The Local Church must be a Testimony of the Reality of the Body of Christ in Oneness

The tabernacle typifies God’s church on earth, the church of God in the localities, whereas the temple signifies the church as the reality of the Body of Christ; we love the local churches as the precious procedure for us to be brought into the reality of the Body of Christ as the glorious goal of God’s economy! Amen!

We need to advance with the Lord day by day both personally in our growth in life and corporately in our experience in the church life.

We need to advance from the tabernacle church life to the temple church life.

In the Old Testament, we see that the tabernacle was a movable tent, mainly for the people of Israel as they journeyed through the wilderness.

But the temple was more solid, with foundations and stones, and it was much bigger and more enlarged than the tabernacle.

We need to ask ourselves what kind of church life we have and where are we in our experience of Christ.

Are we still wandering in the wilderness of our soul, striving to eat a little of Christ in the morning as our manna, or are we in the good land labouring on the riches of Christ?

Are we carrying out a floating church life with no solid foundation, or is the church life as solid as the built-up temple, more enlarged than the tabernacle?

Are we simply struggling every morning to get a portion of Christ so that we may live through the day, or are we walking in a spacious land full of unsearchable riches for our enjoyment?

We should not look at others or at those around us to examine them; we need to examine ourselves under the Lord’s light and allow Him to shine and expose us, even to lead us on in the church life.

The Lord within us is aspiring and desiring that we all as His children would advance and go on with Him to a more solid church life, so that He may gain the reality of the Body of Christ in and among the local churches.

We may sense dissatisfaction with where we are and discontentment with where the local church is; this dissatisfaction is not ours only but it is also the Lord’s.

The Lord within us is aspiring to have the temple church life in the good land, a more solid and enlarged church life, even an uplifted and renewed church life that will eventually consummate in the New Jerusalem.

We need to be led out of the wilderness of the soul and into the good land of our spirit, out of merely living in the flesh and being carnal like the saints in Corinth were to be spiritual as those in Ephesus were.

This is not to negate the wonderful aspects of the church life or the excellent saints that we meet with; the Lord in His mercy brought us into the lovely and wonderful church life, but we need to advance with Him and arrive at His goal.

God’s goal is not only the local churches; He doesn’t want only to gain many local churches on earth – He wants to gain the reality of the Body of Christ in and among the local churches.

The Local Churches are the Precious Procedure to Bring us into the Reality of the Body of Christ as the Glorious Goal of God’s Economy

The local churches are wonderful; we praise the Lord that He has brought us into the local churches where we can eat Christ, drink Christ, breathe Christ, and express Christ with all the saints.

However, the local churches are not the goal of God’s economy.

The local churches are typified by the tabernacle in the Old Testament, whereas the temple signifies the church as the reality of the Body of Christ (Eph. 1:22-23; Rev. 21:10-11).

The local churches are God’s precious procedure to bring us into the reality of the Body of Christ as the glorious goal of God’s economy.

The goal is the reality of the Body of Christ, which is the living out and working out of the New Jerusalem.

We all love the Lord and we love the local churches, but we need to realize that God is not merely after many local churches but the reality of the Body of Christ.

This is why He is blending the Body together, giving honour to members who seem to have less honour, and giving gifts for the perfecting of the saints so that these perfected saints would function in their measure for the building up of the Body of Christ.

We are in the local churches for the fulfilment of God’s economy, and His goal is to gain the reality of the Body of Christ.

We may be in the church in Pergamos, Thyatira, Laodicea, Philadelphia, etc but the goal is the reality of the Body.

In all the local churches the Lord is calling for the overcomers, those who overcome anything negative and live in the reality of the Body of Christ for the fulfilment of God’s goal.

On one hand, the Lord delivered us from the mixture, confusion, degradation, and religion in Babylon, and He brought us into the local churches.

On the other hand, just as the children of Israel who returned from Babylon to Jerusalem had to rebuild the temple, so we today are building up the church as the Body of Christ and we want to live in the reality of the Body of Christ.

If we don’t have the local churches, if we don’t meet as the church in the locality where we are, there is no way for God to have a precious procedure to bring in the glorious goal of His economy, which is the reality of the Body of Christ.

