THE LORD'S PRESENCE

THE LORD’S PRESENCE

1 Corinthians 11:23-34; Matthew 18: 20; Matthew 28: 20; John 20: 19; Revelation 1: 12 - 16

JT It seems quite clear to me that the Lord’s presence here with the saints for the support and guidance of His interests has to be distinguished from His coming in a spiritual way to them viewed as forming that which is brought into relationship with Himself. The former is alluded to much more than the latter, especially in Matthew’s gospel, because Matthew presents to us divine administration and the assembly in that connection, hence the Lord is always here, whether with the twelve in their service, or with two or three of the assembly who are occupied with His interests; chapter 18: 19, 20. So that they should be supported in them; whereas John has before him the love side, the side that fits in with the Lord’s supper; not that he presents the Supper, for he does not; but he presents certain things that occurred in the way of service by the Lord at the same time as that in which the Supper was instituted. John presents that which love in the saints would value.

It is worthy of note that in Luke 24 it says, “Jesus himself stood in the midst of them”, whereas John says, “Came Jesus and stood in the midst”. Every word of scripture counts. It is clear that John has in view not simply that the Lord would be with His disciples in the general way indicated in Matthew, but that He would come to them in a certain place wherever they were, “where the disciples were”, see chapter 20: 19. It is not said they were gathered together, it is simply where they were. It is not indicated that He told them to be there, the point is that He came to them; thus it is quite clear that John has spiritual privilege before him, which love ^[p. 79] in the saints would value, whereas Matthew in that which he presents has a public position before him, therefore he presents the Lord’s promise that He would be with them always.

Rem We want to know something of the love that will call Him into presence.

JT I think the Lord’s supper according to Luke helps us. Luke presents Christ as the Priest; Mark presents Him in regard of levitical work. I think the Supper has a priestly feature in it; it develops spiritual affections and helps us in that way to become spiritual. Luke, no doubt, to some extent governed by the revelation to Paul, presents the Supper to us, in fact he is the only evangelist who does strictly give us the Supper in its own proper setting; and what is to be observed in referring to 1 Corinthians 11: 23, which is in agreement with Luke, is that the Lord is referred to in an affectionate way. “The Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread”. “This is my body, which is for you: this do in remembrance of me”. And so it goes on, “this cup is the new covenant in my blood”; personal pronouns especially appeal to the affections of the saints. He says, My body, My blood, and in that way brings about the spiritual state in the saints that the Lord looks for.

Rem It is beautiful. “My body ... for you”.

JT It is as if the Lord were for the moment excluding other things to impress upon us that it is for us.

Ques It would not be suitable then to bring in the far reaching thought to man on the gospel side?

JT The Lord in the Supper would impress us with His own special love to the assembly. Where the love of Christ is seen and apprehended the saints have love. In the Song of Solomon you get “We have a little sister and she hath no breasts”. She was undeveloped in affection.

^[p. 80] Ques Would you say the Supper is where the saints say, “Come”, but on the administrative side He is here?

JT In Matthew 28: 10 Jesus says, “Go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me”. The meeting place is fixed there, it is in Galilee. It is an administrative position and connected with it the dignity of royalty. “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth”. Then they are to go and “teach all nations”, and He adds, “And, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world”.

Ques What is the moral ground on which all this can be entered into?

JT Corinthians is intended to meet that, to call attention to the state needed to enter into these conditions.

Rem It involves very deep moral exercise in view of the present conditions, which must not be overlooked.

JT I thought it would be wise to bring in Revelation 1, because there we have the Lord seen in the midst of the assembly, in the midst of the golden candlesticks, not in an administrative way as you get in Matthew, but in the garb of a Judge with power to enforce His will; and this raises a very solemn consideration as to where we are in regard of the conditions that have come in. Can we meet such an One in the judicial attitude in which He stands?

Rem We have to take account of the altered conditions under His eye, but behind all there was the love of His heart.

JT Yes. So that notwithstanding the official garb, the evidence is present of His tender love to those who are true; so He says to John, as He lays His right hand upon him, “Fear not”. Laying His right hand upon him did not denote His power, but ^[p. 81] was an evidence of His love. Underneath and amid all the external majesty of His appearance and the judicial garments and the power that went with them, there is His love; although the paps are girt about with a golden girdle, His affections were restrained, yet the Lord makes it plain to John that He is the same One whom he loved and upon whose bosom he had leaned. John well understood it, and the question for each of us is, Where am I in regard of that in the altered circumstances?

