CHRIST'S PERSONAL SERVICE FOR THE SAINTS (3)
CHRIST’S PERSONAL SERVICE FOR THE SAINTS (3)
JT I think we might look at the last chapter of Mark this afternoon. What we have before us in these readings may be again mentioned for the benefit of those who have not been with us.
First, the bearing of the Lord’s activities on the whole dispensation after He rose and during the period of His stay here before He ascended; the thought being that His then services indicated what His services should be spiritually — and, I may say, mediately — during the whole dispensation. So that we began with John, because he lays stress on these manifestations of the Lord, saying that there were three. He does not imply that there were not more than three, but three sufficed to indicate the complete evidence. Paul mentions more than three, as we have already noted elsewhere, in order, as I apprehend, to point out the constructive nature of the Lord’s manifestations. John mentions three as adequate witness; and then, in connection with the last, he records what we may call a general breakdown; that is, a breakdown in the leaders; for they are the ones who go astray and lead astray. The lambs are not mentioned as needing shepherding in John 21. We had before us that the sheep need the shepherding, and the fact that Peter and his company had gone astray and led astray was evidence of that. So that the leaders are restored; at least, the leading one amongst them is restored, and he is entrusted with the care of the lambs and the sheep. He is also reminded that, whilst he is entrusted with the lambs and the sheep, he is not entrusted with his fellow labourers. With John it is not a question of forming [p. 36] a public company — forming an assembly publicly; that is the service that Luke records.
There are two great features in connection with the ordering of the public assembly, as the first epistle to the Corinthians emphasises and amplifies — the Scriptures and the breaking of bread. So that Luke, whilst developing the public assembly, finishes up with witnesses, not preachers. And a witness of Christ such as Luke presents must not be a cast-down, disconsolate person. None such can be a witness of Christ. Luke would light up the countenance and bring in a heavenly appearance. The point is — the kind of persons to be witnesses of Christ. Not a question of gift exactly, but of formation. The passage we read yesterday begins with sad countenances and disconsolate conversation, and it ends with happy believers, worshipping believers, believers that were happy in a spiritual way, in the temple, praising and blessing God. And that, dear brethren, is what I think we should take account of in Luke; and it includes all the members of the company. In order to be witnesses we must be sanctified and anointed, because the anointing really is the outcome of what is inward. And so I suggested the gospels in this order. In Mark we have not the formation of the company, but the preachers. He has the preachers in view. So the services or manifestations of the Lord in Mark have in view that there should be preachers. I think it would help to have the matter before us clearly thus, so that we may understand what is here in this passage.
WHU What are the particular features you are calling attention to in Mark?
JT I think we have to begin with the negative. Emphasis is laid on unbelief — the unbelief of all. It is not a mere historical record held up for our ridicule or criticism. It is simply ourselves portrayed before our eyes under the most favourable circumstances [p. 37] possible. The chapter lays stress on unbelief, I may say, in all of them. They brought means of embalming Him. Mark is the only evangelist, as far as this translation goes, who uses the word “embalm”. Here are women who had undoubted affection for the Lord as they knew Him on earth, and yet they did not seem to have a spark of faith as to the resurrection, for they brought the means with them to embalm Him; meaning that He is to remain a long time in the tomb. I am quoting from the New Translation, which I suppose many of you have. It is “embalm”, not “anoint”.
FJB They went and bought the spices. In the other instances of sweet spices, they had them laid by.
JT Well, it shows how people make sacrifices in their unbelief.
JCS One could scarcely think of unbelief being greater or deeper than that evidenced in the fact that they were going to embalm Him. That, so to speak, closed up all hope.
JT And they were in accord, you might say, with that which was really an Egyptian thought. I suppose the most skilled embalmers were Egyptians. The greatest denial of the resurrection in an extended way is found in Egypt. I think their mode of embalming and preserving the dead is the most pronounced infidelity as to the resurrection.
FJB Jacob, in going down into Egypt, sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. He must trust in resurrection if he goes down into Egypt.
JT That is right.
JCS I suppose the Egyptians are practically saying that death closes everything, and the disciples were sharing that idea in regard to Christ.
SF Do you draw attention to the scripture, John 20:9, “For as yet they knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead”? How [p. 38] plainly He had spoken of His rejection, and being killed, and the third day rising again!
JT Yes, so that after He was risen, they believed the Scriptures and the word that Jesus had spoken; showing that the full bearing of Scripture is only understood as we apprehend Christ risen.
