THE NAME OF THE LORD

2 Timothy 2: 16-22; Matthew 18: 19, 20; 28: 16 -20

E.M.W. I thought the Lord would help us to speak together about His name and His authority, which two things are not infrequently together in Scripture. It seems to me that, especially in a day of confusion publicly the like of which I suppose has not existed before in the recovery, we should learn to see the importance of His name and His authority. The Scriptures therefore, however familiar, ever yield fresh instruction for us and, as we know, 2 Timothy 2 is specially applicable. Nevertheless the principles set out are not exactly or simply recovery principles but all-time principles, although needing to be emphasised no doubt specially in days of departure. I thought therefore of the naming of "the name of the Lord" and then calling "upon the Lord". The second passage, "where two or three are gathered together unto my name, there am I in the midst of them", is freely used by various groups of Christians, perhaps freely used by us, but the Lord would exercise us as to the moral point in it. Then it seems to me it would lead to the greatness of that to which we are baptised in chapter 28. There we have the Name, which is as we know the name of God in which He has been revealed, the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, but in that setting the authority of Christ (all authority having been given to Him) and His commandment. I thought that if we are exercised (and every believer should be) about what is suited to the Lord's name and about simple submission to His authority we should find an avenue into the blessedness of the knowledge of God as revealed in the one name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. We are baptised, as we have often been reminded, towards, "baptising them to". I think the force of the word 'to' has been said to be 'towards' the Name, as though what is in mind is the knowledge of God and He has been revealed in Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

P.v.d.B. Would the Lord's word to Philadelphia, "thou... hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name", show how the authority and the Name go together?

E.M.W. Yes, that is interesting, the two put together.

P.v.d.B. It seems to lead to the promise to the overcomer that "I will write upon him the name of my God", which is, as you say, the full revelation of God in Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

E.M.W. We should see that, as we recognise what is due to His name and recognise His authority, there is an avenue into the greatest privileges, so that what is proper to the assembly can be enjoyed in the day of brokenness, because our resource is unchanged.

G.W.B. Is it too simple a question to ask what the Name means?

E.M.W. It would not be too hard for you to answer it.

G.W.B. I would like to know what you are thinking about it now.

E.M.W. As we know, it has often been connected with it is His renown. Frequently in Scripture it seems to imply His absence but His name present, that is the renown of the Person and I suppose something of the character of the Person expressed in the Name in whatever context it might appear in Scripture; hence there is what is due to it. It is a matter of grief, or should be, to us (although we often take it for granted) that you find His name or various names attached to things which are really basically infidel and of the devil. You can, as I often do, see printed up 'First Church of Christ, Scientist', the holy name of Christ being embedded in what is infidel. Therefore in His absence, it implies the renown of the Person and what is due to Him, so that our first scripture says quite plainly that he that names the name of the Lord is to withdraw from iniquity, the word 'iniquity’ being simply, as we know, what is not right.

E.C.M. How does that fit in with the references in Deuteronomy to the place which Jehovah shall choose to cause His name to dwell there (see Deut 14: 23)?

E.M.W. I had thought of that scripture and the importance of the maintenance of that, because Jehovah constantly refers to it.

E.C.M. Does that involve that there are persons who are walking in separation?

E.M.W. I think so.

S.D.K.R. Would affection for Christ and appreciation of what He has done underlie this? It says "Thy name is an ointment poured forth", Song of Sol 1: 3.

E.M.W. I think that love for Christ is the basis of it not the anticipation of a reward, which is a low motive. It rather suggests the responsibility of persons who name His name to make it evident that they really are consistent with it and recognise what is due to it. How could we possibly associate that Name with iniquity? And yet, if we follow up your thoughts to affection, it is put in the sense of an appeal: "let him". This is something that would be expected as due from one who names that Name. Coming back to Mr Muggleton's suggestion, it has always remained with me that Mr Coates said that whatever the day may be we are never prepared to acknowledge that there is not the place where Jehovah has been pleased to set His name. It is not any place or anywhere; and any believer, wherever he is or whatever he may claim, should be ready to recognise that there is the place where Jehovah has been pleased to set His name.

E.C.M. Why I refer to it is because it is not in every place but there is a place.

