"TOGETHER"
“TOGETHER”
Acts 2:1,44; Matthew 18:20; 1 Corinthians 11:17 - 32
JT It will be observed that the first verse read tells us that the one hundred and twenty were “all together in one place”, and verse 44, says “all that believed were together”. It is thought that these two verses should engage us, firstly to bring out the importance of being together in one place, being really together in it; and then that what is in any locality should be marked as “together”, even though we may be separate from one another as in ordinary affairs. Then the passage in Matthew 18 calls attention to the Name to which we are gathered; then further in 1 Corinthians 11, our being assembled in view of the Lord’s supper.
JTtr Is this thought of together connected with what is said in John 11:52?
JT The word is, that the children of God might be gathered together. The idea of one place is not stressed there; the idea is general, as characteristic of John, clearly involving what the word together implies, for there are various means of being in touch with one another, besides being actually together.
HES Is what is in mind, our coming together in view of the assembly?
JT Yes, and that will come in later, I trust.
Rem The assembly is marked by the incoming of the Holy Spirit.
JT Yes, but it was there before, including the work of the Lord Jesus as here in the flesh. The quotation from John 11 has in mind that they should be together, that the Lord should die to gather together in one the children of God scattered abroad. I think that is a distinction that we might keep before us, the work of Christ personally in the days of His flesh, involving the [p. 72] forty days during which He sojourned here on earth after He rose.
Ques Would you say it was in those forty days that the product of the Lord’s ministry was to be seen?
JT Yes, I would say that, only the added fact of the Comforter, the Holy Spirit having come would serve to give fulness and lustre to all that the Lord inaugurated. It is thought that the Lord did not really gather the assembly, the real work was done after the Spirit came. The Lord did gather them, of course, but they were not indwelt. The power of their relations with each other would be greater after the Spirit came; there is power in the Spirit. The Lord said amongst His own before He ascended, “he shall do greater than these”, John 14:12. The Spirit would be the power of the greater works.
HPW The Lord inaugurated the idea of assembling by assembling with them, and in chapter 2:1, the Spirit of God joins Himself to that and carries it forward.
JT He would, but He would do more than carry it forward. The indwelling Spirit is very distinct from the presence of the Lord amongst His own here. It exceeds anything that ever had been known in the sense of gathering, because there was the need of a power to make gathering effective in them; this would alone be brought about by the Spirit. John 7:39 says, “the Spirit was not yet”; a remarkable fact, but it was because Jesus was not yet glorified.
JTtr Has the in-breathing in John 20 anything to do with this?
JT Only as a pattern. It only happened once. It was on the principle of pattern, just as in relation to the tabernacle Moses received a pattern. The Lord breathing into them was pattern, not a result like what the scripture in Acts 2 records. On the surface it might seem the Lord gave them the Spirit then, but the Holy Spirit was not yet because Jesus was not glorified in [p. 73] John 20. His ascension was mentioned there, but that too would be pattern. What He said to Mary Magdalene, “I have not yet ascended”, John 20:17, is negative, but it suggests the idea of ascension so that the pattern should be complete.
Ques Would the breathing in John 20 draw attention to the Lord’s glory as the last Adam, whereas the indwelling of the Spirit would give the saints a status as body of Christ?
JT Quite so, but there is more than status; the presence of the Spirit is unique. There was nothing like it before, nor would there be after. The Lord says, He “shall be in you”. John 14:17.
HPW The assembling with the Lord is one thing, but their assembling in the power of the Holy Spirit is an advance on that, in that the Spirit dwells in them.
JT Quite so, the effect of the presence of the Spirit of God uniting us into one body.
Rem There is power in the sense of divine relationships established by the incoming of the Holy Spirit.
JT They were not realised yet, because the truth was not developed. It is doubtful if the twelve had full understanding of the relationships recorded later; that is in John’s gospel. There is a suggestion in the forty days that the needed time should be provided in all assembly matters. There is the need for learning steadily, and in haste too, but there is the need of taking time and weighing things over. The mystery did not come out until Paul was taken up by the Lord, so the relationships involved in the mystery were not understood. The forty days were the first section, and then the ascension of Christ. We have to understand why it is said He went out to Bethany as recorded in Luke 24, and the mount of Olives; and then ten days elapsed in which certain things were done by the apostles. Many things that belong to christianity were left unsaid until certain things happened, particularly the election of Paul. He is selected as an elect vessel; there is the idea of refinement [p. 74] in the vessel; so you have completeness then. You have the mystery, and the completion of the word of God, and the ministry of reconciliation, new creation and the mystery of the gospel. The whole thing is taken on afresh, and yet not afresh, for the twelve were there, but there is time allowed to take in the true bearing of the dispensation. Hence the importance of waiting.
