CHRIST AS BLESSER AND PRIEST
CHRIST AS BLESSER AND PRIEST
AFM In passing through the terrible ordeal in Gethsemane, did the Lord qualify as Priest, so that now He is able to conduct the saints right up to, and through the Jordan and support them in the hour and article of death?
JT Yes. You often, find with believers that the hour of their departing to be with Christ is their brightest hour. The Lord seems to take special, occasion to support His own in their extreme weakness.
AFM We can count upon the service of Christ right through, in that respect.
JT He would protect the spirit from satanic pressure at that hour. The power of darkness would ever be ready to influence the believer through weakness. The Lord protects the spirit of the believer and then supports it. He knows all we have to go through.
WB-s Is that the sense of the “swelling of Jordan”?
JT I think it is. “How wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan?” (Jeremiah 12:5) But then the Ark of the covenant has gone over; thus, the sympathy of the Lord is there in the hour of death, and it is usually triumph as far as one knows. Have you not found it so?
RSS Certainly, and very remarkably so in many cases.
WHC Do you not think where that is so, the Christian has passed through death as the Lord did in communion with the Father, and then he is calm when the actual end comes?
AFM We are apt to be timid when we think of the approach of death, but we shall not need grace [p. 440] to pass through death till we come to it. The Lord ministers grace according to our present needs.
WB-s The last words of my father before he passed away were, Precious peace.
JT He saves to the uttermost those that come to God by Him. I have no doubt that the expression, “those who have fallen asleep through Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 4:14) shows His instrumentality in it.
AFM Would Stephen be an example of that?
JT Yes, he was wonderfully sustained. He was like a man following the ark. The Lord descended from the mount of transfiguration to die. That was the idea. He went down in all His strength to grapple with death. Now He has passed through it. “Thy way is in the sea, and thy path in the great waters”. (Psalm 77:19) The Lord took that way, and Stephen followed His footsteps.
RSS And he followed very closely, because when the Lord Himself died, He said: “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit”, (Luke 23:46) and when Stephen died, he said: “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit”. (Acts 7:59) While the Father received the Lord’s spirit, the Lord receives the spirits of believers.
JT And what a supply of the spirit of Jesus Christ Stephen had! He trod in the Lord’s footsteps. Ordinarily, you could not find a path in great waters. It shows how different divine things are from human. Stephen found the Lord’s footsteps and he was abundantly supplied with the spirit of Jesus Christ; so that there was a complete reflection of Him. Think of the power that was required in a man such as we are, with all that fearful pressure, so that he, as Stephen was, might be free from the spirit of vindictiveness, to which we are so liable! In the hour of the most terrible persecution, he could kneel down and pray. It is a remarkable illustration of what Christianity is. It has brought in an order of [p. 441] priests. Luke gives us, not only the Great Priest, but an order of priests. We see it at the end of this chapter, they are in the temple praising and blessing God; that is priestly, and in Stephen you see it in the hour of the deepest persecution; there is the spirit of Jesus Christ, the spirit of the Priest, He could do what the Lord did.
RSS From the fact that the only death of a Christian of which we have any detailed account in Scripture, is that of Stephen, would you not think it was a pattern death?
JT Undoubtedly. He is presented to us as an example, a man of like passions to us, so that it is not beyond any of us in that way. When persecution comes, even in the most superficial way, of the smallest kind, even among ourselves, how near at hand is the spirit of vindictiveness. Now, the idea in Christianity is to displace that, so that “if thine enemy hunger, feed him”; that is priestly. “If he thirst, give him drink for in so doing thou shall heap coals of fire on his head”. (Romans 12:20) If you do that, he will come down. It is priestly acting. You are able to pray for him, if he has caused you grief. It may be a sarcastic word or an ungrateful act. Vindictiveness is always at hand in us naturally, and Christianity is to displace that. You see it perfectly presented in Stephen when the most fearful persecution was there. So the early Christians, as James puts it, were marked by that spirit: “Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you”. (James 5:6)
WB-t I notice you make a great deal of prayer in connection with the priesthood. I have a little difficulty because Aaron never is read of as praying.
