READINGS AND ADDRESSES AT INDIANAPOLIS, 1924 - READING (2)
READINGS AND ADDRESSES AT INDIANAPOLIS, 1924 - [p. 217] READING (2)
Isaiah 44:28; Isaiah 45:1 - 13; Ezra 1 and Ezra 3
JT My thought is that Ezra presents the sovereignty of God as seen in the recovery of His people, and that Nehemiah is faithfulness in man. I suggested this passage in Isaiah because it sets before us the sovereignty of God, seen in the raising up of a vessel like Cyrus to accomplish His purpose. The service of the prophets is perhaps illustrated in this connection as much as in any other, that God had indicated the recovery of His people long before their captivity. Cyrus is spoken of here as Jehovah’s shepherd, who would perform all His pleasure. Isaiah was contemporary with Hezekiah, who reigned long before Cyrus.
HG “Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him, and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates, and the gates shall not be shut”. That refers no doubt to the overthrow of Babylon; Daniel 5.
JT The overthrow of that power by which the people had been held captive. God would use the Persian monarch in this service, and he would give him “The treasures of darkness”.
AFM Even before the complete breakdown and consequent captivity had taken place God announces a deliverance.
JT Yes. I think the faithful from Paul’s day onward might have anticipated the recovery of a remnant of the church. The mind of God, as to this, was disclosed. We get indications of it in 2 Timothy, and then Revelation 2 and 3 confirm this. The faithful in Isaiah’s day would be strengthened by this scripture. The testimony here is very remarkable: God loved His people and would act sovereignly, in [p. 218] providing for their deliverance in a Gentile king. Cyrus should also build Jehovah’s house.
Rem And the overthrow of idolatry is indicated.
JT That comes out here also. Chapter 44 ridicules idolatry in that a man would use one part of a tree to make an idol and use the other part to warm himself with. God is asserting Himself in His sovereign majesty in this section, “I am Jehovah”, He says, “The maker of all things”. Again, “I am the first, and I am the last, and beside me there is no God”. In the overthrow of idolatry you have the vessel who builds the house of God. So that the faithful from Isaiah’s time would be in the light of what God would do.
RSS A long period elapsed between the date of the scriptures read in Isaiah and those read in Ezra. According to the dates given in my Bible this period was about a hundred and eighty years. It is very remarkable that God should have given this prophetic statement so far in advance.
HG You are impressed with His sovereign forethought and resources.
JT His plans are laid long ahead. He is never taken unawares.
WCR The faithful in Paul’s day were in the light of recovery and hence would be sustained as declension set in.
JT Quite. The later epistles furnish the provision God would make for recovery, and then the book of Revelation gives us the whole history, so that the faithful in any period had in their possession the evidence that God would have His way. This is a great feature of prophetic ministry.
WB-s You see that in idolatry God is displaced, but in the house in Ezra His rights are recognised and those of the people who are recovered are provided for.
JT In Ezra the sovereign movement of God so [p. 219] that His purpose might be accomplished strikes you, especially in the beginning of the book. “That the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia”. We can readily see the links between this passage and Isaiah 45.
AFM In this movement God wrought in certain of His people, so there were leaders who were sympathetic with Him.
JT Ezra shows that the movement which resulted in the recovery of a remnant and the rebuilding of the house emanated from God, whereas faithfulness in man (the writer himself) marks Nehemiah. God can use extraordinary vessels. The fact that He can control a man like Cyrus, who, we may say, conquered the world, shows what God can do. As you see in Saul, “This man is an elect vessel to me”, (Acts 9:15) the Lord says; that is, He can bring down a man like Saul when the time arrives. It was no accident or afterthought, it was all done according to divine forethought. Saul had been long thought of; his forefathers had been taken account of.
WB-s Does the same principle hold good now in the assembly?
JT Yes, the sovereignty of God sobers you, and whilst it sobers you, it reminds you that you can count upon God, and then it encourages you, because you know He will have His way, whatever man may do.
