READING 2 CHRONICLES FIVE
[p. 443] READING 2 CHRONICLES FIVE
JT This chapter presents the final resting-place of the ark. The staves were drawn out, indicating that it would never need to be carried again.
FL It really represents the rest of the millennial day, I suppose?
JT There is a beautiful expression by the Spirit “after that the ark had rest”, 1 Chronicles 6:31. It was a definite period reached.
It might be well for us to notice that the temple, and even Solomon himself, and the order of things that obtained under him, were the outcome of David’s faith and energy so that 1 Chronicles, it seems to me, covers rather the present period of time. It is a transitional period. The ark was taken care of, but not yet in its final resting-place; and there was great activity on the part of David in connection with it and the order of service in the house, which, I think, points to the present time. The Lord is now arranging all these things, and the time of display is coming when they will be presented in perfection.
JLJ That will be the fruit of the present time.
JT Yes. You cannot but be struck in reading 1 Chronicles with the excessive energy of David in relation to the house and the order of service in it, and yet the house was not built so that it would seem to me that the present period is morally greater than the millennial state of things, because the millennial state of things is rather the outcome of the wisdom and energy of Christ, which appear now.
FL It would appear that the rebellion, the attempted substitution of Adonijah for Solomon, was serious in the eyes of David, because it interfered with the very thing that was being effected for the house. Everything centred in Solomon. You do [p. 444] not get that touched on in Chronicles. It is in 1 Kings.
JT What you do get in the end of 1 Chronicles is that David and Solomon sit, in a sense, on the throne together. It would be a great point for us to see the place that David occupies in Chronicles; not only anointed king over all Israel, as installing the ark, but as head. Very few Christians know Christ as Head.
JLJ Those who know Him as Head are brought into the truth of unity.
JT What is implied in the Head is wisdom. You cannot but be struck with the wisdom of David, given by the Spirit, as seen in 1 Chronicles; so that what comes out in the millennium will be the outcome of Christ’s arrangement, but it is an arrangement that is being made now. It will be simply unveiled. The workmanship is going on now, so that it is the moment of Christ’s activity. He is working out a divine scheme according to His wisdom, His infinite wisdom; so that in result, everything is ordered by Christ and when the moment of display comes it will be unveiled.
RSS It is in that sense that you speak of Him as Head.
JT Yes. His headship is known now. It will come out into display, but He is working now, according to the infinite wisdom that He possesses. He is putting each of us into our places now.
FL I think what supports that is the point of view with regard to the assembly here. I mean, “to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God”, Ephesians 3:10. That is, what is taking place now, is occupying principalities and powers. They are looking down and seeing what is being effected now.
JT And it is “the manifold wisdom”. You [p. 445] might think it is only one part of it, but really the whole scheme of divine wisdom may be traced in the present work of Christ in the assembly.
FL And I was thinking of a remark made this morning as to ruin, but really from God’s side there is no ruin. Everything that is to be wrought out in connection with the assembly is being wrought out now.
JC Would you look upon Christians generally as knowing the Lord as Lord, but not as Head?
JT Lordship is an easier thought to take in.
CC You would connect this scripture with Colossians, would you not?
JT Yes. That is 1 Chronicles after the instalment of the ark; not indeed that Colossians gives us exactly the working of the Head; it rather gives us the Head. Ephesians shows fully the working of the Head.
GH Normally the Christian holds Christ as Head.
JT You will never hold Him as Head till you love Him. You may know Him as Lord before love is known in your soul.
GH Does knowing Him as Lord produce subjection?
JT That is it. Saul of Tarsus says, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” Acts 22:10.
GH Is nearness known at that point?
JT Lordship does not involve nearness. The point is there is One over you that has authority.
JC You get a good illustration of it in Joseph. All in the land of Egypt knew him as lord, but his own brethren alone knew him as head.
JT To them he said, “Come near to me”, Genesis 45:4.
AAT In the gospel would you preach Christ as Lord?
JT I would preach Him as both Lord and Head.
GH Subjugation paves the way for headship.
[p. 446] JT As Head He controls you through the affections. As Lord He subjugates you. “He is able even to subdue all things unto himself”, Philippians 3:21.
FL That is really entrance into the kingdom. When Peter came to Cornelius and spoke of Jesus of Nazareth going about and healing all that were oppressed of the devil, for God was with Him, he then brings in, “He is Lord of all”. Acts 10:36.
JT We say “Lord”; that is, He is Lord of everything.
JLJ As Head He enlightens you as to what is to come out in the world to come.
