THE PRAISES OF ISRAEL (2)
[p. 312] THE PRAISES OF ISRAEL (2)
Luke 1:67 - 80; Luke 2:8 - 14; Luke 2:25 - 38
JT Our subject is not Luke’s gospel, but rather the service of the assembly Godward as seen in Luke, and features in the gospel specially leading up to or illustrating this subject will of course come under review. Whilst the dispensational feature enters into chapter 1, involving that Israel’s service is in abeyance, as seen in Zacharias, that of the assembly is introduced and maintained, and the contribution by Zacharias later has a bearing on our subject if taken in connection with that of Elizabeth and of Mary. It adds the prophetic feature, bringing in in power the mind of God governing the moment; and so, in the assembly, whilst direct service Godward may be in view or proceeding, the prophetic word often greatly enhances it; sobering us too, for the prophetic word has always that tendency, to subdue and sober, and to give God His place. Zacharias says nothing about what happened in himself, whereas Elizabeth and Mary do; they speak about what happened in themselves; that is, they allude to the work of God in the persons who form the vessel of service, whereas Zacharias simply brings in the mind of God prophetically, and in connection with the name John; for it is as he writes down, “John is his name”, that “his mouth was opened immediately, and his tongue, and he spake, blessing God”, (verse 64). There is complete detachment from the natural, and complete identification with the spiritual.
HES In the case of Elizabeth and Mary, is it a question of what God had done in them, whereas with Zacharias what God had done for him?
JT Quite so; what God had done, extending back to the beginning of the world. As he says, “as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets, who have been since the world began”. It is the fulfilment of an extensive presentation of the mind of God.
PL As to the prophetic word stimulating the service of praise, do we see that in Habakkuk? Does it not culminate in praise “To the chief Musician. On my stringed instruments” (Habakkuk 3:19)?
JT Well, that is the way it stands; from discipline and variable notes to the highest feature of singing in his “high places” on his “stringed instruments”.
PL I thought he was weaned from the natural: “There shall be no herd in the stalls”,(Habakkuk 3:17) and so on.
JT Yes, there is complete superiority over adverse things, an important matter. Zacharias sets the present world aside altogether in linking on what God had spoken since the beginning of the world. The testimony of God’s holy prophets since the world began would be to another world. The introduction of another world lifts us out of this world.
EuR Is there a link with Psalm 22 in Habakkuk: “He maketh my feet like hinds’ feet”, chapter 3:19?
JT Yes. It is not only an objective thought, that is, the resurrection of Christ, but the power of resurrection in ourselves. As it says in Colossians, “In which ye have been also raised with him through faith of the working of God who raised him from among the dead”, and then, “you ... he has quickened together with him”, chapter 2:12, 13. Making our feet like hinds’ feet brings us into accord with Psalm 22 according to the title; there are high places, and hinds’ feet, and stringed instruments in Habakkuk 3:19. The mind of God brought in prophetically in the assembly is sobering; it brings God in, addressing the intelligence as well as the conscience; it takes us out of seen things, out of man’s world.
MWB Do you suggest that in the assembly a word of prophecy would have a stimulating effect upon the praises? Sometimes it is introduced as an incident in closing — would that be corrected by this [p. 314] thought?
JT It comes in very often as stimulating and regulating the worship. I find it that way. I believe it honours God, assuming of course it is from Him, compare Numbers 7:89.
Ques Would the word of prophecy come in as an answer to the exercises of those in the hill country, to stimulate and adjust them in regard to the praises of Israel?
JT I think it does. It will be observed in verse 39: “Mary, rising up in those days, went into the hill country”, as we had it this morning, where she had most beautiful converse with Elizabeth; and then the birth of John, and what occurred in connection with it, brings in more extended interests. It says, “And fear came upon all who dwelt round about them; and in the whole hill country of Judaea all these things were the subject of conversation. And all who heard them laid them up in their heart, saying. What then will this child be?”(Luke 1:65,66) Then it adds, “And the Lord’s hand was with him”, that is, the Lord’s hand was with the child, sustaining the great testimony that had come out, an important item here in that particular setting. Then it says, “Zacharias his father was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied”. That is, it is not Zacharias alone, but “Zacharias his father”, stressing his relation to John. It is the born child now, and the Lord’s hand is with the born child, (verse 66); but then, that in itself is not enough; we must have the mind of God unfolded, and so, Zacharias being filled with the Spirit, prophesied, saying, “Blessed be the Lord the God of Israel, because He has visited and wrought redemption for His people”. He takes up the praises of Israel, John being immediately before Him in it, but He is not the subject, for Zacharias goes on to say, “He has visited and wrought redemption for his people, and raised up a horn of deliverance for us in the house of David his servant; as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets, who have been since the world began”. Christ is thus the theme with [p. 315] Zacharias, and chapter 1 is complete in itself in this way as to the subject with which we are dealing.
