Scripture Reading:

Rev 1:11 Saying, What you see write in a scroll and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamos and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.

Ezra 1:3 Whoever there is among you of all His people, may his God be with him; and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and let him build the house of Jehovah the God of Israel-He is God-who is in Jerusalem.

 

I. The ground of the church：

A. The nature of the church is one：

1. “The church, which is His Body.” Ephesians 1:22b-23.

Since the church is the Body of Christ, she is the same as Christ in life and nature. Therefore, the church must be one in nature.

B. The expression of the church on earth is also one:

1. “If he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church.” Matthew 18:17.

The church is not something abstract. It has a visible expression on the earth. When the disciples had a problem, they could tell it to the church.

2. “We who are many are one bread, one body.” 1 Corinthians 10:17.

From this we can see that our God is one, the nature of the church is one, and her expression on earth is also one.

C. God preserves the oneness through the local oneness:

1. The New Testament mentions the church 111 times. From all the verses concerning the church, we can see one fact, that is, one locality, one church:

(a) “What you see write in a book and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, and to Smyrna, and to Pergamos, and to Thyatira, and to Sardis, and to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.” Revelation 1:11.

The epistles to the seven cities were to the seven churches, which shows that there was only one church in one city.

To appoint elders in every church was to appoint elders in every city (Acts 14:23; Titus 1:5).

2. Locality is the unique factor for the church to be called the churches (Acts 8:1; 13:1; 1 Cor. 16:19a; 2 Cor. 8:1; Gal. 1:2; Rev. 1:4, 11).

3. The expression of the church takes the locality as its boundary. It is neither larger nor smaller than a locality.

(a) Man is limited by space. God’s children should not be divided for any reason other than the factor of space.

(b) The expression of the church is one, but believers are limited by localities. Hence, the oneness of the church becomes the local oneness.

D. An unscriptural error:

1. Today we see many so-called “churches.” In a large city there may be ten or more so-called “churches,” every one of them with its own name. This is a great error. It breaks the testimony of the Body of Christ into pieces.

II. The type in the old testament:

A. The Israelites were to worship at the place where God set His name “But unto the place which the Lord your God shall choose out of all your tribes to put his name there, even unto his habitation shall ye seek, and thither thou shalt come: and thither ye shall bring your burnt offerings.” Deuteronomy 12:5-6a.

1. God gave this revelation to Moses even before the Israelites entered Canaan.

B. Jerusalem was the place God had chosen to set His name there “Then Solomon began to build the house of the Lord at Jerusalem in mount Moriah, where the Lord appeared unto David his father.” 2 Chronicles 3:1.

1. God chose Jerusalem as the unique center of worship for the Israelites. The purpose of this was to preserve the oneness among His people.

C. Jeroboam set up another center of worship, thus causing the people of Israel to fall into sin “Whereupon the king took counsel… and said unto them. It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem…O Israel…And he set the one [golden calf] in Bethel, and the other put he in Dan. And this thing became a sin: for the people went to worship before the one, even unto Dan.” 1 Kings 12:28-30:

1. For the purpose of securing his kingdom, Jeroboam set up another center of worship, so that the Israelites would not need to go to Jerusalem to worship, thus committing the sin of causing the Israelites to fall into sin. Therefore, we must not take any excuse for breaking the oneness among God’s people.

D. The Israelites were captured to Babylon; the temple of God was destroyed (2 Chron. 36:17-20):

1. By this time the people of God were completely scattered and had lost the ground of oneness.

E. The return to Jerusalem to recover the lost oneness “The Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation…saying…Who is there among you of all his people?…Let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the Lord God of Israel…which is in Jerusalem.” Ezra 1:1-3:

1. Once again the children of Israel returned to God’s chosen ground of oneness to rebuild the temple of God. This is a type of the church today.

2. Today we must avoid any factor of division and stand on the ground of the oneness of the church, preserving the oneness of the church and bearing the testimony of oneness.

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