Why is it important to "not give up meeting together" (Hebrews 10:25)?

We are told in Hebrews 10:24-25 to "Consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together." By associating with other Christians we stir up each other unto love and good works and in attending Christian meetings our souls are fed together and built up in the faith. When two or three gather together unto the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, He is there in their midst (Matt 18:20), and special blessings are obtained thereby which strengthen and develop the new nature. Therefore fellowship in the light with other Christians is vital for the Christian life.

"Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another; and so much the more as ye see the Day approaching." If there is decline in the fresh, honest energy of drawing near to God, a corresponding laxity will soon appear in the desire for the gathering together of the saints. How sad that this is such a tendency in a world that supplies every inducement to forget God. One may feel himself strong enough spiritually without the need of constant gathering in fellowship with the people of God: but this very feeling is a sad sign of spiritual weakness, for which he deeply needs such assembling to the Name of the Lord. Indeed, if he is strong, he should use his strength for the encouragement of others. Or if one should give in to his own feelings of discouragement because of lack of outward public blessing, he is only encouraging the discontent and selfishness of his own heart and of others. The Lord preserve us in His mercy, to hold fast that which He has given us, and not to give up because of the trial of faith. Indeed, let us go further, and diligently exhort one another in this regard, and more urgently as we see the Day approaching. How should we feel if the Lord should come immediately after we had decided to give up a wholehearted walk with Him in fellowship with saints?

It is a serious consideration to read "forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the custom of some is in such proximity to apostasy. But so it is. The habit is not only unworthy of Christians but perilous. It is to neglect, if not to despise, one of the greatest means of edification and comfort. It is indifference to the fellowship of saints. It is independence and slight of His presence who not only loves us but is pleased to be in our midst for blessing ever fresh and growing. Are these privileges of little account in opened eyes and to ears that hear? Then weigh what follows in the light of "the day drawing near," when motives as well as ways will be laid bare. Little as the beginning seems to some, it is the beginning of a great and possibly fatal evil. "For if we are sinning willingly after we received the full knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more a sacrifice for sins." Giving up any assemblage which has the Lord's sanction for ease, or private reasons which are not imperative duty, may embolden many if not all to give up, and so end in callous contempt and fleshly self-indulgence.

Nor were the gracious activities of personal charity to be their only care. It is in the assemblies of His saints that God is more abundantly glorified, when the once-purged worshippers present, with unity of mind and voice, their adoration to the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ. By assembling together they acknowledged openly their common hope before the world, as well as to each other. In the priestly ministry of Jesus there was made a gracious and adequate provision for the faultiness and poverty of their corporate worship. As the Minister of God's true sanctuary, He delights to render, in the acceptable fragrance of His own perfections, the prayers and praises of His people here below. He bears the iniquity of their holy things. But from the beginning of the Gospel, impediments to genuine social worship have abounded. Satan abhors it, and has not ceased to labour for the hindrance, and, if possible, the prevention, of a practice which, when faithfully observed, affords the most effective testimony to the truth which he desires to destroy (John 17:21; 1 Cor. 14:23-25). The chief practical obstacle to Christian fellowship is natural selfishness. While our thoughts are upon heavenly things, and our hearts are filled with Him who is the substance of our promised hope, we are disposed instinctively for fellowship with those who are partakers of like precious faith. But because spiritual worship is a thing of faith alone, the counteractive working of the natural will is at all times ready to weaken and degrade it. A true sense of common danger as well as of common blessing, draws together those whose desire is toward the living God. A sense of personal weakness, when combined with simple trust in Jesus, impels the sheep who know His voice to flow together to their appointed place of safety and refreshment (Matt. 18:20). But when faith, through lack of exercise, becomes enfeebled, and human motives, as a natural consequence, begin again to govern the believer in his ways, he will have less interest in these demonstrative expressions of the common joy. Pretexts might easily suggest themselves to one who only looked to Jesus as his ultimate escape from wrath, of weight enough to justify him in a more private and exclusive walk. This was early exemplified in the Church of God. Already a systematic absence from all social worship was the manner of some (verse 25).

