THE KING IN HIS BEAUTY (4)
[p. 313] THE KING IN HIS BEAUTY (4)
CAM What was in your mind, in a general way, in connection with these chapters in Matthew?
JT To call attention to the King and the princes; that we might see Him as the remnant speak of Him in the Psalms, and as Isaiah speaks of Him; “the King in his beauty”. (Isaiah 33:17). Indeed, the Psalms should be read with this section because it presents the King to Israel, and brings out the remnant. The disciples here have to be viewed in relation to Israel; but in the next section in relation to the assembly. So you will observe here they are enjoined to go only “to the lost sheep of the house of Israel”, whereas at the end of the next section, the last chapter, they are sent to make disciples of “all nations”. (Matthew 28:19). So this section is the King presented to Israel, and if we read the Psalms in connection with it our hearts will be brought into unison with the exercise of the remnant in regard of the King. There is the statement; “I speak of the things which I have made touching the King”. (Psalm 45:1) We have covered, in a way, the first four chapters; but the next three, unfold the law of the kingdom, not exactly the law of the kingdom as it is established in relation to the assembly, but the law as it shall be in the millennium, and a law that is to be known beforehand by the remnant. They become thus a witness to the kingdom as having the law of it, and knowing Him who fulfilled the law, before the public establishment of the kingdom. These are points of the last moment in regard to a position of witness, before the public establishment of that to which you witness. The book of Revelation, of course, fits in because it shows the remnant with the Lamb on mount Zion, a hundred and forty-thousand, as there viewed administratively.
[p. 314] They follow the Lamb wheresoever He goes, and that is what these chapters unfold. They show the principle of following the Messiah; and, then, the authority vested in the twelve, not in regard of the assembly, but as preliminary to the setting up of the kingdom. You have, therefore, in this section the law of the kingdom and those who are commissioned to exercise the authority of Christ in His absence, covering the three and a half years prior to the establishment of the kingdom after the assembly is removed. There are to be witnesses of Christ. Indeed this ministry indicated in chapter 10 is to be resumed; see chapter 10:23.
CAM So that the witnesses by-and-by will connect intimately with the companions of Christ in His pathway here.
JT Yes, they are the continuation of this section. What follows in this gospel is parenthetical; that is, it is assembly history. This is not assembly history, but it is history of the greatest value to us indeed, it was written for Christians.
DR In the light in which you speak of the Lord in this way, would it be right to have in our minds at the present moment what God has said of Him, that He has set His King upon the holy hill of Zion?
JT That is what the Psalms begin with. The second Psalm gives us God’s purpose, and these chapters present the Messiah to us as He appeared among His people. But the Psalms give us what these chapters do not; namely, the exercise of the remnant in regard of Him, so that we have the beautiful expressions of Psalm 45; “I speak of the things which I have made touching the king”. That is the result, but from Psalm 2 and on you have witness, especially in Psalm 20 and Psalm 21, of the desires of the remnant in regard of the Messiah. In looking at it in that light there is gain for us, because we can come into line with their exercise. And then we [p. 315] see the legislation which the Lord has formulated, which is to govern the saints in this period; and then the authority for the enforcement of that law, for without authority to enforce a law the law must become a dead letter. I think the authority is in chapter 10, but the comparison of the Psalms with what we see here will show us that those commissioned were morally equal to the commission, because of their affection for the Messiah.
In the beginning of chapter 5, we read: “Seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him: And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit”. Now in Luke, in a corresponding passage, He lifts up His eyes upon His disciples and says, “Blessed are ye poor”. (Luke 6:20). They are more immediately before Him in Luke, whereas, while they are before Him here, it is not so much them that are in His mind as the general law, the law in its general application; so it is not ye poor, but, the poor here, whoever they are.
CAM Could you make that clearer?
JT When you specify who they are then you have them personally before you, but when you say, “the poor” it is the abstract and applies to any poor, so that in Matthew we have more the legislation, which would have general application.
