THE LIFE WHICH IS IN CHRIST JESUS (9)
[p. 143] THE LIFE WHICH IS IN CHRIST JESUS (9)
Genesis 11: 27 - 32; Genesis 12: 1 - 3; Galatians 3: 7 - 14; Psalm 90: 10 - 12
JT The shortening of human life as recorded in Genesis 11 enters into the subject before us in these readings. Abraham is especially connected with it. It is thought that the use of types in the Old Testament sometimes helps us more than direct doctrinal statements of the truth, for the types are intended, by the Spirit, to fit into our minds peculiarly. Our minds are fickle and uncertain, so that we need all the aid available to help us to retain the truth. The reduction of the duration of human life seen in Genesis 11 is intended to prepare men’s minds for eternal life. The shorter our lives are, the more we are likely to think of what is eternal. Genesis 5 is similar to chapter 11 but it is intended to stress the thought of death. It is not the shortening of human life, but rather that in spite of the great longevity of men before the flood, death took place; whereas in this passage death is not stressed, but the shortening of human life. Psalm 90 accentuates this, bringing it down to seventy years. We know that in actual history the average is much less than that. If we are sincere believers in the gospel, we shall be helped in taking account of this fact and appreciate all the more what the gospel proposes; that is, life eternal. The link with the blessing of Abraham is striking, and that is what appears after we have the record of the generations of Shem. Jehovah said, “I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee; and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed”, Genesis 12: 3. What could blessing really be save that men are to live for ever? This comes about through redemption in Christ, so the passage in Galatians which was read says, “The scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the nations on the principle of faith, announced beforehand the glad tidings to Abraham: In thee all the nations shall be blessed”, Galatians 3: 8. Abraham was heir of the world. It is clear that if the inheritance is of value there must be eternal life. Thus there will be no necessity for wills or graveyards. Death will be abolished.
CAM The closing verses of chapter 11 would prepare Abraham for this.
JT Yes. You will notice that “Haran died before the face of his father Terah” (verse 28). “And Terah died in Haran” (verse 32). You have the actual occurrence of death in these verses. It is not mentioned in “the generations of Shem”. In “the generations of Terah” death is mentioned, a man dying even before his father. But in the generations of Shem the stress is on the shortening of men’s lives.
CAM The shortening of human lives would tend to give us desires for what is for ever. God allows it to come in to that end.
JT Yes. That is why it is mentioned here. It is mentioned in connection with the son of Noah, who was blessed himself in a peculiar way. God is called his God, and the sequel of that ought to be resurrection, for God is the God of the living, not the God of the dead. So that we have a double mention of the generations of Shem: the first is in chapter 10, and then in chapter 11. He is mentioned in chapter 10 in relation to the other two sons of Noah, but here he is seen by himself, and clearly it has blessing in view. Life in men as they were was going to get gradually shorter, and wisdom would lead to thoughtfulness as to this solemn fact. Jehovah was the God of Shem and also the God of Abraham, and surely this implied more as to life than one hundred or two hundred years. In due time it would be made known that God had promised eternal life before [p. 145] the ages of time. This would come in through Abraham’s Seed.
CAM Is God preparing us in a special way now for the thought of eternal life, especially in the way that death is so stressed to us on every hand?
JT Just so; particularly bearing on young people. While they may think even seventy years is a long period, the average length of life is not nearly that. Many young children die, many boys and girls die, so that the first commandment with a promise is that it may be well with them and that they may be long-lived on the earth; Ephesians 6: 1 - 3.
AAT Of Job it says his latter days were his best, so that it does not always follow that our young days are the best.
CFE How does the gospel fit into all this?
JT Well, we all know, I hope, how much place eternal life has in the gospel. It is linked up with it almost constantly, and especially in John’s writings. Eternal life in John 3: 16 is as forceful, you might say, as the gift of God’s Son for us. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believes on him may not perish, but have life eternal”. Eternal life belongs to the idea of gift. The gift of God’s Son, and the gift of eternal life go together.
JS Is the gift of life in the gospel to Abraham?
