GROUPS SEEN IN RELATION TO THE CROSS
[p. 107] GROUPS SEEN IN RELATION TO THE CROSS
JT The groups or classes of persons seen here at the cross of our Lord, are in mind to be considered at this time. In the section read, you have those who do not understand the words spoken by the Lord, though uttered in the most perfect way, with the clearest pronunciation. They say, This man calls for Elias, thus indicating that they regard the Lord as a mere creature, praying to another creature. Then there are the military, keeping guard; they are affected by the testimony at the moment along with the centurion, and confess the Lord as Son of God (verse 54). Then those who followed Him from Galilee and ministered to Him, some of whose names are given. Following on them in the narrative, we have Joseph, whom we may associate with Nicodemus, another disciple who reverentially cares for the body of the Lord. Then the chief enemies of the testimony — the priests and Pharisees — carrying on the service of the devil, are seen at the end, endeavouring to defeat the testimony by an artifice which the governor allowed (verses 62 - 66).
I thought we might become more reverential and humble in presence of the truth through the consideration of these groups, challenging ourselves as to which we belong to, for they exist today. This section gives us only some of the classes; there are the soldiers mentioned earlier, Pilate and his wife, and Judas. This is a most solemn and searching chapter for us, and intended to sober and humble us, and subdue our spirits.
FI All these different classes represent certain conditions in which men are found today.
JT Yes, they have their counterpart today, and we are challenged as to which class we are in.
[p. 108] Obviously those who followed the Lord from Galilee ministering to Him, represent the fellowship, as we might say; though “afar off”, they were with the Lord in heart, and intelligently, according to their measure. John in his gospel refers to them as standing by the cross. Then there are those who are capable of being affected immediately by the current testimony, as it is presented. They make a confession; it is an encouragement as to fellowship; we may reckon on the current work of God seen in the immediate effect produced, over against positive opposition to it. Earlier, those standing by said to the Lord, “If thou art Son of God, descend from the cross” (verse 40); and again, “For he said, I am Son of God”. Here, the centurion said, “Truly this man was Son of God” (verse 54). Whatever has been said by the haters of Christ — and much has been said — God would have the very thing affirmed that has been denied, and that is an important matter. It is a sure effect of the work of God over against what is asserted in opposition to Christ. We have the word in 1 Corinthians 15, “your labour is not in vain in the Lord”, hence one can always reckon on immediate and genuine results from the testimony, over against what is being alleged in opposition.
HB Would a crisis in the testimony bring this to light, or is it general?
JT It is the general bearing of the testimony here. The chapter shows it is a very public matter. The chief priests and elders take counsel against Jesus; they are the leading religious people. Then there are Pilate and his wife, the latter capable of being affected by the testimony that was current, and recognising that the Lord is a “righteous man”. Then the remorse of Judas is recorded, and the Lord’s position as standing before the governor; all this is public; and the soldiers sitting down, then the superscription of His accusation, and His own voice [p. 109] in a cry. No passage could be more affecting, more profound, more far-reaching. You have the voice of Christ in the clearest possible manner, and yet His language is not understood. He is regarded by those around as a mere creature — how current this is today! — and dependent on another creature — a double blasphemy.
WMcB Psalm 22 comes in here.
JT Yes, the actual words He used are quoted, a translation into Greek being furnished in the text. It is in the vernacular, it should be understood by those present; and yet it was not understood. So today there are plain things in testimony, and yet not understood. “Why do ye not understand my speech?” the Lord said. It brings out those who do not understand, exposing “the ignorance of senseless men”, 1 Peter 2: 15. The words here would have been understood in any setting, save in relation to Christ, showing the perverse will at work. Over against that, we have the military men taking account of heaven’s action. As the Lord cried and died, “the veil of the temple was rent in two from the top to the bottom, and the earth was shaken, and the rocks were rent, and the tombs were opened; and many bodies of the saints fallen asleep arose, and going out of the tombs after his arising, entered into the holy city and appeared unto many. But the centurion, and they who were with him on guard over Jesus, seeing the earthquake and the things that took place, feared greatly, saying, Truly this man was Son of God”. God is thus seeing to the matter. This sign did not come immediately at the first cry (see verse 46), so the real opposers commit themselves. It was after the second cry, the Lord having died (verse 50), that God intervened, having undoubtedly these military men in mind. They would represent the current work of God in connection with the testimony. It had become [p. 110] effective in them, and so they say, with the centurion, “Truly this man was Son of God”.
Ques What is the difference between the two cries?
