THE DISPENSATION OF THE ASSEMBLY
[p. 232] THE DISPENSATION OF THE ASSEMBLY
1 Timothy 1:4; Revelation 20:1 - 6
JT I have in mind that Scripture yields much on the lines of the dispensation; the word in 1 Timothy 1:4 is not ‘godly edifying’ as in the Authorised Version, but “God’s dispensation”, or ‘the administration of God’ (see note); it is in view of certain results. It is our dispensation, that is the dispensation of the assembly. In Revelation the passage refers to prophetic matters, and deals with certain years; so a thousand years is mentioned several times. It is what God has in mind for the earth. 1 Timothy 1:4 refers to heaven; we belong there, we are indigenous to it, but Revelation has to do with God’s dealings with the earth; they are also dealt with much in the Old Testament. I want to make the thought of years concrete. There is such a thing as dispensational truth; it is so that we can find out to which dispensation we belong, and how to act in it.
Rem So verse 5 has in mind the truth that would liberate all that.
JT Very good, and keeps before our minds the thought of the dispensation. The millennium is really a dispensation of sight. So John’s believers have not seen; John 20:29. It must be in love as well as faith. In the millennium it will be a period of years, but we belong to the period of faith. In the thousand years God is working out His plans. Prophecy was gone in for in the past as to what has taken place, as for instance in the Collected Writings, but we must see the spiritual side, for this is a time of faith.
ESH Is not the word ‘economy’ a good one?
JT The Lord Jesus is the Administrator. Christ in heaven is the High Priest, and the Holy Spirit is [p. 233] on earth as the Paraclete. It is not so in the millennium; now it is the period of the gospel.
AJG In this dispensation all the truth comes out.
JT Yes, and we have the indwelling Spirit, and can work things out and compare spiritual things with spiritual.
Rem The millennium can be calculated in years, but in this dispensation the Person of the Spirit is required.
JT Yes; He is here indefinitely.
Ques Why is it “God’s dispensation”?
JT It is a question of what He has in His mind. There are levels, in Timothy we have high levels; in Revelation, low levels.
Rem Eternal things are in mind in this dispensation.
JT Yes; and a thousand years is fixed.
Rem But those who have their part in God’s dispensation are formed by what is eternal.
JT Yes, indeed.
AJG Is ‘faith’ stressed?
JT Yes.
Rem “In faith”; those are the actual words.
Rem The Lord Jesus enters into this as not knowing the day nor the hour in Mark 13:32.
JT It is very wonderful that the Lord should take the place of not knowing certain things. It is referred to in Revelation 1, where John the evangelist is the vessel taken up, and he is the one the Lord loved peculiarly and confided in. The assembly understands so fully and perfectly. God is working out something; He is not saying much about it. Ours is a perfect dispensation; the millennium is not so.
PHH Paul tells Timothy to remain at Ephesus (verse 3).
JT Ephesus is mentioned first in Revelation as to local [p. 234] settings.
PHH The high level in Ephesians is to help us to work out the high levels of the truth.
JT Acts 20 is the working out of the local things, as to filling up what is behind.
Rem Timothy is entrusted with the greatest light.
JT There is so much to be engaged with that we can well afford to leave out other things. The question is what will become of the millennial saints? But God is waiting. Paul says, “But this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit God’s kingdom” (1 Corinthians 15:50), so we are not left in the dark; the assembly understands everything.
JSE So Paul says here, “to Timotheus, my true child in faith” (verse 2).
JT It is in a moral and a spiritual sense.
Rem So that it would have a bearing on ourselves.
EuR God’s house is linked up with “God’s dispensation” and God’s economy.
JT It is what the assembly is, “hades’ gates shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18); it is what the assembly is.
Rem As to “the assembly of the living God” in chapter 3:15, all works out now in the assembly, “justified in the Spirit” (verse 16); so it is a question of power and working things out.
Ques For this working out in power do we need the service of prayer referred to in chapter 2:1?
JT Prayer is a great feature of working things out in the assembly. Read Acts 1 and see how it is worked out there, and then the Spirit having come, in Acts 2:17 we get, “And it shall be in the last days, saith God, [that] I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh”; that comes from the Old Testament, but what Joel prophesied has some bearing on our dispensation, and we have to work it out as we have opportunity. It is more what has its beginning in the millennium; the truth [p. 235] is interlocked.
Rem So it is a partial fulfilment.
JT That is a good word. And then how much comes from Isaiah, too.
Ques Why do we get “of my Spirit” in Acts 2? Does it refer to the Spirit as we know Him today?
JT Yes.
PHH The Lord calls Him “the Spirit of truth”in John 14, John 15 and John 16.
JT It all conforms with what the Lord says, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life”, John 14: 6.
PHH He helps us to find our way.
JT Things are said nowadays that are not true and not literal. Things are brought out to discredit the truth. “The scripture cannot be broken” (John 10:35), and all Scripture is divinely inspired. You must have literality in some sense, for “every scripture is divinely inspired”, 2 Timothy 3:16.
EuR The Spirit of God will not give anything that is not in the ambit of Scripture.
JT ‘Ambit’ is a good word, but the logos is the word, “the pure mental milk of the word”,1 Peter 2:2.
Rem There was the power of the Scripture itself in the interpretation by the Lord to the two going to Emmaus; Luke 24:27.
JT And see the language the Lord uses, “O senseless and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!” Luke 24:25.
Ques Is not the scripture in Numbers 21:17 one that has been much used of late among us?
JT It is one scripture that is invulnerable, for it says, “Sing unto it”, addressing the Spirit. I am afraid of people who make little of one scripture.
PHH That would be especially as to the types.
JT They have their own value.
JSE “Everyone that is of the truth hears my voice”, John 18:[p. 236] 37.
JT And Pilate dares to say, “What is truth?” and yet the Lord was that before him.
Rem We have the Spirit and His help in understanding the parabolic scriptures.
JT We should learn the meaning of the types and parabolic words. They are full of truth. In 1838 J.N.D. spoke of the Spirit carrying on a conversation with Rebecca.
Rem John speaks in his second and third epistles of “walking in truth” and “walking in the truth”.
Rem As to the types, Paul says, “Now all these things happened to them [as] types, and have been written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages are come”, 1 Corinthians 10:11.
JT “All these things”.
Ques Further as to the types, the Spirit is referred to as the “servant” and “the man”; would you use more New Testament language?
JT Yes.
Ques In the same way Luke 22:11 mentions “the master of the house”. Would you use that title in speaking of Him?
JT No, not unless in a reverent way, but it is the truth.
AJG It is how we say things.
Rem There is the liberty of love in addressing the Spirit; it is not to be a head-matter.
JT Rebecca is spoken of as carrying on a conversation with the Spirit.
Rem In Genesis 43:19 Joseph’s brethren speak “to the man that was over Joseph’s house, and they spoke to him at the door of the house”.
JT A beautiful suggestion.
Rem And there is in John 10:3, “To him the porter opens”.
JT Yes; we had it in Rochester.
EuR We are to be free to use [p. 237] New Testament names of the Spirit, in conjunction with Old Testament ones.
JT You mean in addressing Him?
EuR It is a question of our liberty.
JT Yes. We are set in the realm of love.
Rem “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty”, 2 Corinthians 3:17.
PHH In Colossians 1:8 we have “your love in the Spirit” and in Romans 15:30 “by the love of the Spirit”.
JT They are beautiful words.
ESH This would have in mind ‘body’ conditions as in 1 Corinthians 12.