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In this chapter we come to the matter of the site of God’s building. Everyone in the Lord’s recovery needs to be very clear about this. The first thing the builder of a house must take care of is the site on which he will build. If he builds the house on the wrong site, that house will belong to the one who owns the lot. Hence, the site, or the ground, is crucial. If the ground is wrong, there will be a problem, even though the house may be built perfectly. Therefore, we all must know what is the site of God’s building in His recovery.
Today we are surrounded by divisions. In the past, many of us have traveled from site to site, from division to division. In the early years of my Christian life, I traveled to three sites or grounds. I know some who have visited a number of sites during the period of a year. First they were with the Episcopalians, then with the Lutherans, and after that with the Methodists. After staying with the Methodists a short time, they visited the Assembly of God and remained there for a while. Following this, they contacted a number of independent groups. Perhaps this is the history of your Christian life. Are you still traveling in this way? Traveling is the positive word; wandering is the negative one. The reason you were traveling, or wandering, so much in the past was that you did not know what the proper ground was. You were trying to live the Christian life, but you did not know where to live it.
In 1960 I gave a series of messages in New York on the ground of the church. After one of the meetings, the leading ones expressed their appreciation and told me that I had rendered them a great help. Seizing the opportunity to strengthen them and to further impress them, I said, “Brothers, you have visited a certain spiritual place where people constantly talk about the Body and about the principle of the Body. You were told that we Christians should not be individualistic but should be built up. However, those in that place did not tell you where to be built up. They talked about the building yet said not a word concerning the site, the ground, of the building. Tonight we in New York are all happy with one another. But perhaps after a few months some of you will no longer be happy with the rest of us. Because you are unhappy, you may look for some place where you can be happy. You may go there, stay for a while, and then look for still another place. If you do this, you will repeat your history.”
No matter how spiritual we are, we cannot be built up with others if we are not on the proper ground. Before we can be built up, we need to be certain concerning the site on which we intend to build. For example, before building a meeting hall, you need to have the proper site. It is impossible to build a hall without a site, for a hall cannot be suspended in the air. Many Christians today talk about the church and the Body, yet they have not seen the proper ground of the church. Because they lack the proper ground, the result is that they build up something one day and tear it down the next. Actually, they have not built up anything, because they do not have the proper ground. The only thing that can keep us steady is the unique ground.
The spiritual things of the New Testament are mysterious. Because they are mysterious, it is difficult to describe them or define them. Thus, the Bible follows the principle of illustrating spiritual things by shadows, figures, and types. It is similar to the way children are taught to read in school. Along with the word dog, the teacher will show the children a picture of a dog. Praise the Lord that the Bible first affords a picture and then the plain words. In the Old Testament we have the types and pictures, and in the New Testament we have the definition, the fulfillment, of the types and pictures of the Old Testament. God’s way in His wisdom is to use pictures.
The most comprehensive picture in the Old Testament is that of the children of Israel. The entire nation of Israel is a great picture of the church. God has had two peoples—one in the Old Testament, the children of Israel, and the other in the New Testament, the church. God’s people in the Old Testament are a type of His people in the New Testament. Because the church is a mysterious entity, it cannot be easily described. Therefore, God employs the picture of the children of Israel to enable us to have a clear understanding of the church. We need to look at the picture first and then read the definition. Before the church came into being, there was already a picture of the church in the Old Testament. Although the church has now come into existence, it is nevertheless difficult to understand the church because it is a spiritual entity. Thus, we still need the picture of the church in the Old Testament.
The children of Israel observed a feast called the Feast of the Passover. The first passover feast was celebrated in Egypt. The record of this is in Exodus 12. After the children of Israel fled from Egypt, they crossed the Red Sea. According to 1 Corinthians 5 and 10, both the passover and the crossing of the Red Sea were types. The passover is a type of Christ enjoyed in the church, and the crossing of the Red Sea is a type of baptism, which is practiced in the church today. Although many teachers and theologians have seen that the early history of the children of Israel is a type, most have neglected the fact that their later history is also a type. The entire history of the children of Israel is a type of the church.
