This thought of blending is very strong in the Bible, both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. In the Old Testament we see that the meal offering had to be of fine flour mingled with oil (Lev. 2:4) – the flour had to be thoroughly blended with oil, mingled with oil – the unleavened bread! This is why Paul had the ground to say in 1 Cor. 10:17,
Seeing that there is one bread, we who are many are one Body; for we all partake of the one bread.
The church is like a bread, a cake, made of fine flour mingled with oil. This fine flour comes from wheat grains (which is us) and the many wheat grains come from the unique grain, Christ!
The Lord said that He is the grain of wheat falling into the ground to die and bring forth many grains (John 12:24) – we are His reproduction, His multiplication, His increase! Christ died on the cross and, in His resurrection, He produced many grains – which is us, His believers! We as the many grains are being grounded together, blended together, into the fine flour used for making the cake / meal offering / bread.
In the church life, we are being grounded together through all our interactions and fellowship, and the Spirit as the oil is being added to us through the exercise of our spirit!
The more we fellowship and coordinate by firstly exercising our spirit, the more we’re being “grounded to dust”(no more distinctions, nothing that stands out about ourselves) and we’re mingled with the Spirit – the divine oil anoints us, blends us, and makes us one in the divine life! This is one aspect of the building and the blending of the Body of Christ in the church life.
On the other hand, as I was reading through this precious book called, The Practical Points Concerning Blending (by brother Witness Lee), I realized that there is a question that we all need to answer before the Lord and before the whole universe – something that we need to be honest before the Lord about. This question is,
Am I in the reality of the Body of Christ today?
We may say that since we’re in the church, even in the local church, we’re in the Body of Christ – which is true, according to Eph. 1:22-23. Theoretically and in fact, we are members of the Body of Christ, saints in the local church.
But what about the REALITY OF THE BODY OF CHRIST? What about being blended in reality with the other saints and built up with them into the Body in such a way that we’re “part of the whole”, fully grounded, blended, and built up?
Many Christians may have the term “The Body of Christ” and also the doctrine related to the Body of Christ – but did they touch the practicality and the reality of the Body of Christ?
When we are honest with the Lord about this, we will see that we may not be too much into the reality and practicality of the Body – we know and enjoy MORE about what the Body is than we are in its reality.
Yes, we are in the local church, and yes, we are part of the church – but as we all know, we’re in the local churches as the procedure to bring us into the Body of Christ which consummates the New Jerusalem!
We are in the local expression of the Body of Christ so that we may be ushered, or brought into the reality of the Body of Christ! How much we need the Lord to shine on us regarding this, how much we need to be exposed before the Lord regarding our real condition, and how much we need to be brought into the reality of the Body of Christ!
Saints, we need to be in the reality of the Body of Christ today so that we may be in the manifestation of the kingdom when the Lord returns!
Lord, bring us more and more to see the reality of the Body of Christ! May we know the Body not just in doctrine but also in reality! Build us, Lord, with other saints! We don’t want to remain the same – we don’t want to remain untouched, undealt with, and distinct from others! Save us from remaining individualistic persons – work Yourself into us and bring us to the point where we’re built-up saints! Lord, blend us and build us up into and as the reality of Your Body on the earth!
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