"MY BRETHREN"
“MY BRETHREN”
JT We have been remarking that the forty days of the Lord’s sojourn after He rose, and before He ascended, were employed in an educational way, so as to bring about a state of faith in His disciples. The narratives at the end of the gospels show, especially in Mark, that the Lord found in His disciples, after He rose from the dead, a state of marked unbelief. The Lord speaks of their “unbelief and hardness of heart” (Mark 16: 14) so that the service He rendered during the forty days was to bring about deliverance from that state of unbelief; and bring them into a state of faith; the first chapter of Acts brings this to our notice. They are not seen in unbelief there, but as believing, and intelligent in what they do.
The dispensation in which we are is said to be a dispensation of faith, and if we are to be in the good of it, or if we are to be used to make it known to others, we must be possessed of faith. The Lord brought the disciples to this, as I have said, so that they should be the vessels in which the present dispensation should be introduced and established. The blessings God proposed were to be presented and maintained on the principle of faith, not of sight.
TMG Before the Lord died and rose again they had not the Spirit.
JT Nor did they have the Spirit during the forty days after He rose.
Rem The fact of His going in and out amongst them during these forty days would strengthen their faith.
JT He brought them over to His side; He found them in unbelief; they really made the messengers who witnessed the Lord’s resurrection liars. The women that had seen Him alive came and told the apostles, and it seemed to them as an idle tale. Very serious! That is illustrative of what the natural heart is capable of; notwithstanding the most extraordinary advantages, even a Christian, if he does not judge the flesh, is liable to discredit the most precious truth. Matthew, Mark, and Luke, in their different records show how the Lord met them in the way of reproof and correction; but the first of Acts emphasises the positive testimony brought in; “he showed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days”. They were thus convinced, and brought into a state of faith.
JRK There is a difference between a state of faith and merely believing on the Lord.
JT We can be disciples, and believe on Him up to a certain point; but we read in John: “And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that, believing, ye might have life through his name”, John 20: 30, 31. The point was, that His disciples should believe, they were to be brought into a state of faith; for the Lord was setting up a dispensation which was to be in faith.
Ques What would you say is the force of that?
JT The point I believe is that the administration is to be through the house.
Rem Christianity is in connection with a house that is, the saints viewed in this light. The Mosaic system was on the principle of sight.
JT Although the saints are visible, yet Christianity is a spiritual system, and can be administered and entered into only on the principle of faith. I have exercise that we might see how John brings [p. 377] in, not only faith and spirituality, but, also a heavenly-minded people. The Lord showed himself alive, meaning that things are now in life. It is another thing to know Him ascending, that shows Him in His own proper place, and we as brethren are linked up with Him there. John does mention facts showing unbelief in some, in a general way he occupies us with what is of God in the saints, in this chapter.
JCS You come on to heavenly ground, the ascending One gives character to everything in that connection.
JT The saints should be heavenly minded; I think John shows that in this chapter.
Ques What is it to be heavenly minded?
JT Well, the message sent through Mary was intended to effect it in the disciples. The Lord said to her, “Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father; but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and [p. 379] your Father; and to my God, and your God”. By this message He places them in direct association with Himself as ascending; it is wonderful! A heavenly minded person is occupied with heavenly things; he is not an earth dweller.
JRK People have to be established in a state of faith before they enter into the heavenly position.
JT I think Mary is brought forward because she represents the subjective side. She is marked by affection and by a measure of intelligence here, and what is there is emphasised, although it is defective.
Rem The Lord says, “Touch me not”; this would bring about a state in her upon which he could operate.
JT Yes, He takes account of her attitude. Then when she receives light, she carries it immediately. In verse 2 she runs. She is an apt messenger. She had the light and she wished to communicate it;
[p. 378] she does not keep it to herself. In verse 11, Mary wept, and stooping down, she comes into her place as a sister, she is mentioned as looking into the sepulchre after Peter and John. She remained at the tomb, and looking into it she “seeth two angels in white, sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. And they say unto her: woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them: Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him”. In contrast to what is related in other gospels, she is not disconcerted, she is quite composed. She says: “They have taken away my Lord”; to Peter and John she says the Lord; and then, “having said these things she turned back”. She finds the Lord.
JRK You take Mary as a typical case as to the way in which the Lord leads on His people? Of course a brother may be marked by these things; it does not necessarily take a sister to illustrate the subjective side. It can be true in us all.