F.C.M. Is that illustrated in Saul's conversion? He says "What shall I do, Lord?" (Acts 22:10) and immediately gets direction to the circle where the Lord was honoured.

E.M.W. Just so, "What shall I do, Lord?". But first of all, "Who art thou... ?", then " I am Jesus", so immediately ·get His precious name. The it is His personal name, not the name of the Lord; he is directed, as you say, to the circle where the Lord is recognised.

E.C.B. Do you think that there are certain scriptures which present the name from the point of view of the advantage to the believer? For instance: "The name of the of the Lord is a strong tower" (Prov 18: 10); "neither is there a name under heaven which is given among men whereby we must be saved" (Acts 4: 12); "whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved" (Acts 2: 21); but the scriptures that you have brought before us are not merely the advantage to the believer but the responsibility of the believer. Do you think that that distinction is not always made?

E.M.W. I am sure that is right; hence you find many believers who take advantage of the blessing that is derived from the scriptures you have quoted, but how many are prepared to recognise the responsibility of maintaining what is due to that name in which we may find refuge.

E.C.B. It would almost appear that in this last epistle Paul is meeting just that very thing. So that, for instance, to the scripture in Romans he now adds "out of a pure heart", and he would remind us that it is the righteous who are safe.

E.M.W. That is very helpful, and it is in this epistle especially that he draws attention to it. I thought therefore we need to see the distinction between naming the name of the Lord and calling on the Lord. It is one thing to name His name, and if you name it it is your responsibility to withdraw from what is not right; but subsequent to that in the believer's exercises there is the calling on the Lord which seems to me to recognise the immediateness of His authority, and now I find not simply my responsibility to separate from what is not right but my responsibility to others with whom I walk and - my responsibility to Him as the Lord who is supreme.

F.M.K. Do not the rights of God come in? God has made Him both Lord and Christ and given Him a name that is above every name.

E.M.W. Yes I think so; and we need to keep this distinction that has been drawn attention to that, while there is the side of the blessing that reaches us in acknowledging the name of the Lord Jesus, there is also our responsibility to recognise what is due to it.

E.C.M. Would that come in in connection with the way Paul insists on His lordship in Corinthians? The Lord's commandment, for instance, would bring in responsibility, and then the Lord's table and the Lord's supper.

E.M.W. So you will find that something like forty times in that epistle he refers to the Lord. It shows the essentiality of recognising His authority. I may separate from what is not right publicly and be proud of it, but it is another thing to get back to the point of departure and acknowledge that I supported and associated myself with those that flouted His authority. That is one of the issues today I think, and in this very city. So the two things must be kept together. Do you think that is a fair comment?

E.C.M. I fully go with what you say.

E.M.W. It seems to be the case that there are persons (and of course you would not despise it) who desire to be separate from what is not right and seem to be exercised about it, but it is vital, I believe, in our exercises that we should get back, as Mr Stoney used to say, to the point of departure; with many it is a failure to recognise His authority.

E.C.M. It has been a humbling matter with some of us to get back to it.

E.M.W. Well, it is to all of us really.

E.C.M. It is a very blessed thing though to find where the Lord is and where His authority is recognised and His Person reverenced in affection.

E.M.W. That is the point I wanted to make, that it is more intimate and more direct when it says "call upon the Lord". Sometimes it is quoted as 'calling on the name of the Lord' but it is 'calling on the Lord'.

P.v.d.B. Is lordship connected with the kingdom and would that stress the individual responsibility in recognising Him as Lord; but do you think it is essential that we come to Him as Head in connection with the assembly as what is collective? All the divisions and the scattering among saints are really due to not holding the Head, are they not?

E.M.W. Do you not think also that they are due to the fact that there has been insubjection? Somewhere or other man's will has been exercised. It seems to me that any failure that comes in with us individually or collectively can be traced to deficiency in the kingdom.

P.v.d.B. The kingdom is really the protection of the assembly, is it not?

E.M.W. Quite so, that man's will has not displaced God's will.

