THE DISPENSATIONS (5)
[p. 475] THE DISPENSATIONS (5)
1 Timothy 1: 1 - 20; 1 Timothy 2: 1 - 7; Ephesians 2: 13 - 22; Ephesians 1: 7 - 12; Revelation 21: 23 - 27; Revelation 22: 1 - 5
JT The section in 1 Timothy has been suggested as affording further indication of Paul’s outlook, the extent of it and the extent of his service, as it says, “to which I have been appointed a herald and apostle, (I speak the truth, I do not lie,) a teacher of the nations in faith and truth”. He had already alluded to the present dispensation as in faith, “God’s dispensation, which is in faith” (chapter 1, verse 4), and his place, too, in the divine scheme not only as a minister but as a convert. He was personally illustrative, or a delineation, of the dispensations, that is to say, this one and the next one, for he says in verse 16, “For this reason mercy was shewn me, that in me, the first, Jesus Christ might display the whole long-suffering, for a delineation of those about to believe on him to life eternal”. Having that in mind he breaks out into a doxology in regard to the King of the ages which no doubt is an allusion to these dispensations, “Now to the King of the ages, the incorruptible, invisible, only God, honour and glory to the ages of ages”. Then in order to see the link with the two dispensations he speaks in Ephesians 1 of pre-trusting in Christ, one of those who pre-trusted, as if he speaks of himself and others as believing before the time of the last dispensation, I mean the millennium. They believed in our dispensation pre-trusting, though the time for them would be later. Evidently he had that in mind elsewhere in calling himself an abortion, as if he was in mercy brought before the time into something much better than what he should have come into as a Jew. His statements throughout this section in 1 Timothy have a personal bearing between himself and his confidant, Timothy. The passage [p. 476] has peculiar interest, and would be the theme of their conversation at any time, not exactly doctrine, but personal views which would be a theme of conversation at any time between them and interested persons, especially a man like Timothy. He has the idea of dispensations much in his mind in the scriptures read, rather in the sense of an age or a time of administration, so that in Ephesians 1 the millennial time is formally alluded to, “having made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he purposed in himself for the administration of the fulness of times; to head up all things in the Christ, the things in the heavens and the things upon the earth”. Then he adds, “in him, in whom we have also obtained an inheritance”, so that our inheritance stands in relation to the coming age. What we have finally in the eternal state of things is another matter; and is treated in the early part of the chapter to the end of verse 6. We are the subjects of grace, being taken into favour in the Beloved, and marked out for sonship. That is our eternal portion; but as regards dispensations, we have part in the inheritance of the dispensation of the fulness of times.
CHH Would you say that those who pre-trusted in Christ first were in relation to the coming generations?
JT I think so, the prefix ‘pre’ would mean before the time proper to the Jewish part in the divine scheme. The Jews come into ours as we have in the second chapter. We are both made one.
ANW The emphatic “ye also have trusted” is the gentiles coming in as having been afar off.
JT Just so. I think what we have said in regard to these passages would give us a general idea as to where we stand at this very moment in regard to the two dispensations. Paul himself represents the link running through both in regard to the present [p. 477] and the future, the future ending up with the age of ages, but here (1 Timothy 1: 17) we have “the ages of ages”. The end of Ephesians 3 is “the age of ages”. That seems to be eternity, so far as we can take in eternity, but it is doubtful whether we are capable of taking it in. There is a particular age characterised as the age of ages, whether it might not be the millennial period but merging into eternity, into an endless condition.
AR We have been considering so far from Adam to our time, whereas the verse in the end of Ephesians 3, “to him be glory in the assembly in Christ Jesus unto all generations of the age of ages”, looks onward.
JT Yes, what is forward, glory to God “in the assembly in Christ Jesus unto all generations of the age of ages”. What the actual generations are is not clear, but there is a general indication that eternity is in mind as far as we are able to grasp the thought. The pre-eminence of the assembly is stressed; the glory is “in the assembly in Christ Jesus”, meaning that there is power in the position. “Unto all generations of the age of ages”; there is nothing beyond that. That is final. It is the highest thought you can get as to what is coming, of what is fixed, and final; the assembly being the centre of everything in Christ Jesus.
