THE LIFE WHICH IS IN CHRIST JESUS (1)
THE LIFE WHICH IS IN CHRIST JESUS (1)
2 Timothy 1:1,2; 2 Timothy 1:8-14; Ezekiel 37: 1 - 14
JT Life, which is a great and very wide thought, has been selected as the subject for these readings. I think we have observed that the truth opens up to us more freely as we treat it in its immediate application to ourselves to meet current need. So it was thought that we might begin with life as spoken of in the Scriptures in relation to the last days, which are called “difficult times” in 2 Timothy 3: 1. The epistle was written to a young man, taken up in the service and qualified for it, and points to the continuance of the testimony. In ministering, Timothy was to have in mind at least two generations after himself, chapter 2: 2. Paul enjoined him to pass on to others what he had heard from him.
In view of what we have been engaged with during the past series of meetings, that is, “Wells and Springs”, it is thought that the subject of life should be looked at; although it has been included, in some measure, in the previous inquiry, it is thought that the latter needs supplementing by a review of life in a more general way. The bearing of prophetic ministry in relation to it is also in mind; that is why the passage in Ezekiel was proposed. It contemplates life in a complete result. In that passage we have persons constituted from a condition of dry bones into full manhood. “The whole house of Israel” is seen there — “an exceeding great army”. Clearly, conflict is in mind.
AAT Is the promise of life for the present or future?
[p. 2] JT It is God anticipating need that would arise. A promise is usually to meet a need. This promise was made long before, but it becomes effective as the need exists.
ANW Does it differ from the promise of eternal life which is mentioned in Titus?
JT I think it is the same thing. It is called “life” here in both passages read. In verse 1, it is the “promise of life”, and in verse 10, “life and incorruptibility”. Life is more operative. Eternal life is more a fixed thought and is over against death. Eternal life covers eternity, but what is needed now is life. Timothy, however, is told in the first letter to him to “lay hold of eternal life” (1 Timothy 6: 12), and believers who are rich are enjoined to “lay hold of what is really life” (verse 19). The latter is in contrast to what may be acquired of this world’s things by money.
APT Is life, then, an active thought?
JT It is quite obviously so. In the whole universe, life in various forms is active all the time; and this is also true of spiritual life. But eternal life is a fixed thought with a very wide bearing. It is connected with the earth where death is. The word ‘eternal’ is in contrast to what is temporal.
ABP The greatest movements of the physical universe — the rotations of the heavenly bodies — do not represent life, do they?
JT Only in a typical sense. Of course, God lives and angels live; but eternal life is for men only. In Genesis 1, life is seen on the third day: vegetable life. The heavenly bodies are in view of that, to promote it. Life for men is connected with the earth. So, “In him was life, and the life was the light of men” (John 1: 4), would contemplate what was down here, not what was in heaven. Men were on earth. The life that was in Christ was for men only.
‘[p. 3] The light of men was the life’, see note in New Translation.
JS Do you view the world-to-come as an expression of life, nationally?
JT It will be general, but centred in Israel. It is commanded in Zion. “There hath Jehovah commanded the blessing, life for evermore”, Psalm 133: 3.
EMcK Is active life implied in the Lord’s remark, “My Father worketh hitherto and I work”, John 5: 17?
JT Yes; He also says, “I am the light of the world; he that follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life”, John 8: 12. That was active life.
JS Does the fourth day of Genesis 1 set before us the ordered condition of the heavenly bodies to sustain life?
JT Yes; they also regulate. They are for times and seasons. So, in a later day it is said, “Henceforth, all the days of the earth, seed time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night, shall not cease”, Genesis 8: 22. Heaven regulates; and it affords light, heat and rain which are essential to life on the earth.
