This is a great exposition of how personal delight in the saints and God is woven throughout the Book of Hebrews. Psalm 16:1-3 comes to mind, wherin in fellowship with God and his excellypeople is our sole delight, something David associates with counsel (doctrine) that comforts him even in his early morning tossings in bed, and recalls Joshua 1:8, which Paul restates in Colossians 3:16.
I would argue, with the reformers, and from Zechariah 3:10, that this primarily takes place outside the doors of a church building, so that the convocation at "the temple" is a consummation of that ongoing feast outside its doors. This conflicts sharply with our modern assumptions about teaching as feeding, when it should be feasting among a body which is constantly feeding itself through liturgical partnerships, the primary liturgical partnership being marriage and family in God's design, something Bonhoeffer recognized in his "Life Together."
Yet we know from such passages as Micah 7 and Isaiah 24, God's final design is not being lived out yet. That's the other side of Hebrews: chapter 11, which casts the fellowship of suffering into the strange paradox of being together while apart. For some reason, God does decree a diaspora, and division within families for now, that when we finally convene in small gatherings and large convocation, we will be able to ingenuously confess Deuteronomy 32, and fully enter his rest, never again going astray.
I was thinking of Bonhoeffer’s “Life Together” nearly the entire time I wrote this. It is to my shame that I didn’t explicitly reference it. Nevertheless, you are right. This is how God in Christ designed his church to work and function. Thanks for sharing, brother.
This is a great exposition of how personal delight in the saints and God is woven throughout the Book of Hebrews. Psalm 16:1-3 comes to mind, wherin in fellowship with God and his excellypeople is our sole delight, something David associates with counsel (doctrine) that comforts him even in his early morning tossings in bed, and recalls Joshua 1:8, which Paul restates in Colossians 3:16.
I would argue, with the reformers, and from Zechariah 3:10, that this primarily takes place outside the doors of a church building, so that the convocation at "the temple" is a consummation of that ongoing feast outside its doors. This conflicts sharply with our modern assumptions about teaching as feeding, when it should be feasting among a body which is constantly feeding itself through liturgical partnerships, the primary liturgical partnership being marriage and family in God's design, something Bonhoeffer recognized in his "Life Together."
Yet we know from such passages as Micah 7 and Isaiah 24, God's final design is not being lived out yet. That's the other side of Hebrews: chapter 11, which casts the fellowship of suffering into the strange paradox of being together while apart. For some reason, God does decree a diaspora, and division within families for now, that when we finally convene in small gatherings and large convocation, we will be able to ingenuously confess Deuteronomy 32, and fully enter his rest, never again going astray.
I was thinking of Bonhoeffer’s “Life Together” nearly the entire time I wrote this. It is to my shame that I didn’t explicitly reference it. Nevertheless, you are right. This is how God in Christ designed his church to work and function. Thanks for sharing, brother.