A Song of Ascents; of David.
Behold, how good and how pleasant it is
For brethren to dwell together in unity!
It is like the precious oil upon the head,
That ran down upon the beard,
Even Aaron’s beard;
That came down upon the skirt of his garments;
Like the dew of Hermon,
That cometh down upon the mountains of Zion:
For there the Lord commanded the blessing,
Even life for evermore.
Let us look to the Lord in prayer.
Our heavenly Father, as we gather together in the name of Thy Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, we do bow our hearts before Thee in gratitude. Oh, how we praise and thank Thee for all that Thou hast done for us in Christ Jesus. Thou hast given us Thy Son, and with Him all things.
We do praise and thank Thee for all Thy mercy and grace and love that we have experienced during the past few days. We do praise and thank Thee for Thy faithfulness in bringing us to this point. Oh, our heavenly Father, we do praise and thank Thee that there is no limit to Thy mercy, no limit to Thy grace, and no limit to the riches that are in Christ.
So, as we come together here this morning, we just open ourselves to Thee once again. We want to gaze upon the glory of the Lord with unveiled face and be transformed from glory to glory into His image by the Lord, the Spirit.
Oh, how we praise and thank Thee because the Holy Spirit is here, and He is doing the work that He is sent to do. So, our Father, we do commit ourselves into Thy hands and trust Thy working in us this morning, as well as the whole day. We ask in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.
During these morning sessions, our subject is this matter of Christian unity.
Our Lord Jesus was on earth for over three years. Then, toward the end of His earthly life, He turned His heart toward His Father and prayed for His own. The prayer that our Lord Jesus prayed for us is focused upon one thing: that all who believe in Him may be one, as He and the Father are one.
This oneness of God’s people is patterned after the oneness in the Godhead. It is not to be in any sense less than that oneness. As the Father is in the Son, and the Son is in the Father; as the Father and the Son commune with each other in the Spirit in such perfect harmony, the prayer of our Lord Jesus for His own people is nothing less than that.
God has put all of us in Christ, and Christ is in all of us. Therefore, He expects us to be one. He expects us to have fellowship one with another, and such fellowship should be without shadow or without shade. This is the prayer, the desire, the heart-desire of our Lord.
So, for this unity to be a reality, God has given us a tremendous gift, a very precious gift: the unity of the Spirit. Again and again, we say that we cannot make that unity. We cannot create or manufacture it. But we do praise and thank God that He has given us the unity of the Spirit.
One body: we all belong to one body. One Spirit: in one Spirit we were baptized into one body, whether Jews or Gentiles, and we were all made to drink of that one Spirit.
One hope of our calling: when the body is fully matured, the Head will come back to claim that body to be His bride. That is the one hope of our calling, and that is the work of the Holy Spirit in each one of us and in the body. He will bring us to that maturity for Christ, for that eternal union with Christ.
One Lord: we have only one Lord. Jesus is Lord. One faith: we believe that He is the Christ, the Anointed of God, the Son of the living God. One baptism: we are all baptized in His name; we belong to Him.
One God, who is Father of us all. He is not only our God, our Maker; He is also our Father. The Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirit, and we cry, “Abba, Father.” He is over all, through all, and in all.
So, dear brothers and sisters, God has given us the unity of the Spirit. It is ours. The only thing that He requires of us is to keep it—to keep it diligently. Do not move away from the ground of unity.
As you meet your brothers and sisters, when you meet any believer, any child of God, do meet them on the ground of the unity of the Spirit. If we meet our brothers and sisters with that unity of the Spirit, we are able to fellowship with one another. We are able to receive from one another the grace and the gift that God has given to each one.
Through ministry and through fellowship, we will arrive at, attain to, the unity of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God. This is the way that we grow from babyhood into manhood.
Without keeping the unity of the Spirit, we will never be able to attain to the unity of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God. We will never be able to grow properly. We will remain babes in Christ. We will be tossed around and carried about by every wind of the teaching of men.
But it is only when we keep the unity of the Spirit that we can have fellowship. We are open to the ministries that God gave to the church, and by this we are able to grow into full-grown men, into the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. We will be built up together in love.
We have also considered a little bit this matter of the causes of disunity among God’s people. It seems to me that it is a rather surprising thing that you find disunity not only in the church in Corinth, but you will even find it in the church in Philippi.
