"MY SERVANT"
“MY SERVANT”
AFM I suppose we are definitely introduced to the Servant in verse one of this chapter?
JT I think the idea of service necessitates what Christ was in private life under God’s eye as Man here. It is very much like the ark; you must have the wood before you have the gold. The wood refers to Christ as under God’s eye.
Ques Would that be the first thirty years of His life?
JT Yes, the last part, His public ministry, was the gold. That is, the wood was for God’s eye; the gold was for testimony manward.
RSS The wood was not seen.
AFM The inside of the ark was also covered with the gold.
JT Yes, the wood was all covered.
Ques Why do you say the gold was for man? The ark was in the holiest.
JT The holiest was to have been entered into, it was for man.
RSS Yes, it was only when the sons of Aaron failed that the injunction came that Aaron should not enter in at all times.
JT The way was not yet made clear, but it was intended that there should be a way.
AFM I thought the gold was for God?
JT I think not, it was for testimony.
Rem The gold was inside and the stone outside in the temple.
JT The temple was to be entered into by men, and what the eye saw was to suggest what was of God.
EZ The glory of God answers to the gold.
JT Yes, “in his temple doth every one say, Glory”.
Ques I thought the gold signified righteousness? It is spoken of as being tried by fire.
JT I think it suggests what subsists through the fire, what is of God. Verse 1 of Isaiah 42, suggests the gold; God put His Spirit on that Person, “my Servant ... mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth”. We must have what answers to the wood in us before the Spirit is given; there must be what meets God’s eye; faith is the evidence of it; it is the evidence, that that order of man is there; faith is that by which God is pleased.
AFM Was the wood expressed in “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased”?
JT Yes; the gold must be sustained; what is of God must be sustained, and it is placed on the wood. The Lord said, “Wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?” That was an indication that He would sustain the gold. The mercy seat spoke of what was in God’s mind, it was sustained by the Ark; see Romans 3. It is a wonderful thing to get into the soul the thought of what Christ was under God’s eye.
BTF Would you say the first work of the Spirit is new birth?
JT Yes, it is the sovereign operation of God. “Born anew” signifies that the old birth does not count; there must be a new order of man.
BTF I suppose there is first new birth, then a longing toward God, then faith, and then the Spirit is given.
JT What pleases God is faith, because it recognises what God does; “without faith it is impossible to please him”, and, “he that cometh to God must believe that he is”. Faith shows the order of man; it is the order of man that was set forth in Christ. God would bring us into accord with the ark. The [p. 461] boards of the tabernacle were of the same material as the ark. In chapter 40 we read that “All flesh is grass ... but the word of our God shall stand for ever”; and we are born by that word; there is a new order of man.
AFM The Spirit came on the Lord while He was “praying”, Luke 3:21, and the same thing was true when the Spirit was given on the day of Pentecost, Acts 1: 14; and in Acts 9 the Lord says of Saul, “Behold he prayeth”.
JT We see the shittim wood in all that.
AFM It is the kind of man who pleases God.
JT The shittim wood was a peculiar kind; it was no doubt selected as very durable. It was used to suggest a new order of man, and we are to be brought into accord with that. The early Christians were in accord with it. God says of Christ, “I will put my Spirit on him”; it is on that Man; and the Lord says, “The Spirit of Jehovah is upon me”. If God has that vessel, if He has such a Man as that, He will by Him overthrow idolatry and lawlessness in the world. And so the controversy between God and idolatry comes up. As soon as Jehovah has the vessel, the controversy arises. This is a very important point. It enhances the three synoptic gospels because it brings into evidence what Christ was under God’s eye here. There must be what will support the gold — the testimony. God says in verse 8, “I am the Lord: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images”. He would not surrender what was due to Himself, and now He has found the Man of His pleasure.
The prominent thing in the tabernacle was the ark. God would in that way make His mind known instead of through Israel. Israel was as “grass”; Israel was nothing as regards the testimony, and so God must turn to His Man — [p. 462] to Christ.
PHP John the baptist said, “he that cometh after me is mightier than I”. How did he find that out? He was the greatest of men before.
JT He had it prophetically. The shittim wood did not suggest the order of man to which John belonged, it suggested a new order. All flesh was as grass, so that God must turn to something new. The shittim wood indicates superiority; there was strength in it. So in verse 4 of this chapter we read, “he shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth”.
BTP You must have the gift of the Spirit, before that order of man can appear, must you not?.
JT I think it is to that order of man that God gives the Spirit; the man must be there in principle, I do not say in perfection, before the Spirit is given.
BTF Do we not see in Romans 7 a man under great pressure and then the Spirit is given and there is no condemnation?
