THE DISPENSATIONS (4)
[p. 452] THE DISPENSATIONS (4)
Romans 1: 1 - 5; Romans 15: 18 - 21; Luke 2: 25 - 38; Luke 24: 45 - 49
JT We have two dispensations to consider, the present one and the coming one, and it seems that we should consider them together, looking at Romans first to show how the earlier dispensations link on with the present, and then in Ephesians this afternoon to show how the present and all dispensations link on with the dispensation of the fulness of times.
As to Romans it will be observed that what has been read speaks largely of the apostle’s own viewpoint. His personal part in the whole matter is indicated, and therefore we get inlets to the whole matter more fully than in the body of the book which treats of doctrine. It will be observed that it links on with David. “Paul, bondman of Jesus Christ, a called apostle, separated to God’s glad tidings, (which he had before promised by his prophets in holy writings,) concerning his Son (come of David’s seed according to flesh, marked out Son of God in power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by resurrection of the dead) Jesus Christ our Lord; by whom we have received grace and apostleship in behalf of his name, for obedience of faith among all the nations”. Here we are immediately linking on with what we had yesterday afternoon as to David because the whole matter in these five meetings is cumulative from Adam down; from Adam to Moses, and from Moses to David, and from David to Christ. The passage in Romans 15 enlarges on what we have here as to Paul’s service, the extent and character of it. The passages in the gospel of Luke are simply confirmatory of all this because Simeon and Anna are spiritual; it is not simply an external link, but a spiritual link between the former dispensations and the present one. The Lord’s own words in chapter 24 carried that through, so that the twelve [p. 453] apostles are seen just waiting for the Spirit from on high to carry on the truth, the cumulative truth, among the nations. Luke 24 enlarges on this subject, for in speaking to those who are going to Emmaus, “having begun from Moses and from all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself”. The Old Testament is made much of; that is, all the previous dispensations. Here in Romans Paul says, “Come of David’s seed according to flesh, marked out Son of God in power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by resurrection of the dead”. We have Christ linked with David, but linked with God, the Son of God, which is the great final thought. ‘Son’ is the final thought, nothing after that. The Son carries things through into eternity. He delivers up the kingdom to the Father and He Himself is subject.
AR In Revelation the Lord says, “I am the root and offspring of David, the bright and morning star”. Does that fit in with Romans 1?
JT Quite so. The Revelation carries David through to the end. It is a question of refinement when you look at it from that point of view. Here it is simply ancestry and David’s seed, “come of David’s seed according to flesh”.
CHH Would the root of David imply more than Son of God?
JT It implies deity. Romans 1 just says, “David’s seed according to flesh”. We shall see Paul again in the coming reading, his outlook in relation to Ephesians, Ephesian truth and 1 Timothy; but Romans is on a lower level bringing the dispensations down. 1 Corinthians corresponds; in this we are told that the dispensations or the ages have come on us, the ends of them have come on us.
JF Would you say that what marks this dispensation is life out [p. 454] of death?
JT Yes, quite so. Christ is the theme of the gospel in Romans. It is not the unsearchable riches of the Christ, but Christ Himself personally according to these verses. These verses are introductory to the whole book and Israel’s part is brought down, is taken care of in the middle of the book parenthetically, so that we are to carry the thing through in our minds — the past dispensations.
ANW Rome is a particularly fitting place to suggest such a theme.
JT Well, it is. He goes on to that saying, “Among whom are ye also the called of Jesus Christ: to all that are in Rome, beloved of God, called saints” and so on. It is in the very centre of the Roman world, which is viewed as the habitable earth, where men are to whom God is bearing testimony. Rome was the last of the four monarchies doing great things, making roads, geographically extending what we call the influence of law and civilisation, making way for the gospel. Paul is now contemplating being there, but in the meantime he is writing so as to set out his position in the glad tidings. In chapter 15 we get an enlargement of all this.
ANW “To all that are in Rome”, is that to all of the saints?
