CHRIST'S LOVE FOR HIS OWN
CHRIST’S LOVE FOR HIS OWN
JT Here we see the Lord as having a man’s affection for His own. Nothing can come home to us more touchingly than the thought of the place we have in His heart. That is the point of the Lord’s supper in this gospel; it makes prominent the place the disciples had in the Lord’s affections. It gives us another side of the Lord’s humanity, that He had the genuine affections of a man for men. The other side of the truth is that He represented the love of God to men. In the end of Romans 8, you first get the love of Christ, and then “the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord”. (Romans 8:39) There are two distinct thoughts.
WB-s Is one expressed in the loaf, and the other in the cup; the love of Christ in the former, and the love of God in the latter?
JT Yes. He said, “This is my body, which is for you”. But the cup is the blood of the new covenant, which has reference to God. The foundation of the truth of the assembly in our hearts lies in the apprehension of the fact that Christ has affections as a Man for men.
JLJ Is there a greater expression of His love in this book than in Matthew or Mark?
JT I think it comes out more prominently here as to the place they had with Him; He said to them, “With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer”.
JLJ It also says, “This is my body which is given for you”. “This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you”, which you do not get in Matthew or Mark.
JB You refer to the love of the Lord Himself [p. 410] personally.
JT We must distinguish between that and the love of God which is in Christ Jesus.
GAT In the last reading you dwelt a good deal on prayer. Does love follow on that?
JT I think so. When He is seen praying earlier in the gospel the horizon is wider. Here in verse 32, He is seen as praying for one of the saints, that is, Peter.
GBM Is it this affection of a man for men that is in view when He said, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends”. (John 15:13) “This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you”. (John 15:12)
JT That is it exactly.
AFM We have extremes brought together here in the hatred of the priests and the love of the Lord. They would kill Him, but He would lay down His life for us. The hatred of the priests and the people combined would form a dark background for the bringing into relief of all this blessed love.
JT And the treachery of Judas, one of, those upon whom the love had been lavished, for he sat down with the twelve. It is an immense thing to get the true idea of the Lord’s personal love for us. It is that which enables us to understand the idea of brethren. “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the children of God”. (1 John 3:1) The Father’s love brings in the idea of children, but the love of Christ brings in brethren.
WHG That is the assembly. “Christ also loved the assembly”. (Ephesians 5:25)
JT Exactly. It leads on to that.
JLJ Brethren puts us in association with the Person.
JT Yes. You learn what it is to be a brother from Christ. Judas did not learn that. He had the opportunity, but he did [p. 411] not learn it.
AAT What is the difference between companion and brother?
JT One might be a companion who is not a brother. I think we are brethren in a practical sense by apprehending His love as a Man. Of course all believers are viewed in this light.
GWH When He said, “This is my body, which is for you”, is association in view there?
JT He is pointing out the great place they had in His heart. Becoming Man, He says to God, “Lo, I come ... to do thy will, O my God”. (Hebrews 10:7) “A body hast thou prepared me”. (Hebrews 10:5) He holds His body for God’s will. Now He has devoted that body to the saints. “This is my body, which is for you”.
GWH I had thought that we could only be brethren on the ground of His death, resurrection and ascension.
JT That is true, but it is not the point here. It is rather that He is impressing upon them the great place they had in His heart. He had devoted His body to God’s will and it was ever for that, as the next section of the chapter shows us, at Gethsemane. But He now devotes it to them.
RSS It is something like, “there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother”. (Proverbs 18:24)
JT Yes. Think of the Lord devoting His body for their good! “For you”. Our dire necessity required that He should go into death, that His holy life should be separated from His body.
RSS In connection with what has been already raised, does the Lord’s supper and His death that is suggested through it, express the love of God or the love of Christ?
JT I think His body represents His own love, as our brother just remarked, but there is “the new covenant in my blood” that He speaks of here; the cup. That I think has allusion to God. It represents what is in the heart of God.
RSS It declares God’s disposition towards men, and so it is His love.
