CURRENT HAPPENINGS IN RELATION TO THE GOSPEL
[p. 441] CURRENT HAPPENINGS IN RELATION TO THE GOSPEL
JT This section of the chapter has a Jewish bearing, but, as in many such instances, the teaching is applicable to ourselves, that is, as to current happenings, public happenings, that call forth universal concern and pity. How inscrutable they are as to their part in the results of the government of God, and as pointing to the end from the judicial side; bearing universally in order to produce repentance, conducing to speculation, conducing to solemn concern, leading to repentance. Then the parable calls attention to our Lord’s priestly intercession for continuance of the period of grace with a view to fruit; and then finally, there is what is actually being accomplished by the Lord, and classified under the heading of “glorious things”. That is, what is being effectively accomplished is the securing of those who are of the elect — affected by Satan, but intended to be secured.
HWS Your thought is that these three things are going on together now?
JT Yes, that is right. It seems as if it would be profitable for us to speak of them, so that our minds might be in right channels as regards public events, and reckoning on the period of grace being continued with the solicitation of Christ, so that our labour is not in vain. We are working with a clear understanding of the position. Then there are those who are to be secured under the heading of the family of Abraham. A daughter of Abraham would suggest much that the Lord may enlarge for us.
JS-t Would you say that those in the opening verses of the chapter that came to Him were on speaking terms with the Lord, but in a wrong attitude [p. 442] of mind as to the public happenings, so that they had an idea that we should not have?
JT They were on speaking terms with Him. But, of course, our neighbours should be on speaking terms with us. We should be approachable and able to answer questions. If these questioners are to get the mind of God at all, they must get it from those who have the Spirit, so that their minds are directed into right channels. Generally men are entirely in the dark, merely talking about what the newspapers furnish, what men are saying one to another, but with nothing definite about it — all are in the dark; men, the most enlightened, are in the dark. But what is happening is not accidental. The bearing of it is to produce repentance. What happens is not explained by some particular national guilt, or guilty history, but what is meant by it universally is to be understood. The Lord knew something that they did not mention. He says, “Those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell”, showing that the Lord was not ignorant of what was current; He knew what was needed for the sake of the testimony, even the number of persons killed.
JS-t Why do you say for the sake of the testimony?
JT It was brought into the testimony here, the thought of this tower and the number slain; it became material for the testimony, for the Lord used it in answering their enquiries. Some told him of “the Galileans whose blood Pilate mingled with that of their sacrifices”, and then He says, “Think ye that these Galileans were sinners beyond all the Galileans because they suffered such things? No, I say to you, but if ye repent not, ye shall all perish in the same manner. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, think ye that they were debtors beyond all the men who dwell in Jerusalem? No, I say to you, but if ye repent not, ye shall all perish in like manner”. The first would allude to cruelty from the powers that be; mingling of their blood with the sacrifices would be cruelty from persons in authority. The second would be some occurrence of the government of God, that perhaps no one could be blamed for — the tower fell; that was all. But in both cases the point is how people are to suffer if they do not repent; and all will, whether by the cruelty of authorities, or by some other calamity as it is called, but suffering there will be, and in this manner.
Ques Would the Lord have us alongside of men as interpreters?
JT I think so. We ought to regard them as men. According to Mark the gospel was to be preached to all the creation, and men are God’s creation, although sinners and needing to repent; but we have a link with them as God’s creatures and ought to be ready to furnish them with light as to what is happening, to the end that they might repent.
AEL Would you enlarge on what is meant by repentance in this connection?
JT Luke makes great use of the word, as you know. We have it in the Acts — “repentance towards God”; that is the sense of having sinned against God. In the gospel period a door of repentance is opened, but the heart moving and the conscience being affected, one is moving Godward in the acknowledgement of guilt, not putting the cause of these things on something or someone else, but I have part in it. These happenings are to remind me that I need to repent.
E Would you say that while we do not use current events as a matter of talk, we are at liberty to use them to approach our neighbours?
JT I think that is right. There is nothing gained by ordinary conversations about these matters; if we can turn them for the consciences of those to whom we speak, or who address us, something may [p. 444] be gained. The Lord does that. Had this information been furnished to any of us we might have stopped to talk about Pilate, what a cruel man he was. People like to make too much of their histories or personalities. Pilate was a governor of Judaea, and these men that we often speak too much of are also governors, and the Lord requires that they should be respected. The Lord does not stop to criticise Pilate at all. Pilate was only an instrument in the government of God. He needed to repent, and he would have to say to God in due time. But these men are not the only ones who have to say to God; every man, woman and child has to repent.
