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Scripture Reading: Deut. 12:5, 8; Psa. 122:1-3, 6; 133:1-3; Rev. 21:2; 22:1-2a
The principle with Babylon is division and confusion. The principle with Jerusalem is unity and oneness. The Old Testament reveals that God’s intention is always to gather His people together. His people were of twelve tribes, living in different places. But whenever they had a time to worship God in a corporate way, all of them were gathered together into the unique place of God’s choice (Deut. 12:5; Psa. 122:1-3). That place was not chosen according to their taste, preference, or concept. It was absolutely of God’s choice, and to gather together to worship God there was a very serious matter. To worship God at a place of their choice was condemned by God (Deut. 12:8).
God told His people that they had no choice of a place for a corporate worship to God. The place of God’s choice was Jerusalem. All the Israelites had to come together three times a year to Jerusalem to worship God (16:16). This was the ground of unity. In the fulfillment of this type, we all have to come to the ground of unity for the public and corporate worship to God. We have no choice. We do not have the position to do what we prefer. We have to take God’s choice as our destiny. We have been destined to take His choice, and His choice is the oneness, the ground of unity.
We may wonder what the fulfillment of Jerusalem is today. The answer is found in John 4. In this chapter the Samaritan woman talked to the Lord about the place of worship. Then the Lord Jesus told her that the time is different now. In other words, the age is changed. Before this time, it was the age of the old dispensation, and that was the age of the type. In the age of the type, the proper place of worship was in Jerusalem, a unique geographical place. But in the fulfillment of the type, in the new dispensation, today’s Jerusalem is our spirit. The Lord Jesus told the Samaritan woman that the proper worship is neither on a certain mountain nor at Jerusalem, but today the worship to God must be in our spirit (vv. 21, 24).
Our spirit is today’s Jerusalem. We may have a lot of different opinions and dissenting concepts in our mind, but when we turn ourselves from our mind to our spirit, right away we are one. In our mind we are scattered. In our spirit we are gathered. In our mind we have the principle of Babylon. But in our spirit we have the principle of Jerusalem. When we exercise our mind, we are confused. The exercise of the mind leads to quarreling and debating and eventually to division with confusion. When you are in the mind, you are in Babylon. We must turn ourselves from the mind to the spirit. When we get into our spirit, we are one. Then there is no more division or confusion. Today’s Jerusalem is our spirit. It is here that we have God’s habitation. It is here that we call upon His precious name. The Lord’s name and His habitation today are in our spirit.
Get out of your mind. When you stay in your mind, you have all the dissenting factors. You have your concept, and someone else has his concept. Each one has his taste and his choice. All the tastes and choices are different. Christians today are divided over various doctrinal matters. Some insist on baptism by immersion. Others like to have sprinkling. Some insist on the practice of foot-washing. We should not focus on such dividing doctrines. Instead, we must turn to our spirit.
In the early years of my Christian life, I was not so clear. When people asked me about immersion or sprinkling, I was ready to tell them what I felt, and I was ready to argue. But if you come to me today, I would say, “Brother, forget about your mind. Turn to your spirit. Turn to the spirit and say, ‘O Lord Jesus.’” If we stay in our mind, that means we still remain in Babylon. The fallen human mind is the very sphere of Babylon.
You can never be clear about the church by exercising your mind. The more you exercise your mind to reason, to find out what is wrong and what is right, the more unclear you will be. The questions in your mind are unending. If you ask me such questions, I will simply say that you need to turn to your spirit. You can never be clear about the church when you are still reasoning in your mind. When you say, “O Lord Jesus,” and turn to the spirit, right away you are as clear as crystal. In the spirit you are clear about the church.
Jerusalem, the oneness, the ground of unity, is not in your mind. It is in your spirit. When you have trouble, do not try to analyze. Just be so simple and turn to your spirit to call, “O Lord Jesus, O Lord Jesus.” Christians today are too much in the mind, studying, investigating, and discussing. The more you investigate and discuss, the more divisions and confusion there will be. Babylon is division and confusion.
We may think that we are right and that others are wrong. But our senses are really not trustworthy. Our feeling is not so accurate. Our senses and feeling fluctuate all the time. In the morning you may say that something is bad, but in the evening you may say that the same thing is good. Do not trust in your feelings. Do not trust in your understanding. Simply turn to the spirit.
