Jewish Christians were facing difficult times and, consequently, difficult decisions. Between thirty and thirty-five years before, Jesus told them that Jerusalem and her temple were going to be destroyed within a generation. When armies surrounded Jerusalem, Jesus’ disciples were to flee the city (Lk 21.5ff.; cf. also Matt 24; Mk 13). But this was their home. They were Jews. Their families would pressure them to be patriotic and stand with them against the invading Roman armies. If they didn’t stand with their countrymen, then they deserved to be persecuted in severe ways.
The time had come when all that Jesus said was coming to pass. Either just before the invasion began or at the beginning of Rome’s campaign against Jerusalem, the epistle to the Hebrews was written. Jewish Christians were warned against apostasy, being encouraged to persevere through these dangerous times. One of the signs of their perseverance in the faith was their continuing to assemble as the church for worship. They are commanded in Hebrews 10.24-25, “And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.”
Surely he can’t mean this. Wouldn’t it be better in this time of imminent danger to lie low, meditate on Scripture privately, pray with the family, but avoid gathering as the church? Why is such a premium put on assembling together that they are commanded to risk their lives to do so? In fact, they are told that if they don’t continue to do so, they are trodding underfoot the Son of God, profaning the blood of the covenant wherewith they were sanctified, and outraging the Spirit of grace (Heb 10.29). Refusing to assemble would be apostasy.
Is this an arbitrary command just to see how committed they are, or is there something more to it?
God doesn’t give arbitrary commands. His commands are good and good for us. So, why is it so important that we assemble together as the church? During our time of lockdown, we Christians have instinctively known that this isn’t the way things ought to be. Is this just a feeling because something changed and we don’t like change, or are there reasons why we know in our gut that this isn’t the way the church is supposed to be?
Your instincts are correct. Assembling as the church is more than just an aid to private devotion; some good but added extra to your real Christian life. Assembling as the church is vital to being a Christian (as Hebrews makes clear).
We are created in the image of a personal, triune God. He eternally exists in three Persons yet is one God. The Persons of the Trinity eternally live in the presence of one another. Unpacking John 1.1, the eternal Word was always “face-to-face” with God the Father. The Father and the Son mutually indwell one another; the Son in the Father and the Father in the Son (Jn 17). The Spirit is, as St. Augustine said, the bond of love between the Father and the Son. The community of God is, we might say, eternally gathered.
Being created in his image, we desire the presence of others. While the Spirit of God binds us together across space, uniting us with heaven and saints around the world, he draws us to be in the presence of others. In order to be truly human, we must gather together. Being recreated in the image of God in Christ as a new humanity (cf. Eph 4.17-24), we assemble in face-to-face meetings. While technology is a blessing that has given us the ability to hear someone’s voice or see his face on a screen, it is not the same as face-to-face. Ask any wife or child who has a husband deployed overseas if the telephone or video-chat is the same as the husband and father being home. Communication technology is a blessing, but it is not sufficient to substitute for assembling.
We also assemble as the church because the church is an assembly. The New Testament word for church, ekklesia, means “assembly.” The church is this group of people marked off initially by baptism and continually by the Lord’s Supper who meet for the purpose of worship. The assembly marks them off from the rest of the world. It can even be said that the church is only the church when it is gathered. We are Christians all the time. We are the church when we gather. When we gather we are collectively the Temple of God, his throne, where he promises his special presence. When we gather as the church is the only time we may share the Lord’s Supper (cf. 1Cor 11.17-18). When we gather, God is enthroned in his Temple to judge. Gathering is what it means to be the church.
Only when we gather as the church can we draw near to God in the way he calls us. Personal prayer, Scripture reading, family worship, and listening to teaching online are all good for your personal health, but they are not the worship of the church. All of life flows from and back into the worship of the church, but all of life is not worship in the same way as when we gather as the church. The worship of the church is where we present ourselves and our dominion-taking work of the week to the Judge who then shares the fruits of our labor with us in a meal. This worship only happens when we gather as the church.
Your Christian instincts are correct. Gathering as the church is vital to your Christian life. This is why pastors and elders must press hard to assemble as soon as possible, even if we must modify some of the ways we gather. Our gathering is an essential service.