JR Did they not understand the Scripture, “neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption”, Psalm 16:101 Apparently not. Peter cites that in his first address. So that the facts brought out here come home to one as to the innate unbelief that marks every one of us. These sisters and brothers were not singular in this; they are simply mentioned as types. We may be sure that no one of us would have behaved any better in the same circumstances.
JB Would it go as far as the denial of resurrection?
JT I think so. It amounted to that. And what one notices is that Satan always seeks to darken the minds of the saints in regard to the truth that the Lord would emphasise.
WHU Would the activity of Christ here be in order to bring our souls into the light of resurrection?
JT I think we should be believers; that is the thing. “I believe”, it says, “therefore have I spoken”. You cannot impress anyone with what you say unless you believe it, and I think that is what is in view here. Hence Mark says, “These signs shall follow them that believe”. It is not those who are commissioned, but those who have believed. What is emphasised is faith. That is to say, we are notified at the very outset, in regard to service or preaching, that it cannot be effective unless we believe what we are saying. It cannot be effective. “I believe, and therefore have I spoken”.
WHU In this respect it would be belief on a definite line, would it not?
[p. 39] JT Quite.
WHU In connection with the risen Man.
EBMcC Would the sun here be a testimony to them? The sun had risen. The creation would speak of the resurrection.
JT I think so. Everything was now in the light. It was all there. The sun had risen, and yet the women are more or less stunned. It is said of them, “trembling and excessive amazement possessed them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid”, Mark 16:8. They did not even carry the message, they were so disturbed and upset.
MB Would there not be a difference between this we read of here and the Jews who sought to bribe the soldiers to tell a lie in connection with the resurrection?
JT A very different thing. It seems to me as if they believed the thing more or less. But that is a remarkable thing. I hope we shall come to it later on. This is intended to reflect on all the saints. They are not singular. These features mark every one of us, and it is a humbling thing to accept. Even in the case of the women who had brought the spices the Spirit enlarges on what is in their minds. The other evangelists would rather enlarge on the affections which led to it, but here it is what was in their minds; hence the extreme perturbation at the vision of the young man dressed in white.
SF And in their minds the “very great” stone was a difficulty.
MB What is the cause of the unbelief here? What lies behind it?
JT I think it is what we are in ourselves. It is not a question of the exercise of their wills. It is to call attention to what we have to guard against. You may take up the doctrine of the gospel — the doctrine — and preach it very eloquently, now that others have preached it who know it. Do you believe [p. 40] what you say? Have you discovered that there is an innate tendency in your heart not to believe; that even while you are announcing the facts correctly you may not believe it yourself? We have to learn this, and seek help from God to overcome our unbelief. I do not suppose there was one who had read Psalm 16 who would not admit the truth, as a matter of doctrine, that the Messiah would not see corruption; yet they missed it for the moment.
HC Is there not the danger of each of us imbibing from the Egyptian world, and deriving from that source what would influence our course down here?
Rem Does it not show the absolute necessity of the Lord’s supper to keep His death and resurrection fresh in our minds?
JT But we have to learn what is in our hearts — the tendency to unbelief. This is a picture of myself. If I had been there I should not have done better; perhaps not so well. Here are women who go to the expense of getting the spices to give effect to what was in their minds, and the others were mourning and weeping; and yet when the testimony comes to them by their own sisters, whom they regarded and respected ordinarily, they disbelieved it. Why should I not believe a person I have walked with for years? And yet it is only to bring out what is in my heart, and what I am to learn to judge. Otherwise I can never be an effective preacher.
JC It is the disclosure of what we are in ourselves; and that being accepted would preserve us from unbelief.
JT It is like a beacon light set up before you to show what you are exposed to.
Ques Would you not say that in it all it was Himself they wanted?
JT There is no doubt about it; but how unbelieving [p. 41] we are!
LDB If we have this tendency to unbelief, what would enable us to really believe?
JT Well, I think the discovery which this chapter is intended to effect is the first great step. I do not know what you think. It is to me the first great step — that light is thrown in on my soul, and it is discovered to me that I am instinctively infidel as regards God and the resurrection. Then I turn to God for faith. It is His gift; I must get it from God.
LDB The infidel tendency is remedied by getting to God, who would rid us of all infidelity.
JT So that it says, “He that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him”, Hebrews 11:6. Hence the immense stress laid on faith in the epistle to the Hebrews. The Christian alone understands everything. The physical universe, as well as the spiritual, is understood only by faith. The cleverest astronomer does not understand it, the cleverest geologist, the cleverest botanist. “Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God”, Hebrews 11:3. The word of God brings in a moral element.
Rem It carries us beyond science.
JT It does, indeed.
JR The weight of the spices brought by the women is not mentioned here, but in the case of Nicodemus “about an hundred pounds weight” John 19:39 is mentioned.
