CHRIST'S KINGDOM NOT OF THIS WORLD (3)
CHRIST’S KINGDOM NOT OF THIS WORLD (3)
JT Our subject is the present dispensation as compared with other dispensations; it was proposed in order to bring out that christianity is a heavenly dispensation. This is accentuated in these last days, so that the end should be as the beginning. We looked at John 18 yesterday morning, the conversation between our Lord and Pilate, in which the Lord asserts that His kingdom is not of this world.
We considered the chapter generally and it became clear that His kingdom takes character from Himself. It is not a question of what He inherited from David, but what comes out from Himself; it is not of this world and the sword is particularly forbidden in the chapter, not abolished finally, but put back into its sheath, implying that it may be required again, but not in this dispensation. So our position is peculiar and involves reproach. The natural mind is unable to enter into it, and therefore persecution is bound to attach to us as we are faithful to the character of the time; thus our attitude is a suffering one, accepting the will of God, and stressing that it must have the first place. The Lord says to Peter, “The cup which my Father has given me, shall I not drink it?”
In the afternoon we looked at the epistle to the Romans, chapters 12 and 13 particularly, but considered a little the general scope of the epistle as setting forth the gospel, and that believers according to chapters 12 and 13 take on the character of Christ in their relations to one another and towards all, especially those in authority. The powers that be correspond to Pilate; the Lord had to say to him, and we have to do with the powers that exist at the present time. We are instructed in Romans how to comport [p. 46] ourselves in relation to them, as the Lord did in relation to Pilate.
It is thought now that we should look at Luke’s presentation of the truth as bringing out the heavenly side of it, the example being seen in the section in Acts 2 that we read. It is a beautiful product of the truth seen in the announcement of the gospel through Peter. It is Luke’s line of service, bringing out a state of things that the Lord recognises as suitable to Him. Therefore He adds all that were to be saved to what was there, a company outside of the course of this world and characterised by a new spirit and new principles.
RRT So that we have here presented in the Acts, really in effect, the product of the Lord’s ministry, the witness of the good confession before Pontius Pilate, where He speaks about “my kingdom”. Now as the fruit of that and the coming down of the Holy Spirit, we have coming to light in the Acts this heavenly company, united to a King in heaven.
JT That is what is mind, but “my kingdom”, as the Lord calls it, would be worked out from heaven. It is not called the kingdom of heaven here; we are viewing it from the standpoint of the Lord’s own remark; the kingdom of God is involved, but it is a question of “my kingdom” and “my servants”. They were at Jerusalem and this is the product of that; there is no sword in the physical sense. Peter himself is the servant who serves, and he had learned from the Lord that no one is to take the sword in the literal sense. It is a question of the Spirit, the power that came in from heaven. What came in was powerful, although it was in the form of breathing; there was “a sound out of heaven as of a violent impetuous blowing, and filled all the house where they were sitting”. The Holy Spirit was coming in. It is not stated that He was breathing into the disciples, but “there appeared to them parted [p. 47] tongues, as of fire, and it sat upon each one of them”. It is a question of the public position and the power by which it is maintained, the Spirit of God.
ADS You said in the résumé of what we had yesterday that the natural mind cannot apprehend, it does not understand the position. Would you say a little more about that?
JT Well, it does not; it receives not the things of God, it does not understand them at all. Paul tells us that they are spiritually discerned. The natural mind is shut out, it is not capacitated to take them in. It retains its own importance, however, and that involves suffering on the part of those who are heavenly. We are not understood, but the superiority and wealth flowing from the indwelling Spirit are there.
DR Do you think God might give conviction to those who represent the powers that be, although they do not understand the position?
JT He does. Acts brings out how persons in authority are affected; the person to whom the treatise is addressed may have been one of those, “most excellent Theophilus”. The allusion would be to one in dignity. And we have several others of the great ones of this world who came within the range of the testimony and were affected, such as the eunuch, the deputy of Cyprus, and Cornelius. Rulers and those in dignity generally come within the range of the operations of the Spirit, and therefore the younger brothers having to say to the tribunals may reckon that there will be some effect produced by their testimony, hence the importance of a good confession. In connection with the Lord’s own testimony Pilate’s wife was affected, and we know that the centurion who stood by the cross was, and those that stood with him. So, however feeble our testimony, there may be some result from it in those ‘above’ in the governmental ordering of God.
DR Caiaphas was made to prophesy, and yet he [p. 48] was not affected by it; I was wondering if this class of men appears in Acts in Gamaliel; he could say, “Withdraw from these men and let them alone, for if this counsel or this work have its origin from men, it will be destroyed; but if it be from God, ye will not be able to put them down”.
