3. RELATIONS IN WHICH GOD IS KNOWN - GOD KNOWN IN THE ECONOMY INTO WHICH HE HAS COME IN CHRIST
[p. 426] 3. RELATIONS IN WHICH GOD IS KNOWN - GOD KNOWN IN THE ECONOMY INTO WHICH HE HAS COME IN CHRIST
Matthew 28: 18 - 20; John 3: 35, 36; John 4: 10 - 30; John 20: 19 - 23
JT The object in view in having these four scriptures read is to bring out certain features of this sub-division of our general subject; the first having to do with the economy formally, “the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit”. It is connected with authority, the Lord saying, “All power has been given me in heaven and upon earth”, and “teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have enjoined you”. Then in John, the subject is connected with love, the Father’s love for the Son. “The Father loves the Son, and has given all things to be in his hand” (John 3: 35). In John 20, the subject is linked up with ascension, God known in the economy in family relationships. The Lord had sent the message to the disciples as to these relationships, saying, “I ascend to my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God” (John 20: 17). He sent this message to His disciples as His brethren.
Our first reading had God known in creation as a subject, which enabled us to cover a wide field, which has, I believe, a very practical bearing. God known in Christ, and God known in the economy into which He has come, do not abrogate what He is in creation; this stands, and it enters into our physical life here below. We considered God in Christ from John 14 and 2 Corinthians 5, which bring out the wonderful ministry of Christ, the three and a half years. Daniel’s prayer in chapter 9 of his book, moved heaven so that the angel Gabriel came to him and told him that he was “greatly beloved”, and also to tell him that seventy weeks were determined [p. 427] upon his people, upon his city, to make an end of sin and bring in the righteousness of the ages, and to anoint the holy of holies. Those seventy weeks were divided into seven weeks and sixty-two weeks, making sixty-nine weeks, “unto Messiah, the Prince;” leaving one week to follow, but after the sixty-nine weeks the Messiah should be cut off and have nothing. Into the first half of this week enters Christ’s wonderful ministry. “God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself;” the most wonderful three and a half years in the history of all time, when Jesus was under God’s eye here in manhood; God was in Him reconciling the world unto Himself. There must be a standard for God, and Christ as Man was the standard, all to be brought into correspondence with Him. Paul alludes to that three and a half years of Christ’s ministry in saying that he had received the ministry of reconciliation, and the word of it too, “how that God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, not reckoning to them their offences” (2 Corinthians 5: 19). The doctrine of it comes out in Paul’s ministry and the results of it too, as we see in the many salutations that Paul sent in his letters; how many were brought into correspondence with Christ through his gospel.
The present part of our subject is God in the economy which He has set up, involving the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The believer is brought into this as we see in John 4, and in John 20 the disciples are linked up with Christ in ascension in this economy.
WGT Will you amplify the word economy.
JT It alludes to God’s administration in His house. The word carries that force. In English it is any administrative system. It carries an administrative thought. We are baptised “to the name, of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit”. Baptism introduces us into the realm of divine revelation,
[p. 428] the revelation of three Persons in the Godhead, two of Them subservient to the Father. The first thing is to see how divine Persons have come into this economy before we come into it.
WGT Would the scene at the Jordan refer to the economy, the Spirit descending upon Christ as a dove, and the Father expressing His love?
JT Yes. John’s baptism opened up the way for the introduction of Christ, and attention was called to Him. Heaven was not opened to Him as He was born, nor at twelve years of age, although expressly referred to then, but as He identified Himself with the movement Godward at Jordan; heaven then recognised Him and said, “Thou art my beloved Son, in thee I have found my delight” (Luke 3: 22). That is, heaven acknowledged Christ, who had been here for thirty years, as the Father’s Son. We know it is the Father’s voice by the fact that it said, “Thou art my beloved Son”. It does not say that the Father said that, but no other voice could have said it but the Father’s. Hence, we have the one Person of the Trinity owned from heaven, not only as the Son, but as One in whom delight had been found, alluding to what He was as Man here in private life for thirty years. That introduces the Son, and the Holy Spirit comes upon Him. We have thus the three Persons of the Trinity in evidence there. It is not to bring out the conditions of absolute Deity, but that God had come into this economy in relation to a movement there in John’s baptism in which the Lord Jesus took part; heaven owned Him as there, and the Holy Spirit came upon Him. So we have manifested the three Persons of the Deity, but henceforth in active service in grace; that is the position, and then came the three and a half years of ministry, then the death and resurrection as seen in this chapter, Matthew 28. Resurrection is found in this chapter in a very striking way. We have also here, as already said, the baptismal formula — “to the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit”. That is christianity; the economy into which we come as brought under authority. Authority is what Christ enjoins in this passage.