EuR “If therefore the whole assembly come together in one place”, 1 Corinthians 14:23.
JT That is another thing that could be added, but too many scriptures are not always conducive to brevity and lucidity. We need brevity in these meetings. Many other things could be added, such as our being caught up together in the air; we are quickened together, and set down together in the heavenlies, according to Ephesians; and there are many other such matters, but what is in mind is to get the basic thought of being together in the testimony here below.
Rem You emphasised being together in one place in this first passage.
JT That is involved in the word, and all that preceded was to show there was great preparation. The Lord prepared from the outset of His ministry for this. The thought of His going up came in early, in Luke 9, so that it looked as if the Lord acted on the principle of shortening the time needed for things that were to be done in view of the speedy action of the devil to get rid of Him, and yet everything was done according to divine accuracy and He went up at the right time. Luke indicates that the Lord had in mind something that should happen in heaven in view of making effective all that was in His mind; namely, administration; that He should be in the place of administration. The Lord seemed to have that in mind, that things should happen speedily, so there is no mention of the ascension in Luke as there is in John. There is no period of forty days in Luke’s gospel. The Lord had in mind to make things ready for the work,
[p. 75] that the divine plan of operation might take form, so that the gospel should have free course.
Rem In Acts 2, is your thought that this gathering flowed from the Lord taking His seat on the right hand of the Majesty on high? In order that the administration inaugurated in Him, should have an answer in the saints down here, the Lord ascended and took His seat on high. The administration was established in heaven, and the gathering down here was the counterpart of that.
JT Quite so, everything was ready, because a certain state in the brethren was needed so that there should be suitable material for the inauguration of the dispensation. Some had got astray and all that had to be adjusted.
JTtr Did the Lord prepare this?
JT I think He did. There was preparation, and from the beginning of His ministry He had this in mind. We know how long He waited. He began to be about thirty years of age. And then there was the temptation. He was led in the wilderness forty days, not led into it, but led in it, so as to set out the idea of the wilderness for us. Then coming in at Nazareth where He was brought up, it was announced that the Spirit of the Lord was upon Him. All that had to take place accurately according to divine arrangement, for it was all needed. The need of adjustment in the disciples must have been one great concern to the Lord. It should be of practical use to us now. We should get the basic idea and see how it works out practically. There is great care, great accuracy and yet everything needed is done. Everything among the disciples was brought into a suitable state.
ECT All the divine Persons are active now in view of the saints being together.
JT I think so. I think it ought to raise inquiry with us as to how the brethren come together and whether the idea of Acts 2:44 goes through, that we are together in heart, although not [p. 76] physically.
JH Does verse 44 link on with the Lord’s prayer in John 17, that we should be one?
JT Quite so. We can understand how that would be in His mind for ourselves, though the twelve would be in His mind particularly. There should be no discrepancy at all. Paul in Philippians takes up the thought of unity in the brethren in a peculiarly affecting way. He says “If then there be any comfort in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and compassions, fulfil my joy, that ye may think the same thing, having the same love, joined in soul, thinking one thing”, Philippians 2:1. The language is really the key to what we have before us, and it occurs in an epistle that bears on the assembly peculiarly, and on the service of God in the West, too. Philippi was westward, and indicates that the divine thought was in that direction in order to get material suited to the assembly, so that it should be completed.
JTtr What is the bearing of all this upon us now?
JT I should say, that in the verses I read from Philippians, it would be the refinement of the assembly. It is a time for refinement, as we come to the end of the dispensation. Philippians carries that with it.
Rem The saints should answer to what Christ was down here.
JT That is so. It is a question of the assembly, and there can be no discrepancy between Christ and the assembly.
Rem Ephesians would bring out the thought of the heavenlies, and our being like Christ there but Philippians what is down here; both equally glorious.
JT Yes, indeed. You can see the thoughts the Lord would keep before us. However little we may actually reach them, yet let us get the thoughts in our minds. The Lord is with us in that, and that will lead to prayer and make for possible adjustment.
HPW [p. 77] You are speaking of what really lies in the fact of the brethren being together.
JT We are drawing near the end, and the Lord is concerned that there should be no slipping away, as the writer of Hebrews warns us, but that we should rather go on to perfection. We want to go on to perfection.
JSE Is there a need in our day of what was seen in Pentecostal days?
JT I should say so, the basic elements of the dispensation. The Lord laboured in view of preparing material. The material was the kind needed, but the incoming of the Spirit would put it together and bring about all the fine feelings that belonged to it. It took time, not that the Lord needed time, but we do in view of our coming into it. Therefore the completion of the matter awaited Paul’s day which was some time later, and that is to be in our minds, but we are to come into things now, and there is very little time available. Time is about the scarcest thing that those of us who are serving the Lord have, and we are apt to miss the prime thought unless we make room for time required. We should make room for the needed time, hence the need of keeping the sabbath, that we should come under the influence of divine things, that they should have their full bearing on us.
