Let us turn to Psalm 133.
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.
We thank our Lord that, by His mercy, He has gathered us together so that we may come before Him and pursue the oneness of the saints.
We know that the oneness of the faith is according to the oneness in the Godhead. The work our Lord accomplished on the cross not only includes the redemption and salvation of us as individuals; it also includes calling us out from races and tribes.
It also includes abolishing all the differences and divisions that we have in the world, so that we may all be one in Him.
Today, in the Lord, we are one body. He is our only Head. There is no other head, and there is no other person to be our head. Even we ourselves are not our head, because we have offered our bodies as a sacrifice.
Christ is not only the Head of us as individuals. Christ is also the Head of the church. We are under His headship and authority. Let Him be our Head, and then the whole Body will be fitted together and built up together in love.
Brothers and sisters, we have to see that the oneness of the saints is the gift of God. This gift of God is given to us in our Lord Jesus, and this blessing is given to us in the Holy Spirit.
Therefore, by the grace of God, we have to do away with all things that would hinder this oneness. Then we may express this very precious oneness that God has given us.
This morning’s session is the last one of this conference. Therefore, we would like to share together the blessing of the oneness of the saints.
We know that there is one psalm that speaks of the blessing of oneness, saying, “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for God’s children to be one.” This is Psalm 133.
Psalm 133 is called a Song of Degrees. From Psalm 120 to Psalm 134, there are fifteen psalms called Songs of Degrees.
We are told that these Songs of Degrees were what the Israelites would sing when they were on their way to Jerusalem. Three times a year, the Israelites would go to Jerusalem to worship God at His temple. They were scattered all over the place.
At the beginning of these songs, we see that those who belonged to God were living in foreign countries. Wherever they lived, their hearts longed for the temple of God.
By the grace of God, they converged on Jerusalem from various places. As they journeyed toward Jerusalem, they met one another and went to Jerusalem together.
When they saw the temple from a distance, their hearts were stirred. Then they arrived at Jerusalem, ascended the steps, entered the temple, and beheld the glory of God.
On the one hand, they found their own corruption and weakness. But on the other hand, they felt how abundant the grace of God was.
From the time they began their journey until they entered the temple, they sang these songs. When they came to Psalm 133, it was the summit of the Songs of Degrees.
By the great mercy of God, they could be one. They were no longer disintegrated. They were no longer like they had been in the past, when individuals cared only for their own affairs. They were now one in God.
Therefore, they thanked God and praised God. They sang Psalm 133:
Behold, how good and how pleasant it is
For brethren to dwell together in unity!
But because they were still in the flesh, they would soon go back home. Psalm 134 speaks of the time when they began to return.
But we thank God that today we are the heavenly people. Although in the flesh we cannot always meet together, our oneness is not something outward. When we gather together, we are one; even when we go home, we are one. This fact is eternal.
Some say that the fifteen Songs of Degrees refer to the fifteen steps in the temple. According to Ezekiel 40, there were seven steps to go to the outer court and eight steps to go into the inner court. At each step, they would sing one song. That is another interpretation.
But no matter what interpretation is given, we know that Psalm 133 speaks about the blessings of oneness.
Whenever the word behold is mentioned in the Bible, God wants us to pay special attention. Here is something God wants us to notice. This is something we cannot neglect, because here is a glorious fact.
That glorious fact is that brethren dwell together in unity. On this earth, you cannot find this matter.
On this earth there are Jews and Gentiles, and they do not have fellowship with one another. There are different denominations. Some differences are according to race, some according to culture, some according to social class, and some according to education.
The earth is full of class distinctions, and division is something normal. Unity is something that cannot be found.
But God today has united us out of all these differences. The cross has abolished all these differences. In Christ, we can be one. This is something that cannot be found in the world.
Therefore, God wants us to behold this matter: brethren dwelling together in unity.
Here we see the brethren. No matter who we were in the past, whatever race we belonged to, whatever culture we came from, whatever education we had, or whatever our social status was—in the Lord, we are all brothers.
We have male brothers and female brothers. In us is the life of the Lord. Besides the name of our Lord, there is no other name that is sweeter in our ears than “brother.”