L.A.B. Is that confirmed in a negative line in that Hymenaeus is said in the first epistle to have not maintained a good conscience, but in this epistle he is overthrowing the faith of some? The maintenance of a good conscience must of necessity be in the recognition of the rights of Christ, and where that is not so the result alas is that persons are turned aside, and not only are turned aside themselves but may be the means of turning others aside which is a very sobering consideration.

E.M.W. I am sure it is, and how much that has been seen in the history of the recovery, that persons have been turned aside through the defection generally of leaders.

J.T-n. Is it always testing to be owning and drawing from the Lord Himself? "If any one desire to practise his will, he shall know concerning the doctrine" John 7: 17. It seems that the line of His authority and name would make the path very easy for us.

E.M.W. It is in itself simple and yet how complex it has become on the face of it. Yet it seems to me unquestionable that where the conscience is exercised and the affections moved for Christ you can always be sure there will be direction from Himself.

G.W.B. Is it interesting that Paul says we must appear before the judgment seat of Christ as well as the judgment seat of God? It is the universality and eternal assurance of the name that God has given Him. You were speaking about persons not being subject; we have all been such; but all that has to be sorted out in our souls.

E.M.W. Yes. Hence the great need, as we have often been reminded, of living day by day in the anticipation of the judgment seat, the light and the power of it, so that everything is clear. I believe we should take up more practically these simple exhortations that we have received in the ministry. Each of us must appear before the judgment seat of the Christ to receive the things done in the body. Do you not think that many matters would be clarified if we were at the judgment seat, which really means simply in the presence of Christ?

G.W.B. We found there has been a tendency with some to think lightly of the exercise of two years ago, to think that there is not much difference between us now and that could easily be smoothed over, but the rights of the Lord would not allow such an attitude.

E.M.W. I believe it is far more serious than we have realised because, as was said earlier, it was really a rejection of His authority in His own assembly, and any suggestion of 'let us as companies merge because after all we are pretty much on common ground' is a denial of His rights.

R.E.T. Is there skill in the way the apostle speaks of what is of God and the sealing and then goes on to the Name? Is there something that would help us in regard to being kept safe if we saw what is of God and what is sealed that the enemy cannot touch.

E.M.W. I think that helps us: "Yet the firm foundation of God stands". No doubt there is a link there with His purpose and what will unquestionably be carried through despite what may be happening, despite the confusion, despite the defection; as our brother says, the faith of many being overthrown, "Yet the firm foundation of God stands"; it is a great encouragement and will keep us steady. "The Lord knows those that are his"; how many there are, as we have often said, we do not know them, but that is one side of the seal; the other is "Let everyone who names the name of the Lord withdraw from iniquity". I suppose he shows clearly what his genealogy is and shows himself to be genuine.

F.N.S. Would calling "upon the Lord out of a pure heart" be the antidote to smoothing over differences and that sort of thing because there will be an element of impurity if anything that denies His rights and the holiness of His name is overlooked?

E.M.W. It is interesting that, as our brother said earlier, Paul should add that in 2 Timothy. "Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved" (Acts 2: 21), but here it is "out of a pure heart". I suppose that is a heart that would not willingly hold any motive that is contrary to Him. How many mixed motives appear, how many different reasons we may give for our actions. "Pure heart": I suppose a single eye, it is just for Himself, His interests, His rights, His glory. Would that be a pure heart?

F.N.S. Yes; and I was thinking of another part of Matthew, the pure in heart that shall see God (see chap 5: 8).

H.H. Would you say that Ananias in Acts 9 was pure? He needed adjustment but he called on the Lord twice.

E.M.W. It shows how simple and ready he was for adjustment. It is very evident that he was near to the Lord and was able to commune with Him, almost as in a simple conversation; and yet so ready for adjustment; the Lord says "Go".

H.H. You do not hear his name otherwise but he was ready, as you say, the Lord could use him.

E.M.W. Quite so; he appears on the page of Scripture as useful to the Lord at that moment and then he is left. I have no doubt, as Mr Darby says, his name will be better known in heaven than on earth, and that is so with many; and it is so today I believe. It is not stressing leadership exactly but the way in which simplicity in an individual recognising what is due to the name of the Lord can find where His name is honoured and where His rights are, and can find where that will lead into - what is proper to the assembly.

