LEVITICAL SERVICE
LEVITICAL SERVICE
JT Will you say what you had in your mind in proposing the epistle to the Philippians?
AFM In the first instance, that there might be a practical response to all the light which has been accorded to us in these last days. I thought Philippians gives us an outline of how the light of God takes practical effect in us, because, as I suppose, it is proper Christian experience. I think you remarked that the epistle to the Philippians was the result of the truth of Ephesians; that is, it is the walk of the heavenly man.
JT What is observable in chapter 1 is that the Philippians are in sympathy with the glad tidings. They had fellowship in the gospel. The apostle says in verse 3, “I thank my God for my whole remembrance of you ... because of your fellowship with the gospel, from the first day until now”. That is, there is full sympathy with God in that which sets forth His special energy for the moment.
AFM Do you not think that that is the more remarkable because the testimony — I suppose the gospel includes a very great deal in the thought of God — was in reproach and the subject of special conflict? In 2 Timothy we have the afflictions of the gospel. “Be not therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord ... but suffer evil along with the glad tidings”. There were the afflictions of the gospel. Is not that of note?
JT I suppose it is a suitable epistle into which to introduce the idea of levitical service, because it shows the spirit or mind of Christ in the manner in which He carried out [p. 148] His service.
RSS I suppose we can look at Christ as the true Levite?
JT Levitical service was certainly set forth in Him.
RSS How would you connect the gospel with levitical service?
JT Because the gospel embodied the testimony, and that is especially the burden of the Levite. The Lord in Mark speaks about the saints surrendering for His sake and the gospel’s. It is a touch, that is peculiar to Mark, because Mark presents to us the Servant and the exercises of the Servant. The gospel is, therefore, prominent. Another touch in Mark is that the Lord did all things well.
RSS That would all be connected with levitical service.
JT I think so.
Ques Would you say that Epaphroditus was as type of a Levite here?
JT I think you have in Paul and Timothy and Epaphroditus the spirit that energises the Levites. Of Timothy Paul said that he had genuine feeling as to how saints got on.
AFM Would not the characteristics of a true Levite be, that, as in chapter 1, he would have great affection for the saints, and that his energies would go out in regard to the testimony in a public way?
JT Paul rejoiced that the gospel was announced, even if in contention, which is in a way the strongest way of putting his interest in the gospel; that he was not interested only because he announced it, but because it was announced, by whomsoever, or from whatever motive.
JNH Even if it added to his bonds.
JT Yes, even if it caused suffering to him, he rejoiced in that Christ was announced. Then in the presence of the supreme joy of being with Christ,
[p. 149] departing to be with Christ, he is content to remain for the furtherance of the joy of the Philippians; he is content to forego the pleasure of being with Christ, for the sake of the saints. All that shows the spirit of a Levite.
GAT Supporting the gospel is not always preaching it. It does not mean that, does it?
JT No, I think that the saints, as a heavenly people, viewed as in the book of Joshua, according to what they have as an inheritance and according to their living associations, are sure to be evangelical, because evangelism is the mind of heaven. The word is really taken from angel, as we know.
JAR Would you not say that the great point in preaching the gospel is presenting Christ?
JT I think so. You announce One whom you have come to love. But I have no doubt at all that the mind of heaven is evangelical, and the house of God is in touch with heaven.
Rem There is joy in heaven over sinners repenting.
JT Yes; quite so. There is great sympathy with man in heaven. I think that evangelism emanates from heaven. The gospel is announced “by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven”.
WB I notice a word in 2 Timothy, addressed to him by the apostle Paul: “Do the work of an evangelist”. Do you regard that in the same way as evangelism?
JT Yes. No doubt Timothy would understand the work of an evangelist well. He had laboured with Paul, and at Ephesus.
The tidings carried by an evangelist refer to what is in God’s heart, God’s attitude toward man. But there is also work attaching to that, not simply the bearing of the message, but the work attached to it. Acts 20 shows the kind of work carried on by an evangelist. The work may be carried on by one who has not the gift of an evangelist. To-day the [p. 150] message is already known. I think the work of the evangelist now would be, as in Timothy’s case, to make it clear to souls in detail.
RSS What passage in Acts 20 do you refer to?
