CHRIST'S PERSONAL SERVICE FOR THE SAINTS (1)
CHRIST’S PERSONAL SERVICE FOR THE SAINTS (1)
JT I have been thinking of the Lord’s personal service to the assembly, as indicated in the endings of the gospels, if that will be acceptable.
The Lord will make clear, perhaps, what is in one’s mind. We have to distinguish between the Father’s work, the Spirit’s work, and the Lord’s personal service, so that we might look at John 21 first. The distinction I suggested as to the work of divine Persons severally is, I think, indicated in the book of Genesis. The assembly as typified in Eve is the work of the Father, I apprehend. The Lord builded the woman and brought her complete to the man. The next type, which is Rebecca, is the work of the Spirit, which calls for decision. That is, the servant of Abraham brings her; he brings her to Isaac; he brings her by testimony to Isaac. The assembly is called out and attracted to Christ by the testimony of the Spirit. But when we come to Jacob we find a type of the Lord Himself moving. It says that “Jacob fled into the country of Syria”. Hosea 12:12. It was for a wife. It was, typically, a personal movement of the Lord’s. And it says, “For a wife he kept sheep” Hosea 12:12; and so, in the twenty years that ensued, Jacob was seen in continual toil, personal toil, serving fourteen years for his wives and six years for his flocks. No one else did it; he did it himself. And it occurred to me that the Lord can be apprehended in this light; and throughout the whole of the dispensation He is personally active in order to have the saints for Himself.
[p. 2] The endings of the gospels, that is, the parts of the records that treat of the Lord’s movements after He rose, indicate, I think, the service or activities of the Lord throughout the whole period of the assembly’s sojourn on earth; that is, continuous service. I suggested John first, because coming in last he furnishes us with this feature to a greater extent than any of them, because he gives us not only the activities of the Lord, but three distinct manifestations, as we read here. It says, “This is already the third time that Jesus had been manifested to the disciples, being risen from among the dead”. Three suggests perfect testimony as to the matter in hand, so that John emphasises the idea of manifestation, whether according to pure privilege and enjoyment for us, as in John 20:19, or by way of rebuke, as in the case of Thomas, or in recovery after complete breakdown as in this chapter (21). In each instance we have a manifestation, so that from John’s point of view, whatever breakdown happens it becomes an occasion of a manifestation. This chapter begins, not with Peter’s movement — a party movement, as I may call it — the chapter does not begin with that; it begins with the thought of manifestation: “After these things Jesus manifested himself again to the disciples at the sea of Tiberias. And he manifested himself thus”. Then we have the history of the failure; but first there is the reference to a manifestation.
EBMcC Is it not individual in this chapter, and in the previous chapter the assembly?
JT This chapter has to do specially with those who serve, I think; those who are commissioned to serve. The movement was a movement of servants — those who had that place. Recovery is seen in Peter. He is the sample man. And then John comes in after that and secures his place.
EBMcC I was struck with what you said about [p. 3] Jacob in that verse you quoted. It says “Israel”. It gives him a distinction in service in that way.
JT Yes, it says, Israel served for a wife.
JFS Going back to what you said at the beginning, do you think that that aspect of the work of the Father in connection with Eve comes in in John’s gospel, as it takes place before ever sin came into the world?
JT Yes, I think Eve typifies the assembly as the primary thought of God.
JS Would you say, in that way linking on with the eternal thought?
JT That is what I thought. It is brought in in Ephesians. That epistle contemplates the assembly as connected with the eternal purpose of God.
JFS Would you say we have coming to light in a very marked way what you have suggested — the personal activities of Christ in relation to the assembly — in the Song of Solomon?
JT I think it is there — that is the activity of love beginning with Himself, and drawn out in the affections of the bride. It is all personal between them. The Spirit is seen in Rebecca’s case, I think. It is a matter of testimony. The testimony He brings down from heaven of Christ.
EBMcC In Jacob’s service in that way we have wonderful affection, serving for his wife. He is the suffering one, is he not?
JT Quite. He has to go, as it were, afield. He went into the country of Syria.
EBMcC He was smitten at night by the frosts and consumed by the heat in the day. It was suffering, was it not?
JT Yes, he was outside the confines of the town or village; it is the open field. The Lord in the Song of Solomon speaks of His locks being “wet with the dew of night” Song of Songs 5:2 — exposure to the elements in order to secure the bride’s affections. So that, when Jacob [p. 4] reaches Syria he alights on a spot where there was a well. The well was there, and the flocks were there; and he removes the stone from the well’s mouth; Rachel having appeared with her father’s flock. She is called definitely a shepherdess, so that there is a link in their activities, and then the expression of affection at once.
