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A DISPENSATION OF BLESSING

JT These verses show the character of Christianity in a very special way. There was to be no curse, it was to be all blessing. The idea of cursing and blessing seems to have arisen in Genesis 9. “Cursed be Canaan, a servant of servants shall he be”. (Genesis 9:25) The idea of cursing is hardly in keeping with Christianity. The apostle, in writing to the Corinthians, said: “If anyone love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema maranatha”, (1 Corinthians 16:22) but it would take place at the coming of the Lord.

TMG Cursing is certainly not the way that God has dealt with us. His way with us is all blessing.

Ques What do you say about the Anathema maranatha?

JT It leads on to the coming of the Lord.

Ques I have often wondered why it comes in there.

JT Well, I understand that the apostle carefully guarded the dispensation. He maintained its character. Curse is not attached to this dispensation; it is a time of blessing; but then the time of the curse is coming, and in the end, if anyone love not the Lord Jesus Christ after all these long years of grace, let him be accursed. So that this verse in Romans 12 would guard that too; it would maintain us in keeping with the dispensation to “bless and curse not”.

TMG A dispensation of blessing, and not of cursing. The curse, as you say, will come, and the dispensation will be over then for those who have rejected the blessing..

JT No doubt the curse has reference to the ^[p. 292] Canaanite; wherever he is discovered it has reference to him.

W What does the Canaanite set forth?

JT I think the Canaanite is marked by disregard of divine authority. “Cursed be Canaan, a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren”. (Genesis 9:25) It is the family of Canaan in view of Israel; but, spiritually, the Canaanite is really Israel. Israel finally occupied the ground of the Canaanite. Having light from God we see it now at the present time. But God holds all still on the ground of blessing, as I understand it. The apostle deferred the thought of cursing until the coming of the Lord: he maintained the character of the dispensation in that sense; so that the Lord’s attitude is that of blessing, and He wishes us to be in keeping with that.

TMG I suppose that is the great point here.

JT I think it is. This chapter, beginning with the mercies of God, has in view that we should be in keeping with what God is, as revealed. The Canaanite having been brought to light, instead of the curse being executed at the beginning, grace is offered. The Lord said, “that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem”, (Luke 24:47). Saul of Tarsus is a very notable example; instead of being destroyed, he was blest. I think that from Noah onwards there is the idea of a vessel for the communication of blessing. He took the ground of blessing others; he blessed Shem and Japheth. Then afterwards you have Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob blessing. The character of God should come out in the saints. That is evidently the idea in this chapter. You cannot find it unless first of all you are in the light of the revelation of God, and then you are subject to the will of God, when you have “proved what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God”, (Romans 12:2).

^[p. 293] Rem The thought of the one body occurs further on in the chapter.

JT I think the one body is in keeping with the principles of the chapter. If you disregard your own will then you are fit for the body; so you find the expression “the Lord’s body”, in connection with the Lord’s supper.

Rem I think you were connecting it with light here not blessing exactly.

JT I was thinking of having our wills set aside; then you get your place in the body.

Ques How do you connect it with the Supper?

JT “By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once”, (Hebrews 10:10). Evidently our sanctification is the setting aside of our own wills. Then Paul goes on to say in 1 Corinthians 10:17, that we, being many, are one body.

Ques For we are all partakers of that one loaf. Is it that unity is seen in the partaking?

JT It is expressed in the fact that we all partake of the one loaf.

W What is your thought in connection with the cup of blessing which we bless? It comes in here, too.

JT Well, I have always thought it had reference to the Spirit. The bread is symbolical of that in which our wills are set aside and then there is an allusion to the blessing into which we are introduced in the unity.

W “Bless them that persecute you”. (Matthew 5:44) How does the blessing come in? Is it that the one body is the vessel of light, and there is only blessing connected with the one body?

JT Yes. It is assumed here that you are in a position to bless.