AAT Why does He not teach the crowd?
JT Because He must first bring the disciples into accord with Himself by teaching; then the crowd will get the benefit through them.
WB-s It mentions the crowds being there.
JT Yes, but it is as seeing the crowds He went up into a mountain. It seems to me that the Lord, as it were, said that the crowd would not do. It is all well to have a great result from the ministry; but we must have law, we must have teaching, we must have principles, otherwise the crowd would not [p. 316] co-ordinate. The idea of a crowd is simply so many individuals, each with his own idea, but that does not comply with God’s thoughts.
CAM So the crowd is evidently different from those who follow the Lamb.
JT Quite. Those that follow the Lamb are numbered, but the crowds are not numbered. According to Luke, when the Lord fed the crowd He numbered them. He made them sit down by fifties.
WLP The crowd is to come into order and blessing through the disciples.
JT I think so.
BTF Is your thought to apply this to the present day; that souls, being helped, are brought into the assembly, into the sphere of order and rule?
JT That is the thing that we have to come to see. There must be a code of laws, or of principles, in every kingdom.
WB-s Now the question is rather the King and princes, as you were saying, and the crowd might represent democracy if they had power in their hands.
JT It comes through the King and the princes. That is the divine idea. So He takes the disciples up to the mountain, because they were to be the princes, the ones that were to rule, as it says, “in righteousness”. “A king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment”. (Isaiah 32:1).
ST They must come under His authority, and therefore recognise His authority here.
DR Is there not implied in this that the Lord sat there with the disciples around Him to indicate that the heads of Israel had refused him a place? As it says after His death, “had they” [the princes of this world] “known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory”. (1 Corinthians 2:8).
JT Yes, the princes of this world were already showing their hatred [p. 317] of Him.
EHT Is it true that the Lord, ignoring the crowd in a certain aspect here, wishes to bring in His own order, Himself as King, and the disciples as acting, under Him?
JT Yes, and for order, in the application of the law, there must be those numbered and known. There is a passage in Deuteronomy 33:6 which, I think, helps: “Let Reuben live, and not die; And let his men be few”. That is, as it says in the margin, that can be counted easily. If you have a large congregation, the likelihood is that you do not know them all. Now the idea of Christianity really is not a congregation, but an assembly. To some extent they are interchangeable words; otherwise an assembly involves mutuality. A congregation is so many people, not necessarily known to each other or co-ordinated.
AAT But there is a point when an assembly becomes, so to speak, a congregation, when the number is very large?
JT Yes. One idea of the assembly is that we all know one another. In Parliament, for instance, or in Congress, the members are known to one another. It is not an unordered crowd. Each one has a known status there, and there is mutual recognition and contribution.
GAT As we know each other we can bear one another’s burdens.
JT I think when a company gets so large that the individuals are not known and visitable, we lose the idea of the assembly.
EHT Does not Paul state that? He says, “that I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me”. (Romans 1:12).
JT That is it “mutual faith”. In Revelation 7, the saints are numbered and sealed. The number suggests administration. Then you have a host “which no man could number”, (verse 9) but they are not [p. 318] taken up for administration. The hundred and forty-four thousand are a known company, with limitations, and they follow the Lamb wheresoever He goes. Now you get that here.
CAM Administration in that day connects with the life of Christ here.
JT Yes, that is the point. We can see the features of the King coming out, and how He associates the remnant with Himself; and then legislates for them, teaches them, and then they become His princes; then they follow the Lamb wheresoever He goes, and the result is that they are seen with Him on mount Zion. Then you get their character, what they are as in entire keeping with the Lamb.
WCR Those who surrounded David in his rejection, became mighty because of association with him. They became what he was.