WCR Would the fact that He touches the heart of a king and moves him to act sympathetically in relation to the house of God bring this out?
JT All that goes on is under His direction. Nothing occurs without Him, so that in the course of the history of the assembly, political conditions ran concurrently in the history of the world, and God controlled them. It is an immense thing to get into one’s soul the understanding of the sovereignty of [p. 220] God; that He is omnipotent, that everything is made to move in relation to His purposes. Now, in the book of Ezekiel, we have the prophet by the river Chebar among the captives. That is where he was. He had visions of God, he says: a wonderful display of power; he describes the four living creatures that were under the firmament, and then he says — “And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne ... and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a Man above upon it”, Ezekiel 1:26. Well, that is what God had; and it was far away from Jerusalem. God is sovereign and He has that, and the prophet whom He is to use has to understand that this wonderful display of power is God’s. He can use it as He pleases, it is entirely subservient to His will. Israel having utterly failed, God maintains His government by other means.
AFM The living creatures were directed by the Man above all.
JT Quite; we are reminded of Acts 9, where Christ in heaven controls all.
JB So that there is the reference, “From the loins upward” and “From the loins downward”. All that array of power is subservient to God, for He never changes His nature. Would you say the wheels there mentioned are subservient to carrying out God’s will?
JT Yes; the King’s government must go on, as is often remarked in Great Britain. That is the principle of the book of Ezekiel.
AFM “They turned not when they went; they went every one straight forward”, Ezekiel 1:9.
JT Yes, and withal they are marked by intelligence, strength, firmness and rapidity.
AFM The principle of sovereignty should be learned by us early in our Christian experience.
JT And that God governs, and His government [p. 221] must go on; if one instrumentality fails He will take up another. He prepares beforehand for all contingencies.
JB He will unchangeably carry out His purpose. Any one in the light of that would be restful.
GWW Thus the saints being in the light of God’s sovereignty are sustained in faith in the trials which may come upon them in the course of His governmental ways.
JT We are not told in Isaiah how many years should elapse till the end of the captivity, but as time went on, Jeremiah was raised up, a “weeping” man, a man of sympathy, and the Spirit of God discloses to him that seventy years should be accomplished. This would be a further sustainment of faith, as it brought the deliverance nearer and the land had its sabbaths in the meantime.
AFM In the light of this a man like Daniel would be stirred and be able to pray for the release of the captives.
JT Exactly. Those who had faith were sustained by the light of the prophets. Daniel said he “understood by books”, (Daniel 9:2); he had read the Scriptures, which is the thing, if we are to be sustained in our souls in pressure and adversity. Daniel understood by books that the time set for the accomplishment of the desolations of Jerusalem was seventy years, and so he prayed.
RSS Daniel says — “In the first year of Darius, the son of Ahasuerus of the seed of the Medes, which was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans; in the first year of his reign, I Daniel understood by books the number of the years, whereof the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet, that He would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem”, Daniel 9:1,2. That is already announced, but he wants to know more. He wants to know the end from the beginning, so that instead of seventy years,
he gets seventy weeks — “Seventy weeks are apportioned out upon thy people and upon thy holy city”, Daniel 9:24. He gets that light through prayer. The seventy weeks were seventy weeks of years.
JT Daniel through books was enlightened as to the mind of God, and then through prayer he obtains more light. Gabriel says, “At the beginning of thy supplications the word went forth, and I am come to declare it”, Daniel 9:23. He had come to make Daniel skilful of understanding.
WB-s That is very encouraging for all of us to read the Scriptures.
AL The book of Daniel corresponds with the book of Revelation in this respect.
JT John’s revelation is the outcome of his exercise for the whole assembly. We know he was a man who knew how to weep. It is the exercise before God as to what has come in that leads you to see how He meets all in His own sovereign way. John knew well enough, as knowing the Lord, that He could not go on with the evil. The book of Revelation discloses how it was met. The book was written for the assembly, and a special blessing flows from the reading of it, the hearing of its words and keeping of its things.
