APPEARINGS
APPEARINGS
JT In chapter 6 we have a divine appearing. The angel of God came to Ophrah and sat under an oak and then appeared to Gideon as he threshed wheat in the winepress, and said to him, “The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valour” — God always gives us a record of the feature He is pleased to regard, or able to record in any person or locality. He takes account of willingness and comforts those who are thus engaged by appearing to them.
This book links up with the springs spoken of in chapter 1, and is parallel with John’s gospel, in which the ideas of springs and of divine appearings are emphasised. Springs are for the energy of life. Appearings obtain for us that our energies should be according to God. The impressions of appearings should characterise us so that what is of God is maintained here.
Chapter 6 deals with Gideon, one who was to be immediately used, but this chapter treats of an appearing to the parents of a man to be used later, and therefore bears somewhat on the households of the people of God. Households and parentage necessarily have in view the continuation of the testimony of God. Children have always been regarded, potentially at least, as eligible for the testimony, and, in order that they should come into it, it is important that parents should have divine impressions, and divine impressions are by divine appearings, because the main idea in parentage is to pass on things. The great representative parent, Abraham, is one who had an appearing. He represents in Scripture the idea of a father. It is a primary thought that God would have passed on from generation to generation. The true idea of fatherhood is in Himself, but Abraham is said to have commanded his children after him, and in order to secure that he dwells in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise, so that his own interests would be passed on to his children, not only [p. 459] to Isaac but to Jacob. So I thought this chapter would help us in regard to household responsibility, with a view to the testimony being continued, so that what is in our hands should not deteriorate as we pass on, but be enhanced; every appearing is intended to increase our spiritual power.
Ques Are the manifestations in John’s gospel on similar lines? The Lord says “He that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him”, and further, “If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him”, John 14: 21, 23. He comes to such a one. There is a manifestation, a devotedness of affection.
JT Yes, quite; He and the Father come.
Rem Are the manifestations conditional?
JT Chapter 14 shows that. They may also be corrective, you know, and so in the last chapter of John you have a third manifestation which was restorative and corrective. No doubt He took account of what underlay the hearts of the disciples, but they had gone astray, a very serious matter. The appearing was to bring about recovery. The appearings in John 14 are normal manifestations, I think, contingent on love, and they accord with Judges 6.
Ques Do you think that we can make any real progress in our souls if we do not have these manifestations?
JT I think they are essential to bearing a divine impression. 1 Corinthians 15 gives us a record of six distinct manifestations of Christ after He arose; there were more than that if we compare the ends of the gospels and the beginning of Acts, but in that record we have six, and I think the number given is intended to be constructive. First He appeared unto Cephas, meaning that, as the name is given, the material of the assembly should be enhanced as the structure was in building; then he appeared to the twelve, meaning that the administrative vessels should bear His impress in their souls. There should be an immediate impress of Christ on the spirit in consequence of His appearing; and then He appeared to above five hundred brethren at once, conveying that the relationship of brethren should [p. 460] not be a mere term, and not become hackneyed or stale without the spirit that underlies the relationship, and without the appearance or reflection of Christ. Gideon said as to those who were slain at Tabor, ‘What were they like?’ ‘They were like you, every one as the son of a king’. They were like Gideon. That is the idea of brethren, and I think the Lord, in appearing to five hundred brethren at once, would impress Himself upon them.
“His countenance was like the countenance of an angel of God”. She did not know it was an angel, but she observed his countenance that it was as of an angel. The reflection of God was discernible there, and so with Gideon’s brethren; they were like him. So that the Lord’s appearing to five hundred brethren at once would leave an impression upon them; they would all be like Christ — there would be a reflection of Christ in the brethren. It would have a wonderful effect, promote affection one for another, for they would become increasingly lovable as they became like Christ.