JC On the one hand the activity of the servant, and on the other the activity of the woman. It corresponds with the activity of Rebecca meeting the activity of the servant.
JT I refer to all this as suggestive of the Lord’s personal activities in the open field. Paul says, “I will not dare to speak of any of the things which Christ has not wrought by me” Romans 15:8 — not what he had wrought, but what Christ had wrought. Paul was the instrument, but Christ the Worker, so that he says, “from Jerusalem, and round about unto Illyricum, I have fully preached the gospel of Christ”. Romans 15:19. It was a wide extent of territory, a wide field. It was fully traversed, and the assembly was secured in it. That activity goes on, and I believe the Lord would lay it upon the brethren to consider that it is a time of activity. It is not a time of sitting down in the light, precious though the light is, and of enjoying the light and privileges which the Lord indicates for us; there must be the corresponding activity.
LDB Do you suggest that the present activities of the Lord are through His servants in that way?
JT Yes, “Going”, it says, “he preached”.
LDB So that Paul making a circuit would be as Jacob going into Syria. Is that the thought?
JT Well, that is what comes to one. The word “country” I think, in the book of Hosea, would indicate that it is the open field; the country, not the town.
LDB Paul was moving from Jerusalem, which in some ways would hold [p. 5] him.
HB Have you in your mind that the danger is in being limited?
JT Not only the danger; we are limited. We want to have part with the Lord, you see.
Ques How would you define the field today?
JT Well, it is the whole of humanity. If we apply Matthew 13, the Lord has secured a right-of-way in it. He is not using it for any other purpose than to take out the assembly for the moment, and he has acquired a right-of-way by purchase; and so there is liberty to move about. For instance, he says “No man shall set on thee to hurt thee; for I have much people in this city (Corinth)”, Acts 18:10. You see, the Lord had His rights there, and He assured His servant that no one should set upon him to hurt him. The people should be reached and secured.
Rem In John 3 the Lord is seen as abiding in Judea and baptising with His disciples, and in the next chapter He baptised not, but His disciples.
JT Yes, that would illustrate that what they were doing was His work.
HC His activities went out a great deal. The country would bring in the thought that the shepherds would have been in the mind of God when, at the birth of Christ, they were keeping their flocks in the country.
JT The great mass of humanity at that time had been moved into the cities and villages to be registered, but these were outside. I think Psalm 19 indicates the extent of the gospel as cited in Romans 10. It is universal. Their line has gone out through all the earth. It is a great thing to hold to a right principle, even though, through paralysis, you may be unable to carry it out. Never give up the principle.
HB Is that what you had in your mind in connection with the chapter before us? The disciples were on a party [p. 6] line.
JT That is most restrictive. Anyone on the line of a party is sure to be cramped.
HB I suppose there is nothing more destructive in the house of God than party lines?
JT I think this is what this chapter opens up. But then we have the wonderful grace that speaks of a manifestation before that is dealt with. In allowing the thing a manifestation was in view, so that you not only have recovery, but the manifestation. A new feature comes out, for a manifestation from the Lord always implies an accession of light, something distinctive. They had never seen Him in this way before. They had never seen the Lord by Himself preparing a dinner for them.
EBMcC Is it the character of a shepherd here?
JT Very much. You see the point is “He manifested himself thus” I think in speaking of the Lord’s manifestations some of us are too restricted. He does manifest Himself, according to John 20:19, as a matter of pure privilege, where there is nothing to rebuke. But then the next manifestation does involve rebuke — not for all of them indeed, but for one of them. Doubtless they all enjoyed His presence in a general way, but Thomas was rebuked. Then in this third manifestation they are all wrong, and the grace of the thing is that the idea of a manifestation stands out at the outset. “He manifested himself thus”. How? Well, the chapter goes on to say.
JK Is a manifestation making Himself known?
JT It is more than that. A manifestation, I think, involves that the Lord presents Himself in a new light. These three prove it, because there are no repetitions. Repetition is not characteristic of Christianity.
HB I think it would be helpful if you would give us an outline.
JT Well, the first, as indicated, follows the message [p. 7] sent by the Lord through Mary to the brethren that He was ascending to the Father, and they are His brethren. She went and told the disciples these things, so that they had the light of the message before the Lord came. He came on that occasion to the company as thus enlightened, so that it is pure privilege, as we may say. There is not a rebuke in it. They are viewed entirely in the light of their relation to Him as brethren. So that it is on the first day of the week. The chapter mentions the first day of the week twice.
