THE ABUNDANCE OF THE SEAS (2)
[p. 21] THE ABUNDANCE OF THE SEAS (2)
Mark 3:7 - 18; Mark 4:1,2; ; Mark 4:35 - 41
JT We see from these passages the bearing of the sea in this gospel. In the previous chapter it says, “And he went out again by the sea, and all the crowd came to him, and he taught them”, verse 13. Then in chapter 3, “And Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea”, verse 7, and chapter 4 begins, “And again he began to teach by the sea. And a great crowd was gathered together to him, so that going on board ship he sat in the sea”; and then in the end of the chapter He crosses the sea “to the other side”. Many thoughts enter into the sea as Scripture presents it, but this gospel stresses it as regards evangelical or levitical service. We have in the types a reference to those who “had knowledge of the sea” in Solomon’s time, great wealth accruing from maritime expeditions. The sea suggests countries farther off and tends to remove insularity. Christians are not to be insular; island conditions tend to make us insular; whereas the sea suggests other lands and their wealth, so that maritime nations in the history of the world always had an advantage. I thought that that advantage should appear in a spiritual sense, for there are great varieties of wealth brought from overseas; Solomon understood that.
EuR “Go into all the world”, chapter 16:15; does that suggest the sea?
JT Quite. You get in the end of chapter 4 that the disciples were to go to the other side, whatever that may have been.
PL And would Simon being in the tanner’s house “by the sea” connect with it, leading to the sheet let down from heaven?
JT That is really the link with the work among the gentiles in the Acts, so it was a question there of the word from heaven. What the angel said to Cornelius was [p. 22] to send to one Simon, who was surnamed Peter, who was in the house of one by the sea. Peter is where the teaching of this gospel would put him to the test as to; whether he is to be governed by his natural links, as suggested in Simon, or whether he is to be governed by; his ‘surname’ at this juncture. It was a critical time, but the sequel shewed that the spiritual side connected with Peter predominated. Had he leaned toward the other, the Simon side, he would have allowed his natural feelings and prejudices and missed the import of the outlook he had in the house by the sea; but he went up to the housetop to pray; that was his salvation, so to speak; he was in the divine current for the moment. There is always a divine current, and it is a question of whether we are in it or not; a question of our state of soul, because there is always the mixed condition as indicated in ‘Simon’ and ‘Peter’. So it is a question of our state of soul in crises, whether we are to be governed by the spiritual feature in us, or by the natural. Peter went up to the housetop to pray, and there he becomes in an ecstasy, shewing that the spiritual feature gained the day, and heaven greeted him, as it were. He said that the sheet “came even to me”. On the housetop in prayer he was completely adjusted and brought into accord with God, with the universal testimony to the gentiles.
HES The Lord partook of the produce of the sea for food; is the thought that He would not only get His food from Israel but from what is universal?
JT I suppose so. The loaves and fishes combine the products of land and sea.
FSM It is said in (2 Chronicles 8) that Huram’s servants had knowledge of the sea and they brought four hundred and fifty talents of gold to king Solomon.
JT His was a maritime country and so had an advantage, and Solomon gained by it. The record of the queen of Sheba following immediately shews what is in view. “She came from the ends of the earth”, the Lord says.
PL And Solomon referred to the virtuous woman as being “like the merchants’ ships: she bringeth her food from afar”, (Proverbs 31:14).
JT That is good; and so the psalmist said, “Yonder is the great and wide sea: therein are moving things innumerable, living creatures small and great” that is potential wealth “There go the ships”, (Psalm 104:25). The ships are the means of communication, and those who have the knowledge of the sea manage them, hence the rich results.
HH I suppose Paul in that sense had travelled the sea a good deal; he spoke of where he had gone preaching the kingdom of God. That is the idea morally.
JT Exactly. The tendency to insularity and nationalism is very great with us, and it militates against the dispensation. It has thus to be discerned and judged, so that we may be with God. It is not in keeping with the present time. God will eventually revert to the national thought. The wise men from the east respected this side of things. They inquired for Him who was born “King of the Jews”; that was right. They saw His star in the east, indicating what will obtain when the favoured nation of God will be respected by other nations; but evangelical principles break down insularity; the sea shore makes for universality; not only is the need of distant nations considered, but also the wealth that is available in them.
