The Experience and Enjoyment of Christ in the Local Churches

Experiencing Christ in the Local Church

18. Experiencing Christ as the One Who Showers Us with Blessing

Commenting on Ezekiel 34:26-27, Witness Lee points out that in the local church there are not only rivers but showers as a strong sign of the Lord’s blessing:

The Lord promised that He would make them a blessing (34:26). He also promised them that there would be showers all the time, that there would be the timely rain (34:26). They would have no lack of water. We need not only the rivers, but also the showers from the Lord. Frequently, in the local church meetings we have the sensation that something is not only flowing, but also coming down like a shower as well. Sometimes even at home after the meeting, we have the sensation that the showers are still coming down upon us. This is the strongest sign that the Lord’s blessing is upon the local church. He gives us showers of blessing in season, so timely. The showers will cause all the trees to yield their fruit and cause the herbs to yield their rich produce (34:27). The churches then will be rich with spiritual food. All the produce, the increase of the earth, is good for food. In the local churches, there is no famine, no shortage of spiritual food. Sometimes before a meeting there are only five small loaves, but after the meeting twelve baskets are left over. Hallelujah! This is the real blessing. These are signs that the local churches are under the Lord’s blessing: the showers in season, the trees yielding fruits, and much produce from the good land.

(Witness Lee, Visions of Ezekiel, 124)

Witness Lee unveils the marvelous shepherding Christ in the local church typified in Ezekiel 34. This Christ supplies us, gives us rest, releases us from all bondage, and ultimately showers us with timely blessing.

Ezekiel 36 and 47 reveal yet more rich experiences of Christ in the local church. Through the believers' proper experience of Christ, Witness Lee notes, the local church becomes like the garden of Eden with an ever-deepening flow of the divine life. This flow of life swallows death and enlivens everything wherever it goes.

19. Experiencing Christ as the Plant of Renown to Supply Us and Make Us a Garden

In the local churches we can experience the rich supply of Christ to such an extent that we become like the garden of Eden. Witness Lee comments on Ezekiel 36 in this way:

In 36:34-36, the Lord promised that the desolate and waste places would become like the garden of Eden. There the plant of renown, Christ as the tree of life, would be their rich supply. The local churches must reach such a high condition that they are like the garden of Eden. Even today, many times in the meetings, we have the sensation that we are in the garden of Eden.

(Witness Lee, Visions of Ezekiel, 135)

20. Experiencing Christ as the One Who Measures Us to Deepen the Flow

Here in Ezekiel 47, Witness Lee expounds on the relationship between the Lord’s measuring and possessing and the depth of the flow of the divine life in the local church:

The flow in your local church depends upon the degree of the Lord’s measuring and possessing. We may fool one another, but we can never fool the Lord. He knows the depth of the flow where we are. The depth of the flow depends on how much we have been measured and taken over by the Lord. For His measuring, the Lord needs our cooperation. The Lord can never judge us, measure us, possess us, and take us over without our adequate cooperation. We look to the Lord for His mercy that in all the local churches there will be a river that no man can pass over.

(Witness Lee, Visions of Ezekiel, 227-228)

21. Experiencing Christ as the One Who Causes Everything to Live

Ezekiel 47 describes a glorious, living situation where there is the flowing of the river of life. In speaking of this living condition in reference to the local churches, Witness Lee observes:

Where the river flows, everything shall live and be full of life. This river is the river of life, and only life can cause things to live. Mere teaching or gifts cannot impart life. Ezekiel does not say that everything shall be known or that everything shall speak in tongues or that everything shall exercise gifts, but that everything shall live (47:9). In this flow the trees live and bear sweet, delicious fruit every month (47:12). Furthermore, the water brings forth an abundance of fish (47:9). The cattle are included within the names of two cities, Engedi and Eneglaim (47:10). Engedi means the fountain of kids or lambs, and Eneglaim means the fountain of two calves. These are the fountains for the young cattle, the kids, and the calves. Thus, the flow of the river produces trees, fish, and cattle. In the proper church life, there should be many trees bearing good fruit as food. There should be no lack of fruit. All the trees grow by the living water. If the church in your place is living, there should be trees bearing fruit. When there are trees bearing fruit, it indicates that there is a flow in your church.

By the flowing of the river there is also fishing (47:10). Fishing signifies increase in numbers….We need the flow for the fishing. We need a place to cast out the net and a place to spread the net. We need fishing to have an increase in number.

In the local churches we also need some fountains of kids and fountains of calves for feeding. We must have not only fishing, but also feeding. Thus, we need food, we need increase in number, and we also need feeding. This will bring in the mingling and the building up of the church. Hallelujah! We need Engedi, and we need Eneglaim, the fountains of the kids and the calves. All these items depend upon the flow of the river. We all need such a flow.

(Witness Lee, Visions of Ezekiel, 229-230)

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