The church in Corinth was composed of people who were the Lord’s, and yet they were carnal. They were fleshly, and the works of the flesh were evident, were manifest, in their midst. They had strife, they had contentions, they had party spirit, and they had all these divisions among them. It was just the manifestation of their flesh.
How they needed the cross of the Lord Jesus. They needed to know the cross as the place where self is crucified, that they might be delivered from the works of the flesh, so that they might be one.
But then we find this happening not only in the church at Corinth; we find that disunity can also be found in the church at Philippi. It was a well-established church. It was a model church, if there is such a thing as a model church.
It was a church where the brothers and sisters were united in the preaching of the gospel. There was exhortation in Christ, consolation of love, fellowship in the Spirit, tenderheartedness, and compassion among them. We would think that with all these things among them, certainly they were one. Certainly there would be no disunity.
But, strange to say, we find that among them there was rivalry. There was vainglory; there was competition. They competed with each other as to who was the greater, and it was all for spiritual greatness.
Somehow, the enemy played some trick upon their minds. They thought they were for the Lord. They thought it was for the glory of God. They did not know that they sought vainglory. They just could not forget themselves. They insisted upon their own rights, their own opinions, their own thinking, and because of that, there was disunity.
So the exhortation of the Apostle Paul to the church in Philippi was, “Let the mind of Christ be your mind.” What is the mind of Christ? He who was equal with God did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped at, and yet He emptied Himself. He took the form of a servant. Being in the likeness of men, He further humbled Himself and became obedient to the Father, even unto death—yea, the death of the cross.
In other words, the mind of Christ is selflessness. What is humility? Humility is not thinking less of yourself, and humility is not to think of yourself at all.
Dear brothers and sisters, as long as this self is in us—whether it is the ugly self, as you find in all the works of the flesh, or whether it may be a beautiful self, as if it is very spiritual and desires God—yet suddenly you find it is self.
How we need to be delivered from ourselves. Ourselves are the greatest enemy to our spiritual life. Negatively, we need the cross to deal with our flesh. Positively, we need to have our minds renewed, that we may have the mind of Christ.
We do not have time to go into this matter of how our minds are renewed, but I think I must mention a little bit before we go on.
You know, after we are saved, even if we have some change of mind in dependence upon the Lord, yet basically that mind is still the old mind. In other words, even though we are saved, and especially during that short period after we are saved, it seems that we are heavenly minded.
Yet you will find very soon the oldness of our minds begins to raise its head again. There is soon revealed the way we look at things, the way we value things, the way we weigh things—our mental outlook, our decisions. You will find that it is not different from what it was before.
We have a new heart, but we still carry an old mind. This has been the problem with most believers. We need to have our minds renewed.
Now, how is our mind renewed? Very briefly, to have our mind renewed, we need to present our bodies a living sacrifice.
In Romans 12:1-2, Paul says:
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God,
to present your bodies a living sacrifice,
holy, acceptable to God,
which is your spiritual service.
And be not fashioned according to this world:
but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind,
that ye may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
Now, brothers and sisters, in verse 2 it is the renewing of the mind. Through the renewing of the mind, you are transformed. But how does it come about? It comes about through verse 1: present your body a living sacrifice. Consecration has much to do with the renewing of the mind.
After we are saved, we need to be constrained by the mercies of God. We do not just receive the mercies of God and then have no response. Since we have received the mercies of God, the most natural response from us is that we present our bodies a living sacrifice.
In other words, we realize that we have no right to live for ourselves. We realize that we have no right over ourselves. We realize that we belong to Him. He has bought us with a price. We realize that even if He would let us go, we would not go. We realize that we must give ourselves to Him, not only to be His, but to allow Him to do everything with us as He sees fit and to use us in any way that He desires.
So, brothers and sisters, consecration—presenting our bodies—is a very practical thing. In other words, it is not a theory; it is not an idea. The reason why Paul says, “Present your body,” is because this body is very practical.
God is to use this body. God lives in this body, and He is to live out His life through this body. He is to express Himself through this body. But how? You must surrender. You must yield. You must capitulate. You must voluntarily, willingly, give yourselves to Him before the Holy Spirit will take you up and transform you.
So, brothers and sisters, consecration is the first Christian experience after salvation. Consecration is not something that you just do once and for all. There must be a beginning, and then it has to be continued day by day.
It is just like the burnt offering that the children of Israel offered to God: one lamb in the morning and one lamb in the evening. On the altar, the burnt offering was always there, day and night. In the morning you put a lamb on the altar, and the lamb is gradually consumed by fire. When it comes to evening, the lamb has been reduced to ashes; the evening lamb is put on, so that the fire of the burnt offering never goes out.
