For us to keep the oneness among the people of God, we must destroy the high places, that is, anything that is elevated or exalted above Christ and therefore divides us; anything besides the church with Christ needs to be destroyed so that Christ may be our all in all. Amen!
It is very interesting to see that both Jeroboam, who was an evil king, and Solomon, who was a good king, took the lead to build the high places.
All the kings after Solomon that were introduced in 1 and 2 Kings had some things about them – some were evil, some were good, but most of them did not destroy or tear down the high places.
The fact that these two books mention the high places so much, the very high places that the Lord commanded His people to destroy when they enter the good land, is very significant.
Solomon built the high places because of his lust; his wives turned his heart toward their idols, and in order to please them, he built the high places.
Jeroboam built the high places because of his ambition; he wanted to keep the ten tribes of Israel as his kingdom, so he set up two idols as different worship centres from the one in Jerusalem, and he made a house of high places.
All these matters are very significant to us in our Christian experience. We need to destroy any high place.
Anything that is elevated above Christ and distinguishes us from others, anything that causes us to divide ourselves from others, has to be destroyed. Christianity today is full of high places.
If you only step into a so-called “church” today you will see that there is at least one particular thing that is elevated, something that causes them to be distinct from others. Oh, Lord Jesus.
The root of all these high places is not merely a particular doctrine or a good Christian practice that a certain group has recovered; it is ambition, lust, and division.
It is actually the enemy who works this through the believers who are gifted and take the lead, and who do not deny themselves nor do they destroy the high places so that only the church with Christ would remain.
May the Lord have mercy on us today in the church life that we would not have high places but rather, we would exalt only Christ, worship only Christ, and eat only Christ for the building up of the church on the genuine ground of oneness.
May the Lord have a way to recover among us and in us the genuine ground of oneness so that He may have a way to gain a built-up church for His satisfaction, for the fulfilment of HIs heart’s desire.
Learning to Exalt only Christ and Destroy anything that Replaces Him or is Elevated above Him
The account in 1 and 2 Kings concerning the building of the high places (see 1 Kings 11:7-8; 12:26-33; 13:33-34; 14:22-23; 15:14; 22:43; 2 Kings 12:2-3; 14:3-4; 15:3-4, 34-35) has a spiritual significance.
The record of the building of the high places under Solomon and Jeroboam in particular has a spiritual significance; it was written for our spiritual instruction (Rm. 15:4-6).
We need to ask ourselves if we have any high place that we build, anything that is above Christ or besides Christ that we treasure and build up and which divides us from the other members of the Body.
In the church life, we should not have any high place; instead, we should all be on one level to exalt Christ (Col. 1:18; 3:10-11).
The only One that can and should be exalted in the church is Christ. It is not this or that prolific writer, it is not this or that doctrine, and it is not any particular way of singing or worshipping God.
We all are on one level, and the only One who is elevated, exalted, and emphasized is Christ.
We need to learn to exalt only Christ and destroy anything that replaces Him or is elevated above Him.
If we look at the situation in Christianity today we will see that every group, denomination, and “church” or “mega-church” has something particular about it, something in particular that they elevate besides Christ and makes them unique and distinct from others.
Some may emphasize Bible study; Bible study is not evil, but emphasizing Bible study to the uttermost so that everyone in the church is in a “Bible study group” or else they are not part of the church, this is elevating the matter of Bible study.
We in the church life find pray-reading very helpful; we love to take the word of God by means of all prayers and petitions (Eph. 6:17) for the word becomes spirit and life (John 6:63) when we read and pray over it.
However, if we elevate the matter of pray-reading and insist on the practice of pray-reading in the meetings, we make such a wonderful practice as pray-reading something that is elevated and exalted instead of Christ.
If we elevate pray-reading, we will make pray-reading a cause of division. Oh, Lord Jesus!
May we all learn to exalt only Christ and elevate nothing and no one else besides the Lord Jesus!
Only He should be exalted. Only He should be given the first place. Only Christ should have preeminence.
Anything that we build up or elevate besides Christ seriously damages the oneness of God’s people.
