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Scripture Reading: Gen. 1:26; 2:8-9, 16-17, 22; 12:1-2; Matt. 16:16-19; Eph. 1:22-23; 3:9-11, 21; 4:4-6, 11-12; 5:25-27; Col. 3:10-11; Rev. 21:2-3; 22:1-2
Whenever we speak about the ground of the church, we find ourselves engaged in spiritual warfare. Satan, the enemy of God, hates this matter of the church ground, which has been concealed from the Lord’s people for centuries. The ground of the church is directly related to the importance of the church. Certain portions of the Word, such as Matthew, Ephesians, and Revelation, reveal the importance of the church. Let us first consider the importance of the church as shown in these books. Then we will go on to consider the inward and outward aspects of the church. This will prepare us to appreciate the oneness manifested in the four great acts of God.
In Ephesians, a book on the church, we see that the church was planned by God in eternity past. According to the desire of His heart, God planned before time began to have the church. Hence, the church is according to God’s eternal purpose, according to the eternal plan of God. Although the church came into existence in time, it was planned by God in eternity.
Not many Christians today have a serious regard for the church. They tend to take the church for granted and concentrate on matters such as salvation, holiness, victory, and spirituality. When Christians do speak of the church, it is often in the way of debating or criticizing. Very few believers pay attention to the church in a positive way. Many seeking Christians consider it a waste of time to devote their attention to the church. Nevertheless, in the book of Ephesians we see that the church is related to God’s will and to the desire of God’s heart. Since the church is such a great matter in the eyes of God, we dare not take it lightly.
Ephesians also reveals that the church is the Body, “the fullness of the One who fills all in all” (1:23). The church is the Body, the fullness, of the all-inclusive, infinite, unlimited Christ. How great the church is! It is not a mere association or religious organization. The church is the very Body of Christ. Just as we need a physical body through which to express ourselves, so the infinite and unlimited Christ needs a Body as His fullness in order that He may be expressed in the universe. Certainly this is far more important than personal salvation or spirituality. If we see that the church is the Body, the fullness, of the all-inclusive Christ, we will never again regard it as an insignificant matter.
In Ephesians 5:25 Paul says that Christ “loved the church and gave Himself up for her.” This indicates that when Christ died on the cross, He gave Himself up for the church. The goal of His death was the producing of the church. When we were saved, we realized that Christ loved us and died for us. There is, of course, nothing wrong with this realization. However, we also need to see that Christ loved us and died for us so that we could be part of the church. Ultimately, He loved the church and died in order to produce the church. Christ’s love manifested in His death on the cross had a definite goal. This goal is not to have millions of individual believers; it is to have the church. Christ loves us for the sake of the church. He loved us and died for us so that we may be members of His Body, the church.
Ephesians 4:11 and 12 say that Christ “gave some as apostles and some as prophets and some as evangelists and some as shepherds and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints unto the work of the ministry, unto the building up of the Body of Christ.” Christ has not presented such gifts to the church for the purpose of accomplishing a work of evangelism, Bible teaching, or edification. All these gifts have been given for the purpose of perfecting the saints for the building up of the Body. The apostles, prophets, evangelists, and shepherds and teachers have been given with a view to one goal: to perfect the saints for the building up of the church. However, in much of today’s Christian work and activity the church is neglected. Therefore, we need to be impressed with the importance of the church. According to Ephesians, God’s purpose is related to the church, and He has given all the gifts for the building up of the church.
Matthew 16 also indicates the importance of the church. In verse 15 the Lord asked His disciples, “Who do you say that I am?” Peter took the lead to answer, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (v. 16). Peter received the revelation that Jesus was the Christ, the One appointed by God to accomplish God’s commission. No doubt, this commission is related to the building up of the church. Peter saw that the Lord Jesus was both the Christ and the Son of the living God. As the Son of the living God, the Lord produces the many sons of God who are the members of the Body. The Body of Christ cannot be built with the natural man. On the contrary, His Body can be built only with those who have been regenerated to become sons of God.
When we believed in the Lord Jesus, we received Him as the Son of the living God, not only as the Savior and the Redeemer. Most Christians realize that at the time they were saved they received Christ as the Savior and Redeemer, but not many realize that they also received Him as the Son of the living God. When I was converted to Christ, I did not have this realization. Our Savior, Jesus Christ, is the Son of the living God. The significance of this title of Christ is that He is the One who makes us sons of God. Through receiving Christ as the Son of God, we also have become sons of God.
