THE ECONOMY AND THE SERVICE OF GOD

^[p. 250] THE ECONOMY AND THE SERVICE OF GOD

1 Corinthians 8: 5, 6; John 3: 35; John 10: 14, 15; John 17: 26

JT The verses in Corinthians deal with fundamentals, the divine order in the assembly resulting from God having entered into the economy in which we are, the Father, the Son and the Spirit. These verses in chapter 8 are linked on with verses 24 and 28 in chapter 15 showing the end in the mind of God in the economy: “Then the end, when he gives up the kingdom to him who is God and Father; when he shall have annulled all rule and all authority and power” (verse 24), and “But when all things shall have been brought into subjection to him, then the Son also himself shall be placed in subjection to him who put all things in subjection to him, that God may be all in all” (verse 28). These two verses give the end in mind. Chapter 8 contemplates idolatry around us. In view of the service of God we have one God stressed, the Father, and one Lord, Jesus Christ. Of God it is, “Of whom all things, and we for him”; and of the Lord, “by whom are all things, and we by him”. The position is therefore plainly defined in the economy, that the Father, God, is supreme; the Son, the Mediator and Administrator of all, is Lord.

Then in John’s gospel, the Lord’s place is confirmed and enlarged upon, based on love, “The Father loves the Son, and has given all things to be in his hand”. Chapter 10 shows how He is working things out as thus delivered to Him. Chapter 17 contemplates the end in mind corresponding with what we have in Corinthians. “I have made known to them thy name, and will make it known; that the love with which thou hast loved me may be in them and I in them”, I think we need help as to how the service ^[p. 251] of God proceeds, how God is supreme and viewed as the object of the service; and how Christ as Lord effectuates everything, “By whom are all things, and we by him”. He has brought us into existence as in the service and John shows how all is in love. The Father loves the Son. The Son by Himself is an object of worship: “He is thy Lord, and worship thou him” (Psalm 45: 11); but in the service properly, God is the object of worship. God is finally seen in 1 Corinthians 15 as God, and the Son is in subjection, maintaining everything for God. Things are given to be in His hand; they are never taken out of His hand. He takes up a place of subjection so that God may be all in all and in a moral sense; thus God is reached in the assembly.

CEB Is there a difference between “we for him” and “we by him”?

JT Yes, there is, the prepositions are not the same, “We for him” means we are for God: “of him, and through him, and for him are all things”, “By” is in regard of the Son. The Son effectuates everything and, of course, He is God, too, but here it is, “There is one God, the Father, of whom all things”, and that is the source. Then “we for him”, that is, our existence has that in mind, that we are for God, and that existence is brought about by the Son, “One Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things and we by him”.

CEB Would this greatly help us in relation to the service of God?

JT Well, that is the point. We are to come definitely to the Lord as on our side in the service. Viewed as Lord in the early part of the service, He is an object of worship, “He is thy Lord, and worship thou him”. But the ground of service properly reached as on our side is with Christ in the midst of the assembly. He is not singing to Himself, He is singing to God. We should be there with Him.

^[p. 252] Ques Would you say a little as to that, not singing to Himself?

JT In the Supper we sing to Him rightly, because it is the Lord’s supper, not Christ’s supper. It is a question of His dominical position, and we rightly sing to Him. But as we enter on the ground of service intelligently, He is on our side. He is not alongside the Father, to be worshipped with the Father. He is on our side, singing to the Father.

Ques With regard to the thought of the Father, would you say a word as to the setting in Corinthians, “To us there is one God, the Father”?

JT It is to bring out the position of our service, the public side of it. There are two sides, the public and the secret or inward side. The public side is, “There is one God”. As it says expressly here, “Whether in heaven or on earth, (as there are gods many, and lords many)”. That is to bring out the position of christianity as to one God. So at Corinth we might find a christian assembly, a Jewish synagogue and an idol temple in the same street. One visits each place. He comes to the christian assembly and he finds the true God there. The others have not got the true God. So it is a very important test in that regard as to our public position. One comes and sees for himself that the true God is there.

