THE LORD'S MINISTRY IN THE ASSEMBLY AND THE EFFECT OF IT.

THE LORD’S MINISTRY IN THE ASSEMBLY AND THE EFFECT OF IT.

I have spoken of His place in it. I believe you get the great end of His ministry in Hebrews 2: 12, a quotation from Psalm 22: 22 “I will declare thy name unto my brethren”. You come to the assembly, not only to have the deep joy of being in the presence of God in all the excellency of Christ as the burnt-offering, the meat-offering, and the peace-offering, but as being a part of the two wave loaves, the presentation to God by the Holy Spirit. And now He declares the Father to you, so that you come not only to remember Christ in His death, you come to learn of the Father from Him; you remember Him as He was, you know Him as He is. The Lord distinctly sets forth this ministry in John 14: 20 “In that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you”. As you dwell on this your heart will be interested in the blessedness to which you are called; and if you lose a night’s rest by dwelling on the greatness of it, joy will come in the morning. Be assured that we have not entered into the greatness of God’s purpose for us. It is lamentable to look around and see how little the church is known as God’s present object.

When Christ’s ministry declaring the Father is known, then you know that through Him we have access by one Spirit to the Father. But that is not all, great as it is; there is the effect of beholding His glory, of being with Him in the holiest, an effect which you could not acquire anywhere else. You are with Him in the holiest of all, He is there in glory, and, as we see in 2 Corinthians 3: 18, beholding the glory of the Lord we are transformed into the same image.

‘Yet sure, if in Thy presence
My soul still constant were,
Mine eye would, more familiar,
Its brighter glories bear;
And thus thy deep perfections
Much better should I know,
And with adoring fervour
In this Thy nature grow’. (51:4)

It would be better known if you were more with Him. It is the effect of His presence I insist on, and you could not acquire this effect but in His presence. It is by beholding His glory that you are formed according to His own mind. One might say, Could not I know His presence in my own room? Yes, but then the effect would be in relation to yourself, it would not be as to His own circle of things as He is in the assembly. In this way many have failed, for example, Jacob at Shalem. God had blessed him and called him Israel, then he made an altar and called it El-elohe-Israel, making himself the central object; but when God told him, “Go up to Bethel”, see how he was changed! You cannot know God but as you are with Him. The knowledge of the Scriptures is not the knowledge of God; the Scriptures tell you of Him, but you know Himself by being with Him, and the better you know Him the better you will understand Scripture; as we read, “That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, would give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the full know-ledge of him” (Ephesians 1: 17).

^[p. 403] I turn to Philippians 4: 6; there you are told to make known your requests unto God; you are not promised that your requests will be answered, but mark! you obtain the peace of God for which you did not pray. How did you get it? By being with God - the blessed effect of His presence; your circumstances may remain unchanged, but you yourself are wonderfully changed, you cannot know Him but as you are with Him. Jacob, when he was told to go to Bethel, said to his household, “Put away the strange gods that are among you, and cleanse yourselves, and change your garments” (Genesis 35: 2). It was twenty years since Jacob was there, but he recalled the holiness of the place. Everyone is enlightened according to the measure in which he knows God; no one can rise in any circle beyond his altar, his knowledge of God. If you are defective in any circle, you are defective in the first, you must begin at the top. You begin in the assembly, in His own house.

Then “We all, looking on the glory of the Lord, with unveiled face, are transformed according to the same image”. We are brought into concert with Him, like the two disciples going to Emmaus; when they saw the Lord they were so transformed that they adopted His course. They went to Jerusalem because they were so impressed with Himself and that which concerned Him. It is the characteristic mark of being with the Lord in the assembly, that you come out impressed with the Lord’s interest.