NW Would you say that among those families God will have secured a distinct family from each of the dispensations?
JT I would think so. There will be a yield from each, made perfect.
CAM Do you think that in these epistles which Paul writes from prison he must have had a marvellous increase of light?
JT The epistle to the Ephesians was written from prison. It contains the greatest light and stresses that he had that light and understanding [p. 478] from God. In view of Timothy being in Ephesus he wrote to him. It is clear that the truth developed in Ephesus was in his mind. Undoubtedly it was there, of course, while he ministered in Ephesus. He tells us before he went to prison that he had not failed to present to them the whole counsel of God, but the truth that he ministered at Ephesus must have been greatly accentuated and deepened in his soul while in prison. Of course, he had two years at Caesarea and at least two in Rome. They must have been wonderful learning times. Paul says in Timothy, I left you at Ephesus, as if everything should be provided there to consider the light of our dispensation because the acme of things is there. The light and knowledge of our dispensation should be fully worked out. I think Acts 20 shows that the matter was finished as far as his public service went in that city.
CHH Would Timothy maintain us in the height of the dispensation in a day of breakdown? The teaching of Timothy would further sustain us.
JT Yes, and in Revelation the Lord begins at Ephesus showing that that was the top-stone. The epistle in principle does not add anything to that. It may be in detail, but the ministry itself at Ephesus was the top-stone of Paul’s official ministry before he was imprisoned. He says, “I have not shrunk from announcing to you all the counsel of God”. The whole of Acts 20 is a love chapter and it shows that Paul was in the very midst of, as Ezekiel says, waters to swim in. The fulness of things had been reached in that city.
AR I was wondering if the end of chapter 3 of Ephesians was that you go backward to where we started with Genesis 5, the generations of Adam, and then you come forward and understand that God still has in mind other generations. You might say, a series of God’s operations.
JT Yes. The word ‘generations’ in Genesis 5 is origin. Whatever is alluded to here, all the families are viewed as in relation to the assembly as in eternity. Each one is named of the Father in relation to Christ. The assembly is the very centre of glory Godward. What the apostle has in mind in Ephesians 3 is the one family; that in which we have our part, the assembly, having an official place in the centre of everything in God’s service.
HPR I would like to get clear as to the verse quoted, “to him be glory in the assembly in Christ Jesus unto all generations of the age of ages”. Do you think of that as going back to the past generations?
JT Well, it is not too clear. The main thought is the assembly in Christ Jesus, the family that the apostle has in his mind in dealing with the ministry in that chapter. It is a parenthesis really, as if it is the very height of things and will be eternally, but what the generations are to be is not clear. What we are at now is Timothy and his being left at Ephesus. The apostle’s mind was on this matter of the dispensation of God in faith, and then he says, later in the chapter, “He has counted me faithful, appointing to ministry him who before was a blasphemer and persecutor, and an insolent overbearing man: but mercy was shewn me because I did it ignorantly, in unbelief. But the grace of our Lord surpassingly over-abounded with faith and love, which is in Christ Jesus. Faithful is the word, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the first”. He is calling attention to himself, not now as a minister only, but as a saved man. “But for this reason mercy was shewn me, that in me, the first, Jesus Christ might display the whole longsuffering, for a delineation of those about to believe on him to life eternal”; and then this allusion to the [p. 480] King of the ages which is a doxology, shows how feeling he was about the matter and how much the idea of ages was in his mind and what was set out in his own history as a saved man. It seems as if he would draw us into that so that we might see now how we are linked on with the coming age. The previous dispensation is linked on with ours, as in Simeon and Anna as we noted this morning. So surely there is now to be a state of things by the grace of God at the end of ours linking on with the coming one. The heavenly city will be that in its fulness; by what is going on now it is being completed to have its place in the coming age. In Revelation 14 we have a company of a hundred and forty-four thousand with the Lamb on mount Zion, and we are told that a song is being sung in heaven before the elders and that no one can learn that song but the hundred and forty-four thousand. This shows that there is a positive link between the heavenly position and the earth, the Jewish position on earth.
AC What have you to say about the apostle being the chief of sinners?
