SPIRITUAL INTELLIGENCE IN THE ASSEMBLY
SPIRITUAL INTELLIGENCE IN THE ASSEMBLY
JT It is in mind that we might consider the assembly from the standpoint of needed intelligence. The idea of spiritual intelligence is greatly stressed in the passages of Scripture which treat of the assembly. It seems to be the highest development of God’s thought in creation and intelligence is called for; indeed, the word revelation is connected with it, as in the end of Romans where the believer meets it in the ordinary course of his education; it is by the revelation of something hidden, called the mystery, now made known to the apostles and prophets. And so in Ephesians the apostle also speaks of it as being by revelation to him. He prays there “that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, would give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of him”, Ephesians 1: 17 and moreover that the Father might strengthen them “in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints, what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height, and to know the love of Christ”, Ephesians 3: 16 - 19. So here it is by revelation; that is to say, it is a state of spiritual ability to receive things in that way, by the spirit of wisdom and revelation. And so Matthew, in leading up to the great subject, the assembly, records how the Lord had challenged His own: “Have ye understood all these things?” He had said much to them, and they answered “Yea Lord”, Matthew 13: 51, and he said, “Therefore every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old”. That is to [p. 518] say, he is a person of wealth, able to contribute in the assembly. It is from that point of view I thought we might look on the subject linking it on with the Lord’s Supper in scriptures that are intimate to us all. The apostle begins the subject in Corinthians by addressing the saints there as intelligent, “I speak as to intelligent persons”. And so here the Lord brings in the thought of the leaven, counting on their understanding; so that instruction relative to the assembly assumes a knowledge already there, and if it be not there He rebukes us, as He did here. “How is it that ye do not understand?” It is for each one of us to ask ourselves if there is anything, ‘How is it that I do not understand?’ The Lord is aiming at bringing about assembly conditions and looks for results in the gatherings of His people. He has become man in order that the most possible might accrue to God. It is a question of bringing in things for God — of whom, through whom and for whom are all things. He says, “My assembly” and He looks for us to understand what He has in mind in it. It is for Himself, to be presented to Himself, and then in His hand it is for God; it is that in which God is glorified and ministered to.
Ques Why have you the introduction of the leaven here?
JT To call attention to the danger of leaven being carried over by us as we leave the human organisations around us. Believers on Him were in danger of carrying over the leaven of the current religious systems represented in the Pharisees and Sadducees. The same thing applies today, the current religious organisations have leaven and we may leave them but carry the leaven with us. It says the Lord “left them and went away”, meaning it was a thorough departure. But the disciples might carry leaven with them.
AN I wondered whether what hinders a good [p. 519] many of us from the apprehension of these things is that we look at a thing in relation to ourselves and our own needs, instead of seeing that it is something of divine intention, what there is for God?
JT That is very suggestive.
Ques Is that the idea of leaven?
JT It is the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees; that is what He enjoins against here.
Ques Is it connected with what is material? They were looking for a sign.
JT Well, it would be partly that; it would be what would be visible. It says they understood it to be the doctrine; it would be connected with the doctrine. The sign would mean that we are not walking by faith, we are walking by sight.
Ques Is the key rightly to understand His own Person?
JT Well, that is the key to it, but what leads up to that great matter is what we should notice. Verses 1 to 12 are preliminary to the subject of the assembly. The subject of the assembly properly appears at Caesarea Philippi. That paragraph is introduced by the word “but”. It is not the “but” of contrast, it is the “but” of importance. There is often something more, some great matter that comes out of what He is speaking about. The preliminary word is most necessary if we are to enter the next paragraph, the challenge as to who He is, this matter of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees which we may be in danger of carrying over with us, that is to say the cherishing of natural thoughts, the doctrines, the rules, the spirit, we might add and the way of doing things. I may come out of it but I may carry the spirit and the doctrine of the thing with me and therefore I am unable in my soul to get on to the ground of the assembly.
Ques Would that be the concern of the apostle in writing to the Colossians? Are the Pharisees connected [p. 520] with the legal side and the Sadducees with the intellectual side? I am alluding to chapter 2 and thought that the disciples might be hindered in following the Lord at this point by the allowance of these things.
JT The Sadducees allude to philosophy; the schools are full of that sort of thing now, what man has brought in out of his own brain. Then here is ceremonialism, that is the Pharisee.
