QUICKENING
QUICKENING
Colossians 2: 13 - 15; Ephesians 2: 1 - 6
JT I was thinking of quickening as seen in the epistles to the Colossians and the Ephesians. The word ‘quickening’ may suggest to some minds here that the subject of eternal life should come up, but it is not in my mind. The term ‘eternal life’ is wider than quickening, applying to the earthly saints in the future as well as to the saints in this dispensation, and also involving an order or sphere of things into which believers go. “These shall go away into eternal punishment, and the righteous into life eternal”, Matthew 25: 46.
The thought now is to consider the word ‘quickening’ as seen in these two epistles; in them it takes on a more exalted significance than it does elsewhere. We have it in the Old Testament, particularly in Psalm 119, a familiar psalm to many of us, the longest one in the book. The word ‘quickening’ appears there more frequently than in the rest of the Old Testament; it is an outcome of the desires of the saints, that psalm being largely a question of desire. The word ‘quickening’ is also found in the New Testament in a wider and more general significance than in the two epistles in which we read. The idea is connected with the Father in John 5, “For even as the Father raises the dead and quickens them, thus the Son also quickens whom he will” (verse 21). The Father quickens and the Son quickens here; and in John 6 we are told, “It is the Spirit which quickens” (verse 63). But nowhere else have we the expression, “quickened with Christ” save in these two epistles. It applies in Scripture only to the saints of this dispensation, and it is thought that the affections of the saints are specially brought into it, in the thought of being not only made to live, but made to live with Christ, in association with Him, involving that we are sharers [p. 300] of His life.
CAM Does the sense of origin come into it?
JT Well, it would seem so. We are viewed here as dead in offences. “And you, being dead in offences and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, he has quickened together with him” (Colossians 2: 13); that is, God quickened us out of that state, so that it is an entirely new beginning for believers; we are taken in life out of a dead condition. This, of course, is morally death; the passage does not refer to physical death; it is what we were as alive in the flesh, dead in trespasses; that is, responsible persons who have sinned, and are “dead in offences and in the uncircumcision of your flesh”. So it is entirely the sovereign work of God in taking us out of that condition into a living condition in association with Christ.
CAM Would it be right to say that all the past, whatever that may have been, is considered a settled matter, starting at this point?
JT Yes; all the past and all that would hinder our progress and enjoyment in this new state of association with Christ. We are told, “Having forgiven us all the offences; having effaced the handwriting in ordinances which stood out against us, which was contrary to us, he has taken it also out of the way, having nailed it to the cross; having spoiled principalities and authorities, he made a show of them publicly” (verses 13 - 15). So that what might hinder us in enjoyment and progress in this life is taken out of the way at one stroke in the death of Christ.
RWS Is “quickened together with him” greater than verse 12 which says, “Ye have been also raised with him through faith of the working of God”?
JT We have observed that verse 12 brings in faith. It is through the faith of the operation of God that raised Him from the dead, which means that resurrection is not yet literally accomplished in us. Christ alone is risen. We are said here to be risen through the faith of the operation of God, who raised [p. 301] Christ; that is, it is a certainty; its literal accomplishment is only a matter of time. It is true anticipatively; for faith it is a certainty.
AR To the phrase, “through faith of the working of God”, J.N.D. has a footnote: ‘energeia: active internal power’. Would that help in relation to what you had in mind?
JT It is the sense that you are not merely dealing with the matter theoretically, but that God actually raised Christ and He will certainly raise the believers; you are conscious of the power. It is the idea of energy operating in us; you are conscious of the power and it is only a little while until it extends to the body, and we shall then be literally raised. It is a faith matter now. It is as good as done; God may regard things that be not as though they are (Romans 4: 17).
AR The power of God operating in us makes the thing a reality and you just wait the external change.
JT We are conscious that it is the power that is working in us. We are conscious of the power, that it is not a mere theory, only it has not as yet extended to our bodies. The body is yet mortal; Paul says, “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels” (2 Corinthians 4: 7), and later he says, “that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life” (chapter 5: 4), that is, that which is working in you will, in due course, make the body live as well as the spirit. So you have the reality of the power in your experience.
