APPRECIATION OF THE INHERITANCE (2)
APPRECIATION OF THE INHERITANCE (2)
JT What occupied us mainly was the place which Joshua holds as a type. He appears first in Exodus 17, where at Rephidim the water flowed from the smitten rock: and as they drank they were attacked by Amalek. Amalek signifies in type Satan acting through the flesh to set aside the operations of the Spirit in the believer. So Joshua appears there, to undertake the conflict against Amalek. And then it was pointed out that he is viewed as Moses’ attendant, or minister; he accompanied Moses up to the mount when he received the instructions in regard to the tabernacle. On returning with Moses, after Moses had pitched the tabernacle outside the camp, we are told that “Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the tabernacle”, Exodus 33:11. It was pointed out further that Joshua therefore typically represents Christ as supporting us objectively in connection with the work of the Spirit subjectively, so as to introduce us into the inheritance. Then finally we saw that the answer to Joshua as a type is seen in Romans 8 and in Colossians 1:27 — “Christ in you”.
EJMcB I think it would be well just to make the remark that one point of considerable importance in the minds of many in the reading this morning was the distinction between the inheritance as under Moses, and the inheritance as under Joshua. Under Moses the will is subdued, and in Joshua you have the thought of a spiritual state that is capable of entering into the spiritual inheritance.
WK In what way then does chapter 5 fit into those things of which you have just spoken?
JT It is adjustment for the new place. Christ in the saints involves that we are over Jordan. I [p. 99] think chapter 5 shows us the needed adjustment of soul so that we should be in accord with Him in the new place.
JM Is that why circumcision comes in?
JT Yes, because circumcision is to set aside what may attach to us as in the flesh; and circumcision occasions a wound which has to be healed.
JM Will you say a little more on that.
JT I think healing results from our coming in mind to resurrection: We are risen “by the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead”. Colossians 2:12. Circumcision precedes resurrection in Colossians 2. Resurrection gives you a status outside the flesh, and so makes you independent of the flesh.
WH Is that why it says that the reproach might be rolled away?
JT Yes; there was power seen in their crossing Jordan; therefore their arrival in Canaan occasioned terror to the inhabitants and it says of the Canaanites “that their heart melted, neither was there spirit in them any more because of the children of Israel” Joshua 5:1 — not because of God, or even because of Joshua, but because of the children of Israel. That is where the danger lies; so “At the time the Lord said unto Joshua, Make thee sharp knives, and circumcise again the children of Israel the second time”, Joshua 5:2.
WPW In what way does this differ from what we have in Romans 8:13, “if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body”, etc.? How does it come in, in connection with the circumcision here, at the other side of the Jordan?
JT It is found fully in Colossians 3:5. “Put to death therefore your members”. Colossians 2 is position, and chapter 3 is maintaining yourself in the light of the position; in accord with it; whereas in Romans 8:13 it is “if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live”. That does not go so far as “Put to death therefore your members which are upon the earth”. Colossians 3:5. In Colossians the links are cut with the earth.
EJMcB Does not Romans 8 show you more the possibilities of having the Spirit rather than the question of mortifying the deeds of the body, “if ye through the Spirit”, etc.? Romans 8 suggests that there is the capability for it.
JT And in Romans 8:13 it is simply to “live”, “if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live”. Colossians gives the full bearing of circumcision: it is to cut the connection with the earth it is “mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth”. Colossians 3:5.
WK “This day have I rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off you”, Joshua 5:9.
JT We have to see that the new position which is involved in Christ being in us necessitates the abandoning of everything that would give us a status on the earth.
TMG Colossians 2 is the position, chapter 3 is the correspondence with the position.
WK So that circumcision would not only cut you off from the old bad stock, but would separate you from everything that connects with the former system of things here.
EJMcB I thought a statement at the commencement of the meeting would bear more consideration. In circumcision you have a wound, and the wound has to be healed, and there is no healing apart from the activity of life in the Spirit.
