WHAT IS THE ASSEMBLY?

Ephesians 1: 22, 23; 1 Timothy 3: 15; Acts 10: 10–12; 1 Corinthians 12: 12; Revelation 21: 9–11

DCB What is the assembly? That is a question which has been raised, which you might say is very simple, but I think we will get help together as we consider that simple question. There is so much in it, and it is so great a thought. What is the assembly? It says in Ephesians 1, “the assembly, which is his body”; that is emphasised also in Colossians, “he is the head of the body, the assembly”, Colossians 1: 18. The two thoughts are brought so close together; the assembly is Christ’s body. But then looking at it from the other side in Timothy, it speaks of “God’s house, which is the assembly of the living God, the pillar and base of the truth”. So that this thought, “God’s house”, is what the assembly is, and that of course raises its own questions. To get some help we see how the assembly is presented in Acts. Really it is just coming onto view, the teaching of it has not been opened up at all, but it is brought in a special way to the view of the apostle Peter. He was not specially to open up that truth, but he received it in this ecstasy, this vision, a view of a vessel; so we have a suggestion of the assembly as a vessel. It is something that can be viewed in this way, “a certain vessel”, and it has what is within it, and we see where it comes from and where it goes to; that casts light on the exercise.

Now, Corinthians brings us into something very special, because it shows how closely Christ identifies Himself with His assembly. Clearly if it is His body He is closely identified with it—“being many, are one body, so also is the Christ”. Now, my understanding of that is that there it is a direct reference to the assembly and how it has come into existence in this scripture. There is interest in that, how it has come in.

I do not know whether we will say much about what there is in Revelation; it again brings in this great vessel, and expands on various ways in which it can be seen—the bride, the Lamb’s wife, and yet as a city. Now, if we just go back and think of all these suggestions, the body, and God’s house, a vessel from heaven, a city, a bride, and if we think, too, of the wide range of types that there are in the Old Testament, many other references we could make, it gives us a fresh view of the glory of this that scripture speaks of as “the assembly”. It really gives us some idea of why it is, to go back to the first scripture, the fulness of Christ, “the fulness of him who fills all in all”. I just bring these scriptures here for our help, that we should get a grasp of what perhaps we think we know, and get a clearer view of what the assembly is.

JAG It must be a very competent vessel to be so versatile, to fill out all these various relationships and positions you have referred to, which the Scriptures refer to.

DCB How wide a range they are! It is difficult for our minds to grasp how one vessel could have such glory and such competence. There is such ability to take in and to display so much. What a privilege it is for us to be an integral part in this glorious vessel.

JAG It must be very intelligent to be able to take on the change, and to be competent to fill out whatever is required in whatever situation comes up.

DCB You see the divine intelligence that has been given to the assembly; how wonderful it is. It is not a human mind or a human intelligence; it is something beyond that, and that of course is partly because of its origin, and partly because of the present indwelling of the Spirit.

GC There is a reference in Matthew where the Lord speaks to Peter as to “my assembly” (Matthew 16: 18), it opens up a whole precious thought.

DCB Yes, we see how He values it; He would give that name to it, and put that claim on it. It is interesting what He speaks of as “my body which is given”, and “my blood, which is poured out (Luke 22: 19, 20), and there He is making a claim to this vessel as “my assembly”.

GC There is nothing mentioned as to the assembly, except in type, before the Lord came, but He was indicating to the disciples that there was something to be continued which was very near and dear to Himself.

DCB Yes, so near to Himself that He identifies Himself with it. It must be in our hearts that He spoke to Paul, and the first thing said was, “Saul, Saul, why dost thou persecute me?”, Acts 9: 4. He is not putting any distinction between Himself and the assembly in that scripture. So that, it is His, “which is his body”. Clearly we have to bear in mind that there are distinctions, but He identifies Himself so perfectly with His assembly that He would call it His body.

RB Is the assembly that which was in the divine mind, a vessel for the Spirit to come to, in order to fulfil all that was in the divine mind?

DCB Yes, so it was something, as Genesis 2 would show in type, that was in mind before sin came in; before anything came in that was contrary to God’s will. God had the assembly in mind, as figured in Eve. But you bring in something that is very important, a vessel in which the Spirit was to dwell.

RB Israel had certain privileges but they did not have the indwelling Spirit. But the assembly has everything, and she is able to fulfil in testimony all the functions that would be expected of her.

