THE ADMINISTRATION OF DIVINE BOUNTY (1)
THE ADMINISTRATION OF DIVINE BOUNTY (1)
Matthew 2:1 - 12; Matthew 8:14,15; Matthew 9:9-13; Matthew 9:23-31
JT I have been thinking of the gospel of Matthew a little since coming here — the bearing of it on the dispensation of God. I thought perhaps the four readings we may have might be occupied in dwelling on certain passages in that gospel which present the Lord serving in houses. I have spoken of it a little elsewhere, but not in any extended way, and it has occurred to me it will help us to understand how we are to be in the present dispensation of God — the word ‘dispensation’ in 1 Timothy 1:4, having reference to the house — administration housewise.
JCS I think that will follow on very well with what has gone before.
JT Perhaps we might read a few verses in chapter 2 to begin with. If we see the import of these services of the Lord in houses as indicated in these passages, and in others that we shall hope to look at, I believe we shall have a better understanding of the dispensation of God, which is said to be “in faith”. This gospel speaks about householders; I do not think any other does. You get the word several times in this gospel, as if to call our attention to the importance of householding spiritually; and the Lord, having unfolded much in chapter 13 to His disciples in the house, said, “Have ye understood all these things?” and they say, “Yea, Lord”. Matthew 13:51. Then He says, “Every scribe discipled to the kingdom [p. 140] of the heavens is like a man that is a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old” (Matthew 13:52). The gospel opens with the statement that it is the “book of the generation of Jesus Christ, Son of David”. “Son of David”, then “Son of Abraham” Matthew 1:1; meaning that we have not only the Heir of all things, but the King, the Son of David, and thus one who is qualified to build the house. There is not only the idea of building the house, but of administering in it; so that it is the paternal side in the genealogy that is emphasised in Matthew. So we have throughout the word ‘begat’, which does not appear elsewhere. It does not appear in Luke. The emphasis is lain on the paternal side, which I think is intended to run right through in the house. In the idea of administration the paternal is emphasised, so that in the law of the house in 1 Timothy the requirements of the elder are emphasised.
HLD Do you connect the thought you have expressed with the thought in Hebrews, that “Christ is Son over God’s house”? Hebrews 3:6.
JT Yes, it is there you have the idea of building. In that epistle it is, “He that has built all things is God”, Hebrews 3:4 but the Son is the builder. The Son is the builder, and then the Son is over the house that is built.
JCS So that not only does He have the construction of the house and the arrangement of it, but all the administration of the house is under His supervision and direction.
JT Yes.
LDB Are you suggesting that “the house” here in Matthew stands for God’s house?
JT Well, it does. Although the expression is not used at all in Matthew, it is used in Luke. It is the ‘assembly’ in Matthew because it is more the authoritative or administrative side that is emphasised. The house is a family idea.
[p. 141] LDB It is very interesting to hear that. You are going to call attention to the administrative side connected with the assembly?
JT Yes, it takes form in the assembly. In Timothy they are identified, that one should know how to behave oneself in the house of God, “which is the assembly of the living God, the pillar and base of the truth”, 1 Timothy 3:15. The idea of the assembly is more maturity and intelligence; the house embraces all — the whole family is embraced. Of course the whole family is embraced in the assembly, only the idea of the assembly suggests more maturity and intelligence; hence in Corinthians, “I speak as to intelligent persons”. 1 Corinthians 10:15.
LDB You draw that distinction, that the house is more general; the assembly considers us more as “intelligent persons”, understanding what we are doing.
JT So you have in this gospel the Lord saying — “My assembly”. He never says, ‘My house’. It is God’s house, and it is God’s assembly too, but you get the thought of Christ’s assembly. So in these houses that are mentioned we can readily see that everyone in them would be covered in the range of the service.
JCS So that an apprehension of the Lord Jesus as presented in the scriptures which we have read, if laid hold of in our souls, would make us competent administrators in connection with the house of God.
JT That is the thought exactly; you see how things are done in this connection.
RJW You were calling our attention to the Lord and the list of names.
JT We have to learn everything from the Lord, hence you have in this gospel what we might call the mount of Legislation as well as the mount of Transfiguration, and you have also the mount of Intercession.
[p. 142] He goes up into a mountain to pray. These are all connected with authority and heavenly power here.
RJW Is that in your mind when you speak of the paternal side?
