THE ADMINISTRATION OF DIVINE BOUNTY (2)
[p. 156] THE ADMINISTRATION OF DIVINE BOUNTY (2)
Matthew 9:27 - 34; Matthew 13:36 - 52
JT Our subject is the Lord’s service in houses, as seen in Matthew, as indicative of the instruction that is needed that we, as believers, should have part in the dispensation of God — that we should learn to be householders. We finished this morning with the passage in chapter 9, referring to the raising up of the ruler’s daughter, in which we saw that certain human innovations, that are abroad in Christendom, and which may indeed have a place in our houses, interfere with the development that we are considering. There were in the house “flute players and the crowd making a tumult”. The Lord said to them, “Withdraw”; and then it says, “When the crowd had been put out, he went in and took her hand; and the damsel rose up” Matthew 9:23 - 25; showing that spiritual power in the house is interfered with by these human things; indeed they are not only human, they are also worldly, having begun in Cain’s city.
Then we have in the next instance “two blind men”, who, it says, “followed him, crying, and saying. Thou son of David, have mercy on us. And when he was come into the house, the blind men came to him; and Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this? They said unto him, Yea, Lord. Then he touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith, be it unto you. And their eyes were opened”, Matthew 9: 27 - 30. This may be noted as another feature, and a most important one — the process of our eyes being opened applied spiritually. It is not the faith of the parents or the solicitation of anyone, it is their own desire; they would have their eyes opened.
[p. 157] MPM Did they doubt the ability of the Lord to meet the situation? He asks, “Believe ye that I am able to do this?”
JT He would bring out what was in them; so far the work of God is proceeding, and He would bring out that they had faith.
JCS They appeal to Him as Son of David here; does that link on with the character of things we are considering?
JT I think so. Perhaps you have something to say on that.
JCS I was wondering whether the fact that they appealed to the Son of David would indicate that they apprehended Him as the One who is coming in, in whom is vested all power to deal with the situation. I notice He waits till they come into the house before He operates, as if to identify what He does with the house.
JT That is what I thought exactly. Then as these are going out the dumb man is brought, so that we have persons who can see and speak. These are features that obviously enter into the houses. First we have the removal of fever, then the kind of people that are in it, and then life — youthful life — in the house, all human innovations being driven out, then persons who can see and persons who can speak.
MPM Is there moral order in these things?
JT I think so. One is impressed in the gospels with the constructive lines that run through, and I think we can see this here in what takes place in the houses, till we arrive at chapter 13, after which we have unfolded the truth of the assembly.
Ques The first thing recorded about these two men is that they “followed him”. I suppose that would be an indication of faith?
JT It would; they recognise Him as the Son of David; that is to say, they were in the light that governed the position. It is a great thing to understand [p. 158] the light that governs any position, and draw on it.
Ques Why did the Lord charge them sharply to let no man know it?
JT You find this frequently in the gospels; it is to take away opportunities for the natural man to take up the things of God.
EBMcC What is the force of having their eyes opened? They had light in their souls before they came to Jesus; they knew Him as Son of David. Their eyes now had to be opened.
JT They are opened in the house — they would first see Him there; that is the point. The Psalmist desired to see Him there. It is one of the important features that those in the house should see. As Mark puts it, “See everything clearly”, Mark 8:25 otherwise, when difficulties arise your vision is blurred and your judgment is imperfect.
JCS He takes the damsel by the hand; and here He touches their eyes; what does that suggest?
JT I think touching was linking Himself with them. These suggestions have reference to His death. It is identification with the thing dealt with, I think. “He bore our infirmities”, it says. I suppose the Lord took on Him in spirit all these things. We might read it casually and forget the feelings that were underneath — how He felt all these things. They were the consequence of sin; and as becoming Man He had to take them all on Himself.
It was His thought that the light was to be in keeping with the work of God. If the light goes beyond that it only improves the world; it doesn’t help men spiritually. It says, “Many believed on him. Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free”, John 8:30 - 32.
JCS So the Lord was not [p. 159] dealing with the crowds exactly, He was dealing with those who had faith.
