THE HOUSE OF GOD (2)
THE HOUSE OF GOD (2)
JT In continuation of what we have been saying together on a previous occasion as to the house of God, I might remark that not only is a suitable moral state necessary for it as seen in Jacob, but as Exodus teaches us, if God is to dwell with men, it must be in that which is built according to His own directions. It seems clear from chapter 15 that the people had it in mind that He should have a dwelling, and there is good authority for the ordinary version that they would build a habitation for Him, “he is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation”. In chapter 25 God proposes it Himself “Let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them”. Note He uses the word sanctuary. Thus God indicated clearly that if He were to dwell with men it must be in that which is wholly according to His own mind; that is, there must be nothing of man or of human wisdom. Besides this, what is to be especially noted is, that whilst we have all the instructions as to the building, yet the actual construction of it did not begin until after Moses had acted as is recorded in chapters 32 and 33, which we read this morning.
JCS God had intimated His mind before that.
JT Yes, but the fact that the tabernacle is first pitched as separated from an evil scene is very significant. The man of God in that way emphasises the moral foundation of the system; it must be on the ground of separation from evil. That principle must be there.
FL The tabernacle which Moses pitched outside the camp was one that he in spiritual intelligence conceived would be suitable, and therefore the moral principles underlying what was given in the pattern [p. 415] on the mount were apprehended by the spiritual mind before it was actually formed.
JT That is what I was thinking, so that the principle of the judgment of evil marks the foundation of the system; I think this is what exercises our brethren here at the present time.
FL The whole thing suggests that spiritual intelligence acts on the first principles given us in Scripture. In Genesis 1 we get that God divided the light from the darkness, and really that principle governs everything in the divine sphere thereafter. I mean that what we get in these chapters 32 and 33 of this book is activity on that line, separating light from darkness.
JT Yes, and unrelenting judgment of the evil. It says, “Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Who is on the Lord’s side? let him come unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him. And he said unto them, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Put every man his sword by his side, and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbour. And the children of Levi did according to the word of Moses: and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men. For Moses had said, Consecrate yourselves today to the Lord: even every man upon his son, and upon his brother; that he may bestow upon you a blessing this day”. It occurred to me that, whilst the principle of separation is there, there is also the principle of unmitigated judgment of evil. I believe that in separating from what is evil there should be a testimony to the fact that God’s judgment is upon it.
BTF Would that be the unsparing judgment in ourselves of associations that would be contrary to God’s [p. 416] mind?
JT Yes, and doing violence to those with whom we are associated also; we do violence to them too, to their sensibilities, and it is to be made clear that this has to be done because of the judgment of God being on the flesh and all its works.
BTF Then I suppose it was that Israel as a whole had failed, and the tribe of Levi were faithful.
JT Yes, that is the point, and Levi is referred to later as having stood with Moses. He “said unto his father and to his mother, I have not seen him; neither did he acknowledge his brethren, nor know his own children”, Deuteronomy 33: 9. He disregarded all natural feelings and sensibilities on account of the rights of God.
ANW I suppose the point is, who is going to be your brother, companion, and neighbour under these new conditions. Every man is to slay his brother under the old conditions.
JT You do violence to those with whom you may have been associated in evil.
Rem It is not a question of natural sensibilities, but the fact that you separate from evil under every circumstance.
JT Yes, but you want to make it clear to those from whom you do separate, why you are doing so; and that if they stay there they cannot escape the consequences.
WCR What is the principle in the Levites separating themselves to Moses?
JT They proved themselves true. God takes account of that, as already pointed out.
HG They had used the sword wholly in defence of the flesh, but here a spiritual movement is indicated.
JT Instruments of cruelty were in their habitations (Genesis 49: 5), but in this chapter the sword is not used as an instrument of cruelty, but of consecration. This is a most important point at the [p. 417] present time.
JCS Speaking of using a sword in regard to others, I suppose the moral qualification to use it in that way is that we have first used it in regard of ourselves; and there is no moral power or ability to wield the sword in regard of others unless it has been applied to ourselves first. Is that so?
JT Quite, but the sword now is the word of God. I suppose Mr. Darby wielded it with great power throughout the camp, from gate to gate, in the different articles he wrote, in which he refuted error. “The Righteousness of God” was one of these.