ST It is remarkable that the angel says to Daniel, “Thy people” and “Thy holy city”, Daniel 9:24.
JT The revelation to Daniel is from the standpoint of Israel; the revelation to John has the assembly in view. The apostles asked the Lord as to future things as they sat over against the temple, and the Lord unfolded to them the whole history. We have much more assurance in our testimony and service when we see the end from the beginning. Hence the importance of understanding the prophetic word.
GWW In the light of purpose, Joseph’s brethren had to bow down before him. Although his brethren [p. 223] envied him for the prophetic utterance, his father “kept the saying”, Genesis 37:11. Jacob had faith. While the end is not yet reached, we are sustained in the faith of our souls, we know that God is working out His purpose; in this light we walk.
JT Jacob observes the saying; he was not indifferent to it. Later he outlines the history of the tribes in a prophetic way.
Rem He has the light of the coining salvation in Joseph.
JT “I wait for thy salvation, O Jehovah”, Genesis 49:18. Knowing the mind of God, faith waits.
HG Jacob waited for God’s salvation. This would be in the light of sovereignty.
Rem What is the meaning of “The word of the Jehovah tried him” Psalm 105:19 (Joseph)?
JT It was for his own education: “Until the time when what he said came about, the word of the Jehovah tried him”, Psalm 105:19. He had the light of the mind of God, but was tested in awaiting the fulfilment of it.
GWW All through, the light of God’s purpose must have been a very great sustainment to his soul. We may be tried by what is going on, but God’s light sustains our souls. It does not alter the faith of our souls because we are looking forward to the end that God has set before Him.
JT The great thing is faith. “These all died in faith” Hebrews 11:13. — God takes account of that.
GWW You cannot shake the man that has it.
EGMcA By faith Noah and his house were saved. Faith takes us out of the world.
JT In this section of Isaiah, God is brought in in His sovereign majesty and faith lays hold of this. “Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth fainteth not, neither is weary?”. Woe to him who quarrels with Him!
Chapter 45: 9 says: “Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker”. There must be no rebellion against the sovereignty of God.
HG So that you would impress upon us the necessity of the saints apprehending the purposes of God, and His sovereign resources in fulfilling them. “All things work together for good to them that love God”, Romans 8:28. We are in His secret, but the time is being filled in by perfecting us through discipline.
JT God works out His purpose in us as we are subject. “Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashioned it, What makest thou? or thy work, He hath no hands. Woe unto him that saith unto his father, What begettest thou? or to the woman, What hast thou brought forth?” Now you have there what is most important, that is to say, regard for God, and for all the instrumentalities through which He works out His ways and purposes. Then He says, “Ask me of things to come”, and so on. We get His mind through asking; and then, He brings in Cyrus to build the city and release His captives (verse 13). Then faith says, “Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself, O God of Israel, the Saviour” Isaiah 45:15.
AFM We must know the grace of God and the love of God and then we are prepared for the counsels of God; we know what He is doing.
JT Here the people of God are in captivity. How are they to be delivered? God does that. That is an inducement to prayer to God. It brings in sovereignty. That is found in Ezra. It is faithfulness in man in Nehemiah.
JB The material that comes to God’s hands has been already prepared for His use; Ezra 1.
WB-s 2 Timothy 2, says, “Let every one who names the name of the Lord withdraw from iniquity”, 2 Timothy 2:19 Would that be the preparation?
[p. 225] JT Well, quite. What Timothy had received was to be delivered to faithful men. In considering Ezra, the first thing to be recognised is the sovereignty of God. He carries on His work and reaches His end; nothing can stay Him; this induces subjection of soul to God. We must begin with God.
AFM In chapter 7 we see that there had been much exercise with Ezra, but this was later.