JT I connect prayer with the priests, because they alone had access to the golden altar, and in the allusion to the golden altar in the New Testament, it is prayer that is in view. The Angel at the golden altar in Revelation 8 presents the prayers of all [p. 442] saints before God with incense, so that having compassion on the ignorant and erring, you would instinctively turn to God for them. In fact, there is no state in the brethren so low that you should not pray for them. Although Samuel was not the official priest of the order of Aaron, yet he was a priest in spirit and said, “God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you”. (1 Samuel 12;23) And that was when they were rejecting him.
Now, in regard to this chapter, it seems to me the Spirit would emphasise that the humanity of our Lord is carried on and re-appears in resurrection. I think Luke emphasises that. None of the others do. He calls attention to the Lord’s words: “handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have”. “It is I myself”. Not a spirit, but a real Man in resurrection.
RSS What you say is very important, because in Christendom many have the thought that He laid manhood aside when He died.
JT What you see in this chapter as in chapter 22 is the breastplate of the priest; that is, the place the saints had in His heart. Now I have no doubt that the shoulder-pieces also appear in chapter 24, and He acts with a perfect knowledge of human circumstances just as really as if it had been before His death. He is capable of walking with two believers who are on the wrong path, not giving them to understand that it is really He, but their hearts are burning, and entering into their house in the most simple way, He takes His place at their table and gives thanks for the bread. He is capable of all that in resurrection. In that way we can see how He could adapt Himself to us both in resurrection and in heaven, and all to the end that we might be free for the assembly. His strength is seen in the shoulder-pieces. The saints are on His heart and He supports them on His shoulders; that appeared [p. 443] before His dying. In resurrection they are on His shoulders.
RSS In connection with the Lord’s resurrection as recorded in the various gospels, would you not think that in this gospel the Lord appears for their relief? They are in sorrow and distress, whereas in Matthew and perhaps in Mark it is rather for their support. In the end of Matthew, He says: “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations ... : and lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world”. (Matthew 28:19,20) Then in Mark they are sent out and it is there that the Lord is working with them, whereas in John when He appears in their midst it is rather for their affections.
JT I think that is right, only that as to Matthew and Mark, the first is the administration committed to the twelve, and the second is service; in John it is the assembly and the affections.
RSS But the Lord comes in for their relief in Luke, and then He appears in their midst. When they were terrified and affrighted, He said: “Behold my hands and my feet that it is I myself”.
JT No doubt these two who went to Emmaus are samples; they represent the state of the others, and doubtless His service extended to these in some other way; but we just have an example of how He gathered them. As you said, they were sad, downcast, and so needed relief.
RSS Quite so. It is all preparatory for John.
AFM What is on your mind is that we have two sides of His priesthood. Firstly, the side that comes to our aid to bring us into His circumstances where there is joy and pleasure.
JT Then you come into the good of His service within, where you know it is He Himself.
RSS And all the Lord’s activities in His resurrection were to that end, as recounted here. It says: “The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon”. (Luke 24:34) Now Peter was the last one we would have thought He would have appeared to. The Lord appears first to him. As a brother said, we are not told what transpired between the Lord and Peter on this occasion, but we may be sure there was so much grace on the Lord’s part and so much brokenness on Peter’s part, and things were so thoroughly out that when they met together in the evening, there was no sense of distance between the Lord and Peter.
JB Would you say something as to the Lord showing the disciples His hands and His feet and also eating before them?
JT I think it is mentioned to establish the realty of His humanity; that it is as real in resurrection as before. What is so comforting as regards priesthood is that, although risen and ascended, He is capable of entering into our circumstances as they are, just as He would have done had He been here in flesh and blood. It brings the Lord very near to you.
JB The priesthood broke down before by reason of failure in that, but here there was no breakdown.
JT The gain is to understand that the Lord is unchanged. He is Man as really now as He was before His death, and just as capable of entering into our circumstances here, our domestic, or business circumstances. He is not a stranger to any of them, and I think this chapter is to show that. He takes account also of the state of our souls.
RML Sometimes it has been said in regard to prayer as to your circumstances, that you should address God the Father, and as to the assembly, you should address the Lord. I would think the Lord would be interested in our circumstances from what you say.