JT Yes; there was ability to give wise counsel, and this was used of God to save His servants at a critical moment; this is a matter of great importance at all times, but there is no evidence that Gamaliel was genuinely affected — any more than Balaam was affected.
RRT Would you say just a word as to the difference between “my kingdom” in John and “the Father’s kingdom” in Luke? When he teaches them to pray, He says, “Father ... thy kingdom”.
JT Well, I was remarking that when the Lord says, “my kingdom”, the stress would be on “my;” what it may embrace is another matter. I suppose in one sense the whole idea of the kingdom comes in under Him. The article placed before the kingdom in 1 Corinthians 15 makes it general; it is said, “He shall have delivered up the kingdom”, without specifying which one. It is evidently the general idea of rule which never ceases; the principle of the kingdom goes right through; it must apply in all dispensations, even in the eternal state it must apply. He delivers up the kingdom to God the Father, and He Himself is subject. I would not like to undertake to deal with the specified kingdoms in our subject, but to fix our minds on the Lord’s words, “my kingdom” and “my servants”. You allude to chapter 11 of Luke. The Lord is praying in a certain place, and it was a question of how the disciples should pray. He said, “When ye pray, say, Father, thy name be hallowed; thy kingdom come”, which is very beautiful. Addressing prayer to the Lord Jesus is more prevalent with some than addressing it to the Father, which is certainly not according to the tenor [p. 49] of Scripture. I have heard prayers times without number and the Father has never been alluded to.
I think in our subject we should keep to what the Lord says to Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world; if my kingdom were of this world, my servants had fought that I might not be delivered up to the Jews; but now my kingdom is not from hence”. The passage in Luke enables us to speak of how the matter enters into Luke’s gospel; and also the passage in the book of Acts, both by the same author. In both he stresses the heavenly side; this ought to affect us much. The books, being addressed to an individual, have a personal touch. Thus in reading they affect you in a personal way. In chapter 11 which has been alluded to the Lord says, “How much rather shall the Father who is of heaven give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” The Father which is of heaven, not simply in it, but of it. The Son of man is also of heaven; it is not exactly the idea of place, but of character, the character of the dispensation, it is of heaven, it is here provisionally, not to continue. It is a provisional dispensation without time limits, as in the feast of Pentecost (Deuteronomy 16), a type of the Spirit; there is no time limit. It is elastic, as it were. And therefore the Father which is of heaven gives the Spirit, and the Spirit comes down from heaven.
He is sent down from heaven, too; so that the incoming of the Spirit is marked by heaven’s assertion of itself in the sound that filled the house; and the Spirit coming in from heaven sat upon each of those gathered in the form of cloven tongues as of fire. It is a question of what is of heaven, what is set up there in Christ and what is inaugurated down here to testify to it; not only the terms of the gospel, but the system itself is heavenly, the centre being in heaven. In Luke it is said that shepherds were keeping their flock by night and the angel of the Lord was there by them;
[p. 50] light was there round about them, and presently a multitude of the heavenly host came down, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, good pleasure in men”. That is the general position, the earthly side is in view, but when we come to chapter 19 it is “peace in heaven”, not peace on earth, that is celebrated, verses 37, 38.
That is the idea, peace is established in heaven, and the earth left in abeyance. It is presently to come in, but in the meantime the heavenly testimony is rendered. In Luke 9 the time of Christ’s receiving up is said to have come; that is, everything was to be transferred up there. The centre of operations was to be in heaven.
When we come to chapter 24, the brethren will notice that there is no reference to the 40 days of the Lord’s sojourn here. All the other gospels contemplate a delay after His resurrection before His ascending, but not Luke. All is viewed as having happened on the day of His resurrection. He is carried up into heaven, “received up in glory” as Paul says. The idea is speed to reach the point of the centre of operations above in heaven.
The Lord says to the disciples, “remain in the city till ye be clothed with power from on high”, that is the position. So in Acts 1: 6 the apostles raise a question as to the kingdom of Israel. “They therefore, being come together, asked him saying, Lord, is it at this time that thou restorest the kingdom to Israel?” This is an earthly matter; He is not opening up that at all. He says, It is not for you to know the times and seasons. There is no such idea attached to the kingdom in John 18. It is “my kingdom” as we have seen. That was to be known. But as to the kingdom which Israel is to have part in, it belonged to “times and seasons”, and the Lord says, “It is not yours to know times or seasons, which the Father has placed in his own authority; but ye will receive power”. That is the [p. 51] point, it is the Holy Spirit here, that is the thing for us, as for them, that the Holy Spirit has come down and is carrying on a system of operations, taking on a heavenly character, and men are, through the gospel, to come under the power of that. Later, as seen in chapter 10, the vessel comes down and goes back into heaven remaining there; it is here only provisionally.