ANW Would you make a little clearer what you see in the expression, “dead in offences and in the uncircumcision of your flesh”?
JT These had to be dealt with, too, and that shows that it is not literal death that is meant, because a man who literally dies in his sins will never be saved; therefore it is not that, it is a moral condition. “One died for all, then all have died” (2 Corinthians 5: 14), meaning that it is as good as done. There was nothing left but that we should die, but God has come in in a sovereign [p. 302] act and taken believers out of that state of moral death, and at the same time forgiven their sins.
RWS This quickening is not presented as a matter of faith.
JT No; faith is not connected here with it. Faith is connected with our resurrection, as we have seen. Resurrection is future, and introduced here to complete the marvellous work of God of which believers are the subjects. Canaan is in mind in Colossians. It is a question of the power of God which faith lays hold of, so that we are enabled to take the ground of being risen with Christ in assembly service. Quickening goes with this as an actual accomplishment in the believer. The affections are affected in a practical way. We are “quickened together with him”. This teaching in Colossians and Ephesians is needed for our part with Christ in the assembly, in the service of God. It is not only that we have life, but we are quickened, with our affections active and our minds affected by it.
ABP “Today shalt thou be with me in paradise”. Does that involve quickening?
JT There must be something corresponding there. We have to bear in mind that the Holy Spirit had not yet come. The thief went to paradise, but he is not a member of the assembly and never will be. He left this scene before the Holy Spirit came, but at the same time God had begun a work in him, whatever name you might give it. He was sensible of what was beside him in Christ. He says, “We indeed justly, for we receive the just recompense of what we have done; but this man has done nothing amiss”, Luke 23: 41. Then he says, “Remember me, Lord, when thou comest in thy kingdom” (verse 42). That shows he had light; and it is clear there was formation by the power of God, for he was going to be with Christ in paradise. Besides, he had spiritual instincts and understanding.
ABP In a sense he is a Colossian. He dies with Christ, and I wondered whether it carried through in [p. 303] that sense in the teaching. Luke writing as he does to support Paul’s ministry, is there not a suggestion of it in that?
JT The thief on his cross literally died with Christ, and he was a Colossian saint in that sense, but he certainly was not risen with Christ through the faith of the operation of God, although he must have had some idea that he would be raised. Nor was he quickened with Christ, because Christ Himself was not yet quickened; He was not yet raised from the dead. Still, there is the fact that the repentant thief died on a cross beside the one on which the Lord died and went to paradise immediately after the Saviour went there. It is beautiful that the Lord said, “Today”.
AAT You were saying both quickening and new birth are a sovereign work of God. Would you mind again explaining the difference between the two?
JT Birth is a family thought. The word is, “Except any one be born anew” (John 3: 3), which Nicodemus immediately connected with the progenital idea. It is a question of the family of God. New birth implies our induction into the family in due course. But as formally recognised as in the family we are said to have received Christ and to “believe on his name”; also to be born “of God”. Thus we are “children of God”, John 1: 12, 13. But the word ‘quickening’ is in the Scriptures on a living line. It contemplates persons who were responsible, as in sins, and morally dead; that is, incapable of any response to God whatever. Out of this state they are quickened with Christ. New birth and quickening are collateral in the constitution of the believer. “Born anew” is said to be an operation of the Spirit, and what is born of the Spirit is said to be “spirit”. In the scriptures before us quickening is by God and it places us in living association with Christ.
AAT Do I understand you to say a Jew could be born again and not [p. 304] be quickened?
JT Oh, they will be quickened according to Psalm 119. The word is used ten or eleven times in that psalm, which alludes to them; but we cannot say they are quickened with Christ. That is what is before us now, to show that we are constituted capable of taking part in assembly service in association with Christ. We are quickened with Him, and thus we are partakers of His life. The epistle to the Romans does not state that they were quickened together with Christ, nor does any of the other epistles speak of it in this way. It is not found in any of the epistles but Colossians and Ephesians, and they contemplate advance in the truth; so the idea would be intelligible and appreciated by the persons involved. What a thing it is! It is a wonderful thing to be quickened at all, but it is more wonderful to be quickened with Christ, given a status above all other families.