JT Paul says, “beloved of God, called saints”, you know, only they are connected with Rome. Phoebe was an easterner, that is, a European, but near to Asia, in Cenchrea. She evidently carried the letter to the Romans and would form a link between Paul and them, and through the letter he sent salutations showing how thoroughly conversant he was with the work of God in that city.
CN Would such a scripture as in Luke 16: 16 enter into your thought? “The law and the prophets were until John: from that time the glad tidings of the kingdom of God are announced”.
[p. 455] JT Yes, that covered the dispensation that began with Moses, and that mediatorial system. We also had other dispensations; one in connection with Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; then Moses to Christ really. David comes in as rendering a peculiar character to this latter period, a kingly, royal character and a systematising man; he was a great systematiser, so that the very best was yielded for God out of what there was. That is why be has such a place in the testimony.
CHH Do you think in each dispensation God has secured material that He could use in His approach to mankind in that dispensation?
JT Yes, so that there is always a link; mankind is always in mind. When we come to 1 Chronicles which is the inspired account of things, Adam is the first name we have, showing that man is in mind, and Luke takes that up to bring in man, but in Christ. In Romans 15 we have what Christ was personally in, the whole line of testimony, how He came in in relation to the whole line of testimony. Paul says in verse 8, “For I say that Jesus Christ became a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises of the fathers; and that the nations should glorify God for mercy; according as it is written, For this cause I will confess to thee among the nations, and will sing to thy name. And again he says, Rejoice, nations, with his people. And again, Praise the Lord, all ye nations, and let all the peoples laud him. And again, Esaias says, There shall be the root of Jesse, and one that arises, to rule over the nations: in him shall the nations hope”. Now that the nations are already brought in he says, “Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that ye should abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit”. That is the consummation in ourselves, the present dispensation upon whom the ends of the ages have [p. 456] come. David has a great place but, as remarked, it begins with Adam because the chronicler, probably Ezra, began with Adam and came right down, and Luke takes up the line. Luke takes up the line from the point of view we are now dealing with and carries it down to Paul, a prisoner in Rome; it is man that is in mind. We have an immense scope in what is before us. It is a substantial, practical, and choice line of things. These verses in Romans 15 are very beautiful in their links. “I will confess to thee among the nations, and will sing to thy name. And again he says, Rejoice, nations, with his people. And again, Praise the Lord, all ye nations, and let all the peoples laud him”. It is a choice thing. So that the river of God, running right through, so to speak, is full of water. The line is running through in freshness and power. We are not dealing with the matter in the sense of contrast but as all one thing, all being in God’s mind from Adam right down.
HPR What you were speaking of, moving on from one dispensation to another, divine Persons and their movements, is there not at the end of each dispensation something accumulated that would be potential as carried forward?
JT They are elements carried down according to the scripture in Romans and verified in the gospels. We always have to learn that this present dispensation is the time of full growth. Men were kept in bondage in earlier dispensations however advanced they were; even Moses was not really in full growth. Moses only saw God from behind. It is now the time of God being known in Christ, the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, and that is what we see, and we are changed according to that. That is what makes this dispensation the crown of everything — full maturity. “Until we all arrive at the unity of the faith and of the knowledge [p. 457] of the Son of God, at the full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fulness of the Christ”. So we are able to give an account of things or ought to be, and understand all that preceded us.
AC You find Satan’s great activities in this dispensation. Paul himself was beset by satanic hindrances right through, especially in going to Europe, the enemy was seeking to hinder him.
JT That is very good and appropriate, too, because the whole matter is set out in him personally. If we get what is set out in him we shall get a personal inlet to the whole matter. We will see that more fully in Timothy. So far we have it here.
JWD Shall we not have a link with these that represent the dispensations in the heavenly city? Is not this the time of training for this?
JT Well, the link then will be with the millennium, the dispensation of the fulness of times. In the meantime, we are on the lower level of Romans in which the Old Testament is brought in textually. It is one thing right down from Adam to Moses, and Moses to David, and David to Christ. Man is in mind, so that He is come of David’s seed according to flesh, not simply Son of God, but David’s seed. That morally is from God, because the root of David is God; the seed is Christ.
