LEVITICAL SERVICE - CONTINUED
[p. 61] LEVITICAL SERVICE - CONTINUED
Mark 3:13 - 19; Mark 6:7-13; Mark 6:30-32; Mark 9:14 - 29
JT In considering the subject of the levites and their service, we have, in order to understand it rightly, to approach it through John’s writings, because of the brokenness of the present state of things. John names certain ones as coming forward and serving without any direct commission, but as the result of the light that came to them. As an example, Andrew went out and found Peter; Philip found Nathanael; and the woman of Sychar returned to the city and addressed herself to the men, telling them about the Lord. The object of John in recording this subject, as in all others, is to show that it is progressive; so that the woman in chapter 4 being set right as to her vessel, left her waterpot and went her way into the city; then chapter 6 shows that the vessel being secured, the levite apprehends Christ as the “holy one of God”, recognizing that the work of God is carried on in holiness. The levitical activity is shown, too, to be the outcome and result of love, so the Lord probes Peter as to loving Him and then commits the sheep and the lambs to him. Then John is seen as one that is following the Lord.
The thought now is to look at Mark and see how the levites are recognized officially; how they come into evidence in an official way, and for that they come under the Lord’s direct influence and training. That is why I suggested chapter 3, which refers to the Lord’s sovereign selection; “that he might send them to preach”. I thought the occasion arises from being with Him on the mount.
MWB You drew a contrast between Paul preaching immediately at Damascus and the way he was commissioned [p. 62] when he had been at Antioch a year. Do you link it with this line of things?
JT Quite. The Holy Spirit records that he remained certain days with the disciples and then preached in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God. In the ordinary version it says that Saul inquired of the Lord what he should do, but that part of verse 6 of Acts 9 does not appear in the original: not that Saul did not ask, but the Holy Spirit appears to have left it out at the outset, thus showing in greater relief the fact that he acted of himself in preaching in the synagogues. And then we are told that he went up to Jerusalem to make acquaintance with Peter, showing how wise he was in recognizing that particular vessel already in active service. It appears, too, that Peter took notice of the progress the testimony was making, for in raising up Aeneas he says, “Jesus Christ maketh thee whole: arise, and make thy bed”, as if to say the order now is to learn to do things for oneself. Then he restores Tabitha from the dead and presents her alive. All that, I think, serves to enhance Paul’s visit to Jerusalem to make acquaintance with Peter. The testimony would move on in that way in happy fellowship; but still he has to wait, and Barnabas finds him at Tarsus and brings him to Antioch, and he remains there for a year serving the saints with Barnabas. Then the Holy Spirit says, when they were ministering to the Lord, “Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them”; that is, the servants are now ready; the saints have had full opportunity to be acquainted with them and the Holy Spirit gives this charge. It was the sovereign act of the Spirit to call them out and send them forth. And so I think the apostle Paul may be taken as a representative levite. I rather think that Mark speaks of the subject from the standpoint of Paul’s ministry. It is “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God” (Mark 1:1). That was the burden of Paul’s ministry of the gospel.
MWB Does the expression at the beginning of the gospel suggest the atmosphere in which the service would be carried out?
JT Quite, and it was not an emergency movement. That is important, so that the prophet is immediately quoted in regard of the ministry of John the baptist. There is no such thing with God as an emergency movement; He foresees everything and arranges for things beforehand. We must never think that God is taken unawares. The Lord, according to Mark, waits till John is cast into prison before He begins to serve, and attention is called to the kind of persons whom He selects. They are engaged in legitimate occupations. Two are casting a net into the sea; the other two are mending the nets with their father. The Lord goes into the synagogue and there He finds that Satan is in power; so He deals with evil in its religious setting first. Evidently Satan in hindering the service of God has his greatest stronghold in the religious systems, so the Lord casts out the demon and He is recognized as the “holy one of God”. Then He goes into the synagogue again, chapter 3, and a man is there with a withered hand. He has no power for work, but his hand is restored; and this incident precedes the action of the Lord in calling “whom he would”. He acts sovereignly on the mountain in calling whom He Himself would.
RB Would the instances referred to in John’s gospel answer to levitical service beginning at twenty-five, and this in Mark at thirty?
JT I think that is correct. The Lord literally entered on service at thirty. He appears here in full manhood.
AMH Would that be the present bearing of the official side of service?
JT I think you take it up in the light of what is established primarily; you retain, so to speak, your [p. 64] John character. One always hesitates to use the word “servant” because it has become an official designation. John, when pressed to give an account of himself, refused to take any other place than that of “a voice”, saying that there was Another coming, the latchet of whose shoes he was not worthy to stoop down and unloose. All this indicates that John the baptist represents the divine thought as to service as presented in John’s gospel. You move in the light of levitical service as seen in Mark; you do not, however, assume any official place.