You remember when Saul was persecuting God’s children. He was on his way to Damascus, hoping to put God’s children in prison and bring them to Jerusalem to accuse them.
But we thank God that, on his way to Damascus, our Lord appeared to him. When he entered the city of Damascus, for three days and three nights he could not see anything. He did not eat, he did not drink, and he was praying.
God sent Ananias to him. Ananias put his hand on Saul’s head and said, “Brother Saul.”
Dear brothers and sisters, Saul had been an enemy. Now Ananias put his hand on Saul’s head and called him, “Brother Saul.” They had been enemies before; they could not even bear to see one another. But today they were brothers.
I believe that when Saul heard that voice, there was a deep feeling within him: “A man like me—have you called me brother?”
Dear brothers and sisters, we thank and praise our God. We are all brothers, and brothers have to love one another. If we do not love one another, we are not like brothers.
Therefore, our Lord told us that we have to love one another. Why do we have to love one another? Because we are brothers. How can brothers not love one another?
As the Lord loved us, we must love one another. The Lord loved us and gave Himself for us. We have to love our brothers and lay down our lives for them.
This is the nature that the life of the Lord has brought to us. This is the truth concerning brothers loving one another, because this is what the Lord has given us through His own life.
But, brothers and sisters, how can this brotherly love be expressed?
This brotherly love is expressed by brothers dwelling together in unity. To dwell together and to be one expresses mutual love.
Today we are brothers. It is not merely that we meet once in a while. It is not merely that once a year we have a conference like this and come together.
Oftentimes Christians only meet once in a long while. On Sunday, you go to church for an hour. You meet brothers and sisters, sing songs, and pray. Maybe it is not you praying; somebody else prays for you. You hear some word of God, and after twenty minutes you become impatient.
Then one hour quickly passes. You shake hands and say, “See you next week.” It is easy to gather merely as friends, but this is only outward contact.
We often keep brothers and sisters at a distance. Then we feel safe. Nobody can attack us, nobody can trouble us, and nobody can step on our feet. But this is not dwelling together.
What does it mean to dwell together? To dwell together is to be together all the time, not merely to meet once in a long while.
We are together when we meet, but we are also together when we are not in the meeting. We are not together only when we meet on Sunday. Even when we are not in the meetings, we still dwell together in unity, because we are all in one family.
No matter when and no matter where, we are still together. We can be one. There is no difference, no division, and no strife. In the peace of the Lord, we have our peace.
The psalm says, “How good and how pleasant.” In the Bible, the word good has a special meaning. It is not good simply because men say that it is good. Oftentimes, what many people think is good is exactly not good.
What does the word good mean in the Bible? It means that God thinks it is good. It is something according to His will, and that is the true good.
What is pleasant? Pleasant is something that satisfies the heart of God, and it also satisfies our heart.
How good it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. This is the heart of God. This is how pleasant: it satisfies the heart of God, and it also satisfies our heart.
When brethren dwell together in unity, it is not limited by time or space. Because in the Lord, we already live in eternity.
Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, it is not only when we gather together here, especially when we break bread together, that we see brethren dwelling together in unity. We may think that this is only one hour, and that very soon we will depart until next year. Not so.
In the Lord, we are not limited by time or space. The oneness in the Spirit and the peace in the Lord are eternal.
When brethren dwell together in unity, the psalmist uses two pictures to describe it.
He says that it is like the precious oil upon the head of Aaron, running down upon the beard and down to the hem of his garment.
Brothers and sisters, we all know that Aaron was the high priest. According to Exodus 30, when the high priest was to take his position, he needed to be anointed with precious oil.
This precious oil was not placed on his head drop by drop. The precious oil was poured upon his head. It ran down upon his beard and through his whole body to the hem of his garment. His whole body, his whole person, was anointed.
After he was anointed, he could enter the tabernacle to serve.
Our Lord Jesus, when He was on earth, was baptized. When He came up from the water, heaven opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him and dwelt in Him.
In other words, before His ministry began, He was anointed with the precious oil, which is the Holy Spirit. Is there anything more precious than the Holy Spirit? God poured out His Spirit upon the head of His Son.
