THE FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK
[p. 249] THE FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK
Acts 20: 7 - 12; John 20: 1, 19
JT In connection with these two scriptures, I thought we might see in John’s gospel the full bearing of the first day of the week as denoting that which is first, that which is morally before all else in the ways of God. The synoptic gospels connect the resurrection with what preceded it in the Old Testament, the truth regarding the assembly in these gospels being linked with what preceded it, like Rebecca’s being brought into Sarah’s tent. But John goes back to what is before the Old Testament; hence he refers in his gospel to that which was in the beginning: “In the beginning was the Word”, and Christ being thus introduced, John the baptist says, “He was before me”, that is, the Lord takes precedence of all else, and the assembly is linked up with Him, like Eve with Adam. We get the Lord’s hands and side in John’s gospel, the outcome of love; it is not something that has come in like Israel, but what preceded. So we get throughout John’s gospel what sets aside and ignores. Whilst the passover is respected and recognised in John’s gospel, it is a feast of the Jews, and other feasts are disregarded. The Lord refuses to go up to the feast of tabernacles. Things are brought in in John’s gospel which are wholly independent of what the current religionists were going on with; they were going on with this feast, but the Lord has part in things which are wholly independent. Six days before the passover He has a supper made for Him (chapter 12) and in chapter 13, “before the feast of the passover”, there is a supper, which is not called the passover but is “before” it, as if the Lord is going on with something entirely apart from current religion. What we are going on with is entirely apart from what [p. 250] the religionists are going on with, whatever they may call their things. What we have is by itself, nor do we seek to be conformed in any way to them, their holy days, or whatever they may call them. We have our own things which belong not to this world but to that which is before the world.
JHL What is the difference between the first day and the eighth day?
JT The eighth day links on with the previous seven.
JHL I thought the eighth day suggested that which is eternal.
JT The numeral would indicate that it follows on seven, a period before, whereas there is nothing before the first day. The first day was in the mind of God before any other dispensation came in; the way it is introduced in John is in keeping with that.
N “That he might have the first place in all things”, Colossians 1: 18.
JT Yes, what He is.
Ques Why did they have preaching before the breaking of bread?
JT It is dispensational with regard to the church.
The professing church has ignored what was in the mind of God in connection with the breaking of bread.
The breaking of bread stands connected with Paul’s ministry.
WCG Was the preaching in order that they might understand the breaking of bread?
JT We are not told what he said: it is a suggestion. Paul had to say what he said before they broke bread. Eutychus would set forth the fall in connection with those who did not pay attention to Paul’s preaching. The breaking of bread has been divorced from Paul’s ministry in christendom and it has lost its character, but those who have come into the truth of it respect it in its right setting. “For I received from the Lord”, says the apostle Paul; it is associated with Paul’s ministry.
Ques Is the breaking of bread the product of Paul’s gospel?
JT It is associated with it specially. He detaches it from the houses in Corinthians; he tells them the houses are to eat their meals in. God foresaw perfectly what would happen, that Paul would not be listened to. Paul had much to say, and there is much to say. The breaking of bread is not to be left in a cloud, but it should be in the full light of Paul’s ministry so that no one should have any doubt. It is what was in the mind of God from the outset.
AK Does the salvation of the gentiles today lie in the maintenance and appreciation of Paul’s ministry linked with the Supper?
JT Yes, that is what has happened. Light came in in connection with Christ as Head in heaven, and following on that the breaking of bread. Brethren began to see that the body of Christ was here. “We ... are one loaf, one body”. Eutychus did not listen to that.
Ques What would the “many lights” signify?
JT It was in an upper chamber. The upper room has its own spiritual significance. It is that into which those came who saw the Lord ascend. We can welcome all the lights. They do not detract from any greater light; they add to it.
Rem It is not only recorded that Eutychus fell into a deep sleep but that “he sunk down with sleep”.
JT It signifies the state of the church at a given period. “While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept”. The midnight cry caused an awakening. “A certain youth, by name Eutychus, sitting at the window-opening, overpowered by deep sleep ...”. He was overpowered, showing he had not the strength to hold against it. You will remember on certain occasions the disciples could not keep awake.