C.G.H. Concerning the assertion that some might make that things have been looked into and we find now we are on the same ground, cannot we merge? Without the going back to the point of departure, the assertion of being on the same ground would be more apparent than real because morally it would be impossible, would it not?

E.M.W. Yes, and it is a failure to recognise His direction and the fact that He has held the initiative, He has moved Himself. It is not a question of some persons having moved rightly and others subsequently having moved rightly in the same way; it is a question of how the Lord Himself has been in control and is holding the initiative as He moved Himself.

P.v.d.B. Is not recovery individual? Is that not important at the present point?

E.M.W. That is how I have understood it; so in our passage the first step seems to be, "If therefore one", one, "he shall be".

D.E.R. Do you think we need to be established in the fact that in any division the Lord can only be with one side? There is only one place where the Lord would be free to come company-wise?

E.M.W. I think we need to say that without presumption and I believe it to be the truth. It is not simply that you are claiming to be that company but you are simply stating what is a moral principle. As Mr Stoney said, it is a moral impossibility for Christ to be head of two bodies. Every believer should recognise that as a simple moral principle whatever his exercises may be, even if he claims to be in the one that is in touch with Christ as head. The Lord will help each person that is prepared to recognise that, to find where the power of His headship and the truth of the body is really known.

E.C.B. I have been wondering lately whether in taking up this second injunction in verse 19 we cannot ever dissociate it from the scripture which was referred to: "thine ointments savour sweetly; thy name is an ointment poured forth", and whether much of the sorrowful history of the 1960s is due to the attempting to carry out 2 Timothy 2, as we say, without remembering that His name is always as ointment poured forth.

E.M.W. That is very good. So that while we speak of it as a charter, it is not simply a charter, is it? A charter could be cold and academic and you might follow it, but "thy name is an ointment poured forth" would give it a grace, a charm, an attractiveness. Is that something of what you mean?

E.C.B. Yes it is. The impression came to me in preaching somewhere in this area a little while ago, but I think that a good deal of failure and of the disgrace that has been brought on the testimony has been due to our leaving out the fragrance of His name when we claim to be acting in the light of it. I venture to suggest to the brethren that we do not do it again.

E.M.W. "Thy name is an ointment poured forth".

E.H.W. Following upon that it says, "Therefore do the virgins love thee"; it is a question of virgin affections, and therefore I am challenged, am I not, as to whether I have these virgin affections for the Lord? I might claim a lot, but what is inward?

E.M.W. "Therefore do the virgins love thee" would very clearly connect with the "pure heart", would it not? And it is the pure 'heart' not the pure 'mind'. Elsewhere we get the pure mind which of course would be associated with it but the fact is he says "a pure heart", which would clearly be the purity of the seat of affections, not taking things up academically or pursuing what is right simply because It Is right, but moving under the influence of the love of Christ and in response to that love.

E.C.B. These matters would help us in regard to the point that was just being spoken about, because the suggestion that there is not really much difference between us is really a proposition that dead flies be brought into the ointment.

E.M.W. Just so, causing it to stink (see Eccles 10: 1).

J.T-n. It is noticeable here that there are many vessels. Are we surprised we are few? Many vessels - gold, silver, wooden, earthen, some to honour, some to dishonour. "If therefore one shall have purified himself"; it is coming down to one person, is it not?

E.M.W. I think it shows the depth of exercise involved in it, which of course is a challenge to our affection for Christ. We all like numbers; we have a goodly number here today and we are thankful for all those in the bond of the truth; but numbers in themselves are no evidence of power or of righteousness.

E.H.W. It does not say how many virgins in that scripture in Song of Songs, but they are marked by virgin affections for the Lord.

E.M.W. That is the whole point I think, purity of affection for Himself. So much is based on love for Christ, is it not? I do not doubt the same is true in Matthew 18; "where two or three are gathered together". He could quite easily have said 'Where two or three are gathered unto My name' or 'Where two or three are together unto My name'; but He said "Where two or three are gathered together unto my name, there am I in the midst of them".

E.C.M. Would that fit in with what it says in Malachi, "For from the rising of the sun even unto its setting my name shall be great among the nation s; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure oblation: for my name shall be great", chap 1: 11?