Then there was the appearance to James, as if the Lord would remind us in that that one man can do a lot. James, I have no doubt, suggests the idea of what one man can do, like Elijah, who by prayer shut up the heaven for three years and six months and then prayed again and the rain came down, and the earth brought forth its fruit. One man can do that, so that even if you are reduced to yourself, you can do a lot, if you have a manifestation from the Lord. Then, so as to check any one man from becoming too influential among the brethren, He appeared to all the apostles. It might seem a repetition that at first He appeared to twelve and then to all the apostles. It is one thing to appear to an authoritative company, those who represent the authority of God, the rule of God. Having had such an appearing the apostles would assert His authority, but they would assert it according to Himself, as He would do it, by an immediate appearing. Then Paul says, “Last of all, as to an abortion, he appeared to me also” — last but not least! But he says then, “Not I, but the grace of God which was with me”. The Lord had appeared to Paul earlier and said, “for this purpose have I appeared to thee, to appoint thee to be a [p. 461] servant and a witness both of what thou hast seen, and of what I shall appear to thee in”, Acts 26: 16. So apparently Paul had several appearing, and I think, therefore, in this record we have the constructive side coming out of the authority and the value of appearings; they must be looked for and arranged for. What do you say to that?
Rem I think it is very good indeed; it is very instructive.
Rem His appearing would give colour and character to the testimony of those to whom the appearing is made.
JT That is it. John gives us three distinct appearings after the Lord arose. He calls them “manifestations”. He gives one the first day on which the Lord arose; the second was eight days after; and then he gives another without a date. He tells us it was the third manifestation.
Ques Do you think that what you were saying was seen personally in Stephen? Those looking upon him saw his face as the face of an angel. He could be used to give them the history of the nation, showing that he had the mind of God for the moment: “As your fathers did, so do ye”, Acts 7: 51.
JT He would do it reflectively. He reflected heaven. Whether he had an appearing we are not told, but there could be no doubt that it was so, for they saw his face “as the face of an angel” — a reflection of what is in heaven; his words, his address, his prayer at the end, and his remarks all wonderfully reflect Christ.
Rem And when his levitical service was over, he could immediately take up his priestly function, which was eternal.
JT We see the moral power that actuated Stephen in that he could actually kneel down as he was stoned. I think these appearings of the Lord are intended to indicate His personal service to the assembly right up to the end when it is carried up to heaven.
I think the passage read has the rapture in view, for the angel “did wondrously”, it says, and “ascended in the flame of the altar”. Of course Manoah and his wife could not understand that, but we can understand. We know now if we have read Luke, and the Acts. We can understand that there is such a thing as going up in the savour of the offering. The Lord Jesus was carried up into heaven and [p. 462] the assembly is to be carried up; “the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up ... and so shall we ever be with the Lord”, 1 Thessalonians 4: 16, 17. I think that Samson’s ministry had that end in view. He is the last judge, and he judged Israel twenty years, during which the Spirit of God records his calling on Jehovah, firstly in relation to his asking for water, and secondly in his pulling down the Philistine house.
I think that Samson represents a dispensational idea. The angel appeared not to him but to his parents. It was prophetic — the mind of God was indicated before he was born, and that is that there should be a going up in the savour of the offering.
Rem Like Paul.
JT Just so. He is the type of the assembly going up. You see how the spiritual secrets of the assembly were divulged, and that spelt the ruin of the church. But then the abstract idea of the assembly remains; in fact, it has been seen somewhere in persons throughout the whole dispensation; so it says that Samson’s hair “began to grow”. That was the death knell of the world.
Ques What do you think that answers to in the present time?
JT Development of life; it is development of life in the saints after the great failure, and then the thing to see is whether your hair is growing, whether there is the development of life. You cannot have development unless the hair is growing. It indicates the energy of life in me. Hence in the type, a great deal is said about the hair — white, black or yellow, and the bald head, because it expresses in the most public way the energy of life — vitality. It is visible and can be seen by everyone, and Samson had lost his by divulging his secret. But it says, “the hair of his head began to grow”. That was a definite announcement before the world; the present movement of the Spirit is on that line. The revival of life amongst the people of God means the death knell of [p. 463] the world.
Rem What do the Philistines represent?
JT They represent the world. You remember what an enormous building it was, holding three thousand people on the roof alone. We think we have everything nowadays, but they had big buildings in those days.
Samson’s hair began to grow, and they did not know it; that means that what is developed now in the saints is power, by which the world will fall.