JT Well, it is to show clearly the extent of the grace extended to us, and the grace that will be extended to the Jews by and by. The apostle represented both; be is a delineation of all, “that in me, the first, Jesus Christ might display the whole long-suffering, for a delineation of those about to believe on him to life eternal”. It is to show the great place he had personally, not simply as a minister, but as a believer, a convert. What a sense he had of grace and long-suffering! He does not merely speak of his own sinfulness in the past, but like Simon the leper, the idea of chief of sinners attached to him.
JWD I was going to ask about the linking on of dispensations. We show forth the Lord’s death [p. 481] until He comes. Is there in that thought a linking on with the coming dispensation?
JT Well, the breaking of bread is not connected with the Jewish remnant. It had the assembly in mind. I do not think it would drop to a lower level than that. It is said that we “being many, are ... one body”. In the Lord’s mind according to what He said to Paul it is connected with the assembly, “until he come”.
JWD Well, is not His coming the appearing? I am not thinking of the breaking of bread dropping to a lower level, but whether it would link on with the Jewish remnant?
JT As we read the scripture contextually, it is the coming of the Lord ending this dispensation that is in mind and this would be the rapture. As we read it from the standpoint of prophecy, we might say it goes some years further than that when He comes into view. The point is that the end of the dispensation belongs to this dispensation.
CAM Do you think the fact that it is an announcement to the world of the Lord’s death would perhaps look on in some way to the appearing?
JT Well, no doubt it is in testimony “until he come”, but I think it should be read contextually. It alludes to the time when we are taken.
CAM It would be in a sort of bridal setting?
JT Yes, it would be that. I would rather connect it with the assembly, and all that is in the Lord’s mind as promoting bridal affections.
NW In learning the new song do the hundred and forty-four thousand learn it from the assembly or from some previous dispensation?
JT The point is they are the only ones that can learn it. John says in Revelation 14, “And I saw, and behold, the Lamb standing upon mount Zion, and with him a hundred and forty-four thousand,
[p. 482] having his name and the name of his Father written upon their foreheads. And I heard a voice out of the heaven as a voice of many waters, and as a voice of great thunder. And the voice which I heard was as of harp-singers harping with their harps; and they sing a new song before the throne, and before the four living creatures and the elders. And no one could learn that song save the hundred and forty-four thousand who were bought from the earth”. It is evidently a new one just sung and they are the only ones that can learn it. It is a privilege granted to the bride in chapter 19 that she should be arrayed in fine linen, and a privilege is granted here to the hundred and forty-four thousand. They are the only ones who can learn it. They are privileged. It does not say they learned it but they are the only ones that can. It shows that they are of an exalted character above the earth but yet not of heaven.
AR Will what is being presented at the end of this dispensation be carried forward as an endowment to the next generation that is to come?
JT They will learn from the assembly undoubtedly. The Jewish remnant, really the whole nation in principle, and the hundred and forty-four thousand, are seen as having a remarkable intelligence as compared with all else on earth. No others could learn this song. Who is singing we do not know because the assembly is seen in the elders and the living creatures, but it is clear that the Jews, the Israel of God, will be able to take on something at least of what goes on in the city; in that day their names will be in the city. The heavenly city will give character to all, the whole coming day. Those who form part of it will extend their influence to all below.
SMcC Do you see any linking on in the present moment with the dispensation to come in the way the testimony is coming before kings and nations [p. 483] now, God showing what He has and what He can do. It says in Revelation, “And the nations shall walk by its light; and the kings of the earth bring their glory to it”. Do you think God is giving testimony to the greatness of what He has now in the assembly?
JT It is remarkable how things are being broken up geographically so that we are able to take account of the whole earth, that to which God is about to bear witness, and out of which He will gather an immense company. They are not of the assembly, nor of Israel, but an immense number out of the nations. This is the breaking-up period. The actual spiritual work is not going on yet. The only spiritual work now proceeding is in the assembly.
JWD To what family does the privilege of entrance within the veil apply in the millennium?