According to the book of Romans, all those who have been justified through faith in Christ are members of the Body of Christ. However, in order to be members of the Body, we must first become sons of God; that is, we must first be “sonized.” For this reason, sonship is mentioned in chapter 8 of Romans, whereas the Body is mentioned in chapter 12. Only through becoming sons of God can we become members of the Body of Christ.
Peter was blessed to see the revelation that Jesus is the One anointed to carry out God’s commission and also the Son of God to produce the many sons of God to be members of the Body, the church. As soon as Peter declared that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God, the Lord went on to speak concerning the building up of His church: “I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church” (Matt. 16:18). This indicates that whatever Christ is, is for the building up of the church. Not only is Christ’s death for the church, but He Himself, His very person with all His qualifications, titles, and offices, is also for the building up of the church.
Moreover, the Lord Jesus told Peter that the gates of Hades would not prevail against the builded church. The church affects the gates of Hades. In verse 19 the Lord Jesus spoke of the keys of the kingdom of the heavens. The gates of Hades refer to the realm of Satan’s power, whereas the kingdom of the heavens refers to the realm of God’s rule. Here we have two realms: the hellish realm of Satan’s power and the heavenly realm of God’s kingdom. The church has much to do with these two realms. Satan, the subtle one, is filled with hatred when God’s children care for the church. He realizes that the church is able to deal with the gates of Hades. He knows that the gates of Hades cannot prevail against the church built by Christ upon the rock, which refers both to Christ Himself and to the revelation concerning Christ given by the Father to Peter. The Lord Jesus did not say that the gates of Hades would not prevail against the millions of Christians saved through Him. Individualistic believers are no threat to the enemy. However, when believers come together to be the church, Satan trembles, and the gates of Hades are threatened.
The Lord’s word here implies that as He is building up the church, the gates of Hades will rise up against it. But they cannot prevail against the church built by Christ. The word prevail implies warfare. As the building of the church is taking place, a war is raging. Nevertheless, in this warfare the gates of Hades cannot prevail against the church.
Before the Lord’s recovery came to this country, there was none of the kind of spiritual warfare that we see today. We in the recovery are small in number, especially compared to the Roman Catholic Church and the major denominations. Although we are small and seemingly insignificant, we are fiercely attacked and opposed. Behind this attack and opposition is the power of Satan, the gates of Hades. Before the Lord began to recover the church life in this country, the power of darkness could afford to be at rest. But now that the Lord is in the process of building up the proper church life, this power rises up against the church. But the church has the keys of the kingdom of the heavens, and these keys will prevail over the gates of Hades.
The conflict between the church and the gates of Hades is a further indication of the importance of the church. Wherever the church is, there the gates of Hades cannot prevail, for there the kingdom of the heavens is powerful and prevailing. In the church the keys of the kingdom work in power.
In Revelation, as the last book of the New Testament, the importance of the church is stressed even more as the testimony of Jesus in each locality. Every local church is a lampstand shining out Christ. Without a proper local church, the testimony of Jesus could never be practical and prevailing.
Having seen the importance of the church, we now come to the inward and outward aspects of the church. According to God’s ordained principle, virtually everything in the universe has two aspects — an inward aspect related to the content and an outward aspect related to the appearance. This is also true of the church. The inward aspect of the church is the content of the church and is related to the church’s testimony. The outward aspect of the church is related to the ground of the church, to the church’s appearance. The content of the church is the church’s testimony, but the appearance of the church is the church’s ground. Many so-called spiritual believers care only for the content of the church, the testimony, but not at all for the ground of the church. However, it is ridiculous to care for the one aspect and neglect the other. We should have a high regard for both the content of the church and the ground of the church.
Our very existence as human beings testifies that we must care for both aspects. As humans, we have an inward aspect — our soul and spirit — and an outward aspect as well — our body. Although we very much appreciate our spirit and our soul, we also devote a great deal of attention to the care of our physical body. Actually, most of the things in our culture are designed for the care of man’s physical existence. We dare not minimize the importance of the outward aspect of human life.