JT So He is: He is interested to support you in them. See how simply He walks with those people on the road and how He enters into their thoughts!
[p. 445] He could adapt Himself to them; and how simply He could take a piece of fish and eat it!
AFM Peter says in Acts 10, “him God raised up the third day, and showed Him openly; not to all the people, but unto witnesses chosen before of God, even to us, who did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead”. (Acts 10:40,41) Peter doubtless refers to this occurrence, and there may have been subsequent ones.
JT It all endears the Lord to you. It is all to the end of relieving your spirit.
RML You would not have any difficulty in that case in addressing the Lord in regard to your circumstances.
JT I would ask Him to support me in them.
RSS Would you not think these circumstances really connected themselves with the Lord’s interests; but in the case of business, and having some secular matter in hand, it is rather God you would address?
JT Surely, but you need the Lord’s support in them. He is with you as going through things here. You would look to God, but we need the sympathy of a Man with us. In having to do with men in the world, you get very little sympathy, hence the value of having the sympathy of One who knows you perfectly and loves you perfectly. You can do it much better that way, because the Lord is with you as well. He is so in sympathy that He is with us in the doing of the thing, so that we are not overwhelmed. You can now act much better, and with more grace.
RSS “Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God”; (1 Corinthians 10:31) and another scripture says: “do all in the name of the Lord Jesus”. (Colossians 3:17) As I understand it, you do it as representing Him in those circumstances; even the most ordinary things, as eating and drinking.
JT He is with you in them [p. 446] to support you.
GAT How great to have a Man out of death come into our circumstances!
JT The word in Ephesians is: “He that descended is the same also that ascended”. (Ephesians 4:10) He is the same at the top as He was at the bottom.
GAT Did He go into their circumstances at Emmaus to bring them back to His?
JT Yes; they were dejected and they went home. Now He undertakes to reverse all that, and in order to do it He follows them. He seeks them out. I have no doubt He dealt similarly with the others as their cases required, and as a result they were all recovered. Looking at the chapter in this way is very encouraging at the present time. The Lord casts His eye over Christendom; the saints are all in His heart, and His shoulders are strong enough to support them all. This kind of service is going on to the end that straying ones might be brought back; hence, if we are to serve, the great thing is to be on the line of priesthood. James tells us: “he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins”. (James 5:20) That gives employment to us. It is a very great thing to be on the look out for the salvation of an erring one.
JLJ You get the same thought in Jude’s epistle: “and of some have compassion, making a difference; and others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh”. (Jude 22,23)
WB-s The disciples thought they had lost Him, but they get Him for ever now. He will never leave them any more. He is the same One whom they knew prior to His death.
AEM Besides the joy of His presence, the Lord opened their understandings that they might understand the scriptures.
JT I think He is seen there in the capacity of a Priest, too. “The priest’s lips should keep knowledge,
[p. 447] and they should seek the law at his mouth”. (Malachi 2:7) They heard it here. They never had such an unfolding of the law as this, besides His ability to open their understandings, what an unfolding it was, what priestly intelligence and ability shine in it!
RSS It would seem they had profited by it, for while they had not the Spirit till Pentecost, they act with remarkable intelligence in appointing a successor to Judas. Peter was the speaker, and he seems to have taken up the Psalms in a remarkable way.
JB Here it would hardly be apostolic as in Matthew; this is the eleven “and them that were with them” (Luke 24:33)
JT It is more the saints; although the apostles are in special evidence. The priestly side is apparent here all through in the way of relief, so that they are filled with joy; then in the way of instruction, and then in the way of blessing; that is, He relieves the spirit, instructs your mind, and blesses you. In the end the priestly company is seen in the temple. They are “praising and blessing God”.
RSS The Lord is seen in the chapter as having “compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way”. (Hebrews 5:2)
JT And then having collected them, He instructs them. As on the wrong path it is not the time for learning. The heart has to be put right and the spirit has to be relieved. All this is effected here. Then finally He leads them out as far as to Bethany and lifts up His hands and blesses them. According to Numbers 6 this was the function of the priest. He was to bless the people. As the Lord blesses the disciples He is carried up into heaven. That Man is carried into heaven. It is not now that He goes up or that He ascends, but that He is “carried up”. The point is the delight of heaven in a Man like that. It is not here that He had title or power [p. 448] to go, as in John, but He is carried up. It is a matter of honour I think.
