THE MORE EXCELLENT WAY (3)
THE MORE EXCELLENT WAY (3)
JT Our thought has been to connect these chapters with the movements of the ark, having the crossing of the Jordan in view and regarding the ark in the language of Psalm 78 as “His glory” — the glory of God; and also that we might, as recognising that 2,000 cubits were to separate the ark from the people, know how to follow, and in the following to take on the glory — to be brought into correspondence with Christ. We referred to the apostle’s desire that he might bear about in his body the dying of Jesus. The glory had already shone into his heart, “the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ”, 2 Corinthians 4:6 and it would work out in the bearing about in his body the dying of Jesus. We saw that the Lord had finished His service among the Jews, resulting in His definite rejection by them. It says that they surrounded Him in the temple in Solomon’s porch, and challenged Him as to His being the Christ and His testimony that He was, and they took up stones to stone Him, so that, having His testimony they deliberately rejected Him. Then He goes, as it says, beyond Jordan to the place where John baptised at the first, and it is from that point that He moves back into Judaea, knowing now what awaited Him there; so that the movement has reference to the passage of the Jordan, that is, to His meeting death. But what comes into evidence first is a loved one, and He says, “Let us go to him”. John 11:15. John 11 brings out the first great feature of the movement, which had in view the saints, those who were loved. He would “go to him”. Lazarus being raised, the Lord, six days before the passover, comes to Bethany where Lazarus was, and there He finds [p. 37] a circle in which there is correspondence with the glory that had shone. It was thought that that circle formed the basis of the subsequent instruction, so that the varied testimonies of God come into view; first, in the reception He receives as He entered Jerusalem being recognised as the King of Israel, and second, in the Greeks desiring to see Him. The testimony of God regarding the earth comes into view. Necessarily it enters into the education of the saints in these chapters.
Then chapter 13 brings out His well-known service in washing the feet of His disciples. Thereafter it says when Judas was gone out the Lord said, “Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God be glorified in him, God also shall glorify him in himself, and shall glorify him immediately ..”. John 13:31,32. Then He tells them that where He was going they could not come; He indicates that the 2,000 cubits have to be recognised. The principle of following is recognised, but it is to be in the recognition of the “distance between”. Joshua 3:4. He says to Peter, “Thou canst not follow me now, but thou shalt follow me after”, John 13:36, which he did, and glorified God in his death. Peter indeed might be taken as an example of the education that there is for us, so that we might come into correspondence with Christ eventually, as we read in chapter 21: “But he said this, signifying by what death he should glorify God”. John 21:19. The Lord had spoken of His own death, “This he said signifying by what death he was about to die” — that is, by lifting up. I think that the Lord is investing His people with the glory — first, in the way of love in chapter 13; and then in chapter 14 by the Holy Spirit coming in. Christ is on high to be an Object of faith, and the chapter is to fill our minds with the advantages accruing to us from this during the period of His absence.
HD'AC “Thou shalt follow me afterwards”. John 13:36.
[p. 38] Christ must go first, but later on we find in Joshua that the people were much nearer the ark in following than 2,000 cubits. In going round Jericho, for instance; it is not said that there was that space between the ark and the rest of the host then.
JT Oh no. It was only while the Jordan had to be crossed. “Ye have not passed this way heretofore”. Joshua 3:4. The reference is to the Lord going into death. We have to see how He went into death, and how He dealt with it.
JM The Lord said to Peter — “Thou canst not follow me now”. John 13:36. Would that indicate the present teaching of the Lord in a moral way for us?
JT That is what we are at — what there is now in the teaching. We have to contemplate the Lord in His divine dignity going into death. We know now that there is no water in the Jordan for faith, but nevertheless death has to be accepted.
JF What is the force of there being no water?
JT Well, the Lord has annulled death and brought life and incorruptibility to light through the gospel. That is for faith. But crossing the Jordan is more for us than a matter of faith; one can only go over by the Spirit; it is the normal counterpart of the recognition of the Spirit in Numbers 21. The flesh does not go into Canaan.
CAP Is it not significant that there is no mention of the crossing of the Jordan in Hebrews 11?
JT There is mention of the crossing of the Red Sea, but not of the Jordan.
CAP It was not faith.
JT No; it is by the Spirit. “But by faith they passed through the Red Sea”. Hebrews 11:29.
