[ZNPaaneah]

One major bone of contention was that two or three are not enough to make important decisions. The “proof” offered by Evangelical of this claim is that there was one meeting in Acts concerning doctrinal issues that had more than two or three (though there were other meetings that only had two or three recorded in the NT that also dealt with doctrinal matters). So the obvious question which was asked repeatedly by Ohio but never answered by Evangelical is “what is the minimum number needed?”

17And he measured the wall thereof, a hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of an angel.

This question is answered in a figure in the New Jerusalem. The wall is the boundary. Everything within the wall qualifies as “the New Jerusalem” and everything outside of it is not. This wall is 144 cubits high, 12 x 12 cubits high. And the cubit (the measure of a man) in this case is the measure of an Angel.

This is a very high standard. 60 blendeds will not measure up. Adding more people will not help you meet this standard. The only thing that meets this standard is the fellowship of the Apostles, the Word of God, Jesus Christ, the chief cornerstone of the foundation. The issue isn’t two or three saints, the issue is that they are “in Christ”. Very often we see those who are standing on sinking sand will think adding the numbers will add to the legitimacy. Jesus did not think this way in Matt 18, Paul did not think this way in rebuking Peter or helping Apollos.

If you want to disqualify gatherings of Christians as not being up to the standard of the church, then the issue is not how many are meeting, but whether or not they are “in Christ”. You might think this is the function of the wall, to separate the New Jerusalem from everything else. However, the wall has 12 gates built into it. Therefore I think it is more accurate to say the function of the wall is to make sure all who enter the New Jerusalem do so by the gates. This is how you enter into Christ.

12 having a wall great and high; having twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels; and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel:

One might be confused that the names on the gates by which we enter into the New Jerusalem are the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. This might seem to be Old Testament, similar to the book of James being written to the twelve tribes in the dispersion. But once again, we can make sense of this with Matthew 18. Joseph could have condemned 10 of his brothers, exposing their sin. His mercy opened the door for them to enter in. For ten of them being shown mercy was their entrance into the kingdom, for Joseph it was showing mercy that gave him an entrance. If he had not shown mercy he also would not have entered in. He would have been vindicated, gotten revenge, but his dreams would never have been realized. Mercy is likened to that pearl that covers the offending sand grain. For Benjamin he also benefited from the mercy shown. If his ten brothers had been excluded, and if Joseph had never realized his dreams, what would be left for him? Our experience in the LRC falls into these three categories. Many sinned and will need mercy. Some have to show mercy. And there will also be a few innocent bystanders, they are not in a position to show mercy, nor do they need mercy, but they will benefit all the same.

21 And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; each one of the several gates was of one pearl:

Also, please remember years later the tribe of Benjamin was almost cut off but for the mercy of the other tribes.