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Scripture Reading: Deut. 12:5-7, 11-12; 14:22-23; 16:16-17
In the Old Testament the church was still a hidden mystery within God. In the Old Testament God did not reveal the church to anyone. He kept it as a mystery within Himself. Yet in the Old Testament there are a lot of types, prefigures, and shadows of the church. For instance, Ephesians 5 tells us that Eve, the wife of Adam, is a type of the church. She is a wonderful type of the church. If we had only the New Testament, we could not know the church so much as we can through Eve as a type of the church. Not only so, if we go to Genesis 24, we have Rebekah, the wife of Isaac. The Bible students know that Isaac is a type of Christ, and Rebekah is a type of the church. She typifies certain crucial points of the church, such as how the church was selected mostly from the Gentiles, from out of the world, and brought to Christ.
In the next book, Exodus, the tabernacle is not only a type of Christ but also a type of the corporate Christ, that is, the church. The Ark within the tabernacle is a type of the individual Christ, but the tabernacle is a type of the corporate Christ, the church.
The biggest type of the church in the Old Testament is the people of Israel. As a collective people, the people of Israel are a type of the church. This type is the biggest among all the types of the church because the church in the New Testament is also a people, a collective people. In the Old Testament God had a people, and in the New Testament God also has a people. The people in the Old Testament are a type of the people of God in the New Testament. What the history of the children of Israel depicts is a type of the history of the church. Many crucial aspects of the type in the history of Israel cannot be found in the New Testament. The types are very meaningful and rich to help us know the church.
Many Christian teachers have spent time studying the New Testament to find out how Christians should meet. Every one of them could testify that he did not find the adequate way. Just by reading or studying the New Testament, we surely cannot see adequately how Christians should meet. Only a few verses mention the matter of meeting. First of all, in Matthew 18:20 the Lord said that where two or three are gathered together into His name, He is in their midst. This verse only tells us something about meeting together into the Lord’s name. Of course, the Brethren teachers grasped this verse as a real ground for meeting. They expounded and enlarged this verse to condemn all the denominational names, because the Baptists meet into the name of Baptist, and the Presbyterians meet into the name of the Presbytery. The Lutherans meet into the name of Luther. The Wesleyans meet into the name of Wesley. So the Brethren teachers condemned this practice as a kind of spiritual fornication, saying that we should gather only into the unique name, that is, the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is our unique Husband. We should come together into this unique name. If we come together into any other name, that is a kind of spiritual fornication. This is quite serious.
Then we may go on to the book of Acts. We may think that the book of Acts should tell us how Christians should meet. Actually, we can find very little. In chapter 20 it does tell us that the disciples met on the first day of the week to break bread. Of course, some picked this up and said that we have to meet on the first day of the week. This is confirmed by 1 Corinthians 16:1-2, which speaks of setting aside a certain amount of income on the first day of the week as a gift to the Lord. Also in Acts we could find some verses telling us that when the Christians came together, they continued in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship (2:42).
The only verse in the New Testament that tells us how to meet is 1 Corinthians 14:26. The Brethren teachers made a big subject out of this verse. Based upon this verse the Brethren teachers practically annulled the so-called services in Christianity. But still 1 Corinthians 14:26 does not adequately tell us how to meet. Years ago I studied this verse very much and tried my best to find out something. After so much study I could not find something adequate concerning how to meet. Even I noticed that the Brethren with whom I met did not practice that verse as much as they should. That was mainly a verse to them as a ground for their teaching to annul the Christianity services. But they did not practice that verse in full. The point is this: just by the New Testament, we cannot find out how to meet.
In the Old Testament we have a collective people typifying the church. One of the primary things that this people should impress us with is the matter of meeting. Beginning from the night of the passover they continued to meet. They had the passover in their houses, but I do not consider that as a meeting. In a sense it was a kind of home meeting, but there was no individual passover. The passover was not held by individuals. It was held by houses. The passover lamb was not killed for any individual but for the houses.
