CHRIST'S PERSONAL SERVICE FOR THE SAINTS (2)
CHRIST’S PERSONAL SERVICE FOR THE SAINTS (2)
JT Perhaps we may continue our inquiry as to the Lord’s present service by reading part of the last chapter of Luke, verses 13 to 53.
As remarked yesterday, the inquiry is as to the Lord’s personal service to the saints throughout the whole period of our sojourn here upon the earth. The endings of the gospels afford a certain indication of His services, which may be taken, in their respective relations, to indicate His entire service; that is, His service in all its features. As we may, by the Lord’s help, be enabled to look at Mark and Matthew later, it occurred to me that the order in which we are taking the gospels is appropriate for the reason that we are at the end of the dispensation. We are indebted primarily to John’s ministry as understanding in measure the whole scope of the truth, for it is evidently the last gospel written; and, according to the reference made to John, he was intended to continue to the end, in some sort. So he stresses the number of manifestations. He only refers to a certain number; three distinct, as he calls them, manifestations; the last, as we considered yesterday, securing the recovery of the ministers. Peter was set up in the advantage of the third manifestation. Not only did he have part in all of them, but he was specially set up in the advantage of the third. In his primary position he was the leading apostle, and enlarged his failure in leading the others; but is reinstated in his primary position. The Lord commits to him what was supremely precious to Himself; that is to say, His lambs and His sheep. To John He committed His [p. 19] mother. But Peter has the charge of the lambs and the sheep — “my lambs” and “my sheep”. He has to feed them and shepherd them. No greater thing could be committed to anyone than that. He had not received the mystery — that was a later charge reserved for Paul, one who stands by himself; but of the twelve, Peter is reinstated in the full confidence of the Lord. He has His unreserved confidence after the manifestation.
Now, Luke, in the record which we have read, is not concerned so much with leading brothers or ministers. The two that are specially singled out are not apostles. There is nothing, indeed, to indicate that they had any special ministry. They were just “two of them”. Not two of the twelve, but two of the company; and they were doing nothing out of the way, as we speak. They were on a journey — sixty furlongs (this is noted); not to any place of importance. There is no evidence that they intended to go into the world. Many slip away, as we may say, in difficult circumstances, without any intentional desire to go into the world, as such; for Emmaus suggests something obscure. The word denotes what is obscure; either the people or the place. But they had their backs on Jerusalem. They may be taken thus as typical of ordinary Christians who may turn aside, not in any bad sense; but, nevertheless, turn aside; of whom, alas! there are many at the present time. The ministry that is indicated in this chapter is intended for such. The length to which the Lord would go in His gracious service for most obscure Christians — not for a great apostle, or a John, or a Thomas, but obscure ones — is in view. The name of one of them is given. It is simply he is called that. He was evidently not a known brother, a brother of renown; he was just an ordinary one. But the Lord shows in this service that the most obscure of His people, occupied by perhaps the most obscure surroundings,
[p. 20] but with their backs on Jerusalem, are of interest to Him, and He is prepared to go any length, consistent with Himself, to secure their recovery. What is to be observed is that the Lord moves. He mentions two things, the breaking of bread and the Scriptures.
WHU Would you think it discouragement coming out here in the two that went to Emmaus?
JT It was that; but discouragement having its birth in unbelief. There was unbelief. A senselessness, indeed. “O, senseless and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!”
JFS And yet having an interest in what had transpired?
JT They were not worldlings; they were not careless persons; they had an interest, for they were thinking of the Lord and of His death. Nevertheless, they were definitely leaving Jerusalem, and they knew where they were going — to another town sixty furlongs away.
JFS Do you emphasise Jerusalem as the centre of God’s movements at the moment?
JT Luke makes it the centre for the moment. The testimony was to begin there. The eleven were there, and those with them.
FS Do you attach importance to the way you put it now: the breaking of bread and the Scriptures?
JT That is what I think is emphasised. The Lord moves; then the breaking of bread (He appeared unto them in this); and then it is the Scriptures. He speaks to them of the Scriptures by the way, and then afterwards He opens to them the Scriptures, and expounds them to them.
SF And the words affected their hearts, and made their hearts burn within them.
JT Yes, the Lord has His own way of getting at the ordinary run of delinquents. He has His own way of doing it; He makes their hearts burn. He [p. 21] walks with them; and one important point in that connection is that He [p. 22] draws out what is in their minds. “What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another, as ye walk, and are sad?” It was while they were sad.
FJB What was the cause of their unbelief? Was it death coming in?
JT The death of the Lord seemed to have shattered their hopes. They had not believed all that the Scriptures had said — that Christ would die and rise again.