Here, brothers and sisters, this is a picture of presenting our bodies a living sacrifice. It has to be renewed morning and evening. It has to be continued day by day. The fire of consecration should never go out.
As we present our bodies a living sacrifice, then the Holy Spirit does something in our lives: He renews our minds. Dear brothers and sisters, you cannot renew your own mind. It is the Holy Spirit who renews your mind.
In other words, He will so change your mind that you begin to think differently and to see differently. Formerly, you looked at the world and found the world so attractive, so lovely. No wonder you were conformed to the world.
But now you look at the world and the things of the world, as Paul says, and you look at all these things as refuse, as dross, worth nothing. You would rather throw these things away.
On the other hand, before your mind was renewed, when you thought of the will of God, you trembled. As some young people say, “What is the will of God? Anything that is against me is the will of God.” There is some truth in it.
Because of that, no wonder they are afraid of the will of God. But with the renewing of the mind, you begin to love the will of God. It is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God. There is nothing sweeter than the will of God, dear brothers and sisters. It is because the mind is transformed.
Is it not true that sometimes you have a controversy with the Lord? The Lord may want something from you, or the Lord may demand some obedience from you, and yet you find that you cannot let go of that thing. You cannot let go of yourself.
You struggle with the Lord, and you find that the Lord has become a hard Master to you. You try to negotiate and compromise, but you find that He will not argue with you. He seems to stand very firm in His demand. Sometimes you wonder why the Lord is so hard. You struggle and struggle until one day you cannot get over that problem.
How do you get over that problem? One day, the love of Christ touches you, and you capitulate before the Lord and say, “Oh, Lord, I am Yours. I give myself to You once again. Whatever Your will may be, let Your will be done.”
As you consecrate once again your life to the Lord, it is strange: suddenly, you look at things differently. That thing that loomed before you like a mountain becomes a molehill. It is not difficult to give up. You find that obedience is the thing to do, and you wonder why you did not obey earlier. What was all the fuss over?
You know why? Because your mind is renewed. Dear brothers and sisters, we need to have our minds renewed by continuously presenting our bodies a living sacrifice.
Then, of course, you have Ephesians 4.
In Ephesians 4, beginning with verse 20, we read:
But ye did not so learn Christ;
if so be that ye heard Him, and were taught in Him,
even as truth is in Jesus:
that ye put away, as concerning your former manner of life,
the old man, which waxeth corrupt after the lusts of deceit;
and that ye be renewed in the spirit of your mind,
and put on the new man,
that after God hath been created in righteousness and holiness of truth.
Here you find having put off the old man, having put on the new man, and being renewed in the spirit of your mind.
Brothers and sisters, to really experience the renewing of the mind in our daily life, we need to stand on the finished work of Christ on the cross. Why? Because there on the cross, our Lord Jesus has already taken the old man with Him and had him crucified in Him and with Him.
In Romans 6, it says that our old man was crucified with Christ. Now, here you find that this old man is like a dress. You have put on the old man; it is like a dress. It is the conversation, the behavior, the manner of the old man.
The old man is like a dress that you put on yourself. Now, you have to do one thing: you have to put off the old man as you put off an old dress.
On the basis that the old man was crucified with Christ, you can put it off. If the old man was not crucified with Christ, that old dress would stick to your body, and there would be no way to put it off. But since the old man was already crucified, it is possible for us to put off the old man in his former manner of life.
This is something that you have to do. You know, brothers and sisters, when we talk about this matter of crucifixion with Christ, in one sense it is true that there is nothing we can do. As our brother said, you cannot crucify yourself. Who crucified you? God did.
When Christ was crucified, you were crucified in Christ by God. This is something that He did for you. Because He did it for you, it is done. Therefore, you do not need to do anything to accomplish the crucifixion of the old man.
But do you just passively sit there and say, “Since God has done it, my old man was crucified; therefore, there is no more old man”? You will discover that the old man is like a garment that sticks to you. It sticks so closely to your body as if you cannot just rip it off. If you rip it off, you rip off yourself.
Brothers and sisters, the truth of God is very well balanced. On the one hand, we cannot crucify the old man. The old man was crucified in Christ on the cross by God. But on the other hand, we must believe it. We must believe that our old man was crucified.