JT With Nicodemus the volume is emphasised — one hundred pounds; meaning that, when the time came, the obscure brother, whom we hardly knew as a brother, proved the genuineness of his faith. Mark enlarges on the unbelief, because he wants to make preachers of us. So he virtually says, ‘If you do not believe, you cannot preach. You cannot be effective’.
JCS We are only effective in the preaching in the measure in which the light holds our hearts; we cannot go beyond that.
JT Every time I preach, I would endeavour to look into my heart and say, ‘Do I believe it?’ You are stressing that we are possibly satisfied with historical facts; but that is not enough — it is not belief.
JT A man can speak most eloquently, you know, in the gospel, and yet not believe the thing; whereas a man who believes it may not speak eloquently, but he impresses people.
MPM Paul really believed it, and they said he was beside himself.
JT But he was not beside himself. He says earlier, “I have believed, therefore have I spoken”, 2 Corinthians 4:13.
Rem So it is a question of having one’s own heart impressed with what God has said.
JT With all God has spoken. “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God”. Romans 10:17. God has spoken.
JTB Paul said, in Acts 27:25, “I believe God”.
LDB You experience the power of the truth in your own soul?
JT Quite. No one can define the divine transactions inside a man. You cannot define it; you have to experience it. There is such a thing as that; and if it has not taken place in me, why not? It is available.
JFS Divine power following is the evidence that it has taken place. “Signs following”.
JK Mary, although she knew Him and was impressed herself, did not make the others believe.
JT The Lord blames the others for not believing. No shadow is cast on her. The Lord, as they lay at table, upbraided them with their unbelief, because they did not believe the words of those who saw [p. 43] Him. Why should not they believe Mary? On what grounds could they disbelieve her? Think of what was in their hearts to believe that that dear woman would keep on telling them lies. If I cannot believe the testimony of one whom I have every reason to believe, why is it?
Rem The truth of resurrection is not natural to us.
JT That is true. You have to discover it and judge yourself.
First of all, in the first paragraph, they are all in the same category, through unbelief. Then it says in verse 9, “Now when he had risen very early, the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary”. Now He has taken the thing in hand Himself. They could not believe the testimony. Here was a young man who presented the testimony that the Lord had risen. They could not believe it. Hence Mark gives us another view. He brings in what the Lord did. They could not believe the testimony, so He appears to them. When He had risen He appeared first to Mary. He did it Himself. What would have happened if He had not taken the thing in hand? If the Lord does not take the thing in hand sovereignly, where shall we be?
HC It is a very serious thing to disbelieve the testimony of the young man, seeing he was clothed in white.
JT I think a young man clothed in white should be listened to. They are very rare; because it means personal purity.
The Lord said to Thomas, “be not faithless, but believing”. John 20:27. The great thing is to believe the testimony, because the whole dispensation is on that principle.
Ques Would it be right to speak of the simplicity of faith, giving God credit for what He has said? I was thinking that a man of this world makes [p. 44] a statement and it is believed. How much more when God speaks.
JT This chapter is intended to prepare the ground for world-wide testimony. The dispensation was not to be a dispensation of sight. If the Lord manifested Himself to every one of us as He did to these women, then it would be a dispensation of sight. Where it is not intended to be a dispensation of sight, it is intended to be a dispensation of faith; that is to say, Christianity is set up and established on the ground of testimony.
SF “We also believe, and therefore speak”, 2 Corinthians 4:13.
JT That is it. Hence these signs shall follow those who have believed. It is not necessarily the apostles; it is “those that have believed”.
EBMcC So they have the testimony here of resurrection, and then they have the testimony of the creation. The young man presents resurrection.
JT Quite. The Lord, in joining them as they lay at table, emphasises the fact that they did not believe the testimony. He virtually says, ‘You have disqualified yourselves; you have not believed the testimony’. The Lord “reproached them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who had seen him risen”, Mark 16:14. They did not believe the testimony.
EBMcC I suppose our Lord’s day morning meeting would be an evidence of how far we believe the testimony, would it not?
JT It would. We must come together in faith.
JFS In Mark, our power for God is testimony here; and it suggests that power marks those who believe — “signs and wonders follow”. It would suggest power, would it not? I thought had it been only for the apostles, it would have excluded us; but seeing it covered the whole company, we can take it up in [p. 45] principle.
JCS Is it not a most important fact that God is addressing Himself to faith only today? He is not addressing Himself to sight, and the report must be believed — a report addressed to faith.
