallibly what was stated as the truth. Christ was a real Man, and the same One who had died; one proof was that He ate before them. “Handle me and see”, He said; Luke 24: 39.
WK He was not only a living Man, but the same Man; One whom they could identify.
JT Although He was in a spiritual body, He was a real Man. He is a Man out of death in a spiritual state. It is very descriptive of the spiritual nature of what we are brought into. A real Man, in a condition described as flesh and bones, and yet He goes in and out amongst them, the doors being shut.
Rem With regard to ourselves, it would be in [p. 359] intercourse with Christ, that we are formed after Him. The result is manifest in the individual.
Ques Is that the way in which you are brought into correspondence with what the Lord was in His pathway here?
JT Yes. He was marked as being with the Father. There was that which was public and that which was private in Him. The apostle says, “we have contemplated his glory”, John 1: 14. This was not what was public, the apostles saw His glory as with the Father; His life, His joys were there.
Rem And this was in view of the testimony.
JT Even in John 20, having breathed on them, He sent them out. It was important that they should have His Spirit, as representing Him in this world.
Rem I suppose it was the only way the testimony could be sustained.
JT One point is the kind of spirit and manner in which people present the testimony. Stephen exemplifies this; “they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake”; his face was as the face of an angel; Acts 6. The apostles represented Christ officially, but Stephen represented Him specially according to His spirit and manner. Stephen, we may say, expressed Christ, and Christ expressed is Christianity. Stephen’s conduct under persecution was a complete reflection of Christ. This is made prominent in the record.
Rem What you say is very interesting, that the Lord was here in a spiritual body, giving a charge by the Spirit to His apostles.
JT It is not simply authority or doctrine, but the state in which He was, and the power in which He did it.
Rem We can go a long way outwardly with Christianity, without being in contact with Christ.
[p. 360] The lack of intercourse with Christ would account for the weakness among us.
JT It is intercourse with Christ that maintains things in spiritual power. We have much in the way of doctrine that is very important; right doctrine and right principles are surely of the utmost importance, but what will keep us going according to God, and what will mark us off as of Him, is this private intercourse with God and with Christ.
Rem There will thus be freshness and life. In Paul’s case a similar education is described in 2 Corinthians 12.
RWG It does not mean that the education that went on before the Lord’s death was in any way lessened. It was emphasised and made effective by His coming into contact with them after He rose.
JT Yes. I think it must have been a wonderful time for the apostles on that first day. We have four different accounts of it, but other things must have happened.
Rem His presence effected a great change among them. They were “glad when they saw the Lord”.
JT There were two occasions of joy in John 20: “Jesus stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you”. He wanted them to have joy in peace; therefore He said to them again, “Peace be unto you”.
JM Having this peace and joy, they were ready to be sent forth.
JT In that way they represent Christ, “the Prince of Peace”. It is a great thing to have peace in one’s soul in contrast to the restlessness that is abroad now.
WM “My peace I give unto you”, John 14: 27. Even in the most trying circumstances there is peace.
Ques What is the point in His referring to John’s baptism and comparing it with the gift of the Spirit?
JT You refer to verse 5. It is contrast. In John’s gospel, John Baptist brings in the fact that he baptised with water. John, being pressed to give account of himself, invariably refused to make much of himself; or what he was doing. He leaves it to Christ to give a testimony as to him, which the Lord did most touchingly; see Luke 7:24-28. He says, in effect, I am not doing much, I am only baptising with water, but the One who is coming will baptise with the Holy Spirit. He minimises his own service in the light of what Christ would do. When he saw Jesus coming to him he said, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world”, (John 1: 29) as if he understood that He was going to die. He mentioned his own service in order to bring out the great work of Christ. The next day John has stopped working altogether, we may say; he stands with two of his disciples and looks on Jesus as He walked.
Ques Would it bring into evidence the great power that was coming in?
JT Yes. “John truly baptised with water; but ye shall be baptised with the Holy Spirit”. Throughout the early chapters particularly, of this book, emphasis is laid on the Holy Spirit.
WK It is interesting to note that it was not the disciples, but the apostles, who were “charged”.
JT The Lord spent a whole night praying before He selected them. It says, “whom ... ... he named apostles”, Luke 6:12, 13. Their authority is thus established. Here it is said, that He charged them by the Holy Spirit. Further, it is said, “and being assembled together with them”. That is a remarkable statement. He was pleased to be among them. He identified Himself with them as assembling. We can understand the force of this in view of what He was inaugurating.
Ques Would it not be another suggestion as to how things were to be in the new [p. 362] dispensation?
JT That is how the Lord is maintaining things amongst His people now. He assembles with us, so to speak. I think Colossians comes in here. What are “philosophy and vain deceit”, in the light of this wonderful position? In Matthew 28, the dignity and distance that mark Him as a royal Person are in evidence; He says, they should see Him in Galilee. There is not the same mutual intercourse that is suggested elsewhere. It is the dignity of the throne; He says, “All power is given unto me”. (verse 18) Here in Acts 1: 4, you have the thought of the assembly.
Rem Here it is the thought of association.
JT Yes, and identification; you see Him as Head. The assembly is the place where things are settled;
the Lord seems to give assurance there.
WK He instructed them there not to begin to do anything until they got the ability from above. He exhorts them to wait for “the promise of the Father”.
Rem It would be a great thing if we fully recognised the Spirit here. We are on His side here the resurrection side.
JT That is important. The Lord would never again be on the ground on which He was before His death. The assembly is new ground.
Rem It involves what is spiritual.
JT According to Colossians we are risen with Him “through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead”, chapter 2: 12. This is the ground we take, in view of the power of Satan and death in this world.
Rem The question the disciples asked with regard to Israel was quite outside what the Lord had before Him.
JT Yes, the sixth verse was their side, the fourth His side. They were not in keeping with the position. I think it suggests that we are all liable to be out of keeping with the new position. Introducing [p. 363] something lower; that is what it was. “Wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?” The fourth verse would not suggest this. There is no excuse for us if we take lower ground than what God accords to us.
Rem They had opportunity to learn, because it was about the kingdom of God that the Lord had been speaking to them; and this would be the kingdom He was then inaugurating, not the kingdom of Israel.
JT He says, “It is not for you to know the times or the seasons”.
Rem They had their minds on material things. He wanted to introduce them into what was entirely spiritual. For us, at the present moment, the same thing applies.
JT It is not that the assembly is made up of spirits; it was to be composed of men who were spiritual.
Rem The Lord would have us pass over from what is material to what is spiritual.
JT He goes on to occupy them with the Spirit, saying, “ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Spirit is come upon you”. Having said these things He was taken up, they being left with the great and blessed fact of the coming of the Holy Spirit pressed upon their minds. They were to be His witnesses in this power.
Rem It was a grand position for them to be in, to be sent forth on such a mission. If we understood the great position in which the assembly stands, it would enlarge us.
JT The Roman system is local in its conception; the design being that a locality should dominate a wider area, the whole world indeed. Whereas the assembly is not local, it is universal. Its centre is in heaven, and the same principles were to govern it everywhere. The disciples here had not reached [p. 364] this, they were still local. In their minds they did riot extend beyond Israel. You will find that throughout the New Testament, the truth is intended to save us from localism. While maintaining local responsibility, we should have the whole assembly in view, and love all the saints.
WK Rome works from the local to the universal, the assembly is the universal thought which can be applied locally The Colossian and Ephesian saints had love to all the saints, they were universal in their affections. The Holy Spirit is here to help on these lines.