JBC-l Does the presentation of the truth connected with the Holy Spirit’s coming, as in chapter 14 take the same place in a way as the transfiguration in the other gospels? What is in my mind is that in the other gospels their being in [p. 39] the way with the Lord on the line of suffering follows the transfiguration. You seem to suggest that their being in the way according to John’s gospel is dependent on the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
JT That is right. I think, however, that chapter 11 would correspond with the mount of transfiguration from John’s point of view. The glory shone on the mount; He was declared to be the Son from heaven, but from John’s point of view He is declared to be the Son by resurrection. That was for them. “Did I not say unto thee that if thou shouldest believe thou shouldest see the glory of God?” John 11:30. The movement, I think, begins with the glory.
JBC-I That helps me. I was thinking whether the Spirit would be the seal of that to us, but I am glad you go back to chapter 11 and connect it with the glory.
JT Instead of Peter, James, and John — the leading apostles — being the witnesses, the testimony to the glory is maintained in a circle in which two women shine. John has a way of reflecting on those in an official position. In chapter 4 a woman shines when they who should have shone had gone into the city to buy meat. In chapter 12 Martha serves; Lazarus is there, but rather as the subject of His power in resurrection; it is not exactly the subjective side in Lazarus, but in the two women we have that. That is in keeping, I think, with John; the glory found a residence in the circle at Bethany. And in chapter 20 again a woman shines. Whatever the failure may be of those who have the official place, John secures a residence for the glory.
JF What is the point in connection with the prominence given to the women in John?
JT It is a feature with him. Instead of Peter and James and John on the mount of transfiguration with the Lord as in the synoptic gospels we have a [p. 40] circle in Bethany affording a residence for the glory; and it is marked by the service of two women.
PB A circle brought together by love for the Lord.
JT That is the thing. Now these chapters bear on the close, they contemplate the failure of the official vessel, and they show that God secures a place for the glory notwithstanding. It was a question of those whom He loved and who loved Him.
PB Is that question raised again in regard of the coming of the Holy Spirit?
JT Yes; in chapter 14, “If ye love me”. John 14:15.
EJMcB I think your thought in emphasising the women is that the glory is secured on moral lines, not on official lines.
JT Quite. It aptly fits in with the present position. They were loved ones, but then the Lord did not have His place. He loved them, but Lazarus was more to the sisters than the Lord was. The Lord was a known friend of the family — recognised to be a friend, but He would have a greater place than that. That is the point for the moment. There are many whom He loves, but He would have His own place in their hearts. He would come in Himself as head, and that is the proper result of chapter 11.
EM He could only be glorified in those who loved Him.
JT Quite. He was glorified at Bethany. In chapter 17 He refers to the men whom the Father had given Him out of the world. We have to come to that — we have to come to the men. Although we begin with the women, they do not suggest the divine thought. God has men in His mind, and when the Lord prays, He prays about the men. “The men which thou gavest me”. John 17:6. We have to come to manhood. God does not surrender any thought. If He does recognise women, He has the masculine side before Him.
[p. 41] Rem Where there is the spirit of appreciation of the true ark the glory is secured.
JT Yes.
SMcA You referred to Him more as dying than as dead — “the dying of Jesus”. 2 Corinthians 4:10.
JT It goes on to His actual death. The principle is that He is dying from chapter 11 onwards. Mary recognised that. Her spiritual instinct enabled her to discern that He was going to die.
SMcA So that it is a new departure from the point beyond Jordan where John baptised at the first.
JT That is right. It is an entirely new movement, having death immediately in view. In chapter 14 the Lord is going on high, and we learn there the provision made for us throughout the whole period of His absence. There is provision made for those who love Him and keep His commandments. That goes right on to the end, because chapter 14 not only provides for the saints as the Lord loved them here, as they appeared at Pentecost, but it provides also for the individual who loves Him and keeps His commandments. Then in the next chapter the position is collateral with that. There is that which is public, involving the failure of that which the apostles inaugurated — a provisional position on earth into which the Gentiles have come. We have to know how we are to be sustained in these two relations; what He is to those who love Him viewed by themselves, and what we are to be in a state of things where unreality is contemplated.
JF Do we get the provisional public position in chapter 15?
JT Yes. That chapter is the history of the public thing inaugurated by the twelve, and then in chapter 16 we get the service of the Spirit — the ministry of the Spirit in relation to the testimony. Chapter 14 is the Spirit as provision for those who love the Lord; chapter 16 is the Spirit come directly [p. 42] from the Lord Himself in relation to the testimony — the whole testimony.
