The Local Churches Typified in the Book of Psalms

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

2. Giving Christ the Pre-eminence for the Restoration of His Dwelling Place

Sometimes the sisters in the local churches cause the problem by not giving the pre-eminence to the Lord. Philippians 4 speaks of two sisters, Euodias and Syntyche, who caused a problem in the church at Philippi. It is strange that I have never heard of parents naming their daughters by these two names. At the beginning, the situation in that church was excellent, but then a problem arose due to these two sisters. Many times, simply because of two sisters, there is disunity in a church. In one of the local churches recently, I referred to these two sisters in Philippians 4, and on the very next day a sister stood up, weeping, confessing her faults and asking another sister to forgive her. Both of them wept. Some of the brothers said to me later, “When you spoke from Philippians 4, you prophesied concerning the condition here. These two sisters were the problem in this local church.” If any of us, especially any of the sisters, fail to give the pre-eminence to the Lord, there will be desolation in the church. The church life will be restored if we will always say, “We are nobody; Christ is the only One; we give Him the pre-eminence.”

(Witness Lee, Christ and the Church, 141)

[Psalm 84]

The second aspect of Book III [Psalms 73-89] is that among the Lord’s children we must continually give Christ the pre-eminence. If the Man at the right hand of God is not given His rightful position, we will have a problem with the house of God and lose the enjoyment of the local church. The right hand of God is the first place in the entire universe, and that is the position we must give Christ in the church life. This brings in the restoration, which swallows up all the desolation in the local churches.

(Witness Lee, Christ and the Church, 146)

Why does God allow the desolation to His house? The answer is not in this Psalm [Psalm 74], nor in the following Psalm. We must go through the entire third book of the Psalms [Psalms 73-89] to obtain the answer. It is that Christ did not receive the proper appreciation and adequate exaltation. The saints appreciated the house of God, but to a certain extent they neglected Christ. They paid more attention to God’s house than to Christ Himself. Since Christ was not properly appreciated nor afforded pre-eminence among the saints, desolation was wrought.

Because of this desolation, the Psalmist prayed, “Remember thy congregation, which thou hast purchased of old; the tribe of thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed; this mount Zion, wherein thou hast dwelt. Lift up thy feet unto the perpetual desolations; even all that the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary” (Psalm 74:2-3). For an extended period of time God allowed His house to lie in desolation. Verses 7 and 8 tell us: “They have cast fire into thy sanctuary, they have defiled by casting down the dwelling place of thy name to the ground. They said in their hearts, Let us destroy them together: they have burned up all the places of assembly of God in the land.” What desolation God allowed! Keep these verses in mind. They will help in understanding some of the following Psalms, for the following Psalms are the answer to this.

God allowed such desolation in His house because the position due to Christ was surrendered. How careful we must be! The local church is wonderful and indeed glorious, but the enjoyment of the local church can only be maintained and preserved by Christ being properly appreciated and exalted among us. If we concentrate on the local church, but neglect Christ Himself, we are in danger of allowing God’s house to suffer desolation. Christ must have the proper position in the local church: He must have the pre-eminence. If He is not adequately appreciated and exalted, we will lose the enjoyment of God’s house. This is a warning lest after reaching the highest level of enjoyment in Book II, we lose this enjoyment and experience the desolation recorded in Book III. May the Lord be merciful to us that we may heed this warning and give Christ His due honor, appreciation, and exaltation.

(Witness Lee, Christ and the Church, 131-132)

In Psalms 77 to 83 we are further impressed with the reason for the desolation of God’s house and the way of recovery. After the desolation, God’s dwelling place can only be restored by His people giving the pre-eminence to Christ. When Christ is given His rightful position, God will be able to take possession of the earth through the local churches.

(Witness Lee, Christ and the Church, 136)

Main

God’s House

Zion

City of God

Bride

Practical Salvation

Built Up

Victory

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