LEVITICAL SERVICE
[p. 46] LEVITICAL SERVICE
John 4:28 - 38; John 6:67 - 71; John 21:20 - 23
JT The consideration of levitical service would be helpful at the present time, and the question was whether it should be taken up from the official side or from the moral aspect, and I thought John presents things in the latter way as in a day of brokenness. We have to arrive at the truth now through him, so that, in referring to those who serve, he avoids official designations and brings forward vessels who are moved at the outset more from instinct and affection. He begins with John the baptist, who had a very great official place, but in recording the facts relative to his ministry, he emphasizes John’s own estimate of himself, which showed that he had a true estimate of himself and avoided the snares that were laid for him. He records of him: “he confessed, and denied not; but confessed, I am not the Christ” (chapter 1:20). So as to the Lord’s conversation with this woman of Samaria the result in her, I thought, suggested how in a broken day the levitical service begins. We see the need and we are impelled, according to our measure, to meet it, without assuming anything beyond that. This woman was serving; the official ones were out of communion. They wondered that the Lord talked with the woman. They had been occupied in an expedition to buy meat while He was carrying on alone the work of God; so the incident leads to His calling their attention to the fact that they were entering on other men’s labours; they were not the starters of the movement.
Ques What do you mean by levitical service?
JT Well, service which recognizes the rights of the Lord Jesus, that is, His rights in redemption, and His rights to direct and lead, excluding man altogether. The selection of the tribe of Levi at the outset suggested the rights of God in a very special way. The firstborn belonged to Him, and He takes over the tribe of Levi [p. 47] instead of the firstborn in Israel, and then He gives them over to Aaron and his sons for the service of the sanctuary. That is what levitical service is. We reach it through John in a most interesting way, but even so I think we should be governed by the light which governed this service at the outset. John the Baptist being brought forward in such a prominent way, according to his own estimate of himself, is a sort of ideal in John’s gospel; he is one who refuses to take any place personally, and eventually goes down rejoicing in the light of the heavenly One. He directed souls from himself to Christ.
Ques Is there any force in the fact that those who ask him, “Who art thou”, came from Jerusalem?
JT It was a great opportunity for John to assert himself. The religious leaders of the day took notice of him, which is always very ensnaring, but he was not caught by it.
Ques Would you say that the “true light” (chapter 1:9) of the gospel of John is spiritual? You were speaking of levitical service being governed by what is spiritual.
JT John’s gospel is peculiarly spiritual. The Lord at the outset began by looking on Simon. John records that He looked on him and gave him a name; there was something noticeable to the Lord’s eye. The nearer we are to God the more we shall be able to designate things that are of God. I think we may say that in the woman of Samaria levitical instincts developed at once.
Ques Do you mean that it needs spiritual understanding to take up John 4?
JT Yes. The Levites were all firstborn ones, so that they had great dignity at the outset. I think the Spirit of God indicates that the woman was governed by levitical instinct in going to the men of the city. At the same time the disciples were questioning why He spoke [p. 48] with her Would those instincts be promoted by the exposure of her state by the Lord?
JT A Man had come distinctly before her. She had been occupied with men. She did not go beyond her measure. She just said: “Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?” She began by suggesting something, presenting it in the form of an inquiry.
Ques What do you see in the fact of her presenting it in the form of an inquiry?
JT An inquiry which induces an affirmative is often the best way of enforcing the truth.
Rem A prophet had spoken and she speaks of a prophet.
JT She did not get beyond that, and she expresses the inquiry: “Is not this the Christ?” But I understand the Lord would raise the whole question of service. First, He says to the disciples that He had meat to eat that they knew not of. That was a very humbling thing to draw their attention to. His meat was to do the will of Him that sent Him and to finish His work. The disciples wondered that He talked with a woman; they were out of communion. He had meat that they knew not of. They had gone away into the city to buy meat. There is no indication that they all needed to go, but apparently they all did go; so that the work of God for the moment, as far as they were concerned, was left. The Lord was left to do it and to finish it.
Ques Why do you emphasize to finish it?
JT The Lord does not care for anything that is not finished.
HFN How do you view the thought of the work being finished in the light of John’s ministry?
