MAN (19)
MAN (19)
JT Verse 27 of our chapter contains the expression, “What sort of man is this ... ?” referring to Christ. I thought it would afford a suggestion for us for this reading; that we might have this thought in our minds, that there is no other man like Christ — “the man Christ Jesus”.
JHE Paul speaks of Him as the second Man out of heaven.
JT Just so, the first man is of the earth, earthy, the second Man is the Lord out of heaven.
ANW Another statement in the chapter that confirms your thought is the centurion’s comment: “For I also am a man under authority”.
JT He recognized that the Lord was under authority.
S W. You have in mind the way the Lord did things while here, and the power that was in Him to do things?
JT The chapter affords much detail as to what the Lord did while here.
SW At the end of chapter 7 it states that He taught as having authority and not as their scribes. He was One with authority.
JT So that now He has gone into heaven, angels and principalities being made subject to Him.
FHL Is not this the only kind of manhood which can meet the conditions at the foot of the mountain? There are leprosy and fever and paralysis.
JT We might compare it with chapter 5: “But seeing the crowds, he went up into the mountain, and having sat down, his disciples came to him”, Matthew 5:1 that is to say, He is here and His disciples are interested in Him and come to Him, so that He can now use them. He is where He can use them, and they [p. 325] are where they can be used; which, I suppose, might apply to a time like this, where the Lord can use us. He is ready to use us, and we are here that He might use us. There is much to be done. The eighth chapter refers to this same thing, but it is now at the foot of the mountain: “When he had come down from the mountain”. That is where things are now to be done.
ABP Is there a link between this question, “What sort of man is this ... ?”, and the question which was asked as to the manna in Exodus when the children of Israel asked, “What is it?” Exodus 16:15.
JT Yes. So that the word ‘manna’ is peculiar; it means, “What is it?”
ABP I suppose there was no answer to that question until the Lord Jesus was here.
JT Just so; the Lord has been here, He has come down from heaven; but He has gone up into heaven, angels and principalities being made subject to Him. And now we are here and we have come together from different places, from business and from our homes and the Lord is ready to help us.
JTJr Do we each one have to reach the point where we say, “Thou art able to cleanse me”? Does each have to take that ground?
JT That is the first thing to be considered. We need to be cleansed.
JTJr Though a leper, this man has something positive about him; he does not stay away from the Lord; he comes up to Him and does Him homage, and says, “Thou art able to cleanse me”.
JT And so this is a subject we all need to consider. The Lord could say elsewhere, “He that is washed all over needs not to wash save his feet, but is wholly clean”, John 13:10. The cleansing here is not that, it is full cleansing.
JTJr Your allusion to John 13 would mean that we are to wash one another’s [p. 326] feet?
JT Just so, but here it is full cleansing. But I suppose the inquiry should be ever with us as to whether we are in need of feet washing; needing not to wash save our feet, being wholly clean. But that is not the point here; this is full cleansing. The leper came to Him and, said, “Lord, if thou wilt, thou art able to cleanse me”. There was need of full cleansing. He was a leper and there is nothing more loathsome, I suppose, than leprosy.
SCM Is this initial cleansing? Would this be like the forgiveness of sins, making one ready, for the gift of the Spirit?
JT It is initial; just so. Another thing is to be noted: “And behold, a leper came up to him and did him homage, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou art able to cleanse me. And he stretched out his hand and touched him”. The same kind of thing occurs in Mark’s gospel. The thought is that the Lord handled him freely.
AR Does that bring out the greatness of the humanity of the Lord Jesus that He could freely handle a leper and yet not become defiled?
JT Just so, no one but He could do this. But He did it well; He did it fully, He stretched out His hand and touched him; it was a real cleansing action.
CAM Did what was recorded in the books of Moses as to cleansing of leprosy await the coming in of Christ? There is an allusion here to the gift which Moses ordained; it is to be given as a testimony. Does not that shew that the details in the books of Moses awaited the coming of this glorious Person?
JT Just so. It is a striking illustration of typical teaching; the allusion is to the typical teaching of the Old Testament.
VCL Job spoke of washing: “If I washed myself with snow-water, and cleansed my hands in purity ...” Job 9:30 — that would not be enough; he wished [p. 327] for a man that would put his hand upon him. All awaited the incoming of Christ, a Man who by putting His hand upon him could cleanse him.
JT So that the typical teaching of the Old Testament points to Christ, and, of course, the assembly. And we might say that all believers are in mind; God had them all in His mind, but awaited Christ; the Man must come in. It is said, in Genesis, “There was no man”, Genesis 2:5. But now there is a Man, and He is able to meet every situation.
