HOW TO MOVE IN TIMES OF CRISIS
[p. 381] HOW TO MOVE IN TIMES OF CRISIS
Matthew 11:25 - 30; Matthew 12:1 - 21
JT What is in mind is to see how we have to move in critical periods in our histories here and particularly in assembly difficulties. This section in Matthew is like the turning of the wall, the corner. The Lord is rejected among the Jews. The Lord is about to turn toward the assembly, to leave and to set it up here so that it takes the place of Israel, of Jerusalem. Whatever feature there is in Israel that God can use, will be transferred to the assembly. These two chapters show how the Lord moves as turning round. The enemy would be active too, as we see here in chapter 12 particularly, to thwart Him and to divert souls from Him through legal influences, always a most potent means in the hands of the enemy to baffle the saints. So that the first thing to notice is that after the Lord had announced judgment to the different cities in which His mighty works had been done, He answered, as if an answer was needed. At such times it is always so, for such a period is full of questions. “At that time, Jesus answering said, I praise thee, Father, Lord of the heaven and of the earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them to babes. Yea, Father, for thus has it been well-pleasing in thy sight”. The answer begins with the thought of the Father’s sovereignty, and whatever perplexities there may be, we have to go back to God and get our viewpoint there, otherwise confusion will mark us. The Lord is not in the least perturbed as to what happens in these cities, indeed He is full of buoyancy. The answer is to praise the Father, “I praise thee, Father, Lord of the heaven and of the earth”, so that we must get our viewpoint from the Father. I believe that the solution to all [p. 382] difficulties lies in the Lord answering in thanksgiving. He is not taken up by outward defeat, He is engaged with the Father. He leads you to the Father; He draws attention to what the Father is doing; that is, He is hiding and revealing, hiding from certain ones and revealing to others. We do not want to be amongst those from whom things are hidden, but amongst those to whom they are revealed. To make clearer what is in mind, the Lord presents Himself as an example and centre, and then the Spirit records how He sets us free from legality. You are to stand fast in the liberty of Christ. The early part of chapter 12 shows how He sets us free from legality, then we have the value of a man over against a sheep so that we may learn to value one another, then the Servant is seen in verse 18, “Behold my servant, whom I have chosen, ... I will put my Spirit upon him ... a bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench, until he bring forth judgment unto victory; and on his name shall the nations hope”. So that there is this ultimate victory on these lines. There is no question about it, God gives the victory. Thanks be to God who gives us the victory, but He gives it through the servants.
WAS Is that through ministry?
JT Well, it is general service. Service implies more than ministry. It is a question of Jehovah’s Servant, and how He carries on His service. The servant does all that is needed. God is always pleased to dwell on His servant, whoever it may be. “My servant Moses”, “My servant Job”. If God takes up a man to be His servant, He holds him. Christ is supremely this, as we see here. At the turning of the corner there is a danger of the servant being diverted, it has to be peculiarly strengthened, so that the head of the corner is Christ, He holds everything, He is the foundation and head of the [p. 383] corner. You can see here how He looked after the corner.
WAS He is superior to all the attacks of the enemy, would you say?
JT Quite so. A servant who gets depressed as to what seems apparent defeat is useless until he returns to spiritual buoyancy and hope. He has plenty of means to be buoyant and hopeful, for there is no possible defeat at all if you are with God. So that the Lord goes on here. When He met the eleven on the mountain of Galilee some of them were doubting, but He did not stop even to put them right; He went on. The point is to go on in a positive way.
Ques Is that what is meant when it says, “At that time, Jesus answering”? Conditions as they were did not affect His relations with God the Father.
JT That is the idea — “At that time”, showing how superior He was. He praises the Father, it is the answering as if the occasion required an answer. There would be an inquiry; it is always so in times of difficulties; people are full of questions, but very few have an answer. The Lord answering answers in praise to God. That is the best kind of answer to begin with; give God His place.
Ques Why did you emphasise the suggestion of the Father? He speaks to God in that way.
JT I think it has in mind the new dispensation which is about to come forth. Although He had spoken of the Father, He had spoken of Him as the Father in heaven, “your heavenly Father”, but He is now speaking to Him directly, as the Son in service here. It is the new dispensation which is about to break forth in which the Father dominates. I think.
Ques Would the Lord stand out in great contrast to John the baptist in the early part of this [p. 384] chapter?
