The Local Churches Typified in the Book of Psalms

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

But listen, even in this low level, in this poor situation [in Psalms 3-7], the saints still realize that there is something in the house of God, that God has heard their cry and answered their prayer from the hill of His holiness. What is the hill of His holiness? It is the very place of God’s house. Sometimes, although we may be begging God to be merciful to us in this matter and in that, yet we realize at the same time how good it is to be in the local church. We still enjoy the house of God, the local church. So the saints said, “I cry unto the Lord with my voice, and he answereth me out of the hill of his holiness” (Ps. 3:4). And again, “But as for me, I will enter thy house in the abundance of thy lovingkindness: and in thy fear will I worship toward thy holy temple” (Ps. 5:7). They were not so clear, but still they enjoyed the house of God.

(Witness Lee, Christ and the Church, 27)

5. Loving God’s House

[Psalm 84] Verses 1 and 2 say, “How lovely are Your tabernacles,/ O Jehovah of hosts!/My soul longs, indeed even faints,/For the courts of Jehovah;/My heart and my flesh cry out/For the living God.” God’s tabernacles, God’s habitations, signify the local churches. The psalmist was not yet in God’s habitations, but he longed to be there. His longing was so great that he even fainted. This indicates to what extent the psalmist loved God’s habitations.

(Witness Lee, LS of Psalms, 369-370)

Now we come to Psalm 84, which depicts how the saints love the house of God and desire to dwell therein. Surely by now we can say with the Psalmist in verse 1, “How lovely are thy dwelling places!” There is not only one dwelling place, but many dwelling places. No doubt these dwelling places signify the local churches. The local churches can be so lovely to us; we can even be homesick for them. Many of you have been in the local churches for only a short time, perhaps not more than a year or two. This is a honeymoon. The honeymoon will not last too long. But after all the desolation and negative experiences are past, you will sense that the house of God is much more lovely than it ever was when you first came into it.

I can never forget my first five years in the local church—it was a real honeymoon. I felt that every day was so wonderful. Indeed, it seemed that my honeymoon with the local church would never end. But one day the trial came: it was a real problem, and the entire church was nearly swept away by it. Then, for almost ten years, one trial after another came upon the local churches. But, praise the Lord, after all these difficult experiences, the local church became sweeter and more lovable to me than ever before.

Psalm 84 does not precede the stripping and the desolation of God’s house, but follows it. After the stripping and desolation, in the recovery and restoration, the house of God is sweeter than ever before. How lovable are the dwelling places of God! Young brothers and sisters, keep this in mind: if the Lord delays, you will see ten years from now how much sweeter the local churches are to you than they are today. I cannot tell you how lovable they are to me. In John chapter 2 we read about the best wine. But, I tell you, in my experience the local churches are better and sweeter than the very best wine.

…The love in Psalm 84 is not a honeymoon love; it is a love which follows many trials. It is not the love of Psalm 26:8 ( “Lord, I love the habitation of thy house, and the place where thy glory dwelleth”), nor is it the love of Psalm 27:4 ( “One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple”). In the church life there is the honeymoon period, and there is the period following many experiences and trials. In Psalm 84 we have a hint of the trials: “Passing through the valley of weeping, (they) make it a place of springs…” “(v. 6). This is not initial love; this is love matured through many trials. It requires some years to come to this point. Keep in mind that Psalm 84 is not in the first book of the Psalms, but in the third book. It is not only long after the honeymoon, but it even follows an extended time of “married life.” After a certain period of trials, we can testify how lovable the local churches are.

(Witness Lee, Christ and the Church, 146-148)

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God’s House

Zion

City of God

Bride

Practical Salvation

Built Up

Victory

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