JT That fits in here, and the principles that the Lord unfolds in these three chapters are the principles that are to regulate His followers. And not only so, but they were to teach others what they had learnt; indeed, they had authority to enforce the principles of the kingdom. In a kingdom you have the legislative branch and the administrative branch. If you have not the administrative branch, the legislation must fall to the ground. These three chapters present to us the legislation; the following chapters bring in the administrative side.
BTF Are there not wonderful moral thoughts in chapter 5, that are very applicable and essential to us now?
JT Yes, the fact that this is written by one of the apostles of the assembly indicates that it was written for Christians; that it is for us, but its primary application is to Israel; “He came unto his own”. (John 1:11). The King’s relation with Israel and the remnant’s relation with the King are in view.
BTF [p. 319] Does the teaching of the Holy Spirit to the assembly at the moment go beyond Matthew 5; that is, what would be fulfilled in the way of righteousness in the believer, walking in the power of the Spirit, is found in Matthew 5, is it not?
JT To some extent; but you see the section that deals directly with the assembly begins with chapter 11. From chapter 11 onwards it is the kingdom in relation to the assembly, and therefore we have wider principles. Chapter 18 is the law of the kingdom in its relation to the assembly. These chapters present to us the law of the kingdom in its relation to Israel, looking on to the millennium.
WB-s In chapters 8 and 9, the Lord Himself is seen ministering in the way of cleansing and healing; and then in chapter 10 He calls “the twelve” and appoints them for that purpose also.
JT And the ministry presented in chapter 10 will be resumed after the assembly period. It is well to note that; that there is a regular system provided in view of the assembly’s removal, to carry on the testimony of God, and those who serve then shall have this instruction. They will not, I apprehend, take up chapter 18, but I have no doubt they will take up this section, to some extent at any rate; and they will have authority too to represent Christ, pending His own public appearance.
AAT Will there not be one thing lacking? They will lack that contact with the Lord which we see in this chapter, or shall they be in contact with the Lord?
JT The book of Revelation I think helps there. They follow the Lamb wheresoever He goes, and they are seen with Him on mount Zion. That does not mean that He is there personally at all. It refers to what is true in the faith of their souls, because it will be [p. 320] a faith period.
CAM Like the present time. We should follow the Lamb without His being personally with us. We have the written word to guide us.
JT Only we are seen in relation to the assembly; they are seen on mount Zion.
WCR Will mount Zion have the same meaning it has to us now?
JT To us it is a question of God’s sovereignty. We are said to have come to it. It is the principle on which we stand; but the hundred and forty-four thousand will have the literal mount Zion in view, because it is a question then of God taking up His rights on the earth. The Revelation has to do with the disposition of the earth. Christian epistles have to do with the assembly’s place in heaven. Hence mount Zion in Revelation is a question of God’s purpose regarding this earth. The populace celebrate the “God of heaven” (Revelation 11:13); but the point in Revelation is not that. The point is, that He is the God of the earth, and His purpose in regard of the earth is that mount Zion is to be the centre of rule, and the fact that the hundred and forty-four thousand are with the Lamb there shows that they are divinely instructed. The Lord has instructed them so that they have intelligence. In chapter 7, they are numbered and sealed; but in chapter 14, they are with the Lord; they are following Him, which shows that they love Him. It is not now their own needs, but the purpose of God that is in their minds, and the description given of them shows they are in every way in keeping with the Lamb; they have learned to sing a new and exclusive song. (Revelation 14:1 - 5).
EGMcA Is there a kindred thought between this mountain to which He goes and mount Zion?
JT In Revelation mount Zion represents the sovereign purpose of God. In the gospels, mountain is often in contrast with the plain, but there is usually the thought of separation and power connected with [p. 321] it. This may be called the mount of legislation. In chapter 17 we have the mount of transfiguration, which is said to be a high one.
EGMcA I was wondering if it would indicate the character of their witness and administration?
JT In this chapter it is rather a place of power and withdrawal from the plain below, the influence below — “Seeing the crowds”. It is I think, withdrawing the disciples from that influence so that they might be unhindered.