Now, the second manifestation is not said to have been on the first day of the week; it is eight days after. That is to say, it is not to call attention to privilege, as we speak. The first day of the week denotes that it is the day of supreme privilege for the assembly. The scene of the second was eight days after; that is to say, a period of exercise. The eighth day brings out the result of the period, and what comes out is that Thomas was there, he evidently not having benefited by the exercise of the previous privilege that the others enjoyed; and that is a word for all brethren who are not maintaining the light of their calling. Thomas was with them, but that did not help him. The fact that he was there did not remove his unbelief; he was still unbelieving. It was when the Lord said to Thomas, “reach hither thy hand ... and be not faithless, but believing”, John 20:27 that he was convinced. Thus the Lord says, “Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed”. John 20:29. The fact that he was with them did not in itself help him.
Well then, the next manifestation involved that they were all astray — every one of them. I mean those mentioned — the seven of them.
Rem So you would say, I suppose, the sphere is widening? He is not limited.
JT It all bears out what it says at the beginning,
“[p. 8] And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace”. John 1:16. He is full of grace, so there is no limit to the grace of the Lord. This manifestation is a fresh proof of it.
Ques Do you think the three manifestations are in view of service?
JT This one is.
LDB In the second manifestation, what new feature was developed?
JT I think the second visit was to confirm the exercise of the previous week. The Lord’s patience with an unbelieving one appears. Thomas had not moved, but he now owns Jesus as his Lord and God. For conviction Thomas was to do something: “reach hither thy finger ... reach hither thy hand”. Then Thomas says, “My Lord and my God”. John 20:27,28.
WHU Is that the result of conscious touch with the Lord?
JT I think so. He did not refer to the others. It has reference to one, whoever that one may be; one set right in the company in the recognition of the Lord. Note that he does not say “Our Lord, our God”.
SF He had really come to that. He had missed it previously.
JT Yes, that is right. He is in the company now as adjusted. One is impressed with the grace of the Lord in the second and third manifestations.
SF His invitation to Thomas is very personal. It was to bring him into the good of the light.
JT He had showed the others His hands and His side, but now it is “Bring thy finger and thy hand. I am within your range. Do not be faithless, but believing”. John 20:27. Christianity with John is a system of faith. Unless one has faith he is not in it at all.
LDB He has thus caught up on the exercise he had missed.
JT He had been eight days behind. It is [p. 9] a serious thing to miss a manifestation of the Lord, even though only eight days. The others were eight days ahead. Thomas must have sustained a permanent loss in being absent when the Lord first manifested Himself.
Ques Are these manifestations of the Lord in service to us any indication as to how others should act?
JT The pattern the Lord intends by them is to set us in movement, so that Peter and John at the end represent the service. Peter has his work coming out to feed the lambs and the sheep, and to shepherd the sheep; John is following already, the one who leans on His breast at supper.
WHU Thomas said he would not believe unless he had seen.
JT He was not in accord with the dispensation. There are many who are anticipating. They are millennial believers. We are not in the millennium; we are in the faith period, and Thomas was not yet in that period. He was outside of it; but the Lord would not have it that way. He loved Thomas, and He places Himself within his reach so that he should not be faithless but believing.
EBMcC And your thought is, he came to a full appreciation of the message sent by Mary? Had he come to that in his soul?
JT Well, I think he came to a full recognition of the Lord’s claim — “My Lord”. He was subject, and thus he recognised God, the object of worship. I do not know that he had not missed the full bearing of the first manifestation. No doubt he was adjusted, because he says, “My Lord”. He believes now, and is subject. “He that hath my commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me”. John 14:21. The first epistle to the Corinthians is the expansion of this, the recognition of the Lord. If one is spiritual, he recognises “the things that I write to you, that it is the Lord’s commandment”. 1 Corinthians 14:37. I think Thomas came into that, and therefore into the recognition of God. He would be a worshipper of God, so that he is in fellowship.
Ques How does the company stand with regard to such a one?
JT I would give the right hand of fellowship to Thomas as soon as he said “My Lord”, but not before.
JR Do you think that in the eight days Thomas got adjusted? Does that bring him up to this?
JT I am not sure that he did catch up to the others. You get adjusted, so that you are in the company and recognise them and what they do when the Lord comes. He came where the disciples were; He came to the company. He came to the persons rather. They were His brethren.
