We have seen that the first mention of the meeting of believers in the New Testament is in Matthew 18:20. The Lord Jesus told us here that where two or three are gathered together in His name, there He will be in the midst. It seems that most Christians know this. Many Christians today say they are meeting in the name of the Lord Jesus, but what does this mean? What does it mean practically? What does it mean actually? What is the reality of meeting in the name of the Lord Jesus? We Christians are familiar with so many Biblical terms, but when we are checked as to the real meaning of these terms, we cannot answer. We know the terms by reading the Bible, by reading so many scriptural and spiritual books, and by listening to so many messages, but if we are asked to define these terms, we cannot. If you asked me what it means to meet in the name of the Lord Jesus twenty-five years ago, I would have to answer, I do not know, I cannot tell.
There is a principle concerning all the revelations in the Bible: firstly we have the seed of that revelation, then the growth, and then the harvest. The revelation concerning the truth of Christian meetings has its seed in Matthew 18:20. This is the seed—to meet in the name of the Lord Jesus. But what does this mean? We cannot find the answer in the four Gospels; we must go on to the book of Acts.
In the book of Acts we see two vital matters. One is the name. When Peter on the day of Pentecost addressed the people, he told them they must be baptized in the name of Jesus. If they would be baptized in His name, they would receive the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38). So, the name of the Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit are the two matters that we see brought together in the book of Acts. If we go on to chapter nineteen of this book, we find a handful of believers meeting in the city of Ephesus. They had not been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus, and Paul instructed them to be baptized in His name. When they were, they received the Holy Spirit. The name and the Spirit go together in this book time after time.
Now we will pass from the book of Acts to the Epistles. In all the Epistles we cannot find a verse telling us that we must meet in the name of the Lord Jesus, because to meet in His name is but the seed of meeting. In the book of Acts we have the growth of meeting, and in the Epistles we have the harvest. First Corinthians 14 is almost the only chapter in all the Epistles dealing with the way for Christians to meet. What is stressed in this chapter is not the name, but the Spirit. Concerning the truth of Christian meetings, to be in the name of the Lord Jesus is the seed, to be in the name of the Lord to receive the Holy Spirit is the growth, and to be in the Spirit is the harvest. Thus we see that the name of the Lord Jesus is very much linked with the Holy Spirit. Without the Holy Spirit, there is no reality of the name of the Lord Jesus. We say that the name of Jesus is powerful. But what is the power of the name of Jesus? The Holy Spirit. All the power and reality of the name of Jesus is in the Holy Spirit and is the Holy Spirit.
Now let us see a few more verses which prove that the Holy Spirit is vitally related to the name of Jesus. John 14:13-17 says, “And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask anything in my name, I will do it. If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever; even the Spirit of reality; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.” By reading these verses together, we obtain the context of all these words, and we see that the reality of the Lord’s name is in the Spirit and is the Spirit. The Lord Jesus for the first time told us to ask for something in His name. Following this, He told us that for this purpose He would ask the Father to give us the Spirit. Without the Spirit, we could never ask in the name of the Lord Jesus. Thus, the reality of the Lord’s name is the Spirit. The reality of anyone’s name is his person. The Person of the Lord Jesus is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is just the Lord Himself (2 Cor. 3:17). He Himself is the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45). So, the Holy Spirit, as the Person of the Lord, is the reality of the Lord’s name. Therefore, to meet in the name of the Lord means to meet in the Holy Spirit.
In the Gospels we have the matter of meeting in the name, but in the Epistles it seems that the Apostles forgot all about the name. But no, they did not forget. They knew, but they were in the harvest, they were in the Spirit, the reality of the name. Therefore, in the Epistles the Apostles tell us that we must meet in the Spirit. Between the Gospels and the Epistles we have the book of Acts. In the Acts we see how this matter has progressed from the seed to the harvest; therefore, the name and the Spirit are brought together.
Now let us read John 14, verse 26: “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name...” The Lord tells us here that the Holy Spirit will be sent in His name. What does this mean? Suppose I promise to give you some money, but eventually I just give you a check. You will realize, of course, that this check is the reality of the money I promised you. The Lord Jesus promised to give us something in His name, and what He gave us was the Spirit. The Spirit is the reality of His name. He did not say that He would leave His name with us, a name just in word, just as a term. If so, there would be no reality, no power. Jesus is an English word with five letters. Are these five letters powerful? No. Then what is the power of Jesus’ name? The Spirit. If you do not touch the Spirit, you can never touch the power of His name. If you are not in the Spirit, you are not in His name, you are not in the reality of the Lord Jesus. This is why, when we come to the harvest of the truth in the Epistles, we come to the Spirit. There is no need to speak about the name, because this is not the stage of the seed, but the stage of the harvest. Now we have the Spirit; so we meet in the Spirit. When you put my check in the bank, immediately you get the money.
In 1 Corinthians 12:3 we read, “No man can say Lord Jesus, but in the Holy Spirit” (literal Greek translation). When you say, “Lord Jesus,” then you are in the Spirit. When you call on the name of Jesus, you are in the Spirit. You call “Lord Jesus” and you get the Spirit, because the Holy Spirit is the reality of Jesus. If you called, “John,” you would not get me, because I am not John. John and I are not one, and I am not the reality of John. But now the Holy Spirit is the reality of Jesus; so whenever you call “Jesus,” Hallelujah, you get the Spirit. Do you see? The reality of meeting in the name of the Lord Jesus is meeting in the Spirit. The name is just the seed in the earth, but now we have the harvest because we have the Spirit. We must all realize that the real meaning of meeting in the name of the Lord Jesus is to meet in the Spirit. When we are in the Spirit, we are in the name. In 1 Corinthians 14 the Apostle Paul said not a word about the name, but just the Spirit, because the Holy Spirit is the very reality, power and essence of the name of Jesus. We must be in the Holy Spirit in order to be in the name of Christ. This is quite clear.