These chapters from the beginning of the thirteenth are all leading up to the assembly. They are steps or degrees, steps up, and throughout you find this thought stressed, the thought of spiritual intelligence — whether you can understand things. And these verses are particularly so because the Lord mentioned the thought of leaven. He had already mentioned it in chapter thirteen, so that it ought not to be a new word to them, and so it humbles us, for things are brought up, time and again amongst us and the brethren have not noticed them. They have been passed over, either deliberately or inadvertently. And so here they were immediately natural in their thoughts. A loaf of bread, how miserable to think that the Lord Jesus was occupying them with a loaf of bread. They had gone into the town of Samaria to buy bread at one time and missed a lot. It does not say He sent them. They all went. Why did not one of them go? They all went and left Him. But the Lord has a moral question in view. It is questioners who get the light — ‘What does He mean?’ What is the significance of Jonas? Has that to do with our education?
JT It is His death — three days and three nights — that includes the Sabbath. “As Jonas was in the belly of the great fish three days and three nights, thus shall the Son of man be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights”, Matthew 12: 40. That was the ending of a dispensation you know,
[p. 521] that was the termination of the old dispensation.
Ques Is that what we have to come to before we get to the idea of this leaven?
JT That is right, we have ended something. When you come out from something it is a thorough break, a thorough separation and if we do not understand the sign of Jonah we cannot go on to this.
Rem And you are not obligated to anything of the old system.
JT It would call attention to that scripture, the Lord’s Person being brought into it, “in him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily”, Colossians 2: 9. It means that it is brought into our range. It calls attention to His greatness in chapter 1, and in chapter 2 it is brought within our range. It is brought in the Person, the lowliest of men; that is a very important thing. “In him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily” — we are contemplating in Him all that God is, as in Him, towards us and we are in Him towards God. So that we do not need to go outside of Christ for anything, all is there.
AN I think that is helpful, that it is an entirely new order of things. There is nothing of the old order that is going to be any help, indeed it will be destructive if we bring it in.
Rem The disciples had gone to the other side — the bread or the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees is of no use on the other side.
JT Yes, that is what it says, “When his disciples were come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread. Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees”. The idea of bread was in their minds, and He brings in this thought. What do you say about that?
Van. K. That is not the kind of intelligence upon which the truth of the assembly would be built.
JT Then it says — they reasoned amongst themselves — [p. 522] we never get anywhere by reasoning among ourselves, for we leave Him out by that. When the Lord came down from the mount of transfiguration there was a tumult and they were reasoning amongst themselves, and a man brought his little boy and they could not help him. He says, “I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him”. Well, could you wonder? When they were on the mount Jesus alone was with them. You have the nucleus of the assembly in that — Jesus alone with themselves. But they themselves are perfectly helpless and He reproached them, saying “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you?” Matthew 17: 17.
Ques Have we not, in the feedings of the five thousand and the four thousand, the full meeting of our need? So we should be with One who would meet all our needs, and lead us on to that which is positive, that which He would bring in?
JT He says, “Do ye not yet understand, neither remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets ye took up? neither the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many baskets ye took up?” The two miracles of feeding are brought in here, it is a question of resource; they were occupied with what they had neglected, what they had not brought; seeing how untrustworthy they were, they would forget even such an essential as food. But He calls attention to these miracles, to the resources there are for us; the first is in chapter 14 where He looked up to heaven, giving thanks. He looks up to heaven, meaning it is a question of what is in heaven. He is in heaven now and it means infinite resource for us. On the second occasion He does not lift up His eyes to heaven — the allusion being to the Spirit, that the Spirit is here. The feeding of the four thousand brings in the resources in the Spirit — we make [p. 523] room for the Spirit. The feeding of the five thousand, and the lifting up of His eyes to heaven, indicate what is heavenly, what may come from heaven by prayer and solicitation. The seven baskets allude to the spiritual side, the twelve baskets to the administration from heaven. The spiritual side goes on right to the end of the dispensation, the presence of the Holy Spirit amongst us. That there is no limit to the power is the point He brings in here. They forgot to take bread; are we not liable to forget what is essential? He calls attention to the feeding of so many. If we understand these two signs we shall never be at a loss.
Rem That is very helpful. ‘Lifting up His eyes to heaven’ would remind us of the present position of the Lord on high as our resource and the other case would indicate what we have in the Spirit down here. These are resources indeed.
JT Our prayer meetings should be characterised by the lifting up our eyes to heaven spiritually, not naturally. We find that God does exceeding abundantly for us above all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us. There is nothing new coming down, it is down here, the resources are here in the Spirit, the “power that is in us”, but they come in through prayer, otherwise we could sit in our parlours and let God act.
Ques Is there significance in the fact that it is hand baskets, not baskets?
JT The significance is that it is the larger vessel for the Spirit, the numeral suggesting perfection, seven fillings.
Ques Is all this leading up to the foundation of the assembly?
