HEADSHIP (4)
[p. 276] HEADSHIP (4)
1 Samuel 17: 54; 1 Samuel 18: 6, 7; 1 Samuel 25: 1, 3; 1 Chronicles 29: 10, 14
JT This morning we looked at certain scriptures in Colossians and 1 Samuel with a view to seeing that the headship of Christ in the assembly is one of His glories. The glories which are mentioned in the first chapter of Colossians involve His Deity. All things were created by Him. The assembly is His body, and He is Head of it. It was thought that the brethren would be helped by having this clearly in their minds. It involves also the glory of the assembly.
Then in Colossians 2 it is said that God took certain things out of the way for His people, things which would hinder them from entering into the great thoughts of headship. This is illustrated in Dagon in the presence of the ark. Then the cutting off of the head of the giant (1 Samuel 17), typifies how principalities and powers are made a show of “openly”; God overthrew them through the death and resurrection of Christ. The way is thus open for our entering into the great thoughts of headship and growing thereby. All the body is nourished by the Head; it is essential therefore that we hold the Head.
It is now purposed to look at the scriptures read in 1 Samuel and 1 Chronicles relative to the principles of headship worked out in David as a type of Christ, and his recognition of God over all in the whole matter; so that in the last scripture read David represents the service of God into which the headship of Christ enters. In this connection we are in living touch with Him and guided by Him in relation to spiritual principles in the service of God. There are certain principles governing the service; Christ being Head governs us in it, and we draw from Him as Minister of the sanctuary. In 1 Samuel 17 the head of the giant is said to have been taken to Jerusalem, a [p. 277] remarkable incident; the time is not stated, but the fact is very important, because the service of God is there, in the place of His choice, in which the house was built, in which the service was inaugurated by David and carried on by Solomon. Later David went there and overthrew the Jebusites, taking their strongholds. He dwelt in it and called it the city of David. Thus room is made for God in Jerusalem, which is called later the city of the great King. Thus headship works out there in the service of God. The Psalms speak much of liberty in this way.
ANW Would this be the fulfilment in type of, “Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive: thou hast received gifts in Man, and even for the rebellious, for the dwelling there of Jah Elohim”, Psalm 68: 18?
JT Quite so; that psalm yields much as to our subject. All is carried out from heaven now; Christ in heaven is contemplated in these types. The first thing we need to understand in the great subject before us is the taking of the giant’s head to Jerusalem; how that God now has a suitable place from which to carry on His service and government. Christ being Head over both.
LES Does all this suggest that the assembly now becomes the vehicle in which the headship of Christ is set out and witnessed to?
JT Yes, that is clearly seen. We have the 144,000 with the Lamb on Mount Zion. They are able to learn the heavenly song sung before the throne, and before the living creatures and the elders. In this we may see how links are formed in the whole universe resounding with praise. The books of Revelation and the Psalms are full of it. The Psalms end with calling upon everything that hath breath to praise Jah.
CHH So David now moves to secure the position, the lawless head being removed. Is this seen in the wise woman throwing the head of Sheba over the [p. 278] wall?
JT Quite so. Thus headship in David was protected. Other distinct incidents are seen, such as that of Abimelech: a wicked head was destroyed by a handmill stone. And we may add Nabal, in 1 Samuel 25; Jehovah smote him and he died. He also represents the fall of a lawless one in the place of headship. We have many things that illustrate the idea of headship according to the world, both political and religious, and it is important that the people of God should recognise them and not allow them to darken our minds as to the headship of Christ.
WGT Does Ephesians 4: 8, “He has led captivity captive”, suggest the thought of David taking the head of Goliath to Jerusalem?
JT Yes. The truth involved in that is witnessed to in Christ as gone into heaven.
RW Will you say what Jerusalem meant to David at this time?
JT Well, he had some light about it. In Matthew it is called “the city of the great king”. David took the giant’s head there in recognition of the fact that typically the headship of the devil had been destroyed.
PG In carrying the head to Jerusalem God would get the glory out of the victory.
JT Quite so; that is where the house was built and the service of God began. The destruction of the opposing elements in the types is very significant. The point now is that they must be discredited in our souls. From the Vatican down, elements that are rivals to the headship of Christ exist; and we must rigidly keep clear of their influence; thus we are free to take part in the service of God.
