WALKING IN THE LIGHT OF THE ASSEMBLY
Richard Brown
I desire to say a word as to walking in the light of the assembly. I want to show that the great object of walking in the light of the assembly is that it brings us on to ground where we can know God’s living presence, in days that are otherwise marked by such gross departure from Him. I also want to suggest that in order to walk in the light of the assembly two things, fundamentally, are needed: firstly, a vision of what the assembly is in the mind of God, apart from any questions of breakdown; and secondly, the ability to discern what is in accordance with that vision amidst the actual state of ruin in which the assembly is found. My burden for this occasion is to persuade you of the importance of the first, rather than to examine the many questions relating to the second; but if you can keep the two thoughts in your mind they form the basis of all that I wish to say this afternoon. I believe these truths are illustrated for us in the passage we have read. Exodus 33 shows how one man was true to God’s highest thoughts in circumstances of great public breakdown. It shows how one man provided for God’s presence even when His people at large had departed from Him.
Now I have said that in order to walk in the light of the assembly the first thing needed is a vision of what the assembly is in the mind of God. That can be illustrated from the passage we have read by asking the question, How did Moses know what to do in this situation? The background to the chapter is that moment when the children of Israel sank into idolatry by making and worshipping the golden calf; a breakdown so severe and so complete that even a man like Aaron was carried away in it. There was nothing in Moses’ experience to guide him in this situation, and the circumstances were unprecedented in the history of the people. Yet Moses acts boldly. He acts without any instruction from God. He acts according to his spiritual instincts. And, as the sequel shows, what he did received God’s very marked approval. What was his secret? God had been preparing him for this moment. Prior to this Moses had enjoyed forty days and nights of uninterrupted communion with God, during which time God had disclosed to him the pattern of the tabernacle. He had received from God the light of God’s dwelling place on earth. It meant that as Moses stood there at the threshold of the camp, confronted by that scene of confusion, he was not baffled by a situation that would have confounded any other man. For he was not obliged to take his bearings from what he found, but, because of the light that filled his heart he was able to be true to God’s highest thoughts. I trust that we can all see this as a starting-point: that Moses’ actions in this chapter were governed, not by what he found, but by the light that filled his heart.
That illustrates the importance, in the first place, of receiving light from God, of having a vision of what the assembly is in the mind of God. It is important to understand that light from God is sovereignly given: who God gives light to, and who He does not, is His own matter. That applies just as much to the light of the assembly, as it does to the light of the gospel, or indeed to any other light. God is pleased to grant light to His people where He sees persons who are exercised about the truth. If a person is not interested in the truth, if a person is not prepared to commit themselves to it, it is unlikely that that person will receive light from God. But where a person is in earnest, and is exercised to walk in the pathway of God’s will, God is pleased to grant that person light. Of course, He may search you as to the depths of your desire, and He may challenge you as to whether you are prepared for the demands that the possession of the truth will place upon you; for let us never forget that with every accession of light so our responsibility to God increases. But let us lay hold of this, that God is pleased to grant light to His people, especially the light of the assembly, as it is a truth that is very dear to His heart. In the first place, then, if someone is exercised to receive the light of the assembly, we can tell you nothing better than to have to do with God about it.
The next thing is to read the Holy Scriptures, because all the light of the assembly is contained therein. We should begin with the New Testament. The assembly is not mentioned in the Old Testament, for the simple reason that it did not exist then. It does not even appear in Old Testament prophecies, because, as the apostle Paul tells us, it is a truth that was “hidden throughout the ages in God”, Eph 3: 9. We must therefore begin with the New Testament; but when we have grasped the teaching that the New Testament gives us as to the assembly, we can then shine that light back over the Old Testament, and what emerges are many precious types of the assembly; for it has always existed in God’s heart. So, for example, of the many women who feature in the Old Testament, it has been observed that seven of them stand out in a particular way as types of the assembly.
Now I trust the elder brethren will bear with me if I take a moment or two to draw attention to some of the leading truths as to the assembly, having specially in mind the younger brethren, with the desire that this might form the basis of your own prayerful enquiries. I would start by drawing attention to what I would speak of as the three cardinal truths of the assembly. The first one is that the assembly is a body of persons. That is what the Greek word ecclesia implies. In fact the assembly includes every person between Pentecost and the Rapture who is a believer on the Lord Jesus, and has received the gift of the Holy Spirit. Why do I bring in the Holy Spirit? Because it is by receiving the Holy Spirit that a person becomes part of the assembly. As the apostle Paul says, “in the power of one Spirit we have all been baptised into one body”, 1 Cor 12: 13.
