He that is not with Me is against Me, and he that gathereth not with Me scattereth. Luke 11:23
The Bible gives us two great accounts involving tongues. The first, in the 11th chapter of Genesis, occurs as the people in the years after the flood reach the plains of Shinar and determined to built a tower that would reach to Heaven. The purpose of such a project was ‘lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth’ (Genesis 11:4). Did their project work? Of course not. Babel was man’s attempt at unity. And God cursed that attempt with languages (tongues) that nobody could understand (Genesis 11:7). God also had a unity project, called Pentecost. God blessed that project with languages (tongues) that everybody could understand (Acts 2:6). These two tongues events – Babel and Pentecost – demonstrate what the Lord Jesus was saying in today’s text.
There are plenty of examples of Babel all around us, attempts by men to gather people according to their ideas and contrary to God’s. Religiously, the denominations attempt to gather people around themselves, and nothing good comes of it. In fact, the denominations and religions attempt to gather themselves together in compromise and confusion. Consider the World Council of Churches, a hodgepodge organization that describes itself as ‘seeking unity, a common witness, and Christian service’, whatever that is supposed to mean. Consider also various ecumenical events at which participants include imams from the satanic religion of Islam, priests from the blasphemous religion of Catholicism, and ministers from the modernistic social fluff of most Protestant religions. While these organizations and events produce a measure of bringing together people of varying ideas and positions, they always and eventually drag people away from the truths of the Scriptures and from the God of the Bible. Like Babel, these gatherings produce nothing but confusion and destruction.
In contrast to the gatherings of men, with their impressive numbers and their flashy programs, the gatherings of God are relatively small – often tiny – and attract little or no attention from the world. When we quote Matthew 18:20, we recognize that it is God Who gathers His people unto the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is not something that attracts the world, or religion, or even most of the so-called evangelical circles of religion. But it should attract those who seek the truth of the Word of God. If we will allow the Lord Jesus to gather us, we will delight in the gathering, and be more than willing to share in the gathering. We will rejoice in the preaching of the Gospel and in the teaching of the truths of the Scriptures to those who are saved.
A wonderful privilege we have today is to know the truth of gathering with the Lord Jesus. This privilege is denied to those who reject this great eternal truth. – Jim MacIntosh