RWS “Reckon yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus”, Romans 6: 11. Would that not bear on being quickened with Christ?
JT That is Roman truth; it is intelligible, because the epistle is initial and basic. Sin has a great place there. In the passage you quote it is not yet sin in themselves, but sin in the world. “Alive to God” is that you are feeling Godward; God has a place with you. It is reckoning, which implies that the christians at Rome had not progressed far. The apostle does not say they were dead, but they were to reckon themselves to be dead to sin. The word ‘reckon’ there is important. You act in light and on principle, and thus in time you will come to the state that corresponds. Colossians says that as having been raised with Christ we have died (Colossians 3: 1 - 3). One recently converted who had been accustomed to attend theatres might still have an inclination to go to them, but light controlling his conscience would hinder him; but as he maintained this attitude, the Spirit helping him, he would overcome the desire. He thus would be dead to the evil.
[p. 305] Ques How would you link up the thoughts of the quickening of the mortal body and the quickening that we have in Colossians?
JT The quickening of your mortal body is on account of God’s Spirit that dwells in you. It corresponds with the resurrection of those who are in their graves when the Lord comes. They will be raised out of the state of death. But quickening in Romans 8 does not mean that you have been in the grave, but that as a christian you are here in the body when the Lord comes and you will be changed. Those of us who are alive and remain shall be changed and caught up with those who are raised (1 Thessalonians 4). The Lord shall “transform our body of humiliation into conformity to his body of glory, according to the working of the power which he has even to subdue all things to himself”, Philippians 3: 21.
CN “Whereunto also I toil”, the apostle says, “combating according to his working, which works in me in power”, Colossians 1: 29. Does that help in the idea of quickening?
JT Paul could speak experimentally of the power of God as it had wrought in him. You are calling attention to the power that works in us: that will presently extend to our bodies. It is the same power, but it has not yet done so, because our bodies are still mortal. It will extend to our bodies as we are alive here when the Lord comes for us. It will affect those who are in their graves also, that is, the power of God will take effect in them. The power is not working in them while they are in their graves. They are in dissolution. Faith alone can grasp the idea; that all that are in the graves shall hear His voice. How can they hear His voice? It is only as the work of God takes place instantaneously in them, giving them power to hear His voice, and they shall come forth. That is one of the most wonderful things entering into this subject. It is said of the Lord Jesus that He is “marked out [p. 306] Son of God in power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by resurrection of the dead”, Romans 1: 4. However long a man may have been dead, the Lord can raise him. Wonderful! You may say his body could not be found; and that is true as far as human ability is concerned, but God can find it, and faith knows that. The power that works in us, that Paul speaks of here, will extend presently to our bodies as alive down here and will also extend to those in their graves, so that all will go up together with Christ.
ANW Would you say again what you have said about the relationship of quickening with eternal life?
JT It is included in the thought of eternal life. The expression ‘eternal life’ is of course very wide as over against time and death. This is included in that, only there is something added there to the idea of eternal life, namely, association with Christ, which others do not have. Of course, all the saints will be with Him, each family according to the Father’s appointment, but it is remarkable that the words “with Christ” are attached to the word “quickened” only in these two scriptures.
WR Does this also suggest, “the last Adam a quickening spirit”, 1 Corinthians 15: 45? Have you in mind that as associated with Christ we should be done with the natural propensities and make room for the spiritual ones?
JT That is how the truth before us works out. God is a Spirit and the Lord says, “For even as the Father raises the dead and quickens them, thus the Son also quickens whom he will”, John 5: 21. So that is a prerogative that the Son has, and that prerogative will be used in regard of all the saints. The Lord Jesus raises them all.