JT Yes, God surrendered that precious life. It was really for God. All life was for God. The Old Testament abounds in that testimony. Life belongs to God. There never really had been a life that God accepted, that He found pleasure in, before. This life was ever verdant. He grew up before Him as a “tender plant”. What God found in that holy life of Jesus is a wonderful object for contemplation. God gave up that life.
AFM That would enhance the love, that such a life was devoted to His brethren.
JT Yes; but it was for God’s pleasure while the Lord remained in flesh and blood. He says, “I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father”. (John 10:18) The Father commanded Him to do it. The Father had pleasure in the life, that precious life of Jesus, and He commanded Him to lay it down; but that was necessitated by our state. The Father’s commandment always alludes to what is absolutely necessary. His counsels originated with Himself. They do not refer to necessities on earth; commandments do. Hence, He commanded everlasting life; and another thing, promises have allusions to things on earth. If God makes a promise, it is with reference to some case of need, and so the promise to Abraham was in answer to a need, and the promise of life, even before the world was, was a necessity.
RSS But what is connected with God’s counsel and purpose is not a necessity, but it finds its source in Himself, an expression of His own pleasure and will; “according to the good pleasure of his will”. (Ephesians 1:5) I was thinking of a scripture in connection with what you mentioned as to God’s great delight in His Son. “Behold my Servant, whom I have chosen; my [p. 413] beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased:” (Matthew 12:18) it is beautiful.
WB-t On the day of Pentecost Peter said: “Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you”. (Acts 2:22)
JT His whole life, as the meat-offering indicates, was a sweet savour to God. Think of God giving that up! He commanded Him to lay down that life; in that way it is an expression of God’s love to us.
JB Do you get that thought in the passover here; the Lord being the Lamb?
JT Of course the passover presents a different idea. It is a question of the judgment of sin. That was a necessity, the Lord enduring divine wrath on account of sin. There are two cups mentioned here; first the passover-cup which the Lord declares He would not drink again till the kingdom of God should come.
JB The passover cleared the way for the other.
AFM Do you learn the love of Christ and the love of God prior to the partaking of the Supper or as partaking of it?
JT In this respect, the first great thing brought to us in the gospel is the love of God. The Spirit in the believer touches his heart and reminds him that God loves him. According to Romans 5, “the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us”. (Romans 5:5) At the cross it was there in its entirety, presented objectively. The love of God shone there according to John 3:16, but it has to be made good in detail, so the expression “shed abroad” is significant; “shed abroad in our hearts”. Each heart comes under the influence of it subjectively; not only as a matter of light, but it is shed there in our hearts by the Spirit which is given to us. But then your heart is not great enough to contain it all, hence it is presented in Romans 8 in its completeness, “the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord”. (Romans 8:39) It is all there. Then you have in Romans 8 the thought of “brethren” and I think that is brought to pass in the soul by the knowledge of the Deliverer. In the end of chapter 7 the believer comes into contact with the Deliverer. Now it is not God there, it is Christ personally; the Deliverer becomes endeared to you, and in the next chapter you have “The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus”. (Romans 8:2) Christ becomes endeared to you, and you have the law of the Spirit of life in Him. Now I think that lays the ground for what is developed later in the chapter, namely, the thought of brethren, “that he might be the firstborn among many brethren”; (Romans 8:29) so that I think the Lord’s personal love for us is what teaches us to be brethren.
AFM And then that is your moral qualification for the Supper.
JT I think so; we come to the thought of brethren there.
WB-s The Supper is wonderful as seen here. He first comes to our side in the loaf, and then in the cup you see God’s side, and thus you are led to the assembly.
JT It is of all moment to see that the Supper presents to us Christ as dead; that is the blood is separate from the body.
GAT Before you go on to the Supper, I would like to ask a question in connection with the directions they got as to where to go to prepare the passover. I think you will find it a question in a good many persons’ hearts today, as to where they should go in connection with the Supper.
JT You have the thought of guidance in the man with the pitcher of water. It is a great education to learn how to follow a guide, that is, a divinely-appointed one. There are divinely appointed guides at the present time, and God graciously meets us [p. 415] where we are, and a man with a pitcher of water is a very simple occurrence.