JB Would chapter 16 in that way give us ability to take up the interests of the Lord intelligently and affectionately!
JT Yes, and confidently There is One here who is infinitely greater than the whole power of evil in the world. But chapter 14 is what the Lord is mediately; He is a Mediator there, and He shows what He would do in His love for us; He begs the Father for the Spirit; He solicits for us.
AG What position is the ark in there?
JT All this comes in anticipatively. Chapter 14 was spoken at the Supper — during the passover It is all to bring in the place that they had in His heart. The lesson for you and for me is that we do all we can for the saints. He had done all possible on earth; He served them on earth; now, He says, I will be solicitous in heaven for you, and you can ask Me even there; you can reckon on Me; you can have every confidence in Me there; “believe also on me” John 14:1.
Ques Is the Spirit not given for the service of bringing us into the full knowledge of His mind for us?
JT He is here, in John, as the Spirit of truth “I am the way, the truth, and the life” John 14:5 is a question of their knowing Him It enters into what we are considering.
JJ There are three questions asked in chapter 14. Do they sum up the whole position? The first question is about the way — Thomas says to Him, “and how can we know the way?” John 14:5. Then Philip says to Him — “Lord show us the Father and it sufficeth us” John 14:8. Then Judas, not Iscariot says, “How is it that thou wilt manifest thyself to us and not to the world?” John 14:22. Would that be the present movement?
JT It shows it is a good thing to ask [p. 43] questions.
The writer in Proverbs 30 asks questions, and he observes, but he knows. It is a fine chapter as a model for questioning. The writer raises questions. He humbly admits his ignorance. Nevertheless he knows, but he raises questions.
HD'AC Is not that the way to learn?
JT That is what I was thinking.
EJMcB How does our present chapter, John 18, stand in relation to the thoughts you have suggested?
JT I think it sets out the movement of the ark. The Lord is definitely moving again. The preceding chapters prepared the disciples for this move; they are with Him. “Jesus went out with his disciples”. That is what we want to get at. In order to be with Him as seen here we have to understand the chapters that precede.
RB Will you say a word on chapter 17, following on what you have said as to chapter 16?
JT I feel that we ought perhaps to consider a little more the bearing of chapters 14, 15, and 16, so that, having the thoughts of God before us as disclosed in these chapters, we might see the bearing of the prayer in chapter 17. The Lord prays for men, and I think the teaching of these chapters is to bring them in, for God’s thought is men. In the eternal state the tabernacle of God will be with men. The thought in men is the intelligence that God intended to set forth in them; the idea is intelligence. A man is the image of God. “Quit yourselves like men”. 1 Corinthians 16:13. I think the divine thought is brought about in the race as seen in Christ, but it is necessarily seen first in Christ personally.
Ques Do you mean in contrast to babes?
JT More than that; involving the teaching of the chapters that precede.
JJ In chapter 17 He says, “I have manifested thy name unto the men whom thou gavest me out of the world”. John 17:6. Would that be something similar to Paul in 2 Corinthians: “I know a man in Christ”? 2 Corinthians 12:2 Well; somewhat. The queen of Sheba referred to Solomon’s men: “Happy are thy men”. 1 Kings 10:8 Do you mean that the men are produced by the education of these chapters?
JT How could it be otherwise? We have to learn the divine thought in Christ; the thought of God is seen in Him. We have to learn what man is in the mind of God from Christ.
AN Would you get the two set forth in Proverbs? You come under the mother, “tender and only beloved”, Proverbs 4:3 and then you get the father. Is it in view of manhood? You enter into the father’s intentions?
JT Yes. Solomon I think represents the thought. “I was a son unto my father, tender and an only one in the sight of my mother”. Proverbs 4:3. He came under the counsel of the mother, and grew up into manhood as in the knowledge and culture of his father. I think that typically Solomon is the man. Wisdom said, “My delights were with the sons of men”. Proverbs 8:31.
AN “In understanding be men”.
JT Proverbs opens up what is becoming in men. I think Solomon is typically the man, beginning with the desire for wisdom, acknowledging his ignorance, and growing up by divine tuition into manhood.
JMcI Is that the thought in Ephesians 4? The gifts are to that end — until we all arrive at manhood.
JT Yes, the full-grown man.
JBC-I The situation of chapter 18 seems to correspond with the position of David when he went up by the brook Cedron. What came out at that time was great solicitude for the ark and for the people. Is there a similar thought here? We get what the Lord is as the ark, and in His feelings as expressed we see His great solicitude for every thought connected with the glory of [p. 45] God.
