PRIESTHOOD IN LUKE'S GOSPEL (4)
PRIESTHOOD IN LUKE’S GOSPEL (4)
JT Luke 3 leads us to Christ baptised, and it is said He was praying as He was baptised: “... and Jesus having been baptised and praying, ... the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended in a bodily form as a dove upon him; and a voice came out of heaven, Thou art my beloved Son, in thee I have found my delight” (verses 21, 22). These two verses bring us to the Lord in full manhood, for verse 23 says, “And Jesus himself was beginning to be about thirty years old”, and that is full levitical manhood, for it was at that age that the Levites entered on their full service. They began earlier as a sort of novitiate service, but “about thirty years” calls attention to the full levitical age; and so in view of divine service we have full manhood indicated involving physical strength. But when we come to chapter 4 it is said, “But Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan, and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness forty days, tempted of the devil”. So that we have full manhood in Christ in chapter 3, and in chapter 4 He is active in it, returning as it is said from the Jordan where He was baptised and “led by the Spirit in the wilderness”, not ‘into’ it but “in” it; that is, the wilderness position is accepted and He is moving in it, and being led in it.
All these are important thoughts for us, especially for the young brothers and sisters who would enter on the service of God. The service of the Levites was an onerous sort of thing involving physical strain, pre-figuring, of course, spiritual strain and energy; and so it is thought we should look at chapter 4 in the light of what has been said, as showing the Lord in active service in full manhood. All that divine [p. 362] activities had in mind in the types, in the priests and the Levites and other types, is now in full force and full exercise in Christ, and it is thought we should begin with this for the comparatively short time we have for this reading. Full manhood is in mind, not that which is in part; there is what is in part, but we are now dealing with full manhood.
AR The Lord was as great morally at the end of the forty days as He was at the beginning. Every day was in the power of the Spirit.
JT He was not only led into the wilderness, but led in it, the whole period was in it.
JRH Why is it that Luke is the only one who uses this expression, “full of the Holy Spirit”, both in the gospel and in the book of Acts? Paul uses the thought once in the words, “but be filled with the Spirit”, Ephesians 5: 18.
JT “Be filled” would allude to what is proper to Christians, or to creatures, whereas the Lord is not in the process of being filled. According to this passage He is “full of the Holy Spirit”.
CN Does His reference to Isaiah’s prophecy giving it a present application in the word ‘To-day’, prove what you say as to the full growth of manhood?
JT It illustrates that what was given at the time of law was connected with a time of imperfection; there was something of God in that period, but it was not a perfect time, therefore the scripture alluded to here could not be properly applied until now. So the Lord says, “To-day this scripture is fulfilled in your ears”; that is to say, we have arrived at the time of it.
WFK Would being led by the Spirit be power for combat to defeat Satan?
JT The strong man was there, but the stronger than he is now here and takes away the armour in which he trusted; that is, He robs the devil of his armour and his weapons, and overthrows him and [p. 363] spoils his goods. Luke is to bring out the spoiling of the enemy’s goods; what he had secured through his subtlety he is now robbed of; the gospel is robbing him of his prey.
WL Have you in mind that priestliness is to enter into levitical service here?
JT That is what is in mind exactly, because Malachi whom we have quoted several times at these readings says, “For the priest’s lips should keep knowledge”, (Malachi 2: 7). Not only does the priest serve God, but his lips keep knowledge and we are to hear the law at his mouth; I think that is what comes out here in the Lord’s remarks, the knowledge of that enters into what He says and has a great deal to do with the overthrow of the enemy. The Lord is shown here to be stronger than he.
AB Most of us become somewhat exhausted in exercises, but the Lord is not exhausted here in verse 14, “And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee”. There is no depleting of the power that was there.
JT Very good. He was as strong at the end of forty days as at the beginning, although it is not to be overlooked that He had taken up real manhood, and that real manhood involves as here a Man in flesh and blood in the wilderness; it involves weariness and it involves strengthening, too, because an angel strengthened the Lord, as it says in one place. So that He was stronger than the devil but He was a real Man; tempted in all things as we are, sin apart. He exhibited real manhood in those circumstances.
