WHAT THE ASSEMBLY IS TO CHRIST, AND WHAT IT IS TO GOD
[p. 221] WHAT THE ASSEMBLY IS TO CHRIST, AND WHAT IT IS TO GOD
2 Corinthians 11:2,3; Genesis 49:1,2; Deuteronomy 33:1 - 5; Psalm 122:3,4
I want to say a word about the assembly, in regard to what it is to Christ and what it is to God. The subject is necessarily large, but I shall confine myself to certain features which I trust may be of present service to the saints, and what I would remark at first is the object the apostle had in his service in Corinth. John the baptist heard the voice of the Bridegroom, but he did not undertake to bring in the bride for Christ. That was not his service. It remained for the Lord to make His own selection as to who should bring in the bride by his ministry. So Paul comes in especially for this service. And in going to Corinth he had this in his heart; in ministering to the Corinthians he had before him to espouse them to one Man, that he might present them as a chaste virgin to Christ. He had other thoughts, but evidently this thought was nearest to the Lord’s heart, that their affections should be undivided, and that they should be a chaste virgin to Christ.
The Lord had said to Paul at the outset of the work in Corinth, “I have much people in this city”, (Acts 18:10). He had, like the master of a multitude in Song of Songs 8:11, much people there, and would form those people into an assembly; for the master of a multitude in the Song of Songs is the former of assemblies in Ecclesiastes. The Lord would have the much people that He had in Corinth formed into an assembly, and this the apostle had before him in his service; and that assembly was especially singled out as God’s assembly. But then at the same time these saints were taken up and regarded and served by Paul as specially belonging to Christ. The great [p. 222] point is that we should not be of double heart, that the heart should be undivided; one Man is to control it, and the heart being His, one is kept in regard of Christ in a virgin state.
The apostle expresses his anxiety as regards the Corinthians, and well indeed he might; he says, “I fear lest by any means, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craft, so your thoughts should be corrupted from simplicity as to the Christ”. He was jealous, and the Lord is jealous; you will recall that in 1 Corinthians 10 it is said, “Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? are we stronger than he?” (verse 22) These questions refer to our relations in our several pathways of responsibility in this world. The Lord’s supper is a challenge to our hearts as to where they are; in other words, the Lord would say to us in it, This is what I have done for you, now what are you for Me? Can I trust you in My absence? It is His absence that is the test.
The book of Proverbs refers to the marriage relation, as the book of Ecclesiastes refers to the assembly. The preacher in Ecclesiastes is a former of assemblies, but the speaker in Proverbs is a man of love. He is nurtured in his father’s and his mother’s affections, and he says, “Who can find a woman of worth?” (Proverbs 31:10) In Ecclesiastes he intimates that such a woman had not been found. Proverbs raises the question as to who can find her, and I think that when Paul went to Corinth he had in mind to find her, and that he certainly found her at Ephesus; a woman of worth, whose price is far above rubies, one of whom it could be said that “the heart of her husband doth safely trust [or confide] in her”. (verse 11) The question is, Can we be trusted? I often say, Can I be trusted when I am not in sight of the brethren? Am I true to the fellowship? I am to be true, and not to compromise them in any way by my associations or conduct.
[p. 223] But then there is more than that in the fellowship. The love of God is in it. “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ?” (1 Corinthians 10:16) What is that blood? It is the life of Christ which He has given up for us. God has given it up. Can I trifle with that? “My dearly beloved”, he says, “flee from idolatry” (verse 14) — FLEE from it. Anything that disputes the rights of God in my heart is idolatry. The love of Christ in the Supper is a test to us. “The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?” He took that body in order to carry out the will of God, and that body has been devoted to us, for He died in that body. The love of Christ is in the fellowship; and then finally the love of the brethren is in it. “For we being many are one bread, and one body; for we are all partakers of that one bread”. (verse 17) Now where are we in our affections? He says further, “Ye cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table and the table of demons”. And then he adds: “Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? are we stronger than he?” (verses 21,22)
These are solemn questions. One would love to be able to put them to every professed believer on earth, for they refer to every such one. Jealousy is the rage of a man. We should see that there is nothing to provoke Him to jealousy; that we might be as those that are espoused to one Man: that the heart should he undivided; that there should be freedom from corruption, and that we should be a chaste virgin for Christ. That is, I believe, what the Lord is set for now; that at the end of the days the assembly might appear in its virgin state. Let us seek to be among the wise ones, by the recognition of the Spirit, and the avoidance of all that which would provoke the Lord to jealousy. Let there be nothing that would in any way dispute His rights in our hearts.