JT Well, He pursues things to a finish. Take the first chapters; you have the complete idea of the work of God ending in millennial joy. The third day is the final day. Then in chapter 12 the great testimony [p. 49] of life is seen in result in that group at Bethany; and so chapter 13 has its result in chapter 20. Likewise in regard to Peter, who, according to this gospel, is the only one who received a definite commission, the work is completed in him. The Lord bottoms everything with him before He gives him his work. Then in John’s own service the end is in view. “If I will that he tarry till I come” (chapter 20:22). John is held in reserve, I apprehend, for the finishing touches in a mysterious way at the end, which I have no doubt we are experiencing now. The final touches are seen in his ministry. Things are finished by the Lord through him, so that the assembly is seen in its completeness in his writings (Revelation 21).
HFN In linking that up you were speaking of the thought of food — meat to eat. Are you suggesting the peculiar kind of food to promote this levitical service?
JT Levitical food is in doing the will of God in service. He had that to eat that they did not know about. There was meat that they knew not of. “Lo, I come, (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will” (Hebrews 10:7). That is really the foundation of all books. That was the secret with the Lord, the secret into which we are to be brought, because the work of God is one whole. The Lord places the disciples in a humbling position when He says: “other men laboured, and ye are entered into their labours”. It was a very humbling thing to be reminded that they had entered on other men’s labours. It is not the inauguration of things here at all. Even as to His own work, the Lord says: “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work” (John 5:17).
JBC-l Have you in mind that especially in John’s gospel you get the character of spiritual affections, and support for those affections, that are engaged with the service of God in a levitical way?
JT That is suggestive. This woman is evidently touched, and the Lord bases His commission to Peter on: “lovest thou me?” (John 21:15). “Peter, turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following”. That was the man that was held in reserve. “What shall this man do? Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me” (John 21:20 - 22).
JBC-l Do you think that “Follow thou me” involves the essence of John’s ministry?
JT Yes, love follows; following is a feature of John’s ministry. At the beginning of the gospel the Lord turned and saw the two following, and when He saw them following, He said, “What seek ye?” as if He indicated His appreciation of the idea of following.
JBC-l Is that line of levitical service necessary in the filling of the vessel? Chapter 4 is interesting in that connection. You spoke of the woman as having a beginning. Does she not find that the Lord is filling her vessel?
JT Yes, she is set right as to her body. Obviously we cannot be levites without bodies, and bodies purified; so the woman left her waterpot. She might conveniently have taken it back with her filled for ordinary uses, but she observed the Lord’s remarks that her body was to be a vessel and one with living water in it, “the water that I shall give him shall be in him”, hence it says, she left her waterpot.
PL Would the levitical company in the last chapter of Romans suggest those who had been set right in regard to their bodies?
JT Yes; the subject begins in chapter 6 and is taken up in chapter 12, where the body is to be a living sacrifice, and hence in John 4 the servant must have a true estimate of himself. Whatever one does is done in intelligence according to the measure which God has apportioned; so that the question in this chapter is the vessel. The apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 4:7 enlarges on it. He speaks of the treasure that he had in it. The woman is not yet assuming to be anything [p. 51] but the thing was there and Paul works it out in his own case in saying: “we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us”. But he begins by saying, “seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not” (verse 1); so that the vessel is most important to begin with. Not only is it to be pure, but it is to be in life, for this is the feature of John 4.
WHB I suppose that this woman, in her former state, was devoted to herself, and now she is devoted to God.
JT She is a vessel now, a vessel energized by life, for the Lord had spoken of that to her. I was remarking on the importance of the vessel. Unless our vessels are right, we cannot serve. This chapter settles the question of the vessel.
MWB Is that one of the ideas in the “firstborn”, the claiming of the vessel?
JT Yes. The Lord had in view the service of the tabernacle. It is a very important question as to our vessels, for the Lord will not take us up as we were. In John 6 Peter is the spokesman and he recognizes “the holy one of God”; he says, “Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast words of life eternal”. That is the One who is carrying on the work of God, so that the Lord there addresses the twelve. It is the nearest approach to an official recognition.
MWB Have you brought this case before us to suggest the initial features of levitical service, the vessel being for God?