GAT I think it is very important for all of us to get hold of what you are presenting about the hindrances being removed. The women on the way to the tomb were worried about who was going to remove the stone, but when they got there the stone had been removed [p. 279] already.
JT Yes. The idea of headship according to man was in a negative sense witnessed to where Christ was crucified; it was the place of the skull. The princes of this world did not know who He was, for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But He is that, and hence in Him was all the wisdom of God. This wisdom is now known in the assembly. They put Him in a tomb to get rid of Him, but He is now our living Head. All this comes out in the house of Simon the leper; there the woman anointed the Lord’s head with the ointment. All this enters into David’s position typically. The giant’s head carried to Jerusalem is a trophy of his victory, and room is made through which divine wisdom is to be worked out in Jerusalem — the place of God’s choice. In the song of the women of 1 Samuel 18, it is said, “Saul hath smitten his thousands, and David his ten thousands”. David is made superior to Saul. What is of man is thus seen to be superseded by what is of God. As Saul hears of that, jealousy arises, and he is removed. The christian has only one Head, Christ.
LES I was wondering if the message to Philadelphia might not suggest headship; the Lord says, “I make them of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews, and are not, but lie; behold, I will cause that they shall come and shall do homage before thy feet, and shall know that I have loved thee” (Revelation 3: 9), as though there is a testimony rendered to the overthrow of every rival head.
JT The synagogue of Satan would certainly have the character of headship opposed to Christ. But there is really an Ephesian touch in what the Lord says as to His love for the assembly. “I will cause;” He says, “that they shall come and shall do homage before thy feet, and shall know that I have loved thee”. There will be public evidence of Christ’s love for the assembly.
AEH Would the women answering one another in 1 Samuel 18 indicate that we are still on Colossian [p. 280] ground? And in the light of that, what about the armour in the tent? Would that indicate the tentative position?
JT Goliath’s sword is now in David’s hand, and the armour is in his tent. David knew well how to use both. Goliath’s sword would be a symbol of death as in Satan’s hand. Now it is in Christ’s hand. It was by it that David killed the giant “completely”, and cut off his head.
AEH Therefore I need to know more how to use the sword of Goliath against myself.
JT Yes. We have to use death against ourselves. If I do not “put to death the deeds of the body” I shall not live; I shall be governed by my own will. But death is ours (1 Corinthians 3: 22), and we can use it against ourselves.
AEH Would you say that I do not come into the full good of the Colossian position until I do this?
JT Yes. We have to reckon ourselves dead unto sin. “If therefore ye have been raised with the Christ, seek the things which are above ... have your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are on the earth; for ye have died, and your life is hid with the Christ in God” (Colossians 3: 1 - 3). The sequence to the position ‘risen with Christ’, is that we are dead. Thus it is said, “Put to death therefore your members which are upon the earth” (Colossians 3: 5). We use death against ourselves. Paul could say, “I die daily”; he was applying the death sentence to himself.
FM Would the thought of destroying adverse headships be seen in Jael taking Sisera into her tent and driving a tent-pin into his head?
JT Yes; that is another illustration of what we are saying. His head denotes the moral and spiritual ability of the man, and Jael uses death against Sisera there.
CHH Would the songs of these women indicate an undeveloped condition, but development by [p. 281] progress?
JT That is right. You can see that Saul is losing ground, and that is important; but David is gaining in the affections of the people.
CCT How could I apply that to myself?
JT It is a question of how much these heads in what they represent are destroyed for you, and how much you will accept as to the reproach of Christ in making room for Him. It is worked out in you in the measure in which you accept self-negation in accord with His death.
CCT What is the thought in regard to singing and dancing (1 Samuel 18); how do we apply that today?
JT That accords with the place Christ has. In the type, He is beginning to have a great place, He is the theme of our song. Your whole being is brought into the celebration with holy energy and joy. Matthew tells us that as the Lord was in the temple the children cried, “Hosanna to the Son of David”. Of course the leaders in Israel refused that, but the Lord said to them, “Have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?” That He left them is quite significant (Matthew 21: 17).
PG What would be suggested here by the women instead of the men singing the praises?
JT It would denote the general state of the people as affected by David. They were ready for him; and so it is said, “All Israel and Judah loved David”, 1 Samuel 18: 16. God works in His people so that they should respond to what He presents to them objectively.
ANW The negative side here is, “Saul eyed David from that day and forward” (verse 9).
TS Does the mixture of the song indicate that it takes some time to free us from captivity? They went out to meet king Saul.