JT The first cry is in regard to the actual wrath of God, when Christ was paying the penalty of sin, “Why hast thou forsaken me?” The second has in view the termination of the man that sinned, in the actual death of Jesus, though the penalty in the forsaking had already been borne. The second cry corresponds with the other gospels; it involves that the man that sinned is done with morally. The whole thing is settled in regard of penalty, first in the actual sufferings, not merely physical, but of a spiritual nature which the Lord Jesus endured; then the second cry is in relation to actual death, conscious as the Lord was of what He was doing. It was not weakness: He cried with a loud voice.
JG Jesus suffered without the gate and sanctified the people, therefore we go forth to Him without the camp. Would you say a little as to the bodies of the beasts burned without the camp.
JT It sets forth the absolute termination of the man that sinned, the sin-offering is alluded to. There was a difference in the sin-offerings in that the blood of some of them was not carried inside the veil. These latter allude to our apprehension. The blood carried inside and placed on the mercy-seat refers to the fulness of the thought of atonement. God is appeased, and the answer to that is the burning of the whole carcass outside the camp. The burning of the sacrifice outside the camp corresponds with the second cry; the man that sinned is dealt with in toto.
PSP Death is dispossessed.
JT Quite so, and there is the testimony to it. Christ is raised again for our justification.
Rem It says, “after his resurrection” that those alluded to here came out of their graves.
JT It is a question as to when the tombs were opened, but it is mentioned here in connection with a group of facts. The coming out of the tomb was of course after His resurrection — some days after, no doubt — but it shows how God confirmed Christ’s resurrection. It stands in relation to the facts as confirmation for our faith. These things mentioned affected the centurion — “seeing the earthquake”, and so on. There is a group of great general facts, and their bearing, brought forward; they are for faith. As the testimony is effectively rendered, God works in souls. He had worked in souls earlier, but here He does it instantly. It is an encouragement to us to go on, seeing that God works in relation to verbal testimony presented, as in the voice of Christ, and God confirms the word by signs following. Other things help us besides the actual voice. We have the concurrent work in souls, and the confirmation of testimony in signs following. “Knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord”, the apostle says.
M The veil is rent here from top to bottom; in Luke it is in the midst.
JT In Luke it is a fuller thought, in the midst: God coming out to man. Here it is more from the top to the bottom. Matthew gives us God acting authoritatively; it is from above, as it were; the whole Jewish system (in its legal efforts, hindering the truth of christianity) is set aside. In Luke it is just “in the midst”. It is grace: God, through the death of Christ, making a way to reach man. You can never understand the gospels save through the epistles, there you get the educational side and you come to the gospels for confirmation. How great the position is here! The facts are brought to bear on us by the power of teaching in the epistles, so they become embedded in our souls. As to the passage [p. 112] before us, we shall do well to put ourselves alongside these women — they came a long way.
Ques Was all carried forward in testimony through the apostles? Paul spoke of Jesus and the resurrection.
JT Yes, on the principle of levitical ability. No one understands the gospels until he understands Romans.
WMcB How do we stand by the cross of Jesus today?
JT By honestly accepting the teaching of 1 Corinthians. The word of the cross rightly received gives you to understand it. You understand it thoroughly. It is not a metal cross worn on our persons: there is no value in that!
EG Is the “holy city” a sphere where such a testimony would be received?
JT The Lord had exposed the literal city in the most scathing terms, but the primary idea of Jerusalem is never abandoned by God. The saints at Jerusalem, after the Lord, as risen, came in among them, would be ready for those risen ones coming in; they “appeared to many”, Scripture says. The Lord made a way for this, in coming amongst His own on the first day of the week. It is like bringing His sheaves with Him; He has the risen saints. We have to leave with God what happened to them afterwards. The testimony of their resurrection entered into the constitution of the assembly — real risen saints coming out of their graves; they may have been thousands of years dead.
JG What about the one hundred and forty-four thousand (Revelation 14)?
JT Those are not actually risen, they are the fruit of testimony and are with the Lord on Mount Zion. They are near enough to heaven to hear the song. Three groups are brought together: those who form the assembly, the living creatures and elders;
[p. 113] the victorious saints, those put to death under the Beast, no doubt; and this group, “bought from the earth”, but on the earth, yet very near to heaven so as to hear the new song.
It would greatly strengthen us in the assembly if we saw these men who had come out of their graves alluded to in this chapter in Matthew. What a triumph for Christ are these risen saints in the holy city!
PSP Would that word, “compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses” connect with the resurrection scene?