CAM Speaking about the dispensations, would you say that during the course of them there was a sort of stopping of the clock so that the present one should come in?
JT Yes. The 70 weeks do not include our period. The present is in a sense a nondescript dispensation. It does not fit into the ordinary or earthly ones; it is a new heavenly order of things which in itself is, in a way, inscrutable. It involves the mystery, the idea of Christ and the assembly, which is not understood save by those forming the assembly — those who are initiated.
CAM And yet this question was in mind in the book of Daniel when the four monarchies started. There was a recognition of heaven. It was “the God of the heavens” who was going to operate. Would you say that was preparatory in a providential way for this?
JT Well, what is stated in Daniel of course runs on into our dispensation. The mention of heaven would be over against Jerusalem as a centre; the Lord owned that Pilate had authority from above. Nebuchadnezzar and those who followed him were rulers on earth, and that leads us into what we had yesterday, chapter 13 of Romans. That system runs on, but only with a view to our system, the heavenly system. Everything is subservient to the heavenly system. The image that Nebuchadnezzar saw represented a state of things that would be abolished, but it serves a divine purpose.
JAW Nebuchadnezzar had to learn a lesson, that the heavens do rule. That is what we are learning [p. 52] now.
JT He was king of kings on earth. He does not represent a heavenly state of things at all, it is just what is here for the moment.
DR So, referring to our brother’s remark, while the clock has stopped as to the time of dispensations, yet what you said yesterday is important, that the fulness of every dispensation enters into this dispensation.
JT Quite so. The assembly is, as it were, the clearing house so that everything is understood. The prophets did not understand all they were saying, they anticipated the present period. Everything waited the incarnation; this dispensation is the filling out of Christ in the assembly, the body of Christ. It is all going to be received back into heaven and the clock of earthly time will start again. When God has the assembly in heaven, it will influence what will be on earth. So that things will be all named, as it were, adjusted in the future. Things will be understood in Israel better than they were ever understood in the Old Testament. Those who inhabit the earth in the millennium will have a much clearer apprehension of God and His kingdom than the Old Testament saints had.
JAW Where do you fit the passage in Acts 2 into this?
JT To bring out the product of the first preaching of the gospel; what a beautiful result it was, and how true to itself, that in principle the character of this company was entirely heavenly! It is not what had been at Jerusalem; it was, under God, derived from the apostles; “they persevered in the teaching and fellowship of the apostles, in breaking of bread and prayers”. It was a wholly new order of things.
RRT Would you say that those things mentioned, the teaching and fellowship of the apostles, breaking of bread and prayers, are the features of this dispensation?
[p. 53] JT They are the basic features. Look at the following beautiful features that are depicted by the Spirit in the verses read, 44 to the end — “all that believed were together”. Now in the beginning of the chapter it is said, “they were all together in one place;” but the point in verse 44 is that they were together in character, knit together in heart; “and had all things common”, which confirmed their oneness. Conditions testifying to love in the Spirit were there. They “had all things common, and sold their possessions and substance, and distributed them to all, according as any one might have need. And every day, being constantly in the temple with one accord, and breaking bread in the house, they received their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God, and having favour with all the people; and the Lord added to the assembly daily those that were to be saved”. Conditions were suitable for the Lord to add to. They were conditions of salvation and the Lord brought those that were to be saved into them. They were what He had in mind in speaking to Pilate of His kingdom. I hope we shall see in chapter 10 how this beautiful state of things is accentuated in a vessel. This will be largely through Paul. Here the thing is already proceeding in the character of it. The Lord can add those who are to be saved to that. It is the haven of protection and blessing for those who are to be saved.
JLF These mutual conditions that were inaugurated here, the world has sought to re-establish as an ideal, but they have utterly failed through the years; but these conditions are in the assembly.
JT This is a great and blessed fact. Communism is a wretched imitation. This is the real thing, it is a heavenly product, not yet exactly named that, but it has already that character. It is presently to be definitely named ‘the assembly;’ it is the circle of the saints.
EGM Is it that the one who drew the sword in [p. 54] the garden and cut off the ear of the high priest’s servant is used as a witness through the gospel to bring men together so that these blessed features should characterise them?