JS Is that in keeping with 1 Corinthians 10:2? “And all were baptised unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea”.
JT That is the same thought; only that economy was, properly, set up at Sinai.
WB-w When Peter preached on the day of Pentecost, “Repent, and be baptised, each one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for remission of sins” (Acts 2: 38), did not that open the door for each one to come into the economy? Were Peter, James, John and the other apostles in the economy before Peter preached?
JT I would say they were. They had been appointed and sent. Christ sent them out to preach. We shall see later that the economy in which they were is that of John 20, inclusive of the other features. There it is related to the ascension of Christ. He ascended to the Father, and left His disciples here below. Having the status of His brethren, He sends them as His Father had sent Him. It has a bearing on these last days. He commits authority to them, either to remit, or retain sins, which I think would fit in with our own times, when christians need so much forgiveness. All man’s religious institutions involve sin, there is lawlessness attached to every human religious organisation, so that christians coming out of them require forgiveness. The Lord commits authority to His disciples, to remit, or retain sins. It is not the same as the ministry of reconciliation to the world, it is more limited. We can see the general need of forgiveness in regard of man’s will working in the profession of christianity. Where there is organised disregard of [p. 430] His commandments there can be no just claim to love for Him (John 14: 21).
HH Would the Spirit of Christ bear on what you are saying?
JT Yes. “He breathed into them, and says to them, Receive the Holy Spirit” (John 20: 22). It is intimacy and love all through John. What we are speaking of now is a love matter. It is specially so now as the saints’ relation to Christ is that of brethren, and to God, that of sons. “Go to my brethren and say to them, I ascend to my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God” (John 20: 17).
HH I would like to draw attention to the footnote to Colossians 1: 25 in the New Translation. ‘Or’, economy, ‘as’ administration ‘in 1 Corinthians 9: 17; Ephesians 1: 10; Ephesians 3: 2, 9;’ dispensation, ‘1 Timothy 1: 4; and’ stewardship, ‘Luke 16: 2 - 4’. So that we are not using a word that is outside the range of Scripture.
JT The word ‘economy’ is right as in the connection we have used it. It began as Christ was owned from heaven as the Son, by the Father letting everyone know He had found delight in that Person. Then the Holy Spirit comes upon Him, not as it comes on christians, but as a dove, descending in a bodily form. The Spirit was given without measure to that Person. Hence the operations are in “the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit”.
SMcC How would the formula used by Paul, in Acts 19: 5, stand in relation to the one the Lord introduces in Matthew 28? It is “baptised to the name of the Lord Jesus”.
JT We may add the words used by Peter in Acts 2: 38, “in the name of Jesus Christ;” and in Acts 10: 48, “in the name of the Lord;” then in Acts 19, “they were baptised to the name of the Lord Jesus”.
[p. 431] We have three prepositions used. In chapter 2, it implies that Jesus Christ is the object, and that faith and confidence is in Him. In chapter 10 it is a preposition of power, I am baptised in a name that carries power with it, and I am covered as it were. Whereas in chapter 19 and in Matthew 28, it is a preposition of movement, that is, I am baptised towards something, to the name “of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit”.