JT Verse 18: “Ye know how I was with you all the time from the first day that I arrived in Asia, serving the Lord with all lowliness, and tears, and temptations, which happened to me through the plots of the Jews; how I held back nothing of what is profitable, so as not to announce it to you, and to teach you publicly and in every house, testifying to both Jews and Greeks repentance towards God and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ”. And verse 24: “But I make no account of my life as dear to myself, so that I finish my course, and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus to testify the glad tidings of the grace of God. And now, behold, I know that ye all, among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom of God, shall see my face no more”. I think you have in those verses some idea of the work of an evangelist; it was not only public preaching and teaching, but house-to-house work.
RSS That is exceedingly helpful and instructive, because people have thought that the work of an evangelist is simply preaching; but it is the most arduous kind of work.
JNH It continued there for three years, and with tears, night and day.
JT As was said, it was most arduous work. That indicates what levitical service is. It is a question of bearing or carrying things.
WB Verse 22 is much in line with what you have said. It reads, speaking of Timothy: “Ye know the proof of him, that, as a child a father, he has served with me in the work of the glad tidings”. That is the same thing, is it not?
JT Yes. “As a child a father”. Timothy had [p. 151] laboured with Paul in this relation. He learned from the apostle what service in the gospel meant.
GAT What you have said is true of a man free to do that. How would you apply that to a brother who has to make his daily living?
RSS Paul made his daily living. Both at Corinth and Ephesus, at different times, he tells us that. In this chapter he also speaks of working with his hands.
JT His hands ministered to himself and to those that were with him.
Rem That was really an expression of very great affection.
JT Yes.
RSS I think affection comes out beautifully as the spring of it all in Philippians 1: 8, where it says, “God is my witness how I long after you all in the bowels of Christ Jesus”. That was really the secret of his devotion.
JNH It reads in chapter 1:6: “Having confidence of this very thing, that he who has begun in you a good work will complete it unto Jesus Christ’s day”.
JT I think it is most interesting to see that the saints, viewed normally, as in the light of Paul’s ministry, were very evangelical. They had sympathy in the gospel. As sympathetic with the gospel, I think, we are levitical; we accept the burden of it. If we follow what is involved, what is in the testimony, I think then we begin to surrender. This epistle, if it conveys anything, conveys the thought of surrender.
ARS Does not the third verse show the spirit in which the service is to be carried out: “Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves”?
JT I [p. 152] think so.
ARS Then Christ is brought forward later on in the chapter. He “made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant”.
Rem The testimony was with Paul at Rome. He preached the gospel, and was concerned about the saints. Epaphroditus was also concerned about the saints.
JT I think the levitical spirit is seen in Epaphroditus, in that he was troubled, not because he had been sick, but because the Philippians heard he had been sick. He was troubled on their account.
WJN What are the “own things” spoken of in verse 4?: “Look not every man on his own things”.
JT His own qualities.
WJN Is that in connection with service in divine things?
JT Yes. He is hot to be engaged with his own abilities more than with others. It would appear that you are not to make much of anything that is especially of advantage to you, but that you rather enlarge upon what others have.
WJN I think it is very important in regard to one’s own things. I suppose that each one has his own line of things, and yet each should think of others?
WB You get that spirit in the apostle Peter. Speaking of Paul, at the end of his second epistle Peter says: “even as our beloved brother Paul ... hath written unto you”. He seems to plat Paul on a higher plane than himself.
JT And that is in spite of the fact that Paul had severely rebuked him. It shows the working of the divine nature in the apostles. What this epistle contemplates is the working of the divine nature in the saints, and not exactly the carrying out of our service under the direction of Christ. What is in view is that we do it, as it were, naturally.
[p. 153] But when we come to consider levitical service, each Levite is under the direction of the priest. That is really another side of the truth, which is not in Philippians, because Philippians treats rather of what marks the person because of Christian affection. What is done is the result of Christian affection rather than of official obligation.
WB Is that the reason why Epaphroditus is brought in? The things that are said about him are remarkable: “My brother”, “fellow workman”, “fellow soldier”. Paul associates himself with Epaphroditus very closely; and then in the last verse of the chapter it seems that he is held in honour, because he journeyed from the Philippians to Paul with their contribution, seemingly a very small thing.
JT And Timothy cared for the saints, not because he had been deputed to do so by the Lord, although that was also true, because he had received a gift, but he cared for them, as we see here, with genuine feeling. That is, his heart was in it.
GAT So then service is not rendered because, it is my duty, but because I delight to do it.
JT Yes, just so. But levitical service properly is carried out under the direction of the priest.