JT That is what comes out. “Abraham begat Isaac, Isaac begat Jacob”, and so on. In the book of Genesis, after the fall in chapter 3, you get in chapter 4 the influence of Eve. She names the children, and it is all connected with her side. It is a chapter of disaster. Of course Adam was in all that, he had fallen into it. One would not wish to emphasise the failure of the woman, but it is remarkable that in the epistle that treats of assembly government she is said to have been “in the transgression”, 1 Timothy 2:14. Adam came into it. So chapter 4 of Genesis is a chapter of disaster, but in chapter 5 Adam is reinstated on the ground, I apprehend, of Seth’s recovery. He calls the name of his son Enosh, meaning “mortal man”; “then began men to call upon the name of the Lord”. Genesis 4:26. There was recovery. Then in chapter 5, “This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him: male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam”. Genesis 5:1. The woman is now brought back and included in the name Adam, so that we have the divine order reinstated. Then it says, “Adam lived an hundred and thirty years and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image, and called his name Seth”. Genesis 5:3 Adam called his name Seth, although Eve had given him a name in chapter 4. But Adam is now set up in headship, so that you have a line — “Adam begat Seth”, and so on. It is the paternal side emphasised; there is nothing at all said about the maternal in the chapter until we come down to Noah.
Rem Adam begat a son in his own [p. 143] likeness.
JT He was set up again figuratively on the ground of recovery. Seth really had brought in the recovery in calling the name of his son Enosh. There was light in that: “Then began men to call upon the name of Jehovah”. Genesis 4:26. God had His place again. Seth accepted the state of his child; he was born, but born to die; that was virtually what he said. Light comes in there. God had His place, for God will not recognise us unless we recognise the order of creation. All that, I think, is worked out in this gospel.
JCS And so there was a kind of revival, and God gets His place in their hearts again, and the paternal idea is introduced.
JT That is it. In David we again have recovery, and then Solomon comes in. The first book of Chronicles brings in David, and it is not what David is told to do, it is what he does; that is, he knows God and what suits God, and he sets up his kingdom accordingly. Then he hands on the light to Solomon; he hands on the “pattern of the temple” which he received by the Spirit, and Solomon works it out.
LDB Reverting again to Adam, does Genesis 5 show that, notwithstanding the ruin the enemy brought in, God never surrendered His intention to carry on administration through man?
JT That is it; He would have the right order to begin with.
Ques Is headship essential to the thought of the house?
JT I think so. You must have the divine order, because God never surrenders any thought. What He began with in Adam He holds to.
SF You would connect authority with the kingdom, but what is the influence you said is connected with the house?
JT It is the Son; the Son builds the house.
[p. 144] SF Intelligence is with the assembly. The kingdom in that way is a wider view?
JT Just so.
JCS Do you think that whilst the Lord Jesus comes in here as following up the line introduced in David, and also confirming what is introduced in Abraham, He also introduces new legislation; and then He brings out a company who are able to take up administration according to that which is introduced?
JT Yes. What is before us first of all when the birth of Christ occurs is that He is the King. That is what is so beautiful about the mission of the wise men. They are governed by the testimony that God intended for them. They make no reference to the law — they did not have it. They profited by the testimony that God intended for them; that is, “The invisible things of him ... are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead”. Romans 1:20. The means of witness that God designed for those outside of Israel was the creation, and these men profited by it.
LDB Do you allude to the star?
JT Yes. They make no reference to the pentateuch or the Psalms; they did not have the Scriptures, but they had profited by the testimony they had. That is a great principle at the outset of this gospel, because, according to the end of the gospel, the light is to go out to all nations, and we are notified at the beginning that God expects respect for any means of witness He has given, whether it be the sun, the stars, the moon, or the rain and the fruitful seasons. They are all designed as witnesses, and He expects us to observe them; they are not to be passed over.
RJW Is it not faith to observe all that?
JT Surely; they could not apply the star without faith. It is a question of light, as we said [p. 145] the other day when speaking about the thief, how did he know that the Lord Jesus had never done anything amiss? He knew it by light that had come into his soul. It is the effect of the thing you have to take notice of.
EBMcC And that carried intelligence. They were intelligent in bringing frankincense and myrrh.
JT They knew it was the King of the Jews, too, yet they were entirely free from national feeling. They recognise that the great personage who was born was the King of the Jews.
RJW Is it not a cardinal principle of the house that you are free from national feeling?
JT Yes.
LDB And they were active too; they travelled a long distance to answer to the light. It all shows how thoroughly they accepted the testimony.
EBMcC They brought very good material for the house.
JT I think the offering up of the Gentiles is there anticipative]y. They came with their gold, frankincense and myrrh — the wealth of the Gentiles already brought anticipatively to the King of the Jews. You see in this gospel later how the Lord insists on it. When the woman of Syrophenicia claims David the Lord does not admit it. If she is to come into blessing she has to take her place as a dog.
