BEGINNING OF THE GLAD TIDINGS OF JESUS CHRIST, SON OF GOD (4)
[p. 441] BEGINNING OF THE GLAD TIDINGS OF JESUS CHRIST, SON OF GOD (4)
JT It will be observed that in this chapter the apostles had their first trial in service. In the early part of the chapter, verse 7, the Lord “calls the twelve to him and he began to send them out two and two, and gave to them power over the unclean spirits”. Mark 6:7. The chapter furnishes us with the result of their first trial in service on their own account. On their return they are occupied with what they had been doing. They are occupied with what they had been doing and teaching. So the Lord’s instruction to them in this chapter is to bring them back to Himself that they may continue aright, and not be occupied with their doings and teaching. It may be helpful to see that point in this chapter before we get what leads up to this in chapters 4 and 5. These have reference to what we have in this chapter to prepare the disciples for their service.
WH You said that the result of their going forth was that they got occupied with what they had done.
JT They told Him “all things, both what they had done and what they had taught”. Mark 6:30.
WH And the Lord regulates them in regard to Himself.
JT There is much made of Him at the end of the chapter. In service we are apt to think that we are doing something, but we have to be brought back to see that it is really His work. I refer to this in chapter 6 as giving the position which chapters 4 and 5 lead up to. In chapter 3 you have the circle, the circle of the brethren; then in chapter 4 the parable of the sower. After the parables you see the Lord where Satan is active in the sea. At the [p. 442] end of chapter 4 there is a remarkable test as to how they regard the Lord Jesus. “On that day when evening was come, he says to them, Let us go over to the other side; and having sent away the crowd, they take him with them as he was, in the ship. But other ships also were with him, and there comes a violent gust of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it already filled; and he was in the stern sleeping”. Mark 4:37,38.
JM What does that convey to you?
JT It looks as if they had come to see that they did not need to add to the Lord or alter Him in any way. “They took him as he was”. Mark 4:36. It looks as if they were coming to see that things were as they desired. We are apt to wish things to be different from what they really are, and to think that if they were a bit different they would be better; “they took him even as he was”. Mark 4:36. It is not that He goes. They take Him. They send away the crowd, too; verse 36. They are beginning now to do things rightly, and are getting a right judgment about things.
JM Do you think that was the result of the teaching in chapter 4?
JT Yes. Chapter 4 gives great instruction and support for faith. There is a malady among the Lord’s people, from which they suffer very much. They wish things to be different from what the Lord appoints. We would all wish things to be different sometimes. Why do we wish to have things different from what God has appointed? Because naturally man would like something different from Christ, from what He was when here. So in Isaiah 53 we read, that they despised Him because He was not what they expected. To their eyes there was no beauty, no lordliness in Him. It is a mark of progress in your soul when you come to find satisfaction in what God has appointed, and when you do not look for something different from [p. 443] that.
RL Would it give you the thought of His being despised and rejected by others?
JT There was nothing in Christ to commend Him to the natural eye. Isaiah 53:2 shows that there was “no lordliness in him ... no beauty that we should desire him”. There was the absence of that which would commend Him to the natural mind.
JM It is just the opposite of the natural man.
JT So chapter 4 shows that the apostles were coming to see things as they really were. They sent away the crowd, and took Him just “as he was”. It shows they were coming to a spiritual judgment of things. All the great men of the world depend upon the crowd. If they do not have followers their projects come to nothing, but here the disciples part with the followers. The Lord proposes that they should go to the other side of the sea.
SL Would you say that they were beginning to realise that He was the Son of God?
JT They were gradually coming to it. The whole instruction here is leading up to that. In chapter 8 He feeds the four thousand, and He puts the question formally to them as to who He was. There is a distinct mark of progress. In chapter 6:45, He dismisses the crowd and compels them to go to the other side, but in this chapter 4 there is no compulsion necessary nor has He to send the crowd away. They do it.
SM There could not be any appreciation of the Son of God without spiritual perception.
JT It shows that they were coming to that. They had received the commission in chapter 3, and there is a course of instruction in chapter 4, and then this is said, “having sent away the crowd, they take him with them as he was, in the ship”, Mark 4:36.
JM That would involve that there should be in us what is spiritual in order [p. 444] to take Him.