That leads to the second cardinal truth: that the Holy Spirit dwells in the assembly. When the Holy Spirit descended at Pentecost He was not, as the Lord Jesus, sent out into the world, but He came, on the one hand, to take up His abode in the hearts of believers, and, on the other, to dwell in the assembly. And the effect of the Holy Spirit’s dwelling in the assembly is to unite the members of the body to one another, and to unite the body to its Head in heaven.
That brings us to the third cardinal truth: that the assembly has one heavenly Head, and that is our Lord Jesus Christ. I would say that if you can keep those three things in your mind, that the assembly is a body of persons, indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and united to its Head in heaven, it will preserve you from many errors. Assembly history shows what disaster follows when any one of those truths is given up.
As we pursue our enquiries through the New Testament we find that the assembly is presented to us in many different aspects. But there are two principal ones: ‘the house of God’, and ‘the body of Christ’. The house of God emphasises the public, outward, aspect of the assembly. The body of Christ is more its inward, spiritual, side. I wish to refer to them briefly, and also to a third, that is, ‘the bride’. If we think of these three aspects of the assembly – the house of God, the body of Christ, and the bride – we shall find in the unfolding of the truth in the Scriptures that they were revealed in that order.
If we think of the house of God, firstly, I would suggest that that was specially Peter’s impression of the assembly. It is not that Paul does not also speak of the house God. But it was the way in which the Lord Jesus revealed the assembly to Peter. The very first reference we have to the assembly is in Matthew 16, where the Lord Jesus says to Peter, “On this rock I will build my assembly” (v 18). That shows us, simply, that the assembly can be regarded as a building. It is that impression that forms the basis of Peter’s first epistle; and in that epistle he goes on to explain how the saints “as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house”, 1 Peter 2: 5. Now, we might ask, What is the leading thought in relation to the house of God? Which particular aspect of the assembly is brought before us in this way? I think it is this: the house of God is the place where God dwells. He dwells there by His Spirit. Though you may be familiar with that, think of what a momentous thing it is, that there is a spot on earth where God dwells by His Spirit. The question that I would raise with you is, Have you located it? I trust you will understand that I am not speaking of this company or that company. I am simply seeking to present to you the way that the assembly is presented to us in the Scriptures. Mr Taylor senior observed that if you consider the principal gospel parables in Luke’s gospel, they all feature a house (JT vol 1: 114). This shows that in the glad tidings God has in mind not only the relief of sinners, but He has in mind that persons should be brought into His house. So it is a question one can ask of any true heart, Have you located that spot on earth where God dwells by His Spirit?
Now I referred, secondly, to the body of Christ. This view of the assembly is very specially Paul’s. Only he speaks of the assembly in this way. We have often noted the way that the seed of this great truth entered into his experience at his conversion when, on the Damascus road, Jesus said to him, “Saul, Saul, why dost thou persecute me?”, Acts 9: 4. How could Saul be persecuting Jesus? If Jesus was in the glory He was surely beyond Saul’s reach. But Saul came to understand that by persecuting the saints, the members of Christ’s body, he was persecuting Christ. In that sense there was here on earth what Jesus could refer to as “me”. How precious that is! What is the leading thought in relation to the body of Christ? I think it is that as the body of Christ the assembly derives everything from Christ, and that she is to be expressive of Him. I would like you to think of that, for I believe it has a very practical bearing on us all, and especially those who have any part in the work of the ministry; to understand that nothing will edify the body of Christ but what comes from its Head. Paul goes on to expand on this great truth in his epistles, where he shows us how every member of the body is necessary, and every member of the body has its own place and function, and how all are to be working together to the same common end (see 1 Cor 12). I ask, have you considered that as part of the assembly you are a living part of Christ? You are actually a part of Christ, or, to use the language of Scripture, you are a “member of Christ”. Then to ask the question that has often been raised in the ministry, Have you identified what your place and function in the body is? And, are you filling out that place according to His will?
