The Experience and Enjoyment of Christ in the Local Churches

Experiencing Christ in the Local Church

Psalm 68 is another psalm filled with the experience of Christ as the Helper of the helpless in the local church; the believers' true family and home. Witness Lee unveils this rich portion of the Christ who meets our every need in this precious psalm.

7. Experiencing Christ as the One Who Helps the Helpless

Psalm 68 describes the believers' experience of God in the local church as the God of the helpless and needy. This experience is wonderfully expressed by Witness Lee:

This dwelling place is not only a habitation for God, but also for us. In verse 5 we read, "A father of the fatherless, and a protector of the widows, is God in his holy habitation." In ancient times God's habitation was the tabernacle, but today His habitation is the church. In one sense, we are all the fatherless; we are the widows. But in the local church God is our God. We enjoy God as the God of the helpless in His dwelling place. Verse 6 says, "God placeth the solitary in families and giveth the desolate a home to dwell in." The local church on one hand is the family and on the other hand is our home. Before you came into the church, you were solitary because you had no family, and you were desolate because you had no home. Now in God's dwelling place you have the family with the home. Verse 10: "Thy flock found a dwelling place in it (in the rain-watered land-v. 9): thou, O God, didst prepare it in thy goodness for the needy." God's dwelling place is for us, the needy ones.

(Witness Lee, Christ and the Church, 107-108)

8. Experiencing Christ as the One Who Delivers Us and Applies His Victory to Us

The local church is a place of deliverance and victory. Drawing from Psalm 68, Witness Lee comments on our experience of the victory of Christ in the local church:

After God’s dwelling place is built, we have the enjoyment in God’s house of all that God is, all that God does, and all that God can do. This is the sixth point in this Psalm. After verse 18 concerning God’s dwelling, we have such rich enjoyment in verses 19 and 20: “Blessed be the Lord: day by day doth he load us with good, the God who is our salvation. Selah. God is unto us a God of deliverances; and with God, the Lord, are the goings forth even from death.” In the house, in the church, in the sanctuary, God loads us with good day by day; hence we enjoy His goods; we enjoy His salvation, His deliverances, and His goings forth even from death. The going forth from death is a real deliverance. If we could go forth from death, we could go forth from the enemy. Everyone knows that whenever death comes to visit, there is no escape. This is really so. But we Christians may say today that whenever we are confronted with death, we can go forth from death. What a deliverance! We enjoy God; we experience God as our deliverance, as our going forth from death.

Moreover, in the house of God we enjoy His glorious victory. “But God will smite the head of the enemies…The Lord said, I will bring again from Bashan, I will bring (thine enemies) again from the depth of the (Red) sea, that thou mayest crush them, dipping thy foot in the blood, and the tongue of thy dogs may have its portion from (thine) enemies” (vv. 21-23). God has defeated all His enemies: Bashan has been defeated by Him, the Egyptians have been drowned by Him in the Red Sea. All His foes are vanquished. Today, there is no need for Him to repeat His victory. Today, in the local churches, in the sanctuary, we may apply His victory. In these three verses it is as if the Lord had said, “If you do not believe that all My enemies have been defeated, I will demonstrate My victory to you. I will bring Pharaoh and his hosts from the depths of the Red Sea and demonstrate their defeat again.” Before the house was built up, it was time for the Lord to defeat His enemies. But since the house has been built, there is no need for the Lord to repeat His victory. We only need to apply His victory.

…One day I began to realize that by coming into the local church and staying in the local church, every problem is solved and every enemy is overcome. It was so wonderful; I cannot tell you how wonderful it was! When I stayed in the local church, the world was gone, my temper was gone, and my problems disappeared. I am speaking from actual experience; I have been learning this for over thirty years. I have tried many methods and ways. I searched the Bible to find the will of God. Eventually that did not work, and I found nothing. But when I came into the local church and stayed there, the will of God was spontaneously made clear. I tried to solve my problems as an individual again and again, but could never overcome. When I stayed in the local church, however, all the enemies fled. I had no intention of defeating them; they all fled. From my experience I can boldly testify and declare that the best way to solve your problems, to overcome your enemies, to know the Lord’s will, and to obtain the Lord’s blessing is simply to stay in the local church and praise the Lord.

(Witness Lee, Christ and the Church, 108-110)

9. Experiencing Christ as the One Who Strengthens What He Has Wrought for Us

Finally, Psalm 68 speaks of God strengthening and substantiating in our experience those things which He has already accomplished. This takes place in the temple, in today’s church life. Witness Lee says of this precious experience:

Next we need to pray that God will strengthen that which He has wrought for us out of the church. “Thy God hath commanded thy strength: strengthen, O God, that which thou hast wrought for us out of thy temple” (vv. 28-29). God has wrought everything and all has been accomplished; what we need today is the strengthening. God has put Satan to death already. We do not need God to repeat this act, but we do need Him to strengthen us. God has put our self, our old man, on the cross already—God has wrought this, and He need not re-enact it. However, we do need God to strengthen this experience within us. The Bible tells us that we have ascended with Christ to the heavens—God has wrought this already. Today what we need is the strengthening of this experience within us. This strengthening is in the temple. It is in the local church that God does everything to strengthen what He has wrought for us. We must pray, “O God, strengthen what You have wrought for us out of Your temple!” We do not need a repetition, but we do need a strengthening. We need God to make all that He has wrought for us so real to us, out of His church, out of His dwelling place.

(Witness Lee, Christ and the Church, 115)

The experience of Christ opened to us by Witness Lee from Psalm 68 is so encouraging. In the local church, all the needy ones find a dwelling place. Here we are wonderfully delivered from death and enabled to apply Christ's victory. Finally, in the local church every item of the accomplished work of Christ is strengthened in our experience.

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Described in OT

Revealed in OT

Revealed in NT

Portrayed in NT

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