CB Do you get the same thought on the day of Pentecost when they cried, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” (Acts 2: 37)
JT Well, yes, the whole camp has to be awakened. The thing has to be brought home to the camp by the “sword of the Spirit”.
WB-s Isaiah 8 says, “to the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them”. That is the test.
RSS In connection with what our brother was saying as to using the sword against oneself first in Hebrews 4, it says, “The word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight; but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do”. So if it become a question in regard to oneself, it is a sharp two-edged sword. You apply it to yourself; and you do violence to yourself; to your affection (your “soul”) and to your intelligence (your “spirit”). This has to be the first thing and that of which we are speaking would follow [p. 418] after.
JT I think so. Ephesians 6 would answer more to what we have been considering, “And the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God”. That would be the weapon of a Levite; it is the wielding of that which has already been proven in his own soul; the power of it has been felt there and he wields it in regard to the souls of others.
GWH I suppose, that if we use a sword against our brother we give him to understand why we do it?
JT Yes. The use of the word consecrate, which signifies to fill your hands, here, is striking, because it is connected with wielding the sword against their brother. In such case I apprehend one is agreeable to God, being filled with the spirit of judgment; the spirit of judgment against evil, as it is seen in Christ. He said, “The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up”. (John 2: 17) He was the delight of God in this respect as in all others. In zeal for God’s house He made the scourge of small cords and cleansed the temple. It was manifest to all why he did it. It is not only that I take sides with the Lord, but I consecrate myself by the use of the word.
BTF Would you say the tribe of Levi had a very special position afterwards because they answered to the claim of God at this critical moment?
JT Yes, it undoubtedly enhances their position for their later function.
RSS I do not think you finished what you began to say in regard to Mr. Darby.
JT I think he stands out as a Levite consecrating himself to the Lord upon his son and upon his brother, by the use of the word of God. He went from gate to gate of the whole camp; the whole of Christendom was moved because of the use he made of the word of God. The necessity for separation was made clear and all understood why the position was taken up; it was not a private one,
[p. 419] as simply involving individual right or liberty, but the rights of God. It is our right if the Lord allow us to meet together as a few; but this is not enough; if, however, it be a question of evil it has to be made clear that it is a matter of God’s rights. The sword must then he used, and it is felt when it is used as a witness of the judgment of God against that thing on account of which we have withdrawn.
FL I think your reference to Ephesians is important, because it seems to me that what had come in here while Moses was up in the mount was that the prince of the power of the air, he who was the ruler in connection with wickedness in high places, had introduced that which was native to the land of Canaan; that is, idolatry; he had brought it into the wilderness and he sought to overthrow the people there by that which was native to the land before they reached it, so that God would have to consume them, The principle that was involved was intensely vital.
JT Yes. Moses had come down from the mount with the testimony in his heart, of the universe that God had in His mind to establish, and the enemy anticipated him by corrupting the people so as to defeat the divine thought, and hence the faithfulness and energy of Moses are emphasised here. The position of the saints today may be said to correspond to this, because the church has become corrupted through the wiles of the devil, and even idolatry is found there; but the spirit of Moses, the spirit of faithfulness in the man of God in the house has brought about conditions in which God’s thought are made practicable. The mind of God must have that in which to display itself and separation in us or by us affords to God a means of communicating His mind, of expressing his thoughts; the same principle of separation from evil holds good now and carries with it when acted on, the favour of [p. 420] receiving light from God, so that there really is no change. The pitching of the tabernacle outside the camp, however few may be connected with it, affords an opportunity to God of unfolding His thoughts, and this principle will, I apprehend, go on to the end; whilst there are those, however few, who are answering to this, there is that in which God can unfold His thoughts. We read that when Moses had pitched the tabernacle outside the camp, “The Lord talked with Moses” and spoke to him “face to face as a man speaketh unto his friend”.
FL That is very important, and in connection with it one rather suspects that the reason Levi was perpetuated was due to this. The Levites appear with Ezra and Nehemiah and also in Malachi; they appear too when the Lord was on earth in Zacharias, and in Barnabas; he was said to be a Levite.