PL Isaiah 42:1 says, “Behold my servant, whom I uphold”, and “mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth”. Would the former be Mark’s line, the power of God with Him, and the latter answer to John, serving in the power of liberty and love?
JT Quite.
AMH Would John’s line be more your dealings with God, and Mark’s the way in which your activities would be expressed?
JT According to Mark things would be not only done, but done well; and in John, as you say, there was a man sent from God. One has to be known as sent. All saints are levites, but we are speaking for the moment of those actually engaged in service, and one has to be consciously sent. As we were seeing in John, as doing things voluntarily you find the Lord endorsing what is done by Andrew and Philip and the woman of Samaria; but there was a man sent from God. What do you think about that?
AMH I do not know that I quite follow.
JT I am speaking of John. John speaks of Andrew and Philip. They go out; Andrew finds Simon and Philip finds Nathanael without being sent, as far as we know. The Lord acts in relation to that, but then the gospel is really based on the fact that there was a man sent from God. The Lord constantly refers to that.
[p. 65] HFN Does our levitical service as seen in John flow from our family relationship, while in Mark the service flows from our links with the tabernacle and the anointed system?
JT I think that is good. Those taken up in Mark were already working; those who serve in the beginning of John (Andrew and Philip) were in the abiding place: the secret of family affections. I have no doubt that is important. John 1:14 says, “(... we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth”. The service in John is governed by the enjoyment of family relationship, but those taken up in Mark are already working; Andrew and Simon are not in the abiding-place, they are casting a net into the sea, so that work is in view, and good workmanship.
Rem The work must be carried on in the spirit of the family. Your point is that John must underlie Mark?
JT That is it.
Rem Mark would value things being done well, after his failure and recovery.
JT He went back from the work; then he was restored; and Paul says, “he is profitable to me for the ministry” (2 Timothy 4:11). He is profitable now in that in which he had failed. I have no doubt he saw levitical service in Paul and valued it after he was restored.
WHB Did Mark essay to come out before his novitiate as a levite was finished?
JT He does not seem to have been of full manhood. Now he delights to go over the things relative to true levitical service. He presents perfection in service from the outset. The work is not to be undertaken in one’s natural strength. The man whose right hand was withered was restored, but there has to be the sovereign call of Christ. We have to recognize that He calls.
[p. 66] MWB Do you suggest that we should have the sense of that call today?
JT I think so. There is no definiteness about us if we do not know that; and we would be getting in the way of other people. If you have a definite call from the Lord, anybody getting in your way will suffer; the Lord will have to say to such.
MWB In John they seem to move by impulse, but here there is education necessary that they might be with Him.
JT You have to be with Him, and He gives the names indicating what your service is to be. H will see you through in whatever work He gives you to do.
MWB And if we venture on a line for which the Lord has not adapted us, we cannot count on His support.
JT No, you cannot. The apostle Paul is a great example. We have little idea of the incessant opposition there was to Paul, but he says, “the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me; that by me the preaching might be fully known” (2 Timothy 4:17) — not simply that the preaching should be fully known, but “by me” — it was to be known through Paul, because the Lord had given it to him. The Lord went up into a mountain and called unto Him whom He would. It is great comfort to know that the Lord Himself will stand by you; it is useless anyone interfering; you know the Lord will have His way. I think that is the point in 2 Timothy: “The Lord stood with me and strengthened me; that by me the preaching might be fully known”.
JJ Is there any thought of co-operation with one’s brethren in service? The Lord calls the twelve in that way.
JT That is opening up another thing. You notice that in Matthew they are called by twos, but singly in Mark. Matthew 10:2 reads, “Now the names of the twelve apostles are these; The first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip, and Bartholomew”, etc.; they are in twos, but singly in Mark. In Mark 6 they are sent out by twos, but they are called severally. I think that in Matthew you find twos more than in any other gospel. Matthew has in view the breaking up of the world system; there are two demoniacs in Matthew. In Mark they were sent out by twos, which I think would mean that whilst they were called severally and each had his own history with the Lord, God would have an adequate testimony sent out into the world. I think that is what is in view in Mark.
JJ I thought perhaps we could not serve without considering our brethren. We would not like to go off on our own account without sympathetic support and mutuality.
JT I think that is important, and Acts 13 would support it. Barnabas and Paul were sent out in the full sympathy of the saints. Then the question arises as to whether the principle of going in twos applies now. I think it was necessary in the calling of the apostles in view of meeting the world system. “Two are better than one”, and “a threefold cord is not quickly broken” (Ecclesiastes 4:9,12). In Mark, I think, it is that God would give men an adequate testimony. Where the gospel was to be preached there was to be an adequate testimony, and what you find is that they anoint people in their service; they leave behind them a witness. Mark would have an adequate testimony in the world.
