The Local Churches Typified in the Book of Psalms

The Temple and the House of God As Types of the Local Church

4. Receiving Revelation in God’s House

In the following portion Witness Lee points out, based on Psalm 73:17, that it is in the sanctuary of God, which is realized today both in the believers’ human spirit and in the local church, that revelation is received.

There is only one way to reconcile Psalms 1 and 73, and it is presented to us in Psalm 73:17, “Until I went into the sanctuary of God, then understood I their end.” The sanctuary of God is the place where we may obtain the revelation we need. The sanctuary here undoubtedly signifies the dwelling place of God. Our spirit today is God’s dwelling place. And, even more, the local churches are God’s dwelling place. Hence, we must turn to our spirit, and we must turn to the local church; then we will be clear. Our spirit and the local church are the places where we receive divine revelation, where we obtain the explanation to all our problems. When “I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I….”

The way to see all these things is to enter into the sanctuary of God. So many of us can testify that before we came into the local churches, we were ignorant of many things. It was not until we came into the sanctuary of God that we understood.

(Witness Lee, Christ and the Church, 128-130)

Psalm 73 records Asaph’s complaint about suffering affliction in following God while the wicked remain at ease. By the end of this Psalm, Asaph exclaims, “Whom do I have in heaven but You? And besides You there is nothing I desire on earth,” indicating that God has succeeded in stripping him of everything other than Himself. Witness Lee points out that Asaph’s experience of being purged of everything but God was similar to his own experience in the local church.

How wonderful it is to be in the house and in the city, but we must realize that it is possible for this sweet enjoyment to be lost. There is even something which will affect us in a more personal way than this: at a certain point God will take away even all our material blessings; we will be stripped. According to our past experiences, this is exactly what has happened. After we have come to the local church and enjoyed it greatly, the stripping hand of God has come to take away many things. How contrary this experience is to our religious concept! In religion we are told that if we love the Lord, we will be healthy and prosper in every way. We have taught others and have even taught our children in this way. I would not say that this concept is either wrong or right, but that it is wholly religious. If it is right, it is religiously right. According to our experience, however, we can testify that, when we love the Lord, He begins gradually to strip us of many things. I myself have gone through the very experience of the Psalmist in Psalm 73. While I was suffering and being stripped, I looked at others in the world with their prosperity, and I asked the Lord, “What is this?” Sooner or later, perhaps not today, but someday the Lord will begin to take away, even from the young brothers and sisters who love Him, all the good things. The Lord will strip you. Not until you go into the sanctuary will you understand. He strips us that we may enjoy Himself in an absolute way. This is the first aspect of the Psalms in Book III [Psalms 73-89]. When we learn to say with the Psalmist, “Whom have I in heaven but thee, and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee,” we have made a real improvement.

(Witness Lee, Christ and the Church, 145-146)

5. Loving God’s House

Witness Lee explains that, according to Psalm 84:1-2, God’s dwelling place, signifying the local church, is lovely and lovable because God’s presence is there.

Psalm 84 is exceedingly rich. Verses 1 and 2 say, “How lovely are thy dwelling places, O Lord of hosts! My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the Lord: my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God” (Heb.). Verse 1 speaks not only of one dwelling place, but of many dwelling places. No doubt these dwelling places signify the local churches. The local churches can be so lovely to us that we are even homesick for them. According to verse 2, the psalmist longs even for the courts of the Lord. In his estimation, not only the inside of God’s dwelling is lovely; the courts also are lovely. The reason God’s dwelling places are lovely is that the living God is there. God’s presence in the local churches makes the churches lovely and lovable.

(Witness Lee, Genuine Ground, 68)

Main

God’s House

Zion

City of God

Bride

Practical Salvation

Built Up

Victory

Bibliography

Links