Any high place, even those at which genuine sacrifices are offered, causes damage to the ground of oneness.
Many Christians offer genuine sacrifices of praise to God on the high places in Christianity today; they genuinely intend to worship God, but they are in a division.
We may have a genuine sacrifice, we may bring our tithe, and instead of bringing it to Jerusalem, the unique place of God’s choice, may bring it to Dan or Bethel, where the golden calf is.
God does not accept proper and genuine sacrifices that are not offered in the place of His choice.
May we bring the proper sacrifices to God in the place of His choice and according to the way ordained by Him, and may we exalt only Christ, holding to the church with Christ and leaving anything else that may be elevated or exalted besides Him.
Lord Jesus, we want to learn the spiritual lessons from Your word and exalt only Christ and nothing else. Lord Jesus, we give You preeminence in all things. We do not want to elevate anything or anyone above You! Save us from elevating such good practices as pray-reading and calling on the name of the Lord above Christ. Save us from bringing genuine sacrifices to God in a high place, not the place chosen by God. We return to Your word, Lord, and we stand on the divine revelation in Your word. May Your word limit us, guide us, and keep us in the path ordained by You. May we be those who keep the oneness of the Body by worshipping God in the unique place of God’s choice, in God’s way, and with the sacrifices that He desires.
We must Destroy Every Place, Name, and Image other than Christ and we must hold to the Church with Christ to keep the Oneness
In Deut. 12:2-3 Moses tells the people of Israel to destroy the places, the images, and the names of the idols and idol worship places of the nations they would dispossess in the good land.
Spiritually speaking, we must destroy every place other than the church and every name other than the name of Christ! Amen!
This means that we need to hold to and exalt only the church with Christ, and we must cooperate with God to destroy anything besides Christ and the church.
We must destroy things such as our culture, our disposition, our temperament, our habits, our natural characteristics, our preferences, and our religious background with its influence (Gal. 2:20; 5:24; 6:14).
Anything and everything that damages the genuine oneness, whether it is from our natural man, our background, our zeal for God, and even scriptural practices need to be destroyed.
This doesn’t mean that we need to tell others that they need to destroy their religion or religious beliefs and practices; it means that we, as we see the Lord’s light concerning the genuine oneness, should cooperate with the Lord to destroy anything besides the church with Christ.
We need to consider before the Lord if there is any particular practice or system that we have set up in our Christian life and church life which makes us distinct, special, and not able to be built up with others.
In order to fulfil the word in Col. 3:11, where Christ is all in all in the new man, every other place must be utterly destroyed.
We must destroy everything that is not the church with Christ. Instead of exalting something or someone, we should simply be in the church life enjoying Christ as the riches of the good land (Deut. 8:7-9; Eph. 3:8).
The church life has been weakened because of the lack of willingness of the saints to destroy the high places (1 Kings 15:14; 22:43). Oh Lord!
What about our church life, our experience of Christ in the church life for the building up of the church?
Did we allow anything or anyone besides Christ to be exalted, and thus our church life has been weakened?
In our human life and culture, there are many places that remain, that need to be destroyed.
We must destroy them all and then go to the unique place of God’s choice, the church (Gal. 5:24; Matt. 16:18).
Christ is building only one thing today: His church; against this built-up church, the gates of Hades shall not prevail.
The gates of Hades attack the church, but they will not prevail.
The most damage that the gates of Hades do to the church is not from outside through things such as persecution but from the inside, from within the believers, from our lack of willingness to be dealt with by the Lord.
In every place that is to be destroyed, there is a dedicated pillar, a symbol, or an image; in our character or disposition, there may be such pillars, symbols, or images that must be destroyed.
In the church there CANNOT be anything other than Christ – Christ must be all in all (Col. 1:18, 27; 2:2; 3:11).