I referred finally to the bride. I would suggest that the bride is particularly John’s impression of the assembly. It is not that Paul does not also allude to the assembly in this way, for it would be difficult to think of any aspect of the assembly which he, as the great minister of the assembly, did not refer to. But it is only John who refers directly to “the bride”, and then only in the last two chapters of the Bible1. The first reference is in Revelation 21, where the assembly is described as “a bride adorned for her husband” (v 2); the second is in verse 9 of that chapter, where John is shown “the bride the lamb’s wife”; and the third is in chapter 22, where it says, “the Spirit and the bride say, Come” (v 17). The first reference is to the assembly in the eternal day, the second to the assembly in the world to come, and the third to the bride at the present time. You might say chronologically that seems to be back to front. The point is that these views of the bride in the future are to give character to what she is at the present time. For the bride is only ever recorded as saying one word, and that is, “Come”. We do not have to ask who she says that to, because the leading thought as to the bride is that she is wholly for Christ, and that she is devoted to His interests here. What a blessed thing that is! To think that the bride of Christ is capable of satisfying His heart. She will do it perfectly. She will do it through all eternity. Is there anything that gives us greater joy than that? To think of that loving heart, that we have come to know so well, being perfectly satisfied in His heavenly bride. The question that I raise with each one of us is, Where is this cry of “Come” to be heard at the present time? How is it to be expressed? I have met plenty of believers who individually are looking for Christ to come, but what about the cry of “the Spirit and the bride”? I believe it is not only expressed in what we say, but also in the way we live. Allow me to give a simple example: if someone were to come in to this room, and take account of us, take account of the way we were dressed, take account of the way we lived our lives, would they see people who had settled down in things here, or would they see a company of persons who had only one desire, and that was for the coming again of their beloved Lord? I believe we would all desire, for His sake, that it might be the latter.
I trust one has said enough to show you that the assembly is presented in different aspects. I also trust you will understand that we can only pass over these things very rapidly within the scope of this occasion. Much more could be said about the assembly. We could speak, for example, of the way that God, in His infinite wisdom, has seen fit that the assembly should be administered through the economy of local assemblies; and how, at the beginning, every local assembly was joined to every other by the most intimate links of holy fellowship; and how the local assembly represented the whole assembly in the place where it was, so, for example, the apostle could address a letter to “the assembly of God which is in Corinth” (1 Cor 1: 2), because the saints at Corinth represented the whole assembly in that city. It has been said, for illustrative purposes, that if you were to go down the street in Corinth, there would be the heathen temple, there would be the Jewish synagogue, and there would be assembly of God; because all the believers in that place were together. Someone might say, To what extent does that apply now? That is a question. But what I desire at this point is to lodge in your hearts the importance of our hearts and minds being established in the truth as it is presented to us in the Scriptures.
One further point might illustrate it for us. I would like you to think of the two epistles to Timothy. I would suggest that Moses alone on the mountain with God corresponds to 1 Timothy, which gives us the house of God in order. Moses outside the camp corresponds to 2 Timothy, which gives us our path in days of breakdown. And I would suggest further, for your consideration, that there is a sense in which you have Moses’ vision in the first three chapters of 1 Timothy: in chapter 1, for example, you have the brazen altar, in that lovely reference to “the glad tidings of the glory of the blessed God” (v 11), that is, God coming out; in chapter 2 the saints are going in, and you have the altar of incense in the reference to “supplications, prayers, intercessions, thanksgivings be made for all men” (v 1); then in the second half of that chapter you have the priests, the personnel of this functioning system; in chapter 3 you have the Levites, the persons who serve the saints; and then it comes to this remarkable reference to “the assembly of the living God, the pillar and base of the truth” (v 15), and we can see how “the pillar” corresponds to the boards of the tabernacle, and the “the base” would link with the bases of silver upon which they stood, and “the truth” is like the hangings, which together combined to form a holy enclosure for the ark; and in 1 Timothy 3 we have the ark itself, where it says that “God has been manifested in flesh” (v 16). I only refer to that in passing to show how you have, in those first three chapters, the pattern of the tabernacle. And our hearts must be established in that, before we are ready to move on to face the exercises that are suggested to us in 2 Timothy. If I could put it simply, we cannot launch straight into 2 Timothy 2. I would appeal for men and women whose hearts have been formed in divine truths for their own sake, who love God and who cherish His thoughts, as those thoughts are, fresh from His hands, untarnished. When you have that, you have persons who are ready to go on and face the difficult and often complex exercises that are addressed in 2 Timothy.
Well, I trust I have said enough to persuade you of the importance, in the first place, of having a vision of what the assembly is in the mind of God. May I repeat that that can only be received from God Himself.
The second point was that in order to walk in the light of the assembly we need to be able to discern what is in accordance with that vision amidst the actual circumstances of ruin in which we find ourselves. It might be useful if we consider what we mean by ‘the breakdown’. It is an expression that is in common usage amongst us. We need to understand what it means. Two illustrations may suffice. We have said already that at the beginning the apostle Paul could address a letter “to the assembly of God which is in Corinth”, because all the saints in that place were together. Now, what if, for illustrative purposes, the apostle were to arrive in this city today, and ask for directions to ‘the assembly of God which is in London’. Where would we send him? What a scene of utter confusion would meet his eyes. Whereas he wrote, “There is one body” (Eph. 4: 4), even within this single city there must be dozens of bodies.
