For the recovery and preservation of the genuine, all-inclusive oneness, we must destroy the high places and stay away from division and divisive things.
We have seen that God hates division and apostasy or heresy; division tears down the corporate expression of Christ (the Body of Christ) while apostasy or heresy damages the person of Christ.
Division is all-inclusive, including all the negative things; the genuine oneness is also all-inclusive and comprehensive, including all the positive things. In Psa. 23, a psalm related to the all-inclusive oneness, we are told that goodness and lovingkindness will follow us all the days of our life as we remain in this oneness, and we will dwell in the house of Jehovah for the length of our days.
Hallelujah, when we’re on the genuine ground of oneness in the church life, we enjoy goodness and lovingkindness, and we are in the house of God – which is our mingled spirit (Eph. 2:22) and the church.
In Psa. 36:8-9 we see that, as we enjoy the all-inclusive oneness in the church as the house of the living God, we are saturated with the fatness of God’s house and we are caused to drink of the river of God’s pleasures!
Hallelujah, the Lord Jesus as the reality of all the offerings is our portion and saturates us in God’s house, and we are made to drink of the flowing Spirit!
And the Father is the fountain of life and light, and in His light we see light. In Psa. 43:3-4 we go to the altar of God, to God our exceeding joy; here at the two altars we find our home and we lay our young.
We all are like sparrows, flying to the altar of God, and here we lay our young. When we’re on the ground of oneness with the saints, we find our refuge, our home, and our nest in the cross of Christ.
When we experience the resurrected Christ in His ascension – typified by the golden incense altar – we are accepted by God in such a Christ and we find a home, a place of rest, in the house of God.
Hallelujah, our God is a sun and a shield to us, and He gives us grace and glory (Psa. 84:11); these are our blessings as we dwell in the house of God and enjoy the all-inclusive oneness.
We first enjoy the incarnated and consummated Triune God as our light to supply us with the divine light, and He also is our shield to protect us from the enemy; we enjoy Him as our grace for our enjoyment and as glory for the manifestation of God in splendor.
In Psa. 133 we see a wonderful description of living in oneness under God’s blessing; “how good” and “how pleasant” – there’s no limit to how good and pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in oneness!
When we are in the meetings of the church, we experience the spreading of the ointment, the application of the processed and consummated Triune God to our being to paint us and anoint us with God Himself!
This Triune God being applied to us is our element of oneness. In the local churches we enjoy the dew of Hermon – signifying the descending, refreshing, watering, and saturating grace of life, that is, the processed Triune God as our life supply for our enjoyment.
Here in the genuine, all-inclusive oneness we enjoy the spreading ointment and the descending dew to be the very element of our oneness. Hallelujah!
For the Recovery and Preservation of the All-inclusive Oneness, we must Destroy the High Places
In Deut. 12 we Moses charged the children of Israel to destroy all the high places, all the idols, and all the altars of the pagan nations they will find in the land of Canaan, and even wipe out the name of the idols from those places.
In particular, they were to destroy all the high places, and they had to come to the unique place of God’s choice to worship God.
However, as history shows us, the children of Israel later continued to build up high places where they worshipped, and they were divided.
The one place of God’s choice for the corporate worship of God’s people preserved the oneness, but the high places divided the people.
For the recovery and preservation of the genuine, all-inclusive oneness, we must destroy 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).
As history tells us, a number of kings did what is good before the Lord, yet the high places were not destroyed; it was not easy to remove them, and they became a stumbling block for God’s people and an element of division in the people of God.
In His wisdom God required His people to destroy all the places in which the nations served their gods (Deut. 12:1-3).
To set up a high place is to have a division; hence, the significance of high places is division.
In His wisdom, God required that they come to the unique place of God’s choice; the high places were a substitute and an alternative for this unique place (vv. 8, 11, 13-14, 18).
For us to preserve the oneness of God’s people and for us to recover this all-inclusive oneness, we must come to the unique place of God’s choice, which is the mingled spirit, the name of the Lord, with the cross; here we can have the church with Christ as its Head, center, and everything.
A high place is an elevation, something lifted above the common level; it may not be something very high, but it is something that is elevated and it replaces the unique place of God’s choice for His people to worship Him.
God exalts only Christ; to Him only Christ should be seen, manifested, heard, and expressed, and He gave Christ preeminence over all things (Col. 1:18).
In principle, every high place, every division, involves the uplifting, the exaltation, of something other than Christ. If we exalt anything other than Christ, we have a high place, and we are in division.
If we exalt such things as reading the Bible, having Bible study, having a particular style of praise and worship in the church, emphasizing speaking in tongues and the gifts of the Holy Spirit, or a particular teaching above Christ, we have a high place, and we are in division.
In Christianity many believers live and worship on a high place, for there are many things they exalt above Christ. May we uplift nothing else but Christ, and may no one take the place of Christ – the preeminent place – in our daily living and in our church meetings.
May we return to the genuine ground of oneness and cooperate with the Lord for the recovery and preservation of the genuine, all-inclusive oneness by destroying all the high places.