JT Quite so; he was a difficult brother to perfect, but the Lord says at the outset, I will make you something; the making was slow, but toward the end it was very rapid. The worst things that happened to Peter were within a few weeks of this time. We are living in an urgent situation and Luke has that in mind, and so he mentions at the end of his gospel two men in shining garments appearing suddenly. So that we may look for some sudden things happening to prepare us to go up. We can keep on praying for things to happen suddenly. The work proceeded rapidly with Peter, so that he became a finished product. Chapter 1 and this chapter show this. Through his great preaching and general service with the other eleven apostles we have the wonderful result described in these verses. The Lord could well designate it “my kingdom”.
JAW Does this thought of persevering mark what you said last night as to tilling and cultivating and spiritual formation?
JT Yes — persevering; you mean of tilling and cultivating? You can see how they persevered, how these features marked the large number that were converted. Adam was placed in the garden for his own comfort and blessing first; it was a matter of favour to be in such a place. After the river is depicted he is again alluded to as being set in the garden to “till” and to “guard” it; and as regards the tree of responsibility, he is commanded; but he is already put to work, and I think that is what you get here. They persevered in the apostles’ teaching, fellowship, the breaking of bread and prayers. They are like a beehive. We are not sleepy or careless or using the third person in speaking of the brethren; as converted [p. 55] through the gospel we begin to do something for the brethren immediately.
CHH Would this indicate that the collective and public position should continue in the way of testimony to the end? It has often been said that what is collective and public is gone, but this would indicate that, although in a small way, it continues.
JT I think the idea of being together goes on as in Malachi 3: 16, “they that feared Jehovah spoke often one to another”. So that the Lord addresses Philadelphia in the singular, “I will keep thee;” that is, the assembly is in mind, however small or feeble it may be. So that the heavenly city, the light of it, as it were reflecting back upon us, is governing us, the great thought of the assembly in the future. And what it is actually here in a concrete way is never to be given up, that is, the idea of the saints coming together to Christ’s name. The Lord clothes with assembly glory the twos and threes gathering together in His name.
RB Verse 43 speaks of fear; is that normal and the result of teaching?
JT “Fear was upon every soul”, meaning wholesome, godly fear; it was piety. Our God is a consuming fire. We are apt to overlook this searching and solemn fact. 1 Corinthians 11 speaks of many among the saints being weak and sickly and of many who had fallen asleep. We are apt to be very careless, but the severest thoughts enter into the government of the house of God. “Our God is a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12: 29).
RB We may attend a meeting and at the end say that it was very nice — but the result should be godly exercise and fear, should it not?
JT That is right; you go out of the door and the world, or the devil may confront you; hence you need to be on your guard, and retain carefully what you have received as together with [p. 56] the saints.
EGM Do you mean that, while the present aspect of the kingdom is passive as to this world, it is anything but that in regard to us?
JT just so; in it is the direct rule of God. In regard of the public ordering of God, He is ruling indirectly in the nations, but His direct rule is in the assembly.
DR And so, would you say that Ananias and Sapphira are brought in after this to show that, while the fear of God was there, God would manifest any working of evil in the assembly and would prevent evil coming in? “But of the rest durst no man join them”.
JT We get the spiritual position enhanced as we are faithful in judging sin. I always notice after a care meeting in which the Lord’s interests are faithfully looked after that we have a good following first day of the week. In chapter 5 after the judgment of Ananias and Sapphira you get a striking testimony to the power of the apostles. Multitudes were added to the Lord, both of men and women; that is, the Lord’s authority being recognised, souls were added to Him.
EGM Are you accentuating the great truth of the presence and power of the Holy Spirit to maintain all of us in the assembly character against all adverse powers down here, so that we can maintain a good testimony as the Lord did before Pilate?
JT That is what is in mind in the book of Acts. Peter who used the sword and was told to put it back into its sheath is the one taken on immediately in the service; he is a finished product included in those whom the Lord calls “my servants”. He is the leading one and he is not now talking about self-defence or attack in a physical way. The point is the Spirit, the power coming down from heaven, and that is effective in the assembly in dealing with Ananias and Sapphira; but the principal thought is that it is effective in delivering souls from the power of Satan and is spoiling his kingdom.