JT Clearly; what would the gospel be if it were not a matter of life, because even Abraham’s life was shorter than his father’s. He died at one hundred and seventy-five. It was gradual reduction. Moses himself lived one hundred and twenty, although he tells us expressly that the general age was much shorter.
AAT Is it not so that of late years eternal life has not been stressed in the gospel?
JT It has been specially stressed for fifty years. To my knowledge what it really is is being stressed.
[p. 146] That is, it is a spiritually tangible thing even now, as to spiritual enjoyment. It is life eternal. It is the fullest thought of life. The place it has in the epistles to Timothy and Titus is especially worthy of note.
WR Life and incorruptibility are said to be brought to light through the gospel: would you say that is over against what had preceded in the way of sin?
JT Yes; over against the history of sin and death. It stresses the idea of incorruptibility. The believer, as having died, is raised in incorruptibility.
ANW Eternal life is a condition of life primarily, as well as duration of life?
JT Clearly; God placed the Cherubim in the garden lest man, in his state of sin, might put forth his hand and partake of the tree of life and live for ever. That man, as he was, should partake of the tree of life and thus live in sin for ever would be monstrous. If they refuse the gospel, men will exist for ever in the lake of fire, but that Adam, as he was, should partake of the tree of life would mean that he would live for ever in his condition of flesh and blood, which would be dreadful. Sin would be utterly abominable in its enormity. The earth could not contain the persons. How long a time would elapse until it was filled? God precluded that calamity by placing the cherubim in the garden to guard the way to the tree of life. Eternal life was a promise and a purpose. Those who are ordained to eternal life, believe. People are ordained to it; God is not at any disadvantage by sin coming in. Everything fits in His realm.
ANW “... May not perish but have life eternal”. What does ‘perishing’ suggest to you?
JT It is to be lost. It is falling in the wilderness. John 3: 15 and 16 seem to allude to the position in the wilderness. God brought the people out of Egypt,
[p. 147] figuratively believers, but with many of them He was not pleased, and their carcases fell in the wilderness. They did not even have a burial. It is the awfulness of the state of perishing as over against the blessed state of eternal life.
ES Is death a condition?
JT Death, as the judgment of God, is a condition, but it is an awful condition. The full thought is the second death. Generally in the Old Testament it was the grave, but Sheol implied more than the grave; it was the retreat or place of the dead; the unseen state. In the New Testament it is the second death. The lake of fire is the second death.
APT Would the Old Testament, in relation to the movements of the children of Israel, help us to see the types in relation to eternal life?
JT Yes; it is a short period of forty years, but see what happened! Six hundred thousand men died. Only one or two who came out of Egypt came into the land. What death really is, is indicated. Where unbelief exists how terrible it is! They fell in the wilderness. The gospel presents eternal life as over against that. Therefore what the types set forth is of great force in connection with nominal christians if they are not real.
JTJr So the Lord had to do with actual cases the daughter of Jairus and then the young man, the son of the widow of Nain. These were youthful; then Lazarus, who was older, had to do with death. Thus persons of various ages are seen in death.
JT That is remarkable. We are not told just how old the young man was, but he was a young man. The girl was twelve years old. We are told how old she was. Each one had experience in death. God thus brought in the idea of life out of death in persons of various ages and circumstances. The idea was thus placed in human hearts — surely in view of eternal life taking form in Christ for men through redemption.
We may thus understand the Lord’s word, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, that he that hears my word, and believes him that has sent me, has life eternal, and does not come into judgment, but is passed out of death into life”, John 5: 24. These three witnesses are necessary in relation to this great matter.
JTJr Lazarus said nothing.
JT Because he is a full-grown man. He needs neither to walk nor speak to show he is a living man, showing how vivid and real spiritual life is; showing also that in us it is a development. If you are a real living man, this may be discerned in you even in inactivity.
CAM The way you are speaking of it now magnifies the idea of eternal life.
JT We are told to lay hold of it. It is realised where the Spirit is among the brethren; hence the importance of young people keeping amongst their elders. Viewed by themselves, young believers do not express much life, but as in the circle of the saints it is drawn out of them — induced by the example and influence of those more experienced and spiritual. Normally the circle would include the three grades of life we have been considering. What an influence Lazarus would exert!