SC Does the word “we for him” connect with the opening of the epistle, “the assembly of God”, what is for God in the place?

JT Quite so. Whatever we are for God, Christ has effected it. Then He has effected that too what we are as brethren, so that we are by Him. He has brought us in before God.

JWS He has brought us into the place of sonship.

JT Yes, quite so, that is the supreme thought. Whatever we are for God, He has effected ^[p. 253] it.

JWS While God is the originator and source of everything, the Lord Jesus seems to be the One by whom He brings everything into being and effectuates it.

JT That is true. It is Christ as Man, too. Christ was the One who created everything. But as things are now in the economy into which God has come, it is Christ as Man who has effected everything.

JWS Then as to prayer: do we address the Father in prayer, for instance, in the prayer meeting when speaking of His interests, or would you address the Lord in connection with service?

JT I would address both, but it is well to be reminded that the scriptures which indicate that the Lord is to be prayed to are much fewer than those referring to God. Scripture attests that the Lord is to be prayed to, but God is more the object than the Son.

CEB Does the understanding of the economy help as to addressing divine Persons?

JT I think so. See what it says here, “one God, the Father”. It is the service of God, and the public position is that, God’s assembly. Individual divine Persons are appearing in it; but two of Them have taken, for the carrying out of divine purposes, subordinate positions; and we ought to learn from that, and make God all-supreme. The Lord’s supper is exceptional because it is said to be His. So it gives Him His place as Lord at the beginning of our service, but He is set for God. He is thinking of God, because that is His side of the matter, “By whom are all things”, so that the tenor of Scripture is to bring out how He effects things, we by Him.

RD You have mentioned the Lord being on our side in the service of God. In that way, is praise linked with God? Is that a portion for God?

JT That is the way it is said, “In the midst of the assembly will I sing thy praises”, Hebrews 2: 12. And, “Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me”, Psalm 50: 23.

Rem “No one comes to the Father unless by me”, John 14: 6.

JT Just so. That is all mediatorial. You can see how it works out. The Father loves the Son and has given all things to be in His hand — that is the position. Then chapter 4 shows how it operates. The woman at the well affords an opportunity to the Lord to show how He produces worshippers, so that with the woman her existence spiritually is by Christ. The whole gospel is on those lines.

Ques With regard to the last question, would Psalm 22 help, “Thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel”?

JT That is what Christ says to Him on the cross. He has taken that matter on; “In the midst of the assembly will I sing thy praises”. This has often been spoken of. It is needful to have it before us more and more so that we may understand the economy in which we are set, each of us owes his existence to Christ, what He has effected for God. All is for God.

CEB Reference has been made to Hebrews 2: 12, “I will declare thy name to my brethren; in the midst of the assembly will I sing thy praises”. Is that the Lord who is singing there?

JT Yes, certainly. It is quoted from Psalm 22. That is the point that He is working out. He spoke about worshippers to the woman in John 4. He did not speak of her as one yet; He has in mind that she is to be one. We often remark as to why He spoke to her of such an exalted truth. She says, “I perceive that thou art a prophet”, and I think chapter 6 touches on Psalm 22, because Peter says, “We have believed and known that thou art the holy one of God”. That is an allusion to Aaron (Psalm 106: 16). That enters into all that follows and what preceded it, too, Peter’s discerning that He is the Holy One of God. Exodus 21 shows Christ typically as taking the ^[p. 255] ground of a bondman on the principle of love, He would operate on the principle of love, loving Master, wife and children. That is the lowly place that He took, but it is in love. Chapter 28 shows that He is clothed with dignity in the priesthood. He is the bondman, but clothed with dignity in the priesthood. He is clothed with garments of glory and beauty. We have to understand that in the assembly, but what underlies it is, He is the Holy One of God, He is the Priest. He does not sing to Himself; the Father, God, is in mind.

RD The Lord as on our side is moving in connection with praise going up to God.