FJB They had been instructed in that. They had believed, and now turned their backs on it.
JT It would appear that if it was the same Cleopas as John mentions, and Mary, his wife, she was at the cross. But one may be at the cross, and not go on to resurrection and ascension. Unless we go on to resurrection we miss the dispensation.
JFS The death of Christ, in that way, becomes a test to us all, as to whether we have faith to follow.
JT Quite. We see that God means to accomplish everything in Christ risen, not in Christ as here after the flesh.
HB Are we reminded here of recovery?
JT It is the recovery of the rank and file of the saints who become delinquents. John deals rather with believers.
HB Luke shows that the Lord has no favourites at all.
JT Quite. Luke, in keeping with his presentation, brings the Lord’s interests down to the most obscure, and shows how far He is willing to go for us, for the most obscure, to restore us.
HB Is the suggestion, in that way, to discover the spring of things in one’s heart?
JT That is the first thing. Give them the opportunity to tell out what is in their minds. So the Lord joins them in this simple way, as one of them, and draws out what is in their minds, and then He is able to minister to them.
JTB He does not, on this occasion, provide a meal for them.
JT No, they did that this time.
EB While He had been with them they had been dependent on Him, but now they were turning to their own resources.
JT Quite. They had built up their hopes on Christ after the flesh, which the Scriptures would have forbidden, had they read them. Hence the importance of the stress of the Scriptures here. If they had read and believed the Scriptures they would have known; as, for instance, Isaac would have nothing as after the flesh: he had to be received as risen from the dead.
SF These manifestations you have been drawing our attention to are on the resurrection side.
Ques Hitherto their interests had been connected with circumstances here?
JT They thought the kingdom would be restored to Israel, but they ought to have understood that the kingdom would be set up in resurrection. The whole tenor of Scripture has reference to Christ risen. It is as risen that He expounds unto them in the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. It is Christ risen.
LDB I thought the facts you have called attention to — their being of the rank and file, and the Lord following them to their own home — shows that the Lord still has the same grace that marked Him all through the gospel before His death.
JT Quite.
WHU Does the turning aside in this way indicate that they had not had due regard for the testimony God had given in the Old Testament?
JT They were “slow of heart to believe all
that the prophets have spoken”. They were making selections.
Ques In verse 16 their eyes were holden, not to know him. Would you say a little about that?
JT It was the divine way to go all the distance with them without their knowing Him.
Rem They were not yet in a position to know Him. They were disciples, and followed Him in His life up to death; but what was necessary, I suppose, as you have been indicating, was that they should be brought on to the ground He was on, in order that they might have the manifestation.
JT Yes, and He was reserving the breaking of bread for its own place. Luke has regard for externals. John occupies us with what is inward; but Luke makes much of furnishings, of externals, so the breaking of bread is emphasised. The Lord was reserving that. He had given it to them as a memorial, and now He was going to show them what it would be throughout the dispensation. He was going to give a concrete example of what the thing is. It is not a mere sacrament; it is a memorial — a calling to mind; and in the calling to mind He manifests Himself.
JC And to be contemplated after death; they had not reached that point.
JT That is what Luke emphasises, I think; the importance of the breaking of bread.
SF In the breaking of bread, was He assuring them that they had lost nothing by His death; that all He had been to them in His life He was still to them?
JT Yes, that is right. The breaking of bread is set up in its own place in this chapter. We see the value of it. The Lord intended that.
LDB What you remarked about externals is interesting. One would like to hear more about it. It occurred to me as you spoke: He said, “As ye walk, and are sad”. He took account of external things.
JT The emphasis is on the breaking of bread. It should have its place amongst us. As was remarked, they were sad. It is quite apparent they were sad, and their communications were in the way of unbelief. They were facts indeed; but they were relating them in unbelief, like thousands and thousands at the present time. And so, when they returned to Jerusalem they found the eleven and the others, and they were speaking about the appearing to Peter. Then they say He was made known to them in the way, and in the breaking of bread.
JnoR So the breaking of bread was new to them. Did they know anything about it previously? I was wondering if they were present at the institution of the Lord’s supper.
JT They would have known about it, doubtless. “This is my body, which is given for you”. Luke 22:19. That was for all; and now it is known, not, as it were, when He was alive in the flesh; it is known now as it is to be even throughout the dispensation. That is the point — what the breaking of bread is now that Christ is risen.
Ques Do you regard the three women mentioned in Luke, who bore witness to the apostles of His resurrection, as representing the state for the breaking of bread? It almost seems they were in advance of the apostles for the moment.
