Being the Remnant of God’s People who Return to the Ground of Oneness to Build up the Church

The Lord’s desire is that all His people would return from any captivity and build up His dwelling place; however, it is only a remnant that returns, and this remnant builds up the church and prepares a way for the Lord’s coming.

In Jeremiah we see not only how the people of Israel have forsaken God and went after idols, and how God chastises them and punishes them by allowing the Babylonians to come and destroy Jerusalem and the temple and take them into captivity; what we also see is God’s promise and prophecy to return them to the land and to Himself.

The people of Israel are the greatest collective type of the church; what happened to them also happens to us in reality, and if we look at Christianity today, we will see that so many believers are scattered, in confusion, in division, and full of mixture.

God’s desire is to have a group of people on the ground of oneness built up as His corporate expression, His dwelling place; where is such a group of people today?

So many of God’s people are in denominations, in religion, and in all kinds of free groups in Christianity today.

May we be like Daniel today, those who seek the Lord in His word, see God’s desire in the Word, join ourselves to His desire, and pray for God’s desire to be carried out.

May we realize that, even though God has a heart’s desire to bring His people back to the place where He chose to put His name so that they may be His habitation, He still needs our cooperation in prayer.

Daniel didn’t just read the book of Jeremiah and gave praise to God that He will do it; rather, he repented on behalf of his people, he confessed his people’s sins, and he reminded God of His promise to return His people and His desire to have a dwelling place in Jerusalem.

God determined that He would have the church built up, and for this He needs many local churches as the genuine local expressions of the universal Body of Christ; these local churches are the procedure through which God in Christ builds up His corporate expression on earth on the genuine ground of oneness.

If we see this, we need to pray and ask the Lord to gain so many of His dear believers who love Him, seek Him, and desire Him, yet they are in the many denominations and divisions in Christianity today; we need to pray for them, and we need to remind God of His desire to recover so many to return to the proper ground to build up the church.

Daniel even challenged God; he told God that, for the sake of His testimony, for the sake of His people, He has to return His people to the land.

May we be so one with the Lord according to His word that we even challenge Him to increase the local churches with men like a flock so that He may obtain the shining golden lampstands and the overcomers that will bring Him back!

Being the Remnant of God’s People who come back to God’s Original Intention to have the Church

In Jeremiah God promised and prophesied that He will return His people after seventy years of captivity and that He will gather the remnant of His flock out of the lands where He had driven them and bring them to their pasture, and they would be fruitful and multiply (Jer. 23:3).

However, if we look at what happened in history, according to the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, we can see that very few people of Israel returned to the land.

After the seventy years of captivity, God came in to call the children of Israel to return from Babylon to the Holy Land (Jer. 25:11); however, when God called them, very few responded.

The majority of God’s people remained in captivity, and only a remnant returned.

Those who returned – there was a first wave with Zerubabel with no more than fifty thousand people, then some further waves of return with Ezra and Nehemiah – were small in number; they were a remnant of God’s people.

In a sense, God doesn’t need everyone to return: only those whose spirit has been stirred up will return, and as long as there’s a remnant of God’s people to return, the work of regaining the land and rebuilding the temple can be done, and God will establish His kingdom and He can come to the earth.

Only a small number came back to the chosen land; those who returned to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple were the remnant of God’s people (Ezra 1:3; 2:1-67).

The Lord’s recovery today is in the principle of a remnant; we are small in number, small and few, but God has stirred our spirit up, and He has seen fit to return us to the good land and bring us out of captivity.

God promised that His people would return to Jerusalem after seventy years of captivity in Babylon (Jer. 25:11; 29:10); in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah a remnant returned according to this promise.

If we look at ourselves in the church life, we may think that we are not so many people, we are not so strong, and the number is not too big or prevailing; however, we are in the principle of the remnant.

In the Lord’s recovery today we are a remnant of God’s people who have come back to His original intention while so many genuine and dear believers are still scattered and remain in captivity (Psa. 126:1-4).

The great, huge, majority of God’s people – His spiritual people, the believers in Christ – are not in the Lord’s recovery but are scattered about, still in a condition of captivity; they are in Catholicism, in Protestantism, and in so many denominations and free groups, in a condition of scattering, division, and captivity.

How we thank the Lord that, as members of the Body of Christ who have come back to the original ground of oneness, we stand here as the remnant of God’s people because He has shown us mercy and He has brought us here.

In the church life in the Lord’s recovery we are NOT better, stronger, more beautiful, people or believers; we are just God’s children, some of God’s people, who have received the Lord’s mercy and, through His sovereignty, we have seen the vision, the promise, and were led by Him to come back to the genuine ground of oneness to be the testimony of God.

By the Lord’s mercy we have come back to the ground of oneness and we have forsaken division and confusion; we are here for the oneness of the Body of Christ, and we stand as the remnant of God’s people in the Body.

In the sense of being able to build up the church, the position is important; our condition may not be too good (just as the condition of those who returned was not that good), but as long as we are in the right position, we can receive God’s grace, His blessing, and His presence, and we are qualified to build up the church.

The majority of Christians, however, remain in captivity; only a small remnant have returned to the proper ground for God’s building (Deut. 12, 5, 11; 16:2; Psa. 132:13-14).

We are here not only to meet on the ground of oneness but also to do a work of building the house of God and the kingdom of God for Him to have His expression and His kingdom on the earth.