RSS How are you to recognise him? Is it a man who brings you refreshment?
JT A thirsty soul would have no difficulty in recognising water, and the next thing is you connect the water with a man who has it. The thing is very simple. The means of guidance is simple if one is in the state for it. Water is a very interesting thing if you are thirsty. Is there thirst? Wherever the Spirit of God is working with persons what marks them is thirst, and a thirsty person is very interested by water.
WHG How continually the Spirit is connected with water.
JT It is a very remarkable figure in Scripture.
LTF How do you connect the pitcher with the man?
JT The scripture says, “follow him into the house where he entereth in”. The man with the water is going the right way. If he were not going the right way, he would not have the water. You cannot connect the ministry of the Spirit with unrighteousness, nor with a wayward walk.
WGR Would John 7 be similar to what you are thinking of? “If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water”. (John 7:37,38)
JT That is the point. It alludes, I have no doubt, to the time when Christ should be glorified and the Spirit be here in the believer.
RSS And therefore this water is living water.
JT Out of the believer’s belly it should flow, so that it is easy to fix it in that way; it is seen in the one who believes in Christ glorified.
GAT What these people did would be wise for people to do now. They ask the Lord where they [p. 416] should go, and you would direct people to the Lord today, would you not?
JT The Lord indicates how the place should be found. He says “when ye are entered into the city, there shall a man meet you, bearing a pitcher of water”. That supposes you have been with the Lord. I am sure I would not like to weaken that side. If you want guidance you go to the Lord, but then there is what is here and the Lord would point you to it.
GAT I ought to remain where I am getting the most and the best food.
JT You ought to be where there is spiritual food and refreshment. You cannot divorce the Spirit from righteousness and holiness. Where there is genuine spiritual ministry it must be founded on righteousness.
RSS It is a moral necessity. “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me”. (Psalm 66:18) You do not even get the good of prayer if connected with unrighteousness. The trouble is today that there is no thirst. People settle down and are satisfied where they are. It is a great thing to be like David’s men in the cave of Adullam. It was those who were discontented and in debt and distress. God has a place here where He has pleasure, and that is where His people are found in conformity to Him. I remember very well, as an illustration, when I was deeply exercised about my ecclesiastical connections I had a friend, and we had entered into spiritual things together, and when I felt I could not go on any longer he said to me: ‘Are you not saved, what more do you want?’ Now I think people are there. They have something and they have settled down; they have salvation, as they call it, and they rest on that, but my exercise was that I was responsible to God for my pathway. I had not any question about the forgiveness of sins, but I had a great exercise to be where God would have me, and what made [p. 417] me take the place I am in now more than anything else was that where I was there was no worship in the genuine sense. Outside was the announcement that the worship of God would be in this building at a certain hour, but I did not find it there, and really what led me out of the associations more than anything else was that God was entitled to worship; for the Father seeketh worshippers to worship Him in spirit and in truth. I did find a place where the Spirit of God was untrammeled, and where there was liberty for the people of God to worship God, without any hindrance which exists to so large an extent amongst our fellow Christians.
JT You found, as it were, “a large upper room furnished”.
RSS Exactly. Things were untrammeled and free, not for the flesh, but for the Spirit. There is such satisfaction with present conditions and with what is conventional; where there is, on the other hand, soul-thirst, God delights in it, and has great pleasure in answering it.
AFM The man with the pitcher of water was not some one in prominence in the city; the point was, he was bearing this earthen pitcher. He had refreshment. So much around us today is connected with officialism where man is in importance. The Lord directs to the man’s house; not only “a large upper room furnished”, but there is some one in authority there. We need to come under the lordship of Christ, being subject to Him.
JT And all these things being found in the soul, you come under the influence of the Lord’s personal love to you. The Supper, in a sense, involves the breastplate of the high priest. The Lord sits down with the twelve, each one had a place in His heart, and He shows them to what extent His love is prepared to go [p. 418] for them.
JLJ Does He not show it here that they might take the Supper and answer to that love?
