THE TWOFOLD POSITION OF THE ASSEMBLY
[p. 36] THE TWOFOLD POSITION OF THE ASSEMBLY
Matthew 15: 32; 1 Thessalonians 5: 10; John 17: 24
In reading these passages, my hope is by the Lord’s help to speak first of what may be termed the external position of the assembly here — that is, our public position, and then of our hidden, or secret position in relation to Christ, which is in mystery. The former is set out in the gospel of Matthew, the latter is developed in the epistle to the Ephesians, supported by the ministry of John. The gospel of Matthew treats of the assembly in its public function, and in that function it stands related to the heavens, as the centre of rule and light on earth, so that, to refer to the principles governing navigation as a figure, the spiritual mariner, according to Matthew, takes his bearings from the heavens, and this agrees in large measure with Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians. In that letter he gives directions, including what may be termed in ordinary ecclesiastical language, the ritual of the assembly; for we must not overlook that there were divine instructions given for the maintenance of assembly order.
In the apostle’s own personal history we have indicated that a time should arrive in which the heavens should be black as regards the public profession, and accordingly the need for what, in nautical terms, is called dead reckoning, and John, as I understand, supplies guidance for that; that is to say, the saint has not only to look up, but under certain circumstances he is to make soundings in order to determine his spiritual whereabouts. For instance, according to John, if we wish to be sure that we have passed out of death into life, the proof is that we love the brethren. I refer to that as a “sounding”. One has to look in, so to say, to determine whether there is in one’s heart love for the brethren. That love [p. 37] did not begin in my heart; it began in the heart of God. It flowed out through the heart of Christ on the cross, for He laid down His life for us to attest it. Nevertheless, it is to be in our hearts, and to such an extent that one is prepared to lay down one’s life for the brethren. If such a disposition is found in one’s own heart, one may be assured, without doubt, that he has “passed out of death into life”.
Matthew treats of the “kingdom of the heavens”, and so the position of the assembly is in that relation. It is here in relation to the rule of heaven. It therefore is a testimony against what may be called “democratic principles”; not that I wish to speak of that, I only refer to it by the way. The assembly is a witness to the great principle set forth in Genesis 1, that God has set in the heavens two great lights, the assembly, typified by the moon, being one of these. One light was to rule the day, and the other to rule the night; but they are both in the heavens. So while the assembly is literally on earth, she is morally in heaven, and that is Ephesians. She is heavenly, but here, during the night, let us not forget that it is night, dear brethren; the assembly sheds light on this poor benighted earth, and in that way is a witness to divine thoughts in regard of government. In Matthew the Lord is seen on the mount, transfigured, with His countenance shining as the sun; that is the point of view there; His face shone as the sun, the great symbol to the creation of light, government, and regulation. That is what Christ is, and all that was perfectly set out in His ministry according to Matthew is left here in the assembly. It is left here in a delegated way, so that there should be light on earth during His absence; a very great conception, and that is the position in Matthew.
The verse in Matthew 15 mentions that the Lord had compassion on the multitude, not only because [p. 38] they were hungry, but because they had continued with Him for three days; that is to say, He sympathises with us in this public position. You will understand that I am speaking now of the assembly as it was. If we are to derive any help from the light afforded through it for us in these last days, we must see it as it was, and what the Lord’s thoughts were in regard of it as it then was. To make the thing explicit: in chapter 18 in the case of the trespassing brother, the Lord says, “If he will not listen to them”; that is, two witnesses and oneself, “tell it unto the assembly”. You can understand that what the Lord referred to in this way was a very responsible body. It was constituted so by the Lord Himself, and He refers to it in this way. But then how much sympathy, how much prayer, how much practical support it needed in that position. It would, in that position, represent His authority, and indeed God’s authority, so that if one refused to hear it, one would become, to the one trespassed against, as a heathen man and a publican. The position was very defined at the beginning, and the Lord had the greatest consideration for His people in that position. In it they would be the object of the constant hostility of the enemy, but He had said at the outset, “The gates of hell shall not prevail against it”, that is, against what He built. There was what He built by His own hands, on a sure foundation, against which all the waves of satanic assault beat in vain.
At the same time there was that which was external, which needed to be cared for, to be supported, as bearing the burden and heat of the day, the heavy burden of responsibility to maintain for God here. The Lord has the utmost consideration for His people, and so I ventured to read this verse, because it brings before us what He says, “I have compassion on the multitude”. I know the multitude was not the assembly; it is distinct even from the disciples, but [p. 39] the Lord had compassion on the people because they had continued with Him for a measured period of time, a time which He took note of, three days. Three days, as we know, have their own spiritual meaning. As the assembly at the beginning came in for the Lord’s gracious consideration, so do we now, and I speak of this because of the need of continuance with the Lord in this public position, that we may not falter; and indeed, when I come to this point I want just to say a word as to how the public function is carried out, and where.
