CHRIST KNOWN IN THE ASSEMBLY
[p. 289] CHRIST KNOWN IN THE ASSEMBLY
JT One is impressed increasingly with the need of placing the truth of the assembly before the saints. This book is introductory to the dispensation, giving the account of the inauguration of it, and presenting the assembly as the central feature in connection with the presence of the Holy Spirit, hence the idea of the dispensation must be lost where the truth of the assembly is unknown. The truth of the assembly involves the inner thought, that is, the body of Christ, in connection with which all is evolved. Here it is said the Lord “assembled with them”, verse 4. Later in the chapter when it is a question of one to take the place of Judas. Peter says, “It is necessary therefore, that of the men who have assembled with us all the time in which the Lord Jesus came in and went out among us ... one of these should be a witness with us”. Then, among many other instances, we have this remarkable verse in chapter 11 in which Barnabas and Saul are teaching a whole year in the assembly — teaching a large crowd.
RA There does not seem to have been much in the way of numbers resulting from the Lord’s ministry, but it is wonderful that there was a vessel capable of receiving the Spirit.
JT That came into evidence after He arose. The general position at the outset is that He comes to them. Before He died they would come to Him, but the truth of the assembly involves that there is ability in the saints to come together in His absence, to come together as of themselves. So that throughout the period of His sojourn on earth — after He arose, the general position is that He comes to them, whether to individuals or to [p. 290] the assembly.
CR In the history of our souls do we first come to Him?
JT I think He comes to us, if we take it from the standpoint of the gospel, which is God’s approach to us. If we take it from the standpoint of God’s work in our souls we come to God, that is John. Luke is the gospel where the Lord comes to us in grace, but John is occupied with the work of God in our souls, he would make us come to Him.
CR I was thinking of the gospel preacher going out with the word “Come” for instance.
JT The work of God in those addressed must accompany the gospel if it is to be effective; but the general thought is that God approaches man in grace where man is, so that you have in Luke 6 the Lord praying all night and then coming down with the twelve and standing on a level place.
AEC We were noticing last week in connection with the raising of Lazarus, John 11, that the Lord said, “Loose him, and let him go”. I wondered whether the subsequent chapters in the gospel do not show the way he goes. At the beginning of chapter 12 the Lord came to them.
JT “Loose him, and let him go” implies that Lazarus was trustworthy, which everyone is characteristically who is a subject of the work of God. In Luke 7, a young man was raised up and delivered to his mother. There the truth is from the standpoint of care, the Lord approaching man in grace and delivering him and taking care of him, as we also get in Luke 10: “take care of him”. Luke 14 and 15 speak of believers coming into the house, but Lazarus is let go, and the sequel is seen in the beginning of chapter 12 which brings out the fulness of the work among the Jews: the house is “filled with the odour of the ointment”, so that it is morally great enough to be taken over into the new thing — [p. 291] the assembly.
HFN I was going to ask you with regard to Peter’s movements in Matthew, when he quitted the boat and joined the Lord on the water; would that be the beginning of assembly movement?
JT Yes. One can leave the place of apparent safety, the boat, and walk on the waters.
HFN You have several times called attention to the difference between what is congregational and what is connected with the assembly. You are emphasizing the fact that here the Lord assembled with them. We do not reach the assembly until we cease to be congregational.
JT Luke concludes his gospel with the disciples in the temple praising and blessing God daily. He shows us what Christ brought in amongst the Jews in a remnant. They never had such times in the temple before! The family scene at Bethany, being in the house, brings it out beautifully. “The house was filled”; so that now the Acts provides for that which is so excellent in the dignified term “assembly”. It is to be detached from the temple, but before it is detached, its excellence is seen.
TH Is it not clearly connected with the One who has gone up? Before going up He charged them to wait at Jerusalem, and at the beginning of Acts there is a waiting people that He has left behind to which He comes. He presents Himself alive to that waiting people.
JT In Acts l they were more formally in view as in the upper room, it is the same company: at the end of Luke they are in the temple, and their excellence is seen in contrast to what was there. Israel is losing much in losing them; Acts shows the transfer. The transfer from Judaism to the assembly is in principle in the Lord presenting Himself living to the disciples. He had been presented to Israel, but now He is presented to them living. He does it Himself, “being seen by them during forty days”.
[p. 292] He presents Himself alive to them, and is seen of them forty days, and then it is said He “assembled with them”. I think those few words bring out in principle the position of the assembly. It is the chief object of Christ — it is the only object now, you might say — He presented Himself to them, and was seen of them forty days, and assembled with them. Of course the assembly was not formed until the Holy Spirit came, but in principle, as I said, it was there.