Nothing, however, but danger to themselves, as well as dishonour to the Lord, could come of this. It was an evil thing to sever practically what God had joined in wisdom as well as mercy. They needed one another. The hope which lived within them as a new-born thing amid the inveterate and hostile tendencies of their old nature, had need of cheer. The path of pilgrimage was dangerous, and they were committed to each other's keeping by the way. The feeble-minded had a brother's claim upon the stronger and more settled saint, who, in his turn, where God was duly owned, might derive fresh vigour from a seasonable word of doctrine. All stood in need of helpful exhortation. None more so than they, who, from what motive soever, proved habitually wanting to the social assemblies of the holy brethren. Those who kept in memory the nature of their calling, and saw in each succeeding sun a token of the coming day, would feel increasingly, as the day drew on, the need of wakening each other's expectation, and of preparing one another to behold the Saviour's face without one feeling of regret. To please Him was their present opportunity. To be found of Him in peace, should be their one desire (2 Peter 3:14).

"Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is" is a word of first importance. It is necessary for our mutual prosperity in spiritual things; we have not been born of God to be independent one of another, and if we are to hold fast our confession we must assemble together, and consider and exhort one another, and provoke one another to love of good works. All that is true, but behind it all lies the delight that God our Father finds in seeing His children caring for another and delighting in one another's company. And such is the delight of the Lord Jesus, the Son of the Father, when His brethren are gathered together, that He will not, cannot, remain away from them. He has said, "Where two or three are gathered together in my Name, there am I in the midst of them, " and where He is there the Father is also.

Societies must gather together if they are to continue to exist. Suppose the members of a Society lost all interest in each other and in the object for which the Society came into being and ceased to gather together, it would at once die out, and we who belong to Christ's own Society must not cease to gather together—“Forsake not the assembling of yourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as ye see the day approaching” (Heb. 10). We may feel that enthusiasm for the name and interests of Christ is on the wane, but that must not affect us except to brace us up to persevere and hold fast. We must be like those of whom Malachi speaks, who feared the Lord and spoke often together of Him. Of such gatherings God took notice, and a book of remembrance was kept in heaven, and I believe that God keeps the Register of the Society of which I am speaking, and He marks the attendances of the members of that Society when they gather together to speak of the Lord, as those who are His representatives in the world. We know that the assembly of Christ cannot die out or be destroyed, for the gates of hell cannot prevail against it (Matt. 16). Yet if those who form that assembly ceased to gather together it would be a misnomer to call it a fellowship.

We are told to consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession; in Galatians we are told to consider ourselves, lest we be tempted; and here it is our privilege to consider one another, to stir up to those activities that are the fruit of the divine life. One practical effect of this love and good works is seen in the next and last verse: "Not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together, as the manner of some is." You will remember, when the two disciples turned their backs upon Jerusalem to go to Emmaus, that they sorrowed as they spoke of Jesus and His sufferings; and when the Lord Jesus drew near and talked with them, their hearts burned. But when they came to the house and entreated Him to remain with them, and He in breaking bread revealed Himself to them, what do you find is the practical effect of it? Immediately they retraced their steps to Jerusalem to meet their brethren. They went back where they knew they would meet them: Christ was before their eyes again. It was not a past Christ, so to speak, but a present Christ in resurrection who had revealed Himself to them; He was before their souls, and they go back to their brethren to bear their testimony, The Lord is risen, and to hear from them the same blessed word.

And so, if Christ fills the soul, the effect of it will be to draw us together. We read in the early part of Acts that they were with one accord in one place. With one accord they continued in prayer; everything was done with one accord. What was the reason? Christ touched the chord in their hearts, and it rung responsive in every heart that loved the Lord Jesus. We are not drawn together because we have similarity of taste in natural things, or are in the same circumstances of life, or have the same education, or the same nationality, or anything of that sort. What is it draws the saints of God and holds them together? It is Christ, and Christ alone. Thus we see how fitting it is that when the sanctuary and the Priest are before us, the exhortation comes in not to forsake the the assembling of ourselves together.