JT You learn wisdom from Him?
WHF I was thinking that in the apprehension of Christ as Head He has His true place in your affections.
JT And you get your place in all that He has before Him. As Head He puts you into your place; and this is according to His wisdom. David, in arranging for the house, does not go back to the pattern given to Moses on the mount in regard to the tabernacle.
WHF It seems to me that we are very feeble in grasping the truth of the headship of Christ in relation to our meetings. I think it is an immense thing to apprehend Christ in the light of Head.
JT I think so; hence, whatever light may have been given before, at any given period, if the Lord moves afresh you have to wait and see how He makes the new position fit in with what has gone before, or vice versa. The pattern given to Moses and all that appertained to the tabernacle is not thrown aside. It is not discarded, and yet it does not control David. David rather uses it in connection with the new order of things according to the wisdom he had been given. There are certain features that marked the old order that are incorporated in the new, but all take character from David. He does [p. 447] everything. The principle of headship is what should be maintained amongst us. You must be regulated by Christ at all times, and whatever has been given before takes a place in relation to what is given now.
RSS Can you give us an illustration of what you are speaking of?
JT Well, consider, for example, one of the disciples of the Lord, who valued the law of Moses and the old economy; we will say he is a scribe, discipled into the kingdom of heaven. His mind would be ‘Whatever I have learned from Moses I must see how Christ views it, and in what relation it stands to Him’. So he would wait for direction from the Lord in regard to it. In that way he would make Christ prominent. Christ would be the ruling influence with him, not what Moses taught.
GAT Would you say recognising Christ as Lord is more in relation to the kingdom, and as Head more in relation to the house? The latter is a closer relationship.
JT Yes. After the ark is installed, what occupies the Spirit mainly in 1 Chronicles is the order of the priesthood and the Levitical service, and the psalms that they were to sing, and the vessels that were to be used; all are provided by David.
FL That is an exceedingly important thing which we are rather indifferent about — the vessels to be used.
GAT Tell us about them.
FL I suppose the vessels and the character of them, sanctified and meet for the Master’s use, are very important elements in connection with the house; and, as a principle, in connection with these times, there is nothing more important than the character of the vessels.
JT You notice here that in connection with the ark he brought in the holy vessels that were in the tabernacle.
FL [p. 448] There is a general indifference in regard to the character of the vessels; it is thought that any vessel can do what is wanted; but when the question comes up in the house of the Lord there is always holiness and sanctification in connection with it — that which is clean.
CC In holding the Lord as Head, how does His headship affect us? How are you directed by Him?
JT I think that headship comes out in the way of influence rather than by specific directions; the latter are from the Lord, but headship is more in the way of influence.
CC And influence comes by nearness to Him.
JT Exactly.
GFW Do not verses 15 and 16 of Ephesians 4 give it to you: “speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: from whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love”. Ephesians 4:15,16.
JT There the Head is the source of supply clearly, but the activity is on the part of the members. I think you must make that distinction. We need to keep in our souls the sense of the Lord’s place over us as Head in our relations to one another, so that the body edifies itself thus. But what our brother was alluding to is how we realise the direction of the Head, and I think it is that He influences us.
FL Do you not think John gives us an illustration of the influence of the Head? He was close to the Lord, on His bosom, and when a perplexing question comes out he is there under His influence, gets light about it, and knows what is in the Lord’s mind.
JT Just so.
FL Peter can turn to John and ask him to ask [p. 449] the question. In a sense he was holding the Head, because he was under the influence of the Head.
WHF The Head holds us in touch with Himself. What was referred to in Ephesians is not the exercise of gift, it is the impulse and nourishment coming from the Head to the members of the body; and each member is active.
JT For “its self- building up in love”.
WHF Before that you get the gifts.
JT We may be active towards one another, and show great signs of care for the saints, and yet nothing will be effected unless we are holding the Head. All flows from the Head. There is a great deal of that kind of thing in Christendom; activity and care for people; but according to that passage that our brother read the Head is the source of all nourishment, and there is no building up in love except as we are in relation to Him.
RSS Does the head of a household illustrate what you are speaking of?
JT I think so, especially in reference to his wife. He is more lord to his children; he often has to be, at any rate; but in relation to his wife it is rather influence than specific injunctions.
WHF Do you not think that in the world to come the rule will be all influence? The Lord will act as Head.
