The unique ground of God’s choice is the proper ground of oneness of His people; in the Old Testament this ground was Jerusalem with Mount Zion where the temple was built, and in the New Testament it is the ground of oneness – the one universal church being expressed in many localities standing on the unique ground of one church for one locality. Amen!
God has a people; He has a habitation; He has a unique dwelling place. On one hand He dwells in the heavens above, but on the other hand, He chooses to dwell with man.
Yes, God does dwell in man’s heart and spirit, and He loves to be with those who have a proper spirit and a proper heart.
However, when it comes to the people of God meeting together to worship God, God is not general and broad – He has strict ordinances, and He doesn’t allow His people to meet on the ground they want or in the way they want.
Rather, according to Deut. 12, God chooses a particular place where He puts His name, and there should His people go to worship Him, bring their sacrifices, bring their tithes, and eat them together with God and with one another.
Similarly in the New Testament God has chosen a particular place where He dwells – in the church, and even more specifically, He dwells in our spirit.
When we come together, wherever we may be, we should be gathered into the Lord’s name, in our spirit, and with the cross.
When we meet not according to our preference and choice but according to God’s preference and choice by being in the Lord’s name, in our spirit, and with the cross, we have the ground of the unique oneness.
But if we meet in another name (be it baptist, Pentecostal, anglican, Methodist, independent group, the church of God, etc) and we don’t exercise our spirit or allow the cross to operate in us, we commit spiritual fornication and are part of a division in the Body of Christ.
Throughout the ages the simple and pure revelation of the word of God concerning the unique ground of oneness – the unique choice of God concerning where and how His people should meet – has been lost, and Satan has succeeded to a large extent to bring in division.
It is such a shame to the Lord and a boast for the enemy to have more than one church in one locality!
Especially in big cities on the Lord’s day you see so many believers going to the meeting, but how many stand on the unique ground of oneness, the ground of God’s choice for how and where His people should meet?
May the Lord shine on us and bring us back to the divine revelation in His word concerning this matter, and may He gain in us and through us the people who are on the proper ground and who give Him the worship that He desires.
The Unique Ground of God’s Choice is the Ground of Oneness, Keeping the Oneness of God’s People
The unique ground of Jerusalem – the place where the temple as God’s dwelling place was built on Mount Zion – typifies the unique ground of God’s choice, the ground of oneness (Deut. 12:5; 2 Chron. 6:5-6; Ezra 1:2-3).
God has chosen Jerusalem to be the place of His choice, the place where He put His name; and in Jerusalem He has chosen Zion as the unique location where His dwelling place, the temple, was to be built.
This ground, Zion in Jerusalem, was the unique ground of God’s choice, the ground of oneness.
In the ancient times all the Israelites came together three times a year at Jerusalem; it was by this unique place of worship to God – Jerusalem – that the oneness of His people was kept for generations (Deut. 12:5; 16:16).
How can these twelve tribes – who were spread out throughout the land – be kept as one?
Soon, after they entered into the possession of their inheritance, they will be out of sight and out of mind, losing touch with one another; there may be isolation, fragmentation, and eventually there will be division among God’s people.
So in order for His people to be one and be kept in oneness, God ordained that three times they would come together at this unique spot, Jerusalem, to worship God.
Later we see in Kings that, because the people of God did not worship God but went after idols, they lost this unique ground of oneness, and the oneness among God’s people was damaged.
Jeroboam built two golden calves and put one in Dan and one in Bethel, saying that these are the god who delivered the people out of Egypt.
He became the king of the north taking ten tribes with him; he not only started his own kingdom, but because he didn’t want his people to go up in Jerusalem and worship God, he made two calves for them to worship.
This thing became a sin; people began to worship these calves, and Jeroboam set up his own priests, made a temple, and ordained his own feasts.
He ignored the feasts set up by God and made his own feasts; he ignored the unique place of God’s choice and built up his own worship centers; he put God aside and made an image which the people would worship; he ignored the sacrifices to be made to God and burned his own sacrifices and offered incense on the altar.
Here we see the degradation, the tremendous deterioration of God’s people fully leaving God’s ordination of having one unique worshipping center and worshipping in a way that is fully according to God.
And sadly to say, if we look around in Christianity, this is the situation today: God’s people have left the unique place of God’s choice and have set up their own worship centers, their own worship practices, their own priests, and their own sacrifices to God; therefore, there’s division and not oneness, and there’s barrenness and not blessing.
Today it is very inconvenient and even a suffering for us to go to the place of God’s choice; however, if we pay the price, God will honor that.
We are not here for our own convenience – we are here for the oneness, for the blending, for the one Body of Christ, and for the one new man!
Lord Jesus, we return to the unique place of Worship to God so that the oneness of Your people may be kept! We return to being gathered into Your name, meeting in our mingled spirit, and allowing the cross to operate in our being! Amen, Lord Jesus, we take Your choice to be our choice, and we want to offer You the worship that You desire and in the way that You desire. We give ourselves to You to keep the oneness and be preserved in oneness in the Body!