What is in mind now is that we might see the force of the promise of life, especially its application at the present time. Certainly it is needed; that is, what is operative here below by the Spirit. “The Spirit life”, Romans 8: 10. Life in this sense includes our meetings and spiritual intercourse generally with one another and what we enjoy and acquire in our individual relations with God. Christ enters into all this, involving what He is to us officially. “Christ ... who is our life”. To the new man, “Christ is everything, and in all”, Colossians 3: 11. His priestly services endear Him to us and He thus becomes more and more the life of each of us. This is very precious. For young people the idea of the promise of life is [p. 4] most assuring. It implies that God has considered for us beforehand and provided for us. The Spirit given involves the promise of life. The Father promised the Spirit, and being exalted to heaven. Christ received Him from the Father and gave Him to the saints. The Spirit, as come, effected living conditions for the saints.
ANW It has been said that a promise is on a lower level than purpose.
JT Yes; what is promised, as we have said, is to meet a need or desire in us, but purpose is what God effects for Himself. But it is very touching that God considers for us, the promise of life being the outcome of this. It is a very great blessing and absolutely essential to us now and for ever.
RWS Is that seen in God’s word as to the woman’s seed? Is that a prophetic promise?
JT Yes. God said to the serpent that the woman’s seed would crush his head. There would be a need in humanity for that. Clearly Adam named the woman Eve in the light of this pronouncement. Eve was the mother of all living, hence the meaning of the name her husband gave her. Eve is a different word from woman in chapter 2. Eve, meaning life, is the suggestion of a promise, because sin had come in, and death had been pronounced as a judgment on man. Doubtless God was working with Adam and hence, in some sense, he was in the light of life notwithstanding the judgment of death upon him.
FSC Is that where you get the idea that God made the promise before the need was there?
JT How He made the promise of life formally is a question, but He made it “before the ages of time”. It is now “in Christ Jesus”, 2 Timothy 1: 1. It is a certainty now; it has taken form and is secured in Man.
AAT Is that Man in [p. 5] resurrection?
JT Quite so; it is Christ as risen. It is of His life as risen and glorified that we partake.
WFK In John 10, He says, “I am come that [p. 9] they might have life, and might have it abundantly” (verse 10). Is the need met there?
JT Quite so; plenty of the life.
AR 2 Timothy treats of the day of departure from the truth; is this promise of life to meet that in the believer?
JT Yes; it is for ourselves now; the young people especially. It is a fixed matter. Adam could not see it in this way, but he certainly had light in his soul when he said, Eve. The idea of life came into his mind: the mother of all living. But now the thing is not only promised, but it has actually taken form. You can see it in Christ. It has taken definite form, and is available to us as a promise.
ABP Is that what Peter had in mind when he spoke of the Originator of life; Acts 3? Mr. Darby’s footnote there is helpful in relation to it: ‘He began and finished the whole course’. He set it forth and completed it.
JT Yes. A man may originate a thing, but to complete the idea he must make it function. So the Lord Jesus originated life, being God, and He exemplified it. He says, “He that follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life”, John 8: 12.
WR Is that what we have in the opening of the epistle of John? The life is carried forward in a substantial way.
JT Yes. “The eternal life”; the thing was there in a Man. Christ was it. Here it is for us just to get the thought of the promise; that God thought of us beforehand. It is very precious to be promised something by Him; and here it is not only in promise, but in fulfilment in Christ Jesus; and, as we have been saying, in laying hold of it. He becomes our life. In that way it is an operative thought, not a static [p. 6] thought. In the millennium it will be available to enter into: but here, it is active. It is available to us, which involves that the Spirit is acting in us, and that Christ as Priest is also serving us. He is not only the Life but He is the Priest. He is the Head of the whole divine system, and looks after us in all relations so that we might be in the enjoyment of this life for He is it.
CN Does Romans 8 show how it operates? The apostle says, “The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and of death”, Romans 8: 2.
JT Just so; what I was saying about priesthood is worthy of note — He is Priest “according to power of indissoluble life”, Hebrews 7: 16. He is our Priest. “For such a high priest became us”, Hebrews 7: 26. In exercising His Priesthood He brings us into the life. As we are near to Him He is it to us.
WR Is that why the Lord presents Himself alive in Luke 24? “It is I myself. Handle me and see, for a spirit has not flesh and bones as ye see me having”, Luke 24: 39.