Then continuing that passover they were gathered. That was a meeting. They were gathered to be an army. Right after the passover they began to fight. So they needed to be formed into an army, and that formation into an army was their meeting. Right after the passover all the children of Israel became a meeting people. They met, not only every day but all day and all night. You might ask, How could we meet like this? But if you read Acts 2 and 4, there was this kind of atmosphere or at least this kind of aspiration. The three thousand and the five thousand, after being saved, had the aspiration, I believe, to stay together day and night. Once again I say that one of the primary things the children of Israel did that should impress us was their meeting. They became a meeting people. It was through that meeting that God did everything. God did nothing outside of their meeting. God did nothing without that meeting. God did everything through that meeting.
We have to realize that those people who were there meeting together are a type of the church. What is the church? The church is a people meeting together. This is the ekklesia, a people called out to meet together. Suppose there is no meeting. Where then is the church? If there is no meeting, there is no church. The church is just the meeting. The church is not only the meeting people but the people meeting. The meeting people may not meet. But when the people are meeting, surely everybody is in the meeting.
Suppose we do not come together anymore. Suppose we are dismissed forever. Where is the church? Then we are scattered. Dismissed is a good word, but we do not like the word scattered. If the church is scattered, it means that the church is in captivity. When so many saints miss the meetings, I wonder whether they have been dismissed or scattered. If they have been dismissed, that is very good. But if they have been scattered, that means they are captured. I do not like to offend, but I must be frank and honest to tell the truth: if they do not come to the church meeting, they are in captivity.
I have missed the meeting very few times within the past twenty years. When I was not in the meeting, I had the feeling that I was left in prison. There was not one time when the church was meeting and I was not in the meeting that I had a good time. I cannot say that the church was meeting and that I stayed home and had a good time. I cannot say how pleasant it is that while the church is meeting I am staying home. What is your feeling when you stay home from the meeting? Captivity! You have not been properly dismissed. You have been captured. You are in captivity. We must see what is the church. The church is not just a meeting people; it is a people meeting.
In a recent meeting with the sisters I said that human life is vanity and that the Christian life is meaningless without the church life. Then what kind of life is meaningful? It is neither the human life nor in a sense the Christian life. There are millions of Christians today on the earth, but many of them do not have a meaningful life. They are Christians, yet still their Christian life is meaningless because they do not have the church life.
Now I must add that the church life is just a meeting life. The Christian life needs the church life, and the church life is a meeting life. Your human life is vanity. Your Christian life needs the church life, and your church life must be a meeting life. If you do not meet, you do not have the church life. If you do not have the church life, your Christian life is meaningless.
If you want to have a life full of reality, you must be a Christian. But even as a Christian, you cannot reach the reality by yourself. Yes, Christ is reality, but this reality could be reached and experienced in full only in the church life. If you do not have the church life, you do not have the reality of the riches of Christ in full. Christ can never be touched and experienced adequately unless you are in the church. So if you do not have the church life, your Christian life is aimless. There is no goal, no purpose. The purpose, the goal, the aim, of the Christian life is the church, and you have to realize that the church is a people meeting. The church life is just a meeting life. There can be no argument. The fact is the fact. Do not tell me that you have been a Christian for years and that you do not meet with people often. Do not tell me that you stay home by yourself. I would say that you are a poor Christian. But Hallelujah! I am an enjoying Christian. I enjoy Christ! I experience Christ! How? By meeting with the saints. No one could call me a poor Christian. I enjoy the Lord Jesus all the time with the saints.
I would illustrate once again with the wedding day. The wedding day is supposed to be the most pleasant day. On the one hand, my wedding day was very pleasant, but compared with the meeting days, there was a different flavor. On a pleasant meeting day there is only honey. There is not a bit of vinegar. But many times on the wedding day there is not only honey but also vinegar. The wedding joy could not last as long as the meeting joy. In 1942 and 1943 we had a big revival, and even tonight when I have a little recollection of those meetings, I am so happy. When I think about the meetings in Elden hall in 1969 and 1970, I am so happy.
The most pleasant thing is meeting. Do you want to get rid of your anxiety? Come to the meeting. There is no anxiety in the meeting. If you still keep your anxiety, you are not in the meeting. You are in your anxiety. Do not think that I have no troubles. I have a lot of troubles, but when I come to the meeting, I can say, Hallelujah! I am happy; I am pleasant.
