THE LIFE WHICH IS IN CHRIST JESUS (20)
[p. 439] THE LIFE WHICH IS IN CHRIST JESUS (20)
John 12: 20 - 50; John 14: 18, 19
JT The place chapter 12 has in relation to our subject was scarcely touched upon at our last reading, but really it involves finality as to our subject, and indeed as to the whole testimony as to life in John’s gospel. It finishes with the commandment of the Father, which is “life eternal”, and it begins with the well-known scene at Bethany in which life is seen in a family setting. The chapters immediately preceding treat of the family in relation to our subject, but this chapter furnishes us with an example of life seen according to what is taught in the preceding chapters. It is seen, not simply as a matter of energy, but in persons related to each other in a family setting; that is, Lazarus, and Martha and Mary. They are seen in the beautification which divine love affords. It seems, therefore, that we should look more fully at the beautiful picture at Bethany in relation to life; and then how Lazarus is carried through illustratively as risen; and then the Greeks coming up and furnishing an opportunity for the Lord to speak of life; not only out of death as seen in Lazarus, but life out of death as seen in Himself; not simply one brought back into life in conditions of flesh and blood, as Lazarus was, but brought from the dead in a wholly new condition; and the subsequent solemn consummation of the whole matter in the citation from Isaiah, showing that God had finished His testimony to the Jews; the matter was settled between Him and them. The final remarks put them under judgment, for the Lord says, “and if any one hear my words and do not keep them, I judge him not, for I am not come that I might judge the world, but that I might save the world. He that [p. 440] rejects me and does not receive my words, has him who judges him: the word which I have spoken, that shall judge him in the last day. For I have not spoken from myself, but the Father, who sent me has himself given me commandment what I should say and what I should speak; and I know that his commandment is life eternal. What therefore I speak, as the Father has said to me, so I speak” (verses 47 - 50). The verses which were read from chapter 14 will serve to enlarge upon the life that the Lord speaks of in chapter 12 as active in Himself; the same life being active in them; “Because I live ye also shall live” (verse 19).
CAM Say another word about the Father’s commandment. You said that was the final thought?
JT It shows, I think, that the idea of eternal life represents His will. The Lord says, “And I know that his commandment is life eternal”. It is the gracious sovereign will of God that is stressed — that this great blessing should come into being and stand.
ANW Is that the setting in Psalm 133, “There hath Jehovah commanded the blessing, life for evermore”?
JT I think it is the same thought only it is fuller here, of course. The Father is brought into it, suggesting that the whole thought of the will of the Father is in this great blessing.
CAM The epistle to Titus speaks of what “God, who cannot lie, promised before the ages of time”, chapter 1: 2. Would the thought of the Father go back to His sovereign love before time?
JT Yes. We might be left with the thought that there is nothing more. It is stressed in that way that His commandment is eternal life — not one of His commandments, or the chief commandment, but His commandment, as if the whole feature of life as blessing was conveyed.
WWM Would the suggestion of the family in [p. 441] the early part of the chapter, and the life that is seen there, bring to our thoughts what the apostle said, “For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom every family in the heavens and on earth is named”, Ephesians 3: 14, 15?
JT Yes. I do not say that this chapter is the summation of all the thoughts of God in this gospel as to life, but generally it is. Then the idea of the family in the early part is very suggestive. We have already dwelt upon it somewhat, but not in an illustrative way as seen in this beautiful picture at Bethany. You can see it is designed. Jesus came there, we are told. We have the historical setting — “Jesus therefore, six days before the passover, came to Bethany, where was the dead man Lazarus, whom Jesus raised from among the dead. There, therefore, they made him a supper, and Martha served, but Lazarus was one of those at table with him. Mary therefore, having taken a pound of ointment of pure nard of great price, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair, and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment” (verses 1 - 3). The recurrence of the word ‘therefore’ is striking, as if it were all sequence. It was a design and now we have the fulfilment of it. First we have “Jesus therefore”; and then “there therefore they made him a supper”; and then, “Mary therefore, having taken a pound of ointment ...” And there is another “therefore” in verse 4, “One of his disciples, therefore, Judas son of Simon, Iscariote ...”. This was the enemy’s work, intended to spoil the scene, but it brought out the quality that was there — in Mary.
