"Gather My
saints together unto Me, those that have made a covenant
with Me by sacrifice." (Psalm 50:5 A.S.V.).
"Now we beseech
you, brethren, touching the coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ, and our gathering together unto Him."
(II Thess. 2:1).
"Not forsaking
our own assembling together, as the custom of some is,
but exhorting one another; and so much the more, as ye
see the day drawing nigh." (Hebrews 10:25).
In all of the above
passages there is this one common factor, that an
end-time movement and feature is dominant. It must be
remembered that the Psalms themselves represent what
remains when a history of outward things as to the
general instrumentality has ended in failure. The history
of Israel in its first great phase closed with the Book
of "Kings" in a calamitous and shameful way.
Weakness, paralysis, declension, reproach, characterized
the instrument in general. But out of that history now so
concluded the Psalms are carried forward, and they
represent what has spiritually been gained and is
permanent. This is pre-eminently a personal, inward,
spiritual knowledge of the Lord gained through
experience. That is why they always reach the heart and
never fail to touch experience at every point. To them
the saints have turned in times of deep experience. They
are the ministry of experience to experience, the only
ministry which is permanent. The end-time instrument will
always be that which inwardly knows the Lord in a deep
and living way through history fraught with much
experience of the heights and depths. What David gave to
the Chief Musician for the wind instruments and the
stringed instruments touches the highest and deepest note
of a mortal's knowledge of God. Worship, Salvation,
Sorrow, Appeal, Victory, Battle, Faith, Hope, Glory,
Instruction, are all great themes interwoven with the
mass of matters touched, but the point is that all came
in real life; He passed through it all. It is
this, and this alone, which can serve the Lord when what
He first raised up has failed Him as a public instrument.
So the Lord would take pains to secure this, and this may
explain much of the suffering and sorrow through which He
takes His chosen vessels.
It does not need
pointing out that, in the other two passages with which
we commenced, the end-time is in view; they definitely
state it.
There is a further
common feature, however, which is more particularly the
subject before us. They all definitely refer to gathering
together as something related to the end-time. The Day is
drawing nigh, therefore there is to be a "so much
the more" assembling together. The Lord is coming,
and there is a gathering to Him.
A history of a religious
system which sprang out of something which the Lord
raised up in the first place has ended in weakness, chaos
and shame. Therefore, there is to be a re-gathering to the
Lord of His saints.
Before we deal with the
nature of this end-time gathering, we must get clearly in
view those that are concerned in it. The passage in the
Psalm would embrace and include those referred to in the
other two passages.
"My
Saints... Those That Have Made A Covenant With Me by
Sacrifice"
It need hardly be
remarked that when all has been said and done through
type, symbol and figure, the covenant means an entering
into what the Lord Jesus has done by His shed Blood. It
is an appreciation and apprehension of Him in His great
work by the Cross. The Lord, by His Blood, has made a
"New Covenant" by sacrifice, and we, His
spiritual people, have entered into that covenant and set
our hand to it. Christ as "the mediator of a new
covenant" stands for both parties, for a covenant
requires two parties. On one side He is God, "The
Son of God"; on the other side He is Man, "Son
of Man". In Christ we are made the humanity side of
the covenant, and by taking our place by faith in Him we
enter into the covenant. Just as, in Christ, God has come
out to us in a great committal, so also - as in the case
of Christ - we in Him go out to God in a like utter
committal. The Blood seals the covenant, that is, makes
us wholly the Lord's, and the Lord wholly ours.
If we see the meaning of
"a covenant by sacrifice" then we shall see who
it is that will be in this gathering together. It will
certainly be only those to whom the Lord is everything,
to whom He is all and in all; and those who are all for
the Lord without a reservation, a personal interest, or
anything that is less or other than Himself. Spiritual
oneness is only possible on this basis.
The Lord's word to
Abraham in the day of covenant was, "Now I know that
thou fearest God". Malachi's end-time word was
"Then they that feared the Lord..." The fear of
the Lord is an utter abandonment to Him at any cost; His
will being supreme, claiming and obtaining the measure of
a whole burnt-offering.
The
Nature of the Gathering Together
Having then in view the
kind who are concerned, which forms a test as well as a
testimony, we are able to look at the nature of the
gathering together.
We are well aware that
there is a widespread doubt as to whether we are to
expect anything in the way of a corporate movement or
testimony at the end. Indeed, it is strongly held by some
that everything at the end is individual, and this
conviction rests, for the most part, upon the phrase
"If any man", in the message to Laodicea.
Let us hasten then to
say that we here have nothing in mind in the nature of an
organized movement, a sect, a society, a fraternity, or
even a "fellowship" if, by that, any of the
foregoing is meant.
Having said this,
however, there are some things on the other side which
need saying quite definitely.
The Church of the New
Testament never was an organized movement. Neither was
there any organized affiliation of the companies of
believers in various places with one another. It was a
purely spiritual thing, spontaneous in life and united
only by the Holy Spirit and mutual love and spiritual
solicitude. There were other factors which acted as
spiritual links which we will mention presently. Further,
and still more important, was the abiding fact that a
"Body" had been brought into being. This is
called "the body of Christ". You can divide a
society and still it remains, but you cannot divide a
body without destroying the entity.
Are we to understand
from the exponents of the individualistic interpretation
that all the teaching of the Lord, in nearly all the
Scriptures concerning the House of God, and in nearly all
the Letters of Paul concerning the Body of Christ, is now
set aside or is only an idea without any expression on
the earth? Are we to blot out the mass of the New
Testament and live our own individual Christian lives
with no emphasis upon working fellowship with other
believers? Surely not. This would be contrary to all the
ways of God in history, and would certainly spell defeat,
for if there is one thing against which the Adversary has
set himself it is the fellowship of God's people.
Ultra-individualism is
impossible if the truth of the "one body" still
stands, and what is more, the Lord's people are becoming
more and more conscious of their absolute need of
fellowship, especially in prayer. The difficulty of
'getting through' alone is becoming greater as we
approach the end.
What then is the nature
of this gathering together? It is a gathering to the Lord
Himself. "Gather My saints together unto
Me"; "our gathering unto Him".
In times past there have
been gatherings to men, great preachers, great teachers,
great leaders; or to great institutions and movements,
centres and teachings. At the end the Lord will be
very much more than His vessels or instrumentalities.
God's end is Christ, and
as we get nearer the end He must become almost
immediately the object of appreciation.
Our oneness and
fellowship is not in a teaching, a 'testimony', a
community, a place, but in a Person, and in Him not
merely doctrinally, but livingly and experimentally.
Any movement truly of
God must have this as its supreme and all-inclusive
feature, that it is the Lord Jesus Who is the object of
heart adoration and worship.
The two great purposes
of the 'gathering' are prayer and 'building up':
"supplication for all saints", and spiritual
food. These two things have ever characterized Divine
gatherings or convocations - representation before God,
and feeding in His presence.
This, then, is the
meaning of "call a solemn assembly" (Joel 1:14;
2:15). The need more than ever imperative as "the
day" approaches is the gathering together unto
Him.
May we see more of
this as His Divinely inspired movement to
meet the so great need!
T. Austin-Sparks