JT That is right. The song is partly to Saul and partly to David. Saul was still king. It is the same with Abigail; Nabal was still alive when David came into view, but God came in and removed him so that [p. 282] way might be made for David, that Abigail might be free. So it is in Romans 7: 2, “If the husband should die, she is clear from the law of the husband”. This is how the Lord comes in to remove what legally holds us. In early apostolic days the high priest at Jerusalem was still legally the high priest of Israel, but the Jewish system now has no claim on us whatever. God has taken it out of the way, “having nailed it to the cross”. Now we are “to another”, to Christ, to serve under and with Him; to “serve in newness of spirit”, Romans 7: 6.
LES Does this indicate how things were clarified one hundred years ago, so that the testimony might go forward?
JT Yes. We can see that both David and Abigail were helped in the recognition of what God would do in setting aside Saul and Nabal, and they waited until God set them aside. God is also helping us so that these elements opposed to Christ seen typically in David’s day are being set aside in our hearts.
WGT Does what the women were doing in answering one another suggest continuity of thought?
JT It is rather the idea of mutuality. In Matthew and Mark it is said that after the Supper the Lord and the disciples sang a hymn, and then went out to the mount of Olives. As we sit down to partake of the Lord’s supper it is a question as to what is suitable, including mutuality; all join together at the beginning; “we being assembled”, Luke says (Acts 20: 7), it is a mutual matter.
JW Does Luke 24: 26 enter into what you have been saying, “Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into his glory?”
JT Quite so; it was necessary that He should enter into His glory. A glimpse of this glory was seen at Emmaus. The Lord was free to take the place of Head in the home; but such a house was not equal to that glory, hence He disappeared. But standing “in their midst” in Jerusalem He entered, in principle at least, into His glory. That is the idea, it is not the temple now, but the assembly. There room is made for the headship of Christ, He is at home there. He shines there in infinite love and wisdom. That is how the truth works out in the assembly. Thus we can readily see that the headship of Christ cannot extend practically to those held in human organisations. What the Spirit says to the assemblies is largely to set believers free from what is of man so that they should enter into headship.
JW So that the outcome was that the disciples were praising and blessing God.
JT That is right; the Lord leaves them here, and they are praising God. They are engaged in the service of God, surpassing in quality the services of David and Solomon. If you take Luke’s account alone you would not think that forty days intervened before the Lord ascended. In this gospel He was carried up into heaven, and they were continually in the temple praising and blessing God.
SWP Would 2 Chronicles 20 fit in here, the singing and rejoicing after all the opposition was put down?
JT That is a good illustration of what we are dealing with; “Jehoshaphat at their head” (verse 27). The king was their head “to go again to Jerusalem with joy; for Jehovah had made them to rejoice over their enemies. And they came to Jerusalem with lutes and harps and trumpets, to the house of Jehovah” (verses 27, 28).
Rem In 1 Samuel 17 the pressure is intensified against David by the Philistines, and in chapter 19 Saul definitely sets himself against David, yet David progresses.
JT Yes, there, is steady progress. God being with him. In chapter 25 we are told of Samuel’s death. All Israel mourned for him; he was a great prophet, but he [p. 284] had done his work. There was great need for a leader in Israel, and God is making way for David; but Nabal appears against him. Why should this be? Samuel’s ministry had been effective and Abigail represents the result of it. Typically that is how the truth is seen in this book. Abigail had been, as it were, taking in the ministry; she was intelligent as to what was proceeding. Then Nabal comes into view. Abigail’s husband, a churlish man. Abigail has a right judgment regarding both David and Nabal. Nabal as opposed to David is in his way. But David is proceeding and God removes Nabal. On the principle of Colossians 2: 14, 15, he is “taken ... out of the way”.
SP Would you say that in principle there is no lapse between Samuel’s ministry and that of David, but rather continuity?
JT Yes; they were contemporary, but now Samuel is dead and David continues. David is equal to the position that has developed, but there is this opposer Nabal; he speaks contemptuously of God’s anointed.
WGT Abigail says of her husband, “Nabal is his name, and folly is with him”, 1 Samuel 25: 25.