JT Quite. Now, His disciples are with Him. I think that their identification with Him in the garden, now that the closing moments have come, involves the teaching of the previous chapters.
WSL Would you say that the disciples were brought at that time into correspondence with the ark?
JT That is what I thought. Then you have further disclosures. “If, therefore, ye seek me”, He says, “let these go away”.
WSL What do you gather from that?
JT The Lord’s consideration for us. He has to go before us, and He gives Himself up to the band who came with lanterns and torches and weapons; but He would not have the disciples arrested. The time had not come for that; they would be later, but that time was not yet. It involves the 2,000 cubits.
AG Would this be the movement of the ark in spite of any movement of the enemy? “Knowing that the hour had come”.
JT Yes. They went backwards and fell to the ground.
PL We have the challenge here. You spoke of the challenge yesterday — the Lord going into death in that character.
JT Quite. The people really had been accustomed to the power of the ark through the wilderness. “Rise up, Lord, and let thine enemies be scattered”. Numbers 10:35. That was so when the ark moved at any time, but when it came to the Jordan we hear nothing of that. Moses was not there; it is the feet of the priests now. But the people had been accustomed — and it was the divine intent that they should be — to the effects of the movements of the ark. Now the enemies went backwards. This is for the disciples. We have to see the bearing that there is in the movements. “Let these go their way”. I think the service of prayer in chapter 17 is there as a model. One following the instruction would clothe the saints with divine thoughts, because it is a question of what is available to God. God has not given up any of His thoughts, and what is available to God now, you clothe in your prayers with the divine thoughts. You have nothing less in your heart for them. Chapter 18 is the enemy’s power. Think of what there is here — a band with Judas, and lanterns and torches and weapons! What are they after? They are avowedly against Christ. These conditions exist, and they have to be faced. Hence the importance of the instruction of the previous chapters and of the prayer of chapter 17. I am not now speaking of its value in detail as the prayer of the Lord Jesus, but as you might say, as the golden altar for us. You turn your eyes away for a moment from the saints and you look to God. He “lifted up his eyes to heaven”. John 17:1. You are engaged with God in prayer, clothing those that are available with the thoughts of God, and what He can make them.
WCG Another desire of the Lord is that He would have them sanctified; He would build His sanctuary. Is not that the object in view when He says, “Let these go their way” — that they might be a sanctuary?
JT No doubt. In the meantime He goes forward. But there is reserve. Isaiah had seen His glory. Well, what glory was it? He says, “I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple”. Isaiah 6:1. I think “these” are His train; let these go their way, they would become that. The train is filled with glory. “In his temple doth everyone speak of his glory”. Psalm 29:9 Peter was not disposed to accept the public situation. He would have entered into conflict to set aside the activity of [p. 47] the enemy.
JT As was usual, the disciples never entered into His thoughts. All is anticipative. You get in John that when He was raised from the dead they understood, when He was glorified they remembered. These things are anticipating the resurrection and the glory of Jesus. They should become vessels in the temple, where everyone doth say glory. It says His train filled the temple and the seraphim, attending of themselves, helped to bring about that. I think John brings in the seraph service. Matthew is the cherubim. “Seraphim were standing above him”, Isaiah 6:2 it says; that is what the Lord is going on to. And one cried unto another (they each had six wings) and said, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of his glory”. Isaiah 6:3. That is what they have in mind, and that is what these chapters bring about — the holy character of the brethren, so that they are associated with the Lord in the temple. What God is aiming at now is to bring about the latter glory of the house — all that which will culminate in the heavenly city. It is not that it is going to be filled with the glory up there — that would not be victory. The glory is now; the assembly is invested now with it. The disciples did not understand; but the principle throughout John is that you will understand later; “thou shalt know hereafter”. John 13:7 It is an amazing sight for them. Judas does not draw near to kiss Him. It is too glorious for them to lay hold of Him at that moment.
JT The thing to lay hold of is the power of Christ for us now. Look at the combination of evil there is. In John Judas represents the power of Satan against Christ, beginning with betrayal. He is now coming back. “They went out from us”. 1 John 2:19 Now they come back. Satan brought about a combination of evil that never existed before. They have the band and the lanterns and the torches [p. 48] and the weapons.
JF Have these their counterpart at the present time?
JT They have. They refer, I think, to the gropings of men, the darkness in which they are moving in opposition to Christ.