EM So you would say the more we advance the more particular is the adjustment.
JT Yes the more you advance the more you need adjustment.
EM To what did you refer when you mentioned about the terror coming on the Canaanites, and that that was where the danger came [p. 101] in?
JT Well, that is the origin of Gilgal; it begins there. So they always had to come back to Gilgal. The danger is that people begin to take notice of you because of any little bit of spiritual power you have — “Make thee sharp knives”. Joshua 5:2. If you rest in the recognition that is accorded you because of the power you have, you are spoiled for the moment; hence the wound, and it signifies the cutting off of the flesh; not simply in the bad sense, but in the sense in which you would be recognised here. So that the spiritual signification of it is that “the flesh profits nothing”. John 6:63. Indeed, it is a reproach in the new sphere.
RL Did they always come back to Gilgal — not merely after failure, but after victory?
JT That was God’s mind. The camp was to be kept there.
FM Is circumcision a self-inflicted wound?
JT Abraham was enjoined to circumcise. It is a great thing to see that it is in the light of the power of God. It is insisted on here, although it was allowed to lapse in the wilderness.
WK God does not do it. He shows you what has to be done.
JT We have what might be termed positional circumcision. The flesh has been rejected in the circumcision of Christ. “Put to death therefore your members which are on the earth”. Colossians 3:5. That refers to the things that put you in touch with the earth, where you get recognition.
AN Would that be the bearing of the second circumcision. The first was more positional; here it would be more practical?
JT There was really very little made of circumcision in the wilderness. What gives us a position in the wilderness is baptism.
AN I was thinking of verse 2; “Make thee sharp knives and circumcise again the children of Israel the second time”. Joshua 5:2. It had taken place before?
JT It was assumed to be present in Israel from the time of Abraham; those who came out of Egypt were circumcised, but those born in the wilderness were not. It refers to the working of the flesh; not now in the doing of bad things, as we speak; but the flesh taking advantage of the moral power that you have by the Spirit, clothing itself with the power that comes in by the Spirit. If you have the Spirit, you are sure to be distinguished in some sense. Well, the flesh takes account of that, and clothes itself with it. Here the Canaanites were afraid; it does not say of God, but of the children of Israel. The flesh would accredit itself with that; hence the necessity for circumcision. So that circumcision is obviously necessary in people that have the Spirit. Very wonderful things happened in the passage of the Jordan. Indeed Joshua tells the people, “the Lord will do wonders among you”, Joshua 3:5. They were a wonderful people, and now they are in Canaan, and the danger is that the flesh should accredit itself with all this.
WM Nothing but the total setting aside of the flesh will do.
JT That is it. Unless the flesh is refused it will be stronger now than it ever was before. There must be no sparing of the flesh; it is an intolerable enemy and, unless judged, it will take advantage of any little victory acquired to accredit itself with it.
EJMcB As to this question of circumcising yourself; it says here that Joshua made him sharp knives. I would make the suggestion that circumcision is an act of spiritual power.
JT I think that is right; and I think if the Lord Jesus has a place amongst us He insists upon it. You will find it coming out in ministry by the Spirit; there is persistent insistence on the necessity for circumcision. We see it in Moses when he was [p. 103] returning from the wilderness after having been there for 40 years; the Lord met him; He was going to slay him! That would seem unaccountable — He was actually going to slay him after all that 40 years discipline! The secret of it was there was no circumcision. So Moses circumcises his two children; and his wife says, “Surely a bloody husband thou art to me”, Exodus 4:25. Our Moses will not go on with us unless we are truly circumcised.
JM So if Christ has His place in our hearts circumcision must follow.
JT Yes; if Christ is in you, if He has a throne in your heart He is not going to relinquish it, and He insists on circumcision. That is not individual only, it is also collective; it is a principle that must be in the company.
WPW What is the passover?