[p. 57] Chapter 4 speaks of the brethren praying as Peter and John were let go; they prayed to God as ‘Despot’, they are so concerned about the position that they approach God in that way. Under such circumstances we are impressed with the need of subjection. There is no room for our wills. They tell God about what happened at Jerusalem, “in this city”. “For in truth against thy holy servant Jesus, whom thou hadst anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the nations, and peoples of Israel, have been gathered together in this city to do whatever thy hand and thy counsel had determined before should come to pass. And now, Lord, look upon their threatenings, and give to thy bondmen with all boldness to speak thy word, in that thou stretchest out thy hand to heal, and that signs and wonders take place through the name of thy holy servant Jesus” (Acts 4: 27 - 30). Not a word about a physical sword at all. To Peter it would now be an utterly foreign thought.
There is more power in the Spirit than there is anywhere else. They are invoking God that this power should be turned to the salvation of men; and so “when they had prayed, the place in which they were assembled shook, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and spoke the word of God with boldness”. That is the position, it is a question of the Spirit.
CHH What is the significance of the temple? When the testimony becomes public they were in the temple, not in the upper room. Does the temple suggest what is public?
JT Yes, it involves the light covering the position for the moment. That is, the patience of God towards the Jews was involved in their service. It is the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ. The kingdom and patience involves that the Jews must be appealed to in the gospel first — to the Jew first — and they are in accord with that light. According to Luke the Lord [p. 58] led them out as far as to Bethany. It is a further point, but not any further than Bethany; that is the remnant position, where love was among the Jews; they were to carry on there as long as possible, which applied up to the time of Stephen’s martyrdom, and further indeed. It is a great matter that the position taken at any time is suitable, and in things that are said, that the things said apply. The apostles understood what was implied in the Lord leading them to Bethany.
CHH Now in our testimony do we maintain what is spiritually represented as the upper room and also the temple?
JT Not now; the Jewish period is over.
CHH What I mean is, what that represents to us. For instance, we are here in temple light, that is maintained.
JT The word ‘temple’ in the sense in which you are using it is not what is employed here. The original word for temple here refers to the general buildings. It is not the shrine; it is the shrine we are in today, where the Spirit of God is. “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God?” — that represents the inner position; this is the outer position.
EMac In Acts they returned from the Mount of Olives; in Luke’s gospel it is Bethany. The former connects us with a new movement.
JT The Acts has the assembly in view; the gospel ends with the Jews in view, that the gospel was to be preached to all the nations, but “beginning at Jerusalem”.
JLF Would you say a word as to the difference between Bethany and the Mount of Olives?
JT I think Bethany would refer to what is said of it, that the Lord used to go there, as if He had a home there, a place of love. He went out to Bethany and spent the night, a very touching thing. He also used to go to the Mount of Olives. There are thus two [p. 59] places that have, in this respect, to be understood. On the Mount of Olives He would be occupied with heavenly links; if He went to Bethany He was occupied with the Jewish links; there was affection. The Mount of Olives is seen in the beginning of the book of Acts; I would connect it there with the upper room; Bethany would connect with the temple. From there the disciples returned to Jerusalem and were in the temple praising and blessing God. That was a testimony to the Jews — the result of the work of Christ; God was yet lingering there in patience.
CHH Would that indicate that the full thought of the temple, the inner shrine, awaited the development of Paul’s doctrine?
JT It would; he stresses it, applying it to God, “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God?” God is now reviving the thought among ourselves.
RRT Linking on this passage with what you said as to “my kingdom”, I was thinking of verse 45, “and sold their possessions and substance, and distributed them to all, according as any one might have need”. Would that be a proper thing to do now in the light of what the Lord said: “My kingdom is not of this world”? If we take that in it will set worldly possessions in the right light.
JT It breaks up the whole system of commercialism, not that you want it broken up literally, but it is to show that the heavenly thoughts run athwart everything down here. That is what I thought we would see in Nehemiah in remnant times. This is carried on; in the beginning they sold their possessions and substance and distributed to all according as any one might have need. That was modified later. In this chapter we see the freshness and fulness of love as the Spirit came in from heaven. It is viewed in this way, not as the result of a commandment. It was modified, however, by teaching afterwards, the teaching of [p. 60] wisdom. So that, when we come to chapter 4, Barnabas, a good man and ennobled by the apostles, had possessions which he sold, and he did not distribute the money himself, but laid it at the apostles’ feet. It needs fidelity and wisdom to deal with money in relation to the things of God. It should be handled by at least two persons. There should be no room for fleshly feeling or suspicion. Barnabas laid it at the apostles’ feet. God has vested wisdom and authority in those men, so that even in regard to money it was set at their feet, so that there was no danger of damage accruing from it; and the wisdom of all that is immediately demonstrated negatively in the action of Ananias and Sapphira. The devil worked in them through money; they kept back part of the price of the estate. It is remarkable that the example of Barnabas should come in there. Teaching and experience — which mark the children of wisdom — lead to stable results. These keep the river energised by the Spirit flowing within its banks. As we come to Paul we have much teaching regarding the custody and distribution of money.