JH Would Mary Magdalene be touching on this great truth at the tomb when the Lord makes Himself known to her and speaks of this relationship with the Father and with the [p. 307] disciples?
JT Well, she would be ready for it, I suppose. She had been very dark, although she loved the Lord. She was looking for Him but not alive, although He had told the disciples He would rise again. But the conversation that ensued would lead her to this thought, because He says, “Touch me not, for I have not yet ascended to my Father”, meaning that He was going to His Father; “but go to my brethren and say to them, I ascend to my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God”, John 20: 17. And then as come into the midst of them He breathes on them and says, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (verse 22). That would link up with what we are speaking of; they partook of His Spirit, involving His life. We are quickened with Him, but John shows it is into the same life in which He lives.
JH Would it not need the incoming of the Spirit before you can enjoy it?
JT Yes. This teaching involves the incoming of the Spirit.
Ques Do the resurrection of Lazarus and the details connected with it link on with love here? You were saying that the affections are involved. It is a love matter.
JT That is right; it is a love matter. It was the family at Bethany, “Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died”, John 11: 32. Mary was thinking of her brother. We are told earlier that the Lord “loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus” (verse 5). So it was a love matter, and there is something in that; because the Lord comes back after He raised Lazarus and sits at the table with him. It was association; that was the idea of it. That helps very much.
HSH Does the thought of quickening here involve active participation with Christ in the way of testimony at the present time?
JT It would involve that. But what is before us is more its bearing towards God, with Christ in the assembly [p. 308] in the service of God. In what happened at Bethany we have the suggestion of both sides. Lazarus was one of those that sat at table with Him. That is association. And then we are told later that many came to see Lazarus and believed because of him. That is, Lazarus was a testimony, which would show that Colossian truth is essential to the testimony here; that we are living people — living with Christ.
CAM That thought you have just expressed about Lazarus would help with regard to the exalted idea here — quickened together with Christ. All the other history is closed; you have nothing but Christ.
JT Quite so. All this war that is going on is not Christ. All these histories in the world, men rising up and doing great things, are in this sense nothing. If One died for all, then all have died; and what confirms what you are saying is that they which live, meaning those that are quickened, should not live unto themselves, but unto Him that died for them and rose again. That is the position. What is happening and what is filling the world with history is really nothing from this standpoint. It will all go into oblivion, never to be revived or brought into mind at all, whereas this life is going to stand. And as regards christians, we have part with Christ, we are brought into life with Christ, which is an exalted position, sharing His own life. And so, as we were saying, Lazarus was one of those that sat at table with Him. That is association and participation with Him. Then in John 13 the Lord says to Peter, “Unless I wash thee, thou hast not part with me” (verse 8). That is the idea. The Lord is reminding Peter of this great fact, that his place is in association with Christ; and He says, ‘If I cannot wash thee, it cannot be’. So that being washed enters into this matter. We are cleansed of all that would hinder our enjoyment of this precious fact, risen with Christ, and in association with Him [p. 309] in life.
CAM So that what is transpiring all around is a tremendous test to us because we might be living in it; but as we are taught of God, we find quickening with Christ our great and only outlet.
JT That is all that is going to subsist eternally. That is what is meant as to those who have eternal life. All others shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal. That is the general thought of eternal life, but we are dealing now with something even greater than what that generally implies, namely, association with Christ in life.
AR Eternal life really does not take you off the earth, but here we have a link with Christ where He is.
JT It is His life above, where He is.
Now turning to Ephesians it says, “We too being dead in offences, (God) has quickened us with the Christ, (ye are saved by grace, ) and has raised us up together, and has made us sit down together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus” (chapter 2: 5). That gives full scope in the assembly, because the assembly is composed not only of risen people but of heavenly people.
ANW I would like to ask more about Colossians. Does the word “together” there imply what is collective? It is not exactly together with Him, but we are together with Him.
JT The “together” would apply to us, “has quickened together with him” (verse 13). The “together” would not be inclusive of Him but the company that is quickened with Him.
