The Son of God in Church

Matthew 18:20  For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.

This presence of Jesus Christ in the midst of the gathering of his church is not just omnipresence as we normally conceive of it.  It is a special presence by which he makes himself present "in the midst of the church" when we gather in his name.  He is a Person, and he is really there.  We have company.  Or, rather, we have come into His company.  This is not just the presence in our hearts that we always carry with us.  This is his special presence in our gathered worship.  He is "in the room with us," in the Temple of his Church.  It is like Isaiah in the Temple, but only seen by faith:

Isaiah 6:1  In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple.  Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.  And one cried to another and said: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory!"  And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke.

Or, John on Patmos:

Revelation 1:12  Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands,  and in the midst of the seven lampstands One like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band.  His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes like a flame of fire;  His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace, and His voice as the sound of many waters;  He had in His right hand seven stars, out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and His countenance was like the sun shining in its strength.  And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. But He laid His right hand on me, saying to me, "Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last.  I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death."

We are all familiar with how we behave in the court of civil authority, all sitting so quietly, hearing the bailiff say "All Rise" as the judge comes in, seeing the judge's robe, and his commanding presence, the deference and orderliness of the attorneys (and defendant) in their suits, the ritual and process of court business, the seriousness, the oaths, the testimony of the witnesses, ... and hearing the Verdict.

Knowing how we respect God's civil authority, how much more should we be filled with awe, gratitude and joy, in gathered worship in the gracious court of God's Presence, where we meet our Lord literally among us and hear him speak his Word through his servants, where we confess our sins to him and receive his forgiveness and teaching, where we glorify him as he showers his grace upon us, and where we present to him our offerings of gratitude as he feeds us with Himself at his table!