JT Quite. So the epistle to the Romans is on this ground — for “obedience of faith among all nations”, Romans 1:5 and hence Paul says, “Ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine”, Romans 6:17.
EBMcC Do you get a fresh report each Lord’s day morning?
JT No doubt you are confirmed. I think it is a great thing to see that the dispensation is on the ground of report. Of course the twelve are not included in that. “Have I not seen our Lord Jesus Christ?” While the Lord upbraids them with their hardness of heart and unbelief, He really meant them to see Him risen; and they had experience of Him in resurrection for forty days, as it says, “by many infallible proofs” Acts 1:3; so they were qualified to make the report. Our position is that we have believed an accredited testimony.
JFS Do you think it is right to say they were still linked with the system of sight?
JT No doubt. They were accustomed to a sight system.
JFS The fact that they were lying at table would suggest to us that they were still linked with that sight system which He had set aside by His death. Unbelief linked them with that.
JT What a meal it must have been! What communion could they have in that meal, with their hearts all filled with unbelief?
SF Resurrection changes the character and appearance of things entirely.
JT It does. Now, I verily believe there are many tables spread, and people lie down at them, and they are not in faith. We may take up things, you [p. 46] know, and imitate what is in faith. But they lay at table in unbelief.
LDB Why does the Lord address them here with apparently more harshness than in the other two gospels we have considered?
JT Don’t you think it is because of what we are saying — He intends to make preachers? Preachers who are in the rough need to be spoken to plainly, because they do incalculable damage unless they preach in faith. I do not know of anything more dangerous than a preacher going out in unbelief. See how the coast is strewn with shipwrecks on that account! And yet some of them (we have to speak tremblingly of these) some of them could speak most eloquently; and one knows and remembers persons converted and enlightened through them. They had the light, of course — the facts of the gospel, and might use it; but the personal impression would not be Christlike. No one could convey an impression of Christ without faith.
Rem It is not enough to announce facts. We must preach Christ.
JT I am sure of that. There is light in the facts — the doctrine of it; but you want more than that. You want to convey some thought of Christ in your preaching.
GHC “Faith is ... the conviction of things not seen”. Hebrews 11: 1.
WHU Preachers going out on the lines of this chapter would be maintained on right lines in their testimony. There would be no reverting to human expediency.
JFS Would you say that the principle of it comes to light in connection with the wilderness, where the apostle suggests, in Hebrews, the “word not being mixed with faith in them that heard it”? Hebrews 4:2.
JT That is right. The only act He has credited to them in faith is that they crossed the sea by faith,
[p. 47] and that places them on Christian ground; but the wilderness was not trodden in faith.
Rem What is of faith, we would be able to take account of.
JT It is shown by your works.
JCS I was thinking that unbelief lies behind much of the indefiniteness in our course here. We have not fully committed ourselves to unseen things.
JT I am sure of that. I do not know of any service that can be more useful to all of us than that we should be impressed with the necessity for the exercise of faith with regard to every position we are in.
LDB Would you make a few remarks on Romans 10, in connection with the preacher there? It says, “How shall they preach unless they have been sent?” Romans 10:15. Does that imply the importance of having a right start?
JT I think so. I think the Lord will not send you except as in faith. This chapter is to prepare you to be sent.
LDB I thought it implied what you said, that the soul has to do with God. All that is presented in preaching is to be based on resurrection. Is that so?
JT Quite. We are dealing with a matter that should be well known to many of us, because there are many preachers here.
HC Are the right hand of God and the thought of power in connection with resurrection?
JT You have to come on now to the exaltation of Christ in order to have support; that is, we come now to another thing — the thought of support. Faith is not enough. You believe what you are going to say, but you do not want to say it only; you want support in saying it. Now, support hinges, not on the resurrection, but on the ascension of Christ. “He sat on the right hand of God”, and they [p. 48] went forth everywhere.
SF And the Spirit can link Himself with that.
JT You stand up, and you believe what you are going to say; but you want to say it in divine power. But how am I going to say it in divine power? I could not say it until Christ is exalted. They were not to preach until He was exalted. As a matter of fact, if we take up Ephesians 4, apostles came from heaven. “Having ascended up on high, he has led captivity captive, and has given gifts to men ... and he has given some apostles”, Ephesians 4:8 - 11. They were to preach in the power of an ascended Christ. That is where the support comes from, and there is no power that can compete with it. You may rely on that. But what we have been dealing with is not that, but whether you believe what you say — the terms of the gospel.
EBMcC I think Noah sets forth a good example of a preacher. He built an ark for the saving of his house. He believed what he was preaching.
JT Quite so. He believed the testimony that God had given him.