ANW There the Lord would command the blessing, even life for evermore.
JT That would fit in here. The Psalms are the experimental side of things. Of the Lord Himself it is said in the Psalms, “He asked life of thee; thou gavest it him, length of days for ever and ever”, Psalm 21: 4. David in Psalm 133 presents the truth relative to the conditions of life in a vivid way. The Spirit is seen in relation to certain personal features of Christ — “the precious oil upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, upon Aaron’s beard, that ran down to the hem of his garments”. Also, “As the dew of Hermon that descendeth on the mountains of Zion”. It is what comes down in the sense of anointing and refreshing power. The Psalm begins with the thought of unity, but unity as the effect of what comes down from Christ. And “There hath Jehovah commanded the blessing, life for evermore”. It is an imperative thing. God commands it there. He would have it there.
AI When Elihu was speaking to Job in chapter 33, he said, “The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life”. How would you link that up with the thought of life which you are speaking of?
JT That is the believer as formed of God. Extended to christians it is each having a spiritual existence — formed of God and indwelt by His Spirit. There is formation by the Spirit as well as quickening and dwelling. God formed Man and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and Man became a living soul.
AR Elisha’s staff could not raise the Shunammite’s boy. He “lay upon the child, and put his mouth upon his mouth, and his eyes upon his eyes, and his hands upon his hands, and bent over him”, 2 Kings 4: 29 - 35.
JT The boy must come to life in relation to Elisha; he would take in the character of Elisha’s faculties. We are risen, and quickened with Christ, according to Colossians. “If therefore ye have been raised with the Christ, seek the things which are above, where the Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God: have your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are on the earth; for ye have died”, Colossians 3: 1 - 3. The answer to this type is, I think, in Colossians. It is said, “The body is of Christ”, chapter 2: 17. We are brought to life in relation to Him; “the last Adam a quickening spirit”, 1 Corinthians 15: [p. 150] 45.
AR Do you think the boy would really take on the characteristics of the prophet?
JT Yes; that is the typical instruction. You will remember how the prophet “walked in the house to and fro”. It was an exercising thing for him. Then he “went up, and bent over him. And the lad sneezed”. The walking to and fro in the house indicates that the prophet was questioning as to whether there might be deadening things in it, and that the boy might have been brought up in relation to them.
Eternal life, as a general blessing, is connected with Abraham; not that it was not indicated in the antediluvian world, because it was. It was in Enoch, and Seth had the thought of it negatively in calling his son’s name Enosh, which meant he was mortal. There was no idea that, as come from Adam, he would live for ever. Clearly light came in through Seth. “Then people began to call on the name of Jehovah”. But when we come through the flood and life begins to shorten, I think the suggestion is that God would bring in eternal life as blessing for men in a person — in Abraham. “In thee shall all families of the earth be blessed”, Genesis 12: 3. That is in Christ. We have no such thought in the antediluvian world as that. We have the tree of life, which was judicially barred to men as in Adam; but after the flood we have a man through whom all families are to be blessed. It is called the blessing of Abraham. “That the blessing of Abraham might come to the nations in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith”, Galatians 3: 14. It lies in the Spirit now, as a practical matter. We are enjoined to lay hold of it.
JTH It is said that Sarah was barren. Why is barrenness so strongly mentioned in this family?
JT That is another thing that helps in what we are saying, for wives for those to whom the promises were made came from Terah’s generations. Barrenness [p. 151] is mentioned immediately in connection with Terah’s family. The great thoughts in God’s mind for Abraham necessitated a family, and barrenness stood in the way of the accomplishment of them. In the New Testament this fact is strongly used in relation both to Abraham and Sarah to testify to the power of God working through their faith. Thus it is said of Abraham, “... before the God whom he believed, who quickens the dead, and calls the things which be not as being; who against hope believed in hope to his becoming father of many nations, according to that which was spoken. So shall thy seed be and not being weak in faith he considered not his own body already become dead, ... and the deadening of Sarah’s womb, ... but found strength in faith, giving glory to God”, Romans 4: 17 - 20. And of Sarah it is said, “By faith also Sarah herself received strength for the conception of seed ... . Wherefore also there have been born of one, and that of one become dead, even as the stars of heaven in multitude”, Hebrews 11: 11, 12. In Abraham and Sarah, therefore, we have the power of God on the principle of quickening from the dead, overcoming barrenness so that the purpose of God should stand. All this has an important bearing on the blessing coming through Abraham on all the families of the earth.
