VISITS BY DIVINE PERSONS
VISITS BY DIVINE PERSONS
JT Abraham is the first man in Scripture of whom it says that God “appeared to him”. God walked in the garden of Eden, Enoch walked with God, and Noah walked with God. God had intercourse with these, but it does not say that He appeared to them. Stephen says, “The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham”. Acts 7: 2. When God appeared to Abraham and later to others, it is clear that He wished to give them an impression of Himself. Stephen says that it was the God of glory who appeared to Abraham. He intended to show him His glory. It was the God of glory he saw, not yet God’s glory. When Stephen speaks before the council, he speaks of the God of glory; later it says that he saw the glory of God. He saw this in heaven. The God of glory who appeared to Abraham had now reached His purpose in Christ in heaven. Stephen’s face shone, for he was affected by it.
It says in Genesis 17: 22, after God had spoken to Abraham, that He went up from him, and at the beginning of chapter 18 we find that God appeared to him again. What comes in between these two manifestations is that Abraham in obedience circumcised all the males of his house. When God told Abraham to circumcise every male of his house, it was in order to test him, and when Abraham did it, he showed his obedience to God. The Lord Jesus says: “He that has my commandments and keeps them, he it is that loves me; but he that loves me shall be loved by my Father, and I will love him and will manifest myself to him”, John 14: 21. Manifestations of this kind depend on our obedience. If the light comes to us, and we walk according to this light, God will honour us. In Genesis 17: 4, God says, “It is I”. Jehovah presented Himself personally to Abraham; it was not only certain characteristic features of Jehovah, but it was Himself. It was as when the Lord said to His disciples, “Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself”. It is as if God would give Abraham a feeling of the mutual intimate conditions that existed between Himself and the patriarch. It is very precious when God says to us, “It is I”, it gives our hearts confidence, and He who has said so also says, “I am the Almighty God”.
Rem It has been said that every time God appeared to Abraham. He communicated something fresh to him.
JT Yes, we have just noticed this principle, that when we take a step in obedience, we receive new communications from God. If we do not follow the light that comes to us, we do not get new light. When God had left off talking with Abraham the latter was immediately ready to obey this commandment, to circumcise his household.
Ques Have we something similar in 2 Corinthians? As the saints were obedient to the exhortation in the first epistle, they got more light in the second.
JT And that is why the apostle in the second epistle emphasises their obedience, and he now presents the truth of reconciliation and new creation. We cannot expect anything in the way of manifestations, or fresh light from God, if we are not obedient to the light we have already received. When God revealed Himself to His people, it was because He would give them an impression of what He is. So that when He appeared to Abraham as the God of glory. He wished to convey to him an impression of another world. He could not connect His glory with a world that had turned its back on Him. Therefore He says to Abraham: “Go out of thy land, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, to the land that I will shew thee”, Genesis 12: 1. This implies that there was another world, where the glory of God could shine, and that world is now established in connection with Christ where He is. The Holy Spirit has come to lead our souls into that world which Stephen saw in heaven. Paul’s ministry which followed soon after Stephen’s death was in view of forming the assembly, in which God shall have glory in Christ Jesus unto all generations of the age of ages (Ephesians 3: 21). In Revelation we see the assembly; coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God (Revelation 21: 10). The commandments of Christ are what now put our obedience to test. If we are obedient to His commandments, He will come to us and manifest Himself to us. The disciples were grieved when He spoke of going away, but He says: “I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no one takes from you”. He comes and manifests Himself to us, and the Father and He are coming and will make Their abode with us.
Ques Is this more on individual lines?
JT Yes. John shows that even a single individual may enjoy this, and how in a day of ruin, the individual soul is sustained and helped. And if one soul can enjoy such a visit, then many individuals can.
Ques What is the difference between the Lord revealing Himself to a soul, and that the Father and the Son make their abode with him?