Even regardless of how tired I am, I feel fine whenever I come to a meeting. There is no tiredness. I am so strengthened by the meeting. I am enriched, I am healed, I am uplifted by the meeting. Why? The joy of the Lord is our strength, and this strengthening joy is also a healing. The medical doctors would tell you that one of the best medicines is joy. If you could be joyful all the day long, you would not be sick so much. The most pleasant time is the meeting time.
According to typology, the church is a people meeting. Without the meeting life there is no church life. You may have the church in terminology, but you do not have the church in living reality. The living reality of the church is the meeting life. Hallelujah! We are churching. We are not only meeting; we are churching.
Now we come to a very crucial point: for what do we meet? In the first chapter we pointed out that we meet to exhibit Christ in His victory, and in the second chapter we pointed out that we meet to do the will of God and fulfill His purpose. But in this chapter I would like to fellowship with you that we meet to satisfy God with Christ. Dear saints, you all have to realize that this is a big subject. To satisfy God is not a small thing, and to satisfy God with Christ is not a small thing. Both points are too great.
If you read Exodus and Leviticus and Numbers and Deuteronomy, you could realize that in the whole universe there is a divine hunger. God is hungry. When I studied the Pentateuch again with the saints in Taiwan about twenty-three years ago, I was so impressed with this word. Leviticus 3:11 and 16 speak of “the food of the offering by fire to Jehovah.” Certain offerings were food to God. You are not the only one who needs food; God also needs food. You are hungry, and your hunger is a sign of God’s hunger. When you are hungry, it should remind you that God is hungry.
In the Gospel of John the incarnated God one day came to a sinful woman asking for a drink. He was thirsty. He came to a thirsty sinner, the Samaritan woman, asking for a drink. Eventually, that woman was satisfied, and the incarnated God also was satisfied. Why? It was because the sinner got the Savior, and the Savior got the sinner. So both were satisfied. God is hungry. God needs something to eat. This thought is deeply revealed in the Pentateuch. In these four books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy you can find out that some of the offerings God required to be offered to Him by His people were for His food.
For many years I read the Bible, but I did not understand the real meaning of the burnt offering. The burnt offering was the first of all the offerings. What was it for? Was it for redemption? Was it for peace making? No, the burnt offering was for God’s satisfaction. You have to realize that the entire burnt offering was food to God (Lev. 3:11, 16). The burnt offering could be enjoyed by God as His food only when it became two things: when it became the sweet savor in the air and when it became ashes on the ground. When the burnt offering became a sweet savor in the air and a heap of ashes on the ground, it was food to God. The burnt offering is altogether for God’s satisfaction.
The entire burnt offering was burnt by one kind of burning. With the sin offering there were two kinds of burnings — the sweet burning of the inside, of the inwards and the fat, and the judging burning of the outside, of the flesh, the skin, and the dung. But with the burnt offering there was only one kind of burning, the burning of the incense. This is the sweet burning, that causes something to ascend up to God. That is the sweet smell, the sweet savor, that goes to God for God’s enjoyment. If you know the Bible, you could see that whenever the burnt offering was being burnt on the altar, God was enjoying, and He was satisfied. It was a pleasant eating to Him. That was His breakfast and His dinner. The burnt offering had to be offered to God in the morning and in the evening. So God eats at least twice a day: breakfast and dinner. When is the time for you to offer your morning burnt offering? It is at morning watch time. In the morning you have to offer something to God. When is the time for you to offer your evening burnt offering? When is God’s dinner time? It is the evening meeting.
The meal offering, at least in part, was for God’s food. The greater part was for the priests’ food. It was the same with the peace offering. A part was for God’s food, a part was for the offerer’s food, and another part was for the ministering priests’ food.
Even with the sin offering, the inside, the inward parts, were burned sweetly to God for God’s satisfaction. The same principle applied to the trespass offering. When we get into Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy in our life-study, we will get into the details of all these offerings. We will see much more clearly.