The Lord through the apostle, in writing to Corinth, says, “To the assembly of God which is in Corinth ... with all that in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both theirs and ours”. The apostle had gone to Corinth, he had laboured there for eighteen months. In his service in that city he became not only an evangelist, but we may call him, in the language of the book of Ecclesiastes, “a former of assemblies”. He was the former of that assembly. The word ‘Preacher’ in the book of Ecclesiastes, we are told on good authority, signifies not only one who announces a message, as a herald, but one who by his service calls together an assembly and not only so, but forms an assembly. Paul in his service at Corinth, not only brought a congregation together, but formed an assembly. We have to distinguish between a congregation and an assembly. An assembly involves order, which implies that those together are in a certain mutual relation with one another. Thus in writing to the Corinthians afterwards, the apostle says, “I speak as to intelligent persons” — and as such they were to consider what he said. They had a very important place as brought together in that way, and so he gave them directions, and they wore responsible to keep those directions.
Now I speak of that, beloved brethren, so that you might see how matters stood at the outset. The apostle says, not only “to the assembly of God in Corinth”, but “with all that in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both theirs and ours”. He as it were being the great former of assemblies under Christ, would convey a message that should regulate not only Corinth, but all companies in every place. Now it may be that someone occupies an outpost, where there may be only a few to walk with, and he may say to himself, “I should like to be at Corinth, where there is gift, where there is ministry”, but the word is to you where you are, not where you might desire to be. You are to receive the message where you are in your place. The message is to those who in every place call on the name of the Lord. There is not a word, not a hint in the letter, that you should remove from your place. Scripture says, “If the spirit of the ruler rise up against thee, leave not thy place”; remain in it, God has set you in it. As there, under the government of God, you are to receive the directions and to carry them out. You are calling on the name of the Lord in that place, and the Lord will stand by you there. That is the principle of the economy of the assembly in its public function.
And so the Lord sets before us the example in His own blessed life, as to how one is to be in one’s own locality or place according to God. It says of him in the prophet Zechariah, “He”; that is, the Branch, “shall grow up out of his place”. But mark you, in that position He is a branch; it sets forth the Lord taking up His place in perfect obedience to His Father’s will, and remaining in it in perfect dependence on His Father. He was cast upon Him from His infancy, in blessed, holy dependence, and, he grew “up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground”. But He grew up in Nazareth, where, as the scripture says, “he had been brought up”. He went down from Jerusalem, after showing [p. 41] in the temple that He was about His Father’s business, to Nazareth with His parents and was “subject unto them”. How perfectly did Christ set forth and exemplify every divine thought! What delight there was for God, what food for the blessed God, in that holy One growing up in this way, in outward littleness, a carpenter’s son, yea, Himself a carpenter, for He is so spoken of, but every moment of His life growing up before the Father in His own place, in the place assigned to Him by the Father. He was there in entire submission to the Father’s will, and so He is the One who “builds the temple of the Lord”.
Hence, as I have already remarked, suppose one is in an outpost (I am not speaking of the present time; it is for us to gather up light now from what appeared at the beginning and act on it in our several circumstances), for there are divine outposts, and it may please God to set one in such a position, deprived in great measure of practical sympathy and fellowship, yet he can call on the Lord in that position, in that “place”, whatever its name may be, he is calling on the Lord there. Mark you, it is not simply to all that call on the name of the Lord promiscuously, but “to all that in every place call on the name of the Lord”. The directions are for you, the precious volume, the precious letter of the apostle is for you.
Then the next question is, How long have you continued in it? The Lord says here, “Because they continue with me now three days”. The Lord knows how long you have borne the burden there. He may move you; in other words, He may give you levitical work, and then you will be entitled to move yourself under His direction, and in this again He sets before us the model. When at Capernaum, they would have detained Him, but He says, “I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities also, for therefore am I sent”. He is now in the exercise of His levitical service, and that is general; so it is said of Him in the Acts, “who went about doing good”. The time may come when you may go about, and to your own Master you stand or fall, and He is able to make us stand in that capacity, but for the moment, I repeat, the point is to hold to one’s place, and to maintain the directions, the principles of the government of the house of God in that place, and in the measure in which these principles are held in that place, that place will get light, will get benefit, far beyond any natural expectation of ours.
I am persuaded that in any locality where a brother stands for God in the maintenance of the principles that govern the assembly, he will acquire greater influence than he could possibly acquire on natural lines, for God is with him. Think of being supported, with, it may be, only one or two others, in that position by all the power of heaven, as one may say, for the Lord said, “Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven”. You will understand, I am speaking of what was at the beginning, for I am supposing an isolated one in Paul’s day; for such, all that is done is supported, is ratified in heaven. That is not said of any action of any government on earth; although God supports such powers in measure by angelic means, yet He does not commit Himself to any government on earth, but He did commit Himself to the assembly. What a wonderful position for each company of God’s people, or it may be even but a few individuals who maintain divine principles here on earth during the absence of Christ. So in that position the Lord had the greatest consideration for them. He says, “I have compassion ... because they continue with me now three days”. The Lord considers for you in that position.