![The ground of oneness is deeper, richer, higher, and fuller than [one city, one church]. We all must learn that in this universe God has chosen only one place, and that place is the church. God requires us to go to this place He has chosen. Spiritually speaking, we must destroy every place other than the church and every name other than the name of Christ...We must destroy everything that damages the oneness of the one new man. The church with Christ is the unique place of God’s choice. In order to fulfill the word of Colossians 3:11, every other place must be utterly destroyed. We must destroy everything that is not the church with Christ. Then we will simply be in the church life enjoying Christ as the riches of the good land. As we enjoy Him with God, we will be planted in the house of the Lord, we will grow, and we will flourish. This is the proper way to have the Christian life and the church life. This is the ground of oneness. CWWL, 1979, vol. 2, “The Genuine Ground of Oneness,” pp. 288-289](https://i0.wp.com/www.agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/The-ground-of-oneness-is-deeper-richer-higher-and-fuller-than-one-city-one-church-683x1024.webp?resize=450%2C675&ssl=1 "The ground of oneness is deeper, richer, higher, and fuller than [one city, one church]. We all must learn that in this universe God has chosen only one place, and that place is the church. God requires us to go to this place He has chosen. Spiritually speaking, we must destroy every place other than the church and every name other than the name of Christ...We must destroy everything that damages the oneness of the one new man. The church with Christ is the unique place of God’s choice. In order to fulfill the word of Colossians 3:11, every other place must be utterly destroyed. We must destroy everything that is not the church with Christ. Then we will simply be in the church life enjoying Christ as the riches of the good land. As we enjoy Him with God, we will be planted in the house of the Lord, we will grow, and we will flourish. This is the proper way to have the Christian life and the church life. This is the ground of oneness. CWWL, 1979, vol. 2, “The Genuine Ground of Oneness,” pp. 288-289")
We must be careful in our meetings not to exalt any name above Christ.
We may appreciate a certain brother who cuts straight the word of the truth, and we may quote him often; we need to be careful to not exalt anything but the church with Christ.
We may prefer one brother to another brother, and we may think we get more help from the speaking of one brother while we almost ignore the portion of another brother.
This may not seem to be a big problem, for we’re still here in the church life, but our preference and exalting someone above the others may be a high place that weakens our experience of Christ in the church.
The church with Christ is the unique place of God’s choice.
Just as Paul did, we need to destroy, repudiate, put aside, and consider as dung anything that seems to be an achievement or success in the world or in religion, and we need to destroy anything that is exalted in our being above Christ.
If we enjoy Christ in the church life, holding to the church with Christ, we will be planted in the house of the Lord, we will grow, and we will flourish.
This will cause the church as the Body of Christ to be built up in a proper way.
This is the proper way for us to have the Christian life and the church life, and this is the ground of oneness.
Lord Jesus, we hold only to the church with Christ and we exalt nothing and no one else. We simply want to enjoy Christ with the saints in the church life on the genuine ground of oneness. We are one with You, Lord, to destroy any place, image, or name that is exalted above Christ in our being and experience. Oh Lord, we just open to You concerning our culture, disposition, temperament, habits, natural characteristics, preferences, and religious background with its influence. May anything that damages the genuine oneness be destroyed and may only the church with Christ remain! Keep us enjoying Christ as the riches of the good land in the church life with all the saints! Lord Jesus, we love You, we give You the first place, and we exalt only You!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Ricky Acosta in the message, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1979, vol. 2, “The Genuine Ground of Oneness,” chs. 4-5, by Witness Lee, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-study of 1 and 2 Kings (2022 summer training), week 11, entitled, Apostasy, the High Places, and the Recovery of the Genuine Ground of Oneness.