GHSP Is there a link between the authority of the Lord, referred to in this chapter, and the word as to man in Genesis, “Let them have dominion”? Genesis 1:26.
JT Very good; the word is, “Let us make man”, the word includes both the man and the woman.
GHSP Is the moral power to meet every crisis in the prime thought of manhood according to God, set out supremely in Christ, but to be seen now in measure in the saints, by the Spirit?
JT Quite so; it is a remarkable thing that Adam is not referred to immediately; it is, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion”, Genesis 1:26. The man and the woman are in mind. “Let them have dominion”.
RWS In the last verse of chapter 7 it is said, “Jesus had finished these words”, Matthew 7:28. Now, in this chapter it seems to be a matter of what He is doing; and when we come to chapter 11 it speaks of having finished commanding His disciples. Have we come to a section of the book where things are done — where they are finished, and does that have an answer in the assembly today?
JT Just so; chapter 8 begins the doings of the Lord Jesus; what He was here to do, as having come down from heaven. So that the word is, “And it came to pass, when Jesus had finished these words, the crowds were astonished at his doctrine, for he taught them as having authority, and not as their scribes”, Matthew 7:28,29.
Then chapter 8 begins: “And when he had come down from the mountain, great crowds followed him”. He was here to do things; He had come down from the mountain. It is a great fact that He was here to do things where things are to be done, where the need is.
RWS And is there some correspondence now with what the Lord did then, in the way things are done in the assembly? It says in chapter 10:1, “And having called to him his twelve disciples, he gave them power over unclean spirits, so that they should cast them out, and heal every disease and every bodily weakness”, Matthew 10:1.
JT “Every disease and every bodily weakness”. That is remarkable. What a time for doing things! One is impressed with that, that it is every bodily weakness and every disease.
JS So that in the case of the leper the Lord Jesus is willing and able.
ANW When we come to the assembly apostle, the word is, “God wrought no ordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, so that even napkins or aprons were brought from his body and put upon the sick, and the diseases left them, and the wicked spirits went out”, Acts 19:11.
JT So that the book of Acts, in a way, links peculiarly with this chapter, because the Lord had come down to do things: So the leper says “Lord, if thou wilt, thou art able to cleanse me. And he stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, I will; be cleansed. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed”. I think that is beautiful, the thing was done.
Ques Is this chapter not included in Peter’s word in Acts 10:38, where it says, “Jesus who was of Nazareth: how God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power: who went through all Quarters doing good, and healing all that were under the power of the devil, because God was with him”? Acts 10:[p. 329] 38.
JT Just so. I suppose the Acts must correspond with the gospels and particularly with this chapter, for it calls attention to where the Lord had come to; He has come down to where the need is. He had gone up, in chapter 5, and His disciples came to Him, but now He has come down and they are with Him.
AR So that the book of Acts begins with reference to the gospel, “concerning all things which Jesus began both to do and to teach”, Acts 1:1.
JT The correspondence is very striking. What the Lord began to do and to teach, the disciples carried on.
SCM Are they not accredited by the Lord Himself of doing greater things because He was to go to the Father?
JT The Father is the Source of everything, and going to the Father would make all that available because the Spirit of God came down. It is the coming down of the Spirit that makes everything from the Father available.
GH John had a great impression of what Jesus had done when he wrote, at the end of his gospel, “And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which if they were written one by one, I suppose that not even the world itself would contain the books written”, John 21:25.
JT Wonderful! “One by one” is excellent! They were done well; they are done carefully; time was taken to do them with care “one by one”.
RWS And they were done in the presence of the greatest opposition, for we have often had our attention called to the twos in Matthew; there were two possessed by demons, for instance. Are we not proving today that things are being [p. 330] done amongst the saints in spite of public opposition of the enemy?
JT Just so.
Ques Is there a principle in the word: “Shew thyself to the priest”? When Paul was converted he had to wait for Ananias to come to him. Is there a principle in that for us, that persons who get converted are to have to do with the Lord’s people?
JT Very good; there is surely a priest available at all times; wherever a priest is needed he is available amongst the Lord’s people. The Lord’s people are down here where the need is; Jesus is in heaven now. He was down here, according to this chapter, but He is up there now and the saints are here. So that the question is whether or not we are doing things that are to be done.
JTJr We are considering the subject of Man, but the Lord told the cleansed leper, “See thou tell no man”. Over against that he is told to show himself to the priest. I suppose the priest would represent what might help; the priest would be the one to see about the matter.
JT Just so; and do you not think that there are priests in this room now?
