Matthew 18:18 Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
19 Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.
20 For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.
I have often seen verse 18 quoted with the preceding verses, and verses 19-20 quoted as a promise of Jesus’ presence when we pray with others.
But there is more to it when we consider the three verses together.
Every single time “two or three have gathered together in My name” (verse 20) a Conclave has convened. Call it, if you will, an Executive Council, a Territorial Tribunal, a Dominion Caucus….a Parliament of Heroes!
You cannot read the resulting impact of the convening of the ekklesia – hell assaulted, binding and loosing, etc. – and not see the heroic actions of people taking their stand as agents of the will of God on earth. When we assemble, we become the “Son of David’s” Mighty Men.
Matthew 18:18-20 enunciates the legislative protocols by which rulership is expressed.
The principle of “two or three” is as fundamental to the ekklesia as it is foreign to church. An ekklesial understanding of authority only requires more than one to assemble to compose a “body” of legislators capable of rulership. In an ekklesial paradigm, small is the new big.
An excellent example can be seen in the very first miracle after Pentecost (worked by a decree of two members of the
ekklesia) and the immediately following events in
Acts 3:1 to 5:41. They were arrested and put in prison, but in the prison they were still a Conclave of two, and the angel delivered them, and as the Son of David’s mighty men they were out again preaching the Name of Jesus. Once again they were arrested and beaten, warned and released. When they returned to the other believers, they acted like the mighty men they were. They didn’t pray for protection, but for boldness to preach in Jesus’ Name, and for miracles to follow. And in answer to the conclave’s prayer decree, the Holy Spirit immediately fell on them in a Second Major Outpouring, confirming that He was pleased with their decision.
Another example of the power of two can be seen in the Philippian jail in Acts 16:25-34.
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