DIVINE OPERATION IN ASSEMBLIES
[p. 136] DIVINE OPERATION IN ASSEMBLIES
Acts 9: 31 - 43; Acts 15: 40, 41; Acts 16: 5
In looking at these scriptures, it is in view of considering divine dealings and operations, whatever form they may take, as having the assembly before us, particularly as in the plural sense — that is assemblies, what we have been accustomed to name local assemblies. At the outset the thought was in the singular, that is, God operating in relation to what was at Jerusalem, and the Lord, in speaking of the assembly, viewed it that way. He spoke of it as His, and spoke of it as having administrative authority including the exercise of discipline. The singular idea prevailed in the early history of apostolic services. In Acts 2: 47 the Lord is said to have “added to the assembly”, and while it is doubtful if the word is in the original, the idea, however is there. The assembly is more than a number of christians: it involves building by the hand of the Lord, for He said, “I will build my assembly”.
The Spirit seems to have left the use of the word until something of this kind appeared in the apostolic service. The service of the twelve was generally foundational, for their names are in the foundations of the heavenly city, not in the general structure. Acts 9: 31 uses the word in the plural, and although it is disputed by some authorities, it is maintained by others that the word assemblies should be there, and the New Translation has it. Clearly from the context, the plural thought is conveyed in the references to localities. It is not one assembly in so many places, but assemblies in these districts. In relation to Paul’s ministry the word ‘assemblies’ is prominently used, as seen in the passages read, and in the revival in which we have part it has its full place. Thus we have the idea of local assemblies [p. 137] and it is with these that one would be occupied now, so as to show how the divine operations have the assembly in view in its local sense, always, however, keeping the general thought of one assembly in mind.
In Acts 9 the time had come for it, the gospel having spread abroad, as we are told here, throughout all Judaea, Galilee and Samaria. The saints at Jerusalem were scattered, too, and about to enter on heathen territory, and assemblies were about to be established there also, as the sequel shows. Saul of Tarsus was ravaging the assembly, meaning the assembly at Jerusalem, but he had set out for other lands, to Damascus and Syria, armed with power to seize members of the assembly there as at Jerusalem. The Lord Jesus was watching all this intently; His lordship is stressed in this chapter. Saul was going too far, as agents of the devil usually do. It never fails that an agent of the devil discredits himself by want of wisdom. How can he have wisdom? Whatever he has is usually turned into foolishness, like that of Ahithophel. Saul went out from Jerusalem, “breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord” (Acts 9: 1): so that he was now in direct issue with the Lord. Was he stronger than the Lord? He asked that question later as an apostle — are we stronger than He? (1 Corinthians 10: 22). He discovered, perhaps more than anyone, how utterly impotent the creature is as having to do with the Lord. In grace He may allow us to prevail, as He allowed Jacob of old, so that Jacob could be ennobled, but Saul was not on that line. Heaven will not ennoble a man who is on the line of breathing out slaughter against the disciples of the Lord. So Saul was brought down, not destroyed, but brought down in grace, for he was to be imbued with the sense of grace. Perhaps he realised as no one else did, how that he was to carry it right through his preaching and his teaching and [p. 138] his constructive work. He was brought down in grace; he was thoroughly secured by the Lord in grace; not only his personal salvation was in view, but also his apostleship.
We have the word vessel in this and the next chapters, very significantly. In this chapter it refers to Saul, and in the next to the assembly; both are vessels, the assembly, of course, being the great abiding vessel for God. Saul is a vessel in the Lord’s hands, as He says, “This man is an elect vessel to me” (Acts 9: 15). He was thoroughly secured, and “increased the more in power, and confounded the Jews who dwelt in Damascus, proving that this is the Christ” (Acts 9: 22). As a vessel, the apostle’s heart was full of Christ. He preached Him as the Son of God at once. He escaped the enemy in the attempt to slay him at Damascus and arrives at Jerusalem, where he is introduced to the apostles by Barnabas, a man with great sympathy in the work of God.
Saul is sent away to Tarsus because the Jews in Jerusalem would have killed him as they tried to do at Damascus. He escaped their hands in both places, the brethren protecting him. He was there under the divine eye, and heaven was greatly occupied with that man, although not yet formally entrusted with a commission. He received his commission in relation to the assembly; not that the assembly gave it to him, but the Spirit of God in the assembly at Antioch commissioned him. The assembly is brought into it very significantly so that he and the assembly are bound up in a peculiar way henceforth. He is secured from the hands of Satan — a wonderful triumph — and the Lord is making it to operate in view of the assemblies, that they should be helped. So we have this verse: “The assemblies then throughout the whole of Judaea and Galilee and Samaria had peace, being edified and walking in the [p. 139] fear of the Lord, and were increased through the comfort of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 9: 31). They increased; this is what I want to show — how divine dealings have this in mind; and one would include even international matters. Whatever is transpiring on earth must become subservient sooner or later to God’s service in the assembly. God’s thought is in the assembly; however feebly it may be seen, it exists, and God will see to it that it is cared for. The Lord Jesus says to Philadelphia, “Behold, I make them of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews, and are not, but lie; behold, I will cause that they shall come and shall do homage before thy feet, and shall know that I have loved thee”. What a comfort that is! The Lord is doing that. I have spoken of political and international matters coming under the Father, but all assembly matters come under the Lord, and He promises Philadelphia that He will honour her in that way. It will be publicly known that Christ loves the assembly. Of the religious opposers who say they are Jews and are not, the Lord says, “I will cause that they shall come and shall do homage before thy feet, and shall know that I have loved thee”. One often wonders how that takes place, but one trusts to the Lord’s words for the accuracy of it. We ought to take this to heart, as showing the place the assembly has with the Lord. So here the assemblies had rest, throughout all these places, Judaea, Galilee and Samaria, where the Lord Himself had wrought personally. The persecution for the moment was over, the storm had subsided, the Lord had said, “Silence; be mute”, and the assemblies had peace, being edified and walking in the fear of the Lord, and were increased through the comfort of the Holy Spirit.
