FELLOWSHIP AND THE LORD'S SUPPER
FELLOWSHIP AND THE LORD’S SUPPER
1 Corinthians 10: 15 - 22; 1 Corinthians 11: 23 - 26
JT The Lord seems to have called special attention to the Supper in recent years, and it would seem He has in view that the varied features of the assembly should be revived, so that in result the Spirit and the bride may say, “Come”. My thought in suggesting these scriptures is that we might see that in the first, the Spirit emphasises communion, or fellowship; and in the second, the love that is suggested in the Supper, the love of Christ. The love of God is in it too — that is, in the cup; but even in that the emphasis is on the fact that it is the blood of Christ. The new covenant is in it; but it is, as the Lord says, “in my blood”.
Ques Why the communion first?
JT To regulate the saints in their walk and conduct, and to save them from idolatry. If idolatry is admitted there is no hope of the Supper being truly reached. It can only be enjoyed as the communion is kept. The subject is introduced by this: “Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry”.
Ques When he says, “I speak as to wise men”, would it be as those who have answered to that exhortation, who have fled from idolatry?
JT He addresses them as being wise or intelligent persons; the Lord’s supper is not for a congregation merely; it is for an assembly, which suggests that it is composed of intelligent persons. With that in view wisdom would come in. The Supper is for the assembly.
JRK Would you say that the term communion involves obligation?
JT It does; obligation to God, to Christ, and to the [p. 50] brethren.
Ques What is idolatry? How does it affect us?
JT Anything that disputes the rights of God in the soul, and God as revealed in the death of Christ. “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ?” It is what God is in that blood, and anything that disputes that in your heart would be idolatry.
CAC We see in Psalm 16 a blessed Man who was entirely apart from idolatry, and His delight was in the saints. Does this chapter 10 look at the saints as being on that line?
JT Yes, I think so.
JHL What verses are you referring to in Psalm 16?
CAC “Their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another god: their drink offerings of blood will I not offer, nor take up their names into my lips”. He was entirely apart from idolatry, and He said to the saints that are on the earth, and to the excellent, “In them is all my delight”.
JT That greatly helps this passage. I was remarking the difference between a congregation and an assembly. “I speak as to intelligent persons”. That suggests the assembly, or, I should say, those that compose it.
Ques Does it involve that they are intelligently identified with the name of the Lord?
JT I think so, and that what is presented is taken up in a consistent way — a consistency based on intelligence as to what is presented in the elements. “Judge ye what I say”, is an appeal to the intelligence of the saints; the next chapter is rather an appeal to their affections.
PL Would you say that, regulated by the authority of divine love, we can give ourselves to the desires of that love? And that chapter 10 brings in more our regulation, and chapter 11 our availability for the desires of that [p. 51] love?
JT In chapter 11 the heart is appealed to by the exact words and voice of the Lord Himself.
CAC Is that why you connected the Supper with bridal affections? Is chapter 10 rather moral suitability?
JT I think so. In chapter 11 there is the presentation of what the Lord did, and His death appeals to the affections in a peculiar way; the answer to it is, I think, seen in the address to Philadelphia. The Lord promises to the overcomer there, “him will I make a pillar in the temple of my God ... and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God ... which comes down out of heaven, from my God, and my new name”. It seems as if the Lord assumes that an overcomer in that period would value the things which were His, especially His God. The gospels are a testimony of what His God was to Him. You were remarking the beautiful reference in Psalm 16 to God and the saints; we see there the refusal of idolatry. The Lord assumes that the overcomer would value that. I think that as the gospels are studied, or rather, as we feed on them, we acquire an appreciation of what God was to Christ here. It is His God, the temple of His God, the name of the city of His God, and finally His own new name.
Ques What is the new name?
JT The emphasis is on the word new; we have to learn what is new in the name by what we get in the gospels and the epistles.
Ques Would you say that overcoming according to the verses you quote involves separation from the world and idolatry? Is it answering to the obligation imposed on us in connection with the Supper?
