We will now consider five aspects of meeting.
God has ordained a way of existence for every living creature in this universe. God’s ordination for a creature is the law of existence for that creature. Fulfilling this law enables a creature to survive and be blessed. If a creature does not follow this law, it violates God’s ordination and thus suffers unnecessary loss. God has ordained that chickens live on land, not in water; thus, chickens cannot live in water. God has also ordained that ducks live in water, so ducks cannot stay away from water for long. Furthermore, birds must be in the air and fish in the water. This is God’s ordination. These ordinations are the law of existence for these creatures.
God has also ordained that Christians must meet in order to live or survive. To Christians, meeting is like water to fish or air to birds. Just as fish need to live in water and birds need to live in the air, Christians need to maintain their life by meeting. Once a Christian stops meeting, he is like a fish out of water or a bird that is not in the air. He has no way to survive. Brothers and sisters, once we are saved, we are a person in the church, and we cannot be individual Christians. To be a Christian, we must be one in the assembly, and this assembly is the church. The meaning of the term church is the gathering of the called-out ones. This implies that the nature of the church involves meeting. Without meeting, the church cannot exist, and there will be no church. The life of the church hinges on meeting. Therefore, the church is intimately related to meeting. This is God’s ordination.
We must be deeply impressed with this point. Originally, we were descendants of Adam living in the world. When God called and saved us and we answered His call, He immediately set us apart from the world. God does not desire for us to be individual Christians after we have been set apart. Rather, He desires to gather all of the called ones into an assembly, which is the church. Although we cannot say that meeting alone constitutes the church, we can say that the church is in the meetings. If Christians did not meet, it would be difficult to have the church. Deciding not to meet is almost the same as prohibiting Christians to have the church. Whenever we stop meeting, we are separated from the church. If we do not attend the meetings, we are detached from the church.
The need to meet is according to God’s ordination. We need to meet just as fish need water, birds need air, and man needs to breathe. This is God’s ordination, and it should never be violated.
Every kind of life has its own characteristic or characteristics. The spiritual life that we obtained, the life of God in us, has many different characteristics. Staying away from sin and abhorring sin is a characteristic of this life. Desiring to draw near to God and to serve God are also characteristics of the life within us. Flocking together, that is, assembling, is another characteristic of this life. The life within us wants us to flock together with other believers, to assemble with others. This characteristic demands that we be joined to others instead of being individualistic. Our physical life depends upon drinking water. If we do not drink water, we will be thirsty, but we feel comfortable when we drink water. Similarly, the spiritual life within us has the characteristic of wanting to meet with other Christians, of wanting to flock together with other believers.
In the New Testament, the word flock is the same as assembly. The Lord Jesus said, “I have other sheep...I must lead them also...there shall be one flock” (John 10:16). The flock is the church. A shepherd knows that sheep do not like to be isolated; they like to flock together with other sheep. This is amazing. Sheep do not like to roam about in the mountains and fields on their own. This is a suffering and unpleasant experience. However, sheep feel comfortable and at ease when they are in a flock. Christians are the Lord’s sheep. The “sheep’s” life in us demands that we flock together and assemble. If a new believer does not come to the meetings, he will not have much joy, peace, or comfort. If he comes to the meetings, however, he will have joy within as he sings, fellowships, prays, praises, and worships with the brothers since this is a characteristic of the divine life. Christian meetings are the issue of this inward requirement of life.