JCS Would the action on the part of the children of Levi show moral qualification for priesthood?
JT I think it did. Of course Aaron was already selected but the reference to it in Deuteronomy 33 would show, I think, that God attached importance to their action, and He says later in Malachi “my covenant was with him of life and peace”. (Malachi 2: 5).
JCS It is a divine principle that the moral always precedes the official. When God invests with the official He would impart a moral character equal to what He gives officially.
FL Would you not go further, that after the official is gone the moral is still found there?
JCS That is how things work out, the moral is greater than the official.
RSS I did not catch at the beginning of our meeting what was said in regard to Moses taking the tabernacle and pitching it outside the camp. I think something was said to the effect that the [p. 421] tabernacle proper had not then been made. What was it that was pitched outside?
JT It was remarked, that whilst in chapter 33 it was not the actual tabernacle which is referred to in chapter 40, yet the fact that he took the tabernacle and pitched it outside the camp showed that he had the idea in his heart from the mount and that the fact that it took place before the actual structure was reared up shows that the assembly, which in principle is the great moral tabernacle, is founded on the principle of separation from evil.
RSS What is your thought as to the tent which was actually pitched outside?
JT Some special tent that he called “The tent of meeting”. There God could meet with His people.
RSS The divine thought then that the tabernacle sets forth, is a universe according to God and that should be found in our hearts now, and finding a place there, we shall act in accord with it. That is the moral effect that this light should produce on us.
JT You say virtually, ‘This cannot be connected with a system leavened with evil’.
JCS The tent that Moses pitched outside represented for the moment the light of God; and every one rallied to the point where divine light was secured.
JT Quite so; and then you have the communications; God as it were, commending the action. It is said, as we have already quoted, that the Lord spoke unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend; that showed how God approved the action of His servant.
RSS It was, I suppose, the greatest moment in the history of Moses. It says in regard to his death at the end of Deuteronomy, “And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face”. (Deuteronomy 34: [p. 422] 10).
FL I would like to suggest that the position established by Moses in the tabernacle being pitched outside the camp was answered to after the death of Christ, when Israel lay under the fearful guilt of it; the disciples were all with one accord in one place, really outside the whole camp of Israel, to which the moral guilt of the death of Christ attached, and the Spirit of God came and identified Himself with them in that outside place, and baptised them into one body, which became the new element from henceforth so that really what we see on the day of Pentecost is very similar to what we see with Moses. It embraced all the moral element that remained after that fearful deed.
WB-t And it is very interesting in connection with that, that the number of men secured for God on the day of Pentecost is three thousand seeming to indicate that where the sword is turned against the natural affections which come in to hinder the Spirit that there is recompense, and one is abundantly compensated for it in the assembly. Is that right?
FL I should think so. There was that which answered spiritually to that which had gone under judgment of the flesh.
WB-t So what we may have lost in wielding the sword is given back to us in the assembly; three thousand men are found in the assembly on the day of Pentecost.
WB-w Does the rearing up of the actual tabernacle depend on what Moses did here?
JT I think so, because the idea of the assembly is that it is called out. Those who form it have judged that from which they have come, that which they have left. I think that is a principle that lies at the foundation of the assembly.
WB-w So we could not have chapter 40 without chapter [p. 423] 33.
JT The sin of the people led to the development of a principle that fits in with the rearing of the structure. Thus God always triumphs over sin.
WCR Why does he call it the “tabernacle of the congregation”?
JT God would meet with His people there. It was a meeting place. The “tabernacle of witness” is a different idea, it was that in which God sets forth His testimony. The tabernacle of the congregation is where He meets men and has communion with them.
ANW In the anti-type there is nothing sectarian.
BTF Hebrews 13 comes in in regard to that: “Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp”.
JT It is a parallel passage to this: “Jesus, also that he might sanctify the people with his own blood suffered without the gate”.
JCS Then the glory and light of these divine communications of which you have been speaking are only available as we are morally apart from everything inconsistent with what God has revealed. So the principle of separation must be effective in our souls before these things are available for us.
