THE ECONOMY
[p. 489] THE ECONOMY
John 3: 35, 36; John 4:1-30; John 4:39-42
WW What have you in mind in reading these scriptures?
JT I have in mind to call attention to the economy into which God has come, the economy of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Verse 35 of chapter 3 states that the Father loves the Son and has given all things to be in His hand. “He that believes on the Son has life eternal, and he that is not subject to the Son shall not see life”. The economy in that way requires faith and subjection. Persons come into it on the principle of faith and subjection, and they form part of the administrative system. They see how it is ministered in the hand of Christ. That is briefly what is in mind.
The woman became part of the administrative system. She left her water-pot, which in itself is not to be used in that system. She left that and went her way into the city and spoke to the men about Christ, meaning that she was the vessel. The administration of the economy requires all believers, and the epistle to the Romans teaches us how we come into this administration, how our members are yielded to God as instruments of righteousness unto holiness, and finally that our bodies are presented a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is our intelligent service. The woman represents this latter part, the intelligent service. She understood; she was not told to go into the city; the Lord gave her no direction, but what she did was right and intelligent, and effective too.
AR When you speak of the present economy do you speak of it in contrast to the old economy as under [p. 490] Moses?
JT That is right. That is a helpful suggestion. That was an economy; we constantly speak of it as the Mosaic economy.
AR That is what I thought.
JT One thing that is to be observed as fundamental is that the One in whose hand the administration is, is the Son of His love. It is an economy based on love.
WW It is love flowing from the Father here.
JT The principle of the economy is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; the Father is the source of all, the Son the executive, and the Spirit in that same relation, even Himself subject to the Son; so that it is a graded relation between divine Persons, not, obviously, the relation in which They stand in inscrutable existence, absolute existence, but what They have come into so as to reach us and be intelligible to us, all depending on the incarnation. Chapter 4 is evidently set to bring out the working of this great economy. The Lord is seen in the previous chapter as the Son and anyone believing on Him has life eternal, and anyone not subject to Him does not see life, and the wrath of God is upon him. Now we see Him in chapter 4 ministering the greatest possible gift — ministered, but given on the principle of faith and understanding. So the Lord says, “If thou knewest ...” It is based not only on faith but understanding. Chapter 4 presents Him to us as moving on account of what He heard: “When therefore the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus makes and baptises more disciples than John (however, Jesus himself did not baptise, but his disciples), he left Judaea and went away again unto Galilee”. What was circulated, that He made and baptised more disciples than John, did not fit in with what was in mind; it would be a natural sort of rumour that was circulated.
[p. 491] WW Do you think that the Lord’s movements here indicate that He is moving in relation to the work of God in that city?
JT Yes. Well, He must needs pass through Samaria. “He comes therefore to a city of Samaria called Sychar”. The ‘therefores’ in John are suggestive. Our attention is now directed to Him as the loved One of the Father in whose hand everything is. How is He to proceed in the execution of all that is in the divine mind? He is certainly not entering into any rivalry with anybody. Christianity is not sectarian.
JAG What is the significance of that expression, “Jesus himself did not baptise, but his disciples”?
JT I think the time had not come; Pentecost had not come; His death and resurrection had not come. He was not gathering to Himself. His baptism was not like John’s. John baptised; He did not. It was His disciples that did it. It is pointing to Matthew 28: 19: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptising them to the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit”. They do that. I suppose the natural mind at the time would make the Lord a rival of John. Indeed in the previous chapter we read of the reasoning of the disciples of John: they came to John and said, “Rabbi, he who was with thee beyond the Jordan, to whom thou barest witness, behold, he baptises, and all come to him”. There was that sort of thing mooted, rivalry. It was foreign to the Lord’s mind; indeed it is foreign to christianity. Christendom is divided up into sects, more or less rivals, destructive to christianity. The Lord is moving on other lines. It is a matter of great importance that as moving with Him we are not sectarian. Our outlook is based on love. Divine administration is based on love; it is for the good of all. The men of the city come to the fact that He is the Saviour [p. 492] of the world.
GPW Is it on account of rivalry that He left Judaea and came to Galilee?
JT It would seem so, when it was said that He was baptising more disciples than John.
GHC Is there any significance, in relation to the divine economy, in the fact that He came near to the land which Jacob gave to his son Joseph?
JT Joseph represents that typically. He represents the administrative side under Pharaoh. It was opportune that the Lord should bring this truth out here.