Ques Is that what you had in your mind when you said these three persons, Lazarus. Mary and Martha, were set there as ornaments?
JT Yes, that is the position. They are also seen in chapter 11, but not in this ornamental way; they are seen as loved in chapter 11; but here they are,
[p. 442] so to speak, set as precious stones. It is the designed position to bring out what is taught in this gospel as to life; that its beauty, as divinely set, might be seen. And, of course, it is intended by extension for the assembly that we might see life illustratively in the saints. The earthly side of the position is in view in this chapter.
AR In verse 7, Jesus said, “Suffer her to have kept this for the day of my preparation for burial”.
JT Yes; as we have noted. Mary’s quality must be brought out, and her intelligent affection and devotedness must be vindicated.
CFE Service also is involved in this chapter, would you say?
JT Yes; Martha is seen in that position.
WR Do you see the Lord depicted here as Head of the family?
JT That side is hardly seen: the Supper was made for Him, not by Him. The effect of life is seen in them. It is to show what life is. The design is that there are persons there, the fruit of His work, and they are there in view of His being present — in view of His coming — He had been there before but this occasion is unique. It shows what He had effected in Bethany.
AAT How does a sister serve in a spiritual sense in the assembly? Martha served here.
JT You have in mind perhaps that a sister should not speak in the assembly; but speaking is not all — keeping quiet is much. It enters into this scene peculiarly because Lazarus is not said to speak; still he functions. None of the sisters speak on this occasion, but Martha served and Mary anointed the Lord and wiped His feet with her hair — a great service. It is a question of whether our faculties are active and whether they are capable of taking part in a living but silent sense as sitting [p. 443] together.
DP What are the distinctive features of life in each of these ornaments?
JT The first is Lazarus: “... where was the dead man Lazarus, whom Jesus raised from among the dead”; and then it is said that he was one of those at table with Him. I suppose he would represent the leading thought as the man, the only man in the family. The leading thought would be dignity in life. Full scope must be made for life inasmuch as it is intended to be a living scene.
GAL Why are there no children in Bethany?
JT There were no children in the ark; it is to bring out maturity in what God has in His mind. He has not in His mind an infantile condition, but full growth; that is, men.
ABP Would Lazarus function in every part; wholly alive? Much is made of the senses in John’s gospel, as though life involves that all our spiritual sensibilities are functioning.
JP I think the full thought of manhood, that is, in type and principle, would be seen there, although we are not told that he spoke. I think the idea is that life without effort was discerned in him.
AR Verse 17 says, “The crowd therefore that was with him bore witness because he had called Lazarus out of the tomb, and raised him from among the dead”. They discerned what He had effected in Lazarus, did they not?
JT Quite so. It says earlier, “But the chief priests took counsel that they might kill Lazarus also, because many of the Jews went away on his account and believed on Jesus” (verses 10, 11).
JTJr Lazarus had been through a wonderful experience. Would the results of the experience be seen in him?
JT I think so; I think the idea would be that he was a subject of life: life-giving power, typically. “... The last Adam a quickening spirit”, we are told.
Well, now, the Lord had said, “Lazarus, come forth”. That was to call attention — the Lord intended to set life in motion in Lazarus. And we are told that the dead came forth bound feet and hands with graveclothes. And then Jesus says, “Loose him and let him go” (verse 44). That is, give him liberty; set him free. It is now a matter of what Lazarus will do, and the facts here show what he did, that he was not talkative; he made no effort at all to call attention to himself, but still people are noticing him. It is life without effort, which it ought to be. In eternity, I suppose, we shall make no effort.
CAM Fruit-bearing is without effort, is it not?
JT Just so. “Observe with attention the lilies of the field, how they grow: they toil not, neither do they spin; but I say unto you, that not even Solomon in all his glory was clothed as one of these”, Matthew 6: 28, 29.
