Ⅰ
In order to see the vision of Christ as the Son of Man walking in the midst of the golden lampstands, we must be the Lord's overcoming messengers, those who are in our spirit on the ground of the church as fellow partakers in the tribulation, kingdom, and endurance in Jesus—Rev. 1:9-13, 20:
A
The practice of the church life in the early days was the practice of having one church for one city, one city with only one church; in no city was there more than one church—Acts 8:1; 13:1; Rev. 1:11.
B
There are four characteristics of our meeting on the genuine ground of oneness, the place God has chosen—cf. Deut. 12:5:
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First, the people of God should always be one; there should be no divisions among them—Psa. 133; John 17:11, 21-23; 1 Cor. 1:10; Eph. 4:3.
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Second, the unique name into which God's people should gather is the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, the reality of which name is the Spirit; to be designated by any other name is to be denominated, divided; this is spiritual fornication—Matt. 18:20; 1 Cor. 1:12-13; 12:3b.
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Third, in the New Testament God's habitation, His dwelling place, is particularly located in our spirit, that is, in our mingled spirit, our human spirit regenerated and indwelt by the divine Spirit; in our meeting for the worship of God, we must exercise our spirit and do everything in the spirit— John 3:6b; Rom. 8:16; 2 Tim. 4:22; Eph. 2:22; John 4:24; Rev. 1:10; 1 Cor. 14:15.
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Fourth, in our worship of God we must have the genuine application of the cross of Christ, signified by the altar (Deut. 12:5-6, 27), by rejecting the flesh, the self, and the natural life and worshipping God with Christ and Christ alone (Matt. 16:24; Gal. 2:20).
Morning Nourishment
Eph. 4:3 Being diligent to keep the oneness of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace.Matt. 18:20 For where there are two or three gathered into My name, there am I in their midst.
Chapter 12 of Deuteronomy corresponds in at least four ways to the revelation in the New Testament.
First,…the people of God should always be one. In order to preserve the oneness of the children of Israel, God did not allow each of the twelve tribes to have its own worship center…In His wisdom God did not allow His people to have their own choice or preference but required them to take His choice and to come three times a year to the unique worship center, even though travel to that place was inconvenient for many of them.
Many prefer to have their own way instead of God’s way…All denominations are according to man’s preferences…The Lord’s recovery is a matter of coming back to God’s way according to God’s preference. (Life-study of Deuteronomy, 2nd ed., pp. 75-76)
Today’s Reading
Second,…God’s way to keep the oneness of His people is to have a place with His name, the unique name…Today Christians should be gathered together into only one name, the name of the Lord Jesus (Matt. 18:20). However, Christians are accustomed to being gathered into other names, such as Baptist, Presbyterian, Episcopalian, Lutheran, and Methodist.According to the type in Deuteronomy 12, it is a serious matter to be gathered into a name other than the unique name of the Lord. To have other names for our worship is an abomination; it is spiritual fornication. We are Christ’s counterpart, His wife. Since we are His counterpart, we should not have a name other than His name…Just as a wife should bear the name of her husband, not the name of any other man, so we, the believers in Christ, should bear only His name and not any other name.
Third, both Deuteronomy 12 and the New Testament reveal that the place chosen by God for our worship of Him is the place of His habitation… According to Ephesians 2:22, God’s habitation, His dwelling place, is in our spirit…If we come together under the name of Christ but, instead of exercising our spirit, we remain in the natural mind or, even worse, in the flesh, we will not be in the habitation of God. In gathering together for the worship of God by enjoying Christ, we must gather into the name of Christ and we must be in the spirit. Otherwise, we will lose the proper ground of the church.
In everything related to the worship of God, we need to exercise our spirit. Whenever we sing, we should sing with our spirit. Whenever we praise, we should praise with our spirit. Whenever we speak, we should speak with our spirit. If we do this, the meeting will be in God’s habitation.
Fourth, in Deuteronomy 12 and in the New Testament we have the altar, the cross…Paul’s word in 1 Corinthians 2:2 indicates the importance of this: “I did not determine to know anything among you except Jesus Christ, and this One crucified.”
At the entrance of the church is the cross, and everyone who would come into the church must experience the cross and be crucified. To experience the cross is to be set aside, to be annulled, to be reduced to nothing. In the church there should be only Christ, not us. Where should we be? We should be on the cross. This means that we should not bring anything of the old man, anything of the flesh, the self, or the natural life, into the church. When we are on the cross, we are truly in the spirit.
As we are preparing to come to the meeting, we may pray, “Lord, if I still have something related to the flesh, the self, and the natural life, I ask You to forgive me and to cross out these things. Lord, I need to be crossed out and then anointed with Yourself.” If we all come to the meeting in this way, we will meet in the name of Christ, we will meet in God’s habitation, and we will meet under the application of the cross. (Life-study of Deuteronomy, 2nd ed., pp. 76-78)
Further Reading: Life-study of Deuteronomy, msgs. 10—11