[p. 252] It refers to weakness spiritually. It is not presented as sin, but inability to listen, to keep awake. “Wake up, thou that sleepest, and arise up from among the dead”, Ephesians 5:14.
Ques What would keep us awake? We do not want to go to sleep.
JT The first thing that would keep us awake is to accept responsibility. If you accept responsibility and are hearty in the thing, God will help you. There can be nothing here for God without the sense of responsibility attached to us here on earth. We are left here as responsible. We do not want to be stupefied, to lose our senses: “Be not drunk with wine”. In Matthew and Mark we are told that following the breaking of bread they sing a hymn and go to the mount of Olives. The mount of Olives would maintain the thing in power. We want the thing maintained in the full level of the mind of God and that can only be by the Spirit; it is by the Spirit that we are not overcome with sleep.
Ques Would sinking down suggest lack of vitality?
JT The way it reads here is that “a certain youth, by name Eutychus, sitting at the window-opening, overpowered by deep sleep, while Paul discoursed very much at length, having been overpowered ...”. “Overpowered” comes in twice. It is a question of power. The truth of the matter is that the young man being at the window-opening would be looking out, so that he would have an eye on the world: that is the secret of it. Worldly influences stupefy and overpower. The drop was severe, from the third storey down to the bottom, showing the completeness of the fall. The Lord says to Ephesus “Remember therefore whence thou art fallen”, the depth of the fall. Ephesus was at the top and fell down. The Lord’s supper is intended to keep the eye of the christian on Christ, not looking out. It is said of Moses on one occasion that “he looked this way and that way”. That is what politicians do. The worldling looks towards the world, and the politician looks on all sides to make sure that he will get support.
Rem Daniel’s window was a great contrast.
JT Yes, he looked towards Jerusalem; he was not overpowered with sleep. Demas loved this present world; he “has forsaken me”, Paul says. It is the same sort of thing.
AK Would the embrace of the apostle answer to the revival of which you spoke earlier in the meeting?
JT I thought so. It is the way love has come in. Paul descending enfolded him in his arms. Paul did not fall; he descended. There is a great difference between falling and descending. Love descends. The more love you have, the more ready you are to descend to help others. The Lord descended. Love goes down. You go down to bring another up. Paul resuscitated him.
Ques Would John’s ministry keep us awake?
JT It makes you live, anyway. The state of the people of God in general is just that of Eutychus, and it is your business now in the light of Paul’s ministry to be exercised, to descend, to fall upon them and enfold them in your arms. It is a question of serving in love. Sonship is the thought of God for us. That is what Paul brings out. We “are all God’s sons by faith in Christ Jesus”. We have the spirit of sonship and it should show itself by our serving one another in love. “Be not troubled, for his life is in him”, Paul said. “And they brought away the boy alive”. In the presence of all the light, Eutychus was overpowered with sleep. When the Lord was in Gethsemane and on the mount of transfiguration the disciples were overpowered. It shows what we are unless supported by the Spirit of God.
JHL You were referring to that passage in Ephesians: “Wake up, thou that sleepest”.
JT Yes, it is a quotation from Isaiah 60: “Arise,
[p. 254] shine! for thy light is come, and the glory of Jehovah is risen upon thee ... and the nations shall walk by thy light”. It is a quotation which fits in with this epistle, all things having their true character exposed. In Ephesians it is, “And the Christ shall shine upon thee”. That is the idea in Isaiah 60. “Thy light” is Israel’s light, and it refers to the nations, too. That is what we get in the epistle to the Ephesians.
JHL Christendom is asleep, but are we not in danger of it?
JT Yes, and the danger is of going to sleep in the full blaze of light; that is what the mount of transfiguration teaches us, and you see it in a moral way in Christ in Gethsemane: a great light shone there, and the disciples went to sleep in the presence of that!
Ques As to accepting responsibility ...
JT It is a great thing to accept responsibility. The Lord will help you if you do.
JHL What do you mean as to accepting responsibility?
