In the New Jerusalem there is one way, one street (Rev. 22:1). Because there is one street, no one can go astray. This one way saves us. There is no confusion and no possibility to go astray. Even if we try to go astray, we eventually will not be able to, because in the New Jerusalem there is only one way, and there will be no possibility to get off of it.
How beautiful and how pleasant this picture is, just as Psalm 133:1 says, “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is / For brothers to dwell in unity!” Today in each city, however, the situation is different. Everywhere-in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Tokyo, Taipei, and Hong Kong-people ask, “Are you a Christian? Have you been saved? Praise the Lord! What is your church?” An American brother may say, “I am of the Church of England,” even though it seems foolish for an American citizen to be in an English church. If he is transferred to another city, he will look for the British church in that city. Similarly, a Chinese brother in America may say that he is in the Chinese Independent Church, and someone of Scandinavian descent may say he belongs to the Swedish Lutheran Church. In one American city there may be an Anglo church, a Chinese church, and a Swedish church. How strange this sounds, but this is exactly the situation. Here is a so-called church built upon the British ground, another built upon the Chinese ground, and another built upon the Swedish ground.
In the same way, a Japanese person may say he belongs to the Japanese Baptist Church. Someone who comes from Greece may not like the British, thinking they are too political. Neither does he like the Chinese, thinking they are too concerned with money, and he also does not like the Swedes and the Japanese. Because he likes only his countrymen, the Greeks, he will look for the Greek Orthodox Church, the church built upon the Greek ground. This is the situation today. We need a “vaccination” against this disease.
If someone asks what church we belong to, we should simply say, “I belong to the church.” If he asks what kind of church that is, we can say, “It is simply the church.” There are many small “circles” meeting in each city-the British circle, the Chinese circle, the Swedish circle, and the Japanese circle, as well as the Presbyterian, Baptist, Methodist, Episcopalian, and Lutheran circles. Where then should we place ourselves? We should be outside the circles, outside the camp (Heb. 13:13), and in the one “circle” of the church. The problem between brothers is due to the small circles. If we remove the small circles, we all will be in the one church. There will be no divisions, all of which come from the small circles. All these small circles become many different grounds upon which many different kinds of churches are built up.
If all the grounds were torn down, this would leave only one ground without any division. However, someone may say that there is no possibility of tearing down all these grounds. I agree with this; there is no possibility. According to the prophecy in the New Testament, the denominational grounds will remain until the Lord’s coming. Not only is there no possibility of actually tearing them down; even the Lord Himself has no intention to get rid of them. The Lord will tolerate all these things, let them remain until He comes back, and then put them all under His judgment.
In such a situation full of confusion, however, where shall we stand? Can we stand in the various denominations? No we cannot. Can we stand in the national churches? No we cannot. We should stand simply on the ground of the locality where we are. I am a saint living in Los Angeles, so I should stand on the ground of this city, and so should many others. Then we can come together, but we do not “draw a small circle.” We do not build upon another ground. Moreover, we do not specialize in anything but are very general. When these brothers and sisters who are outside the small circles come together, they are simply standing on the proper ground, the local ground, the ground of oneness.
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