THE MORE EXCELLENT WAY (4)
THE MORE EXCELLENT WAY (4)
JT It may be well to remark that the object in these readings is not to attempt to unfold the great truths that are conveyed in this gospel, but rather to seek to show the bearing of them as formative, having the last days in view, so that we should be in correspondence with Christ. I think that a clearer understanding of the bearing of chapters 14, 15, 16 and 17 is necessary, so as to understand this chapter, which is the crowning one. Those chapters are not rightly understood unless we see that the Lord has the whole history of the assembly in His mind, and that provision is made in them for His people to the end.
EM Do you view chapter 20 as the climax?
JT Yes; those we have considered culminate in it.
FW What is the outstanding glory in this chapter?
JT The ascension of Christ and our relationship with Him as His brethren; that gives the great moral elevation that is intended to characterise the saints of this period. There were in the pattern of the house given by the Spirit to David, upper chambers and inner chambers, treasuries, and the house of the mercy- seat; these accord with John’s point of view. We have to look for these features, and I think that this chapter would correspond with the “upper” and “inner” chambers. To shine in the courts we have to understand the upper and inner chambers, and the house of the mercy-seat. The treasuries refer to the depositories of the precious dedicated things of [p. 56] God.
PB These privileges are what God intended them to have part with Him in?
JT Whatever the Lord is going on with now is in view in chapter 13. What He has to say in chapter 14 is peculiarly touching; it is what He is to be to us, not exactly what we are to Him; He speaks of the things that are available for us throughout the whole history of the saints in this dispensation. He is seen there more as a Mediator using all His influence, so to speak, on high for us. His name is established there in that God has glorified Him in Himself, and the Holy Spirit is here also, as sent in His name.
PB He knows all about the upper and inner chambers.
JT He does, and He searches into the depths of God. The Holy Spirit is here as begged for by Christ; He is here as sent by the Father in His name; so that all that He is is brought in to us, and all for us; that is chapter 14.
PB Then He has to wash our feet to bring us to that.
JT What a precious thing that is! There is too the presence of the Spirit as another Comforter, not as meeting our individual state exactly, but with us as a divine Person, so that the door is opened in a positive way from heaven to us; there is direct spiritual access from heaven for the Father and the Son to come in, and that at all times. Then chapter 15 is a mixed state of things where branches are supposed to exist that do not bear fruit, and the Father is dealing in that sphere in a disciplinary way to remove them. That phase also runs down to the end; we can reckon on the government of God in that connection; it has to say to that. Then in chapter 16 the Holy Spirit is known as bringing demonstration of certain things to the world — a demonstration of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. All moral things [p. 57] are adjusted in the testimony that the presence of the Holy Spirit here brings. There is the conviction present of sin, righteousness, and judgment; these moral things are all adjusted in the presence of the Spirit. The Spirit Himself is besides an immense moral support to the people of God.
HD'AC How does He demonstrate these things?
JT Well, the Lord says, “of sin, because they do not believe on me; of righteousness, because I go away to my Father, and ye behold me no longer; of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged”. John 16:9 - 11. I understand that the presence of the Spirit in Jerusalem in the disciples of Jesus was God’s answer to the judgment of the Jews.
HD'AC Do you mean the very fact of the Spirit having come?
JT Having come to the followers of Jesus — the Lord’s disciples; they had been identified with Him. The superscription on the cross was: “Jesus the Nazaraean, the king of the Jews”. John 19:19 It was written in Hebrew, Greek and Latin. It was a public committal, we may say. It was written by the Roman governor as the crime for which He was put to death. I suppose, if there were criminal annals in Jerusalem that would be the record. There is no question about it, the world has committed itself to that. Now they professed to be acting for God in that. The matter, therefore, is in God’s hands. What will the issue be? God raised Christ; that was private, the world did not see it, but when the Holy Spirit came to the followers of the Nazaraean (for that was the superscription) He was there undeniably and it was no private matter, it was a public thing. When the Spirit came down there had come from heaven a sound as of a rushing, mighty wind, and there appeared cloven tongues as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. It was undeniable that the Holy Spirit had come in to those Nazaraeans from Jesus in [p. 58] heaven; God decided the matter. Jesus had said, “I go to the Father”, John 14:12 and the Holy Spirit had come in from the Father. The Father is supreme, and if Jesus went to the Father, then the Jews had committed a dreadful crime, and God made them to know it.
HD'AC The Supreme Court of Appeal declared itself then!