ANW I thought it would come out in the verse in Ephesians, that we are together in the raising but not with Him.
JT In Ephesians 2: 6 the raising up together and sitting down together refer exclusively to the saints. We are not said to be raised with Him there. In Ephesians it is “and has raised us up together, and has made us sit down together in the heavenlies”. That is with one another. “With him” is omitted. But it is in verse 5: there we are quickened “with the Christ”.
AAT Do I understand that is future, the raising and the seating?
JT It is future, but it is, as we have been saying before, as good as done, because God has undertaken to do it. Indeed, according to the passage, it is done. God can thus speak.
AR If we understood association with Him, as you have been speaking of Him, we would catch what is in His mind and have guidance about giving out hymns, or what we should say in the assembly.
JT Yes. Sections of the assembly service are not always recognised. It is from “glory to glory” in assembly service. It is one glory after another. There is the Lord’s supper, and all the glory that attaches to that, and then we go on to what we are dealing with here, “quickened with Christ”, and the glories attaching to that. The assembly comes in here. There is also our relation with Christ as His brethren, and also our association with Him as sons before His Father and our Father, His God and our God.
RWS Would what is regarded as part of a hymn in 2 Timothy 2 fit in here? “The word is faithful; for if we have died together with him, we shall also live together” (chapter 2: 11). Is that a lower level than Colossians?
JT No, I should not think so; only the apostle is speaking of living with Christ as future. There is a connection in the verse with what we are speaking of. It is hortatory, alluding in part to the truth we are considering.
RWS The “with him” is not added at the end of the verse. It reads, “if we have died together with him, we shall also live together”.
JT I think the “with him” is inferred. It is needed for the full answer to our death with Him. The fact that all of us live together is not the force of the [p. 311] passage; it is that we are associated with Him. It goes on to say, “If we endure, we shall also reign together; if we deny, he also will deny us; if we are unfaithful, he abides faithful, for he cannot deny himself” (verses 12, 13). I would think the idea of living with Him runs throughout. So in Thessalonians, “that whether we may be watching or sleep, we may live together with him”, 1 Thessalonians 5: 10. It is another statement of the same force.
JS Would His movements in the assembly involve our intelligent movements?
JT Well, the idea of Christ’s headship is that the body is controlled by it. Still, our intelligences are brought in. It is not only that we are controlled by His impulse; we have divinely given intelligence in ourselves so that we are capable of discerning His mind and the guidance He affords.
AR Would you say something now about association, and the thought of being raised up together and made to sit down together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus?
JT The Ephesian passage takes us the whole way. It is remarkable how it expands on what we had in Colossians. In the latter hindering things are taken out of the way; in Christ’s death everything is dealt with in one stroke, so that we should not be hampered at all. But in Ephesians, you are taken beyond all hindering things, seated in the heavenlies. “We too being dead in offences, (God) has quickened us with the Christ, ... and has raised us up together, and has made us sit down together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus, that he might display in the coming ages the surpassing riches of his grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus. For ye are saved by grace, through faith; and this not of yourselves; it is God’s gift: not on the principle of works, that no one might boast. For we are his workmanship, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God has before prepared that we should walk in them” (verses 5 - 10). The full position [p. 312] of the saints as heavenly is contemplated in this passage, so that we are free to enter into assembly service and testimony as the next paragraph shows (verses 19 - 22). That is, the full position of christianity is stated in this chapter.
Ques Do you get the suggestion of quickening in Joseph and his brethren? I was thinking of the position into which Joseph introduced them, from his own sphere of glory as with him, association.
JT He set them free as his brethren. It was not simply to patronise them, regarding them as inferior. He elevated them. He made them known to Pharaoh as his brethren. Thus Christ associates us with Himself before God as His brethren.
APf The prodigal son who was dead and came to life again — would you say association with Christ is involved there?