CG Is there any correspondence between the beginning of Luke and the stone water-pots in John 2? We have six persons mentioned — Elizabeth and Mary, Zacharias and Joseph, and Simeon and Anna.
JT The filling in John is by Christ Himself; He had come, according to chapter 1, “full of grace and truth”. Here the filling is by the Spirit. There is a connection in the number. The stone in John would denote what is permanent. The vessels in John were filled with the water which became wine, pointing definitely to millennial joy, and in that sense therefore, not rising to the level of these persons, nor to the level of the hill country and the communion there. The service of God being on this level in Luke, the priestly touches there are very suggestive.
JJ What would be the importance of the title “the Highest” in verse 76? It seems to be another title which is not carried on into the epistles. Would you say a word as to it?
JT You have it earlier, in verse 35: “the power of the Highest”; then the one you quote: “the prophet of the Highest”; and then “the dayspring from on high” in verse 78; then in the next chapter, “Glory to God in the highest”, and again later on in the book. I think it is a word that gives character to Luke, denoting moral elevation — not so much place as moral elevation; which is an element that ought to enter into the service of the assembly, lifting us out of the current religious manner of serving God.
JJ Does the word ‘Highest’ refer to the Lord personally?
JT It does in verse 76. In verse 35 it is more God Himself — “the power of the Highest”.
WW Being the “Son of the Highest” in chapter 1 would support what you said, that it is a question [p. 316] of moral elevation.
HOS Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have lifted up my hand to Jehovah, the Most High God, possessor of heavens and earth”(Genesis 14:22), and he would not take anything from the king of Sodom. Would that be an example of moral elevation?
JT It is.
WW Does it suggest the idea of lifting things out from the depths on to the plane of Ephesians? That is what He who shall be called “Son of the Highest” would do.
JT I think that is right; it is moral elevation. The “Most High God” conveys an additional thought as over against idolatry, and so Melchisedec is “priest of the Most High God”(Genesis 14:18).
NKM You referred to the prophetic word coming in to stimulate worship; would it be normal for a prophetic word to be given when we are together to break bread?
JT It is a question of how the Lord may guide but generally I find it is sobering, and emphasises the thought of God in the assembly. It is regulating as well. We have often noticed the great wealth of the twelve princes in Numbers 7, and how the Spirit of God dwells on the various items that each brought, and then gives them in their total. You might assume from that, there was plenty of wealth for the service, and there was; but after all that, as Moses went into the sanctuary to speak with God, he heard a voice from between the two cherubim from off the mercy-seat, as if God would speak in all His majesty at that moment, He would assert His presence. He who dwelt between the cherubim; but it was from off the mercy-seat. All that emphasises God, and His place in the assembly. Then Moses spoke to Him.
The subject treated of in Luke 1 is complete in itself, offering much instruction in regard to assembly service; and at the end you have a born child. You have two unborn children in the earlier part of the praises, and [p. 317] the mother of our Lord affecting the mother of John the baptist, but now we have a child born, and his name. It is a definite living formation with a name, which as far as we learn from the authorities denotes “God’s giving” — all is on that principle. Then the tongue of Zacharias is loosed and we have the great interest and the conversation in the hill country; the laying things to heart, and then the prophecy of Zacharias which takes the form of praise, and therefore belongs to the “praises of Israel”. It was a state of things sustained by God. The hand of the Lord was with the child from that point; and now we have the mind of God, not in relation to him only, although that is brought in, but the subject is Christ. He is yet unborn, but He is there, and John is to be the prophet of the Highest. The position is to be sustained. It is a very difficult matter in assembly service to have the thing sustained in living power.
JS It says, “The child grew, and was strengthened in spirit”.
JT It shows that the energy of life, which should mark the assembly, was there. The hand of the Lord was there also to support; and in the prophecy we have the mind of God, not only in relation to John, but in relation to Christ. Then there is increase: “the child grew and was strengthened in spirit”.
JS “And he was in the deserts”; is that lifted out of the world?
JT That is part of the means of sustenance; it ministers negatively; we do not go back into the world as nourishing us. He was in the deserts: it is in the plural, the full idea of the desert.
Ques The purport of this prophecy would appear to be deliverance from the enemy and light to the people. How would that operate now?