The next thing in this chapter is that what heaven does brings about ministry confirming it, and carrying [p. 140] it forward. It is important therefore that those who minister should be on the alert for what the Lord is doing from His side, to carry it forward and enhance it. And so we find Peter, who represents the ministry here, going “through all quarters”. He sensed evidently that this was now the order of the day, so he goes through all quarters, knowing that the testimony is no longer to be confined to Jerusalem. No minister ought to be confined to any one place, not that he should not have a local setting, but he is not to be confined. He is to be universal as set in the assembly; his outlook and field of service are to be universal. Peter sensed this, so that he went to all quarters, indicating that there are no restrictions with God, for God is limiting Himself to no boundaries. Peter in his service goes to Lydda and he finds Aeneas lying on a bed where he had been for eight years. The ministry is now working out the idea of the assemblies, the thought is current, it is in the Spirit, the divine movements are universal, the outlook is universal. The great vessel, Paul, prepared specially for the service, is already in the field, but for the moment in abeyance, although soon to be sought out by Barnabas and brought to Antioch.
Peter for the moment is the leading minister, and my point in reading these verses to the end of chapter 9 is to show how the minister, without any formal directions, works out what was already in evidence. Peter has some sense of the truth now developing, and hence says to Aeneas, “rise up, and make thy couch for thyself”. It is to bring out suitable local conditions. If local assemblies are to be useful to heaven, the conditions which Peter effected in these two towns must exist. The first is that those who are local must understand that they must do things for themselves. They may look further afield for help if necessary, because there is “set ... in the assembly” that which is available universally. The word of wisdom, the gift of government, and so on, should be always ready and available to help in any local assembly. That is a divine provision for saints everywhere; but Peter says, “Rise up, and make thy couch for thyself”. We have often talked of this, and I bring it in here to show how the ministry is moving in relation to what heaven is doing.
The second feature is that the thing to be done must be done in a living way, not merely in a legal way as a matter of light, right doctrine, and principles; in the doing of things we want to have a living touch. Dorcas made garments, and no doubt made them well, but you cannot get life in garments, nor was it necessary for her to be converted to make garments — I do not say she was not, but an unconverted person can make them. The women who were weeping, and showing Peter the garments Dorcas had made, cannot be said to have been assembly material, because Peter put them all out. But Peter was greatly concerned about Dorcas, and there can be no doubt that the Spirit of God records the facts as to her as containing instruction for the local assembly. The point is that these things should be living, and if things are living, that means love is there. Love is life, as 1 John 3: 14, “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren”. Spiritually, life is love in activity. Peter presented her living, that is the thought, there is now in Joppa a living woman. It is the feminine side, the subjective side of the assembly, whilst the objective side is seen in Aeneas — such as would attend meetings for care, and do the necessary ruling or governing part. They are the people specially who ought to understand that they must do things for themselves, they must learn the mind of God for themselves, and know what to do in [p. 142] local matters; whereas the feminine side represents a practical general condition which must be living, so Peter, having prayed, says, “Tabitha, arise”. When she opened her eyes she saw Peter, that is, she saw him whose name signifies material for the assembly. God would work in us by presenting something objectively that I myself am to be, in due course. Peter gave her his hand and raised her up, and having called the saints and widows, presented her living. It is a scripture that one has often gone over, but it is a most significant incident at this juncture of the testimony and applies in a peculiar way in this country. We are to understand the way of attending to our own local matters, maintaining at the same time spiritually living conditions.
The next chapter, which we did not read, brings out the heavenly side of this matter in the assembly; the time had come for it. It lifts us out of time, for in truth this vessel, as it is called, is drawn up into heaven in a final sense. It is definitely said to come to the earth in this chapter. Peter says “it came even to me”, because he had to understand it, and at the end it goes up again into heaven. Cornelius is a gentile, belonging to a band called Italic. How remarkable that the Spirit of God should bring this man forward at this juncture to set out in him the great heavenly thought! One feels the smallness of one’s understanding as to the heavenly side of things. Cornelius in his own account says, “A man stood before me in bright clothing” (verse 30). The Spirit says that Cornelius saw “an angel of God coming unto him;” and Peter saw “the heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending, as a great sheet, bound by the four corners and let down to the earth”. These visions point to what is heavenly and belongs to heaven: a vessel coming down and definitely returning to heaven, and remaining there. And what thoughts are in it — “all the quadrupeds [p. 143] and creeping things of the earth, and the fowls of the heaven”! What wonderful thoughts God presents to Peter in all this great array of creatures in the vessel let down! Men are symbolised in them. This is witnessed in Peters word to Cornelius, “to me God has shewn to call no man common or unclean” (Acts 10: 28).