You may be very unhappy with certain things in the local church, but if you exercise your spirit to say “O Lord Jesus, O Lord, Amen, Hallelujah” for fifteen minutes, you will feel happy with everything in the local church. Whatever the local church does will be wonderful to you. What is Babylon? Babylon is to be dissenting in your mind. When you are dissenting in your mind, you are in Babylon. What is Jerusalem? Jerusalem is unity with oneness in your spirit. When you get into your spirit, you are really one with me. If you come to argue with me, you come from Babylon, and you are trying your best to bring me back to Babylon.
We have to see the subtle tactics of the enemy. We should not analyze things in our mind. Instead, we should turn to our spirit and call on the name of the Lord. When we are in our mind, it is so easy to debate about doctrinal things. You have your opinion and interpretation, and someone else has his. We should forget about this and drink the one Spirit (1 Cor. 12:13). We can drink the Spirit by calling, “O Lord Jesus.” We should have nothing to do with our dissenting mind. Babylon is in your mind. When you exercise your mind, you go back to Babylon. Today’s Jerusalem is our spirit. When we turn to the spirit, we have the unity, the oneness. Jerusalem has always been the place of oneness.
In the New Jerusalem everything is one. The throne is one. The flow is one. The river is one. The street is one. The tree of life is one (Rev. 22:1-2). In the New Jerusalem there is only one street, so no one can get lost. There are twelve gates to the holy city, with three gates facing each direction (21:12-13). But regardless of what gate you enter through, you are on the same street. With the same one street there is the same one flow with one tree of life. All these “ones” come out of the very one God on the one throne. In the New Jerusalem there is only one God with one throne, out of which there is one flow of the river of life. In this one flow of the river of life, there grows the one tree of life. There is also one street for people to walk on. This is a picture of what today’s church life should be. We should be eating, drinking, and walking in oneness. We drink of the same one river, we eat of the same one tree of life, and we walk on the same one street. We are all walking in one direction toward God.
In the New Jerusalem there will be no debates about speaking in tongues, baptism, the gifts, eternal security, absolute grace, head covering, or foot-washing. All these things cannot even be seen in the New Jerusalem. The apostle John did not see these things. He saw the one river of water of life with the one tree of life flowing out of the one throne of the one Lamb-God.
You have to be clear where Babylon is and where Jerusalem is. Whenever you stay in your mind, you remain in Babylon. When you turn from your mind to your spirit, you turn to Jerusalem. Just be so simple. Today in the church life what we need is not the understanding of many things. What we need is the oneness in the enjoyment of all the riches of Christ. In the New Jerusalem there is nothing but the flow of the living water with the tree of life for everyone to enjoy the riches of Christ. The river is good for drinking, and the tree of life is good for eating. This will be our eternal enjoyment.
Today in the church life we do not care for anything else. We do not care for the understanding of doctrinal teachings. We care only for the enjoyment of Christ. Our Christ today is the river of life. Our Christ today is the tree of life. Today He is flowing within me and within you. He is flowing in our spirit. Whenever we turn to our spirit, we are not only clear as crystal, but we are also enjoying the riches of Christ. Day by day we are drinking. Day by day we are eating. By this enjoyment of Christ, we have the proper church life.
I must pass on a warning to you not to remain in your mind. When you exercise your mind, you go back to Babylon; you are not in chapters 21 and 22 of Revelation. Instead, you are in chapters 17 and 18; you are in Babylon. The call from the Lord in Revelation 18:4 is to come out of Babylon — “Come out of her, My people.” This means to come out of your mind. When you get out of your mind, you are out of Babylon. When you get into your spirit, you are in the New Jerusalem enjoying the riches of Christ.
After the destruction of Babylon in Revelation 18, there is joyful praising and shouting of “Hallelujah” and “Amen” in Revelation 19 (vv. 1-6). The joyful praising and shouting is not in the mind but in the spirit. Where is today’s Babylon? In your mind. Where is today’s Jerusalem? In your spirit. Where is the church life? In your spirit. Where is God’s habitation? In your spirit. Where is His name? In your spirit. Today we are enjoying Christ in our spirit. In our spirit we have a foretaste of the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and new earth. In our spirit there is no dissenting, division, and confusion. What we have in our spirit is the divine oneness.