MWB Would you say a word as to the blending of the universal thought you are pressing now with submission to the governmental ordering of God? I was thinking of Acts 16, the education of the apostle, forbidden in one place and suffered not in another.
JT That is another and important consideration. God establishes the universal principle in the sheet let down from heaven knit at the four comers, but then [p. 24] another thing is, He knows where the wealth is. Solomon’s ships undoubtedly were guided by the knowledge of where the gold was. All the governmental dealings of God with the race have had in view the present time, that is, the universal testimony that He intended to render; so that the next thing is, where is the needed wealth? God knows, so that the Spirit of Jesus suffered not Paul and his fellow workers to go into Bithynia. The man from Macedonia was calling them; that was the guide. Evidently the wealth that God had in mind for this dispensation lay in the west, not in the east. I suppose the magi indicate that in the future the wealth will lie in the east, the west will have had its day.
MWB I was wondering whether we should not have to bear both thoughts in mind in our own movements and prayers, the one not to be in any way lost sight of, yet the other to have a governing element in it.
JT We must have the thought of the dispensation clearly in our minds, that it is universal, and has all men in view. Then you recognize that God has a perfect knowledge of where the wealth is, and that He would have it now, as Solomon did. God knew that in His governmental dealings the west would afford a better field for the church than the east; that conditions in the east did not afford the same material for the gospel, having the church in view. But the “everlasting gospel” will undoubtedly reach out towards them.
EuR So Peter in preaching says, “But in every nation he that fears him and works righteousness is acceptable to him”. (Acts 10:35); that is what was coming into view. And he says of the Lord there, “He is Lord of all things”, (Acts 10:36).
JT Cornelius clearly indicates the part of the race that God had in view for the gospel in this dispensation, that is, the race of Japheth It was undoubtedly that part of the race He had mainly in view for the gospel, and to take the church out of it. Of course the work began [p. 25] with the Jews, but it did not continue with them, (Acts 28:28).
JJ Would Issachar and Zebulun come into the thought in Mark in connection with the sea? “For they will suck the abundance of the seas, and the hidden treasures of the sand”, (Deuteronomy 33:19).
JT They represent what we are speaking of. Jonah went in the wrong direction; he was premature. God had sent him to the east and he failed in it, but he went afterwards.
Ques Could you illustrate insularity of outlook for us today?
JT Well, Australia, is a very good example.
Ques. In what way?
JT It is so far away and isolated. Distance from other saints greatly tends to insularity, and has to be watched. I have noticed it also on the Pacific coast of America. The saints there are so far away that they tend to lose sight of what God is doing generally. I do not mean to be personal, but to bring out what would apply to any position separated by great distance from the generality of the saints. I am sure you must feel that out there.
Rem I thought perhaps you were thinking of servants of God who do not take account of the greatness of the field.
JT That is also true; and the tendency in this country would be centralization or metropolitanism, the feeling that things go out from a position; whereas the sea in these scriptures would habituate the mind to the thought that there are other parts, and those other parts afford spiritual wealth also.
EuR This tendency to be insular may apply to saints in any locality. We all need to have our hearts exercised as to the universal movements of the Lord.
JT Yes; to “go over to the other side”. That is the [p. 26] idea, because there is something perhaps which we never thought of on the other side.
PL You get this principle of isolation exposing to danger in relation to the people who were dwelling at Laish, Judges 18. They were “dwelling securely, after the manner of the Zidonians, quiet and secure; and no one was in the land who possessed authority, that might put them to shame in anything; and they were far from the Zidonians, and had nothing to do with any man”, verse 7.
JT Exactly; and therefore they were exposed and were overcome. That is very suggestive, because there is strength in the universal position.
EJMcB Does the Lord here withdraw from where His rights as the Lord of the sabbath had been refused?
JT Quite. You see the opposition had arisen, and that leads us back to the end of chapter 2, and we see what accrued from this service by the sea. It says, “And he went out again by the sea, and all the crowd came to him, and he taught them. And passing by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax-office, and says to him. Follow me”. And Levi followed Him, and He sat in his house.
MWB You mentioned this morning something about teaching; would you say a little as to the idea of teaching in connection with the preaching.
