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The purpose of the blending is to usher us all into the reality of the Body of Christ:
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We need to be in the local churches as the procedure to be brought into the reality of the Body of Christ as the goal.
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The highest peak of the Lord's recovery that can really, practically, and actually carry out God's economy is for God to produce not many local churches in a physical way but an organic Body to be His organism.
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Paul's thought of the church being one bread (1 Cor. 10:17) was not his own invention; rather, it was taken from the Old Testament with the meal offering (Lev. 2:4); every part of the flour of the meal offering was mingled with the oil—that is the blending.
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Hardly anyone speaks about blending because this is not only very high and deep but also very mysterious; it is not a physical matter; the significance of our blending is the reality of the Body of Christ.
Morning Nourishment
Eph. 4:4 One Body and one Spirit, even as also you were called in one hope of your calling.1 Cor. 10:17 Seeing that there is one bread, we who are many are one Body; for we all partake of the one bread.
The one church is expressed in the local churches because of physical reasons. We believers are scattered on this earth, so we cannot be in one location. We have to be in many locations, so in a sense, we have to be separated by localities. But we cannot forget that the churches are the Body of Christ. Ephesians 4 says that there is one Body (v. 4). Paul says that though we are many, we are still one bread and one Body (1 Cor. 10:17).
We may think that the local churches are the goal of God's economy. However, they are not the goal but the procedure God takes to reach the goal of His economy.... If we are just in the local churches and do not go on, we are far off from God's goal. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 1, "The Practical Points concerning Blending," pp. 116, 103)
Today's Reading
According to Ephesians 1:22-23, the goal of God's economy is the church, which is Christ's Body. Some may say that since the church is the Body of Christ and since we are in the church, we should also be in the Body. They are right doctrinally but not practically. We may speak much about the Body of Christ, but if we are asked what the Body of Christ is, we may be able to answer only that the Body of Christ is the church. We are in the church; that is a fact.... We have the term the Body of Christ and we have the doctrine of the Body of Christ, but where is the practicality and reality of the Body of Christ?The purpose of the blending is to usher us all into the reality of the Body of Christ....I treasure the local churches because of a purpose. The local churches are the procedure to bring me into the Body of Christ. The churches are the Body, but the churches may not have the reality of the Body of Christ. Thus, we need to be in the local churches so that we can be ushered, or brought, into the reality of the Body of Christ.
The highest peak of the Lord's recovery that can really, practically, and actually carry out God's economy is for God to produce not many local churches in a physical way but an organic Body to be His organism. We all have a physical body, but our body actually is not the reality of our being. My body is me, but it is not the reality of my being. Likewise, the churches set up around the globe are a physical frame, but among the churches there may be no reality of the Body of Christ. If we are honest with ourselves, we must admit that this is our situation today.
The thought of blending is very strong in the Bible. In the Old Testament there is a type of the blending for the fulfillment of God's economy.... This type of the blending is strongly referred to by the apostle Paul. In 1 Corinthians 10:17 Paul says, "Seeing that there is one bread, we who are many are one Body; for we all partake of the one bread." Paul's thought of the church being one bread was not his own invention; rather, it was taken from the Old Testament. The meal offering in Leviticus 2:4 consisted of cakes made of fine flour mingled with oil. Every part of the flour was mixed, or mingled, with the oil. That is blending. Paul tells us that the church is a bread, a cake, made of fine flour. This fine flour comes from wheat grains, and the wheat grains come from the one grain of wheat, which is Christ [John 12:24].... We are the many grains so that we may be ground into fine flour for making the cake, the bread, of the church. Here we can see the thought of blending in the Bible.
The truth of blending is in the holy Word, ... [but] hardly anyone speaks about blending because this is not only very high and deep but also very mysterious. It is not a physical matter. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 1, "The Practical Points concerning Blending," pp. 103-104, 111-112, 116)
Further Reading: CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 1, "The Practical Points concerning Blending," chs. 1-3; CWWL, 1993, vol. 2, "The Problems Causing the Turmoils in the Church Life," chs. 3-4