AAT And in Christianity that is different from what it was under the Mosaic law.
JT Yes. But what I see of importance here is the spirit of the man that is suited for levitical service. He is a man that goes down.
RSS That all comes out in Christ, does it not? Though in the form of God, He made Himself of no reputation, taking upon him the form of a servant — a very striking expression. Really, I suppose, there is no stronger expression of the Lord’s deity than that. No mere creature could take upon himself the form of a servant. We are all in that form already. The angels are, and so [p. 154] are men. It is connected with responsibility. But He voluntarily took the form of a servant.
JT Yes; and that mind was in Him. That was the point: “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus”. You can see how service will be rendered by us if this mind is present.
Ques Is the apostle Paul at Ephesus an example of that? He says he served with humbleness and tears.
JT It shows that he was energised by the Spirit of Christ.
AFM Is not that the first thought in the second chapter? We have no proper object or example, but as we look at Christ Himself. The apostle in Acts 20, to which you referred, served with all lowliness, and in the opening of this epistle he is a bondman with Timothy; Christ took a bondman’s form. He was the lowly One. The apostle and Timothy were thoroughly imbued with the Spirit of Christ. Is not that where we get help in the same direction? It is really a question of affection. As to a bondman, it is for all time. He serves for ever. He cannot throw off the yoke of responsibility to his master.
JT So that if you put your hand to the plough and look back you are not fit for the kingdom of God.
GAT This service here is to Jesus Christ?
JT Yes; but there is an element of authority or direction in the carrying out of levitical service. It is not simply carried out because we love to do it, though that is true. The thought in Numbers is that the Levites are placed under the direction of the priests, and all levitical work is carried on accordingly. They were to be presented to Aaron the priest.
WB Would the assembly at Philippi occupy the place of the priest? Epaphroditus had carried out [p. 155] their instructions. Would there be any analogy between that and the priest?
JT There is, if you regard the priesthood as connected with the sons of Aaron. But as brought to Aaron personally I think they represent the saints as presented to Christ for His disposal in service. But Aaron’s sons were associated with him in the direction of the Levites. The service of the Levites, viewing them typically, depends on the spiritual state — the priestly state, that exists in the assembly. The Spirit said, “Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them”. You get there the idea of authority and the saints associated with it.
WB If a man receives a gift from Christ he is responsible to fulfil it. It is another thing as to how he does it. He may carry out the work that God gives him in a wrong way, not in a true spirit, and spoil his work in that way.
JT Yes. It is everything to have a right spirit; and I believe what we dwelt upon in Joshua shows how the Levites are formed. Typically their inheritance and where they dwell would have the effect of forming them in accord with heaven. But, as here upon earth, individually we are subject to Christ; that is, we are subject to authority. It is a great thing to see the mind that marked the early servants.
GAT What other spirit have you in mind that we might serve in besides the spirit you have mentioned?
JT Well, the spirit of vainglory and strife. We see, alas! the spirit of strife and vainglory entering in among the Lord’s servants.
GAT It is possible that one might be very active apparently in the Lord’s service, but with the object of getting a name for himself, to be well thought of by others.
JT Just so. But if I understand the place [p. 156] accorded, to the Levites in the book of Joshua, it is that we are to drink into the mind of heaven, which is, as I said, evangelical. And the mind of Christ involves going down, for we must remember that the mind of Christ to go down began with Him, as in the form of God. He was in the most exalted position and state, but He chose to descend.
AFM That is the contrast to Adam. Adam’s thought was to go up. But the mind of Christ was to come down. The visible sign of it was the bondman’s form.
AAT In connection with the motive that would actuate one in preaching the gospel, the need of man, or the joy it brings to God, should the latter be the motive more than the former?
JT I think the idea is that you see what is involved in the testimony, and you follow it and surrender on account of that. There is the gospel on the one hand and the saints on the other. You love to have the gospel made known, and you are prepared to surrender for that. On the other hand, you see that the saints are to be cared for, and it was the saints especially that were before Paul and Timothy and Epaphroditus.
AAT And you include that in evangelistic work?
JT I would include that in the service of the Levite. Paul was on the eve of departure. He was in a strait, but he was true to his levitical instincts. Instead of accepting the open door into bliss, to be with Christ, he chose to remain in the levitical position, to remain down here for the furtherance of the joy of the Philippians.