Now, if we believe that our old man was crucified, why do we still let that old man be upon our body? Here is something we have to do actively. On the basis of our old man being crucified, actively we put off the old man according to his former manner of life, corrupted by deceitful lusts.
We have no obligation to the flesh. We are not under any obligation to the flesh. On the contrary, we can put it off.
In the spirit of our minds, in our mental attitude, we take a stand, saying that we do not want the old man with his former manner of life. The way he lived before, we do not want to live anymore. I say, actively, we put it off.
And by faith, actively, we put on the new man. We are already in the new man, but on the basis that we are already in the new man, we put on the new man that is created according to righteousness and holiness of truth.
So, in other words, after we have presented our bodies a living sacrifice, then in the spirit of our minds we are determined to put off the old man with his former manner of life and to put on Christ and all that is Christ.
Then, in 2 Corinthians 10:
For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh,
but mighty before God to the casting down of strongholds,
casting down imaginations, and every high thing
that is exalted against the knowledge of God,
and bringing every thought into captivity
to the obedience of Christ.
Having taken that attitude, that stand in Christ, you will find even in your daily life that you begin to discover there are many strongholds in your mind. The enemy has built strongholds throughout your life up to that moment.
There are so many prejudices. There are so many blocks. You know, when certain truth is mentioned, there is a mental block. Some people just cannot get over it, no matter how much you explain. It is a mental block.
It is just like when our Lord was on earth. He tried to tell His disciples three times that He must go to Jerusalem and be crucified, yet there was a mental block in the minds of the disciples. They never understood. Such plain words, but they never understood. Why? Because there were strongholds in their minds.
So, brothers and sisters, when you present your bodies and take a stand to put off the old man with his former manner of life and put on only Christ and all that is Christ, then you will find that the Holy Spirit will reveal to you where the strongholds are.
You begin to see these strongholds. Before that, you do not even see them. You do not even realize there are these fortresses of the enemy in your mind.
But after you have offered yourself as a living sacrifice and taken a stand for Christ, you begin to realize the strongholds in your mind. When the Holy Spirit reveals these strongholds, then you find that, on the basis of the victory of Christ on the cross, by the power of the Holy Spirit, you overthrow the strongholds, bring them down, and lead every thought into the obedience of Christ.
As we said yesterday, the mind is a battlefield. The battle will go on, but thank God, before the battle is fought, the victory is already won. It is through the victory of Christ on the cross.
So, whenever you find such a stronghold, you just, by the power of the Holy Spirit, bring it to the victory of Christ, and you will find that the strongholds will be overthrown. You will be able to find your thoughts being obedient to Christ.
There will be battle, but we do not need to be afraid of these battles, because we know where the victory is.
So, dear brothers and sisters, if we all have our minds renewed, then you will find that we will be delivered from ourselves. There will be self-forgetfulness, and self-forgetfulness will lay the foundation of unity among God’s people.
Now let us turn to Psalm 133. This will be the last session for this conference on this subject. Therefore, I do not want to leave this subject without a note of triumph, a note of joy. Psalm 133 is the song.
It is a Song of Ascents, of David. This is a song written by David. Most probably David wrote this song when he saw a certain thing happening with the children of Israel.
You remember, according to the law of Moses, all the males of the children of Israel must come to Jerusalem three times a year, there to worship God and to appear before God in the holy temple.
So you find that, though the children of Israel—the twelve tribes of Israel—were scattered over the promised land, every year there were occasions when those people who were scattered all over the land would return again together in Jerusalem.
For instance, during the Feast of Tabernacles, you would find the children of Israel coming into Jerusalem. Not only might every house be filled, but every vacant lot would be filled with tents everywhere. You would find the children of Israel coming together to worship the Lord and to serve Him.
It was a glorious sight. You find people from the north coming down and people from the south coming up. You find fishermen coming, farmers coming, shepherds coming. You find people of all kinds, with all kinds of backgrounds and local customs.
Yet, when these people came together in such great numbers, they dwelt together in unity—at least for the feast.
You find their whole hearts were turned toward God. You heard how they were exhorted. You saw how the Word of God was read and explained to them. You find how they expressed their love to God by offering love offerings to God. You see how they shared with one another the peace offerings.
You find there was such love, such oneness, among the people of God. All the quarrels, all the differences, all the competitions were laid aside. They forgot themselves, and they concentrated on the Lord. What a beautiful scene.
So David, as the prophet of God, as he saw this beautiful scene, was inspired by the Spirit of God to write this beautiful psalm.