JT Quite; that I think is just what it was, because it was a question of righteousness — whether the courts were righteous or otherwise. God has decided it was a crime to put Him to death. Righteousness is in favour of Jesus, and the Holy Spirit has brought the testimony of that to this world.
HEF “Of judgment”, John 16:11 what is your thought of that here?
JT The prince of this world is judged. It was he who brought all this about; he was the instigator of all, but God is the sovereign Ruler, Lord of the heaven and of the earth; Satan was only the prince of this world. God has jurisdiction over both. The prince of this world committed a crime; he is guilty, and he is judged.
HEF Do you mean that the saints are brought to the apprehension of all these things?
JT That is what I understand. It is not a question of the world itself being convicted subjectively, but the thing is brought in here as a testimony.
Rem So that the world is fully exposed to us.
JT That is it. The testimony is in those who have the Spirit.
AN The demonstration is in view of the position being clear to the disciples, is it not? It is not so much the effect toward the world.
JT No; we, as having the Spirit, understand how matters are; so that the testimony is here.
PL Does this go with the “witness” in John’s first epistle?
JT I think so — “God has given to us eternal life”, 1 John 5:11. This (John 16) is the basis on which all punitive judgment will be administered. God’s case is clear. He overcomes when in judgment. It is now out morally, for He establishes the thing morally before He acts.
HEF We see, therefore, that God’s judgment is morally right.
JT That is it, and all shall see it. He is bearing witness to it now, so that when He executes the judgment it is known to be right.
JBC-l What is the object in the Lord’s way in chapter 20? Is it to relieve the spirits of His own from the pressure of death? What came as pressure on the Lord’s spirit and how He bore it, seems to have been set before us much in the other scriptures you have dealt with, but the Lord, free from all that pressure, seems to be solicitous as to the pressure upon the spirits of His own.
JT You mean that He is free now, and He would bring them into that liberty? In chapters 18 and 19 we have what may be regarded as the altar. Before coming to chapter 20 there must be something for us by way of pattern in those two chapters. I have noticed that in the anointing of the tabernacle, in Leviticus 8:11, before the sacrifices are brought in, the altar was anointed seven times.
HD'AC What do you gather from that?
JT Well, it seems as if the Holy Spirit would call special attention to the altar in the divine system. If it were anointed, as it is said to have been, seven times, special attention is called to it — not the sacrifices as yet that were offered on it, but the thing itself. I believe it refers to the closing chapters of the Lord’s life, that is, after He was arrested.
EJMcB Do you look upon the seven times as governing the whole period here outwardly?
JT It would seem that the Holy Spirit as the [p. 60] anointing enters into that feature of our position in a peculiar way. Perhaps more has been made, and is being made, of the sacrifice than of the altar.
EJMcB Do you look then upon the altar as indicating the conditions of approach?
JT I think it refers to the moral power that marked the Lord, particularly when taken by the Jews in the garden. He has no support outwardly at all, He is alone, and the moral power that shines commands your attention. How dignified He was! Satan had designed all these circumstances to humiliate the Lord in the last degree. He had power in Himself to extricate Himself, but He was there in obedience to the will of God; He was laying down His life — “I lay it down of myself” John 10:18 — and it had to be laid down in this way. So it is the moral dignity and power of the Lord that shine in these two chapters — “who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God”. Hebrews 9:14 That is very fine, but I do not quite understand why you call that an altar.
JT Because I understand it is in that connection that sacrifice is actually made. The altar was three cubits high and five square; three indicates there was power, and five that there was weakness — “He has been crucified in weakness”. 2 Corinthians 13:4. I do not say that this is exclusively in these chapters, indeed it is included in the other gospels.
HD'AC John would be more the “three” size, would it not?
JT That is what I thought.
PL Would the altar be more what He is in the sense of how He bore the suffering?
JT It is that which sustains the offering. Many might offer and be out of keeping with the offering. The second letter to the Corinthians is to bring about a state suitable to the offering — “the Lord loveth a cheerful giver”; it is the spirit [p. 61] of the thing.
HD'AC Then does the brass of the altar come out in this part?
JT The brass, I suppose, denoted God’s thought of sin; that would come out in the other gospels more — it became God. The metal of the altar represented what is suitable to God.
HEF Do you mean that the appreciation of Christ as the altar would produce a moral element in us answering to it?
JT That is the reason why I mentioned it by way of analogy. In the second letter to Corinthians 2 Corinthians 9:5 the apostle speaks of their gift “not as got out of you”. In your gift you are to have the spirit that becomes it. Whatever you do by way of sacrifice, the thing is to be in keeping with it; there is to be that moral dignity underneath.