JT Yes. Here the breaking of bread was an ordinary meal in their house. He took the place of the house-father. It was not what He instituted — the formal bread and cup we have in 1 Corinthians. It was the ordinary meal. There was nothing at all about drinking; it was simply as He broke the loaf. As He broke the loaf He was made known to them. It was familiar to them. It was what He did.
WHU He had broken the bread in public; and [p. 25] it is quite possible they had seen Him do so on more than one occasion, and they recognised His movements.
JT And I suppose in presiding, too, He would always take the place of the house-father.
SF He takes advantage of this meal of their providing to touch their hearts in a special way.
JT It was such as to give Him an opportunity to manifest Himself to them.
Rem It would have something of the character of the loaf in the Supper.
JT It would.
FS Do you suggest the setting of this meal has any bearing on the external character of the Supper today?
JT I think so. It would bring out the manner — how He did the thing. I suppose it may be the last occasion on which He did it. He did it before He died — setting the thing up, instituting it; but now He takes advantage of an ordinary meal to show the intent of it. He was made known to them. Now, that was the one thing they enlarged on.
WHU Why did He vanish from their sight?
JT He did not intend to settle in these circumstances. The manifestation, or the appearing, does not refer to our houses; it refers to the assembly. Its bearing is towards the assembly; the whole assembly is in view. The assembly is to get the gain of that. Whatever I get from God is for the assembly.
WHU Was He educating them in that way in view of getting back to the right spot, and taking up things intelligently and affectionately?
JT I think they were to form part of the “honeycomb”. They were to be contributors, and they were. They tell the eleven and those with them how He was made known to them. That was a new [p. 26] feature.
SF They would be welcome contributors as soon as they returned to the company.
JT That is it. These would not come back as mere members of a congregation, to listen to the leading brothers; they would come back as contributors, and as understanding that Christianity was mutual.
FJB And they look upon their own exercises now as having a personal link with the Lord.
Ques Was it anxious care in connection with their own circumstances that took them away from Jerusalem, and does the Lord set them free?
JT I have thought they regarded the matter as ended. The Lord’s death had ended matters. They were going home; but what is to be noted is that it does not say they were going home, but they were going to Emmaus (an insignificant place).
EBMcC They were unbelieving as to the Scriptures, and this is the way the Lord takes to recover them.
JT That is the thing to be noted — how He acted; because, to be in accord with the service which He is maintaining we have to learn from Him; so that in seeking to help delinquents the thing is to go with them as far as you can, and find out what is in their minds. He would have gone further, but they constrained Him to go in. You go a long way; that is, provided they are not in an open worldly course. But these are not on that course; they are just giving up things. They had lost heart in their unbelief. You can go a long way with them.
EBMcC Would they have been saved this had they kept their eye on the centre and known the Scriptures?
JT That would have saved them.
Ques Is there a centre today — and where is it?
JT Where the authority of the Lord is recognised. They returned to Jerusalem and found the eleven. The eleven represent the authority [p. 27] of the Lord, and those with them the circle of the saints.
LDB Where the authority of the Lord is; that is a moral condition.
JT It is a moral condition; what you find among certain saints. The Lord says, “There shall a man meet you”. Luke 22:10. He laid down the principle of guidance which is to be carried out during the whole period of the Lord’s supper. They say, “Where wilt thou that we prepare?” He says, “When ye are entered into the city, there shall a man meet you”. Luke 22:9,10. He does not say you will meet a man, but he will meet you. He might easily have given them the number of the house and the street, but He does not. He says, “There shall a man meet you bearing a pitcher of water; follow him”. And they followed him. And then, “Say unto the good man of the house, the Master saith, Where is the guest chamber where I shall eat the passover with my disciples? And he shall show you a large upper room furnished. There make ready”. Luke 10:11,12. There. That is the principle that should govern every Christian, and it is simple. The man who leads you with the pitcher of water is the guide. And the next thing is, where does he go? And the next thing, what is there? The Master is recognised there; whatever He requests is acceded to. That is the test.
LDB Do you suggest there is a test right away, in connection with following the man with the pitcher, as to whether one is ready to submit? You meet the principle at once there, do you not?
JT I am sure you do. One’s heart is tested as to where one faces. There is a moral authority in the ministry that commands the heart, and I want to come to the source of that.
LDB The master of the house is in accord with that; that is, he recognises what will please the Lord.
JFS In Luke here they find the saints as together.