Why, some one says, is there any need of such an exhortation, "As the manner of some is?" There is a tendency even in the heart of those who know Christ, if they grow cold, to separate and remain apart. This we see in Thomas. He was not with the disciples at the first. It was only when they bore witness that Christ indeed was risen that his heart is kindled and he comes back, even in his doubt, to have his doubts removed by the Lord Himself. If we grow cold, or worldliness comes in, if anything obscures Christ from our vision, the manner of some is to turn away from the fellowship of saints. Thus we need that exhortation. Let us take it as an index of our state of soul that if we do not love to meet with the people of God, if we do not love to come together for prayer, for exhortation, and, above all, for remembering our blessed Lord, it shows He has not the supreme place in our souls; let us judge the root of it, and come back at once.

As we are thus gathered and united together, there is abundant ministry by the Spirit through the word of God for all our souls, and thus we can exhort one another, stir one another up, point out the needs and apply the word of God to one another; and so much the more as we see the day approaching. Those saints whose eyes were anointed could say, The end of all things is at hand. They knew that Christ had appeared in the end of the world; that soon the day would come when His enemies would be placed beneath His feet; and as they saw that day approaching, they stirred one another up all the more. What shall we say, then, we who live centuries later? How much nearer is that day for us! And as we see it approaching — with no terrors for us — how it ought to draw us away from the world toward which we are tempted to wander, to dwell in fellowship with our God, and the privileges of the sanctuary!

And now he exhorts, "Let us consider one another to provoke unto love and good works." All this time the eye has been upon Christ. We have been occupied with the glories of the sanctuary, the nearness of our position, the wondrous privileges which are ours. We have looked forward as to the future, and been exhorted to hold fast the confession of our hope; and now comes in the place for our fellow-Christians. Notice it is at the close, not at the beginning. You cannot get your salvation from your fellow-Christians, nor your assurance: you cannot get your liberty of worship from them, nor your perseverance to the end. The eye must be fixed simply and ever upon Christ for all these things; and after you have all that in your soul, settled there by the Spirit of God, you can direct your eye to your brethren. For what purpose? To see if you can find their inconsistencies? — how much better you are, or more faithful? Ah, the Spirit of God never helps in work like that. We are not to consider one another to find out the faults, nor that we may see wherein this one or that one has failed, but in order that we may provoke to love and to good works. God desires to see us stir up one another — not provoking to anger, envy or strife, or malice, or discontent, but to provoke unto love, and good works.

400 The "day" spoken of here is not the catching up of the church, but the appearing. The more the day approaches, the greater the difficulty of assembling ourselves; but the exhortation is to be found assembling as plain evident Christians. It is not said to hear a sermon, but assembling ourselves. The way of God's working is not only to make Christians, but to gather together in one the children of God scattered abroad. This is not to be fulfilled in the millennium. There will be different nations then, though they will come up to worship; and in the Old Testament times there was one particular nation, but no gathering together in one - it applies now. Church authority is not what is meant. It is not faith, but assembling ourselves together-is faith. Not of man's will, but Christ's, who, through His death, has a church or assembly that is not of the world, and that is manifested by our assembling together.

As Christ’s return draws near, we are also to be marked by assembling together. There is often much said about the individual path today; but, my beloved brethren, the more you are right individually the more you will seek to gather together with the saints of God, with those who have redemption in Christ. If you are getting slack about assembling with those that love our Lord Jesus Christ now, let me say, you are not only disloyal to Christ to whom you belong, but you are in for trouble if you go on. Pull up, and say, “I am going that road no longer,” and get into touch with those that love the Lord, and call on Him out of a pure heart; encouraging one another as they see the day of His coming draw near. There is a blessed word about our gracious God Himself. It says this “He is the God of all encouragement.” He does not discourage anyone who seeks to do His will. This is cheering for those who desire to be God-like, who seek to encourage those who love our Lord Jesus Christ. If ever there was a day when encouragers were needed it is today. So many are discouraged; and we need to be in the spirit and power of that word. Our God is the God of all encouragement. As we see the day approaching, assembling together and encouraging one another are also present practical effects of the blessed hope.