THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD
[p. 226] THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD
Matthew 18:19,20; Matthew 28:18 - 20; John 14:18 - 20; Hebrews 2:11,12
I desire to encourage myself and you as to the reality of the presence of the Lord with His own. I believe it is a great characteristic of faith, and particularly in a day of general failure, to stand in the consciousness of this. I do not mean merely holding to the statements of scripture, or regarding the words in Matthew 18:20 as a principle or ground of gathering. I think it may have been looked at too much from this point of view. What we need is to be encouraged in the sense of the Lord’s presence in the way of support and satisfaction. Having known this, it would not be difficult for us to understand that there is a company in the midst of which Christ sings God’s praises. May we be helped in the consideration of these three thoughts!
In Matthew 18 the Lord speaks of being with His saints in the way of support. When the Holy One and the True says to Philadelphia, “Thou hast a little power”, it is not reproach but commendation. The secret of having power is the consciousness of the Lord’s presence with us. When Paul was before Nero no man stood with him, but he could say, “The Lord stood with me, and gave me power”, 2 Timothy 4:17. The brethren failed him but the Lord did not fail him. He had the consciousness of being supported by the Lord. We, in our day, are in difficult times but it is our privilege to be here in the blessed sense of the Lord’s support. The Lord is here to support His own. I dare say you have noticed that there is no ascension in Matthew. That gospel ends with, “Behold, I am with you all the days, until the completion of the age”. From that point of view [p. 227] the Lord does not leave the earth. He remains here in all His blessed power — “All power has been given me in heaven and upon earth” — to support His saints and servants.
The Lord is in the midst of two or three gathered to His name, to give His sanction and support to all that is of and for Himself. There are certain things in the world that are of the deepest interest to the Lord Jesus Christ. I wish we were more conscious of how the heart of the glorified One is interested in what is going on down here. His name is here; His interests are here; and His saints are identified with His name and His interests. If we are in affection and purpose here for Christ we need not have any misgiving, however great the difficulties may seem to be. Let us be encouraged in the Lord; He is with His saints. He will not abandon what is so dear to His heart. He takes pleasure in seeing His saints cherishing His name and interests, and He delights to give them the support of His own presence as they do so. He is with His saints to protect us from the power of evil and to encourage our hearts in all the blessed resource that is in Himself.
He says, “that if two of you shall agree on the earth concerning any matter, whatsoever it may be that they shall ask, it shall come to them from my Father who is in the heavens”. It is “two of you”; that is, two of Christ’s assembly. He had not long before in this gospel spoken of His assembly. “On this rock I will build my assembly, and hades’ gates shall not prevail against it”. In Christ’s assembly no other business is entertained but the interests of Christ. He has called us out from this world that He might entrust us with His interests, and that we might be wholly for Him in the day of His rejection. If we are on this line it is impossible that He should fail to support us. The weaker we are the more necessary and certain is His support if we are set for Him. The fact is that we do not realize that we are of Christ’s assembly and here for Him, or we should be more conscious of His support. When the king convenes Parliament it is to mind the business of the nation; Christ convenes His assembly to mind His interests, and He supports it by His presence.
Outwardly the assembly may be broken up, but if “two” saints really seek to be here according to the truth of Christ’s assembly, He will assuredly be in their midst to support them in relation to His own interest. We need not fear if we are set to mind Christ’s interests, first in our own souls and then in regard to all the saints, and also in the service of the gospel which makes Christ known to men as Saviour and Lord. “I am with you all the days” is a blessed word to every true servant of Christ’s interests, and is the secret of his power. There is no power in the poor servant; his only power is to have the Lord with him. Everything that is done for God is done by the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the great Worker of divine wonders. If an evangelist is used in blessing to souls, it is because Christ is speaking in him, 2 Corinthians 13:3. At the close of Mark’s gospel we read that “they, going forth, preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word by the signs following upon it”. He is the great Servant, and His servants are but the vessels and instruments of His power. It is surely a wonderful thing to have the Lord’s presence for support!
Then there is another thing — the Lord’s presence for satisfaction. “I will not leave you orphans, I am coming to you. Yet a little and the world sees me no longer; but ye see me; because I live ye also shall live”, John 14:18,19. We live in seeing Him, and it is characteristic of the whole of the present period, while the world sees Him no longer, that He comes to those who love Him. It is that we may be in the satisfaction of life in seeing Him. He comes to us so as to be a great and blessed and present reality to our hearts,
[p. 229] so that we may find in Him supreme satisfaction.
He did this for Mary and for the assembled disciples on the resurrection day. He did not suffer them to feel bereft of Him. He came to them in the love of which His death was the witness — the love, too, which gave them a place of association with Him in the presence of His Father and God. And in this same love He still comes to His own.
