THE MOUNT OF OLIVES
[p. 273] THE MOUNT OF OLIVES
Matthew 26: 30; Mark 14: 26; Acts 1: 12 - 14
JT The thought of the mount of Olives in relation to the Lord’s supper is in mind. The singing of the hymn after the Lord’s supper is mentioned in Matthew and Mark, but it is not mentioned in Luke. It would appear that it is intended to affect us as to the Lord’s supper and lift our minds out of any suggestion of its entering into the position of the remnant of Israel after the assembly’s period is over. The link with Olivet would take the Lord’s supper out of the realm of the millennium, especially as Acts 1 also mentions Olivet. It is connected with the resurrection here, and also lifts the resurrection out of the Jewish settings, and places it in spiritual settings; that is the bearing of the mount of Olives. Added to that is the upper room which also takes both the Lord’s supper and the Lord’s resurrection out of Jewish settings in the book of Acts. In the gospel of Luke it is in a Jewish setting, for the Lord took them out only as far as to Bethany. It was not to Olivet. Bethany was the place of Mary and Martha, but it was still Jewish; it was the place of love, but in connection with Judaism, and the disciples are seen returning from there to the temple. It says in the end of Luke, “they ... returned to Jerusalem ... and were continually in the temple praising and blessing God”, Luke 24: 52, 53. But Acts would show that those who saw the ascension returned to Jerusalem from the mount of Olives. There are certain incidents, recorded in the synoptic gospels, in connection with the Lord’s supper that might well be connected with what we are saying. In each of the synoptic gospels the Lord, as reaching the place for the institution of the Lord’s supper, had the twelve with Him, and that fact is intimately related with what is in mind in these passages. The Lord suggests in having twelve that there would be full administrative ability as the [p. 274] Supper was celebrated in its time. This would, of course, bear on the present time as to those who take part audibly, carrying out the administrative side of the truth in the celebration of the Supper.
PHH Do you mean that they would know what part to take in the service?
JT Yes. They know what to do, which is in keeping with the thought of “intelligent persons”.
PL Would that fit in with the “two of you” in local settings, in Matthew 18: 19?
JT Yes. “Two of you” would be an assembly matter, two being adequate testimony to whatever the matter was and even as to prayer.
PHH We understand that what the Lord said through Paul to the Corinthians is to mark us, particularly today, but what is the chief gain of the setting of the Supper in the gospels?
JT I think it would assist us in understanding the setting of the Lord’s supper in relation to the service of God. Paul is, of course, explicit as to it, for it is an assembly matter. Although features of the assembly are brought in in a negative sense in 1 Corinthians 11, nevertheless it intimates plainly that the celebration of the Lord’s supper is an assembly matter. The gospels alone might imply doubt as to that, but I think the connection of Olivet helps to lift it into its proper setting.
Ques Does it lead to what is heavenly, which is peculiarly Paul’s ministry?
JT I think that is just what it does.
Ques Would the continuance in “the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers”, be a kind of preliminary background for the reception of Paul’s light?
JT I would think so. The apostolic position would make way for him, because he raises that question, “Am I not an apostle?”, 1 Corinthians 9: 1. The brethren, I am sure, would gladly recognise his apostleship, although there were those that questioned it at Corinth.
[p. 275] The idea of apostleship necessarily carries with it the idea of authority.
PL In the allusion to the Lord’s appearings we have “then to all the apostles; and last of all, as to an abortion, he appeared to me also”, 1 Corinthians 15: 7, 8. Does the setting of these two appearings link up Paul authoritatively with the twelve?
JT Exactly. The twelve are mentioned twice by themselves, first as “the twelve” in verse 5, and then as “all the apostles”. Then Paul is mentioned as being also an apostle. It is, of course, of considerable importance to connect Paul with all this, because his authority is direct from Christ, and he is viewed by himself. The others are linked up together, but Paul’s apostolic authority was attached to himself, it was a personal matter to him.
