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We have seen something concerning the matter of meeting from the middle of the Gospel of Matthew. Now we come to the end of the Gospels. We all know that the record at the end of the Gospels follows the Lord’s resurrection. Now we are in the Lord’s resurrection, and in this record we can see many things regarding the matter of how we should meet. Have you realized that within that short time following the Lord’s resurrection and before His ascension He had a good number of meetings with His disciples? That was a record of the way the Lord meets with His own. At the end of the four Gospels, there is a full record showing us how to meet.
With all the cases and examples in the Bible there are principles. They are not just cases; they are not just Bible stories. We must see the principle in each case, something spiritual, something divine, something deeper and even hidden. We must learn to see what is behind all the stories of the Bible. Here, at the end of the four Gospels, we have the record of the Lord after His resurrection meeting with His disciples many times. He even asked them to meet Him at a certain place which He appointed. Based upon this record, I would like to present to you six principles of how to meet.
The first principle is this: all the meetings requested by the Lord, appointed by Him, and attended by Him were outside of religion and without any forms. We must know the background; we must know the situation at that time. All the disciples were Jewish people, godly people; they had the temple, and that was the place where they should meet to worship God. All God’s people, according to their religion, went to the temple to meet and to worship, to offer the sacrifices, to observe the rituals, and to keep the forms. That was their background and environment at that time. But have you noticed this? All the meetings Jesus requested, appointed, and attended were absolutely outside of that religion and had nothing whatever to do with its forms. Those meetings were really informal; they were totally detached from religion.
Today, in principle, we are in the same situation as those early disciples. We also have a religious background with today’s temples, rituals, and forms. What shall we do? I tell you, religion for us must be a thing of the past. When Jesus was resurrected, religion was over. With resurrection, there is no need of any religion, for we have the living Christ. What about the temple? you may ask. The living Christ is the living temple — the physical temple was just a photo of the real. If an intimate friend or relation of yours is not with you, you may like to have his or her photo. But if the living person is in your presence, what need is there any longer of the photo? Before Jesus came in person and was resurrected, God’s people did need the temple. But now the living temple is here; Christ as the living temple is here. What about the offerings — the trespass offering, the sin offering, the peace offering, the meal offering, and the burnt offering? All these are simply photos of the different aspects of Christ. Now Christ is here. Christ is every kind of offering. Since He is here, what need have we any longer of the photos? Since the resurrected Christ is here, we do not need any religion, forms, or rituals. Christ is all in all; Christ is everything.
To know something is one thing, but to practice it in reality is quite another. Peter, John, and all the disciples were so clear that Christ was resurrected and they no longer needed religion. According to the way Christ met with them, the example was already established. But have you noticed that even after the day of Pentecost the early Christians still went to the temple? That was in a sense a kind of offense to the Lord. I tell you, that was the reason why in A.D. 70, not long after their meeting in the temple, the Lord sent the Roman army to destroy the temple, to get rid of all the background of religion. How clear the Lord Jesus made to the disciples the matter of how to meet. All His meetings with them were absolutely apart from religion, and yet they continued to go to the temple. Of course, on one hand, the Lord is not so narrow, but on the other hand, that was a kind of mixture. Even in Acts 21, after the apostle Paul had written the Epistle to the Romans and the Galatians, he went up to Jerusalem, and James and all the elders said, “Observe, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews who have believed; and all are zealous for the law” (v. 20), and they advised him to do the same. We must realize that that was not the right thing for Paul to do; it was a kind of degradation from the Lord’s example. The Lord set forth some examples, but the disciples soon forgot them. It is really difficult to get away from the old religion. It is really difficult to abandon all the rituals and forms; sometimes these things are in our very blood.