JT That is another thing. The parable portrays the full result of the gospel. “Because this thy brother was dead and has come to life again, and was lost and has been found”, Luke 15: 32. There can be no doubt that you might work this whole passage into that, because I believe it is the Ephesian position the Lord had in mind in all that wonderful parable of the prodigal; you have the house immediately, and the music and the dancing in the house, and the best robe on him.
APf Yes; the prodigal recovered is, so to speak, alive with his Father.
JT You have not, however, got Christ in the parable. He is typified earlier in the parable as to the Shepherd; He goes after the sheep. But in regard of the prodigal, he goes back to his Father. The idea of the Mediator in the position is not contemplated. It is the Father and the recovered son; the son come back to God as the Father. The parable presents an exalted thought. There is nothing said about the Mediator there. That is, it is having gone away from God, come back to Him known as his Father.
ANW Would it be right to connect “lost” and “found” with Romans, and “dead” and “alive” with Ephesians?
JT I would agree with that.
AR Would you explain a little about sitting down in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus?
JT It is the full position. Sitting would mean that we are there in liberty and dignity. God in His great love has placed us there. We belong to the place, we are indigenous to it, which would imply that all past history is cancelled. We are there as heavenly. The Lord Jesus says that those who “have part in that world and the resurrection from among the dead ... are equal to angels”, which would at least mean that they are heavenly in rank; but Ephesians shows that the saints of our dispensation are greater than angels. Our origin and rank are from Christ.
HGH Is verse 10 the basis of the thought of being quickened with Him?
JT “For we are his workmanship, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God has before prepared that we should walk in them”. The word “created” takes us further. It would imply that you fit into the great scheme of creation. Genesis 1 is the chapter of the first creation; the word ‘create’ is not used of all creatures. Man was created, also the creatures of the sea and air; others were “made”. Creation was the primary thought — “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth”. This would assume that God had a great scheme in His mind, governed by the word ‘create’. Each part has to be there to take its place, and that is in mind here. So it goes on to say, “Having been created in Christ Jesus for good works”. That is not said as to quickening, nor even of workmanship. It is that the creation required these works, “which God has before prepared that we should walk in them”. I think that opens up something for us, that we belong to the whole divine scheme.
JS [p. 314] Does not the thought of quickening underlie Genesis 1?
JT It does; the principle of life was in the earth.
WR That opens up a remarkable sphere of operations. Paul says to the Romans, “That ye may with one accord, with one mouth, glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ”, Romans 15: 6.
JT Creation needs good works, “which God has before prepared that we should walk in them”. What are these good works that He has before prepared? We must know them. They fit into the great scheme of creation. We need to know them and to have ability to walk in these good works. I suppose the full idea would be in the walk of Jesus here below, a heavenly Man on earth.
CAM Would you make the word “before” apply, in God’s mind, prior to everything?
JT Yes. “Which God has before prepared that we should walk in them”. They are there. Can I walk in them?
CAM Then the objective in christian experience will be what God has ever had in His mind.
JT I think that is how we should arrive at the truth in this respect; and so every creature was needed to answer to God’s mind. Take the land animals: they were brought to Adam. A creature is coming up, an elephant: Adam, in view of naming it, is sure to observe its movements. God had given him ability to name that creature, and the name he gives would be based on the expression of life in it. And God accepts the name Adam gives. That would mean that the creature is essential to the creation — a living, moving thing, answering in a practical way to the divine intent in creating it. God’s idea is a living state of things, and the variety of creatures brings out what life is as seen in their movements.
CAM Your further remark, that the good works in which we are to walk would be understood in apprehending [p. 315] the life of Christ here below, seems to be most helpful.
JT That, in this sense, is the acme of everything. But all the creatures named by Adam would in some sense represent life; each had some feature and every feature was essential to the great scheme of creation. I think that is the idea of creation here. God has that scheme in His mind. When you come to Jesus, especially in John’s gospel, you get the full idea. The Baptist looked at Him “as he walked”.
CAM It helps us in that way to understand why such a term as a lion can be applied to the Lord, and the Lamb of God, too.
