THE LOCAL ASSEMBLY
[p. 271] THE LOCAL ASSEMBLY
Matthew 4:12 - 17; Mark 1:21; John 4:13,14; John 4:28-30; John 4:40-42
In recent years the Lord has directed our attention to the local assembly, and the results are to be seen everywhere. Brethren in all parts of the world see the outward order of the assembly much clearer. Where there were large meetings, sub-division has taken place and by this more praise and worship has been brought about for God. Paul was used of God to build up the assembly in its public service and in its outward order. He says that he worked “as a wise architect” (1 Corinthians 3:10). Architecture is mainly what is visible from without. Although the assembly is in ruins today, we have still to move in the light of Paul’s ministry. This then gives the Lord the possibility of giving us John’s ministry. John brings in the inner spiritual life, that is, the furniture and the inner ornamentations. That is to say, he insists greatly on love, calling himself the “disciple whom Jesus loved” (John 21:20), who had his place at table in the bosom of Jesus, and who leaned on the breast of Jesus, as we have already seen. We have to distinguish between the bosom and the breast of Jesus.
The bosom is receptive while the breast represents strength. John lay in the bosom of Jesus but he leaned on the breast of Jesus. So in his own person he represents to us life and entrance into the Lord’s love, so essential for a local company. John shows in chapter 12:1 - 3 that the Lord was received at Bethany in a very lovely way. That is a picture of what should happen in every local meeting when the Lord comes there. He came to Bethany without being invited, but the family there made Him a supper. Everything was in its right place. The conditions in Bethany were of such a kind that the Lord [p. 272] found there such a fine reception and hospitality. The ointment which Mary poured out on Him filled the house. The house was not only filled with the glory of the presence of the Lord, but also with what the saints were in that place. That is the highest thing which a local assembly can have, and the Holy Spirit seeks to bring it about in every place, through the ministry of Paul and John.
I should like to show from the passages read how this can be effected with us. In Matthew 4:12 - 17, the Lord is the pattern for a local assembly. In our comings together we have often emphasised that we must learn all from the Lord and that applies also to our service and our relations with each other in the local assemblies. It says in Matthew 4 that the Lord left Nazareth and came to Capernaum and then it says further, He “dwelt at Capernaum” (verse 13). The Lord thus became resident in Capernaum. Then the geographical position of Capernaum is mentioned exactly, “Capernaum, which is on the sea-side in the borders of Zabulon and Nepthalim”. That is not in the Bible for nothing. The geographical position of our locality is very important. If God has laid hold of one of us in a certain place and saved us, He has by that the blessing of the whole place in mind. God wishes then that there, where we have dishonoured Him, we should now glorify Him. The Lord glorified God in the temptations of the devil (Matthew 4:1 - 10), but there came a time when the devil left Him and then angels came and ministered to Him (verse 11). After our conversion God brings about many kinds of testings for us and none of us is usable in the testimony who has not beforehand been tempted of the devil. But there also comes a time with us when the temptations cease and the angels of God serve us. We are living today under great pressure. Satan would like to use the difficulties so as to turn us away from the truth. But God takes [p. 273] care that the pressure will cease and the angels serve us. The service of the angels has to do with material things. If we have overcome the temptations of the devil, then we can begin to serve God in our locality where we live. Jesus, “having left Nazareth ... went and dwelt at Capernaum”. Then light came into evidence in Capernaum, “the people, sitting in darkness has seen a great light, and to those sitting in the country and shadow of death, to them has light sprung up”. My thought is to show how light can spring up in a place. It is not a matter of light shining down from heaven but that light shines out from a Person. It is written of Jesus, “In him was life, and the life was the light of men” (John 1:4). When God lets the light of Christ shine into our hearts then it becomes life in us. It will also then shine out again from us as light for others. Beloved brethren, if in a locality we are walking in the light of the assembly, then light also shines out from us. Our locality is in darkness, as it also says of Capernaum that they were sitting in darkness there. But if the Lord puts two or three of His people in a place into His testimony, they are thus a light for the whole place; light goes out from them.
In Matthew 4 the light in Capernaum was proceeding from the Lord alone. In Mark 1:21, however, the Lord went into Capernaum with four disciples, with Peter, Andrew, James and John and the light shone out there from these five persons. In Matthew 4 the Lord dwelt alone in Capernaum, but in Mark 1 four other disciples went there with Him. The light shines out from those who live there and not from those who are only there on a visit. The four disciples who accompanied the Lord to Capernaum learned there from the Lord; they obviously already present the local assembly to us.
In John 4, the same principle is presented in a woman. The Lord spoke of a fountain which was to bubble up in her. “The water which I shall give him shall become in him a fountain of water, springing up into eternal life”. That is a figure of the Holy Spirit, who satisfies the believer, drawing him entirely out of this world and giving him already an entrance into eternal life. The expression “springing up into eternal life” is very important. It refers to the liberating and elevating power of the Spirit. The Spirit gives us power to rise above the whole world, so that we do not any more look back like Lot’s wife (Genesis 19:26). There are, alas! many who have come out from the world, but who are looking back into it again. They grieve or talk about what they have lost or given up. Lot’s wife became a pillar of salt, a solemn warning to us all. She looked back behind her husband; she was not transparent like the woman in Luke 8 of whom we have been speaking. The “springing up” implies that in spiritual power we are looking away out of this world, and are fully satisfied outside of this world. In verses 28 and 29 the woman speaks of Christ in Samaria, in the same city where she had been known in her unworthy behaviour. Every one of us should also be doing that, beloved brethren. She had no gift of evangelisation, she did not preach, but she simply said, “Come, see a man who told me all things I had ever done: is not he the Christ?”. Her testimony was effective. It says, “They went out of the city and came to him”. In this way a local meeting can begin. This woman had been a great sinner but she became a light in her city and light shone out from her. It says, “The woman then left her waterpot”. She had evidently understood the words of the Lord who had told her that she was to have in herself a fountain of water. Her testimony in Samaria had the effect that the people out of that city came to Jesus. In verse 42 they said then to the woman, “It is no longer on account of thy saying [p. 275] that we believe, for we have heard him ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Saviour of the world”. We see how the light which shines out of a person in a place, always shines further until it fills the whole world. In the Scriptures we do not find any national churches. At the outset this woman had been full of national pride, for she said to the Lord: ‘You Jews and we Samaritans’, but now the Samaritans say that Christ is the Saviour of the world. In that way, I believe, it is shown that the thought of the assembly is to spread out further through the world from the local assembly.