PRIESTHOOD IN LUKE'S GOSPEL (5)
PRIESTHOOD IN LUKE’S GOSPEL (5)
JT It is thought we should complete our inquiry in Luke by looking at chapter 11; not that there are not many other chapters and passages that speak of priesthood, but chapter 11 does so in a special way. The Lord is there seen as an example for us in prayer because it is said that He was praying in a certain place and that one of His disciples asked Him to teach them to pray. What is in mind is to show that the Lord not only accedes to the desire of the disciple that He should teach them to pray, but He also gives extended instruction covering the matter, showing the importance of prayer, and of urgent prayer, and how it reaches up to the great fact that the Father is alluded to as giving the Holy Spirit in answer to prayer: “how much rather shall the Father who is of heaven give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” And then in the next paragraph we have the Lord dealing with the enemies that are working to hinder us in prayer. It is said, “And he was casting out a demon, and it was dumb”, and then, it says, “the demon being gone out, the dumb man spoke. And the crowds wondered”. So that the Lord in answering this brother’s request, enlarges on the subject of prayer, and how effective it is, and how extensive it is, especially how extensive is the effect of it; and then that the enemy’s attack as affecting a man’s speech so that he could not pray is overcome, too. It is to be noted that the disciple did not ask the Lord to teach him to pray, he said, “Lord, teach us”, meaning that we should not in any way be selfish in our prayers. In asking for what may be needed we include all the saints, we should extend to all. “Teach us to pray”.
WL That would include sisters, too?
JT Quite so. We have already had before us that all should come into whatever is good. So that our prayers, if we begin to pray individually or in regard to ourselves, should enlarge and include others.
AR Is there anything significant in the fact that it is in a certain place?
JT It indicates that the thought of locality is in mind in the subject of prayer and of priesthood. So the epistle to the Corinthians speaks of what was at Corinth; it was addressed to the assembly of God in Corinth and to “all that in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both theirs and ours”, the word ‘place’ being the connecting link.
WFK Is prayer the chief service of the priest?
JT I would say that, only as we have had already, the priest’s lips keep knowledge. How instructive Malachi is! He is a small or minor prophet, but how instructive he is as to locality and as to matters that bear on us in localities, especially in that word, “they that feared Jehovah spoke often one to another”. Precious thought that in a city like this the brethren get together and speak often!
HP In the beginning of Acts they returned from the mount of Olives, a spiritual sphere. Would that link with prayer?
JT Very good. The Lord spent nights on the mount of Olives, and the inquiry for us is, Where was He? What was He doing? Undoubtedly He was in relation to His Father, and so these instructions come out here, “If therefore ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much rather shall the Father who is of heaven give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” The mount of Olives is in the precincts of heaven, close to heaven, and if the Lord spent nights there it was undoubtedly to be with His Father.
CN In chapter 9:18 it says, “And it came to [p. 380] pass as he was praying alone, his disciples were with him”, and what follows on that is the revelation to Peter as to who He was. Does that help in connection with what you are saying about chapter 11 leading up to the Spirit on the principle of asking?
JT Only there He is praying alone; it is a peculiar thing that the Lord, as far as I know, is not seen praying with His disciples; He is praying alone there whereas in chapter 11 He is seen praying in a certain place; it does not say ‘alone’, but it is evidently alone because the disciples remind Him that they need to learn how to pray. It was a good opportunity to ask the Lord to teach them to pray; it is an important thing to be taught how to pray.
WWM Would it be right to say that this instruction would show that in being taught to pray the interests of God should be expressed before our own affairs? Do you think that is right?
JT I think that if you did pray about your own affairs and were praying in the Spirit He would not be content with that, He would lead you to pray about the interests of the Lord, to pray in a collective sense. It is a question of how our minds are formed and conditioned and made useful; and if they are occupied in prayer in that way, if they are available to us and if we are available to the Spirit, then we shall be enlarged in our scope.
Ques Would it be right to look on this matter as in the light of Aaron and his sons?