JT I think Philadelphia runs parallel with the revival of the Supper.
JRK So that in the breaking of the bread and the drinking of the cup we commit ourselves to a [p. 52] course in which the name of the Lord is preserved in our minds.
JT Yes; what God is in Christ is presented to us in the cup, and then what Christ is as Man in entire devotedness to the will of God is presented in the loaf, and the unity of the saints is added to that.
JRK And to answer to these obligations to God and to Christ and to the brethren is equivalent to overcoming.
CAC The overcomer would take character from Christ, who is the Holy and the True.
JT I think the connection with Psalm 16 is very good indeed, because as you consider the path of Christ as presented in the gospel, you see His unswerving devotedness to God. He was holy and He was true; He was not only true to God, but He was true to the saints. He held them and carried them through; He said, “If ... ye seek me, let these go their way”. I think that this threefold obligation is of all importance for us if we are to overcome, and it is not exactly here a question of commandments but of consistency. There is an obligation to God, to Christ, and to the saints. And then an additional thought comes in, namely, that if untrue we have the Lord to contend with. If we provoke Him to jealousy we have to contend with Him; we are at issue with Him.
Ques Would not being true to your baptism preserve you from idolatry?
JT The question of consistency is more emphasised in connection with the Supper than with baptism, although consistency is in connection with each. It is in relation to the Supper that he says, “I speak as to intelligent persons: do ye judge what I say”. And what does he say? “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ?” You have part in that; now what about your outward relations? Are you trifling with idolatry?
[p. 53] If I understand rightly, in taking the Supper we come under obligation in the breaking of the bread and the drinking of the cup. We have to be true to that. In John’s epistle we are said to be “in him that is true, in his Son Jesus Christ”. He was the true One.
CAC If we cherish the thought of the One who was here for the will of God, it morally necessitates that we should be here for that will.
JT Jesus Christ is the true One who unswervingly carried out the will of God, and the loaf speaks of that; and hence the obligation is ever with one to be true to that. The gospels afford much food for the soul; one has to feed on Christ as the One who carried out the will of God.
Ques Would it involve consistency with His death?
JT Yes; it is really consistency with Christ, including His death, because it is a question of what He was here. These things would serve to bring out the features of Christ in a formative way in the saints, so that there might be conformity to Christ. The book of Proverbs brings in the woman of worth, one who can be confided in when the husband is away. The question comes to me, Can I be trusted in the absence of the Lord, or we might say, in the absence of the brethren? “The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her”.
When we come to chapter 11 we have what is collective. Chapter 10 is the bearing of the Supper on the individual, as to whether I am true; and one can understand how the Lord watches the saints to see the development of this element of holiness and truthfulness. In chapter 10 I am obligated in regard of all others as to my movements; it is a question of my considering for them so as not to compromise them by my actions, or relations. But when we come to chapter 11 it is the collective side; we sit down [p. 54] together, and in doing so one always desires to hold oneself in relation to the whole assembly.
CAC You mean that your heart cherishes the thought of the whole company.
JT That is what I was thinking, the Lord has nothing less before Him than that.
Ques Does the word, “This is my body, which is for you”, embrace the whole assembly?
JT That includes every one of the saints, and you want to include them all too. I have been greatly interested of late in the thought of the tribes. I think there is a danger of discrediting the Old Testament, but it is written for us. And the way the tribes are spoken of helps us in regard of what is in the mind of the Lord about the assembly. “This is my body, which is given for you”, necessarily includes all the saints, and so as we sit down together we are in assembly relations; we think of the tribes. Moses “was king in Jeshurun, when the heads of the people and the tribes of Israel were gathered together”. Deuteronomy 33: 5. They are seen there typically, so to say, in assembly order, and in that order Christ is enthroned in their affections. And that is what the Supper is intended to effect.