HFN Would you say a little more in regard to those two thoughts? What is the difference between His “being seen” and then His “being assembled with them”? How does that bear on the truth of the assembly?
JT I think it comes in on the Lord’s day. The first thought is that we come together, we have the ability to come together, as seen in 1 Corinthians 11: 18. The saints have that ability; and the next thing is that He presents Himself living. He had promised to come to them, John 14: 18.
CR Is the presenting Himself living after He had suffered that which would touch our affections, as bringing in His suffering love?
JT To get the gain of what is stated in any scripture we must apply it to the present time. He presents Himself living “after he had suffered”. The Lord would touch our hearts in this way. It is as we are together. First, there is the coming together, but if we are in a bad state there can be no assembling with us, all He could do would be to rebuke us, but if the conditions warranted it the Lord would assemble with us. Assembling with the disciples here involves how things should be done. The assembly being the greatest formation, Christ moving there is the highest order of things. What would He do there? As we get these thoughts into our hearts, they will work out in our assembly meetings.
LK The word ‘suffered’ here would bring about a sympathetic spirit with us too, would it not?
JT I am sure it ought to. It is “after he had suffered”; elsewhere the tokens are there — His hands and His side.
LK I was thinking it would bring about conditions where the Lord would come.
JT It brings about a feeling condition.
FB So that it should exercise us that conditions might be right when we come together — the moral condition such that the Lord should be able to present Himself to us living.
JT Luke says, “concerning all things which Jesus began both to do and to teach, until that day in which, having by the Holy Spirit charged the apostles whom he had chosen, he was taken up; to whom also he presented himself living, after he had suffered”. This passage does not present a finished state of things, it is what He began to do and to teach, and it is still going on. If you have a heart at all, when He presents Himself as having suffered, you would be affected.
EHD Would all that “Jesus began both to do and to teach” indicate that a personal knowledge and acquaintance is essential before we can have the other thoughts?
JT It is remarkable the order of the words, first “to do”, showing that christianity is not a mere ethereal order of things but it is substantial; and then there is what He taught.
EGL Would the presenting Himself be to individuals?
JT It is collective here: “To whom [the apostles] also he presented himself living, after he had suffered”.
CR Is that not a sovereign presentation?
JT Well, it is. It is not merely that the Lord came in: a person might come in at the door and [p. 294] take off his coat and sit down, but to present himself is another matter.
RA I was going to ask why you stressed the distinction between the presentation and the assembling.
JT Well, I think presentation is to call attention to Himself — He presents Himself living. When David came in, 1 Samuel 16: 12, it was not with any show, I am sure, he was little accounted of, but as having come in, “he was ruddy and besides of a lovely countenance and beautiful appearance” and the Holy Spirit says, “This is he”; the idea is there. But this passages goes further than David coming in, because the Lord “presented himself”, it is calling attention to Himself as I said: the eye is taken with Him and the heart is taken with Him. Assembling with them calls attention to how He was with the disciples after He rose — in view of the assembly. He presents Himself there: what do you think of that Person? He is making Himself attractive to you.
RA He commands our affections.
JT That is the thought.
HFN If the Lord presents Himself, does it involve something distinctive on each occasion, a glory that we may not have seen before, that comes to the assembly?
JT That is what I was thinking.
HFN At the end of John 20 they say to the brother who had been absent, “We have seen the Lord”. The Lord had presented Himself, had He not?
JT Exactly. I was thinking of the way the Lord took up this absent one and would make the thoughts of His suffering a very deep reality to him; he was unaffected except he could see in His hands the print of the nails, and put his finger into the print of the nails, and thrust his hand into His side. All these circumstances are intended to make the [p. 295] presence of the Lord a reality; but this presenting Himself is peculiar and fitting in the Acts. It is an inaugural thought; He leaves nothing out that was needed to bring out the dignity and function of the assembly and His place in it in relation to the testimony.
AEC Would we gather up in our minds the many thoughts of Christ that are presented to us in the Old Testament saints? You referred to David, but many others are presented to us conveying beautiful traits of Christ. Are all not gathered up here?
JT I think they are. But more than what the types and Old Testament saints could set forth is seen here. It is the Lord Himself, and He is infinitely beautiful! The bride in Canticles speaks of Him in His features. His beauty in the passage before us is enhanced by His skill, the way He presents Himself, His grace, His movements, etc. He calls attention to Himself. He thus becomes wholly attractive to us.
HFN Would you suggest that this presentation is something unique to the assembly, something distinctive?
JT It seems that here the assembly is in view.
CR It is very beautiful, coming from the same writer who had portrayed His grace in such a way.