AEL Would you accept the definition of repentance as change of mind as to ourselves and as to God?
JT Well, it is change of mind, but you might change your mind and yet not go the full length in either case. There must be a moral thought in it — some sense of what sin is.
HWS Do you think it is the bringing in of the moral touch to the conscience in this matter?
JT Quite so. The Lord dismisses the conversation about the matter and proceeds to tell them something else, another matter of the same kind only it was not the cruelty of somebody, it was the power of an inanimate thing with no feelings at all. Of course tremendous damage is done by such things, earthquakes, floods and storms, and in the act of God sometimes, but it was an act of the tower here. An earthquake is due to some conditions in the earth and the wind too. They are inscrutable things, but the bearing of them is, what is going to happen in the end? Take the book of Revelation, what terrible things are going to happen in the end! The question is now, what do these things mean? They mean there is to be tremendous suffering of this kind from the authorities and from inanimate things, and [p. 445] the point is now to prepare against all that, and repent.
JT-y Are you free to think of these allowings of God as the voice of God? In Psalm 29 the voice of the Lord is powerful, operating in many ways.
JT I am sure they are. How we are to turn those things and use them is the point. The Lord shows us here how to use these things in conversing with men. The Lord knew about this matter of the tower, possibly knew what Pilate did, too. We are not to be indifferent about what is happening, but know how to use it in the testimony.
FW-r The interpreter would “shew unto man his duty”.
JT That is right. “One among a thousand”, but duty there is that he might judge himself. That is really what is meant. You refer to the book of Job?
FW-r Yes, chapter 33:23,24; he brought him into a sense of grace.
JT Everything that happens now has that in mind — the period of grace. All these things are turned to that connection, but there is to be perishing later. They are an indication of what is to happen.
WG A well-instructed person in the gospel knows that repentance is the only door.
JT A door of repentance is opened, and is still open.
WG The only way to life is through that door.
JT You are doing him a great service by pointing him to it.
WG It has been said before that he who speaks to the conscience speaks from the conscience. It is because we have been convicted that we can apply the arrow to others.
Ques Is it not exactly that those who repent are spared these [p. 446] happenings?
JT Not exactly that, I should say; although repentance would bring us under divine protection in a peculiar way. It certainly changes our position, and these happenings become disciplinary, with a furtherance of grace in mind. We have been praying about the gospel, about salvation of men. I think God would put us through the governmental things, He would cause us to have part in them ourselves. Some of us lately were speaking about Elijah — he prayed twice — and what intervened between the two prayers, how he had to participate in the dealings of God to bring about the desired end. So that while we may be called upon to go through the things that other men go through, it is in order that God might bring about His desired end. Christians are not simply to be onlookers; we share in it.
WW In that way, as in communion with God, do we feel for men in those circumstances more vitally?
JT I think we feel with God as His creatures, for men are His creatures yet. The ground in Mark is that the gospel is to be preached to the creation. We have a link with men as creatures of God because we are creatures too. That gives peculiar feeling towards them.
Rem I was thinking of that in Timothy — “God, who is preserver of all men, specially of those that believe” (1 Timothy 4:10).
JT Quite so. A very important scripture.
Rem Although you may be passing through the same pressure, you would be ready to help men.
JT The Lord alludes to Himself under the heading of the vine-dresser, and He is solicitous for the fig-tree that it should be fruitful, as it says, “Let it alone for this year also, until I shall dig about it and put dung, and if it shall bear fruit — but if not, after that thou shalt cut it down”. That is what you mean?
[p. 447] Rem Although going through the pressure with men we are not disturbed by it, we are pleading for them.
JT I think the avoidance of disrespectful remarks about dignitaries is most important. However cruel they may be, they are dignitaries, and the powers-that-be God has placed there, and it is due to God, the word requires it, that we should regard them aright. Then this vine-dresser is not only interceding but purposes to do the best He can so as to produce the desired effect — not only praying for a continuance of the position of the fig-tree, but as He says, “Let it alone for this year also, until I shall dig about it and put dung”. Much might be said of that as an allusion to the Jewish position, but there is more than prayer needed. All that we can do is to be done for the desired result. The gospel now, of course, would tell of grace being extended; not only that we pray for men but do what we can to dig around and put the dung, and to produce the desired result; this gives us plenty to do, and is all in keeping with the position.