JT Yes, to take Him as He was. We like to change things, to have things altered a little. It is not that we wish to discard Christ altogether, but we want to have things a little different.
JMcF What is the thought of the ship? It is very much alluded to in this gospel.
JT It is for the water. The point is, going to “the other side”, it means going through death.
RL Would you say the other side is resurrection?
JT It is, in the spiritual application of it. The other side comes when we have finished a course of instruction; after we have had a certain experience, then He proposes that we should go to “the other side”, for we are apt to live on the experience we have gained. There is a new chapter when we have come to the other side. In going to the other side we meet with opposition. Movement towards the other side is what Satan opposes.
Rem It is the truth taking shape subjectively in our souls.
JT It is movement from a given position towards another position. Having made progress, you advance towards another position.
RL You were saying there is opposition on the way to the other side.
JT Yes, Satan cannot touch the other side, but he opposes while you are on the way to it. The fact, however, is that his opposition only brings out what the Lord can be to you. It is on going over that you realise the resources you have in Christ.
JMcF He was in the stern of the ship asleep. How would that come in?
JT Well, it is a testimony to His greatness that He was so truly superior to it all. It is really in going to the other side that you consolidate the ground acquired. It is not sufficient to acquire new territory, you have to consolidate it. The opposition brings out what grace there is in us, so that you are consolidated [p. 445] in the new territory, whereas on the other side you begin over again. Going over to “the other side” is prominent in this gospel.
SM We do not like the opposition.
JT If you do not go to the other side you lose what you have got. That is a principle in our experience. You are brought to an end of your previous experience. What are you going to have now? What effect has the lesson had on you? It is on going through death in principle that the lesson is confirmed to you. After you get light and ministry from Christ you will always find that you are tested; things may seem to be hopeless, and you begin to murmur. The Lord seems to be asleep. There is nothing tests you more in trouble than the thought that the Lord does not seem to be helping you. But you must have faith; if you just have a little patience in the storm all that you have previously acquired will be consolidated, and you will get a new start, a new view of Christ. They say, “Dost thou not care that we are perishing”. Mark 4:38. That shows the selfishness of our human hearts.
WH We suppose the Lord is not paying attention to us.
JT Sometimes it is assumed that nothing will happen to one of the Lord’s people; he is prayed for, and so on. How do you know that? You must not be too sure. Very dreadful things are allowed at times to happen to the Lord’s people. One remarkable thing about Paul is that he was allowed to be shipwrecked. It is important to have the fear of God in regard to the things that all men are subject to. What they are subject to we are subject to. God’s ways are past finding out. Paul says, “I believe God”. Acts 27:25. He had no doubt as to the ultimate issue, still he had to go through it.
WAW Would you say that the Lord in the storm removed the trouble?
[p. 446] JT He will remove it after you have learned the lesson. You are to be learning while He is sleeping. He removes the trouble after you have learned the lesson. It is very trying when the Lord does not seem to raise a hand to help you. You wonder why it is that there is no hand stretched out to help you.
Rem That is like John 11.
JT Yes, the Lord remained away that this terrible thing, death, might happen. The resurrection day also was allowed to pass; Lazarus was four days dead. They were tested to the very core, but He did it purposely.
JPW Would the Lord allow us to be in such circumstances as that?
JT It shows that you are missing the lesson if you are disturbed.
WAW It is a great difficulty to saints.
JT Well, it is while He sleeps that you learn. When He wakes up your trial is over, for when He wakes up He is sure to act. In the storm they think only of themselves.
WH Sometimes we think He pays no attention because there is something wrong in us.
JT Well, as a rule there is something wrong. If there were not something wrong He would not permit the storm to arise. The storm is allowed to arise in order to bring out what was wrong.
WAW Is it the Lord’s way that His people should be lifted above the things of the present time?
JT Well, if we were above them He would not bring them on us. They are for a purpose, as Habakkuk says, “thou hast established them for correction”. Habakkuk 1:12. Now, the man that said that went on to say, “he maketh my feet like hinds’ feet, and he will make me to walk upon my high places”. Habakkuk 3:19. When we have learned by the discipline we are fit for resurrection ground and to play upon “stringed instruments”, Habakkuk 3:19. The discipline is for correction, and so here they are [p. 447] prepared for resurrection ground after the Lord had brought out the natural selfishness of their hearts.