WL Is it in this way that He is a perfect pattern for us?
JT That is the idea. Since He has risen from the dead and gone into heaven other things have happened. He is the Man of God’s counsels. As out of death the Lord speaks of Himself as having “flesh and bones”. Ordinary persons are not limited to flesh [p. 364] and bones, they have flesh and blood; but the Lord speaks of “flesh and bones as ye see me having”, Luke 24: 39. That is in resurrection, involving the taking on of a new condition; but we are engaged now with Christ in the days of His flesh when He suffered and felt things before God with strong crying and tears. He was “tempted in all things in like manner, sin apart”, Hebrews 4: 15.
APT Is eating and drinking connected with this subject? “The Son of man has come eating and drinking”, Luke 7: 34.
JT Quite so. When they attributed to Him that He was a glutton and a winebibber, John the baptist had alluded to the fact that He did not eat and drink.
SJH Why does it not say that he hungered before the forty days were finished? Forty days is a long time.
JT The fact that it does say “he hungered” shows it is important that we should keep in mind the Lord’s condition in flesh and blood. “... The days of his flesh” allude to the time we are dealing with and He is preserved through that period, but Moses also was preserved for forty days and forty nights, and so was Elijah. It is possible in creatures, but it is seen here in the Lord and it is mentioned to bring out the real humanity that was there, such a humanity as He had taken, capable of being wearied and hungry, as if God would say, That is what I intended to bring out in Christ as Man.
WM Do you think the full thought of manhood is in Leviticus 2 where the meat-offering is referred to? It says, “And if thou present an oblation of thy first-fruits to Jehovah, thou shalt present as the oblation of thy first-fruits green ears of corn roasted in fire, corn beaten out of full ears” (Leviticus 2: 14).
JT That is the full thought. The second offering treated of in the book of Leviticus is the meat-offering, to bring out the perfect humanity of Christ.
AR The devil says, “If thou be Son of God”, but He is now Man, and He answered as Man.
JT That is good, I am sure. We should note in our consideration of the passage His answer to the devil. He says, “It is written”, quoting Scripture; that is the weapon that He uses, the weapon by which He overcomes the devil. That scripture says, “It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God”; but then He did live, He ate and drank.
EAK Does this oblation involve the necessity of the death of the Lord Jesus? I was thinking of Hebrews 2: 13, where Isaiah 8 is cited, “And again, Behold, I and the children which God has given me. Since therefore the children partake of blood and flesh, he also, in like manner, took part in the same, that through death he might annul him who has the might of death, that is, the devil”.
JT That helps us in view of what we have been saying because it has in mind not only the overthrow of the devil in the wilderness but his complete annulment in the sense that he is deprived of power through death. We are dealing with the very thing you are just quoting; it is a question of the Lord being in “blood and flesh” and all that entered into that sin apart, because He could not be our Model save as partaking of the things the children are partakers of. He Himself took part in the same real manhood, that is, in the sense of flesh and blood.
AL In the several references to the devil here he is not called Satan. Why is his name not capitalised? Would that suggest no dignity in the presence of the Lord?
JT Just so. That suggests what we find in the earlier part of Scripture where the devil is alluded to as a serpent under the heading of cattle. He is humiliated and I suppose the Lord intended that; He is not dealing with him as a great being called [p. 366] Satan, which means antagonist of God, or opposed to God. Ezekiel treats of him in that way and he was regarded by God in that way; in fact Michael implies that he was a great being because it is said, “But Michael the archangel ... did not dare to bring a railing judgment against him, but said, The Lord rebuke thee”, Jude 9. Michael being a military angel respected the dignity of Satan before he fell, although he was then a fallen being. But the Lord is not making much of that here and he is not great according to what we get in Genesis, he is just a serpent. The word ‘Satan’ is not mentioned in the early chapters of Genesis.
JL Would the reference in Ephesians 4 to the full grown man and then in Ephesians 6, “For the rest, brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the might of his strength. Put on the panoply of God, that ye may be able to stand against the artifices of the devil” bring before us how we might meet the enemy by putting on the whole armour of God?