JT Just so, she had a right judgment about him. She confirmed the young man’s judgment; he had said to her, “Behold, David sent messengers out of the wilderness to bless our master; and he has insulted them. And the men were very good to us, and we were not hurt, neither missed we anything, as long as we companied with them, when we were in the fields. They were a wall to us both by night and day, all the while we were with them feeding the sheep. And now know and consider what thou wilt do, for evil is determined against our master, and against all his household; and he is such a son of Belial, that one cannot speak to him”, 1 Samuel 25: 14 - 17. The servant also had a judgment about this man. We must arrive at a judgment as to every evil that arises affecting the brethren; as in this case: “he is such a son of Belial, that one cannot speak to him”. Abigail, possessing the discernment that marks the assembly, confirms the young man’s judgment as to her husband.
AB What you are calling attention to is most important in a practical way; the current ministry and the embracing of it have much to do with our progress. Nabal says, “Who is David? and who is the son of Jesse”? (verse 10).
JT That is it; Christ is despised; Nabal is most unfair and insulting, but his attitude is a type of what is current at the present time — a disregard of what God is saying, a refusal to recognise the ministry of the Spirit of God. “He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies”, Revelation 2. Abigail, we may say, was a product of the Spirit, and hence discerned the evil character of Nabal. How did she know about David? Typically, she came to know him through the ministry.
CCT The word ‘understanding’ is emphasised by the word ‘good’, and therefore she is able to take a true stand.
JT That is so, and it is what the Spirit of God presents to us as to her at the first. The verses we read say that “the woman was of good understanding, and of a beautiful countenance”; that is, she was in correspondence with David. In the assembly it is the idea of correspondence with Christ, and I believe it is worked out in the remnant today.
CHH Would you say that difficulties that arise in the assembly are ordered of God, and that they must be overcome in order that there may be spiritual growth?
JT God works that way; the saints must have a judgment about these things, and reach decisions; and we must judge ourselves as to the part we have had in them. God uses such exercises to bring out the truth.
JW Abigail had a judgment as to Saul also, according [p. 286] to verse 29.
JT From verse 18 her movements are progressive; Saul to her is just “a man” risen up to pursue David and seek his life (verse 29). Saul is just a man, but murder was in his heart.
WGT Does Abigail not represent how right principles can be maintained in the house if the wife maintains spiritual dignity, even though the husband is churlish?
JT Yes; if the general condition is good God supports His people, although those ostensibly in the lead may be wrong; but this contemplates an eventual right judgment and the evil dealt with. This principle is seen in the letters to the Corinthians. Hannah, in the beginning of this book, is seen triumphing over evil in her husband’s house with a resultant contribution to the house of God. In chapter 2: 1, Hannah is said to have prayed, but what is recorded is a rich and beautiful poetic tribute to Jehovah (verses 1 - 10).
AEH Do you go to Colossians 3 for the teaching of all this? I was thinking of the injunction to “put off” certain things (verse 8), and to “put on” certain things (verse 12).
JT That is right. The Colossians had in fact put off the old man and put on the new; this was an act of mind on their part in the light of the death and resurrection of Christ, but they needed to put the truth into practical effect in detail. They were the elect of God and the graces of Christ should mark them.
TS Had the pressure of Abigail’s position helped her in the development of assembly features?
JT No doubt. She was in great pressure, and this brings out the graces of the assembly, answering to Christ. She prevailed on David to do what was right. He said “Blessed be thy discernment, and blessed be thou, who hast kept me this day from coming with bloodshed, and from avenging myself with mine own hand” (verse 33). That is, he began to see what true worth there was in her.
FM Nabal was a man “at Maon”, and his “business was at Carmel”. Would this indicate that he was not living at home?
JT Yes; if we live in our businesses we miss the headship of Christ, and that greatly affects us in our assembly service. Nabal was living in his business, shearing sheep, thinking of himself, and in his heart there was no room for David.
CHH His heart was in his business, and it died within him; would his occupation correspond with the shepherds clothing themselves with the wool as seen in Ezekiel 34?
JT That is right. There is some allusion to his selfish and exacting character. The judgment of God on Nabal was executed after ten days, and then Abigail becomes the wife of David; she is thoroughly in accord with him, there is beauty in both, mentioned by the Spirit of God. Abigail corresponded with David in understanding, too; hence what scope for his headship!
ANW What is the point in Nabal being overcome governmentally?