JCS So that these persons were answering according to the manner in which God had addressed them; they were following the star. He did not address them in the same way as Israel. They were true to the light in which God had addressed them.
JT These wise men had light in their souls — someone has defined faith as “light in the soul”.
RMcM Would you distinguish between light and revelation?
JT There is a distinction. Matthew 16 is revelation, “Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee”. Matthew 16:17. We come into revelation; it is light in our souls; and God acts through that. I think these wise men are brought in here to show that. There was observance of the means of testimony He had afforded, and it comforts you in regard to the heathen, from Noah onwards, that God has not left Himself without witness. That witness was observed and answered to. This you see in the book of Job. It corresponds to the light of creation. The book of Psalms is the experience that corresponds to the revelation through Moses. The book of Job shows there was a testimony of God outside His people Israel. It was of God, although outside of them.
LDB The apostle Paul affirms this when he says “nevertheless he (God) left not himself without witness”, Acts 14:17.
JT That is a point he insists on.
JCS So that revelation is always light, but light is not always revelation.
JT No, because light is first; then I am brought into the revelation. Revelation is complete, but we have all to be enlightened, and each in his own way; each one has a special experience. God addresses each one differently.
Ques Is Psalm 19 to be taken up in that light — the testimony of God that covers the universe?
JT David saw that; but Paul in Romans 10 shows that God was true; that any member of the race could never say he did not have a witness.
HLD You would say that numbers who do not know the gospel, as we know it, will have had light in creation, and will come into blessing?
JT They have. The book of Job should be taken in connection with Melchisedek. In the latter we see that God had a king of His own, notwithstanding that men had given themselves up to [p. 147] lawlessness. God had a king, and He was “King of Righteousness”, Hebrews 7:2. That is all we get. There is no previous history; but it is a testimony to us, and it indicates there was much more than we may have been accustomed to think.
SF It would emphasise the importance of the light of creation even to us, although we have the revelation.
JT I think so; the more you get on with God the more you see He has designed the material things as a witness.
JCS The material things — the ordinances, etc., are all on the line of directing to Christ.
JT That is it. The apostle says, “Doth not even nature itself teach you?” 1 Corinthians 11:14. Nature is a teacher — a divinely-appointed teacher.
AW How did Job get light as to sacrifice?
JT I am sure the thing was handed down. I was going to say there are other things that were handed down. Paul at Athens says, “certain of your own poets have said”. Acts 17:28. Where did they get that light? It was handed down. A little light was handed down the ages from Noah. Noah set up an altar and offered sacrifice; it continued. In every branch of the race today you get something of this.
JCS Luke enlarges on the sympathetic conditions, whereas Matthew takes account of the hostile conditions; the elements at Jerusalem were hostile to what the One God was bringing in.
JT That is important. Herod is seen in his true light there.
RJW “The young child and his mother”. Matthew 2:13. The mother would cherish the young child.
JT I think the mother would care for Him. It is “the young child with his mother”. You will see in the book of Genesis a very beautiful touch. When Jacob causes his wives and children to pass before [p. 148] Esau, Joseph is put before Rachel (all the other mothers are before their children) because it is Christ — He comes first.
What impresses one here is the thought of the king. The king is essential. It says in Judges, “There was no king in Israel”. Judges 17:6, Judges 18:1, Judges 19:1, Judges 21:25. The need for the king was apparent. The state that Herod was in shows that the need was great. Think of a man like Herod being a king and many others like him since, and perhaps worse. The royal side comes out here. He will put down all rule and authority, but while He is a Babe God protects Him; the wings of the cherubim are over Him. God takes up His mother; the mother is the most likely vessel to care for the Babe for the moment. You have Simeon in the temple, but here it is the mother.
HLD Your suggestion, I take it, is that our households are to be an education to us as to the assembly.
JT That is it. The first house you meet with here is one in which the Lord Himself is cared for by His mother, that is the first thing — how the Lord is held in affection, and how the wise men regard Him.
HLD In our different households today we are to be in accord with the principles of the assembly.
JT Just so; that is where we graduate for the assembly — where we are trained for it. Suppose you go into any Christian household and examine things — how is the Lord Jesus held? how is He cared for? what provision is made for Him? It is not a manger here; it is more dignified — a house. “The little child and his mother” were there.
LDB Then the king is introduced when administration in the assembly is in view.
JT What guarantee is there for life and private property and the family institution without the king? I mean in the ordinary sense; what guarantee is there for society as we speak of it? There would be [p. 149] nothing but the disruption of everything without government.