Why should Cornelius be selected for all this? That is what heaven can do; God had made him what he was. He feared God with all his house, and had been occupied in alms-giving, and the Spirit of God says an angel came, but Cornelius says later “a man stood before me” in shining garments — all to impress him and make him suitable for the divine purpose. At that time, Peter is on the alert and ready for his meal, a very simple matter; he is on the housetop, and becomes in ecstasy — another beautiful thought suitable to heaven — in fact the whole scene has been planned by heaven so as to impress us. One feels, as one is speaking, the need of being impressionable by what the Spirit of God presents: He groups things together to impress us. Peter is impressionable and gives a beautiful account in chapter 11 of how he understands that he is to call nothing common or unclean as the result of the word from heaven saying. “Rise, Peter, slay and eat”. That is perfectly intelligible, and it means that you appropriate what there is. He would not do that — nothing common or unclean, so the voice says, “What God has cleansed, do not thou make common”. We have Peter’s own statement as to how he understood that, and those who heard him were carried by it and glorified God, saying, “Then indeed God has to the nations also granted repentance to life”. The assembly is the home of these things, also the home of cleansed persons. It is the place where confessions will be accepted. Heaven makes a great deal of repentance.
[p. 144] Repentance causes joy in heaven; it is one of the most interesting things to heaven.
The assembly is the home of grace. It reflects heaven; of course, in judgment and discipline too, but the assembly is set up in grace, so of all these creatures God says, They are cleansed. What a transformation! It is a question of God and what He has in the assembly, what the assembly is as the vessel of grace. You can understand that these creatures as they appear here are not kept up in heaven, heaven has no such creatures. You are to understand the spiritual import of this. God is going to have up there persons who have been like them, Cornelius and all of us, but it is to bring out what God is, how He forms the assembly of such as are cleansed, setting it in heaven and causing it to be representative of Himself here.
So you can understand how affected Peter was in going to Caesarea and how qualified he was. As the three men were at the gate of the house, the Spirit of God said to Peter, “Go down, and go with them”. It is a matter requiring subjection; the operations of the Spirit in the assembly are on this line now, the time has come for it; so that you can understand how affected Peter would be as to whether he is equal to this great matter. It is a new thing, and how beautifully he meets Cornelius! Cornelius would worship him. Peter says, “Rise up: I myself also am a man ... to me God has shewn to call no man common or unclean”. He is learning heaven’s mind as to the assembly. He goes into the house, and a company goes in with him. What a fine sight — Peter the apostle walking alongside a Roman officer, and entering into his house! Peter is full of heaven’s mind and Cornelius is ready for him. Perhaps Peter never spoke to a more interesting company. Cornelius had called together his kinsmen and his intimate friends. And while Peter “[p. 145] was yet speaking ... the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who were hearing the word” (verse 44). They were brought into the assembly. It was not patronage on the part of Peter, it was the Spirit of God. The assembly was added to and ornamented by these men, a new element altogether, and in keeping with what was there. It was real material from among the nations, suitably brought in through Peter’s ministry according to the Lord’s appointment. As the Holy Spirit fell upon these men, how Peter must have been affected! He immediately commands that they should be baptised, meaning that he uses, with alacrity, the keys of the kingdom which the Lord had given him. He commanded them to be baptised in the name of the Lord.
In the other passages, Paul represented the ministry. In chapter 13 he and Barnabas had represented it. They had worked in Antioch for a whole year to bring in assembly conditions; so that the assembly was there, and certain distinguished servants ministering to the Lord in it. The Holy Spirit could speak there. There was that now amongst the gentiles in which the Holy Spirit could speak, and from which He can send out servants. Then we have Paul in chapter 15, where Barnabas left him. He represents the ministry. So we are told that Paul chose Silas and went forth “committed by the brethren to the grace of God. And he passed through Syria and Cilicia, confirming the assemblies”. Chapter 15 is a crisis, but God gave unity in the truth, and although Barnabas and Paul separated, the ministry went on and the assemblies were confirmed: that is, amongst the gentiles, the assemblies in Syria and Cilicia. Paul’s ministry had that effect, and one would seek to promote this divine thought, that God is never diverted from the economy set up in the assembly, that is in local gatherings. In Acts 16: 5 we have further reference to the confirmation of the assemblies. “The assemblies therefore were confirmed in the faith, and increased in number every day”. There is the continuance of the thought that the ministry has in mind to carry on the mind of heaven and establish it here as in the assemblies, so that they might be available for divine uses. These uses are another matter, but in order that the divine uses may be exercised, the assemblies must be confirmed and established, and the ministry has that in mind.