LUKE 24 (NOTES OF A READING)
[p. 253] LUKE 24 (NOTES OF A READING)
CAC The Lord leading the disciples to Bethany seems to me a striking and suggestive move in view of the position which He had spoken of in the preceding verses, and having in view their taking up the public position in Jerusalem which was in His mind at the moment. My impression is they had to reach Jerusalem by way of Bethany. It suggests to my mind a private movement which belongs to the intimacy of love to prepare the disciples for the public position. This is the only movement of the kind in resurrection which is recorded in Luke. Bethany had, as ever, a distinct place in the Lord’s affections; no doubt it was the features that He had found there which endeared the place to Him, so His heart turned to Bethany as the most suitable place from which He would be carried up into heaven; it was a spot as near to heaven as any other place on earth. In Bethany there had been a distinct intimation that the Lord would have companions in resurrection — Lazarus was one of those at table with Him, and if there was one it implies there were others; Lazarus was the pattern.
The Lord was leading in this way to Bethany to have His own with Him as risen; He could not have them with Him otherwise. However little they could have understood or explained that they were risen with Him, brought to it by the operation of faith. Those risen with Christ have no interests on earth save the interests precious to Christ. It was experience here, not light, though of course there was light. Wonderful — they moved a Sabbath day’s journey with the risen One! They could not have done that if they had not been risen with Him; they moved with Him to Bethany, the extraordinary Jerusalem position was reached by way of Bethany. They were a company continually praising and blessing God; we reach that by way of Bethany. It is a good [p. 254] platform for evangelists to stand on; if there is not worship there will not be strength. The Lord had in mind that Jerusalem was to be the centre; He says to them, “Remain in the city till ye be clothed with power from on high”; it was to be the centre. So Isaiah 2: 3 says, “Out of Zion shall go forth the law, and Jehovah’s word from Jerusalem” The day coming is anticipated in the assembly, so “beginning at Jerusalem” the gospel should be preached. Paul said, “I, from Jerusalem, and in a circuit round to Illyricum, have fully preached the glad tidings of the Christ” (Romans 15: 19).
Ques Are you thinking of this geographically or spiritually?
CAC We apply it spiritually, but of course it was so geographically. The assembly was centred in Jerusalem as we see in the early chapters of Acts. Jerusalem stands for the public position, and the private intimacy of Bethany is necessary for the public position of Jerusalem. The strength of the Jerusalem position is a company continually worshipping.
In Bethany they made Him a supper — this is an advance on the Lord’s supper. The Lord intended His supper as a provision of His love for us to lead us on to John 12, but in Bethany they made Him a supper; He was manifestly the pre-eminent One there. In Colossians 3: 1 we get “raised with the Christ”; we are on resurrection ground there and the Lord’s supper gets a great enlargement and elevation when eaten by those risen with Christ. While the Supper itself belongs to the wilderness, yet if the saints know what it is to be risen with Christ they can eat it in an enlarged and spiritual manner. Those in the good of being risen with Christ are in perfect liberty because they are outside the reach of sin and death altogether; they touch something outside responsibility.
Bethany speaks of a spiritual move; He led them “as far as Bethany”, not as far as heaven; it is not ascension. Then He blesses them, lifting up His hands, putting on them all the virtue in Himself as risen. In Leviticus the priest blesses in [p. 255] the value of the sacrifice, but there is more here; this is the blessing of One alive in the power of indissoluble life.
Ques In what relation does the mount of Olives stand to Bethany?
CAC My impression is that the mount of Olives gives you the purely spiritual side, but Bethany brings in the saints. The Lord was thinking of something subjective, which marked that place in the saints. We get the mount of Olives in Acts 1, but Luke 24 is an advance on Acts 1 which stands more in relation to Paul’s ministry. The temple idea enters much into Paul’s ministry, but I thought here there was no going to the upper room. They return from Bethany to Jerusalem and were continually in the temple. It suggests the dignity of the public service. We should be exercised as to whether the public praise has temple dignity. Paul speaks of the building growing, indicating to us that the temple idea is to be developed. It is not to be a stagnant thing; it is to be always growing. It is the public service of God, of praise and dignity; it is the basis on which the evangelist stands, a company continually praising. The Lord has secured a company which can be continually praising. The literal temple is brought in with a spiritual suggestion. The Spirit of God tells us they were continually in the temple, but in Acts 1 they went to the upper room; that was privacy. Luke calls our attention to the public temple, not formal, but as carrying on a continual service praising and blessing. We must not be content that the temple idea should be always as small as it is now.
The service of grace would go out effectively from those praising and blessing. We see it at Philippi with Paul and Silas. Were they in prison? No, in the temple! And the prisoners were listening. The public position was established, and grace could be effective. The prisoners listened; no doubt all of them were converted, for not one ran away when the doors were opened. They were paying attention to the prayers and praises rising to God from two priests standing [p. 256] by night in the temple, like Psalm 104: l. A man was telling me lately that he was converted by hearing an old brother’s prayer! If saints were happier and praising there would be more blessing in the preaching. I used to notice that when we had a happy time of praise on Lord’s Day morning the preaching in the evening went all right.