WC Would you say a little more about the mount of Olives, what it means, and how it bears on the Lord’s supper practically?
JT You will notice that there was a hymn, and the idea of a hymn is also connected with the Lord’s own ministry, the Lord’s own service to God, for in Hebrews 2: 12 we have the idea of hymning the Father. The instances in Matthew and Mark as to Olivet are to bring out the link with heaven, and also that it was not simply that the Lord sang the hymn, but in Matthew and Mark it was a matter for them all. The Lord would thus impart the thought of mutual feeling in that connection. If therefore we connect Olivet with the hymn, there is the idea of mutual feeling as well as the heavenly setting which is very important in regard of all that enters into the Lord’s supper now.
Ques Would it be right to suggest that, according to these scriptures, Olivet is subsequent to the hymn, as though power to go there lies in the ability to join in this mutual hymn? It says, “having sung a hymn, they went out to the mount of Olives”. It does not seem as [p. 276] though the hymn took place on Olivet, but the journey there was subsequent to it.
JT The hymn was in the meeting, that is, in Jerusalem; but Olivet was in mind.
WC Is the point in your mind that this mutual feeling, suggested in the hymn, is essential to our really moving in that way?
JT I think mutual feeling is a very important matter connected with the Lord’s supper.
Ques Would you think the singing of the hymn in this setting largely connects with the local position, whereas when you are beginning to touch Olivet you are merging into the spiritual sphere that involves the universal position? They would leave all that belonged to that former position?
JT I suppose so. It says, “they went out”, as if the time required it. The actual celebration of the Lord’s supper was in Jerusalem, but the going out was in mind and the mutual feeling too. If therefore the Lord’s supper is celebrated in Jerusalem, it would mean that it is where the Lord was crucified. The celebration of the Lord’s supper is in the place where the Lord suffered. In the book of Revelation it says, “the great city, which is called spiritually Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified”, Revelation 11: 8. That intensifies the importance and bearing of the Lord’s supper as involving suffering and reproach.
PHH The Lord’s supper in the locality would entail that it may take place in circumstances of pressure, whereas the mount of Olives would be a realm without pressure.
JT Well, that is what I was thinking. Olivet is therefore more spiritual.
PHH The reference which you have made to Jerusalem would stress the local position to which sufferings attach. Nevertheless, as you have said elsewhere, “the Lord is near”.
JT This is a very important matter as to persons coming into fellowship. They should be given to understand that the fellowship entails suffering.
Rem Is that confirmed in the Acts where they say, “The kings of the earth were there, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ. For in truth against thy holy servant Jesus, whom thou hadst anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the nations, and peoples of Israel, have been gathered together in this city”, Acts 4: 26, 27. That would apply to any locality where the saints were walking in the truth.
JT The idea conveyed in this, I think, ought to be carried with it. It is always this city. Although, of course, the this there is Jerusalem, yet one has often thought of it as to the actual place where the Lord’s supper is celebrated. The idea of the city is there. Even if it is only a village, the idea of the city will be found there, and hostility against Christ will be found there.
CW It has been said that we break bread in the wilderness. What is the connection between that and the city?
JT The city, in that sense, is the wilderness. It is the world where there is nothing that will support you at all. We have to look up for support. The extension of cities in modern times is one of the greatest problems really in connection with the administration of the Lord’s supper and the service of God generally. The cities are so extended and carry so much the character of the world.
JJT Referring to the mutual side, is it well to remember that we come together loving one another? Some say they love the Lord, but is not the test in the early part of the Supper as to whether we have love among ourselves locally?
JT I think that is what the Lord is thinking about too. He is rather thinking of the love one to another, somewhat more than about our love to Him,
[p. 278] because it is a question of a collective idea. The assembly involves the collective idea and, unless there be love one toward another, the Lord can hardly own it. Of course, it is a question of what He would come to, and then of what He finds when He comes. He is concerned about what He finds, and love one for another is the best test. He says Himself, “By this shall all know that ye are disciples of mine” (not because ye love me, but) “if ye have love among yourselves”, John 13: 35.
