Seeing that the Building up of the Church as God’s House Depends on the Priesthood

The greatest prophecy in the Bible is that uttered by the Lord Jesus in Matt. 16:18, I will build My church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. God’s goal is the building, and the unique work Christ is doing today is to build up the church as the Body of Christ, the corporate expression and representation of Christ.

In order for the Lord to build up His house He needs the priesthood; the building of God’s house is related to the priesthood and even depends on the priesthood. But who today is a priest to God? How many believers care more for God’s interest and spend time with God to be filled with God so that God would have a free way to flow through them?

The priesthood is the building, the corporate expression of Christ. When the priesthood is established, the church is built up, and God’s glory is manifested in the church; unto Christ is glory and honor in the church forever.

We need to be recovered by the Lord back to His original intention: we need to be the priests to God today, those who have Christ as their food, their clothing, their dwelling, and their everything; we need to be saved from individualism and independence, and we need to be saved from self-likeness.

May we be those who give ourselves to the Lord to be His priests today, those who are filled and saturated with God, those who allow God to flow as the Spirit through them freely for the building up of God’s dwelling place.

The Building up of the Church as God’s House Depends on the Priesthood

God’s heart’s desire is to have a corporate expression of Himself in man, and this is possible through the priesthood; all believers in Christ, those redeemed by the Lord and regenerated with His life, are priests to God. When all the priests express Christ and function as priests, God has a corporate expression through man.

God’s desire in the universe to have a corporate expression of Himself will be accomplished only when He gains the priesthood. In order for Him to gain the priesthood, God became a man, and now He is the life-giving Spirit to impart life to us and transform us to be priests to God and precious stones in His building.

The priesthood is crucial for God’s building because it is those who enjoy Christ and experience Him day by day that can express Him corporately. The building up of the church depends on whether or not the saints will bear the priesthood before God; Christ is the High Priest ministering God to us, and we are a kingdom of priests, a royal priesthood, those who enjoy Christ, are filled with Christ, and express Christ (see Rev. 1:5-6; 5:9-10; Heb. 3:6; 6:20; 7:26; 8:1; 10:19).

God’s goal is the building; when God’s goal becomes our goal, it will be at the core of our being all the time. Everything is related to God’s building because the building is His goal, and nothing should replace this or distract us from this goal.

Preaching the gospel, establishing churches, having trainings, meeting with the saints, attending conferences, our growth in life unto maturity, the discipline of the Spirit, and everything in our Christian life and church life are for God’s goal, the building up of God’s house which is the church as the Body of Christ today. The priesthood upholds the building of the church; without the priesthood, it is impossible to build up the church.

In order for the church to be built up, our spirits must be released and blended into one, because the building of God is carried out through the saints being blended into one in the flow of the Spirit, which is the flow of the water of life. The believers who allow the Spirit of life to flow out from within them are priests….The building of the church depends on whether or not the saints will bear the priesthood before God. Only the priests draw near to God, touch the throne of God, and allow God to flow through them. The water of life can flow through them and into other persons. The flowing of the water of life is the only way that builds up the church of God. (Witness Lee, The Priesthood and God’s Building, ch. 8)

We must be the ones who are open to the Lord to be filled with Him, saturated with Him, and permeated with Him until we are one with Him and we afford Him a way to flow out through us. Otherwise, we will merely be a congregation of good people who do things together, but with no building.

The Lord Jesus is the Builder of the house and the temple of God, and He is building God’s house by bearing the priesthood; we are on His heart and on His shoulders, and we can learn from Him to live and function as priests for the building up of the church.

We need to know our spirit, exercise our spirit, and release our spirit in fellowship so that we may be blended with the saints and allow the Spirit to flow through us to water others and build up the church as the Body of Christ, God’s house.

Lord Jesus, recover the priesthood for the building up of the church as the house of God. We give ourselves to You to be the priests You need today, those who enjoy You to be filled and saturated with You so that You may flow through them as water of life for the building up of the church. Lord, we want to bear the priesthood before You by drawing near to You, touching the throne of God, and allowing God to flow through us into others. May there be much flowing of water of life for the building up of the church, the Body of Christ!

Being Willing to Fellowship with God and Allowing God to Flow and be Expressed in us

The main reason the church is not built up today, 2000 years after the Lord promised to build up His church, is that in Christianity not many believers function as priests. There may be one or two priests in a congregation, but many are passive and dormant, caring more for their own affairs and for a social gathering than for God’s heart’s desire.

In the degraded Christianity today we see a similar situation as in the books of Kings and Chronicles in the Old Testament, where the temple was closed, the altar was abandoned, and the priests were improper. Oh Lord Jesus!

The Lord today is sounding out a call for us to fulfill the priesthood, just as He called the Levites at the foot of Mount Sinai in the wilderness. The Lord today is calling those who would stand on His side in order to fellowship with God and allow God to flow through them by rising them up to be priests to God.

We need to answer God’s call and be those willing to come forward to God, fellowship with Him, live before Him, and allow God to flow through us; then, we will enjoy the riches of Christ and express the glory of Christ as priests in a full way.

If we are those willing to fellowship with God, live before God, and allow God to flow through us, we will bear the testimony of the church, and the building up of the church will be realized among us (Rev. 11:6; 1 John 1:3; Eph. 3:8; 2:21-22).

God needs a group of people who see His purpose and give themselves to Him to be the priests He needs today; the Lord’s purpose in the universe will be fulfilled only by a group of people who enjoy and express Christ in a genuine and full way. If we are passive, we are not allowing God to fulfill His purpose, and He may have to work through the environment to activate us.

May we be willing and even pray that the Lord would make us willing to spend much time with God and enjoy Him so that we may be filled with the riches of Christ and be built up with our fellow priests, thus giving God a way to flow and be expressed through us.

May the Lord show us that His purpose in the universe will be fulfilled only by a group of people who enjoy and express Christ in a genuine and full way, and may we be those who turn their heart to the Lord, exercise their spirit, and tell Him,

Lord Jesus, we allow You to do whatever You want to do in us. We are willing to come forward to God, fellowship with God, live before God, and allow God to flow through us. Lord, we want to enjoy the riches of Christ to be filled with Christ and express the glory of Christ in a full way for the building up of the church as the house of God. Make us those who are willing to enjoy You, be filled with You, and express You. Lord, gain a group of people who stand on Your side to enjoy You and express You in a full and genuine way, thus bearing the testimony of God!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. Ron Kangas’ sharing in the message for this week, and portions from, The Priesthood and God’s Building, ch. 8 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Recovery of the Priesthood or God’s Building, week 8 / msg 8, The Recovery of the Priesthood for God’s building.
• All Bible verses are taken from, Holy Bible Recovery Version.
• Hymns on this topic to strengthen this burden:
  # All the building of the Body / On the priesthood doth depend; / Ever praying in the spirit / I this office would attend. (Hymns #848)
  # Would you choose to be a living overcomer, / Be a person not ashamed to be a Jesus lover, / One who eats the tree of life, / And drinks the living water? / Would you choose to be a living overcomer, / To leave the world and consecrate / To be today’s age-turner? / I give myself to You for Your return. (Song on God’s call to be an overcomer)
  # In my prayer and deepest plea / In my spirit always be / Saturated and soaked with Thee, with Thee. / This would be my life daily. / Every hour expecting Thee, / This I pray, Lord, desperately! (Song on being saturated with God)