Now in turning to the Old Testament, I want to [p. 224] show that we have in the parental interest of Jacob a foreshadowing of the Lord’s parental interest in the disciples. The gospels afford much evidence of His parental interest in and care for them. Indeed, the institution of the Supper was in connection with a household position. The Lord was in the position of a householder; He was the Head. And so I call attention to Jacob for a moment; he says, “Gather yourselves together”. Our position here is a very humble one as regards this world: we are disciples of a rejected Christ, and it is as such we come together. At the institution of the Lord’s supper, the Lord was, as it were, the Head of the house, but He was going to die. Do we take that to heart? Murder was outside, the air was rife with it, and within the traitor’s hand was on the table. Think of the dreadfulness of these circumstances, but yet there was parental interest in the heart of Christ for His disciples, and that remains.
Jacob called his sons, and said, “Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days. Gather yourselves together, and hear, ye sons of Jacob; and hearken unto Israel your father”. You will notice that he speaks of gathering twice: first, “that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days”. The Lord has left nothing untold. The history of the assembly involves much that is painful in the extreme, but it has all been told. Do we know what He has told us? He that has an ear, let him hear. But the second verse says, “Gather yourselves together, and hear, ye sons of Jacob; and hearken unto Israel your father”. The word gather in that verse is really assemble. It suggests our position in the assembly, and in the assembly we are to hear, we are to hearken. The preacher says, “Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools”. (Ecclesiastes 5:1)
[p. 225] The first verse of Genesis 49 is what Jacob would say to them as to what would befall them in the last days. In love the Lord has told everything beforehand, and it is a most humiliating record on the one hand, but on the other hand it is fraught with every encouragement, because the history recounts what He is to the assembly. Were it not for that, she could never come out at the end as she does. For the end is that “the Spirit and the bride say Come”. That is, there is full affection and intelligence in the assembly at the end, in spite of the terrible things the Lord had to speak of. But then there is also “Assemble yourselves together, and hear, ye sons of Jacob; and hearken unto Israel your father”. I would urge on you the importance of listening to what the Lord is saying. “Hearken unto the voice of Israel your father” is suggestive of the parental interest that marks the Lord’s care for the assembly. Let us pay attention to that. He that has an ear, let him hear what the Lord says, and what the Spirit says. Here it is what Jacob their father says, but it is the voice of Christ typically, and the sons are to hear. Let us have exercised ears. Many are unable to distinguish sounds. You remember how that when Moses and Joshua came down from the mount and merriment was going on in the camp, Joshua said, “There is a noise of war in the camp”. (Exodus 32:17) He had an unexercised and an inexperienced ear. But Moses said, “The noise of them that sing do I hear”; (verse 18) he discerned the idolatrous voice in the camp. I refer to that because of the great importance of having exercised ears, so that we might discern the Lord’s voice, and what He says.
When we come to Deuteronomy we have the other side; that is, to the period following upon the gift of the Holy Spirit typically to the people. And so it is said that, “Moses commanded us a law, even the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob”. I invite [p. 226] your attention to the reference to the law in that passage; it is a spiritual reference. The law is holy, just, and good, and it is regarded as the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob. Psalm 119 is the appreciation by the godly man of the commandments of the Lord. “And he was king in Jeshurun, when the heads of the people and the tribes of Israel were gathered together”. They were now typically in assembly order, and viewed in that light Christ is King in Jeshurun, that is, He is enthroned in the affections of the saints. As Mary says, “They have taken away my Lord”; (John 20:13) that is, affection’s Lord. Not the Lord, but my Lord. And so Thomas says, “My Lord and my God”. Do we regard the Lord in that light?
In Psalm 122 you have the saints together typically in assembly order in relation to God. These psalms are called “Songs of degrees”; they refer to certain spiritual movements in the people of God. You observe it says, “Jerusalem is builded as a city that is compact together”; and then it says, “the tribes go up”. Now I take this to be spiritual movement. In Deuteronomy 33:5 the Lord has His place in our affections as gathered together. I wonder whether we know anything about that? And then, further, do we know what it is, as gathered together, to move upwards, to move Godward in assembly order? I do not think for a moment the Lord ever gives up the thought of the assembly; nor does God. So when I come together with the brethren, I would have the thought of the assembly before me as the Lord has it before Him, and I would be there, so to say, in the order of the tribes. The words “unto the testimony of Israel” may be read “Israel’s custom”. What is the assembly custom? Well, the Lord inaugurated a custom: “When they had sung a hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives”; (Matthew 26:30) they went in a certain spiritual order.
Luke says, “he went according to his custom to the mount of Olives”, (Luke 22:39). It was an ascent. It was a movement the Father understood. There are customs the Lord has enjoined to govern us, and which should not be disregarded. They are spiritual customs which are not our own. As we are spiritually educated we understand them, and we go up “to give thanks unto the name of the Lord”. (Psalm 122:4) That is what God looks for. I believe that today there is a revival of things as they were, in measure, and I refer especially to what is due to the Father. It is a custom that the Holy Spirit has revived and would revive, and I hope will be maintained, that Christ and the Father may have their portion in the saints in these last days. May the Lord bless His word.