In Psalm 133, there are four main items: the unity, the ointment, the dew, and the blessing of life. Unity causes us to enjoy the blessing of life. If we are not in unity, of course, we miss the blessing of life. Unity among the brethren is the very factor that brings in the blessing of life. Between unity and life in this Psalm are the ointment and the dew. We know that ointment in typology is the Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Godhead in God’s divine dispensation. But what does the dew signify? Freshness is something of the dew, but it is not the dew itself. We will see later what the dew is.
It is quite interesting that only two aspects of the unity are mentioned. One aspect is likened to the ointment upon a body, and the other is likened to the dew which falls upon a place. In the church life, there are also these two aspects: the Body aspect and the place aspect. The church is the Body of Christ, who is the greater Aaron, and the church is also the dwelling place of God. The ointment upon the Head runs down upon the Body of Christ, and the dew from Mount Hermon falls upon Zion, which is the very place of God’s dwelling. So there is the Body of Christ and the dwelling place of God. With the Body of Christ is the ointment, and with God’s dwelling place is the dew. For both the ointment on the Body and the dew on the dwelling place of God, we need the unity. Without the unity, there is little ointment and little dew. To partake of the ointment and the dew, we must have the unity. When we are in unity, the ointment flows on the Body, and the dew falls from heaven upon the dwelling place of God. Have you ever realized that in this Psalm there are these two aspects of the church life? As the Lord’s Body we need the ointment of the Holy Spirit flowing all the time, and as God’s dwelling place we need the dew falling upon us from heaven.
Those of us who have been meeting in Los Angeles have really tasted something of this ointment and dew in our practical experience. Whenever we come together, and even in our homes, we have a deep inner sense that the ointment is flowing. This is the gracious moving of the Spirit. At the same time, accompanying the flow of the Spirit, is a kind of watering just as dew, so strengthening and so refreshing. In the church life, there is the sweet and gracious flow of the Spirit, and at the same time, there is the watering and refreshing dew.
When we are really poor, we need mercy. But when we are in unity, we have something more than mercy. This is the dew, the sufficient grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion [fellowship] of the Holy Spirit, be with you all. Amen” (2 Cor. 13:14). The fellowship of the Holy Spirit is the moving of the ointment, and the grace of the Lord Jesus is the dew.
The more we meet together, fellowship with each other, and love one another, there is spontaneously within us a sweet flow of the Spirit, so gracious, so good, and so pleasant. At the same time we sense the strengthening within, the watering, the refreshing, the comforting and empowering. This is the grace. We have the fellowship of the Holy Spirit in the unity, and we also have the grace of the Lord Jesus. As the Body, we need the ointment, and as the dwelling place, we need the grace. Without the grace, we are very dry. But with the grace, we are watered and refreshed.
In the local church we are being watered day by day with grace, just as the fresh dew every morning. To my sense, there are no evenings in the church life. Even the evening meetings are still in the morning. Whenever we are at the Lord’s Table in the evening, I always sense that it is morning, because the dew is there. We do not have night, but morning with the dew. This is what accompanies the unity of the church life.
Praise the Lord! The ointment and the dew are the result of the commanded blessing of life. The Lord not only gives us the blessing, but He commands the blessing. It seems that the Lord on the throne orders the blessing upon those who are on the ground of unity. I am not speaking what I do not know. I am telling you what I have experienced for the past forty years! You cannot imagine how much I have enjoyed the ointment and the dew in these past years. And I am still enjoying it!
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