HG In regard to the Lord Jesus Himself, who really was the tabernacle; “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1: 14); all the light of God was in Him and every element out of which the tabernacle is made is simply the colour that Christ takes in the saints. So, where that is maintained in practical separation from what is not holy, the light is still here.
WB-s Hebrews 7, in speaking of the Lord Himself says; “who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners”. That characterised Him. I was thinking in regard to the tabernacle of the congregation and the tabernacle of witness, the first is spoken of in the beginning of Leviticus, the other [p. 424] in Numbers. In Leviticus it is the tabernacle of the congregation, the Lord speaks to Moses out of that. Would you say that it is the thought of communion (the sacrifices, etc.) that Leviticus opens up; whereas in Numbers it is the testimony in the wilderness?
JT In Leviticus God is setting Himself in the tabernacle in order to be approached. There is a meeting place established, a very precious thought; whereas in Numbers it is not only the tabernacle, but the tabernacle in the wilderness. The word wilderness is not found in the opening verses of Leviticus. The point in Leviticus is not where the people are, but the circumstances under which God meets them. It is the simple fact that He does meet them; whereas in Numbers it is the outward position and the order suited to it. “The Lord spake unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tabernacle of the congregation”; it is also called the tabernacle of witness, when it is a question of what God sets forth publicly. In regard to the judgment of sin, that came to light in the death of Christ, but Luke in the opening of Acts enlarges on the positive side of things, so it is said, that for a period of forty days the Lord was seen of them, and that He showed Himself alive by many infallible proofs; and then it adds; “being assembled together with them”. The latter is a beautiful touch! He laboured during these forty days, not now to press upon them the judgment of evil, but to acquaint them with what was spiritual, to instruct them and form them in a positive way in regard to the new system “speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God”, and giving commandments through the Holy Spirit. That leads up to what is typified in chapter 40 of this book; in verse 33 it says, “So Moses finished the work”. There must be that side. God’s holy judgment of sin is all important, as we [p. 425] have been seeing, but it is not all; there must be the positive. In Acts 1 there is an outline of the material for the new system, and only of that, but of that material as in order, for formation had already begun. So the Lord is seen as assembled with them. The word assembled there is very suggestive.
FL There is another beautiful touch along that same line in 2 Thessalonians 2, where Paul in speaking, as it were to us in these last days, on the line of instruction and encouragement, says: “Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him”. It shows the thought is continuous; in Acts 1 we see it at the outset, and at the very close there is the same thought suggested; it is the assembling together unto Him. I think it is beautiful to see it in both connections.
JT The thought of assembling is very instructive in that way, because it is not merely that we meet together, but the principle of assembling is indicated. As assembled with them the Lord in effect says, ‘Now I want to impress upon you that everything must be in the energy of the Spirit of God’. That is the next point to note; He “commanded them that they should ... ... . wait for the promise of the Father”. He would indicate to them first what the assembly should be by the fact that He assembled with them: that is to say, He would show them by that act what the assembly involved; and then He says, you must wait for the Spirit; “ye shall be baptised with the Holy Spirit after now not many days”; in other words, everything in this new structure is to be in the energy of the Holy Spirit Then after He ascended from them, the disciple who saw Him ascend, returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet. According to the gospel narrative, Luke 24: 50, 51, He ascended from Bethany, but according to the Acts He ascended [p. 426] from mount Olivet. Olivet, I think, is suggestive of the Spirit, and they returned from thence unto Jerusalem and went tip into an upper room; that is, they show that they have the mind of God in their hearts; that Christianity is not to be set up in connection with public building, or consecrated structures, but in an upper room; and it adds “where abode both Peter and James, and John”, and all the others; they dwelt together. Then Peter stood up and spoke in the midst of the disciples, not as he did in the next chapter to arraign the public body with the murder of Christ, but as an oracle among the brethren, saying that one should be appointed to be witness with them of the resurrection. “It is necessary ... ... that of the men who have assembled with us us all the time in which the Lord Jesus came in an went out among us ... ... one of these should be a witness with us of his resurrection”. The Scriptures too are appealed to as the authority, so two were appointed and the decision placed in the hands of the Lord, and the lot fell on Matthias. Thus you might say, the positive system was established, as the handiwork of Christ; it was His work. It is finished and now they are all together with one accord in one place in the upper room, and the Holy Spirit came from heaven with the sound of a rushing, mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. In that way I think we have before us the answer to the antitype of Exodus 40. On the day of Pentecost the saints were not only there, but they were there in such unity and order that the Holy Spirit could come in; God came and took up His abode there.
