Quote:
Originally Posted by alwayslearning
And so the likes of Ray Graver can declare with boldness that there are no more lampstands in the GLA and get a ready consensus of this view among his fellow LSMites. A notion that suggests he is the one walking in the midst of the churches and thus gets to decide who is a lampstand and who isn't.
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I think the basic issue is the misuse of the metaphor of the church being the Temple. Yes, the church is the Temple, and yes as a result there is a ground on which the church is built. However this is a type, the church is not so one dimensional. The church is also the Body of Christ. A Body is a building. So then the ground of the church does not refer to a plot of land or a cities dimensions. Man is made of dust. The Lord's blood covers the entire earth and covers all mankind. However, when God builds the church as the one new man, He is not referring to just any man. There is only one man that has the proper stand to meet with God, and that man is Jesus Christ. So, just as the temple could only be built in one spot, the church as the one new man can also only be built in one spot, that spot is "in Christ". If you are in yourself or in any other man, including Witness Lee, then you are not on the proper ground to build the church. When you participate in the Lord's table your testimony is:
11:26 For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come.
We were all included in that death.
Is the ground of the church crucial? Yes. Is it decided by city councilmen in NY in the 1800s? No. It was decided by God when Jesus rose from the dead.