JT I think so. Aaron according to Leviticus offered for his house, and the idea of the house of Aaron would extend in type to the assembly. Aaron offered a bullock for himself and his house, and he offered a goat for Israel. But the assembly is in mind in offering the bullock, and Aaron’s house would of course include his daughters, not his sons alone, for the word ‘man’ covers both. There is no scape-bullock offered, but there is a scape-goat. The [p. 381] suggestion is that the bullock is for the house of the Lord’s people as His house, so to speak, and for that there is no scape-bullock, but instead of that there is the Holy Spirit. And the Spirit is the answer to prayer really, as we get in this chapter, “how much rather shall the Father who is of heaven give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?”
WFK It needs faith for prayer; the assembly in the Acts was praying without faith for Peter’s release.
JT Just so; they were praying without faith, but still the Lord answered them. Only we are to pray in faith, and that is what the Lord would teach us this afternoon, because this section of the chapter with all its instruction about prayer and what can be had from prayer involves faith.
WFK Is there a link in that way with Mary sitting at the feet of Jesus listening to His word? Does that promote prayer, and are such persons listened to in heaven?
JT In Mary’s case, just as with the disciple in mind here, she is not concerned about herself alone. In chapter 9 the Lord was seen on the holy mount and certain things happened; the Father’s voice was heard there and the One who was there was His beloved Son, and He was to be heard, for the Father said, “hear him”. So Mary, not Martha, is sitting at the Lord’s feet and hearing His word, because that was the order of the day. What happened on the mount was light for the moment and the person who profited by the light of the mount of Transfiguration was Mary; she was down below but she learned, she came into the order of the day, so to speak. The light that the mount of Transfiguration implied was that it was the moment for Christ to be heard; they were to listen to Him, to hear Him, and that was what Mary was doing. Hence if we put Mary with this disciple we can see that she is affected by [p. 382] the light that governed the moment, that Christ was the One to be listened to, not only in His prayer but in His ministry. If you hear any ministry, hear what He says; that idea would cover the whole position on the earth at that moment, and does still. Then what the disciple asked for here was that the Lord should teach them to pray and that is another principle, because it is in the plural conveying that the Lord is ready to teach all the saints to pray and we are to learn how to do it. We are to realise that the Lord is not only ministering the truth generally but that it is necessary for each of us, especially the young, to hear Him; to leave out all others to hear Him.
AR Is He the teaching Priest in Luke?
JT Quite so, that is just what He is.
JRH You said that the Lord is never seen praying with His disciples. Why is that?
JT Do you remember that He ever did pray with His disciples?
JRH I wondered what you had in mind.
JT I suppose it is as in other cases that in everything He must have pre-eminence, and especially in a service in which others have part. He must have His own platform and be by Himself in our minds, as in Psalm 45, “anointed ... with the oil of gladness above thy companions”. It would enter in here for He is above us personally. The mystery of His Person enters into it and we recognise that there is something there that we do not have part in at all; that is, we have to leave Him to Himself and listen to what is said and how He prays, His wording; and then, too, what He says in ministry according to chapter 9. Mary is an example of one who does this.
WR Was Peter defective on the holy mount on that point?
JT Quite so, “let us make three tabernacles”. What a poor thing that was and how different from what we are speaking of! Peter said, “let us make [p. 383] three tabernacles, one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias”. He is not making any more of Christ than he is of Moses and Elias, save that He is mentioned first, but that is not enough. He did not know what he was saying, and how many of us are guilty of that! He did not carry with him the idea of the Person he was dealing with and Whom Luke presents to us.
AAT Anna was in the temple serving night and day. Is this where fasting comes in?
JT Fasting is important because it is self-denial. It shows how the position of prayer can be supplemented by fasting; not that we always need to add that thought, but it is to be found in the early examples that the praying and fasting went together. It is self-denial in depriving ourselves of what would hinder, whatever that might be. We have to learn what it might be, and fasting is one way to find out what hinders in prayer in view of relieving ourselves of it so that we may be unaffected and unhampered.