JT God is calling attention to persons and things being removed to make way for Christ. Stephen was put to death, but this sorrowful fact was turned to the enlargement of the economy in which Christ was operating. Even Jerusalem had to be taken out of the way. The Lord says, “For these are days of avenging, that all the things that are written may be accomplished”(Luke 21: 22) — referring to the destruction of Jerusalem. It should “be trodden down of the nations until the times of the nations be fulfilled” (verse 24). “The fulness of the nations” was to come in, and Jerusalem would hinder this great result, as Acts 15 shows.
HPR Is there any connection between the activities of Abigail here and the movements of Rebecca when she saw Isaac and sprang off the camel?
JT There is. As Rebecca moved in right instincts and understanding, so did Abigail. Rebecca had no [p. 288] previous husband concerning whom to form a judgment, but Abigail had Nabal and she had a thorough judgment of him and expressed it to David. Nabal, therefore, represents the Jewish legal system which was opposed to Christ (1 Thessalonians 2: 15, 16). The saints in the early days had to judge this murderous system and leave it.
AB Adam would bring out the qualities in Eve, and David brings out what was in Abigail.
JT Yes. “Blessed be thy discernment, and blessed be thou”. The mutual response to each other is very beautiful, typical of Christ and the assembly. Finally David says after the death of Nabal, “Blessed be Jehovah, who has pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and has kept back his servant from evil” (verse 39), a beautiful attitude, the kind of humility which the Lord values. Abigail was seeing the value of what she was coming into, and how Jehovah had cleared the way for her, as believers now can often see how the Lord clears the way for them to take up their places in the assembly. “David sent and communed with Abigail, to take her as his wife ... and she arose and bowed herself on her face to the earth ... and arose, and rode upon an ass, with five damsels of hers that followed her; and she went after the messengers of David, and became his wife” (verses 39 - 42). Thus we have here a beautiful figure of the assembly’s union with Christ.
ANW It seems a very quick transfer from Nabal to David; would you say she did not love Nabal?
JT Well, in a way we could. No doubt Nabal became worse and worse, but it is his character as described and judgment on him that have to be taken account of. Abigail discerned him, expressing her judgment of him to David; and God executes the judgment on him. He is thus taken out of the way, so that there is room made for the full scope of love. God acted, according to this type, in making way for [p. 289] Christ and the assembly in early days, and in principle He is doing this continually.
CCT Abigail values the time she is in, for it is said, “Abigail hasted, and arose”. You were connecting this with fellowship.
JT Fellowship is open to me as I wash my robes (Revelation 22: 14). I can then go in by the gates into the city. The tree of life is there. I have a right to all that; why should I delay in appropriating it? Abigail has a right to go now, because David has sent for her. Why should I stay outside of the holy circle of fellowship if I have liberty to enter it?
HPR You are speaking of principles needed to be applied in crises in local assemblies. Is this not a needed exercise with our young brethren today, in fact with all, that we might have judgment about the thing to be dealt with; and not only that, but that we might voice it with our brethren in the care meeting? In the matter before us the young man formed a judgment regarding Nabal and voiced it to Abigail.
JT That is right. It is important. You have to place such information where it belongs, that is, on the conscience of the brethren in the care meeting. Through careful enquiry, the Lord helping, the matter will reach the assembly as fully attested. That is what this young man did; he had a judgment as to Nabal and placed the information he had before Abigail. She is, to type, the assembly and hence she acts. Brethren in care receive the information, take counsel, investigate, and place their findings before the assembly. All is tentative until the facts are presented to the assembly. The conscience of the brothers in care enters into the assembly, but it is enhanced as all are together in executive capacity, the Lord being with them.
ANW Have you not said that the care meeting is the gateway to the assembly, but that the sisters have to be present for [p. 290] assembly action?
JT That is right; the whole assembly has to be there for judicial action, but not for the investigation.
CHH Would you say that the assembly meeting is not for deliberation?
JT Quite so. Deliberation should go before. The evil as fully attested is told to the assembly; that is what is said in Matthew 18, “Tell it to the assembly”.
FM It is helpful to see that both David and Abigail went down.
JT That is a good point.
GAT Would the one who states the facts go on to pass the judgment? Would the thing be thus completed at that time?
JT We should be there as before the Lord, recognising the dignity and the holiness of the position. The Lord says, “There am I in the midst of them”, Matthew 18: 20. He would support specially the persons who should act in the matter. Normally all feel they have His approval.
GAT You would allow the person involved to be present in the care meeting?
JT If he is nominally in fellowship, yes, and he should also be at the assembly meeting. If he is subject he will be there.