GHC It speaks of the Father loving the Son.
JT Quite so. Jacob loved Joseph. He made him a vest of many colours and distinguished him. I think what we are saying is of importance to us all, that we are not sectarian. We are rivals of no one. It is not a question of having more disciples than others. It is a question of the administration of divine bounty, all the outcome of what God is. God is love. He is causing His bounty to reach man indiscriminately, whether Samaritan or Jew, whatever the nationality or colour.
AR Would you say that it shows a right spirit when John says, “I must decrease”?
JT Very beautiful! This thought of rivalry indeed brings out what was in John’s heart. He was a true lover of Christ. Looking at Jesus as He walked he said, “Behold the Lamb of God”, and his disciples left him. This discussion too about his baptism, “a reasoning of the disciples of John with a Jew about purification”, just shelved for a moment the great matter of what God is dispensing. Men turn aside to reason about purification and baptism and the like, and ignore the great question of what is in the mind of God in the Son; that is, the gift of living water. It is a poor thing if you meet a Christian and he says, ‘What do you think about baptism?’ It is a poor thing to raise the question of baptism [p. 493] the first time you meet a christian. It is better to ask, ‘What do you think of Christ?’ The great point in this gospel is the greatness of Christ; and John is baptising; he is bearing witness to the greatness of Christ. He spoke of Him. He cried about His greatness saying, “He that comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me”, John 1: 15. There is no danger of John the baptist and Christ becoming rivals, nor is there a danger of young brothers who love the Lord becoming rivals.
DI The woman of Samaria could take account of Him.
JT That is what we shall see. The Lord makes that a point: He says, “If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that says to thee, Give me to drink”. It embodies the two thoughts, the gift of God and the Person who is the Administrator. The Person is the Son; it really involves the Spirit; you might say that the three Persons in the Deity are involved in what comes out. The Father loves the Son, but the Spirit is involved.
WW So that what the Lord brings in here is greater than what is connected with Jacob’s well.
JT Indeed; the Persons are greater too. Jacob was great and Joseph was great, but now we have the Father and the Son.
WG Do we have a little of the dignity of who He is in chapter l?
JT Chapter 1 is full of it. You will be struck with the number of titles the chapter contains, especially those given to Him by believers. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (verse 1). And then, “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us (and we have contemplated His glory, a glory as of an only-begotten with a father)” (verse 14). That is what they say. Then it is said, “No one has seen God at any time; the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him” (verse 18). And then John the baptist sees Him coming to him and he said, “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (verse 29). Then Philip says, “We have found him of whom Moses wrote in the law, and the prophets, Jesus, the son of Joseph, who is from Nazareth” (verse 45). That is His title in humiliation, but it is nevertheless morally a great title. Then Nathanael says, “Rabbi, thou art the Son of God, thou art the King of Israel” (verse 49). And the Lord Himself follows by saying, “Henceforth ye shall see the heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of man” (verse 51). So that chapter 1 is full of the glories of Christ, and the Lord embodies that in using the administrative service here, saying, “If thou knewest the gift of God and who it is”. We are now in the presence of the greatest possible things that are ministered and the One who ministers is there in lowliness, outwardly weary with His journey. He raises the question of who He is. That is to be known. We are in the presence of the greatest possible gift, the greatest possible things; and as coming into that through faith we become part of the administration.
WH Is the administration manward in view of need, but ultimately with a view to the Father being the supreme object?
JT It is remarkable how that is introduced. The woman introduced the subject of worship, but the Lord proceeds to tell her about it; so that concurrently you have the two great thoughts, man’s need met and God’s need met. It suggests a need in His heart too.
Ques Would it be possible to know the gift and not know the Person?
JT In measure. The Spirit would not be long in a believer without suggesting something of Christ,
[p. 495] because the gift is in relation to the greatness of Christ. The gospel announces Christ in His greatness, the gospel of God concerning His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. So that it is difficult to see how the person having the gift would not also have some knowledge of the Person. It is not quite the forgiveness of sins here; the Lord spoke to the woman of the water; of course, she needed forgiveness, but that is not what is in view.
AS Why does the Lord speak of asking? “Thou wouldest have asked of him” (verse 10).