Being a prophet, he wrote it on behalf of One who is of David’s seed and yet greater than David. One day, One who is greater than David will come, and when He is King, you will find all His subjects, all His people, gathered together unto His name. There they will dwell in unity, not for a week, but for eternity.
Behold. The Holy Spirit is calling our attention: behold. Look at it attentively. Observe it. Gaze upon it until the beautiful scene sinks into your heart and you are literally absorbed into it.
Oh, how we need to see it. Brothers and sisters, we need to have vision, and this is a vision—a vision in our spirit. As we look at this beautiful scene, that vision begins to grow within us, increases our desire for it, makes us willing to sacrifice everything for it, and we will find ourselves in it.
Behold, how good and how pleasant it is
For brethren to dwell together in unity!
How good? Good in the Scripture is always related to the purpose of God.
“All things work together for good to those who love the Lord, to those who are called according to His purpose.” If you do not know the purpose of God, you cannot appreciate what is good and what is bad for you.
Sometimes you think it is bad, and yet it is good. Other times you think it is good, and yet it is bad. Good is according to the will, the purpose, of God. Anything that will fulfill the will of God, anything that will realize the purpose of God, is good. Even suffering is good.
Pleasant. How pleasant. Pleasant is always related to experience—something that you experience that gives you an uplifting delight, a pleasure.
How good and how pleasant: how it fulfills the purpose of God, and how it gives delight to your soul. There is nothing better; there is nothing sweeter than to see the brethren dwell together in unity.
When David wrote this psalm, on the one hand he was inspired by the beautiful scene during the feast time. But on the other hand, I believe he could not forget that this was not true in his household.
You remember the sons of David. They did not dwell together in unity. You find there were strife and contentions, competitions and divisions, even murders among the brothers.
Where brethren do not dwell together in unity, it is as cruel as hell. But if brethren should dwell in unity, it is heaven.
Behold, how good and how pleasant
It is for brethren to dwell together in unity.
Are we brethren? Not with a capital letter.
In John 20, the Lord told the women, “Go to My brethren, and say to them, I ascend unto My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.”
Whom He foreknew, He also predestinated to be conformed to His image, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. He who sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one. Therefore, He is not ashamed to call them brethren.
He will sing the praise of God in the assembly. Oh, brothers and sisters, what a privilege that we are called brethren by the Lord Himself. He who is the only begotten Son is now the firstborn among many brethren.
We are brothers. Of course, brothers include the sisters. I cannot forget that story when one brother came to Brother Watchman Nee, and Brother Watchman Nee said, “You go and tell some brothers about this or that thing.”
The brother asked, “Brother Nee, whom do you want me to tell—male brothers or female brothers?”
Well, it is true. Whether you are male or female, you are a brother—a brother to the Lord and a brother to one another. We are the brethren.
I cannot go away from this. When Saul, after he met the Lord on the road to Damascus, had his eyes blinded, there he was in Damascus three days and three nights, fasting, neither eating nor drinking. He was praying.
Then a man came to him and laid his hand on him. Saul could not see, but he could feel the touch, and he heard, “Saul, brother.”
Brother! Ah, I wonder if tears began to fall from Saul’s eyes. “I, the enemy—I, not only the enemy of God, but your enemy—and you say, ‘Saul, brother.’ I am your brother. You are my brother.”
I think there is no sweeter sound than this sound: brother. Of course, there is one—the name of Jesus. But aside from the name of Jesus, I think there is no other sound sweeter than the sound “brother.”
Why do you want to be called Reverend? As far as I understand, “reverend” in the original means terrible. Why do you want people to call you “the Right Reverend,” the right terrible one? Is it not better to be called brother? Why are you not content to be called a brother? That is the best you can have.
We are brothers, and how we are exhorted to love one another. Let brotherly love continue among you.
How good and how pleasant it is for the brethren to dwell together in unity.
As brethren, we dwell together. You may not all live under one roof. Now, I know what it means, because I came from a very big family. Four generations lived under one roof—all the uncles and aunts and their families, and the grandparents. We all lived under one roof. On one hand it was good; on the other hand, my!
Well, we may not all live under one roof, but still we dwell together. In other words, we cannot keep our brother at arm’s length. We have to embrace our brothers and sisters. We are together.
It is not just a matter of coming together once a year. It is not just a matter of all coming together once a week. It is not just a matter of coming together once a week for an hour to be entertained. This is not the way the brethren should live.