- Hymns on this topic:
– Not I, but Christ be honored, loved, exalted, / Not I, but Christ be seen, be known and heard; / Not I, but Christ in every look and action, / Not I, but Christ in every thought and word. / Oh, to be saved from myself, dear Lord, / Oh, to be lost in Thee, / Oh, that it may be no more I, / But Christ that lives in me. (Hymns #591 stanza 1 and chorus)
– Oh, the church of Christ is glorious, and we are part of it— / We’re so happy that the Lord has made us one! / There’s a Body in the universe and we belong to it— / Hallelujah, for the Lord has made us one! / Hallelujah for the Body! / We are members of the Body! / We are wholly for the Body! / Hallelujah, for the Lord has made us one! (Hymns #1226 stanza 1 and chorus)
– The Father we would glorify, / Exalting Christ the Son, thereby / The meeting’s purpose satisfy / That we exhibit Christ. (Hymns #864 stanza 8)
About aGodMan
The ground of oneness is deeper, richer, higher, and fuller than [one city, one church]. We all must learn that in this universe God has chosen only one place, and that place is the church. God requires us to go to this place He has chosen. Spiritually speaking, we must destroy every place other than the church and every name other than the name of Christ. This means that we must destroy our culture and religious background… Perhaps you had a religious background in a particular denomination… The places that we must destroy include our disposition, temperament, and habits. We must destroy everything that damages the oneness of the one new man. The church with Christ is the unique place of God’s choice. In order to fulfill the word of Colossians 3:11, every other place must be utterly destroyed. We must destroy everything that is not the church with Christ. Then we will simply be in the church life enjoying Christ as the riches of the good land. As we enjoy Him with God, we will be planted in the house of the Lord, we will grow, and we will flourish. This is the proper way to have the Christian life and the church life. This is the ground of oneness. Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1979, vol. 2, “The Genuine Ground of Oneness,” pp. 288-289
In the church there cannot be anything other than Christ – He must be all in all, and anything that is exalted besides Him needs to be torn down and destroyed.
May we cooperate with the Lord to destroy anything that is not the church with Christ, and may we simply be in the church life enjoying Christ as the riches of the good land.
Blessed are the Pure in heart for they shall see God Matthew 5v8.
The scriptures were written for our instruction, endurance and encouragement that we may have hope.
But we need to be in the Word for the Word has the ability and the power to destroy the places, the idols. the names, our temperament, habits and disposition by applying the Cross to our flesh. This is our responsibility.
The old man has been crucified this is a fact but experientially Romans 8v13 is our responsibility by the Spirit.
To live a simple Church life, we must destroy everything that is not the Church with Christ.
may we learn that in the Church only thing is exalted that is Christ, and may we be those destroy the high places in our being that is anything else that we have exalted highly.
things like disposition, culture, religious, temperament and habit can all be high places which can hinder us from keeping the oneness.
may the Lord have mercy on us to shine on us these places so that we can cooperate with him
We must realise that what happened with Solomon and Jeroboam in the Old Testament, has spiritual significance for us.
If we have any high places set up in the church – arising from lust or ambition – then these must be destroyed!
Our Christian life and church life must simply be a matter of enjoying Christ as the one who is all and in all! O Lord!
No-one or anyhing – including our religious background, disposition or culture and even a Bible study or the practice of pray reading should be elevated above Christ!
Ameeen brother!
O Lord help us to destroy everything that damages the oneness of the one new man.
Amen brother.
The things in the Old Testament were written for our spiritual instruction today.
We must learn not to elevate anything other than Christ. God has chosen only one place of gathering and that place is the local church.
We must spiritually destroy every place other than the local church and every name other than Jesus.
Also, we must tear down our culture, religious background, our disposition, temperament & habits.
In brief, we have to destroy everything that is not the church with Christ.
Amen, brother I was enlightened that as soon as we deviate or are distracted or substitute the way of God, spontaneously we raise up a high place and exalt something other than Christ!
Even spiritual things can become a high place!
Yes, we love you Lord Jesus! Keep us from any additional things. We need you. You are more than enough. Help us to be wise in the Church’s life so that we can magnify only and only you Lord!
Amen Lord make us those who elevate and exalt nothing and nobody exept Christ!
Amen, In the church life, we should not have any high place; instead, we should all be on one level to exalt Christ (Col. 1:18; 3:10-11).
May we all learn to exalt only Christ and elevate nothing and no one else besides the Lord Jesus!
Only He should be exalted. Only He should be given the first place. Only Christ should have preeminence.
Anything that we build up or elevate besides Christ seriously damages the oneness of God’s people.
Any high place, even those at which genuine sacrifices are offered, causes damage to the ground of oneness.