JT Both these privileges are mentioned in John 14. The former is a promise to him who loves the Lord, and who keeps His commandments. One of His disciples then asks Him, how it is that He should manifest Himself to them, and not to the world, and He answers, “If any one love me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our abode with him”.
[p. 92] This promise is true of those who keep His word, and the former of those who keep His commandment. If anyone walk according to the light presented in the first epistle to the Corinthians, he will receive a manifestation of Christ; but keeping His word implies more than this, it involves that all the thoughts of God are kept in the heart, for instance, the truths of Colossians and Ephesians. To keep His word involves a spiritual state in the believer where He can make His abode.
Ques Does this correspond to Philadelphian state?
JT Yes, “Thou ... hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name”.
Ques I should like to know if this is something to be experienced in the assembly only, or if it may be known to the individual.
JT I believe John shows us it may be the experience of an individual believer, the very smallest number. Matthew shows us that the privileges of the assembly can be enjoyed by two or three, but John shows that it may be enjoyed if there is only one found.
Ques If there is none other found who is in the good of the truth of the assembly, can it nevertheless be enjoyed by him?
JT It says: “We will come to him”. We should read John 14 together with Matthew 18. The one of whom it says in John 14 that he keeps His words and commandments has the same privilege as the two or three gathered to His name, or the “two of you” in Matthew 18: 19, 20.
Rem It has been said that if there is only one in the gathering who is in the good of John 14: 22, 23, it would suffice for the Lord to come to us.
JT The Lord would be present, but it depends on the state of our souls if we can enjoy His presence. In 1 Corinthians 15 it says that He appeared to [p. 93] above five hundred brethren at once. He had each one of those five hundred in His thoughts, but if there is only one in the gathering answering to John 14, we cannot expect that His presence should have the same effect. It is clear that all these five hundred brethren were in a state to appreciate His manifestation.
Rem On the shore of the sea of Tiberias there was one who recognised Him.
JT That is a type of what we have been speaking. John says, “It is the Lord”.
Ques Is the Lord’s presence among us always dependent upon our spiritual state, or can He come in independent of this?
JT We ought to see what Scripture says. In John 14 we have: “He that has my commandments and keeps them, he it is that loves me; but he that loves me shall be loved by my Father, and I will love him and will manifest myself to him”. This is the condition. And then in verse 18 we find what is normal, as it was at the beginning. He says: “I will not leave you orphans, I am coming to you”. And in 1 Corinthians 15 we have six instances when He was seen by His own. Those to whom He manifested Himself were surely in a right condition. He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then He appeared to above five hundred brethren at once. Then to James, then to all the apostles, and Paul says, “and last of all, as to an abortion, he appeared to me also”. Here there is no question of their state; that point is not raised. It is only stated that He appeared to all these. But we need also to bear in mind that the Lord may come in a different way to a certain place, as when He came to Bethany. So also when He came to the various assemblies in the book of Revelation, where we see Him walking among the assemblies. He speaks words of warning and says that He was coming to one and another [p. 94] of the assemblies. In such cases He comes with chastening, and this is very serious, for if we do not walk rightly He must come to us in discipline. But John 14 and Matthew 18 have not this side in view, they are occupied with the privilege side.
Rem If there were only one person in a place who had light about the assembly, one such man could not constitute the assembly.
JT No, but John 14 shows us that such a one might enjoy a visit by the Lord. We find the thought of the assembly in Matthew 18 where it speaks of two or three. “If two of you shall agree on the earth concerning any matter, whatsoever it may be”. We find here a praying company, and whatsoever the matters may be that they ask, it says, “It shall come to them from my Father who is in the heavens”. This shows that heaven acknowledges these. And these two or three enjoy the support of Christ, for they are gathered to His name, and He is in the midst of them. In the gospel of Matthew we see what particular persons are in view. It says: “Two of you”. It is those of whom He had spoken.
Rem It was two of those who had had a visit from the Lord?