AM Does the matter of the covering in 1 Corinthians 11 indicate the proper state of subjection amongst the saints? It is said of Rebecca in Genesis 24: 65 that “she took the veil, and covered herself”; Isaac would be peculiarly pleased with that.
JT I would think so. What corresponds with Rebecca’s action now would afford pleasure to the Lord.
Ques Does what Rebecca says show how thoroughly in keeping she was with the means provided for her? She says, “Who is the man that is walking in the fields to meet us?”.
JT The us means that she is one of the company, and the feminine side is stressed, too, before that. Then she enquires about Isaac, and she is told that it is the servant’s master, and she veils herself. That links on with what has been said about 1 Corinthians 11.
PHH According to the matter before us now, would the question be as to what kind of power is carrying us through the service of the Lord’s supper; whether it is in the power and grace of the Spirit or whether perhaps just in correct terms?
JT It raises the whole question of the public position. The denominations have only an external position, and they are condemned by what is suggested in the fact that she rode upon a camel. The camels were provided by Abraham of old at the outset, but he is not mentioned now. As Rebecca rode upon a camel she enquired about Isaac, but he was taking notice of the [p. 279] means of transport, referring to the power of the Holy Spirit.
WC When it comes to the actual service is the type the well? That is, we draw from the Spirit. The transporting power brings us to where He is, for the well is always there, so to speak.
JT I thought so. It is as if he were intimating that he has that in his mind. The wording would indicate that he has the well in his mind. It had historical significance in his mind in regard of the camels that he saw coming. Then Rebecca’s inquiry from the servant makes the thing very vivid, because the servant is really the Spirit. I believe it is a figure of the Spirit, and synchronises with the idea of the well. It is a question of the Spirit and the place the Spirit has in these matters.
Ques Would the mount of Olives be more the sphere of the Spirit, rather than the Spirit personally?
JT Just so. The sphere of the Spirit.
Rem I was thinking of your suggestion of the mutual side and then going out to the mount of Olives. Does that raise the question as to whether we have availed ourselves of the power of the Spirit through the wilderness, so that when this time comes to leave it and move into the spiritual sphere, there is power in our souls to do it.
JT Yes, power in our souls.
WC Is not that the well, the power in our souls? Do we leave the well behind at all as we go through the service?
JT No, I do not think so. The Spirit is there from the outset. He is taking care of us in every detail, the question even of the children in the house, whatever the house may be, which we leave as we go to where the service of God is celebrated. The Spirit is constantly active in the whole matter even in regard of such. Then too, He is concerned with what happens on the way, on the road, and what might defile us, because He is intensely [p. 280] occupied with the Lord in it all and would have us ready for the great matter.
WC What I meant was, does the figure of the Spirit carrying us through, taking charge of all in the wilderness, merge into the thought of the well when we are actually gathered in the service; and thus become the power for the service subjectively?
JT Yes. In John, the well in chapter 4: 14 is “a fountain of water, springing up into eternal life”. I would say that must continue in the whole service, because it is a question of the upward trend of everything. We begin at the very bottom, so to speak. The Spirit is there, even in regard of our households, and our leaving them and entering into where the emblems are, and where the Lord’s supper is to be celebrated.
Ques Whilst the actual partaking of the loaf and the drinking of the cup together have a very unifying effect, would not the bearing of 1 Corinthians 10 greatly tend towards unity in our remaining true to the claims of the fellowship through the week?
JT I would say that.
Ques So that any defect that might show itself at the time really arises from some constitutional thing, to discover which you would have to go further back?
JT “Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: Therefore let us keep the feast ... with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth”, 1 Corinthians 5: 7, 8. That is a great matter too.
