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Scripture Reading: Ezra 1:1-11; 2:1-2; 3:1-6, 8-13; 6:14-18; 7:6-9; 8:28-30; 9:1-7; 10:1; Psa. 126:1-6; Isa. 35:10; 51:11
In the foregoing chapter we saw that the high places caused the damage and the loss of the ground of oneness. Before Solomon and Jeroboam set up the high places, the children of Israel had been preserved in oneness by the temple in Jerusalem, the unique place of God’s choice. At the time of the annual feasts, God’s people gathered together in oneness. As they ascended Mount Zion, they even chanted the words of Psalm 133: “How good and how pleasant it is / For brothers to dwell in unity!” However, to indulge his lust, Solomon took the lead to build high places. These high places damaged the genuine oneness of God’s people, for they hindered many from going up to Jerusalem to worship. Some might have gone to the high places under the pretense of worshipping God. Nevertheless, in the high places there were idols. Furthermore, in order to carry out his ambition, Jeroboam also set up high places. We are told that high places were set up on every high hill and under every flourishing tree. This indicates how widespread and common they were.
The high places were the source of all manner of evil. Since the high places signify division, this indicates that division is a source of evil. The high places came in through man’s flesh and ambition. Solomon set up high places because of lust, whereas Jeroboam did so because of ambition. Hence, lust and ambition were the main factors of the building of the high places. In today’s terms, division is the result of the flesh and of ambition. In Christianity today there are high places everywhere, for Christianity is filled with divisions. All these high places are elevations where something other than Christ is exalted. By this we see that the situation of today’s Christianity is a definite fulfillment of the type in the Old Testament.
First, the oneness of God’s people was damaged by the high places. This damage provoked God to wrath. Unable to tolerate the situation, He sent the Assyrian army to invade the northern kingdom of Israel. Israel’s experience should have been a warning to Judah, the southern kingdom. Nevertheless, those in Judah went on worshipping at the high places. Although some were carried away to Egypt by Pharaoh Neco, the people refused to heed even this warning. Eventually, the Babylonian army not only conquered the land of Judah but also destroyed the temple and carried away a large number of people to captivity in Babylon. Furthermore, the vessels of the temple were taken to Babylon and put in the house of idols. Thus, the ground of oneness was not only damaged but fully lost.
This is a picture of the situation among today’s Christians. The denominations and independent groups are high places, divisions. In each of these high places something other than Christ is exalted. Even very good and spiritual things are elevated and used to cause division.
According to Romans 14, there is no reason for Christians to be divided. However, most Christians are accustomed to the existence of high places. Some may even feel that today’s high places are right and necessary. We think this way because we were born into an environment filled with division, with high places of every variety. Because we are so accustomed to division, we may have very little feeling about it. Paul’s feeling in Romans 14, on the contrary, was altogether different. Here he encourages us not to argue over such things as eating or observing days. Concerning these things, we should refrain from expressing our opinion. In this way the oneness of the believers will be preserved.
In the previous chapter I referred to a joint meeting of Christian groups that was held for a while in Los Angeles in 1963. The members of these groups were eager to come together for the practice of the church life. Hearing of their interest and of their proposal to have a joint meeting, I gave them a word from Romans 14. I pointed out that if we intend to practice the church life, we must take the way set down by Paul in this chapter. Many Christians talk about the Body life in Romans 12, but they neglect the principles in Romans 14. Without Romans 14 it is impossible to have the Body life described in Romans 12. Throughout the centuries Christians have been divided by opinions over doctrine and practices. For example, Christians are divided over the matter of baptism. There is disagreement not only about the mode of baptism but also about the water that is used and the name in which believers are baptized. The opinions concerning baptism have caused many divisions, even many elevations that exalt a particular opinion. Therefore, it is of crucial importance that we follow the way exemplified by Paul in Romans 14. Those from these groups assured me that they would take this way.
Nevertheless, after just a few weeks, problems developed. Some insisted on playing tambourines and speaking in tongues in the meetings. Others strongly opposed these practices. Eventually, neither group was willing to give in and to care for the feeling of others in order to maintain oneness. Eventually, it was not possible for that joint meeting to continue. The ones in these groups expected everyone to be the same as they were. However, if we have such an expectation, it will not be possible to have the church life. The church life must be all-inclusive, able to include all manner of genuine Christians.
In Romans 14 Paul had no intention of taking sides on the questions of eating or of observing days. Instead, he said, “He who regards that day, regards it to the Lord; and he who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who does not eat, does not eat to the Lord, and he gives thanks to God” (v. 6). This was Paul’s attitude, and it should be our attitude today.
We should not try to make everyone the same as we are. For example, although we may not speak in tongues, we should not forbid others to speak in tongues. On the other hand, those who speak in tongues should not insist that others do so as well. If we have this attitude, we will not be sectarian, and there will be no high places among us.
Some accuse us of narrowness. However, we are not narrow, for we receive all genuine Christians. The ones who are narrow are those who insist on a certain doctrine or practice. Their insistence on a particular matter causes it to be elevated and uplifted in place of Christ.