JT Yes; we cannot be in it unless our vessels are right. The Levites were put into the work at twenty-five years; but they were not recognized fully until they were thirty. One has to take up things and see how others serve. Now the apostle Paul began his service in Damascus. There is no indication that the Lord told him to preach there. He did not receive his commission until he had laboured a whole year [p. 52] at Antioch, but he began to preach that Jesus is the Son of God in the synagogues of Damascus. Wherever there was an open door, he took advantage of it.
MWB Is that what you meant by instinctive service?
JT Yes. I think it indicates John the evangelist’s idea as presented in John the baptist. At Damascus Paul preached from a full heart. His heart was gained; he had come into the light of the Son of God — One who loved him and gave Himself for him.
RW Would the little maid in Naaman’s house be a vessel secured?
JT Exactly; that is good.
HFN Is it right to connect Chronicles, and the way David views the Levites, with the way levitical service is presented in John, and Numbers more with Mark?
JT I think that is helpful. You find the Spirit of God reaches David very early in Chronicles. He reaches him in chapter 3. David thought about the ark, “Lo, we heard of it at Ephratah: we found it in the fields of the wood”, (Psalm 132). There is the man, and he gives the Levites their work.
HFN Would the reduction of the age of the Levites in David’s day have a special reference to the present moment in view of John’s ministry?
JT I think the work was less strenuous in David’s day. He says specifically that they did not need to carry things. I think the suggestion is right, because the Lord says, “I will put upon you none other burden”. They were set in the service at twenty in David’s day and there were twenty-four courses. Some of them had to look after the treasures and take care of what men who had afterwards gone wrong had dedicated. They had to look after what David had dedicated, what Samuel had dedicated, what Joab had dedicated,
[p. 53] and what Abner had dedicated. Three of those men had fallen out of the ranks, yet what they had dedicated was not to be lost, and that was part of the Levites’ work. You cannot ignore what a brother was before he fell; what he dedicated then must be preserved; that is to say, David would have nothing lost; everything is gathered up and preserved under him (1 Chronicles 26:26 - 28).
PL Do you see that spirit in the Lord Himself gathering out of Israel every living thought that God had put there and transferring it to the assembly?
JT Other men had laboured. The result of the work of God as seen in the Old Testament is recognized and gathered up. All is treasured in the assembly, and the levites are to know this. We cannot afford to lose anything that is of God.
I think the suggestion is most helpful, that Chronicles fits in with John. It is a deeply interesting book; it fits into a time of recovery. The use of the numeral “twenty-four” indicates a leading feature of David’s testimony. There was a new order of things, but it included all that God had previously introduced. All that came out under Moses is there, and the last chapter of 1 Chronicles is most expressive in that way as showing how David recognized that all that had been dedicated was from God Himself (verse 16). God has done everything; the more you advance spiritually the more you recognize that everything emanates from God, and that the work is His; what is the little bit that I do? God really does all, although He graciously credits each with the part he may have in it.
HFN I would like to get help on your second point, as to how the “holy one of God” would relate to levitical service.
JT Peter says: “we have believed and known that thou art the holy one of God”. We see in Peter the woman’s spiritual history continued, although [p. 54] many things have intervened. The Lord says: “Will ye also go away?”; and Peter says, “Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast words of life eternal”. Thou hast them. Peter had recognized the Lord had things; the things are connected with the Person; that is, Peter’s reference is to his knowledge of the Lord personally. But then he says, “we have believed and known”. That is past. It refers to the past but it is carried on; “we have believed and known that thou art the holy one of God”. That is to say, Peter is, so to speak, a levite. It refers to past but continued experience.
DLH What is the present force of the “holy one of God”? Even the demons recognized the Lord thus.
JT Yes, in Mark, the man possessed of the demon and all the vile sentiments that the demon would produce in a man was in the synagogue. The Lord commanded him to come out and he came out with a loud cry, as if he resented having to do it; but he had to submit, and coming out he acknowledged that the Lord was the “holy one of God” (Mark 1:24); the man was in the synagogue in an unholy way, but not to be so henceforth. If the Lord took him up he would be holy. So here it is not “the Christ, the Son of the living God”, but “the holy one of God”, which I suppose would refer back to the Old Testament. That is what Messiah was to be (Psalm 89:18,19).
JJ Would it suggest, “Aaron the saint of the Lord” (Psalm 106), do you think?