WB-s In Luke He speaks to them on the plain.
JT He goes on to the mountain in Luke to pray, that is what you get there. Then He chooses the apostles, and then comes down with them to the plain. That is Luke’s way, because it is a question of God coming to man in Luke, not the King exactly. So He descends with the twelve on to the plain, meaning that these twelve, as well as Himself, are for the benefit of men. That is the point in Luke; and so, after He comes to the plain, He lifts up His eyes on the disciples. Here it is not that. It is all on the mount; because He does not come down until the end of chapter 7.
GAT In order to live in power amongst the crowd we have to be on the mountain with Him first.
JT Not only that, but to get the benefit of the legislation and teaching. The greatest need among the saints is to come in for the good of the law that governs our position. I am not saying that these three chapters govern our position exactly, but the principle is that every position is governed by certain principles and the thing for us is to be instructed in these principles.
BTF You get them in chapter 5.
JT Well, there are principles throughout chapter 5 that have an application to ourselves. The Lord begins with, “Blessed”. What a richness there is in such a beginning as that! Certain ones are [p. 322] blessed, and they are not the rich, or those in advantage in this world, but the opposite. And then He indicates the position of the disciples, that they were “the salt of the earth”, and they were “the light of the world”. That was a great place. What an obligation would rest upon them as the Lord’s words fell upon their ears; that they were to be the salt of the earth; that they were to preserve things. There is a great point in that. How much am I preserving for God?
BTF You would apply it now?
JT Certainly. It is a question of what am I preserving for God, and what light shines in me. “Ye are the light of the world”.
GAT “Blessed are the poor in spirit”. What is the meaning of that?
JT Well, he is not living in anything that the flesh lives in. Even though he may have the things the flesh lives in, he does not live in them. As regards all that men live in, he is poor in spirit.
DR Referring to the hundred and forty-four thousand connected with mount Zion, the seat of the Lord’s kingly power and authority, they are found following Him as the Lamb there. Does that indicate the harmless character of His administration here?
JT Yes, and that He is a sufferer. The idea of suffering goes with the Lamb. The subject of the Lamb begins in Revelation 5. He is seen in the midst of the throne, but as slain. He suffered and so He opens the seals, because it is a question of the saints. The Lamb has the saints in His heart, and the opening of the seals brings them to light.
CAM It is remarkable that the Lamb is connected with the tribe of Judah; there is a correspondence with this gospel.
AAT There are chapters 8 and 9 to be considered.
JT I wanted particularly that we might have the principles that the Lord unfolded for the disciples [p. 323] before us. He brings in the law in Matthew 5:17, which cannot be abrogated. The law of God holds. Not one jot or tittle of it shall fail. The Lord’s own authority is next mentioned. “I say unto you”. That is to enforce His authority; and then He brings in the character of the Father. The Lamb’s Father is spoken of in Revelation. The remnant have the mark of the Lamb’s Father in their foreheads, and this chapter shows how they are to be like their Father. It will be a very great testimony in those days, when the assembly is gone, that the character of the Father will be presented in the disciples of Christ. They are to have the name of His Father in their foreheads. The others have the mark of the beast.
WCR You mean that they are to be intelligent as to the Father.
JT I think so The forehead indicates that, and it is the public confession too. It is what everybody can see.
GAT Do I understand there are going to be men here, after the assembly is gone, like Christ was Himself here?
JT Yes, in some way He makes Himself known to them and teaches them. They will not have the Holy Spirit; they will not be a body, the truth of the assembly will not be there; but the Lord will teach them and He will become an object of affection for them so that they follow Him.
EGMcA In connection with the King and the princes, is all in contrast to the present administrations in the world? Ofttimes you find administrators with a wide divergence of opinion from the King, but what the Lord is introducing here will set forth exactly every thought of the King.
