The Local Churches Typified in the Book of Psalms

The Victory of God over His Enemies Being in His Dwelling

1. God’s Purpose being Fulfilled through Christ and the Church

In this portion, Witness Lee briefly explains how God’s purpose is fulfilled through Christ and the local church.

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 house for God’s presence, as God’s expression, and we have the city for God’s authority, as God’s dominion. God’s eternal purpose is fulfilled by the house and the city. In the house God is a Father, and in the city God is a King. 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.

(Witness Lee, Christ and the Church, 225)

Furthermore, the Psalms reveal that God’s intention is to regain the usurped earth through Christ in the house and the city—that is, in the local church. Witness Lee explains:

The Psalms show us that God’s intention is to recover His title, His legal rights, over the whole earth through Christ in the church, through Christ in the house, through Christ in the city. Hence, there is the need of the holy hill of Zion. We not only need Christ, but Christ in Zion, Christ in the holy hill. Thus, we have seen that the beachhead, the steppingstone, for God to take over the earth is the church. The building up of the church is not a small matter; it is the key to God’s purpose. This is His work; it is not ours, and we have no ambition in this affair. But we are burdened today that God must have His key. Without the house, without the city, there is no beachhead for God to launch back and recover the earth.

(Witness Lee, Christ and the Church, 228)

Main

God’s House

Zion

City of God

Bride

Practical Salvation

Built Up

Victory

Bibliography

Links