JT Just so; He was the life there, it is life now in Him. This word ‘promise’ conveys a beautiful thought for young people; how God is thinking of us according to our needs. He says, I have provided for them all beforehand. What is stated here is “the promise of life, the life which is in Christ Jesus”. Thus we see the position of it. It is said to be in Christ. And then, “... my beloved child”: it is a young man that is in mind; a young man in special spiritual family relationship with the apostle. In the later passage, Paul alludes to himself as a sufferer. “Be not therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner; but suffer evil along with the glad tidings, according to the power of God; who has saved us, and has called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to [p. 7] his own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before the ages of time, but has been made manifest now by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who has annulled death, and brought to light life and incorruptibility by the glad tidings” (verses 8 - 10). That is how life has come in.
JTJr The angel told the apostles to speak in the temple “all the words of this life”: does that connect with the present position of Christ in heaven and also with what He was here?
JT It refers to the life of Christ as expressed here in testimony, which involves what we are speaking of — “which thing is true in him and in you”, 1 John 2: 8. It was in Him as here in the flesh “the old commandment”, the word which they heard (verse 7). Believers are brought into it through redemption, so that “the new commandment” (verse 8), is the life now true in Him and in us. “The words of this life” convey what the life is; they make it intelligible. John also writes “concerning the word of life”: “that which was from the beginning ... which was with the Father, and has been manifested to us”, 1 John 1: 1, 2. It was a known thing.
AMacN Is the annulling of death by the Lord Jesus necessary to the bringing to light of this life?
JT Quite so; that is what is stated. It is a complete triumph. It goes beyond what we enjoy now; it involves incorruptibility; it involves resurrection.
AR Melchisedec is said to have “neither beginning of days nor end of life”. I suppose that character of Christ’s priesthood will affect the valley of dry bones of Ezekiel 37.
JT Yes; in Hebrews 7 Christ is said to be Priest “according to power of indissoluble life”. You are brought to the realisation of Him as life through His priestly service. He becomes indispensable to you. Thus your attitude is, that as relieved by Him from [p. 8] some pressure, you do not go on your way, somewhat leaving Him out of your circumstances; on the contrary. He is endeared to you, your life; Colossians 3: 4.
CAM Would you say that life is appreciated only as the need of it is felt, and hence God allowed all the history that preceded the presentation of it in Christ?
JT Yes; the Old Testament treats of the time of divine demand, and those who had faith felt the pressure and looked forward to the fulfilment of the promises, including life. They had to live on the promises, and that meant that they had to wait. Jacob said, “I wait for thy salvation, O Jehovah”, Genesis 49: 18. It is not so with us; life has come and is available in Christ. That makes the great difference between Old Testament believers and those of today. It was a question of waiting from Adam until Christ. The promises were there but their fulfilment had to be waited for. The saints lived by faith, seeing what was promised afar off and embracing it. But death was not annulled and hence the Spirit was not given. In fact the general position was that death was not only present and dominant, but it was accentuated by the law, as Romans 7 shows.
CAM So God allowed the pressure of death and other things to come so that believers might appreciate the magnificence of what He has brought in.
JT Yes. The waiting and the instruction in the waiting, made the things promised more and more to be desired. That was the Old Testament history of believers. It was a time of demand on God’s part to bring out what man was; that is, that he was sinful. Faith saw this and understood that God alone could meet the situation and waited for Him. He supported this faith, making promises, particularly life, at the same time affording light, especially in the types, as to the coming Redeemer and the redemption He would accomplish. Christ said, “I am come that they might have life, and might have it abundantly”, John 10: 10. So that He was there to make the promise good.
CAM Adam must have had some sense of what life was when he named Eve.
JT He did not name her at all in that connection first. He named her by a derivative from his own name; “Ish” does not mean life. “Ish” and “Ishshah” designate two persons suited to each other and having mutual affections. Adam naming his wife “Eve”, which means life, after sin came in, indicates that Jehovah’s pronouncement to the serpent regarding the woman’s seed afforded him light as to life.
JS Does John give us a full-size picture of life as set forth in a man?