In sitting down to the Supper we are in assembly relations; it is an assembly function; and in holding ourselves in that relation we are holding ourselves for Christ; we are for Christ as He has been for us. I was speaking yesterday of Jacob’s appeal in Genesis 49: 1, 2. “And Jacob called unto his sons, and said. Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days. Gather yourselves together, and hear, ye sons of Jacob; and hearken unto Israel your father”. In verse 2 the word is changed; it is really “assemble yourselves”. It may seem a small difference, but the word is changed. We come together, that is our act; but as together we are in the light of the assembly, and in [p. 55] the assembly we are to hear what the Lord says, and the Supper has a voice.
JRK Would you say that if we are duly affected by the Lord’s love we cannot leave the saints out of our affections?
JT You cannot; you want all the tribes. “The tribes of Israel were gathered together”. Now the point is to hear what the Lord has to say. So the scripture read in 1 Corinthians 11 begins with the saints in assembly. It is not a congregation where some human leader speaks, but the assembly in which Christ speaks; He appeals to us. And every one is addressed as an intelligent person. It is in assembly the Lord would open His thoughts and heart to us.
JHL How far can that be taken up today?
JT Well, if you hold yourself in the light of the whole assembly the Lord speaks to you; you get communications and manifestations as at the beginning. Present conditions of course necessarily modify this in a certain way. But the assembly remains here, the object of Christ’s affections; and the Supper being revived, the Lord would have us, as partaking of it, to hold ourselves in assembly relations, and to clothe ourselves with assembly thoughts.
CAC You have really found the assembly according to what it is in the heart of Christ; you have found it there.
JT I was going to say in regard to the high priest’s breastplate, and the names according to the tribes being in it, that if we get near to the Lord we find that the whole assembly is in His heart. The Lord says, “At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you”. John 14: 20. The Lord has great pleasure in christians, however few, holding themselves for Christ in relation to the assembly. While no company, however large, can [p. 56] say that they are it, saints can hold themselves in that relation. You save yourself from any pretension to be it by holding yourself to be in that relation.
Rem It must be a great joy to the Lord that the saints should hold themselves thus.
JT I know it is a great joy to His heart, because it brings the features of the assembly before Him. He addresses Philadelphia as if He were speaking to the assembly: “I have loved thee ... I also will keep thee”. He had nothing less than the whole assembly in His mind in speaking thus. John 14 emphasises the individual, but that individual would think of the assembly.
JRK Would you not say that there would be enlargement of heart in that?
JT I think the Lord will bring about enlargement of affection, that we may have all the saints in our hearts.
CAC And love to all the saints is really the basis for Colossian and Ephesian truth. Where there was love to all the saints there was a condition to which the truth could be opened out.
JT I think if we hold to that, if we cling to the brethren, the Lord will grant them to us; if we cling to them, they will not turn away from us.
JRK It is interesting that the name is Philadelphia, which means brotherly love.
JT I believe there is a meaning in that.
CAC You mentioned earlier in the meeting the emphasis which the Lord put on the words, “My God”, “the city of my God”, etc. Had you in mind that the Supper has in view the setting of the saints in those blessed relations with God that are so precious to the heart of Christ?
JT I think that is very beautiful. “My God and your God”.
CAC Is the cup really leading on to that?
JT I think it belongs in what God is to us.
CAC That is what I meant.
JT Yes; because the life was in it. God from the outset claimed the blood. It had in view the life of Jesus, for that was the only life worth claiming. God claimed it, but He gave it up for us; it was poured out for us. Hence we see the love of God in the cup. I greatly value the reference to Psalm 16 — what God was to Him — His God.
JHL Are you thinking of the expression, “I have set the Lord always before me”?
JT Yes, and there are one or two other beautiful expressions. “The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot. The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage. I will bless the Lord, who hath given me counsel: my reins also instruct me in the night seasons. I have set the Lord always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope. For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore”. That was what God was to Him; He was His God. It is in the temple of that God that the overcomer is to be made a pillar.