E.M.W. Yes, I suppose it is great in character. It is not so much a question of volume , although of course God will have that in the day to come, but it is rather the character of the thing.

E.C.M. There must be the pure heart for the pure oblation.

E.M.W. Yes, true affection would desire to have things for Him as He desires them to be. So, as we said, we do not take it up simply as a text or academically but out of love for Himself because we desire that there should be for Him conditions that are suitable to Him, pleasing to Him, in which He can in liberty as Minister of the Sanctuary proceed in the service of God.

W.McK. What distinction do you make between 'calling on the name of the Lord' and what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1, "with all that in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ"? The extension of the Name there is significant, is it not ?

E.M.W. Yes, it is in one sense fuller there, yet here it seems to emphasise His absolute supremacy, unqualified. So that, as you know, in the earlier statement 'Master' is 'Despot'. He has absolute rights, has He not?

W.McK. You mean that the name 'Lord' refers to what is absolute, not only because of any position He is given but because of who He is.

E.M.W. I think we need to recognise that. He is made both Lord and Christ which, as we have been taught, refers to Him as Man and what God has done with Him and for Him; but there is what is due to Him because of who He is.

W.E.E. Would there be the power of attraction in "gathered together unto my name"? That would be as a result of love for Christ: "If ye love me, keep my commandments", John 14: 15. Then the authority would set us free from everything which was out of accord such as an unequal yoke or anything of that kind.

E.M.W. I thought so. It is so easy to take things up in what we have called an academic way, but the power of attraction of the Name! "Thou shalt call his name Jesus", for example , how attractive that is in this gospel! Then "Emmanuel... 'God with us'"; but at the same time it must be recognised that there is what is due to that Name.

S.D.K.R. In Deuteronomy Moses speaks of the Lord finding a place where He would set His name there, and then in David and Solomon's day it is located in Jerusalem. The Lord refers to the assembly here earlier. Would the two or three "gathered together unto my name" be assembly persons? It is not just 'gathered in My name', as you were saying, but "unto". Would it cover the idea of the assembly in the affections of the saints?

E.M.W. I think so. "Two of you" would really be two of the assembly. "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". You would hardly think of "two of you" asking with selfish interests. What would be in their minds would no doubt be the prosperity of His testimony. It says, "it shall come to them from my Father who is in the heavens". He does not say when; He does not enter into the patience and perseverance and service that may be necessary, but faith would lay hold of what He says: "it shall come to them from my Father who is in the heavens".

S.D.K.R. Then would the "For where two or three" link on with the "two of you"?

E.M.W. I think so; that is why those brethren who have taught us so well have linked verse 20 with the prayer meeting rather than with the assembly meeting, "For where two or three are gathered together unto my name, there am I in the midst of them". It is not only "in the midst" here, but "of them", that is of the "two or three".

F.M.K. Is this arrived at by what we pursue - "righteousness, faith, love, peace"? Would that lead us on to what you are speaking of now?

E.M.W. I have always regarded that as the necessary avenue into what is proper to the assembly.

F.M.K. There is really no salvation outside of that, we must pursue what is right.

E.M.W. We must. Matthew's gospel is of course the assembly gospel, but the assembly in the setting of the kingdom; so it is protected, and righteousness is emphasised throughout this gospel, and yet not only righteousness but love for Christ; but then, as Mr Raven says, you have great difficulty in separating righteousness and love, and as far as John's writings are concerned, I think he said, you will find in some places they are almost interchangeable because it is right to love.

D.J.H. Could you help as to the reference made earlier to 'the place'? It is in a sense universal in Deuteronomy. I wondered if that bore on Matthew 18, "two of you" and agreeing on the earth, whether that would be the recognition of what was universal; but then the working out of it in verse 20 is local. Could you say something as to 'the place' in those two settings?

E.M.W. I think there must be the recognition of what is universal. That is another great truth that has been broken down, that we are maintaining what is due to the Lord here but they may not over there, which is really setting aside the universality of the place where Jehovah has set His name: Jerusalem was the place in God's mind, was it not? But then it seems to me that, whatever confusion or breakdown may come in, God does not give that up, and while it is put in a universal setting, at the same time it works out locally, does it not?