Although we can easily see the importance of the outward aspect of man’s life, we may not see the importance of the outward aspect of the church. Some so-called spiritual people actually ignore the ground of the church. They may even claim that this aspect of the church is unimportant or unnecessary. They may realize that to touch this aspect of the church can cause problems. In dealing with spirituality or with the spiritual testimony of the church, on the contrary, the problems may be fewer. But when we come to the outward aspect of the church, to the ground of the church, many problems arise. This is the reason that those who pursue spirituality often attempt to avoid the matter of the ground of the church. Nevertheless, just as we care for our physical body in order to maintain our existence, so we must also take care of the ground of the church in order to practice the proper church life. Apart from the ground of the church, there is no way for the church to exist in a practical way. Because the ground of the church is neglected, there is no practical expression of the church in today’s Christianity. By this we see that the matter of the church ground is extremely crucial.
More than fifty years ago in China, the Lord raised up a group of young Christians and brought them into His recovery. As the years went by, we gradually came to see the ground of the church. However, it was not until 1937, when Brother Nee delivered the messages printed in The Normal Christian Church Life, that we clearly saw the importance of the church ground. Now, by the Lord’s mercy, this matter has been made crystal clear to us.
The question of the ground of the church exposes the seriousness of division. Whenever we come to the church ground, we must be prepared to face the problem of division. As we all know, today there are hundreds of divisions among Christians. These divisions are all related to the neglect of the ground of the church, not to the content or testimony of the church.
The ground of the church is the oneness of the church. When we have oneness, we have the ground. But if we lose the genuine oneness, we also lose the ground. Hence, to speak of the ground of the church, it is necessary for us to see the oneness of the church. This oneness is a great truth in the Scriptures.
The Bible reveals four great acts, or activities, of God: creation, selection, the new creation, and the New Jerusalem. In each of these four acts we see the matter of oneness. The first three actions — the creation, the selection of the nation of Israel, and the formation of the church as the new creation — have already taken place. The coming of the New Jerusalem, God’s new city, of course, will take place in the future. After the age of the millennium, this new city will be manifested in full.
God’s creation was uniquely one. He did not create more than one universe. Furthermore, in this unique universe, man is the focal point of God’s creation. The Bible clearly reveals that God created just one man. When I was young, I wondered why God did not create billions of people at the same time. It seemed to me that it would have been much wiser for God to carry on the work of creation in this way. To be sure, God was able to simultaneously create billions of human beings. However, He did not do so. For the sake of the oneness, God created one man, Adam.
Genesis 1:26 says, “God said, Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them have dominion.” According to this verse, God first said, “Let Us make man.” Then He went on to say, “Let them have dominion.” In referring to the man created in His image, God used a plural pronoun. This indicates that the one man created by God was a corporate man. God’s intention is not to have many men; it is to have one corporate man. This is for the keeping of the oneness.
This principle applies to the church today. On the one hand, with reference to the church, we may speak of the church in a particular locality, such as the church in Anaheim. But, on the other hand, we may also refer to the church by using such pronouns as we and us to denote the members of the church. Because the church is a corporate entity, it includes all the believers in a locality. Therefore, in referring to the church, we may speak either of the church in singular number or of us, the believers in Christ, in plural number. This means that the church is a corporate entity and that we are the church. Just as the church is a corporate entity, so, in the same principle, the man created by God was a corporate man.
However, due to the repeated falls of man, the corporate man created by God became fallen. Step by step the man created for God’s purpose fell lower and lower until, with the lowest stage of his fall at Babel, he was divided into nations. The one man was of God, but the many nations had their source in the devil. The nations were devilish because they were divisions of the corporate man created by God for the fulfillment of His purpose. When this corporate man became the nations, it was no longer possible for him to carry out God’s purpose. At that point, God was forced to give up fallen mankind. Therefore, for the sake of His eternal purpose, God came in to call out one man, Abraham, to be the father of the called race. He selected one person from among fallen mankind to be the father of the called race. Just as God had created one man, so He called only one man. We may think that God should have called out a multitude of people. If we were God at the time of the calling of Abraham, we certainly would have called many people. However, it would have been against God’s nature to call more than one person. God’s nature is oneness. Hence, both in creation and in selection He was true to His nature. When Paul speaks of the oneness of the church in Ephesians 4, he speaks of one Spirit, one Lord, and one God. Because God is uniquely one, He is bound by His nature to create one man and also to call one man. To act otherwise would be contrary to His nature.