JCS We should be so impressed by these facts that we would speak of them so that men would be impressed by them.
JT This passage would include all the saints in the measure in which they preach. “The apostles remained at Jerusalem”, it says, “but those that were scattered” preached Acts 8:4. It does not say that Philip was primarily sent. He was a deacon, but had become an evangelist. He would come under this head.
The next thing is the Lord has sat down on the right hand of God. The thing is finished as regards power. The power is now available. If I believe the thing, I can reckon on full support in my delivery.
HB So that the testimony is affected by both what I do and what I say.
JT I think that is it. It is a believing [p. 49] people God would have. If we believe the things, we are supported.
GR “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh”. Matthew 12:34.
JT There it is something you have measured; your heart is impressed. It is a question of what you think of Christ; the heart is full. Out of the abundance of the heart.
GHC Then, “They ... preached everywhere”. What does that suggest?
JT The co-relative position Christ has taken on high. The Lord has taken His place on high at the right hand of God, and that position has reference to the whole realm of creation. He has secured right-of-way in the whole realm of creation. He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the glad tidings to all the creation”, Mark 16:15. Mark has the creation in view, and the Lord has the right-of-way everywhere — “and they went ... everywhere”.
Now we come to the question of power, which is another thing. The question of whether I understand the power that is available, and the responsibility as to the area in which the preaching is to be maintained.
Ques Does power come from believing?
JT It does; but it comes with the exaltation of Christ. “Having ascended up on high, he has led captivity captive and given gifts to men”. Ephesians 4:8. Those who have “preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven”, 1 Peter 1:12. It is by the Holy Spirit you preach. That is the power.
SF Seeing that the Person in resurrection has gone into heaven, everything now comes from heaven in the way of blessing to man.
JT It is the Holy Spirit come from heaven. Hence the Lord says, elsewhere, they were not to go out of Jerusalem until they had been endued with power from [p. 50] on high.
LDB What we have before us has in view preparing preachers here to receive support from One up there.
HC Does it not suggest the gospel of the grace connected with Calvary, and the gospel of the glory connected with ascension?
JT The gospel of the glory includes everything, I think.
JCS So that belief would really make room in the heart for that power that comes down from on high. It makes room for the power here. So that preaching is really continued on the same lines as the Preacher who has gone on high — the Lord Jesus.
Ques Had not Mark been recovered from this character of unbelief himself?
JT That is true. Doubtless he is the writer of this gospel, and is writing from experience. But one is impressed further with the thought of the need. There is the need of ministry. The need that exists for labourers is great. We have had our lesson. The Lord’s people have been taught by experience — bitter experience — that unbelieving young men going out into the service ends in disaster. But this must not be taken up to mean that young men are not to go out into the service, because it is a young man who is presented to us here, and it is a young man in white garments. The whole chapter is to impress upon one that he is to believe what he says, and to say it in the power of God; not with mere natural ability.
JCS One is impressed with that — that the reason the ministry is so ineffective is because we do not minister in faith; we partially believe.
LDB Does the young man mentioned in this gospel, who fled and left behind him the linen cloth he had on, illustrate one in unbelief? There was evident unbelief. Whilst the young man in this chapter (Mark 16) clothed in a long white garment seems to set [p. 51] forth one who supports the testimony in a suitable way.
JT The two young men illustrate the writer of the gospel, as has often been remarked. It is an excellent thought. Mark himself illustrates these two men, first in following. It was a right intention in following the Lord; but he was partially naked, and before the matter was through he was wholly exposed. That is, our unbelief comes to light. He comes back again, and is clad in a white garment.
JFS In Acts 15, Barnabas took Mark, and Paul chose Silas and went forth.
JT Mark left them at Pamphylia. It says, “He left the work”.
Rem In 2 Timothy we see Mark restored; that is, there is evidence that the Lord had been working with him, and the apostle Paul takes account of that.
JT “He is profitable to me for the ministry”. 2 Timothy 4:11.
JCS One who preaches must be prepared for the examination of his garments. The garments must support the preaching.
JT Quite.
EBMcC I suppose he would set forth one in affection. I mean “the young man” here. He speaks about the crucified One. And they would want that for service.
JT I hope the Lord will lay it upon our hearts that there is great need. We settle down to an ordered system of meetings. That is just a better religion than what is around; whereas it is intended to be a faith system — a living system.
JnoR Belief is to be continuous — from the beginning of our course to the end.
JT Hence the vessel has to be nourished. I have no doubt what has been suggested is true. The Lord’s supper, and all that connects with it, tends to nourish and encourage faith, and freshen and invigorate us, so that we go forth in energy. We know what we are about.