The Proper Ground of Oneness is the Unique Ground of One Church for one Locality
What is the proper ground of oneness today, in the New Testament age? Do we need to go to a particular place like Jerusalem so that we may keep the oneness?
According to the revelation in the New Testament, the proper ground of oneness ordained by God is the unique ground of one church for one locality (Rev. 1:11).
The church is constituted of the universal God (the church is of God), but it also exists on earth in many localities.
In its nature, the church is universal in God, but in practice, the church is local in a definite place, such as “the church of God which is in Corinth” (1 Cor. 1:2).
When Paul wrote to the saints in Corinth, he said, The Church of God which is in Corinth; “the church of God” means that the church is not only possessed by God but has God as its nature and essence, which are divine, general, universal, and eternal.
“The church…which is in Corinth” refers to a church in a city; yes, the church is universal and of God, but the church is also in a city, remaining in a definite locality and taking the locality as its standing, its ground, and its jurisdiction for its administration in business affairs, which is physical, particular, local, and temporal in time.
We need to be balanced between the two; on one hand the church is of God, having the divine element of God as its constitution, and on the other hand the church is in a particular locality, being physical and local in time.
Our enjoyment of Christ has two aspects: one aspect is individual, and we can individually and personally enjoy Christ in any place.
The other aspect is corporate, that is, worshipping God in a corporate way; if we are to worship God corporately, it cannot be according to our desire but according to God’s ordination.
The place of God’s ordination is the proper ground of oneness, which is the unique ground of one church for one locality.
God has only one church, which is the universal church; this church is of the divine element, it is in resurrection, and it is of Christ.
However, the church is expressed in the many localities on the earth as the many local churches, each local church taking the ground of a locality as boundary.
The church is not merely up in the air, spiritual, in the heavenly places; the church is in a locality, taking the locality as its standing, ground, and jurisdiction. As such, the church is physical, particular, local, and temporal in time.
The universal church is expressed in the many local churches; there was a church in Corinth, and that church was the testimony of Christ.
A local testimony of Christ is a part of the universal testimony of Christ, and the universal testimony is composed of and constituted with the local testimonies.
What a wise God we have! He has a particular way of keeping the oneness of His people – according to the principle set forth in the New Testament, the church is universal and also local, that is, the one universal church is expressed in the many local testimonies of Christ, which are the many local churches, one church in each locality.
On one hand the church is universal and divine, and on the other hand, the church is temporal, local, and particular.
The church is composed of the called saints, the assembly of those who have been sanctified in Christ.
The believers in Christ have been called out of the satanic world and are sanctified in Christ; Christ is our element within and our sphere without.
In 1 Cor. 1:1-2 we see five qualifications for a genuine church: it is the church of God, it is the church in a locality, it is sanctified in Christ, it is composed of the called saints, and it is related to all the saints who call on the name of the Lord.
To be a proper local church on the proper ground of oneness, we need to be in fellowship with and be related with all the saints who call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ in every place around the globe!
This includes all the believers today, those who came before us, and those who will come after us, those who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus in every place.
Without the universal aspect, the church is void of content; without the local aspect, it is impossible for the church to have any expression and practice; the record concerning the establishment of the church in its locality is consistent throughout the New Testament (see Acts 8:1; 13:1; 14:23; Rom. 16:1; 1 Cor. 1:2; 2 Cor. 8:1; Gal. 1:2; Rev. 1:4, 11).
Lord Jesus, we remain on the proper ground of oneness ordained by God, the unique ground of one church for one locality! Amen, thank You Lord Jesus for the one universal church composed of all the believers in Christ regenerated by God with His divine life! Thank You for the local church remaining in a definite locality and taking the locality as its standing, ground, and jurisdiction for its administration! Hallelujah, the church is possessed by God and has God as its nature and essence, and the local church is the local testimony of the one Body of Christ! Amen, Lord Jesus!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by bro. Minoru Chen for this week, and portions from, The Ground of the Church (booklet by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Deuteronomy, week 9, Enjoying Christ with God on the Ground of Oneness.
- Hymns on this topic:
– Hallelujah! The two aspects: / Universal and the local church. / The local ground preserves oneness; / Genuine oneness will be obtained. / One fellowship and one teaching / Throughout the earth, universal / Body expressed, body expressed / Locally. Locally. (Song on, The Church of God—we are the church)
– One Body universal, / One in each place expressed; / Locality of dwelling / Her only ground possessed; / Administration local, / Each answ’ring to the Lord; / Communion universal, / Upheld in one accord. (Hymns #824)
– We are for the Lord’s recovery / Of the local church; / We are for the Lord’s recovery / Of the city and the earth. / Standing on the ground of oneness, / Oneness in the Lord, / We are building up the temple / Of our glorious Lord. (Hymns #1255)
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