JT I think so, in the main. There may be elements that require authority, but in the main it will be influence. People will have been subjugated already. It will be a state of things like what is indicated in 1 Chronicles: a hearty recognition of Christ as the worthy One. The people who accorded David a place did not require to be subjugated; whereas the state of things at the end of Judges required subjugation. Every man did what was right in his own eyes; there was no king in Israel. A king [p. 450] was necessary for that order of things. But in 1 Chronicles a different state of things is apparent. It is more a head that is required, and therefore David is head in 1 Chronicles. David has the throne accorded to him by universal acclaim. When the saints accord Christ His place in the assembly He does not require to subjugate, but to direct it.
FL And so the good of headship comes in very largely in the way of wisdom and nourishment.
JT Those who came to Hebron to make David king needed wisdom and other things, so that the actual work that David had to do there was not to subjugate the people, but to put them in order.
FL That comes out in the headship of Christ in relation to the church. It is as wisdom and nourishment.
JT So that lordship applies to the individual, not exactly to the church.
FL And lordship also comes in in connection with passing from one regime to another. So Cornelius and his family are baptised to the Lord, as also the Philippian jailer and his household. They change from one order of control to another.
WJN You said that we do not get the working of the Head in Colossians?
JT You cannot get the working of the Head unless you get a company of saints who know Him and accord Him His place.
WJN So Colossians is to bring them to the owning of the Head.
JT They had to be brought to see that they did not need to go outside of Christ for anything.
GFW Does headship come out more clearly in Solomon?
JT I think it is more clearly seen in David, though it is seen in Solomon also, for he had wisdom.
GFW What I was thinking of was that there is no war in Solomon’s time. He puts to death a few [p. 451] men in the beginning of his reign, but after that all is peace.
JT It is manifestly the millennial state of things in his reign. Of course he, too, is a wonderful type of Christ. One remarkable thing is the character and extent of things he spoke about — everything in the creation. It is Christ having to do with all the creation. He is acquainted with every part of it. But in David you see the working out of things before the time of the display, and he got everything from God direct in regard to the house.
AI Is he looked at as Christ risen in building the house?
JT But he did not build it; it is noticeable that David prescribes as to how it is to be built; Solomon simply carries out David’s instructions. 1 Chronicles is greater than 2 Chronicles in that way.
AI David had to pass off the scene in death, and Solomon comes in in resurrection.
JT But David, as a type, goes on to the subjugation of all enemies at the end of the present dispensation as well; so that he and Solomon at one point sit on the throne together. Thus in one sense David covers the present period. It is the time when things are being prepared, but in the future they come into display.
FL He prepares the material and has everything under his hand for it. He sees the day of display in Psalm 72 and his prayers are ended.
GFW I had rather thought David represented Christ in his death and Solomon coming in there.
JT But I think it has a wider bearing. I fully recognise that in His lifetime the Lord provided the material for the building, and, as risen, He put it together; but that is only a limited view. That is only the church. Whereas 2 Chronicles refers to the full display; there is not only the temple, but the nation as well, which you have not at [p. 452] the present time.
GFW I think David and Solomon sitting on the throne together make that clear.
JT And it is specifically called the throne of Jehovah, which has reference to the future. “Solomon sat on the throne of Jehovah” 1 Chronicles 29:23.
FL I have been greatly interested in seeing what lies at the foundation of the house. We get the idea of the foundation in Genesis 22 from the divine side; it is the offering up of Isaac (Christ) for a burnt offering on mount Moriah, where sonship and affection are first brought in. Then, when we come to the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite, it is the sacrifice of Christ ending all the will and the pride of man which came out in David numbering the people; another aspect of the same sacrifice. It is there that the foundation of the house is laid; on the one hand in what is according to the good pleasure of God effectuating His counsels, and on the other hand in what clears the ground fully of man and his pride and self-will.
JT Undoubtedly; and it is very important that the temple was reared up on the threshing-floor of Ornan, where atonement was made.
JC I think it is clear that it takes both David and Solomon to be a type of Christ as King.
JT And you must carry the picture forward, too, to the millennial state of things in order to show its full bearing.
JC We are in a different relationship to it. The queen does not look at him as king, but as head. In that sense the church would come in.
E Would you not think that in Solomon, the glory of the Lord is set forth more than anything else?
JT It is publicly displayed in him, but David is morally greater, because he is the origin of everything typically.
JLJ David had to meet all the power of the enemy and overthrow it before Solomon came to reign.