Consider the way the Lord met with the disciples after His resurrection. Not one of these meetings was held in the old religious way. Sometimes for fear of the Jews they shut the doors and met in an atmosphere of disappointment; then suddenly the Lord Jesus came and stood in their midst (John 20:19-29). Sometimes He met them at the seashore while they were in a backslidden condition. He had told them to stay at Jerusalem, and they backslid to the sea. But He met with them anyway; Jesus was there on the seashore as the real temple (21:1-22). Sometimes He met with them on the mountain (Matt. 28:16-20). You see, there was no form; the meetings were absolutely apart from religion. What is the meaning of this for us today? It is this: the meetings we need to have are meetings which are absolutely outside of today’s Christianity. How should we meet? We should meet outside of religion, outside of Christianity, without any form. We are still too religious, too formal. All our religion and form must be dealt with. Why must we establish and keep so many forms? The Lord did not establish any forms. The Lord be merciful to us.
We must never forget the principle of the first mention of any matter in the Bible. It is exceedingly important: it always gives the principle concerning that matter and sets the course. These meetings at the end of the four Gospels and the beginning of the book of Acts were the first meetings of the churches. So here we have the principle established for the way of meeting: we must meet outside of religion, without any form.
The second principle of meeting is that we must meet in resurrection as the Lord’s brothers. Do we have the boldness to say that we are meeting as the very brothers of the Lord? We should. We can. We are the Lord’s brothers — Hallelujah! We are meeting with the status of His brothers. We are not sinners; we are not even seekers; we are the Lord’s brothers. The Lord Jesus said, “Go to My brothers” (John 20:17). When we come to meet, we are coming to meet our Brother. Oh, this is not a small thing! How could we be the Lord’s brothers? In resurrection! We were born again through the resurrection of Christ (1 Pet. 1:3), so we have become the Lord’s brothers. He is the Son of God, and we also are sons of God. He has God’s life, and we have too. He has God’s nature, and we also have God’s nature. He is no longer God’s only begotten Son: now by His resurrection He has become God’s firstborn Son (Rom. 8:29), and we are the many sons of God (Heb. 2:10). He is our Brother, and we are His brothers. The Lord said, “Go to My brothers,” not “Go to My disciples,” not “Go to the sinful people.” He said that He wanted to meet with His brothers. This corresponds with what He says in Hebrews 2:12: “I will declare Your name to My brothers; in the midst of the church...”
We know that when Thomas saw the resurrected Lord, he said, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28). In a sense that was good. You may admire his saying, but if Thomas had been clear and bold, he would have said, “O my big Brother! O my Brother Jesus!” Do you think that if the Lord came to His disciples as the very Lord and God, He would speak in such an intimate way to Thomas: “Bring your hand and put it into My side”? This would not be the attitude and appeal of one who came as the Lord and God. This was One who came as our Brother.
But we must realize that we are not His brothers in our old nature; we are His brothers only in resurrection. Whenever we come to the meetings, we must come as the Lord’s brothers in resurrection. Therefore, we should never bring anything of the old nature into the meeting. This is more than basic.
In today’s Christian meetings one has the sense that those who attend are so much in the old nature and the meetings are still so natural. Let me give you an illustration. For the brothers and sisters in the Far East to shout in the meetings is very difficult. Their nature is always to keep themselves silent and hidden. On the other hand, the Westerners are altogether too frank. This is another manifestation of the old nature. When we meet as Christians, we must forget our natural disposition. We must meet just as the brothers of Jesus. We are not Chinese and we are not Westerners; we are just the little brothers of Jesus. If people ask if I come from China, I would tell them, “No, I come from the third heaven!” Praise the Lord! A brother once told me that he had never met a Chinese like me. I said he was absolutely right. I am really not a Chinese; I am a brother of the Lord in resurrection. This is how we must meet.
In a sense I agree that the sisters should be quiet, but in another sense I do not agree, for even the sisters are brothers of Christ. Christ does not have any sisters; all He has are brothers. You must forget that you are sisters. Do not come to the meetings in a natural way, considering yourselves as sisters. I know that many now will immediately condemn me and say that I am encouraging people to forget their position. But really we all need to forget our position, our natural position, and take our standing in the resurrection of Christ.
Now I come to the elderly ones. Some elderly brothers and sisters excuse themselves by saying they are old and slow: they would like to participate in the meeting, but all the opportunities are taken by the younger people. In a sense I agree with you, but in another sense I do not agree with you. Christ does not have older brothers; His brothers in resurrection are all so young. We all must be young in resurrection.