RL He did not need the storm. The storm did not affect Him.
Rem Paul writes in Romans 8:37, “in all these things we are more than conquerors”.
JT He refers to the Christian’s triumphant path. In all those things they were conquerors through Him that loved them.
EM It is in moving to “the other side” that these things are found out. If people remain on this side they do not find them out.
JT Yes, we are liable to rest on this side, and do not get on any further.
RL What about the “other ships”? There is no record of any storm for them. It does not say that the storm beat into them.
JT It beats into the ship in which those are who take the Lord as He is.
WK Would you say that the lesson to be learned is the question they ask in the last verse of chapter 4, “What manner of man is this?” Mark 4:41.
JT The issue is that there is an increased appreciation of the Person.
WK Yes, of His superiority and ability.
RL There was a great lack of faith on their part.
JT He says, “How is it that ye have no faith?” Mark 4:40. They had no faith. The Lord gives you the sense after trial that “the days of thy mourning shall be ended”. Isaiah 60:20. You get a sense of that after trial. It may take a considerable time till you come to it historically, but after the storm you get a sense of it. “The days of thy mourning shall be ended”. That comes in time, and after it is over you wonder why it upset you so much, but the Lord intended you to feel it.
RL Hezekiah realized that after [p. 448] his illness.
WAW Some of us know a great deal of trial, and it helps us to see that He order these things to teach us what He is.
JT Yes, and not only that, but who He is. You get an increased knowledge of Him. “Who then is this that even the wind and the sea obey him?” Mark 4:41.
WAW Sorrows bind us to Him and to each other far more closely than joys.
JT It is a great thing when you get a sense in your soul that the days of your mourning are ended. We have all had some experience of that. Hezekiah said, “By these things men live, and in all these things is the life of my spirit”. Isaiah 38:16. I have often had comfort from the word to Smyrna, “Ye shall have tribulation ten days”. Revelation 2:10. There is a limit to the tribulation. In the end you acquire an increased apprehension of Christ.
JPW Is that when you get to the other side?
JT Yes, you get to the other side in the experience of your soul. One thought in the “other side” is that it is different from this side. You move into a new set of circumstances.
RL The defect was lack of faith in Him, they failed to apprehend who He was.
JT In chapter 5 you come again to the power of Satan in a man. In chapter 1 the man with an unclean spirit is in the synagogue; but here it is man as such. It is not man religiously now, it is man irreligiously. He had broken all fetters; he had thrown religion overboard.
JMcF It is the spirit that now works in the sons of disobedience.
JT Yes; that is what it is, and the Lord’s power in meeting that so that you have here the true effect of the gospel in the man sitting, and clothed, and sensible.
JMcF It is like what you get in Ephesians 2:1,2?
“[p. 449] And you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins; wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience”.
JT Man has cast off all restraint.
WK No form of control is of any value whatever.
RL In that way the man was in a fit condition for the Lord to commence His work upon.
WK Is it not really what is going on today in the efforts to try and control man without bringing in the power of God?
JT The country, which at one time received light from God, is now showing itself to be quite unrestrained. Man after two thousand years of grace is thus exposed. Naturally he is utterly unmendable or untameable.
WK I hope that we are all aware of that, that you cannot make this man live for God. Whatever power and authority there may be in the world will not affect the natural man; he cannot be restrained or controlled in that way. You must bring in God as set forth in Christ.
JT Do you not think the culmination of those efforts will bring forth the man of sin, who casts off God, and sets up himself.
WK They are on the line of the man of sin.
JT The scriptural definition of sin is, that it is lawlessness. It is not subject to any law, it is marked by absence of restraint. “Sin is lawlessness”. 1 John 3:4.
WK How solemn a thing it is for a Christian to do his own will.
EM You said this was all education for the disciples.
JT That is the way we ought to take it up. What man is naturally is fully exposed, so that it is entirely a question of God’s power. Then, following upon this, we have the healing of the woman with [p. 450] the issue of blood, and the raising of the daughter of Jairus. In other words, there is the cure for sin in the flesh; the woman with the issue of blood was healed and the daughter of Jairus was raised. Chapter 5 is a picture of the efficiency of the gospel. Man is no longer unrestrainable. He is sitting, clothed, and sensible. A sensible man is a man whom you can speak to, a man capable of listening to divine things. He has light from God; he is capable of being instructed, but he may not yet know the secret of deliverance from sin within him. For that trouble you not only need the work of Christ, but virtue coming out of Christ.