JT I think that is very interesting. In this country and all countries the legislative branch of the government is not always in accord with the administrative [p. 324] branch. And so the Lord here is instructing His disciples in the principles that are to govern them in their administration, indeed these are the principles which shall govern the whole world in the future.
WCR And these principles that you get in chapter 5 were to mark the disciples. They were to have the same mind, feelings and sensibilities as the King.
JT Yes, and they are to be like their Father. He says, “But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who insult you and persecute you, that ye may be the sons of your Father who is in the heavens; for he makes his sun rise on evil and good, and sends rain on just and unjust”. Again, “Be ye therefore perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect”, (Matthew 5:44,45; Matthew 5:48). They are like the Father, and that is what government should be. If the sun is made to rise and shine on evil and good, and the rain comes down on the just and unjust, government should be in accord with this.
WB-s In the Psalms, the prayers of Israel are somewhat different from this, they pray for the destruction of their enemies; in Psalm 69, for instance, you get it very prominently. This is “Love your enemies”.
JT Yes, you do, and these chapters I think would show that the testimony of the remnant, pending the return of the King, shall be tempered by this teaching. Although the souls cry from beneath the altar (Revelation 6:9), in general, they are in keeping with the character of the Lamb. It is a time of suffering and moral superiority to the opposition. That is what should mark the witnesses, I think, pending His return. The retributive side of the kingdom is not presented here. It will be found in its own place.
CAM [p. 325] While they will not have the Lamb here personally, they will have this written record of His life, and there will be a connection with the heavenly saints.
JT Surely: when you come to chapter 6, you have access to the Father. They are to pray: “Enter into thy chamber, and having shut thy door, pray to thy Father who is in secret”. (Matthew 6:6). That will be open to them, and indeed He gives them the formula so they might know how to pray in those days.
Ques Is this teaching going on after the assembly is taken away?
JT This is teaching that will apply then. The Lord will put Himself in touch with the remnant and teach them along these lines, so that in result they come into an administrative position, and that is seen in Revelation 14. The hundred and forty-four thousand are with the Lamb on mount Zion, and if you will turn to that chapter you will see the result. You see we get their description. In the fourth verse it says, “These are they who follow the Lamb wheresoever it goes. These have been brought from men as first-fruits to God and to the Lamb: and in their mouths was no lie found; for they are blameless”. And then it says: “And I saw another angel flying in mid-heaven, having the everlasting glad tidings to announce to those settled on the earth, and to every nation and tribe and tongue and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God and give him glory, for the hour of his judgment has come; and do homage to him who has made the heaven and the earth and the sea and fountains of waters”. Now, you see, there is the basis of the everlasting gospel. It comes in after you see this administrative company with the Lamb on mount Zion.
CAM You were alluding to their prayers, and is not one beautiful thing about our present position,
[p. 326] as entering into the good of this, that we will be sympathetic with those prayers by-and-by?
WCR Sympathetic with the suffering remnant, and we learn that priestly service now.
JT We shall be in a priestly position; so in the beginning of Revelation 8, you have an Angel at the golden altar before God, making the prayers of all saints efficacious. Well, you can understand how this chapter would fit in there. If you enter into your closet and pray to God, the Angel, who is the Lord, the great High Priest, at the golden altar will take that up and make it efficacious.
EGMcA And is not that sympathetic attitude expressed in the formula? The first thing the Lord says is: “Let thy name be sanctified, let thy kingdom come, let thy will be done as in heaven so upon the earth”. (Matthew 6:9,10).
JT God’s name is first you mean?
EGMcA Yes, the kingdom coming and God’s will carried out on the earth.
JT Yes, think of the advantage in that. The remnant shall have access to God on those lines, and the Angel at the golden altar makes all these prayers efficacious; He has the incense.
WB-s Would you say Pentecost was a partial fulfilment of what is yet to come? That it was in a way the anticipation of it? Signs and wonders, miracles of healing, were seen at that time, but not to the full as we have in Joel. That is yet to come?