HWS Does this correspond with Peter speaking of the long-suffering of God in order that men might repent?
JT I thought of that — a similar passage. The point is to produce the desired end, whatever that be.
WG Would it properly follow on repentance?
JT Well, it would, and the vine-dresser is skilful, He digs around; I mean that whatever the desired end is, there is the solicitation for the continuance of the position of the fig-tree, and the one who prays does more than pray. It is a great matter to secure the extension of the year, but the desired end must be reached, to answer to the digging and dunging.
WG The gardener knows it is no use dunging a dead tree; there must be some sign of life; there should be repentance.
JT [p. 448] It seems to me the point for us is that prayer is of immense value; according to 1 Timothy we are to pray for all men. But then this passage requires more than that; it requires that you go as far as you can to produce what you are praying for, what you desire, and what God desires. It is more than simply praying for a man. If there is anything that you can do, answering to these figures that this parable affords, it is to be done.
ETH Is it the even balance of James’s teaching, that faith is associated with prayer? Digging and cultivation are to produce a certain end.
JT Quite so, faith working by love. So James gives us the idea of faith working; faith is justified by works. Works are added, because faith leads to prayer and you expect God to work, but if there is anything you can do, do it. These figures, digging and dunging, are in this particular case to suggest to us that if there is anything I can do to promote the desired end, let me not be slack about it.
WC-y He speaks in Matthew of making disciples of all the nations.
JT There is something in that, too. You may say, Only God can make disciples, but it is put on the apostles in Matthew. It is not simply that I pray for people, but my example and influence help people.
ERF Would Jonah be a contrast to that, going out of the city and sitting to watch? He is not in touch with what is going on in the souls of men.
JT I think that is right. He did not want them to be saved.
ERF He had no sympathy.
JT He preached well, but he did not want them to be saved; he was doing nothing to help the matter. It is the opposite of that here.
EK Would the activity of Paul at Corinth fit in at all? He did far more than pray in regard to repentance [p. 449] and recovery.
JT Quite so. He did some of the digging and dunging.
Ques Does it suggest the Lord’s ministry on the one hand?
JT His gracious ministry to the Jews. Although they treated Him most shamefully, He would keep on and do what He could for them.
E As having before us production of fruit, we should stop short of nothing in labour to produce it.
JT Well, meetings for prayer are most important. The number of prayers in the meeting is very cheering now; young men praying that in early days would not pray, and meetings for prayer in the houses on the Lord’s day evening are being blessed, but that is not the digging and the dunging. What can you do with a man to promote what God has in mind for him?
FWT “Do the work of an evangelist”, he says to Timothy.
JT Quite so. It includes preaching, but it is more.
WG Paul walked round Athens while he was waiting; he saw their devotions.
J.T. Yes, very good!
WG He does not say he saw their abominable idolatries, but their devotions. It was a winsome attitude.
JT Quite so. It went a long way too; he went to pains to get at them. It is getting alongside of them. “In him we live, and move, and have our being” (Acts 17:28), even ungodly men, that is how the matter stands. You give them to understand that you are sympathetic.
Ques What does the ground represent in the end of verse 7?
JT The owner of the vineyard said, “These three years I come seeking fruit on this fig-tree and find none: cut it down; why does it also render the ground useless?” It is rendering the ground useless. A fruit tree is only good for fruit. I mean it is not timber; it is only good for the fire, if not bearing fruit. So if you apply it to the christian dispensation, Israel was cumbering the ground. According to Romans 9, Romans 10 and Romans 11, He is going to destroy the natural branches. Cumbering the ground means occupying a position that is not yielding anything, and He is going to bring in what will yield Him something. The Jew is cumbering the ground, and God is bringing in christianity, but now the thing is changed. The gentiles are to be cut off unless we continue in the goodness of God. If we do not stand by faith “thou also shalt be cut off” and the true tree will be reinstated on its own root. But there is the thought of extension; the Lord brings it about here for the Jews — give them another year and I will do my best to get the desired result.
Ques Would the two at Emmaus be an example of bringing about repentance?