Rem That is why we are taught to honour the king.
EBMcC Is the thought here that the “little child” is tenderly cared for; He was nourished?
JT That is the first thing to think of — what provision is made for the Lord Jesus in our houses. That is what the wise men would see; “They saw the little child with Mary his mother”. If the Lord has His place in our houses things will be right in the meetings. The assembly is affected by our houses, because almost invariably difficulties arise through family feelings. The assembly is composed of families. I think Philippi is the model. The believer’s house precedes the idea of the assembly. The Lord opened the heart of Lydia to attend to the things spoken of Paul, and she says, “If ye have judged me faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and abide there”. Acts 16:15. If Paul went in there, there would be nothing to jar his spirit. Family feelings have often fanned the flame in assembly difficulties.
RJW The little Child and the house go together and need protection, but when you come to the assembly it is men.
JT That is right.
JCS The little Child is introduced into the house where there is affectionate care for Him. There will be nothing allowed in the house that is not consistent with the little Child.
JT It is most interesting to see families brought up in the light of the little Child. It is an idea that the youngest in the house can take in. A family is brought up on that line, and the children graduate from the house to the assembly. When one comes into fellowship he passes for the moment outside the range of parental authority. He is now on the ground of full development, he is directly responsible to the Lord.
[p. 150] Now, when you come to chapter 8 we have the house of the man who was to be the leading servant in this administration — Peter; and how are things there? There is fever in that house. It says here, verse 14, “When Jesus was come into Peter’s house, he saw his wife’s mother laid, and sick of a fever”. That is a different house. The little Child would not get the attention He should in the feverish house; the feverish person will be prominent rather than He. So the Lord sets that house right.
HLD After the Lord touched her hand she arose and served.
JT The next house is that of Levi. There is no fever in this house. Matthew is the disciple. It says in chapter 9, verse 9, “Jesus, passing on thence, saw a man sitting at the tax-office, called Matthew”. I suppose Matthew was humble-minded, he is just ‘called’ Matthew. Jesus says to him, “Follow me; and he rose up and followed him. And it came to pass, as He lay at table in the house, that behold, many tax-gatherers and sinners came and lay at table with Jesus and his disciples”. The Lord is entertained in this house.
RJW You would not know it was Matthew’s house. It is “in the house” — Matthew hides himself.
LDB Matthew is seeking to give prominence to the Lord and to the house rather than to himself.
JT Quite. The thought is, I think, that the fever being disposed of, the Lord is in the house honoured as in active service, and those called are such as some of us might look down upon — “tax-gatherers and sinners”.
HLD I suppose Matthew knew the kind of company that would suit the Lord at that time.
RJW Does that test us on the line of administration?
JT Sometimes we are very discriminating in regard to those in fellowship. We make our selection;
[p. 151] whereas we have to take the thing as it stands. “The Pharisees”, as it says, “seeing it, said to his disciples, Why does your Teacher eat with tax-gatherers and sinners?” That is choosing the people we have to eat with.
JCS So that these were accepted by Him. “They lay at table with him”. We must make room for such if He accepts them.
JT Yes, you cannot regulate His affairs; you have to accept people as they come.
RMcM What have you in mind when you say we make selections?
JT There is a great deal of that amongst the people of God — preferential dealings. We discriminate against some and make much of others, but here they are all put down together, tax-gatherers and sinners eating with Him at the table. What can you say if He accepts them?
Rem “What God hath cleansed that call not thou common”. Acts 10:15, Acts 11:9.
JT The position of the assembly at Antioch helps greatly. There were noble men, and, as far as the words go there is a black man there, Niger; people from different grades of society are all set down together. “The rich and poor meet together: the Lord is the maker of them all”. Proverbs 22:2.
JCS So you would not like, if you came to a brother’s house, to find the same persons there always, you would like to find different ones there.
JT That is very practical.
RJW It raises practical questions as to our houses.
JT It is the public character here. The Lord would let no unrighteousness pass in any of these tax- gatherers. Zacchaeus is a sample tax-gatherer of those who believed in Christ. He says, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor, and if I have taken anything from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold”. Luke 19:8. That is saying a great deal. The Lord says, “He also is a son of Abraham”. Luke 19:9.
EBMcC Here it is not a question of the Lord’s supper; there would be a difference there?
JT We could not sit down with ungodly people, of course. But historically that is what we all are. Even Paul himself says, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief”. 1 Timothy 1:15. Not, ‘I was’, but “I am”. It is our public character.