JT Ezekiel shows that even Israel do not go inside; they never do. While the names of the twelve tribes are on the gates of the city, it does not go beyond that. The inner thing is always the assembly; even the leaves only of the tree of life go outside. The fruit is for all inside but then that is quite simple. The heavenly city is not viewed by itself in Revelation; it is within reach of the nations. They come and bring their honour and glory to it. I do not think they go inside; I am sure they do not, nor partake of the celestial food. The tree of life is viewed as entirely exclusive to what is inside the city. The leaves go outside. There is a link in that but still, it is not the fruit.
We ought not to miss this passage in Timothy, what there was in Ephesus, what was accomplished through Paul in Ephesus, and ministerially that was before he was imprisoned. The letter, of course, was intended to enhance what was ministered there, but the address would show that it was what they [p. 484] had received through ministry. The Lord says to Ephesus, “I know thy works and thy labour, and thine endurance, and that thou canst not bear evil men; and thou hast tried them who say that themselves are apostles and are not, and hast found them liars; and endurest, and hast borne for my name’s sake, and hast not wearied”; and then He says later, “Remember therefore whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works: but if not, I am coming to thee, and I will remove thy lamp out of its place, except thou shalt repent. But this thou hast, that thou hatest the works of the Nicolaitanes, which I also hate. He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies. To him that overcomes, I will give to him to eat of the tree of life which is in the paradise of God”. That shows that the very best had been ministered there, and there was not only intelligence, but love of the best kind; you might say assembly affection for Christ. The overcomer represents all that; he is not letting anything go, and he is to be given to eat of the tree of life which is in the paradise of God. That is the fulness, I think, of assembly privilege.
JTJr He would expect Timothy would have the outline of sound doctrine, and to hold all “according to the glad tidings of the glory of the blessed God”.
JT Yes, he had fully followed up all that Paul had taught and he is left at Ephesus and would enforce it. He would follow up all that had been taught, and establish elders so that the position at Ephesus should be held intact as representing the fulness of the New Testament or our whole dispensation, the fulness of light and the truth of God. We get our dispensation contemplated in this epistle to Timothy; “God’s dispensation, which is in faith”. It must be there, because there is a fulness, a summit in Paul’s ministry, and I believe Ephesus is intended [p. 485] to represent that. Timothy was to remain there to see that it was carried on.
JTJr Do you think that Paul alludes to himself and his conversion to show that besides the sound doctrine, you need the persons to maintain it? It shines through the persons. Then Timothy follows. All is handed down through persons.
JT That is the idea, the King of the ages coming into his mind. It is God coming in Himself, but in that majesty He is dealing with dispensations, of which we reach the fulness now, in result, in our own dispensation. The others have all come to us, and Paul is looking on to the coming one as well, for that is the next thing. Paul is a delineation of that also, to those who believe.
CHH Would the tree of life be to maintain us in the heavenly setting livingly?
JT I think so. The twelve manner of fruits keep us within the bounds of time. It is clearly a millennial setting, but we have such food as would maintain us in our heavenly calling. We are in touch with it according to our own constitution by this twelve manner of fruits from the tree of life.
AR I was wondering if in the millennium the Ephesian features will give character even to what will be given in time?
JT Well, that is right. It is already here, so that when we come to chapter 2 of Ephesians we see how the thing is already taking form in the assembly. The idea of the mystery is touched on in Romans 16, but in Ephesians 2 he speaks of it as having taken form. He says, “having annulled the enmity in his flesh, the law of commandments in ordinances, that he might form the two in himself into one new man, making peace; and might reconcile both in one body to God by the cross, having by it slain the enmity”. And then he shows that the Lord Jesus came and preached. That is in view of [p. 486] the mystery being reached, the full thought being reached; “Coming, he has preached the glad tidings of peace to you who were afar off”, that is to the gentiles, “and the glad tidings of peace to those who were nigh”. The gentiles come first, very remarkably, as in Simeon’s blessing. The gentiles are first here. “For through him we have both access by one Spirit to the Father”. We are in the enjoyment of the mystery. The highest position, I think, is contemplated here. And then it goes on to state, “So then ye are no longer strangers and foreigners, but ye are fellow-citizens of the saints, and of the household of God, being built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the corner-stone, ... in whom ye also are built together for a habitation of God in the Spirit”. I think in this section we see the force of the word ‘dispensation’ involving a house, involving God’s abode. At Ephesus it was fully reached and God carries on the administration of His grace in that connection, and that is what our dispensation is. There can be nothing higher. The link then is touched on so that the temple grows, “the building fitted together increases to a holy temple in the Lord”. “In the Lord” would allude to the use of it administratively and undoubtedly it goes on to the millennial day, to what Christ is there as Administrator in the dispensation of the fulness of times. There is a temple there. The assembly will be the temple in which everything is made plain in so far as the earthly families, the earthly side, and other families are capable of taking it in. The assembly has all knowledge and has it by the power of the Holy Spirit.
