THE FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK
[p. 256] THE FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK
John 20:19; Exodus 12:1 - 4; Exodus 13:4
JT It will be observed that the suggestion, is to begin with “the first day of the week”. As to time, for the service of God, the idea of the month is more prevalent in the Old Testament. We read in Exodus 12:2, “This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you”, and in Exodus 13:4, “Ye come out today, in the month Abib”. What is to be called attention to, particularly in these verses, is that the month alluded to in the beginning of chapter 12 is regulated by heaven, that is to say, by the moon; whereas in chapter 13, whilst it is the same month, the name is different; it is the month Abib, which alludes to the month the corn ripens. Whilst the idea of the moon, or the heavens, has to do with the origin of the month, the reference in chapter 13 has to do with the earth; that is to say, the ripening of corn, which is more the subjective side. The thought is to show that whilst the Lord acts sovereignly in these matters, He also acts in relation to what is in us, what is developed in us by the Spirit. Thus time, especially in the Lord’s service and the service of God, has to take into account what is to be developed in the saints, what progress they are making; as if what God is doing in relation to time is based on what He is doing Himself in the saints, as well as in the heavens. Then another thing is the matter of eating governing the service. “If the household be too small for a lamb, let him and his neighbour next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; each according to the measure of his eating shall ye count for the lamb”, Exodus 12:4. Thus the passover will be regulated by the capacity in the families to eat. So that it is not wholly an objective [p. 257] thought, nor is it even the death of Christ viewed objectively, but the capacity to eat, to appropriate. Then another thing entering into all this, is the idea of the word “assembly”, and the word ‘congregation’. The word “assembly” in Exodus 12:3, is said to mean ‘the congregation looked at as a moral whole, a corporate person before God’. As I understand the word “assembly” there, it implies, not that every responsible person is in mind, but a sufficient number to be representative as a moral whole, even although some are not present. On the other hand, the word ‘congregation’ alludes to every one present. ‘Congregation is the actual subsisting congregation composed of all its members’,(see footnote to Exodus 12:6). What has been remarked is important as to assembly services, and especially discipline. I think that we need to pay more attention to accuracy in quoting or reading Scripture than has been common amongst the brethren, because one believes, without assuming to criticise or to judge, that things are taken too loosely. According to Leviticus 4, where responsibilities are attached to distinguished persons, such as the high priest, and then the assembly itself, or whether it be the prince or even the ordinary people, inadvertent things can be adjusted or recalled. Other scriptures, such as in the epistle to the Hebrews, regard sin as unforgivable, and the sinner as unrestorable. I refer to all this because I believe it is important to bear in mind that when we come to critical things, such as doctrine or discipline, we need to pay more attention to the actual letter of Scripture. It might, of course, be said that the letter kills, which is true, but it is not always the truth in that sense; it has to be read with intelligence. “By thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned”, (Matthew 12:37). There it is a question of literality.
JE Referring to John 20 as to the Lord coming in, is the thought there that the movement is a sovereign one on the Lord’s part, and yet not independent of state amongst the persons represented? Is the corn really beginning to ripen in the case of the persons?
JT Very good. What happened as recorded in John 20:19 was, as you say, dependent on the state of the brethren, because the actual gathering was the result of their obedience to the message. The Lord had sent a message to the disciples, and it was taken to them by Mary. The message was, “I ascend to my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God. Mary of Magdala comes bringing word to the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that he had said these things to her”, John 20:17,18. The message was accurately delivered, and obeyed, and now the Lord comes. “When therefore it was evening on that day, which was the first day of the week, and the doors shut where the disciples were, through fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and says to them, Peace be to you”. He did not come to an empty room and wait there for them to come, He came to where they were. The main thing is where they were, not the place of meeting, but “where the disciples were”. So all these matters are important, especially what we have been remarking now as to starting new meetings, whether we are governed by city boundaries or whether we are just governed by where disciples are. This passage indicates that the Lord came where the disciples were, “the doors shut where the disciples were”.
AHS What was in your mind in relation to city boundaries?