JT He is not on our side in the Supper itself. It is the Lord’s supper, and what we are as His brethren does not apply in this part of the service. As He takes on that line as God’s Son, we are also sons, and all is for God now. That is where the brethren, one fears, are defective. The entrance on the second side of the service is so uncertain in many instances. The Supper properly is for the Lord. That is, He has His own share in us. He certainly has rights in us, including marital relations with us. He has all these rights, the rights of His love, but as He comes in and is apprehended, it is in relation to us, that is the assembly as such, and He looks for response in that relation. The Canticles fit in there instructively and there is no reference to God. It is all the feminine and masculine speakers. The Lord’s supper is to the Lord, but when that part is over, He indicates that we are related to Him as His brethren, and we are related to God as His sons, and He is a Son, too. It is then that the thing turns; we get on the line of the service of God properly. That is where I observe great defect among the brethren, how to distinguish that particular juncture, “One Lord”, it is instrumental; “by” is instrumental, He is effecting things for ^[p. 256] God.

GE What link would the covenant have on this line of which you are speaking?

JT It comes in early. It comes in in the cup. It includes every stage or growth in the company. The covenant is usually found in relation to Jewish christians and it has in mind to deliver us from judaism, that sort of thing. Drinking is enjoyment, satisfaction, so that we go on happily and freely. It has no place in the family side, the Father and the Son, but it helps us to go on to that side of the service.

CEB You spoke of marital affections. Does that come in after the covenant?

JT Before and after. In the type of Zipporah, her father brought her to Moses before the covenant was made. Zipporah comes in in Exodus 18. We get in Romans that we may, be to Another. That comes in early, that is a collective thought.

Ques Considering our defective apprehension of these things, would it help us to see that the Lord would not lead us back after addressing the Father to address Himself?

JT Never. Hymns are difficult, because they mix things. The writers did not discern the things which we mention now. The Lord would help us to discriminate in that. The idea of priesthood is to do that, to discriminate, to lay aside for the moment what does not fit this part of the service.

Rem You have used the word ‘oscillation’. One has found the tendency to this in oneself.

JT The Lord is helping the brethren very much, but still it is difficult. The crucial part is when we move on to God. The end is with God. God and Father and finally it is God, God all in all.

Rem So that we should reach to that in spirit now.

JT That is the thought, the spirit of adoption. We speak to God and the Father, then we ought to proceed on these lines and keep to that. God represents ^[p. 257] the Deity properly, and Lord represents authority, lordship; and therefore, when we come to the service, the Lord has brought us in before God because we are for Him. We are for God. Obviously, therefore, the end in the meeting is that, and the Lord is working for it. We should be clear in our minds so as not to baffle each other by our thanksgivings or our hymns.

SC What is the thought in Ephesians 2: 18, “For through him we have both access by one Spirit to the Father”? What is the thought in “through him”?

JT That means His priestly office. Instrumentality is there again. Through Him, we both, that is Jews and gentiles, have access by one Spirit to the Father. The Son and the Spirit are subservient. We draw near to God by the Son and the Spirit.

Ques I would like some help as to the Father. You referred to the passage in Corinthians, “One God, the Father”, as in the public setting. Would you say a word as to the Father as presented in John?

JT Until we come to John 20, He is never called our Father. He is the Father: “The Father loves the Son”. He is known as the Father, and that runs through the gospel, until chapter 20. The Lord calls Him His Father, and of course that is the secret of being the Father. The general position in the Deity is the Father, and Christ calls Him His Father in John; whereas in Matthew the saints call Him Father, but that refers to the kingdom and affairs down here. John is aiming at the eternal state of things — chapter 20, “I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God”. That is the eternal state of things. That does not refer to the ordinary affairs down here at all.

GE In your reference to the Father in John, are you thinking that John opens up the economy before bringing us into ^[p. 258] it?