JT Yes; He is called the Lamb of God, and the Lion of the tribe of Judah. In the offerings of the Scriptures, you get creatures representing Him, and it opens up a very wide door, it seems to me, as to new creation — what God has in mind, and that each one must fit into his place; each one must be there.
ANW Is God’s mind in the creation reached in “everything that hath breath”?
JT Quite so; it is all responsive to Him.
AR The thing was there in creation in life substantially before the name was given. If we were spiritual, we would arrive at the same thing in the spiritual realm. Many names are written down there, and they must correspond to the mind of God in what they are substantially.
JT John’s gospel brings out what we are speaking of now as to life, so that the Lord’s own walk is stressed in chapter 1. John the baptist calls attention to Jesus as He walked. Then John the evangelist says, Andrew went and found Simon his brother and brought him to Jesus, and Jesus looked on him. He is there as the last Adam. The Lord looked on him and said, “Thou shalt be called Cephas (which interpreted is stone)”, John 1: 42. That item is needed in the divine scheme; and so the principle applies to every one of us.
[p. 316] I believe these good works that are spoken of bring out what the features intended by God are. Therefore it is most important that we should walk in them.
AR So that is further seen in the two that followed the Lord, not here in relation to suffering, but they said, “Teacher, where abidest thou?” (verse 38). They must have had an impression that He was walking in relation to a glorious sphere.
JT Quite so; they were attracted. Really John 1 is almost astronomical, the remarkable movements in relation to Christ, and everything fitted! Then how wonderful the heavens are! Everything fits! “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the expanse sheweth the works of his hands”, Psalm 19: 1. Down here below everything is disorder, but God is going to bring it into order, and that is what is in mind. These good works are prepared that we should walk in them — having that in view.
WRas Would you say a word about Dorcas in Acts 9? It says, “She was full of good works and alms-deeds which she did” (verse 36). What would be the teaching in that? Her name means ‘gazelle’. “And it came to pass in those days that she grew sick and died” (verse 37).
JT She clearly was doing something, making garments; but she died, which is suggestive negatively. Why should a person die who is so highly regarded and so useful in her community? Well, they washed her and put her in the upper room and sent for Peter. That was all under God. It leads to what we are talking of; it is the universe of God that is in mind. Did she fit into it when she was making garments, or was she a good social member, who belonged to a sewing class? Peter on the other hand, who has a divinely given name, represents the idea we are speaking of. “Thou shalt be called Cephas” or “Peter”, the Lord said to him, both names having the same meaning. Now he is sent for, as if God was in that. God is going to bring [p. 317] Dorcas into His realm, into the realm of new creation. Is she going to be head of a sewing class; a good social member in the town?; or is she going to be a despised disciple and follower of Jesus, having no status in this world at all, but having a status with God above? The latter is what comes out. Peter arrived, “and all the widows stood by him weeping and shewing him the body-coats and garments which Dorcas had made ... But Peter, putting them all out, and kneeling down, prayed” (verses 39, 40). Dorcas societies have no spirituality attached to them. Peter put them all out. “And, turning to the body, he said, Tabitha, arise. And she opened her eyes, and, seeing Peter, sat up”. Notice that. He belongs to the new creation; he belongs to the great divine scheme and he is operating in it, and she saw him. That is what is to give character to her henceforth. “And having given her his hand, he raised her up, and having called the saints and the widows, presented her living” (verse 41). She belongs to another set now.
WRas She is called “a certain female disciple” (verse 36).
JT But she is now a risen saint, quickened we might say, and delivered to the saints and the widows.
RWS So Peter writes in his epistle that Christ is a model that we might follow in His footsteps; “leaving you a model that ye should follow in his steps”, 1 Peter 2: 21.
ANW Does the mention of His workmanship in the verses you have been dwelling on suggest detailed refinement in the creation?
JT Well, workmanship is really more, in a way, than creatorship. I suppose there is more skill in workmanship. Take Adam, he was created; we are told so expressly; but he was also formed. That would imply skill, in the physical realm he was the masterpiece of God.