Ques Is that the thought in “the altar that sanctifieth the gift” — “whether is greater, the gift or the altar that sanctifieth the gift”? Matthew 23:19 Quite.
Ques In the book of Numbers the altar was to be covered with a purple cloth when the camp set forward. Is there any connection between that and what you have in your mind?
JT There is; purple denoted royalty, but the answer to royalty now is suffering. The anointing oil indicated that; myrrh, which signifies suffering, was one of the principal ingredients in it.
PL So that “the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, it is more blessed to give than to receive”, Acts 20:35 would confirm what you are speaking of?
JT I think so, suffering is necessarily connected with the altar.
Ques Does suffering produce this state in us, bringing us to cheerfulness in giving?
JT I think the principle of the altar is that in making sacrifices you are in keeping with them.
AN Abraham built an altar, but the burnt [p. 62] offering was distinct from the altar. With Abraham there was the principle of surrender, and he bound Isaac upon the altar.
JH Would the principle be in the apostle when he says, “thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life”? 2 Timothy 3:10 Quite. As you look into these chapters, you are bound to admire the moral dignity and the majesty with which the Lord met the forces of evil. He is ever Himself, never ruffled, never a word out of place and His silence speaks.
JB Would it be preparatory in that way to what comes out in chapter 20; the saints taking their place with Christ as the ascended One giving them dignity to be associated with Him in the knowledge of His Father as their Father, His God as their God?
JT Suffering has a great effect on us; it is given to us to suffer for His sake.
EJMcB Your suggestion of connecting the peculiar dignity of Christ in these circumstances with the altar makes it very evident that no one could take His life from Him.
JT He was laying down His life of Himself, and He was supreme in it. The enemy was allowed to bring his most wicked devices to bear upon the Lord, for it became God “in bringing many sons to glory to make perfect the leader of their salvation through sufferings”. Hebrews 2:10 Why do you get that in connection with bringing many sons to glory?
JT It is by way of suffering — by way of the crucible.
HEF “Bringing many sons to glory”. Hebrews 2:10 Is that the glory you have in your mind — what the saints are being invested with now?
JT Yes, it does not say “bringing many sons to heaven”, but “to glory”. In the passage we had yesterday, Proverbs 25, we read, “The heaven for height, and the earth for depth, and the heart of kings is unsearchable. Take away the dross from the silver, and there cometh forth a vessel for the refiner”. Proverbs 25:3,4. I think the consideration of this feature of suffering in regard of what we have before us has that effect — you have a vessel, a vessel fitted for glory. We are vessels of mercy, fitted for glory, as it says. Well, the dross has to be removed. I do not say that that is all that is in the suffering, because if the dross is removed, the suffering may be still there, e.g., Paul says, “I rejoice in sufferings for you, and I fill up that which is behind of the tribulations of Christ in my flesh”. Colossians 1:24. It is a divine design that we should go the way of suffering, and we do so as following our Leader.
JJ So you regard these chapters more as a pattern?
JT That is what I was thinking. They are much more than that, but our thought now is to see the pattern there.
PL Stephen followed his great Leader in that way. “Having said this he fell asleep”. Acts 7:60 I suppose that explains the fact that the forsaking of the Lord is not found in John’s gospel.
JT We do not get the actual fact, but this thought of suffering, and being in correspondence in the suffering with the sacrifice we make, is of immense value to us, as forming the vessel.
HD'AC Solomon’s altar was too small to receive the offerings, was it not? That is in great contrast with Christ.
Rem Will you say a little more about correspondence in the suffering with the sacrifice?
JT That is what the chapter would help us in, for it all refers to the investiture with the glory. Peter says in chapter 1 of his first epistle: “Wherein ye exult for a little while at present, if needed, put to [p. 64] grief by various trials, that the proving of your faith, much more precious than of gold which perishes, though it be proved by fire, be found to praise and glory and honour in the revelation of Jesus Christ; whom, having not seen, ye love; on whom, though not now looking but believing, ye exult with joy unspeakable and filled with the glory”. 1 Peter 1:6 - 8 Notice that: “filled with the glory”; that is a present thing, and it comes in in connection with present suffering.
WH Would that be seen in the fact that Solomon’s altar was the same size as the oracle in length and breadth; 2 Chronicles 3:8; 2 Chronicles 4:1? There is a correspondence.