Rem That you come out here in the character of ^[p. 294] God.

JT Yes, that is it; you come out in God’s character.

Rem You get it exemplified in Stephen when being stoned: he knelt down and prayed saying, “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge”. (Acts 7:60)

JT One has nothing in one’s heart but blessing, even for our bitterest enemy.

Rem The man who manifests that spirit is recovered for God.

JT Yes. God is very jealous as to the dispensation, and His long-suffering is seen in the fact that it is continued. He is very desirous that we should be sympathetic with Him in it. The point of the chapter is to bring the saints into correspondence with the Man who is come to light in it.

Rem I suppose eternal life is the result.

JT In result I think it is the great thought that God has in His mind for man; “there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore”,

(Psalm 133:3)

Rem That is in connection with the conditions established there.

JT Yes. The conditions must be brought to pass before you can have the thing practically. But I think it is important to take account of the fact that from Noah onwards there is a vessel in which there was to be blessing. Then after Noah you get Abraham. Anyone that blessed Abraham would be blessed. “I will bless them that bless thee”, (Genesis 12:3). Such was the way God intensified the importance of Abraham; if any one blessed Abraham that one would be blessed, and if any one cursed Abraham that one would be cursed. I have no doubt it points to the position of the Lord. His presence here tested everything.

C If the saints were walking according to the principles here, they would be a test to everything around them.

JT ^[p. 295] Exactly. So in the parable of the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25. The sheep are on the Lord’s right hand, and the goats are on His left; and they get there on account of what they have done to His brethren.

Ques Is not what is manifest here in the saints really the response to the blessing we have received ourselves?

JT I think so.

Rem So in connection with eternal life; if one’s soul is not in some measure in the light of what that is, one could not come out in blessing.

JT No. Now, when you come to Isaac you have the full blessing intimated, because He blesses Jacob and Esau.

Rem You mean Esau forfeited all title to it, yet he is blest?

JT That is it. That shows us who Isaac is a type of.

Rem He blesses as being a type of Christ, the risen Man.

WHM In that way he would answer to the present dispensation.

JT That is what I thought. It is a very grand position in that way, because Israel having forfeited all blessing, comes into blessing in Christ finally.

TMG As Esau came in for blessing.

JT Yes; they had really acted profanely: they had despised their birthright. All that God had for them was presented to them in Christ in the power of the Spirit, and they despised it. But for all that Esau comes into blessing. In Hebrews it is said that he sought the blessing and did not get it. This refers to the special blessing he had forfeited, but as a matter of fact Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau. Esau did not get the blessing of the first-born.

W Is the blessing connected by the Spirit with eternal ^[p. 296] life?

JT Surely. It is enjoyed by the Spirit. Therefore, what is in view here is more general. It is a very great thing, I think, to see how God has risen above all the difficulties in the world, above all the lawlessness of men, of the Canaanite; and the blessing is there. So the apostle says “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us, for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ: that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith”, (Galatians 3:13,14). In other words, Christ having brought everything to light, He bore the penalty Himself, and it is that we might receive the promise of the Spirit; that the blessing of Abraham might arrive at the Gentiles.

Ques What do you say the blessing of Abraham is?

JT It has often been spoken of as eternal life. The gospel was preached before to Abraham saying, “Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee”. (Hebrews 6:14) If death is upon man here, the great thought must be to have life, and it is easy to see that those who had any thought about it looked for that; they looked for life.

G Abraham looked for it.

JT Yes, in some sense. I think all the Old Testament believers felt that life was the great thing. Take Hezekiah; he was a man specially singled out by the Spirit to show how much he valued life when God announced that he had to die. What you find is that the Old Testament believers, after Abraham, each one took account of the light communicated to Abraham; that is to say, God said He was God Almighty, and that He could raise the dead. So Joseph’s faith is, I think, a remarkable illustration of the kind of faith that looks for the resurrection of the saints. Abraham believed in the resurrection of ^[p. 297] Christ, and Joseph believed in the resurrection of the saints, based on that. If one believes in the resurrection of the saints what is the ground of it? Of course, we have the apostle’s words now for it, but he bases what he has to say on the fact that God had raised Christ, 1 Thessalonians 4:14.