GMcP Does the teaching imply that we take on the ministry as being productive of a spiritual state, so that we may learn to speak to divine Persons?
JT Yes; so that on the mount Peter did not know how to speak, he did not know what he was saying, that was the difficulty. He did not have understanding of the Person of the Lord Jesus. What a Person He is! Mary understood however, because she sat at His feet and listened to what He was saying. So the Spirit of God is not content with what Luke is able to tell us about Mary and Martha, He brings the subject over into John and puts Martha before Mary in a way; that is, she went out to meet the Lord and Mary did not, she sat still in the house. So it would seem as if the Spirit of God is not content with just what Luke gives us about the sisters. He would bring John in as indicating what a selection of ministers He [p. 384] has, and that He knows how to lay His hand on the brother who can present the thing better.
WL Do you feel that we need to be exercised individually in relation to this matter of prayer and being taught how to pray?
JT I do. But in connection with what I was saying about a brother who might do better, we have a good many brothers now who are able to serve the saints in a general way and we are thankful for it; but the Lord has a variety and knows them all, and the time may come when He will say, This matter needs someone special, and He will make His own selection. As regards Mary and Martha, Luke had spoken about them but John also had to speak about them; the Lord would have John speak about them, too, because there was more to be said than what Luke had said. Therefore let us all be ready, and if there is a special matter, let us be ready for it. John is presented in Scripture as a special man; Peter would have made him ordinary, saying, “What of this man?” Of course he was one of the twelve, but Peter would make him only just that. The Lord did not disclose to Peter that He was going to use John for certain matters, that he was a specialist, so to speak, but He says to Peter, “If I will that he abide until I come, what is that to thee” That is to say Peter was interfering unduly and the Lord would say, Do not stretch out your hand to touch another’s line of things or to touch his responsibility; his responsibility is with Me. “If I will that he abide until I come, what is that to thee? Follow thou me”. And Peter was adjusted. The point is that we are to be followers of the Lord. Let the Lord have His specialists, because this matter of Mary and Martha was a special matter, and the Lord wanted more said about them than Luke gives us; and so we find that Martha was not so far behind Mary in result. The Lord would bring her up to date, that is what the [p. 385] Lord will do with us here, causing us to be thoroughly in what He is going on with. And so according to John, Martha was fairly well up to Mary, but Mary is the one who is distinguished in our passage.
AB Does Mary have moral stability in this chapter over against the distraction that marks Martha?
JT Yes, I think she does, and the Spirit of God is pleased to direct Luke as to her, putting Martha in a rather discreditable light. It was right that she should be in such a light at that time, but there was more to be said about her; and so it is with many of us, we may discredit a brother but there is more to be said about him, and we must wait to see what will come out.
AAT Is the prayer in verse 2 a prayer that is not up to date? Is it intended for the Jews more than for Christians? I am referring to the Lord saying, “Father, thy name be hallowed”. Is that Jewish?
JT It is, yet it is up to date so far, because the Lord adds a lot to it. If we consult Matthew we see that it is not up to his presentation; it is more intelligible from the Christian point of view than Matthew, but it is not the full thought for Christianity and it has a Jewish tinge about it. But the Lord does not leave it at that, and hence He says further, “Who among you shall have a friend, and shall go to him at midnight and say to him”, etc. This is not Jewish because the Lord is now thinking of us; He is thinking of Luke and in Luke’s way and giving liberty to us such as Luke affords us. He brings up this matter in verse 5, “Who among you shall have a friend, and shall go to him at midnight and say to him, Friend, let me have three loaves, since a friend of mine on a journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him; and he within answering should say, Do not disturb me; the door is already shut, and [p. 386] my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise up to give it thee?”Then there is a pause and the Lord says, “I say to you, Although he will not get up and give them to him because he is his friend, because of his shamelessness, at any rate, he will rise and give him as many as he wants”. That word ‘shamelessness’ is not a Jewish word, it involves latitude, indicating that a man is not ashamed to keep on praying to the Lord for a certain thing and that he keeps doing so until he gets it. That is the liberty of Christianity.