JT It all enters into the assembly. It has other meanings, of course. We have seen how God is brought in by the prophetic word, a born child, a definite formation [p. 318] livingly, and the mind of God about him; and then he grows. The position seems to be very clear and compact, so that, entering chapter 2, we are on other ground; there is another Child — the Lord is born.
We are thus further on.
AN Would you connect this in any way with 1 Corinthians 14 as to prophecy being the evidence that God was among them?
JT I should. That is the point of the prophetic word there: “God is among you of a truth”,(1 Corinthians 14:25) only that goes further than what we have here. The point of that is toward a man coming into the assembly.
AN I thought it might have a bearing on your point as to the prophetic word in connection with the service of God.
JT Well, it does, but if you take Zacharias here, what he says is of a piece with what Elizabeth and Mary say. In what they say they occupy us mainly with what had taken place in them. Then we have a born child. In their service, it is an unborn child — the Lord and John the baptist unborn, but now we have a born child definitely apprehended as from God, the gift of God. It is evidently of God, and there is extended interest, so that they laid the things up in their hearts, and said, “What then will this child be?” We have something definite now. It is not simply what he shall be, but more than that, what he shall be in relation to Another, that is, to the horn of deliverance raised up in the house of David, dating back in the prophets to the beginning of the world.
MWB I would like to get a little more clear as to the thought of the unborn child. Is your thought that the worship or praise here becomes more distinctly objective and positive — engagement with Christ, rather than what He had done in us?
JT Yes. It is before the eye in a born child. We have something definite now, as you might say, objectively in the assembly. When Christ is apprehended in [p. 319] the assembly. He is objective. He is not in us as state; that is not the idea; He is in the assembly. It is not an undeveloped thought, an unborn child, but there is a Person there objectively. I do not say, of course, that is John, but it conveys the idea that Zacharias has in mind. It is really the Lord Jesus — the “Dayspring”, the “Highest”, the “Horn of deliverance”. In chapter 1 we are dealing with John as born, just born, and his name written down as over against the name Zacharias. It is the transference of the mind from the natural to the spiritual, having a person objectively before you.
EJMcB Do you mean that what may have been in mind potentially has taken definite form, so to speak, in the meeting, and now having the child before you you have something objective?
JT Yes, and that is enlarged on in what Zacharias says; we have the relation of the born child to Christ, and that sustained — the hand of the Lord was with him (with John), and he grew.
We may proceed to chapter 2, for we have the Lord born now. We are on other ground. It seems to me that chapter 1 may be taken by itself, although of course the whole book is constructive, but we learn “in part”. In chapter 2 the whole Roman empire is in movement and all in view of this great event, and the Child is born in Bethlehem. There is nothing said of the town in regard of John, but there is in regard of Christ. We are now coming to the thought of geography, so to speak, the fulness of which I hope we shall see in chapter 19. There is spiritual geography in relation to the birth of Christ, because God has His geography and He keeps it in view.
WCG In speaking of geography, are you referring to “the same country” mentioned in verse 8? Is that the connection with chapter 1?
JT Yes, only it is the country relating to Bethlehem. No doubt it is in general the hill country of chapter 1,
[p. 320] as the hill country of Judaea embraces an extensive territory running up to Hebron, an elevation of some 3,000 feet; so that Bethlehem, would be very elevated. But here it is “David’s city, the which is called Bethlehem”. The shepherds were in that country.
DLH Would you explain what you mean by spiritual geography?
JT I think it began with Abraham. I do not say it is not earlier, but it begins with faith laying hold of another world, so that we get it with Abraham in Bethel, which I think stands for the idea as much as any point; it is so much referred to later. We shall come to it in chapter 19 of our gospel, but it is worthy of note here because of Bethlehem, David’s city.
AJHB It is “out of the city Nazareth to Judaea to David’s city, the which is called Bethlehem”(Luke 2:4). We have been coming away from the place where there was reproach, unto a place where there is no reproach, an elevated place.
JT I think that is right, and we have the royal link with David. All this will come out more clearly as we touch chapter 19. It says, “there were shepherds in that country abiding without, and keeping watch by night over their flock”. They surely will come into the “praises of Israel”. They represent the kind of people that God will honour. How great an honour it is to have part in the “praises of Israel”, to be brought out of the low level of current religion, with its organs and choirs, into such holy, elevated employ, spoken of by the Lord Jesus on the cross. These shepherds denote the kind of people that are included; they are morally suitable for this. They were “abiding without, and keeping watch by night over their flock”. How very like David they were! “With whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness?” said Eliab to him, 1 Samuel 17:28. But he had not left them without a keeper. The shepherds are a link in the chain of faith. Zacharias speaks about the “holy prophets, who have been since the world began”. We may go back to Abel, who was a keeper of sheep.