PL Would Rebecca’s willingness to give drink to the camels suggest the personal cherishing of the principles which work out in collective support when we move forward towards Christ? The very camels she had cared for were now supporting her, were they not?
JT Yes. She was not staggered by the work implied. You can see how much work was involved in her proposal and yet she goes forward with it.
[p. 281] Ques Directly it is said that the camels had done drinking, you get the idea of ornamentation. Would that imply attractiveness?
JT Yes. The servant’s amazement, too, is one of the most remarkable statements of the whole figure. He was amazed at Rebecca and what was there.
PL Does it prefigure the amazement of the greatest Servant of all? The Lord wondered.
JT Yes. He wondered at the centurion. It says, “When Jesus heard it, he wondered and said ... Not even in Israel have I found so great faith”, Matthew 8: 10.
PL So that all ministry of a levitical kind should be punctuated by this priestly amazement and thanksgiving, interwoven with the service, as with Paul, breaking out in worship from time to time.
JT Even Romans, the very basic gospel epistle, has these punctuations as you say. But they are more than punctuations, they are doxologies.
Ques Does not that show where he was in his spirit even though ministering to the saints? He speaks of serving God in his spirit in the glad tidings. He was not occupied merely with the doctrine he was putting down, but he was in touch with God at the same time.
JT Quite so. In sufferings too, in the jail in Philippi, according to Acts 16: 25, he and Silas were singing; that is, hymning as the word means. That was one of the most remarkable things, that in their prayers they sang praises to God by a hymn.
ADT “My heart is welling forth with a good matter”. Would that be the condition for the Supper?
JT Just so.
JOS In Ephesians 5: 18, 19, the apostle says “Be filled with the Spirit, speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs”. Would that be preparatory at all times for our being together at the Lord’s supper?
JT I think it is more than that. That does not allude, as I understand, to mere formal service or [p. 282] meeting, but at all times. It refers to the power that there would be in the Christian circle, the fulness of joy.
Ques Would not the understanding of the assembly’s place with Christ as being in our hearts as we assemble, greatly increase our esteem for one another, and our willingness to merge together as in this position, so that we may move on happily to the spiritual sphere that the Lord leads us to?
JT You just wonder sometimes how many join in the thing, because, whilst there may be present those who are in fellowship and those who are not, yet there may be those actually breaking bread who do not follow on; their heart is often outside. So that the stress is on the mind in these matters as the service of the Lord is to begin. For the calling Me to mind, the Lord says. That is to say, the mind is a faculty over which we have power, as Paul says, “I myself with the mind serve God’s law”. It is a question of what we have power over. Then it is said, “We have the mind of Christ”, 1 Corinthians 2: 16. The Christian has the mind of Christ, so that he has power over his own mind, and that is essential if we are to serve the Lord in the Supper, because at the beginning it is a question of the Lord. It is the Lord’s day and His supper, and according to Revelation 20 we are priests, not only priests of God, but of Christ also. We thus have ability to serve in that sense at the very outset of the service.
Ques Would you not think that the best way to help those who perhaps need help is for those who can go on to move on?
JT That is true. At the same time you would love to be in touch with one another, because there is that in the constitution of the assembly involving that we are linked on with one another inwardly. It is not only outwardly but inwardly, so that we are able to carry one another, so far as that is possible. We are carrying one another in the attitude of our minds, because the assembly is constituted thus. We are all linked together.
[p. 283] ADT Is that the thought of the body?
JT Yes, it is. And so, “I speak as to intelligent persons” implies what is said as to our being one body, “We, being many, are one loaf, one body”, 1 Corinthians 10: 17.
PHH Is this collective side particularly emphasised in relation to the mount of Olives? It says, as you have remarked, “having sung a hymn, they went out to the mount of Olives”. We have it likewise in Mark, and, in a different connection, in the first of Acts, “then they returned ... from the mount called the mount of Olives”. Do you think we need to be feelingly together, to know that we are together when the higher part of the service comes before us?