The Lord Jesus after His resurrection attended many meetings with His disciples. He always came to the meetings in resurrection, and He counted upon them as resurrected people. Concerning the matter of resurrection, we need faith. When Jesus was on this earth, before His crucifixion, people came to know Him without any need of faith. But after the resurrection, if we would know Christ, we need faith. When the disciples were meeting with doors shut for fear of the Jews, Jesus suddenly appeared in their midst. Can you tell me how Jesus entered? You may say that He came in as a Spirit. But He had a physical body — how can you answer this? I tell you, the matter of resurrection is a matter of faith. Thomas was not there. Thomas missed Jesus and said that he would never believe unless he touched Him. So at the next meeting the Lord appeared again and presented Himself for Thomas to touch. Thomas exclaimed, “My Lord and my God!” Then the Lord said, “Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.” This is resurrection, and resurrection requires faith.
This matter is exceedingly practical and applicable to our attending of the meetings. When you come to the meetings, do not look at yourself; look at Him. Do not look at your situation; look at what He is. We need faith. When you come to the meeting, do not come by yourself, do not count on yourself. Sometimes by the Lord’s mercy you have some good experiences of the Lord during the day, so you come to the meeting shouting Hallelujah! But at other times your experiences are not so good, and you come to the meeting depressed. You may say that you have had many failures. But, Hallelujah, you have the blood; the blood covers all your failures. Immediately, by applying the blood, you can be in the third heaven. Immediately, you can be in resurrection. When we come to the meeting, we should not come as one who has had so many failures, or even as one who is only seeking the Lord, but as one of the Lord’s brothers in resurrection. The blood is so available. It is the blood that cleanses away all our sins. I know many brothers who would say that since they have failed so terribly during the day, they cannot be immediately recovered; they say that they must wait a week or so before they can be fully restored. But this means that the blood does not avail, but the time. This means that they are not trusting in the blood but in the time. They do not apply the blood to their failures; they just apply the time to their failures. Do we trust in time, or do we trust in the blood? By the precious blood we can be immediately restored and enter into the meetings as the Lord’s brothers in resurrection. We have a standing for us to meet with Jesus: it is the standing of the brothers of Christ in His resurrection.
Read the last chapters of the four Gospels. So many of the disciples had some personal experiences of Christ. Mary did — you know the story. Early in the morning of the day of resurrection, Mary received an experience of Christ (John 20:11-18). The two disciples walking to Emmaus also received a vital, personal experience of Him. They were so zealous for Christ, and suddenly Christ came and joined them. They did not know it was the Lord, but later when they constrained Him to stay with them, their eyes were opened, and they recognized Him. Then He vanished out of their sight. Immediately, they decided to turn back to Jerusalem, and arriving there, they found a meeting in progress. In the meeting they were told how the Lord was resurrected and had appeared to Simon, and it seemed that they said, “Amen, we saw Him too.” Then suddenly Jesus Himself appeared again (Luke 24:1-36).
All these verses show how so many of the disciples in the early days, before they were in the meetings, had some strange, wonderful, and precious experiences of Christ. We also need to have this kind of personal experiences of our dear Lord in our daily life. Then when we come to the meeting, we have something bubbling and overflowing from us as a testimony to all the others. We have something as our experiences of Christ to speak about in the meeting. You know, many times when we are sharing something of our experiences of the Lord in the meeting, while we are talking, Jesus Himself is with us; we are so conscious of His presence in our midst. In our daily walk we need some extra portion from a sweet contact with the Lord Jesus that we may have something to bring to the meeting. Take this principle and put it into practice. Day by day we should have some personal, intimate, sweet contact with the Lord Jesus.
Many times I have had the same kind of experience as those two brothers going to Emmaus. Many times when I have opened the Bible, it seemed that I could not see Jesus in the Word, but after a while, it was so wonderful; Jesus appeared. My heart was bubbling and burning within me; then suddenly, it seemed that He disappeared, and I was so disappointed. Have you ever had this kind of experience? Then I have felt that I must go to the meeting and tell the brothers what a wonderful, personal contact I have had with Jesus that day and how He seemed to disappear. When I have gone to the meeting and while I was giving such a testimony, there Jesus was! Many times it is like this. We need the personal, sweet experiences of the resurrected Christ in our daily walk.