JT Quite so. It was not in Eve nor in anybody before. “In him was life, and the life was the light of men”, John 1: 4. It is the past tense: Christ’s history on earth is in mind. What we are considering now is the promise of life, whether we are enjoying it, laying hold of it as fixed in Christ. So apprehended, it is stabilising. In the gospel, life is presented to us as available in Him. It is, therefore, a question of taking up the promise.
AMacN “He that believes on the Son has life eternal, and he that is not subject to the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides upon him”, John 3: 36. Hence, would you say, faith would enter into life to the enjoyment of it?
JT Yes; it is apprehended and enjoyed through faith, by the Spirit. We shall have that more fully later, God willing. But what the Lord would say to us now is concerning this matter of promise to be appropriated in a world of death: so much murder, so much death! Every moment numbers of people die from the violence of hatred. God is stressing [p. 10] death. There is a voice in it, God saying, I have provided the means of overcoming in the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus, and the Lord Himself is saying to every suffering saint, “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give to thee the crown of life”, Revelation 2: 10.
JTJr Is it suggested in a way in Jacob’s relations with Joseph? Joseph suggested what was coming in with Christ, and Jacob valued that; his life was in it.
JT That is the way to get at it, really — to get some concrete idea of the promise. As Joseph was born, Jacob proposed to return to the place of promise. And there “he made him a vest of many colours”, which would allude to what was in his mind, which he could hardly define; the vest of many colours typically involved Christ’s deity. Joseph was a type of Christ as the ‘Sustainer of life’, see note to Genesis 41: 45 in the New Translation. Judah said the life of Jacob was bound up with the life of Benjamin, another type of Christ; Genesis 44: 30. What we need to come into now, in the midst of death — accentuated, in the extent and cruelty of it as employed by men, perhaps as never before — is the great and blessed gift of life available to us in Christ. It is a certainty; it is there intelligibly and available to us. It is victory, for it implies that Christ has annulled death, so that it has no more power over the christian. The Lord says, “Be not afraid of those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul; but fear rather him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell”, Matthew 10: 28. And so the promise to Smyrna is, “I will give to thee the crown of life ... . He that overcomes shall in no wise be injured of the second death”, Revelation 2: 10, 11. It is an immense thing to get hold of, that death is annulled. Satan is annulled, too. They are both active, but for faith they are both annulled; and our chapter is to show [p. 11] how the promise of life can be laid hold of intelligently as available in Christ Jesus.
ANW The apostle is saying that his apostleship is in relation to that very promise.
JT Quite so. “According to promise of life”. He is on that line, and so is every true servant of the Lord on that line, trying to help the saints get into this, to lay hold of the promise; young people especially. In Hebrews 6 we have two things to sustain our hearts; God’s promise and His oath. Here it is one thing; the promise of life.
TEH Scripture says Sarah received strength in view of the promise. She had faith in her own soul, overcoming the barrenness that had existed in her.
JT She received strength “for the conception of seed ... since she counted him faithful who promised”, Hebrews 11: 11.
RWS Faith enters into it, and the Holy Spirit helps us in laying hold of it.
JT Quite so; as we were saying, the life is available, and the Spirit is available to us for the appropriation of it. If one has not the Spirit, he cannot enjoy life. However much he may be interested in what we are saying, he cannot lay hold of it effectively. The Spirit is the power of life.
GVD Is Simeon, as in Luke 2, an example of one who was laying hold of the promise? It was divinely communicated to him that he should not see death until he should see the Lord’s Christ, and he came into the temple in the Spirit.
JT Yes. He says, “Now thou lettest thy bondman go, according to thy word, in peace”, Luke 2: 29. To die by the word of God is a triumph of spiritual intelligence. Moses and Aaron may be regarded in this way; Simeon very definitely so: he says, “according to thy word ... for mine eyes have seen thy salvation”. He referred to Jesus, the promised Salvation, a Babe in his arms.
AR “And brought to light life and incorruptibility by the glad tidings” — does that mean that in the glad tidings incorruptibility and life are offered?