JT Then following that, one is qualified now in the house, so that the appointment of the apostles in this gospel follows all this.
EBMcC They spread His name abroad in the land; that has come to pass in Christendom.
JT The idea of the mystery — Colossians — enters into this charge of the Lord. It was never the intent of God that the knowledge of Himself should be taken up by man and added to what they had already. The flute-players would no doubt have taken up the miracles, and made much out of them, but the Lord does not want the world to talk of them. It is a faith system: “the dispensation of God which is in faith”. Colossians 1:25. You want nothing outside of faith. Anything outside of faith is just to build up the world. Of course there was to be public testimony, but the gospel is “on the principle of faith to faith”. Romans 1:17.
HLD It would be like the servant entertaining the king of Israel about the great things the prophet had done.
JT Gehazi had a distressing history; he would have taken from Naaman under false pretences. Men like that carry the tidings out and add to the world through them. You do not want that; you want faith.
JCS Do you think there was a kind of climax here to the process we have been considering? Having reached this climax the Lord can take up the twelve.
JT Yes; we have to go through all this before we can go out; the dumb man is the last, and then they are sent out.
RT The demoniac was bidden to go back to his own people and make known what things God had done for him.
[p. 160] JT Yes, that is right; he could be a witness. That is Luke.
MPM What does it mean to have your speech given in the house?
JT I think that you have the language of the house. So you see the house of God should be understood; we should indeed find our places in it before we can be of any service outside.
LDB So that if you get your sight in relation to the house of God, and speech too, you see aright and speak aright in a wider circle.
RMcM There is order here. The feverishness must go, and the musical instruments. We might, perhaps, like to have our sight and be able to speak, but we must be prepared for what goes before it.
JT So that there is a constructive line throughout here. First as preceding the sending out of the apostles, and then in the end of chapter 12 there is a change, for He leaves the house. All this apparently went on within the limits of Judaism, because He brought all this out there; but a time comes when there has to be a break. Chapter 12 brings out the awful condition there was amongst the Jews. They charged Him with doing things through Beelzebub. So He leaves the house in verse 1 of chapter 13, and then He speaks in parables — parabolic ministry, as we might call it, till we reach verse 36, when He returns into the house. Now you get everything again in plain language, because parables are to hide the truth — to hide it from the natural man. They are intended to hide it; so that he shall not take it in naturally. It is for faith only.
LDB Gideon had that instinct, no doubt; he was hiding the wheat.
JCS Then do you think that before the Lord makes the break He appoints new administrators, so to speak; they having graduated under this process of [p. 161] education?
JT The material for the new system had all been formed whilst bearing witness to the old. The two things went on together, and when the time arrives He takes the whole thing with Him. Everything is taken out of Judaism and set up in a new connection altogether.
JCS I think it is a very fine touch. I had not before noticed how chapter 10 follows what we have had.
JT He has the materials for the new system all ready.
RJW In the light of all this we can understand the immense importance of the day of Pentecost and all that followed.
JT It is interesting to follow up the history of David and see how he takes out of Saul’s system everything that was spiritual, and carries it with him.
WV The house is a primary thought. In Exodus 12 the lamb was for a house.
LDB Is it suggested that while we might rejoice in sins forgiven and many blessings received, if we are to reach what is properly before the Lord — the assembly — we have to pass through this process; there is a moral sequence in our histories?
JT That is the thing.
LDB One finds sometimes there is a tendency to rest in blessings received, but the Lord would lead us on to what is before Him.
JT You see in the epistle to the Corinthians what was involved in the assembly’s position. “Upon whom the ends of the world are come”, 1 Corinthians 10:11. That is, all that is spiritual from the very outset, from Abel onwards, great principles had been working out, which faith can take up. All these converge in this new system; hence the immense importance of the assembly. It was to sustain all this: “Upon whom the ends of the world are come”. 1 Corinthians 10:11. There were other things too; there were lines of evil running [p. 162] alongside the thread of faith. These lines all converged on Jerusalem. All the sins from Abel — from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zacharias — they are all held and brought down to Jerusalem, and Jerusalem is held responsible for them. They are the two ends. The assembly is immune from the responsibility of the guilt. The lines of testimony all converge on the assembly. If these lines all converge on us, how important it is we should learn how to behave ourselves in the house and administer in the house; and the great feature of this gospel is to teach us how to behave in the assembly.