JT I think all this precedes the pouring out of the Spirit. The Spirit shall not be poured out during the period of the absence of Christ. It is the introduction of the millennial scene, really. But now in chapter 7, they are taught not to judge another. “Judge not”, He says, “that ye may not be judged; for with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you. But why lookest thou on the mote that is in [p. 327] the eye of thy brother, but observest not the beam that is in thine own eye?” (verses 1 - 3). He brings in the principle of judgment, but it is in regard of one’s self, and that helps you with the brethren. Chapter 7 is to show them how they are to be in relation with one another. Chapter 5 is the law, in a general way; chapter 6, prayer or access to God; and chapter 7 sets them in relation with one another. All these things shall go on, for you cannot have disciples here administratively without this instruction. We must know how to be in relation with one another, and we must not be on the line of judging one another.
CAM Think of Matthew in the great position he will have by-and-by, on the throne with others judging the twelve tribes; but, really, the thing starts with himself.
JT If you cannot judge and rule yourself you cannot judge and rule others. The point here is to set them in relation to one another, and, to begin with, you must not judge one another.
BTF Supposing there has been actual wrong done and you judge it?
JT That comes under the head of administration. This is to set the saints right in relation to one another, not to judge one another. There must be judgment of course. Princes are to rule in judgment; that is collective.
WCR This refers to a censorious spirit that may mark a man.
JT That must not be among God’s people. That is what the Lord shows here; then He goes on in chapter 7 with these instructions; and then He comes down from the mountain. I am not saying that this is all in these passages. He shows them in His own service how things are to be done in chapters 8 and 9. In chapter 4, His works of power are presented promiscuously and great crowds are the result; but in chapters 8 and 9 you have isolated [p. 328] cases, what you might call specific cases, to call attention to the way the King did things; and then in chapter 10, the disciples are formally named apostles, and endued with power, and sent out. They are now to do things.
CAM So, by following the order in these two chapters, you learn how the thing was done.
JT That is it. They have the law in their hearts, and they have prayer; they have access to the Father, and are right in relation to one another; and now the Lord shows them how He does things; and in chapter 10, the princes come in and what they are to do.
GAT If I have myself regulated with the Lord it will be much easier for me to be regulated with my brethren. I find it very much easier to pass judgment on my brother than on myself.
JT That is it. The apostle would not justify himself even though he had a good conscience. A good conscience in itself is not a vindication. He says, “For I am conscious of nothing in myself; but I am not justified by this: but he that examines me is the Lord. So that do not judge anything before the time, until the Lord shall come, who shall also both bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and shall make manifest the counsels of hearts”, (1 Corinthians 4:4,5).
GAT Now say a word about a case coming up that must be judged.
JT Let us be princes! If you get princes you will have right judgment.
WCR I suppose we little realise how mixed our motives are.
JT I think that is a remark worthy of note. Even the apostle would not trust his own motives.
WLP What would help us in regard to our motives?
JT Being in the presence of God. The word of God is said to be “living and operative, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and penetrating to the dividing of soul and spirit, both of joints and marrow, and a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart”. (Hebrews 4:12). It is being in the presence of God; so it is the word of God and prayer. The word of God exposes what is in my heart, and enables me to judge of my motives; and prayer is to be in keeping with that.
WLP That is more than knowing the Scripture.
JT It is the presence of God Himself, because it says: “All things are naked and laid bare to his eyes, with whom we have to do”. (Hebrews 4:13). Therefore it is being in the presence of God.
GAT Does that correspond to the salt of the earth?
JT It would. If one is in the presence of God there is no corruption. The salt has not lost its savour.
CAM You do not learn from the letter.
JT It is the presence of God known in the soul, and God speaking to you, and you speaking to God.
WCR There may be things not according to God, and in prayer it is discovered to us; and, if we are sensitive, we answer to it.