God does not act hastily. Although He is the almighty God, He never does anything in a hasty way. He created one man, Adam, and He selected one man, Abraham. Because His nature is oneness, He created only one person and called only one person.
When the descendants of Abraham were about to enter into the good land, God charged them not to worship at the place of their choice (Deut. 12:8). Rather, they were required to go to the place of God’s choice, to the place He had chosen to put His name for His habitation (v. 5). No matter how many Israelites there might have been, they were required to come to this unique place three times a year. According to the natural concept, such a requirement is not reasonable. Nevertheless, God required this of His people in order to keep the oneness. However, the oneness of God’s people was eventually lost. First, the oneness of created mankind was damaged. Furthermore, due to the degradation of the nation of Israel, the oneness of God’s chosen people was also destroyed. Some were carried off to Assyria, others to Egypt, and still more to Babylon. Such a division of God’s people was a frustration to the fulfillment of His purpose.
In producing the church as the new creation, God also acted according to His nature of oneness. How many churches were produced on the day of Pentecost? The answer, as we all know, is that at Pentecost just one church came into existence. The Lord Jesus lived on earth for thirty-three and a half years. At the end of these years He did not have, as we might expect, millions of followers. He had not established schools for the training of disciples. During the years of His ministry, the Lord had miraculously fed a multitude of people on at least two occasions. However, He apparently did nothing to retain a large following. Therefore, on the day of Pentecost only one hundred twenty were meeting together.
Once again we see that God’s way is the way of oneness. For this reason, only one church was produced on the day of Pentecost, the day that marked the beginning of the church life. This indicates that the beginning of the church was in the unique oneness that is according to the nature of God. The many churches that later came into existence through the expansion of the church life may be compared to the descendants of Adam and Abraham. Although Adam has had countless descendants, the fact remains that in God’s creation there was just one man. In like manner, although Abraham’s descendants were to be as the sand of the seashore, God nonetheless originally called just one person. Now in the New Testament we see that on the day of Pentecost only one church was produced by the Spirit. This church is the Body and also the one new man.
As the new man, the church is a corporate man, just as Adam was a corporate man. Furthermore, as the corporate man of God’s creation was divided into nations, so the corporate man of God’s new creation has been divided into denominations. This is the work of Satan. The nations damaged the one man of God’s creation, and the denominations have damaged the corporate man of God’s new creation. Just as the corporate man created by God was divided and dispersed, and just as the children of Israel were divided and scattered, so the church as the new man has been divided. Although this division has been a frustration to the accomplishment of God’s purpose, God cannot be defeated. His purpose will be fulfilled.
Ultimately, God’s purpose will be fulfilled through the new city, New Jerusalem. In the eyes of God, this new city has already come into existence. The principle with the new city is the same as that with the creation of man. After man was created by God, he was placed in front of a unique tree, the tree of life. He was also warned not to partake of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. To eat of the tree of life is to keep the oneness, but to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is to fall into division, for it is to become involved with death, darkness, and the devil. Therefore, God’s principle in His creation was to create one man and place him in front of a unique tree. This principle applies also to the New Jerusalem. In this unique city we see one throne, one street, one river, and one tree of life on either side of the river.
According to Ephesians 1:10, Christ, who is the center of God’s economy, will ultimately head up all things through the church. Ephesians 1:10 will be fulfilled at the time of the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and new earth. The city of New Jerusalem will be used by God to head up all things in oneness. This means that for eternity there will be no division, only oneness.
From the beginning in Genesis 1 to the consummation in Revelation 22, we consistently see the divine oneness. God is one, and the man created by God was also one. This unique man was placed in front of the unique tree of life. After the corporate man created by God had been divided into nations, God selected one man, Abraham. Then, centuries later, He produced one church. Ultimately, God will have one eternal city with one throne, one street, one river, and one tree. In each of the four great acts of God, therefore, we see the principle of oneness. This should cause us to realize that the church today must be in oneness and must be built on the ground of oneness. Oneness is the very ground of the church. May the Lord grant us more light concerning this precious oneness.