JT Teaching is a prominent feature in Mark. It is in all the gospels, but particularly here; it is an enforcement of things by power. People hear things in the preaching, but what do they mean? what is the moral force of them? You see it in a most striking manner at Ephesus, where the apostle separated the disciples from the synagogue into the school of one Tyrannus, leading up to the church. It is a course, and it is not optional. The name of the man who owned the school would indicate there was to be government and obligation to it; that is to say, the teaching is imperative. We must be [p. 27] taught, not only listen to things, but have things forced into the mind. It is said that the apostle reasoned with them over a period of time in that school; the truth would be forced into minds on account of its moral value.
GWW Do you mean that if a preacher of the gospel states facts and presses them, he should be prepared to shew his hearers their moral force?
JT Yes. The apostle in the epistle that sets out the gospel stresses the idea of teaching: “Ye ... have obeyed from the heart the form of teaching into which ye were instructed”, (Romans 6:17). I believe there is great want of teaching, that is to say, the forcing of the truth into the minds of believers, shewing the moral value of it. That is particularly needed.
HD'AC They continued in the teaching of the apostles. Acts 2:42.
JT There it is exactly.
JJ Do you connect the sea with the epistle to the Romans?
JT Well, yes. The apostle had never been to Rome; it was overseas for him; but he knew they had obeyed from the heart the form of teaching delivered to them, not only obeyed the gospel, but the form of teaching.
Now, Levi seems to yield more than any of the disciples so far. When believers begin to yield the desired fruit the idea of the bridegroom fits in. The Lord alludes to the bridechamber and the bridegroom indicating that he was already obtaining something corresponding with these from His sowing. That is the thing to be looked for. He does not yet speak of the bride, but there was something that accrued to the Lord, which led Him to speak of the bridegroom. It says of Levi that the Lord “lay at table in his house”; and “many tax-gatherers and they were many, and they followed him”. There was much for Him there.
RB Is the point you are making that Levi was to be [p. 28] called from taxing the wealth of the nation to go in for gathering the wealth of the sea?
JT Pretty much, and that there was already a yield for Christ in him, and in connection with him. The many following Him was the evidence of a work of God.
PL Does that connect with Romans 7? “Married to another ... that we should bring forth fruit unto God”. Is that the crop coming up, something for the Bridegroom?
JT Quite. As soon as you begin to feel a little joy in your work as you see some fruit, think what must it be to Christ! Repentance in a man’s soul that is something to Him. When a man is so delivered by the gospel that he leaves his money and desk and opens up his house to Christ, and brings in the tax-gatherers and sinners and sets them down there, the Lord’s heart is touched. If you go about the world and see the little gatherings, you understand what wealth there is in them, but what must it be to Christ when He sees the affections of the saints drawn out to Him and to one another! That is the idea really of the church. It is not named, but the idea of the bridegroom already comes out and the joy He had, and so He refers to Himself in this way.
MWB Should that feeling move us in our levitical service, the feeling of what there can be gathered for Christ’s joy?
JT Yes. I think that is really how you get at, the church, in seeing what it is to Christ.
HD'AC Did Levi get a great impression as to teaching, and did it not come out in his gospel in the way he speaks of Christ and His teaching?
JT I am sure he did. The persons he invited to his house implied disregard for Jewish prejudices, and this marks his (Matthew’s) gospel.
JosS I thought there were two lines of teaching, one in relation to God’s attitude toward men, and the other in relation to His thoughts for [p. 29] the saints.
JT Well, I am sure that is right.
JosS You said this morning that the evangelist should teach. I can understand teaching in connection with God’s attitude toward men, but you would hardly open up God’s thoughts in regard of the church so much in the gospel preaching, would you?
JT No; but I think you lead on to it; You see in the way that Saul was converted how the work is to be done. You do a bit. The Lord did a bit Himself (of course He does everything). He converted him, but then He says, “Rise up and enter into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do”, (Acts 9:6). What the Lord did was to prepare the subject for Ananias’ work; that is, you pass the convert on to the next stage, so to speak, and there is a suited worker. In what you preach you convey the thought in the teaching, and the convert will feel the need of this and accept it as available.
JOS The Lord taught the disciples (Mark 8:31) that He must be rejected and suffer many thing would that be the evangelist’s work?
JT Teaching those things is remarkable. I should not like to divide very much, but only suggest the general thought of teaching. The Lord taught them here by the sea, and then Levi comes in, as was pointed out. What a teacher he became, how thoroughly adjusting his gospel is for any who are holding to national religion and the like!