JT The Spirit of God selects her. She is beyond the specially responsible ones, in her affections. She is led on more quickly. She carried light quickly when she got it. There is a certain rebuke, in the facts recorded, for all those who have special advantages and have not profited by them.
JCS There is a marked difference between Mary and the disciples. They believed and returned to their own home, but Mary did not; she felt evidently that there was nothing to solve the situation for her, but Christ.
JT I think too that she illustrates the importance of waiting; we must be patient in having to do with divine things. The opposite of this is the restlessness of the flesh.
RWG We see the heavenly position here, in the Lord’s words, “I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God”. That was to set their minds on heaven.
JT That would be the immediate effect of it. That is the side the Spirit would emphasise now.
Rem It does not follow that because we are Christians we are heavenly-minded. The Lord was educating and qualifying Mary to take her place in connection with Him as the heavenly One.
JT Yes, and it is the effect of the message on the mind that has faith, that we have to consider.
JM As it is received in faith, we know and maintain what comes in for our profit.
JT Mary is an example here of the state of soul that misses Christ, the orphan state. To her, Christ was “everything and in all”. (Colossians 3: 11) “They have taken away my Lord”, she said.
WM He was everything to her; and she wanted Him.
JT She had instinctive intelligence in what she did.
Rem It is to such an one that the Lord can make known His mind. “Go tell my brethren I ascend”.
JT It was a great honour to be entrusted with such a message, and she carries it faithfully. In Luke, the two going to Emmaus who were shown by the Lord that He was risen, returned to Jerusalem, and communicated the result of their experience to the eleven and those with them. And then the Lord comes in; but He finds a mixed condition; they were terrified, and did not believe for joy. Circumstances hindered their faith, so that the Lord had to adjust them; but there is nothing like that here. This serves to confirm what we have said, that the spiritual side is in view, in John.
JCS The message which Mary carried put them in right relation to Christ.
JT Yes, as the One that was ascending.
[p. 380] Rem The truth of the resurrection precedes this. Have we not the same line of things suggested in the epistles? You have the thought of faith in God, who raised Christ from the dead, in Romans; light as to heavenly things, in Colossians; and the heavenly position, in Ephesians.
JT This chapter corresponds with Ephesians.
TMG It would be education for the heavenly position, in Ephesians.
JT You see the Lord coming in here; He causes joy. It is not a state of things such as Luke records. It says, Jesus came, “and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. And when he had so said, he showed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord”. Then Jesus says again, “Peace be unto you”. He seals the joy that they had with a second “Peace”; that is very blessed. It was in His mind that His presence should be the occasion of joy; therefore again He says, “Peace”, as much as to say, ‘You are to have peace in your joy’ - “joy and peace in believing”.
Ques Is that connected with the Supper now?
JT Yes, quietly and patiently waiting on the Lord together, the Lord would fill our hearts with joy and peace in believing. The joy is not passing, it remains. He seals it with another “Peace”.
JRK The Lord attaches a great deal of importance to “peace”.
JT He had in Himself a deep, divine peace, which was never disturbed by circumstances.
Rem Even the joy may disturb the peace with us.
JT Joy and peace should ever be our portion. The presence of the Lord gives assurance, and peace and rest of heart. Peace, preserving our hearts from disturbance, as it does, enables us to retain the joy that the Lord’s presence brings.
SL The general state of the disciples previous [p. 381] to this, would be like the two on the way to Emmaus.
Rem Activity can, when we are together, become a form of disturbance.
Ques What is your thought about waiting? Is it waiting on the Spirit?
JT It is waiting on the Lord as Head, when in the assembly.
Rem I suppose we might wait too long.
JT Thus 1 Corinthians 14 comes in, because there we are governed by intelligence. “I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also”. An unduly long pause when we come together is not an evidence of intelligence; there is something wanting.
JM You were speaking of the place Christ has in our affections, as Head.
JT Yes, when you come to the assembly, viewed spiritually, it is a question of His headship, so that you make room for that. In coming together for the Supper, we recognise the Lord, for it is the Lord’s supper.
JCS In connection with the Supper, we can see the force of coming early; there is thus a restful atmosphere, and this is needed to enable us to apprehend the Lord as He comes in as Head.
JT As He is known there is joy and then He imparts some impression, which gives character to what follows. There is a difference between “showing himself alive” and “manifesting” Himself. I think “manifesting” is connected with some particular feature of Himself; “showing himself alive” is in contrast to the dead state of things in Judaism, and now in Christendom. The Jewish sacrifices suggested death. Christ is the Son of the living God.