Thank You Lord for showing us mercy by bringing us back to the genuine ground of oneness to build up the church as the corporate expression of God. We acknowledge that we are not better, more spiritual, or stronger than other believers; we are only part of the remnant of God’s people who have returned to God’s original intention and stand on the ground of oneness in the Body to build up the church as the house of God and the kingdom of God. Oh Lord, how we thank You and praise You for bringing us in the church life in the Lord’s recovery, out of division and scattering and confusion and into the reality of the Body of Christ to build up the church by enjoying God’s grace, His blessing, His presence, and the riches of His life! Thank You and praise You Lord for stirring up our spirit to go up to the proper ground, bring up the experiences of Christ, and build up the church as the Body of Christ!

Christ’s Second Coming Depends on the Return of a Remnant of His Believers to the Ground of Oneness for the Building up of the Church

Some may ask, why do we need to return to the genuine ground of oneness? Why do we need to be in the local churches in the Lord’s recovery, when there are so many groups out there with bigger crowds of people, better Sunday services, richer audience, and more entertaining things to do?

According to the Bible, the return of the children of Israel from Babylon – the return of the remnant of God’s people to the good land – prepared the way for the coming of Christ (see Micah 5:2; Matt. 2:4-6; Luke 2:4-7).

Christ did not come among the richer, more prosperous, more educated, and better Jews who were in dispersion; He came to those who have returned to the good land and who became God’s testimony.

The Lord’s first coming depended on the return of God’s people from their captivity in Babylon to the Holy Land; if a remnant of God’s people did not return, Christ could not come. He needs His people to return to the proper ground.

According to the prophecy in Micah 5:2, Christ was to be born in Bethlehem; for this to be fulfilled, God’s people had to be in the Holy Land (Matt. 2:4-6; Luke 2:4-7).

The remnant of returned captives was the instrument used by God to rebuild the temple and usher in the first coming of Christ, because, without the return of the remnant to the Holy Land, there would have been no way for Christ to come to the earth through incarnation.

So if a remnant would not have returned to the good land, Christ could not have come the first time; He had to wait until He gained a group of people in the good land to whom and among whom He can return.

Likewise, Christ’s second coming depends on the return of a remnant of His New Testament believers from their captivity in Babylon, degraded Christianity, to the unique ground of oneness for the building up of the church, God’s spiritual house (see Eph. 2:21-22; Rev. 2:1; 1 Tim. 3:15; 1 Pet. 2:5).

There HAS to be a group of people who return to the ground chosen by God and to His original intention so that Christ would return.

The Lord today is calling all His people to return, but there is only a remnant of God’s people that would return to meet His need by coming out of Babylonian captivity and returning to the proper ground of the church (Rev. 18:4; Isa. 52:11; Jer. 50:8; 51:6, 9, 45).

The Lord’s intention is NOT to revive Christianity as a whole but to call a remnant of His people who are willing to pay the price to follow Him for the fulfillment of His purpose and to be built up as a part of the Body (Matt. 16:18; 18:17; Eph. 1:22-23; 2:21-22; 4:16; Rev. 1:11; 22:16).

He is calling His people to “come our of her” (out of the degraded Christianity, out of Babylon the Great) and return to the proper ground to build up His habitation.

It is impossible for God to change the whole of Christianity or to revive it; He want sa remnant to come out of Christianity, follow Him, and fulfill the original purpose in building up of the Body.

This remnant is NOT the whole of the Body of Christ; this remnant is NOT better than other members in the Body; this remnant is NOT more spiritual or stronger than others.

Rather, they have been shown mercy by God to return to His original intention, they follow Him, and they stand in the oneness of the Body to build up the church as the Body of Christ.

In principle we in the Lord’s recovery are the remnant of God’s people not because we are better but because we have received His mercy and we have given ourselves to follow the Lord and be consecrated to do nothing but build up His Body so that He can gain His bride and come back.

Even though we are in the church life in the Lord’s recovery, this doesn’t mean that we are automatically His overcomers; our prayer is that many of the saints would be those who made the Nazarite vow to be the ones who turn the age to welcome the Lord back the second time.

May we also pray that many whom God has predestinated and called, that they would come back to take this way, the narrow way of the cross, the way of life, the way of the church, the way of oneness, the way of God’s economy, the church life that God desires, so that they would build up His Body, His bride, the reality of the kingdom, so that the Lord can appear!

Lord Jesus, we want to be those in the church life who make a Nazarite vow to be those who turn this age and welcome You back the second time! Amen, Lord, we pray for so many in Christianity who would return to the ground of oneness for the genuine experience of Christ and the building up of the church. Bring so many of those whom You called and predetermined to take the narrow way of the cross, the way of oneness, the church life to build up the Body and prepare the bride to bring You back. Oh Lord, make us those willing to pay the price to follow You for the fulfillment of Your purpose and to be built up as a part of the Body!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Minoru Chen for this week, and portions from, Truth Lessons—Level Four, vol. 2, lsn. 33 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization Study of Jeremiah and Lamentations, week 10, The Promise, the Prophecy, the Remnant, and the Recovery.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – 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)
  – Do you see them in the cities, / Meeting on the local ground? / They’re the local, golden lampstands, / Where the Lord His home has found. / ’Tis the local church, the church God has chosen, / Where all the saints dwell as one! / ’Tis the local church, the church God has chosen, / Where all the saints dwell as one! (Hymns #1257)
  – Learn the lesson from church hist’ry / Of the failures we must avoid; / Degradation we fight against, / Recov’ring from divisive ground / To the oneness of the Body; / Returning to what God’s revealed. / Lord build in us, Lord build in us / The Kingdom life. The Kingdom life. (Song on, The Church of God—we are the church)