JT We should be regulated by where the disciples are, where they may reside, rather than city boundaries. For instance, if one resides at a distance from the meeting room, and it may be he could reach another meeting room in another part more conveniently,
[p. 259] then the thing would be to do that. It is a matter of how far he has to travel. I have found in certain places the importance of a city is stressed, rather than a country place, and that it was proposed to alter the meeting place to the city or town nearby, although no saints lived in the city. That, of course, was not right, because where the saints are is the place to which the Lord will come.
GHG Does the suggestion of where the saints are suggest where the Lord places His name, what is under His hand and eye?
JT His name would be placed on them. The word in Exodus 20:24 is, “in all places where I shall make my name to be remembered, I will come unto thee, and bless thee”. That might be said to be a question of mere locality, but clearly the general idea is where the saints are.
AHS The Lord found great pleasure in this gathering in John 20.
JT It must have been peculiarly so, because He had just risen from the dead; it was the first gathering, as far as we know.
CPP What would be the significance of it being the evening of that day?
JT Whether the evening began the day in John 20 is a question; they may have become accustomed to Roman methods. Now we are regulated by the powers that be in these matters, we recognise that they are ordained of God; whatever time they set the day, we accept that.
CHG Would you be free to say a word about the distinctiveness of the first day of the week in relation to Christianity? It is a new day entirely, quite apart from what is old and effete in the Jewish system.
JT The synoptic gospels refer to the “day after sabbath”, or similar expressions, but in John especially, and also in Acts, it is just “the first day of the week”. Christianity recognises these facts as to days and years; we recognise the day as regulated by the sun and the moon, and then, of course, other arbitrary causes, but John clearly indicates that the present idea of “the first day of the week” is what is according to God at the beginning. It is mentioned twice in John 20, and indeed alluded to again in verse 26 in regard of Thomas; “eight days after” has the same idea in mind, only there it is a dispensational allusion. In Acts 20 the same idea is in mind when the disciples came together to break bread on the first day of the week.
HDT Would you think that the reference to the “day after sabbath” was in consideration of God’s earthly people while He was still waiting upon them, whereas, when the clean break really came, the first day of the week came into its own distinctiveness?
JT That is what I was thinking of at the beginning, that John has that in mind. Perhaps we might put into it in John, the spiritual side, the power side, in the bursting of the corn.
CPP It says “on that day”, John 20:19. Is that what flows out of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus? Was that the beginning of that day as bearing on our dispensation?
JT Quite so.
JNG Do the Lord’s own movements on the first day of the week give it its distinctive character?
JT Well, I think the Father raising Him from the dead enters into it too, which would be the movements of the Father, but the Lord’s own movements in general would be the governing thought.
CHG Can “the first day” be distinguished from “the Lord’s day”? Is there a difference in thought?
JT Yes; the expression, “The Lord’s day”, has come into Christianity more. The allusion is [p. 261] to what is dominical; that is, the Lord’s authority exercised over it. But “the first day of the week” I believe might be connected with the beginning of the growth alluded to in Exodus 13, in the month Abib, the bursting or sprouting of corn.
JM Is there a link in the two scriptures in Exodus between the heavens and the earth? I wondered if you had that in mind; you referred to what was sovereign, and then what is here on the earth, the bursting forth of the corn.
JT I think so; the bursting forth of the corn would imply the presence of the Spirit on earth; so in that sense the Spirit has come to earth; the Lord is in heaven. So also if it be a question of the moon (see footnote to Exodus 12:2), it would be the assembly viewed as a subjective thought. That is to say, the heavens and the earth move together; the subjective idea being in relation to the Spirit, the objective being in relation to Christ in heaven. I consider that the relation between the objective and the subjective is a prime thought which we should have before us, the objective being properly Christ in heaven: “Having therefore been exalted by the right hand of God, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this which ye behold and hear”, (Acts 2:33).
PL “And by the precious fruits of the sun, And by the precious things put forth by the months”, (Deuteronomy 33:14).
JT Just so.
HDT Is there a figurative reference in Hosea 2:21,22, “I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth; and the earth shall hear the corn, and the new wine, and the oil”? Is there a correspondence between what is in heaven, and the productivity of the earth in answer to that?
JT I thought that.
HDT It seems to stand there in relation to the [p. 262] matter of affection, because betrothal is mentioned. I wondered whether that linked on with what we have in John; the ardent affection of Mary really laying the basis for all this fresh development among the brethren.