I have no doubt that the revival of the Lord’s supper in assembly history has brought about Philadelphia; the My in the Supper corresponds with the My in the promises to the overcomer in Philadelphia. The connection between the words used in the institution of the Supper and in the promises to the overcomer in Philadelphia is very striking. It is “my God”, that is, the God of the blessed Man in the gospels, His God. It is the temple of His God, the name of His God, the name of the city of His God, the new Jerusalem which cometh down out of heaven from His God. It is as if He said, You have enjoyed My love in the Supper, and therefore you will enjoy and have pleasure and interest in everything that belongs to Me. The overcomer in Philadelphia would value every word of the Lord.

Rem Therefore it is of immense importance to get to the Supper. Do you not think our great exercise should be not to miss the mind of the Lord in it, because He still cherishes what He had in view when He instituted it. In what we get here in Revelation, the love which instituted the Supper because of what it had in view, is now really appealing for recovery amongst the saints, so that those affections might be revived.

JT Therefore “in his temple doth every one say, Glory”, Psalm 29: 9. So the blessed Lord, as the temple, stood for the glory of God. The overcomer ^[p. 82] is made a pillar in the temple of His God. We want to hold to the truth of the temple because the glory of God is there. Philadelphian times were marked, I should judge, by the recognition of the temple, that is where the light of God is, and in our meetings we should have that before us. We do not want anything extraneous, we want nothing outside of the temple, all that is necessary is there. “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” I believe that is what God would emphasise.

Ques Is the right moral state as necessary on the Matthew 18 side as on the side of John?

JT Surely; but I think Matthew is also reached through the Supper, in fact, everything must begin there. The Supper evidently has in view our position down here as identified with His interests; if we are not right in regard of Christ, if we are not true to our relationship to Him, what can be right? What can be right in a man’s home if the affections of the wife are gone? He says to Ephesus, “I have against thee that thou hast left thy first love”. The Supper is intended to hold and promote the affections. But we have started with John 20 instead of having our affections stirred up by the Supper according to Luke and 1 Corinthians; and have made it a doctrine instead of seeing that we arrive at the Lord’s presence by having the state that calls Him and that He can come to. If things are not right in regard of the Lord’s claim over our affections what can be right? The spring is in love which we have to Christ; first there is the love that He has to us and then the love that we have to Him, so it says, “Give me also springs of water”, Joshua 15: 19.

Ques Does 2 Timothy help us in regard of the Lord’s supper?

JT From our side 2 Timothy and Revelation 2 and 3 come first in view of the breakdown; these ^[p. 83] scriptures are specially written in view of the breakdown. We get to 2 Timothy by seeing the state in Revelation 2 and 3, which gives us the account of things from the Lord’s point of view, so that we may find our whereabouts, and we look for companions. Being found regulated according to 2 Timothy the next thing is I have the Supper, and that is available, if I have another Christian and myself, or two or three. There the love of Christ is before us, and we are entitled in a simple way to take up assembly ground. Now I hope this will not be misunderstood, because it is essential to see it. In our hearts and minds and affections we are entitled to clothe the saints that are available with assembly thoughts, and so we partake of the Supper, not simply in relation to the two or three with whom we walk, but in relation to the whole assembly, otherwise we would be a sect, and we should drop into a sectarian position. The assembly is here and the Lord loves it, and we take the Supper in the light of it, and come in in that way, I believe, to the assembly’s affection for Christ. The Lord says to Philadelphia, “And shall know that I have loved thee”. He is telling her that He loves her.

Rem It is not exactly loving the two or three, but loving the assembly.

JT The Lord has nothing less in His heart than the assembly. Philadelphia has all the saints in view. It is important for us to distinguish between the position of the saints here in relation to His interests and the Lord being with them always which is connected with “There am I”, and the former thought that He comes to them. John’s thought is not only that He stood in the midst, but He came and stood in the midst. I think love delights in that word “came”. He comes where there is affection. One would not like to be guided by the clock; not that I ignore it, for outward order is not set aside, but ^[p. 84] He comes, it is a spiritual thought. The Lord graciously entered into time, and Corinthians and Luke recognize time conditions. “When the hour was come”, but John presents Him outside of these, he presents Him coming through closed doors, it was a spiritual matter; therefore we are not governed by time in regard to the Lord’s coming to the saints, it is entirely spiritual. We come together to break bread; the outward sign, the ordinance, marks the meeting, but the other is spiritual, and refers to the apprehension of the saints, and what they are capable of realizing. The Lord comes to those who love Him.

