The Experience and Enjoyment of Christ in the Local Churches

Experiencing Christ in the Local Church

Ezekiel 34 is replete with the experiences of the Christ who tenderly shepherds each believer in the local church all-inclusively caring for every need.

14. Experiencing Christ as the Shepherd Who Brings Us Back to the Rivers and into the Fat Pasture

Ezekiel 34 presents a heart-warming view of Christ as the Shepherd caring for the flock. This care includes many aspects, of which eating and drinking are primary. Witness Lee applies this type to our experience today in the local church:

Furthermore, the Lord said He would bring them back to the rivers (34:13). The rivers indicate the life-giving Spirit, the living water of the Spirit. From the mountains, the rivers flow; from the resurrected and ascended Christ, the living water of the Spirit flows.

The Lord also said that He would feed His flock by the rivers (34:13). In the local churches the Lord Jesus is feeding us daily by the rivers of living water. Many of us have had this sensation….once we came into the meetings of the local churches, we had the sensation that we had been brought back to the river. Something was flowing there as a river and we were by the side of the river enjoying the riches of Christ. This is not something of man; this is something of our Shepherd. He feeds us richly by the rivers. In all the meetings of the local churches we have the river, the flow, and the watering. It is not a matter of teaching or ministering, but a matter of something flowing and of being watered. When we come into the meetings we can sense this watering.

The Lord brought them back, not only to the rivers, but also to the good and fat pastures (34:14). The rivers signify the life-giving Spirit and the pasture signifies Christ. By the rivers we have the rich Christ as our pasture. The rivers are for drinking and the pasture is for eating. In every meeting of the local churches, we have the sensation that we are by the rivers and in the pasture, that we are drinking and eating. Praise the Lord we are under the care of our Shepherd, drinking by the rivers and feeding in the pastures! If visitors could come to your local church and not have the sensation that they were under the feeding and watering with a river flowing, with pastures fat and good and green, this would mean that the church life there is wrong. If the church life is right, when people come to the meetings, they will have the sensation that they are by the flowing rivers and in the fat pastures.

(Witness Lee, Visions of Ezekiel, 120-121)

15. Experiencing Christ as the Shepherd Who Causes Us to Lie Down

Christ our Shepherd is truly the One who gives us rest. Witness Lee points out that it is in the meetings of the local church that we experience this rest:

Ezekiel 34:15 also says that the Shepherd will cause them to lie down. To lie down means not to work so much, not to struggle so much, not to strive. In the Bible, to lie down means to rest. In Song of Songs 1:7, the seeker asked the Lord where He fed His sheep, where He gave His flock rest at noontime. Whenever the Lord feeds us, shepherds us, gives us to drink and eat, He also gives us rest. Many times in the church meetings, we have the sensation that we are lying down to rest. Outwardly we are sitting, but inwardly we are lying down to rest.

(Witness Lee, Visions of Ezekiel, 121-122)

16. Experiencing Christ as the Shepherd Who Strengthens and Heals Those Who Were Sick

Witness Lee describes how the Shepherd’s strengthening and healing of the believers take place in the local church meetings:

The Shepherd will also bind those who were broken, and He will strengthen and heal those who were sick (34:16). How we need the binding and healing! Frequently in the church meetings we have the sensation that we are under the tender binding of the Lord. We have the sensation that some of our wounds and breaks are under the Lord’s binding, healing, and strengthening. While we are eating, drinking, and resting, we are under His binding, strengthening, and healing. Praise the Lord!

(Witness Lee, Visions of Ezekiel, 122)

17. Experiencing Christ as the Shepherd Who Breaks All Yokes and Sets Us Free

Commenting further on our experience of the Shepherd in the local church, Witness Lee notes:

The Lord also promised to break all the yokes (34:27). With Him there is no bondage and no yoke. Jesus breaks every fetter; Jesus sets us free! In the local church there is no yoke, but rather full liberty and full release. Furthermore, under His shepherding the Lord delivers us from all kinds of slavery. In the churches, there is no sensation that we are under a kind of slavery. Rather, there is the sensation of liberty.

(Witness Lee, Visions of Ezekiel, 123)

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