Hebrews 10 - 25 - Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves

Hebrews 10:25
Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves
By Brother Mike (6-4-17)

Heb 10:25 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 .

Many people use this verse to say that we should still be going to church. They say that we should not be forsaking the assembling of ourselves together in a church. But, we respond by saying, first of all, that the church age is over (see Why leave all churches , The End of the Church Age... And After , Wheat and Tares , Has The Era Of The Church Come To An End? and The Final Tribulation for a complete exposition). Second, we respond further by showing that Hebrews 10:25 is not teaching that we should not neglect the assembling together as a local church, but rather that we should not neglect our individual assembling unto the Lord. We read in Hebrews 10,

25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together . . .

In this verse, the word together in the statement, Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together is not found in the Greek, and the word church is not even found in this verse. Therefore, our verse can be translated like this:

25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves . . .

Furthermore, the only other place that this word assembling takes place in the Bible is in 2Thessalonians 2:1 where we read,

2Th 2:1 Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together [assembling] unto him [Christ] . . .

In this verse, the word assembling is translated as gathering together, and it is not just any old gathering together, but it is a gathering together unto Him [Christ]. And, because this verse in context is telling about our gathering together unto Him in the rapture, it is not saying that we first gather together and then we are raptured unto Him, but, instead, we are individually raptured one by one from all over the world, and, as a result, we are gathered together unto Him. So, our word assembling carries with it the idea of assembling unto the lord one by one from all over the world.

Now, if we apply this meaning of the word assembling found in 2Thessalonians 2:1 to our verse in Hebrews 10:25, then, when we are told to not forsake the assembling of ourselves, it means that we are not to forsake the assembling of ourselves one by one unto the Lord from all over the world. That is, we are not to stop individually coming to the Lord in prayer, worship, and the reading and study of the Word of the Lord. It is not teaching that we are not to forsake going to church - for the church age is over and all the Christian churches have already been forsaken - but that we are not to stop individually coming to the Lord in prayer, worship, and the reading and study of His Word even though it is no longer to be accomplished through a local church.