JT Yes. It raises the whole question of the gospel as it is preached now. Life in Christ should be stressed. Those who believe “reign in life by the one Jesus Christ”, Romans 5: 17. They have also “justification of life” (verse 18). God is using the preaching of the gospel among the brethren, however feeble, to promote life for deliverance and spiritual joy. The result of the gospel preached in Antioch of Pisidia was that the believers “were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit”, Acts 13: 52. In our chapter Paul goes on to say, “... to which I have been appointed a herald and apostle and teacher of the nations”. This brings up the question as to what should be emphasised in the preaching now. In this epistle life is the more important feature.
AR Those who speak in prophetic meetings should have our chapter in Ezekiel in mind. Prophecy promotes life. Each preacher should be exercised as to what kind of gospel he should present at any stated service.
JT Life and incorruptibility is a great subject. There are various ways in which it may be presented, and Ezekiel 37 affords much light as to this. We ought to go on to that now, but there are some further thoughts in 2 Timothy which should help us in what is in mind. The apostle says, “For which cause also I suffer these things; but I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep for that day the deposit I have entrusted to him. Have an outline of sound words, which words thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. Keep, by the Holy Spirit which dwells in us, the good deposit entrusted”, chapter 1: 12 - 14. These remarks of the apostle are in regard to those who are serving;
[p. 13] what he is stressing is this great matter of life that has come to light by the gospel. I am to “have an outline of sound words” in my preaching. Thus I shall be definite in my service.
APT “But to the others an odour from life unto life”, 2 Corinthians 2: 16. Is that what he is speaking about here as in the gospel?
JT Just so; the odours were in himself as he preached. Both odours would be involved in his remark elsewhere: “I am crucified with Christ, and no longer live, I, but Christ lives in me; but in that I now live in flesh, I live by faith, the faith of the Son of God, who has loved me and given himself for me”, Galatians 2: 20. 1 Corinthians 2: 1 - 7 shows how Paul selected the features of the truth he decided he would preach in any given place.
ABP Life and incorruptibility in Lazarus, in John 12, would be the result of the operation of the Son of God? Do you think that our gospel preachings should be in relation to the Son of God, particularly?
JT That is what that section of John would teach us — the movements of Christ in relation to the sickness and death of Lazarus. He had stayed away two days so that Lazarus might die. He came to Bethany, and Martha went out to meet Him, and the conversation that ensued led her to believe in the Lord as Son of God. He had said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life: he that believes on me, though he have died, shall live”, John 11: 25. That was the great truth that governed the whole position at Bethany. Then Martha left. She went and told Mary; then Mary comes to the Lord, and His deep feelings as to the power of death were expressed, His sympathy also with the bereaved ones. The movements and words of Christ in that scene are most instructive and touching. The great matter of life and incorruptibility entered into the scene. The Lord asked, Where have you laid him? He went [p. 14] there and spoke to His Father, saying, “I knew that thou always hearest me; but on account of the crowd who stand around I have said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me”. Then He cried, “Lazarus, come forth. And the dead came forth, bound feet and hands with graveclothes”. And He said, “Loose him and let him go”. Spiritual movement, characteristic of life, marks the scene.
JS Was it to get the eyes of Mary and Martha focused on Him?
JT Quite so; but it is beautiful to see the movements of life in a scene of death, especially when Lazarus is let go. All this links up with our chapter in Ezekiel. What is specially to be noted is the prophesying and the noise of rustling, bringing about external conditions of life. The bones came together, and the prophesying to the four winds, “Come ... O breath, and breathe upon these slain that they may live” caused the breath to come into them and they lived. It is a completed matter. Those made to live stood upon their feet, “an exceeding great army”. A great divine thought is reached. It is that “these bones are the whole house of Israel”. It is a complete position, answering to the purpose of God and the promise of life. I believe God will encourage us as to this, to be brought into conformity to His purpose in regard to life. He needs us in many connections, and we are to be ready and complete for the service and position for which He has purposed us. If it be translation, we are to be ready for it.
RWS Does John give the organs of life inwardly; and Ezekiel, the external side?