Now in coming to the passage in Thessalonians I want to show how the Lord, as we consider for Him, and continue with Him in public service, has compassion on us. Think of what the path of service [p. 43] involved for the apostle, the pressure, fatigue, dangers, sufferings, and privations, in deaths oft. He would say to you, as it were, ‘It is only a little while; hold fast: you are there for Me for a moment’. As the apostle says, “Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory”. I commend that word to you. He says, too, “the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed”. It is well to weigh things in that light. He says further, “But though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day”, and “if our earthly house of this tabernacle be dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens”. Whilst the Lord has compassion on us, and has the greatest regard for us in our public position, yet He also compensates us, and more than compensates us, by giving us to have “part with him”. So we read in chapter 5: 10, “who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him”. That is a wonderful verse, as bringing before us one of the Lord’s thoughts in dying for us, that we should live together with Him.
In Hosea we read, “After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight”. That is one thing, but this passage says not only that we shall live in His sight, but that we shall live together with Him. If we love the brethren now, we are going to live with them; as I said, we know that we have passed from death into life because we love them. Our life spiritually is a life of love. Our spiritual life is a life of love. As we enjoy the love of Christ we also enjoy and reciprocate the love of the brethren; that remains. Hence John’s writings, as I said, may be taken as “dead reckonings”, but sure reckonings by which we are made certain in a spiritual way of our whereabouts.
[p. 44] We are in the midst of a circle of love, the love of the brethren, and I verily believe that we shall never be without brethren to love, nor shall we ever be without brethren who love us. I certainly am not on individual lines. I love the thought of the brethren however few, but they are not so few, thank God. The brethren embrace many, and that not only in the abstract, but in the concrete.
There are many through grace available at the present time, and I believe that the Lord is going to hold them, and He has His own way of doing it. I always love to think of the word to Paul, “Lo, God hath given thee all them that sail with thee”. He would not have one in the ship lost, and I believe this is what is coming about through the Lord’s grace. It has come out in a very pronounced way; the brethren have said as it were at the present time, ‘We want each other; we are essential to each other’. The more you enjoy the love of the brethren, what it is to be bound up with them, with Christ, in the same bundle of life, the more you hold to the twelve tribes in the faith of your soul; as Paul said, twelve tribes “instantly serving God day and night”. Remarkable statement! You hold to the brethren, and in that circle you are perfectly assured of your spiritual whereabouts; that is, that you have passed out of death into life. Whatever the state of the public thing may be, this holds good. If I have two or three brethren, I can prove, on the principle of dead reckoning, that I have passed out of death into life. I owe it all to the death of Christ, for He it is who spoke about the sphere into which I have passed, for it was He “who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him”. You would not have it otherwise than, that you should live, not only with Christ yourself, but “with the brethren” with Him, that “we should live together with him”. This is the great desire of the heart of Christ.
[p. 45] I refer now to John 17. One has to loose one’s shoes in approaching this holy scene, the Son speaking to the Father. You will remember that in Luke 11 the Lord is seen praying, but we are not told what He prayed for, what He said in His prayer. One of His disciples, after the Lord had finished praying, said, “Lord, teach us to pray”. There is no such request as that in John. It is a unique position. John presents what the Lord prayed for, and, dear brethren, how wonderful to hear His very words; the saints are the great burden of His heart, and He gives expression to this desire, “Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am”. Let that rest in our souls, the desire of Christ is to have us where He is. “Where I am”, He says, and then He adds, “that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world”. We are introduced into what preceded the theatre of God’s ways, the love of the Father for the Son. What a privilege, dear brethren, to be with Him, to see that glory. He can define it in words, “For thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world”. We are introduced, as one may say, into eternity. We are taken out of time in this wonderful prayer of Christ, and introduced into what is really beyond us as regards calculation. I do not suppose that any of us can think in any way but in the bounds of time, and yet we are taken into that which is not bounded by time limitations. He has gone out of them, and we are to go out of them. The feast of Pentecost, which involves the gift of the Spirit, is not bounded by time; it implies that we are introduced by the Spirit into that which is not bounded by time. “For thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world”. That is all love. There is in it not only the love of Christ, which is said to pass knowledge, but all the fulness of God. Think of the desires of the Lord Jesus being expressed in [p. 46] words, in the hearing of His disciples, that we should be with Him where he is, and behold His glory. May God give us to be spiritual; spirituality and eternity go together.