CAM Were you going to give any general outline of those two chapters before you come to chapter 10?
JT I was going to say that the crowds again appear and a leper comes to the Lord. This is an isolated case, a sample case; then the centurion’s servant, the paralytic; and what is afterwards unfolded in the chapter is the principle of following. When the centurion said, “I also am a man under authority, having under me soldiers, and I say to this one, Go, and he goes; and to another, Come, and he comes”; the Lord turns to those that followed,
and He says, “Not even in Israel have I found so great faith”. The point is that the followers get the light, get His mind.
CAM These correspond with the ones that follow the Lamb. Matthew, himself, was a follower in the next chapter. How well he will understand it by-and-by.
JT And then the Lord says, “I say unto you, that many shall come from the rising and setting sun, and shall lie down at table with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of the heavens; but the sons of the kingdom shall be cast out into the outer darkness: there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth”. The followers got this light also. No doubt it will help those who preach the “everlasting gospel”. Later, we have a very important miracle in Peter’s house, for evidently there shall be households, as there are now, recognised in the time that is to follow. We have it elsewhere alluded to, the fathers’ hearts are to be turned to the children. Now, it says, “When Jesus had come to Peter’s house, he saw his mother-in-law laid down and in a fever; and he touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she arose and served him”. He put the household right; a very important service.
CAM That is very good. The thing for us is to study what the Lord did, is it not?
JT That is the point. If you are to serve you must see what He is doing, and how He does it.
CAM We often upset households, but if we learn from this we become helpers.
JT In 1 Timothy 5 Paul speaks about busy-bodies, people who go about into houses and do harm.
CAM Yes, such add to the fever that may exist, instead of curing it.
WCR I thought the Lord did not adjust anything [p. 331] here, that He left things as He found them. I do not quite catch the thought about setting the household right.
JT The Lord set it right here. It was in a bad state of fever. He does not set the world right yet, but He adjusts the households of believers. If Christian households are not right, the assembly will not be right. The secret of difficulties is very largely in the households of the saints.
GAT If a man cannot rule his own house he cannot rule in the house of God.
JT That is what we get in Timothy. But this was a very awkward situation. The mother-in-law was living in the house.
CAM Is it not remarkable that the Lord can adjust even that?
JT There is nothing He cannot do. The Lord touches her and instead of complaining against the son-in-law, and all that, she serves Him. In Luke she serves them, but here she serves Him.
LGM Possibly Peter had tried to help his mother-in-law, but could not do so. He had to have the Lord do it.
JT In Luke they pray about it; they ask Him to do it, but here He meets the need without being asked.
DR Should there be room for any relative in the house and yet be order and liberty to serve the Lord?
JT Christianity is great enough for that.
EGMcA Coming to ourselves, when coming in, in the spirit of the Lord, we bring peace and quietness.
JT If you visit a household, that is the principle that ought to govern you. As it says later, “Peace be to this house”. You have nothing else in your mind.
GAT In the Song of Solomon the bridegroom [p. 332] put his hand through the hole in the door, and when she came to the place there was a sweet savour of Christ there, a good testimony.
J .T. Here He touched her hand. The point is, instead of complaining, you ought to be doing something. When He touched her hand He meant that she must be doing something. So, she arose and served Him. Sisters ought to be occupied. In Timothy there is instruction in regard to the younger and elder women.
To proceed further in regard of the household, it says in the next chapter, verse 18: “As he spoke these things to them, behold, a ruler coming in did homage to him, saying, My daughter has by this died; but come and lay thy hand upon her and she shall live. And Jesus rose up and followed him, and his disciples”. And then it says, “When Jesus was come to the house of the ruler, and saw the flute-players and the crowd making a tumult, he said, Withdraw, for the damsel is not dead but sleeps. And they derided him. But when the crowd had been put out, he went in and took her hand; and the damsel rose up”. I just want to say a word on that, contrasting it with Peter’s house. It is not the mother-in-law now, it is the daughter, the child. It is not the fever, but death, and it is a question now of how life is to be brought into this household where death, as you might say, ruled; and what one notices is a most extraordinary thing: they were making a noise. The “flute-players” are those that incite the imagination of the flesh, and here they make a noise in the presence of death. It is a test as to our houses, what we allow there. Evidently this ruler of the synagogue had these conditions in his home. If you have flute-players, or anything like them in the house, how can you expect the Spirit of God to work? The man was in earnest about the daughter; but what about the state of [p. 333] the house?