This matter of the preposition, I think we ought to bear in mind, because in Matthew 28 the Lord is telling the disciples to make disciples; a very remarkable feature that runs through Matthew; for christianity carries authority with it, not only the authority of commission, but power to effect things. So that the Lord says, “All power has been given me in heaven and upon earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations”. Christ was what God intended men to become, and the apostles were themselves to be what the nations were to become, that is, disciples. In preaching the gospel or serving the saints, I must be the thing I intend them to be. If I have taken on the character of Christ, I want them to take on the character of Christ. So Paul says, “Be my imitators, even as I also am of Christ” (1 Corinthians 11: 1). He was what he intended them to be. We can see at once that christendom is not that, it is not a reproduction of Christ, or the apostles; it is spurious. So the word make here is to be noticed. With what power He invested the apostles, so that they should make disciples of all nations!
APT Do Acts 8, 9 and 10 show the working out of the economy? Chapter 8 is the eunuch, the African; chapter 9 is Saul, the Jew; chapter 10 is Cornelius, the gentile — Shem, Ham and Japheth.
JT If you put those three men together, the eunuch sent on his way rejoicing, Saul possessing the Holy Spirit in chapter 9, and then Cornelius,
[p. 432] you have the idea that is in the divine mind, of bringing men into accord with Christ; making them disciples.
AB God is referred to in Job as Maker. Throughout Matthew’s gospel, the Lord is making, and at the end of it He commits to the disciples the service of making.
JT Yes. The idea of creation is prominent in Genesis 1, and the idea of making in Genesis 2. Adam is created in Genesis 1, but made in Genesis 2. God “formed” him and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, having ornamentation and correspondence generally with Himself in mind. Matthew carries down that thought. The Lord said to Peter, “I will make you fishers of men” (Matthew 4: 19). When you come to the last chapter, making is still in mind. The order is given to them, “make disciples of all the nations, baptising them to the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit”.
SMcC In connection with the formula, would you baptise now “to the name of the Lord Jesus”?
JT Yes, I would, because Christ is a divine Person representing God, and it would hold. I would recognise any baptism to that name, either, to it or in it. Matthew 28 is the primary formula of baptism. It is to; when you come up out of the water you move in that direction. You never recognise any other name. That shuts out all else.
TU How does teaching fit in with making disciples?
JT Baptised believers certainly need teaching. When Paul and Barnabas came to the island of Cyprus, they met the deputy of the island, a Roman officer, and he was “amazed at the teaching of the Lord” (Acts 13: 12). He was “an intelligent man”, like the young man we were speaking of last night, who came into David’s system and gave David an account of the raid of the Amalekites. Bar-jesus [p. 433] endeavoured to turn the deputy away from the faith. “But Saul, who also is Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, fixing his eyes upon him, said, O full of all deceit and all craft: son of the devil, enemy of all righteousness; wilt thou not cease perverting the right paths of the Lord? And now behold, the Lord’s hand is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season. And immediately there fell upon him a mist and darkness” (Acts 13: 9 - 11). When the deputy saw that he was amazed, not at the miracle, but at the teaching of the Lord. He had never heard such teaching. These two men, Paul and Barnabas, carried on the ministry the Lord had in mind for the gentiles. The twelve did not.
Ques Apollos came in for the teaching as the result of coming under the notice of Aquila and Priscilla.
JT He was partially instructed in christianity, but only knew the baptism of John. Aquila and Priscilla saw him and saw that he had power; they “took him to them and unfolded to him the way of God more exactly”. That is the idea, so that he became a confirmed christian.
EP Do you think that these formulas referred to in the Acts, “in the name of Jesus Christ”, “in the name of the Lord”, and then “to the name of the Lord Jesus”, lead up to the great thought of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit?
JT Yes. The thought is that we are not only introduced into the benefits of the economy, but we are made disciples, and as such we are used in the furtherance of what God is doing. That is why I thought we should read John 4, because the woman of Samaria became, not only a beneficiary of the economy, a recipient of living water, but a vital part of the system. She goes to the men and says, “Come, see a man who told me all things I had ever done”. She was effective and they came to the [p. 434] Lord. The striking point in her case is, she left her water pot, she left what she was using in a physical sense. She went back into the city without her water pot, meaning that she herself was a vessel in this new system.