JT Yes. The economy is clearly set out. In John’s gospel, chapter 20 is the change of position in Christ risen and ascended, in principle. He is our Father in chapter 20, whereas Paul constantly brings in that He is our Father. In Matthew He is our Father, but not in John until we come to chapter 20. John is dealing with the spiritual side of things and how the economy culminates in that. The economy never ceases really. Eternal relations never stop.

Rem “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father”, John 14: 9.

JT It is all working up to that, so that the knowledge of the Father is what the Lord is speaking of. He brings in the Father. “The Father seeks such as his worshippers”. Not your Father, but the Father. He is His Father, but the Father in the Deity because He is not incarnate. The Lord says, “The Father judgeth no man”. That shows it is a limited thought. The Father was perfectly revealed in the Son. He is bringing to their attention what the Father is.

GE I was thinking, with regard to the great thought of sonship which is in view, that we may be clear that we are sons from the divine side, but not have reached it on the moral side.

JT Quite so. The moral side comes first and that is what the woman in John 4 represents. If you preach the gospel, you take that ground; you should be sent, too. The Lord says, “I will make you fishers of men”. Moral questions have to be raised with us. The Lord had spoken of His Person to her: “If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that says to thee, Give me to drink”. “I who speak to thee am he”. She does not speak of Him on that ground. It is on the moral side: “Come, see a man who told me all things I had ever done: is not he the Christ?” They were affected by what she said. It would be light in their souls. Paul keeps to that.

He says, ‘I am the chief of sinners’. Yet he was the sent one.

Ques Would you say a little as to how far we move as regards hymns in the service? “Having sung a hymn they went out to the mount of Olives”. Can we move, in accordance with our hymns of praise, to higher ground?

JT Quite so. The point there is mutual feeling. The Lord is there, but He is not mentioned. It is a point of power in the meeting when we are able to move together. He is there, of course, but He is not mentioned. Luke would indicate He took them there, but in Mark and Matthew it does not say so. It is the mutual thought which is very precious in the service of God. In the Lord’s supper, the tendency is to bring us into mutual feeling with one another so that we move together in affection and intelligence, so that the first mention of praise, according to Jehovah’s own account, is “The morning stars sang together”, Job 38: 7. That is, we move together. The Lord had them with Him; they sang a hymn and went to the mount of Olives, and they are moving together. One of the most important things is to be together in the service. That makes room for the Lord because He has got us together and now He may, as it were, sing in the midst of the assembly. He attaches the idea of the assembly to that. The mount of Olives is not Jerusalem. The Lord’s supper is in Jerusalem, but the service of God is out of it, it is on heavenly ground. I mean the service of God in the spiritual side.

FJA Is the thought of the Father connected with resurrection or ascension? It is in connection with “I ascend”, that He speaks of “My Father and your Father”.

JT That is right, “I ascend unto my Father”. He says to Mary, “I have not yet ascended to my Father; but go to my brethren and say to them,

^[p. 260] I ascend to my Father and your Father”. That is the position now in John 20. There, the Lord is entirely on our side, and after that hymns and thanksgivings that bring the Lord in as an object of worship only confuse. All these chapters lead up to the 17th, where the Lord says, “I have made known to them thy name, and will make it known; that the love with which thou hast loved me may be in them and I in them” (verse 26). That is the finished thought. That is how matters are to stand.

Rem ‘Every knee to Jesus bending’ does not go quite far enough.

JT That is out of place in the part of the service of which we are speaking now. People might think that is defining things too extremely, but on the principle of priesthood there is that careful defining. The priest knows exactly what fits, so the book of Leviticus does not come before Exodus, because God is to be known in the sanctuary. Then as regards what we bring, the priest is there to see that what is done is according to God and governed by right principles.

JB In what place does headship come in?

JT The headship of Christ is a great general thought, not only applicable to the Lord’s service. God has given “him to be head over all things to the assembly, which is His body”. But then He is Head of His body in Colossians. So according to Colossians, headship must come in and it can only be operative, as far as I see, collectively, when we have reached the mutual feeling, the mutual side, where we move together. The Lord can move us all inwardly.

