The Local Churches Typified in the Book of Psalms

Additional Quotes about the Local Church by Witness Lee and Watchman Nee

Now we know that the city of God is the church strengthened, built up, and enlarged. In Psalms 46 through 48 the church has become the city over which God rules and from which God reigns. It is not just the house for the Father’s home, but also the city for God’s rule in His kingdom. The city of God is the enlarged, strengthened, and built-up church as the ruling center of God in His kingdom. It is in this city that we have the river. The picture here corresponds to that of the New Jerusalem found in Revelation 21 and 22. In those chapters we also see a city with a flowing river. Here we have a river with many streams to make the city glad.

We are so very happy because of this river, this flow of the divine life. If we did not have the flow of life, we would be shriveled and withered. Our joy would be gone; there would be no gladness. We are the most joyful people because in the city, in the church, we have a flow of living water—not just a trickle, but a river.

This holy city of God is “the holy place of the tabernacles (or habitations) of the most High” (v. 4). You must pay attention to all these titles. The most high God dwells here; this is the holy place of His habitations.

Then verse 5 says, “God is in the midst of her”—in the midst of the enlarged church. “She shall not be moved.” The earth will be moved and the mountains will be carried away, but the city will never be moved. Why? Because the immovable God is within her.

(Witness Lee, Christ and the Church, 83-85)

The principal aspects of the city bespeak God’s authority, God’s ruling power, God’s reigning….the city is for the dominion of God. The house and the city of God fulfill the purpose of God in the creation of man as expressed in Genesis 1:26, “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion…. “The image is for the expression, and the dominion is for the authority. Eventually, through Christ and with Christ….we have the city for God’s authority, as God’s dominion. God’s eternal purpose is fulfilled by the house and the city….Both the house and the city are the church, or we may say, the local churches. A local church, in one sense, must be the house of God, and in another sense it must also be the city of God.

…We can apply the principle of the house and the city to the local churches in this way: If the presence of God is among us, if when people come to our meeting they worship and say, “God indeed is among you,” this is the house. If, on the other hand, when people come among us and realize that there is not only the presence of God, but some kind of divine rule and authority, this is not only the house, but the house with the city.

Sometimes in a local church we sense the presence of God, but not much of God’s authority. We sense that God is among them, but that on the other hand there is a shortage of divine order. That means that in that local church there is the reality of the house, but not much of the city. In other churches we sense not only the presence of God, but also something of divine government and heavenly authority. That is the city. If a local church is in this kind of situation, that church is considerably stronger and safer. It is more elevated, more established, and more enlarged. It is not only the house, but the house with the city.

(Witness Lee, Christ and the Church, 225-226)

Book V [Psalms 107-150] emphasizes even more the city of God; it speaks of the city much more than all the other books….When our brother John saw the new Jerusalem, he mentioned that he saw no temple in the city (Rev. 21:22). When we come to the last book of the Psalms, the temple has all but disappeared; but we do have the city as a high mountain. Eventually and ultimately a local church must become a city. When we come to the end, we will praise God for Christ and the city.

Take, for example, the church in Los Angeles. In retrospect, we did have at the beginning the sense of the reality of the house of God. In a very real sense the church life was God’s house to us. Then gradually, little by little, something of the city began to come forth. There is still something of the house here, but mainly the church life is as a city now. This indicates the improvement of the local church. I do expect that one day the church in Los Angeles will give everyone the impression that it is a city, the city of God.

(Witness Lee, Christ and the Church, 181-182)

Main

God’s House

Zion

City of God

Bride

Practical Salvation

Built Up

Victory

Bibliography

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