Ques We break bread in the absence of Christ, do we not?

JT Yes; He is absent, personally He is absent. “If I go not away”, He says, and He has gone away, but as regards His administration, He is always here; how could we be here today if He were not?

Ques Would you say John presents the Song of Songs side?

JT Yes, I think so, and so does Ezekiel, he is the John of the Old Testament. The Lord has His own way of coming and going. There is a difference between our coming together and His leading us in assembly. We have the two thoughts. Jacob said to his sons, “Gather yourselves together” — the assembly attitude, but being gathered they are to hearken and hear Christ as Head.

Ques Is not the Lord’s greatness often lost sight of?

JT According to John there is spiritual movement with us. I have been speaking a little lately about the tribes, and I think it is a very beautiful subject in scripture. There are the tribes of Israel, “Whither the tribes go up, the tribes of Jah”, a testimony to Israel’s custom to give thanks unto “the name of Jehovah”. Now I think as we apprehend our place in relation to the Lord as Head, we are in ^[p. 85] another position; the attitude then is Godward; the Supper is what Christ is to the saints and our response to Him; the tribes going up refers to a spiritual movement which has reference to God. It says, “When they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives”; that was distinct movement. As we apprehend the Lord as Head, He is on our side, and being on our side He leads us Godward. The Supper is what He is to us, but as Head it is what the assembly (of which we are part) is to Him.

Ques What is the mount of Olives?

JT The way to heaven, it was His own retreat. Psalm 119 is the man who delights in the will of God, and it is that man who goes up. The apostle who speaks of Christ coming and standing in the midst is the one who is used to recover the saints.

Ques Before we close will you indicate your thought as to the passage read in Corinthians?

JT It speaks of the condition side, and the verses read call attention to that. Chapter 10 is the obligation side and chapter 11, is the love side, and the question is whether I discern the Lord’s body. I may be inconsistent even in sitting down with the saints by eating and drinking unworthily, and thus be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord, and that is very solemn. The saints are not viewed as risen in Corinthians. It is the tabernacle position, the saints are viewed as the assembly of God which is in Corinth; that does not mean resurrection ground. There was no floor to the tabernacle, it was set up on the ground, on the sand of the wilderness. Corinthians is more the public position of the assembly here, whereas Colossians is, “Ye are risen with him”. That is another position altogether, and so in Ephesians we are raised up and made to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, and that is in keeping with John 20.

Ques Does the prayer in Ephesians 3 help us in regard to enjoying the Lord in assembly?

^[p. 86] JT That is a question not only now of intelligence but of power.

Ques When the saints partake of the bread and the cup are not our thoughts too often individual, when we should have assembly thoughts?

JT My own exercise, in sitting down to partake of the Supper, is to hold myself for Christ, it is an assembly occasion; we are to be for the Lord. I would like to hold myself for Him. The man was not made for the woman, but the woman for the man; the assembly is for Christ, and we are to hold ourselves for Him, but then if you do, you are not on individual lines, you are on assembly lines because the assembly is for Christ.

Ques Would it be right to say that while it is the assembly, it is more the objective side and His suffering love, then He leads us to the other side?

JT We need to have proper thoughts in coming together to the Supper; it is our rallying point; we come to it from our respective paths in wilderness circumstances as those who belong to the assembly to remember the Lord Jesus where He is not, but when He comes, He comes to us as His brethren, which is a different position, and is an entirely spiritual thought.

In John 20 the saints are viewed as the brethren of Christ, so that the position John brings in is intensely spiritual, it is a heavenly scene. Therefore He comes into a company that are spiritually suitable to Him as His brethren, and He is there as Head. Mary Magdalene brings word to the disciples that she had seen the Lord and that He had spoken these things unto her. Apparently they were already there . I do not think the thought of their being gathered is in view in that chapter. I think the point is that they were there (see verse 19, New Translation), and wherever they were Mary finds them and the Lord finds them. He knows where they are, so He came and stood in the midst; that is what love does.