HD'AC What difference is there between the expression “since the world began” and “before the foundation of the world”?
JT The former is the world to which God witnesses — the world with man in it. “Before the foundation of the world” refers to the era of purpose, antecedent to what is material. We have also what is “before the worlds”, 1 Corinthians 2, represented spiritually in Hebron.
Ques Would the shepherding have in view the service of the house? I do not want to anticipate, but it says they “were continually in the temple praising and blessing God”, Luke 24:53.
JT The line of shepherds began with Abel. They were an abomination to the Egyptians. David was one characteristically, one that would stay out at night to look after the flock, one who knew what it was not to give sleep to his eyes nor slumber to his eyelids. Jacob also was out at night. That is the thought; so that these link up with the holy shepherd feature of Christ, and they surely must come into the “praises of Israel”.
FSM These shepherds, having seen the babe, “made known about the country the thing which had been said to them concerning this child”, Luke 2:17. Those who are able to share in the praises of the assembly are the better qualified for testimony concerning the Person who is the subject of those praises.
JT The shepherds became evangelical.
Ques Would you connect this with Psalm 87: “This man was born there”, and then it says, “As well the singers as the dancers shall say, All my springs are in thee”?(Psalm 87:6,7) Is there any connection there?
JT There is. I understand “thee” to be Zion there. I think we are getting on to that, and the Lord will help us to see where the springs [p. 322] are.
EuR Would you link on with that Psalm the statement here as to each going to his own city?
JT Exactly. It is a suggestion of the idea of locality, which we shall get in chapters 10 and 11. Luke has locality in mind.
Zion is the divine system, it being that which is especially said to be loved: “This is my rest for ever; here will I dwell, for I have desired it”, Psalm 132:14. “Jehovah loveth the gates of Zion”, Psalm 87:2. It is what God had as David brought the ark there; and then the singing began; and every true Israelite would say that his springs were there.
JD I was wondering whether the assembly corresponds to that. In connection with the mystery in Colossians we have: “In which are hid all the treasures of wisdom and of knowledge”, (chapter 2:3).
JT Exactly; what treasures! They surely enter into the praises of the assembly.
EuR “All my springs are in thee” — Are you suggesting that God would have our springs in the assembly?
JT Exactly; that is the way it works out. We shall see that in the closing chapters; all is working up to that. It says that the Lord, as risen, stood in the midst of them. We have the idea here: “an angel of the Lord was there by them”. What is going to happen? These men are to be encircled with heavenly glory. What a thing that is! The Lord would bring all His people into that! The shepherds are morally suited to it in that they are keeping their flock by night. A shepherd is one who cares for and attends to others with skill and self-sacrifice. Shepherding requires skill, but here the point is more self-sacrifice; that they were “abiding without, and keeping watch by night over their flock”. These men come into the “praises of Israel”. It says, “an angel of the Lord was there by them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them”.
JRS Would the shepherds have their knowledge of God greatly increased in a practical way through the very service of shepherding?
JT Quite so; there is a reflection of Christ in it. As in that occupation light came to them. They were in proximity to Bethlehem. They were “in that country”; they were not in Bethlehem, but they soon get there. They were adjacent to it and morally in keeping with it; they were in keeping with David, the great inaugurator of the service of song; and they are brought into it now in a most living way; and first, by the angel enlightening them. We have the idea of light shining round, which is another excellent thought. Then there is the word, “I announce to you glad tidings of great joy, which shall be to all the people; for today a Saviour has been born to you in David’s city, who is Christ the Lord”. We are now on the footing of David and in relation to David’s city, and David, and the son of David, “the root and offspring of David”, as He announces Himself at the end of Revelation.
AN Do these shepherds set forth moral conditions to which communications can be made?
JT That is the idea. I believe God would appeal to His people as to this. There are many, alas! Who are opposed to what is of God and are showing it in the most unmistakable way; but these shepherds denote persons in close proximity to the centre of interest, and they must be included in the service of praise. The ministry is angelic, but it is a bringing down of the service of praise so that they are encircled. They are first illuminated by the light and the presence of a heavenly visitant who is “by them”, and then there is the multitude of the heavenly host coming down.
WRP Why is the ministry of angels such a marked feature in this part of Luke’s gospel? Is there anything that answers to it in the assembly today?