FJB He is now inside the dispensation of faith.
JT Yes. The first manifestation is not repeated. It stands by itself, and Thomas could not have the gain of it as the others had.
Rem So keeping His commandments we come into the way of receiving His commandments.
JT What impresses one is the abounding grace of the Lord. This is what we can reckon on. He can come into the company of His own and single out an erring brother, and place Himself within his reach and say to him, “Bring hither thy finger and thy hand”.
JFS Do you say we learn the Lord’s ability to adjust and recover the individual in Thomas, and in this twenty first chapter, which we have just read, His ability to recover even a party as led astray?
JT I have no doubt the seven brethren represent the mass. There is what you may call a general breakdown. This has happened in the history of the assembly, and the twenty first chapter, I think, being the third manifestation, is to show to us the final service of the Lord to overcome that, and bring back [p. 11] the leader of it, and set him up in his primary position in service. I think it is what we have at the present time. There has been a complete breakdown, yet the Lord has come in and set things up according to His own thought.
Ques Do you think His personal activities are in view of preparing certain ones to serve?
JT Yes. That is the thought. The lambs and sheep have to be fed, and the sheep shepherded, and hence the need of servants.
JFS I take it it covers the complete period in John — until He come.
JT Yes, that is so.
Ques Could Thomas get the gain of the first manifestation through the brethren?
JT To some extent; as, of course, the others would convey an impression of it to him, but it would not be first-hand.
Rem You make that distinction?
JT I think so. The whole assembly benefits from any manifestation you get, but that is second- hand.
JM “I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world”.
JT They all get it there. John 14 contemplates a manifestation to one — the one who, loving the Lord, keeps His commandments; and I think that any such manifestation affects the whole assembly. It affects him, but all are to be affected by him, I think.
Ques Is it not significant that “they toiled all night and caught nothing”?
JT There was much activity. “I go a fishing”. There is a leader. Then the others say, “We also go with thee”. There is a following now. Well, what is the result? “They toiled all night and caught nothing”. There is a great deal of activity around, but what is the result? We have to reckon the result according to the divine estimate of it. What is the result? Well, “they toiled all night and caught nothing” — nothing. Yet the Lord did not ridicule them. He was on the shore, and He had a fire, and He had fish and bread. That is the grace of God which bows our hearts — the superabounding grace of the Lord. He has everything. Where would the assembly have been had it not been for His own personal service outside of all this? He is on the land, and has the food they need, and He says, “Cast on the right side”. They come under His direction. John recognises Him, and they caught a great “multitude of fishes”. There was no break. And then He says, “Bring of the fish which ye have now caught”. The results are accredited to them, and they are linked up with what He has. That is how the matter stands today. Then they dine. He says, “Come and dine”; not take something to eat to keep yourselves going — it is a dinner. There is not a word of rebuke. After they had dined He deals with the leading man, with the result that he is completely restored.
JFS Would you say the manifestation in that way prepared the conditions which left the Lord free to bring about the exposure in regard to Peter’s affections, he having departed from Him?
JT You can understand how Peter would come in now in a new way.
JFS I gathered by your thought in connection with the manifestation being to the individual, and yet the whole company benefiting by it, that the Lord now counts upon Peter being able to feed His sheep and lambs.
JT He would take up that service now in the light of the manifestation; he would say, this is how the Lord did it. If he had to restore a sheep later, he would remember what the Lord did; he would say I must feed that soul before I can bring Christ in.
SF Would Peter have that in mind in saying,
“[p. 13] Ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the shepherd and bishop of your souls”, 1 Peter 2:25?
JT Yes, that is right.
CC Have you in mind that the recovery of Peter would secure the result the Lord had set Himself to obtain, as typified in Jacob going into Syria for a wife?
JT Quite.
Ques I suppose this is the effect of the casting of the net on the right side?
JT It is “the fish which ye have now caught”.
LDB What has been mentioned of these activities of the Lord is similar to what you referred to in connection with Jacob.
JT I thought that — His own direct service. He was out very early in the morning.
JFS He wants to impress us with the thought that, although He Himself is now on high, those services are continued ‘until He come’, in His servants.
LDB In that connection, in what way are manifestations made now?
JT I think there was a manifestation at the Reformation; and then again later, in the last century (a period to which we often refer), manifestations having a very wide bearing. And then, I think, in a lesser way there are continual manifestations of the Lord.
EBMcC You look upon this as the recovery of the assembly?
