Though it ever remains true that there is one body, and one Spirit, and that all believers are thus united to Christ their Head, and to each other, and that it is also true that the Holy Spirit still dwells on the earth in the house or habitation of God, and though man has brought in divisions and arrangements that have made the assembly outwardly a corrupt, ruined thing which we call Christendom, or the profession of Christianity, yet we saw in 2 Timothy God’s provision for this day of ruin; and in Revelation 2 and 3 we saw the overcomer in the assembly, that is, those whom God could recognize and reward for walking with Him.
In Matthew 18:18-20, the Lord promises His presence as a center of gathering, and comes down to the lowest possible number to make a meeting— “two or three.” The condition attached to this promise, is that they are gathered to His Name. On following out the meaning of this, it is that they are gathered in separation from all men’s arrangements, and also gathered in the unity of the Spirit.
In Revelation 3:7, the Lord reminds us that His name is holy and true, so that they who claim the promise, must be gathered in holiness and truth; and separation to Him who is holy, would be in separation from evil, that is, whether doctrinal, immoral, or ecclesiastical; and in obedience to the truth, would be as members of His body, for He has given this membership to every child of God, and is the one membership that God has given to them all.
The Christian was never put under the law. The Sabbath given to man was given to Israel as a nation, and to all who dwelt with them in their land. Since Christ rose from the dead, the Christian is dead and risen with Christ, and is in Christ, where law cannot have anything to say to him. The Christian, therefore, has no days, or months, or years to observe (Gal. 4:9-11). The only day for him that stands out above all others, is the first day of the week, and this because the Lord rose from the dead on that day. It is not the prophetic “Day of the Lord” spoken of in 1 Thessalonians 5:2, and other passages. It is a day in the personal experience of John in the Isle of Patmos, where he was alone to receive Revelations from, the Lord, and there it gets its name, the “Lord’s Day.” It is quite a different form of expression from the other.
The Holy Spirit came down on that day. the gospel was first spoken on that day....The gathering of Christians is figured in John 20:9 as on that day; and the custom of Christians to remember the Lord, was on that day (Acts 20:7), where the disciples came together to break bread.
If all this is true, and the Scriptures prove it to the spiritual mind, Why should it be regarded so lightly? It is no imposed law; it is as everything in, Christianity rightly is—the law of love; faith working by love, leading the Christian heart that is constrained by the love of Christ, as he should be every day; but this day in a special way is to be devoted to the interests of Christ as far as possible.
The ordinances of Christianity which distinguish Christianity, are not laws to be observed as religious sacraments. Baptism, which is put into the hands of the professed servant of God, is being baptized unto the death of Christ, and God’s Word acknowledges it as done once only (Eph. 4:5). A man does not baptize himself. He submits, but the servant obeys, so we do not find obedience in it, and what this symbol of the death of Christ has done for its subject is that he is brought into the sphere of profession where the Holy Spirit dwells, and that is why even an unconverted man is spoken of as a partaker of the Holy Ghost (Heb. 6:4). It is only believers who are sealed (Eph. 1:13), but the believer is taught by his baptism that he is baptized unto (not into N. T.) the death of Christ: that is, he is to apply that standard to himself, so to walk in newness of life (Rom. 6:4), the new life in Christ, and not to allow sin which is still in him to act; he is to keep it in the place which the death of Christ has put it. “Risen with Him” in Colossians 2 is by faith of the operation of God that raised Him from the dead. The virtue is not in the ordinance, but in what it symbolizes.
Then we get the Lord’s Table (1 Cor. 10:16-17), and the Lord’s Supper (1 Cor. 11), which bring before us the death of Christ in another way.
In 1 Corinthians 10, we get Christianity opposed to Idolatry, and as Israel ate of their sacrifices, and were thus partakers of the altar—their worship of Jehovah—so Christians also have communion, but theirs is the communion of the blood of Christ, and this is the cup of blessing which we bless. Notice that this cup is put first, for it is the fact of our being redeemed by the blood of Christ, which is before the soul. It is the precious, finished work of Christ, and then the spirit of God has come to dwell in us, and He has united us to Christ our Head. So here we have the communion of the body of Christ, and this symbol of His literal body signified also the mystical body, of which we are members, and (verse 17) we being many are one bread (loaf), one body, for we all partake of that one loaf, and though it might be only two or three, yet it is the communion of the whole body represented in the one loaf.
That gives all true Christians a title to be at the Table, if they are practically in the condition needed to be there, but, alas! how few realize their privilege to desire it, and the condition of many does not permit their reception, by bad behavior, bad doctrine, or being linked up with bad associations, which hinder their progress in divine things.
(To be continued).