JB I was thinking of the transference from priesthood to headship.

JT Priesthood always remains while we are down here; headship is a further thought, it would mean we have come to the thought of the organism in a practical way. It is represented in the bread,

^[p. 261] but we come into it in a practical way in spiritual power. They sang a hymn and went. The Lord is in the midst; He is not doing anything, but they are moving. The thing is, there, that they are going in the right direction.

CEB With regard to the priest, do we need the priest to sustain us in this service?

JT We do, “His left hand would be under my head, and his right hand embrace me”, Song of Songs 8: 3. That is early, but you feel the need of it all the time, and as long as we are down here in flesh and blood. The more spiritual you are, the less you are conscious of the need of it.

Ques Is that limited to down here? I was thinking of what you have quoted, “His left hand would be under my head”.

JT We shall not need that when we are perfected. It is while we are down here that we need that, but I do not think priesthood will go on. The likeness of His body of glory, raised in power, is what is in view. We have little conception of what we shall be, “When he shall appear, we shall be like him”, 1 John 3: 2.

GE You would say what is mediatorial will go on.

JT I think so. Everything must depend on Christ as Man, a system taken up in Him where He is the centre of everything and the final thought is that God may be all in all. Christ has brought all this about, it is “by him”. He brings everything into subjection and then He takes the place of subjection Himself. God is all in all, meaning we are full of Him. There is no vacuum at all, no room for any reminiscences of any kind; we are full of Him, of all the fulness of God.

ECM Does 2 Chronicles fit in? The priests could not stand to ^[p. 262] minister.

JT That is the thought. The house and the temple are representative of ourselves. They are all suitable to God.

ECM I was thinking of what it says, “When the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one voice to be heard ...” and I was wondering if John 4 is like a reference to the instruments which David made, and then they are brought into the service.

JT Yes. These singers and the instruments symbolise ourselves. The persons are in mind, what the Lord has made us. It is a very important thought, He has made every one of us. By Him, we are there. Joseph brought five of his brethren in before Pharaoh, he did not bring the whole eleven in. It is to indicate how He brings us in as suitable. He is not ashamed to call us brethren.

CEB Is there a present service in what the Lord is doing in the assembly? “I have made known to them thy name, and will make it known”.

JT Yes, “Will make it known” is probably chapter 20, but there is the practical carrying of that out all the time with us. “I have manifested thy name”. Making the name known is the Lord bringing the thing home to us on the principle of teaching. ‘I have made it known’, so there is place for the love of God. Have you ever thought of the kinds of love there are in Scripture? There is the love of Christ, the love of the Spirit and the love of God, and then the Father’s love for the Son, which is, I suppose, the highest kind of love. You can see that must be the finished thought.

FS Are we slow to really take in the wondrous purpose of God, that we are “for him”?

JT Well, we are called to the position. He is doing it; He is bringing it about. Think of the creation, for instance. Not one thing made without Him. Think of all that, the vastness of it! Every thing is by Him. He knew what God required. He ^[p. 263] has brought it all in, just as it is going on all these centuries. There is no failure in it at all. Now it is the moral side that is working, just doing the same thing, as Man, bringing everything into existence spiritually. We shall all appear in that day, and there will be no lack whatever; God will say, That is what I want.

Rem “We are his workmanship”. There is no flaw in that.

JT That is going on. God has His pattern and He goes on with it. Discipline comes in because we are not leaving ourselves in His hands.

Ques What is the thought in “I in them”? In chapter 14, the Lord says, “I in you”, but here it is, “I in them”.

JT These scriptures fit together. “In that day ye shall know”, John 14: 20. That is the present day, the day of the Spirit. “Ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you”, but in this verse it is, “the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them”. That is, He is in us as having the same kind of love that the Father had for Him. You can see how He is in Him.

Ques Would that correspond with the prayer in Ephesians 3? “That the Christ may dwell, through faith, in your hearts”.

JT That is right. It is the Christ there, meaning that He operates. He is doing everything.