JT I would say that fully. She is a remarkable example of the early divine movements, one out of whom seven demons had gone. I suppose the fact that they had gone out would allude to power that was within, corresponding with what we are saying as to the subjective side. It is a question of the power within, so the work of God is not simply the result of light, but the power is within, that is, the Spirit. Hence Paul’s inquiry, “Did ye receive the Holy Spirit when ye had believed?” (Acts 19:2). And they did not know that He was yet come. The subjective side was not there in that sense, although something had preceded what we read of, but the Holy Spirit had not been received by them. It was not simply that the apostle asked them if they were sealed, but whether they had received the Holy Spirit, and received Him when He could be received, that is, since they believed.
HDT Do you mean that the receiving is their side of the matter?
JT That is just what I think.
JPsn Is that seen in Rebecca, as the servant speaks to her and presents that which is objectively seen in relation to Christ? Rebecca is prepared to go with the man; she, as it were, moves with him now, subjectively.
JT Quite so.
AM In writing to the Ephesians, Paul said, “having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which is in you Ephesians 1:15”. Does that involve a certain state in them by the Spirit, corresponding possibly to what is in John 20?
JT Yes; it also says in that chapter, “in whom [p. 263] ye also have trusted, having heard the word of the truth, the glad tidings of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, ye have been sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise Ephesians 1:13”. That is to say that they were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.
HDT Are you making a distinction between that as being the divine side, and the reception being their side?
JT I think the sealing is final. They were sealed. The idea of sealing is that you are owned, there is ownership. There is a reference in 2 Corinthians 1:21,22: “Now he that establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, is God, who also has sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts”. That is a full thought as to the presence of the Holy Spirit and His operations down here; the anointing, the sealing and the earnest of the Spirit.
JNG Does the thought of power inwardly work out in the ability of the saints to call the Lord to mind in the Supper, and then the power for forgetfulness too? In Psalm 45:10 the daughter is to “forget thine own people and thy father’s house”.
JT Yes. So that her beauty is to be desired, the Spirit would be the power of that.
GHG How are we to understand the reference by John in Revelation 1:10: “I became in the Spirit on the Lord’s day”, in relation to this service that is in mind?
JT Well, it would be what we have sometimes spoken of as the power of change, it applies to us and applies to divine Persons too. John says, “I became in the Spirit Revelation 1:10”. The word “became” would refer to an inward act. So it is said of the Lord, that “the Word became flesh”;(John 1:14) that is, it is the power of change. John indicates the power of change on the first day of the week, which is important as to the point we are on now. We leave our houses in [p. 264] ordinary circumstances, and the change will come, but it has not yet come, because we are occupied with our houses or our business affairs, but then when we turn our minds to the Lord’s things and the things of God, if we are in the Spirit a change is sure to come about.
HDT Would 2 Corinthians 3:18 illustrate this, “transformed according to the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Lord the Spirit”? Are both the objective and subjective thoughts there?
JT Yes. It is said earlier that “the Lord is the Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:17)”.
JM Are the shut doors and the fear of the Jews to be recognised in any way today?
JT Surely. There is a case in Jamaica where the saints have been harassed for years by a violent man, whereas if there was power and skill to close the doors, they would be delivered from the harassment. It is quite in order, according to John 20, to close doors under those circumstances.
Rem “Joseph”, it says, “cried, Cause every man to go out”, (Genesis 45:1).
JT Just so. Then in Acts 9, Peter put all the widows out. The Lord Himself in raising Jairus’ daughter put certain ones out.
HDT In 2 Kings 4:4 the woman was to shut the door upon herself and upon her sons to get the gain of the Spirit. Do you think that if we learn to do that individually, we shall be able to do it more collectively, according to John 20?
JT That is what I think. The meeting place in John 20 may have been small or large, but the word ‘doors’ is in the plural; there must have been more than one. Probably it alludes to the hearts of the saints; that is to say, we shut out all that would interfere with the Lord’s presence in our hearts.
AM So that the idea of peace that the Lord [p. 265] brings in would, really be on the line of change from this state, would it not, referring to what has to be excluded? Peace is to take possession. Is that right?