Ques Would you link what we have in Romans with Hebrews 11 and the men of faith referred to there? In the dispensation running down to David they obtained the witness, but did not receive the promise and at the close of the chapter we are told, “God having foreseen some better thing for us, that they should not be made perfect without us”.
JT Very good. The line of faith covers what we are speaking of so that we have come “to the spirits of just men made perfect”. They were not made perfect in their own times. It awaited redemption for them to be made perfect, and we have come [p. 458] to them now. The whole matter is settled now and we have come to the spirits of just men, not their bodies yet, but their spirits. That does not mean we are in touch with their spirits, but it is anticipative of the time when they shall be made perfect in their bodies. All that is cumulative and is one thing really, only subdivided, and God is graciously presenting these things in a subdivisional way so that we can take all in, for we only learn in part.
SMcC Paul says to Timothy, “Remember Jesus Christ raised from among the dead, of the seed of David, according to my glad tidings”, 2 Timothy 2. What would he have in mind in saying, “Remember”?
JT I think it would be just what we are saying, the peculiar kind of manhood, as you might say, a combination of elements in Christ, “Jesus Christ ... of the seed of David”. David refers to quality and that quality is perfect as apprehended in Christ for He is the root, and therefore in completeness He is the offspring; nothing in David is missing from root to offspring.
AR In God’s ordering Joseph had to go up to the city of David as it says in Luke 2, and then, “he was of the house and family of David”, as if to stress that idea.
JT That is the same thing. The royal line, the generation, begins in Matthew with David, “Son of David, Son of Abraham”, showing the place David has. The selection is of God, essentially so, because God is David’s root, and Christ is David’s offspring, so that the whole matter is there in Christ.
ANW I thought perhaps that was involved in the expression “the root of Jesse”. It carries with it Jehovah’s name.
JT That is the royal line.
CN Does Galatians 4 enter into it? “When the fulness of the time was come. God sent forth his Son, come of woman, come [p. 459] under law, that be might redeem those under law, that we might receive sonship”.
JT That is just what we have been alluding to; those of the earlier dispensations were kept under governors until the time appointed by the Father. That time had not come even in David’s day, but there were inklings of it in Solomon. They had light, but they were not in perfection. Now we have come to perfection, the appointed time of the Father, that we might receive sonship. It says “because ye are sons. God has sent out the Spirit of his Son into our hearts”. That is the full thought; we have reached fulness, finality. So that the dispensation of the fulness of times does not exceed our dispensation, does not even come up to it; our part is purely heavenly.
JTJr Does the fact that Peter speaks of David so much in his first preaching only bring out the greatness of the Son of God? Peter says David is dead. It is the greatness of the Person that Peter spoke about that is in view in this dispensation.
JT Just so. It is great David’s greater Son. The Lord baffled the infidels. He says, ‘How can David call the Messiah his Lord, when He was his own Son?’. We understand that. That was a puzzle for the Pharisees and Sadducees, for after all David is only a believer, not any more than most of us; even of John the baptist the Lord said, that the little one in the kingdom is greater than he. They are great men in God’s ways in testimony, but as regards family dignity the saints of this dispensation have the first place. That is a very important matter, and therefore the dispensation now is the greatest one in that sense.
CHH The quotation in Romans 15 says, “I will confess to thee among the nations”; this and the other quotations are taken from Moses and the Psalms and the prophets, and all link on with [p. 460] Luke.