AR In Revelation it is said, “The Lord God Almighty is its temple”. How would you fit that into what you are [p. 487] saying?
JT Well, that is inside. He says, “I saw no temple in it; for the Lord God Almighty is its temple, and the Lamb”. That is divine Persons. If there is anything inside beyond what is in the assembly, it is in divine Persons and that, of course, is infinitude. Divine Persons are there but are more than the temple of it. Here in Ephesians it is growing to a temple in the Lord which means He is acting in administration. The title “Lord” means that. The queen of Sheba came up with her questions. There will be no more enigmas, but everything will be solved in so far as the earthly families are capable of taking in the truth.
JWD Do you mean that the heavenly city itself is the temple?
JT That is what is in view here. It is growing to that.
JWD These names of divine Persons, you said, represented God as in infinitude. Is that right?
JT Yes, the further you go in, the more infinite all becomes; because there must be the idea of infinitude. God is God. God and the Lamb are there, and in so far as the idea of temple is there, the Lord God Almighty is its temple, and the Lamb.
CAM The heavenly side of the truth is what we are thinking of, not what is in Ezekiel’s temple.
JT Ezekiel’s temple is not contemplated here at all. It is the assembly here growing to a holy temple in the Lord. In Corinthians it says “ye are the temple of God”, and that is already true in our Bible readings, such as this. When we come together we can count on light for a solving of difficulties; we can count on the Spirit for that, but in the heavenly city as in the millennium, everything is solved for it. It is the temple for others.
SMcC What relation does the earthly temple bear to this? Will the light of the heavenly city be diffused independently of what there is established [p. 488] in an earthly way in relation to God or will it be diffused in relation to it also?
JT I should not like to say independently because the names of the twelve tribes of Israel on the gates show the thing is fixed in that way, a graded position, the assembly being the supreme thought and all else graded from that. I think the gates are the links between the heavenly and Israel here below; and the nations, a wider circle, come up to Jerusalem. They bring their glory to the heavenly city, but they come up to worship. The idea is, one, two, three, in the temple, in the tabernacle, and in the ark. The idea is, one, two, three, the assembly is the first place, then Israel, and then the nations.
AEH Does this most inner thought of the temple related to the infinitude of divine Persons suggest the fulness of God in verse 19 of the next chapter?
JT Just so, that we might be filled to all the fulness of God. The assembly is perfect in itself as regards its official place here below in the dispensation of the fulness of times. The dispensation will terminate, but the assembly goes on.
NW God shows through the assembly now His all-various wisdom in the heavenlies.
JT That is exactly the thing in Ephesians 3. The angels see the all-various wisdom of God.
AEH How far do you think that we of the assembly will be guided in our thoughts in the dispensation of the fulness of times by the consciousness of our part in the eternal counsels of God? Will we still be governed that way in our thinking in the millennium?
JT I think so. We will be able to come down to that. The Lord came down to Jewish thinking, down to man’s thinking too. I think the heavenly city in character would be very much like the Lord in its intelligence — coming down to things in [p. 489] priestly grace and naming things. So you have the idea of one set over ten cities. What a man he will be! He will impart intelligence to those cities. The heavenly will be there.
HPR Does the heavenly city and what is in it go beyond the fulness of time?
JT The heavenly city is complete as it is seen coming down. There is nothing to be added. It is capable of coming down into the time scene just as the Lord came into time and the Spirit came into time. Even now the saints as viewed in Ephesians are heavenly. As we considered yesterday in Exodus 24, the saints typically are brought up to see the God of Israel and then you get the material for the tabernacle. The pattern comes down; the material comes down. In Ephesians 2 we are seen as taken up to heaven and then Paul speaks of the position on earth, as if it came down from heaven, like the vessel coming down to Peter and then going up and remaining there.
