JULY 01 – GATHERED TOGETHER!

“Then God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so” (Genesis 1:9).

During creation, at the beginning of the third day, God gathered the waters together into one place and in the same way, He creates churches by assembling together all the people who are baptised with water. The Lord added those who were saved, to the church on daily basis. The light which was created on the first day became the symbol of Salvation. On the second day, the water and the firmament became the signs for the baptism and for the life of the most high respectively. In the same way, the gathering of waters remains a sign for the church.

God commands that the believers should not roam about on their own will but should gather together and remain united. The Scripture describes Christ as the head and the church as the body. You have to unite with the church which God has earned through His blood and join with the children of God found there. The Psalmist says, “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity” (Psalm 133:1).

The Spiritual fellowship is very much essential for the children of God who have been saved. The Scripture says, “…not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another…….” (Hebrews 10:25). During the days of the early Apostles, the churches got strengthened in faith and grew as God kept on adding the saved ones into them. The believers grow in number as the harvest of souls is carried out. The churches grow as the believers grow in number. The Kingdom of God is built on the earth as the churches grow in number.

Firstly, the name ‘congregation’ came upon the children of Israel who had been delivered from the captivity of Egypt. They were the ones chosen and kept separated by God. They are the inheritance and portion of God. Similar to how drops of water join together to form a stream, the believers rose as families to form divine churches. How glorious the scene of Israelites advancing together in lakhs and lakhs would have been! They walked handsomely as divine army and divine church.

In Hebrews 12:23, we read as “…the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven”. Dear children of God, you have joined with the believers all over the world and have been united by Spirit as a general assembly. What a glorious thing it is for you to be seen as the body of Christ!

To meditate: “He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish” (Ephesians 5:27).