In chapter 15 it is said that he slew a thousand men with the jawbone of an ass. The great feature of his actual ministry is his secrecy. He began by proposing a riddle, but the very thing which he introduced himself is the thing in which he falls. He propounded a riddle, but he could not keep the secret himself, and so it worked out to his undoing. But then he began with life out of death, the swarm of bees in the carcase of the lion, then the riddle compounded on that, and then the slaying of a thousand men with the jawbone of an ass. I think that is the revival of the Lord’s supper, by which the death of the Lord is maintained in freshness and power with us, and then alongside of that the Spirit typified in the water. He called on the Lord, and water came out of the rock. He drank of it and his spirit revived. It is a milestone in the testimony, the great principle that water is to be obtained by asking for it: ‘The well of him that cried’. Then it says, “He judged Israel twenty years”. We can understand that spiritually for if he has the Spirit of God there is the judgment of Israel, there is righteousness. It is in anticipation of the coming day when God will judge, not executive judgment but administrative justice, and that is only by the Spirit.
Ques Is the spring the power of the maintenance of that — following the victory by the jawbone of the ass?
JT That is what stands in Israel to this day.
Then the next chapter brings out another thing. He is imprisoned in Gaza and they beset the city to slay him in the morning. Here the enemy defeats himself in waiting for the morning, because Samson arose at midnight. Night does tend to weaken us, especially midnight, but he arose [p. 464] at midnight and took the gates of the city, bars and all, and put them on his shoulder and carried them up to the top of a hill that is before Hebron. That is another thing — it is the truth of resurrection; it is the knowledge of the Son of God, but it comes into our souls; it is the truth of Colossians following on the Spirit. Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.
Samson in type leads captivity captive; he carried the bars and all up the hill. It is not simply that he escaped their influence, but he showed the stature, the power he had. What would they do with a man like that? That is what we come into. It is a dispensational scene come into light. The power of God will effect His purpose.
Then another thing follows: immediately after that you find that he falls under the power of Delilah and loses his strength. But then it says, “The hair of his head began to grow”.
Ques Do you think in connection with the carrying of the gates to the mountain top, that the centre of administration is heavenly now?
JT That is right. It says, “He led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men”. The understanding of that leads you to see the power that there is in the power of the Spirit for the carrying out of the divine purpose.
Rem Though Samson was unfaithful, and had to suffer for it, yet God was faithful to him, and the exercises God allowed him to pass through were the occasion of his gaining the “little strength”.
JT Yes, so now you have “the Spirit and the bride say, Come” — that comes in in Revelation. Revelation is the undoing of the world, but we know it. We are in the secret of it, and I think that the light that the angel sets before Manoah and his wife overshadows all this. It is God conveying His mind as to Nazariteship in the abstract, apart from the failure that is seen in Samson. The outcome of Nazariteship is in the savour of the sacrifice, what goes up from here to heaven, acceptable to heaven in all the sweet savour of the sacrifice of Christ.
Rem Do I understand that the hair beginning to grow on Samson’s head again has its answer in what the Spirit is doing at the present moment?
JT I think the present time, the closing period of the assembly, is marked by a re-growth of nazarite hair, our taking our place in relation to the death of Christ, nazariteship in other words, and consequently there is growth of hair.
Ques In regard to the slaying of the three thousand men, has that its answer in Acts 2?
JT There it is grace. Here the pulling down of the world system is more in view; thus it marks the end of this dispensation. You are dealing with the shadow; he makes it very emphatic; it is not that we are pulling down the house for God, but it is the power that produces the life in us that does. The rapture of the assembly signalises the overthrow of the world. “Who shall change our vile body ... according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself”, Philippians 3: 21. It is power that works in us now.
Rem The energy of life in the believer today is in a way the condemnation of the world.
JT The Lord said: “Now is the judgment of this world”. Not that it is yet executed, but it stands. It is now.
The angel appeared on both occasions to Manoah’s wife first. He realised that she had discernment.
Ques Would you say that the woman represents the subjective side in the one, and that is in advance of what is seen outwardly, or do you look at it as two distinct things?
JT The angel saw a state in her that was not in Manoah but he is brought into it; he is brought into privilege. Although Manoah prayed that the man should be sent again, yet he appears the second time to the wife. The prominence given to devoted women in this book of Judges has a correspondence in our own times. How much is effected by the devotedness of sisters, and of mothers particularly, because they have more to do with the training and forming of the children than the fathers have.