AAT Then the Levite, while labouring, is not necessarily spending all his time in visiting the saints; he labours in prayer.
JT I think prayer forms a very great part of the Levites’ burden, although in prayer you are more [p. 157] a priest. But it belongs to the tribe. The altar of incense was a square. It was one cubit, and what is set forth in that is that there is unity and at the same time universality, that the saints have burdens, and their burdens are of a universal character, The spirit of the house of God is universal in its bearing. The house of God is evangelical, and hence there are prayers. Now, the second epistle to Timothy opens up the attitude of the saints as evangelical. Their exercises are manward, and every kind of man is included. But they have access to the altar of incense, and the altar of incense was also a square; but instead of being five cubits, like the brazen altar, it was one cubit. I take it that in our turning to God in prayer, the altar being one cubit suggests unity, because one is the numeral of unity; it refers, among other things, to unity. And so the apostle says, “For God is one”. That is, the Godhead are united. But whilst they are united, it is, as in the connection set forth here in type, of a four-square character; that is, that the unity of the Godhead has reference to all men.
RSS It is very remarkable that it is in 1 Timothy 2 that it is said that we are to pray for all men.
JT Yes, “Our Saviour God”, “who will have all men to be saved and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For God is one”. I take that to be the idea of “four-square”. The unity is seen in the one cubit. God is one, and the saints are in the light of that; their prayers and supplications are for all men. There you have the golden altar, and it is based upon what God is. “For God is one”. And the unity of the Godhead has reference to the salvation of the whole race of man. Then he says, “And the mediator of God and men one”. The attitude of the Mediator also is universal, because He gave Himself a ransom for all. Then Paul is brought into that: he says, “To which I have been appointed a herald ... a teacher of the nations in faith and truth”. So that the saints have every ground on which to pray. Their prayers are in the full light of what God is. I think, as has been suggested, one great feature of the levitical position is, that as in the light of what God is, we have access in prayer. The sheet let down from heaven in Acts 10 gives the same idea. It was four-cornered. The Levites are in accord with heaven, because they really dwell there morally. Heaven is their dwelling-place, and their prayers are in accord with heaven.
RSS It says, “God is one”. Is the thought there that the Godhead is of one mind in regard to what you are speaking of? What does it mean when it says that the Mediator between God and men is one. Is that the same thought; that He is of the same mind?
JT It involves, I think, that there are not two. The Mediator is one, and His mind is in accord with the mind of God. God will have all men to be saved; that is God’s mind; and then the Mediator carries that mind out, because He gives Himself a ransom for all. And then Paul is in it, in that he is appointed herald and teacher. He is in accord with the unity. His desire was that the saints should be fully up to this, so that they should pray; that they should be fully in accord with the golden altar.
AAT I suppose God would encourage us. He would have us as Levites exercised in heart; and when we come together during the week to the prayer meeting we make these exercises known to Him in prayer.
JT I think that prayer is an appointed means of support to us, but evidently we are to be united. But the unity is not unity of agreement. It is unity based upon the revelation of God. His mind is manward, so that the prayers of Christians normally [p. 159] would be according to the type we have been considering, of a “four-square character”; that is, they would be for all men.
RSS I think that is what we lack; we are too straightened and narrowed up in our prayers which are often confined to a very limited sphere, whereas this has a tendency to enlarge that sphere.
Rem Peter and John, when liberated, went to their own company, where there was prayer.
JT Yes; and it is noticeable that the prayer was in accord with what we have been saying. They recognised that God had created everything. They having heard it, lifted up their voices with “one accord” (that is the one cubit, the size of the altar), and said, “Thou art the God who made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that is in them”. Their minds are universal, they are thinking of God in His relation with His whole creation.
RSS It is very remarkable, because they were in a very difficult place; there was danger among themselves and danger from without.
AAT It is in accord with what the Lord said: “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations”. In Timothy it is prayer for kings, not for any particular king.
JT Just so. It is not specifically for the king or president of your own country. The unity that is seen in Acts 2 is the result of the gospel known in the soul. The normal effect of the gospel is to bring people together in affection. But then there is another thing, there is unity in prayer in support of the testimony, and this we get in chapter 4: 24 - 30, showing that it was the outcome of interest in the testimony.
JNH That would be the four comers of the earth?
JT Yes.
[p. 160] Rem I am sure it would add interest to our prayer meetings to remember that.