ANW That is plainly seen in Mary’s part, for the house was filled with the odour of the ointment.
CN The whole movement connected with Lazarus is called a sign: I was thinking of the glory you referred to as seen in the family at Bethany.
JT The word ‘sign’, not ‘miracle’, is used in John. The word ‘miracle’ is used in the synoptic gospels. We have often noted that the beginning of signs was in chapter 2. “This beginning of signs did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested his glory” (verse 11). There was no great activity in that. It was just that the vessels were filled and then there was the drawing out, and the water was turned into wine. The idea in this section is that life is signified. It is set out by a sign. Other signs have other meanings. There is a difference between signs and miracles. A sign is something that signifies something else.
FHL Would you say Lazarus had a part in it in that they made Him a [p. 445] supper?
JT I think the three covered the whole position. It is a family. There were others there, apparently the disciples were present; but this occasion is to bring out the persons that are named as at the Supper.
AR How do you arrive at this life experimentally?
JT It is a question of life, as we were saying. We are subjects of life. The last Adam is a quickening spirit. That is what is said of Him. There is much else said as to life, of course, but that is, you might say, the supreme thought in Christ in regard of life, that He is a life-giving spirit; not a life-giving Man, notice, and yet, of course, He is a Man. It is a most remarkable thing that a Person, a Man, is called a spirit. I do not think we get it elsewhere.
JP Does God begin to work in death in that way in view of life?
JT That is clear enough. What transpires in this section is designated as for the glory of God. The sickness of Lazarus was not unto death but for the glory of God, that the Son of God should be glorified thereby. So it is a question of God, and God’s Son. The Father and the Son are involved in this section. The Father quickens and the Son quickens, but the Person seen quickening in this section is the Son. We have the details of the action, and, of course, it is a figure of every action of the kind; that we are all the subjects of His power in the sense of life-giving. It is not simply that He calls us into life, but He gives life, and He raises us as spiritual; we are raised in spiritual bodies. It is in this connection that the Lord is said to be a quickening spirit; 1 Corinthians 15: 45.
DP Andrew and Philip would be tested as to whether they were in the good of the family life at Bethany. When the subject of life came up, they were challenged by the Greeks, the Greeks having their own idea of life.
JT [p. 446] I would say that they were not in the understanding of the life that is set out at Bethany. They were occupied with Greek life. Probably they had in their minds that it was an important thing that the Greeks should come up; whereas the Lord made nothing of that at all. He takes occasion by what they say to bring out the new order of life in which He was to come up out of the grave Himself.
AR “He that loves his life shall lose it, and he that hates his life in this world shall keep it to life eternal” (verse 25). Why is the idea of hating our life brought in?
JT That is to bring out how the life that is in mind is to work out in ourselves, and it becomes very challenging because, “He that loves his life shall lose it, and he that hates his life in this world shall keep it to life eternal”. They are very challenging words, and they enter into what was in the mind of Andrew and Philip when they brought up the question of the Greeks. They were making much of it, but in order to get out of the state of the Greeks, this word of the Lord has to be understood; that is, “He that loves his life shall lose it”. Suppose you were a Greek, you might be a scholar or an orator or a soldier, and you would have no thought at all of hating your life. People brought up on that line do not hate their lives; they make much of their lives and therefore they lose them eternally. The Lord says, “He that loves his life shall lose it, and he that hates his life in this world shall keep it to life eternal”. The ‘it’, therefore, has to be understood; it is abstract. Practically it is life given of God, which we lay hold of by faith. It is life in a practical sense down here which the true believer has which abides and thus eventuates in eternal life. The unbeliever’s life, which he loves, is made up of things down here and is lost at [p. 447] the end.
AR Why did the Lord say, “... shall keep it to life eternal” — is it an objective?
JT Well, it is, meaning that what you keep is your life as before God. It does not slip away from you; it is abiding. It is life in the wilderness, merging into eternal life. Paul says, “In that I now live in flesh, I live by faith, the faith of the Son of God”, Galatians 2: 20.