AMH Do you think more than one is necessary for this anointing? One can understand the need for individual service but supposing any position is difficult, do you not think we need more than one to bring in an atmosphere so that there might be [p. 68] help?
JT Quite. Two is adequate testimony according to the principle of Scripture, and then they would support each other. There would be increased power; the kingdom would be present, but then I do not think that it would be necessary from John’s point of view — that is, in a broken state of things. Peter is commissioned alone in John, and he is not to interfere in another’s service.
HFN Is that supported in connection with the tabernacle? You have two men, Bezaleel and Aholiab, working together; but in Chronicles there is only one man specially skilled in connection with the construction of the temple. I wondered whether that would answer more to John’s line.
JT That is very good, I think. In a broken state of things, as that with which Nehemiah had to do, he said, “neither told I any man what my God had put in my heart”. God had spoken to him and he kept it to himself; he came to Jerusalem and viewed the city by night; then he spoke to the elders and told them, and they all moved in the work, saying, “Let us rise up and build”, (Nehemiah 2:11 - 18). There was a general movement so that the wall was completed in a very short time — fifty-two days. And then when questions arose, he said, “I consulted with myself”, (Nehemiah 5:7). That might seem independency, but I think it is a principle in a day of brokenness. You are not inaugurating anything; or presenting the testimony where it has not been presented before. The ministry today is in connection with those who already know the Lord.
PL Do you not get this thought in John himself in Patmos: “his bondman John” (Revelation 1:1)?
JT Yes.
HFN Would Timothy stand out very distinctly in regard of service? One man is specially addressed and made responsible. He stands out alone in his [p. 69] levitical service. Provision is thus made for the “man of God”.
JT One of the most precious parts of our heritage is that of brotherly confidence; “in the multitude of counsellors there is safety” (Proverbs 11:14). Let us take counsel wherever we can get it; very often what one overlooks another sees. You find that as Paul proceeded on his way to Jerusalem, he was actuated in some respects by the brethren’s advice, which is an important thing; but on the other hand, I think John would set us up as men knowing how to act of ourselves, knowing what to do in a crisis. In the addresses to the assemblies overcomers are regarded individually.
AMH While individual service and exercise are essential, would you entirely set aside the thought of co-operation? For instance, in Nehemiah’s day you have those who worked in groups.
JT They would correspond with localities today. They were all under his direction. The great point, I am sure, is confidence, for without that things must break down, and there will be no co-ordination. I think the Spirit, breathed into the disciples in John 20, was to establish confidence. The Lord would confide in them and they were to confide in one another; so with Peter and Paul. Paul went up to make his acquaintance, but later there was a disagreement and Paul had to withstand him to his face. Yet Peter writes afterwards in 2 Peter 3:15: “our beloved brother Paul”, showing how confidence had been maintained, and that whilst they were labouring far apart geographically. What often interferes with confidence is distance, whereas the Spirit which we have received should not be affected by geographical distance. You see how distance affected the Corinthians when Paul was away from them. His second letter was to correct their want of confidence. He says: “Receive us: we have injured no one”, [p. 70] etc.
PL We see that in John again, “I John, your brother” (Revelation 1:9). He will not allow that distance in Patmos affected his relations with his brethren.
JT Quite.
JJ Do you think that as the house is often referred to in Mark, it suggests that the spirit of service should be carried on in family character?
JT Yes, I agree with that; hence the fever conditions were removed out of Simon’s house at the outset.
Ques Speaking in a practical way, sometimes one may have an exercise in regard of a certain meeting where there is practically no fellowship; does it not help in such a case for two or three to go together and show fellowship?
JT Much may be done in that way. Suspicion is so easily aroused; two or three are more likely than one to establish good mutual feeling. Paul associates brethren with him in writing most of his epistles.
In regard to Mark 6, “they went out, and preached that men should repent. And they cast out many devils, and anointed with oil many that were sick, and healed them”; it seems to me that the testimony is greatly augmented by the anointing. In the person anointed there is something set up in a locality in dignity for God. Where there was weakness or sickness one is set up as anointed. The idea in anointing is public testimony.
AMH You would be exercised to see whether this was left behind.
JT Just so. It was exemplified in the apostle Paul; as he moved about the assemblies were established. That was the thing. The anointing goes with this (2 Corinthians 1:21). I have no doubt the thought really began in Genesis 28, where the pillar is set up and anointed with oil. That would be for God in testimony.
Ques Does the anointing follow the preaching of [p. 71] repentance?