JT It is, and at once you have the sense that the writer is on new ground; he is looking definitely toward the assembly.
AEC It is very important to see that in Acts we are on new ground.
JT We have it before us when we come together “in assembly”. There is, first, the presentation, and secondly what we see. It says “being seen of them forty days”. There is what is seen and heard.
AEC Where does the kingdom of God come [p. 296] in in relation to the assembly?
JT In relation to Christ and the assembly, it is found in this great inaugural book. Christianity is marked by the power of the kingdom of God. Jesus is installed in heaven, made Lord and Christ, and the Holy Spirit is on earth, having formed the assembly and dwelling in it in manifest power. His presenting Himself to the disciples and assembling with them has all this in view.
HFN How would you apply it practically? Would you limit it to the first day of the week, or would we go further and expect the Lord on every occasion in which we come together to show Himself to us, and then give us a touch of the assembly?
JT The first day of the week is specially the day of the assembly; we may expect the Lord to be with us any time we come together, but it would be in keeping with the character of the meeting. In 1 Corinthians 11 we have the expression “come together in assembly”, verse 18, but in chapter 14: 23, it is “the whole assembly come together in one place”. The 14th chapter is for ministry, but the 11th is for the supper.
HFN Would you say a little as to the difference between the 11th and 14th of Corinthians.
JT Well, I think the reading is correct in this translation; for “when ye come together in assembly” properly belongs to the Lord’s supper. Whereas in chapter 14 it is “the whole assembly come together in one place”, which is somewhat different, the idea being that they are all there in one place. In the latter passage the assembly would be recognized, but more in temple character, as that in which God speaks.
CR We could only come together in the light of that in the present day.
JT It is well to keep that in mind. No meeting can today assume to be the assembly or temple of God.
AEC [p. 297] In Corinthians it is put in a local setting.
JT Yes it is; Acts is a wider thought.
HFN What you say in regard to the inauguration is, I think, distinctly helpful. Would it work out in the Lord reflected in the saints — if the Lord presented Himself? It says in the book of Job, “The sons of God presented themselves before God”, and so if the Lord assembles with us would we learn to assemble from Him?
JT I think so, we have to see what He will do. We can understand that Peter and the others would observe what the Lord did. Then there is the other side, the sons of God presenting themselves. This indicates how we are to appear before God. We learn this from Christ also. He was contemplated as an only-begotten with a father. The assembly is the place of His glory. “My assembly”, He said. The first thing is how He shows Himself, and then what I see. “Being seen by them during forty days” — that is the second thing. Then He speaks, there is what they heard, that is the third thing; and then. He “assembled with them”.
TH This is inward, is it not? The suggestion here is waiting for power to move out, but the thing is to be known and enjoyed in this inward way. Then the power comes in by the Holy Spirit that it may be seen as carried out afterwards.
JT “He assembled with them” is the inward thought; so that all ministry and service takes character from Christ as known in the assembly as we come together the first day of the week. The history of the assembly is, in this sense, divided into weeks.
FB I suppose there is a peculiar way in which we realize the thought of the Lord presenting Himself to us on the first day of the week. There is no other occasion like the first day of the week when the saints are assembled, I was thinking of that verse in John “I am coming to you”. Is not that like the presentation of Himself?
JT Yes. The idea of presentation is somewhat peculiar, as we have been saying, it is more than the fact that He was among them. In Luke and John it is said He stood in the midst. He would give the assembly every opportunity to see Him. They did see Him during the forty days — what views they had of Him!
CR Seeing this is the dispensation of faith, how do we see Him today?
JT Well that is the exercise, how does it apply now? Everything now is on the principle of faith, not sight. This is all actual sight, but the dispensation of God is “in faith” and we do not reach that until “a cloud received him out of their sight”. The time of faith began then. What the disciples had literally we have spiritually. Indeed the whole forty days during which the Lord was seen by the disciples was to stress the spiritual side of the truth — to accustom them to Him in the new and glorious condition He had taken. They saw Him during forty days but in circumstances calculated to induce faith, because He came in without the doors being opened. It was to accustom them to what was spiritual and what was heavenly, which led them on to the faith period. I think that is what is implied by “a cloud received him out of their sight”. Henceforth all is on the principle of faith until the Lord comes. The fact that the Lord was literally seen afterwards by Paul and others does not alter this; it shows that He is always sovereignly free. Of course faith was the principle on which souls were saved and linked with Christ even while He was here, but from the time of His ascension the time of faith began. Compare John 20: 29. Faith is understood by possession — not by definition.
HFN Have we to learn to wait sometimes?