You remember when our Lord Jesus first entered the synagogue and spoke. He opened the Scriptures to Isaiah 61 and declared that the Spirit of the Lord was upon Him because God had anointed Him. He said that this Scripture was fulfilled among them.
Our Lord, while on earth, was anointed to be the Apostle and Prophet. Hebrews 3:1 speaks of our Apostle and High Priest, the Lord Jesus.
His work on earth was not done according to Himself. Everything was done in the Holy Spirit. Even when He was crucified, the book of Hebrews tells us that through the eternal Spirit He offered Himself.
Therefore, when our Lord was on earth, He was anointed. At that time, His anointing was upon Himself.
Then our Lord died. On the third day, He was raised from among the dead. He appeared to the disciples for forty days and then ascended to heaven.
When He ascended to heaven, God once again anointed Him. In Psalm 2, He was anointed to be King. In Psalm 110, He was appointed to be the High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek.
When our Lord ascended to heaven, God anointed Him to be the High Priest and the King. This is the message Peter proclaimed on the day of Pentecost: God had made Him both Lord and Christ.
But when God anointed Him, that oil did not remain only upon His head. That precious oil ran down.
Ten days after our Lord’s ascension, on the day of Pentecost, one hundred and twenty disciples gathered in the upper room. Suddenly they heard a sound, as of the rushing of a mighty wind, and immediately they were filled with the Holy Spirit.
In one Spirit, they were baptized into one body. Dear brothers and sisters, the baptism of the Holy Spirit baptizes us into the Body of Christ. The baptism of the Holy Spirit brings us into the headship of Christ.
Then we see that this precious oil ran down upon the beard. I think the one hundred and twenty were like the beard, because they had all seen the Lord, followed the Lord, and been with Him while He was on earth. They were very close to the Lord.
We praise God that they were anointed. With this anointing, they began to minister, and three thousand were saved. These three thousand were also anointed.
That oil has continued to flow for two thousand years. Wherever people believe in the Lord, they are baptized by the Holy Spirit into this Body. The oil flows down to the hem of the garment.
In other words, the whole Body has been anointed by the Holy Spirit. Every member, because we have been anointed, can begin to minister.
Therefore, brothers and sisters, do you see? When brethren dwell together in unity, if we truly live in the Body, every member stands in the position that God has appointed.
Under the headship of Christ, we are fitted together as members. Then we can experience the pouring down of the precious oil, and there will be spiritual service.
Today we see that, among God’s children, service or ministry is a difficult matter. It depends upon a few people to serve, while other brothers and sisters merely receive the service—as if they were not members, as if they had no function, and as if they had no gifts.
But, brothers and sisters, you are in the Body. You are a member. God has already arranged you to be a certain member of the Body. You have no choice concerning which member you want to be; this is what God has appointed.
You have to thank and praise God, because although the members are many, not one member is dispensable.
Because you are a member, the Lord gives you a function. You need to serve as He wants you to serve. The Holy Spirit gives you gifts according to what the Lord has ordained.
Why, then, do you not have that function today? Why can you not serve? Because you do not live in the Body. You live outside the Body. Therefore, the precious oil does not reach you.
But if you truly put yourself into this Body and learn to be a member in the Body, the precious oil is your portion. You can serve in His church by the gift that the Holy Spirit has given you.
This is the blessing of brethren dwelling together in unity. If brethren do not dwell together in unity, even when we meet together we simply fight with one another. No wonder there is no anointing. No wonder the service and ministry of the church are so weak.
Wherever brethren dwell together in peace and unity, there you experience the pouring down of the Holy Spirit.
The pouring down of the Holy Spirit is not for the purpose of making us excited. It is not for our own enjoyment. There is a purpose for anointing.
The purpose is that, because of this anointing, there is service.
There is another picture: “As the dew of Hermon, that descended upon the mountains of Zion.”
Like the dew of Hermon,
That cometh down upon the mountains of Zion:
For there the Lord commanded the blessing,
Even life for evermore.
Mount Hermon is to the north. It is ten thousand feet in elevation, and snow remains on its top throughout the year.
During the day, when the sun shines, vapor rises from the snow. When the vapor meets the cold air above, it condenses and comes down as rain. It moistens the ground, and the wind carries it.