ANW The approach of the Greeks follows upon the word that the world had gone after Jesus. There is the suggestion of something popular, which would suit those who love their lives; but “the grain of wheat” would not bear fruit for this world. Besides, it would abide alone except it fell into the ground and died.
JT Quite so; that is the next thing to go on to the life that the Lord speaks of, which He would bring up out of death. So he says, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except the grain of wheat falling into the ground die, it abides alone; but if it die, it bears much fruit”. Then the verse we have just been commenting upon, which leads into eternal life, follows and shows how the believer works it out. Romans 6 and 7 would be involved. And then Romans 8 treats of the Spirit which corresponds with Galatians 2: 20, already quoted.
JTJr Would you also bring Colossians into this? It speaks of philosophy and vain deceit; the rudiments of the world; that deceptive character of things that is apt to colour our lives, bringing in another life that is opposed to christian life.
JT Quite so; philosophy and vain deceit, of course, characterised the Greek world. The Greeks had a supreme place, you might say, on that line; those that go in for that, have to learn to hate it if they are going to come into life eternal. We have to work out the language of the gospels, and we have to go to the epistles to get the full designed teaching.
[p. 448] The gospels are not exactly couched in the teaching of the epistles. They are intended to confirm and support generally the teaching of the apostles, but they go over to the coming dispensation.
JAP “Jews indeed ask for signs, and Greeks seek wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified”, 1 Corinthians 1: 22, 23. Would that be the answer of the apostle to Greek teaching?
JT Just so; that is language formally intended to overthrow it.
JTJr So it has been remarked that the teaching of the cross at Corinth put the incestuous man out, but circumcision among the Colossians kept the philosophical man out. Do we not need to keep this kind of man out?
JT Yes; the epistle to the Colossians was intended to keep out philosophy and vain deceit from the assembly at Colosse. So we have, “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”, chapter 3: 1. If you brought a Greek classic to Lazarus after he was raised from the dead he would not be interested, any more than Mary Magdalene, as seen in chapter 20, would have been.
GAL Is that the thought in the books being burned at Ephesus; there was no thought of retracting and using them again?
JT Yes, that is the idea; it shows the power of the preaching of the truth at Ephesus. The passage tells how the books were burned, and the value of them is given. But this life that the Lord had in mind is what He would help us to lay hold of, because life is our subject. “Except the grain of wheat falling into the ground die, it abides alone; but if it die, it bears much fruit”.
ABP What is the import of the word ‘falling’ — “falling into the ground”?
JT [p. 449] I think the allusion is to seed-growing. In the parable in Matthew 13 we have the same allusion — “... fell along the way”. The Lord used the figure of a person sowing seed, implying a quantity, but in John 12 it is one seed, not a lot of seed in a vessel; it is one seed, and it is used with the article, “Except the grain of wheat falling into the ground ...” And notice it is not any cereal, any grain, as in 1 Corinthians 15; wheat is specified. But the teaching means that there really was only one which could be used with the article, for the one was the Lord Himself. Nor is there any idea of fertilisation. It is just the position in the ground.
ABP Might the thought of falling involve that there was no action on its part but that it was rather the will of another? Would it suggest the Lord’s full committal to the will of God?
JT Well, I suppose so, but it is going into the ground. The falling is just the ordinary figure alluding to the ordinary way of sowing; but then the article should be noted and it is not pictured as any one sowing it, it is just the simple fact that it falls into the ground; the grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies. There is nothing more. If that does not happen, the Lord says, it abides alone, and He would be alone eternally, but it did fall into the ground, so the thing is very forcibly brought to our minds. 1 Corinthians 15 is more definite as to sowing — “what thou sowest”. But in John 12 no sowing agency is mentioned.
ANW It would imply that it has life inherently? That is involved in it surely.
FSC The bearing of much fruit is glorification?