Ques Does the being with God in chapter 17 show how they are to be met?
JT That is the thing. If we are to profit by way of example we go to God. If it be a question of what is available, it is no use referring back to what there has been, the point is what is available at the present time, and clothing what is available with the thoughts of God. What can God not do?
RB Does what the Lord secures here for the disciples answer to the opened door in Philadelphia?
JT That is exactly what it does.
PL Does that go with the last verse of the chapter you were referring to in Isaiah 6 — the tenth part?
JT “Yet in it shall be a tenth”. Isaiah 6:13 Yes, quite.
AN Would chapter 18 answer to Numbers 10 — the forward movement of the ark? “Rise up, Lord, let thine enemies be scattered”. Numbers 10:35 That is what you get here.
JBC-l You spoke of the power of Christ as covering His own. Is that in view of their being free to follow? What comes out in Peter almost immediately after is the readiness to intercept the Lord’s way. Do you not think at times there is that with us, we would get into the way of the Lord in regard to these movements?
JT I am sure that is so. These different ones whose names are given in John’s gospel are intended, I think, to teach us the features that may come out. You get Andrew and Philip, and Thomas and Peter. All those are brothers — disciples — representing in one way or another the conditions that arise amongst us as the Lord is seeking to teach us, and I think the Lord’s way with them would help us as to how patient we are to be with one another.
WCG In Psalm 68 already quoted, it shows how the enemies flee-”Kings of armies flee apace ... though ye have lien among the pots, yet shall ye be as the wings of a dove covered with silver and her feathers with yellow gold”. Psalm 68:12,13 “The chariots of God are twenty thousand ... the Lord is among them”. Psalm 68:17 They went backwards. They have no power if the Lord is pleased to act against them.
JJ What would you say about the disciples being with Him in the education of the previous chapter? Does that refer to our having part with Him.
JT I think so. In the garden it is not the victim character. The other gospels give us the Lord’s feelings as regards the cup and the power of Satan, but here He is supreme. John has in view that we can move on; there is the power available to move on according to Christ in this glorious way, the way of glory.
JBC-l It is very encouraging.
FW Do we get the glory of His holiness here? “The whole earth is filled with his glory”, Isaiah 6:3 There is indication of it here.
FW Would you say a word as to the seraph?
JT I think John brings in the seraph feature of the truth. Matthew, as I have said, is the cherubim. The Lord says to the disciples, “Will ye also go away?” and Peter says, “Lord to whom shall we go; thou hast words of eternal life, and we have believed and known that thou art the holy one of God”. John 6:67 - 69. — the Holy One. That is what He was — “The holy one of God”. That was the conception of the Lord that got into Peter’s soul, and John records that if you have got an ideal that ideal is sure to give [p. 50] character to you later, and that is what is in view in John. He is the holy and the true.
FW Are the cherubim more connected with righteousness?
JT I think the enforcement of the will, of the government of God, begins in the garden — the cherubim with the flaming sword, and it had a great place in the tabernacle and in the temple. But one can understand the force of the seraph feature in John, because we have to do with such evil in the Jews, among those who professedly were the people of God. Holiness is essential. Hence the Lord speaks to the assembly at Philadelphia as “the holy, the true”. Revelation 3:7 The live coal from off the altar touching the lips of Isaiah would correspond with John — “Ye have the unction from the holy one”? 1 John 2:20 Quite. One called to the other and said, “Holy, holy, holy, Jehovah of hosts” Isaiah 6:3 we see in that the kind of mutuality that John would bring about. The saints, as apprehending Christ in the gospel of John are, so to speak, occupied with this — with His holiness.
PL So John says to the elect lady, “but hope to come to you, and to speak mouth to mouth”. 2 John 12 Exactly.
JJ Do you mean that it was the work of the seraphim that the band and officers went backward and fell to the ground?
JT No. Not quite that, but the glory shone there. There was something there that forced them back. The power of God was there. See Psalm 114.
PB The moral glory of the ark at the crossing of the Jordan caused the waters to recede out of sight. This is the beginning of it.
JT What God is bringing about now is a state of holy love amongst His people answering to the seraphim calling one to another, saying, “Holy, holy,
[p. 51] holy ... the whole earth is full of his glory”. Isaiah 6:3 That is their converse. It is an immense result if God bring that about amongst His people.
JF As a present result.
JT That is the thought — a present result.
HD'AC “Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness”.