But in this chapter I would like to impress you that this people in their meeting did nothing but feed God. In the feeding of God they themselves were fed. Their meeting was just a feeding. First, they fed God. In the feeding of God, they got fed. They presented something for God to eat. God enjoyed a part, and the rest was for them to eat and enjoy before God. This is to hold a feast unto the Lord.
We all know that the feast is a type. How can we apply this today? It is so simple. Do you not have Christ? We all have Christ. So day after day we all should come together. Deuteronomy 16:16 says that we should not appear before the Lord empty-handed. This means to not appear before God without offerings. You must come as the children of Israel did. You must come to God with some surplus, some produce, from the good land. These are the burnt offerings and the tithes, the tenths. These are the freewill offerings and the offerings of your vows. All these you must bring with you to the meeting for God. Whenever you come to the meeting, you must have a deep realization that you have come to the meeting with Christ. Do not come to the meeting empty-handed.
In Life-study of Exodus we have seen that to sanctify the priests to serve God is to fill their hands. This means to fill their hands with the offerings, with Christ. We all need to come to the meeting with Christ. Could you say that you do not have Christ? You might say that you do not have much of Christ, but still you have some of Christ. You have something of Christ that you can offer.
When we come to the meeting, we have to realize that God requires us to bring something of Christ as food for Him and for ourselves and for all the dear ones in the meeting. You have to feed them with Christ. You may say that you do not have much of Christ, but at least you have some amount of Christ. You have to exhaust what you have of Christ. Although Christ in Himself is exhaustless, you have to exhaust what you have of Christ. This is very much like our love feast. To come to the love feast empty-handed is a shame. If you just bring your two shoulders with one mouth ready to eat to the love feast, that is a shame. You must come to the love feast with something in your hand. Even if you bring only some donuts or some grapefruit, still that is good. Do not come to the love feast empty.
Based upon this principle our meeting time should always be insufficient. This is why many times we may divide our meetings into many home meetings so that we may have more time for everyone to feed God, to feed others, and to feed himself. This is not like today’s situation. In the Christianity services of today there is very little feeding. There is just a speech or a sermon. But when we come together, you must come with Christ. When you get into the meeting, do not wait, or you will miss your time. Right away you need to feed, to serve, God with Christ.
Even the young sisters can come to the meeting with Christ to serve God. You can offer a short praise or a short prayer or a short testimony. Surely you can give a testimony in every meeting. If all of us would offer a short praise, a short prayer, a short testimony, there would not be sufficient time in the meeting. But there would be a lot of feeding.
How then should we praise or pray or give a testimony? I would say forget about “how to.” Just remember that when you get into the meeting, open up your mouth. The Bible promises us that when we open up our mouth, He will fill us (Psa. 81:10).
I can testify that a number of times when I was walking up to the platform, I still did not have any idea what I was going to speak. But when I opened my mouth, something came. When you open up your mouth, the Lord will fill you. Surely you have something to say. Be encouraged, be bold. I know that you have a lot of testimonies, but you hide the testimonies, keeping them as mysteries for eternity. It seems that you want to keep these mysteries to tell us in the New Jerusalem. That will be too late. All the testimonies given in this age are pleasant. If you wait until the New Jerusalem, that will be a little too late. I encourage you all to praise, to pray, and to testify in the meetings.
Let me repeat: the church is just the meeting life. How shall we meet? Just bring Christ with you, and present this Christ by praising, by praying, and by testifying. Do this by faith. You have it! I feel that we all must be the forerunners to cut the way into a proper meeting life. Even up until today at the end of the twentieth century the Lord has not gotten what He wants. He wants a people meeting as the church to bring Him to all the meetings and to present Him to God and to man for God’s satisfaction and for man’s satisfaction and even for their own satisfaction. The Lord wants such a people to come together day after day to be a living testimony in the entire universe. We must be the forerunners to pioneer the way, to cut the way. Let us forget about the Christianity services. Let us forget about religious services. Let us be impressed that we are God’s people meeting with Christ. We come to the meeting with Christ to present Him to God and man so that the meeting might be so living, so rich, and so uplifted.