JT That is good. Chapter 6 deals with the battle because Paul says, “our struggle is not against blood and flesh, but against principalities, against authorities, against the universal lords of this darkness, against spiritual power of wickedness in the heavenlies”. What we have in Ephesians is the highest level of conflict; Satan did not take on flesh and blood, it is a spiritual being we wrestle with.
SJH Is the Lord raising the question of manhood? He quotes the scripture intelligently in that way whereas Satan does not. People quote oftentimes without understanding, pitting one scripture against another, do they not?
JT The Lord is an example in everything here. I believe the devil distorts the scripture, he quotes in effect, not in actual words; and if the actual words are used, he does not quote all the scripture, nor does he quote it accurately, whereas the Lord does. Of [p. 367] course it is as a model for us that He does it, and the Berean brethren are models in that sense, because they searched the Scriptures daily as to whether the things that Paul had taught were so.
VHC Does the wilderness bring out the entire dependence of the Lord on God?
JT That is the point of it, dependence on every word that proceeded from the mouth of God.
VH I was thinking of Psalm 16, “Preserve me, O God: for I trust in thee”.
JT A beautiful sample of the Lord in dependence! Here we have Him in actual combat as David was in actual combat when he encountered the giant Goliath. We see how He does it and it is for us to follow, taking an example from Him.
JRH Is this a perfect expression of what John says, “I write to you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one”, (1 John 2: 13), and “I have written to you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one” (1 John 2: 14)?
JT Quite so. John is dealing with us as children, but dealing with us as a family and thus as graded, fathers, young men and little children. Therefore we are all in this matter, every one of us here today. We are in graded conditions as to age and God takes account of us according to our years; therefore we have to reckon in dealing with our brethren not only physical age but spiritual age, how long persons have been converted. John said more to the little children than to the fathers and young men, showing we must be very considerate of our young men and young women in view of their age.
WR I would like to ask if the verse in Romans 8 has any bearing on this chapter, “for as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God”.
JT That is a direct word for us, just as we have been saying about John’s epistle; there is the idea [p. 368] of children of God and of sons of God. Children of God is what we are down here, and God is moving on those lines with us whether we are here as elder brethren and sisters, middle-aged brethren and sisters, or young men, or boys and girls. Eutychus is called a boy, showing how the Spirit of God comes down to the gradation in which we are seen and considerately speaks of us. Accordingly, as we understand we are considerate.
JRH Would it be right to say the father feature in full manhood is seen with the Lord in that He is pure in atmosphere, no element of the world has any appeal to Him?
JT That is good. Now we may look at the temptations, because the point is just what you are saying. The first one deals with our circumstances, that is to say, what we have to count on for our livelihood physically; so it is said, “and in those days he did not eat anything, and when they were finished he hungered. And the devil said to him, If thou be Son of God, speak to this stone, that it become bread. And Jesus answered unto him saying, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God”. A young man entering on his life in view of marital relations has to think of circumstances, of his salary and so forth and that is where the enemy tempts us. At first we are likely to be influenced, if not overcome, at least influenced, by these considerations. A man would say, for instance, that he would come fully out into the truth were it not that he had seven anchors hanging on him, meaning he had a wife and six children. Then too if one is not married but going to school or just beginning business, one’s mind is on these things in view of a career. Again the devil knows it, and I believe the word for us here would be largely allied with John and with the gradations alluded to in the family. From the lowest in years this temptation is to be specially before us so that we [p. 369] may stand; and that we may take account of the fact that the word of God, the meetings, the ministry and all that order of things is more than salary or progress in business; because we are prone to think of the distinction we may acquire and how the distinction is accompanied by salary. The word for us is therefore what the Lord brings forward here, every word of God,’’ not only the general thought of ministry but every word of God.
WL Has the word ‘alone’ any importance? “Man shall not live by bread alone”.
JT Just so. There is recognition of what we were speaking about, the wherewithal of human life; the word ‘alone’ would be in recognition of that, but then the word ‘every’ is to be noted, “every word of God”.
TS How briefly the situation is met!
