V. The Lord’s Twofold Recovery

The New Testament clearly and consistently reveals that the expression of the Body of Christ is practically realized through the local churches. Hence, as Witness Lee again exhorts, there is the urgent need for Christians to come back to the Word of God and take His unique way—the local church— for the practical expression of the Body of Christ, the church.

The Lord’s recovery is mainly twofold: the [regenerated human] spirit and the local expression of the church. We must have these two sides, these two aspects. The aspect of the spirit is for life, and the aspect of the local church is for the way. We need the life within, and we need the way without—the Lord will recover both.

In the past forty years, the Lord has shown the church the need for the expression of the Body. But we must point out that the expression of the Lord’s Body is only in one unique way: the local church. Regardless of how much you talk about the expression of the Body and are for the expression of the Body, until you have a unique, proper, practical, and living local church in your locality, you can never have the proper expression of the Body.

Today we are in the recovery of the Lord. On one hand, the Lord has shown us that we must experience Him as the life-giving Spirit in our spirit all the time, and at the same time He has also directed us to come together as the proper expression of His Body on the unique ground of the locality where we live. This is the local church. It is so real, so practical, so living, yet so simple. We must not be influenced by the present situation of today’s Christianity, but come back to the pure Word of the Lord. (32)

The Lord must recover two essential items among believers—our experience of Christ as the Spirit within and our gathering in oneness as the local church without. If believers take this scriptural way of life and oneness, as Witness Lee encourages, the Lord will gain the proper, living expression of His Body—the local churches.