JT The movement begins with God through Cyrus; it would be a humbling thing to a man like Ezra that the movement should begin with a Gentile. It says, “In the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying, Thus saith Cyrus, king of Persia, The Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and He hath charged me to build him an house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah”. Then Cyrus urges all God’s people to go up to Jerusalem, saying, “He is God”. Thus God is fully owned. The great movement of the last century leading to the recovery of the saints, was God’s. Faithful men appeared, but the initiative was God’s; the Reformation, so called, was also God’s work.
GWW There is no such thought on God’s part that while His people are waiting for the carrying out of His purpose, they should sit idly. They should make preparation. God, by His Spirit, is preparing a people to be suitably responsive to Him when His purposes are effected. Ezra is really the outcome of the exercises of Daniel. Morally it is the same today. There must be the exercise of Daniel before any man like Ezra can come.
JT Quite: but the initiative is entirely with God; He stirred up the spirit of Cyrus and that of the fathers of Judah, and so on (verse 5). Then you have the [p. 226] list in the second chapter of those who went up. It says, “Now these are the children of the province that went up out of the captivity of those which had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away unto Babylon, and came again unto Jerusalem and Judah, every one unto his city”, Ezra 2:1. God had been working in them.
GWW I think that today there is an exercise going on among the people of God who may be in the light of God’s purposes but have to take account of things under God’s eyes. If the position that we occupy has any meaning it involves the light of His purpose, and a corresponding judgment on our part as to present conditions around us.
AFM Ezra 1: “The Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia”, and so on, and then in verse 5, “Then rose up the chief of the fathers of Judah and Benjamin”, and so on. It is a movement in response to God’s sovereign work.
JT It is what God does — “... whose spirit God had stirred”. We have his reference to the kingdoms which Jehovah, the God of the heavens had given him, and then he says, “Whosoever there is among you of all his people, his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of Jehovah”, and so on. So that it is God, and I think that what we ought to see is that the great revival of the last century was God’s work; and He is still working. That is the book of Ezra.
Ques Do you mean also the revival in the days of Luther?
JT Well, that was preparatory, it was all leading up to the truth of the assembly.
HG God’s work goes on today; the point is to be sympathetic with it.
JT Quite. The Lord says in outlining the history of things — “Who then is that faithful and prudent steward?” Luke 12:42. That is the call. A call is given for [p. 227] faithful and wise servants. Nehemiah treats more of the faithfulness of the servants.
HG The work of God underlies all; we see it in its results. He had wrought in a governmental way also in overthrowing the Babylonish power.
RSS It is an interesting question as to whether there was in Cyrus himself a work of God. Was it not true in Nebuchadnezzar and would it not seem to be true in Cyrus?
JT What is said of both these monarchs would indicate this. In a more striking way they illustrate the truth we are dwelling on — the sovereignty of God.
HG You were speaking of the gospel of Mark as not presenting an emergency movement. Is that in connection with Nehemiah’s side — that is, you are intelligent Godward in service?
JT Yes. There is a call for faithful and wise servants; but the great thing is to see that God never gives up; day and night, week after week, month after month, year after year, century after century the work of God goes on.
AL And that was the manner of God speaking according to Hebrews. Everything seemed to have been in the mouth of a prophet, so that we are struck with the number of the prophets.
JT There were something like twenty in Judah from Rehoboam to the captivity, and about half that many in Israel, showing the love of God in providing witnesses so that on the one hand, evil should be rebuked, and on the other hand, He should sustain His people through the revelation of His mind.
BTF Would you say a word regarding the rebuilding of the house? Is there any difference in the purpose of the building of Solomon’s temple and the building we have here? We have only the one building in actuality in Christianity; here we have the two.
JT What answers to the second building would [p. 228] be the revival of the truth of the assembly; the vessels were brought back; the saints delivered were available to the Spirit — they were available for the building, because the thought of God’s house is lost when the material is scattered or held in other systems.