Let us turn now to Deuteronomy 12. This word was given at the time the children of Israel were about to enter into the good land to possess it and enjoy it. Moses was charged by the Lord to command the children of Israel concerning the place where they were to worship God. In this chapter Moses seemed to be saying, “In the wilderness you did what was right in your own eyes, not what was right in the eyes of God. But now as you are about to enter the good land, I must warn you to be careful about the place where you worship the Lord. The place of worship is not a matter of your choice but of the Lord’s choice. You cannot worship God in the place of your choosing. No, you must go to the place the Lord has chosen.” Sixteen times in Deuteronomy 12, 14, 15, and 16 Moses refers to the place that the Lord would choose. Because Moses was so concerned for the children of Israel, he charged them about this again and again.
In Deuteronomy 14:23 Moses said, “You shall eat before Jehovah your God, in the place where He will choose to cause His name to dwell.” Moses seemed to be saying, “After you enter into the land, you must be careful where you eat the best part of your harvest. You need to set aside the top tenth of the harvest and bring it to the place that the Lord shall choose. You are not allowed to enjoy the top tenth in the place of your choice, not even in your homes. Rather, you must set it aside until the appointed times and bring it to the place that the Lord your God shall choose. At that place you may eat it and enjoy it. You must do the same with the firstlings of your flocks. Offer them to the Lord in the place He shall choose and then eat them in the presence of the Lord.” This feasting in the presence of the Lord in the place of His choice is the kind of worship God has ordained. Most Christians do not understand that the worship ordained by God is a matter of eating. God has ordained that feasts be held in the place of His choice. Three things are important here: the place of God’s choice, the times appointed by God, and the portions of firstfruits or firstlings desired by God. Have you ever realized that the worship God desires is a feast? This is what God wants today.
In Deuteronomy Moses seemed to be saying, “After you enter the land, you have no right to eat the firstfruit or the firstborn of the flocks in the place of your choice. This is forbidden. Rather, you must keep them aside until the appointed time. Then you must bring them to the place chosen by God, offer them to God, and then eat them in the presence of God.
Now we must see the reason God ordained that the children of Israel worship Him at the place of His choice. God chose a unique place in order to preserve the oneness of the children of Israel. The oneness of the Israelites was maintained by coming to worship at the unique place chosen by God. It did not matter in what part of the Holy Land the Israelites lived, whether it was far to the north or far to the south. They had to come to the place God had chosen.
Suppose an Israelite from one of the northern tribes said, “God is omnipresent. Why must we travel so far to worship Him? Let us set up a worship center here in the north.” Certainly worshipping God is a good thing. How could anyone say that it was not good to establish a worship center and to encourage people to come there to worship God? This is vastly different from opening a gambling casino. Nevertheless, something may sound good but still not be right. The setting up of a worship center as a convenience to people in their worship of God may be good, but this does not make it right. If the Israelites living in the north had done this, those in the south might have followed their example and said, “God is not only with them in the north but also with us here in the south. Let us worship Him here.” If the northerners and the southerners had done this, there would have been two divisions among the Israelites. Without the regulations given in Deuteronomy 12, 14, 15, and 16, there would have been many divisions among the children of Israel. Probably each tribe would have set up its own center of worship, with every tribe claiming that their center was a place for the worship of God. In this way the children of Israel would have been divided again and again. The divisions would have been endless, perhaps with a center of worship set up in every home. If that had taken place, the divisions among the children of Israel would have numbered in the thousands. Such division is confusion; it is spiritual fornication. In other words, it is Babylonian. Now we can appreciate God’s wisdom in choosing one place as a center of worship.
When I read these chapters in Deuteronomy as a young man, I could not understand this matter. However, when I was enlightened, I simply had to worship God. For years I had tried to describe the oneness that we should be diligent to keep. But I did not have the utterance until I saw the light regarding God’s choice of the place of worship in the Old Testament. In the eyes of the Lord it was not right for the children of Israel to worship at any place other than the unique place God had chosen. In this matter God did not allow them to make their own choice. Second Chronicles 6:6 reveals that God’s chosen place was Jerusalem. During all the years of their history, the children of Israel have not been divided as far as the worship of God is concerned. Even when their nation was divided, their place of worship was still uniquely one. Their oneness was maintained by the unique worship center chosen by God. It was there, in Jerusalem, that they built the temple. The children of Israel brought the firstfruit of their harvest and the firstlings of their flocks to Jerusalem, where they offered them to God and enjoyed them with God and with one another. This type of worship in the place chosen by God was very pleasing to Him. This was worship that maintained the oneness of the children of Israel.