DLH Is there not always the thought of the mystery of the gospel? I mean, attached to the preaching of the gospel, there is the mystery in view in the background.
JT It is formally introduced at the end of Romans.
HPW Is your thought that you would like to leave a man with the impression that there is a lot beyond what you have told him?
JT That is the thing; and that there are others capable of leading him on. You may not be able to lead him very far, but the Lord has provided for it. So you [p. 30] get in Colossians, which is on the up line, “Teaching ... to ... present every man perfect in Christ”.
Ques Then, when the Lord said to Saul, “Why persecutest thou me?” do you think there was something beyond, in the words that he would take to heart in relation to the church?
JT Quite; that would be opened up to him later. He found it in Ananias. The Lord made a point that the first Christian Saul would meet should rightly represent Him. In view of young people coming on amongst us, who have heard the gospel and believed and confessed the Lord, there is a great shortage, of the Ananias spirit. The next thing needed is the person who can rightly lay his hands on that young man or young woman who is seeking the way. Ananias went and laid his hands upon Saul. The Lord had been to him before that, so they were the hands of one who represented the Lord. He says, “The Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou earnest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight”, (Acts 9:17). That was the thing, and he says, “Saul, brother”. That is, the laying of the hands on a convert would indicate that you are linking him on with what is there. It is an immense thing to convey to a person just converted that he is coming into something that is already victorious; that has been and will be victorious; that he is not coming into anything that will be a disadvantage to him, but that will be immensely advantageous to him. Those hands that are laid on him ought to convey something of all this.
EJMcB We want to know like Ananias what the Lord’s thoughts in regard of that case were.
JT Quite. The Lord is very particular as to the first hand that is laid upon the convert, because that hand will impress him. “Why persecutest thou me?” Saul had had to do with such hands as that; they had not resisted him; he dragged them out of houses and before the tribunals, but they were not resisting hands, they [p. 31] were subject, accepting the sufferings like their Master. “He doth not resist you”, it says. That is the kind of thing Saul had met with in the saints when he persecuted them, and now he is meeting the same thing in Ananias, and that is what the Lord would convey to him, that he is coming into that. It is the ‘me’ the Lord spoke of to Saul.
HD'AC That is, the hand of the preacher and also the hand of a disciple.
EuR In all his work the servant stands in relation to the joy of the Bridegroom.
JT That is the idea. Every bit of fruit for Christ from your ministry is to add to the joy of the Bridegroom; it is a very fine thought not yet the bride. John heard the voice of the Bridegroom, but here the Lord speaks about Himself in that way, and that it was not a time for fasting. He would impress us with the idea of the joy that is in the results of the service.
FSM Do you think that kind of consolidating work that Ananias did would be very largely personal work and might be done, and often is done, by spiritual sisters?
JT Exactly; so that the young believer should be impressed with the spirit of the church. There is mothering and this reflects “Jerusalem above”, (Galatians 4:26).
EuR So Matthew records that it was for “joy of it” (the ‘treasure’) that the Lord sold all that He had and bought the field.
JT You will observe there that the Lord spoke the parables outside; but the three closing similes of the kingdom, referring to the church, are not called parables because they are all inside the house; it is an important thing that as soon as one is really converted to God he belongs inside and you want to bring, him inside. It is no longer parabolic ministry, but direct ministry, and the first thing is the joy the treasure occasioned. The New Translation omits ‘again’ in the second set of similes (Matthew 13:44); they are not a continuation of the four [p. 32] spoken outside. They are said to those inside, and it is a question of the Lord opening up what the treasure and the pearl are to Him.
EuR So if persons are rightly converted and really acknowledge the redemptive rights of the Lord individually, they should be prepared immediately for the thoughts of the assembly.
JT Quite. As has just been remarked, the idea of the assembly is conveyed in the gospel, and the first hand that touches the convert afterwards should convey the spirit of the assembly.
Rem That would be according to what the apostle Paul had in mind when he spoke of the “glad tidings of the glory of the blessed God”.
HES Is it your thought that if the Lord gets a place in my house and circumstances, I am to be brought into the light of the joy it is to Him?
JT That is the point. You get here the idea of the bridechamber and the bridegroom coming in, and that leads on to the new cloth and the new bottles.
