GOD’S NAME AND HABITATION
BEING IN THE SPIRIT
You may be wondering where Jerusalem is today. In order to answer this question, we must notice two things that Moses says repeatedly in Deuteronomy: that both God’s name and God’s habitation would be in the place which the Lord would choose. According to history, God has not had His name or His habitation in any place other than Jerusalem. Today God’s habitation is in our spirit (Eph. 2:22), and we Christians are to meet in the name of the Lord (Matt. 18:20). Both the Lord’s name and God’s habitation are in our spirit. Thus, our spirit is today’s Jerusalem where we should worship God. Do not despise your spirit, for it is today’s Mount Zion.
ONENESS ONLY IN THE SPIRIT
If the children of Israel in ancient times had not cared for Mount Zion, they would have been divided. Only Mount Zion could keep the oneness of the children of Israel. Likewise, the real oneness of Christians today can be kept only in our spirit. If we would forget everything and turn to our spirit, we would be one. Christians are divided because they do not care for their spirit. Instead of caring for the spirit, they care for such things as foot washing, head covering, the ways of baptizing, and the type of bread or wine used at the Lord’s table. They may debate and even fight with one another, but they do not care for their spirit. Many Christians do not even know that they have a spirit. Thus, they stay in their mind. If you stay in your mentality, you will never be one with other believers. Rather, you will fight with others. Because I realize that the mentality is so strong and so ugly, I often pray, "Lord, keep me in my spirit."
Because Christians stay in the mind, they are divided. If a thousand Christians were gathered together and each stayed in his mentality, there would be a thousand divisions. The reason many husbands and wives are not one is that they are in their independent mentality. For a wife to have a mind independent from that of her husband is divisive. Oneness is only in the spirit. As we have pointed out, oneness is the Holy Spirit who is in our spirit. Therefore, when we turn to our spirit, we are one. Today our spirit is the New Testament Jerusalem, the place where we have oneness.
In the spirit there is also the name of Jesus Christ. The reality of the name is the person, and the person is the Holy Spirit. If we turn to our spirit, our opinions and judgments will vanish. The only way to be attuned to the same mind and to the same opinion (1 Cor. 1:10, Gk.) is to turn to our spirit.
(The Spirit and the Body, Chapter 19, by Witness Lee)