AAT So there are two thoughts, the Jewish side in connection with the word about the Father and then later on the matter of the Spirit connecting with our day.
JT Just so. And this disciple that asks Him to teach them to pray “even as John also taught his disciples”, would not be much beyond the Jewish level. He is linking on with John, in fact he is comparing John with the Lord; he is not in the full light of the Person who is before him, and that is the difference between Judaism and Christianity. Judaism misses the truth of Christ’s Person. The Lord sees that and He says enough to satisfy the inquiry of this Jewish disciple, but then He says in effect, I want to bring this brother into liberty. And so we have this wonderful account that the Lord gives to show the liberty of Christianity, the liberty of prayer that belongs to Christianity and the freeness of the answer, that the Father would even give the Spirit in answer to it! That is Christianity, not Judaism. How wonderful it is! The Spirit is so available to us that the Father is ready to give Him to us on the principle of prayer.
FKC Paul answers to this, “For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom every family in the heavens and on earth is named, in order that he may give you according to the [p. 387] riches of his glory, to be strengthened with power by his Spirit in the inner man”.
JT That is good, you are quoting from the highest chapter of our spiritual education, Ephesians 3. That is where Paul bows his knees to the Father and his mind is widened to every family in the heavens and on earth. That links on with what we are speaking of in Luke 11, Ephesians being full Christianity and especially as to spiritual education, because in that chapter Paul says to the Ephesians that he wanted them to know his knowledge of the mystery. They did not know what he knew, but he would say, What I have you can have, as far as I am concerned, and I am doing my best so that you may have it; because that is what he was doing in that wonderful chapter.
RWS To whom does the word ‘shamelessness’ allude?
JT To the man who is outside asking. The one who is shameless is the man who is praying for something to give to his visitor. It is a question of neighbourliness and hospitality, and this man whose friend has come wants to give him something to entertain him; so he is putting his pride on one side and keeps on asking.
AR Isaiah 62: 7 says, “give him no rest”. “Ye that put Jehovah in remembrance, keep not silence, and give him no rest, till he establish”, and so on. I suppose that is the idea.
JT Quite so. Think of God suggesting that to us! And so in this gospel the Lord cites the importunate widow and how the judge accedes to her wish because she keeps on praying. It is to bring out the importance of urgent and continuous prayer.
RWS So the reflection would be upon this man in having nothing in his house. Would it bear upon our localities? If there has been weakness and failure we should acknowledge it and keep on seeking God’s [p. 388] face.
JT Exactly; keep on with it. The Lord uses the remarkable word, ‘shamelessness’; I am put into a position sometimes in which I am so anxious to get something from God that I keep on asking for it.
Ques In Romans 8: 26 Paul speaks to us of prayer: “And in like manner the Spirit joins also its help to our weakness; for we do not know what we should pray for as is fitting, but the Spirit itself makes intercession with groanings which cannot be uttered. But he who searches the hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because he intercedes for saints according to God”. Is that prayer in the Spirit?
JT Quite so. I am sure the brethren will all see the applicability of that scripture to what we are saying.
RWS At this point I would like more help as to our meeting for prayer. Would an instructed person know which matters to refer to the Father and which matters to refer to the Lord Jesus?
JT That is an elevated inquiry and it bears on the whole position of Christianity, as to whether we can distinguish the divine Persons as They speak. It is not everyone who can, and perhaps no one now would assume that he can tell which Person is speaking to him, which divine Person is addressing him. I would think the Scriptures furnish indications as to what the divine Persons are likely to speak of. I should not attempt to give illustrations because the time would fail us, but the Scriptures are of help for us on that point and one illustration is that the Father judges no one. Therefore if there is something brought to you inwardly as to judgment related to dealing with persons for sin, I would not connect that with the Father but with the Son, because all judgment is given to the Son. There is such a thing as departmental positions in which divine [p. 389] Persons operate.