LDB Would you remark again on “the ends of the world”?
JT Well, that refers to the testimonies of God in the different dispensations. First — the line ran down to Enoch, and Enoch is said to have been the seventh from Adam. That line culminated in one who was pleasing to God; he had the testimony before he was translated that he pleased God. That is one line that comes down to us, and which should ever be before us, that we walk with God and please God, because that is the ground of translation. Secondly, we have Noah beginning another line. What helps in Genesis is the ‘histories’, as the history of Noah. Noah brings in government. That, I suppose, culminated in Melchizedek. Thirdly, God had His King. He was King of righteousness, King of Salem, and Priest of the Most High God. Fourthly, He then takes up Abraham and the thought of the inheritance, and with the inheritance, heirship. Hence the great thought of the family is developed in Abraham. You find he is heir of the world; that is an immense thought; in fact the heavens and all are before God in Abraham. There was the patriarchal feature. So that in Matthew you get Son of David, Son of Abraham; the family thought is in Abraham, but royalty is in David. Well, all that has come into [p. 163] the assembly. Fifthly, we have Israel taken up — the idea of a nation, and David. It is another dispensation which we have here, the kingdom culminating in the house. All these things have come down to us. That is what I understand by “the ends of the ages”.
JCS We have little realised the greatness of all that has come into the assembly; and if we do realise it we shall feel how important our education is.
HLD What a serious thing it is to be untouched; to be away from the activities of the Lord and the Spirit in connection with the house!
LDB I suppose “receiving sight”, like the two blind men, would enable us to perceive the things you have named.
JT I think it would.
WV Do we get finality in the assembly?
JT Yes, everything culminates there.
LDB Is Hebrews 11 for the admonition of those “upon whom the ends of the world are come”?
JT That indicates the spiritual history of the Old Testament dispensations.
JCS The assembly has great advantages. When it comes to administration in the assembly it is in the light of what you have outlined.
DB Is that the education for us as householders — to get the gain of all that has gone before, so as to be able to bring out of our treasure things new and old?
JT It is new and old; they are treasures.
JCS Is this leading us up to the thought that all our administration now should be in the light of what is found in the assembly; not merely that we take up administration, but it must be in assembly light?
JT That is what I think the meaning of the word involves in Timothy, “God’s dispensation”. 1 Timothy 1:4. The dispensation of God involves His house, and it is “in faith”. So things are now dispensed housewise. But then the question arises, What is the house? Christians are the house of God. “Whose house are we”. Hebrews 3:6. So that it brings it very near to us, and the question is raised in one’s soul, how am I in regard to all this? In the beginning of chapter 13 we have to learn how to leave a house. That is, a religious association which you discover not to be in keeping with all these things. We have to learn why the Lord left the house here.
SF That is very helpful; one appreciates it.
JT Chapter 12 shows the evil that existed in Judaism, which corresponded with what marks Christendom now — awful opposition to Christ.
SF One has passed that way. One has had a little doubt as to the correctness, the lawfulness, in leaving such things; but there is a right-of-way opened by the Lord Himself for us in which to follow.
JCS The time comes when there must be a break according to this.
JT I think 2 Timothy shows how we are obligated to leave any association in which the Lord is not. “Let everyone who names the name of the Lord withdraw from iniquity”, 2 Timothy 2:19. However antiquated houses might be — dignified in this world — if the Lord is not there you cannot stay.
Ques Was it on account of iniquity the Lord left the house?
JT Chapter 12 ought to be read in the light of His movements. They charged Him with casting out demons by Beelzebub, the prince of demons. Think of that! Think of the state of those that made that charge! He says in verse 43, “But when the unclean spirit has gone out of the man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and does not find it. Then he says, I will return to my house whence I came out; and having come he finds it unoccupied, swept, and [p. 165] adorned. Then he goes and takes with himself seven other spirits worse than himself, and entering in, they dwell there”. Matthew 12:43. But then it is not occupied. The Lord has left it before he comes. But the Lord came and took away the armour of the strong man, in which he trusted, and spoiled his goods. But in the case of apostasy He leaves the house.