Now consider the Lord’s Supper, the breaking of bread. One of the original thoughts in the breaking of bread was that it was to be the outward expression of the inward unity of the saints. Paul says, “we, being many, are one loaf, one body; for we all partake of that one loaf”, 1 Cor 10: 17. That is to say, the saints expressed their spiritual oneness, their spiritual unity, by all putting their hands to the same loaf of bread. What must the Lord Jesus think, when that precious memorial that was originally intended to be the outward expression of the unity of His people, has in our day become the most obvious indicator of our broken and divided state? What must be His feelings as to that? It may be a situation that we are familiar with, but I believe if we were nearer to Him the more deeply we should feel the shame of it, the more deeply we should feel what has befallen His beloved church, and that departure in which we have had such a responsible part.
What has happened? The Acts of the Apostles shows us how God first established the assembly on the earth, the wonderful glory in which it was inaugurated, and the powers with which it was invested. I would like you to think of it as a beautiful ornate vase. God entrusted the care of this assembly to the responsibility of men and women. They having failed in that responsibility, the assembly, like a beautiful vase, has been smashed into a thousand pieces. It has not ceased to be the house of God, it has not ceased to be the body of Christ, but those things have become greatly obscured through its fragmented state. The question that we have to ask ourselves is whether the present state of Christendom as we find it – many churches, much profession, different claims – is in accordance with the mind of God? It is remarkable how many Christians believe that it is. It is remarkable how many persons believe there are, what they refer to as, different ‘Christian traditions’; and who believe that Christians are in some way free to choose which ‘church’ they go to, or the mode of worship that suits them. It is ironic that Christians who rightly insist that God has only one way of salvation, should be content to accept that there are many ways in which His people should gather together and worship Him. I believe the principle is a false one. God’s people have never been free to make those kinds of choices. If we go back to Old Testament times, and think of the children of Israel, they could only approach and serve God by the appointed way. We find, for example, all the instruction in Deuteronomy as to the place where Jehovah would set His name, and there, and there alone, was He to be served. Although there are many bodies as far as we are concerned, in the sight of God the situation remains that “there is one body”. There is only one company of believers that is recognised by God, and that is the whole assembly. That means that there is no scriptural support for belonging to Brethren, nor indeed to anyone else. The only membership that is authorised for a believer, by the Scriptures, is membership of the body of Christ.
What does this mean for us in practice? I think it means that if there is one body in the sight of God, it follows that there must be one ground of gathering that is in accordance with His mind. Thus I would remark, that when we speak of walking in the light of the assembly, we are not talking of a speciality of some obscure saints. It is both the privilege and the responsibility of all God’s people to walk in the light of the assembly. It is not only that we have our individual responsibility to God, but by virtue of being called to have part in His assembly we also have what I might refer to as a corporate, or a collective, responsibility. Thus it is the responsibility of all to walk in the light of the assembly. Whether all are doing it is another thing, but I must begin with myself.
How do we do that when the church has broken down? Well, if we come back to Moses again, here he was at the threshold of the camp, and he would understand immediately as he viewed the situation there that there was nowhere in that camp where he could erect the tabernacle. He must therefore give up any thought of providing for the presence of God, or he must separate from the evil, he must set himself apart for God. The latter verses that we read show us how important to Moses the presence of God was. You can understand that Moses would say, ‘Whatever anyone else wants to go on with, I cannot do without the presence of God’. So it says that, “Moses took the tent, and pitched it outside the camp, far from the camp, and called it the Tent of meeting”. I believe that, in principle, is what men like Mr. Darby and his contemporaries did less than two hundred years ago. They saw that Christendom corresponded to the camp, and they separated themselves from the various religious systems of the day, in order to meet on scriptural lines alone. If we take Mr Darby as an example, it is important to understand that the reason why he left the Anglican Church (where he was a clergyman) was not because of the abuses. He had his judgment of them. But what brought him out, as he says, was the light of the body of Christ (see, for example, JND 14: 247, 293). That is to say, as Mr. Darby understood, for the first time, what the body of Christ was as it is presented to us in the Scriptures, he also understood that what he was part of was not it. In fact, he goes on to say that the Anglican Church was no church at all, as far as the Scriptures are concerned (JND 14: 188). That serves to illustrate the importance of having this vision, of understanding what God has said about the assembly. Once you have that in your soul you are able to hold it up, and you are able to test every claim by the light. And it is very instructive to see the way those godly men gathered together. They realised that God had not authorised them to form anything themselves. They were not authorised to set up any body of their own. They simply desired to gather on scriptural lines alone, in order to satisfy their own consciences. And it is very blessed to see the way the Lord vouchsafed His presence to them, as they gathered without pretension, and in much lowliness.