Suppose two of the Israelites were at enmity with each other. When they went to Mount Zion to worship God, they were forced to be reconciled. As they ascended Mount Zion, they repeated the words of Psalm 133: “How good and how pleasant it is / For brothers to dwell in unity!” I believe that such reconciliation took place again and again. Eventually, the Israelites who hated one another had to forgive one another so that they could sing the words of Psalm 133. This not only happened between individuals but also between tribes. Because they had to go up to Jerusalem three times a year, they could not remain at enmity with each other for a period longer than several months. God’s ordination did not allow this.
Now we need to apply this matter of the unique oneness to the situation today. Today there is no unique oneness among Christians. If Christians do not like one another, they simply feel free to start another meeting, claiming that they are worshipping God and that God is with them. Nothing binds them together. Rather, everyone does what is right in his own eyes and makes his own choice. How many choices there are in today’s Christianity! It seems that nearly everyone has the liberty to establish a church according to his taste. Some Christians, for example, appreciate foot-washing. If you do not agree with this practice, you will not be accepted by them. Thus, the ones who advocate foot-washing have a foot-washing church. The same may be true regarding head covering or regarding the type of wine or juice used at the Lord’s table. Some insist upon grape juice, and others argue in favor of wine. Still others have different opinions about the bread or about the size of the cup. For this reason, there is a multitude of so-called churches according to various tastes.
Today in Christendom there is too much freedom. If a person does not agree with others, he takes the liberty to establish a church according to his taste. It seems that any kind of preaching or teaching can gain at least a small following, even if a man’s following includes only the members of his family. What a pitiful situation! In the words of Moses, this is doing what is right in our own eyes. As the children of Israel were about to enter into the good land, Moses commanded them to do this no longer. Rather, they had to do what was right in the eyes of the Lord. For the Israelites, the place of worship was uniquely one. It did not depend upon man’s choice or taste; it was altogether a matter of God’s choice. Because God had made His choice, the children of Israel were one.
As we all know, the time came when the children of Israel were scattered, some to Assyria, some to Egypt, and the majority to Babylon. The time of glorious oneness was over. We should not think that while they were in Assyria, Egypt, and Babylon they did not worship God. Certainly they worshipped Him. However, they did not build the temple in any of those places, because they knew that the temple could be built only on the unique site, on Mount Zion in Jerusalem. If a temple had been built in Babylon exactly the same as the temple in Jerusalem, it still would have been wrong, for it would have been built on the wrong site. The Jews did not dare to do such a thing. Even today they are waiting for the recovery of the proper site, which is presently occupied by a Muslim mosque.
After the Israelites had been in captivity seventy years, the Lord commanded them to return to the good land. While they were in Babylon, they were, of course, still the children of Israel and they could worship God; however, they had no temple. Because they did not have the temple, they did not have the full enjoyment. A number took heed to God’s word and returned to Jerusalem. Suppose a group of Israelites who began the journey from Babylon to Jerusalem stopped halfway. Being neither in Babylon nor in Jerusalem, they would have been yet another division. Suppose another group left Babylon and came very close to Jerusalem, settling down just outside the city. Although they would have been very close to Jerusalem, they would still have been a division. Because they were not actually in Jerusalem, they would still have been a division, no matter how close they were to Jerusalem.
Applying this to today’s situation, I would like to ask you where you are. Are you in Egypt or Assyria or Babylon? Have you stopped halfway back to Jerusalem or just outside Jerusalem? We can boldly declare that we are in Jerusalem. Those who are in Jerusalem, those in the Lord’s recovery, are not in a division. Those who have not come all the way back to Jerusalem are a division. God’s people need to come back to Jerusalem. Today we are no longer in division; we are the recovery. The Lord’s recovery is not a division. Thus, we have the right, the position, the boldness, and the confidence to say that we are in the recovery. Regarding the church, a fight is raging today. Those in the denominations say, “Why do you claim that you are the church and that you are the recovery?” We reply, “Yes, we are the church, and we are the recovery. What are you?” They would have to say that they are Presbyterians or Methodists but not the church.
