The New Testament records that one day while the Lord Jesus was on the earth He prayed, “I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth...” (Matt. 11:25). Again, through the man Jesus, God had ground on the earth. So many Christians today desire to go to heaven, but God desires to come down to this earth. Heaven is so precious to some, but to God this earth is precious. We should sympathize with God. We should not say, “Let the church life be in the heavens.” We should say that the church must be on this earth today.

Hallelujah, God can never be defeated! After the Israelites had been in captivity for seventy years, the struggle was again openly manifested. God had been patient long enough; so He fought back. He stirred up His people to return to Jerusalem. The two books of Ezra and Nehemiah record a very interesting phrase-“unto Jerusalem” (Ezra 1:11; 7:7; 8:31; Neh. 2:11). God’s way of recovery always involves a return to the original, proper ground of worship. Today we cannot say, “There is not any difference; God is omnipresent, God is everywhere. If God is in Jerusalem, He must also be in Babylon.” Yes, God is everywhere, yet you must leave Babylon and come back to Jerusalem.

If we would realize God’s recovery today, we must leave Babylon. Babylon is the very element which damages God’s building; we must abandon it and return to Jerusalem. There is only one ground for the Lord’s recovery. We must return to the old standing of the proper ground, in Jerusalem. The books of Ezra and Nehemiah record the real struggle involved over Israel’s return to Jerusalem. For the Israelites to have God’s building in Babylon was quite all right-all their enemies agreed concerning this. But for them to return to Jerusalem was another matter. The situation is exactly the same today: the battle between God and His enemy is mainly over the matter of Christians returning to the church ground, the ground of unique unity. We must return to “Jerusalem.”

In God’s way of recovery the most important thing is to recover the ground. When the Israelites returned to Jerusalem, one of their first projects was to rebuild the altar upon its original base (Ezra 3:3). The Israelites could have built another altar in the same shape and style, using the same material, and put it in a place other than its original site in Jerusalem; but that would be wrong. The altar must be on the proper base, the proper ground in Jerusalem. Some Israelites might have built a temple in Babylon, using the same pattern, the same size, the same precious materials, and the same color as the temple in Jerusalem; but God would never have recognized that temple. It would be the same in every respect except for one vital factor-it would be on a different ground, a different standing. In the recovery of the church life the first thing to which we must pay attention is the old ground, the original standing. We must not say, “Let us build a temple here in Babylon, in Egypt, or in Syria.” No! We cannot do that. We must return to Jerusalem, to the old ground, to the original standing of God’s building.

The book of Nehemiah records how the enemy stirred up an intense struggle to frustrate the Israelites from God’s building. After they began to build, they were openly attacked (Neh. 4). The enemy’s only intention was to stop the recovery of God’s building. Another tactic of the enemy was to utilize some people to suggest a conference (Neh. 6:2). Even so there are some today who say, “Please come; let us sit down together and talk it over.” We must see through these subtle wiles of the enemy. We must tell them as Nehemiah did, “I don’t have time for a conference; I am too busy building.” People may accuse you of never desiring to discuss the matter and have fellowship with others. But we want to have positive fellowship; we do not want to waste our time; we do not want to be frustrated from the recovery of the building. How subtle the enemy is in his attempts to frustrate us from God’s building. The Israelites who worked in the building with Nehemiah labored with one hand to build and in the other hand held their weapons for fighting the battle (Neh. 4:17). This reveals that whenever we labor on God’s building we will certainly be involved in battle.

These historical books also show us what happens when we neglect the recovery of God’s building. The Lord says in Haggai that when we neglect His house to do our own labor and sow our own seed, the result will only be emptiness. We may eat continually but we will still be empty. We may drink constantly, yet we will not be filled. We may gain something by our labor, but the Lord will blow it away. We may earn some wages and put them away in a bag as our savings, but the bag will be full of holes (Hag. 1:2-11). If we neglect the building of God’s temple, we will lose the blessing of God. If we give our full attention to the recovery of the church life today, being willing to be built up together, we will attain this building. Whenever we go out to preach the gospel, many will be saved. The blessing of the Lord will be upon whatever we do. On the other hand, if we neglect God’s house, the building up of the church, no matter what we do the end results will be very poor. We may sow the seed, but there will be no lasting fruit. We may gain something, but eventually it will be gone. There will be no satisfaction. Many of us can verify these things. The Lord warns us that we must pay attention to His house first. If we would attend to the church life and be built up in our locality, we will see the Lord’s abundant blessing upon us.

About ten years ago the church in Taipei set aside several days specifically for gospel meetings. The gospel was preached in at least five or six meeting places during the same evening. After several days of meetings, a person from a Christian organization came to me and inquired, “Brother, would you please tell me the secret!” When I asked him what he meant, he told how his group had held some gospel meetings several weeks before. They had put a large advertisement in the newspaper, and they had invited a well-known speaker. Yet every night their turnout was little more than ten people and never over twenty. Now this gentleman had visited all the meeting places of the local church for just a few minutes each night. He was exceedingly surprised to see every place full of people. He knew that there had been no advertisement in the newspapers and that before each meeting not many knew who was to be the speaker. I could not adequately explain the situation to this brother, and if I could pass on to him the methods, they would not work for his group. Why? Because this brother had simply neglected the church life. He trusted in advertising and famous speakers, yet he neglected God’s building.

How much we need God’s recovery today! We must be built up together as one church in each city; then we will have God’s blessing. However, we must realize that we will suffer for such a building. The enemy will attack us over this matter more than anything else. He will do everything he can to damage us, spreading all kinds of rumors and lies, for no other reason than to hinder or stop the recovery of God’s building. Yet the Lord is victorious. Praise Him!
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