JT You mean the Lord’s quotation. There is a model in that way for us as to the use of words in our ministry; time is so scarce. Time is the scarcest thing we have, at least for some of us, and hence brevity is of great importance; and yet the truth should be stated.
AAT Would this scripture help a brother who might be influenced by trade unions?
JT Very much; so it comes right home to us; you might say the issue of the moment is the enemy’s effort through unionism, bearing on the saints almost universally.
SJH “Every word” in that way is important. Some words come close home in certain circumstances, but we may not hear every word. “Every word” covers every circumstance.
JT “The mouth of God” is spoken of in this connection elsewhere.
AR Is there significance in that these words come from Deuteronomy?
JT They are all from Deuteronomy, not Exodus,
[p. 370] nor Leviticus, but Deuteronomy, which sets out God in Moses. In that book it is not exactly put that the Lord spake unto Moses, but it is what Moses himself is saying. So here it is what our Moses is saying, a real Man in wilderness circumstances, because Deuteronomy is enunciated at the end of the wilderness.
WFK Is Satan trying to deceive?
JT We have to take the order in which the devil is working here. The first temptation is the one we are speaking of; the next relates to the kingdoms of the habitable world, not the Jewish world but the habitable world. The devil shows them in a moment of time and says to the Lord, “I will give thee all this power, and their glory; for it is given up to me, and to whomsoever I will I give it. If therefore thou wilt do homage before me, all of it shall be thine. And Jesus answering him said, It is written, Thou shalt do homage to the Lord thy God, and him alone shalt thou serve” (verses 6 - 8). Now this is properly linked up with the four monarchies, that is to say, with the human race and man’s glory, because these monarchies had acquired glory, and man in those circumstances, such as Alexander and other men who shone militarily, would aspire to a position like that. Of course military prowess and glory greatly appeal to the young and particularly now since we have been through two great wars. Although there is abhorrence of war yet there is a great idea of glory attaching to it and of what man can acquire in it by prowess and exploits. The enemy does not shrink from showing the Lord all the kingdoms of the habitable world; not the commercial world but the kingdoms, that in which there is power and glory. It is not the Jewish world but the Gentile world, because Luke is dealing with the gospel going out to the Gentiles. It is a question now of the brethren being free of all this kind of glory. Children take it up and we are to be against all that as seeing how the enemy is using this [p. 371] kind of glory to affect the youth. Therefore this second temptation is important. Matthew has in mind the Jewish position, but this is the Gentile position and therefore it is a realm of military glory and all that goes with it. We are to be free of it entirely.
WL Do you think these temptations are progressive?
JT I would say that. The glory of the world comes second and is especially in mind in Luke, but it comes third in Matthew. The temptations are progressive in the sense that we come from ordinary circumstances into worldly glory.
WL If one gave first place to material things would the devil not have a handle and lead him on to glory in relation to that?
JT That is what the danger is. If you are looking at Matthew from the Jewish point of view you would think of the temple first, whereas Luke is taking up the world and all that it affords to the youth. We have to consider the bearing of it on ourselves and the Lord is our Guide and Model.
Ques Is the devil not a liar here in what he says to the Lord?
JT He does not quote Scripture properly and he does not state facts, because all these things are not given to him.
APT It is not wise to give our children miniature battle-ships and machine-guns.
JT I was thinking of how you see these things on the street so early in children’s lives, how quickly the boys take them on. And we see even those brought up in the truth seeking a military or a naval place.
GMcP Would you say something with regard to the truth of the Lord’s Person being questioned in the first temptation and the Lord saying in the second temptation, “Thou shalt do homage to the Lord thy God”? Satan’s first question relates to the title “Son of God”.
JT The Lord’s Person enters into that, quite so. One of the great issues amongst brethren during the past twenty or thirty years has been His Sonship, and the Lord is blessing us in the understanding of it. Satan is bringing it up here in saying, “If thou be Son of God”, but the Lord’s answer shows that His Sonship is in manhood. There was opposition to that at one time, persons saying that His Sonship was eternal in the Deity, whereas it is in Man. The Lord has in mind that if it be a question of His being Son of God it is as Man, it is in manhood.