JT The passover is that you celebrate what Christ suffered. The people did suffer, but there is no celebration for the suffering of the flesh. I think it is very suggestive of their spiritual intelligence here typically, that after they were whole they celebrated the passover. It signifies that you now have regard to Christ as having suffered in the flesh for you.
WM It is an expression of appreciation of what Christ has done.
JT Yes, that is what it is; and now you get the heavenly food — the old corn.
Ques What is the meaning of their returning to Gilgal after victory?
JT You go back in your soul to the fact that the victory was by God’s power, and not by your flesh.
Rem It would really answer to what we get in Peter: “arm yourselves with the same mind”. 1 Peter 4:1.
JT That is the principle; “he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin”. 1 Peter 4:1. You are made to feel in your flesh the suffering due to the flesh. But the passover recognises the suffering of [p. 104] Christ, and that brings you to God. As was said yesterday, it would be a very good question to ask, ‘Why do I come to the assembly?’ But the next question is, ‘How am I to be there?’ Am I adjusted to the new position?
Rem You were going to say the old corn comes into view, and the manna ceases, after the passover.
JT Yes; you leave wilderness circumstances for the moment. Christ suffered in the flesh for sin. As we feed on Christ as seen in the passover we are prepared to feed on Him as He is now, in heaven.
RL What is the point of the apostle exhorting the Corinthians to keep the feast?
JT The point there is the kind of bread they were to keep it with — “not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth”, 1 Corinthians 5: 8. There may be a general recognition of the death of Christ, but what about the bread you eat? Let us keep the feast with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. The Lord Jesus is our Passover; He sacrificed Himself for us. Our side is to supply the unleavened bread.
Ques Is that adjustment to the new position?
JT It is more adjustment in the relation to testimony as before the world. Corinthians is what we are toward the world. We had it this morning that a Roman believer is suited for the position involved in Corinthians; he is suited for the tabernacle; God is justified in him. When you come to circumcision, it is that you might be suited to God’s sphere; that there might be adjustment to the sphere in which Christ is. There is suffering in the flesh in the recognition of Christ’s sufferings; and then you pass on to what He is now, to feed upon the old corn of the land.
EJMcB What helps about the truth in Corinthians is the fact that if a stranger were to come into [p. 105] the assembly he would take account of the things there, very beautiful things, too, the moral order, etc. What we are now dwelling on is the spiritual order of things and the flesh would accredit itself with having a place in that order.
Ques Is that why circumcision takes place in the land and not in the wilderness?
EJMcB I thought so. The moment Isaac comes into view in Abraham’s day circumcision comes into view. Here, when you begin to move in the sphere which is proper to Isaac, circumcision becomes a practical necessity.
JT Coming now to the previous question — the assembly, How are you going to be there?
JM Would it not be well for us to be exercised on that point, and not simply to go on with any kind of meetings?
JT Yes; the meetings have, one fears, to a very large extent, taken the place of “the church”, as we say. We come to the meetings just religiously.
JM So your two questions would require to be raised in each of our souls; that is, to have it settled as to why we come, and also when we are there how are we there?
WH Why would you come? That is the first question.
JT I come to break bread. We were pointing out yesterday as to Matthew 18: 20, that it does not say there ‘Where two or three come together’, but “where two or three are gathered together unto my name there am I in the midst of them” whereas in Acts 20: 7, it says, “the disciples came together”. That was from their side. That was the connection in which we raised the question, ‘Why do I come?’ If by authority you are brought together, then it is not a question of your desire exactly; it is more the desire of the One who gathers you.
TMG That is Matthew [p. 106] 18.
JT Yes; but if you come of your own volition; well, why do you come? The answer is given in the passage in Acts 20:7, “the disciples came together to break bread”. So they had a definite end in view of coming together.
WH Of course each one was desirous to come.
