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.
But to know something is one thing, and 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 70 A.D., 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 attend 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 advised him, “You see, brother, how many Jewish believers there are who keep the law and observe the rituals of the old religion. We advise you 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 (John 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.