JT That is very suggestive. Our brother just remarked that Solomon’s altar was not great enough to receive all the sacrifices, which would be another thought.
JBC-l We read of the offering being bound to the altar, and I thought the sufferings of Christ really preserved the offering in keeping with the altar.
Ques Would that be the altar sanctifying the gift?
JBC-l I thought so. It is the manner of His exit we have in John’s gospel. He has no helpers, He bore His own cross. It is the dignity of His Person in the accomplishment of His work for the glory of God.
Ques Would suffering bring us nearer to the heart of Christ so that we might be formed in His love?
JT Well, you feel that you are with Him in a peculiar way in suffering, and you want to be in it in moral dignity, in power, so that you are not chafed or irritated, nor show resentment, nor seek relief from it. The principle is entire and unqualified submission to the will of God.
GE What does that verse mean: “Sacrifice and offering thou willedst not, but thou hast prepared me a body”? Hebrews 10:[p. 65] 5 I think that is what the Lord had in mind. The principle of the altar is, “Lo, I come to do thy will”. Hebrews 10:9 Whatever that will involved, He was prepared for it.
AN All suffering would not have this character, would it? It is special. Is it suffering at the hand of man?
JT Quite; so Peter says, “The Spirit of glory and the Spirit of God rests upon you” 1 Peter 4:14 in that connection.
AN Is that what Peter speaks of as suffering for righteousness’ sake? Or would it go further?
JT I do not think John goes beyond that; he does not bring in suffering from the hand of God.
AN It would be in direct relation to the testimony then.
PL “The disciple standing by whom he loved” John 19:26 — would there be any connection in that?
JT “By the cross of Jesus stood his mother, and the sister of his mother, Mary, the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala. Jesus, therefore, seeing his mother, and the disciple standing by whom he loved” John 19:25,26 — they were there; they represented the extreme of affection.
Rem If we do not learn to suffer there is misrepresentation. Peter misrepresented things; he had not learnt to suffer.
JT He misrepresented things by cutting off the ear of the bondman of the high priest; he missed the great feature of the moment.
RB God brings many sons to glory by allowing us to suffer.
JT I think suffering is a refining process; it gives you a lustre; you are in keeping with your Leader.
RB You have in mind the ultimate investiture of the glory.
JD Do we find at the close of chapter 19 two [p. 66] timid ones prepared for the suffering in Joseph of Arimathaea and Nicodemus? They are prepared to come out into the light now, and are ready for suffering.
JT Yes; John would bring in every little bit of the work of God. That is a point of importance.
JB Do you think that the teaching of the nineteenth chapter would in that way add dignity to the saints?
JT I think it does. Wisdom’s house is built on seven pillars; it involves that every bit of the work of God is taken account of. You cannot build on one man. One man may lead, and may deliver a city; he may by laying down his life work out deliverance, but in building a house we must have “seven”; wisdom requires that, and therefore we cannot leave out Nicodemus. We have Mary Magdalene shining in lustre, but both Joseph of Arimathaea and Nicodemus shine, too.
AG I was going to ask if, in chapter 19, we view the ark going down into the Jordan and we stand two thousand cubits off.
JT That is it. He is in the enemies’ hands first. They do not know what they are dealing with, but it means their overthrow, like Dagon of the Philistines. He actually goes down into death. The article of death was touched, not here as a victim, but as invading the domain of Satan — overthrowing him in his own stronghold. That is what is in view here. By observing the 2,000 cubits we may follow after Him. There were men in David’s day who went over the Jordan when it overflowed its banks, and the waters were not dried up at all; 1 Chronicles 12:15. It is a question, as Jeremiah says, “how wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan?” Jeremiah 12:5 That is what we might learn in these chapters. Stephen is an example of a man in the swelling of Jordan. The waters were dried up for him by faith: but then there were the [p. 67] forces of Satan there with their weapons and stones, and it is the superiority which marks that man that enables us to see what it is to be here in correspondence with the altar.
FW The feet of the priests touched the water — that was in the swelling of Jordan.
JT That was the Lord touching it — the waters fled. The fame thereof was heard; it was the destruction of death. The Lord invaded that domain and overthrew Satan in it by his own weapons; He annulled death and brought life and incorruptibility to light. Psalm 114 brings that out more than any of the Old Testament scriptures: “The sea saw it and fled: the Jordan turned back .... What ailed thee, thou sea, that thou fleddest? thou Jordan, that thou turnedst back?” Psalm 114:3,5 Well, it was the presence of the Lord; God was there. I think it agrees with the truth in John. He turns the rock into a pool of water, the flint into a fountain of waters. That is what He has done. The sea is overthrown, people are brought through it, and the Jordan is driven back. But there is more than that: there is the flint, and the rock, and John shows how you get the pool and fountain of water; “who turned the rock into a pool of water, the flint into a fountain of waters”. Psalm 114:8 I think that is John’s ministry.