JT Yes, that is it so that the Lord says in verse 11, “How is it that ye do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning bread, that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees?” Now they were concerned about bringing; it is not bringing that is to be enjoyed, it is that I understand things thoroughly. We never use ‘understand’ in regard to what is infinite, only in connection with something within our power to grasp.
Then He says, “Who do men say that I the Son of man am?” which implies that He is now on another level. I suppose it is a gentile position, it is a combined name; Caesarea and Philippi have their own significance in the world, in the history of the gentile monarchies. The coast has an allusion to the world, it is a wide thought. He is now leading up to something greater than the matter of leaven. This is a question of His own Person. How important it is to divest yourself of every distracting thing if you are challenged with regard to the truth of the Lord’s Person. Anything that beclouds your mind should be judged if you are to face the great transcending fact of who this Person is. No doubt that is what we are confronted with today, the Lord’s Person.
Rem The leaven applied to this refers to the things that are handed down, come down with us. But then there is the old leaven of malice and wickedness, it is ever present in the natural man.
JT It is an important thing, most important, that our eyes should be right. Mark, before he brings in this, opens the man’s eyes at Bethesda; it is a question of vision being clear. What are you saying about Him? The Lord assumes that the disciples are conversant with what is current. We want to know what is being said about Jesus. There is a bedlam of voices about Him, the drift being to apostasy and blasphemy. Aside from the knowledge of Christ, where are we? It must be the rock upon which everything stands — “On this rock I will build my assembly”. So that there are graded apprehensions [p. 525] of the matter abroad in the world — that is, the first say John the baptist, the second Elias, and others Jeremias or one of the prophets. They are graded thoughts, some greater than others, but in no case is He considered as more than man, a great man, of course, but not more than man.
Rem I was thinking it is remarkable how slow we are to take in any fresh light in regard to the Person of Christ. There are many of us who are quite conversant with what is past, but we ought to be open for every little new thought about Christ.
Ques Do you think this section has the gentile in view?
JT I think so; it is the assembly from the standpoint of Paul’s ministry, not as at Pentecost; it is its universal bearing that is in view — the gentiles are brought in. But it is what people are saying, and the question is, am I thinking any different from them? You say ‘John the baptist was a very great man, and anyone that says Jesus was John the baptist was not much behind’. But ask John the baptist what he thinks about Jesus; he said, “In the midst of you stands, whom ye do not know, he who comes after me”, and then he says, “who takes a place before me, because he was before me”. It was not hidden from John the baptist.
Ques Is this a test that the Lord brings home to each one of our hearts?
JT That is the idea, what is in your heart? Although we are orthodox and believe in John, what is our apprehension in our minds? The Lord is not asking what the Bible says, indeed it has said enough about Him to show who He was. The first chapter of Hebrews is most beautiful, pointing up to Christ and it is all taken from the Old Testament. What is my real apprehension of Christ and what am I saying? It is a thing to be spoken of. The Lord was really leading up to something different, that is, a transaction [p. 526] with the Father. However the knowledge comes about, whether it is from the scriptures, or whether it is through a transaction with the Father, it is a matter of inward revelation really in principle, for the Father gives us, “the spirit of wisdom and revelation”, Ephesians 1: 17.
AN You get the principle in Ephesians 1: while Paul is on the line of revelation he prays that the eyes of their heart might be opened that they might know what is the hope of His calling. It is not to be mere intelligence gathered from the Scriptures, but it is to be known in their hearts.
JT Yes, so that whilst they had known Him as Son, for He was announced and greeted as Son by the Father earlier, this is something different. The Lord is dealing with a transaction with the Father as to His Person. You have to get it in that way. It is the state of your soul. Anyone can say today Jesus is the Son of God, in an orthodox way, because it is taught in the catechism who the Lord is, but the Lord is not dealing with that here. As soon as Peter says, “Thou art the Christ the Son of the living God”. He says, “flesh and blood has not revealed it to thee, but my Father who is in the heavens”. That takes you outside the range of orthodox religion.
Ques Is the revelation of the Father direct or through the Scriptures?
JT Well, of course, the point is to get the thought here, the ground we are on, that we are approaching the high level of exclusive spirituality. The Lord emphasizes it in this way; He says it is a revelation from the Father. Flesh and blood is ruled out; it is on the high ground of the assembly, it is not to be learned from others; it is a matter of spiritual instinct. Peter says, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God”, that is what the Lord is waiting for. That is what all this has in view. He says,
“[p. 527] Blessed art thou. Simon Bar-jona, for flesh and blood has not revealed it to thee”. The Lord is adding to what the Father has done. He is taking up the material that is there. “Thou art Peter” — his status is changed — “and on this rock will I build my assembly”. So that now we have the foundation of the assembly.