It seems impossible for dew to be blown from Mount Hermon to Zion, because Mount Zion is a small hill in the south. But we know that this is a poem.
The poem gives us the picture that the dew from Mount Hermon in the north descends and descends until it reaches Mount Zion.
Mount Hermon represents heaven because of its height. Zion is the place of David’s throne. Here we see the heavenly blessing coming down to the place of the throne.
Wherever two or three are gathered together in the name of the Lord, He is in the midst of them. Wherever people gather in the name of the Lord, there the throne of David is established among them.
There is where the heavenly blessing descends. That blessing is commanded, and it is certain to be there. That blessing is life for evermore.
In other words, wherever brethren dwell together in peace and unity, and wherever brothers and sisters let Christ be the Head and hold fast to Him, there life is abundant.
Today we feel that the work of the Holy Spirit among us is so weak. We try our best to be Christians, and we fail.
When we gather together, it seems that the life within us is weak. Wherever there is a lack of life, there you find organization, because without organization you cannot maintain the form.
Wherever there is a lack of life, there you need tradition. Brothers and sisters, today you see God’s children living in tradition.
In the beginning, it was life; now it is tradition. In the beginning, it was the flow of life; now it is the organization of men. Why? Because brethren do not dwell together in peace.
But where brethren dwell together in peace and unity, life for evermore has already been commanded by God.
Therefore, brothers and sisters, the love we have for one another must be expressed by brethren dwelling together in peace and unity.
Psalm 133 was written by David. The feeling within David was very deep, because in his own household, among his own children and brothers, there was not peace.
Therefore, in David’s heart this matter was a great pain. When he saw the Israelites coming from all over the land to Jerusalem, at least in those days they were together in peace and harmony because their hearts were set toward God. They came to worship God.
When David saw this, there was deep emotion in him. He hoped that this could happen in his own household. He also hoped that what happened among the Israelites would not occur merely three times a year, but throughout the year.
David was a prophet. Therefore, this psalm may also be called a prophetic psalm.
The realization of this prophecy was not in the days when the Israelites came to Jerusalem together. That was only a shadow. The image of the true thing was yet ahead.
The reality could appear only after our Lord Jesus had accomplished salvation.
David prophesied of brethren dwelling together in peace and unity. Before our Lord Jesus went to the cross, He prayed to the Father that they might be one as the Father and the Son are one.
Then He went to the cross to accomplish this work of unity. Then the Holy Spirit could come and give us this oneness.
Have you ever seen this in the world? In the first four chapters of Acts, we see this reality.
For ten days, the one hundred and twenty prayed in one accord. Yet consider these one hundred and twenty people. There were eleven apostles who had followed the Lord for more than three years, and they had argued among themselves continually about who was greatest.
Peter would say, “Of course, I am.” James and John would say, “We two are greater than you.” Even before our Lord entered Jerusalem to be crucified, James and John brought their mother to seek places at the Lord’s right hand and left hand.
No wonder the other disciples were angry, because they also wanted to sit at the left and right. Even when they were about to eat the supper, they were still arguing.
Dear brothers and sisters, these were the eleven apostles. There were also women there who had ministered to the Lord while He was on earth. They truly loved the Lord.
When the Lord was crucified, the disciples were scattered. But beneath the cross were these precious sisters. They followed Him even to His burial.
They were the first to come to the tomb, the first to see the resurrection of the Lord, and the first to report His resurrection. They had many things of which they could boast.
The mother of the Lord Jesus was also there, and she had a special position. The Lord’s brothers according to the flesh were there as well. Though they did not believe in Him before His crucifixion and death, after He rose from the dead, they fully followed Him.
Outwardly speaking, these one hundred and twenty Christians were the best Christians. But if you examined them in detail, there were many problems.
But when the Holy Spirit came down, they were baptized into one Body. There was no longer “you” and “me”; there was only the Lord.
Peter rose up with the eleven. No one person stood out. There was no more individualism. The gain or loss of any individual no longer appeared. They saw that they were one Body.
Those who were saved continued steadfastly in the teaching of the apostles, the fellowship, the breaking of bread, and prayers. Daily they were together. They worshipped the Lord in the temple and at home. No one said, “This is mine.” They loved one another and dwelt together in peace.