ANW Is there any objection to combining the two formulas?
JT I do not think there is any. I usually do. I am free to baptise a believer in the name of the Lord Jesus. That brings in power; also “to the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit;” introducing the person into all that wonderful light.
JS It is a command here to go and to make.
JT The whole chapter is marked by that feature of the truth. The angel who sat on the stone had a countenance as lightning; he was against evil authoritatively and effectively. He had come down from heaven and rolled away the stone and sat upon it, he was exercising authority. Then when he sent the women to the disciples with the message, he says, “Behold, I have told you;” the point is authority. So here the Lord confirms what the angel said, and told the women to go to His brethren and tell them to go to Galilee and there they were to see Him. It is authority and dignity, the disciples went and they saw Him, and He said these things to them, “All power has been given me in heaven and upon earth”. The whole position in Matthew is marked by authority.
JS In the transfiguration “his face shone as the sun”.
JT That is the thought. There are seven mountains, on each of which the Lord was, in Matthew — as it were, round about Jerusalem. They seem to denote power for the enforcement of the truth, so that on the one in Matthew 5 the Lord said, “Ye [p. 435] have heard that it has been said ... But I say unto you”. Authority is enforced right through.
SP It is introduced to offset the use of authority by the scribes and Pharisees. The Lord says, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for ye compass the sea and the dry land to make one proselyte, and when he is become such, ye make him twofold more the son of hell than yourselves” (Matthew 23: 15).
JT That is over against what we are speaking of.
AB Is fulness in view here, the names of three Persons being used? In your reference to the footnote, you were calling attention to the preposition used, It directs the mind to the point to be reached.
JT Baptism is to the glorious names, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Baptism is introductory to what is set out in them, but teaching is necessary to build the convert up in christianity.
EP Is there a suggestion of it in Moses leading the flock to the back side of the desert and bringing them to the mount of God in the very outset?
JT Yes. He was not told to do it, but you can see the line he was on. The mountain of God represented what God would establish, a system in which there would be provision (Genesis 22: 14). What an economy it is! What light! The Greek preposition used in Matthew 28: 19, implies that you are to move in that direction. Christendom has retrograded from it.
JW In Ephesians 4: 4 - 6, first there is one body, one Spirit and one hope of your calling; then, one Lord, one faith, one baptism; thirdly, one God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in us all. In Matthew 28, it is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
JT It is the Name of the three Persons in Matthew. Ephesians 4 has three concentric circles, which is another way of looking at the truth. The first stands in relation to the Spirit: “one body and one Spirit,
[p. 436] as ye have been also called in one hope of your calling;” the next is the authority of Christ: “one Lord, one faith, one baptism;” finally, “one God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in us all”. The last is the universal thought.
MO Would all that be connected with the teaching in Matthew 28?
JT It would as regards the Persons of the Godhead. But the twelve did not carry out this commission, and it is a question even if Paul did. Paul went to the gentiles, however. The first convert that he and Barnabas got as they were sent out was “amazed at the teaching of the Lord”. It was said of the Lord, “for he taught them as having authority, and not as their scribes” (Matthew 7: 29).
WB It is an important thing to be made something.
JT It is most important as seen in Scripture, because so-called servants today are made in universities; some are converted, but it is not necessary to be converted to be a clergyman. They are made in the sense of human making, but not in the sense that the Lord said, “make disciples of all the nations”. If these men are not made after Christ, how can the congregation be made after Christ? Water rises only to its own level.
AR When Peter and John said to the lame man, (Acts 3: 4), “Look on us”, they were directing him to look at the finished product under the eye of heaven.
JT That confirms what we are saying; they represented what God had effected, and the “complete soundness” (verse 16), corresponded to them.
WB-w “If any one will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9: 23). Would that be the beginning of making?
JT Yes. Matthew makes much of a disciple, even speaking of the name of one. I mention it because [p. 437] it is applicable to what we are saying — a person made a disciple. “And whosoever shall give to drink to one of these little ones a cup of cold water only, in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward” (Matthew 10: 42). That passage gives us the idea of the moral value of a disciple; he has a name, and something may be given in that name.