Ques You say Joseph believed in the resurrection of the saints; is that shown in the charge he gave concerning his bones?

JT Yes; he made mention of the departure of the children of Israel; he did not give any commandment in connection with that: that was not his ministry: that fell to Moses. Moses had all the commandments in regard to the departing of Israel out of Egypt; but Joseph has another object in view. Joseph was put into a coffin, or ark, in Egypt. Sarah was put into a grave. If people believe that God is going to raise them there is no need to build huge things over their graves. In Egypt monuments would rather point to unbelief. The world is marked by infidelity in regard to the power of God.

TMG Joseph had not a great tomb.

G The Egyptian idea was to preserve the body from decay.

JT Yes; it was to last for ever. It is rank infidelity. The Egyptian mummies that can be seen today, after a lapse of thousands of years, are really a testimony to infidelity. Whereas, if you believe that Jesus died and rose again, that is light to your soul, and if you believe that, then them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him.

G A saint’s funeral is a very important occasion.

JT Quite so. Nothing can be more painful than an unconverted person’s funeral; there is deep gloom and darkness; whereas faith reckons on the power of God, who raised Christ from the dead. God says, “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob”. (Exodus 3:6)

^[p. 298] G He is not the God of the dead, but of the living.

Rem So that the burial of a saint is really a scene of victory.

JT The great thing for the saints is to be equal to the light communicated to us in the gospel. If Christ be not raised there is no resurrection; but if He is, there is a resurrection.

Rem God first gets His portion in this chapter, and then man. “Present your bodies a living sacrifice ... unto God”. (Romans 12:1)

JT Yes, that is one thing you have that you can always present to God. God is pleased to take our bodies in that way, and use them. There is a certain moral greatness indicated in verse 15, “Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep”. I suppose it is easier to weep with those that weep than to rejoice with those that rejoice. Naturally, we could go in with those that weep rather than with those that rejoice, because envy is so liable to be found in us if another has occasion to rejoice.

Rem If we can rejoice, it means that we can disappear.

JT Yes, you are thinking only of the good that God is doing; and if you see that, you can disappear, you have no thought of yourself. It is important to see that what we are called to as Christians is in itself much greater than anything that could be in the way of service here; and if you lay hold of that you will not be carried away by anything here.

Rem The thing that one is after is really greater than any evidence of what is coming out in you.

JMcF The 15th verse is in keeping with the 5th; “we being many are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another”. (Romans 12:5)

JT Quite so. It brings a brother closer to you, and it enhances his value in your eyes if you see the truth of the body. “Members one of another” brings it home to you. Thus I am not liable to have ^[p. 299] any feeling if you are honoured, because what you may have in the way of light or gift is for me and for all the saints.

JMcG What is the thought of “having the same respect one for another?”

JT I suppose it would imply that there were to be no preferences.

Rem I think what follows explains that. “Not minding high things, but going along with the lowly; be not wise in our own eyes”.

JT The closing verses show, I think, in a way, what Christianity is as a moral power in the world. “Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good”. It is the moral victory over the world: you must have the good to overcome with it.

JMcF That would be bringing in principles that do not belong to this world; they are principles of another world.

Rem It is much like Abraham when Melchizedek brought forth bread and wine. Abraham was furnished with it, and he could refuse everything that was offered to him by the kings of this world.

JT A Christian never needs to move on account of evil.

G That is very important.

Rem It is really a testimony to the Man that is going to displace the man here.

JT It is a question of moral superiority. Shutting yourself up is not the idea; stand your ground, and God will support you. Bring your Christianity into the circumstances of life.

W That is where the blessing comes in.

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