JCS Would you say that the joy in any service is not what is ministered to you, but what it is to Christ?
JT Exactly; and I think we also should look for joy. Of course levitical work is heavy work; but it is not drudgery. You come into the joy of the thing, as working finder, the Lord.
PL So there are singing levites as well as carrying ones, the same persons, of course.
JT Exactly. There were four thousand of them in David’s time.
PL Philippians would develop that: “Rejoice in the Lord always: again I will say. Rejoice”, chapter 4:4.
DLH What about “Then shall they fast in those days”?
JT The Lord there is emphasising the change when the Bridegroom is taken away. That would be a [p. 33] dispensational touch.
DLH But does not that apply to the moment in which we are, in a certain sense?
JT I think here it alludes to the Jewish position; the disciples would be left there as He was taken. But christianity (in which we are) is another thing, and could not fit in there — into a system of legal, requirements. Hence what follows as to new cloth and new bottles. We come into the joy of the Bridegroom now. Fasting is, of course, right now, but the Lord treats of it here in the setting in which it came up. It was a question of what the disciples of John and those of the Pharisees were doing.
EuR What did you mean when you said that a young convert should be impressed with the fact that he is coming into what is victorious?
JT That is what the church is in principle. “This is the victory which has gotten the victory over the world, our faith”, (1 John 5:4). That is what he is coming into.
EuR Externally it does not look quite like that.
JT Well, that may be, but it is really so. There is nothing else victorious in the whole world, however little it may be. There is nothing lost, that is the principle. Of course, the individual acquires the victory through believing that “Jesus is the Son of God”.
Ques Would you mind enlarging a little on the thought of laying on the hands as with Ananias?
JT Well it is committal, a link formed with the believer. The saints commit themselves to him, but in the way of help, because Saul was to get help. His eyes were to be opened, and he was to get the Holy Spirit. It was an immense thing, and he was greeted accordingly: “Saul, brother”.
JCS Would you say that what he found in Damascus corresponded with the light that shone out of heaven?
JT It corresponded with what he met in Christ, that is the idea. .
[p. 34] JJ Is not the calling of the twelve in Mark especially in relation to what is victorious? (chapter 3).
JT Yes, following the teaching in the end of chapter 2 you see how the disciples came into a state of liberty It laid hold of them in the Lord’s action in going through the cornfields. It says, “And it came to pass that he went on the sabbath through the cornfields; and his disciples began to walk on, plucking the ears”. That is, they did more than He did. It is an indication to us how He leads in the way of liberty, how you acquire the spirit of nothing what He does. It is the liberty where with He sets free.
EuR What do the first two verses of chapter 4 suggest, sitting by the sea and teaching, and then the crowd close to the sea?
JT Now you see He is definitely moving out, “And again he began to teach by the sea”, but before that you have the appointment of the twelve. You will observe He separated the disciples in chapter 3:7, “Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea”. That is consequent upon the murderous attitude of the religious leaders; very much like Paul separating the disciples at Ephesus, but here instead of separating to the school of Tyrannus, He separates them to the sea, as if He would not find the wealth among the Jews but would go further afield, among the gentiles. And, therefore. He appoints the twelve. “And he goes up into the mountain, and calls whom he himself would, and they went to him. And he appointed twelve that they might be with him, and that he might send them to preach, and to have power to heal diseases, and to cast out demons”, chapter 3: 13 - 15. Now the position is clearly defined. The murderous attitude of the Jewish leaders led Him to withdraw with His disciples. The position is very clear, but then the power is not diminished. He still goes on casting out demons and so forth, and then, “He goes up into the mountain, and calls whom he himself would”.
[p. 35] He is now by the sea, the source of wealth, and He would appoint those whom He would use in the work in the wide area in view.
HES Is He like David as rejected selecting the mighty men of his kingdom? The Lord is making provision here for the moment of His absence.
JT Exactly; and that they should be representatives too, thus they should be with Him on the mount.
MWB There are three spheres spoken of: the house, the synagogue, and the sea. Would you say a word as to the difference?
JT The house suggests the family principle. It has a great place in the gospels, more especially in Matthew than in Mark but it has a place here. It is where the Lord is free; it is in the house He explains things; and in chapter 2 He heals the paralytic in the house. I think the house suggests these congenial spheres that we hope to find in our service; because Mark contemplates sympathy springing up as we go on in our service; an environment characterized by this, which is a great thing.