HP I suppose if Satan had known the scripture properly he would have understood Daniel 7 in relation to the kingdoms of this world.
JT Very good. I would say that is to be noted because we have that thought, too, in Revelation, “The kingdom of the world of our Lord and of his Christ is come”, (Revelation 11: 15). That is the world to come of which we speak and the situation is as you say, these kingdoms have all yet to come. There will be great changes as to the nations or the kingdoms, but they are to be preserved, they are within God’s rights. To whom He will He gives them but they are not given to Satan, even though they seem to be; God holds His hand on them and prevents him from having his entire sway. So it is after the millennium that he comes up “on the breadth of the earth” (Revelation 20: 9), to take Jerusalem, meaning that there are no boundaries of nations but the whole earth is under his hand; he assumes that and he comes up “on the breadth of the earth”, but he is immediately destroyed.
AR Why is the last temptation religious?
JT It comes in here third, but in Matthew it comes second, which bears out what we said, that young men are likely to be thinking of what wages [p. 373] they can get, whereas the word of God would direct them to the religious side of things, I mean what belongs to the assembly; that ought to be the first concern and the word of God would lead us to that.
M Would you say a little about the Lord being full of the Holy Spirit and then in verse 5, “the devil leading him”?
JT The Spirit would not lead Him up there. God allowed Satan to do his worst. We began with the Spirit’s leading, “But Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit ... was led by the Spirit in the wilderness”, and then the point would be, What can Satan do? The question is, What can he do? He cannot succeed in what he has set out to do and that is because the Spirit has His place. Applying it to ourselves, if we believe in the Spirit, if we have the Spirit and are sealed by the Spirit, let us walk in the Spirit and then we shall not be led by the devil in anything. But the Lord was allowed to be led here: “And the devil, leading him up into a high mountain, shewed him all the kingdoms of the habitable world in a moment of time”. The Lord allowed that, but only to forestall what the enemy had in mind. The Lord was stronger than he and so overcame him by the word of truth. It is a word for every one of us, especially for young men.
EAK Would the word be, “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you”, James 4: 7?
JT Quite so. So that if the devil is allowed to lead the Lord up to the mountain that is just to bring about his downfall. Our wisdom is to resist him.
GMcP Perfection of manhood and the truth of sonship are established in that Man.
JT The Lord is stressing that it is a question of Man, not of His deity here, but manhood.
AAT It says, “shewed him all the kingdoms ... in a moment of time”. Is that not a miracle?
JT Apparently it was; God [p. 374] allowed that.
EAK Do we see the Lord Jesus in the perfection of His manhood wielding the sword of the Spirit? Everything He said here conveyed to Satan that he was guilty.
JT That he was guilty! Yes. So that John would bring that out, he is a liar and the author of it.
RWS The Lord Jesus must have had intense feelings in having to deal with the devil; but the feeling is not brought out here, but rather when he comes again, having left Him for a time.
JT In connection with the time when he comes to Him again we have the word, “for the ruler of the world comes, and in me he has nothing”, John 14: 30. It comes out at the cross that there was really nothing; although the devil was allowed to use these temptations there was really nothing at all in Christ to respond to them. It was to bring out that He was superior and greater, and so He overcame the strong man. The final test came at Gethsemane when Satan came back with his other weapon — that is death. What will the Lord do then? And we may say, What shall we do in the swelling of the Jordan? Satan’s weapon was death, and he sought to press it upon the Lord, but the Lord says, “in me he has nothing”. He could do nothing with the Lord at the cross; the triumph had been won at Gethsemane. But here it is the actual circumstances in which any one of us may be placed, and we are to be guided by the word of God.
WL Would you say that Babylon is the heading up of these three features on the devil’s side, showing how much he has succeeded in relation to man?
JT We have spoken of the four monarchies and Rome is the principal one, the strongest of them all really. It was under Rome that the Lord appeared Himself, and as our brother in his preaching last night called to our attention, Satan used Pilate. But the Lord overcame him, too, the same power appeared [p. 375] there.
AL Do we see here Satan using the crowd in the synagogue at Nazareth to attempt to throw the Lord over the precipice? Satan said to the Lord, “cast thyself down” from the edge of the temple. Is there a link there?
