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God has a ground on which He gathers Christians
A second point to be noted is that God has a PLACE -- an ecclesiastical ground -- on earth "where" He would like to have Christians gathered to express the truth that there is only one body. This Meeting Center is Christ Himself. The same verse I quoted () says: "For where two or three are gathered in [to] my name, there am I in the midst of them". As has already been mentioned, this meeting place in Christianity is not a literal geographical center, but a spiritual ground involving principles of the Scriptures that have to do with the way Christians should gather for worship and ministry. Those who occupy this ground are not gathered to principles, but to a Person - - the Lord Jesus Christ.
This meeting center is a place of the Lord's choosing, where He has placed His name and where He gathers the believers. Notice that the verse says "where" and not "wherever", as some Christians would like to interpret it. Many think that this verse is simply saying that whenever and wherever a group of Christians gathers -- whether to have a coffee in a snack bar, for some recreational activity etc. -- they count on the Lord's presence with them collectively. It is certainly true that when Christians meet, regardless of the purpose they have in mind, the Lord's presence is with them individually, for He promised, "and surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age" () and "Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you" (). But it is not of this that the verse in is speaking. There is a difference in the Scriptures between the Lord's presence with His people individually, and the Lord's presence with a group of believers collectively, as an assembly gathered for worship, ministry and administrative decisions. It is to this collective aspect that Matthew 18 is referring.
It is important to consider the context in interpreting the Bible. If we pay attention to the chapter in Matthew 18, we will see that in the verses that culminate in verse 20 the Lord was speaking of the assembly in its administrative capacity to make decisions and act. The chapter has to do with the authority of the local assembly to carry out such actions, for the Lord Himself is in its midst. The Lord is there in the midst sanctioning the very existence of those gathered by the Spirit to His name, and also their administrative actions. With this in mind, I insist on adding that the Lord's presence in the midst of those He has gathered does not sanction the condition of those people -- which may be terrible -- but rather the ground on which they are gathered. The Bible does not speak of any place we choose, but "where" the place chosen by Him is. That is why it is often called "the place of His choice".
also establishes the same point: there is a place on earth (a spiritual ground) "where" God would like the believers to be congregated. The Lord Jesus was about to institute the Lord's Supper -- the breaking of bread (; , 11:23-26) -- and He desired that His disciples do this in the place chosen by Him. Things in Israel at that time were out of order and there was much corruption, ranging from the chief priests and elders to the common citizen. As a result of this, the Lord was not recognized as their Messiah. The truth is that they were preparing to kill Him! (). The people went on celebrating the Passover, but at the same time they rejected the One who was the fulfillment of the Passover. Therefore, there were many houses in Jerusalem on that night when the feast was celebrated, but there was only one room where the Lord was present -- the place He had designated for His disciples. Christendom today is likewise out of order, and as a result there are many places where Christians gather, yet the Lord is not there in the collective sense to sanction the ground on which they congregate.
tells us that the place chosen by the Lord -- where He is in the midst -- is “outside the camp.” The “camp” is a word that the Spirit of God uses to indicate Judaism and all Jewish principles and practices. Christians often lose sight of this point and end up adopting in their places of worship many things that are connected to Jewish worship. They ignore the clear teaching of the Scriptures which indicates that the tabernacle is a figure of the true sanctuary, to which we now have access by the Spirit (). Nevertheless, they ended up using Judaism as a pattern for their ecclesiastical organizations. They erected great temples and cathedrals “made by human hands” (), thus borrowing many things from the Old Testament in their literal sense as a pattern for their worship. They completely lost sight of the fact that the true ground of Christian gathering and worship is an entirely new way of approaching God “in spirit and in truth” (; ). Such ground is found entirely outside of Judaizing principles and practices. Anyone who was looking for the place of the Lord's choice would have to look outside of all these places of Christendom -- from St. Peter's Basilica in Rome to the smallest evangelical chapel -- for all these places carry, to a greater or lesser degree, the vestments of Judaism mixed into the structure of their worship services. tells us that there is something called the “table of the Lord.” It is not the literal table that the brothers and sisters have in their meeting places, on which they place the emblems of the Lord's Supper. It is a symbolic term denoting the place where the Holy Spirit gathers believers to the name of the Lord Jesus. It is there that the unity of the body is displayed and where Christ is in the midst. In the Scriptures a “table” symbolizes communion. In the case of the Lord's table it symbolizes the true ground of communion that God has for all Christians, where the Lord's authority is recognized and to which all submit. It is for this reason that it is called the “table of the Lord.”
There is a figure of this truth of the divine center of gathering in Deuteronomy 12, to which I have already referred. The Lord had a place in which He gathered His people, Israel. “Then there will be a place that the LORD your God will choose to make His name dwell there” (v. 11). The children of Israel were to bring their offerings and sacrifices to that place (), celebrate their annual feasts there (), and have their problems resolved by the priests, Levites and judges who were there (). However, it is significant that in all the references made in Deuteronomy to the place chosen by the Lord, it is never said where it would be. As the history of Israel unfolds in the pages of the Word of God, we learn that this place would be Jerusalem (; ; ; ; etc.). In Deuteronomy no mention is made of where it would be because the Lord wanted His people to be exercised in seeking it when they arrived in the land. Likewise, in Christianity none of the passages we have seen in the New Testament tells us where the place is -- this is an exercise for each Christian. This is illustrated in the request that Peter and John make to the Lord: “Where do You want us to prepare it?” ().
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