JBC-I Referring to the place that suffering has in this, does John 20 raise a question as to how far our suffering centres in Christ?
JT I think Mary Magdalene presents the result of all this. She was at the cross. John in his way brings out the subjective in the woman; the brightest things are seen in women in John; Mary was morally equal to be the messenger to carry the message; but in regard to the chapter itself, it involves the inlet into eternity. This gospel prepares us for eternal things, not simply things relating to the promises of God, or His purpose regarding the earth, but things [p. 68] that existed before the world. By careful comparison, it will be noticed that there is no reference to the Sabbath in this chapter, whereas Matthew and Mark and Luke link on what is said about the resurrection with the Sabbath.
FI So being of an eternal character it is connected with the first day of the week.
JT Yes. “The first day of the week” is the new beginning — there is nothing before it. The Lord by His remarks throughout this gospel had been preparing the disciples for this. He says, “No one has gone up to heaven save he who came down out of heaven, the Son of man who is in heaven”; John 3:13 and again, “What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before?” John 6:62 He also says, “Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me, for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world”; John 17:24 and, “Glorify thou me ... with the glory which I had with thee before the world was”. John 17:5 They heard all that and the way is now open for it. He is, as it were, a hind let loose, and He is now prepared to introduce His loved ones into what is eternal.
WSL Does the first day of the week suggest the bringing in of a new order of things?
JT Not only a new order of things, but an order before which there was nothing; for Adam was only a figure of Him that was to come. It was no afterthought. The Word became flesh in John. “In the beginning was the Word”. John 1:1 Morally there was no week before this.
JT Exactly.
WSL It is an eternal order of things.
JT The Sabbath being referred to in the synoptic gospels means, as far as I can see, that the previous week is recognised.
JF Is that implied in His words, “I ascend”?
JT [p. 69] I think so, and His Father is ours, and His God is ours.
JBC-I Would the eighth day suppose the gathering up of all the results of the Spirit’s work, and the eternal union of the heavens and the earth for the divine pleasure?
JT No doubt. Thomas being there would, I suppose, represent the Jewish side.
LDM Say a word as to the breaking of bread in that connection.
JT The breaking of bread is connected with the first day of the week, but the Lord’s supper is more connected with the Lord’s day, which would have reference to the testimony of God. The breaking of bread brings in the Lord as Head.
AN What is the distinct thought connected with each?
JT The breaking of bread is more often spoken of than the Lord’s supper. The latter is mentioned only once, and where the expression is used, we read, “For as often as ye shall eat this bread and drink the cup, ye announce the death of the Lord until he come”. 1 Corinthians 11:26 It has reference to the public testimony of God. Anyone present could see us eating, but the memorial is another thing. The memorial of Christ is the breaking of bread: “This do in remembrance of me”. Luke 22:19, 1 Corinthians 11:24. That makes room for Him, and hence it is, in Acts 20, formally connected with the first day of the week, and what is more important still is that in that chapter you have the truth of the assembly in its heavenly — I may say, its eternal — relation; the whole counsel of God, which goes back before the foundation of the world, is involved in that.
JJ Why does John omit the breaking of bread?
JT He does not refer to the Lord’s supper at all; Luke does. The latter refers to it in his gospel,
[p. 70] supporting Paul, and he refers to it in Acts 2 and 20. In chapter 20 he formally connects it with the first day of the week.
FI What is the significance with regard to John in the Revelation when he speaks of being in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and not on the first day of the week?
JT The Lord’s day there would have in view all that was about to be unfolded — the rights of the Lord, His authority on earth.
FWB Did you say that the Supper is connected with the Lord’s day? What do you mean by the Lord’s day in that connection?
JT It is the dominical day; He has got authority over your soul, therefore it fits in with the public testimony of God. In the synoptic gospels the resurrection is connected with the Sabbath, that is to say, there was a previous week in which God had been witnessing. The assembly comes into that as in the type of Rebekah; she comes into Sarah’s tent. But Eve is the primary thought of the assembly, she does not come into any other tent, she is just the counterpart of Adam; all the others are provisional types. God reverts to the primary thought in the assembly.