PL So Paul takes courage when he sees the brethren at Appii Forum.
JT Quite. Then the synagogue represents the current recognized religion, but dominated by evil. That is another thing that is very sorrowful. Then the sea, is to give you room; it is the wideness of the field, the great possibilities there are for fruit, for results from the service of the gospel.
EuR There is necessity for the withdrawal on our part, owing to the tendency to narrow up our affections.
JT That is what you see. The Lord withdrew with His disciples, but He was not narrowed. The tendency is to become narrow, to accept the smallness, and our testimony loses power and really ceases to be anything for God. But we should never lose sight of the dispensation in principle, and that is what is taught here: “Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea”, and then the power is still apparent even in greater measure, so that the demons, falling down before Him, acknowledge Him to be the Son of God. But He would not take any testimony from them; the testimony must be from accredited witnesses, from persons who are with Him, which is very touching. “He ... calls whom he himself would ... that they might be with him, and that he might send them to preach, and to have power to heal diseases, and to cast out demons”, verses 13 - 15.
JHB After the sea He goes up into the mountain; what would that represent?
JT I think it is moral elevation. We have the mountain idea much more in Matthew than here. In Matthew there are six mountains seven really, but six on which the Lord definitely operates, which may be likened to that which is round about Jerusalem; but in Mark it is the moral elevation that should mark the ministry. You do not get that ministry from the schools, you get it on the principle of moral elevation; for there could be no companionship with Christ save as in elevation from this world.
HES Is your thought that the Lord does not receive witness from accredited religion because there was the unclean spirit connected with it, but He receives witness from His own accredited witnesses?
JT That is right. The whole hierarchical system is set aside; it is not on that principle. He does not accept witness from such; this chapter shews us the principle on which He witnesses, that is, through persons that are morally elevated: “He ... calls whom he himself would”. It is His sovereign choice, and they are with Him, and He names every one of them; it is one by one; the conjunction separates them here in every case. It is not by ‘twos’, as in Matthew.
HES So following on the thought of the sea, the Lord is sovereign both with regard to persons and places.
[p. 37] Question, Is the moral thought seen in the fact that the word ‘apostles’ is omitted here?
JT That is more in Luke, presenting the idea of authority. Here it is a question of the moral power the disciples have; they are qualified as indicated in this chapter. You are called out, separated, withdrawn to the sea from a state of things which although religious is murderous.
JJ With regard to the names, why does He surname the three? They were the three always with Him.
JT It helps us as to selection, that the Lord always reserves the right to have some one or two or three; special ones; it is His privilege. David had his first three, none of the others attained to them, and these are the first three in the Lord’s selection. These represent the best of what He had, and you find them with Him on all special occasions. That is His own sovereign right and we must not quarrel with it. But there is something in those three men that gives them superiority over the others; of this we may be sure, for with the Lord there is a moral basis for everything.
JC It is in the interests of the saints to accept His selection and not to dispute it.
JT Yes. Paul said, “That by me the preaching might be fully known”, (2 Timothy 4:17); the Lord would not have it otherwise. I am sure many of the saints said there were people who could preach better than Paul, but the Lord would have the preaching known through him: “That by me the preaching might be fully known”.
HES Is that why in every case Peter is mentioned first?
JT That is the reason. In Matthew it is formally stated that he is first: “first, Simon, who was called Peter”, chapter 10:2.
JCS Would you say that results always justified the Lord’s selection?
JT Exactly. You see how Peter shone in [p. 38] the Acts. And when God began to move towards the gentiles he was moving too, as we have seen.
Ques Why did the Lord appoint a Judas?
JT That is another matter. It brings out what the Old Testament really ended up with. Even the, ministry of Christ ended up with a broken state of things, “the eleven”. It is to shew that man in the most favourable circumstances broke down. It awaited Christianity and the coming of the Spirit for the perfect state of things; you never could have it before that.
EuR After the Lord made this proposal, “Let us go over to the other side”, it says, “They take him with them, as he was, in the ship”. What are we to learn from that?
JT That shews they were content with Him as He was. Many of those abroad today are not content with the Christ of the gospels. He is too small a Man for them, and they try to add to Him in one way or another; but the humble believer accepts Him as He is. It is the humble Christ as He is; and accepting Him as He is means we are as He is; “As he is, so are we in this world”.