That leads us to the passage in Nehemiah where the question of money comes up, and, being a remnant time, it applies for us now. Nehemiah was not a priest or prophet, but the servant of a gentile monarch, externally he was a governor appointed by the Persian king; but he brings in the heavenly thought as to money, agreeing with our passage anticipatively.
JLF Do you think in Nehemiah the principle of commercialism had been pretty well established?
JT Yes. We know how much the Jews have been universally identified with it. God has allowed the Jew to be prominent in the history of human affairs, especially in commerce; it is “that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful”. The love of commerce, of money-making through it, marks them peculiarly. It comes out in Nehemiah’s time that [p. 61] they used money for making money. The word is “usury”, but then the Jew or any natural man would say, Why should not I make something out of my money? Why should not a man get interest on his money from the bank? That is commercialism, quite right in its place; but we are dealing with heavenly things and there it is quite wrong. The circle in Jerusalem (Acts 2), had got that thought in a very striking way. You cannot introduce the idea of usury in that circle, but here it is introduced.
Nehemiah says, “There was a great cry of the people and of their wives against their brethren the Jews. ... And there were that said, We have had to pledge our fields, [p. 65] and our vineyards, and our houses, that we might procure corn in the dearth. And there were that said, We have borrowed money for the king’s tribute upon our fields and vineyards; yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren, our children as their children; and behold, we must bring into bondage our sons and our daughters to be servants, and some of our daughters are brought into bondage already; neither is it in the power of our hand to redeem them, for other men have our fields and our vineyards” (Nehemiah 5: 1 - 5). There is the direct opposite of the heavenly thing, it is just earthly — hard, financial trading in the hands of the Jews. That is abominable in the light of what we are talking about.
RRT It is not in the light of the word of the Lord, “My kingdom is not of this world”. They were dealing with worldly goods in accord with worldly practices; that is not in line with the thought of God.
JT Just so. Today christendom has come under the power of worldly principles; many preach the gospel for a salary, and many corresponding things are attached to the service. If you look into the Romish system you will find it characterised by money; money is the first and last word there. Revelation 18 depicts the immense [p. 62] wealth which the merchants of the earth acquired through supplying the luxuries of that system. Among the articles of commerce were the “bodies and souls of men”.
CAM I suppose those coming under the influence of heaven have the result that they shall be received up in glory.
JT Yes; and if one has material means, wisdom in him would use them in view of the future, which will imply benefit to others. The steward mentioned in Luke 16: 1 - 9 used what was under his hand in view of the future, and the Lord said as to his actions, “Make to yourselves friends with the mammon of unrighteousness, that when it fails ye may be received into the eternal tabernacles”. Returning to our chapter: Nehemiah was not an apostle, priest or prophet, nor even a Levite; he was just a governor appointed by the Persians. But he took up the things of God in his heart. A man may be, under the government of God, in service in any department of the government, but at the same time have the things of God in his heart; and God may use him very definitely. Nehemiah could say, I have not been chargeable to the people as other governors have been — “I and my brethren have not eaten the bread of the governor”. He was governed by the heavenly principles of which we have been speaking. And although he had no official spiritual appointments he rendered remarkable spiritual services.
DR Although in remnant days, would he represent the spirit of discernment and judgment that belongs to God’s people under normal conditions?
JT I think that is the thought, and it should be encouraging for us because we are more or less occupied with secular things, even some in military things, in all the countries. The Spirit of God does not make little of military men, for they may be in positions in which they serve with good consciences, and may be fully in [p. 63] the truth. Daniel was a great minister under Nebuchadnezzar, but he had God and His people and Jerusalem in his heart. That is how Nehemiah begins his book. He was deeply affected when he heard the state of Jerusalem, because that is the centre of the Jewish order of things. He was the king’s cupbearer and he came before the king, and his countenance was sad. That was dangerous as liable to arouse apprehension in the king. Nehemiah sacrifices for the sake of Jerusalem. He told the cause of his sadness to the king — the king was there and the queen also, a suggestive thought spiritually. He told the whole story and he was sent to Jerusalem as governor. The persons who were practising this usury were men of a certain distinction. Nehemiah says, “I was very angry when I heard their cry and these words. And I consulted with myself; and I remonstrated with the nobles and the rulers, and said to them, Ye exact usury, every one of his brother! And I set a great assembly against them. And I said to them, We, according to our ability, have redeemed our brethren the Jews, who [p. 66] were sold to the nations; and will ye even sell your brethren? or shall they be sold unto us? And they were silent and found no, answer” verses 6 - 8.