BTF The truth of the assembly being recovered found a place in the hearts of men.
JT And through it the saints were brought together and built in practically.
WB-s There is just one house?
JT Yes, the same house all through, having a “former” and “latter” glory.
AFM It was in the seventh month — “From the first day of the seventh month began they to offer burnt offerings unto the Lord. But the foundation of the temple of the Lord was not yet laid”. The date referred to here is important in regard to the setting up of the altar.
JT It was a month rich in spiritual thoughts; in it were the feasts of trumpets, the atonement and tabernacles. It looked to the end rather than the beginning, but the truth of the house of God is in evidence. Those who went up are called “Children of the province” here — the people of God are found in the different nations occupied with their natural environments; the truth of the house of God leads to the understanding that we are “The children of the province”. It says, “Now these are the children of the province that went up out of the captivity of those which had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away unto Babylon and came again unto Jerusalem and Judah, every one unto his city”, Ezra 2:1.
HG What is the thought of the province and each one going to his city?
JT The “province” suggests that we have a common country, a heavenly one. “Our citizenship is in heaven”. This lays the basis for the house of God, and destroys all worldly national feeling. National feeling has a great deal of place with the people of God, whereas we should accept that we have a heavenly country. Jerusalem was their common centre or capital; the cities of Judah would represent local responsibility.
In the economy of the assembly we have “assemblies”. It is a remarkable thing that the Thessalonians did not imitate Jerusalem, but the assemblies of God which were in Judah; they were clear of metropolitan feelings.
ST As “children of the province” we do not belong to nations, do we?
JT But there is the idea of localities. “Every one unto his city”. No matter how large a city may be, or how influential, it is only an item in the house of God. The house of God is one whole, and the Lord is over it as Son. The Son sets us free in the house. Undue influence exerted by important worldly centres has always been a menace to the liberties of the saints. The Romish system is the full expression of it. There is wisdom in the political arrangement of this country. The capital is far away from the great centres of commercial influence. I believe it was set up in Washington purposely with the end in view, among other things, that the government should be preserved from the influence of commerce. I refer to this as an illustration only. The house of God should be kept free from the influence of any earthly centre. The centre of the house of God is really in heaven, and any other only tends to bondage.
HG In the tabernacle there were ten curtains, each had its own individual place. They were coupled. Does that maintain the universal thought?
JT Yes. In the outer covering of goat’s hair, the front curtain was doubled, whereas at the back, the half was hung over the rear, so that if in any [p. 230] locality there is excess of strength, that is held in relation to the whole. As the testimony moves on, those in front necessarily need more strength, they have more to meet, whereas one is in obscurity in the back; he is content to be there. He has got a very obscure place, but that is the arrangement. There was but one tabernacle. As having strength, some are in the lead; there may be moral weight and intelligence, but that is in relation to the whole; all is divinely ordered; nothing is accidental. “God has set certain in the assembly”, 1 Corinthians 12:28; all is ordered in relation to the whole assembly. Walking in this light we are preserved from metropolitanism.
BTF We have both the house and the temple named here; would you make any distinction between them?
JT Well, there is a distinction. The house of God is a catholic idea, you will find it in the catholic epistles. It is a general thought, including all the saints on earth. In it God’s direct government and the order which is suited to Him are seen. In the temple the mind of God is made known. We enquire in His temple. In Ephesians the saints grow to a “holy temple in the Lord”, (Ephesians 2:21) which has the kingdom in the future in view. In the many local companies or assemblies, catholicity is maintained because all are governed by the same principles: “So ordain I in all the churches”. It is very delightful to see “the children of the province” (Ezra 2:1) getting out of their varied conditions in which they were held captive and coming to Jerusalem.
GWW They came out of many different provinces in Babylon, but all in a sense entire, as well as belonging to one province.
JT The list shows how representative they were of the families of Israel. Besides there were priests, Levites and singers.