JTJr Well, you feel that there is power available amongst the saints to meet matters that arise.
JT It is for each one to ask himself, Am I a priest? The Lord Jesus has made us priests unto God; He has made us that.
Rem Persons who are converted should commend themselves to the brethren. It is not enough to say that one is converted; his life should commend itself so that the brethren can see that there is something real there.
FHL Is there the suggestion here that power is exercised at the foot of the mountain, which would be a general idea; then in Capernaum, which would by city-wise; then in the house, thus having its bearing on every [p. 331] sphere?
JT Well, we are coming to that; we hope that the chapter will open up to us so that we shall see the character of the work that was done at the foot of the mountain. Jesus went up to the top of the mountain in chapter 5, and the disciples came to Him, but now they are available to Him in the sphere where the need is.
FHL So that, starting with the cleansing of the leper, the Lord’s service extends to the house and to the city to include the local position.
EAL The leper says, “Lord, if thou wilt, thou art able to cleanse me”. He does not ask just to be cured, but for his uncleanness to be taken away.
JT So that the Lord says, “I will; be cleansed. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed”. It was immediate, he had not to wait for it. And then Jesus says to him, “See thou tell no man, but go shew thyself to the priest, and offer the gift which Moses ordained, for a testimony to them”. The Lord would not have the thing publicised. Something wonderful had been done, but the man was to show himself to the priest, the priest having been appointed of God for this very purpose. “Shew thyself to the priest, and offer the gift which Moses ordained, for a testimony to them”. So that there must be an offering in relation to this.
ABP It would seem from Luke 4:27 that the number of lepers that were cleansed in Israel was few. The word is, “There were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed but Naaman the Syrian”, Luke 4:27. The “testimony” referred to in our chapter would be to the fact that Jesus was here?
JT Just so.
SW Would you say that the Lord was working on individual lines here?
JT What is your point as to individuals?
[p. 332] S W. Well, it says that great crowds followed Him, but it is one man that is cleansed. This leper singles himself out from the crowds; and then there is just the one man healed in Capernaum.
Ques How does the offering of the gift apply today?
JT The Lord said to him, “See thou tell no man, but go, shew thyself to the priest”. I think the Lord was showing that there was something in judaism that could be used. The Lord told the man that it was there; God had placed it there and it was to be recognised.
Rem The Lord acknowledged the provision of God that was there.
JT That is right and He would say for the man to use what was there. God had placed it there. In christianity the priest is available; it is very wonderful that we are priests, and we are to be used.
Ques How does the offering of the gift come in?
JT If we receive something, surely there would be some acknowledgement of it. Mr. Darby has said that God hates an empty vessel. So that not one of us here today should be empty; we should have something. We have the Spirit, for instance, and many other things, and we ought to be conscious that we have them, so that they are to be used.
Rem It is very challenging that God hates an empty vessel!
JT It is; we are not to appear before God empty. We have the Spirit of God. “Except any one be born anew he cannot see the kingdom of God”, John 3:3 it says. We must be born again, and born of water and of the Spirit. So that we receive the Spirit; God has given the Spirit to us and we ought to be usable.
ABP In Leviticus 14, to which the Lord referred, the man is secured. All this fits in with our subject of Man. It says, “And the priest that cleanseth him shall present the man that is to be cleansed and those things before Jehovah, at the entrance of the tent of meeting”, Leviticus 14:[p. 333] 11.
JT So that there is a system available, and that is the idea that is now before us, that there is a system available. And so the Lord told the man to go to the priest and offer the gift that Moses directed. Moses represents the sovereignty of God in providing what is needed.
SCM Naaman was directed to Elisha the prophet, but he was hesitant about getting cleansed in the Jordan. He had to come down and accept Jehovah’s way and his flesh became as a little child’s.
FNW This man came to the Lord in a seemly way; he did Him homage.
JT Just so, he was respectful, which is another matter of importance. We are to respect the Lord and the system that He has set up here on earth to be usable in such cases.
AR Does the cleansed man in Leviticus 14 become a priest himself? He was to be anointed with blood and also with oil, on his right ear, his right thumb and his right foot, and the oil was also to be put upon his head.
JT Well, that is good; the whole man is recovered for God.
ANW Is not the gift the evidence that absolute cleansing had been effected? There is nothing more to be done.
JT “Immediately his leprosy was cleansed. And Jesus says to him ... go, shew thyself to the priest”. He was a cleansed man, but the Lord indicates that there is a system here that is usable by us.
AP The leper and the centurion were able to discern who the Lord was. Does that suggest that there was a previous work, that new birth had [p. 334] been effected in them?