But merely meeting in the local churches on the ground of oneness is not enough; we need to go on and arrive at the highest peak, the reality of the Body of Christ.

We need to ascend to mount Zion, build the temple church life, and be in the reality of the Body of Christ in our daily living. It is one thing for us to be in the church and it is another thing for us to be an overcomer.

What the Lord is looking for is not many Christians who live in the local churches but many who overcome the degradation of the church and are constituted as members of the Body of Christ living in the reality of the Body of Christ.

May we allow the Lord to work in us and among us, and may we cooperate with Him to be prepared to be His bride, the wife of the Lamb, so that we may be raptured when He returns, bring in the kingdom with Him, and reign with Him in the millennium.

We should not be discouraged when we look at ourselves and our situation but rather, we should set our eyes on the Lord, the One who has already overcome and who now lives in us.

He was the first God-man, the unique Overcomer, and He can live in us a normal Christian life to make us His overcomers who live in the reality of the Body of Christ. Amen!

The goal of God’s economy is the church, the Body of Christ; we are in the church – this is a fact, but where is the reality of the Body of Christ?

We treasure the local churches, but we treasure them for the purpose of being brought into the Body of Christ in reality. We need the local churches so that we may be brought in, ushered in, the reality of the Body of Christ.

Lord Jesus, thank You for bringing us to the local church on the ground of oneness for us to enjoy Christ with all the saints! Hallelujah for the splendid church life where we grow in life, enjoy and experience Christ, and function in a normal way for the building up of the church! Amen, Lord, we give ourselves to You today to live in the reality of the Body of Christ in and among the local churches. Gain in us what You are after. Gain us as Your overcomers today. We turn to You as the unique Overcomer in our spirit: produce us as Your overcomers today. Amen, Lord, we treasure the local churches as the precious procedure to be brought to the glorious goal of God’s economy! Bring us into and make us the reality of the Body of Christ so that we may be the constituents of the bride of Christ which will bring You back with Your sweet and wonderful kingdom!

The Local Church must be a Testimony that Expresses the Reality of the Body of Christ in Oneness

It is important for us to see that there are two main aspects related to God’s habitation, as seen with the tabernacle and the temple.

On one hand, the tabernacle is transitory and wandering, signifying that the local churches are here being transitory as the precious procedure for God to obtain His glorious goal.

The tabernacle moved as the people of Israel travelled, but it did not change with the location it was in.

The church is on earth, in the many localities, expressed as the many local churches; there is one church, but there are many local churches as the expression of the one universal church.

When the genuine believers in Christ come together on the ground of oneness acknowledging the Body of Christ, that is the church, and there is one church in the whole universe.

The temple, however, was different from the tabernacle; it was built in a more solid way, and it was for the kingdom.

The temple was the centre of the life of the people of Israel. The temple is unique, eternal, and solid, and even though the nation of Israel was divided politically, the temple could not be divided.

Similarly regarding the church, there is one church, and this one church appears in different localities, and the spiritual reality of the church is still one Body.

The unique ministry has a work, which is to recover the proper testimony of the church.

Our work today is not something ordinary; it is a work for the church and in the church, and it should be something that builds up the Body of Christ.

The unique ministry is for God’s unique testimony, and God’s unique testimony – the reality of the Body of Christ – is realized in the local churches (Exo. 25:22; 38:21; Rev. 1:2, 9; Eph. 4:4; John 16:13).

If we want to see what the Body is and how it works, we need to read 1 Cor. 12; here we see the testimony that a local church should have (vv. 14-18, 20).

The testimony of the church is the testimony of the Body, for every local church must be a testimony that expresses the reality of the Body of Christ.

In 1 Cor. 12 we see two erroneous concepts: despising our function because others’ is bigger and better than ours, or despising others’ function because we think our function is bigger and better than ours.

The ear cannot say that, because it is not an eye, it is not of the body, for if the whole body were an eye, where would the body be?

Similarly, an eye cannot say that it doesn’t need the ear, for all the members of the Body are intimately and organically needed in the Body. When an ear functions, the whole body functions.

We cannot think or say that we don’t need the other members; we need the other members of the Body and the other members need our function and portion.