DCB Yes, so that the all-various wisdom of God is seen in the assembly—how wonderful that is. You can understand that when Christ was here you could see how the all-various wisdom of God was displayed as He took on what He had to take on, as He dealt with what confronted Him. It is not finished, it is continued; He is in glory but there is what is the continuation of Himself in that identification, and we have part in it.

GBG What do you think gives us the assembly capacity for this versatility you have spoken of?

DCB Well, it is a question first of its origin, its construction, but then what has been said about the Spirit is vital, and also in the fact that the Spirit is the link with Christ as Head. What is your own impression?

GBG I was linking on with what our brother was saying, and the very fact that the assembly is His body is a capacity along with the Spirit linking in a living way with Christ as Head.

DCB So that it is Himself in activity, it is Himself in display. It will be so in a quickly coming day—we sung about His fulness (Hymn 293)—and that is going to be displayed. It is to be displayed in a particular way in the assembly, the glory that attached to Christ as Man will be in display eternally, but it is displayed now.

GAB You referred to the type of Eve; where would you put that in New Testament terms? I am just thinking of the vessel we have before us in Ephesians 1, His body. The word in the type is “This time it is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh”, Genesis 2: 23. She is so near to Him, to be able to fill out all these functions because she is of Himself.

DCB So that the type of Eve shows that the assembly is entirely derived from Christ.

The rib was taken out of Adam and it was built by God, it was the result of the deep sleep, which is a suggestion of the Lord’s death and His resurrection. So, without any of these elements you would not have the assembly, it is God’s thought, it is God’s building, a product of the death of Christ, deriving and built from Him. And you can understand how glorious and great it is, when it has all these elements relating to it.

JAG Eve is as the fulness of the man.

DCB Could you say further what fulness means?

JAG It is a sort of complement. God said, “Let us make man” (Genesis 1: 26), in view of the dominical situation that was to be found in Genesis 2, before sin came in.

DCB So, there is a reference in the footnote to a ‘counterpart’ (Genesis 2: 18). The fulness is what is displayed, the shining out of the person. If you want to see the glory of Christ you can see it by faith, because He is there at God’s right hand, but you can see it also in a practical way in the assembly. That, again, is not just an abstract thing, you can see it in believers who are acting and behaving in the light of the assembly. I think we need to have our view of that, how the glory of Christ is shown in the way that believers act.

JAG Ananias gave effect to that when he was sent to get Saul into the assembly. The Lord said, “why dost thou persecute me?”, which was the assembly. But then the Spirit of Christ is manifest in Ananias in the way that he embraced Saul.

DCB So there is a character that belongs to Christ and is displayed in the assembly, and He has complete confidence in it. I was thinking of the reference in Matthew 18 to the binding and loosing (Matthew 18: 18); you could say that if a believer is repentant things are loosed in heaven, because he has had a touch with Christ; but the assembly has its part in it, and heaven endorses what the assembly does in loosing a believer. If someone is taken in a fault, he is loosed because of the activity of the assembly. That is a glorious thought.

RC So the thought of what is precious is running through, but then we are challenged as to how precious it is to each one of us.

DCB Well, that is right. If you realise how precious it is to Christ. He has made a particular claim upon it as “my assembly”, but not only that, He has identified Himself with it. How precious the assembly should be to us; how precious the light of it is, because the fulness and the richness of that light is available to all believers, but so many do not have the appreciation of it. Well, if we have been, in grace, given that light let us be in appreciation of that light.

AGM Would you say something as to the Head, He is Head over all things to the assembly? If there is a Head there is a body; the body really represents all that is seen in the Head. Is that what affected Mr Darby early in his course, that there was a Head in heaven so there must be a body here that represented Him, that was the fulness of Him?

DCB Think of the glory of the place that the Lord Jesus has in elevation and the right that He has to be Head over all things; He has established that right. He has the right, of course, personally, but He has the right as a Man, He has established that right. He is Head over all things, but not only Head over all things, but Head over all things to the assembly, which I understand brings the assembly into the sharing of that. I suppose we could refer to the original dominion of Adam and Eve; they had a dominion together and you could say the dominion that Christ has is exercised for the benefit of the assembly; particularly at the moment it is exercised for the enrichment and benefit of His assembly.