JT I think so. That is what Aaron was, but it has reference to the Lord Himself, as in Psalm 16:10. It says: “thou wilt not ... suffer thine Holy One to see corruption”.
JJ You referred to the Levites being handed over to the priests.
JT Well, they were, and this implies the need of holiness. I think Peter in this way represents true [p. 55] levitical understanding apart altogether from what happened later when he received his commission. When he said, “we have believed and known that thou art the holy one of God”, he had come to that conclusion. In the other evangelists, Peter is challenged more formally and he answers the Lord directly, but this is in keeping with John, because the work of God is to be carried on in a holy way.
MWB Is that only obtained by experience with and knowledge of the Lord?
JT I think so. One feels for oneself, how wanting one is in this respect.
WHB Would Peter’s words suggest the teaching of chapter 6?
JT No doubt. I suppose the teaching in John is progressive and cumulative; that is, Peter’s confession here follows on from chapter 4. It is a great advance on the woman’s testimony.
MWB Then, is the first case the instinctive movements or beginnings of levitical service and this rather full development?
JT I think so. It suggests the position held by Eleazar. He represents the spirituality of the priesthood. Peter had come to that; the Lord is really the “prince of princes of the Levites”, (Numbers 3:32). So that the question is how one is handling the things of God, whether we allow our minds to work. Look about on christendom and see how the things of God are handled! How many unholy men are engaged in levitical work! And so I think Peter shows that he had come to apprehend what the Lord was in carrying on the work of God.
DLH Would Moses be on somewhat similar lines when called to the service of delivering the people? He had to learn that he must take his shoes from off his feet (Exodus 3:5).
JT Just so, and so with Joshua (Joshua 5:[p. 56] 15).
Rem 1 Peter 1:15 says: “as he who has called you is holy, be ye also holy in all your conversation”.
JT Yes. The Levites had to be particularly holy; they were all called to holiness. It is remarkable that in Romans the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, and in the beginning of the epistle Christ is declared to be the Son of God according to the Spirit of holiness by resurrection.
Ques Does Judas come in as a warning?
JT The Lord referred to Judas. That there should be such among the people of God is a most solemn consideration. “One of you is a devil”.
Ques This holiness that Peter appreciated would be the development of what the woman felt?
JT That is what I thought. The truth is presented in a progressive way. The teaching really begins in chapter 3, because “born of water” involves holiness. Peter had come to apprehend that Jesus was the Holy One of God. That would be before him and I have no doubt he was brought to that when the Lord probed him and gave him his work. The Lord said “When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest”; that hardly suggests holiness, but rather will; “but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not” (chapter 21:18); this suggests entire resignation.
WHB The men that went out with David carried holy vessels; although that holiness was of a different character to the external holiness set forth in the shewbread.
JT “The vessels of the young men are holy”, he says, so that they could eat the shewbread.
JBC-l Levitical service, as seen in the Old Testament, was all connected with and governed by holy words. The words to which Peter refers here were words which he understood and connected with “the holy one of God”.
JT Quite so. It is in connection with the Kohathites that Eleazar was prince of princes of the Levites (Numbers 3:32), because they had to handle the most sacred things. They were situated south of the tabernacle and so had a good aspect. I apprehend that this refers to the influence of holy affections, so that the Kohathites would take up the holy things of the sanctuary in a holy way.
PL Would John himself have the southern aspect on the bosom of Jesus?
JT Yes. It is very remarkable that the Spirit of God does not wait to finish the directions as to the Levites, but directly Kohath’s service is mentioned, He says, “the prince of princes of the Levites was Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest: he had the oversight of them that kept the charge of the sanctuary”. Their work was so important; they had to do with the ark and all the holy things. So that you feel you have to be under the direct touch of the Lord in handling what relates to Himself immediately.
JBC-l There was a constant danger lest a Kohathite should see the holy things uncovered, in the movements of the tabernacle.
JT Yes; you mean the priests covered them?
Ques How do you understand the blessing of Levi? “Let thy Thummim and thy Urim be with thy holy one”, (Deuteronomy 33:8).
