Scripture Reading: Psa. 133:1, 3b; John 17:21-23; Eph. 4:3-6
Ⅰ
God is one; His nature is oneness—Deut. 6:4; Gal. 3:20; Eph. 4:3-6:
A
God is always true to His nature and never acts contrary to it.
B
Because God's way is oneness, oneness is the basic element of God's acts; in all of God's acts we see one origin, one element, and one essence—Gen. 1:26; 12:1-2.
C
In producing the church as the new creation, God acted according to His nature of oneness; thus, the beginning of the church was in the unique oneness that is according to the nature of God—Eph. 1:22-23; Acts 2:42, 46; 4:32.
Ⅱ
The genuine oneness is the mingling of the processed and consummated Triune God with the redeemed, regenerated believers—John 17:21-23; Eph. 4:3-6:
A
The Lord has given us the glory that the Father has given Him so that we may be one in the Father and in the Son; this points to a oneness in the divine nature and the Divine Being—John 17:22.
B
The oneness in Ephesians 4:1-6 is intimately related to what is covered in 3:14-21:
１
In 3:14-21 Paul refers to the three of the Triune God, and in 4:1-6 he refers to the Triune God in relation to the oneness of the Spirit and to the Body.
２
The fact that the Body and the Triune God are mentioned together indicates that oneness is actually the mingling of the processed and consummated Triune God with the believers.
Ⅲ
The genuine oneness—the oneness according to the nature of God—is an all-inclusive, comprehensive oneness that includes all positive things— Psa. 23:6; 36:8-9; 43:3-4; 84:1-8, 10-12; 92:10; 133:1, 3b:
A
When the oneness is recovered, all the spiritual riches and all the positive things are recovered with it, because they all exist in the oneness—Eph. 4:3; 3:8.
B
All the godly things and all the spiritual riches are ours on the genuine ground of oneness—Deut. 8:7-9; 12:12, 26-28.
C
The genuine oneness is not a partial oneness; it is a great, complete, comprehensive oneness, a oneness in entirety—Psa. 133:1:
１
This oneness, as revealed in Ephesians 4:3-6, includes God the Father, Christ the Lord, and the Spirit as the Giver of life.
２
The all-inclusive oneness gives us access to all positive virtues and attributes— vv. 1-2.
３
The New Jerusalem will be the ultimate consummation and expression of the genuine, all-inclusive oneness and of all things included in it—Rev. 21:2, 10-11.
D
Psalm 133 is a psalm on the oneness that includes all positive attributes and virtues.
E
If we see the vision of the oneness of entirety, all the germs of division will be killed, and we will be delivered from every kind of division.
Ⅳ
Division is all-inclusive; it includes all negative things—such as Satan, sin, worldliness, the flesh, the self, the old man, and evil temper—Rom. 16:17-18; Titus 3:10:
A
We should not think that division stands by itself and is not related to the flesh, the self, and worldliness—Gal. 5:19-21; Matt. 16:23-24; 1 John 2:15-16.
B
If we are enlightened concerning the nature of division, we will see that it is not only related to all negative things but includes all negative things.
C
To be in division is to be in death; Christianity is filled with death and darkness because the genuine oneness in life is lacking.
Ⅴ
To be in the genuine oneness is to be in life—John 17:3, 21-23:
A
The ground of the church is the base of our experience of life; to remain in oneness is to remain in life—Psa. 133:1, 3b.
B
When we are in the oneness, we are in life, we enjoy every positive virtue and attribute, and our spiritual condition gradually improves—Eph. 4:3, 15-16.
Ⅵ
For the recovery and preservation of the genuine, all-inclusive oneness, we must destroy the high places—1 Kings 11:7-8; 12:26-33; 13:33-34; 14:22-23; 15:14; 22:43; 2 Kings 12:2-3; 14:3-4; 15:3-4, 34-35:
A
In His wisdom God required His people to destroy all the places in which the nations served their gods—Deut. 12:1-3.