JT Quite so, John is drooping: he said, “Art thou the coming one? or are we to wait for another?” He failed; he became depressed in prison.
WAS Would it be in the knowledge of divine Persons that we have deliverance?
JT That is how it stands here. The Lord is an example for us here; the thing is to maintain the cloudless relations with God, the relations in which He has been pleased to set us, to keep those clear, and let nothing come in. God says to Samuel in similar circumstances, “They have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me”. Samuel was with God; it was God they were rejecting. It was Christ they were rejecting here, but God in Christ, both Son and Head, both Him and His Father. The Father was with Him: “I am not alone, for the Father is with me”.
FI Does that show that before we can enter into the settlement of assembly difficulties we must be in the consciousness of being connected with the Father?
JT Well, I was thinking that. If not we shall be quarrelsome and irritated; even though we may be in the main right, we are apt to get irritated and will be useless until we return to cloudless communion with God. How very different it is when a brother who is right with God is right and free in his spirit, able to praise God, able to sing cheerfully like Paul and Silas in prison; how much more likely such a one is to have an influence for good.
Ques Would owning the lordship come in here, as He says, “Lord of the heaven and of the earth”?
JT Well, it means ‘Lord’ in the sense of being in complete control as holding the proprietorship of the heavens and the earth. Whatever men may do or say in Capernaum and those cities, the Father will have the last word. God is going on. So you come here to divine Persons speaking as to what is [p. 385] going on. The Father has been doing something. The first is that He has been hiding things from certain ones; that is the solemn thing for us to remember; in a crisis when we take sides, we may find ourselves in a judicial position and not get our eyes opened at all; one has known of that. “If any be ignorant”, the apostle says, “let him be ignorant”, that is, God is going to leave him at that. That is what the Father has been doing; He has been hiding things from some, but He has been revealing things to others. We want to be amongst those who get revelations.
GM I was wondering if the apostle would be in line with what you speak of as having victory in view and not defeat: “The Jews ... attempted to lay hands on and destroy me. Having therefore met with the help which is from God, I have stood firm unto this day” (Acts 26:21,22).
JT Just so. “Having ... met with the help which is from God”. Some of us lean on partisan help, that is not help that comes from God.
AI Why does He refer to hiding these things from the wise and prudent? Why does He call them wise and prudent?
JT Well, to make it very simple, as seen in our times, the higher critics, the modernists, are those who say they know and see. The wise and prudent are so in their own eyes. God is acting judicially against them, and will do so more terribly because He will send strong delusion that people should believe a lie. It is a question of man’s reckoning. The babes would be those who are of no account at all. “How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?” He was of no account in the eyes of the scribes and the Pharisees and the chief priests. Babes are the ones God is going on with; He is revealing things to them. So that it is the babe attitude that should be taken hold of. We do not pretend to [p. 386] know; we know nothing as we ought to know, then God will help us. The Servant knew what was going on, what was pleasing to God. It is a remarkable thing that God’s pleasure is in all this, what He is doing is perfectly clear to Him. The babes were pleasing to God.
RS Would you say verse 28 is the solution of every problem that comes in: “Come to me, all ye who labour”?
JT Quite so. There is, however, the idea of revelation; this supersedes that, do you not think? That is we need light from God in these critical periods, and then come to Jesus, that is, come to Him in our souls. That is another thing, to apprehend that Man as He was before the Father, because this is Jesus as Man here in Sonship before the Father. How delightful He is! How attractive He is! We would be relieved of every burden so that we get light and relief from pressure, and then He goes on to say, “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me”, that is, take on His place before the Father. That is christianity, the liberty into which we are brought, and learn from Him, that is, learn by observation. It is more by observation here than by listening to Him, learning by observation and example of the truth that has been presented.
AM Would you say that in the first epistle to the Corinthians Paul had this in mind, that he was taking character from the Pattern? I mean the party spirit comes in and then there is the word of the cross to set aside the wisdom of the wise and prudent that are spoken of here.
JT That is good. Say more.
AM I was thinking in the second epistle he had God before him, and he had the right relations in mind, and he valued his brethren so that he would bring in the right state. The Lord would displace the party spirit and bring in the babe idea.