JT Yes, the Lord takes the whole of the Scriptures, as often remarked, “And having begun from Moses and from all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself”. As we were saying, it is the time of knowing things, not only by the knowledge of the letter of Scripture but by the understanding that He gives us. “Then he opened their understanding to understand the scriptures, and said to them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved the Christ to suffer”. He had already said, “These are the words which I spoke to you while I was yet with you, that all that is written concerning me in the law of Moses and prophets and psalms must be fulfilled”. The testimony coming out through Paul is remarkably filled out by Scripture, by quotations from Scripture, especially in Romans. Stephen is introductory to Paul in that sense. His discourse comes down from the God of glory and culminates in Christ at the right hand of God, so that Paul takes up all those lines of thought; they come into his ministry. What a knowledge he had in the way of quoting Scripture — a model for us.
Ques Do the verses in Romans 1 mean that the resurrection of Christ would be the great basis on which all the dispensations would be established?
JT Yes, there could be no dispensation or anything at all of value if there were no resurrection; everything would perish into oblivion. That shows the folly of contending about it in Corinth — those who said there was no resurrection.
HPR Is that why you said that the resurrection is vicarious also?
JT It is vicarious. “Jesus our Lord, who has been delivered for our offences and has been raised for our justification”.
FM Is it important that after speaking of resurrection, the Lord’s full title is given there, “Jesus Christ our Lord”.
JT “Our Lord”. You put your claim in there. That is beautiful. It is an expression often used, especially in Romans.
JW Would you say a little more about what is vicarious in relation to resurrection?
JT Well, everything must be put on that ground. The exposition on the way to Emmaus was not an exposition in the assembly. It was not in the shrine or the temple, although Christ Himself is the temple. It was not on that line, but on the highway, the road, just as Philip’s exposition and preaching to the eunuch was on the highway. The Lord’s exposition was beginning with Moses and all the prophets. He expounded unto them the things concerning Himself. It is Himself as risen, what He is now. The position of resurrection is reached. It is not yet ascension, however: that involves Ephesians. The point in Romans is that Christ is risen. We are not said to be risen in Romans, but Christ is risen. His ascension to heaven is not stressed, but the fact that He is made Lord and Christ is stressed. He is our Lord. It is a position here on earth, but it is a position of resurrection, the power of God in resurrection. There could be nothing at all without that. That is in mind throughout, that God raises from the dead.
MO How far would you carry that in the gospel, the truth of resurrection being vicarious?
JT As far as possible. He was raised for our justification, just as He was delivered for our offences. That is vicarious; the word ‘for’ means that it was for others; that is, vicarious. He gave Himself a ransom for all, but Romans is mainly doctrinal, so that He is raised for our justification.
MO [p. 462] Does ransom stand related to His resurrection, as it does to His death?
JT Resurrection is necessary. If He is not raised from the dead, there is nothing. If there is no resurrection what are we talking about? Paul says, “Now Christ is raised from among the dead”. It is a risen Christ that is the basis of the gospel.
CAM Should we stress the vicarious thought, because without the resurrection there is nothing positive for man? The first order of man is ended and put out of sight in death.
JT All persons raised before, even during, the Lord’s lifetime, were just brought back to a flesh and blood condition. Enoch was not raised. He went to heaven by some mysterious way, translated, representing some operation of God; nor was Elijah raised, he went up on the same principle, but resurrection means a new order of man. The old is left behind in death. “Delivered for our offences” means that what we are in ourselves is gone. Our offences in ourselves is the teaching of Romans. Christ is raised, not simply brought back to a state of life out of death, but in a new condition of manhood.
HPR “If Christ is not raised, then, indeed, vain also is our preaching”.
JT That is the thing. We had a moment ago, “But now Christ is raised from among the dead, first-fruits of those fallen asleep”. It is a new condition, not simply a man. Lazarus was raised but he died again undoubtedly, and others were raised even in the Old Testament, but they were not brought back into a new condition of life. It is a new condition of life that is involved in the gospel, a new man.
CAM This is a very interesting matter to all of us. It seems to be a very special matter, this including of the Lord’s resurrection in what is vicarious. When we think of the Lord in His present place,
[p. 463] there is a sort of idea that He is representative in heaven. You do not carry the vicarious thought further than resurrection, do you?