When the apostles were threatened by the Sanhedrin, they returned to the brothers. They prayed in one accord and with one heart, and even the ground was shaken.
They testified of the Lord in the boldness of the Spirit. The Lord added to them day by day. The world saw them and could say, “Behold, they love one another so much.”
Dear brothers and sisters, does this not realize Psalm 133? Is this not the answer to our Lord’s prayer in John 17? The prayer of our Lord was surely answered by the Father.
Indeed, because of our corruption, the testimony of dwelling together in peace and unity disappeared very quickly. But does that mean it never appeared again?
If you look at the history of the church, I cannot review it within just half an hour. I can only give you some examples.
In the eighteenth century, there was the Moravian movement. There was a brother named Count Zinzendorf.
The last hymn we sang, I believe, was written by Brother Zinzendorf. He was a nobleman, but from a very early age he loved the Lord.
He was saved when he was very young, perhaps when he was four to six years old. He would often write his love for the Lord on a small piece of paper and throw it from the window of his castle.
He was very well educated. While he was at school, he gathered friends and classmates together to pray and pursue the Lord.
After he graduated, he traveled to other countries as part of the education of a nobleman. When he went to Paris, others were greatly interested in the city, but he was not.
One day he went to Düsseldorf and entered a museum. He saw a painting of the head of our Lord Jesus with a crown of thorns upon His head.
Beneath the painting, the artist had written:
I have done all this for you.
What have you done for Me?
When Zinzendorf looked at this picture and read those words, he stood there and could not move. The museum was closing, and a guard had to come and tap him on the shoulder, saying, “It is time.”
He returned to his hotel and offered himself to the Lord.
At that time, in the regions of Bohemia and Moravia, many Christians were being persecuted. Not only Catholics persecuted them; even the Reformers persecuted them.
These believers had seen certain truths in the Word of God. They were not satisfied with the condition of the church at that time, and they were willing to obey the truth as they saw it.
Therefore, both the Catholic Church and the Reformed churches could not tolerate them. They were persecuted like sheep scattered in the wilderness. They had no home.
At that time, Zinzendorf opened his estate to welcome those Christians who were persecuted because of their faith.
In 1722, persecuted Christians came to his property from many places, and a settlement called Herrnhut began. The name means “under the watch of God.” They were not only under God’s watch; they were also watchmen under God.
Those who came from all over brought their differences with them. They were people who would not give up the truth they had seen. They were willing to give up their lives, but they were not willing to give up the truth.
Yet each one had his own opinion. Some had come from the Catholic Church, some from the Reformed churches, some from separatist groups, some from the Pietists, and some from the Anabaptists. They came from many different backgrounds.
They all loved the Lord, but they could not be one.
When Zinzendorf saw this condition, there was a deep burden within him. He felt that God had given him this burden.
In 1727, he was an official in the court, but he asked the government to release him from his position so that he could return home. He wanted to be with these brothers and sisters.
He could simply have driven them away, but there was a burden in him. In May 1727, he gathered them together.
He told them, “You are divided to this extent because what you seek is knowledge. Among you there is a lack of love.”
Because he was the owner of the estate, he made a covenant with them: “If you want to live here, you must abide by these rules.”
Those brothers and sisters felt ashamed of their divisions. They were willing to lay aside their own opinions, lay down themselves, and be humble. They no longer wanted to step upon one another. They wanted to learn obedience.
At that time, a nest of sects became a living congregation of Christ.
From that time on, the situation became different. There was joy in the hearts of the brothers and sisters.
On August 13, for the first time, they gathered together to break bread.
That day, as they gathered together and broke bread, the blood of Christ and the fellowship among them touched every heart. In one Spirit they became one. They loved one another.
From that time on, they began a prayer watch that continued day and night. At the beginning there were twenty-four brothers and sisters, and each one took an hour. They prayed continually, day and night.
That twenty-four-hour continual prayer continued for one hundred years.
Among them, one out of every four went out for missionary work. They received no salary. They preached the gospel while supporting themselves through their own work.