All the divisions in Christianity are elevations that involve either lust or ambition. Division opens the way for every evil thing to come in. Consider the evil that Jeroboam did. He made two calves of gold and set one in Bethel and the other in Dan. He also made a house of high places and appointed priests of the high places from among all sorts of people. He “ordained a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like the feast that is in Judah, and he went up to the altar” (1 Kings 12:32). All these points can be applied to today’s Christianity. For example, only genuine believers who have the life of Christ, who love the Lord, and who know the Word should be priests. But many of the ministers in Christianity today do not even believe that Christ is the Son of God. Furthermore, in Christianity there are many festivals, such as Christmas and Easter, that have been ordained and established by man. Furthermore, just as the children of Israel were eventually led into captivity and underwent a complete loss of the ground of oneness, so Christians today have been carried off to Babylon. The ground of oneness has not only been damaged; it has been utterly lost. Very few Christians have any idea of what the ground of oneness is. Who cares for the genuine oneness today? It is rare to find Christians who care about it. Generations ago, the genuine oneness of the believers in Christ was lost. For this reason the situation of today’s Christianity is altogether Babylonian. Although some may talk about oneness, this is not the genuine oneness revealed in the Scriptures. When we speak of the ground of oneness, hardly anyone can understand our language. To most Christians, the language of oneness is a foreign tongue.
The Old Testament reveals not only the damage and loss of the ground of oneness but also the recovery and testimony of this ground. Jeremiah prophesied that after seventy years of captivity in Babylon, the Lord would bring the people back to the good land. Jeremiah 29:10 says, “Thus says Jehovah, When seventy years are fulfilled for Babylon, I will visit you and establish My good word to you, to bring you back to this place.” Ezra 1:1 refers to this prophecy of Jeremiah. Here we are told that in the first year of Cyrus the king of Persia, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus so that he made a proclamation throughout his kingdom regarding the building of the house of God in Jerusalem. This took place “that the word of Jehovah by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished.” This indicates that the return to Jerusalem was not initiated by man. According to the clear record of the Bible, it was initiated by God Himself.
When God’s people were in Babylon, they did not offer sacrifice to Him there. Nowhere are we told that in Babylon they offered the burnt offering every morning and evening. No doubt, men like Daniel, Ezra, and Nehemiah prayed, but they did not have the ground to offer sacrifice to God. In Babylon there was no altar. Without an altar, it was impossible for them to offer anything to God. Moreover, in Babylon God’s people could not observe the yearly feasts. What a pitiful situation! Babylon was a good place for fasting but not for feasting. It was suitable for weeping but not for rejoicing. Psalm 137:1 says, “By the rivers of Babylon, / There we sat down; indeed, we wept / When we remembered Zion.” When the ground of oneness was lost, nearly everything else was lost also. God’s people lost the riches of the good land, the altar, and the feasts. Only at the chosen place in Mount Zion could they enjoy all these marvelous things.
When the Lord stirred up the spirits of the people to return to Jerusalem, not only was there a recovery of the ground of oneness; there was also a spontaneous recovery of all the positive things that had been lost. The vessels that Nebuchadnezzar “had brought out from Jerusalem and had put in the house of his gods” were brought back to Jerusalem (Ezra 1:7-11). Moreover, once the remnant of the people had returned, “they set up the altar upon its bases” (3:3). God’s people knew that the place for the altar was not in Babylon but only in the unique place of God’s choice in Jerusalem. The altar could not even be put in any place in the good land. It had to be set up on the very place Abraham offered Isaac to God on Mount Moriah. Anyone who wanted to present an offering to God had to go to that definite, specific, and unique place.
Today this unique place is the oneness. Whenever Christians lose the oneness, they automatically lose the place to set up the altar. As a result, they have no way to present a proper offering to the Lord. Before coming into the church life, many of us tried to offer ourselves to the Lord. I can testify that a number of times I consecrated myself to Him. But from our experience both before and after we came into the church life, we can testify that such a consecration was not genuine. Without returning to the unique ground of oneness, there is no way to offer anything to God. Soon after God’s people had returned to Jerusalem, they set up the altar and began offering sacrifices again. It was the same in our experience. After we came into the church life, we found ourselves able to consecrate ourselves to the Lord in a proper and genuine way.
Furthermore, it was after they returned from captivity that God’s people dealt with their mixed marriages with the heathen (9:1-7). Their conscience could no longer tolerate such an ungodly practice. This was a spontaneous result of returning to the ground of oneness. Surely there were many mixed marriages among the people in Babylon. However, their conscience caused them to deal with these marriages only after they returned from captivity.
The same is true in the Lord’s recovery today. After we came into the church life, our conscience began to function in a proper way. We “girded up our loins” and became careful regarding matters about which we had previously been rather loose. Before we came to the Lord’s recovery, we might have been free to engage in certain worldly amusements. But after we came into the church life, our whole being was girded up. We began to pursue godliness, and we had an increased desire to pray and to read the Word. Spontaneously we exercised our conscience more thoroughly. This behavior was not the result of teaching or regulation. It was the automatic issue of returning to the ground of oneness. Simply because we had come into the church life, we had a desire for godliness. Many negative things began to drop off, and many positive things became our experience. For example, we had the sense within that we should no longer practice Christmas. No one charged us to discontinue the celebration of Christmas. We simply began to have the sense that we should no longer celebrate it. In like manner, we began to discard many other negative things and to enjoy positive things. This illustrates the fact that when the oneness is recovered, all the positive things are recovered along with it.