JT That it might be continued.
AAT Do you think Judas was there?
JT It says so here. “But behold the hand of him that betrayeth me is with me on the table”. That is what gives his treachery its sting. That it was a man, His own familiar friend, one with whom He had taken sweet counsel, Psalm 55. That was the one that betrayed Him.
WHG And had eaten bread with Him.
JT Quite so. What He says of Judas helps one to see the place all the disciples had in the Lord’s heart: so that the scene is calculated to promote brotherly affection.
AFM How do you connect what occurs in this scripture with John 13, where the Lord gave him the sop? Is this historically after that?
JT That is historically after this, but in it, as you have intimated, the Lord designated him by an act of affection. It ought to have broken his heart if he had a heart to break; but he received it and went immediately out; and instead of his heart being broken, he went out and betrayed the Lord.
LTF Why does it say, “A man mine equal?” (Psalm 55:13)
JT It shows how Judas was regarded. Incidentally, it shows the place all the disciples had with the Lord. He took “sweet counsel” with them as His friends and companions.
WB-s The sop was a special mark of favour, was it not?
JT It should have broken his heart if he had one to break. It was not that he had any doubts as to who the Lord was, as far as he could apprehend.
WHC He thought He would deliver Himself.
JT Quite so. But what a heart he had! It was as hard as adamant. Now, when you come to this [p. 419] scene in Luke 22, the Lord has drawn near to us in tenderest affection. He opens up to the disciples the length to which He is prepared to go in His love for them. He takes the loaf, It is what He does as much as what He says. There is something for the eye. When the apostle at Corinth records what he received from the Lord, he enlarges on what the Lord did. He took the loaf and broke it before them, saying, “This is my body, which is for you”. (1 Corinthians 11:24) There was something not only for their ears, but for their eyes.
WJN When He broke the bread at Emmaus, “their eyes were opened, and they knew him”. (Luke 24:31)
JT They saw what He did. And at Jerusalem it was reported that “he was known of them in breaking of bread”. (Luke 24:35) I think the Supper suggests to us the breastplate of the high priest. It presents to us the place each one holds in the Lord’s affections, and the place we hold collectively, the whole assembly, for the twelve names represent the whole of God’s people.
AFM You mean that comes out in the expression “for you”.
JT I think so. Paul received the light as to the Supper from the Lord in heaven, so that the Gentile believers have also this same place in the Lord’s heart. The thought is that if He has that affection for us we should have affection for Him. It is a wonderful thing in the history of a believer when he sees he has personally a place in Christ’s heart; then you instinctively seek that He should have a place in your heart. The Supper is intended to that end.
RSS We come together to break bread, and what is so blessed is the character of that meeting; it is different from any other. We come to read the scriptures together, or to hear the gospel preached, or to pray; but when we come together on the first [p. 420] day of the week to break bread, it is all in special reference to the Lord Himself personally.
JT So it comes to this, that the assembly is for Christ. Hence, the first day of the week should be a free day. We have nothing before us but Christ. It is the day on which we are for Christ. The assembly is for Christ, and at the Supper that is what comes into evidence. He has a place in our hearts, and if so, He has a means by which He leads us in.
RSS “When the hour was come, he sat down, and the twelve apostles with him”. I think if we realised to whom it has reference when we come together, we would seek to avoid being late.
JT We are for Christ and to be at His disposal.
GWH So that we should be prepared to “follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth”. (Revelation 14:4)
RSS It is the Lord’s grace that carries us through the week in view of coming together in answer to His love.
M No one has authority to close the meeting.
JT A man might bring a meeting in his own house to a close, but not in the assembly. No one should attempt to do that. The assembly is the Lord’s. He is supreme there. You do not undertake to close that. You are at liberty to go home, but we do not want to assume to close the meeting.
EGMcA Is there supposed to be spiritual insight as to when it is time to go home?
JT You have to go home because of the necessities there.
GAT What would you call closing the meeting?
JT You often get a brother thanking the Lord for what we have had and commending us to Him and asking for blessing on the gospel.