JCS That is very important.
WV Chapter 13 begins, “the same day”.
JT The same day — it is urgent; you cannot wait when the truth comes out. There was sin against the Holy Spirit.
Ques Why is the house spoken of?
JT If you look at Christendom you will see how it differs from heathendom. Christendom is set up in the light. If you take any Christian country, it is different from a heathen country. It is swept and adorned, but it is all external. So the wicked spirit comes in and he takes possession of it.
Ques Do you think all the lines of evil will converge in Babylon?
JT That has already taken place.
EBMcC The house was the house of Israel, was it not?
JT Yes, but these things apply to Christendom also. 2 Timothy opens up to us how we should leave institutions where the Lord is not honoured.
JCS Many stay in the house with the idea of improving matters. The only way to act is that indicated here — you abandon it.
JT I believe that when the Lord says ‘unoccupied’ it means He has left it. Now, in that place there is demand for Christians, but Christians of a kind; you must conform to their principles. They have no objection to your Christianity provided you can fit in with their principles.
RJW “Your house is left unto you desolate”. Matthew 23:38.
JT Yes, it had become theirs. One has often [p. 166] thought of it; in a local meeting where one man or a group of men arrogate to themselves the right that belongs to the Lord, it is their house, and it is left unto them. You cannot have the Lord in those circumstances, because He claims the right to rule in God’s house. But Matthew 12 is more dreadful, because the wicked spirit comes back to the house. He has been walking through dry places, but when he returns he finds that things are changed; a better condition exists — it is swept and adorned; and he takes into that house with himself seven others worse than himself. Christians ought to be made aware of the efforts that are put forth to improve matters in the apostate conditions that exist, because it is simply adorning things for the wicked spirits.
SF I suppose that is the most solemn feature that could be recorded, that the spirits return and dwell in what becomes apostate.
JT It is very dreadful.
SF They are not put out, they take possession.
RJW Revelation says, “Where Satan dwells”. Revelation 2:13.
JCS So when the Lord sat down by the sea the situation seemed to take a new turn; it was an altered condition of things.
JT Yes, He is now sowing; sowing meaning there is to be another crop.
EBMcC He had those in the end of chapter 12 with whom He could speak. He had set aside Israel, and then He contemplates His brethren, as it says, “He stretched forth his hand toward his disciples, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren! For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother”. Matthew 12:49,50.
JT These are the nucleus of the new system. Chapter 13 begins a new line of instruction directly connected with [p. 167] the assembly.
JCS What do you think is indicated in sitting down by the sea?
JT Sitting is deliberation. You get it later in the fish that were caught. When you sit down to a thing you are deliberate. It was a new position He was taking up, and it was definite; He was not going back.
JCS So His face would turn to the sea; a new aspect coming before Him.
JT That is it, there is no turning back; the way is straight on in the government of God. The wheels and the Spirit going in the same direction. The gospel of Matthew is on that line, the line of the government of God; there is no turning back. The sea would indicate the Gentiles.
DB Do you think the instruction in this chapter is like Psalm 78, which begins, “I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings of old” Psalm 78:2; and it closes with the sovereign intervention of God? I thought that compared with the condition of Israel as brought finally to light in this chapter.
JT That is very interesting, because it ends with the sovereign purpose of God, and the building too. He builds His sanctuary “like the heights, like the earth which he hath founded for ever” (Psalm 78:69).
The Lord is now, as it were, in the presence of the Gentiles, sowing. The assembly is drawn from both Jews and Gentiles. He is going to bring in a crop by sowing.
EBMcC Sowing beside all waters.
JCS Does this suggest an extension — the sea? The house is to be extended, so to speak, in its new character.
JT Yes, those in it should be His brethren; as He says, “Whosoever shall do the will of my Father, which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother”. Matthew [p. 168] 12:50.
HLD I thought of that as those who are carried into the new system from the old.