Applying this to our own times, the revival in which we have part has the deliverance of the brethren in mind. If I take any course because of certain distinctions, whatever they may be — my profession may give me distinction, my family also — to advance myself, I am sure to bring the brethren into bondage in some measure.
EGM So that we are supposed to keep our natural and spiritual assets in a condition of liberty.
JT Let heaven govern us; thus we shall be morally above selfish motives. You are not going to use the little or much of material things you have under God to bring the brethren [p. 64] into bondage.
JLF Do we get the idea of assembly action here? This matter is gone into in a collective way.
JT I think so. What is brought out in the chapter is the distinctiveness of Nehemiah as a heavenly man in type. He says, “I consulted with myself;” that is a good word in such a connection. Nehemiah can do things by himself. There are a lot of personal friendships amongst us; there is hardly a thing more damaging. Initially, as one has a serious matter brought to his attention, he turns to God as to it by himself; thus as challenging his own heart the position becomes clear, and he has liberty to move in relation to the assembly, having righteous influence. Nehemiah “remonstrated with the nobles and the rulers ... and I set a great assembly against them”. Evidently God was with him in all this, for the offenders said, “We will restore them, and will require nothing of them; so will we do as thou hast said”, verse 12.
RRT Is it not solemn that those who seem to be chiefly harmed by it are the young amongst the brethren? They are brought into bondage.
JT Yes; and there would be the thought of equality on their parents’ part in their families as compared with the families of the nobles, whereas they were becoming enslaved. So that the nobles are using their money to captivate their brethren and degrade them.
RRT Anything that brings the young among the brethren into bondage curtails their liberty.
JT Indeed, these are the complaints made here. The people said first, “We, our sons and our daughters, are many, and we must procure corn that we may eat and live”. That is a good word to many of the young people. One of the most encouraging things I know of is the great number of young people affected by the truth; but they need to be fed. Then again, “There were that said, We have had to pledge our fields, and our vineyards, and our houses, that we might procure corn in the dearth”. That is the second thing, and then thirdly, “There were that said, We have borrowed money for the king’s tribute upon our fields and vineyards; yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren, our children as their children; and behold, we must bring into bondage our sons and our daughters to be servants, and some of our daughters are brought into bondage already; neither is it in the power of our hand to redeem them, for other men have our fields and vineyards”.
This is a clear statement of the situation, and the gist of it is that some were being made inferior and others were made superior, which is foreign to the heavenly thought; all our names are written in heaven. Every Levite is a firstborn, which is impossible in the world. In the world every person cannot be a firstborn; it is a heavenly idea — “the assembly of the firstborn who are registered in heaven”. You cannot get that in the world at all.
RRT That is contrary to what we had in Acts 2, “all things common”, although, as you say, the working out of it requires wisdom.
CHH In Galatians the features of attack were to bring the brethren into bondage, so that the apostle gets “all the brethren” with him.
JT “All the brethren with me”, he says. In the matter before us Nehemiah represents a brother who has power; what a brother who is with God may effect — what one man can do in a spiritual way if he is with God. He influenced the brethren to be with him in meeting the difficulty. He said, “I consulted with myself; and I remonstrated with the nobles and the rulers, and said to them, Ye exact usury, every one of his brother! And I set a great assembly against them. And I said to them, We, according to our ability, have redeemed our brethren the Jews, who were sold to the nations; and will ye even sell your brethren? or shall they be sold unto us? And they were silent and found no answer”, verses 7, 8. That is how a spiritual man shines; but he knows what to say, and they had no answer. So the victory is won.
CSP Does not his moral power for good come in as an example?
JT Exactly. He said to them, “Restore, I pray you, to them this very day their fields, their vineyards, their olive-gardens, and their houses, also the hundredth part of the money, and of the corn, the wine and the oil, that ye have exacted of them. And they said, We will restore them, and will require nothing of them; so will we do, as thou hast said. And I called the priests, and took an oath of them, that they should do according to this promise”, verses 11, 12. He brings the priests into the thing, to enforce what had been undertaken. And then he says, “Moreover from the time that I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year even to the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes the king, twelve years, I and my brethren have not eaten the bread of the governor. But the former governors that were before me had been chargeable to the people, and had taken of them bread and wine, besides forty shekels of silver; even their servants bore rule over the people. But I did not so, because of the fear of God”, verses 14, 15.