EJM In these few verses it is what God has done. Do you see a link with Genesis 41, Pharaoh and Joseph, with a view to Joseph’s administration?

DCB Yes, and a counterpart to Joseph brought in there in Asnath (Genesis 41: 45)?

EJM Pharaoh took off his ring and gave it to Joseph, and caused him to ride in the second chariot; Pharaoh called Joseph’s name Zaphnath-paaneah. Was it not all springing from God? Here, it is God who has given Christ this place.

DCB So there is a glory and distinctiveness that God has given to Christ, and glory in administration; He has given Him another name. Then in the type Pharaoh gave Joseph another name, but Pharaoh did not only give him the name, he also gave him a wife, something distinctive for his heart. You could say he could have given him that place in glory and administration, but that would not be sufficient or satisfactory. It is something for Christ’s heart in that He has been given the assembly.

NJH The assembly would be conscious that all things are put under His feet. She is superior then to every other influence, that is a great thought.

DCB I suppose in one way in which we look at it He is still waiting the time when all things are put under His feet, but the assembly sees the right place of Christ. It has the right view of Christ, according to God’s final thought of Christ.

NJH It had to become public and universal, everything is already made subject to Him.

DCB Yes, he has that right and that authority and the power, and God has that in His hand. I wonder if it will be when everything is displayed and the Lord Jesus is displayed, but then the assembly will be displayed perfectly as His fulness in that time too. But then, have we now an appreciation of the assembly so that we are showing its features, and therefore showing Christ’s features as having our part in it?

RB Is the assembly as His body the highest function of the assembly, as we are speaking of it now?

DCB I think it must be as there is that closeness of identification with Himself. There is something of a distinct glory of being united to Christ as His body.

RB I think another has made a comment that the assembly as His bride is a consequence. But I was thinking as to the Lord’s prayer in John 17, verse 22, “that they may be one, as we are one”, that is the body seen in testimony, is it not?

DCB Yes, and what testimony there is. We speak these things in the consciousness of the assembly as a public vessel having failed, but the assembly in the greatness and glory of what it is in the sight of God has never failed, and is one, and can never be anything else, because it is His production, it is what He has secured, and it is the glory of that which has never broken down which is to elevate our view.

RB Is that why we are enjoined to keep the unity of the Spirit? In that same section it says, “There is one body and one Spirit”, Ephesians 4: 4.

DCB Yes, so that it is important what you refer to, one body, one Spirit, it is not a question that there should be such a thing as the unity of the Spirit, it is a thing that exists. Paul, in writing, is quite clear, “There is one body and one Spirit”. We might not enjoy it, we might have fallen out of the enjoyment of what we should be enjoying, but they exist, and we are helped to have our view elevated to see what God has in His view, in His mind.

JTB(Ed) Mr Darby commented, ‘A heavenly vessel on earth yet having no portion on earth at all, an unearthly witness to the things on earth’. That really brings out that the assembly is heavenly, is that something to grasp? Heavenly in origin and heavenly in destiny; it has to be because the Lord Jesus is a heavenly Man and therefore the fulness of Him reflects a heavenly Man, do you think?

DCB That was part of what was in mind in reading in Acts 10. There is an emphasis there that this is a vessel that comes down from heaven, and belongs to heaven, and is caught up to heaven. That is what its whole origin is; it must be so because the Head is heavenly and He is not going to have an earthly counterpart. The counterpart must be according to the character of the heavenly Man.

JTB(Ed) So she derives nothing from what is earthly, does she? Everything comes from that glorious Head, and the fact that He is the great source—we sometimes sing ‘Great source of wisdom’ (Hymn 199)—ensures that the assembly is uniquely replete in competence to discharge every function at her hand.

DCB How wonderful that resource, that source that there is in Himself that enriches what there is in the assembly. Now this same vessel of which we have spoken is God’s house according to 1 Timothy 3. According to human thoughts they would build a church or cathedral and think of that as God’s house, but that is not God’s thought. God’s thought is a house which is composed of persons, where He can have His abode, where He can have His dwelling-place. This house, composed of believers, those with the Spirit, is the assembly of the living God, and is of such greatness and such value that it is the pillar and base of the truth.

GC Peter speaks of a spiritual house (1 Peter 2: 5). Is that the same thought or is there any difference in that?