JT Just so.
GHSP In connection with all this work of cleansing and recovery, is there not an indication of the value that is placed on persons? In chapter 12, where the Lord heals a case of need, He says, “How much better then is a man than a sheep!” Matthew 12:12 Very good; one has often thought of that, “How much better then is a man than a sheep!” Have you more to say?
GHSP I feel that it is a thing we do well to retain in mind, for in the Lord’s own actions here He had persons in mind, and ought we not, in all our assembly matters, have the value of men according to God in mind, that such might be secured and made available in the assembly?
JT I think that is important. It is noticeable that in Acts 1:15 it speaks of the crowd of names who were together. Then in chapter 4:4 we are told that the number of the men had become about five thousand. The word men is in mind; it is a question of securing men.
VCL One man is cleansed at the beginning of our chapter. At the end of the chapter the Lord seems to give an object lesson that two healed men are better than a whole herd of swine. Should we not have in mind that a person redeemed by the Lord Jesus and indwelt by the Spirit is one of the most valuable things on earth?
JT Just so; whilst we would hesitate to say anything that is derogatory as to women, they are not as valuable as men. Men are of greater value.
FHL In chapter 14:21 it says that the number of those that had eaten was about “five thousand men, besides women and children”, Matthew 14:21 The feature of manhood is carried through.
JT Quite so.
FHL In Luke 17 the Lord got His tithe of the lepers; one returned to give glory to God. Was [p. 335] that a question of obedience It says that “as they were going they were cleansed”, Luke 17:14. Only one returned.
JT Here it is immediate cleansing. Verse 3 says, “Immediately his leprosy was cleansed”. But then there is the added thought as to the priest. Surely there must be a priest. Others are to be usable in addition to the Lord Himself. He has men, down here to be used. He is in heaven; He has gone into heaven, angels and principalities being made subject to Him. But the Spirit of God is down here to carry on the work amongst men.
RWS So that the system is down here operating in relation to what the Lord is doing. You used the word ‘system’, and I am enjoying that word because it must bear upon the assembly.
JT That is just what I was thinking. The assembly is the system; we need not be afraid to use the word ‘system’ because the assembly is a system. The instruction that we have in the book of Hebrews indicates what there is to be done and the persons who may do it.
AR Was the system working at Corinth when the incestuous man was withdrawn from in chapter 5? And in the second epistle when Paul tells them to assure him of their love?
JT Quite so; the system was working, the Lord has placed us here to be at work.
VCL Is the gift that is offered really ourselves? In Romans 12, which underlies our assembly service, the apostle says, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, ... to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God”, Romans 12:1. The Lord Jesus offered Himself by the eternal Spirit. Should we not offer ourselves altogether?
JT Very good. You have nothing more valuable [p. 336] really than yourself Is that not the completion of David’s exercise in Psalm 51? He says, “Lord, open my lips, and my mouth shall declare thy praise”, Psalm 51:15.
JT Quite so.
Ques Did the centurion in this chapter perform an intercessory service?
JT It says, “And when he had entered into Capernaum, a centurion came to him, beseeching him, and saying, Lord, my servant lies paralytic in the house, suffering grievously. And Jesus says to him, I will come and heal him”. Note the emphatic ‘I’. It is beautiful. “I will come and heal him”. He will do it immediately.
Rem The centurion was interceding for someone else.
JT But it was his servant.
Ques Does that give us ground to speak to the Lord about others who are in need?
JT Quite so; surely our prayers ought to be full of that kind of thing, interceding for others. And I believe that it is so. “Brethren, pray for us”, 1 Thessalonians 5:25, 2 Thessalonians 3:1 Paul says.
ANW Is not his intercessory word a model for us? He lays the case simply and briefly before One who can attend to the whole matter. “Lord, my servant lies paralytic in the house, suffering grievously”.
JT And he knows how the Lord can do it: “Only speak a word”. The Lord is in heaven now but He can effect healing here in New York by a word. Wonderful thought! “Only speak a word, and my servant shall be healed”. So that we can count on the Lord to act from heaven. He has gone to heaven but He has the means down here with which to act.
AP The centurion was brief, the request was very short.
[p. 337] Ques He came beseeching. Should we not have more of that quality in our prayers, beseeching God?
JT Well, quite so; heaven is listening to us. The idea of intercession is a great matter. The Spirit of God is here interceding for the saints with groanings which cannot be uttered.
Rem If in our prayers we entered into the feelings of God concerning men they would be more feelingly expressed.
JT I believe that the word ‘soul’ refers to feeling, the power of feeling is in the soul.
