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Additional Quotes about the Local Church by Witness Lee and Watchman Nee
Mount Zion, the sides of the north, the city of the great King, is beautiful in elevation. It is the joy of the whole earth (v. 2). Verse 3 says, “God has made Himself known/In her palaces as a high retreat.” The city signifies the church, the universal church, but the palaces in the city signify the local churches. God has made Himself known in the palaces, in the local churches. Thus, if we want to know God, we need to come to the local churches, which are a high retreat. First, God Himself is a retreat, and then the local churches become a retreat. The local churches today are a retreat. If you need a retreat, come to the local churches.
F. God Being Our God Forever and Being Our Guide Even unto Death
“Walk about Zion, and go around her;/Count her towers./Consider carefully her bulwarks;/Pass between her palaces;/That you may recount it to the generation following” (vv. 12-13). Towers and bulwarks are for fighting the enemies to protect the city, and palaces are for the king’s dwelling. All these indicate the functions of the church. We should walk around the church, count her “towers,” consider carefully her “bulwarks,” and pass between her “palaces” that we may recount it to the following generation.
“For this God is our God forever and ever./He will guide us even unto death” (v. 14). Here we see that God is our guide, even our tour guide. Our human life is a tour, and we are tourists who do not know where to go or how to get to our destination. We need a guide, and our guide is God Himself. He will continue to guide us until we die and go to Paradise.
Where do we experience God’s being our guide? He is our guide in the church, both in the universal church, the Body of Christ, and in the local churches. We do not know what our next step should be, but He is directing our steps. We do not know where to go, but He is guiding us, the tourists, on our tour of human life. Since God will continue to guide us even unto death, there is no need for us to worry. Instead, we should simply enjoy His presence, guidance, and direction.
God’s guidance is an aspect of the enjoyment of God in the city. This enjoyment of God is through Christ, in Christ, and with Christ, and it is in the church and in the local churches—in the universal church as the Body of Christ and in the local churches as the expressions of the Body.
In Psalms 46–48 God is our refuge, our retreat, and our guide. The God whom we enjoy through Christ, in Christ, and with Christ in the church and the local churches is our refuge, retreat, and guide. Have you experienced and enjoyed Him in this way? At present, our experience may be limited, but we thank the Lord for the new “shoots” and “branches” of such an experience of God in Christ that are springing forth. May we all learn to enjoy God in Christ in the church and in the local churches.
Thus far in our life-study, we have covered forty-eight psalms. In which psalm do you intend to linger? Will you stay in Psalm 1 or go to enjoy Christ in Psalm 2, Psalm 8, Psalm 16, and Psalms 22–24? The Christ we enjoy in Psalm 23 is the Shepherd, the One who is shepherding us into the house of God, the local church. Eventually, when we are built up, strengthened, and enlarged, the church becomes the city, the kingdom of God, where the King rules and reigns.
(Witness Lee, LS of Psalms, 274-276)
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