JT There is a link in the whole position and the Lord proceeds to speak the truth. In verse 13 it says, “And the devil, having completed every temptation, departed from him for a time”. We have touched on that, and then it says, “And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee; and a rumour went out into the whole surrounding country about him; and he taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all”. Then He came to Nazareth and it was a question there of the truth. The Lord was anointed; He is set out here not now simply as a Man with the word of God as His weapon, but as anointed. “And he came to Nazareth, where he was brought up; and he entered, according to his custom, into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up to read. And the book of the prophet Esaias was given to him; and having unrolled the book he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach glad tidings to the poor he has sent me to preach to captives deliverance, and to the blind sight, to send forth the crushed delivered, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord”. Now this is a new position, the Lord is not in opposition to the devil exactly but is in active ministry as in anointed manhood. Well now, what will come out? “And having rolled up the book, when he had delivered it up to the attendant, he sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed upon him” (verse 20). He is the centre now because of the anointing; it is the power of the anointing in Him and that is our power, too: “Now he that establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, is God” (2 Corinthians 1: 21); so we, too, come into the anointing. “And he began [p. 376] to say to them, To-day this scripture is fulfilled in your ears. And all bore witness to him, and wondered at the words of grace which were coming out of his mouth”. It is a question of grace first and this again is our model. “And they said, Is not this the son of Joseph? And he said to them, Ye will surely say to me this parable, Physician, heal thyself; whatsoever we have heard has taken place in Capernaum do here also in thine own country. And he said, Verily I say to you, that no prophet is acceptable in his own country”. Now He is dealing with truth. We have already touched on the anointing, but then He is dealing with truth in the anointing, and what will that effect ? It will bring out the bitterest opposition. It is the truth of God that brings out the devil’s opposition, when the Lord is actually ministering as a true Levite, and it is a question of the truth.
CN Would you say that in this section you find the full expression of “the priest’s lips should keep knowledge, and at his mouth they seek the law” as hearing the law from His mouth?
JT That is what I was thinking; therefore priesthood is not confined to service to God and our service in a general way, but has regard also to our lips and our knowledge because the priest unfolds things. I believe that is what Moses represents in Deuteronomy; he unfolded this law with the lips of the priest.
EAK Is that the Deuteronomy idea of priests and Levites blended together?
JT Just so. The ark was borne by Levites and they are called priests, we are on that level now. But what I was endeavouring to show at the close is the effect of what the Lord says. He goes on, “But of a truth I say to you, There were many widows in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up for three years and six months, so that a great famine came upon all the land, and to none of them was [p. 377] Elias sent but to Sarepta of Sidonia, to a woman that was a widow. And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed but Naaman the Syrian”. Now what is the result ? It is a question of the truth in the anointing, that is, in the ministry, and it says, “they were all filled with rage in the synagogue, hearing these things; and rising up they cast him forth out of the city, and led him up to the brow of the mountain upon which their city was built, so that they might throw him down the precipice”. Notice the difference between Satan’s leading Him up and now their leading Him up that they might throw Him down the precipice. “But he, passing through the midst of them, went his way, and descended to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and taught them on the sabbaths”. You get a change of attitude as soon as you get the anointing and the ministry and the truth; what vicious opposition there is! And we do not need to be surprised.
JLP Would you say that along with the power of the truth we have the discrediting of the Lord’s Person? “Is not this the son of Joseph?”
JT Just so. The question of the truth of sonship is to be borne in mind because, as we have said, it is a question of manhood; the Lord’s mind turned at once to manhood when Satan mentioned the Son of God: “If thou be Son of God ...”. The Lord in effect said, ‘That implies that I am a Man’. Sonship is in manhood, and Man is now known in sonship; the highest thought of manhood is in sonship.
EAK Is manhood inseparable from suffering? So the great end of the devil was to divert the Lord from the path of suffering. Is that a word given to us today?
JT “I fill up that which is behind of the tribulations of Christ in my flesh, for his body, which is the assembly”, Colossians 1: 24.