JT I think the prominence given to them is that they are representatives of heaven. They are “ministering [p. 324] spirits, sent out for service on account of those who shall inherit salvation”, (Hebrews 1:14), which is always a present thing. I believe that emphasises the idea of salvation in this section, so that they are here called “the heavenly host”. There are two collateral thoughts there — “the heavenly” and “the Highest”, both tending to lift us out of what is earthly and worldly. There are other thoughts of course connected with angels. Where you have a dignitary as in Luke and Daniel, I suppose the order of heaven is in mind; there is the idea of rank. Gabriel stands before God. But in “the heavenly host” we have the atmosphere of heaven brought down in the way of praise.
Ques Referring to Isaiah 9, “unto us a child is born”,(verse 6) would that be the subjective side of the truth in the saints?
JT It attributes the birth of Christ to Zion: “This man was born there”(Psalm 87:6). Others were, but this is accredited to Zion. How great the system is! It is great in that sense, and Isaiah 9 is to bring out how great the people are, that the Messiah should come to them. The Child is born and the Son given to them; and then we have the glorious names attaching to Him; combined, they form His name.
Rem In regard to Psalm 22: “Thou art holy, thou that dwellest amid the praises of Israel”;(verse 3) I had looked upon that as a divine ideal, and that the Lord Himself alone could express it as having known what the holiness of God was in respect of the judgment He passed through; it brings before us how the heart was completely satisfied. God was His portion. It shows the value of what worship is to the heart of God.
JT Quite so; how great it is! How great was that expression when the Lord was at the extreme point of suffering! How wonderful that He could refer to that!
JL What is the link between the stone and the shepherd in Genesis 49:[p. 325] 24?
JT The stone refers to permanency, to God’s relations with Israel in Christ, as permanent.
JL As flowing from the suffering shepherd character as seen in these verses?
JT The two things go together; the shepherd is the stone. The shepherd character is first, gathering and caring for the sheep; but the “stone of Israel” is carried through Scripture as denoting what is permanent and usable for foundation and building.
JL “The archers have provoked him, and shot at, and hated him; but his bow abideth firm”(Genesis 49:23,24); would that refer more to the shepherd character?
JT I suppose so. In John 10, where the Lord brings Himself forward so beautifully as the Shepherd, the archers are all round Him. The Jews surrounded Him, it says, but “the arms of his hands are supple by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob”(Genesis 49:24). The Lord did not surrender; He resorted to first principles; “He went away from out of their hand and departed again beyond the Jordan to the place where John was baptising at the first: and he abode there ... . And many believed on him there”, (John 10:39 - 42). So that there was no surrender.
AHP Is that why in Micah 5 the shepherds and the princes are brought in together? It says, “And thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, little to be among the thousands of Judah, out of thee shall he come forth unto me who is to be Ruler in Israel: whose goings forth are from of old, from the days of eternity”, verse 2, and then later in verse 5: “When the Assyrian shall come into our land, and when he shall tread in our palaces, then shall we raise against him seven shepherds, and eight princes of men”. I was wondering whether we see the culmination in the shepherds and the princes.
JT I think we will all recognise that as an important contribution to our subject, bringing out the Lord’s Deity as born in Bethlehem, and then the seven shepherds.
[p. 326] The idea of the shepherd is greatly emphasised, entering into what we have before us.
Ques Would the praises of the angels be any part of the “praises of Israel”?
JT I think they come in here as provisional pending the formation of the assembly, they do what God has in mind for the assembly. The shepherds would get the idea of praise through them. You can understand how they would follow after the heavenly way. You cannot conceive of anything out of accord in the praises of the multitude of the heavenly host. It is heaven’s way brought down, and as educational, would enter into the service of the assembly.
Ques Why do the shepherds get such a full revelation of Christ?
JT It is that they are morally in keeping. They are greatly honoured; they are more honoured than the wise men from the East. If you make a comparison between them and the Magi, you will see that they are more distinctly honoured; doubtless this is because they bear a more distinct character of Christ in their occupation. They are outside of what is current; it was the time of the census, and people would be in the towns, occupied no doubt in one way or another, selfishly; but these were unselfish, and one point is to direct our minds to any who bear this character; heaven’s thought would be to bring them in, to cause the light to radiate around them. There are the angels standing by, and then the light radiating around, and then the instruction as to the birth of Christ; He is born to them, showing how they were regarded. And He is the Saviour, not that He will be; the “Saviour ... who is Christ the Lord”. Then, as if to accentuate greatly what is there, the multitude of the heavenly host comes down, and the effect is that they are moved. It says, “It came to pass, as the angels departed from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let us make our way then now as far as Bethlehem, and let us see this thing that is come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us’”. They did not say, “which the angels have made known”, but “which the Lord has made known to us”. They recognised that God had done all this.