B
To set up a high place is to have a division; hence, the significance of high places is division.
C
To preserve the oneness of His people, God required that they come to the unique place of His choice; the high places were a substitute and an alternative for this unique place—vv. 8, 11, 13-14, 18.
D
A high place is an elevation, something lifted above the common level:
１
This indicates that a high place involves the exaltation of something.
２
In principle, every high place, every division, in Christianity involves the uplifting, the exaltation, of something other than Christ—cf. Col. 1:18.
E
The record of the building of the high places under Solomon and Jeroboam has a spiritual significance; it was written for our spiritual instruction—Rom. 15:4-6:
１
According to this record, division is caused by lust and ambition; Solomon is an example of the former, and Jeroboam is an example of the latter.
２
The high places built by Solomon and Jeroboam seriously damaged the ground of oneness—1 Kings 11:7-8; 12:26-33.
３
Every division in today's Christianity is an elevation of some kind.
４
In the church life we should not have any high places; instead, we should all be on one level to exalt Christ—Col. 1:18; 3:10-11.
５
Any high place, even those at which genuine sacrifices are offered, causes damage to the ground of oneness.
６
The divisions in Christianity are caused by selfishness and ambition—Phil. 2:21; 3 John 9-10:
ａ
Because certain ones are ambitious to have their own kingdom to satisfy their selfish desire, they neglect God's choice—Rom. 16:17-18.
ｂ
Jeroboam, an ambitious, selfish, and self-seeking man, set up another center of worship as a cover-up for his ambition—1 Kings 12:26-33.
ｃ
Because of their selfishness and ambition, many Christian leaders have set up centers of worship to fulfill their desire to have an empire.
F
The destruction of the high places involved three main things: the places, the images, and the names—Deut. 12:2-3:
１
Spiritually speaking, we must destroy every place other than the church and every name other than the name of Christ; this means that we must destroy our culture, disposition, temperament, habits, natural characteristics, preferences, religious background with its influence—everything that damages the genuine oneness—Gal. 2:20; 5:24; 6:14.
２
In order to fulfill the word in Colossians 3:11, every other place must be utterly destroyed:
ａ
We must destroy everything that is not the church with Christ.
ｂ
We should simply be in the church life enjoying Christ as the riches of the good land—Deut. 8:7-9; Eph. 3:8.
３
The church life has been weakened because of the lack of willingness to destroy the high places—1 Kings 15:14; 22:43:
ａ
In our human life and culture there are many places that remain, which need to be destroyed; we must destroy them all and then go to the unique place of God's choice, the church—Gal. 5:24; Matt. 16:18.
ｂ
In every place that is to be destroyed there is a dedicated pillar, a symbol, or an image; in our character or disposition there may be such pillars, symbols, or images that must be destroyed.
ｃ
In the church there cannot be anything other than Christ; Christ must be all and in all—Col. 1:18, 27; 2:2; 3:11.
４
On the ground of oneness it is not possible to have division, for the basis of division has been destroyed.
G
In the Lord's recovery we elevate Christ and Christ alone—1:18:
１
We can testify that, in contrast to today's Christianity, we have no "high places," elevations where something other than Christ is uplifted.
２
Having come to the church, we should have nothing other than the person of Christ and the unique way of the cross—1 Cor. 1:30; 2:4; Col. 1:20; 2:11; 3:11.
３
In the church we enjoy Christ as the rich produce of the land; our enjoyment of Christ in the presence of God becomes our worship, our church life, and even our Christian living, and we grow and mature on the ground of oneness—Eph. 3:8; 4:3, 14-16.
Ⅶ
We praise the Lord for the vision concerning the destruction of the high places and concerning the recovery and preservation of the genuine, allinclusive oneness; it is our privilege to share in this recovery today—Psa. 133:1, 3b; John 17:21-23; Eph. 4:3-6.