JT It illustrates how the Lord comes in in the history of the assembly for recovery. So that in all these conflicts you not only stand for the truth you have, but you get accessions of light; new features develop. I think all that is involved in the manifestation of the Lord; as He said to Paul, “those things in the which I shall appear to thee”. Acts 26:16. Paul would expect that in his own [p. 14] history.
SF Manifestations of the sovereign gracious movements of the Lord; otherwise no recovery.
JT I think they are bound up together. The failure is allowed, really, so that there should be this manifestation; and so the Lord would show Himself to us now, I believe, in ways in which He was not known at the outset, because the manifestations have come in in keeping with the departures that have occurred; and, in a way, nothing impresses you more than the superabounding grace of the Lord, which we can reckon on at the end. He rises above the failure so as to manifest Himself.
SF He was “full of grace and truth”, John 1:14 and it is grace coming in in the beginning of the gospel. We know Him now on the other side of death dispensing the same grace.
JT It is remarkable that Peter should be sent to represent the restoring grace of the Lord. He stands out, as some do in the Old Testament — as Job and David, as examples of the restoring grace of the Lord, which we may all reckon on. Grace is the fire and the fish and the bread, and then the truth comes. We cannot be with Him unless adjusted by the truth.
HC I suppose the moral teaching — the moral truths that flow from the activities of Christ in chapter 21 — as suitable and applicable to the present moment of time, go far beyond the millennial aspect in the chapter?
JT Quite so. It is, however, a dispensational chapter. There can be no doubt the first manifestation is to the assembly, the second to the Jew, and the third has the Gentiles in view; but what you say is true. The moral bearing goes beyond the millennium.
EBMcC And you get possibilities mentioned: leaning on Jesus’ bosom. Is that the possibility today?
[p. 15] JT Yes. Although John had followed Peter, he loved the Lord. He was the one Peter looked round on and saw following.
SF John, in this way, is the one who remains.
JT “If I will that he tarry till I come”. I think we are adjusted by the truth.
Peter had first made profession. He had professed to have loved the Lord. He says, “Although all should forsake thee, yet will not I”. Matthew 26:33. He had to discover the truth about himself; he did not know himself. The truth about ourselves is a terrible discovery. We have to learn the depths of the deception that is in our hearts. Whilst we make professions, we do not know how fickle and untrustworthy our hearts are. We have to learn the truth about ourselves. But Jesus says, “Come and dine”. Peter had to be fed before being rebuked. After feeding them, He says, “lovest thou me more than these?” More than these; that was the shaft — the arrow that went to his heart. He had to learn that, and then the Lord points out to him, “When thou wast young thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest”. These are solemn principles, and every young one, and all of us, should take them to heart. When we are young we take matters into our own hands and go where we will; but the Lord says, “When thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. This spake he signifying by what death he should glorify God”. So that Peter should be brought back at the end of his days to correspond with Christ — with the Ark; perfect resignation to the will of God.
WHU The Lord brings in a new day when He manifests Himself in the morning. He came and stood on the shore.
JFS In regard of John, the thought “Till I come” is not the idea of the rapture. It covers the [p. 16] whole remaining period of the ways of God in dealing with man.
JT His ministry covers that — the book of Revelation, as well as the gospel and epistles. The ministry reaches on to the coming of the Lord publicly; the appearing of the Lord.
Ques Would you say John knew the Lord?
JT I think he had greater spiritual discernment. He says, “It is the Lord”. He discerned the Lord. I take it that John was more spiritual.
HG I was wondering whether he answered to the first manifestation.
JT I should say that — quite.
JFS Would you think that the suggestion “Leaning on Jesus’ bosom” John 13:23 would indicate that his affections were more alive?
JT Yes, I think that is right. He did not have to be probed. The Lord did not question him.
JFS When the affections are alive there is the spiritual recognition.
SF Leaning on His bosom was John’s act. He appreciated the love, and answered to it.
JT He is representative of that which in the saints appropriate what is available. What can be greater than the breast of the Lord? That was available, and he appropriated it.
Ques These three manifestations were made to the disciples. Is there anything in that?
JT They are not to any others at the present time. John has the disciples in view throughout. In the first sign His disciples believed on Him; and now all the signs are in the presence of His disciples. It is disciples throughout in John’s gospel.
JFS Does it suggest the idea of those who are following?
JT I think so.
JFS You would be speaking of the movements of the Lord, in that way. If we recognise the movements [p. 17] of the Lord and follow Him, the manifestations are to us.
JT Yes. In John 8 He says to those who follow Him, “He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life”. John 8:12. Those who follow come into that light.