Ques What is the significance of the issue of blood?
JT It is the secret thing in the life. It involves the truth of Romans 7. It is the stage reached in which the believer realises there is no remedy; what he requires is virtue coming out of Christ. She says, If I shall touch but His clothes I shall be healed.
WH The only thing that is needed is virtue coining out of Christ.
JT We need to come into touch with Christ. In the case of the man who dwelt among the tombs, the Lord casts out the demon with His word. It is the power going out that effects a man like that, but as regards the state of the flesh, sin in the flesh, one has to come into touch with Christ. It is the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus that sets you free from all that.
EH The woman seemed to have lost confidence in herself and in all others. She had confidence alone in the touch of Christ.
JT Yes, she had sufficient light. She is a type of a converted person. In figure she is a continuation of the man who was sitting at the feet of [p. 451] Jesus.
SC She had found out by experience what our brother refers to.
EH She knew from what she was delivered.
JT She went further than that. The answer to “who shall deliver me?” Romans 7:24 is thanksgiving. I do not believe deliverance comes except in thanksgiving. That is the answer.
EH Is that because Paul saw the need of deliverance?
JT He does not wait for anyone to answer. He gives the answer himself. The answer is in thanksgiving.
EH Therefore, he who could give thanksgiving was another person.
JT It comes about in that way. What she needs then is that she is to tell all the truth. The difficulty comes from not telling all the truth. The popular evangelist does not help that difficulty. It is what Christians suffer from. To be a faithful servant of Christ you must have the whole truth told out. The man sitting, and clothed, and sensible has not come to all the truth yet. It says of her, “the woman, trembling and frightened, knowing what had taken place in her, came and fell down before him, and told him all the truth”. Mark 5:33. She knew what had taken place in her. How many know that? Many know what has taken place at the cross, and that is a wonderful thing indeed, but she knew what had to take place in her.
WAW There can be no liberty until we tell all the truth.
JM It is not simply that the thing should be preached, but that souls should come to it. Would you say you get “all the truth” in Romans 7 and 8?
JT It is all the truth. It is not only the bad that is in you, but the good that has come to you. Do not be afraid to speak of the good. Not simply the disease, but that the disease was cured. The whole [p. 452] of Romans 8 has regard to what has taken place in us.
WAW It is a kind of mock modesty not to speak of that.
EH The woman did not know she was a daughter till that moment.
JT The Lord uses terms of relationship implying affections. It is often overlooked that in Christ’s ministry there is a parental voice. There is a parental voice in the gospels, so that when the Lord deals with a soul He lays the basis for relationship. For Christian happiness it is essential that the believer should know what has taken place in him, and he should not be silent about it either. The woman gets the blessing publicly. She would have it private, but the Lord would have it to be public. The actual state must be confessed, and what He has done in you must be made known. As regards raising the daughter of Jairus, that is done privately. Household affairs are all private. He takes Peter and James and John, and puts the people all out. “And entering in he says to them, Why do ye make a tumult and weep? The child has not died, But sleeps ... But he, having put them all out, takes with him the father of the child and the mother, and those that were with him [Peter and James and John] and enters in where the child was lying”. Mark 5:39,40. It is a household affair, and so things are private. The child is raised up, “and he desired that something should be given her to eat”. Mark 5:43. It is what you give them that your children eat. He did not provide the food. The parents had to do it. If your daughter were raised up like this, you would scarcely allow her to read novels. Would you? “He desired that something should be given her to eat”. Mark 5:43. That was the parents’ responsibility. What is it that your child gets? What kind of food will support the constitution of one who has been raised from [p. 453] the dead? Nothing that this world can provide will do.
JM As you were saying this morning, all that is in the world is opposed to the Father, so that you could not make a selection from the world.
JT I am afraid we do make selections from the world. We think there are some things in it of use to us, but whatever is in the world is not of the Father. He spoke of “the house”. Here is another house, one set up on the principle of resurrection. We shall, however, see more of this in chapter 7.