"I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of My Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them" (Matt. 18:19,20).
Scripture gives believers no freedom of choice in their relationship with other believers. God has chosen for us, has distinctly defined His mind, and we are responsible to obey His Word. God gives us in Matt. 18:20 His principles of gathering. May our conscience and heart be touched by these seven distinct points.
1. WHERE: the divine place
2. TWO OR THREE: the divine testimony
3. ARE GATHERED: divine power
4. TOGETHER: divine oneness
5. IN MY NAME: divine authority
6. THERE AM I: the divine presence
7. IN THE MIDST OF THEM: the divine center
1. WHERE: the divine place
Principles which hold good today. "Then said Jesus unto them, Be not afraid: go tell My brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see Me... Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them. And when they saw Him (Jesus), they worshipped Him: but some doubted" (Matt. 28:10,16 & 17). When we are gathered according to God's mind, we conform to His appointment, not to our choice. Jesus said unto them, "There shall ye see Me". They answered to His instructions and found Him as good as His word. When gathered there, He was in the midst. People are saved, and told to attend the church of their choice. But the Lord Jesus has appointed and named a place, and if we are to have His presence, we must conform to His desires, His will, His appointment.
We go OUT to Him: "Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate. Let us go forth therefore unto Him without the camp, bearing His reproach. For here we have no continuing city, but we seek one to come" (Heb. 13:12-14).
Most important with the thought of "Where". We saw we are to meet the Lord according to His appointment; here we find Him outside that which is called "the camp". Scripture defines the camp of that day. (See Ex. 32:19-26). Today it has become a vast religious system that places unconverted man in outward relationship with God: where Old Testament customs (priests, music, etc.) are the accepted order; wherever people (saved or unsaved) come together professedly in the name of Christ but apart from the divine order. This is "the camp". Where is Jesus as to that? He is outside of it, and we are called upon as believers "to go forth unto Him... bearing His reproach." As a rule, where Scripture is difficult of application and understanding for us, the reason is that our duty and our desire part company.
We go IN to Him: 'And they said unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare? And he said unto them, Behold, when ye are entered into the city, there shall a man meet you, bearing a pitcher of water; follow him into the house where he entereth in. And ye shall say unto the goodman of the house, The Master saith unto thee, Where is the guest-chamber, where I shall eat the passover with My disciples? And he shall show you a large upper room furnished: There make ready" (Luke 22:9-12).
2. TWO OR THREE: the divine testimony The Lord Jesus anticipated all the ruin that has come in, the Church divided and subdivided, only a little handful that would be willing to turn aside from the religious mass to gather to His Name alone.
One individual does not comprise an assembly. But He puts it at the lowest plurality, and says, if there are just two that are willing to abide by the principles of this verse, "there am I in the midst of them". Marvelous truth. Small numbers will not affect us, if our eye is on Him.
God's truth is just the same; and what we are directed to do as God's children is to go on with that which was from the beginning. God's truth needs no date. It was the truth two thousand years ago, it is the truth today and will be the truth eternally. We should own our weakness and our failure but recognize that the truth of God abides. It is one thing to assent to what is unscriptural; it is another thing to give assent to what is written and yet not obey it. "I...have severed you from other people" (Lev. 20:26). What is said of all the children of God for today? "I have chosen you out of the world" (John 15:19).
The line of distinction and separation between believers and this world would be plain and clear if our hearts responded to this. "And being let go, they went to their own company" (Acts 4:23). In the religious systems of men we find the most devoted Christians and the boldest infidels, all under the name of Christ! This mixture is not according to God's Word. (2 Tim. 2:20,21). God's first principle of unity is separation from evil, not toleration of it.
3. ARE GATHERED: divine power In Christendom today, there are nearly two thousand different religious bodies, calling themselves Christians. Instead of believers being gathered together, they are gathered apart. They are scattered. But is the principle shown here being followed? "Where two or three are gathered together in My Name there am I in the midst of them". The Spirit of God knowing beforehand, has warned us of this scattering through the apostle Paul. "For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them" (Acts 20:29-30).
Evil from within the assembly. Not only would evil attack the assembly from without, but the Church of God would become the very birthplace of it. How did Paul meet that spirit among the believers? "Now I beseech you, brethren, by the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment... Is Christ divided...?" (1 Cor. 1:10,13). This is a serious matter! It is the bud and shoot of all sectarianism as we have it today, full grown. May God bring us back in our thoughts to His thoughts, and may we be willing to accept what He has set forth.