ES In Sarah, do we live on the basis of promise?
JT Yes; subjectively the Seed came through her. Her name was changed in view of this. God said to Abraham, “I will bless her, and I will give thee a son also of her; and I will bless her, and she shall become nations: kings of peoples shall be of her”, Genesis 17: 16.
AR Referring again to the Shunammite’s son, it is said that the king was asking Gehazi of the great things Elisha had done, and he told him he had raised a dead body to life, and as he was telling him the woman came in with her son and Gehazi said to the king, “This is the woman, and this is her son, whom Elisha restored to life”, 2 Kings 8: 5.
JT That would imply that life in the sense mentioned, was progressing normally. The original word for “new” in Colossians 3: 10 signifies ‘young or fresh’. The man that was raised up at the pool of Bethesda did not remain with the Lord; he was not visible as a testimony. The man in Acts 3 was visible. He stayed with Peter and John and held them. In 2 Kings 8 it is the woman and her son. There is living witness, not a mere report. That is from an uncertain man. It is testimony as in Colossians; believers are viewed there as living in Christ’s life. All that is especially helpful for the young. It is said, in John 12, “... where was the dead (man) Lazarus, whom Jesus raised from among the dead”. He was there — alive. Anyone that came to Bethany could see him. Some believed on the Lord because of him.
CAM Being alive in this sense is really the way into the inheritance. Did that come up in connection with the Shunammite?
JT Yes. The inheritance was given back to her; 2 Kings 8: 6. Typically, it is the revival of Israel and their inheritance restored. Our inheritance is seen in Ephesians. Colossians is a question of life according to Christ; we are raised and quickened with Him.
CN As to God breathing into Adam the breath of life and he becoming a living soul — how far would that life extend?
JT Only to Adam and Eve; it was human life in innocency and hence it ended as they sinned. Although Adam lived physically a long time after he began to sin, morally and judicially his life was forfeited when he partook of the forbidden fruit.
CN Therefore the promise of life, according to the counsels of God would date before this?
JT [p. 153] Yes, indeed. That is what we are dealing with.
JTJr Does that come out in Isaac? Abraham said about Ishmael, “Oh, that Ishmael might live before thee!” Genesis 17: 18. Evidently there was something in Ishmael that attracted him, whereas Isaac represents life in the Spirit.
JT “In Isaac shall a seed be called to thee”. God has not left us in the types without a real thought, and I believe Colossians is worthy of our attention as to whether we are “according to Christ” or whether we are after Ishmael — a mixture. John 3: 16, as usually presented, is apt to leave us with bare assurance for the future, whereas it provides for the present also. True believers are “passed out of death into life”, John 5: 24.
TEH How is a person such as Jairus’ daughter to be sustained in life? Her parents were told to give her something to eat.
JT That comes up often. It is certainly needed — there is so much sorrow in connection with the young amongst us; the need for receiving proper spiritual food is most important. As raised up by the Lord she walked (Mark 5: 42) showing she had strength. Hence the parents were obligated in regard of her food. She needed what would sustain her spiritually. There should be nothing deadening in the house either in conversation or in reading matter. The critical way the saints are talked about does much harm. It is certain to work out adversely in the judgment the children form of their elders.
APT Was there something needed in Timothy to unravel the mixed line which would have come from his father being a Greek, not said to have been a believer, but his mother a “Jewish believing woman”?