JT Well, quite so; that is what it would be, but the thing is not enlarged upon. Really, to get to the doctrine we must go to the epistles, to Hebrews 2. It is well-known. We have often spoken of it, but it is well to see it now: “For both he that sanctifies [p. 450] and those sanctified are all of one” (verse 11). So that the seed here involves the Sanctifier, the Lord going down into death in order to bear much fruit, to bring us up. And the fruit are all “of one”; not exactly unity, but of one kind; He and they are of one kind. There is no disparity or inferiority contemplated at all. The figure in John 12 implies that the grain of wheat is the thing in mind; that is, the Person of Christ, and He enters into the ground and dies; there is the process of dying and then the bearing of fruit.
ANW “Behold, I and the children which God has given me” (Hebrews 2: 13), would be the fruit given Him of God.
JT Just so; the statement here, “He that sanctifies and those sanctified are all of one”, is to remind us that there is no disparity between the Lord and the saints. We belong to the assembly, and the assembly is of Christ; the same quality as Christ’s humanity.
AR “Such as the heavenly one, such also the heavenly ones”, 1 Corinthians 15: 48.
JT That is on the same line.
CFE Is the figure used to imply life inherent in Him?
JT That is a fact, we are of Him. We come up as the much fruit from that one Grain. The more you dwell on it the more wonderful it is.
WWM Is the figure of Eve taken out of Adam similar to this figure?
JT Pretty much; the assembly is of Christ, only this is an agricultural figure.
APT Is there any similarity in the tabernacle being of the same wood as the ark — shittim wood?
JT There is a link there. The same wood is used; in fact, there is no other in the tabernacle, which is remarkable. It seems the durability and strength of the wood is implied.
JTJr Hebrews says, “... that through death he [p. 451] might annul him who has the might of death, that is, the devil; and might set free all those who through fear of death through the whole of their life were subject to bondage”, Hebrews 2: 14, 15. Thus Christ sets us free, bringing us into this sphere of liberty.
JT That is what He has done, but He has done that through death. “... that through death he might annul him who has the might of death”. That is another stroke of His power. There is no fruit in that; it is negative as dealing with the enemy. But there is much fruit in the Lord’s falling into the ground as seen in John 12 — fruit for eternity.
CFE Why do you suppose the Lord uses the word ‘if’ in verse 26 — “If any one serve me, let him follow me” — as though it is left for the individual to follow Him? Are we brought into responsibility here?
JT “If any one serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there also shall be my servant. And if any one serve me, him shall the Father honour”. All that is bound up with the new humanity; that is, the servants are not to be Greeks, or Romans, or any natural men at all. The Lord must die first before there can be any servants according to God; that is what is in mind. The truth works out. If we are to serve, let us follow Him. In chapter 8, He says, “I am the light of the world; he that follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life” (verse 12). That is not the point here. The point here is “Let him follow me; and where I am, there also shall be my servant”. It is a question of being where the Lord is. My position is determined by His. And then, “If any one serve me, him shall the Father honour”. Honour is attached to our position.
GVD Is the Bethany scene illustrative of this service?
JT Just so. How precious was Mary’s service!
The Lord says, “Suffer her to have kept this for the day of my preparation for burial”. She seized the opportunity for devoted intelligent service. And how effective it was!
ABP Reverting to verse 25, does eating the flesh and drinking the blood of the Son of man develop a constitution which enables one to hate his life in this world and to keep it unto life eternal?
JT That is right. In order to see this life going through we must apprehend the Lord falling into the ground, dying and bearing much fruit. The Father’s commandment confirms the whole position; and the judicial side is worked out from Isaiah’s two prophecies quoted in this chapter. The whole matter is settled — the issue between God and the Jews. And life henceforth is to be apprehended in this gospel more in heavenly relations, the Lord being in resurrection and ascension. He says, “Because I live ye also shall live”, chapter 14: 19; in that life we are bound up with Him.
ABP Is the life that was displayed here by Christ, the glory that is referred to, which Esaias saw (verse 41)? Would the refusal of the manifestation of the glory from chapter 2 on, be the moral basis on which Israel was blinded and set aside?