Nothing is more satisfying than the ground of oneness. For the Old Testament saints the thought of coming into the courts of the Lord’s house stirred holy and godly aspirations within them. Many of the psalms illustrate this. These psalms are filled with aspirations of holiness, godliness, piety, and the presence of the Lord. In fact, even the thought of the house of God aroused such aspirations.
The presence of God is very much related to the ground of oneness. Before I came into the church life, I truly loved the Lord. However, I did not have much enjoyment of His presence. But when I came into the church life in a practical way, I began to enjoy the Lord’s presence day by day. Even during the course of a very demanding job, I had the enjoyment of His presence. According to my experience, I can testify that participating in the church life makes a tremendous difference in our Christian life.
Many of us can give a similar testimony. Before we came to the church, we were in Babylon. We loved the Lord and we sought the Lord, but we did not have much enjoyment of His presence. However, after we came into the church life, various holy desires and aspirations were aroused within us. More than ever before, we aspired to be in the Lord’s presence. This is the spontaneous result of returning to the ground of oneness, to the unique place of God’s choice. When God’s people returned to Jerusalem, all the positive things that had been lost during their captivity in Babylon were restored. All the sacred, godly, heavenly things spontaneously returned. It has been the same with us in the Lord’s recovery today.
Psalm 126:1-2 says, “When Jehovah turned again the captivity of Zion, / We were like those who dream. / At that time our mouth was filled with laughter / And our tongue with a ringing shout.” God’s returned people were filled with laughter and rejoicing because all the positive things had been restored. Before they returned to Jerusalem, however, they did not have such an enjoyment. But after they returned, they enjoyed so many excellent things that it seemed to them like a dream.
Isaiah 35:10 and 51:11, verses that are very similar, also speak of the joy of God’s returned people. These verses declare that “the ransomed of Jehovah will return / And will come to Zion with a ringing shout, / And eternal joy will be upon their heads.” The fact that this matter is repeated shows its importance, for anything in the Bible that is repeated is of special significance. During Isaiah’s time, the Babylonian captivity had not yet occurred. Nevertheless, Isaiah spoke about the gladness, the enjoyment, of God’s salvation of His ransomed people. He foresaw the joy of the returned captives. I do not believe that Solomon and his contemporaries were as joyful as Zerubbabel, Joshua the priest, Ezra, and all the others who had returned to Jerusalem from captivity. They experienced much more of the joy of God’s salvation than Solomon did. For this reason, the writer of Psalm 126 declared that they were like those who dream.
How we thank the Lord for recovering the genuine oneness, the oneness that has been lost by Christianity! This oneness is all-inclusive; it includes all positive things. Division, on the contrary, includes all negative things. We have seen that when we come back to the oneness, all the godly, heavenly, spiritual things return. The reason is that all these things exist in the oneness. On the one hand, we must admit that we are still quite short and have a long way to go. On the other hand, we can testify that the Lord’s riches surely are to be found in His recovery. The unique ground of oneness is here, and all the spiritual riches are included with this ground. All the godly things and all the spiritual riches are ours on the ground of oneness.
The testimony of the Lord today goes along with the recovery of the ground of oneness. This testimony does not depend on our efforts at self-improvement. We may make up our mind to improve ourselves, only to fall once again into failure. The Lord’s testimony does not depend on our efforts; it depends on His work within us on the ground of oneness. After we came into the church life, spontaneously the aspiration for godliness, holiness, and spirituality was stirred within us. This was not our own doing; it was altogether the Lord’s doing. Because we are on the proper ground, the ground of oneness, the Word of God is transparently open to us. This is wholly due to the Lord’s blessing on the ground of oneness. Where the recovery of the ground of oneness is, there the testimony of the Lord is also.
When God’s people in the Old Testament returned to Jerusalem, all the things pertaining to God’s testimony returned: the altar, the offerings, the temple, the feasts, and the rich enjoyment. However, those who remained in Babylon had nothing to do with the testimony of the Lord. The godly things were found not in Babylon; they were in Jerusalem, the unique place of God’s choice. Even though God’s returned people were weak or inadequate in many respects, it cannot be denied that the Lord’s testimony was with them, not with those in Babylon.
Furthermore, the return of God’s people to the ground of oneness was also used by God to bring forth Christ. Mary, the mother of the Lord Jesus, was a descendant of those who had returned from captivity. If the captives had not returned, there would not have been a way for Christ to be born in Bethlehem. There would have been no channel, no means, for Him to come forth according to the prophecies. Hence, the return from captivity in Babylon was a necessary preparation for the coming of Christ. In the same principle, I believe that the Lord’s recovery today will be used by God as a preparation for the Lord’s coming back. May the Lord fully use His recovery for the sake of His coming back!
