(Concluded from page 238.)
WE cannot be too simple in apprehending the true force of this being " gathered together unto my name," as the presence of the Lord depends on this, and with His presence all the responsibility and blessing connected with it.
First, let it be clearly seen that it is no mere voluntary assembling together of believers, in however small a number; nor is His presence in the midst a promise which He fulfills because they gather in agreement or unity. The statement is that, " where two or three are gathered together unto my name, there am I in the midst of them." That is, they are gathered by a power outside themselves, though their faith and willing answer of heart to that name doubtless go with that power. The very nature and essence of their position is that it is a divine one, formed and sustained by divine power.
The same sovereign grace and power that attach the individual soul to the name of Jesus for salvation and acceptance with the Father, are in exercise to bring those so saved and accepted together to that name; and we do well to remember that we are as helpless in ourselves as saints as we were as sinners. The grace that calls and saves, is the grace that gathers. Sweet is it for our souls to ponder over this, and to realize that the same blessed Lord Jesus who saves us, is the One who gathers us to His name, that He may take His place in the midst of those He has gathered. That the active agent in all this is the Holy Ghost, and that faith is in exercise guided by the word of God is all true, but the Lord is Himself the One that gathers as well as saves. He not only came "to seek and to save the lost," but He died that He might "gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad." In Acts 2:4747Praising God, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved. (Acts 2:47) we read, " And the Lord added to the assembly daily, such as should be saved." This double work of the Lord Jesus, of saving and gathering, man's self-will and Satan's malice alike seek to hinder.
It is, we repeat, of immense importance to get clearly before the mind that it is the Lord Himself who gathers His people, and that Satan is always opposing this work by every device and energy of which he is capable. Nor is it a question here of salvation, but of delivering man from Satan's power and authority, as a present thing, so that God's kingdom is established here in this world, while Satan is still its god and prince.
When on earth the Lord plainly enough thus cast out Satan, and gathered those 1Te delivered to Himself, and this conflict between Him and Satan we get very plainly set before us in Matt. 12:22,3022Then was brought unto him one possessed with a devil, blind, and dumb: and he healed him, insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw. (Matthew 12:22)
30He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad. (Matthew 12:30). It is with reference to the setting up of God's kingdom, as opposed to Satan's, that He says, " He that is not with me is against me, and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad." Satan is not only a destroyer but a scatterer, and when he cannot destroy, for surely he cannot destroy either the Father's children or the Shepherd's sheep, he can scatter, and having scattered can keep scattered, though he cannot "scatter them out of Christ's hands."
Now Christ has not only bound the strong man, but by death He has completely annulled his power. He builds His assembly in the power of His own life as the risen Son of God beyond the power of death, and the gates of hades cannot prevail against it-the foundation of life in the souls of His people is beyond the reach of Satan's power; but besides this building of His assembly in divine life, He gathers His people to His own name as the expression of His power and authority as the King in heaven of God's kingdom now on earth. The assembly bears this character in Matt. 18 The power and throne of God are there. The assembly (if only two or three gathered by the power of the Holy Ghost to His name) has, as we have seen, taken the place of Israel on the earth, and, as to the world, the "within " and "without " apply to it. The assembly binds and looses in Christ's name, He Himself, with all power in heaven and earth His, being present to give effect to all that is truly done in. His name.
In other words, the Lord has been pleased to constitute the assembly, not as the body baptized with the Holy Ghost and united to the Head in heaven, but as locally gathered to His name, His court. There as Lord He presides in judgment. From this court there is no appeal, as His words, " Verily I say unto you," &c. make quite plain, and this gives all its significance to the expression, " tell it to the assembly."
It is of the greatest moment to see that all discipline in the church of God proceeds upon the ground laid by the Lord in this 18th of Matthew. That the apostle Paul so regarded it is beyond disproof, and when giving the assembly at Corinth directions as to how to deal with evil in their midst, he tells them, " in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Cor. 5:44In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, (1 Corinthians 5:4)), they were to put away the wicked person.
The ruin of the church, and the weakness and disorder that is all around, have not touched this ground of discipline. These hold as good in our days as in the days of the apostle, and it is plain in giving these instructions in Matthew, the Lord had in view this ruin, and attached the full power of His name as much to the two or three gathered unto His name in weakness at the close of the church's earthly history, as to the unbroken assembly gathered in apostolic power in Pentecostal days. Two or three gathered by His power unto His name, and guided by Himself through the Spirit in accordance with the written word, wield His power in all its length and breadth in discipline as much now as then. Resistance to their decisions is resistance to Himself. It is the independency and self-will of man, denying the " unity of the Spirit" and "the Lordship of Christ." It is the power of Satan declaring itself against the power of God; but those who in faith, with lowliness of soul and trueness of heart, however weak in themselves, truly act for Christ and His glory, have this blessed promise to rest upon, "And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly." (Rom. 22. 20.) C.W.
" AS THE LIGHT OF THE MORNING."
John 20
DARK are the shadows ere cometh the waking,
Fair, hopeful dawn over valley and plain
; Darker the gloom in the heart that was breaking
Over the tomb where its last hope was slain.
What of the form, ah! so lately reposing
After the suffering, anguish and shame?
What was the tomb to her vision disclosing?
Nothing remain'd, to which love could lay claim.
Nothing! 0 terrible blank to the tender,
Desolate heart that yet painfully long'd
Unto the casket devotion to render,
Reft of the treasure to which it belong'd.
Nothing but one mighty sorrow perturb'd her,
Darkness nor night-watch could keep her away;
Not e'en the vision of angels disturb'd her,
Over her heart and mind love had such sway
.
"Tell me" in utter absorption demanding,
Where thou hast laid him," who fill'd all her heart:
Ah! how the One who beside her was standing,
Valued the love that had drawn her apart.
" Mary"-the morning, the morning was breaking,
Light flash'd upon her-"Rabboni," she said:
Best wine of gladness! the sweet word awaking,
Blessed pulsations of joy that was dead.
Spring-time had come, for the winter of sorrow
Fled at His presence-to gaze on His face
Bounded her life, her to-day, her to-morrow
, Fill'd with His sweetness, His mercy and grace.
Not as a wayfaring man now sojourning,
Home to the Father that loved Him to go;
Her place with Him whither He was returning,
Blessed relationship therein to know.
M. A. W.