JT I would say that. So that Acts 1 contemplates the ascension, but before we have that given it is said, “Being seen by them during forty days, [p. 284] and speaking of the things which concern the kingdom of God; and, being assembled with them, commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to await the promise of the Father, which said he, ye have heard of me”. Then it says, “They therefore, being come together, asked him saying, Lord, is it at this time that thou restorest the kingdom to Israel? And he said to them, It is not yours to know times or seasons, which the Father has placed in his own authority; but ye will receive power, the Holy Spirit having come upon you, and ye shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. And having said these things he was taken up”. Now you can see what was going on in the Lord’s mind in all this when He was taken up. Speaking reverently, it was just full of the immediate surroundings, and they were the centre of things in His mind. It is a question of what they were. So that it says earlier, “he presented himself living” (verse 3). In fact, the whole passage runs thus: “having by the Holy Spirit charged the apostles whom he had chosen, he was taken up; to whom also he presented himself living, after he had suffered, with many proofs; being seen by them during forty days,
and speaking of the things which concern the kingdom of God; and, being assembled with them, commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to await the promise of the Father, which said he ye have heard of me”. The Lord, as I said, is just full of the environment and they are the very centre of it. So much so that He presented Himself living to, them; “to whom also he presented himself living”. He is thinking of them, and that is before He ascended.
Rem It was after He had suffered, but they were in a position where suffering would be entailed.
JT Quite so. Suffering was all over as regards Him in that sense, but He presented Himself, which is a very beautiful thought.
PHH “Presented himself living” and “assembling with them” correspond with things which we know something about now in our assembly position.
JT Yes. Hence in Acts 20: 7 Luke says, “We being assembled to break bread”.
PHH I was thinking of what came out last year in relation to the brethren, and the bride and the sons, and wondering whether in your mind the movement to the mount of Olives provides on the part of the saints with the Lord the environment where we can begin to be engaged with these heavenly relationships.
JT I would say that. Then what was in the upper room is part of all this that we are speaking of. It says in verse 12, “They returned to Jerusalem from the mount called the mount of Olives, which is near Jerusalem, a sabbath-day’s journey off”. The sabbath day’s journey has something to do with the distance; where they had come from, and now where they have come to. They had come from Olivet, but they had come to Jerusalem and the upper room which is in keeping with Olivet. They do not go into the temple, as Luke 24 says, but they go to the upper room, and we are told that Olives was a Sabbath-day’s journey off. That has its own meaning, I am sure. Then it says, “When they were come into the city, they [p. 285] went up to the upper chamber, where were staying both Peter, and John”. So that we are now occupied with the quality of the persons there; the statement is “where were staying”, these persons; and included in these persons were the Lord’s own brethren and His own mother, with certain women.
Ques When it says staying it does not mean visiting, does it? Does not the word “staying” here mean that they were characteristically there all the time?
JT I would think so. I would think this was a sort of rendezvous at that time, the beginning of Christianity. It is as if the Spirit of God would keep before us how things were at the start.
Ques Would you say there is a distinct link between heaven, mentioned four times in verses 10 and 11, and the mount of Olives and the upper room? Are they all links in a chain? There is a sphere in touch with heaven spiritually, it is in, the city, and yet apart from it.
JT The upper room means that there is moral elevation in the position. It was in Jerusalem, but there is this moral elevation in spite of that.
PHH Might the sabbath-day’s journey bear on that, the distinctive place that Christianity has as completely separate from Judaism?
JT I think there must be something in that. It was not that the person could not literally walk more than that, but, I suppose, it was ordained, that they should not walk more than that distance. There must be something in the sense of nearness between the upper room and Olivet, Olivet being the spiritual sphere. The upper room refers to the persons who were there; we are affected by the persons.
Ques Is Olivet, generally speaking, what is heavenly enjoyed here?