[p. 387] JT Displace the party spirit, that is the point; that was the real root difficulty at Corinth and it is in every one of the crises involving cleavage, so that instead of boasting in what he knew — great as his knowledge was in writing to the Ephesians, the knowledge of the mystery — in writing to Corinth his point was to limit himself in what he was saying, not to show his knowledge, “For I did not judge it well to know anything among you save Jesus Christ, and him crucified”. The parties made much of knowledge; they are not the ones mentioned, other names are substituted to represent them. The Spirit of God does not wish to mention their names, He is using substitutes such as Apollos, Paul, and Christ. These were no party leaders, it was the local men that were party leaders. He would transfer these things to himself that they might learn not to measure themselves by this or that one or put one over against the other. So that the Lord is the model. It is more to learn by observation from Him, how He acted: “Learn from me; for I am meek and lowly in heart”. That is what you see in Him. It is not so much that He teaches us, but that He exemplifies it. That is the thought here, I think.
JL So we need the babe spirit before we get revelations.
JT That is what Matthew is presenting, what He is. It is the babes as those who are unsophisticated, those who have not taken on the world’s learning or teaching. Matthew makes much of children, the babes here, the children in the temple. The Lord called a little child unto Him and set it in the midst of them. That is heaven’s idea.
FI So in taking up burdens in our assembly settings, it can only be properly done as we are characterised by this spirit of meekness. It should mark us as having before us what is due to God in relation to the [p. 388] assembly.
JT So that one observes that He is a Man accustomed to be with God. “My yoke”, He says; it is the yoke He wore; it is in relation to the Father. So that if a brother is like that when he comes in to the care meeting, the brethren are glad to see him, but if he is on party lines they will not be glad to see him.
Rem This is put at the very threshold of the answering.
JT This we are speaking of now, you mean; quite so, it is the turning of the wall, so to speak. Nehemiah speaks about that. These are the qualities essential to priests. Then the next thing is the Lord going through the cornfields. That is an objective matter too, not what He is saying but what He is doing — He went on the sabbath through the cornfields — the time, and the action, and the place.
WAS What do the cornfields suggest?
JT The thought there was corn. The disciples plucked the ears of corn and did eat. The Lord did not do that, He walked through the fields on the sabbath. There was corn, in fact He Himself was corn, we might say. There was corn, but it was not available because of legality. We might deprive one another of very good things. The Lord was showing that; He does not say anything, but He walked through the cornfields on the sabbath day. It is a wide thought, the cornfields, not simply a field, but fields. There was that which is needed, but it is not available; if legalists are in control they will shut it off from the needy ones. John 20:19 says, “The doors shut where the disciples were, through fear of the Jews”. That sort of thing has to be shut out, influence of Jewry brought into christianity. Legality is represented in the sabbath, but the Lord is there. He has a right to change laws. He is the Lord of the Sabbath. It is a question of what He is doing. He is not prohibiting the eating of the corn. There are those who think they are pious in doing so, but they are [p. 389] really casting reflections on the Lord. How we might think we are pious because we are legal! Legality is not piety.
GM Paul refers to the Corinthians as being straitened. He desires their enlargement.
JT That is right. They were straitened in their own bowels; in truth they were worldly. Paul calls legality “beggarly elements”, assumed piety, things perfectly right according to God, but prohibited because certain legal persons have power, and thus saints are robbed of what is good. The apostle says in 1 Timothy 4:3,4, “Forbidding to marry, bidding to abstain from meats, which God has created for receiving with thanksgiving for them who are faithful and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be rejected, being received with thanksgiving; for it is sanctified by God’s word and freely addressing him”. Prayer there is “freely addressing him”, God has brought us into such nearness and dignity that we can freely address Him. So that every creature of God is good.
Rem So the cornfields cover a good deal.
JT Yes. It is the favour of God to us. “Bread which strengtheneth man’s heart”.
JDS Do you think the closing verses of chapter 11 would set the disciples at liberty, “Learn from me”, so that they are able to eat the corn?
JT That is the idea, “Learn from me”. Here is the illustration: He walked through the cornfields, that is what He did on the sabbath day. It is the liberty with which Christ has made us free. They were learning from Him; they went further and plucked the ears of the corn. He defends their action, you will notice. The disciples here are an example of how we learn from Him.
Ques Do you think often what may be put forward as a matter of conscience may only be a pharisaical idea not touching conscience at [p. 390] all?
JT I am sure that is so. Judaism is one of the most powerful influences amongst us. In Romans 14 we are enjoined to consider the weak brother. We are not to test him with our knowledge. We can bear with him, but if the weak brother imposes on the assembly he must be refused. If he imposes his conscience on the meeting, then he is teaching false doctrine, he has to be refused.