CAM Do you think the preposition “in” in John 1: 18 would give a key to this whole matter — “the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father”? It is a question of being in the place of love.
JT Yes; the Lord came into the place as the preposition indicates (see note in New Translation, last edition). He is in, “the bosom of the Father”, corresponding to what was said at the Jordan. “Thou art my beloved Son, in thee I have found my delight” (Luke 3: 22). That is, He has come into this position as Man. Moral worth runs through the whole of Matthew’s gospel, so that the making means that I am brought into relation with God on moral lines.
AHP Is the Lord’s service to the woman here in John 4 and to the woman in chapter 20 to bring us into the understanding and enjoyment of the economy as it is set up?
JT Yes. I thought it was wise to read those passages in John 3 and 4, because the second shows how the believer is not only benefited himself by believing, but made a part of the system of administration which God has set up. The foundation is that the “Father loves the Son”. Those who do not obey the Son are altogether out of it, hence the passage says, “He that believes on the Son has life eternal, and he that is not subject to the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides upon him” (John 3: 36). That is a most solemn thing. “The Father loves the Son, and has given all things to be in his hand”. Why should I not be subject to Him? The Jewish position is alluded to in verse 36 — “wrath has come upon them to the uttermost” (1 Thessalonians 2: 16); it is because they are not subject to the Son.
SMcC Is it not instructive to note the difference in the two words for love employed in John? “The Father loves”, here in chapter 3: 35, means the settled disposition of the Father; whereas in John 5: 20 it is more love of friendship.
JT There is no recalling of that love, therefore, why not come into it? Why not be subject to the Son? I think the Jewish position is indicated in verse 36; under wrath in not being subject to Him. Chapter 4 brings out that a Samaritan is subject, and is brought into the light of the Lord as Christ; and when the time comes she leaves her water pot, and goes away into the city, and tells the men in it about Christ, and they come to Him; showing that she is an effective servant in the system. That is the divine idea for each of us, not only to be beneficiaries of the system, but to be in it actively, taking part in the administration.
ANW Why is it when we view the economy in John, it seems to centre so much in two Persons, the Father and Son?
JT It is formally so stated; but the Spirit is contemplated also. In chapter 4 the Spirit is in mind in the living water that the believer obtains, and this is enlarged in chapter 7; “He that believes on me ... out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this he said concerning the Spirit, which they that believed on him were about to receive”. So that the Spirit is the gift, not exactly presented as having part actively in the administration, as we get elsewhere, but He is the greatest possible gift that can be given to us. Christ is given for us, the Spirit is given to us as living water, so that there can be springing up.
[p. 439] Thus the three Persons are in evidence, “If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that says to thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water” (John 4: 10).
APT What is the Father’s activity in this administration of love?
JT It is a name of grace, it is a family name too, but He is not called “your Father” in this gospel until chapter 20. When we come to chapter 20, we not only have administration in grace, but heavenly and family relationships. That makes the present time the most exalted, as connected with ascension.
TU “They went out of the city” as a result of her service “and came to him” (John 4: 30). Is that the end in view in connection with the economy?
JT Yes. It is the most helpful passage to bring out that the believer himself is not only a beneficiary of the economy, but made part of it. She is effective in it, she is resultful, and she is very intelligent, because she leaves her water pot. Why should the Holy Spirit record that save to show that she understood that she herself was a vessel? As she faces the men, see how different she is. She had had five husbands, now she is talking about another Man altogether. “Come, see a man who told me all things I had ever done: is not he the Christ?” His work is effective, she is an example of it.
ANW She serves quite unofficially; she had no commission.
JT That is characteristic of John — persons who are unofficial are doing the work. “Whatever thy hand findeth to do, do with thy might” (Ecclesiastes 9: 10). In Matthew it is, “All power has been given me in heaven and upon earth”, but in John, the Father “has given all things to be in his hand”. All things, and that of course opens up the door to the [p. 440] detail of divine things, and the woman is having to do with some of them.