JT The Lord went there. Luke mentions that thought, which is a very touching thing. He says, “By night, going out, he remained abroad on the mountain called the mount of Olives”, Luke 21: 37. He must be [p. 286] with the Father there. The others went home, but He was there, and then, in the morning, He is ready to teach them.
FCH Do you connect the thought of glory with this cloud that received Him out of their sight, and what is said later that He “shall thus come in the manner in which ye have beheld him going into heaven”? Is that connected with His being “received up in glory” and the thought of glory entering into the service?
JT The glory is to be linked up with the terminus rather than with the way in. It is a question of the end. He was received up. The expressions “receiving up” or “received up” are a feature in Luke. It comes in early in Luke, “the time ... that he should be received up”, Luke 9: 51. When we come to the end, He is “received up in glory”, 1 Timothy 3: 16. It is Paul that tells us that. We go from glory to glory; that is the way. Beginning from the very bottom, we go from glory to glory, and the terminus would be God.
Ques But if the service of God according to Paul’s ministry is to be entered upon, is it not essential for us to be able to leave what is merely circumstantial? Is not the mount of Olives the suggestion of the place where we leave what is circumstantial and get into what is spiritual?
JT I think 2 Corinthians greatly helps us in this matter, because the Spirit of God, I believe, intended to affect Paul as to the assembly especially, and the order of it. So the first epistle is the actual Lord’s supper and the order of it, but in the second epistle it is not only the order of it but the spirit of it. Whatever it be that we are dealing with, the second epistle is more the spirit of things. That is to say, we are advancing on the upward line.
PHH Might I ask what the difference is between the Spirit presented in the setting of water, and in the setting of [p. 287] oil?
JT Oil would be what is applied externally, whereas the water, in John 4, refers to our drinking and implies satisfaction. In a sense it would be the same thing, only that the Spirit is used, in the oil, as external to give dignity. “Now he that ... has anointed us, is God”, 2 Corinthians 1: 21.
Ques Would water have also the thought of purification in view, whereas oil would be more the thought of spiritual dignity?
JT That is what I would think. Water would be cleansing, but I am sure the dignity is in the oil.
JCT Would the saints as viewed as “sons of oil” afford conditions for the enjoyment of things now?
JT That is the connection in Zechariah.
Ques Would it be right to say in connection with the mount of Olives, that it is not only the spot upon which we enter the spiritual sphere in view of the service of God, but it is to give character to those that are engaged in the testimony here? Is that somewhat the view of it in the Acts?
JT I think we might see now, in view of all that we have said, that they come from Olivet. In the gospels where we read, they go to it, but now they are coming from it, and they are coming into the upper room. That, I would think, is where the testimony lies and we come out of heaven, so to speak, from the realm of the Spirit, in order to bear testimony. Hence, if we apply it in this practical way, when we have prayer on the Lord’s day evening, it is a question of what we are coming into now. We have the Lord’s supper, and entrance into all there is with His Father, but as coming from Olivet, we are coming out from all that, and coming down to the level of the testimony. So they come to the upper room from Olivet but it is still the upper room, implying elevation in testimony.
If it is a question of the testimony, we must think of gift. When it is the question of the Lord’s supper and the service of God, that is Godward and you are not [p. 288] thinking of gift so much as the affections; but when you think of the testimony, preaching or teaching, for instance, you must think of the gifts, because you cannot teach or preach without gift. Teaching is a gift, and preaching is a gift, and hence the importance of gift in all these matters. So that when they come down from Olivet, it was a question of gift and of the power there was for the testimony. That is the way I would look at it.
Ques Is that why these persons are named? It says, “both Peter, and John”. There is room for them both, and then these others, all named persons.
JT We have to go back to Matthew and Mark and Luke to get these persons in other settings, but here, I am sure, it is a question of the position of Olivet; that is, the power of the Spirit in public testimony. Hence the importance of these persons. Even the Lord’s mother is there in her dignity, and certain other women; we are not told who these women were, but they are there. It shows how sisters have a place in the public testimony.