GM Is that part seen in Paul and Peter, “I withstood him to the face” (Galatians 2:11)?
JT Exactly. Paul withstood legality. There is no more severe language used than what there is in Galatians in connection with legality. Deliverance lies with Christ. What He does gives character to matters. The liberty wherewith Christ sets us free is freedom indeed. It is that liberty, not simply liberty. It is the truth that sets us free, and the Son. “If therefore the Son shall set you free, ye shall be really free” (John 8:36). It is what He is here before the Father, what Christ is as He answers, not only what He says, but what He does! He answers to the Father, He speaks to the Father, that is, Man in perfect liberty.
AI How does this legal element affect us in our local meetings?
JT Well, just as we have been saying, prohibiting things that are right, prohibiting what Christ has been. It would be hard to give a list of things, but it is what we see here, a depriving of what is of God, of what is legitimate and right. You see the free way in which the Lord speaks to the Father. He answers. This is the very essence of liberty in the face of such conditions.
Ques Is this carried forward to verse 6, “But I say unto you, that there is here what is greater than the temple”?
JT That is another important point, the Lord is here, not simply the Person, but what He is inaugurating.
[p. 391] He was there operating in truth, in liberty, what is set up, what we are brought into.
WAS Does what Paul says in Romans 8, “The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free”, come into this?
JT Quite so. Of course that is alluding to one’s own state, liberation from what is spoken of in chapter 7 when we are in the flesh, how we are affected by the law. At the end of chapter 7 the believer has found his own feet through the process of analysis: “I myself with the mind serve God’s law”. The word ‘law’ is a very important word in that setting. There is a variety of law: there is the law of the Spirit of life that sets the believer free from the law of sin and death, which is the power of the flesh governed by legality. But here the Lord is dealing with legality that is set against God and the testimony. The Lord is breaking through and He is walking through, not only by teaching but by example; not He who is here but what is here: there is here what is greater than the temple. Then the next thing is we are to serve Him in the liberty which He is inaugurating, in liberty not dried up in our legality. This was in the synagogue.
RS The man with the withered hand could not rub the ears of corn.
JT Quite so. It says in verse 7, “If ye had known what is: I will have mercy and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless”. As far as they were concerned they would not allow the woman bound eighteen years to be healed on the sabbath day. There is no mercy in legality; it is as cruel as the grave; there is no heart in it. Then the Lord brings out here the value of a man. It is a man in the abstract thought, what he is for God. Think of the value of Jesus as Man! That is what the Lord is liberating us for, for we are of more value than sheep: “How much better then is a man than a sheep!”.
AM Have you got the value of a man in service here?
JT That is what is in mind here. We will be coming on to the idea of service, and service as a man delightful to the Father, delightful to heaven. Heaven will not choose a legal man; heaven chooses a liberated man. If heaven is going to choose it will choose what pleases it. It was said, “There was no man”, but now there is a Man. What pleasure God had in every bit of His service! This sets out the liberty in answering to the Father, He is in perfect liberty with God. He is an example for us all.
JDS Does this suggest service Godward more than manward?
JT It is both, I think, but this section deals with service Godward and praise to the Father. We would like to have the sense that God has pleasure in every bit of work we do.
FI I was thinking that many of us may have been hindered and “condemned ... guiltless” and thus been unable to take up our service in relation to God.
JT The thing then is to go on even as condemned; do you not think so?
FI I was thinking the Lord here in verse 7 was speaking to the legal element that would hinder the service of God.
JT Condemning the guiltless is a most serious thing. That applied to Christ Himself.
Ques Did Saul condemn the guiltless when Jonathan had taken the honey with his staff?
JT That is a very good example of legality. If everybody had not been bound by that wretched vow the victory could have been very much greater. They were faint; if they had tasted of that honey how bright their eyes would have been; they would [p. 393] have had strength. That shows what a thing legality is. Legality would have murdered a man; it would have taken Jonathan’s life. So that the legal system in Jerusalem is outstanding as an example, the wickedness of legality by itself, God left out and man left to himself. It is man arming himself with that to carry out his feelings. How delightful to follow One here who has the views of heaven, the true Servant in liberty, “Behold my servant, whom I have chosen, my beloved, in whom my soul has found its delight. I will put my Spirit upon him, and he shall shew forth judgment to the nations” (Isaiah 42) God is not putting His Spirit upon everyone, it is His own selection. It all works out from what we are saying, deliverance from legality, so that everything comes into view here: the place we have with the Father, the greatness of what there is in walking through the cornfields; then there is the Son of man, Lord of the sabbath; then there is the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free: every creature of God is good if it is taken with thanksgiving. God is praised as we give thanks for our food. Some of us give thanks very meagrely. The word of God comes to me, opening up the mind of God, and in addressing Him in intelligence, God is getting a portion before I partake of it.