JT That is what I understand. You have the internal side in John, for he has in mind what is inward; whereas Ezekiel has in mind the public position. Whatever is in God’s mind for us, we are ready for it. If it be translation, we are ready for it. If it be continuance of the testimony, we are ready [p. 15] for it, but the idea is that we are complete according to God’s mind.
WR Paul says, “Always bearing about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our body”, 2 Corinthians 4: 10.
JT “In our body”; the body is morally equal to what is put upon it. A perfect man is in mind. We are going to have bodies of glory, but it is a question of life in the sense of active power, and every member of Christ’s body is to be actuated by the life that is in Christ Jesus.
CAM Our translation corresponds to what will take place on earth when Israel is awakened.
JT Yes; and the nations, although in flesh and blood as we are, will go into eternal life. God intends our bodies as they are now to be brought into accord morally with what we are inwardly.
FNW Is there development in John in that way, in Patmos, serving in difficult days, as we are? Has he developed in this feature of life so that he is ready to take part in tribulation or be caught up to heaven?
JT Yes, ready for whatever was required. He was the brother in tribulation, and the time came when he was caught up into heaven.
AR The first move here is perfect uniformity — bone to bone. There are not going to be any freaks in the results of this power of resurrection; no abnormalcy.
JT That is the idea. Paul says, “To ... present every man perfect in Christ”. I believe that is what the Spirit of God has in mind in this chapter; first to call attention to the state of the saints as they are today, so that Ezekiel is called upon and found ready for the service. He says, “Jehovah carried me out in the Spirit, and set me down in the midst of a valley; and it was full of bones. And he caused me to pass by them round about; and behold, there were very many in the open valley;
and behold, they were very dry”. This is Ezekiel’s own discovery. God is testing him as to whether he is equal for this service; that is what one is thinking of — and many are coming into God’s service — whether we can name the conditions we have to deal with, as Ezekiel does.
Ques Would you say we must have a complete apprehension of death in order that we might be able to bring in the light of life?
JT Yes; this marks Ezekiel here. Thus you must seek to know something of the persons you are serving; that is the point here. The prophet discerned the state of the bones.
WFK Do you see the formation of the assembly in this chapter? It says, “the whole house of Israel”.
JT That would be the idea as applied to ourselves. The great thought of God is to bring that in. If He is to continue His testimony those He would use should come into the light of all these things and be available to Him outwardly and inwardly. Chapter 36 is the inward side; this chapter is the outward side.
ANW So that in preaching, you have the potentiality of the bones before you. You are not addressing merely bones, are you?
JT No. A figure of certain persons is before you; the whole house of Israel; but Ezekiel pronounces on the conditions of those he has to serve. The Lord told Paul in Corinth that He had much people there; but the apostle’s exercise led him to minister only a certain line of truth to them. He determined not to know anything among them save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. He knew what he had to deal with, although the Lord evidently did not tell him of the state of the people. We must seek to understand all this, because if the testimony is to go on we must gauge what features of the truth [p. 17] are to be ministered as the Lord gives open doors for service.
TEH Is Israel viewed here apprehending the truth of resurrection so that they can bury in chapter 39?
JT Quite so; a terrible war is contemplated in chapters 38 and 39. We are in the midst of such a conflict now, but what about our implements of war? What about our training? What about our efficiency in the wars of the Lord? It is a great army here, notice; standing on their feet; fully developed persons. To effect this great result the first thing is that the servant is able to determine the condition of the material he has to deal with.
AR In the New Testament we have, “Thus the Son also quickens whom he will” (John 5: 21); and in Ephesians it says, “... (we too being dead in offences), has quickened us with the Christ”, chapter 2: 5. Is that the same thing that is going on here?
JT In principle it would be. In serving one would like to get a general outline of the state of those to be served. Ezekiel saw the bones were “very dry”; then Jehovah enquired, “Son of man, Shall these bones live?” (verse 3). He did not venture to answer that, but said, “Lord Jehovah, thou knowest”. Then the Lord directs him to “Prophesy over these bones, and say unto them, Ye dry bones, hear the word of Jehovah. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah unto these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live”. Now, Jehovah is telling Ezekiel what to say. That is the next thing for the preacher. You determine the character of your congregation and then decide what you will present to it. Ezekiel says, “I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise”. He was not told about that beforehand. What was the noise? He says, “Behold a rustling”. If we understand the Spirit coming out from heaven, we understand noises that allude to the work of God.