APT Stephen speaks to the Lord Jesus in that department.
JT Just so, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit”. Well, the Lord Himself said something like that to the Father, “Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit” (Luke 23: 46), showing that that might be referred to either the Father or the Son. But if there is a point of judgment, the department to have in mind relates to the Son, judgment is in His hand because He is the Son of man.
APT Stephen says further, “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge”. Is that a matter of judgment? What you say is instructive because the Lord Jesus says “Father, forgive them”, but Stephen says, Do not lay this sin to their charge. Is there some link with what you have in mind?
JT I can see a difference between what Stephen might say to the Son and what the Son would say to the Father; He would take more latitude than Stephen would. But Stephen deals with sin too in speaking to the Lord Jesus; He says, “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge”, and of course, when He says, “Lord”, he means that he is in the place of judgment.
JRHJr It says of the Lord that He “gave himself over into the hands of him who judges righteously”, 1 Peter 2: 23. We can scarcely do that.
JT No. There would be a difference between the way divine Persons speak to each other and the way we would speak; but the Father judges no one and therefore that would help us as to Who is speaking in anything that is being said to us in ministry.
AAT You were encouraging us to keep on praying, but do we not need to have some intelligence about that? Paul besought the Lord three times to have the thorn in his flesh removed and then he had to stop.
JT I suppose he learned from the Lord’s example.
[p. 390] The Lord prayed three times to the Father and I suppose Paul followed that example. He asked the Lord three times to remove the thorn from him and then he asked no more, because the Lord replied, “My grace suffices thee”, 2 Corinthians 12: 9. That finished the matter, so Paul had to be content with that; there is no evidence that the thorn was removed.
AR We asked the Lord to stop the war. Was that right?
JT It was loosely that. At the same time there is such a thing as being intelligent as to the prayers we make and confining ourselves to three times if there is not evidence that anything is to be done.
EAK Would the three refer to a three-fold cord? There are three specific things mentioned here in this scripture, the bread, the fish and the egg.
JT No doubt there is something in it but I should make it very subordinate to the main point, because the Lord is stressing here the idea of the continuing in prayer without specifying the number of times. Then the Lord is also leading up to the great matter of the Spirit, and that is what one would like to come to at this very minute, so that the brethren might get the full force of the teaching which ends in this remark that you allude to. The Lord says, “But of whom of you that is a father shall a son ask bread, and the father shall give him a stone? or also a fish, and instead of a fish shall give him a serpent? or if also he shall ask an egg, shall give him a scorpion?” The conclusion is, “If therefore ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much rather shall the Father who is of heaven give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” This is one of the greatest things that can be said about prayer.
AL Would this man who prayed for the three loaves be desirous of serving others?
JT Yes, he was serving; he was in the position [p. 391] that marks the dispensation. Even the man with whom his children are in bed is not to be belittled, because he is taking care of his children and is urgent about them so that he is not willing to get up. But then the Lord is saying that even though he is urgent about his children he is amenable to the influence of prayer; he gets into the full thought of it, too, and has part, as it were, in the administration of things. He has something to administer, and his hesitancy is only a question of the position of his children and the time of night. The power of prayer leads to the dispensation being reached, and it culminates in the fact that the dispensation is equal to the Father giving the Holy Spirit to those that ask Him.
VHC Are we to discriminate as to the One to whom we pray for certain things, the Lord or the Father, or to God?
JT We have to learn to do it.
VHC And would the thought of the Holy Spirit being brought in here give us knowledge in that way? I have been exercised about that in connection with the different things we need.
JT It is a good exercise, and the gift of the Spirit is the great point in the dispensation; the Father gives the Spirit to those who ask Him, anyone asking the Holy Spirit of the Father will get It.