[p. 453] JT That is seen more in the books of Samuel. Here the people are subjugated, so that David has working material now; he takes his place as head, and therefore you get a most wonderful development of divine wisdom. Nothing is more interesting than the arrangement of the priesthood and Levitical service in the book of Chronicles, for not only do you see order, but God is provided for; God’s praise is provided for by David. I think David is called a man of God only in relation to these things.
GFW And the mystery which it says was hid in God is in a way indicated in Chronicles.
JT The manifold wisdom of God. Then in Ephesians 3 we get further, God’s glory in the assembly, world without end.
FL I think in Ephesians 3 you get the two sides: what is true today, and then the display in the world to come.
GFW What is typified by Solomon is altogether future. David covers the present period.
JT The only way you can bring Solomon in at the present time is that it is in the Solomon character that Christ built the church, as at the beginning. It was built there in a way, but the church as yet is not complete; so that this is a sort of transitional time, and therefore it corresponds to the first book of Chronicles.
FL The reference to the day of Pentecost is quite interesting, because the character of the house of God comes out as a house of prayer for all nations. All tongues and all peoples are brought in there, and I suppose in the world to come what is here in 2 Chronicles will be true: the house of God becomes a house of prayer for all nations.
AAT What is the idea of house; is it a dwelling-place?
JT Yes, in the sense in which we are viewing it. The idea of the temple is light.
[p. 454] GAT Will you say a little more about the vessels?
JT Vessels are Christians; that is, viewed as for use. The sorrowful part of it is that whilst the world cares nothing for the priests and Levites as such, they do use the vessels. Belshazzar used the vessels of the temple.
FL It is really in the nature of what Hezekiah did. In displaying the vessels, the treasures of the temple, he led to their being carried into Babylon and being used by Belshazzar. I suppose the use of the vessels of the temple by the world today is a very important asset in the world.
JT You could not conceive of a believer being a vessel without having a body, and that can be used in the world.
JLJ In what way do you mean?
JT The world can take up Christians and use them. You might find them in the high places of the world, as in Belshazzar’s feast. The point in regard to the house of God is that the vessel is to be sanctified, but it may be a vessel and not be sanctified. The world does not care whether it is sanctified or not. The world may use the vessel, but if the world uses God’s vessel the world will be judged. The Lord claims title to the vessel, but He will not use it unless it is sanctified.
FL The point of view in Christendom in song is to be “only an empty vessel”; but the point of view from Scripture is to be a “sanctified” vessel, not an empty one.
JT The apostle in writing to the Thessalonians exhorted them on that very point; that each should possess his vessel in sanctification and honour.
FL Also in 2 Timothy 2. It is true all through.
RSS It is striking in this scripture we read that the priests did not come up by course, but they were all sanctified. It is a most wonderful [p. 455] occasion. God seems to have reached His end. The glory of the Lord filled the house.
JT There is a most interesting point there, indeed, but I am wondering if all are clear as to headship. There is a very beautiful point at the end of the chapter in connection with unity.
AAT Is the thought in headship that you consult the Head in everything?
JT You hold the Head, and you may depend upon it the Head will never be inactive. You have not to say anything to Him. The head always fulfils its function. The members of your body do not consult your head, but they are under its direction. The head moves of itself.
FL The hand or foot are under direction from the head.
LEM Why do we not more hold Christ as Head?
JT I suppose we prefer our own wills.
LTF Is it a question of our wills, or confidence in our wisdom?
JT Very often the latter. We think we can do things as well as the Lord. If you hold the Head He attends to all the rest.
WB Is that seen in Adam and Eve? Adam was not deceived, but Eve acted on the suggestion of Satan. Adam was a figure of Him that was to come.
JT If she had held him as head she would have been saved: she would not have listened to any other voice.
LTF Does this direction come by regarding what is suitable to Christ? You refer not to commandments, but to what is suitable to Christ.
JT Yes. You know Christ now. You know your Head and you love Him, so that your great concern now is what is His mind and thought. God had not indicated to Eve that the serpent could give her light; the very lowest of creatures. It was altogether contrary to divine [p. 456] order.
FL There is another very important point there; it makes a great difference to us what kind of a head we have. Eve had a poor head, otherwise when she was going wrong the head would have set her right. The results of holding Christ as head are enormous for blessing, and the results that come upon those who rely upon themselves are enormous for evil. I think we can appreciate what it is to have such a head as Christ, and Christ is the Head of every man.
JC When the Lord Jesus Christ was here on earth, He was the obedient, dependent Man, and when temptation was presented to Him He did not yield to it because He had no direction from His Father. Is that the characteristic thought?