AFM Their coming up to Jerusalem with all [p. 231] this amount of wealth would suggest how the full truth of God was recovered, say a hundred years ago.
JT Yes, quite. “All they that were about them strengthened their hands with vessels of silver, with gold, with goods, and with beasts, and with precious things, beside all that was willingly offered”. “Some of the chief fathers, when they came to the house of Jehovah ... offered freely for the house of God to set it up in its place”, Ezra 2:68.
AFM I suppose in those early days they were living in the light of the truth like Ephesians?
JT Ephesians was the best read scripture in the early days, I have been told; I suppose that would enable us to correspond with the vessels that were brought back to Jerusalem. The responsible leaders having utterly failed, God Himself gathered His sheep and fed them with the best; He fed them on “the high mountains of Israel”. Ezekiel 34:14.
GWW God was recovered in the light of His purpose to the assembly. It is not simply that God is going to carry out His purposes, but in the meantime He is working in the souls of His people to make them suitable to His purpose when it is effected.
JT The light of the province spiritually understood would lead the saint to see that he belongs to heaven. The heavenly side was the feature at the beginning of the revival. The next thing is, Have I got wings? or Am I held by anything to the earth? Romans would come in to cut the tethers by which the saints were held.
HG In order to live in the light of the epistles to Corinth you need the light of Ephesians.
BTF Romans cuts the moorings by which you are held here.
GWW You apprehend the purpose of the Spirit of God in writing Romans when you have the heavenly position before you.
HG [p. 232] The light of Ephesians must have greatly stimulated the movements of the early brethren.
JT Romans takes account of the ways of God on earth: it is adjustment in view of the conditions consequent on sin existing. Ephesians is our light. “Arise, shine! for thy light is come, and the glory of Jehovah is risen upon thee”, Isaiah 60:1. It is the special light that belongs to us, and was restored.
HG I thought you had to travel the Roman road to reach Ephesus?
JT That is true, but it is the Ephesian saint that values it. In the recovery of the people of God, it is a great thing for them to know that they have a land. The great revival of a hundred years ago was not a gospel revival, it was an assembly revival. So with the Reformation. The Reformation was of God really, but it was Romans. They did not understand the assembly at all.
LDT Romans is the way to the place.
JT The saints were to arise and shine for their light had come, and they did, thank God. The twelfth hymn in our hymn book is really the presentation of it, that is, the whole position is illuminated by the heavenly position of the assembly. “All things” are made bright by the light of Ephesians.
HG In Ephesians 2 you are in the light of Christ and the assembly in heaven; corresponding with this, there is a place for God to dwell in down here.
JT That corresponds with the vessels here and “the children of the province”. We are in the presence of spiritual thoughts here — thoughts that enter into the truth of the house of God. Besides the various families represented in those recovered, you have priests, Levites, doorkeepers, singers and Nethinim. We may note the holy discrimination which marked the movement, for those who were unable to show genealogical registers were rejected. All this corresponds with the movement of the last [p. 233] century; it recognised Christ and the assembly and the presence of the Spirit here. Chapter 2 shows what preparation there was for the great spiritual service recorded in chapter 3. The priests (verse 70), Levites, singers, doorkeepers and Nethinim dwelt in their cities, and all Israel in their cities. Chapter 3 shows that spiritual intelligence and deliberation characterised this great movement. The seventh month was recognised and waited for, then, while recognising their local spheres, they were together as one man at Jerusalem.
HG From these facts we can understand the high moral level from which the house of God was reached in recovery.
JT The house of God was to be set “In its place”, Ezra 2:68; then the altar was set “On its base”, chapter 3:3. The whole position was tested. In these statements we are reminded of the beginning, although the seventh month points to the great end of the spiritual year. In this respect one often thinks of what there has been for the Lord, what there is and what there shall be. Practically our apprehension of the past and the future is in proportion to our apprehension of what there is.