DCB I think it is the same suggestion. There are different ways in which the assembly can be viewed and one is, “a spiritual house” which is very fine, “as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house”, 1 Peter 2: 5. I suppose the thought of the house does bring in what is being built. In Ephesians 2 it says, “in whom all the building fitted together increases to a holy temple in the Lord” (Ephesians 2: 21). So, in this view, would you say that the assembly is being built, it is whole, but yet there is what is growing, what is increasing, and each one of us therefore has the opportunity to grow and to be built into it, so that there should be what is for the glory of God, and persons conducting themselves in a way that is appropriate to God’s house?

JAG God is represented in His house. It is a very lively place, the assembly of the living God.

DCB Yes, because that is the character, it is life; how wonderful that is that there is life according to God. It has been displayed in its perfection in Christ—life according to God, man according to God—but now there is a whole assembly which is in life according to God, conducting itself appropriately, acting in a way that is appropriate to the God who is dwelling there.

GBG What makes the assembly the pillar and base of the truth?

DCB Does it not show how really the whole of God’s operations, particularly in the present dispensation, are on the basis and ground of the assembly? He is not working in any other family at the present time.

GBG Those that compose the house, the assembly, have taken in what has been made known of God, into their affections, and treasure it, and that constitutes the assembly the pillar and base of the truth.

DCB That is very fine, and it is a fact that it is worked out and held in the affections of believers, and God is not going to need any other pillar; He is not going to need anything else that can display and support, what is suggested in a pillar, and He is not going to need any other base for the whole of this dispensation. It is going to affect other dispensations too; Revelation 21 shows that, the influence of the assembly will be upon the whole scene, even though it is a different family, even though Israel is going to be restored to its place. It is not going to be done outside of the greatness and glory of the assembly.

GBG Is it treasuring this truth that gives it the capacity to represent God?

DCB Yes, we can look at it as future and it will be perfectly represented, but it is not to be put off until the future, there is what is to be representative of God in assembly character at the present time.

GAB So this is something established on earth, heavenly in character, but it is on earth. I was thinking about the base of the truth; on earth there are all sorts of options that men offer as to what is the truth, especially in second Timothy times. If you want to find the truth according to God it is on this base, in the house of God.

DCB Yes, so, from one viewpoint, the Scriptures, especially the New Testament, are related to the assembly. They are produced for the assembly, on the basis of the assembly.

Paul’s epistles generally are written to assemblies, to local assemblies; it all has an assembly viewpoint, so that the whole thing is based in that way.

GAB Is that not the point that had to be learned by the Colossians, that they do not need to look anywhere else; Christ has His rights in the assembly. That is where you will find it, not in any of the philosophies which are abundant around us.

DCB Yes, “ye are complete in him” (Colossians 2: 10), and Paul also brings in a certain challenge about holding fast the Head (Colossians 2: 19). We might start drawing from other philosophies and other things, and the particular challenge in Colossians is that they thought they were doing the right thing. They did not set themselves to go their own way or do their own will for their own pleasure; they thought they would improve things, improve what there was for Christ by drawing from other sources. But we have to realise that there is no other source to draw from but Christ, for the assembly to be according to God’s heart to His satisfaction.

JD The assembly would be the repository or the custodian of the truth of all that God has revealed. Verse 16 goes on to bring out the mystery of piety and the way that God has made Himself known. Would all these things be held in the assembly as the pillar and base of the truth?

DCB What you draw attention to is helpful. It does follow on; there is a glory in the way in which God has been made known in Christ. He has been manifested in flesh, how wonderful that is! That is grasped by the assembly, the custodian, as you say, of that glory and truth. As holding to that in its completeness and character, the assembly’s character is shown.

JAG You can see all these features, the pillar and base of the truth, and how the glad tidings went out from it, and persons were affected by it.

DCB Yes, and of course it is important to see in Acts 2, that while the Lord had made a few references to the assembly, in general, as light and truth, it had not been opened up. But it was acting, the reality and substance of the assembly was there. I suppose to come back to the initial question of what the assembly is, does Acts 2 not give us a large part of the answer to that?

JAG Yes, I think it does, because the Spirit comes down and the persons are united to Christ the Head in heaven. They are said to be unlettered and uninstructed men (Acts 4: 13), but what happened manifested that they were complete in Him; they did not need any letters or whatever.