WCR These things being brought in hindered the daughter coming to life.
JT That is it. The Lord can do nothing.
WCR In other words, hinders the children getting blessing.
Rem Hezekiah was ordered to set his house in order.
JT Yes. Well now, you see the Lord says, virtually, I cannot do anything with all this here. It is a matter now for the things to be judged, so He says to the crowd, “Withdraw, for the damsel is not dead but sleeps. And they derided him”.
GAT Do you mean to infer by these remarks that it is not a good thing to have these musical instruments in the home?
JT Here it is noisy things; things that drown what is of God.
BTF You would say, if the heads of the houses were right and owned, the beneficent rule of Christ would be administered there, and all these contradictory elements would be outside.
WCR I suppose the household becomes the means by which the assembly is kept alive. In other words, it should be a beginning for the house of God.
JT You graduate from it into the house of God normally, and therefore children ought not to be brought up in these noisy elements. They do not make for the house of God, because it is silence and waiting on God that marks the house of God. You are to be “swift to hear, and slow to speak”, (James 1:19) there. It is not a place of tumult. To return for a moment to chapter 8, verse 18: “And Jesus, seeing great crowds around him, commanded to depart to the other side. And a scribe came up and said to him, Teacher, I will follow thee whithersoever thou mayest go. And Jesus says to him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the heaven roosting-places; but the [p. 334] Son of man has not where he may lay his head. But another of his disciples said to him, Lord, suffer me first to go away and bury my father. But Jesus said to him, Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead. And he went on board ship and his disciples followed him”. They followed Him without being asked. I want to notice the emphasis laid on the principle of following in this chapter; that is, disciples now follow Him without being enjoined to. One man proposes to do it, and the Lord says, If you are going to do it, I want you to know how much it cost Me. Another said, I have a certain thing to detain me; but the Lord will not allow that. He goes into the ship and the disciples follow Him. They are now developing and follow the Lord voluntarily, as it were.
Ques What would be the idea of the ship?
JT Going to the other side. It is death really. When you have followed as a result of the testimony, you have accepted death. It is a question of going to the other side.
Rem You would say these disciples wanted to follow Christ regardless of the circumstances.
JT They followed Him “whithersoever He went”.
CAM It is gracious of the Lord not to leave us in any doubt as to what the thing will cost.
JT It is indeed. And now in regard to the ship, those that followed Him in the early part of the chapter got light, but those in the ship got light as to His Person; so that if we come into severe circumstances we do not come into them for nothing. We get gain from them.
CAM Spiritual gain costs us something then.
GAT The ship being tossed about shows His protection and that He is able to take care of us.
JT Yes. And it says: “The men were astonished, saying, What sort of man is this”? It is [p. 335] a new feature of Christ coming before them. “Even the winds and the sea obey him!”
Rem They follow without question and in doing so they get light. They wondered at what was being done.
JT They come into an increased appreciation of His Person.
Ques Would that indicate that that is the way we learn God by going through these things?
JT As following the Lord, accepting the circumstances, the Lord reveals Himself to you in them. I have no doubt the book of Revelation indicates the same thing. The hundred and forty-four thousand develop through experience into acquaintance with Christ, and take on the character of His Father, so they are found with Him in relation to the purpose of God.
CAM It is not following the pathway of the Lord in the letter of the narrative, but following Him in your heart and soul.