CAC It is really the joy of the Lord to set His saints in the blessedness of knowing His God.
JT Yes; He can say that the saints that are in the earth, and the excellent, are all His delight. He views them as set in relation to His God. And should not that find an answer in us as regards the saints? And the Supper is the centre of all this; all these things [p. 58] centre there.
CAC I do not think there is anything more precious, or that more affects my heart, than to see how all christianity centres in the Supper.
JT With regard to the tribes of Deuteronomy 33. Christ is seen typically as supreme in their affections. Then in Psalm 122 the tribes are seen going up to Jerusalem. “Jerusalem is builded as a city that is compact together: whither the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord, unto the testimony of Israel (or Israel’s custom, New Translation, note), to give thanks unto the name of the Lord”. It was Israel’s custom that the tribes should go up. The Lord is the originator of every christian custom, and it is well to note these customs. The Supper is a custom, but something else goes along with the Supper — that is, the going up of the tribes. That is, I think, suggestive of what follows the Supper. The Lord inaugurated a custom when they sang a hymn, and then went to the mount of Olives. That would be a custom which the spiritual would ever afterwards remember and take note of.
Ques Does going to the mount of Olives indicate a change after the Supper?
JT It does; I think it has reference to heaven. Bethany is an earthly connection, but the mount of Olives is a heavenly connection.
Ques Do you think a hymn should always follow the Supper?
JT In a general way; it is a time for enjoying Christ’s love for His own; this would tend to liberty for what is to follow. A hymn is the outcome of what you have enjoyed; it would be praise to the Person.
Rem A very precious custom that.
JT I think it is; I hope we shall be found following it.
PL In Psalm 15 we have the thought of ascending, have we not? Would you say Psalm 16 shows [p. 59] the features of those who could ascend, and now in Psalm 122 we find them ascending together?
JT Yes. In John 8 the Lord went to the mount of Olives alone when the others went to their own homes. That is why I think it is linked with heaven; it is where He found His retreat. But afterward “He went according to his custom to the mount of Olives, and the disciples also followed him”. Luke 22: 39 (New Trans.).
In Psalm 122 there is much intelligence, much recognition of what is in Jerusalem. “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee. Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces. For my brethren and companions’ sakes, I will now say, Peace be within thee. Because of the house of the Lord our God I will seek thy good”. I think that is something like the language of a Philadelphian overcomer. The tribes of Jehovah would represent the assembly in its order before God: a company that ascends, and gives thanks to His name.
Rem I suppose the character of what follows the Supper should help the saints to go up.
JT I think one who gives the lead in a spiritual way greatly helps. It does not say who gave out the hymn, but I have no doubt the Lord did.
Rem So the Supper puts us together in view of going up.
JT I think so. As assembled together we have the custom of going up.
CAC You would not begin the meeting by addressing the Father? I have observed that if a meeting has started by addressing the Father it descends instead of going up.
JT No. It is important to have intelligence in what one does; one should act according to the light that governs the position. There should be a gradual ascent. At the beginning we assemble ourselves, but as together there is something additional; we are set [p. 60] in such relation to one another as to be assembled from the divine side. We are together in assembly then. In coming together we hold ourselves in that relation, yet there is an influence that sets us in the assembly from the divine side, and there Christ is supreme; He is King in Jeshurun. A hymn to the Lord is very becoming then; we recognize Him as Lord coming amongst us in view of our being in the good of His headship.
JRK When in the good of that, would He lead on to the Father?
JT As King in Jeshurun He is supreme in our affections, but soon becomes Head with us. Then it is a question of letting Him have His way, and the movement upward would be through Him to the Father.
Ques Would the title “Lord Jesus” convey the same thought as King in Jeshurun?
JT It would. It is an affectionate reference to His place of authority. No one can say Lord Jesus except by the Spirit. “The Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed” is an affectionate reference to Him.