On one hand, we should realize our need for the other members’ function, and on the other hand, we should function relatedly in the Body.

The church exists for the testimony of oneness; when we refer to the “local church”, our emphasis is on the church and not on the local-ness, the local aspect of the church (John 17:11, 21, 23; Rev. 1:10-12).

The life that the churches possess is a life of oneness, the testimony of the church is oneness, and the church should express the reality of the Body of Christ.

The testimony of the reality of the Body of Christ is God’s final recovery – the recovery of God’s eternal economy with Christ being everything to us, with the oneness of the Body of Christ, and with all the members of His Body functioning (1 Tim. 1:3-6; 6:3-5; Heb. 13:9; Eph. 1:17; 3:2, 8-11, 16-21; 4:1-6, 16).

God has many things He wants and needs to recover, and one of the final ones is this, the reality of the Body of Christ as the testimony of the local church.

Watchman Nee, toward the end of his public ministry, said that it may be that God’s final recovery is Eph. 4:12-16, the fulfilment of the functioning of all the members in the Body in oneness for the reality of the Body of Christ.

Witness Lee toward the end of his ministry was also speaking on the reality of the Body of Christ, and the matter of prophesying was recovered for all the saints to enter into their function and speak for the building up of the Body of Christ.

Now we all can prophesy, one by one, and the church life is like a round-table dinner where we all partake of the rich Christ in many aspects by functioning to share our portion of Christ with the saints.

May the Lord have a way to recover the testimony of the reality of the Body of Christ among us, and may we be those who live in the reality of the Body of Christ for God to gain His glorious goal.

Hallelujah, God is today recovering the reality of the Body of Christ as the testimony of the church! Amen, Lord, we open to You; keep us in the recovery of God’s eternal economy with Christ as everything to us, with the oneness of the Body, and with all the members functioning! We love You, Lord, and we love the local churches; take us on with You in the church life until You gain the reality of the Body of Christ among us. May we all grow in life unto maturity, remain in the oneness of the Body, and function in our measure for the building up of the Body of Christ. Make us Your overcomers, those who care for the fulfilment of Your goal by living in the reality of the Body today! Amen, Lord Jesus, we love You! Make us the normal Christians, the overcomers, those who live the reality of the Body of Christ in the local churches today.

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Ed Marks in the message, and portions from, Collected Works of Watchman Nee, vol. 57, “The Resumption of Watchman Nee’s Ministry,” chs. 4-6, 20, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-study of 1 and 2 Kings (2022 summer training), week 6, entitled, Going on with the Lord from the Tabernacle Church Life to the Temple Church Life for the Building up of the Body of Christ as the Temple of the Living God.
• Further reading on this topic:
  – A practical testimony of oneness (via, an open letter).
  – The oneness of the Body of Christ and the local ground of the church (via, The Crucial Points of the Major Items of the Lord’s Recovery, by W. Lee).
  – The Church on the Ground of Oneness (via, Holding to Truth).
  – Principles Concerning the Lord’s Table in View of the Oneness of the Body of Christ (via, a faithful witness).
  – Assailing the Ground of Oneness (1): the Genuine Ground of the Church According to the Teaching and Practice of the New Testament (via, shepherding words)
  – A practical expression of the Body of Christ – the church in Berlin, see the about us page, and the church in London, UK, their about us page.
  – Enjoying Christ with God on the Ground of Oneness – a YouTube video.
  – Coordination for the Reality of the Body of Christ (via living to Him).
  – Find a local church near you – see the map, and fellowship with the saints, via, Local Churches.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – The churches are the Body / Of Christ on earth today. / They are His testimony, / That He may have a way. / They are the golden lampstands / In cities far and wide. / They are His fighting army, / And His beloved Bride. / The churches, the churches, / Upon the earth today; / Lord, stir our hearts for Thy desire, / And build us, oh, build us, / Lord, we pray. (Hymns #1265, 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)
  – Lord, to know Thee as the Body, / Is my desperate need today, / Oh, to see Thee in Thy members, / ’Tis for this I long and pray. / No more just to know Thy headship / In an individual way, / But to see Thee incarnated, / As the Body-Christ, I pray. (Hymns #1225, stanza 1)