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I. The Lord's table meeting not only includes the remembrance of the Lord in the first part but also includes the worship of the Father in the latter part.
А. According to the procedure in God's salvation, we first receive the Lord and then draw near to the Father.
B. In Matthew 26:26-30, after the Lord Jesus broke the bread and sang a hymn with the disciples, He led them to the Mount of Olives.
1. He led them to the Mount of Olives to meet with the Father.
2. A principle is implied and established, that is, after we have broken the bread to remember the Lord, we should be led by Him to worship the Father together.
II. In God's economy the Spirit testifies concerning the Son and leads the believers to the Son — John 15:26; 16:13-15; 1 Cor. 12:3.
А. John 15:26 says, "But when the Comforter comes,...the Spirit of reality...He will testify concerning Me."
B. John 16:13-15 says, "But when He, the Spirit of reality, comes, He will guide you into all the reality [the Son]...He shall glorify Me, for He shall receive of Mine and shall disclose it to you."
C. First Corinthians 12:3 says, "No one speaking in the Spirit of God says, Jesus is accursed; and no one can say, Lord Jesus, except in the Holy Spirit."
D. In the Lord's table meeting, the Spirit brings us to the Son that the Son may receive the adequate remembrance from all of the members of the Body of Christ, the sons of God and brothers of the firstborn Son.
III. In God's economy the Son is the believers' Advocate or Intercessor with the Father and leads them to the Father — 1 John 2:1, 2:23; Heb. 2:12.
А. First John 2:1 says, "If anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous."
B. First John 2:23 says, "Everyone who denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who confesses the Son has the Father also."
C. Hebrews 2:12 says, "I [Jesus] will declare Your name [the Father's name] to My brothers; in the midst of the church I will sing hymns of praise unto You [the Father]."
D. After we remember the Lord, the Son brings us to the Father that we with Him, as the many sons of the Father and brothers of the firstborn Son, might worship the Father.
IV. The revelation that can be seen in Psalm 22:12-22 and Hebrews 2:10-12:
А. Psalm 22:12-21 is a prophecy picturing Christ's death — "Many bulls have compassed me," "My bones are out of joint," "My tongue cleaveth to my jaws," "They look and stare upon me," "They part my garments among them," "[They] cast lots upon my vesture."
B. However, Psalm 22:22 is a prophecy which is fulfilled after Christ's resurrection.
1. Psalm 22:22a says, "I will declare thy name unto my brethren."
а. In John 20:17 Jesus called the disciples brothers for the first time.
b. Jesus never called the disciples brothers until after the resurrection; before His resurrection, the Lord only called His disciples friends.
c. In John 20:20-23 Jesus met with the disciples for the first time in resurrection; He declared the Father's name to His brothers.
d. At this time, on the day of Christ's resurrection, Psalm 22:22a was fulfilled.
2. Psalm 22:22b says, "In the midst of the congregation will I praise thee."
а. This is Christ's praising of the Father in the midst of the church.
b. There is no record in the Scriptures of the fulfillment of this prophecy.
C. Hebrews 2:10 says, "For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and through whom are all things, in leading many sons into glory, to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings."
1. The Captain of our salvation is the Son.
2. The Son is leading many sons (the believers) into glory.
D. Hebrews 2:11 says, "For both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brothers."
1. The "one" refers to the Father.
2. The Sanctifier is the Son.
3. "Those who are being sanctified" are the sons.
4. Thus, the Son and "those who are being sanctified" are all of one Father.
5. Therefore, He, the Son, is not ashamed to call us brothers; in John 20:17, after His resurrection He told Mary, "Go to My brothers."
а. Through Christ's resurrection, all of His disciples received the Father's life — 1 Pet. 1:3.
b. Now, because both Christ and we are of the same source (Eph. 1:3; 4:6; Matt. 6:9) and have the same life (1 John 5:11-12) with the same nature (2 Pet. 1:4), He is not ashamed to call us His brothers.
E. Hebrews 2:12 is a quotation of Psalm 22:22 and says, "I will declare Your name to My brothers; in the midst of the church I will sing hymns of praise unto You."
1. Here we see the Son declaring the Father's "name" to His brothers, that is, making the Father known as the source of life and as the begetting God.
2. This verse also tells us that the Son sings hymns of praise to the Father in the midst of the church.
3. By this verse we see that the brothers are the church; individually speaking, we are the brothers and collectively speaking, we are the church brought forth in Christ's resurrection.
V. After His resurrection, when did Jesus come to the brothers and sing praises to the Father?
А. Psalm 22:22a and Hebrews 2:12a were fulfilled in the upper room in John 20, but what about verses 22b and 12b?
B. Where is the record that Christ sang praises to the Father?
C. Where is the fulfillment of this prophecy?
D. This prophecy is fulfilled continually in the church.
VI. As Jesus breathed into the disciples (John 20:22), He, as the Holy Spirit, the holy pneuma, came into them to indwell them.
А. When Jesus breathed into them, He breathed Himself into them.
B. Now Jesus as the indwelling Spirit sings praises to the Father through us — the church.
1. Jesus in the midst of the church sings hymns of praise unto the Father — Heb. 2:12b.
2. By this, Psalm 22:22b is fulfilled.
3. This is the firstborn Son's praising of the Father within the Father's many sons in the church meetings.
а. It is not that He praises the Father apart from us and alone, but rather within us and with us through our praising.
b. Whenever Christ's brothers sing praises to the Father, He sings in their singing.
1) If then we do not sing, how can He sing?
2) For Jesus to sing praises to the Father we must sing.
C. After we render our praises to Christ in the remembrance of Him, He will take us to the Father, and we will follow our indwelling elder Brother as He leads us in song.
VII. Matthew 26:30 says, "Having sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives."
А. This was a praise to the Father by the Lord with His disciples after the Lord's table.
B. After singing, He led them to the Mount of Olives to seek the face of the Father — John 17.
C. It is based upon these verses that we sing praises to the Father at the end of the Lord's table as our worship to Him.
1. We must have a definite time and definite action in the church to worship the Father.
2. We have to believe the best time is immediately following the remembrance of the Lord at His table.
VIII. The Father is seeking true worshippers, those who will worship Him in spirit and reality — John 4:23-24.
А. We must worship the Father in His habitation, His dwelling place, which is our human spirit — Eph. 2:22.
1. Our Father God is Spirit, so we must exercise our spirit to contact Him.
2. Our spirit mingled with the divine Spirit is a spirit of sonship in which we cry, "Abba, Father" — Rom. 8:15.
3. The Spirit witnesses with our spirit that we are the children of God, our Father — Rom. 8:16.
B. We must worship the Father in reality, which is to worship Him through Christ as the reality of all the offerings — Lev. 1-6; Heb. 10:5-10.