JCS So the Lord really produces this wonderful system and attaches Himself to it, filling it with His glory; everything there is in divine order.
RSS Exodus 40 closes with the glory of the Lord filling the tabernacle. Do you think that what [p. 427] answers to that is the presence of the Holy Spirit here now?
JT Yes. The coming in of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost was a most momentous occurrence. The Spirit carefully records the conditions that existed before it occurred. It says, “And when the day of Pentecost was now accomplishing, they were all together in one place. And there came suddenly a sound out of heaven as of a violent, impetuous blowing, and filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them parted tongues, as of fire, and it sat upon each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gate to them to speak forth”, Acts 2: 1, 2.
HG Is that the same as the holy anointing oil with which Moses anointed the whole tabernacle?
JT Well, I suppose the Holy Spirit sitting on them would be that; but then the glory, the presence of God Himself has to be taken account of by itself. Ephesians 2 presents this great fact more formally; God dwelling here in the assembly in the Spirit.
HG The anointing would exclude everything that marked them naturally.
JT Yes, and they spoke of the wonderful works of God.
RSS We have often heard precious ministry in connection with the conditions which existed at the time of the Lord’s birth; you are now calling our attention to the conditions that existed on what we might call the birthday of Christianity.
JCS The moral attributes of God were so fully answered to in the early chapters of Acts, and the effulgence of what He is shone forth so clearly that “of the rest durst no man join himself to them”, Acts 5: 13; and the same principle is perpetuated here today; although external conditions are different the principle is the same, is [p. 428] it not?
JT I think we want to reach that point. It cannot be called recovery unless we have got back to first principles, and recognise that these principles are now applicable. The workable thing is the great point with God, and so in the recovery with Ezra and Nehemiah divine principles, in a limited way, of course, were seen to be practicable again.
BTF What we get in the closing verses of Exodus is a type of the dwelling place of God being established on earth outside the systems of men.
JCS Referring to your remark as to divine principles being workable, it was suggested at the beginning of the meeting that God laid down a cardinal principle in the opening chapter of Genesis, that light and darkness could not reside together. God re-establishes the same principle in connection with His people Israel, that these two elements cannot run on together, cannot mix. Then when you come down to the presence of the Lord Jesus on earth, we have the display of the same principle in its very highest conception. In Acts we have it again; and in 2 Timothy the principle is also maintained when things break down externally; and finally the lake of fire will be the abiding witness that light and darkness are eternally separated. Now I judge God is bringing about in the souls of His people today a moral answer to all this.
DR Do you not think we ought to be able to take account of ourselves together today as fruit of the revival of these first principles?
JT I think the great exercise now is that we should be together in a positive way, according to what we get indicated in Acts 1; that two or three of the assembly can assemble, not claiming to be the assembly surely, but nevertheless having the spirit and principles seen there; the Lord “being assembled with them”. I apprehend He taught [p. 429] them how to assemble, and so today, having this light, it remains to us to assemble.
JCS God has been pleased to bind up all His greatest and most precious thoughts there, and the assembly involves our being together to lay hold of the highest divine conceptions.
RSS And so if two or three even are assembled as you speak of it now, and are in accord with what it involves, they have the Lord’s presence with them.
JT I think that is it. He assembles with us. We do not claim any public position, of course; we cannot, but in a private way these things are available, and therefore during the forty days the Lord was upon earth after He was risen He was engaged, not so much in impressing on His disciples the judgment of sin, for that had all come out at the cross, but in building them up in that which was positive, in that which He was as risen from the dead. He manifested Himself to them week after week, I believe, to impress upon them the order of man that He was, or is now; thus the education of these forty days was intensely spiritual; for the Lord appeared to them in a spiritual way; He came in through closed doors, and stood in their midst. I believe it was a season of spiritual education They were taught how to look at things spiritually. The want of this is the great weakness now. I know it is so with myself. I feel how unspiritual I am; how little one is accustomed to dwell on spiritual things and to understand them.