JT As holding the Head, you have His mind. “He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit”, (1 Corinthians 6:17) which is a thing to be known and to be understood; you do not need an utterance if you have one spirit. The Lord’s mind is known to you in a spiritual way.
JC “Ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things”. 1 John 2:20.
JT That is the capacity to know things by the Spirit, but the thought as to the Head is that you have the same spirit. You are influenced by Him in a spiritual way. I think you will see what I mean.
JC The sun is shining and I feel the rays.
JT And the same Spirit animating you that is in Christ, you can understand that His thoughts are known to you. That is the relationship in which the church stands to Christ.
GAT John in the Lord’s bosom.
JT But there the question was asked, “Who is it?” The Lord answers specifically, “He it is to whom I shall give a sop”. John 13:26.
FL I suppose that Romans 8:9 gives the idea in a negative way: “if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is not of him”. And the positive is that if [p. 457] any man have the Spirit of Christ he is of Him. Referring to our brother’s question, one would hardly speak of the Lord here as having a head to turn to; He was in Himself a head, put here under test, as Adam was put under test.
JT Yes; though He did take the place of doing His Father’s will. But that is another thought.
JMcL Would you say that influence would only be by affection — as we are held by affection?
JT And inasmuch as you have the Spirit in you and you hold yourself in relation to Christ inwardly you get immediate directions from the Lord. You know it is so, and it is not a question of articulation, neither is it a question of going by Scripture, though of course the Lord’s mind will always accord with Scripture, and yet you have no doubt as to what is the Lord’s mind.
WJN And I suppose it is well to remember as to direction it is really in connection with Christ’s order of things here.
JT So that as a result the manifold wisdom of God comes out in the assembly, it comes out because Christ is directing it. The Lord Jesus as Head moves people, hence the importance of our holding the Head.
Ques Is that collective or individual?
JT Both. Each member has to hold the Head, but no individual could be in himself an expression of the manifold wisdom of God. It takes the whole assembly to be that.
O If we held Christ as Head every member would be in its proper place.
JT The responsibility for each member is to see to it that he is holding the Head. It is a wonderful thing to see a company of Christians held and swayed by an unseen influence. “The locusts have no king, yet go they forth all of them by bands”. Proverbs 30:27. There is a hidden mode of direction. That typifies Christ at [p. 458] the present time. If there is not self-judgment our own wills come in, and the Lord Jesus cannot act amongst us.
EHT Would you say that coming together this way we are holding the Head?
JT In a certain sense indeed we always hold the Head in principle, but the headship of Christ has to do with His own things. I would acknowledge the Head in these meetings; but it is seen more specifically when the saints are in assembly, waiting on the Lord.
EHT Would you say that in the morning meeting the Head is more specifically known?
JT I would judge so, after the breaking of bread. There is no other voice there. The Head moves the members there according to His own divine wisdom.
RSS But in a meeting of this character we are here under the Lord’s control and you are dependent on Him.
WB Do you see a failure in this truth in Ephesus: she left her first love?
JT Evidently she moved away; you would not expect the Lord to direct where there is declension.
FL I think we get a suggestion of the thing in John 14:22, “how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us and not unto the world?” How is it that you are going to give us something different from what the world knows? The Lord says: “If a man love me, he will keep my words and my Father will love him”. John 14:23. The word is the whole known mind of the Lord. It is not a specific commandment, and in keeping His word one is in the affectionate regard of His whole known mind.
JT That is undoubtedly it.
FL There are specific precepts and commandments referred to in the same chapter which are different.
RSS “[p. 459] He that hath my commandments and keepeth them”, John 14:21 that is another thought. Are there not several aspects in which the Lord is presented as Head in Scripture? He is spoken of as Head over all things, and He is also spoken of as Head to His body the church.
JT Yes.
FL And He is Head of every man, and Head of all principality and power.
JT I think that in the main the thought holds good that it is a question of wisdom and direction in every case. Therefore it is simple enough to carry out the thought in each connection. If He is the Head of every man, no man has a right to consult himself.
GFW I thought you confined headship to direction only. There is impulse also, is there not?
JT And nourishment comes from Him. Then there is also the thought of head in the sense of the president of a council. But being head of the body is the most intimate of all these, I think. You could not conceive of anything closer than a man’s head is to his body, and then the head is absolutely essential to the body.
GFW Does not what was said about our own head giving an impulse to the hand illustrate what is being said? There is no articulation, but there is communication.
JT I take it that the figure used in 1 Corinthians 12 is the most striking as to the relation formed between the saints and Christ; the link is vital. In that sense the hand does not make any move. Every impulse is from the head; so that you do not make any suggestions to the Lord.