It is good to read of, and reflect on, what was undoubtedly a movement of God’s Spirit then; but what about today? Historians of church history will tell you that no spiritual movement can retain its original character beyond the second and third generation. Once the men of faith and vision, once the gifted men, have passed off the scene, there is a tendency for things to become fossilised. Such an idea does not take into account the power that is resident in the Holy Spirit. Nevertheless, you can see the force of it. We have to see that right ground has to be maintained. It does not maintain itself. And I am more than ever convinced that it can only be maintained in spiritual power. Spiritual power comes from devotion to Christ, and from faithfulness to the truth. I say that because one discerns an increasing danger that the precious spiritual heritage that has come down to us may in our own day be lost to us, simply though ignorance of it or neglect. The fact is, where these truths are rightly apprehended in the soul, they call for a movement on our part. At the very least they call for a movement of heart and mind. It says in verse 7, “Every one who sought Jehovah went out to the tent of meeting which was outside the camp”. The majority never moved at all. Verse 10 says, “all the people rose and worshipped, every man at the entrance of his tent”. That shows us that the majority were content to remain within their own circle of family and friends. They remained there without God, because God was with Moses outside the camp.
Now, dear brother, dear sister, the question that I raise with you is to what extent are you conscious that you have received light from God? And to what extent are you conscious that the reason you are where you are today is because, as having received light from God, you have sought to move out, if only in heart and mind, with a view to being on ground where you can know God’s living presence? I would say, soberly, that I believe these questions are of all moment for us in view of the continuing experience of God’s presence amongst us.
I want to say a word in closing as to Moses’ recompense. How do we know that what Moses did was right? We have already said that he acted boldly. We have said that he acted without instructions from God. Would God forsake him or would He support him? We have the answer in verse 11, it says, “Jehovah spoke with Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend”. How blessed that is! It was the only confirmation that Moses had that what he had done was right. I say the only confirmation, but taking into account the dark background, it was everything. Surely in the days in which we are the presence of God is everything.
At this point Moses rises to one of the greatest moments in all his history. If we turn to Deuteronomy 34, the chapter which records the death and burial of Moses, it would seem that the writer wanted to convey an impression of the greatness of God’s servant. Which event from that eventful life, which incident in that life that was rich with experience with God, would the writer draw on to bring home to us the moral and spiritual stature of the man? We might have thought it was the moment when Moses divided the Red Sea, or one of the many other extraordinary miracles that he performed. But you will see from verse 11 that the one incident the writer refers to is that day when, with all the people having gone astray from God, there was one man who was “face to face” with Jehovah. How glorious that is! Think of God’s pleasure in Moses personally at that time. It brings home to our souls what is possible for faithful individuals in days of breakdown.
Now the question is, dear brethren, do we covet the continuing experience of the Lord’s presence amongst us? Is it something we really want? Do we want it enough that we are prepared to separate from evil? Do we want it sufficiently that we are prepared to set ourselves apart in heart and mind for Him, in order that we might provide suitable conditions for His dwelling amongst us? I desire that before the Lord comes He might awaken in the hearts of His beloved people such a longing for the experience of His blessed presence, that we might be moved with a sense of burden and urgency to put away the worldly things, and that we might freshly set ourselves apart for Him, in order that we might know what it is, in the language of this scripture, to be “face to face” with our beloved Lord. What that must be in such a dark day as we are in, in a day that is otherwise marked by such gross departure. What it must be to look up into the unrebuking gaze of Jesus, and to receive from Him the assurance that we are just where He would have us to be, and that He desires to be with us. Is there anything that we would desire more than that? Is there anything that we think would give us greater satisfaction than the consciousness of the Lord’s face shining upon us, and that He should speak to us “as a man speaks with his friend”? That is, that He should regard us as His confidants, that He should regard us as persons whom He can entrust with disclosures of what is upon His heart, and with whom He can share His precious things.
May the Lord give us the grace, the strength, and the courage, to answer to these things. May He open our eyes once more to the blessed possibilities that are open to those who, in lowliness and in dependence upon Him, desire to walk in the light of the assembly for His sake.
LONDON
20 May 2006