WB-t There is such a thing as viewing the things of Christ as ordinary, and having no spiritual power in one’s thoughts. The breaking of bread should lead to spirituality.
JT The Corinthians were evidently unacquainted with the spiritual, although they had the Spirit. The apostle has to describe a spiritual man to them.
“He that is spiritual”, he says, “judgeth all things, and yet he himself is judged of no man”. And then in the next epistle he says; “I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago (whether out of the body, I cannot tell; God knoweth). Such an one caught up to the third heaven”. That implied that they did not know such a man as that. Such knowledge is outside the realm of natural sight and perception. Well, that was set before the Corinthians in order to move them out of the material and fleshly way of looking at things that marked them.
DR Referring to the spiritual education they received during the forty days, is it on that ground that Peter can say, “Ye also as lively stones are built up a spiritual house”?
JT As to the real enjoyment of Christianity, it is spiritual. There is that which is external, but if I do not touch it spiritually I do not get the good of it.
ANW It is remarkable that that period of spiritual education was before the Spirit was given.
JT But the Lord was here, and, although He says, “a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have”, yet He was in a spiritual condition; that is, a condition that was not bounded by natural laws. Before His death the Lord, one might say, speaking with the utmost care and reverence, came into the realm of natural laws, although there was a constant testimony that He was above them, for He made them, but in becoming man, He submitted to them in grace. He observed them, but at times His glory shone forth.
FL Walking on the water, for instance.
JT Nevertheless, coming into the realm of them He generally limited Himself to them, but after He rose from the dead, He took a condition outside of them, so we are told that when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, Jesus came [p. 431] and stood in the midst, and yet He was a real man. Now all that was intended to impress upon them that He was in a new condition altogether, and going in and out amongst them during the forty days would be calculated to impress that upon them, and would lead to a desire to join Him as He was. When they received the Spirit after He had gone up into heaven they entered into all this; they had part with Him in a spiritual way.
JCS The spot where the assembling takes place, and where the Lord Jesus impresses us with the blessedness of what He is, is a sphere, I judge, where the sword has been laid aside. The company taking these things up have had to use the sword, I mean in the place of judging sin, but are brought in their spirits to a scene where they can dispense with the sword, where everything is morally in accord with what He is.
JT I think the foundation of the house is laid where the sword is sheathed. It was suspended over Jerusalem, but not over the threshing floor of Oman the Jebusite, David had offered up sacrifices there, and there the sword was sheathed, and David said, “this is the house of the Lord God”, 1 Chronicles 21: 26, 27; 22: 1.
JCS The sword suggests what is destructive, Here we have what is constructive.
JT Quite so. During the forty days it is the building up of what is spiritual, so Peter says, “to whom coming as unto a living stone, ye also as lively stones are built up a spiritual house”,
FL I was struck by what you were saying as to the Lord instructing them as to the assembly and what it embraced; the Lord Himself does things in accordance with principles which are divinely laid down. In Psalm 22 He says, “I will declare thy name unto my brethren in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee”; and in Hebrews 2,
“[p. 432] Both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the assembly will I sing praise unto thee”. That is a great principle, and the Lord during the forty days acted on it and He instructed His disciples according to it. Now it seems to me we never can reach the full height of privilege that there is in assembly unless we discern that the Lord always moves on that line; that He is in pre-eminence. Our assembling together is unto Him, and He acts, and governs, and instructs along those lines.
RSS It was evident that the Lord had difficulty, if one might speak that way, in holding them on the lines that He was on, because He speaks to them about tarrying at Jerusalem until they should receive the promise of the Father, and then they at once say, “Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom unto Israel”? The Lord then says, “It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Spirit is come upon you: and ye shall he witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem ... ... and to the uttermost part of the earth”. They did not apprehend the spiritual line upon which He was.
JT But He held them to what He had before Him.
GWH Do you think that these we read of in Acts 1 were in the good of Ephesians 2: 22, when they got the Spirit?
JT I think they were, although the full truth of the house had not yet been unfolded.