JT It is to bring out the state of the person ministered to. What is administered brings out what is on our side. God’s gift does not go begging. It is ever indeed to all, but the person only receives it as he has a certain state. That is, new birth underlies the reception of the gift, and the remark of the Lord would bring out that she was really born again, because if she had known she would have asked. I think those who ask would indicate that God has wrought in them. The natural mind does not act in this way; it would profane the things of God. God confirms His work in our souls. As a matter of fact the woman did ask. She says to the Lord, “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst nor come here to draw”. Well, you might say, ‘Why did He not give it to her?’ But he would probe her. He would bring out where she was. The moral history has to be gone into.
RI You see the receptive condition in Acts 10: 44: while Peter was speaking the Holy Spirit fell on them.
JT That is good. God sees our hearts as we are listening to the gospel; if He gives the Spirit He gives it knowing the state of the person. He knows all things. He knows the state of our hearts. The Lord would bring out this woman’s state and [p. 496] her history too. That is why He says, “Go, call thy husband, and come here”.
AR Would that be on the line of preparing the vessel to receive the living water?
JT The Lord says, “Thou wouldest have asked of him”, and she did ask. But He goes further than that. Is there really a condition there? The history of the person must come out.
PMcG Would it be right to say that the Lord is working on the secret workings of God in the woman?
JT He is acting on that. He is acting here in perfect divine knowledge of what was there; but He is bringing it out, and bringing before us how He would serve in the administration, to show how things are done, for we are to learn how things are done. There is not only new birth but the concrete evidence of it. The history of the person must come to light, for in truth He is thinking of her as a vessel. It is not only that we are to be saved for eternity, but we are to be vessels of administration here. Romans develops it, how each believer is taken on in the system of administration, and how his members are to be employed, and finally the vessel. David says, “The vessels of the young men are holy”, 1 Samuel 21: 5. That implies that God is working in us, for we cannot be taken on in the administration save as holy vessels. The apostle Paul is taken on. He is the first one of whom the Lord speaks in that way. “This man is an elect vessel to me”. Acts 9: 15. In Acts 10 it is a collective idea, the sheet bound by the four corners with all kinds of creatures in it. It is a question of whether each of us is cleansed; that process must be gone through if I am to have part in the administration.
GHC So that when she goes into the city her word is attractive and in [p. 497] power.
JT She went to the men. That is a thing to notice. They have lost their power over her. She has moral power over them. That is all hidden in the fact that she left her water-pot. It is given up and she is now free for God’s service. The old system has to be given up if I am to be effective in the new system of things.
RL Why does the Lord ask her for a drink?
JT He wanted to bring the whole matter up. He laid the foundation of her being usable later. She was usable then. “Thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water”. I hope the point of becoming part of the system has laid hold of us. I cannot belong to any other system. My vessel is to be holy, entirely devoted to God. The woman was entirely free; she left her water-pot. She understood that she was to be taken on in this way.
AR The Lord says to her that the water would be in her a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life. Would you say a word about the fountain of water?
JT It speaks of the action of the Spirit. A divine Person is involved in this, coming into the believer. The word ‘fountain’ would suggest automatic organs. The believer has organs that operate without his brain, without his head, and of course he has organs that operate under his direction. So that the Spirit’s power operating in the christian develops power springing upward. The movements of the Spirit in a believer effect a condition having an upward power. His intelligence would be brought into it; that would be more in line with the breath of life, more for the upper organs. What the Lord is speaking of here is more the lower organs, and the Spirit takes them on and develops [p. 498] them.
AR I was wondering if having the fountain springing up would enable each one to leave the water-pot. They have no need for the water-pot.
JT You are rendered independent of what is natural. There are two things: there is not only the believing but the understanding: “If thou knewest”. And she understands, because she goes to the men and says, “Come, see a man who told me all things I had ever done”. She knows what she is speaking about. She does not say anything to the men about the living water. She knew she should not do that; it was a levitical touch: she knew what to say.
JW “Come, see a man”. It was a man God was looking for. “One man among a thousand have I found”, Ecclesiastes 7: 28.
JT Quite so, a man having prophetic ministry. What is so much needed in the preaching is prophetic power to convict. The secrets of the heart are made apparent by the prophetic word. That is what is needed. “By a prophet Jehovah brought Israel out of Egypt”, Hosea 12: 13. What is needed in the initial overtures of God with us is the prophetic character of ministry in the preaching that would bring about conviction.
JW In chapter 5 the man said, “I have no man”, but this woman has found a Man: “Come, see a man”.
