How precious to every true heart is the promise of Matthew 18:20, "For where two or three are gathered together in My Name, there am I in the midst of them." What scope there is here for the enterprise of faith and for the satisfaction of love! Faith recognises that the Lord who gathers His own together is Himself in our midst, and comes to rest within "the circle where love's treasures are displayed."
In Acts 4:31 the apostles are found together thus, and the truth of the Lord's promise is made good to them in POWER. Outside there is the evidence of the power of man that would threaten and restrain, but within that favoured gathering all is peace. Hearts are free with Him who has gathered them together, and to whom prayer is made. The Holy Spirit being unquenched and not grieved, the word of God is in power, and instead of the fear of man there is boldness in testimony. There may be the outward appearance of smallness, but there is no lack of "great power" and "great grace." It must be so, "For where two or three are gathered together in My Name, there am I in the midst of them."
From Acts 11:26 we learn that there is FOOD to be found where the saints are gathered together, for He who gathers together also feeds His own. He is the Good Shepherd who knows His sheep. The great numbers that had believed and turned to the Lord needed building up in their most holy faith, and the Spirit was there to bring in all the resources that there are in Christ so that every one might be fed with a knowledge of Himself. There was no necessity to go elsewhere than this gathering place into which they had been brought by the grace of God. The Spirit of God brings to them by the mouth of Saul of Tarsus a ministry whereby Christ becomes magnified in their hearts, and their lives bore testimony to Him in the world, so that they were called "Christians" for the first time here at Antioch. Blessed testimony to the fact that "where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty"; liberty for the testimony of Christ in whom dwells all the fulness of the Godhead.
We find the apostles gathered together again in Acts 15:6 to consider a difficulty that had arisen. Difficult questions are wont to arise amongst brethren, such as could easily gender strife and division. But in such circumstances the promise is sure, and still effective for faith, "There am I in the midst of them": and when the matter is considered there is order. Difficulties are expressed freely and cleared in the Spirit of Christ without ill feeling. Peter is the first to speak, and recalls his own experience of the ways of God with him when he hesitated in opening the door of Christian privileges to the Gentile, Cornelius. There were no conditions other than faith, showing that the bringing in of the Gentiles was of God and all of grace. Following Peter, Paul and Barnabas gave an account of the wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles by them. Then James, an elder in the assembly in Jerusalem, sums up the testimonies already given, and adds his own. The authority of the Lord is owned in the midst of His gathered ones, and the Spirit controls to promote His will and give WISDOM and there is unity and peace.
In all these exercises there is continual resource and refreshment. What green pastures and living waters are conveyed in Acts 20:7! When the brethren are gathered together and hearts are at rest around the Lord Himself, there may be uproar outside, but within His love doth bind them "in one fellowship of life." Then together they recall Him, in His presence break the bread. The deep satisfaction of love is His, and theirs. They are gathered together in moral suitability to that peerless Name … on the LORD'S DAY. And as then, so now, for so is the promise to our hearts," For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till He come" (1 Cor. 11:26).
On that COMING DAY, 2 Thessalonians 2:1 tells that our gathering together will still be "unto Him," our Lord Jesus Christ, but in a new sphere. No longer among the twos and threes on earth, but in the clouds, "For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout … and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air" (1 Thess. 4:16-17). Whether here on earth or there, His place is ours, and He remains the Centre and Object of our gathering.
Until that day of glory there will be, to the twos and threes that gather together to the Name of the Lord, the promise of His presence in their midst, the proof of it in POWER, the unfailing PROVISION for the every need of babes, young men and fathers of the divine family. In matters of difficulty here is PERFECT WISDOM in the Person of the Lord and the Spirit He has given us; and on the Lord's Day the PRIVILEGE of the Lord's Supper, when hearts unite in loving response. Soon there will be the realisation of the PROSPECT of His coming again, and we shall enter together with Him into His own place, into the joys of the Father's house, and to dwell with Him through God's eternal day.
Not we alone, Thy loved ones all, complete
In glory round Thee there with joy shall meet,
All like Thee, for Thy glory like Thee, Lord,
Object supreme of all, by all adored.
S. L. Phare.