JBC-l Would this help us in bearing the reproach together? You remarked earlier as to the peculiar combination of evil that is brought about here, and one of the most solemn features of apostasy is that those who go out know the place and the persons and consequently of their failure and this adds a peculiar feature to the reproach, so that such a consideration as this would help us in bearing the reproach together.
JT I think that you will find that those who go out will come back with their band, lanterns, torches and weapons; one has seen it often. They are sure to come back.
HD'AC But they are still powerless.
JT That is the thing to see.
JBC-l I was thinking rather of the way in which they might affect the position of those from whom they have separated.
JT I think departure from the truth began with Judas, in his apostasy. Now, the only hope for those who move in that direction is to give up the band. The lanterns and torches denote the miserable darkness in which they move, as compared with the light there is in the circle in which Christ is.
GFM What do you mean by ‘they came back’?
JT They do come back. They go out; they move away out of feeling — one natural feeling or another, influenced by Satan, but they will not let you alone. They are hostile to the truth and they are sure to come back. But they come back in this despicable way as a band with lanterns, etc. The [p. 52] position in regard to the Lord, however, is magnificent. The Lord says, “I am he”. It is like the ark. It is the testimony to His Person. They went backwards and fell to the ground; that is the position.
Rem They come back to attack the position.
JT They do.
Rem The Lord went out to meet them.
JT Yes; we can reckon on that now.
AN Syria was confederate with Israel, but the Lord comes in a special way. “God is with us”. Isaiah 8:10 There is combined opposition, but it only serves to bring out the glory as acting for the saints.
JT And Jehovah says to Ahaz, “Ask thee a sign of the Lord thy God; ask it either in the depth or in the height above”. Isaiah 7:11 You may go as high as ever you like for God has infinite resources. Whatever you ask it is all there. The combination would be easily shattered if Ahaz simply asked. That is the position. As we had it last night, the ultimate result is seen mainly in Hezekiah; in Isaiah he answers to the glory. What can the Assyrian do? “The daughter of Zion hath despised thee and laughed thee to scorn”. 2 Kings 19:21 God was there. The Assyrian had come up reaching even to the neck, but only to be broken in pieces, for God is with us.
HD'AC “They have slept their sleep; and none of the men of might have found their hands”, Psalm 76: 5 Do you think the close of Isaiah 6 comes out here — the “holy seed”? Isaiah 6:13 That is what our brother was remarking. It encourages us as to the day of small things. The tenth was there — the holy seed. One was noticing in the book of Genesis what care there was in the selection of wives for the patriarchs to secure family equality, to ensure a wholly right seed. The principle begins in Genesis 1; “whose seed is in itself”. Genesis 1:12 The seed must be right, and I think John brings out the right seed. “Everyone who practises righteousness is begotten of him”. 1 John 2:29 The seed is marked by righteousness, and love, and holiness. John’s epistle leads us up to Him that is holy and Him that is true.
JJ What is the point in Peter’s cutting off the servant’s ear; what feature is that?
JT We are often disposed to do that, are we not? To cut off the right ear of a man means that you deprive him of the avenue for the thoughts of God to enter into his mind.
HD'AC It shows that Peter was not under the influence of the glory at the moment.
JM “If ... ye seek me let these go their way”. How does that apply at the moment?
JT It is that the Lord shows His interest, His unselfish care for us. He goes into the conflict before us; we can reckon on that. But I was thinking of the ear; in Psalm 40 we read “ears hast thou prepared me”. Psalm 40:6 John brings out the Lord as devoting Himself to the will of God. He came to carry out the will of God, and His ears were opened; He took the place of obedience. The mind of God enters through the ear, and to cut off a man’s right ear is to run counter to the thought of the Lord for the moment. His thought is to bring about in us what is becoming in men, to hear what God has to say.
HD'AC The first time we hear of Jesus doing anything is that He was hearing and asking questions. Swift to hear is an important word. It is a great point to hear today.
PL Do things at this point answer to the synagogue of Satan? The Lord will deal with that.
JT “I will make them to come and worship before thy feet”. Revelation 3:9 I think the address to Philadelphia corresponds with what we are speaking of — the supremacy of Christ in the way He acts for the saints — in what [p. 54] He does.
PL And as following the way of glory does He not assure us of a sphere of glory?
JT Quite. The overcomer is to be made a pillar in the temple of His God.
JBC-I This would help us to discard the sword in this connection. It was an instrument neither a shepherd nor a fisherman needed.