JT I am here where Christ is not. The Lord said to the man in Luke 8, “Return to thine house and relate how great things God has done for thee”. That was given him to do. The man wanted to be with the Lord, but the one who wants to be with the Lord is qualified to represent Him where He is not. So that man does go home and he speaks about the Lord Jesus. Then in the same chapter we get the woman who had the issue; she is healed, virtue goes out to her, and she falls down when the Lord urges it and tells all the truth; that is, she is transparent. She represents the church as reflecting Christ, but a transparent body, not opaque. The church is not to be an opaque body, but bright and luminous, open; anything that went in would come out! Any virtue that comes out of Christ is reflected in the transparent body. Then we get in the same chapter the little girl,
Jairus’s daughter. She suggests the spiritual element, fresh and youthful. When the Lord comes to the house He goes in with Peter, James and John, and the father and mother of the child. These three cases in Luke 8 represent what the church is here in responsibility to the Lord though wishing to be with Him. It is left here to be the reflection of Himself. “That ye might set forth the excellencies of him who has called you out of darkness to his wonderful light”, 1 Peter 2: 9. There is the freshness of life in the little girl, the youthful element.
It is important to see how the breaking of bread stands as related to Paul’s doctrine. It is not put down here (in Acts) as an example of how things should be done, that is, we do not look for a long discourse from a brother before the breaking of bread. Paul represents God, and it is a question of what he will do. It is better to have a discourse than to break bread in the dark; that is what is being done in christendom. It is better to listen to Paul before the breaking of bread. The young man shows the state of things, that which comes to pass in the history of the church, and proves the wisdom of Paul’s long discourse.
Rem I suppose one might go to a district where this is not known and it might be well to have the discourse in order that they might rightly understand.
JT You have hit the nail on the head: we want to know what we are doing.
WCG How many could give such a discourse?
JT Take the ministry in the Collected Writings of J.N.D. ; what a volume of ministry God gave as the thing was brought to light to dispel the dark cobwebs of the middle ages! Cartloads of superstition had to be removed! The ministry does that; it exposes the human innovations and brings things into their original simplicity, so that you can now break bread in the light as God is [p. 256] in the light.
JHL They make the Lord’s supper individual in Christendom, whereas it is collective.
JT It is very important to remember we are not doing things because there are certain customs around us that are like it; it has nothing to do with those customs. It is the first day of the week. We begin with the thing.
Rem We ought to be very glad not to be classed with the religious bodies.
JT Yes, we are not known there.
AK In connection with Eutychus, after Paul had enfolded him, it says, “And having gone up ...”. In that sense the apostle would seek to “present every man perfect in Christ”, Colossians 1: 28.
JT Very good. It stands related to the breaking of bread: “Having gone up, and having broken the bread, and eaten, and having long spoken until daybreak, so he went away”. That is what he did. He went up again, that is where the breaking of bread is; he went up, and then there is a change from discourse to conversation. In verse 7 we are told Paul discoursed.
AK Would the discourse be an individual thing on the apostle’s part?
JT Yes, and then it is conversation, after the breaking of bread. The breaking of bread is now resumed in the full light of Paul’s ministry and in the full light of the resuscitation of the person who went to sleep. We get the principle of conversation between brethren. Instead of a discourse they are speaking together, mutually; “having long spoken” or conversed (see footnote in New Trans.); that is to say, there would be room for others to speak as well as myself.
It helps greatly to see that John brings the Lord in as at the beginning, not connected with anything historically; He is before all. Whatever there has been historically He has done it: “All things received [p. 257] being through him, and without him not one thing received being which has received being”. That is very sweeping; it brings Him in pre-eminently. He takes a place before all things, and the church is necessarily linked up with that, with what is at the beginning; so that he presses in this gospel that the saints might see His glory, the glory, He says, “which thou hast given me, for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world”, John 17:24. We can understand what the Lord meant by “that world, and the resurrection” (Luke 20: 35), Hebron being before the world. “The hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world”, Paul says.
Ques Why is it in the evening in verse 19?