EuR It was a very beautiful answer to His choosing them that they might be with Him.
Ques Have you in mind that the teaching by the sea prepares the way to go to sea?
JT Yes. At the beginning of the chapter it says, “And again he began to teach by the sea”, shewing that He is going back to the idea; He had not completed it. He is finishing the thing. “And a great crowd was gathered together to him, so that going on board ship he sat in the sea, and all the crowd were close to the sea on the land”. Now He is in the sea. If I am to have knowledge of the sea, I have to know Him in the sea.
Rem It is progressive in that way; the next step is He walks on it, chapter 6:48.
JT Quite; so the knowledge of the sea must be acquired from Christ. I suppose in the types the first [p. 39] great knowledge of the sea is the crossing of the Red Sea; they went right through. No people ever had such an experience of the sea as they did. The ark was not there yet, but the bottom of the sea was seen, and the wall of water on either side. They could see the character of the thing as they went through it, and we may say Christ went through that here.
Ques Would the knowledge of the Lord in the sea take the place of the trawl-nets? It was remarked this morning that they left the trawl-nets.
JT You see here how He acted in the sea. Later He directs them where to cast the net, shewing that He knew where the fish were. Here it is not that, it is the Lord in the sea and teaching there, and then, as has been remarked, to see Him walking on it. That is how we get the knowledge of the sea.
RB Would you say a word as to what the ship stands for? You have spoken of the sea, and the house, and the synagogue, what does the ship stand for?
JT It is the means of using the sea. In Mark it is the means of getting the gain of it.
HD'AC “They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters, these see the works of Jehovah, and his wonders in the deep”, (Psalm 107:23,24), not those who live by the sea-side merely. They have a much larger idea.
JT That is good. That is, you can go because the ships go; there is a means of going.
Ques Would it convey the idea of spiritual commerce, in that way? You spoke of it this morning. It says “that a little ship should wait upon him”; what had you in mind in regard to that? Is it not the first reference to the ship, and does it suggest something coming into view by way of spiritual commerce?
JT It is that we may use the sea. The ship continues the idea here of reaching the wealth that is beyond; that is the idea.
[p. 40] Remark, I had in mind your quotation, “There go the ships”.
JT Exactly. Who that lives within these shores does not know that the wealth of this country is largely built up by the use of ships? It is the means by which it acquired power and wealth in the world. And so, spiritually, ships are the means of acquiring wealth. So you get a little ship waiting upon Him, and then in chapter 4, “Going on board ship”, that is a larger idea. Then in the end of that chapter it says, “Let us go over to the other side: and having sent away the crowd, they take him with them, as he was, in the ship”. They are doing it. I take it now they are acquiring knowledge of the sea, because they take Him in it. That would shew they assumed to be able to navigate they had precious cargo surely!
RB Then would the ship suggest opportunities may have had for going down to the sea?
JT That is the idea. “There go the ships”, it says in the psalm. Well, it is a good thing to get on board.
JJ The verse you quote out of Psalm 104 immediately goes on to say, “There that leviathan, which thou hast formed to play therein”. I suppose in crossing the sea here, the leviathan was playing and seeking to swamp this ship.
JT But there are other things there beside him, “moving things innumerable, living creatures small and great”. That is it, the wealth that is there its innumerable character. The Lord knows where they are, He alone knows the paths of the sea. That is a remarkable thing; He knows the paths of it.
PL “The way of a ship in the midst of the sea”, (Proverbs 30:19).
EuR Would these fishers of men suggest those who can operate in the sea and secure material for the assembly?
[p. 41] JT Quite. They are learning now in that they take Him in the ship, that is, they had precious cargo, as remarked; there is that idea to be continued.
WC What bearing would Jonah’s education have in relation to what is before us? He was a preacher.
JT That opens up a wide subject; shewing what the wealth of the sea is, the moving things innumerable; what God has there, and how at His bidding they are. He prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. I believe in that you have indicated the right of way God has in at His bidding to do His will. Therefore, if Jonah were not carrying out the will of God in going to Tarshish, when he gets into the fish’s belly every movement that fish made was under, divine command. There was a living creature entirely under the divine will, and that be a never to be forgotten lesson for Jonah. The fish was doing His will, “and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land”. What a wonderful process went on in Jonah’s soul in that fish, and what a composition he made there! How God came into his soul!