AN I think that is very helpful, that the Father has revealed it. “I also say” is really on the principle, “My Father worketh hitherto and I work”, John 5: 17.
JT The direct transaction is in verse 17; the Lord goes on to say “I also, I say unto you”; that is something presented to you and is carried on by ministry now.
Ques Can we distinguish as to what we know in our minds and what has been revealed by the Father?
JT Well, I think we ought to be able to, there is helpful instruction in Numbers 15, where a man comes to God to worship and brings a lamb. He has to bring with it a certain, carefully weighed quantity of fine flour, and oil, and wine for a drink offering. Then if he brings a ram he has to enlarge all these things, the fine flour, and oil and drink offering. If he brings a bullock it is still larger. I mean to infer that the grades are from the lamb upwards, all the accompaniments must be in proportion, that is to say, it is a question of my stature. I must not bring to God merely what I learn from others. The other things must be there in proportion, the fine flour, the oil and wine. Every worshipper must be balanced as entirely after Christ, and what he presents he is in keeping with. What God is looking for is my stature, how much I have grown in relation to Christ. All must come to this, whatever I have learned by teaching from others,
[p. 528] all must come down to this: what is my measure, what features mark me?
Rem There was a time when Peter did not know what to say. Do you think there are times in our history when we need intelligence as to what to say?
JT Well, just so. You mean on the mount, in the next chapter. Peter did not know what to say, but here he did know what to say. The whole formation of the assembly was in the mind of divine Persons at this juncture, and here he knows immediately and the Lord expounds how it was that he knew.
Ques Is there any thought as to the building of Eve?
JT You mean the word “build” is first found in connection with her? That is what we were saying this morning. Peter says, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God”, that would mean that He is the One that does everything for God, He is anointed by God for it. In His every word, whatever is required, He will do all the pleasure of God. Well now, what will He do with the assembly? He calls it His here, “My assembly”; what will He do with it? “The Christ” implies His ministerial power and comprises the thought of the minister of the holy places, because the priest is also anointed. What will the Priest do with the assembly? The word “The Christ” would imply that He would use in holiness this assembly that He has. As Son of man He takes up His own relations with man, but as Son of God He takes up the things of divine intention. As David says to Solomon, “Jehovah has chosen thee to build a house”, 1 Chronicles 28: 10. David was not to build, Solomon was to do it, “Thy son”, so that the building by the Son is to be according to the Father. Christ is the anointed One to carry out that service. All the material is brought in, but the foundation is a holy spiritual thing from this point of view. As [p. 529] we sit down in the assembly we should be thinking of all this, what the Christ will do with the assembly. What will He do with the assembly? “Glorify thy Son”, He says, “that thy Son may glorify thee”, John 17: 1. How is He doing that? He will do it in the assembly.
Rem Can you help us on what would lead us intelligently to take account of what Christ is forming down here in relation to what you have in John the baptist in looking on Jesus. As John comes He first points out the Person in relation to His work, and then as the gathering centre as bringing in new ground.
JT He looked at Him as He walked: it is the Lamb of God there, the sacrificial thought, but also the thought of intrinsic worth. It is a larger word than in Revelation, it is more maturity there, it is how He walked. He was attractive and delightful to John and became the gathering centre. But then they seek Him, the Teacher, “where abidest thou?” He says “Come and see”. You will get more there than in His walk. Where He abides is His home, that would all lead up to what we are speaking of. In John 1 the Lamb there is a larger thought than in Revelation. In Revelation He is there as a sufferer. The word “Rabbi” in the minds of the followers would mean that they needed teaching, but in the end of the gospel of John it is, “Rabboni”, that is “My Teacher”. Mary would say, ‘there is no other teacher for me’. It is exclusive, it is Colossians really; you do not want any other. It is a question of “the Christ”; ‘what will He do with the assembly?’ should enter into our minds as we sit down in the assembly. How is He glorifying the Father? He lifted up His eyes to heaven and said, “Glorify thy Son, that thy Son may glorify thee”. In what way could He glorify the assembly, this thing which He had built? As you get on to the [p. 530] great height, keep to it, do not drop down to the bottom of Olivet when you have reached the top. When you reach the summit you worship there. When David reached the top of Olivet he worshipped (2 Samuel 15: 32). We get the power — the power is in movement.
Rem You mean if we get on the level of worship to the Father, we should keep on that level?
JT If the hymn book was written by one who was a literal minister of the sanctuary, he would put the hymns to the Father all together, but we should not like that, we should not be told what to sing, we do not need that. We do not need a prayer book, we have intelligence. I think room should be left in these things for the intelligence of the saints.