The next principle is that we must meet at the place appointed by Jesus, not the place chosen by us. The disciples were told to go into Galilee and there they would see Him (Matt. 28:7). “And the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus directed them” (v. 16). Why did the Lord Jesus not tell His disciples that He would meet with them in Jerusalem? He was resurrected in the area of Jerusalem; why would He go far to the north, to Galilee, to meet with His disciples? The Lord did this deliberately, purposely, to move the Christian meeting away from the Jewish religious center. The meeting which He appointed had nothing to do with Jerusalem, nothing to do with the temple. The Lord wanted the meetings to be absolutely removed from religion.
Today, in principle, we have no right to choose a place to meet. The choice is not with us but with Him. If we have the prerogative to choose a place, we are divisive. We all must meet in the place appointed by the Lord. Learn to give up your concept, your choices. We all need to come together in the place which the Lord appoints.
Whenever we come to the meeting, we must come with the intention of meeting the Lord. “He goes before you into Galilee. There you will see Him” (v. 7). When we come to a meeting, we must realize that we are coming to meet our Lord. This matter must be emphasized. We always consider that we are coming for edification or for some other purpose. But we need to have a deep realization that our only purpose is to meet our Lord Jesus. We should not care whether there is a good speaker or good message. We should only care to meet our Lord.
Consider all the meetings the Lord Jesus had with His disciples. We could almost say that there was not one meeting with a message. Have you noticed that? But Jesus always stood in their midst. They saw the Lord — that was enough. We do not need the teachings; we do not need the messages; all we need is the presence of the Lord. When we see Him, we can rejoice. We go to the meeting not to hear a great speaker; we go to the meeting to meet Jesus. We do not go to the meeting to listen to a good message. We go to the meeting to meet our Lord. When we see Jesus in the meeting, we can say Hallelujah! We just rejoice at His presence. “He goes before you into Galilee. There you will see Him.”
The meaning and purpose of the proper meeting is to give the Lord something to eat and also for Him to give us something to eat. Have you noticed that two times in the record of these meetings the Lord asked His disciples if they had something to eat? “You do not have any fish to eat, do you?” He asked. Once, they answered Him “No” (John 21:5). But praise the Lord, another time they did (Luke 24:41-43). They did not have much; they just had a little, a mere piece of fish. It was not even a whole fish. Look into Darby’s translation and some other better translations — they do not say fish, but just a part of a fish. They just gave Him a part of a fish. In the King James Version you have “and of a honeycomb.” But in the most trustworthy manuscript you do not have this phrase. What they gave Him was just a part of a fish. But though it was so little, the Lord ate it.
The disciples gave the Lord just a little, but the Lord gave His disciples plenty. When He asked them that day by the seashore if they had any meat and they answered “No,” the Lord gave them a lot. He not only gave them a part of a fish, but plenty of fish, and not only fish but also bread. The Lord Jesus said, “Come and have breakfast,” and they did (John 21:12-15). How should we meet? We must meet to satisfy the Lord and be satisfied by Him. To meet is to eat. Our meeting must be a kind of eating, a kind of feasting. We bring something as a feast for Christ, and Christ brings something as a feast for us. Christ comes to the meeting to feast with us, and we with Him. Every Christian meeting should be a feast which satisfies both the Lord and us. If we are not satisfied in our meeting, we are wrong. In all our meetings we need a table, a mutual table. We eat together with Him. We have something for Him, and He has something for us. Undoubtedly He has more for us than we have for Him. What we can afford Him is just a little, just a limited portion, but what He can afford us is unlimited and inexhaustible.
We need to take all these basic principles and put them into practice. We must always be outside of religion without any form; we must always meet in resurrection as the Lord’s brothers; we must meet with some personal experience of Christ in the place chosen and appointed by Him; and we must gather to meet the Lord, to satisfy Him and be satisfied by Him. If we can find all these principles in our meetings, we are right and we have the proper Christian meetings.