CAM The living water of John 4 does not take us off the earth; but in view of the ascension in chapter 20 there is breathing, that is required for ascension.
JT Yes, also the mission connected with the heavenly calling (John 20: 21 - 22). When we come to this chapter, we are in the presence of christianity in its heavenly relationship. Of course Matthew is christianity, Mark is christianity, Luke is christianity, each in its own outlook. When we come to John 20, heavenly relationships are in view. God has brought out these relationships in the days in which we are. The most striking feature of the recovery is the heavenly position; we are to finish with that. So the economy itself is seen in this, that a woman — an unofficial person — brings a message to the disciples, “go to my brethren and say to them, I ascend to my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God” (John 20: 17). As the woman of chapter 4 went to the men of the city, so Mary comes to the disciples; the woman in chapter 4 was evangelical, she was not sent, she went to them. Mary was sent to His disciples; she “comes bringing word” to them; she does not assume to teach. Although she knew more than they did, she tells them that she had seen the Lord, and that the Lord said these things to her. It is in keeping with a woman’s place. The Lord comes in after that, the doors being shut where the disciples were. They shut the doors for fear of the Jews; this should be taken spiritually; that is, as implying that the message was so precious that it must be guarded from Judaism. “Jesus came and stood in the midst”. He had thought of them before He came. Luke says, “he himself stood in their midst;” John says, He “came and stood in the midst”. They were glad when they [p. 441] saw Him. It really reminds us of the revival in our own time, precious ministry having come in unofficially. As soon as light was received, the early brethren shut the doors against evil, against the Jews; they will corrupt us if we let them in; the doors were shut against them. The fellowship was made much of, the Lord’s supper, the fellowship of Christ’s death: the bread the fellowship of His body, the cup the fellowship of His blood. That is exclusivism, a word used against the brethren at that time, an important word corresponding with the “wall” of the heavenly city. If the doors are shut, we have a circle of fellowship, a wall all around us; we can come into this precious ministry as to the heavenly calling. “The disciples rejoiced”. What we are going on with today through grace is according to the same precious light; the incoming of Christ through the Lord’s supper. John says He “came and stood in the midst”. He knows what is there, and He comes because of the quality of the brethren, and finds them as He expects. John does not report that the disciples were speaking together, as Luke does; but he says they were glad when they saw the Lord. They were ready for Him. And then He says, “Peace be to you” a second time, as if to confirm them in that. It is important to be confirmed in what has been given in these last days, bringing out our heavenly calling, and constituting us fit to administer forgiveness to our brethren, of whom there are thousands in the human organisations around, in false positions. The disciples are constituted great enough by the Lord to have authority to remit all these sins. To any repenting person the doors are wide open. In Revelation 22: 14 we have, “Blessed are they that wash their robes, that they may have right to the tree of life, and that they should go in by the gates into the city”. There is full liberty to come [p. 442] in.
AR The Lord says to Philadelphia, “I have set before thee an opened door” (Revelation 3: 8), the work is going on all the time.
HB Would the first day of the week suggest peculiar freshness in the ministry in the last days?
JT That is important. Our chapter mentions this day twice, and it is late in the evening when it is last mentioned, showing the Lord lengthens the day out. John 20 is the first day of the week characteristically, it was lengthened out, so He came in late in the evening. That is where we are, and the Lord is coming in amongst us.
CAM It says in Joshua, “And there was no day like that before it or after it”.
JT That is Joshua 10, when Joshua commanded the sun to stand still. It is a question at the moment whether the Lord is coming immediately, or going on for a few years more. If He is going on further the day is lengthened out as in Joshua’s time. But our steady attitude, corresponding with that of the Spirit, is expressed in “Come” and “Come, Lord Jesus”.
HH What sins are these in John 20: 23?
JT They would include all, of course, but I believe ecclesiastical sins are specially in mind; such as are involved in human religious associations.
EC This is the first time in this gospel the Lord addresses them as brethren.
JT And it is John’s way of putting that truth. Each of the evangelists recognises the disciples as His brethren. This is the most exalted heavenly relation.