WC In the story of the good Samaritan, where the priest and the Levite pass by, unable to help the mail that fell among the thieves, is the lack there that of sacrifice? The Levite is impotent; he passed by on the other side.
JT There did not seem to be much heart for the needy one. The most they could do was to come and look at him, but that does not help the man. It sets forth contrast; the priest and the Levite stand for the old economy and the impotency of the old economy, and the service of the Samaritan discloses the divine compassion that was in Christ. The Mosaic system never could help man really.
GAT Man could not help himself; he could not answer to it.
JT There was no vital power in that system, and there was no power in the man. But the Samaritan had the means of help with him. It is remarkable that he had the oil and the wine. He did not have to go anywhere to get them. He had them. He had the means of relief with him.
RSS Would you say that the good Samaritan was the true Levite?
JT I think he was, and also the true priest.
RSS And it is very beautiful what is said of him — he “came where he was and had compassion on him”.
AFM In regard to the prayers in 1 Timothy 2, the house is seen in the attitude of intercession for all men. That would be in view of the glad tidings going forth. It has a universal character. But what about prayers for the saints? In Revelation we read of golden vials full of the prayers of the saints. Do you include the saints in the expression “all men”?
JT No, I think Paul in Timothy is referring to those that were outside.
AFM Is your thought in that connection to pray for those in authority that we may lead a quiet life, so that the gospel can go out?
JT You pray for all men that they may be saved, because God wills that they may be saved.
AFM In Revelation 5 it speaks of the Lamb taking the book; and the twenty four elders fall before the Lamb with harps and golden vials full of incense, which are said to be “the prayers of the saints”.
JT It has to be noted that what is said of the living creatures and the elders is that they have bowls, or vials, full of prayers. It does not say that they offer the prayers. The golden altar is not in evidence. Neither have they censers. That is, they are not official. But when you come to Revelation 8 there is an Angel at the golden altar and He has a censer in His hand, and in that censer there is incense, which, it is said, is to “give efficacy” to the prayers of saints ascending to God. I think that there it is the official side: it is Christ Himself. We have not that place. We cannot present the prayers of another. All we can do is to pray for another. Therefore I do not see that the elders, or the living creatures, present the prayers. That would be official. It would give them an intermediate place between God and the saints which only belongs to Christ. But in Revelation 8 the Angel is official. He presents the prayers with the incense, and they are effective.
GAT Those prayers do not belong to the elders; they are those that have been offered up by the saints.
JT They are not their prayers; but the prayers of the saints.
[p. 162] Rem The bowls are where God preserves the prayers of the saints?
JT It would look as though He valued them and had them treasured up in His heart.
WB It speaks in chapter 5 of “vials full of odours”?
JT Yes, but there is no presentation there; they are not presented. The odours refer to what God thinks of our prayers. God attaches value to our prayers. But in order that they should be effective they have to be presented. That is, Christ has to be recognised in connection with them; they have to be in relation to Him; and chapter 8 shows that they become effective as presented by Christ with incense at the golden altar. Christ is there seen as the Priest. He only has title to take that place. The incense He has is to give efficacy to the prayers of the saints, so that there is fragrance going up with the prayers. Then we have the answer in what follows. The answer is judgment. In our case it is not that. The answer in our day is blessing. We pray for men that they may be saved.
WJN Would you say that intelligent prayer at any time is in keeping with the mind of God for the moment?
JT Yes. So in Acts 4 they prayed: “Now, Lord, look upon their threatenings, and give to thy bondmen with all boldness to speak thy word, in that thou stretches! out thy hand to heal, and that signs and wonders take place through the name of thy holy servant Jesus”. That was intelligent prayer. There was no demand for judgment on their enemies, but that the word should be attested by God in miracles.
WJN In the Revelation there is a change. God really has turned to thoughts of judgment, and the prayers of the saints of that period are intelligent,
[p. 163] as being in keeping with His mind at that time, and the answer is judgment.
JNH Why does the apostle say in 1 Timothy 2: “Lilting up pious hands, without wrath or reasoning”?
JT Well, the hands refer to the means by which we accomplish things, and in order to approach God we are required to have holy hands. To approach men we are required to have “beautiful feet”.
WHC “If I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear me”.
JT No, He will not.
WJN Speaking of the feet, do you mean by that the way in which a man carries himself before men?