CHH In the eternal state the assembly is spoken of as adorned as a bride and in that form it is the tabernacle of God with men.
JT Just so. It is capable of that. I suppose eternally there will be a condition like that in which God is in touch immediately with men in His tabernacle.
JW Paul speaks of its being built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets. Is that a present matter?
JT I think what is apostolic is in mind. The twelve had to do with it. You have to go inside to understand what Paul’s part is. That is an eternal idea. The consummation of all the dispensations is seen there. The assembly is the product of them.
AR Is there anything of interest in that it is said that “night shall not be there”?
JT It would not be mentioned at all unless there was darkness down here. We get other Scriptures that bear on that: in Isaiah 60, to Israel it is said, “Arise, shine! for thy light is come, and the glory of Jehovah is risen upon thee”. The light is radiating from Jerusalem and that passage is quoted in Ephesians. It enters into our position too, and our light is now shining. Of course, it is a relative thought. When it is seen in its fulness there is no darkness, which would mean that the darkness is to be dispelled from the universe. We have very little idea of what God has in mind for us; we have this great thought in the first chapter of Ephesians of the dispensation of the fulness of times.
SMcC In the life of the heavenly city will there be occasions of serving God in the matter of song? How will the service proceed in the heavenly city, in the world to come? Now we have the formal service on Lord’s day. In the heavenly city will there be certain occasions of serving God in a particular way through the channel of song?
JT I would think so, glory to God in the assembly in Christ Jesus. It is service Godward; whether it is taken up on the principle of time I do not know. We surely merge into an endless or eternal state of things. But what goes on in the millennium, in which the heavenly city has part, is what is taught in Scripture. The service of God will be resumed on earth, as Ezekiel shows. Ezekiel should be studied in relation to the heavenly city. There is great correspondence between the two cities. We are to learn in what Ezekiel teaches us as to what goes on in relation to the Israelites or Jewish nation in the future.
CHH We have allusions in Revelation to certain kinds of service going on in heaven. I suppose that gives us some idea of the service going [p. 491] on?
JT Just so. It goes on. It says in the passage read, “And no curse shall be any more; and the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him, and they shall see his face; and his name is on their foreheads. And night shall not be any more, and no need of a lamp, and light of the sun; for the Lord God shall shine upon them, and they shall reign to the ages of ages”. All this is in view of the millennium. What is eternally to continue is somewhat left, but we can see that we are merging. The whole universe will merge from a flesh and blood condition to what is spiritual, because the new heavens and new earth are yet to come in.
JWD It mentions here the thought of glory in the assembly whereas the early part of chapter 1 speaks of the counsels of God, speaks of love. John 17 is full of the idea of love. Is this thought of glory more in relation to the public service of the assembly?
JT I think so. We are now dealing with the dispensation of the fulness of times. We read from the end of Revelation 21 and the first part of chapter 22 where the service goes on, and it looks as if we are still in millennial relations. In Matthew 25 we get another view of what will be in that day. Speaking about glory, the Lord says in verse 31, “But when the Son of man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then shall he sit down upon his throne of glory, and all the nations shall be gathered before him; and he shall separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats”. I was thinking of your allusion to glory shining out. He comes in His glory and sits on the throne of His glory. The Spirit is putting together for us an immensity of display in the dispensation of the fulness of times. All that God has been working is in view of this display, when [p. 492] He will show what He can do here on earth in men in flesh and blood. In some He has wrought, and the Son of man will come in His glory and deal judicially with the nations, segregating those who have loved, and served, and cared for Christ’s brethren, and those who have not of whom it is said “and these shall go away into eternal punishment, and the righteous into life eternal”. I only refer to that to show what glory is going to be seen in the judicial services of the Lord. His glory and the throne of His glory. There is to be glory shining out in administrative services, even judicially; how much more when the wicked nations have been disposed of, and only the righteous left. What a glory it will be with all the great prophetic announcements of the Old Testament, especially those of Isaiah, coming into it. It is God making the greatest possible display in the dispensation or administration of the fulness of times.
CR “That God may be all in all”. Is that the climax?