TMG As alive He manifests Himself.
Rem We recognise Him as alive, but there is more than this.
JT Yes. When you come to the assembly [p. 382] you have more than life and power, you have beauty and wisdom; all these things show the importance of waiting. The Bride in Song of Songs 5 had a manifestation, but it was only the Bridegroom’s hand.
JCS As the Lord presents Himself in a manifestation, the affections of the saints are moved.
JT There is the evidence of life, but there is the beauty of Christ there too.
JM The love of Christ is what is suggested to our hearts in the breaking of bread.
JT Yes, the Supper attests His love; but then we want a manifestation. He is Fairer than all the earth-born race. We want to “behold the beauty of the Lord”, Psalm 27: 4.
Rem When you come to see that beauty, there is a state produced to which the Lord responds.
JT It is an immense thing to see the Lord as the heavenly Man.
JRK “As is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly”, 1 Corinthians 15: 48. The Lord might be before our souls and cause exercise, and yet we would miss the manifestations that we ought to have.
JT In the Song of Songs 5, the Bride saw the Bridegroom’s hand, but then she could describe His beauty. She had seen Him. The manifestations of Christ present to the saints what He is in beauty and dignity.
Rem If there is an apprehension of His presence, it enraptures us.
JT “In his shadow have I rapture and sit down”, Song of Songs 2: 3.
Ques Do you think that there might be a good deal of exercise as to the Lord, and our position with Him, and yet we may not be in that rapturous state?
JT I suppose we know very little of rapture.
EM He says, “in the midst of the assembly will I sing thy praises”, Hebrews 2: 12. Is not the company [p. 383] affected by His presence so that He can lead them in praise?
JT Yes, and then the manifestations of Christ to us bring about bridal affections in the saints what Christ is personally, in His beauty and dignity, calls forth the admiring affections of our hearts.
JCS Christ too, in the supremacy of His love, is before the soul, in such a way that it responds.
JT He came into the company here; and the more spiritual they were, the more wonderful the occasion would be to them. He had prepared them by the message sent. If they took it in, they would have the sense of their own qualification for such a visit.
JRK There is before our hearts the general thought of what the Lord Jesus is, in His beauty and dignity. The result, I have seen lately, is a very exceptional kind of experience that the saints are permitted to have.
TMG The Supper leads to all this:
“And we love Thee, blest Lord
E’en now, though feeble here;
Thy sorrow and Thy cross record,
What makes us know Thee near”. (270:5)
Ques Do you think, that in a general way, as coming together, as we hold the light in our souls, it enhances the Lord to us, and it is then that He gives us fresh manifestations of Himself?
JT Yes; the light is for faith, and it prepares us for the manifestation. Hence how much depends on our faith! Now this message was for their faith it was something that they should receive in their souls, and every word should be taken account of. We get this principle, of light afforded before an action of the Lord, in verse 22: “And when he had said this he breathed on them, and saith unto them, receive ye the Holy Spirit”. His action is following [p. 384] certain light; the light precedes the breathing, just as the light precedes the manifestation.
Rem In John we have a pattern of the new beginning of the week.
JT Our individual lives are composed of days; one has to take up one’s cross daily; one’s individual path is day by day; but in regard to one’s assembly life, it is, I believe, week by week.
Rem So that we have a new beginning each week. We are accustomed to think that we have peace once for all, but this is a different thought.
JT There is “peace with God”, but this goes beyond that. This is a peace of heart that we get from the Lord Himself as He is known in the midst.
Rem Would it not be a wonderful beginning, if we really knew what the Lord’s presence means?
JT “As my Father has sent me, even so send I you”; that is the position you are placed in; that is the light governing the position. Having said this “he breathed into them”; that fits you for the position. The great thing is to cultivate faith.
Rem The breathing into the disciples was that they might be qualified to take up the new position.
JT That they might be here as sent by Christ as He was here as sent by the Father, He says, “Receive ye the Holy Spirit”.
Rem In His Spirit they would be here.
JT It is more than the Spirit as power.
TMG It is the Spirit of that Man.
Ques What would be the difference between that and the spirit of sonship?
JT Well, I think the Spirit sent into our hearts is because of family relationship; Galatians 4: 6. It involves intelligent affections.
JCS Christ is seen as the last Adam, in John 20. He is breathing into a generation who are to be the reflection of Himself.