GWH The Lord was seeking to impress upon them the kind of man He was, but do you not think He was impressing upon them what kind of men they were in order to assemble?
JT [p. 433] I think He was instructing them that they were of Him. He held on to His line, and it says, “having said these things, he was taken up”. Then it says of them, “they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called the mount of Olives, which is near Jerusalem a sabbath day’s journey off. And when they were come in to the city, they went up to the upper chamber, where were staying both Peter, and John, and James, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas, the brother of James”. They showed by their action in returning to the city that they had profited by the instruction. It does not say He told them to go there, but the fact that they did go proves that they had gained by their spiritual education.
WB-w Is it not significant that the Lord Jesus during those forty days instructed them by the Spirit as a Man, “after that he through the Holy Spirit had given commandments unto the apostles”?
JT That is another point of importance. It would teach them how things were to be. It is not said of Him before, although He did teach and minister in the power of the Spirit during His lifetime, but it is emphasised here.
Ques Is it not important to see that He led them out as far as to Bethany?
JT That is in keeping with Luke’s gospel narrative.
Rem I thought it indicated that Bethany was the scene of ascension.
,I .T. But he goes up from Olivet here.
WB-t A suggestion of the Spirit. I notice you have been strongly pressing upon us the Spirit of God through out the afternoon. So I believe what has come out in regard to the difference in the [p. 434] teaching of the Lord and His assembling with the disciples during the forty days is of the very utmost importance. They did not have power, but they had the Lord there with them, and later they got the power. It says, “ye shall receive power”, and I think we want to realize that we have received power. The Lord today is at the right hand of God and we can only comprehend by the Spirit what it means to have a Man there.
WCR I remember hearing it said that the Spirit in a sense did notdwell in every believer.
JT I think that is right too. Every believer has the Spirit, but dwelling means that there is nothing there to grieve or distress Him. I think the conditions of the dwelling are seen here, in that He sat upon each of them. Sitting on each meant that He was complacent there.
JCS Where there is dwelling, building up is a simple matter. That is, the Spirit has come, and every person who has received the Spirit has received in initial form every quality found in Christ. These qualities have to be developed in us, and where the Spirit is restful I judge it is simple to go on with the construction of Christ morally in our souls.
JT The positive education of the saints in what the disciples were educated in during the forty days, is of the very last importance now, because although we may have right ground and public order, yet unless we are spiritual there is no real enjoyment of assembly privilege; nor is there any drink offering for God, because it is in those who are consciously accepted that God has His pleasure.
WB-t And you might add no real power.
JT No; no real power for testimony.
DR It is very important then that the Spirit should be ungrieved, and not quenched in our midst.
WB-w Where does the work of Aholiab [p. 435] and the wisehearted men come in in the construction of the tabernacle?
JT I think that is seen in those employed in the building now. Paul says, for instance, “As a wise architect I have laid a foundation”. That wisdom was given to him by the Spirit, but he adds, “Let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon”; that is, he led the way in the building and those who followed should build in accordance. It is well to take account of how other men do things, men who have spoken unto us the word of God, and who have departed to be with the Lord. Those who have known them have a great advantage, because they have learnt from them how the thing was done, and that is important.
WHF The Lord was instructing them during the forty days as to their association with Him. He was risen from the dead and in a new condition of humanity, and He was instructing them that they were now of His order.
JT You can understand the feelings of the disciples after the first day of the week, when Thomas was giving expression to his materialism. What feelings they would have! I can understand them saying, ‘Thomas, you have really missed it. If you had been here your soul would have experienced the blessedness of the presence of the Lord, a Man risen from the dead’. It is that which I feel we are all so defective in, spiritual apprehensions and sensibilities, and the lack of these inevitably leads to materialism.
WHF I thought of it in connection with the message the Lord sent by Mary to the disciples, that He ascended to His Father and their Father; His God and their God; that was the communication to them, but now they were together and it was on different ground; they are associated with Him as if [p. 436] His order.
JCS You were speaking of the Lord coming in in a spiritual way, and the way He would impress souls. I judge there is nothing so edifying, nothing builds us up like the presence of Christ. The greatest gift on earth cannot effect in our souls what the presence of Christ can.