JT Well, just so. He went the way they were going, and caused their heart to burn. That is, I think, the idea. He was certainly digging round and producing the desired end.
NKM Would what Paul says fit in with the digging and dunging — “I have become all things, in order that at all events I might save some” (1 Corinthians 9:22)?
JT Yes, I think it was his manner all the way through. We get such examples as this, “he went in among them”, that is the Thessalonians; he was one of them really. He went in among them and for three sabbath days opened out that Christ must suffer; he was one of them. Then he and Barnabas entered into the synagogue together. Why should that be mentioned, save that there was such a beautiful link with those two brothers in their work? They “so spake that a great multitude ... believed”. Then again, they went into the synagogue at Antioch [p. 451] in Pisidia and sat down; they did not speak until they were asked to speak. You get at men, not by promoting ill-feeling with them but by inducing confidence. We are all creatures, so that by getting alongside of men you induce confidence, and they are likely to hear what you have to say. They say of Paul, “What would this chatterer say?” but they were ready to hear what he had to say. If he is a chatterer, he can say that much. Maybe it was the best address ever given at Mars Hill, even from their own point of view.
In verse 10 the Lord is in the synagogue — another position. “He was [p. 452] teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. And lo, there was a woman having a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and she was bent together and wholly unable to lift her head up”. There is another case although this is more personal need. She is seen as having been temporarily damaged by the devil. No question of a tower falling on anybody, or of Pilate doing anything, it is the devil himself directly doing damage to a woman, and that eighteen years before. It takes us back a long time in the Lord’s own history, the history of things in Jerusalem. There are many such individual cases now. The work of God is amongst such people, one by one discerning them as subjects of Satanic attack, bent over by the devil.
Ques What does the change of environment mean here — in the synagogue?
JT It is the religious sphere. The first, which is introduced at the beginning of the chapter, was a matter of political conversation. The second, the falling of the tower, was a matter of conversation about something that you could blame no one for. You might say it was an act of God, as men do; and some men are ready to blame God quick enough. But this is a matter that is peculiarly religious; the woman is in the synagogue; at least this is the position,
“teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. And lo, there was a woman having a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and she was bent together and wholly unable to lift her head up”. But she was in the synagogue, which I would assume to mean that she was not an indifferent person.
HWS Does it suggest that Satan’s activity is especially in that sphere?
JT Quite so. If he can attack God through His creatures he will. It is an attack on God because he is turning her countenance from God, turning it down, making her like a cow or a horse. A terrible attack of the devil! Satan has made a special attack upon them; the possibility is that they belong to the elect; she is, in result, said to be “a daughter of Abraham”. She belongs to the family of faith, the elect.
Ques Would dealing with this involve being with God? “The Lord Jehovah hath given me the tongue of the instructed, that I should know how to succour by a word him that is weary”, (Isaiah 50:4).
JT Very good! The Lord knew what to say to her. He calls to her; there is something underlying that, as if there was more between Him and her than a creational link. I think there was more than that in the call either potentially, or actually. It says, “Jesus, seeing her, called to her, and said to her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity”. I believe that is what is conveyed to us. The impression to be received is that the Lord knew this person as a daughter of Abraham, as He says later, and that there was more between Him and her, that is, from His side, than there could have been between Him and any of the others that He was conversing with, more than a creational link. We do speak to men on creational grounds, and God does too, but if there is any evidence that God has been working with a person the position is changed. This is a particular [p. 453] act of the enemy; he is attacking God through the person. God has a certain right in that person.
Ques Would this be interference on the part of the enemy with one of the Lord’s own?
JT She is potentially belonging to God, “a daughter of Abraham”, and should be regarded as according to the Lord’s mind. The link is deeper. Now you have some little inkling that the person you would serve is really the Lord’s, and Satan would deprive Him of her, and had done so practically for eighteen years.
Ques So it says, “He laid his hands upon her”. Would that be the Lord claiming her for God?
JT I think so, and it is not only hand, but hands, that is to say, complete identification with her. This is more than the ordinary creational link. This is evidently a person that God has in mind specially, and Satan knows it, and damages her.
FH Would the fig-tree represent mere religion, and this person one of the elect?