[p. 18] The sound filled the house, Acts 2 states. The noise here is discerned; it is a question of the bones rustling; real evidence of something happening; not by the preaching but by God — the mighty power of God. We may expect that as in His service. Then it is said, “And the bones came together, bone to its bone”. That is most remarkable. Anatomy would teach us: that bone must go there, and this there. The human body is the most wonderful, you might say, of all organisms, and these bones find each its place. What intelligence in the very rudiments of the work of God that the great framework of a man must take place in this way! But it is the wisdom and power of God. Then the prophet says, “And I looked, and behold, sinews and flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them over; but there was no breath in them”. An observant servant discerns what is being effected in those he serves. You look at their faces. I do not think it is good to look much at the ceiling or walls of the building when you are preaching. You will not see spiritual results there! It is in living persons that you will see something to encourage you.
JTJr When you see them continuing “very dry”, much exercise is caused in you!
JT It casts you more upon God when you see sleepiness in an audience. There is no bone going to bone when this exists. God works in relation to a framework; that is, man as in Christ. It is Christ that is preached, and the work of God in the hearer is to bring bone to bone in order to bring out a man like Christ. That is what we see here: “And behold, sinews and flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them over; but there was no breath in them”. Ezekiel understands — there must be breath, that is, the Spirit of life, in the body. Thus, “He said unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Come from the four winds”. There was prophecy to the bones, but now he is to prophesy unto the wind. That has to be well considered. Your soul, as in the service, turns to God: the power of the Spirit is not only to act on the hearers, but also to come into them, because the Holy Spirit does seal people while they are listening. We see this in the house of Cornelius; Acts 10: 44. And then, as we remarked earlier, the word is, “Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live”. What is to be observed here is that while the gift of the Spirit is sovereignly from God, it is seen here as effected through prophecy. Thus the preaching and reception of the truth precede the baptism of the Spirit. The Spirit fell upon those who were listening to Peter in the house of Cornelius, but it is perfectly clear that they already had believed the gospel he preached. We must be careful about speaking of the Spirit objectively, but we have to understand Him in that sense and that He operates objectively as the Father and the Son. Here, “the breath came into them and they lived”. It is said, “And I prophesied as he had commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army”. As already said, that is a real result, a complete result of the testimony of God in prophecy.
ABP Do you have a concrete example of that in the ministry of Philip in Samaria, that bone was brought to bone, but it was not until the apostles came down from Jerusalem that they received the Spirit? I wondered whether the formation in that way, bone to bone, as it were, was Philip’s work, and the gift of the Spirit came in through the apostles, Peter and John.
JT That is what happened exactly. That shows the distinction that must be between the effect of light, of the gospel, and the Spirit of God received in [p. 20] answer to prayer or given directly as in the case of Caesarea. Here we have, in type, the Spirit addressed “Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live”. The word is now not only dead, but slain.
WR Would you say that in the present crisis the younger brethren are being qualified for future service, made to stand up?
JT That is what I believe. God is certainly endowing man with ability to serve. The important thing is to have the complete idea in our minds, which God has in His mind. Our services are to reach that end.
Ques Would you say the purpose of life as seen here in contrast with the promise of life as in the glad tidings would be in the prophetic word?
JT The prophetic word is that you have the mind of God and power in presenting it to men. The prophet has the mind of God and he seeks to effect that in what he is doing.
Ques And the promise would be in the glad tidings?
JT Quite so; here it is said that those into whom the breath came “stood up upon their feet an exceeding great army”. They do that. Jehovah is acting, the prophet is acting, and the Spirit is acting, and now the persons made to live are acting; they stood up upon their feet, and they are declared to be an exceeding great army. God has now, we may say, an army of spiritual men, good soldiers of Jesus Christ.