HPW There is the necessity of paying attention to what the Lord has to do in us, rather than through us.
JT Quite so. The idea of sabbath has to do with it. The full influence of the thing, whatever it be, let it come in, let it be absorbed. There is the thought of lying fallow. The sabbath is in view of that. The Lord would be merciful to us and remind us we cannot go in for the big things of men. Things in this world have to be done on a big scale and that inflates, and the saints are to avoid that and learn to go on with the things of God, to make room for the work of God.
Rem Solomon speaks of [p. 78] little things.
JT Quite so. The little things are as important as the big things in one way, because where everything is absolutely necessary things must be attended to, however small. Therefore the Lord has helped the brethren in the service of God, and how much has had to be considered and is being considered.
Now the passage in Matthew 18 shows the peculiar feature of that gospel, the Lord being here always. He says, “behold, I am with you all the days, until the completion of the age”, Matthew 28:20. It is in the light of that, the Lord said, “where two or three are gathered together unto my name, there am I in the midst of them”. Matthew 18:20. It is in the light of that, the light of the Lord being here always. “Behold, I am with you all the days”, Matthew 28:20, He says.
Ques What would be the bearing of being gathered together unto His name, versus the Lord always being with us?
JT I think the idea is, protection lest the operations should be interfered with, for we are to do whatever is to be done. The Lord did the inaugurating work, the Spirit did His, but there is our part. The Lord says, “I am with you all the days”, Matthew 28:20, but the work is to be done by us.
Rem The maintenance of the things of Christ depends on faithfulness.
JT Quite so. I was reminded of 2 Kings 13:14, where we read, that “Elisha fell sick of his sickness in which he died. And Joash the king of Israel came down to him and wept over his face, and said, My father, my father! the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof! And Elisha said to him, Take bow and arrows”. He was first to shoot eastward, and then to smite on the ground. In the shooting eastward the prophet put his hands on the king’s hands. The king was doing it, but his hands were supported and steadied by the prophet’s hands. That is a suggestion we might take on. It is as if the Lord is saying, ‘It is your work, but I will help you’. We can count on His [p. 79] help.
GG What is the force of “in the midst of them”, Matthew 18:20?
JT As in the midst of the brethren, the Lord has each one in His mind; “there am I in the midst of them”. Matthew 18:20. It is a peculiar phrase. If you were there you would feel He was there on your account, and if I was there I would feel He was there on my account. Each one is brought into it.
Rem It would encourage the meetings that are very small.
JT Yes, and the greatest things can be done there. We do not release ourselves of obligation because we are few. The general idea of the pattern is there, the whole idea is there. Things are held, and heaven is supporting us.
Ques Must not the pattern be held on to at all costs?
JT Just so, and heaven is helping us in that. 1 Corinthians 15 speaks of the Lord’s appearings to His own, and the first is to Cephas and then to the twelve. However small the number may be, the idea is there. It is most important for small gatherings, and for big ones, because big ones may lose the sense of dependence because of their bigness, whereas little ones are protected by dependence.
Ques Is each local gathering functioning in relation to the complete whole, and the Lord in the midst in that connection?
JT That is the thought exactly. There is only one pattern of the tabernacle, the word is singular. Each one is to have the idea, otherwise how can you function?
JH In relation to gathering unto His name, do you think of certain occasions or is it general?
JT Taking this particular verse in view of what has been said, it is more for care, the brethren coming together in care.
JH Does it embrace the prayer meeting?
[p. 80] JT I doubt it. It is general care. The word prayer is used in Acts 16:13, “where it was the custom for prayer to be”. That is a place by itself. “My name” involves protection. His being in the midst is more than protection, but we should be conscious that He is there and we count on His presence. It is not for leading brothers, but for all. Each is conscious that the Lord is there and He is there to help.
JFG Would things be rightly regulated in this way?
JT Yes. The prophet in 2 Kings 13, would be unerring in his shooting, in guiding the king’s hands, for he had the objective clearly in his mind. He had, so to say, descended from Elijah. He asked Elijah for a double portion of his spirit, and he received it as Elijah went up. This guiding of the king’s hand, refers to objective truth; in this he was guided accurately. It might allude to a time of weakness.
Ques Would you get a reference in David? He was angry when evil broke out in his house, but did nothing, and lost the throne.