How should the brethren live? The brethren live together. They continue with one another. They continue in the teaching and fellowship of the apostles, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.
In the breaking of bread, we are breaking one bread to show that we belong to each other and to the Lord. We pray together. Why? Because we bear one another’s burdens. We are one.
The brethren dwell together. We are together, even if we live next door or on the next street. Even if we may be quite far apart in the same city, yet we dwell together. We have plenty of opportunities to be together. We have plenty of visits with one another. We share one another’s burdens. We look after one another’s interests.
Dear brothers and sisters, we break bread together. We pray together. There are plenty of opportunities for rubbing against each other, stepping on one another’s toes, and these are inevitable because we dwell together.
If we dwell together in unity, oh, how good and how pleasant. But if we dwell together in disunity, dear brothers and sisters, you will find there is no place more difficult to live than where brethren do not dwell together in unity.
Probably it is for this reason that you have all these divisions, all these sects and denominations, trying to find a better atmosphere. But how it must hurt the heart of the Father.
You know, my grandfather had many children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. But when he was in his old age, whenever we wanted to leave home—and we had to, because we went to college and so forth—we dared not let him know that we were leaving.
Why? Because it hurt him. He did not want anyone to leave. He wanted everyone to be there. So we just slipped away without his knowing, because we knew his heart.
Here, brothers and sisters, is an earthly father who has such a heart. How much more is our heavenly Father. How it must hurt Him when He sees His children scattered all over. For very small reasons, we divide.
How good, how pleasant it is for the brethren to dwell together in unity. Oh, dear brothers and sisters, for the Father’s sake, I plead with you: do not allow anything to break that unity. Learn to dwell together in unity.
It is true, you will suffer. Love suffers long. It is true, sometimes it can be very difficult. It requires you to lay down your life. But is it not right that you should lay down your life, as He has laid down His life for us? It is true that you have to give up your rights, but what rights do you have?
Oh, that we may dwell together in unity for the Father’s sake. If we dwell together in unity, oh, how good and how pleasant.
This goodness is so good that David does not know how to put it in plain statements. So he tries to use a figure of speech. You know, sometimes when you do not have the right word to describe certain things, you have to use a kind of illustration.
The illustration he uses is this: “Like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, upon Aaron’s beard, that ran down to the hem of his garments.”
He used this simile, this figure of speech, to describe how good it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. He said it is like the precious oil upon the head—Aaron’s head.
Now, of course, if you know the Old Testament, you will find that God chose Aaron to be the high priest. But before he could function as high priest in the tabernacle, first he had to be washed, and then he had to put on the priestly garments, which were for beauty and for glory.
After he had put on that priestly garment, you find that the holy oil was poured upon his head. We are told that it was not just a sprinkling of oil. As a matter of fact, the oil poured upon Aaron’s head was in such abundance that it was poured upon him profusely.
It began to flow all over his head, to his beard, and down to the very hem of his garment. We know that his garment reached to his feet. On the hem of the garment, you find a golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate. The oil literally covered all his body.
Only after he was anointed was he able to enter into the tabernacle to minister unto God and to minister to God’s people—to fulfill the purpose of God.
What is the will of God concerning His people? The will of God for His people is that we may worship Him and serve Him. But how can we worship? How can we serve Him unless we are anointed?
What is Pentecost? How did Pentecost come about? You remember Peter, when he tried to explain what had happened, said, “What you have seen and heard” is the evidence that the One who was crucified was not only raised from the dead, but He had ascended on high.
When He ascended on high, God anointed Him. God has anointed Him both Christ and Lord. Dear brothers and sisters, Pentecost, the coming down of the Holy Spirit, is the evidence that Christ Jesus is Lord.
Because He was anointed by God with such anointing, the oil fell down on the Day of Pentecost upon the one hundred and twenty. Sometimes I wonder whether these one hundred and twenty were the beard. But anyway, you find the anointing, the oil, just came down upon the whole body.
Remember, not one part of the body is not anointed. The holy oil covers the whole body, even to the hem of the garment. You may not be in the upper part of the garment, but if you are at the hem of the garment, you are anointed.
What is the meaning of the word Christian? Christ means “the Anointed One,” and Christian means “the anointed ones.” In one sense, we have all been anointed, because in one Spirit we were baptized into one body.
But in another sense, even though we are Christians, even though we are the anointed ones, we do not see the anointing. We are not able to function as priests. Where is our worship? How can we worship in spirit and truth? Where is our service? Where is our ministry one to another?