Ques Does it correspond morally with the idea of the holy city, new Jerusalem, “coming down out of the heaven from God”, and coming into the sphere of testimony and display in the millennium?
JT Yes. “Coming down ... from God”.
WC Would those mentioned in verse 14 suggest the saints generally supporting the testimony? It is not gifted persons, but mostly women, and, it says, with His brethren. There is substance in the saints generally which is available in the way of support.
JT That would make way, I would think, for the children even. I was sitting beside a little child this morning and I was very struck with how he took things in, all that passed at the Lord’s supper. How important is this matter of support with the children in the households, in their prayers on the Lord’s day evenings for the gifted persons who go out to preach. These young [p. 289] people know that such-and-such has been invited to preach, and he is a gifted man. They get the idea of the gifted men, and what does that mean? They ought to ask, and they will, but the question is, what answer do they get? So here the women would be the persons who would carry the whole position in prayer. “These gave themselves all with one accord to continual prayer, with several women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren”. Mary was the one who knew most about Jesus in a certain sense, and how she would join in the support of the testimony of the gifted men. The gifted men must be supported by what we have enjoyed in the morning at the Lord’s supper in the place of privilege, and then in the afternoon, what we are having just now, in instruction by the Scriptures, and then the prayer that follows and the children coming into it, and the wives coming into it. The whole position is thus carried, and heaven is in it. The upper room being in Jerusalem is connected with the public position. The position is there and known to be there, because they are staying there; it is not a visit. The apostles, these great men; for they were great potentially; and then these great women too, and the prayers, are all known to be in that position. That position is now fixed and known to be there.
JCW If there was a more real continual prayer we might expect more results from the preaching.
JT The Lord has greatly aided us in connecting the prayer meeting, having it on the second day of the week; that is the Monday. We have all the savour of the Lord’s day, at least we may assume that, if we are really exercised in continuing in the fellowship. From the fifth chapter on to the tenth chapter of 1 Corinthians, it is a question of continuance, involving discipline, but continuance in the fellowship. Then we have the question of headship; that is, the head covered, and then the coming together of the saints for prayer. So that the whole position really in the first and second epistles to [p. 290] the Corinthians is a public matter. It is what God has. These women, I believe, that are mentioned here with the Lord’s mother, all imply that there is a public position. It is a Jerusalem position, although a dignified position. The upper room is just a suggestion of dignity. It is lifted out of the ordinary level of the streets of Jerusalem, but the thing is public. I think it is just as well to have in our minds that there is such a thing as a public position. Even although we are very small according to what there was at the beginning, yet, in some sense, the thing is public. Then there is the thought of continual prayer. It is known that we are a praying people. Other things are known too, and it would be a poor thing if they were not known. The better known they are the better, and the better known they are the more power there will be.
Rem In chapter 2 they evidently heard them speak the wondrous things of God, so the public thing is obviously there.
PL “Clothed with power from on high”.
CW As coming from the mount of Olives the preacher would get the gospel message from that level?
JT That is right. Then we are to bring the children into the matter. How susceptible they are even to the most elevated thoughts! They may get away from them, but in time, through God’s mercy, they come back, and we can count on God to bring them back to their earliest thoughts. So the kneeling down in the houses on the Lord’s day evening for prayer, just before the preaching, I think, is highly pleasing to heaven. Children may not know that, but the Spirit of God is active all the time, heaven is by us to help us to bring up our children. We begin with the thought of our children being holy (1 Corinthians 7: 14). The children of believing parents are regarded as holy, and therefore there is room for the Spirit to operate [p. 291] in the house.
JOS Would you say that in the absence of her husband the wife would carry on the service of prayer in the household?
JT As serving thus she would need to have her head covered. She is to have on her head a symbol of authority (1 Corinthians 11: 10); that is, the authority which she recognises, and which extends back through her husband to Christ, and from Christ to God. In the recognition of this there is power.