JT He needed to have rekindling done and he was to do it himself; 2 Timothy 1: 6. Evidently there was something weakening in him as there is in most [p. 154] of us. We need resetting up and refreshing constantly. The apostle John was representative of life in a striking way. In the Scriptures no one speaks more of it than he. He was directed to eat “the little book”, Revelation 10: 9. The voice out of heaven said, “It shall make thy belly bitter, but in thy mouth it shall be sweet as honey”. That was the experience which indicated that his condition was normal. John said, “I ... ate it up; and it was in my mouth as honey, sweet; and when I had eaten it my belly was made bitter”. His reaction was according to heaven. The word of God should always be sweet in our mouths, but if it indicates suffering in the saints it is bitter. John’s reaction showed that he qualified to “prophesy again”. Spiritually, his sensations were true to life. So that he should continue his ministry in full measure.
WR Paul says in Romans 12, “Be transformed by the renewing of your mind”. Is there not a tendency with us to fall back into a weak or deadened condition?
JT Yes. In Romans, one of the threads running through is newness: newness of life, newness of spirit, and renewing of the mind. All that enters into what we are saying as to the activity of life. I think it is very important to notice the shortening of actual physical life seen in Genesis; it is in view of the blessing; the blessing of Abraham. The Lord has lately taken away a good many; some young. Some are ill, too. It is intended to sober and teach us wisdom. Moses, in our psalm prays, “So teach us to number our days, that we may acquire a wise heart”, Psalm 90: 12. God reminds us constantly of the brevity of human life. It is a law really, because if it were accidental, one might say, I may live as long as Methushelah, but that is not to be, because it is governed in a general way by law. It would be folly in anyone to hope to live as long as Methushelah or Abraham or Jacob. It is not happening. The truth [p. 155] is that the reduction in the period of human life is a law in the government of God.
RWS So to speak, you might miss a meeting in the millennium, because longevity will be so great, but now our time is so short, it is a question of getting all possible; is that it?
JT Yes; you can see that in Genesis 11, it is not persons specially selected that are in mind. It is a line of persons from Shem down; they represent the general rule. Thus we may accept that God has decreed in His government the shortening of human life, and this fact should accentuate in believers, and in men generally, the greatness of eternal life and the absolute need of it.
FNW The passage in 1 Timothy referred to before, urging the need of laying hold of eternal life, is preceded by the thought of piety, and the reminder that “we have brought nothing into the world: it is manifest that neither can we carry anything out”, chapter 6: 7. Is piety a basic thing?
JT Very much so. It is greatly stressed in that passage. “Piety with contentment is great gain”.
APf “Honour thy father and thy mother, which is the first commandment with a promise, that it may be well with thee, and that thou, mayest be long-lived on the earth” (Ephesians 6: 2, 3) — does that have any effect on the shortening of life?
JT It would not mean that the fixed law, as we may call it, in the government of God indicated in this chapter, was altered. It only means that young people have this conditional promise. It is the first commandment with a promise, and what does the promise mean? It clearly means that God is recognising a certain rightness in young people, who are obedient to their parents, to live to a normal age; they are not to die in childhood. It is quite right for young persons to value this. It induces piety, which God specially honours. I think the “promise” is [p. 156] intended to save them from their own wills because it is a question of honouring their fathers and mothers — being subject.
RWS What about the enjoyment of eternal life? Is that connected with the company or has it an individual bearing?
JT It is a blessing which the believer is contemplated as possessing, as we have seen in John 5: 24 and other scriptures, but clearly it is accentuated amongst the saints, where the Spirit has liberty. Psalm 133 shows that eternal life is commanded where certain collective conditions exist; and in 1 John 3: 14 it is said, “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren”. Acts 13: 48 mentions that “as many as were ordained to eternal life” believed. And in verse 52 it is said that “the disciples were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit”. Evidently the great truth of eternal life was taking effect in those that believed. It started immediately. It is an eternal blessing, but immediate in its effect on those who appropriate it.
AR Did not F.E.R. say you must have a sphere in order to live?