JCS We may be apt to think, if a person of note in the city is converted and comes amongst the people of God, in some way he dignifies the people of God.
RJW The epistle of James would speak in a very practical way.
JT The rich is to glory in his humiliation, and the brother of low degree in his elevation.
WV The Lord emphasises the thought of mercy here. “I will have mercy and not sacrifice”, He said. That prevails in the house.
JT Quite, that is the principle. We have to accept whatever we might think opprobrium because of what attaches to those in fellowship, and we have to regard them as from the divine standpoint. They are all ennobled. It is not elevation according to this world; it is spiritual elevation.
EBMcC There is a beautiful touch here — the weak and the sick are cared for in this house.
Rem It is beautiful to see the open door for those who were to come into the house; there was no hindrance.
JCS So that in the house of God, no matter what a person’s past history has been — good or bad, he is no longer held in relation to that.
JT No, we do not look at them from that point of view at all; we look at them from the standpoint of their ennoblement as being attached to Christ. He says, “Consider your calling, brethren”. 1 Corinthians 1:26. Historically [p. 153] they were generally from the lower class, but God has made Christ unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. We can stand up alongside the most intelligent with Christ as our wisdom.
RJW Does the gospel come in to relieve us, to produce material for the house?
JT Yes. It is the house that is emphasised, and the kind of people who were with Him. God was working, and so they came.
JCS Do I understand that this must have a place in our souls if we are to come out as competent administrators? If we have a preferential spirit we cannot touch the administration of the house of God rightly.
JT We shall not extend the right hand of fellowship to a poor person; we keep him at a distance; but we must be ready to receive all. We are to receive as Christ received us, to the glory of God.
LDB They say, “Why does your teacher eat with tax-gatherers and sinners?” He would teach us thus to receive those who draw near.
HLD “The Son of Man came eating and drinking”, Matthew 11:19 but John the baptist remained in the wilderness.
JT John came mourning, and the Lord came eating and drinking. Both messages were intended to affect them.
The next thing is to be brought into life, In verse 23 of chapter 9, it says, “When Jesus was come to the house of the ruler”. The ruler had come to Him; he has evident belief in Him, so it is a believer’s house. “He saw the flute players and the crowd making a tumult”. Now, that is a condition that is very detrimental to spiritual power. Christendom has gone back to flute playing, music, and organs; all that affects the natural senses. All these things are inimical to spiritual power. The Lord put all that out.
HLD In Daniel’s day they had all kinds of music; there is a subtle influence in it.
JT It began in Cain’s city, and it is employed to affect the senses and shut out the Spirit of God. The Lord put them all out. We cannot put them all out of Christendom, but we can withdraw, and come together in the truth of the Spirit of God.
JCS What is serious is, it is a believer’s house. One can understand it in the world, but it should not be in a believer’s house.
JT Things are coming into believers’ houses that are destructive to spiritual growth. Radio connections, for instance, letting the filth of the world into the house; and other things answering to flute playing. You cannot have a development of spiritual things in such conditions.
LDB They are opposed to the administration of which we are speaking.
JT They are. How solemn a comment this is on Christendom, as it is called! All this is intended to appeal to the senses in religious things.
JCS Sensational preaching and all that sort of thing would be on the same line.
JT All that appeals to the senses.
RJW Would that hold you in bondage? She was a damsel, and about to take up her responsibilities in life.
JT She was not to be waked up into life through hearing flute playing and that sort of thing; it is quite inconsistent. So it goes on to say, “Withdraw, for the damsel is not dead, but sleeps. And they derided him. But when the crowd had been put out, he went in and took her hand; and the damsel rose up”. She is brought up out of her sleep into the presence of Christ. The father and the mother are present in the other gospels, the spiritual element is all there — seven of them. The point here is that it is the Lord; she is revived into the presence of the [p. 155] Lord, and she is to be developed in that; made to live in the presence of the Lord.
JCS So the Lord dealt with the conditions preceding His bringing her into life, so that suitable conditions may be there when she wakes.
GHC We are not to have houses open for what appeals to the senses, but open for what is spiritual.
JT We have to take account of life in the little girl’s soul. She is brought into life in the presence of the Lord; it says, “He went in and took her hand”. There is a touch there; she is brought into life by His touch. She is made to live in connection with Christ. She is linked with Christ. As you might say, she is now material for the assembly. She is developed in the light of Him, and you must not bring in anything to hinder that.
HLD These are remarkable words, “Withdraw”, it says, and “Put out”. There is that which we can withdraw from, and which we must “put out”.
JT It is imperative, you cannot go on with it.