Rem So the appearing was really to Manoah’s [p. 466] wife?
JT No doubt if Manoah was in a state for it, he would have got the manifestation. He is not opposed, he is really very interested, but nevertheless there seems to be a lack with him because the manifestations were to the wife on both occasions.
Rem That is she arrived at things by intuition, as it were.
JT I think she had a certain spiritual discernment. She says: “A man of God came unto me”. And then she says “his countenance was like the countenance of an angel”. That denotes, I think, certain spiritual discernment. He was a man of God, and his appearance like an angel of God, and then it says, “Manoah said to his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God”. But his wife said unto him, “If the Lord were pleased to kill us, he would not have received a burnt-offering ... at our hands, neither would he have shewed us all these things, nor would as at this time have told us such things as these”. She is now making deductions. She has formed a judgment of things presented to her.
Rem Like the apostle, who says, “Because we thus judge”.
JT Quite so; in introducing the Lord’s supper, he says “I speak as to intelligent persons; do ye judge what I say”. It was for them to form deductions — and here Manoah’s wife is forming a right judgment.
Ques And would you say that having a spiritual discernment or judgment would really show their spiritual state?
JT It is very important for fathers and mothers; if they bring up their children right, it must be as representing Christ, for He represents God. “Unto us a son is given” and then the “everlasting Father”. He represented God here. Manoah and his wife not only had appearings and manifestations, but they are instructed how to train their children. This impression was to be passed on to Samson, that there is to be no element of defilement or what would tend to natural excitement in children. One thing is kept in view. The angel does wonderfully before their eyes, but he refuses to give his name. He is impressing upon them that God is to be the supreme Object, for everything refers [p. 467] back to God. It is the service of Christ to bring everything back to God. God is the source of all, so that all goes up to God. We must have that in view in training our children, not for this world, but so that they will be for God. The assembly is going up, and we are to go up in the sweet savour of Christ.
Rem Does Luke cover that ground?
JT I think Luke develops the oblation. He records that Jesus was carried up into heaven. It is not the question of His personal right, but His excellency. In John He ascends to heaven.
Rem When they left Egypt the whole family had to be ready to move out. The Lord brings that about now; the whole household has to be ready to move out.
JT Yes; Joseph’s bones have to go. Therefore it is a principle, everything goes out in the acceptability of the sacrifice of Christ.
You may depend upon it that our children are largely formed by what they see us do.
Rem When the Lord wanted someone to carry Him He sent for the ass that was tied up.
JT It was under restrictive influences. The owner keeps it from evil until the Lord comes to take it, so that no one else has ridden on that back. The world has not ridden on that back. It is a dreadful thing to think of a young man brought up in a christian household being influenced by the world. It is a great thing to keep your child from worldly connections.
Ques. How is that done?
JT This passage helps us, and the parent works out in himself the thing that is to be worked out in the child.
Rem I was thinking of Moses’ mother; she hid him, but when she could not hide him any longer she put him into the ark.
JT Yes, that is the line exactly. She saw he was a proper child, and that is how we can take account of our children. They are all holy; they are all taken account of for God.
Rem All in view of [p. 468] the testimony?
JT That is what comes out in Exodus. The enemy was eager to destroy the male children to cut off the testimony. Moses’ parents saw that he was a proper child and that he must be preserved; he is consequently used for the preservation of the whole nation.
Rem Psalm 8: 2 says, “Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger”, and Psalm 107: 41, “He ... maketh him families like a flock”.
JT Very interesting that. He says elsewhere, “Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them”, Psalm 127:5. You must see to it that the testimony shall be continued. If it is to be continued you must see to it that as far as in you lies there is material for the maintenance of it. That is what this chapter would teach us; God was affecting the parents in view of the continuance of the testimony. You must see to it that the source and spring are with God. God goes a long way up the stream as we see in Paul, a man who from his forefathers was separated for the work. God went a long way up the stream to bring out such a person as Paul. God takes account of antecedents in the forming of the vessel. We must take account of the vessel. God went a long way up the stream for Timothy also.
Rem I think that is very important — the vessel as well as what is put in it.
JT I think God watches over the vessel. God thought of Paul a long way back; He thought of his antecedents.
Rem It is well to keep in mind the possibilities for God in our families.
JT Yes.