JT Quite so, a Man that can tell her what she had done. It is a Man that is needed to bring to light the secrets of the heart, because that is what men need: to be exposed to themselves. That is the point she emphasises: “Who told me all things I had ever done”.
RL What is the thought of ‘the Christ’ in that connection?
JT It is a general thought. It covers everything really. It is the Anointed, meaning that He is the Man that does everything for God. He found David [p. 499] a man after His own heart. The allusion is to Christ. That is what comes out: “is not he the Christ?” That is what she is looking for. What we need is the feature of ministry that exposes to ourselves what we are, what our history has been, and if we are to be brought into the system this must take place.
PMcG The woman is able to say, “I see that thou art a prophet”.
JT She saw what kind of Person He was. The fact is, she says, “Sir, I see that thou art a prophet. Our fathers worshipped in this mountain”. She was equal to it. A person who is self-judged by a prophetic ministry can speak about the things of God. A person, according to 1 Corinthians 14, coming in in this way, the secrets of his heart are manifested; he is judged and he falls down and worships God. That shows something has been effected for God through the prophetic testimony, and this woman is a subject to be spoken to about the greatest things for she falls down to worship God, although it does not say that she did.
HR Does it not indicate that she was free of sectarian thoughts?
JT She certainly had thoughts of rivalry. She said, “Our fathers worshipped in this mountain, and ye say that in Jerusalem is the place where one must worship”. The Lord would dispel all that, and it is not merely a matter of winning a person over as a proselyte, but it is a question of the secrets of her heart being brought to light; she is brought to God.
HR Is that the effect of the prophetic word?
JT That is why the prophetic ministry is so important now. I ought to be able to bring people to God in the gospel preaching. It is God that brings the conviction and the secrets of one’s heart are made manifest, and “thus, falling upon his face,
[p. 500] he will do homage to God, reporting that God is indeed amongst you”.
RL The woman said, “I know that Messias is coming, who is called Christ; when he comes he will tell us all things”. She had light.
JT Well, what she says is right. It is very remarkable.
JN How would the administrative service on the part of the saints work out at the present time?
JT In preaching the gospel, and in speaking to souls as the Lord speaks to this woman. How uplifting it is morally to feel that you belong to this great economy to which God has come — a fellow-workman of God! Paul said that he was a fellow-workman of God. How great a thing it is to be brought into that system! It is delivering from every other system: I am usable in that system, as of it.
WW Do you think that there is not sufficient of the Spirit brought into the glad tidings?
JT Perhaps so. It would seem that you influence the person you speak to not simply by what you say but by what you are.
WH Would that be in keeping with what is seen in Acts 1: 8 where the Lord, speaking of the descent of the Spirit, says, “Ye shall be my witnesses”?
JT Not simply witnesses of those things as in Luke 24, but “my witnesses”. How can I be a witness except in the way of likeness? Likeness and witness go together. If I am like Christ I represent Him.
PMcG Two things come to light in the woman: one is the secrets of her heart, and the other the secret of the working of God in her. You would say that the ministry of the saints in the gospel would effect these things [p. 501] in people?
JT Well, that is the lesson if I am in the divine system, usable in this way. There is a prophetic touch: the person is searched; the secrets of his heart are exposed. The Lord put the woman right on the point of Jerusalem. I do not think she was much of a religionist. She knew those things, but I do not think they weighed very much with her. The Lord puts her right. “Ye worship ye know not what; we worship what we know, for salvation is of the Jews”. That was important. But the real difficulty with her was her past history, and the Lord was not content with her asking for the living water. Her past history must be brought to light, all things that ever she did.
GHC Is that why the apostle speaks so much about prophecy in relation to Corinth, for he recognised how much would flow from the Lord having His place amongst them?
JT Quite so.
EF How would you distinguish between the work of God and the Lord working?
JT Well, the Lord says, “No one can come to me except the Father who has sent me draw him”, John 6: 44. That is the secret power working in a believer; it brings him to Christ. The Lord looks for it, and then He takes him on. “Him that comes to me I will not at all cast out”, John 6: 37. He looks at a person like this as a product of the Father’s work. The Father has drawn him to Christ; He looks at him in that way. So that, as I said, it is administrative, the Father operating.
FWG Does it agree with, “Every one that has heard from the Father himself, and has learned of him, comes to me”, John 6: 45?
JT It is intelligence. You know now what you are saying.