If that man were a mere Jew he would say, What a fine bank account I have built up during these twelve years! That would express the Jewish mind, but not so with the heavenly man, he has nothing to do with that. Nehemiah further says, “Yea, also I applied myself to this work of the wall, and we bought no fields; and all my servants were gathered thither for the work. And there were at my table a hundred and fifty of the Jews and the rulers, besides those that came to us from among the nations that were about us. And [p. 67] that which was prepared daily was one ox and six choice sheep; also fowls were prepared for me, and once in ten days all sorts of wine in abundance. Yet for all this I demanded not the bread of the governor; for the service was heavy upon this people. Remember for me, my God, for good, all that I have done for this people”, verses 16 - 19.
That is typically a heavenly man, he had not gotten a penny out of all this, but he had the people, he set the people free.
EMac He is like Paul, he would not be chargeable to the brethren.
JT He asserted his right but he would not use it. We can understand how he could say, “The Lord ... shall preserve me for his heavenly kingdom” (2 Timothy 4: 18).
DR “I do not seek yours but you”, he said.
EGM Nehemiah states two good reasons for what he did: “But I did not so, because of the fear of God;” and then, “for the service was heavy upon this people”.
JT Another thing is that in these last days the Lord has brought to light and stressed the thought of eternal life, and I believe that Nehemiah here is typically promoting the idea of eternal life in entertaining and thus getting the saints together in his house and providing good food for them. I believe that is one way by which God would have us lay hold of eternal life, to get spiritual persons into our houses and show them hospitality, which is a heavenly thought; it is like entertaining angels. Nehemiah said he had one hundred and fifty of the Jews and rulers, “besides those that came to us from among the nations that were about us”. What times they must have had, representing spiritual gatherings! You get the concrete idea of eternal life as spiritual brethren are gathered together. See Psalm 133.
RB Gatherings of today are often of the young people, by themselves, the older ones not with them. That is not your thought in speaking of this matter, it is rather young and old [p. 68] together.
JT Yes. You will not get eternal life characteristically in gatherings of young people by themselves; they have not enough spiritual power for it. They are apt to bring in the natural. It is safer and holier for them to be with the older brethren. Nehemiah says, “There were at my table a hundred and fifty of the Jews and the rulers”. Typically they would be the spiritual. You will get spiritual power in a house like that of Nehemiah; there would be no lightness or frivolity at his table.
EGG Why are the heathen referred to as being there too?
JT They would be interested ones, “besides those that came to us from among the nations”. Why did they come? It must have been because they were interested in what was current in Jerusalem. It is the idea of spiritual heavenly links. We are wise in entertaining the saints; we shall get returns.
CHH The family of Job was a sad affair, doing without their father.
JT The young people were getting together without their father. I thought in suggesting this chapter that it would help the brethren here to see how in the types we have examples in the last days, in remnant times, of heavenly things brought into view; in a man sacrificing for the sake of the saints, loving to do it, and having a good table. He records what was prepared daily: “one ox and six choice sheep; also fowls were prepared for me, and once in ten days all sorts of wine in abundance”. Mentioning these items of food is not unimportant; it is all to promote the good feeling that belongs to a heavenly people.
DR Have you time to tell us what the ox and the sheep might suggest?
JT Much might be said. An ox would go a long [p. 69] way, it would cost something; six choice sheep also would be costly. Liberality is indicated; what marks a heavenly man is that he is liberal and provides for what will produce good feeling and build up wholesome constitutions in the saints.
JLF There is completeness in the things that Nehemiah does; he not only restores their fields, their vineyards, their olive-yards, and their houses, but also the hundredth part of the money and of the corn, the wine and the oil.
JT Yes. The hundredth part of the money would be the interest, which would be one per cent a month, as was customary. The wine would be stimulation which is good in a sense; if it is spiritual it is very good, especially in eating; in spiritual appetite there should be good assimilation, so that wine would have that in mind. Nehemiah’s strong admonition and warning evoked a very satisfactory response, one which glorified God. “All the congregation said, Amen! And they praised Jehovah. And the people did according to this promise”, verse 13.
RRT Nehemiah here would answer a question that was raised earlier as to what was said in Acts, “fear was upon every soul”. Nehemiah said, referring to his refusal to be chargeable to the people, “But I did not so, because of the fear of God”. This would illustrate a man moving on unselfish lines.