DCB That is right. There was a glory that belonged to these persons, they could even administer, in an exceedingly important matter, the completion of the twelve (Acts 1: 26); they could administer, but they were not the assembly. The glory of it is that there was what was there in perfection, the work of Christ, the individual, personal work of the Lord Jesus was there in Acts 2. But the Spirit of God comes, and there is change there, what was then the assembly. That continues, there is the work of God in each one here we would trust, but it is the assembly because of the presence and activity and indwelling of the Spirit of God.

JTB(Ed) Does the reference to God’s house imply responsibility, it is not said to be the Father’s house, which is more privileged, but God’s house implies responsibility? The reference to the pillar seems to suggest that there should be some substantial answer in component parts of the assembly which reflects the assembly as pillar and base of the truth. In Galatians, James, Peter and John are referred to as being conspicuous as being pillars, they were able to extend the right hand of fellowship to Paul; they were clear exponents of this matter of being a pillar (Galatians 2: 9).

DCB Yes, so that the very fact that conduct is brought in tests us. We are entitled—in some sense rightly entitled—to look at ourselves according to the divine view as part of the assembly; how wonderful that is. It is helpful to get the view from God’s side, but then He is expecting appropriate conduct and that conduct is according to the house of God, the dignity of what is His.

NJH It is a serious matter then to have to do with the assembly, a very solemn and serious matter that you are not depending on your own opinion or anything, but you are actually formed by Christ.

DCB Yes, so the conduct is according to divine principles, according to the divine mind. You see how the assembly has to act sometimes because of unjudged conduct that is not according to it. How wonderful that there is the power to act according to the conduct that is appropriate to God’s house. I suppose, as well, there is suggestion in God’s house of what is for the present time, the time of testimony. There is what will be eternally of display in the assembly, but it is not exactly in this kind of challenging and responsible view that there is of God’s house here.

JTB(Ed) They are attractive but challenging references, the pillar and base of the truth, implying what is substantial, that in both what is elevated and in base there is what reflects the divine mind, do you think? There is no deviation from what is basic.

DCB How important it is to be maintained in what is basic, the basic truth, and never to leave it. There are other challenges in Corinthians about how we build. There is a base, there is a right base, and we could possibly build what is not according to God; and we would have to say that is experience, we perhaps have built what is not according to God on that base. But there is what is going to be built that is substantial, according to His mind.

AGM It is the assembly of the living God; the whole system is characterised by life, life after Christ.

DCB Yes, there is a different character of life that is coming out that is only seen in the assembly.

AGM He is Son over God’s house, “who house are we” (Hebrews 3: 6). He really gives character to every one, and do you think we have to imbibe that?

DCB Yes, so everything has to take its character from Christ. I suppose another reference we have is to the spiritual house in Peter, there is the corner stone, which means everything is taking its line and character from Christ, built to Him (1 Peter 2: 6).

RC It is characterised by life; what testimony there is in that; it is operating in the power of the Holy Spirit and marked by life.

DCB Yes, you see what a life it must be, it is not natural life, it is the life of the Spirit of God. How wonderful, there is what is for the heart of God that has that characteristic.

RC I was thinking of your reference to Acts 2. What an expression of life there was at that time in the Holy Spirit.

DCB Yes, there is the embrace of the Spirit, there is activity in speaking—how characteristic that is of life. God’s thought is to have life coming out in speaking as according to the divine mind that there should be what has spiritual characteristics. Perhaps we should go on to Acts 10 which brings in the reference, which I think is helpful to have, of “a certain vessel”. We wonder how to describe the assembly. Well it is a vessel, an object that contains these creatures, but according to the divine view of them these creatures are cleansed.

NMcK I was just wondering how we are truly and properly in the assembly. It is not just a matter of coming to the meetings, is it? How do we get access to be vitally there?

DCB You are making a distinction, an important one, between being in the assembly, and being vitally in the assembly? The characteristics of the assembly are that it is indwelt by the Spirit, and that it draws from Christ. The characteristics of someone who is vitally in the assembly is that the Spirit is active in them, and they are drawing from Christ, would you say?

NMcK It has been said that what is referred to in 1 Peter 2, that as coming as living stones they become as persons who have had a substantial revelation from God, and with life operating in them, they are built up. There is something living and substantial in these persons.

