A Meditation.
"Where two or three are gathered together to My Name, there am I in the midst of them" Matt. 18:20.
"He that is not with Me is against Me; and he that gathereth not with Me scattereth abroad" Matt. 12:30.
"The foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal. The Lord knoweth them that are His. And, Let every one that nameth the Name of the Lord depart from iniquity" 2 Tim. 2:19.
"Name above every name Thy praise
Shall fill yon courts through endless days."
Jesus our Lord is not here. Well we know it. He has gone to the Father, but He has left us His Name; and the Name of a person conveys to the heart all that the person is. The next best thing to having and loving a person, is to have and to love and to honour that person's name. My Mother may be in heaven, but the name of my Mother is loved, cherished, and honoured, as long as I remain in the world to love and honour it.
So with the believer's Saviour and Lord. He is in heaven: He is not here. He is risen, He is glorified with the Father; but He has left us His Name.
"We love the Name of Jesus, the Christ of God, the Lord,
Like fragrance on the breezes, His Name is spread abroad."
He is the true and living Centre, God's Centre; and all God's counsels find their centre in Him. Man's world revolves round man in sin, but God's world revolves round Man in righteousness and glory: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of His kingdom. Of Him it is said, "Thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity, therefore God Thy God hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows."
Now as Christ is the true centre of union, though in heaven, we assemble together in His Name on earth. No other Name should ever have been named, or ever have been heard in connection with the gathering together of His saints for prayer and praise and worship.
The Lord Jesus told the disciples that whatsoever they should ask the Father in His Name He would give it them. "Hitherto ye have asked nothing in My Name. Ask and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full!" "At that day ye shall ask in My Name." This refers to the saints' day, when the Lord is with the Father and the Comforter is here. It supposes that the saints are here below, by redemption, in the place which the Lord as Man occupied when on earth, so that the full value and power of His Name avails with the Father.
Then we are exhorted in Col. 3:17, "Whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the Name of the Lord Jesus; and our testimony in the world is that "There is none other Name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved." J. S. Oliphant.
Fruits of the Spirit.
There is this difference between the works of the flesh and the fruits of the Spirit: that in bringing forth the fruits of the Spirit you are always happy, whereas, in doing the works of the flesh there is always bitterness. Even if you are successful in what you aim at, it leaves a taint of its own bitterness behind it. J. B. Stoney.