The Local Churches Typified in the Book of Psalms
The Local Churches Typified in the Book of Psalms |
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The Temple and the House of God As Types of the Local Church6. Experiencing God’s Dealing in God’s HouseIn Psalm 73:25, the psalmist speaks of having nothing on earth or in heaven besides God Himself. According to verses 12-14, he has reached this point by being dealt with and stripped by God. Witness Lee explains that God also faithfully deals with the believers in the local churches in order to purify them by stripping them of everything other than Himself. Psalm 73:17, “Until I went into the sanctuary of God, then understood I their end.”…What did he understand? Verse 25: “Whom have I in heaven but thee? And there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee.” He realized that God was working to deprive him of all material things that he might enjoy God in such an absolute way. This is the revelation. Why do the wicked prosper and their riches continually increase? It is because God has given them up; He simply lets them go on their own way. They have nothing whatever to do with the enjoyment of God. But God’s intention with the seeking saints is to remove all material blessings and all physical enjoyments that they may find everything in God. Nothing in heaven nor on earth can be their enjoyment but God Himself. It was by the Psalmist’s experience, as recorded in the first part of Psalm 73, that he could eventually assert, “Whom have I in heaven but thee? And there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee.” He received revelation. He learned why God would not allow the seeking saints to prosper as the worldlings do. God intends that nothing should distract us from the absolute enjoyment of Himself. Eventually, it is not a matter of merely keeping the law, but of seeking God absolutely. It is not a matter of doing good or evil, right or wrong—if you are concerned about that, you are still occupied with the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It is a matter of seeking God, obtaining God, possessing God. It is a matter of experiencing God to the extent that you also can say, “Whom have I in heaven but thee? And there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee.” In other words, “I do not care for anything but the tree of life; I do not care for anything other than God Himself.” This is Psalm 73. When the Psalmist went into the sanctuary of God, he received this revelation and took God Himself as his all. How may we too have the experience of the Psalmist in these verses? We must be in the spirit and in the local church, the sanctuary of God. (Witness Lee, Christ and the Church, 128-129) Elsewhere, Witness Lee points out that after being stripped by God, the saints seek God Himself and long to appear before God in His house, typifying the local church. Now we come to Book II, composed of Psalms 42 to 72. As this book indicates how the saints experience God and His house and city through the suffering, exalted and reigning Christ, so it begins with the words: “As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God” (42:1). The saints, being stripped by God, desire to seek God Himself. Then the Psalmist goes on, “My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God”—not for the law, not for knowledge, but for the living God Himself. The Psalmist continues by asking, “When shall I come and appear before God?” Today we have the answer to this question. We come and appear before God when we come into the local church. Verse 4: “When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me: for I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God.” This was the remembrance of the enjoyment of the house of God. That was the time when he appeared before God. When shall I come and appear before God? When I come with the multitude to the house of God, when I enter His house, when I am in His presence, that is the time I appear before Him. Brothers and sisters, let me check with you. Where is it that you sense most deeply that you are in God’s presence? I believe that you must answer that you sense God’s presence the most when you are in the local churches. I cannot tell you how many times, when I was in the meetings of the local churches, I was just before God. When I came with the multitude to the house of God, to the local church, I appeared before Him. (Witness Lee, Christ and the Church, 65-66) 7. Scriptural ReferencesIn the following section, Witness Lee enumerates a variety of aspects related to the house of God and provides the corresponding verses in the Psalms.
(Witness Lee, Christ and the Church, 222-223) The Psalms are truly replete with refereneces to God's house, and the psalmists obviously experienced many rich aspects of God's house. Witness Lee's ministry wonderfully reveals that these experiences are not limited to the Old Testament believers. Indeed, the believers in Christ can enjoy the same riches since the reality of the house of God today is in the local churches. | ||||