DCB How wonderful it is that this is not just some abstract idea; we can see persons that have the characteristics of assembly persons. We can gather and have the Spirits power helping us, bringing in light and truth that is beyond the natural mind and natural thought of all those present. It is real. That should be kept in our minds while we are exercised to be in it ourselves.

NJH It is bound by the four corners, what do you say about that?

DCB Well, it is bound, it is not a loose idea. It is not an idea that allows man’s own will to operate. For instance, it is not an idea that allows our thoughts or our mind to come into it.

NJH I think heaven keeps control of it, you might say nothing drops out of it. Heaven keeps control of it right through the whole ecstasy.

DCB Yes, it is a contained thing, a wonderful fact. What would you expect from such creatures? Their natural tendency would be to escape, to get out, to exercise their own will, but God has His hand upon it. There is a change to these creatures, they are cleansed. Any that would have been unclean according to the law, which is the challenge of course that Peter has, are here as cleansed.

JAG Would you say something about slaying and eating?

DCB I remember we had a reading with Mr Meek in which he spoke about feeding on faithfulness in the saints (Psalm 37: 3), and I have been thinking of that a little; you see faithful saints, faithful souls, and you feed on that. You are refreshed in your spirit when you see persons who are being faithful. There have been challenges but they have continued in very difficult circumstances, and you feed upon that; it refreshes your soul and gives you something of Christ before you. What would you say?

JAG I was thinking about the application of the death of Christ, because you might find quadrupeds and creeping things a bit reprehensible, and Peter did of course, but you

apply the death of Christ to yourself because people might feel like that about you; then you can see what God has cleansed, and God’s work there, and the great potentiality of it. I have looked at scriptures and then thought of the city in Revelation 21, how did the difference come about?

DCB So that it must always be in our minds in the whole thought of the assembly as to its origin being in the death of Christ, and that applies to each person who belongs to it; how that remains, that continues to be the characteristic of it. He has “sold all whatever he had and bought it” (Matthew 13: 46), so that He could gain this, and you see the preciousness and the glory that belongs to these persons, who you would view naturally as the creeping things of the earth.

GBG Do we need grace to apply the death of Christ to one another?

DCB So, how do you apply the death of Christ to one another?

GBG I wondered about this word to slay and eat, this is what was outside of Peter. So you appropriate the death of Christ for yourself, judge yourself, but the death of Christ has dealt with everything of the flesh in my brother or sister, and we appropriate His death for others, and look at them apart from the flesh, and we feed on the work of God.

DCB We have the reference to the brother for whom Christ died. There is a very elevated view, in the brother for whom Christ died; you can feed upon him because he is the product of the fulness and richness of the work of God.

GBG It is a right thing to take account of the saints, apart from what is extraneous, and concentrate on what is of God in them; it is a right thing to do because you have a right basis to do it.

DCB Yes, you have a right basis to do that; you can look on the saints as according to the elevation of God’s view. Balaam, in his prophecy, could look upon the children of Israel, ‘Lo, it is a people that shall dwell alone and shall not be reckoned among the nations” (Numbers 23: 9); sadly he was not in a position to appropriate it. He could see it as a grand abstraction, but then, as the product of the work of God ourselves, we can see that in the people of God; we can relish it really, what has been secured for God’s glory.

GAB Paul puts it very beautifully when he says, “But ye are not in flesh but in Spirit, if indeed God’s Spirit dwell in you”, Romans 8: 9. That is how he could look at them.

DCB Yes, we are entitled to look at believers as not in flesh but in Spirit. Any believers in a sense, but particularly those who are desiring to act according to the light that they have; you can feed upon that in its faithfulness.

JAG This is very wholesome food as we do this, slay and eat, it maintains a good, wholesome state in the local meeting.

DCB It is challenging; what is your view of your local brethren, how do you see them? Are they those that you can see what is of Christ there and you can be refreshed and nourished by?

TM The assembly is mentioned in Acts 13, “Now there were in Antioch, in the assembly which was there, prophets and teachers” (Acts 13: 1). Do you think we have experienced and valued in our day the importance of the teachers? And there are certain persons named, one them is called Niger; is that the wonderful work of God in relation to what the assembly consists of?