JT Well, I think resurrection is the basic thought in Romans. It is not simply that He is in heaven. That brings us to Ephesians, but the Spirit could not come down until He went up. We have to bear that in mind. “If I do not go away, the Comforter will not come to you”. He has to reach the full position according to the counsels of God in regard to man, before you get the Spirit. I suppose Romans stresses the Spirit in the sense that the Spirit glorifies us; we are glorified in having the Spirit. John says, “the Spirit was not yet, because Jesus had not yet been glorified”. The reception of the Spirit means glorification; it does not go so far as meaning ascension. There is no ascension for us in Colossians, but in Ephesians we are made to “sit down together”. That is a full thought; the Spirit in us means that morally we are glorified (Romans 8: 30).
CAM So that it is right to carry the thought of what is vicarious until we reach the new order of man.
JT Yes, there is what was needed to set aside before God the first order. The question is whether the coming of the Spirit does not imply Christ’s glorification. It does certainly, and the vicarious thought may run into that in some sense. Everything is reached in Christ, and the Spirit comes down to make it effective.
CHH Would not the words “if Christ be not raised, ... ye are yet in your sins”, imply that the sin question necessitated resurrection?
JT Yes. He was delivered for our offences and raised for our justification. Justification includes forgiveness of sins.
Rem In Romans 5 it says, “For if, being enemies, we have been reconciled to God through the death [p. 464] of his Son, much rather, having been reconciled, we shall be saved in the power of his life”. I was wondering if being saved in the power of His life would bear on that?
JT It does bear on it. It is His life as He is now.
AR Is it right to say that the Lord Jesus represents a new order of man? “By the disobedience of the one man the many have been constituted sinners, so also by the obedience of the one the many will be constituted righteous”. There is a constitutional development in a race as a result of Christ having come.
JT Just so. Men are brought into it. Of course, when you use the word ‘man’ it means the race. The word used for Adam involves the race; one of the words covers all of us. When the Lord is spoken of as having come into manhood, it is said He was found in the likeness of men, meaning that He came in in the ordinary sense, not in any outward greatness, but just in the ordinary fashion of man. In all His infiniteness He was in that lowly guise.
CN In speaking of resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15 the apostle refers to Christ as the first-fruits, “then those that are the Christ’s at his coming”. Does that help in what you said in regard to the vicarious side of the resurrection?
JT Well, we come into resurrection literally when the Lord comes. Evidently some did in the way of witness according to Matthew; many of the bodies of the saints which slept arose and went into the holy city. That is all we know about them. Whether they came out in a new condition is not stated, and what became of them we have to leave with God; but properly speaking, our resurrection is when the Lord comes. Those of us who are alive and remain will be changed into His image and the [p. 465] sleeping saints will be raised but they will be raised first, and that is all based on the vicarious death of Christ and that runs on to what He is. It establishes a new order of man, a new condition of man. The vicarious work of Christ leads to that. That is the position. It is not a man that was brought back to life but a new condition of man, “such as the heavenly one, such also the heavenly ones”. That alludes to our dispensation.
APh Does the present dispensation start at Pentecost?
JT In principle it began when the Lord became man, but it required redemption; only that the things the Lord was doing as man here were anticipative. It says He “came by water and blood, ... not by water only, but by water and blood”. That is, the incarnation was in that connection. There would be no sense in it if He did not come by water and blood. Therefore, the dispensation began in His ministry, I would say, although He carried on in relation to the old dispensation in a sense, a dual condition in a sense, but He had the new in mind and all that He did was to confirm the new dispensation. The four gospels were not written until after christianity was an established matter here and therefore they were to confirm by Christ’s ministry what the apostles were doing.
JWD Do we get in the Psalms, such as Psalm 22, the blending of the dispensations in a poetic way in Christ’s feelings? You get in Psalm 91, “the Most High” and “Almighty” and “Jehovah”, all brought together.