They went to places where the gospel had not been preached. They wanted to preach the gospel to slaves, and some even sold themselves as slaves so that they could preach the gospel to other slaves.
Dear brothers and sisters, here we see brethren dwelling together in unity and peace. How good and how pleasant! This is the testimony of oneness.
Another example comes from the nineteenth century. There was a brother named Dr. Edward Cronin, a dentist.
Because of his health, he moved to Dublin, Ireland. He had been a Catholic, but God saved him from Catholicism.
When he arrived in Dublin, he wanted to fellowship with all God’s children. He went to one place after another to meet with believers.
For example, he went to the Baptists. It was good for him to be with them, and they liked him. But after a while they asked him to join as a member.
He said, “I already belong to the Body of Christ. I do not want to join as a member of any denomination.” They told him that if he did not join as a member, he was not welcome.
He went to a second place, and the same thing happened. He went to a third place, and again it was the same. They all wanted him to join as a member, and he did not want to do so. Therefore, he was not welcome.
For several months, he spent Sundays by himself under a tree or in the open air, contemplating.
Then he found another brother named Wilson. The two of them came together, broke bread, and remembered the Lord. Later, other people joined them.
There was another brother, John Nelson Darby. This brother had been trained as a lawyer.
His brother-in-law was the chief judge of Ireland and greatly respected Darby. He believed that Darby had such a precise mind that he could establish a new system for the law of Scotland.
But John Darby was saved. After years of spiritual darkness, he was fully saved. After he was saved, he felt that he could not continue as a lawyer.
He feared that he could use his own energy and cleverness to turn sin into something that appeared not to be sin. Therefore, he gave up the practice of law and wanted to preach the gospel.
He was sent to mountain villages and the countryside to minister to people who had little education. There he served the Lord.
After he fell from a horse, he went to Dublin to rest at his brother-in-law’s house.
He had the feeling that Christianity had become an organization. He felt that God’s children should be one, and that this oneness should not be produced by organization. It had to be the work of the Holy Spirit, the work of grace.
About February 1828, Cronin, Darby, Hutchinson, Mrs. Hutchinson, and several others came together, broke bread, and remembered the Lord.
They were willing to remember the Lord on the ground of oneness.
From that point on, many brothers and sisters who loved the Lord had the same thought. Many of them were noblemen, many had high positions, many were wealthy, and many were highly educated.
But when they gathered together, they were all brothers. Everyone who had a title dropped that title. They were all brothers.
When they gathered together, they followed the leading of the Holy Spirit and entreated one another. Therefore, people later called them the Brethren.
From 1828 to 1848, within twenty years, this condition spread to many places.
Truths that had been buried in the Word of God were restored among them. For example, the truth of the return of the Lord Jesus Christ was restored among them.
The condition at that time was indeed like the situation in Psalm 133. Once again, the prayer of the Lord was answered.
Another example comes from the twentieth century. In China, there was a young student—our dear brother Watchman Nee.
In 1920, he was saved. In 1922, he and two or three other brothers and sisters gathered in the home of a brother, broke bread, and remembered the Lord.
They felt that they had to return to the Word of God. They had to return to the simplicity of Christ, because Christianity had become so complicated.
At that time, there were three or four people, and Brother Nee was one of them. Brother Wang, his wife, and perhaps the mother of Brother Nee were also there. They came together in a very simple way to remember the Lord.
In the early 1920s, there was a revival in a commerce school, and many people were saved.
In 1927, Brother Nee went to Shanghai. Several sisters had already moved from Nanjing to Shanghai.
One sister had been an atheist before she was saved. Another was the daughter of a high official. After she was saved, her father thought it was a shame. He gave her a pair of scissors and a string and told her to commit suicide.
She left her home and rose up to preach the gospel for the Lord.
In 1927, the first time they gathered in Shanghai to remember the Lord and break bread, there were four people. Brother Nee was there, along with Charles Broomhall, a missionary with the China Inland Mission, and two sisters.
They came together, broke bread, and remembered the Lord. It is remarkable that these testimonies all began with breaking bread and remembering the Lord.
In 1928, the work of God began from there. At that time, brothers and sisters loved one another. When they served together, they cared for one another.