JT The sphere is the assembly, ‘an out-of-the-world condition of relationship and being in which eternal life consists’, and that is in the circle of the Lord’s people. The three persons whom the Lord raised, already mentioned — Jairus’ daughter, the young man of Nain and Lazarus — taken together, indicate, I believe, the collective quality and character of the saints as affording the sphere of life at the present time. It is a living state of things.
DP Would the death of Dorcas (Acts 9), bring out the power of God that was current amongst the saints to set aside death and bring in victory through a man — Peter?
JT That great work is most clearly understood by taking into account its setting in the book of [p. 157] Acts. Paul had already been called out, and he had preached that Jesus is the Son of God. It is through him life comes in, and Peter went “through all quarters”; this was in accordance with the extension of thought that God had brought in in the ministry, that believers were not to be confined to Israel. Ministers were to go further afield, and Peter accepted that fact, no doubt under the influence of the Spirit. He raised up Aeneas and told him to make his bed for himself. That implied the energy of life. Perhaps his bed had never been so well made! For a living man would do everything right. There was a striking result from this miracle, for “all who inhabited Lydda and the Saron saw him, who turned to the Lord”. Dorcas was a seamstress, and she died, and they laid her in the upper room, and sent for Peter. This woman was highly regarded by the widows, and the disciples, too; nevertheless, she died. But life was active; it was effective in a mediatorial sense, that is, in Peter. He came and was brought to the upper room. The widows were weeping, but evidently governed by natural feeling — of no value in such circumstances. It is a question of spiritual life. He put them all out “and kneeling down, prayed. And, turning to the body, he said, Tabitha, arise. And she opened her eyes, and, seeing Peter, sat up” (verse 40). That is the idea. It is an objective effect. She would live according to that objective. It is a Colossian thought, as we have noted in others. Peter gave Dorcas his hand and raised her up. And having called the widows, he presented her living. It is an objective thought of life. The woman is made to live after an objective pattern. She would never forget what Peter was as she saw him, a living person, a mediatorial person — used by God to raise her from the dead.
JAP Why did the Lord say, “Take me not away in the midst of my days!” Psalm 102: [p. 158] 24?
JT It means, as I understand it, that the Lord as here in the sphere of the government of God, valued life; He was not unreal about it. He valued His ordinary life; He valued His food; He valued His relatives; He valued the brethren as they came before Him. He enjoyed what God had ordained.
JTJr Would you say He recognised the limit of seventy, when He said, “In the midst of my days”?
JT That is what is alluded to, I believe.
ANW The answer is remarkable: “Thy years are from generation to generation”. There again you have infinite length of time against the shortness.
JT The Spirit of God did not allow that to pass without bringing out His deity. “But thou art the Same, and thy years shall have no end”.
APT In John 8 they say to the Lord Jesus, “Thou hast not yet fifty years”. It gives Him an opportunity of bringing forward His deity.
JT Quite so. He says immediately, “Before Abraham was, I am”. That is the same as Psalm 102. He is the eternal God.
RWS Is life emphasised in connection with the extension of Hezekiah’s life by fifteen years?
JT Yes. Fifteen years is not eternal life, but it indicates what God can do as to life. It could be fifteen million years if God thought it well. Eternal life was in God’s mind. The extension was a testimony to Hezekiah as to what God could do.
AC Would the raising of the youth by Paul (Acts 20), illustrate what you are saying as to the value of eternal life?
JT Just so; he delivered him to the saints. The youth fell by gravity, whereas going down was the energy of life in Paul. The incident is remarkable in that chapter because, as we have often remarked, it begins with love and ends with love. It is a love chapter, and that young man was at the window opening, not in the enjoyment of the circle. There [p. 159] were many lights in the upper chamber which would mean that there were lovable men there. Their names were given before — the most notable of Paul’s converts. And this young man, seemingly, did not value them. But later it is said, “They brought away the boy alive, and were no little comforted”. From these words we may assume that as resuscitated by Paul — brought away alive — the youth would henceforth value the sphere of love and add to it.
AR Life was evident in the Lord when on His way to the house of Jairus. The woman said, “If I shall touch but his clothes I shall be healed”, Mark 5: 28. She felt there was virtue in His garments — representing perhaps the saints.