It has pleased God to create man as a being capable of knowing Him, and having an intelligent appreciation of His thoughts and ways. Sin having come in, redemption and a divine work in man are necessary for this but the fact remains that man was intended to find his satisfaction, his life, in the knowledge of God. Now in the Son of God we see the perfect revelation of God in a man. Those who see Him see the Father. Then, again, we see in Him, glorified as the risen One, the perfect setting forth of all God’s thoughts and the purpose of His love in regard to man. We see Man accepted and beloved, in sonship’s place, according to the full height and glory of divine counsels. But, more than this, we see One anointed to give effect, in regard to us and to the whole universe, to all the thoughts of God. So that we not only see the greatness of God’s thought but we perceive that it is no longer to be a dead letter on account of man’s breakdown. We see One divinely capable of carrying into effect all the Father’s purpose. “The Father loves the Son, and has given all things to be in his hand”.
In addition to all this we see in Christ One who stands in peculiar and glorious relation to the assembly both now and evermore. He has received the assembly as the Father’s love-gift to Him, and it is the subject of His self-sacrificing love, and of His present care and profound interest, as it will be His supreme joy and peculiar treasure — His companion and bride — in scenes of glory. Now He is coming to us that we may see Him in all these varied and blessed [p. 230] perfections of His glory and love, that we may see Him, the living One, and live because He lives. The expression, “I am coming to you”, marks this as being not an occasional and extraordinary manifestation, but as what characterises the whole period during which the world does not see Him.
Is there not supreme satisfaction in all this for hearts that are capable, through divine grace, of a due appreciation of it? All through John’s gospel we do not see the removal of guilt, or relief ministered to the burdened con science. It is rather eyes being opened to see the kingdom of God, to see the light of God in His beloved Son, and the thirst of the heart quenched by drinking the knowledge of divine Persons and divine love. In short, life is the great theme. He is the “Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” and He baptises with the Holy Spirit that we may have eyes to see Him and hearts that can find satisfaction in Him.
“In that day” He says, “ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you”. He dwells in the Father’s affections; the saints are in His affections; and He is in theirs. He comes to us that all this may be a divine reality to us. How blessed to have His presence for satisfaction! There are unsearchable riches and fulness in Him, and it is all there for the satisfaction of our hearts now. He comes to us to satisfy us with His own presence and love. It is not to be supposed that the failure and ruin of the assemblies has stayed this activity of Christ’s love. If anything could have hindered His coming to His own it would have been such a state as we see in Laodicea. Yet even there, true to His own word and to His own love, He comes. Infinitely sad and solemn it is to see that He comes to a closed door, but He comes! We do well to ask ourselves if there is a closed door between our hearts and Christ. Something that hinders us from seeing Him when [p. 231] He comes to us? If there is, let us make haste to judge it, and ourselves who have allowed it, that the door may be opened for Him.
Scripture suggests another thought in connection with the presence of the Lord: we read, “In the midst of the assembly will I sing thy praises”, Hebrews 2:12. He is in the midst of the assembly in a spiritual manner. He is there to give expression to God’s praises in song. There has been a perfect revelation in Himself from God to man, and now praise according to that revelation is being sung by man to God. “According to thy name, O God, so is thy praise”, Psalm 48:10.
Praise suited to the God who has revealed Himself so blessedly is secured through Christ singing in the midst of the assembly; God is praised according to the perfection of His revelation, and not according to the feeble and mistaken thoughts of men. A true note of praise to the Father, a true response to the love and blessing in which He has made Himself known, is a wondrous and holy thing. It speaks of the presence of Christ who has identified Himself and His own perfect praise with the assembly.
It seems to me that this is of the deepest importance in connection with the testimony of God in the universe. God’s nature and attributes are glorified in the praises of His saints. He dwells amid their praises (Psalm 22:3). The praises of saints are the cloud of glory in which He presents Himself to the universe. How wondrous that all that God is as revealed in the Son — His nature, His attributes, His purposes and counsels, His ways — should be developed in the affections of the saints, and should take intelligible form in their praises! So that there is a sounding out before the intelligent universe of the testimony of God; all that He is and has done is told out in praise, and Christ in the midst of the assembly sets on this divine song. It is a melody which only He could originate or sustain.
[p. 232] The effect of the presence of Christ in the midst of the assembly is that God’s glory is there expressed in praise, brought out, not as a mere abstraction, but as known and appreciated in the affections and intelligence of men. Hence Paul ascribed glory to God “in the assembly in Christ Jesus unto all generations of the age of ages”, Ephesians 3:21.
If we are supported and satisfied, it is that we may sing. And the support, the satisfaction, and the song are all the direct result of the presence of the Lord. May we be more familiar with that blessed presence!
Son of God, with joy we view Thee
Of God’s love the object meet;
While, Lord Jesus Christ, ’tis through Thee
All our blessing is complete.
As Thy brethren now we hail Thee,
Firstborn of a heav’nly race;
He who has with glory crowned Thee
Called us to this blessed place.
And a song is sweetly thrilling
Every heart within the shrine:
Music which God’s ear is filling,
Notes which could be only Thine. (161:1)