JT The cloud of witnesses are those recorded in Hebrews 11 as living by faith. These risen testify to Christ’s resurrection. Christ the first-fruits, then those that are His at His coming. These are among the latter, although appearing early as a testimony. The Lord spent forty days in making the saints spiritual, first appearing to Cephas, the erring brother, and then to others. The more spiritual we are, the more we can visualise this; how formative and confirming these appearings would be! You have James included, and then all the apostles — the authoritative ones. These appearings would not be limited to the forty days, they would come into the period of the Spirit, as in Paul’s case.
Ques What is the value of the introduction of these appearings in 1 Corinthians 15?
JT To bring us into the spirit of things. One of the greatest results in reading Scripture is to be brought into the current of things, not simply the letter. What it must have been to see the Lord in the presence of five hundred brethren!
HB Would the movements of the women referred to here show how we arrive at things? They followed Jesus from Galilee.
JT Quite so. The next chapter shows, alas! how unbelieving they were, but undoubtedly the Lord [p. 114] educated them in those forty days, so as to be ready for greater things. They came from Galilee which speaks of reproach, and are now standing at the cross — a gibbet with Jesus on it! the supreme thought of reproach. The apostle could say, “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world”. All these events brought down to us make for spiritual enrichment.
FI The appearings could hardly be confined to the forty days, as Paul is included, so the appearing to the five hundred may not have been then.
JT It may not have been. Colossians is the teaching epistle by which we come into the good of this. Paul writes, “buried with him in baptism, in which ye have been also raised with him through faith of the working of God who raised him from among the dead”. That is, I take it in, in faith; and then secondly you have quickening, so that there is the means of appreciating the thing. Thus we are able to testify.
We should fix our minds on those who followed the Lord from Galilee, so as to understand the fellowship. Like the twenty-four elders, they are experienced believers, having followed Jesus, and that from Galilee. Here they are in the place of supreme reproach, along with the One who was the centre of their affections. Then we have Joseph, who is called a disciple, though he is not in quite the same class as the women, nor as the centurion — still he came into it undoubtedly. First we have the immediate result of the work of God which is always to be recognised, then a man called a disciple who comes in after the death of Christ, not seen in relation to His cross, but to His burial. It is what the soul discerns. If I discern Christ as Son of God, I am in the light of another world, and I am called into the fellowship of God’s Son. Fellowship has [p. 115] to be noted. The women are of one mind, and experienced in it; they followed the Lord a long way, ministering to Him.
Rem It says they beheld “from afar off”.
JT Matthew is an assembly man, and takes note of distance. John speaks more abstractly, he says, standing “by the cross of Jesus”. Evidently they were near enough for Him to address His mother and John; if He speaks, He will regulate you. From Matthew’s point of view, there is distance.
Rem “Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?”
JT You cannot overcome the world save as in that power. The Son of God belongs to another world. You might be judging the world and not out of it, like Lot. An outlet is the thing. The Lord is giving us to understand what we are to confess. Not that this Son was begotten of the Father before all worlds. We are not confessing that, for Scripture says that He was “marked out Son of God in power ... by resurrection of the dead”. I confess that; also that “we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us an understanding that we should know him that is true; and we are in him that is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life”.
EG What would the hewn tomb suggest?
JT It was a suitable grave; Satan could not rob Him of that. God robbed Satan of the advantage of the grave that he intended for the Lord. There is satisfaction in the enemy’s intent being defeated, even if nothing positive is gained; “but he was with the rich in his death”, Isaiah 53: 9.
Ques What is the force of the Word “demanded” used by Joseph (John 19: 38)?
JT Joseph, I suppose, could approach the governor in the liberty indicated. God ordered it that there was such a man, an equal, as we may say.
[p. 116] Pilate could recognise the status of Joseph. God selects a certain man for a certain work.
Then we have the chief priests and Pharisees making provision for what they deemed might take place. “And Pilate said to them, Ye have a watch: go, secure it as well as ye know how”. They did so; it is man’s final act, and the next chapter opens up heaven’s great act — a messenger from heaven is sitting on the stone! That is derision, “He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh”.
Ques Would this action on the part of the priests and others imply fear that after all they had not got rid of Christ?
JT Yes, that same fear is present in opposers today; why are they so active? They are constantly saying this or that to add to their heaped-up opposition. They are afraid.
Ques May we look for intervention today?
JT Yes, heaven will come in, so our resource is in prayer. The women were on the alert. “What I say to you, I say to all, Watch”. In every matter of this kind where man does his worst, and Satan does his worst, God comes in for us.