WK Does the Lord speak about finishing [p. 502] His work?
JT Quite so. It was His meat and drink. That is what the chapter is intended to teach. Of course, there are many things intended, but for those who serve God, and we all ought to, it is intended that we should see that it is everything to us; it is our meat and drink. It is not only to work but to be on the line of finishing, not leaving things undone, but finishing.
In verses 31 to 38 you have the remarks of the Lord to the disciples on the point of serving. He does not make that altogether a matter of sowing but stresses the reaping, and so this ministry fits in with the last days. We are not inaugurating; we are just coming into other men’s labours, carrying on what others have started. “Others have laboured, and ye have entered into their labours”. He does not make much of them. They do not shine very much here. We all have to admit that we shine very poorly when it is a question of having part in what God is doing.
JW Is your thought that we should know more of this great system into which we are brought?
JT Yes. It is morally elevating. We cannot belong to any other organisation.
HR Is it as we are separate and clear in our thoughts from what is sectarian that we can be usable by God in relation to the work, the harvest?
JT That is very important. You look for the work of God in men and women and children. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are in this. We are brought into this. You take on the greatness of what you belong to.
GHC In the last section you read it speaks of the word of the woman and His word.
JT That shows that she was not attracting them to herself. One knows of women, later on, teaching and preaching, especially in America. This woman had no thought of making herself a centre, any more than John the baptist did. “Come, see a man”, she says, as if she were standing alongside of Christ. “Come, see a man who told me all things I had ever done; is not he the Christ?” Any true servant would say, ‘If you are depending on what you learn from me you will be poorly instructed’. Paul says, “Ye became our imitators, and of the Lord”, 1 Thessalonians 1: 6.
WW She was calling attention to Christ: He “told me all things I had ever done”.
JT She was full of it. She is an excellent example of, “If Christ be in you, the body is dead on account of sin, but the Spirit life on account of righteousness”, Romans 8: 10. She was wholly immune from other influences. She speaks to them about Christ, another Man. She had found another Man. Her body was dead; Christ was in her. Her body was dead because of sin. The Spirit is life because of righteousness.
AR It says in regard of the Samaritans who came to Him that they asked Him to wait with them and He tarried with them two days, and they heard His own word. Say a little in regard of that.
JT Does it not indicate that my converts make room for Christ? It is a tribute to the work that has been done. They wish Him to stay, and they ask Him to abide with them two days. “And more a great deal believed on account of his word; and they said to the woman, It is no longer on account of thy saying that we believe, for we have heard him ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Saviour of the world”. It is no discredit to her; it is really a credit to her because she attracted them to Christ, and they are making room for Him. I suppose it would work out now in converts becoming part of the assembly; they make much of Christ.
AR They would learn a good deal more from Him than from her. So that if souls are blessed [p. 504] through the gospel, they need to be put into contact with Christ personally.
JT That is good, and you will observe that they could tell her not only that He is the Christ, but they say, “We know that this is indeed the Saviour of the world”.
PMcG The Queen of Sheba said, “It was a true report that I heard in mine own land ... but I gave no credit to the words, until I came and mine eyes had seen”, 2 Chronicles 9: 5, 6.
WW What do you think is in the fact that the Lord abode two days?
JT I think it was long enough to testify who He was, long enough to be known, and He was known better than He had been by the testimony of the woman. He grants their wish. He grants any right wish that is with us. With Zacchaeus He went to his house that he might know Him.
RL The Lord’s movements are in relation to the Father’s will.
JT The whole section is to bring out this wonderful administration that is going on. The Father loves the Son, the Father as beholding the wonderful down-stooping of Christ; the Son would not say anything He did not hear from the Father. It is a wonderful combination of subjection with equality, divine equality in subjection. Chapter 5 is indeed for instruction here; but this chapter is to show the lowly grace in which the Lord works to gain souls. He says, “Lift up your eyes and behold the fields, for they are already white to harvest”, the fruit of God’s work.
EF This all takes place as He passes through. Would that suggest that those taking part in the administration are in movement?
JT Quite so. He is gathering for another world. We saw recently how John calls Him “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world”. He saw [p. 505] Him coming to him. That was His sacrificial work, but the next day he saw Him walking: it was His attractiveness. He begins to gather. Two follow Him. He is gathering, taking away the sin of the world, gathering for another world, baptising with the Spirit and fire, as John says.