JT [p. 28] Luke makes for the public assembly; John does not. You do not find the word ‘assembly’ in John’s gospel. He does not deal with official terms; but Luke does. In John 20 it should read, according to the “New Translation”, verse 19, “Where the disciples were”; John 20:19 not where they were assembled. Where they were — the persons. But here we have “they found the eleven, and those that were gathered together” That is, the public assembly, and their theme is that the Lord was risen; as it says, “Saying, the Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon”. No questioning here. The Lord is indeed risen. Definite information — facts. He had “appeared to Simon”, the erring one. It is the responsible man, Simon; not Cephas, because Luke deals with the public assembly, which is composed of persons who are responsible.
FS It was important from Luke’s point of view that He should appear to Simon.
Ques Was a pitcher of water the mark whereby they were to recognise their guide?
JT Yes; the pitcher was not an empty pitcher. It was a pitcher of water.
Ques Is that what the man was?
JT It characterises the man definitely. There was positive ministry in that pitcher.
Ques Would you say that is what brought these two into line with what already existed? They went back to Jerusalem.
JT That is it.
WHU Is it an illustration of how the priest has compassion on the ignorant and them that are out of the way?
JT I think Leviticus should be carefully read with Luke, in order to see how the Lord deals with those who have turned aside and are out of the way.
[p. 29] Rem The ministry He gives here in opening up the Scriptures appeared more to help them on the way, rather than to turn them back.
JT It does not turn them.
JC I suppose that was necessary to complete the ministry, and bring them to that point where He could manifest Himself to them.
JT It shows we should go out in the ministry, even if people are not moving. The Lord will come in, you know; and when He does, the ministry will bear fruit.
JC Although they do not return, still He was ministering to them. Their hearts were being prepared. Their hearts burned within them. They would not be long before they got home.
JTB Should we all have pitchers of water?
JT “He that believeth in me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water”, John 7:38. Now, that refers to a believer, but a believer in Christ glorified. I do not know a passage that throws you on the Scriptures more than that. There is no indication of chapter and verse. You have to look it up from the outset, and go right through to the end to get the “rivers”. It is the bearing of Scripture. Scripture teaches that although the believer in Christ may be obscure, he may yield rivers of living water. Think of the magnitude of that! And it is available to the believer; not a gifted brother, but a believer.
Ques Does it mean rivers of water in a dry place?
JT Well, now, the believer is to be there. “This spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe in him should receive”. John 7:39. We have in chapter 4 the Spirit from the divine side, the side of gift; but in chapter 7 it is from the side of reception. It is the receiver of the Spirit.
WHU I suppose what recovered these two — what brought about the movement — was endearment [p. 30] to Christ? And when He vanishes from their sight they felt their brethren were absolutely necessary, and they returned to them.
JT The Lord looks for contributions, and then He comes in, after He affords the opportunity for contribution, and inquires what have you got. “Have ye anything here to eat?” Well, one says, “There is no life in our meeting; there is no joy here”. Well, what have you contributed? That is how it acts. Have ye anything here to eat? Every believer in the company is to be under obligation to contribute. No one can escape.
WHU Will you tell us what you had in your mind when you said they were not recovered to a congregation?
JT The assembly is a mutual thing. The apostles and those with them were speaking about the Lord’s resurrection. It was a fact. “The Lord is risen indeed”. What can be more forcible in the way of ministry than the great truth of the resurrection of the Lord? It is not ascension, as in John. The message that Mary brought was not that He was risen, but ascending. But here it is “the Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared unto Simon”; and, as it says, “they related what had happened on the way, and how he was made known to them in the breaking of bread”, Luke 24:35. That was their part.
SF You were speaking of His acting as house-father. You said they were on family lines — mutual lines. That would bring home to them all the warmth of the circle.
JT Now they bring that into the company. Obscure as they were, they contributed this great feature. “He was made known to them in the breaking of bread”. You may complain of what there is, but how has the Lord been made known to you? What has been your experience with the Lord? That brings out where one [p. 31] is.
SF How important it is. It was wonderful for them to be in conversation with such a Person, unknown; but when He makes Himself known in the breaking of bread, how much more wonderful!
JT That was the great feature. The things that happened on the way. One can look back on one’s own history and recall many things that happened, and can see the Lord was in them. It is all of a piece. It has the end in view; and He meant all these things to be built in. He made Himself known.
JM Do you understand that Luke is showing us the Lord’s dealings with two downcast saints? If I gather what you are pointing out, it is that the Lord has personal dealings with two downcast souls, so that the assembly may get the positive gain; and then there is something for Him.
JT Are there any downcast ones amongst us? Are there any who have turned their backs on the divine centre? The Lord is ready to go the whole way with them. Not but what the Lord has means of dealing with souls; but mainly His service is mediately, and we are to take pattern from His ways.