CC Is it entirely by influence that we take character?
JT I think so. You take character from Christ by being with [p. 460] Him.
GH So that if we knew Him as Head we should be more effectual servants.
JT The point is that divine wisdom is to be seen in the assembly, and if you are not in your place there is a jar.
FL I suppose there came a time when God set Christ as the head of the race, which is rather a different thought from what you have been bringing before us. God takes up and goes on with man now because He has another Head for the race, and it is in that sense that Christ is the Head of every man officially; as a man might say, ‘The President is the head in this country’. As enlightened by the gospel, we say, ‘Christ is Head’.
LTF Christ, as the Head of a race, would not take in all men.
FL I would say to every man, “Christ is the Head of every man”. 1 Corinthians 11:3. God takes up man in Christ as God took up man in Adam, but all that is not according to Christ is removed from God’s sight judicially.
WJN Man is taken up in Christ, and if man were not taken up in Christ he would be removed out of sight actually as he is judicially, according to Adam.
JT Man is covered now in Christ. God has raised up a Head for him, so that He takes account of man now as under the headship of Christ. In result, all that refuse to recognise and answer to that Head will be removed; but the present is a moment of favour, because of the place Christ has in relation to the race.
RSS And as Head He has assumed all man’s liabilities, I think that is very important in the gospel.
JT I have no doubt that as Son of man that is alluded to. He has taken up man’s cause.
FL That is the basis of the non-imputation [p. 461] of trespasses, and the ministration of reconciliation in Corinthians.
JT It is a very great point in the gospel that God has raised up a righteous covering for man, so that instead of judgment there is favour, and therefore you would impress upon all men the necessity of recognising that Man.
FL So, as I understand, the point that comes out in John 16:9, in the demonstration of sin, is, “because they believe not on me”.
ST It will come out in the millennium that He is the Head of all men.
JT And all men will be under the influence of Christ. For the moment it is a question of official appointment. Men do not acknowledge it, but the truth remains; but in the millennial state of things every man will acknowledge it.
GFW And therefore the gospel is preached to every man.
JT I think we should preach the Son of man, because as such He stands related to the whole human family. One would be very careful in making that remark because one might inquire if there was an actual link between Christ and the man after the flesh, which there is not; but He takes up man’s cause, and removes all his liabilities, and He gives man the Spirit. Man’s case is fully met in every way by the Son of man. The Lord constantly refers to Himself by this title after His rejection by Israel.
GFW The glad tidings go out to man to call him to the blessing.
GAT Luke presents Him as Son of man.
JT In relation to man.
JC Son of man is a peculiar expression. No one else could call himself Son of man but Christ.
FL As I understand it, the whole system and sphere of administration will be taken up in the person of a Man. He has the title of Son of [p. 462] man.
JT And as Man He inherits all that came to man. A great deal fell to man by divine appointment, and all that falls to Christ because He is Son of man.
ST What is the force of Ezekiel being addressed as son of man?
JT It is just in that connection. Ezekiel was seen outside the territory of Israel; and he is habitually spoken of as son of man.
AAT As Son of man Christ accomplishes redemption; as Lord He secures His rights thus established.
JT He takes up all that appertains to man. As Son, He is heir to everything; but the inheritance is encumbered and He removes the encumbrance that lay upon it. Further, He makes man to live.
FL Son of man is a title connected with counsel, is it not?
JT I think the title Son of God involves that He is heir of all that God owns; but as Son of man He is heir to all that falls to man. It is a name taken from Psalm 8.
RML I suppose it is in His character as Head that Adam was a figure of Him that was to come.
GAT In Adam man has lost everything, but in Christ he has recovered everything.
JT The Son of man was heir, but He found everything encumbered, so He removes the encumbrance and hence has the inheritance clear.
RML But regarding the point of view that Adam was a figure of Him that was to come, would you not say that God rather establishes things in Christ than recovers them?
JT But He recovers everything first. He recovers all that God had conferred upon man. The whole inheritance that appertained to Elimelech was recovered by Boaz; that is redemption. I think sonship [p. 463] involves heirship.
RSS It is in Psalm 8 that He is spoken of as the Son of man. It is a resurrection psalm.
JT And then the Lord says to Nathanael “Thou shalt see greater things than these: ... the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man” John 1:51; showing what a wonderful place, not Adam, but the Son of man obtains. Man is recovered in Christ to God’s glory, and all that rightly appertains to man is taken up in Him.