The second principle of meeting is that we must meet in resurrection as the Lord’s brethren. 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 tell my brethren.” 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 brethren. The Lord said, “Go tell my brethren,” not “Go tell my disciples,” not “Go tell 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 thy name unto my brethren in the midst of the church...”
We know that when Thomas saw the resurrected Lord, he said, “My Lord and my God!” In a sense that was good. You may admire his saying, but if Thomas were clear and bold, he would say, “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, “Thomas thrust your hand into my side”? This would not be the attitude and appeal of one who came as Lord and God. This was one who came as our Brother.
But we must realize that we are not His brethren in our old nature; we are His brethren 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. But 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 do 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 they that have not seen and yet 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 brethren 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 brethren in resurrection. We do have a standing for us to meet with Jesus: it is the standing of the brethren of Christ in His resurrection.