You may be wondering where Jerusalem is today. In order to answer this question, we must notice two things that Moses said repeatedly in Deuteronomy: that both God’s name and God’s habitation would be in the place that the Lord would choose. According to history, God has not had His name or His habitation in any place other than Jerusalem. Today God’s habitation is in our spirit (Eph. 2:22), and we Christians are to meet in the name of the Lord (Matt. 18:20). Both the Lord’s name and God’s habitation are in our spirit. Thus, our spirit is today’s Jerusalem where we should worship God. Do not despise your spirit, for it is today’s Mount Zion.
If the children of Israel in ancient times had not cared for Mount Zion, they would have been divided. Only Mount Zion could keep the oneness of the children of Israel. Likewise, the real oneness of Christians today can be kept only in our spirit. If we would forget everything and turn to our spirit, we would be one. Christians are divided because they do not care for their spirit. Instead of caring for the spirit, they care for such things as foot-washing, head covering, the ways of baptizing, and the type of bread or wine used at the Lord’s table. They may debate and even fight with one another, but they do not care for their spirit. Many Christians do not even know that they have a spirit. Thus, they stay in their mind. If you stay in your mentality, you will never be one with other believers. Rather, you will fight with others. Because I realize that the mentality is so strong and so ugly, I often pray, “Lord, keep me in my spirit.”
Because Christians stay in the mind, they are divided. If a thousand Christians were gathered together and each stayed in his mentality, there would be a thousand divisions. The reason many husbands and wives are not one is that they are in their independent mentality. For a wife to have a mind independent from that of her husband is divisive. Oneness is only in the spirit. As we have pointed out, oneness is the Holy Spirit who is in our spirit. Therefore, when we turn to our spirit, we are one. Today our spirit is the New Testament Jerusalem, the place where we have oneness.
In the spirit there is also the name of Jesus Christ. The reality of the name is the person, and the person is the Holy Spirit. If we turn to our spirit, our opinions and judgments will vanish. The only way to be attuned in the same mind and in the same opinion (1 Cor. 1:10) is to turn to our spirit.
When the Lord Jesus was talking to the Samaritan woman in John 4, she subtly changed the subject from the matter of her husband to the matter of the worship of God. She said, “Our fathers worshipped in this mountain, yet you say that in Jerusalem is the place where men must worship” (v. 20). Her word indicated that she still held to the old concept found in Deuteronomy. The Lord Jesus answered, “An hour is coming, and it is now, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truthfulness” (v. 23). The Lord’s word about an hour coming indicates that the age has changed. The former age was the age of type, but now is the age of fulfillment. In type, Jerusalem was a figure of our human spirit, and the sacrifices used in the worship of God were figures of Christ. Christ is the reality of all these figures. For this reason, the Lord Jesus told the Samaritan woman that today we must worship God in spirit and truthfulness. In the ancient times the people of God worshipped God in Jerusalem with the sacrifices, which typify Christ. But now we must worship God in spirit with Christ as the reality. Now we can understand that the worship of God must be in spirit and in reality.
If our worship is proper, we shall be in spirit and we shall offer Christ to God as the firstlings and firstfruits for God’s satisfaction and for our satisfaction in the presence of God. This is real worship, the worship by feasting on Christ in the presence of God. Here in the spirit we maintain our oneness, and here we have no opinion, because we are not in the mind but in the spirit. When we turn to our spirit, we have the presence of God, and we enjoy the riches of Christ. This is the proper worship in the unique place of worship, which is our spirit.
Our spirit is the only place where we can be one. Do you realize that in the spirit you have no opinion or dissension? In the spirit there is oneness. In our spirit there is the all-inclusive Spirit who is the oneness of the Body. If we would touch this oneness, we must turn to our spirit and remain in our spirit.
Today’s Jerusalem is our spirit, and today’s offerings are Christ as the reality. Thus, we need to worship God in spirit and truthfulness, which is Christ as all the offerings we present to God for His satisfaction. These offerings also satisfy us. In the spirit we have genuine worship, and we maintain the unique oneness. This is the ground of the Lord’s recovery, the site on which we can build the Body life, the ground on which the Body life can be practiced.