RSS I think that is beautiful. Numbers 6:22 - 27 is the blessing wherewith Aaron was to bless the people.
JT Showing that although God had it in His heart to bless the people, it would be through the priest; it indicates the place Christ had in the mind of God. He will bless men, but in that way.
GAT Before He leads them out for blessing, you get the thought of separation.
JT Yes; they were to tarry in the city of Jerusalem as a matter of testimony, but they are led out to Bethany, which suggests separation.
WJN Do you get priestly grace in the disciples in their return to Jerusalem afterwards?
JT Yes. They go back in testimony. There is the priestly company now. There never had been such before. I am, sure even Zacharias was not equal to that company of priests.
RSS They knew not only the Lord’s death, but His resurrection and still more, His ascension. When He was taken from them through death they mourned and wept. When He was taken from them by ascension they returned to Jerusalem with great joy.
AFM Why is the temple introduced? Does it connect with the earlier part where we find Simeon?
JT The gospel of Luke, as to the facts related, does not take us beyond the Jewish position. It is a people blessed on earth and the temple is still owned of God; so that it is linked with the first of Acts. Now, when you come to Christianity, it is a people blessed in heaven.
RSS “Blessed ... with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ”. (Ephesians 1:3)
WB-s The gospel begins with prayer and ends [p. 449] with praise.
GBM Have you any thought why Luke omits from his gospel that a cloud received Him out of their sight, while he makes that statement in the Acts?
JT I think a cloud is mentioned in the Acts to show that the cloud period still remained. Your mind travels back to the wilderness when a cloud is introduced. It is that which hides. There may be a partial shining, but it hides, and that period remained till Stephen. There was no cloud to hide Him from Stephen.
GAT In 1 Thessalonians 4, the saints are caught up “in the clouds.”, Is there any connection?
JT I think that while God is recognising any special people on earth it is the cloud period. It is not the clear full shining of the sun; Christianity is this. Christianity is a cloudless dispensation, really the only cloudless one.
JB Is it not indicated here how we are to read the Old Testament Scriptures?
JT I think we are to read them in the light of this chapter, Christ risen; so that if one sets out in the study of Scripture to look for Christ he will be amply rewarded. Very often if you do not look for something, you do not get anything. You read carelessly. The Lord says: “Search the scriptures”.
GBM You look for the Man of the four gospels.
JT You would look for Him in every phase in which He is presented; so “Every scripture is divinely inspired and profitable”. (2 Timothy 3:16)
JB Will you say a word on Ephesians, “He that descended is the same also that ascended”, (Ephesians 4:10) as to the present place of Christ glorified?
JT He has ascended that He might fill all things. Think of a Man having gone up there with His hands uplifted in blessing! He fills all things in blessing and the first great evidence of it is the gift of the Spirit, so that He might fill the saints [p. 450] down here. The effect of the gifts in the Spirit is to bring Christ in in His varied glories so that He might fill our hearts. In the future it will come to light how He will fill everything. He fills all from the top.
AFM How does He fill all things?
JT By His greatness. It is in the sense of Colossians; “Christ in you”. He fills every intelligent being with His own greatness and blessedness, so that it is Christ only. He fills every heart. “Christ is everything, and in all”. (Colossians 3:11)
RML “He led them out as far as to Bethany”. That was the place of dear associations. Is there any connection with His ascending from that point?
JT I think it is the Jewish connection here. In Acts He goes up from the mount of Olives. I think Luke does not take us beyond the Jewish connection and this scene will be resumed in the future. In Acts 1, “then returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet”. (Acts 1:12)
WB-s Do we gather then from this that we have to be in the good of priesthood before we can take our place as worshippers?
JT I think that is so. The chapter shows how the Lord brings in the priestly company. They go to the temple, so that God’s service is set up here in the true priests.