JT I think that is the way the truth works out; this chapter is the final or crucial chapter; the issue between God and the Jews is finished. The testimony was perfect; Isaiah’s prophecies are cited here and elsewhere in the same connection, especially in Acts 28. But here it is to show that the Jew is out of court now; the light had shone and they refused to bow. It is a finished matter. So that Esaias “said again” (verse 39). The first reference to Isaiah begins in verse 37: “But though he had done so many signs before them, they believed not on him, that the word of the prophet Esaias which he said might be fulfilled, Lord, who has believed our report? and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” (verses 37, 38). That is the first one; that is in chapter 53 of Isaiah. The second reference begins in verse 39: “On this account they could not believe, because Esaias said again, He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, that they may not see with their eyes, and understand with their heart and be converted, and I should heal them. These things said Esaias because he saw his glory and spoke of him” (verses 39 - 41). Chapter 6 of Isaiah is quoted here. The Jews come under judgment because they refused the testimony of glory, as you said.
CAM So the Jews really did not see the Lord after He had entered into this heavenly life, did they?
JT No; the verse we read in chapter 14 says, “Yet a little and the world sees me no longer; but ye see me; because I live ye also shall live” (verse 19). So that the Jews are shut out. In chapter 14 we are on a new footing altogether; you might say an assembly footing, and we are bound up in the life of Christ: “Because I live ...” — how precious it is, that our very existence depends on His living!
CAM Thus the disciples shut the doors for fear of the Jews; John 20: 19.
RWS Who are represented in the believers in verse 42 of chapter 12?
JT “Although indeed from among the rulers also many believed on him, but on account of the Pharisees did not confess him, that they might not be put out of the synagogue: for they loved glory from men rather than glory from God”. Well, the Spirit notices them as believing on Christ, without confessing Him, and as loving glory from men rather than glory from God. We cannot dismiss them as of no value. Scripture furnishes many examples of this class of believers; indeed we may say they are graded. “Although indeed” (verse 42), marks them off as different from the mass of those who did [p. 454] not believe.
RWS So in the presence of opposition inside, in Judas at Bethany; unbelief, as in verse 37; imitation or half-heartedness, in verse 42, the real life is there.
JT Yes. I think verse 42 is just left for us; they may be real or they may not be; we are to judge. But we must hold to what we have earlier; that is to say, “He that loves his life shall lose it, and he that hates his life in this world shall keep it to life eternal”. We cannot say these rulers are hating their lives in this world; they are afraid to confess Christ.
AR Would Nicodemus come into this?
JT He has more credentials than these men. What is said here is that “Although indeed from among the rulers also many believed on him, but on account of the Pharisees did not confess him”. They are afraid to be put out of the synagogue. What are we to think of these men? I think the Spirit of God is putting that question to us. “Thou seest, brother, how many myriads there are of the Jews who have believed”, says James to Paul; Acts 21: 20. This led Paul to adopt legal principles — to compromise. Hence we can see the influence that arises from indefinite conditions. I believe that is how the Spirit of God tests us in a passage like this.
WR Does Thomas show in chapter 20 that he has a Jewish mind?
JT He does, but he is a true man and this is what we should look for in such mixed conditions. He comes wholly to the truth — “My Lord and my God”, he says.
JAP Abigail says, “If a man is risen up to pursue thee and to seek thy life, the soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living with Jehovah thy God”, 1 Samuel 25: 29. She committed herself when Nabal was bitterly opposed to David.
JT Quite so; she spoke of “the bundle of the living”. I should not be certain about these people of which we have been speaking belonging to the bundle of the living, and that is what confronts us in our efforts to get converts or additions. We want to be sure that they are real believers; not simply that they make a certain confession.
AP These people did not confess (verse 42).
JT That is true, but it is said of them that they believed on Him; that is, they would listen to the preaching and they would privately take the ground of believers. Simon, Acts 8, took this ground and even Philip did not discern him.
ANW Romans 10 would not allow that as sufficient for salvation.
JT No, there must be confession with the mouth.