JT That is a good way of putting it. The fig-tree is the public position, either Jewish or christian, as failing to yield what God seeks. But here is one individual God has specially in mind; God is going to have her — really the elect. One by one they are secured. So that Paul said, “I endure all things for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory” (2 Timothy 2:10). All around us there are persons of this kind, and surely we would be on the alert to see some sign in them.
CSM I was thinking how many of the Lord’s people there are who, on account of bad doctrine, are bent down.
JT That is a good remark. They are surrounding us, and we are to be on the alert.
Rem We should all be able to lift our heads up.
JT Quite so. God made [p. 454] man upright.
HWS How would you help a person, as you come into contact with anyone, in this matter?
JT I think if you know them by name it is well to mention it; anything that would arouse personal interest. I think that is what is meant in the Lord, “seeing her, called to her”. She would hear His voice, and then, what a word! — “Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity”. What a word! Would she ever forget this incident, His voice calling out to her in this way?
ERF Would the feature in this be divine grace, and in the first nine verses the question of divine mercy?
JT Well, I think in the actual operations of the Lord, mercy is the principle governing them, but grace is what is seen. I think grace is the active side. Some of us were speaking the other day, “That the Christ may dwell, through faith, in your hearts” (Ephesians 3:17) — an operative thought. Here Christ is operating on the principle of mercy, but by grace. Grace is the active side.
Ques Why is it called a spirit of infirmity?
JT I think it bears out what we are saying; it is a spiritual matter. Satan has done it in this way. She is a daughter of Abraham, and either actually or potentially belongs to the spiritual family, and he operates spiritually. She was physically affected, but it was a spirit of infirmity, something deeper than a mere physical matter — more inward. This is a remarkable phrase, I do not know that you get it anywhere else.
WG The fact of calling her to Him would suggest she was at a distance.
JT He “seeing her, called to her” is the way it reads in this version. He called to her; that is the voice is to reach her, but the voice was Christ’s. It was the voice of grace, and the voice of authority against evil: “Thou art loosed from thine infirmity”.
[p. 455] What authority! What assurance! Then He laid His hands upon her, both hands; it is complete identification with her. And it says in verse 13, “Immediately she was made straight, and glorified God”. It is a great feature in Luke, how often it is mentioned, that God is glorified. So that this woman would be, I apprehend, henceforth a worshipper of God, secured for God. Possibly she had been before, but Satan robbed God of her. She is doing it at once.
TSC Do you get the creational thought as well as the thought of redemption in the reference in Isaiah 43, “Thus saith Jehovah, that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel: Fear not, for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name”.
JT Quite so. “Called thee by thy name”. That brings out much as to how God deals with each one of us. So that in that section you have young people subscribing themselves by the name of Jacob, or by the name of Israel, answering to the divine mind about them, coming into it. I think this adding to the creational link is important to notice, especially in gospel service. If a person is born anew a believer understands, and he regards him. It is not creational, it is generation. Generation is really on a higher level than creation; it involves a family, it involves origin with God. She is a daughter of Abraham. She belongs to the divine family. And so there is evidence of that; some born anew and perhaps they do not know it, but the believer who knows God knows, and if there is any sign of that you look at them potentially; the link is deeper now, and more abiding than what is merely creational.
HWS The “glorious things” — making a person upright?
JT It is worthy of consideration, for what glorious things are being done now! The Lord would show us what is being done, “Let thy work appear unto thy servants”. They are “glorious things”, and they bear on the family, I believe — not only the new creation, but the family side, where affection is.
Ques The Lord says, “The Father loves the Son and shews him all things which he himself does” (John 5:20). Do you think we should come in for some of that?
JT Being shown what God is doing? You have seen it; our hearts are caused to rejoice as we hear of that young man or young woman, boy or girl, man or woman, affected by the power of God. Surely “glorious things”, and it ought to stimulate us.
CSM In regard of souls today being extricated, it seems a very long process sometimes in contrast to this word ‘immediately’ here in this verse. Why is it?
JT It is hard to say in detail. We have only a little power at the best. The Lord says, “Thou hast a little power” (Revelation 3:8). We have to acknowledge that; we are not in pristine days.
WW What governs the public position very much is bondage to legality of system. Is that so? Coming in contact with those who are nominal believers, we find they have a link with the Lord, but it is so difficult to get them to see the truth.
JT Quite so. The teaching is degraded. Men really rob God; they are not lifting up their heads in His temple where everything says, Glory!