D.J.H. Yes, I wondered (not to dwell negatively but just to get the gain positively of history) whether that really was not the main failure in 1972.

E.M.W. I could not say too much about what may have been primary or secondary in that issue, but I think it is right at any rate that it was one of the failures at that time.

R.E.T. ls there something special in the Lord referring to the Father that will provide this? He does not say God, He says the Father. Is there some intimate thought there that would keep us and bring us into the light as assembly-minded persons?

E.M.W. It is "my Father", is it not, "shall come to them from my Father who is in the heavens"? I think it shows the intimate relationship and affections in that relationship between the Father and the Son that Christ's name is honoured here, and there is agreement and a gathering and a togetherness which is honoured by His Father.

Ques. Is it remarkable that Paul should make comment as to the difference that there was between Euodia and Syntyche in Philippians 4, as though the meeting of that breach was something essential for the fulness of agreement and togetherness to proceed rightly?

E.M.W. We tread very softly when we think of Philippians, but that disagreement could quite easily have been a dead fly to which Mr Burr referred earlier. Well, did they agree? But then we must bring it up to date and think of our own localities. He says "if two of you shall agree", and then, "gathered together". I think there is a link between the agreement and the "gathered together". "Shall two walk together except they be agreed", Amos 3: 3.

E.C.B. Is not that why Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1, "I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ... that there be not among you divisions"? Paul uses the expression in 2 Thessalonians 2, "our gathering together to him". Or gathering together to His name is what is available to us now, but what is gone on with as gathering together to His name should be consistent with what will suit the rapture?

E.M.W. Well, that is a very challenging statement and I think it is the truth; we sometimes make these statements but then we have to stop to see what challenge they are to us, that we should have now as gathering together unto His name what is suited to the rapture. What a tremendous statement that is, yet the Lord would exercise us because it is quite obvious that there is a resource in the Spirit to enable it to be so.

E.P. Would that involve the consciousness of His presence, not only the truth of it?

E.M.W. I was thinking that. He says, "gathered together unto my name" but "there am I in the midst of them". What you are thinking is that we should not only have the knowledge of the promise and the faith of His presence but by the Spirit the consciousness of it.

E.P. Yes; and as we experience that it would arouse constant concern with us to bring nothing in that would interrupt it.

E.M.W. Very good.

E.H.W. So that as gathered together to His name there would be the suitable state for His presence: "there am I in the midst". It does not say He comes but "there am I".

E.M.W. "There am I" is rather consistent with Matthew's presentation.- "I am with you all the days". But this verse needs weighing. I well remember in the army a Methodist and a Baptist and a Pentecostal came to some of us and said, Let us gather together unto His name and we shall prove Him in the midst. That is not easy to meet where you find men who may have genuine convictions and be true believers. It shows clearly that we must look into the moral point that the Lord is making in any passage, not just take it up superficially.

E.H.W. We would go back to 2 Timothy, "who as to the truth have gone astray". Should we have to look into that if there was any claim on this line?

E.M.W. I suppose that would be so, I only used that as a simple illustration of the exercise involved.

E.C.B. I think, and I believe you do, that the saints should never allow themselves to be overwhelmed by the greatness of the truth in its simplicity.

E.M.W. I am sure; so you do not say the challenge is too great and throw your hands up.

E.C.B. No, and what astonishes you sometimes is how great simple truths are; it is just the truth that we should not have anything that would be different at the rapture.

D.J.H. May I remind you of what you said to me when we were in the army after a camp reading when I referred to this verse? I received adjustment as to it because you said that our gathering at that time had not been on assembly ground. I was only thinking of the importance of gathering in that light. We might be together but, if not in the light of the assembly, we would not prove the Lord's presence in the same way although we would be such persons.

E.M.W. I think that would be right.

F.P.A.S. What is the bearing of the announcements being in the name of the Lord Jesus?

E.M.W. You mean at the Supper. I do not know that I could add anything to what has been said before about that; but we do get in 1 Corinthians 11, as we have noticed, "I received from the Lord", and then in the night in which He was betrayed, "the Lord Jesus", as though you get the truth of His authority there and also that precious affectionate assembly title, so that everything really is covered by the dignity and grace of the anointing.