SCM Philip found Nathanael and brought him to Jesus. Should we not have power by the Spirit to influence others and bring them into the good of things which we are enjoying?
JT Just so.
AR We should intercede on the principle of faith, should we not? The Lord says of the centurion: “Not even in Israel have I found so great faith”.
JT But let us not pass by the wonderment of Jesus. Think of the Lord Himself wondering about things! The centurion had said, “For I also am a man under authority, having under me soldiers, and I say to this one, Go, and he goes; and to another, Come, and he comes; and to my bondman, Do this, and he does it. And when Jesus heard it, he wondered”. And so He says, “Verily I say unto you, Not even in Israel have I found so great faith”. It is a remarkable thing!
ANW Do you think we have wondered enough about the work of God? If the Lord Jesus wondered there must be something very wonderful in it.
JT It is wonderful, and particularly so that it should be said of the Lord that He wondered.
ABP Was it that the centurion apprehended the Lord’s place in the economy?
[p. 338] JT Well, I suppose so. The Lord’s people have adopted the word ‘economy’. It is a system of things into which divine Persons have come and I believe the Lord saw that in some measure it was apprehended. When He heard it He wondered and said, “Verily I say unto you, Not even in Israel have I found so great faith”. You marvel that the Lord wondered about it and that there was such wonderful faith at that particular time.
ABP A man without faith would be inclined to speak about being in authority. This man, in speaking of being under authority must have understood that the Lord was vested with all the power of God to do good.
CAM The Lord wondered at the work of God, did He not?
JT Just so; He wondered at what the man said; when He heard it He wondered.
CAM What a matter it should be for all of us to think that God’s own work gives Him these feelings of delight!
JHE In Genesis 24 the servant was astonished at Rebecca.
JT It is the same thing exactly; he was astonished at Rebecca. I have often thought of that.
RDG Would the Lord’s response to the faith of this centurion be parallel to the healing of the paralytic? It was not the faith of the paralytic.
JT It is much the same. In a sense the Lord Himself had effected the thing, although He wonders at the work of divine Persons. And we are all His workmanship as in this room today; He could say it is His own work. That is very precious to think of, but the Lord is working and whatever any one of us does, in faith, it is the fruit of the Lord’s work. It is God that does it.
EAL The chapter seems to progress; the leper came to Him; the servant was healed through the [p. 339] faith of the centurion; and then, when the Lord went into Peter’s house, He saw Peter’s mother-in-law and healed her.
JT It says, “And when Jesus had come to Peter’s house, he saw his mother-in-law laid down and in a fever; and he touched her hand, and the fever left her”. The work is progressing in all the sections of the chapter. Chapters 8 and 9 show how real was the work of Christ down here. It is to bring out the volume of it; everyone that was ill was cured, according to verse 16. And the work of God is going on today because the Spirit of God is down here and the Spirit is using persons.
GHSP Does the reference to the Lord touching her hand stress the thought that things are to be done by healed persons?
JT Very good; things are to be done. The hand would suggest that. And the Lord has persons available to serve — there are thousands that He is using. It is wonderful to be amongst those through whom the Lord is working.
ABP Would there be a suggestion in this incident that, in the house, spiritual illnesses are to be discerned and healed in their early stages before they become serious like the case of the centurion’s servant, or like the leper?
JT Just so.
RDG It is interesting that no one asked the Lord to heal Peter’s mother-in-law. He did it.
JT Well, the mother-in-law may be a difficult person, but the Lord takes account of that. He touched her hand Himself, and she arose and served Him. It does not say that she served those in the house, she served the Lord; so that He had response to His work.
Ques If there is something not right in our homes would we not be exercised about it so that the Lord can come in [p. 340] and heal?
JT He does, He understands and does things of Himself without being asked because He is God. He must have done things of Himself to make the universe. He did it Himself.
Ques But we must be exercised ourselves, do you not think?
JT Quite so, but there was no one exercised about the universe but God. God made it Himself. He does things Himself, and we can count on that. But then He is ready to do things because He is asked to do them. We know that we have the petitions which we desire of Him.
GHSP That thought comes very beautifully into this chapter, “Himself took our infirmities and bore our diseases”.
ANW I suppose it is so that a feverish condition would disrupt service to Him.
JT I am sure it would.
VCL Would you think that if the saints are constantly in our houses anything feverish or out of the way is liable to be quickly discerned. Would you recommend the safety of having our houses open to the saints so that nothing might be gaining headway that the enemy could use?
JT It is a great comfort that the Lord does things of Himself. But at the same time He does things because we ask Him. It is most wonderful to think of this.