JT Well, that is in general what we are dealing with, how all the dispensations come on us. They are all understood by the saints at the present time. The earlier saints really did not understand what they were speaking of; they had some inklings, but the full understanding of all things, inclusive of the [p. 466] Psalms, is by those who have the Spirit of God. That is why the Lord spoke of Moses and the Psalms.
JWD It is not a dry and academic thing. In the Psalms you get the mighty outbursts of feelings linking dispensations together.
JT Yes, we do, but who understood them when they were written? I do not believe they were understood any more than the prophets were understood. It is by the Spirit we understand the Psalms; the prophets are understood now. “The Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow”. It was not to themselves it was revealed, but to us by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. It is in us that everything is understood.
JW Paul in his preaching at Antioch of Pisidia alludes to David serving his own generation and falling asleep, and he speaks of Moses and the law, but he speaks of Christ as superseding both, does he not?
JT Just so. Christ is everything. Everything awaited the incarnation but also redemption, because the Lord became incarnate in relation to redemption. There would be no result for man in His becoming man if He did not come by water and blood. That new order of man is not simply what He was here in the flesh, but as He is now. John says, “It doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is”, as if the entering into the new order for us synchronises with what we shall see. We see Him as He is, and we shall be like Him.
AR While waiting that change of body. Paul says in Romans, “walk in newness of life”. Would the idea be that the new feature is seen even before the external is taken on?
JT [p. 467] Well, quite so. Christ has been raised by the glory of the Father so we should walk in newness of life. The glory of the Father really is what predominates at the present time.
CAM I would like to ask one more question about this matter of what is vicarious. “Buried with him in baptism, in which ye have been also raised with him through faith of the working of God who raised him from among the dead”. In connection with the import of with in Colossians, is this vicarious matter underneath?
JT We could not be with Him otherwise. We are raised by faith; we take the thing in by faith and the energy of the working of God. The power that raised Christ is operating in ourselves so that we can lay hold of resurrection. Paul says that, “I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead”. That is what we are dealing with, to attain to it. That could only be possible by the Spirit, the energy of God operating in our souls, but faith is the basis of it. “Through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead”. When we are literally raised we shall have been literally dead; it will not be a question of faith. That power takes effect in us, but at the present time faith is operative.
AL Verse 13 says, “Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing”, that is the fruit of the fulness we have been speaking of.
JT Quite so, that is what he is dealing with in Romans 15 and supports clearly what we are aiming at, what the dispensation is, how buoyant it is, how real the blessedness is, and hence Paul’s account of his own work. He says, “I will not dare to speak anything of [p. 468] the things which Christ has not wrought by me”. He is not going to speak of the things he did himself. He is going to speak of what Christ had wrought by him. What a perfect witness he is in himself! “For I will not dare to speak anything of the things which Christ has not wrought by me, for the obedience of the nations, by word and deed, in the power of signs and wonders, in the power of the Spirit of God; so that I, from Jerusalem, and in a circuit round to Illyricum, have fully preached the glad tidings of the Christ”. It is a full dispensational thought he is dealing with. The thing has been carried out geographically over an immense area. He says, “That I might not build upon another’s foundation; but according as it is written, To whom there was nothing told concerning him, they shall see; and they that have not heard shall understand. Wherefore also I have been often hindered from coming to you”. He had Rome in mind and Spain. We are now dealing with the outlook of Paul, one man who apprehended, cherished, and valued the whole thought of the dispensation. We shall see what this man was personally and we get a good deal of it here, how he covered the thing. We shall see this afternoon how ages have to be covered in this matter. The apostle is in one age and in one geographical position. Geography enters into it, and the extent of the testimony is covered by one man. He is able to give you an outlook which involves the dispensation.
JTJr Would you understand from chapter 16 that in his preaching he brought in the mystery? I thought of it in connection with chapter 15. He speaks of his preaching, “so aiming to announce the glad tidings”. This mystery had been kept in silence, but would be included in every preaching in some way, do you think?