JT Yes; they loved Jesus: and as His disciples they came together, and that for a purpose, namely, to break bread. They found a mutual bond of sympathy. The thought of being together necessarily precedes the breaking of bread; otherwise when you come you could proceed to break the bread; but then you might arrive first! You could not break bread by yourself. We must tarry one for another. The saints must be together first before they can break bread.
EM How are you going to be there?
JT Well according to this chapter, I am not to be there in any sense as recognised in the flesh; even though I may be a man of spiritual power, I am simply there as one of those who love the Lord; and I take no credit whatever for anything. The flesh has no place in it.
EJMcB Nor am I proud of the fact that I have suffered in the flesh. It is the suffering of Christ that holds me. Every spiritual person must of necessity have suffering in order to reach the spiritual order of things, but he does not accredit himself with that. Hence the necessity for the passover.
JT So that as together in the assembly we are not grieving for anything we may have had to suffer, nor for anything we may have had to give up.
JM In that way we are free to feed on Christ, as seen in the old corn of the land.
M Why were the unleavened cakes and the parched corn partaken of in the “selfsame day”? Joshua 5:11.
JT It is very fitting, surely, that there should be no leaven in the food we eat in Canaan. It is [p. 107] quite in order that it should be made into cakes; that is to say, put into form to be food for the saints, but then there is no leaven; there is no taint there of sin. There is one other point before we close, as to the order observed in this chapter. You have circumcision, the passover, the old corn, and now, finally, you have the military leadership. All this involves adjustment for the new place and the conflict that is consequent on entering the new place.
EM Does this suppose that you are not yet in full possession?
JT Yes, this is all preparatory to taking possession. We have not yet gone up.
WK You have the title to it.
JT Yes; the title is all here; but this is in order to prepare the army so that there should be no defeat. I think the “captain of the host of the Lord” Joshua 5:14 suggests that Christ is to be known in a new way. Joshua disappears here as a type; he has to learn here as well as the rest.
J.M. In what way?
JT Well, I think Christ becomes increasingly magnified as you proceed; so that it is not now simply Joshua; the one that Moses had put his hands on; Christ had become magnified. Joshua says, “Art thou for us, or for our adversaries”. The answer is “Nay; but as captain of the host of the Lord am I now come”. Joshua 5:13,14. That is Christ magnified.
Ques Is it the suggestion of Christ as Head?
JT We are on military ground now. Hostile power in the heavenlies has to be met, and Christ is known as Captain; but there is also the thought of Christ becoming magnified in your soul.
WH He is magnified in our appreciation of Him.
JT Yes; so that gradually you come to this, that all power is subjected to Christ. Now if Joshua [p. 108] had been equal to this, he would not have had the painful lessons depicted in chapters 7, 8 and 9.
Rem The Captain of the host of the Lord was neither for them, nor for their adversaries.
JM All this is the education of soul, in order that we may give Christ His rightful place.
JT Yes; and you are lifted up from the littleness of party feeling — “Art thou for us, or for our adversaries?” Joshua 5:13. Look at the dignity of belonging to “the army of Jehovah!”
EJMcB And then you are asked to put your shoes off. You have no standing there.
JT We are now to change our ground. There can be no party feeling there; it is holy ground. The Lord Jesus is Prince of the host of Jehovah. Chapter 6 is to show how the conflict begins; the earlier chapters are preparatory. In chapter 6 the host of Jehovah is marshalled; the people are in order, and the priests, typically those that are near to Christ, have the prominent place; and there are the trumpets. They point to the place that Christ held in the hearts of the apostles as they announced the testimony; the vigour and intelligence with which the message was announced in the ministry of the apostles. Chapter 6 shows how the conflict begins in a most remarkable way; they have not to strike a blow. The city walls fall down as the ark is carried around. This chapter denotes the character of divine order in conflict. It is as if God would say to the people, ‘All is to be in My power’. It brings down the flesh. Compare 1 Corinthians 2:1 - 5.