JM The Supper is the public side, and the memorial would be more the inward.
JT So here you have the first day of the week.
PL Would the Supper suggest more what the assembly is for Him, and the memorial be more what the assembly is to Him?
JT Quite.
AN Is the memorial side connected with our entrance into privilege?
JT It is; He is called to mind and gets His place as Head.
Ques Why do we so often refer to John’s ministry when partaking of the Supper?
JT [p. 71] It is to bring in the spirit that is becoming to it.
JJ Do you refer to the Lord’s side as suggesting the rib taken out of Adam?
JT That is what we have here — “He showed to them his hands and his side”, what He had done for them and His love to them. I think the allusion is to Adam’s rib.
JBC-I Does John give us the love that lies behind the Supper more? That would explain why it is essential we should get over to John’s side if the Lord is to manifest Himself to us.
HEF Is the ark over Jordan here?
JT Yes. “The hind of the morning” suggests resurrection; the Lord is free now, that is the end in view in all this. Love sees Him coming in, as in the Canticles; “the voice of my beloved! Behold, he cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills”. Song of Songs 2:8 It is the freedom with which the Lord moves about in His love visits, and He stands behind our wall, showing Himself through the lattice. All that means He is gathering up the loved ones.
WSL Does the Supper bring the Lord in, in that way answering to chapter 14?
JT I think so. He comes in according to chapter 14 by way of manifestation; it is not there as Leader; chapter 14 does not go so far as that. The headship of Christ involves that He carries you to the highest place.
HEF Say a word as to the “breathing”, and “as the Father sent me forth, I also send you”.
JT That is the great end of the testimony — that we should correspond with Him. As He came out fully representative of the Father, so those who have His breath are to be like Him. I think that “the house of the mercy-seat” 1 Chronicles 28:12, understood would enable us to come out in the spirit of forgiveness. “Having said this, he breathed into [p. 72] them, and says to them, Receive the Holy Spirit”, as if to qualify them for this service to forgive and to retain.
JBC-l Would this be bound up with the thought in chapter 6: “He that eateth me even he shall live by me” John 6:57 — the affections of the saints centred in Christ personally? Their support in connection with the Lord Himself would be in the measure in which they fed on Him.
JT Quite; so there is representation. The thought of God is that the spirit of forgiveness as it shone in Christ should be in us: “Whose soever sins ye remit they are remitted to them”.
HD'AC He does not here send them forth to preach as He does in the other gospels; it is more that the spirit, the breath of Christ, is to characterise them.
JT It is largely a question now of remitting sins.
HD'AC How would you help on that line?
JT My impression is that it is assembly sins we have to remit — sins committed in the circle in which the Lord’s name is nominally owned. This spirit must underlie the principle of gathering now. Believers mixed up with human organisations are ignorant of the evil they are guilty of; but they are sinning nevertheless, and when conviction of this is brought home, there is to be evidence that there is forgiveness.
RG Has the breathing reference to God breathing into Adam?
JT I think it has; it exalts Christ in that, instead of God breathing into Him, He breathes into them. The last Adam is a life-giving Spirit, and I think this is the proof of it.
RG Then it shows that there is a new generation with His life and His Spirit.
JT I think that is what God is bringing about now. That is the spirit you look for.
[p. 73] JJ It supposes having followed Him all through, and gone up, and come out again.
JT That is it. Not only have you the life of a Man who has ascended, but you have it in this most intimate way. He breathed into them.
WSL You referred to retention of sins.
JT That would refer to nominal Christians who refuse to bow to the truth and who take up an apostate attitude; for instance, Jezebel is outside the pale of forgiveness; she will not repent.
JB There would be a certain correspondence with Christ in the spirit of forgiveness in us.
JT That is the attitude you take up with all Christians.
FI Does the breathing come in as the result of the appreciation of the ascension glory you were speaking of?
JT I think the Lord is now regarding them as brought to this. Mary is the link subjectively. I do not think the disciples themselves were equal to it.
FI I wonder if they showed their appreciation, because it says the doors were shut for fear of the Jews.
JBC-l In the Lord dealing with Peter in the last chapter, has that to do with the character of remission, since it follows the fact that he had gone fishing and the others with him?
JT The Lord probed him to the bottom, and apparently the others were present.
JBC-l Had there been retention, there would have been a hindrance to their going together in the way of testimony.
JT John says, “It is the Lord”. John 21:7 They were not afraid of Him, they knew there was forgiveness with Him.