JT That is the eternal state of things, but the throne of Christ’s glory in Revelation is to have its place. God has appointed a day when He will judge the world in righteousness, by that Man whom He has ordained. That throne is to become a part of the display. There will be a gradual merging from that into a new city, new Jerusalem, and all will be spiritual.
AR Would verse 5 in Revelation 22 suggest also a merging? The state of things in the millennium will merge into an eternal state, to the age of ages.
JT Well, it is ages of ages there, which seems to be a continual duration, a number of ages, but Ephesians 3 is the age of ages; the age which is the sort of culmination of [p. 493] all the ages.
CHH The King over all the earth comes into view in the last chapter of Zechariah, and all nations come up to worship Him in Jerusalem.
JT Just so. That will be the King on earth, but then who is the King of the ages? The apostle in 1 Timothy 1: 17, clearly has God Himself in mind according to what he says in his doxology: “Now to the King of the ages”, not simply King, but of the ages. Can you leave out any? “The incorruptible, invisible, only God”; it is an immense thought, somewhat amplified in chapter 6 of this epistle in which the apostle says, “I enjoin thee before God who preserves all things in life, and Christ Jesus who witnessed before Pontius Pilate the good confession, that thou keep the commandment spotless, irreproachable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ; which in its own time the blessed and only Ruler shall shew, the King of those that reign, and Lord of those that exercise lordship; who only has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light; whom no man has seen, nor is able to see; to whom be honour and eternal might”. The apostle is breaking out into a doxology here, having God in mind, not only the mediatorial services of Christ, but God.
CHH Would “the King, Jehovah of hosts” in Zechariah 14: 16 be Christ? Zechariah also says, “And Jehovah shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one Jehovah, and his name one”.
JT Well, I suppose it would in some circumstances or connections; it is Jehovah who is reigning. The dispensations are in movement, but there is finality, and that is eternal, a new heaven and a new earth. As Peter uses the expression, the day of eternity.
HPR Are “ages of ages” necessarily [p. 494] connected with time?
JT They are connected with time, but it is a question whether time expressions are used to meet our limited understanding. Ephesians indicates plainly that we must always recognise creature limitations. That we might know breadth, and length, and depth, and height, is creature limitation, but the Lord God and the Lamb involve Deity, what is unlimited. Christ is said to have gone beyond all the heavens. That is Deity and we are in touch with it. How immense it is! God deals with us in the limitations in which we are. We use the word ‘eternity’, but are we capable of taking it in?
CDeB Does the apostle in 1 Corinthians 15 sum up into finality when he says, “That God may be all in all”?
JT That is finality, that is fixity. He is all, and He is in all. We have the expression, “one God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in us all”. So that fixity is that God is in us, and we are filled to all the fulness of God.
CR It would not be fully pleasurable to God unless His creature was blessed in knowledge of Himself. Has not God been working all through these dispensations to that end?
JT Quite so. The millennium has in view that “all shall know me”. We cannot imagine being in a state of ignorance. Everything is to be in a state of knowledge.
AR It says in the first verse of Genesis, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth”. In Revelation 21: 1 it says, “the first heaven and the first earth had passed away”. Will it just affect the created heavens?
JT It is the created heavens, of course. There are no other time-created heavens. In the beginning God created heaven and earth, but the Lord goes beyond all heavens. It is an uncreated condition that belongs to Deity. To go back to Genesis 1 [p. 495] there was clearly an addition according to verse 7, to what had been created at the first. “God called the expanse Heavens” — a new thing. There were waters above and below, a present provisional state of things. There would be nothing like that in the new heaven and the new earth, a spiritual state of things will replace it.
JW Peter says, “we wait for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwells righteousness”, and then he alludes to Paul as speaking of these things in his epistles.
JT Peter says, “according to his promise”. He alludes to Isaiah 65: 17, and there it is brought down to what we have been saying — the dispensation of the fulness of times, actually a new heaven and a new earth in a sense, just as we are already heavenly in a sense, but that is not final. Peter says “according to his promise”. Isaiah reads, “I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy”. That is the idea in principle, but not the fulness of it. Heaven and earth will be destroyed with fervent heat, so there will be a new one and that new one will be entirely spiritual.