RGH How do you regard the “other little ships” that went with the Lord?
JT It is to be noted they are “with Him”; they are not operating in competition.
RGH What is the practical bearing of that today?
JT A fleet of ships is a great thing; Solomon had a fleet; the other ships here suggest that idea.
FHB It does not say that the storm came down on any of those ships.
JT It says, “And there comes a violent gust of wind, and the waves beat into the ship”, as if the enemy was directly against Christ.
MWB The first movements of life in Genesis 1 are connected with the sea; the “swarms of living souls” implying immense wealth, and an allusion to an area of later sovereign movements of [p. 42] God.
JT That is very interesting indeed, and sheds light on what we are speaking about.
FI Going back to what you said with regard to the insular position, this fleet of ships would be valuable not only to take exports but to bring imports.
JT That would maintain balance!
EJMcB Would Jonah’s fish carry an element of instruction for him in view of his mission to the gentile city, that God had His reserves in the sea?
JT Nineveh really is the same idea from the standpoint of what we are speaking of; and so every movement of that fish spelt the will of God, which Jonah had been disregarding. He might expect that in Nineveh, and that is exactly what he found when he went there; they put sackcloth not only on themselves but on their beasts. It is the same idea that the living creatures, whether on the land or in the sea, are to do the will of God. The Ninevites had the idea; no doubt Jonah conveyed to them the impression of where he had been. There were living creatures in the sea, but also on the land, and the last word in Jonah is ‘cattle’. It agrees with what is in mind in this gospel.
JJ In Matthew 17 there was one fish, but it was useful to the Lord as containing the needed money.
MWB With regard to the universal thought you are pressing and the avoidance of insularity, would there be any connection between the levites in Joshua and the forty-eight cities in that connection?
JT Yes; the influence of the levites was intended to be universal. I suppose the numeral would denote that, twelve times four. It is the administration of that benign or heavenly influence universally.
HES Would not the service of the Son of God produce the will of God universally?
JT That is what is in view in this gospel, the creation. It is a very striking thing. “Go into all the world, and preach the glad tidings to all the creation”,
[p. 43] shewing that the whole creation is to be secured for God.
EuR What are we to learn from the expression, “The wind and the sea obey him”?
JT That is another thing. In these pursuits we cannot hope to escape the power of Satan; so whilst on the one hand the sea indicates what is beyond in the way of wealth, it also denotes an element that Satan can act upon. Leviathan is there. God in the book of Job and the Psalms calls attention to him. The sea is an element on which Satan can act. It is not simply here that “the wind was contrary”, as in Matthew, but there was “a violent gust of wind”. That is, it was a satanic action, a special attack against Christ. Hence the importance of having a knowledge of the sea to contend against all this.
Rem The apostle at Athens is an example of one who had a knowledge of the sea — the way in which he could use the word in such circumstances.
DLH The apostle says, “Unless these abide in the ship ye cannot be saved”, (Acts 27:31); if all were to be preserved those who had a knowledge of the sea must keep in the ship.
JT That is the idea. They were the mariners and they had a knowledge of the sea. These are the ones we need, but in Acts 27 they were not true mariners. They were not rightly concerned about the safety of their ship and the cargo.
DLH I was wondering whether there was any spiritual application in view of the wrecked and ruined state of things in which the church is in these days?
JT What comes out in that passage is the position that Paul acquired on board the ship. The history of the church is in view. For the persons reaching land, all hinged on what Paul said; he had said, “Unless these abide in the ship ye cannot be saved”. It meant they had to listen to Paul. The shipwreck took place because they [p. 44] had failed to listen to him, but now Paul is getting a hearing and all the persons reached land.
Ques Have we not known in the history of the testimony those who have left the ship under a pretext?
JT I am sure many have, and at what consequent loss too. The point is to listen to Paul; that is the word today. Lydia had her heart opened to listen to Paul.
AM “Where the word of a king is, there is power: and who may say unto him. What doest thou?” (Ecclesiastes 8:4).
EuR It was the word of the King here saying, “Silence; be mute”.
JT I think it is more than the word of a king; it is the word of the creator. His glory shines in this incident.
JJ And yet He is seen asleep — beautiful sight!
JT Wonderful.