The Experience and Enjoyment of Christ in the Local Churches

Experiencing Christ in the Local Church

1. Experiencing Christ in the Priesthood and Kingship

Referring to the Old Testament priesthood and kingship, Witness Lee describes the normal situation among the believers in a local church:

The normal situation in a local church is that of an adequate priesthood and kingship. This means we all know how to contact the Lord, how to have living fellowship with the Lord, how to be saturated with the Lord, and how to be occupied with the Lord. And we all know how to submit ourselves to the leadership of Christ, that is, to recognize the divine authority among the Lord’s people in the local churches. If we have these two things, what a wonderful situation that will be!

Today, for the Lord’s recovery in the local churches, we still need these two ministries. I am so grateful to the Lord that here in the churches, we have seen the priesthood and the kingship. The brothers and sisters know how to contact the Lord and to have a living fellowship with the Lord day by day. This is why we have the morning watch with all the pray-reading—it is simply to contact the Lord, to have a living fellowship with the Lord, and even to be saturated, permeated, and possessed by the Lord that we may really be one with Him in spirit. And it is by this that we all have come to recognize the authority of God, the headship of Christ. No human hand is ruling over us. There is no human control, but we do have the divine authority among us. The brothers and sisters are moving and acting under the headship of Christ. If you were to ask me who are the ones who take care of the churches, I would say I just do not know how to answer. What I mean is that we do not have the maneuvering of any human hand, but we do have a government, a divine government, a government under the headship of Christ. This is the kingship.

(Witness Lee, Recovery of God’s House, 38-40)

2. Offering Christ as the Real Worship to God

Concerning the Old Testament principle of worship in the good land and the New Testament reality of Christ as all the offerings in the local church meetings, Witness Lee writes:

The second point concerning worship in these four books is that everyone must come to Jerusalem with their hands full of the produce of the good land (Deut. 16:16-17). No one was to come with his hands empty. Each had to have something to offer to God, and that offering was the real worship to God. Today, in principle, it is exactly the same. Whenever we come together in the church meetings, the important matter is how much of Christ we bring. In the proper worship meeting, all the saints must bring something of Christ—not Christ in teaching or in doctrine, but Christ in their experiences.

The people of Israel first of all had to labor on the good land. They had to till the land, sow the seed, and reap the harvest. Afterward they had to grind the grains to obtain the flour for the meal offering. Then when they came together to worship God, they had something to bring and present to God as real worship. Today the Lord is going to recover this worship not only in spirit, but also in reality. Reality is just Christ as so many kinds of offerings….

When the Samaritan woman spoke with the Lord, she told Him how the Jews insisted to worship in Jerusalem, but her fathers worshipped God in another place. The Lord Jesus then told her that the dispensation had been changed. Real worship to God is not in this place, but in spirit and in reality (John 4:20-24). The reality is Christ as all the offerings typified in the Old Testament. We must have something of Christ experienced by us to bring to the tent of meeting, which are the meetings of the local church.

(Witness Lee, Christ as the Reality, 59-60)

Thus, it is clear that the normal experience of Christ in the local churches includes the New Testament reality of both the priesthood and the kingship. Witness Lee describes the believers' experience of the priesthood as one of contacting the Lord and living in fellowship with Him. This kingship is applied by our submitting to the headship of Christ. Furthermore, as we experience Christ in these ways, we gain a portion of Him to offer up to God for His satisfaction in the meetings of the local church. Such experience of Christ as the New Testament reality of all the offerings becomes the fulfillment of the Old Testament worship in typology.

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Described in OT

Revealed in OT

Revealed in NT

Portrayed in NT

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