JT Well, it was the first day of the week. That would mean that all the blessed service of Christ during the whole day would enter into it. Luke, who is concerned about the public order of things, says the “hour” not the ‘evening’. But here, I apprehend, all the ministry of Christ during the whole day entered into this last event.
AK So that even in our day, in the language of the scripture we are meditating upon, we do break bread in the evening in that sense.
JT We do it in the light of all that Christ is to us. He comes to us like the “hind of the morning”,
Psalm 22. It included all the blessed service of Christ upon that day; it would be a wonderful day. The hind of the morning would allude to the agility of Christ in the service of love. The feminine speaker in the Song of Songs says, “I charge you, daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles, or by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, till he please”. That is, you do not need to do it. Love is like the gazelle; when it acts it acts wisely. You do not need to stir it up; it comes.
AK “I will not leave you orphans”.
JT Exactly. You do not force it; it is remarkable that she says “by the gazelles, or by the hinds of the field”. It suggests the declaration of the name unto His brethren first: “I will declare thy name to my brethren”. That would be involved in the ministry of the first day. How active He was in visiting His brethren and making His Father known to them! -.N. The same day is emphasised.
JT It is well to notice that. It is not emphasised like that in the other gospels. “The same day at evening, being the first day of the week”. “The first day of the week” comes in twice. The first verse of this chapter gives us a beautiful picture and Mary Magdalene is in the forefront because she represents the subjective result of what is going on: “The first day of the week Mary of Magdala ...”. She stands out in this beautiful picture. She represents the church as the complement of Christ; Christ was in her heart.
N It has been said that Mary Magdalene is the only one who saw the Lord Jesus twice on the resurrection day.
JT That is very interesting. It shows how she fits in here in connection with the first day of the week. Mary Magdalene goes early in the morning to the tomb. We can see how she would understand the message that the Lord gave her; the church fits into it as the complement of Christ. John has the assembly in view as seen in Adam and Eve before sin came in, what was in the mind of God before anything else, Christ and the assembly! We need to enter into what is proper to the church.
Ques Should we go up like Paul?
JT That is the principle, moral elevation; it has nothing to do with current religion. Mary was not asleep. She, too, came like the gazelle, and she could say to the daughters of Jerusalem, ‘Do not stir up my Beloved until He please’. God will never be behind; hence, “When the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son”. That is what love had in mind, sonship; He had waited for it.
Rem Service came for Mary Magdalene: “Go to my brethren”.
JT Yes, she brought a wonderful contribution that time. She goes “bringing word to the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that he had said these things to her”. She did not go as a gifted person; she did not go as a teacher; she went in a comely way. The church does not teach, but she has light.
AK Phoebe was a servant of the church.
JT Yes, and she knew her place.
Ques What have you to say about the last utterance to the disciples, “Peace be to you”?
JT That was to be the state which would characterise the company. “And having said this, he shewed to them his hands and his side. The disciples rejoiced therefore, having seen the Lord. Jesus said therefore again to them, Peace be to you”. That is, He confirms them in peace as rejoicing. They have peace first as having the light through Mary’s message, and then as they are rejoicing in His presence He confirms them in peace. We should be overflowing with thanksgiving and praise, and there is peace.
N Before we close, would you say a word as to the difference between the first day and the Lord’s day as in the book of Revelation?
JT The Lord’s day brings in authority and corresponds with the Lord’s supper. Subjection is the first great feature. Without subjection you cannot have anything; hence, the apostle says, “I received”, not of Christ but “from the Lord, that which I also delivered to you”. The Lord’s supper involves subjection to the Lord; that is very important. The first day of the week releases you from all that is here and takes you into the spiritual realm; that is what the first day of the week implies.
Ques As to His side ...
[p. 260] JT It alludes to Eve being built from the rib taken from Adam. John shows us the church in that way. It is life out of death, life in a collective sense in the saints, so that we are known. We get the personal distinction of the church in John. When God brought the woman to Adam, he said, “This time it is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh: this shall be called Woman, because this was taken out of a man”. She was there before him. John gives us the dignity of the persons who form the church. We get “great fishes” in John (chapter 21: 11).