GM Does this part stand over against condemning the guiltless, “A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench”?
JT Well, this shows the kind of ministry of the service, nothing austere. Real service ends in victory. He never fails, never gets discouraged. Then there is the other thing, addressing the Father. The Father is the first one to speak to. He never fails until He brings forth judgment unto victory; that is His right; judgment must go through. It comes through victory.
Ques What is meant by “He shall not strive or cry”?
JT That is what marks man’s way, making tumult and noise. The work of God goes on quietly, but it goes on surely; judgment must go through with it. There is no turning aside. He is as bold as a lion. The matter of judgment goes on. Righteousness must prevail.
Ques Do you think the apostle saw that kind of service in the household of Stephanas?
JT The household of Stephanas shone out at Corinth. The households of Stephanas and of Chloe were a tribute to the households, that there were some bright spots. If our households are kept right they are bulwarks in times of difficulties. It is an important thing.
GT Does verse 18 show God’s delight in such a Servant?
JT What God has in His Servant! The voice announced from heaven, “My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased”. Think of heaven’s judgment; it must prevail. Heaven must have the last word.
JDS Would you connect the meekness and gentleness of Christ in the apostle Paul with “He shall not strive or cry”?
JT Quite so.
AI In what sense would judgment come in here? Not judicially?
JT It must be judicial, dear brethren. “Judge righteous judgment”. The idea is matters are gone into, the right thing is reached. Consider the Lord as before the High Priest. One of the officers struck Jesus. He smote the Judge of Israel. The Man at the bar was the real Judge, and He challenges what this man does: “If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil; but if well, why smitest thou me?” (John 18:23) He was the Judge of Israel. He put the whole court to the bar. What He said to that officer in the court will go through. He went down in grace. He went [p. 395] into death as a felon, but He is not turned aside or discouraged. It will be seen that His judgment is right. The right thing will go through to victory so that judgment will triumph. Take the great harlot in Revelation 18:20: “God has judged your judgment upon her”. For centuries she has been up against God’s people, but they have a judgment of her, and that judgment is to go through to victory, showing that she will never come up again. One of the most difficult things amongst us is to get right judgment when matters come up. “Why even of yourselves judge ye not what is right?” (Luke 12:57).
AI What you say about the right thing going to be carried out is not a punitive thought?
JT But judgment is punitive, “Sufficient to such a man is this punishment” (2 Corinthians 2:6). The King, it says, sits on His throne of glory. See how He judges! “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire” (Matthew 25:41).
Rem Verses 36 and 37 would bear that out.
JT Quite so.
GM Would this feature be seen in our local settings, in the power for distinguishing between things and giving them their right name and place?
JT Very good, distinguishing between things. How can we judge unless we can do that? It is having our senses exercised to distinguish between good and evil. So we get in chapter 11 the Lord acting in comparing. “It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in judgment-day than for thee”. That is discrimination. We might think Sodom was the worst country. Sodom’s matter is not yet settled; it has to come up before the judgment-seat. That is another matter that is perhaps overlooked, that these great judgments of the Old Testament are only provisional; they are going on to an end, the great end when everything will come out and get its true merit. It has to come up before the great white throne. So Sodom will come out better than [p. 396] Capernaum. Take this country with all the advantages, is heaven not thinking of that? It is far worse off than some of the heathen countries. We may say that we are favoured in this country. It is no credit to the country at all; the credit is to the Lord and to the prayers of God’s people. This country is far worse when God lifts His hand and the devil gets hold of it. God has ordained to judge the world by one Man. But that Man is the Lord Jesus. He will rule the world in righteousness. In the millennium there will be punishment: the sinner of a hundred years will be cut off by the Lord in punishment.
RS Is there any sense of judgment when it says, “A father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, is God in his holy habitation” (Psalm 68:5)?
JT Quite so, it means He will appoint what is right. Solomon is an example of that, “Give her the living child ... she is the mother thereof” (1 Kings 3:27).