E.C.M. You get in Colossians "Do all things in the name of the Lord Jesus" (chap 3: 17); you recognise the authority that is connected with that name.

E.M.W. Yes and the affection too; it is an affectionate title, is it not?

E.C.M. Mr Taylor sen said it is the name that belongs to the assembly.

C.G.H. Could something be said about the distinction referred to just now between a meeting of a few believers who were like-minded and walking in the truth, and their coming together in assembly in a place where the Lord had a representation of the assembly.

E.M.W. I do not remember the occasion but we were at that time in an army camp and we used to come together and read the Scriptures in the evening if we were distant from the meeting; but I think we must recognise what the Lord has established in localities, that is as suggested in Corinthians, "the assembly of God which is in Corinth". At times we were close to the assembly of God which was in Shrewsbury. I think that is the only simple distinction we made, that as coming together in that camp we were hardly on assembly ground although we spoke together about the truth; and I think we do well to weigh over what Mr Taylor sen said, that you cannot put the assembly on wheels and move it round. The assembly in a place is the assembly in a place and it should be maintained there, and the representation of God and the service of God should be maintained t here.

G.W.B. Did you have any sisters at that meeting?

E.M.W. No, which would be an additional indication that it was not on assembly ground, do you mean?

G.W.B. Yes, as the assembly is constituted at the present time sisters would be needful.

E.C.B. Such a meeting would be somewhat on the ground of redeeming the time.

E.M.W. In relation to the last scripture it struck me that despite the fact that it is a broken number the Lord does come to them. As today, there are many that are at a loss what to think. We just have to face that, there are many dear brethren that are at a loss what to think. That is what the footnote says about that word, they hesitated. We need to pray for such. The Lord is exceedingly gracious despite that, is He not? He says "All power has been given to me". We need to recognise that, and it is in the light of that that they are to go "and make disciples of all the nations, baptising them to the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit". So the greatness of the economy and the way in which God has been made known in Father, Son and Holy Spirit is to be appreciated, and then the promise of the Lord that He will be with them "until the completion of the age", I suppose that is to the appearing. We can therefore be assured of His presence if there is the maintenance of what is due to His name and 'the Name'.

F.C.M. Is it very comforting that all power has been given to Him not only in heaven but upon earth?

E.M.W. Yes. The Lord could have made up the twelve before He left, but He did not; He left the broken number. How encouraging in a day like ours when the number is broken, and it has been broken again and broken again; but "I am with you all the days, until the completion of the age". That is up to the end, I suppose, of the period of testimony.

F.M.K. Then if we ourselves have any doubts or are with others who have doubts - "some doubted" it says here - we "observe all things whatsoever I have enjoined you". Is that a way of salvation for us at the present time?

E.M.W. I think so. This gospel would help us about that, so that we are not only to recognise His name, as we said earlier, and the benefits accruing, from calling upon it, but we are also to recognise His Person and. His authority and what is due to His name and due to Him.

 

CROYDON

13 July 1974

 

Key to initials

E.C.B. E.C.Burr London: G.W.B. G.W.Brown Barnet: L.A.B. L A.Barlow Bexley:

P.v.d.B. P.van den Berg The Hague: W.E.E. W.E.Ellis London: C.G.H. C.G.Hitchcock

London: D.J.H. D.J.Hutson London: H.H. H.Hatcher Kingston-upon -Thames:

F.M.K. F.M.Knappett Maidstone: E.C.M. E.C.Muggleton Croydon: F.C.M. F.C.Mutton Redbridge: W.McK. W.McKay Sunbury: E.P. E.Palmer London: D.E.R. D.E.Remmington St.Albans: S.D.K.R. Dr.S.D.K.Roberts Croydon: F.N.S. F..N.Stickland Redbridge: F.P.A.S. F.P.A.Stocks London: J.T-n.J.Thomson Croydon: R.E.T. R.E.Turner St. Albans: E.H.W. E.H.Wakefield Sunbury: E.M.W. E.M.Walkinshaw Gillingham