ASSEMBLY SERVICE
Psalm 22: 21-31; Hebrews 2: 12; Philippians 3: 3; I Peter 2: 5
The object of this paper is to call attention to the importance and dignity of assembly service, that is, in its priestly character. This will be the more evident when we consider that it is a service that will go on in eternity. It is the service of heaven. The assembly is a worshipping company, that is, a priestly company. What will characterise the world to come will be universal praise. “All the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee”. “Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord”. But the service of the assembly will be of the highest order, as of persons having been brought into the fullest knowledge of God, and into the closest relation to Him, that of sonship in Christ Jesus. It is our privilege to anticipate the day of glory, for we have already received the Spirit of God’s Son, and have (Gal 4: 6) been taken into favour in the Beloved, Eph 1: 6.
We are brethren of the ascended Son of God, John 20: 17. As sons we worship the Father. “The Father seeketh such to worship him”, John 4: 23.13
This service must be from the heart, and in the Spirit, it is a spiritual service, the overflowing of hearts satisfied with divine favour, and brought consciously into the presence of divine Persons. Nothing less than this can satisfy the heart of the blessed God. It supposes not only spiritual intelligence, but also the formative work of God in our souls.
What could be so conducive to this service as the assembling together on the first day of the week to partake of the Lord’s supper? This is the great assembly-meeting, when we are nearer to heaven than at any other time. In the Supper we are engaged with divine Persons, as revealed in the death of Christ. In this way the Lord would draw us to Himself, and into the circle in which He lives as man with the Father. His death has opened the door into a heavenly and eternal system in which we shall live for ever, but into which it is our privilege to enter in spirit even now. It is there the Lord would lead us in praise to the Father. In resurrection He says, “I will declare thy name to my brethren; in the midst of the assembly will I sing thy praises”, Heb 2: 12. He entered into death to secure this response to the love of God, these praises which delight the Father’s ear. And now He delights to lead the praises. How precious they must be to the Father. Yet how often through lack of spirituality we fail to reach this out-of-the-world heavenly position, hence our worship falls short of proper assembly service. It is a matter which should cause us much prayerful exercise.
If we are found together worshipping the Father in holy liberty, the Lord has joy in seeing in us the fruit of the travail of His soul. The pleasure of Jehovah is prospering in His hands. We rejoice to look forward to the time when He will lead the praises of every redeemed family in heaven and upon earth; it will be His glory. “Thou ... hast redeemed to God, by thy blood, out of every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation, and made them to our God kings and priests”, Rev 5: 9, 10. But in that day the highest notes will be sung by the assembly, the company of the present day, those who were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world, and called in the present movement of the grace of God.
Meantime while praise is silent for God in Zion, it goes up from the assembly.
It is interesting to notice how after David had established the kingdom, and brought back the ark to Zion, he established a continuous service of praise, see 1 Chron 6: 31; 16: 4-6; 25: 1-7. We may remark that whenever there was any revival, the singers are mentioned, and this service of song was restored.
From The Believer’s Friend vol 24 (1932)