JT Yes, only I think even in Romans 7 it is a new order of man in principle; he so far answers to the Ark, for he says, “I delight in the law of God after the inward man”; but he has no power, and so in Romans 8 the Spirit is given. The new order of man is there in principle. The natural mind is enmity against God, hence a sovereign work of God in us is necessary. It is very interesting to see in Romans how God brings in the order of man which corresponds to the ark.
BTF Is that the same as the title to live?
JT Not quite; I think that is the question of responsibility to God. Death lay on you and Christ removed the penalty by dying, so that the title to live belongs to those who have faith.
Ques You were speaking today of Christ under God’s eye. Is that the same thing as Christ having the title to live?
JT Yes, in so far as the statement here goes;
[p. 463] see verse 1. He pleased God, He magnified the law and made it honourable. All this was due to God. So in Romans 5 one man brought in death by disobedience, and One brought in life by obedience. It was due to God that Christ, as become Man, should revert to every thought that God had expressed and answer to it.
AFM Would you say that the old order of man is idolatrous, and the new man is recovered in so far as he is free from idolatry?
JT I think so. The Lord in His own Person sets forth what a man should be for God. He had God before His soul and He was true to every divine requirement; idolatry was an abomination to Him. In that Man God proposes to upset idolatry and everything that is contrary to Him. Verse 8 introduces the controversy, “I am the Lord, that is my name, and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images”. From the moment that Christ is anointed the controversy is on between God and evil. The Spirit was put upon Him and He was led into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil and there what He was as Man comes out. He cites Deuteronomy only. The children of Israel had to go through the wilderness to be humbled and proved that they might know what was in their heart; but the Lord did not need this; He came on to Deuteronomy ground at once. There was nothing in Him to answer to the evil. He did not need to be tried to know what was in His heart. God did not require any proof of what was in Him; it was only necessary for testimony.
C.A. Was that the gold?
JT It was the wood. The wilderness proved the character of the Man. God was justified in taking up that Man, and when He comes back from the wilderness the Lord says, “The Spirit of Jehovah is upon me”. He was to set [p. 464] forth God.
CA How is God to overthrow idolatry in our souls?
JT That is a very important question. God proposes to take us up and form us in accordance with the ark and it is done by the knowledge of Himself in our souls; see verses 1 to 4. I do not think the idea here is so much the Servant, but that in the Servant God would display Himself; see verse 8. How would He do it? In Christ. He is the Creator and He reveals Himself in Christ and by that means overthrows idolatry in the souls of men.
BTF Then in Christ as the ark of the covenant God overthrows idolatry.
JT Yes, God asserts Himself in that Person. “I am Jehovah”. We see it in the gospels.
RSS Especially I think in Matthew and particularly in chapter 12.
JT Matthew 1 gives us Emmanuel, “God with us”, but that is really the first part of Isaiah, though the carrying out of it is in the Servant.
RSS So we get Emmanuel in Matthew 1, and the Servant in Matthew 2. In chapters 3 and 4 we have the temptation, in chapters 5, 6 and 7 His words, and in chapters 8 and 9 His works. Then He sends out the disciples as further testimony. In chapter 11 He turns to the Father and says, “I thank thee, O Father ... because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent”. Chapter 12 begins with fault finding on the part of the Pharisees, because the disciples were plucking corn on the sabbath, and the Lord asserts Himself as Lord of the sabbath; then He goes into the synagogue and there is the man with the withered hand, utterly powerless, and He heals him, and so great is the enmity that they take counsel to kill Him; then comes in this beautiful quotation from Isaiah 42, after that they bring to Him the man with the deaf [p. 465] and dumb spirit and they say he is cured by the power of Beelzebub; then the kingdom of Satan is mentioned; the only place that I recall that it is mentioned, but Christ was acting in the power of God’s kingdom, showing that God now had a Man to overthrow Satan’s kingdom; and then in the next chapter we get the kingdom of heaven.
JT All that is very interesting.
RSS When the ark was taken Dagon was found on his face before it, showing how God would overthrow idolatry by the ark.
Ques Is idolatry overthrown by Christ dwelling in our hearts by faith?
JT That is the effect of its overthrow in our souls. It is the knowledge of God that does it; we turn to God from idols, and if Christ is dwelling in our hearts by faith there is no place for idols. I have likened that passage to the ark at rest; when Christ is dwelling in your heart by faith idolatry is out of view.
AFM How beautifully that passage answers to the scripture here! You were saying before that God comes out in manifestation in the Servant and when the apostles preached they presented Christ in testimony, and those who heard, for example, the Thessalonians, turned to God from idols; they had God before them.