JT Yes. There are many who have taken these verses in Matthew 18 as support for establishing a meeting in independency. But if we look at it as being any two or three believers, then these may go out and establish another meeting in the same place independent of those who are already gathered there to the name of the Lord; this is the principle in a free church, or the open principle.
Rem Many religious parties refer to this scripture, saying that they are gathered on this ground.
JT Yes, and even those who are walking in disobedience. We need to read this verse more than any other in its connection. It has in view those whom the Lord had before Him from chapters 13 [p. 95] to 18. In chapter 18 we see that it is possible for a man to sin against his brother, and that he may refuse to listen to the assembly. This person finds perhaps one or more who are influenced in the same direction as himself, and they establish another meeting and claim the word in Matthew 18 as support for this. But this is a misapplication of the scripture, for in that case this verse would justify independence in its worst form.
Rem You spoke of how the Lord might come to a certain place. Will you say a little more about it?
JT I was thinking of Bethany. He came to Bethany. He might even come to Gothenburg in the same way. If things are not right in a place He might come to them with chastisement, and this is very serious. If the Lord comes to Gothenburg, He comes in connection with His people in Gothenburg, but if He comes as we read of in John 14, then He does not come to His people in this place, but to him who keeps His commandments. John 14 does not speak of Him as coming to a certain place, but of how He comes to certain persons. We must remember that every believer in Gothenburg is of interest to Christ. When He writes to Laodicea it is to the assembly in Laodicea. He has this place in view, and He speaks of judgment, and of how He stands at the door and knocks. Think of the Lord coming to Gothenburg, to all the many believers there, and having to stand at the door knocking! This is what He is doing.
Ques If it is a question of judgment He comes to a place, but when our privileges are the point He comes to the individual, as we find in John 14?
JT Yes, that is right. And when He writes to the assemblies the different places are in mind. The letters to the assemblies may be applied at the present time.
Ques I wondered if Jehovah’s visit to Abraham brought out what Abraham was personally?
JT I believe that is the thought. God had left off talking to him and had gone up from him. Later He comes back. But in the meantime Abraham was obedient to the commandment and had circumcised his household, and he is in a right pilgrim condition. He sat at the tent-door, and instead of taking his ease, and lying down to sleep in the heat of the day, he has his eyes open. “And he lifted up his eyes and saw, and behold, three men standing near him”. Thus we find that if it is a single person who keeps His word, divine Persons can come, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit who is here already. So that we have three divine Persons, and beside them one who keeps His word. What a company! Jehovah appeared to Abraham in a wondrous way. It says that three men stood before him. Wonderful that they stood before him! Abraham perceives that the Lord is there amongst them. Two of them were angels, but they came as men, and that was why Abraham felt at home with them. We have here the thought of ‘making abode with him’, for they stayed a good while. The thought of making abode is that they remained and did not hasten away. It must have taken Abraham a good long while to fetch and dress the tender calf, and then we read how the Lord was detained by Abraham, and that He did not go away till He had ended speaking to Abraham.
Ques Are these men a type of what we have in the New Testament?
JT Yes, it is a foretaste of what we have at this present time. They speak in the plural to Abraham: “They said, So do as thou hast said”. God desires to let us know what heaven is. On the mount of transfiguration we see Moses and Elias talking with Jesus.
Ques It says that “no one has seen God at any time”, but Abraham called One of these three the Lord. How are we to understand this?
JT The import of that verse in John 1 is that no one can see God in His divine Being. But this does not hinder the Lord making Abraham know that it was the Lord. We have the same truth in connection with Jesus, that the Son has become man that we may learn to know God in Him. It is God having come within the reach of our souls.
Ques Can we say that the meal Abraham made was something like the meal they made for the Lord in Bethany?
JT Yes, there is great likeness. In both cases He came before the meal was ready. It says, “There therefore they made him a supper”. It is the place that is stressed.