JT Yes. “How beautiful ... are the feet of him that announceth glad tidings”. Isaiah 52: 7. Then in Romans it is “How beautiful the feet of them that announce glad tidings”, Romans 10: 15, showing that in Christianity the Lord “gave the word and great was the host of the publishers”, Psalm 68: 11.
RSS It is noticeable that in Scripture effective prayer is connected with a suitable condition in the person who prays. For instance, “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much”.
JT Yes, indeed, “wrath and reasoning” are unsuited to the holy place and the altar of gold.
RSS You do not pray with any fleshly feeling of anger, and it is in confidence — “without wrath and reasoning”. You do not reason. If you reason, you do not pray in confidence.
JT Yes; a reasoning state of mind would not be in accord with unity. Oneness would not be there. It would be that of a “double-minded man”, and James says, “Let not that man think he shall receive anything of the Lord”.
GAT Will you say a little more as to the hands and the feet?
JT Well, the hands have reference in Scripture to the means by which we accomplish anything, or carry out our responsibilities in labour. The feet refer to how we carry ourselves, how we walk. You get both in Christ. You get how He did things in Mark; in John you get how He walked; in Luke you get how He spoke. Now, the Lord had beautiful feet. He was the Evangelist. And we know that His hands were holy.
JNH It is remarkable that only one of the saints is called an evangelist in Scripture — Philip.
RSS How would you distinguish the hands with which we labour from the hands that we hold up in prayer? Moses hands were uplifted when Israel was in conflict with the Amalekites.
JT I think the hands have reference to what we do.
AAT Power is identified with the right hand.
JT Yes; but Paul says, “these hands have ministered unto my necessities”; and the hands represent the person; to lay the hand on the sacrifice identified the offerer with it. And so Paul said, “Lay hands suddenly on no man”, because your hands and what you do with them, commit you to that thing.
WB In time of battle, when Aaron held up one of Moses’ hands and Hur the other, Israel prevailed, but when Moses’ hands were lowered the enemy prevailed.
JT But I think the hands would be the expression of the power of the person. The power of the person is manifested through the hands. Christ has no need of support. In the power of His Person He sustains us. Moses was unequal to that. Christ’s sustainment is a great thing for us; our names are [p. 165] on His breast and on His shoulders. The shoulders and the hands are thus intimately connected.
GAT Do you connect the power going through the hands in the laying on of the hands in the Acts?
JT Yes. The Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands.
WB There is an instance in Revelation 11 of the angel standing on the sea and on the earth. He lifted up his right hand to heaven. That is in connection with God taking possession, is it not?
JT Yes. God taking possession of the sea and the land. It is a great thing to see Christ in the power of His Person representing us before God. On the shoulders of the high priest there were two stones containing the names of the tribes. On the breastplate there were twelve stones. Each tribe had a precious stone; that is, the saints are individually known to Christ and treasured in His heart;they are also all supported by Him.
AFM We have in the latter part of this chapter something of what we have to do, to work out our own salvation, and then collectively we have to hold forth the word of life.
JT I suppose they had, like ourselves, to work out their salvation without the apostle. They would have to work it out without his aid, and they would also hold forth the word of life, which is continuous, without the apostle’s presence. They were to be children of God without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation among whom they shone as lights. All these things were to continue in the absence of the apostle.
AAT It has been said that one could not be a good Levite if he were not a good priest. Is that right?
JT I think so, because you do not know what to do if you are not a priest. The priest knows what to do. The priesthood refers to spirituality. The [p. 166] priest has the mind of the Lord and knows what to do.
Ques Why was it that there were twelve stones on the breast and only two on the shoulders?
JT Two onyx stones. “Engrave the two stones with the names ... upon his two shoulders for a memorial”. And “thou shalt make the breastplate of judgment ... four rows of stones”. Then we get the names of the stones, and it says: “the stones shall be with the names ... according to the twelve tribes”. What I see is that the total number of the saints are, as a whole, supported by Christ on His shoulders, but that when it comes to His affections each individual has a precious stone, showing that we are individually known to Christ and He is interested in each of us. He loves each of us personally. He not only loves us collectively, but He loves us individually, and the interests of each of us are looked after by the Lord in the presence of God.
WB In the address to Philadelphia we get this promise, “and I will write upon him my new name”. Do you connect that with what you have been saying?
JT Christ’s name written on us refers to what will mark us. But the precious stones on the breastplate refer to the fact that you are to be known up there, that you are to be known as one whom He loves and cares for; and each one of us is represented in that way.