Dear brothers and sisters, is it not a contradiction? We are the anointed ones, and yet somehow it seems as if we have never been anointed.
What is being anointed? Our brother has already explained again and again: it is a divine setting apart and divine enabling. Through the anointing, we are being set apart—no longer common, but sacred.
Through the anointing, we receive a divine enabling. We were not able before, but we receive a divine enabling to worship and to serve as we should.
Why is it that God’s people do not experience the anointing that comes down from the Head to the body? One reason is this: the brethren do not dwell together in unity.
Brothers and sisters, when we are at odds with each other, one thing is sure: you do not have the anointing upon you. You may try to carry on your Christian life. You may try to carry on your Christian service, but it will all be outward things. You do not have the anointing upon you. The anointing is gone.
A member is as if it is disjointed. Oh, if you stay in the body, in your place in the body, you will be under the Head, and you will be fitted together and united with your brothers and sisters. If that is where you are, the anointing is your portion. You can experience the anointing of the Lord in your life.
As the dew of Hermon,
That cometh down upon the mountains of Zion:
For there the Lord commanded the blessing,
Even life for evermore.
How pleasant. It is so pleasant, so delightful, so fruitful, as our brother says. It is like the dew of Mount Hermon that descends upon the mountains of Zion.
Now Mount Hermon is in the north of the promised land. Mount Hermon is the highest mountain in the promised land. Mount Hermon stands on a plateau that is already above sea level, and it rises about ten thousand feet.
When the tropical sun shines upon the plain and the root of Mount Hermon, you find that the moisture evaporates and begins to rise up, up to the snowy part of Mount Hermon. There it condenses into dew and comes down.
Wherever the dew falls upon the ground, it so fertilizes the land that you find gardens everywhere.
Now, physically, we do not know whether dew from Hermon actually descends upon the mountains of Zion, because Mount Hermon and Zion are actually quite far away. I think my brother knows about it; I do not know. But this is the point, and this is spiritual reality.
In spiritual reality, it does not matter whether it is a foot away or ten thousand miles away. It is beyond time and space. So you find the dew of Hermon descending upon the mountains of Zion.
Zion is where King David lived. Zion is where his sons lived with him. Zion is royalty. There you find the dew falling upon the mountains of Zion, for there the Lord has commanded the blessing: life forevermore.
Dew in the Scripture speaks of life—life from above. That is the reason why, when the children of Israel walked in the wilderness, you find the manna fell upon the dew. It speaks of life, abundant life.
God has ordained that if the brethren will dwell together in unity, we will experience life from above. God has commanded it. You know, the word means that it is something inevitable. He will give you the dew of life; there will be life.
We will be refreshed. We will be strengthened. We will be built up in love. Oh, life—abundant life.
Why is it, dear brothers and sisters, that we do not see much life among God’s people? When God’s people come together, there does not seem to be much expression of life. It is almost as if you have to pump and pump and pump, and then a little bit comes out.
There are not rivers of living water, as our brother says. Why is it? Is it because, even though outwardly we are together, inwardly we are at odds with each other?
Is it because there is not unity among God’s people? Is it because we ask too much of ourselves and too little of Christ?
Oh, that God’s people may dwell together in unity. Brothers, sometimes people often come to me and say, “Brother, we need ministry. We do not have any brother who has ministry of the Word, and because we do not have such ministry, how can we grow?”
Ah, brothers and sisters, my answer to them is always this: if the Lord gives you ministry from outside, thank God for it. But if it is not God’s provision, it does not mean that you cannot grow.
If you dwell together in unity, you will have the dew from above. There will be food. There will be life. There will not be anything lacking. The thing is: dwell together in unity.
So, dear brothers and sisters, may we see this not only as a vision, but see this as a vocation. May the Lord make it real with us. Shall we pray?
Oh, my heavenly Father, oh, how we praise and thank Thee that it is not only Thy will, it is not only the prayer of our Lord Jesus, but we do praise and thank Thee that it is Thy work to bring Thy people into that unity that will bring much glory to Thyself.
Oh, how we praise and thank Thee. This is not just something for the future, but this is something that Thou art doing today among Thy people. So, Lord, we just want to give ourselves to Thee for that. We ask that by the working of the Holy Spirit, we may be brought into that unity that Thou dost look for, so that Thou canst bless and be glorified.
In the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.