JT Yes. Repentance makes room for the Spirit. The Lord says in chapter 6 further down, when the apostles are gathered together to Him: “Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest awhile ... And they departed into a desert place by ship”. It seems as if the Lord there meets a certain condition that arises in those who serve. The desert is not fruitful. We have to learn what we are there; in active service we may be full of matter, but when we get into the desert it is different; we are not so full of matter as when on the platform, and we are tested as to how much we have really got ourselves. It is a very wholesome exercise.
MWB I think sometimes the Lord gives remarkable support sovereignly and then there is the test when you get alone.
JT How much you have got yourself.
MWB Would you enlarge a little on this wilderness experience?
JT I think you are tested as to how much you have definitely yourself. It is a wholesome thing to get with the Lord in the desert to discover just what you have got. It may be you thought you had a good deal more, because you are able to preach a good sermon, or that you get on very well in the reading and are able to bring out a lot of things. The disciples spoke about what they had done and what they had taught. Now they are with the Lord and everything is in the light as it is. There is no way in the desert with the Lord by which you can exaggerate or magnify what you have got beyond what it is.
AMH Would you make that a practice, after each portion of service to get to the Lord in this way?
JT I would, and the Lord would order your circumstances to that end. What does one get oneself? Undoubtedly if saints come together from a distance and make considerable sacrifice, the Lord [p. 72] may use any of us, because He takes account of those that have come, and He would meet the situation; but then, what have I myself? Here the apostles were not conscious of having anything with which to feed the crowds (Mark 6:34 - 44).
PL So that while helped by the sympathy that may be found in the saints when you are serving officially, you now retire from that with the Lord. Does that bring you back to John’s line, that is, to what you have spiritually?
JT Quite so. You will then feel how small you are.
JJ So it would be a very dangerous thing to rely on your gift, if your state is not equal to it.
JT Yes. The principle of measure is so important. The whole physical system is based on the principle of weight and measure (Isaiah 40:12). There has to be balance, and I think the disciples get into the sanctuary here where the Lord holds everything and they are made to feel just how things are in His presence. They needed a rest, and He invited them into it, saying, “Come”; they are not sent. We may be sure they had a remarkable time.
We might go on now to chapter 9. All that I want to point out is that the Lord’s reproof, (verse 19), includes the disciples. I want to call attention to this incident, in verses 14 - 19. The Lord found, as having been absent for a while, a disputation being held with the scribes, a man having brought his little boy to be healed, which they could not do. The man says: “Teacher, I brought to thee my son, who has a dumb spirit ... And I spoke to thy disciples, that they might cast him out, and they could not”. This is to call our attention to what is being effected by those who are in the position of disciples now, and whether the boy, so to speak, is getting any help, and what the Lord said to the disciples. “He answering them says, O unbelieving generation! how long shall I be with you? how long shall I bear with you?”
AMH I suppose you mean that we need to consider whether our activities further what is of God here, or whether those seeking help or having need are not hindered.
JT Where are the saints since the great revival? How much disputation has there been? How are those in need being regarded? The Lord is perfectly just in His discrimination, but according to this passage He rebukes them, and the disciples are included.
DLH Were not the disciples in this case among the unbelieving generation?
JT That is what I thought, and does not disputation of this kind bring us down to the level of the unbelieving?
Rem The man says: “I brought to thee my son”.
JT But he said: “I spoke to thy disciples, that they might cast him out, and they could not”.
WHB These disciples were not on the mount with the Lord.
JT Hence the result. It is a very wholesome thing to see that the Lord rebuked them all. “How long shall I be with you? how long shall I bear with you? bring him to me”. There is no cessation of the work, but here the Lord had to do it Himself.
JT-y What form does disputation take?
JT I think the greater part of those that were affected by the great revival have gone back through disputation. They have gone back to the level of the unbelieving generation, but the question is as to where we are now. What level are we on? The disciples asked the Lord about the matter. That is what is commendable about them. “When he was entered into the house, his disciples asked him privately, Wherefore could not we cast him out? And he said to them, This kind can go out by nothing but by prayer and fasting”.
DLH Does that refer to the kind of demon or [p. 74] the kind of faith?
JT I think the kind of power. That is, it goes out. Fasting involves the vessel in which the power is to be exercised. The Lord is pleased to use us as vessels, but the question is whether I am available for this kind of service — an extraordinary condition where Satan is entrenched. How is it to be met?
AMH Do you think that prayer and fasting would bring us back to the condition at the beginning of the chapter: the kingdom of God come in power?
JT Yes.
JBC-l Referring to how the boy was cared for, Mark learned that in his own experience. When he was recovered, he was found in company with Timothy, who seemed to have taken character from Paul as a levite, caring only for the welfare of the saints.