JT Quite so. She is called “daughter” by the Lord. Virtue went out of Him and healed her. Recognised as daughter, she is in the family of faith. It is the man, the woman and the child in that chapter. The man is delivered from the demons, the woman healed as the Lord was on the way to Jairus’ house, and the child raised up. Again there is the idea of the circle of the saints.
ES When Paul was stoned the brethren encircled him; Acts 14: 19, 20.
JT Yes. And he rose up and entered into the city. He had that experience. It is a touching testimony to the power of life in the circle of divine love. The encircling love of the disciples would henceforth be increasingly valued by Paul.
AAT Is eternal life a special christian blessing? Do the Jews come into it?
JT The Jews come into it, because it is the blessing of Abraham. The Jews are his children as we are. The blessing extends to the earthly family as well as the heavenly.
ANW The nations come into it.
JT Just so. It has come to us through the gospel, the Spirit being the power of it. So that I [p. 160] think the blessing of Abraham characteristically is life. Much else, of course, works out from it, but eternal life is the general blessing.
FNW Genesis 25 says that Abraham died old and full of days, although his years were only a hundred and seventy-five. Does that suggest there is to be the filling out in life of the time allotted to us?
JT Just so. You could not say that of a man like Methushelah even though there may have been something of God in him. He died before the flood came. I suppose fulness of days in Abraham would mean that they were full of events of importance. What is anyone unless his life is full of events that are important? What is important in your life? It certainly is not your business! It is what is important in the mind of God. This, in principle, would imply living days.
FNW Does the numbering of our days help us to fill in the time?
JT Just so. That you might know how many days you have and make the best use of them. We are to redeem the time.
ETM The apostle in speaking of certain things says, “But this I say, brethren, the time is straightened”, 1 Corinthians 7: 29. Would he have this in mind?
JT Yes. He was dealing with the subject of marriage, one of the most important subjects in the minds of most; but as he pointed out, it is not really to be so classified. He says, “He that marries himself does well; and he that does not marry does better”. Earlier in the chapter he says, “I wish all men to be even as myself; but every one has his own gift of God”. What is stated in this most practical chapter requires to be carefully analysed, but it plainly indicates that marriage is not so important as we are apt to regard it. The person that does not marry, the apostle says, does better. That is remarkable. It has to be accepted, too, [p. 161] as truth.
CAM We are generally slow in accepting the truth. I was thinking of the twelve years of that woman of Luke 8. She had tried many doctors and only got worse. We are reluctant to turn to eternal things where relief is really found.
JT That is what the gospels stress. They show the brevity of human life, and so the Lord says to Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life: he that believes on me, though he have died, shall live; and every one who lives and believes on me shall never die”, John 11: 25. All that links with Abraham, the father of all that believe.
AI Would you in any way link John the baptist with this thought of the shortening of life?
JT Yes; he died a comparatively young man.
RWS Would you enlarge on the remark that you made in one of the earlier readings that the life we are considering was more active, and eternal life is more what is fixed?
JT I thought we should get on to that later. What we are stressing now is the brevity of human life, as accentuating the greatness of eternal life. What eternal life is we shall seek to see later — in John’s writings; but in the meantime, it is what these types signify as leading up to the main thought. We should keep in our minds the steady reduction of human life in the generations of Shem. It is no accident at all. It is God establishing a law in His government, and there it is. It comes down to Abraham. He is the youngest so far. He is seventy-five now, and he is active, and he dies one hundred years later.
APT Life was connected with the priesthood in Numbers. Is there anything in that for us at the present moment?
JT There is; priestly service is in the energy of life. Aaron’s rod budded and yielded ripened fruit. “The staff of Aaron ... budded, and brought forth [p. 162] buds, and bloomed blossoms, and ripened almonds”, Numbers 17: 8. The service of God must be living. It is over against the rebellion of Korah, who belonged to the tribe of Levi but rebelled against Moses and Aaron. Life is essential to real priesthood. That is what is in mind. Profession of the truth, mere knowledge of doctrine and ability for preaching and teaching are not enough.