NS Is that on the line of compassion in connection with the priest? It is not only what He does, but the way He does it.
JT Quite. He has compassion on the ignorant and erring.
NS They seem to have been impressed by the way He did it.
Ques Was there not a necessity for Him to vanish? They would have been glad to have retained Him in their circumstances.
JT The company at Jerusalem would not have been helped otherwise. He came in: “As they were saying these things, Jesus himself stood in the midst”, Luke 24:36.
Ques Here it was the Lord’s personal touch. How could that take place today?
JT Well, as I was saying, I think it is very largely through those who have a care for the saints — you and others. I think the Scriptures would indicate it is put on all of us. “He that brings back a sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall cover a multitude of sins”. James 5:20. As I was saying last night, James illustrates what one man can do. There is Elijah, who closed up the heavens, and opened up the heavens by prayer; and another can go and save a soul, and cover a multitude of sins.
Rem Do we not recognise the Lord in every bit of true ministry that is presented to the saints?
SF Just a word, please, on the covering of sins. How is it done?
JT Well, we have a knowledge of God. We have to learn from God how to cover sins. Covering is not condoning. The thing has to be dealt with.
JC The two who journeyed to Emmaus were not really content with their own circumstances. Had they been, they would have invited the disciples there. They get the true setting now.
JT The honeycomb is in view, so that when the Lord seeks, He finds it.
LDB The honeycomb is not in view in Emmaus; why not?
JT There are no mutual relations in the world, Save where the authority of the Lord is owned. There may be partisan feeling. The world is made up of partisan feeling-special relationships. In the assembly “The rich and poor meet together, and the Lord is the maker of them all”, Proverbs 22:2. You cannot find that anywhere save where Christ is supreme.
Rem “I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey”, Song of Songs. 5:[p. 33] 1.
JT Yes. He is invited into the garden, and He finds them all there.
EBMcC I suppose the Lord will not have anything less than Jerusalem, in that way?
JT That is the divine centre. And now, when He comes in and stands in the midst and eats before them He says, “It is I myself”. How very real that is! “I myself”. “A spirit has not flesh and bones as ye see me having”. A real Man in the midst of His own. And then He opens their understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures; and He goes over the books of Moses — the Pentateuch, the prophets, and the Psalms. But He does not say anything about the Psalms on the way. He does not say anything about the Psalms to the two on the way to Emmaus. You cannot bring in Christian experience there. No. Talk about Christian experience when your face is away from Jerusalem! Christian experience is seen in Philippians. A man with his eye on the calling of God on high in Christ Jesus.
HB When you have your face to Jerusalem, you can write your psalm.
JT Yes. “Speaking to yourselves in psalms”- that belongs to Ephesians. Ephesians 5:19.
Rem He does not say, “It is I”, until the two were back with them. Being one company, they were losers by the absence of the two.
JnoR Would you suggest that we should all be contributors?
JT You cannot have the honeycomb without that.
JnoR It is not the exercise of gift.
JT Gift enters into it, of course.
Ques And that is assembly ground.
JT I think so. It sweeps away at one stroke the whole clerical system. It is not a congregation; it is an assembly. “I speak as unto intelligent persons”. 1 Corinthians 10:15. That is how the apostle approaches the [p. 34] company. The assembly is a company of intelligent persons. The Lord would have them so.
JM That intelligence can only be gained under the good hand of Christ. With these two, it could only be the intimacy they had gained with Christ.
JT God is able to make the alien joyful in His house of prayer; Isaiah 56:7.
JM Does the last verse give an indication of the Lord’s care for the whole company? “He led them out as far as to Bethany”. He seems to have the whole company with Him.
JT He has led them on step by step until they are fit for the testimony. Luke has public testimony in view. After the Lord went to heaven the disciples returned to Jerusalem, and were in the temple praising and blessing God.
SF Although these two broke away, yet the assembly was not broken up. It was there, holding the position, and they were recovered to it.
JT The assembly remains.
GHC Why does He show them His hands and His feet?
JT It is a sign of grace. The feet refer to the toil and travel of the Lord in journeying; all the distance He trod in order to carry the grace of God to men. So that is the impress upon us. If men are to be benefited by us, we have to walk, to undertake toil. The thing is continual service; the feet carry you. “How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace!” Romans 10:15. The Lord intended to set the apostles out with such feet as His, so He says, “Tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem until ye be endued with power from on high”. The Father will give His Spirit to them. But there is another element. The testimony is to be in dignity — in the Spirit of the Father. “Power from on high”. They were to be clothed with that. They are thus to go forth in the testimony.