[p. 299] May we not hinder the Lord by our very activity; may not our hymns sometimes hinder us seeing the Lord?
JT Yes. We come together in faith, making room for the Spirit. Normally the assembly is marked by spiritual intelligence, the Lord takes account of it. The Lord shows Himself, and the next thing is, do I see Him? The disciples say, “We have seen the Lord”. We want to come to that — what we can see by the Spirit on the principle of faith. The Spirit is the power of perception. You see in the end of his gospel how John became a leader in recovery, because it was he who saw the Lord first; he said to Peter, “It is the Lord”. He took the lead that time, Peter followed. As discerning the Lord I know what to do. If I discern the body of the Lord, that is, that He has been into death, I am ready for Him as risen and glorified. He says to John, “I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore”. That was accompanied by the Lord laying His right hand on him. It is a touch; in the same way something happens in the assembly that many do not expect, but it effects spiritual movement — “it is the Lord”.
CR John falls at His feet as dead.
JT He touched him, and he rose up in the power of life, and what follows in the book shows that John was affected by the thought of life. Later he says, “I became in the Spirit”. In the assembly the Lord’s touch leads to suitable activity in service to God. The Lord is known in the assembly not only as risen, but as the heavenly One; and “as the heavenly one, such also the heavenly ones”. How great is the thought — Christ and the assembly.
FB What is your thought in referring to Acts 11?
JT To show how the truth of the assembly involves teaching. This in Acts 1 is more the [p. 300] example set by the Lord, and it was for the disciples, those who were to be witnesses; but Acts 11: 26 says there was a great crowd. Barnabas went forth to seek Saul — “And having found him, he brought him to Antioch. And so it was with them that for a whole year they were gathered together in the assembly and taught a large crowd”. The words “gathered together” would be enough, but you have the addition “in the assembly”. It supplies what is needed — the power that comes with teaching. Prophets and teachers are later said to be in the assembly at Antioch, and they were ministering to the Lord and fasting. Gift is not merely something that will unfold facts to you, there is the power to enforce the truth, and the teaching goes on through the year. Saints as learning go through the seasons — the summer and winter, the seed time and harvest, the cold and heat: we are getting lessons in all these circumstances.
CR It is in the assembly that we can rightly profit by it.
JT That is the thing. The assembly at Antioch bore the marks of divine formation and teaching. The Lord Himself says His ears were opened “to hear as the instructed”. Antioch involves not only an elementary or a beginner’s class, it is a finishing course; they were already converted and had turned to the Lord; and Barnabas seeing the grace of God exhorted them to “abide with the Lord”; and then he brings Saul — that they may get, as it were, a full course in the assembly.
RA What is the thought of “a large crowd” that comes in there?
JT I think the idea is just a large number. Generally it would be an unorganized company. In the gospels you get “crowd” as distinct from the disciples, but here it would be just a large company with the presence of the assembly element. They [p. 301] were all learners, but the subsequent facts given show a finished result.
RA The teaching would bring them into subjection.
JT Yes, and into assembly order.
HFN Our attention has been called to the fact that the assembly in Jerusalem had ears.
JT That is mentioned in our chapter and shows that those who formed it had hearing power. The Lord in the temple amongst the doctors was hearing and asking questions, “And all who heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers”.
HFN Is not teaching in the assembly for all — old and young christians?
JT It is better than what is to be had in a Sunday school; in the assembly you get the very best. As remarked, the Lord was in the temple hearing and asking questions. Then you get His understanding and answers. I believe all that is suggestive of assembly features. One is there to learn as an instructed person, and as you listen you get more instruction.
AEC We should think of all our young people as assembly material.
TH Is the thought “gathered together in the assembly” that the assembly gives support to the speakers?
JT The idea of the assembly would be there, it would be the atmosphere of it. The thought of the full-grown man would be there. Israel were to gather an omer for every one in a house. There might be a man with ten children — some of them may be only babes, but he would gather ten omers. Why should the children not be amongst the doctors, so to speak? They have to come up to the standard. The omer being kept in the ark indicates what the divine measure for each believer is, the measure [p. 302] of Christ.
HFN Would it not augment the attendance of our Sunday afternoon readings if that were more in power in our souls?
JT The young people among the saints should understand that these meetings are for them, that all ministry is theirs along with the older ones.
AEC Say a little more about the manna.
JT The measure is for the persons in the household whatever their ages. However many there may be, each would have an omer. The Lord was found among the doctors in the temple, hearing and asking questions — He is a wonderful example for young people as to how they should learn.
LK The same measure for the youngest as for the oldest.
AEC So it is both “hearing them and asking them questions”.