JT Yes; “Jesus ... says to them, Peace he to you”, John 20:19. He says it twice over; “Peace he to you”. By comparison with Luke 24 we can see that the position there differs. Whether it actually differed or whether John is just abstract and Luke is actual we do not know, but anyone who compares the two chapters will see that there is a great difference; in Luke 24 the brethren were perturbed. “He himself”, it says, “stood in their midst” Luke 24:36. It does not say He come, whereas in John it says, “Jesus came and stood in the midst”, which is very important too. We have to make way for things that we cannot be sure about actually, make way for what God can do.
CHG Is John 20, in that way, a pattern of what the Lord does in assembly movements today, coming and standing in the midst? If the conditions are there, and suitable to Him, may we expect His movements thus amongst the saints?
JT Yes, but it is abstract. If we were in heaven, it would not need to be abstract, because it would be just actual, but in view of our mixed conditions here below, it is difficult to say that everything is just right.
HDT Do we learn from Luke that the Lord in grace would serve according to the local conditions that may require His service?
JT Yes. These local conditions may be adjusted by Him, because they were, according to Luke 24.
JM The closed doors do not hinder the movements of the Lord, but rather they facilitate them, do they not?
JT Quite so. Evidently it is an abstract position. The Lord was pleased with what was there. He said twice, “Peace be to you”.
JM When you referred to time relating to the service of God, did you have in mind to allude to the various phases of the service?
JT In general, it was to seek to get the relation between time and the service of God, and I think we are getting at it a little so far.
HDT Have you in mind what you have called the provisional period? When we arrive at eternity, there will be no advancement in the truth, there will be no growth, but, in the provisional period, is it that the truth comes to us as we are able to bear it?
JT That is the idea exactly. We are now in the provisional time in which things are accomplished in view of eternity. We are in the working time now, the doing time, the growing time. I am not at all discouraged as to what we have had so far, I think we are getting at the truth that is in mind; that is, the relation between time and the service of God. One need not say much to show that there is a very great relation because of the different times mentioned, such as the first day of the week, and then the months in Exodus.
HDT Have you in view the development of power in our souls to graduate from the time scene where we break bread, into the eternal setting where God is served in the assembly?
JT Well, that is where the idea of change comes about.
HDT That involves the subjective side, does it not?
JT Just so. It came about in John himself, first in Revelation 1:10 and then in verse 17 when he became as dead. But then it came about in the Lord too, because John sees the Lord in peculiar habiliments which He was not accustomed to wear. Then Mark, too, says He was seen in another form, showing that with the Lord there was a mysterious ability [p. 267] to change.
HDT So that you would have us with our minds ready for touches from the Lord, without being too set? For whilst we recognise the order of the service, there is a certain flexibility about the Lord’s movements, is there not?
JT Quite so. There is flexibility. I believe the word applies to us in a general way, that Christianity is flexible. To illustrate that, we are told in Matthew 12, that the Lord went through the cornfields on the sabbath, but then it says that the disciples did the same, but they plucked the ears of the corn. The Lord did not do that, but they did it, showing that He leaves things open to us. He did not say to them, You should not pluck the ears of corn, because He intended them to do it, that is what He had in mind. Therefore He does not question things. If He intends us to do things, He leaves us to do them. For instance, He says, “Give ye them to eat (Luke 9:13)”. That is for them to do, and they did it; that was the idea. So again in John 20:22,23, it says, “he breathed into them, and says to them, Receive the Holy Spirit: whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted to them”; He leaves it open as to what is in mind. That is the idea of Christianity, there is latitude; the Lord gives latitude, so as to bring out the nature of His work.
PL Which bears on the spontaneity of life.
JT Just so, that is a good thought. How spontaneous life is! God is a living God.
HDT So you would expect us to gain in liberty in our souls as we keep in the company of Christ. It speaks of David and those that were with him.
JT Yes, indeed.
JNG Could you help us as to the point in the Supper at which the service of God begins?
JT Well, I would say from the time we sit down together, in assembly; there is a state involved in that, in the attitude we are in, that we are not just [p. 268] as we were when we left our homes. The state of attitude must be in mind, a proper attitude. Then any movement that anyone makes as to the Lord or as to the brethren, has to be taken account of, but the actual service from the divine side begins, I would say, when the Lord comes in.
