The Experience and Enjoyment of Christ in the Local Churches
The Experience and Enjoyment of Christ in the Local Churches |
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Enjoying Christ in the Local Church9. Enjoying and Testifying of His Faithfulness Our God is faithful, and as those spared from eternal judgment by the righteous death of Christ on the cross, we enjoy and testify of His great faithfulness. The local church includes all the spared ones who, by enjoying and experiencing God’s faithfulness become a testimony of it. In Visions of Ezekiel, Witness Lee remarks: During Noah’s time a flood destroyed the whole earth. Only eight people were spared from that judgment. After the flood, all the human beings were afraid of being destroyed by another flood. So God made a covenant with them and said that whenever there were clouds in the heavens there would also be a rainbow with them, signifying that there would be no more flood to destroy the earth (Gen. 9:11-17). The rainbow was a sign of God’s faithfulness and promise not to destroy the fallen human race. In His judgment and destruction of the fallen race, God spared some by His faithfulness. Do you realize that we all have been spared by God? We are all fallen and deserve to be destroyed, but God spared us. Praise the Lord! We are spared by His faithfulness. We have a rainbow as the sign of His faithfulness…. We all must bear the righteousness, the holiness, and the glory. Then we will have the appearance of a rainbow. All the demons, the angels, and Satan will have to come and see this rainbow. The rainbow is the sign of God’s faithfulness in sparing His fallen ones. All the fallen ones have become a testimony of this. Thus every local church should bear the testimony of such a rainbow. (Witness Lee, Visions of Ezekiel, 86-87) 10. Enjoying Christ as the Healing Life of the Body In the Bible the church is called the Body of Christ (Eph. 1:22-23). Just as there is life in our physical body, even the more there is divine life (which is Christ) in the Body of Christ. When we enjoy this healing life in the local church, it swallows up every problem. Witness Lee understood this truth and testified regarding it: Because the church is the organic Body of Christ, it can have nothing to do with organization. If something is wrong in our physical body, it is healed organically. The body is an organism. It cannot be touched or dealt with in an organizational way. The church is an organism. The church is not only the Body of Christ but also the new man. Just as the life within our physical body takes care of sicknesses, the life within the Body of Christ can take care of any problem. If there are some problems in a local church, it is best if we keep our hands off of these problems and leave them to Christ, the heavenly doctor. He is the life in the Body. We need to let the life in the Body work within the Body. (Witness Lee, History of the Church, 14) | ||||