GMcP Does the thought of prayer bring us into the realm of divine Persons? It would appear from your remarks in relation to assembly material that the assembly is nearest to divine Persons.
JT Just so, the assembly is nearest to divine Persons.
RWS “... How much rather” — it is beautiful! “... How much rather shall the Father who is of heaven give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” There is no comparison to the heavenly Father.
JT It shows how far away mere nature is from these great matters we are dealing with and what is [p. 392] available as the consequence of prayer. What the Father will give in answer to prayer!
WWM In 1 Corinthians 14 it says, “What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, but I will pray also with the understanding; I will sing with the spirit, but I will sing also with the understanding”. Your thought is that the greatest matter we could ask for is the Spirit; we might ask for the other things preceding that but we need the Spirit in order to be in the dispensation rightly.
JT The Spirit is the solution to everything, and He is here to stay, so to speak. He is the other Comforter, equal to the First, equal to the Lord, and the word ‘Comforter’ means that He is near you. He is with you and you can make requests of Him at any time; and He is not only ready to answer, but He is with you in the prayer because the Spirit adds Its help to our weakness, so that we should pray as we ought. And then another thing that you referred to in 1 Corinthians 14 is the thought of understanding: “I will pray with the spirit”, but that is not enough; “but I will pray also with the understanding”, so that we understand what we are praying for, we are intelligent.
TW If a young believer is conscious of having received the Holy Spirit, is it a right thing to ask for the renewal of the Spirit?
JT Having the Spirit would also involve that, for if you have Him you have Him. It is a question of state and of clearing your mind and affections of what hinders you, because there are hindering elements which grieve the Spirit and even quench Him; but all that has to be dealt with.
CN Linking on with verse 14 of our chapter?
JT That is right, because of the power the devil would have in this matter of prayer, even in a prayer meeting; as it is said in Job, the devil comes where the sons of God come, “and Satan came also among them”. It is a solemn matter as to our prayer meetings, or if Satan is found at a meeting like this; we have to watch for that. And so here the Lord was casting out a demon and the fact that no one asked Him to do it would show that it was necessary. He was dealing with the matter. There is the Spirit, the wonderful gift of the Father, and over against that is what the devil is doing, what Satan is doing through a demon. A demon is a spirit, but a being the devil can use to attack the saints.
CN The man was dumb but afterward he speaks. I wondered if that would in any way convey the thought that the first speaking of one getting help from the Lord would be in the form of prayer.
JT If the devil is operating with a good many of our brothers in this city and they do not pray, they do not open their mouths in prayer, that is a serious matter. If a brother does not take part in prayer it may be the devil is hindering him. Maybe there is some practice, too, that he is not judging, and the devil gets in and operates so that he should not pray. In a prayer meeting the brothers ought to pray and the sisters ought to be thoroughly in the prayers; they are not supposed to speak but they are to be thoroughly in the prayers, and if they are priests they will be. The devil would seek to hinder them, too.
WFK Is that how we resist the devil, in prayer?
JT Quite so. There may be some practice or some outlook or something I am craving about which I am not judging myself. Maybe the devil is using that to hinder me in prayer. The Lord sees that here and it says that “he was casting out a demon”, not that He was intending to do it but that He was doing it. The thing is proceeding.
AB The man is mentioned after the demon has been dealt [p. 394] with.
JT The man comes to light as having the power of speech. It says, “and it came to pass, the demon being gone out, the dumb man spoke”. There is the same kind of thing in the first chapter as to Zacharias; he was dumb but he spoke, and he spoke beautifully in praise to God.
RWS Is the operation of what is in a sister’s heart in carrying an exercise expressed by a brother?
JT Just so. I have heard sisters say, What that brother said is what I had in my heart. And so Luke brings feelings into his instruction. The young man that the Lord raised at Nain sat up and began to speak, as if to say that is the point. It is a question of speaking and speaking aright, speaking in prayer and in praise, too, but in prayer particularly.