JM Is it a sphere of liberty in which there is trustworthiness seen and a recognition of the time, so that we know what is suitable? Romans 13:11 gives the idea of “knowing the time”.
JT Yes, we know what is suitable. If a time is fixed, it ought to be adhered to, although the apostle says, “tarry one for another”, 1 Corinthians 11:33. That is, I suppose, the idea of patient waiting upon one another, but if there is a time fixed for the meeting, it ought to be observed.
HDT Would you say that the Lord’s supper, whilst His peculiar matter, is set in relation to the service of God in a place publicly? I was wondering whether our brother had in mind what we speak of as our approach to the Father peculiarly, which would not be the early part, but would wait until after the Lord had come in and received from us what was His own peculiar portion.
JT I go with that fully. There are three conditions in mind. The brethren come and sit down together, and in Luke it says that the Lord “placed himself at table” Luke 22:14. The word “placed” alludes to attitude as to ourselves, and “at table” is the literal condition there when the Supper was inaugurated, but He “placed” Himself. Another thing that synchronises with that is, “when the hour was come, he placed himself at table, and the twelve apostles with him (Luke 22:14)”. I would say functioning begins there, but He does not sit down with us in the inauguration of His Supper, because the Supper came in after the passover had been celebrated. The passover came in first, and then the inauguration of the Lord’s supper was by itself. “Having taken a loaf”, it says, Luke 22:19. He did not eat that, He ate the passover, but He did not eat His own Supper, it was a memorial for them. But I think He gives us some idea as to attitude when He placed Himself, and “when the hour was come”. These are important matters as to the actual coming together of the saints for the service of God.
JE Do you think we ought to set a greater value on the time that is available to us? We have perhaps an hour and a half, and within the scope of that, there are certain things that are to be done, and perhaps undue time is taken in the doing of them.
JT Well, there is a good deal in that, because time is very precious. One has often thought that it is one of the most precious things we have to deal with, one of the scarcest things we have, because there is so much on hand now, and therefore we should make the most of the time that is allotted for the Lord’s supper and for the service of God generally. “Redeeming the time” would be an allusion to that.
PL Is it to be noted that the one who is king in Jerusalem (Solomon), which might bring in perhaps, “the kingdom of the Son of his love” in Colossians 1:13, and is master of assemblies, is so precise in regard to time, in its varied phases? (see Ecclesiastes 3:1 - 8).
JT Very good. Master of assemblies is a term that refers to the book of Ecclesiastes. It is really a former, or a caller together, of assemblies.
PL There is a time for everything, is there not? There is “a time to love”, and so on.
JT Yes.
HDT You have referred to Luke; do we get an impression that we should expect something specific? There seems to be a converging on the time the hour the time of the feast drew near and the day came; then “when the hour was come”, (Luke 22:14) it was the hour of love that you referred to. Do you think it would help us to be a little more specific and a little less general?
JT Very good.
PL The power to condense, would you say, in spiritual feeling and utterance? I was thinking how what is so complete and infinite in character is condensed in this wonderful message of the Lord to Mary.
JT Quite.
JM Quality enters into it, does it not? It is not the quantity, but quality and substance as knowing the time.
JT Yes. I believe that is seen in the place David has in the book of Revelation. Although it is a prophetic book, and a judgment book, yet there is time in it to bring out quality. The Lord speaks of Himself as “the root and offspring of David, the bright and morning star”, Revelation 22:16. That is understood by the bride. Of course, the Spirit would understand it, but the bride understands it. “The Spirit and the bride say, Come Revelation 22:17”. I believe it is an allusion to quality in the service of God. The bride as being the assembly is so near to Deity, near to divine Persons, that she and the Spirit say the same thing, “the Spirit and the bride say, Come Revelation 22:17”.
HDT And only one word, and yet it is the culmination of the most precious service we have received.
JT Yes. It might be divided up, too, as to actual time, the coming of the Lord for us, and the coming of the Lord to us, and the coming of the Lord with us. These are all references to different times.
HDT Do you mean that as the subjective work proceeds we are capable of saying “Come” in relation to all those three things?
JT Quite so. It must be very pleasing to the Lord when it is said.