It is interesting to realise that Psalm 133 is equivalent to Ephesians 4, and that when we are in the Body and are diligent to keep the oneness of the Spirit, we have the anointing of the Spirit (vv. 3-6); the anointing oil as the compound ointment is a type of the processed Triune God, the all-inclusive compound Spirit (Exo. 30:23-25).
In Psalm 133 we see how Jehovah commands blessing over the brothers who dwell together in oneness. When the saints are in oneness in the local church, the Lord pours Himself out as the blessing upon them.
This oneness is likened to the inestimable goodness of the precious ointment on the head of Aaron the high priest, and to the incalculable pleasantness of the dew of Hermon on the mountains of Zion, for there the Lord commands the blessing, even life forever.
On one hand, the church is a place – the church is the house of God, and the type in Psalm 133 is the mountains of Zion. As the mountains of Zion where the believers dwell together in oneness, the church is under the descending dew, the fresh, refreshing, watering dew which is God Himself as the poured out blessing upon the oneness of the saints.
On the other hand, the church is a person – the church is the Body of Christ, and Christ is the Head of the church; as a person, the church is typified in Psalm 133 by Aaron the high priest, for the church is the priesthood, the corporate body of priests to God and to the Lamb.
As a person typified by Aaron, the church as the one new man is the corporate Christ, and the anointing descends upon the saints dwelling in oneness.
The genuine oneness among the believers is really precious to God, and the psalmist simply says, How good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in oneness.
This genuine oneness is constituted of the spreading ointment and the descending dew, which are both for the gradual building up of the Body of Christ in the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity. How wonderful to see this!
We as believers in Christ meeting on the genuine ground of oneness need to keep the oneness of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace. We need to hold Christ as the Head and live in the Body life so that we may be one and enjoy the application of the ointment, the compound Spirit.
The Lord wants to recover such a church life, the church life in oneness under the blessing of God, where the divine ointment is gradually painting the saints to apply all the divine elements to them and constitute them as one Body in Christ.
The Oneness of the Believers is the Anointing which Mingles us with the Triune God
In Eph. 4:4-6 Paul lists seven aspects of oneness: one Body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father. These are seven aspects showing us that the Triune God is mingled with man to become the oneness of the believers.
There is a mysterious mingling going on – a mingling of the Triune God with the Body of Christ.
In Psa. 133 we see the matter of the oneness being practiced and being under God’s blessing; the ointment is a type of the anointing Spirit, the all-inclusive compound Spirit who is not just the Spirit of God in Genesis but the processed Spirit who was consummated to be the all-inclusive compounded Spirit to anoint the Body of Christ in oneness.
We have been joined to the anointed One, and we are being anointed by God as the Body of Christ; as long as we are under Christ as the Head and live the Body life in oneness in the local church, the compound Spirit reaches us and spreads in our being in a gradual way.
Our oneness as believers is nothing else but this anointing which mingles us with the Triune God to become our oneness. Such a oneness is genuine, for it constitutes us and makes us intrinsically one.
In the world the oneness is basically tolerating one another and accepting one another; however, you can only tolerate so much! The real oneness is the Triune God who is the Spirit today being added to us, permeating us, taking us over, and filling us.
Only the anointing of the Spirit which mingles us with the Triune God is the real oneness. By the Lord’s dispensing of all His divine attributes and human virtues, all the things that we need to strive and maintain the oneness of the Spirit are our portion.
Psalm 133 is equivalent to Eph. 4, for when we’re in the Body and are diligent to keep the oneness of the Spirit, we have the anointing of the Spirit (vv. 3-6).
This anointing is actually the compound Spirit, spoken of in type in Exo. 30 and realised in the New Testament; this compound Spirit is the ultimate consummation of the processed Triune God with the divine attributes, the human virtues, Christ’s death with its effectiveness, and Christ’s resurrection with its power (see Phil. 1:19).
We need to be under Christ as the head and live in the Body life, and we will spontaneously receive the anointing; when we submit to the Head and live in the Body, we enjoy the anointing of the Spirit.
As we enjoy the anointing of the Spirit, we are mingled with God, for all the elements of Christ’s divinity, humanity, human living, death with its effectiveness, resurrection with its power – everything is applied to us and is mingled with us in a gradual way, thus making us one.
Lord Jesus, we take You as our Head and we want to live in the Body life to receive and enjoy the divine anointing and thus be mingled with the Triune God and be made one! We want to be in the Body and be diligent to keep the oneness of the Spirit to have the anointing of the Spirit. Amen, Lord, anoint us with what You are so that we may be more mingled with God and have You wrought into us for the genuine oneness. May there be a gradual daily mingling of God and man going on in us as we take You as the Head and live the Body life, for the producing of the oneness of the Body!
We are Spontaneously in the Oneness as the Processed Triune God is Anointed, Painted, into our being
In Eph. 4:3-6 we see the essence of the oneness of the Body, which is the mingling of God and man; in Psa. 133 we see the application and result of the oneness, which is the ointment (the anointing Spirit) anointing us to make us one and bring us under God’s blessing.
The ointment spoken of in Psa. 133 is not a fast-moving paint or water; rather, the Hebrew word for “ran down” means, being strewn, the oil being scattered and spread, not flowing.
This ointment, the compound Spirit with all its elements, is almost like a solid ointment, and He is applied, strewn over us, like a painting. We are in the oneness that is the processed Triune God anointed, or “painted”, into our being (see 2 Cor. 1:21-22; 1 John 2:20, 27).