JT They are His mother and brethren, His mother will be brought in; she is carried over in the remnant. She must come in on the line of doing the will of God. Israel will have to come in on this line, as we have; so those who are to be in the house are those who do the will of God.
Ques Will you please say why the natural order is reversed there?
JT Well, I think the brother comes first in Christianity. The brother is the great thought; then the sister, and then the mother.
JCS Is it anticipating to remark that the Lord is seen as dismissing the crowds and going into the house (verse 36)?
JT I think we may now go on to that. It is a passage full of precious truth. We have to tarry for a little, because it is not to be passed over lightly. The Lord goes into the house definitely, as you will observe: “Having dismissed the crowds he went into the house, and his disciples came to him”. Now you see there is definite movement on their part: they come to him in the house, so that there is a remarkable unfolding, in parables, of assembly truth.
RJW That is very interesting, because this is the third time people had come to Him in the house; now they are disciples,
JT They are disciples and want instruction. It is a most interesting thing when people want instruction. The Lord is ever ready to unfold things if we are ready for Him to do so. I think it has a very special application to the present time, because this parable of the tares has become a historical fact now. It is very important that we should know how to distinguish between the tares (or darnel) and the wheat. They are growing up together. The Lord says, “The good seed, these are the sons of the [p. 169] kingdom, but the darnel are the sons of the evil one”. We are in the presence not merely of children but of developed persons, sons growing up side by side at the present time. On the one hand you have spiritual persons instructed because they are sons of the kingdom, and on the other hand, persons who are also instructed, but in an evil sense, for they are sons of the wicked one; but all are growing up side by side. It is an important thing to get this exposition from the Lord.
RJW Does the assembly come into view in the thought of the sons?
JT I thought so. The sons of the kingdom would mean they are developed on that line.
JCS “The sons of the evil one”, is that intended to convey the idea that they have taken character from the evil one?
JT Quite. In John 8:44 it is, “Your father the devil”. There the parent has given character to the children. The word ‘sons’, whilst it includes that, would go beyond it; they are thoroughly versed, sophisticated.
EBMcC So while you get those in the fellowship well instructed, you find the sons of the wicked one developed too.
JT The “tares” resemble wheat, hence the great difficulty in discerning the difference; many are deceived.
EBMcC The devil is transformed into an angel of light.
JCS The design of the enemy was really to have his children patterned as near as possible to what was coming out in the kingdom.
JT The idea is imitation — the greatest weapon Satan has. Here he imitates the fruit of the Lord’s sowing.
SF Is there a possibility that behind all this Satan would say that man has never fallen, and he [p. 170] would produce a generation like himself with a dignity about them?
JT So it is in this gospel that we have the lie that the Lord was stolen away, and that became current among the Jews. That is how Satan works.
RJW Quite a number of times in the gospel He brings the point to an issue — “weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth”. That is the end of apostasy.
JT Where you have any passage that deals with the government of God it goes right on to the end. Matthew is full of that; so are Peter’s epistles.
WV On the other hand it mentions those that shine in the kingdom of the Father.
JT What a glorious prospect! It says, “Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of the Father”.
Ques Do you take the sun to set forth the idea of the kingdom?
JT Yes, it is supreme rule.
JCS They are sons that have been versed in the ideas the Lord has been propounding in connection with His kingdom, so they are competent in that way to shine.
JT Hence in this gospel in the transfiguration His countenance is like the sun.
Ques Does that show the finality of the kingdom on earth?
JT Well, quite. It is the kingdom of our Father here.
JCS It is a wholesome question as to whether we have ears to hear.
RJW To be able to speak you must first listen.
JT The apostates have their ears closed so that they shall not hear, but “He that hath ears let him hear”.
HLD That would help one to [p. 171] speak.
JT If your audience has a circumcised ear it is much easier to speak.
Rem Hearing is prominent in the addresses to the seven assemblies.
JT It is very constantly repeated, because there the Lord is speaking symbolically; the ear is appealed to. The unregenerate ear will not hear, but the regenerate ear will understand. It says, “None of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand”, Daniel 12:10.