JT Quite so. He did nothing when his son came back unkissed. David was wanting in the whole period of that second book of Samuel. You get the weakness of the king, weakness of the leading brethren really. Persons were allowed in that should not have been allowed in and they became lawless. So this verse covers much. The Lord says, ‘I am with you, I want each one of you to know I am here’. The word is “in the midst of them”, Matthew 18:20, not it. It is a question of the persons.
Rem When we want to do things the Lord helps us.
JT Yes, it is an encouraging thought, especially in times of the awful opposition now current. Leaving that, we should get a word on the idea of assembling in 1 Corinthians 11:17. We see the apostle is speaking of something that is the very opposite to what had been there. Things were not being done well at all. They were acting disgracefully, even in the assembly in Corinth.
So he says, “in prescribing to you on this which I now enter on, I do not praise, namely, that ye come together, not for the better, but for the worse”, 1 Corinthians 11:17, “When ye come therefore together into one place, it is not to eat the Lord’s supper”, 1 Corinthians 11:20. Paul means that they were not really doing it. They were not eating the Lord’s supper. “For each one in eating takes his own supper before others, and one is hungry and another drinks to excess. Have ye not then houses for eating and drinking? or do ye despise the assembly of God, and put to shame them who have not”?, 1 Corinthians 11:21,22 And then he adds, “shall I praise you? In this point I do not praise”. 1 Corinthians 11:22. So that the Lord is speaking through His servant and intimating He is not pleased with the way things are done.
JTtr Does it mean we may assemble outwardly without suitable conditions among us?
JT That is so, though I would take the passage as it is; we may have outward order, but it is more outward disorder here. This may be seen even in our attitude in assembly, when we come together, in a careless attitude assumed in conduct. Such a thing is very objectionable, because it is in the presence of the Lord, in the assembly. The young ones are coming on, and the older are going, the Lord is taking them one by one; and if the young do not learn while the older ones are among them, they are at great disadvantage. Therefore the older ones should be in order, and the young get right ideas as to conduct.
EuR We need a reverential attitude.
JT That is what I was thinking. It is a question for the older ones as to whether we know how to hold the younger, how the youth are to be controlled in the assembly in presence of such great things.
JSE We need to distinguish between the assembly position and our house position.
JT Our houses should bear on the assembly profitably and educationally.
EuR [p. 82] It is very solemn to despise the assembly of God.
JT It is. We should think of the use of the word. It is not always used in the same sense. It is used for the greatest thing, “in assembly”. There is nothing like it. It is a question of learning and understanding, that behaviour should be in keeping with it. The elder ones should see to it that the conduct of the younger is kept suitable. In our own houses these things should be dealt with.
JH It says of Adonijah “his father had not grieved him at any time”, 1 Kings 1:6.
JT The Lord is greatly concerned about households. It is mainly through Paul that the truth of households has come out, as if everything is left till he is on the scene. The Lord used the twelve, of course, undoubtedly they were all used of God, though only two or three are mentioned as being used. But it seems as if He is saying something to us as to refinement in Paul. Job said, “By his Spirit the heavens are adorned”, Job 26:13. In the creation with which we have to do, the Spirit of God brooded over the deep in the beginning, but Job tells us, not that the heavens were created, but that God garnished them by His Spirit. Much was done in earlier days before the Lord’s death and resurrection, yet all was in view of the assembly. When the assembly was established through Paul’s ministry, things were to be done by which it became evident that it was “the all-various wisdom of God”, Ephesians 3:10. That is in the assembly. It is through Paul’s ministry that we come to understand that wisdom. The Lord would, I believe, remind us that we are coming to the time of refinement, not merely the general principles of christianity, but refinement, so that we are to go into heaven aright. The Lord was received up. He was carried up, and the assembly also has a great place in heaven. So we see her “coming down out of the heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband”, Revelation 21:2. That [p. 83] shows the refinement that is to be there. The Lord would say to us as to refinement, not only how things began. Job says that by His Spirit God garnished the heavens, He put the finishing touches on, so to speak. The assembly should be ready for that.
JSE Is that the force of coming together in assembly.
JT The definite article is not there, “when ye come together in assembly”, 1 Corinthians 11:18, not the assembly as in chapter 14, when the whole assembly comes together. It may apply to a sub-division in a town like this. Any number of gatherings may be there and each functioning. The “in” would apply to power there.
JB “God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints”, Psalm 89:7.
JT That is a good scripture, the assembly of His saints.
Rem Noah’s dove at first found no place for the soul of her foot. We should make room for the Spirit in the assembly.
JT There is tenderness suggested in the reference to the dove, refinement as over against the raven, a carnivorous creature. The dove was in anticipation of the Spirit coming down on the Lord Jesus. It was how He came down on Him.