DCB Yes. Then of course the assembly is worked out locally, we have to work it out in a practical way among our local brethren, and there is something of what is local in the assembly at Antioch, what is characteristic. There is earlier reference to the assembly in chapter 5 and it goes back to what was said about the need for respect. There had been something of a deviation, and it says, “great fear came upon all the assembly’ (Acts 5: 11), so there is respect to be had in the assembly; God has His rights in it in a particular and distinct way.

APG I was thinking of what Paul said, “each esteeming the other as more excellent than themselves”, Philippians 2: 3. Is that in line with what you were thinking? The saints are really heavenly are they not, more excellent?

DCB Yes, they are no longer of the earth, but from heaven, how wonderful that is. That is their source, where they had come from, from heaven, and we need to see them according to God’s point of view of them.

AGM Was Paul slaying and eating in Romans 16 when he goes over that list of names, and he has something very beautiful to say about every one?

DCB It is a very fine chapter. How God delights to see a saint, like Paul, going over the features of Christ that were working out, features that were formed one after another in that local assembly.

AGM And he would encourage us to do it—he would say, ‘salute them’. I think we need to encourage one another to look at the saints in this light, and feed on that. We take on a feature perhaps seen in another brother.

NJH In Galatians they were biting and devouring one another, that is fleshly, but here, through the death of Christ, the saints become food for our souls. We love to see our brothers and sisters.

DCB Yes, that is right, so you come into the enjoyment of what it is, and I suppose we do have a special help and privilege to do it on Lord’s day morning as we gather together, and as has been said often enough, to see and to greet the people of God, and to see them according to the divine view of them, and then you can move forward in the enjoyment of matters of the assembly.

NJH Ananias had to learn in Acts 9, “What God has cleansed, do not thou make common”. Practically, he and Saul were joined together at that moment through the work of Christ.

DCB So that unity is the great thought in the assembly, what has been distinct and disparate is together; there is what is united. Of course, if we refer to Corinthians, again it is the body, but especially there is a reference, “For also in the power of one Spirit we have all been baptised into one body”, 1 Corinthians 12: 13. It is wonderful to think of that, one Spirit; it is one of Paul’s characteristic terms the reference to one Spirit. In the power of one Spirit we have all been baptised into one body. The assembly exists as a vessel that has been unified into being by the baptism of the Spirit.

WWL Is that in a sense the confirmation for Peter of his vision, it was the Spirit that came upon that company, and when he relates it to those of the circumcision when he goes up to Jerusalem that is what really confirms them all, is it (Acts 11: 18)?

DCB Yes, it is very interesting to see that, that everything is united, brought together in the Spirit falling upon them. In a certain sense the assembly came into existence at Pentecost when the Spirit fell and there was what was united, but God had in mind what was of the nations; it is almost as if He gathers it into the same falling, the same uniting in Acts 10. There were differences such as Jews and Greeks, differences in thought, but here are the two sides, baptised into one body, and given to drink of one Spirit. So, there is the one uniting baptism and there is the one uniting activity in drinking of the Spirit.

GBG Could you explain to us what drinking of one Spirit means?

DCB There was a challenge in this chapter which I think brings it in. These Corinthians who were recently converted from heathendom where there were many spirits (I suppose they had drawn from different spirits) had drawn from different kinds of supposedly spiritual, or even Satanic experience. Now they are going to be brought together into one thing, and they are going to be brought together because what they are drawing from is the same thing, the one Spirit of God, who has come from God, who has been sent by the Father and the Son.

GBG That is good to see the distinction, “all these things operates the one and the same Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12: 11); so we benefit from what the Spirit has given to one and another. We drink in that way from what is vitally operating in the body.

DCB We see how there are various distinctions; there are distinctions of gifts. You have at the end of the chapter a list of gifts, apostles, prophets, teachers and so on. You might think they came from different sources but they do not, it is one Spirit, and whether someone is serving you in prophecy, or as a help, whatever gift is brought in here, it is coming from the one source, and because it is coming from the one source it is going to have a uniting effect, and it is going to glorify Christ.

JAG Their thirst is satisfied, they are perfectly happy and enjoying their place in this body, being baptised into it, all different personalities but they fill out their place in the body, and, as the Lord said in John 4, “the water which I shall give him shall become in him a fountain of water, springing up into eternal life” (John 4: 14). In 1 Corinthians 11 it says that some had been taking their meal before others, and some had been eating to excess and drinking to excess, but this is a great regulating factor.