JT Well it would. He was covering that. In the last paragraph of the epistle he lets out the truth about the mystery which really belongs to Ephesians, but certainly it was his preaching that he is alluding to here. He keeps generally to the provisional side of the position of the truth in Romans. The mystery [p. 469] comes in at the end of the chapter just to link our minds on with Ephesians.
AR What you say about the geographical side should greatly stimulate us in our prayer meetings to ask God to bring this international conflict to an end in order that the geographical position in grace might continue.
JT Just so. We were speaking about that some time back, and I think we were all encouraged by the idea that the present war is a universal matter geographically and racially. The whole race is involved; and we who have eyes to see and ears to hear are becoming acquainted with the earth geographically; that is, in relation to the testimony. It is an important matter and will come out more in the coming age when according to Revelation 14 the angel flies in the mid-heavens, having the everlasting glad tidings to announce. Great spaces will have to be covered in a very short time, not in two thousand years, but in a very short time, but the territory will be covered. We are becoming conversant with it, and so we shall not forget that. I apprehend that the city will come down from heaven in relation to the earth geographically, and we are to be set over cities. We are to understand; this is the understanding time. God is bringing out a family that is supreme in understanding. That is what gives our subject such importance.
CR Would the passage in Isaiah 66 bear out what you said? “And I — their works and their thoughts are before me ... The time cometh for the gathering of all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory. And I will set a sign among them, and I will send those that escape of them unto the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, that draw the bow; to Tubal and Javan, to the isles afar off, that have not heard my fame, neither have [p. 470] seen my glory: and they shall declare my glory among the nations”.
JT That is all millennial and we will see something of that, I hope. Our present exercise is that we should get Paul’s view, because he is qualified in every way to convey the idea of our dispensation. He says, that a dispensation was entrusted to him. Even if it was against his will naturally, yet the dispensation was committed to him (1 Corinthians 9: 17). That is christianity, that we are going against our natural wills in what we are doing, and that is only by the power of God. Peter is brought into it, in Acts 10. Stephen and Paul had come in, and Peter, having the keys of the kingdom, was to work on those lines so that Paul might be let in with his great outlook that God gave him. Stephen had a great outlook in the way he treats the Scripture, the historical side, but Paul had the dispensation in his mind. The Scripture helps us as to the earthly side of it, how he worked from Jerusalem to the Adriatic Sea and extending up perhaps to the Danube, a pertinent allusion to geography. He is pointing that out, but he is speaking of how the matter worked out in his ministry. One man had the full idea of the dispensation in his ministry. He had the full limit of the world on the west as he understood it then. Vancouver is the limit of the west, but he was going to the limits of the west as it was in his mind.
AR If a brother has desires in his heart to go to Australasia, it is a question as to whether we are praying according to the will of God. If it is the will of God that he go there, God will see that he does go.
JT That is so. He does not go sight-seeing nor as a tourist; that would be his own will. We have to understand that the dispensation of God requires the setting aside of our own wills.
CAM [p. 471] It is encouraging in connection with the extent of the work of the glad tidings in this country. It might seem a difficult business, uncongenial perhaps as far as lack of taking on spiritual ideas, but the way the apostle extended over the world should encourage us to work especially in such a continent as this. The thought of extending the ministry right over to the boundary line of the world would encourage the carrying of the service in such a continent as this, so that it might extend to the very end.
JT That is right. These special meetings are a great help because they tend to a universal outlook; because of brethren from different parts of the earth coming, we get a universal atmosphere. They are of immense value in that way. The limits of the west were in Paul’s mind. The Lord alluded to the south, “the queen of the south”, without saying where she came from, without saying how far. She would rise up with that generation showing what this new dispensation would bring out of the work of God to condemn the narrow limits of judaism.
SJH Why do you speak of all men? Are there limits? You would forbid going to Asia and so on. Does not the dispensation cover every nation?