4. TOGETHER: divine oneness Eph. 2, verses 12-22 tell us a purpose in the death of Christ is that we should be one. If this unity of God's people is a purpose in the death of Christ, if it cost Him sorrow, grief, passion, and agonies when He hung on the tree, how greatly we should value that oneness. The correct translation of the passage says: "Using diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace" (Eph. 4:3). There are three characteristics of the Spirit's unity: The Spirit is the Spirit of LIFE (Rom. 8:2). In order to keep that unity, you would first of all have to have life. You have to be born again. Then the indwelling Spirit enables the believer to use diligence to maintain this unity. (This is not the unity of the body, which cannot be broken).
He is the HOLY Spirit (Eph. 4:30). You need to seek, through grace, to walk in holiness.
He is the Spirit of TRUTH (John 16:13). You need to have regard for the truth. Anything tolerated that compromises the question of life, or holiness, or truth, even though there appears to be oneness, would not be the unity of the Spirit.
5. IN MY NAME: divine authority People sometimes say, "There is nothing in a name". But, oh. how much there is in a name for each saved one (Matt. 1:21). "And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name; that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Phil. 2:8-11).
This is the ONLY NAME to which we are to be gathered; the only Name for salvation, and for gathering. Can we say after reading this testimony of God, "There is nothing in a name?" God forbid. We wouldn't think of putting Martin Luther's or John Weslesy's name beside the Name of Christ for salvation, yet some are willing to put those names beside Christ's when it is a question of gathering. Whatsoever is less than that Name is too little. It is the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Are you gathered to that Name alone?
6 THERE AM I: the divine presence There is nothing that will hold the heart like the realization that the Lord Jesus is in our midst. No human name charms as the Name of Christ, and His presence is promised only to those gathered to that Name. "And they shall call His name Emmanuel, which is being interpreted, God with us" (Matt. 1:23). It is "God with us", not "God with me". That is what you have in Matthew. The Jews never saw in Him the Messiah. We find its realization in the two or three gathered to the Lord's Name: "God with us"; "In the midst of them". Blessed, wonderful fact. Some may say, "That might have been so in another day." But notice the last chapter of Matthew. As Matthew begins, so he ends. "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world" (age) (Matt. 28:20).
Is He talking to individuals? No. He is talking to His gathered disciples who have answered to His appointment, and in whose midst He stands for the joy of their hearts. In the 1st chapter you have "God with us." In the 18th chapter you have "There am I in the midst of them." And for how long? In the 28th chapter you have "Even unto the end of the world." May nothing hinder our realization of this promise.
Turn back to Gen. 28:10,11,12,16: "And Jacob went out from Beer-Sheba, and went toward Haran. And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it... and he said, Surely the Lord is in this place; and I knew it not."
Has the sun gone down for us on this world? Has our heart been turned, and have our eyes been closed to what is here? It is very likely we'll find more than Jacob found. Notice verse 16. Have we ever been made to say, as gathered to His Name, "Surely the Lord is in this place"? In Matt. 28 there are some that "doubted". Jesus appointed a meeting place. They conformed to His appointment, they found Him there, they were glad when they saw the Lord, but some doubted. They were still, in their souls, under the ensaring effects of this world. Man wants something to look at: the spectacular. "We walk by faith, not by sight" (2 Cor. 5:7).
When we take our place at the Lord's table, we can say, "Surely the Lord is in this place". What was Jacob's conclusion from this? He says, "This is none other bid the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven" (Gen. 28:17).
7. IN THE MIDST OF THEM: the divine center We speak of the gate of heaven from the inside. We can go a little further than Jacob, for he speaks of the gate of heaven from the outside. How is that? Our place is "through the veil." Thank God. Oh, how holy is this subject! May we take the shoes off the feet and bow the head, repeating with reverence and joy, "Surely the Lord is in this place." May God Himself increase and deepen in our souls the joy of the privilege that is ours of being gathered to His Name. "For both He that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren, Saying, I will declare Thy name unto My brethren, in the midst of the Church will I sing praise unto Thee" (Heb. 2:11,12, part of which is a quotation from Psa. 22:22).
If He is in our midst, He is there to lead the song. If He has a right to sing, having come out in victory from death, that death was for us, so we may sing too. Blessed be His Name! May God give us a holy, blessed sense of what it is to be where He is; and may we say with deepening conviction, "Surely the Lord is in this place.
Is your position consistent with this truth? Are you walking in this joy and peace?
Abridged from
THE PLACE OF HIS APPOINTMENT
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