DCB Therefore that becomes another question for us; how are we regulated? Are we regulated by rules and regulations, are we regulated by the one Spirit? Clearly there are principles, and they are set out in the Scriptures, and they are to be adhered to, but it is as drawing on the one Spirit that there is help to act in a unified way.

JAG As we are conscious of and enjoy the place we have in the body we function in that place.

RB It opens up the way, does it not, for there to be formation in the divine nature, coming in in 1 Corinthians 13? Chapter 12 is really paving the way for chapter 13.

DCB You are bringing in the thought of love; how wonderful that love is really the life and activity of the assembly; the assembly does not literally come into that chapter, but you see its whole life, its whole existence, is according to God’s love, the love of Christ.

I did not want to expand much on Revelation 21, but here it is, in its glory and versatility, the view that is brought before the apostle John, “Come here, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife” in all the freshness and glory that attaches to the assembly. What he sees is the holy city, a perfect administration according to the heart of God, and it has the glory of God, but it also has “Her shining”, a distinctive glory of the assembly.

TM One hymn puts it very beautifully,

‘Jerusalem eternal!

The city of Christ’s God,

Thine origin celestial,

Thou art His blest abode’. (Hymn 221)

JAG Shining in radiancy is the expression of her enjoyment of the blessedness of being united to Christ, having a place with Him, His helpmeet, the Lamb’s wife, over the whole area of His dominion.

DCB Yes, she is coming down out of the heaven from God, having the glory of God; and there is that satisfaction the assembly has, she is satisfied in being bride, as being Christ’s counterpart, in having a history of activity as the Lamb’s wife.

RB She has fulfilled every service that has been asked of her; and now she can come out in all her glory as having done that, as a bride for Christ.

DCB Yes, so we have the reference in Proverbs 31 to all the services, all the activities of the woman of worth, and at the end, in answer to the man that excels, he can say, “Many daughters have done worthily, but thou excellest them all” (Proverbs 31: 29). The assembly has excelled everything else in its response to Christ. It has excelled in all its activities and it comes out in satisfaction here, in display, because it is consciously pleasing to the Lord Jesus.

JTB(Ed) 1 Corinthians 15 brings out the distinction of the glory of the heavenly body; this is the heavenly body, par excellence, her shining.

DCB So that the characteristic of heavenliness is now being displayed, being seen; how wonderful to think of it in its completion, and to have that view of what it is in its completion. There is going to be perfect administration in the city, there is going to be the showing forth, the fulness that we sung of, that is displayed in the assembly, that need not be shown in any other vessel.

JTB(Ed) One is the sun’s glory and one is the moon’s glory, that is Christ and the assembly is it?

DCB Yes and there is the counterpart thought there too; from the very beginning, even earlier than the reference in Genesis 2, there is the thought of the assembly. I suppose, especially at the present time, the assembly is shining in the moon’s glory, because it is the time of the Lord’s absence, the time of darkness. There is a shining now, but then there will be a shining alongside Him in display in Revelation 21.

NJH Would the assembly be referred to in some way in the glad tidings?

DCB Well, it is really what God has in mind in the glad tidings, the assembly.

NJH I was thinking of the reference to the Lamb’s wife. In Mark 14 it says, “what this woman has done shall be also spoken of for a memorial of her” (Mark 14: 9). There must be something of the Lamb’s wife coming out in the answer to the glad tidings.

DCB A person who has this in the heart and mind has it in view in the preaching of the glad tidings; we do not take away in any way the importance of persons being relieved of their sins, and what is on their conscience; how great it is that persons should have their conscience settled in the work of the glad tidings. If you have this in your heart then you have the greatest things in view for those to whom you are preaching the gospel, you want them to have part in the finest things that God has in mind, you want to elevate their view. Well, I trust we have help in our minds, and have some further thoughts and appreciation of what the assembly is as having had these thoughts before us.

Reading at Aberdeen, Scotland
24 March 2007

KEY TO INITIALS

R. Bain

J. Drummond

W. Lovie (Jr)

D. C. Brown

J. A. Gardiner

N. McKay

G. A. Brown

A. P. Grant

A. G. Mair

J. T. Brown (Ed.)

G. B. Grant

E. J. Mair

G. Coull

N. J. Henry

T. Mair

R. Cumming