Deuteronomy 12:11-32
This place which the Lord would “choose ... to put His Name,” is mentioned more than twenty times in Deuteronomy. This would show us how important a matter it is. Ought we not to be exercised about the scriptural ground of gathering today? A common expression in Christendom is very misleading. People are told, “Go to the church of your choice.” How contrary to the truth of God! The Church is not a building, or an organization of men, for the Word tells us Christ is “the head of the body, the church” (Colossians 1:18). The true Church is composed of all who are saved and indwelt by the Spirit of God (Acts 2:47; 1 Corinthians 12:13).
Knowing this, we are not of our own wills to choose where to go, but we are to be guided by the Word as in all things. Like the disciples, when the feast of remembrance was first instituted, we must ask the Lord, “Where wilt Thou that we prepare?” Many meeting places of Christendom are not founded upon the truth of God, but upon the thoughts of men. They are not gathered to the Name of the Lord Jesus, but instead meet under man-made names and have leaders of their own choice and appointment. Such are like those spoken of in Colossians who were not “holding the Head” (Colossians 2:19).
Some persons think lightly of these things, but God’s Word is clear. If He charged Israel so definitely and often about that place, how can we consider it unimportant? Has He not exhorted us to be found “endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Eph. 4:3)? Let us be exercised before Him about these things! Are you gathered to the Name of the Lord Jesus?
Although the Israelites might have a long distance to travel to the place the Lord had chosen, it still was the only place God acknowledged. We are not just to look for a place of gathering nearby, but for the place chosen of the Lord — in accordance with His Word.
A Separated People
The people are reminded here of the importance of not eating blood. It was to be poured out upon the ground, for in this way they acknowledged that life belongs to God.
They were also warned not to copy the nations around them. We sometimes want to do things just to be like others. Christian boys and girls, and we who are older too, are in danger of copying the world in our ways, of wanting to go places and do things they do, but we, like the children of Israel are to be a separated people unto the Lord. We are particularly warned, as they were, not to be “conformed to this world.” We read that the Lord Jesus “gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father” (Galatians 1:4). May the Lord give us grace to be “imitators of God as dear children” (Ephesians 5:1, JND), instead of being imitators of this poor Christ-rejecting world!
There was to be no change made in what God had commanded. The people were told again, as they had been before, not to add to it, nor to take from it, for it was the Word of God. What a warning to any who would set aside any part of God’s Word, as well as to those who tell us of further revelations. Let us cling to the Bible.
Further Meditations
1. Why was it important for the Israelites not to eat blood?
2. What’s wrong with going to the church of my choice as long as there are real Christians there and they don’t deny the Trinity and key fundamentals of the gospel? What Scriptures can you give that show that we aren’t left to make the decision on our own?
3. Another excellent booklet that you might find helpful in considering the subject of the ground of gathering is Christ the Centre: Why Do We Meet in His Name Alone? by C. Stanley.