JT Yes, that is it. So the apostle says, “if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost; in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine into them”, 2 Corinthians 4: 3, 4. The gospels show how God was presented in the Lord’s ministry — especially the gospel of Luke.
Rem The day in which we live is different from that in which the Thessalonians lived, is it not? Idols are not honoured now as they were then.
JT John contemplates certain ones “going out”. He says, “they went out from us”; what was anti-christian went out. In the apostle’s days the power amongst them was so great that the evil went out, so we read of false prophets going out; they could find no latitude among the Christians, so they went out. But subsequently they found refuge within, and in time the pagan world was christianised. But the pagan world as christianised was bound to keep the principles of idolatry in some way, and it is for us to discover by the Spirit of God what form it takes now.
BTF Did you say the anti-christian spirit went out and christianised the world?
JT I think the Christendom of today is the work of the devil. It is christianised only in the sense that the name of Christ is on it, not in any essential way.
RSS I think the form idolatry takes today, to a considerable extent, is occupation with the greatness and glory of man; it will be that in the end, because man will set himself up making himself God.
JT It will head up in that way, only God modifies things today for our sakes. Certain events have been permitted to check it for the sake of the saints, but the elements are all there and will be seen then in their nakedness; man will be the idol then. In the apostles’ days the saints were exposed to the pagan system; Satan could not effect much now by gross idolatry, but he knows what man is prepared for; he knows man, and he produces what he wants.
CA I suppose, that, what will head up in the man of sin, Christ as the ark of the covenant will destroy publicly.
JT The ark of the covenant is the exact opposite to all that. Christ came in God’s name doing God’s [p. 467] will, the man of sin will come in his own name doing his own will.
PHP Would you say, that idolatry is anything that displaces God in the heart?
JT Yes, in principle. Idolatry is really connected with the devil; a stick or a stone is not evil in itself; the evil is in Satan using it to displace God in the heart.
CA Could natural relationships be idols?
JT Anything is that Satan can use to displace God in the heart; that is the clue; you must decide for yourself what it is in your own case. “The things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and not to God”. It is connected with the devil. Idolatry must always be met by bringing God in; so your great exercise in presenting the testimony is to bring God in. We are to be formed by the knowledge of God, we are born of God and as knowing God we are able to present Him. “God who commanded the light to shine hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God”. The light shines into our hearts for the shining forth.
RSS Mr. Raven once said, ‘I think I can say, I always seek to present God in Christ as I know God and Christ. You must speak from conscious knowledge if you are to have much power’.
JT That is very nice. It is most important to see what the ark represents: as soon as God has such an One as it represents the conflict begins; and God will bring all into conformity with the ark. He takes Moses up to the mount and “all flesh” is left below in the camp. What God set forth up there is really Christianity: all the wood and other material spoke of Christ, and in effect what is below is superseded; it was, in fact, idolatrous, and it took only forty days to bring this out. The instruction as to the tabernacle assumed the utter worthlessness of [p. 468] man in flesh. It is remarkable to think that Christians were in the mind of God on the mount as the kind of people, formed after Christ, that God would bring in.
AFM The law was put in the ark, and Christ when here magnified the law and made it honourable.
JT That testimony is continued in us, so that the boards of the tabernacle were of the same materials as the ark; and they also were covered with gold, only they were socketed with silver; there was necessity for redemption; with the ark there was no need for that. Blue was not prominent in connection with the ark except when it was carried, but in the priestly garments blue was essential; as he entered the tabernacle the priest was to be clothed with blue. The ark is Christ in connection with God’s counsels on the earth; the priest is Christ in regard to the heavenly position. Christ as typified in the ark had the law in His heart, but the priest had the saints on his heart. Christ came out to fulfil God’s will, but He carried the saints in His heart into heaven.
RSS There is a very beautiful picture of Christ in Isaiah 11. It is a most beautiful description of Him in another connection.
JT Yes, in relation to Jesse. Here it is a question of the One whom God elected. In chapter 11 it is the offspring of Jesse. Here He was elected because God delighted in Him.
RSS Will you say something about verses 3 and 4?
JT Verse 3 I think refers to Christ as here in the exercise of His ministry. Verse 4, “he shall not fail or be discouraged till he have set judgment in the earth” refers to the ark, to its stability, durability, and strength. Strength is connected with the ark; so David says. God “delivered his strength into captivity, and his glory into the enemy’s hand”.
BTF There is a remarkable contrast between verse 3 of chapter 11 and verse 19 of this chapter.
JT The latter, “who is blind, but my servant”, undoubtedly refers to Israel. The word servant in this book sometimes has that reference; but it is important to see what God would do in the Man that was His Servant; He would set Him as a covenant to the people; that is, through Him He would make known His mind to the people, that He might establish Himself in their hearts. If the light of God enters the heart, idolatry goes out. God will not give His glory to another, man is His image and glory, and He will not tolerate idolatry.