Lord Jesus, we want to keep the genuine, all-inclusive oneness of God’s people by destroying all the high places, anything that is exalted above Christ. Oh Lord, we pray for the recovery and preservation of this all-inclusive oneness among Your people on earth today, so that You may have a pure, complete, and glorious expression among Your people. May we all return to the genuine ground of oneness and worship You in Your way and at the place You choose. Amen, Lord, we tear down anything that is lifted up above Christ, and we give You the preeminence in all things in our personal life, daily life, and church life!
Seeing the Causes for Division and Destroying all the High Places to Uplift and Exalt only Christ
The high places in the Old Testament times were a substitute and an alternative for the unique place chosen by God to preserve the oneness of His people.
In 1 Kings we see two kings – Solomon and Jeroboam – who took the lead to set up the high places. Solomon was so much used by God to build the best and most amazing temple, the house of God on earth; after he built the house of God and offered numerous sacrifices and prayed to God, the glory of God filled the house of God.
This was a glorious time.
But soon afterwards, as Solomon married hundreds of foreign wives, they determined him to build high places for them, and this became a great stumbling in Israel.
Because of his indulgence in lust, Solomon took the lead to set up high places. In the case of Jeroboam, he was ambitious to have the ten tribes of Israel under his lead, so he set up high places for them to worship.
The high places were related to lust, ambition, and idolatry; all the divisions among God’s people are connected with these three evils.
Whenever we exalt something or uplift something above Christ, even biblical teachings and scriptural practices, we set up a high place and cause division among God’s people.
The high places in the Old Testament are a matter of great significance, for they seriously damaged the ground of oneness among God’s elect.
Once these places were set up, they were not easily removed, even by the good kings (1 Kings 15:14; 22:43; 2 Kings 12:3; 14:4; 15:4, 35; cf. 2 Kings 18:4; 23:8, 12, 15, 19).
The record of the building of the high places under Solomon and Jeroboam has a spiritual significance; it was written for our spiritual instruction (Rom. 15:4-6).
The high places built by Solomon and Jeroboam seriously damaged the ground of oneness (1 Kings 11:7-8; 12:26-33).
In the church life we need to tear down anything that is exalted above Christ and divides us, and we should all be on one level to exalt Christ and Christ alone for the preserving of the genuine, all-inclusive oneness (Col. 1:18; 3:10-11).
The divisions in Christianity are caused by selfishness and ambition (see Phil. 2:21; 3 John 9-10; Rom. 16:17-18; 1 Kings 12:26-33).
Even in Paul’s time, though he had Timothy who was like-souled with him and had his mind, emotion, and will the same as Paul’s, yet many sought their own things, not the things of Christ Jesus.
And in 3 John 1:9-10 we see that John wrote to the church, but Diotrephes – who loves to be the first among the brothers – doesn’t receive him. Oh Lord Jesus!
Many times because of unfulfilled ambition and unforgiven offenses, turmoils rise up in the church life.
If we don’t forgive others but keep offenses in the back of our mind, and if we have natural relationships and preferences, we can be affected by division.
We must see this principle of the high places, realizing what are the causes for divisions, and we must destroy every place other than the church and every name other than the name of Christ! Amen!
May we cooperate with Christ to destroy in us such things as culture, disposition, temperament, habits, natural characteristics, preferences, and religious background with its influence, so that we may be preserved in the genuine, all-inclusive oneness (Gal. 2:20; 5:24; 6:14).
Lord Jesus, save us from all causes for division and keep us in the genuine, all-inclusive oneness in the church life today. Save us from selfishness and ambition. Save us from living in lust and from having ambition for position in the church life. Save us from seeking our own things and not the things of Christ Jesus; we want to be seekers of the things of Christ such as the church with all the saints! Amen, Lord, we want to cooperate with You to destroy any other place than the church and any other name than the name of Christ so that we may be preserved in the all-inclusive oneness!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by bro. Ed Marks for this week, and portions from, CWWL, 1979, vol. 2, “The Genuine Ground of Oneness,” chs. 5, 8, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Deuteronomy, week 10, Avoiding Division, Which Is versus the Oneness That We Keep, and Rejecting Apostasy, Which Is versus the Faith That We Contend For.
- Hymns on this topic:
– To Jerusalem we’ve come, / We are through with Babylon, / We have gathered to be one, / O glory be to God! / Of the teachings we’re bereft, / All opinions we have left, / Spirit from the soul is cleft, / In the local churches now. / Hallelujah! Hallelujah! / We are all in one accord / For the building of the Lord. / Hallelujah! Hallelujah! / We are living in the local churches now! (Hymns #1251)
– We are one in the spirit, by His life we are one, / We have left all divisions, Body-life has begun, / For the Lord broke all barriers, proclaiming, / “It is done.” / We are one in the spirit, yet it goes deeper still, / For this oneness is spreading to our mind, emotion, will, / As we all stand together that His purpose He fulfill. (Hymns #1243)
– Oh, Lord, let our every action, / Everything we do and say, / Come from Thee alone, experienced / In a real and inner way. / We reject the empty teachings, / Leave the methods and the strife. / Let our only way of living / Be the overflow of life! (Hymns #1136)
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