The Triune God paints us with Himself again and again until the anointing is constituted into us to become us. The processed Triune God as the compounded all-inclusive Spirit is being painted into us as the divine dispensing.
The spreading of the anointing of the Spirit is the factor of our oneness, it is the good and inestimable oneness that we enjoy!
Day by day as we live the church life in oneness, the ingredients of the divine ointment are being wrought into us – the Triune God is “painting us” with all the elements which He is and has passed through, and the result is that we are one!
Through the application of these ingredients – Christ’s death, His resurrection, His humanity, His divinity, and the effectiveness of His death with the power of His resurrection – to our being, we are spontaneously in the oneness!
This is the real and genuine ground of oneness: the processed Triune God applied to our being. The oneness we have in the church life is not merely agreeing with the doctrine of the ground of the church, nor is it merely being put together by the Lord in the church.
The real oneness is the application of the processed Triune God to our being to mingle all that God is with us, thus producing in us a constitution of oneness, the Body of Christ.
The oneness in the churches in the Lord’s recovery involves the application of the Triune God to our inward being, the anointing of the Spirit being applied to us to mingle us with God.
We are being exposed almost on a daily basis that we cannot be one with our spouse or with the saints; we run out of tolerance and patience very quickly.
We simply need to turn to the all-inclusive Spirit by calling on the name of the Lord and allow the anointing of the Spirit to paint us, adding all the ingredients in the divine ointment to our being.
He is the wonderful Spirit in us – He is ready for us to partake, He is ready to be painted into our being to mingle God with us and produce the genuine oneness of the church, the oneness of the Body.
Lord Jesus, we want to be in the oneness that is the processed Triune God anointed into our being to mingle us with God. Lord, as we live the church life in oneness, may day by day all the ingredients of the divine and mystical compound ointment be wrought into us for the producing of the real and genuine oneness. Lord Jesus, we call on Your name – mingle Yourself with us a little more today! We want to partake of the Spirit, allow the anointing to operate in us, and be mingled more with the Triune God for the producing and keeping of the oneness of the Spirit in the church life!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Minoru Chen for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1979, vol. 2, “The Genuine Ground of Oneness,” ch. 6, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Recovery of the Church (2017 fall ITERO), week 6, Jehovah’s Commanded Blessing of Life on Brothers Who Dwell Together in Oneness.
- Hymns on this topic:
# In us, the ointment is moving, / ’Tis the anointing divine; / God’s precious essence bestowing, / While abiding, abiding in the vine. / Now in the life-flow we’re living, / O how the light in us shines! / Both God and man are at home now / By the mutual abiding in the vine. (Hymns #1162)
# Th’ anointing’s here! The Lord is moving now in us; / The ointment dear to us has been applied. / His blood prevails! It gives to us the fellowship, / And now we have the living flow of life. (Hymns #1118)
# With God’s own essence it anoints me, / God to know subjectively, / That I may have His very element / Fully saturating me. / ’Tis by this inner life-anointing / I in fellowship may move; / In God, the light of truth, I’m walking, / And the love of grace I prove. (Hymns #266)
About aGodMan
Psalm 133 is the key passage in the Old Testament concerning the anointing….[In verse 1 the] dwelling in unity is corporate; there is no barrier or separation. They have cast aside their disunity, jealousy, and hatred….In this condition, they receive God’s anointing [v. 2]. When the oil flows down, those who are under the head will spontaneously receive the oil. Psalm 133 is equivalent to Ephesians 4. When we are in the Body and are diligent to keep the oneness of the Spirit, we have the anointing of the Spirit. We have to come under the Head, and we have to live in the Body before we can receive the anointing….In order for us to receive the anointing, we must submit to the Head and live in the Body….The more we live in the fellowship of the Body, the more we enjoy the anointing of the Spirit. (Collected Works of Watchman Nee, vol. 44, “The Mystery of Christ,” pp. 819-820)
The ointment can be compared to paint, and the anointing to the application of the paint….As all these ingredients of the ointment are applied to us, we are “painted” with the processed Triune God and with all the elements in the compound ointment. The proper church life is a life in the oneness that is the mingling of the processed Triune God with the believers….We are in the oneness that is the processed Triune God “painted” into our very being….Day by day in the church life, all the ingredients of the divine ointment are being wrought into us. Through the application of these ingredients to our inward being, we are spontaneously in the oneness. We find it exceedingly difficult to be divisive or even dissenting. How good, lovely, and enjoyable is the oneness in the church!…We are one spontaneously because we have been “painted” with all the elements of the heavenly “paint.”
The ground of oneness is simply the processed Triune God applied to our being….We are not in a oneness produced by adding together those who believe in Christ. In that kind of oneness it is just as easy to have subtraction as it is to have addition. However, once we have been brought into the oneness produced by the application of the processed Triune God to our being, it is very difficult to have any subtraction….The oneness in the churches in the Lord’s recovery involves the application of the Triune God to our inward being. (The Genuine Ground of Oneness, pp. 297-299, by Witness Lee)
Amen, Lord Jesus…
Thank You Lord for the ointment and for the anointing!
Brother, day by day in the church life all the ingredients of the ointment are being wrought into us, through the anointing we are spontaneously one. Hallelujah!
once we have been brought into the oneness produced by the application of the processed Triune God to our being, it is very difficult to have any subtraction….
Praise the Lord! Preparing our hearts to be nobody for the church life in oneness. Amen