JT That was in reference to him as taking up the service of the sanctuary. He “said to his father and to his mother, I see him not”. That is what comes out in John. If we are engaged in holy things, we must disregard natural claims for the time; the Lord is very jealous in regard to how one is handling His things. They are to be handled in a spiritual way; “communicating spiritual things by spiritual means” (1 Corinthians 2:13). The apostle Paul shows in 2 Corinthians how concerned he was in regard of his vessel — he valued the treasure and he wished that the vessel might be right.
[p. 58] Rem Levi had been a lawless man.
JT Quite; he slew a man.
Rem With him there had been great soul history.
WHB What was the treasure in Paul’s vessel?
JT The ministry of the new covenant, I apprehend. The love of God. The Lord brought it in administratively; He is the Mediator of it. Paul says, “who has also made us competent, as ministers of the new covenant” (2 Corinthians 3:6). That is the treasure Paul referred to, he rejoiced in it.
Rem In the last four churches in Revelation, Philadelphia is the only one the Lord approves; there He was recognized as the holy and true One.
JT Quite. And He states that there were those “which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee” (Revelation 3:9). That is a very comforting thought.
The passage we read in John 21 shows how we have to leave each other to the Lord. John’s work was to be left. Peter had received his commission and here was a man who apparently had no commission, at any rate as far as Peter knew. Peter saw him following and said, “what shall this man do?” There is no need to inquire if one is following the Lord. This scripture teaches us how to leave each other with the Lord. If a man is not following, then you are responsible for his conversion; but if he be a follower of Christ, you can leave him and go on with your own work. You have plenty to do yourself.
HFN Would you mind saying a word in regard to the fact that Peter and John are constantly seen together? I think you have spoken of the early chapters in Acts as being Peter-and-John chapters. How does that mutual spirit between those two brothers bear on distinct levitical service?
JT I think they represent two features of the dispensation — the administrative side and the family [p. 59] side; but they must have been most congenial companions to each other.
HFN Would your thought be that each must stand out in his own levitical capacity?
JT Quite. There are men you can trust. If a man is following you can trust him. I think one great point in John is to establish confidence, and he works it out so that the breath of Christ ensures that you can rely on a brother; the Lord can rely on him. As breathing into the disciples He entrusted them with the prerogative of forgiving or retaining sins. I think the breath of Christ established confidence, and Peter could well afford to let John alone. He was the one that leaned on Jesus at supper time; Jesus loved him. I think John would set you up at the top. The Levites are all firstborn ones — a most extraordinary thing — because each Levite represented a firstborn. Hence, the more I apprehend my calling, the more lowly I shall be in my service, because my calling, my family relation, is greater than my service.
PL Do you see that in John; the Lord gives the lustre of His Person to all that He does?
JT Quite. Every Levite is a firstborn. “The assembly of the firstborn who are registered in heaven” (Hebrews 12:23) refers to that, so that I am here in the secret knowledge of my place with God. That is the secret of power in levitical work, otherwise I shall regard my service as adding to me personally, and then I become clerical.
JJ How does the family spirit enter into levitical service?
JT You take it up in the light of the dignity you have as a firstborn. But then the others are all firstborn ones. I do not know whether in natural things there is anything that inspires respect more than the mutual recognition of dignity; the knowledge that we are all firstborn ones is an immense spiritual lever [p. 60] to the soul. You are dealing with persons who are dignified.
Ques Is that what the Lord meant when He said: “Rejoice, because your names are written in heaven” (Luke 10:20)?
JT Quite. They came back flushed with victory, but He said that they should not rejoice in that, great as it was, but in the fact that their names were written in heaven.
Ques Does the last verse of John’s gospel suggest the vastness of the service?
JT There is plenty for the levite to minister.
Rem In the Old Testament some of the Levites were made singers.
JT That would fit in with what we have been saying about John. It says that David and the captains (that is, the military men) “separated to the service of the sons of Asaph, and of Heman, and of Jeduthun, who should prophesy with harps, with psalteries, and with cymbals”, (1 Chronicles 25:1). Why should military men be exercised about the service of song? I have no doubt it refers to the way our households are matured and develop into the assembly. Those who were separated were under the hand of those three singers, and one of them is said to have had fourteen sons, who were under his hand for the service of song. They were all under the hand of their father for song in the house of the Lord. God gave them to him, it says. The Lord says in John 17:24: “those whom thou hast given me”.