Ques Will you say something about the word in John, “Little children keep yourselves from idols”?
JT The apostle contemplated the Christian circle as intact and it was to be kept intact.
Ques. Is that individual?
JT Each individual must see to it. These parental expressions refer to the apostles’ place; no one else could use them.
Ques Do verses 9 and 10 refer to Christianity?
JT I think so. “The former things” refer to the Old Testament; now God will bring in “new things”. Christianity is new. “Before they spring forth I tell you of them”. God tells us of them in advance.
BTF Is that the present time?
JT Yes; prophecy refers to the remnant, only we are a continuation of the remnant of Israel, and what is coming in is known to us.
AFM Are the new things seen in the end of the book?
JT Yes.
BTF “I have put my Spirit upon him; he shall being forth judgment to the Gentiles”. Is that fulfilled now?
JT [p. 470] The principle of it is. Every right-minded person appreciates judgment. It is a happy thing to have judgment, that is, righteous discernment; it is unhappy for people to be without that. The introduction of judgment, that is, righteous discrimination, is what every right-minded person anticipates with joy.
RSS There is a beautiful expression in chapter 11, verse 3, “he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes”. That is the best we can do, “but with righteousness shall he judge the poor”.
Ques Was that in David’s mind in Psalm 72, “Give the king thy judgments, O God”?
JT Just so. Solomon showed judgment in his decision between the two mothers. We should not form a judgment without testimony and evidence, but we should have a judgment as to everything, “He that is spiritual judgeth all things”.
RSS But he should not pronounce his judgment.
JT No, and in regard to evil you judge it, but you cannot punish it; you must punish yourself; that is, you suffer to be clear of it. So in the Lord’s closing speeches to Israel we see everything judged, but not punished. The Lord had to suffer Himself. Moral judgment precedes the execution of it. It is seen in Christ; He judged everything; for instance we see Him going into the temple and judging.
Ques What about judgment is His strange work?
JT That is executive judgment. We have our senses exercised to discern between good and evil, but if there is no means of putting down the evil we must suffer from it; we are called upon to judge a thing we cannot put down.
RSS So with John the baptist; when he was executed they came and told the Lord, but they did nothing about it; the Lord saw His own rejection in it.
Ques What about, “Ye have: come to ... God the Judge of all?” Hebrews 12.
JT The believer has come to that now. You have come to One who is Judge of all and you leave everything with Him. You feel, “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” You have your judgment, but you must leave things as they are and suffer.
RSS So it is said of the Lord Himself, “When he suffered he threatened not, but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously”.
JT Yes, that is it. There is really the most extraordinary situation existing at the present time: you judge all, and yet you have to suffer from the evil. The Lord Himself suffered under it. Faith would rather suffer from the evil than change the dispensation; the dispensation of grace is one that God delights in. “For thy sake we are killed all the day long”; the suffering goes on; the victory is that you have power to suffer.
AFM I think this point is very serious; and if we take it home to ourselves it is most practical; for instance, the question of retribution in our business, our homes.
JT Or among the saints.
AFM It is a practical question for us: How do we behave, are we retributory? Do we give evil for evil instead of overcoming evil with good?
PHP We are enjoined to commit our souls unto Him in well-doing as unto a faithful Creator; even as creatures we shall be taken care of if we do right.
JT Oh yes, God will take care of the right, but you may have to suffer. The Lord Himself exposed everything in Israel through His ministry, but He did not remove it; He resisted unto blood striving against sin, but He went down under it. So we are called [p. 472] to suffer.
BTF So when John the baptist suffered the Lord did nothing.
JT Take Paul, for instance, see his sufferings; yet conditions are not changed for him. The Lord had power to bring Paul down at his conversion and He had power to alter the situation for him afterward; but He did not do the latter. So too John wrote to those “in tribulation and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ”. The best way to show you have a right judgment is that you have enough authority to put down the evil in yourself; it is good experience for the kingdom by and by. If you rule your spirit now you can rule cities by and by; it will be a constant exercise for you; the lawless spirit is always in us and should be kept inactive, and thus we should be a testimony to God’s power.
RSS There are two things, it has been said, which should characterise the Christian: to go on in self judgment, and abiding in the love of God. In that case you will have your hands full with judgment, and you will grow too. The better you know yourself the more you will consider your brother.
Rem We have in James 5: “Does anyone among you suffer evil? Let him pray”. I suppose you might suffer from your brethren.
JT There is always an outlet for you in prayer.