Gathered Apart

Issues – October 2020 – Grace & Truth Magazine

Gathered Apart

In Christendom today there are about 2,000 different religious bodies calling themselves “Christian.” Instead of being gathered together on the ground of the unity of the Assembly (Church), these Christians are gathered apart; they are scattered. Nevertheless, what does Scripture say? “Using diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace” (Eph 4:3 JND ). Is the divine principle shown here being followed? “Where two or three are gathered together unto My name, there am I in the midst of them” (Mt. 18:20).

There are seven distinct points in this verse:

“Where” identifies a divine place;“Two or three” is all that is needed for a divine testimony;“Are gathered” indicates the presence of divine power;“Together” establishes a divine oneness;“In My name” testifies to divine authority;“There am I” speaks of His divine presence;“In the midst of them” tells us He is the divine center.

Sad to say, the divine principles regarding Christian assemblies have been set aside today by many and replaced with earthly principles. The divine place has been replaced with human choice. The divine authority has been replaced by human order. The divine presence has been replaced with self-imposed but not necessarily Spirit-led ministers. The divine oneness has been completely replaced with the formation of sectarian denominations.

From the beginning, the Spirit of God has warned us, through the apostle Paul, of this scattering: “For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them” (Acts 20:29-30).

No sooner did some in Corinth begin to gather apart, than it was heard said, “I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ” (1 Cor. 1:12). In the same way today many Christians claim the leaders of their choice – with the creeds, views and principles set down by those leaders – as their guide in worship and pattern of life.

Yet, the big question still remains: “Is Christ divided?” (v.13). How did Paul meet that spirit of sectarianism among the believers? He wrote: “Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you” (1 Cor. 1:10).

Divine Choice For Israel
God has always intended His people to follow Him and obey His directions regarding gathering and worship – not individuals making the choice for themselves. When Abram was called at first, God’s word to him was: “Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house unto a land that I will show thee” (Gen. 12:1). Likewise, when God told Abraham to sacrifice his son to Him in worship, He said, “Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of” (22:2).*

As soon as God separated a people for Himself, He told them He wanted to dwell in the midst of them and that they should draw near to Him where He was. Therefore, God told Moses to speak unto the children of Israel, saying, “Let them make Me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them. According to all that I show thee ... so shall ye make it” (Ex. 25:8-9).

Jerusalem was where the LORD had chosen to place His name. Therefore, God’s temple was built in Jerusalem in the place where the LORD led Abraham to offer up Isaac, the same place where He appeared to David (2 Chr. 3:1). The life of God’s people must be dominated by the fact that God dwells in their midst. In the days of captivity, in times of ruin, the majority had no longing for the God-given land or for Jerusalem where the temple had stood. Yet, even during the ruin the believing remnant returned to Jerusalem. They “gathered themselves together as one man to Jerusalem” (Ezra 3:1).

There was no difference in opinion as to what was to be done. God’s Word was studied and obeyed (Neh. 8). God wants His people to be one practically, and the name of our God, in the Holy Spirit, possesses a wonderfully unifying power. Many believers do not see this. Godless Jeroboam saw it very well. That was why he established a worship – idolatrous – separated from “the place which the LORD thy God hath chosen to place His name there” (Dt. 16:11; read 1 Ki. 12:25-33).

What a ruin exists today, as many have gone the way of Jeroboam to establish a worship based on human principles, separated from the divine principles of the one Body – the Assembly.

New Testament Assembly
There is a space of perhaps 400 years between the end of the Old and beginning of the New Testaments. We do not find any communications from God in the Scriptures during that time. Then, after the silence “there was a man sent from God, whose name was John” (Jn. 1:6). He came to prepare the way of the Lord, who would in the future build the assembly of the living God. John, in his witness of Christ, declared that “the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own [the Jews] and His own received Him not. But as many [Jews and Gentiles] as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name” (vv.10-12). These were those God called unto the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

When Peter confessed Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God, Jesus announced, “Upon this Rock [Christ] I will build My church” (Mt. 16:18). Christ, who at His resurrection broke through the gates of Hades and was thus declared to be the Son of God with power, builds the Assembly of the living God on Himself as the Son of the living God. Jesus promised His disciples that He would be in their midst if they gathered to His name. The authority of the Assembly rests on the fact that it is gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that He Himself is in the midst of it (18:18-20).

To be gathered unto the name of Jesus Christ therefore means that everything is regulated through His name; He is the sole center and He is the Host. Those gathered to His name alone should do nothing else but ask, “Lord, what wilt Thou have [us] to do?” This question characterized the early disciples of Christ (Acts 9:6). The Lord’s mind and choice were always sought in all things. When they were to gather for the Passover, the place of His appointment was their only choice.

When they were to meet Christ after His resurrection, the “disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them. And when they saw Him, they worshipped Him: but some doubted” (Mt. 28:16-17). Notice the ending: “but some doubted.” For a number of His people, doubts remain today as to where and how we should gather to worship Him.

Many have replaced the divine principles of God for His gathered saints with human opinions. Therefore denominations are on the increase, and ministries are cunningly turning from the Lord. People are scattering, pitching their tents at the mountains or revival camps of their choice. God said, “Take heed to thyself that thou offer not thy burnt offerings in every place that thou seest” (Dt. 12:13). For Israel, the Lord their God chose “a place” for them where He caused His name to dwell. Today we have Christ as the gathering center. Unto Him must the gathering of His people be to perform all that He would want them to do.

Conclusion
“The first covenant had ... ordinances of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary. For there was a tabernacle made ... but Christ [was] an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands” (Heb. 9:1-2,11). He, Jesus, “that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered without the gate” (13:12), meaning outside the camp, or arena, of earthly, man-ordained worship.

When the Assembly was born at Pentecost, “all that believed were together” and “they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers” (Acts 2:44,42). Since then, ruin has set in; evil has entered. People have departed from that which was from the beginning. Vessels to dishonor have almost perverted everything to suit their carnality, or fleshly desires.

Unfaithful servants, like Hymenaeus and Philetus, have made shipwreck of the faith and have abandoned fundamental Christian truth (2 Tim. 2:17-18; 1 Tim. 1:19). The Holy Spirit says, “Let every one that nameth the name Christ depart from iniquity” (2 Tim. 2:19). We are also invited to “go forth therefore unto Him without the camp, bearing His reproach” (Heb. 13:13).

The house of God on earth in time of ruin is compared to a great house in which we must separate ourselves from the vessels to dishonor and “be a vessel to honor, sanctified, serviceable to the Master, prepared for every good work” (2 Tim. 2:21 JND). Then I unite with those who call upon the Lord out of a pure heart, that is, those who gather on the basis of the one Assembly, a people “builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit” (Eph. 2:22 KJV). We need to pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, offering sacrifices of praise to God continually giving thanks to His name (consider 2 Tim. 2:22). Really, “the Father seeketh such to worship Him” (Jn. 4:23).

Dear reader, we can return to that which was “from the beginning” (1 Jn. 1:1, 2:24). We can be gathered together by the Holy Spirit to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and thereby enjoy His wonderful presence in our midst, even if we are only as few as two or three (Mt. 18:20). The name of Jesus Christ and His presence attracts God’s people.

Lord, “the desire of our soul is to Thy name, and to the remembrance of Thee” (Isa. 26:8).

ENDNOTE
* As we know, what God instructed Abraham to do was a test of his faith (Heb. 11:17-19). It also presented a picture of the sacrifice to come of the Lord Jesus on the cross, in view of many parallels found in Scripture. God did not allow Isaac to be sacrificed by his father, for God abhors human sacrifice (Dt. 12:31, 18:10).

By David S. Omojola