The Local Churches Typified in the Book of Psalms

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

[Psalm 48]

Verse 4: “For, lo, the kings conspired together, they passed by together.” Why? Because they saw the church, because they saw such a stronghold. Verse 5: “They saw it, and so they were amazed; they were overwhelmed and fled in terror.” Just to look at such a built-up church caused the enemies to flee in terror.

…In Psalm 48, when the enemies see the church, they flee in terror. As long as we are in the church as a stronghold on this earth, no enemy can prevail. The Lord said, “I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matt. 16:18). Amen, hallelujah! Spiritual warfare is simply a matter of getting yourself into the city. When you are in the city, you will see how the enemies will flee. This is not a mere teaching; we do have the experience. Before I came into the local church, it was really difficult for me to overcome many things, even the little besetting sins. But since I have come into the church, I have simply been in the tower, watching the enemies flee. I’m not fighting; I’m in the tower watching. Hallelujah! The enemies flee, they flee! This is the spiritual warfare.

(Witness Lee, Christ and the Church, 87-88)

[Psalm 68]

I cannot tell you what kind of revelation this is to me. I would tell the entire universe that I have the secret. It is so prevailingly, tremendously effective. Come to the local church and praise the Lord. Hallelujah, hallelujah! For all your problems, the best way to pray to the Lord is to come to the local church and praise the Lord. In God’s dwelling place, in the local church, the Lord does not supply us little by little. He loads us with good; He applies His victory over all our enemies.

…Are you sorrowful? Then what should you do? Yes, come to the church meetings. Do not attempt to encourage yourself and overcome your problems. Bring all your sorrows to the local church, and tell the enemy Satan to go with you to the meeting. If your wife is angry, just tell her, “Dear, let us go to the church.” Don’t try to solve your problems in your home and then come to the church. You will be frustrated. Tell all the enemies and all the problems, “Come with me to the meeting.” I have had many experiences like this. As soon as I have come into the entrance of the meeting hall, the enemies and problems have fled. They followed me to the meeting, but when I entered the meeting, they turned and left. I have learned how to save much time in reading books. Coming to one meeting is better than reading ten books. Hallelujah!

(Witness Lee, Christ and the Church, 111-112)

[Psalm 68]

“They have seen thy goings, O God, the goings of my God, my King, in the sanctuary” (v. 24). Who has seen His goings? They, the enemies, the problems. They have seen His goings in the sanctuary. This is real praise. Sometimes I have actually praised the Lord in this way, “Lord, all my enemies have followed me to the entrance of the meeting hall, and when I came in they all ran away. They have seen Thy goings in the local church.”

(Witness Lee, Christ and the Church, 113)

Moreover, in the house of God we enjoy His glorious victory. “But God will smite the head of the enemies…The Lord said, I will bring again from Bashan, I will bring (thine enemies) again from the depth of the (Red) sea, that thou mayest crush them, dipping thy foot in the blood, and the tongue of thy dogs may have its portion from (thine) enemies” (vv. 21-23). God has defeated all His enemies: Bashan has been defeated by Him, the Egyptians have been drowned by Him in the Red Sea. All His foes are vanquished. Today, there is no need for Him to repeat His victory. Today, in the local churches, in the sanctuary, we may apply His victory. In these three verses it is as if the Lord had said, “If you do not believe that all My enemies have been defeated, I will demonstrate My victory to you. I will bring Pharaoh and his hosts from the depths of the Red Sea and demonstrate their defeat again.” Before the house was built up, it was time for the Lord to defeat His enemies.

(Witness Lee, Christ and the Church, 109)

This Psalm [Psalm 68] begins with the moving of God and continues with the victory which Christ has gained. All God’s enemies have been defeated. When God moves with the tabernacle and with the ark, the enemies will always be vanquished. Wherever He goes, He always wins the victory; wherever He moves, He conquers. He has never been defeated.

Many times in reading the Old Testament we are impressed only with the failures of God’s people, the children of Israel. But we must read their history in Exodus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy from a different perspective. We must see that whenever in God’s move He confronted the enemy, the enemy was defeated. Not once was God ever defeated by His enemies. As long as God’s people had the tabernacle of God with the ark as its center, they were victorious. They may fail, but God could never be defeated.

Have you ever found a single instance in the Bible of God being defeated? God has never been defeated. This is the main concept of this Psalm. God is moving, and with His move is constant victory. Oh, if we are in God’s house with Christ as the center, we can never be defeated! We may sometimes delay God a little, just as the children of Israel delayed Him for forty years in the wilderness, but what do forty years mean to God?…According to divine reckoning, the children of Israel delayed God about fifty-five minutes. Actually, with God there is no concept of time; time is something with which we are concerned….He is moving on, and wherever He goes He defeats the enemy. Regardless of how poor the situation of the church may be, we should not be distracted. We must look at the glory of God’s move and His eternal victory. “Let his enemies be scattered: let them also that hate him flee before him” (v. 1). “The Lord sendeth the news of victory…the kings of the armies, they flee, they flee!” (vv. 11-12). “The Almighty scattered kings” (v. 14). “Thou has led captive a train of vanquished foes” (v. 18). “God will smite the head of the enemies” (v. 21).

(Witness Lee, Christ and the Church, 101-103)

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God’s House

Zion

City of God

Bride

Practical Salvation

Built Up

Victory

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