Rem Acts 1 says, “These gave themselves all with one accord to continual prayer, with several women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren”. I was thinking of the matter of prayer being linked up with the sisters.
JT Quite so, “several women”; they were there and Mary was there, and the Lord’s brethren were there. All of the apostles were there except the one who was missing.
GMcP Would Acts 16 illustrate how the sisters come into it? Women assembled “where it was the custom for prayer to be” by the river side, and then they were accompanied by Paul and Silas. I was thinking of how these sisters illustrate the priesthood in function.
JT Quite so, the women were carrying on prayer, reminding us of a sister who used to live in Estonia. She and a few other sisters met there in the capital of that country and there was only one brother in the meeting, as far as I remember, and he fell into bad conduct. This sister and the others, quite a few, disciplined him. They withdrew from him. That shows the place that sisters may have even if they do not speak in [p. 395] assembly. If the time comes when there is no brother, then they can speak, and they did. They disciplined that man and so the meeting went on for a while; though eventually the war ended it.
WFK Like the elect lady?
JT It is the same idea, I am sure. Why should the Spirit of God use the expression, “the elect lady and her children”? Why should He say, “O Theophilus” and “most excellent Theophilus”? Why should He say that? There must be some reason why God does that. God signifies His people as they are worthy of it, and so it is with the elect lady and her children in 2 John. John brings in the matter of persons with whom we associate and with whom we speak. If they have not the doctrine we should not greet them, and the elect lady and her children would not do it because they loved the truth.
APT Martha and Mary are most active in John 11, apparently they have a great place in this setting; they seem to do all the talking.
JT That is in keeping with what we were saying moment ago, that the Lord has His servants in the house, a variety of them; certain of them are useful for certain things and He knows which ones He would call upon to do any particular work. So it is that Mary and Martha come into a great place in John, as if the Lord would give this illustration to Peter and say, That is what I meant when I said to you, “If I will that he abide until I come, what is that to thee?” John brings in these two women and they grace the whole position, and so did the elect lady and her children. John is the one who speaks of her, too.
EAK You referred to the participle here in verse 14, seeming to stress that the casting out was proceeding. Does that carry forward the thought into this dispensation? Does the Lord have in mind that that kind of thing was going to [p. 396] continue?
JT That is what I thought, that the Lord was doing it, “He was casting out a demon”. It was not something He had done, but the thing was being demonstrated, He was showing how to do it.
BH In relation to these dumb brothers, if I may use the expression, I suppose it is a matter of prayer that will set them free, speaking to the Lord about the matter?
JT That is right. Our lesson would lead us to include anything like that that affects the testimony; include it in our prayers.
JRH What would you say as to the expression, “the Father who is of heaven”?
JT It is not ‘in heaven’ so it is a question of what is characteristic, I think, whereas when the Lord says in John 3, “And no one has gone up into heaven save he who came down out of heaven, the Son of man who is in heaven”, that refers to position. He could speak of Himself even while He was here, before He went up, as in heaven, which, I think, means that it is characteristically true of Christ that His place is heaven. But here it is not that, it is not the Father who is in heaven, but “of” it. It is a designation to indicate that the Father brings in the atmosphere of heaven, that He may proceed and come down, in a way, to earth and to us, for John says the Father and the Son come to us. He can do that. But being “of heaven” is characteristic, and if He comes to us, then that would mean that He characteristically brings heaven with Him. The influence of heaven comes with the Father in that sense and therefore it bears on Christianity.
EAK Does the omission of the article before “Holy Spirit” indicate that that too is characteristic? “How much rather shall the Father who is of heaven give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?”
JT That is just the character; and so the Lord says in John 20, “Receive the Holy Spirit”. It is the [p. 397] character of the thing, not to call attention to the Spirit as a whole exactly. The Spirit as a whole came on Christ; He came in a bodily form on the Son. That was not simply in character but in entirety. The coming of the Holy Spirit upon Christ in the character of a dove is in its entirety. He is not given in measure to Christ; the whole of the Spirit is given to Him.