One can understand how the Lord’s heart was moved in affection at Bethany. His heart turned to it and He could move with them there. He would say, ‘I want to lead you there’; it is His mind to lead us all. We do not know much of being risen with Christ; if we did we should be free from all the influences that act on men living in the world. The Lord led them as far as to Bethany, and then He is separated from them. He does not take them to heaven; He leaves them on earth. How often they would think of how they moved in life with the risen Lord and of how free He was! How He lifted up His hands and blessed them, sending them back to Jerusalem with the atmosphere of Bethany in their hearts.
Those who preach stand on this wonderful platform, like Paul when he introduces his gospel by saying, “God ... whom I serve in my spirit in the glad tidings of his Son”
(Romans 1: 9). He is standing on the priestly platform, serving in priestly spirit, though he may only preach repentance and remission of sins. It is the state of the priest’s heart and affections that gives power. We are all admitted to this service, and our attitude Godward largely determines our power manward. To stand in the temple continually blessing and praising God is the full result of the gospel. What sets us in happy relations with God is learning the Lord Himself as risen and moving in His life so that we are brought into the secret intimacy and association of which Bethany speaks; thus we have His priestly blessing. It does not say they were praising the Lord Jesus.
Ques Do we partake of the Supper in Jerusalem?
CAC The different positions in which the saints can be viewed affect our hearts in partaking of the Supper; and [p. 257] though it is eaten in the wilderness, it is eaten where He died, and His memorial is there. That is the actual setting, but the spiritual progress of our souls affects the way we approach it. While it belongs to the wilderness, if the saints know what it is to be risen with Christ they can eat it in an enlarged and spiritual manner. If we had been at Corinth we should have seen the way they approached the Supper, and if we had broken bread at Ephesus there would have been a different atmosphere. Jerusalem where our Lord was crucified is the literal Jerusalem. The thought of Jerusalem at the end of Luke is Jerusalem looked at according to God, the centre from which He would operate in this world. In Luke, Jerusalem is not looked at as the guilty city, though of course it was guilty.
In Luke 24 the loaf is a symbol of Christ risen, the One in whom was embodied every Old Testament promise, and He gives it to them. The loaf in chapter 22 is in relation to His death, and in chapter 24 it relates to Him as risen and in breaking it He was known to them. Then they can give Him something; He says, “Have ye anything here to eat?” He loves to set us at ease. It is all leading up to the service of grace; the glad tidings are clothed with it so that repentance and remission of sins are preached in His name. God has invested it with the greatest charm, and they, as coming back to Jerusalem with all that wealth in their hearts, are continually in the temple praising and blessing God.
Ques What had you in mind in saying that they were not praising the Lord Jesus?
CAC The service of grace rendered by the Lord Jesus is designed to make God great in our thoughts and praises; it is all to that end, and the Lord’s satisfaction is not in being praised but in God being praised. He might say to us, ‘Have you not a word to say to God? Have I not made God so great that you have something to say to Him?’ Perhaps we need adjusting on that point?
CAC If we were accustomed to reading Scripture we should not need adjusting. We find there a divine Person [p. 258] come down in manhood that we might know God. Sometimes praise to Jesus indicates a lack of liberty. What did heaven say when He came into the world? “Glory to God in the highest”; it was heaven’s utterance, the praise of that Babe meant glory to God in the highest. It is a serious matter if we are slow to get to God, even on the lowest footing; Christ suffered for sins to bring us to God. The fact is that many have not really been brought to God. It means bringing us as priests; Peter’s thought would be that a man who went to God was a priest. The first description of a priest was one who draws near to God. It pleases me to praise my Saviour, and the Lord appreciates it but He might say, ‘If you want to please Me, praise God’. The Lord has come in in wonderful grace to turn us to God from idols; that is the simplest statement of conversion. We have to think of the incarnation and the death of Christ as the movements of God, so in the Supper the Lord says of the loaf, “This is my body”. He calls our attention in a wonderful way to His incarnation; He has a body, the greatest wonder in the universe, the most marvellous thing in eternity, and the whole value of the incarnation and what is associated with it is all for the assembly. The thought of God is behind it, and the cup is the covenant; Christ is a divine Person, for none but God could consummate the covenant. In the Father we have the full revelation of God in grace — a name which suggests the thought of relationship. If I know and praise God as “the Father” it is as revealed in Son, in contrast to what is revealed in the Old Testament. Then “your Father” is conscious relationship with God as Father. Then the comprehensiveness of “my God and your God” goes beyond everything.
All that God is will be carried into eternity as a theme of praise. What God is as Creator will be carried in. I do not think we give enough place to Him as Creator; is God ever to lose the praise of His creatorial glory? He will have the praise of all that He is. It would be dreadful to think that God could cease to have glory and praise to Him as Creator.
In Revelation 4: 11 we get, “Thou art worthy, O our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honour and power; for thou hast created all things, and for thy will they were, and they have been created”. God will have the praise of all that He is, but certain names have their place at certain periods and they bring to light what belongs to God and what forms His praise; nothing of God could drop out of the category of praise.
‘God all in all’ is the consummation of everything. God in His ineffable blessedness is in all; it brings us to the highest thing conceivable.