JT No, not if it is worked out according to the Lord’s mind. When He spoke to the disciples He said, “Go into all the world, and preach the glad tidings to all the creation”. He had the universal thought, but then there are other things that modify that. In result the levitical principle came in. The levitical principle must govern the twelve apostles, for it would apparently be carried out particularly by Paul; the Spirit of God aided him in that. He kept his mind toward the west. The twelve may have gone to the east. Some think they did but there is no clear evidence that anything was done toward the east from Palestine. The work moved toward the west. That is simply a levitical matter. We must get the Lord’s mind for every service. You cannot simply take the map and say I will go here and there. It is said of Paul that the Spirit of Jesus would not suffer him. You may have an outline as to where you are going, but the Lord says, ‘I have rights in this too. It is a question of you getting My mind’. That is all detail, and a servant is nowhere if he is not equal to getting the Lord’s mind for every bit of service. Paul and Barnabas no doubt mapped the thing out, but the Lord had to say to them, and therefore Paul says the Spirit of Jesus suffered us not. Instead of staying in Asia he had to come to the west.
CR In this commission in regard to extending to the nations, the Lord said He would send him before kings and sons of Israel. Naturally, he would reverse it.
JT That was his commission; that is what the Lord had in mind for him. He does not say all kings but “kings and the sons of Israel”. In truth that is all verified in that Paul would testify to kings, not all, but he must have met Caesar himself. Caesar was a lion and the Lord delivered Paul out of his hand. All is toward the west; he had Spain in his mind. You can see Spain was the limit of the western world at that time.
ANW The conditions that now arise are to be considered, and we come to conclusions as we go along.
JT Just so, surely gathering that it is the Lord’s mind after all. The work has followed the course of the sun. All that is of interest and the Lord intends us to look into this matter. The constellations are referred to also, bearing on the path of the sun. He comes out of his chamber as a bridegroom and rejoices as a strong man to run a race. That is from the east to [p. 473] the west.
CHH In Luke Simeon puts the gentiles before the Jews.
JT Well, I was thinking we ought to look at that showing that he is representative — a dispensational representative. He took the child in his arms, showing that he was a fatherly man, a feeling man. “There was a man in Jerusalem”, the word ‘man’ there has a note of significance, characteristically a Jerusalem man whose name was Simeon. “And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; and this man was just and pious, awaiting the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it was divinely communicated to him by the Holy Spirit, that he should not see death before he should see the Lord’s Christ. And he came in the Spirit into the temple; and as the parents brought in the child Jesus that they might do for him according to the custom of the law, he received him into his arms, and blessed God, and said, Lord, now thou lettest thy bondman go, accordingly to thy word, in peace; for mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all peoples; a light for revelation of the Gentiles and the glory of thy people Israel”.
That is wonderful, I think; the most positive link you could get in this subject. Although redemption had not been accomplished, he was under the influence of the Spirit of God. He is a man in Jerusalem, a feeling man, and governed by the Spirit of God in his movements and outlook; and the child Jesus is there and he takes Him into his arms and blesses God and says, “a light for revelation of the Gentiles” meaning that the dispensation is to widen out to the gentiles. The coming dispensation is put second; he puts this present one first. He is not simply on Jewish ground; he is beyond that, under the influence of the Spirit of God. Therefore, we [p. 474] have the link. It is a spiritual link and then Anna comes in after that. We have her honourably mentioned as to her person and life. It is said of her, “Who did not depart from the temple, serving night and day with fastings and prayers; and she coming up the same hour gave praise to the Lord, and spoke of him to all those who waited for redemption in Jerusalem”. All is carried down in those two persons, I would say, so that the dispensation is being inaugurated, but the full thought in redemption must be accomplished by the presence of the Spirit of God here.
CHH In Malachi and what preceded this, the people as a rule were looking for Christ, but were not looking for redemption, for the establishment of Israel’s glory; whereas this woman showed the necessity of redemption.
JT Quite so, she was looking for redemption and there were others also at Jerusalem. It is thought we might look at 1 Timothy and Ephesians this afternoon, some scriptures presenting the actual state of things in the millennium which is said to be the dispensation of the fulness of times.