The Glorious Church

The Collected Works of Watchman Nee #34

by Watchman Nee

God views the church, the redeemed believers, from a heavenly perspective. Far from seeing her as defeated by the power of sin and sins, God views the church as the triumphant and glorious counterpart of Christ, who fully expresses the One who fills all in all. In The Glorious Church Watchman Nee discusses four significant representations of the church in the Bible: Eve in Genesis 2, the wife in Ephesians 5, the woman in Revelation 12, and the bride in Revelation 21 and 22. In each instance, he presents the church's high calling to fulfill God's eternal purpose.

Genres: Christian, Church

157 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1968

About the author

Watchman Nee (Chinese: 倪柝聲; pinyin: Ní Tuòshēng; Foochow Romanized: Ngà̤ Táuk-sĭng; 1903–1972) was a Chinese Christian author and church leader during the early 20th century. He spent the last 20 years of his life in prison and was severely persecuted by the Communists in China. Together with Wangzai, Zhou-An Lee, Shang-Jie Song, and others, Nee founded The Church Assembly Hall, later which would be also known as the "Local churches" (Chinese: 地方教會). or more commonly as (聚會所) meaning "assembly hall"

Born into a Methodist family, Watchman Nee experienced a religious revival, and joined the Church of Heavenly Peace, Fuzhou in 1920 at age 17 and began writing in the same year. In 1921, he met the British missionary M. E. Barber, who was a great influence on him. Through Miss Barber, Nee was introduced to many of the Christian writings which were to have a profound influence on him and his teachings. Nee attended no theological schools or Bible institutes. His knowledge was acquired through studying the Bible and reading various Christian spiritual books. During his 30 years of ministry, beginning in 1922, Nee traveled throughout China planting churches among the rural communities and holding Christian conferences and trainings in Shanghai. In 1952 he was imprisoned for his faith; he remained in prison until his death in 1972.

Reviews

[Kyle Barton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Watchman Nee is probably best known for The Normal Christian Life, compiled from a series of talks he gave in England in 1938-early 1939. The Glorious Church follows right on the heels of that trip to Europe. After arriving back to Shanghai, Watchman Nee gave a series of talks to his coworkers in mainland China, starting in fall 1939-1942. The content of those talks became The Glorious Church.

The two books interface on an organic level. Watchman Nee is not as well known for his ecclesiology in Western Christianity as he is for his devotional writings focusing on the experience of Christ. However, this book enlarges on his understanding of God's eternal purpose for the church, which Nee sees as a natural outgrowth of the individual experience of Christ. Essentially, The Glorious Church is an enlargement of what Nee presented in chapters 7 and 11 of The Normal Christian Life. Here he paints an inspiring and deep vision of the church by tracing her development in the Scriptures as portrayed by the experiences of four women: Eve in Genesis 2, the wife in Ephesians 5, the woman in Revelation 12, and the bride in Revelation 21-22.

If you've read Nee elsewhere, you'll enjoy The Glorious Church immensely.

[Gabrielle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Why did God create man? This is the question that we sometimes ask. He created man in the image of God. God created Adam to typify Christ. God created Eve to typify the church. The Church is Christ's bride. The work of the church causes Satan to lose his power.

[Olamide OPEYEMI · Rating 5 out of 5]

Regardless of all our differences in the body of Christ today, God has a goal, and it is to gain for Himself a glorious Church (Ephesians 5:25-27). If we are sincere enough and serious with our claims of living only for the glory of God, we will shun all spiritualized sectional goals and concentrate our energies on that which will produce God's goal.

This book speaks more about what God is doing and will achieve in the days to come, and not particularly tilting to a particular tradition of the Christian faith. This is so valuable because it makes the testimony of Christ clearer, and open to all and sundry within the body of Christ, and gives them the challenge to pursue the LORD, rather than certain denominational peculiarities, which continues to divide.

God is not going to defend any particular denomination; God will defend His Son, because it pleased Him that all fullness should dwell in Him (Colossians 1:19, 2:9). Hence, as we fellowship with fellow brethren, and of course within varying traditions and denominations, our hearts must be centred on the entire body of Christ. May the LORD enlarge your heart to accommodate the entire body of Christ, as He works to present unto Himself a glorious Church. Amen.

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

Praise God for His heart desire in eternity to gain a counterpart of Him!

Even though I have heard many times regarding the church as the mystery of Christ and a corporate expression is what God is after, this book still amazed me again and again by its presentation of the divine elevation from the Bible.

In God's heart the church is perfect and the only matching one to Him as Eve to Adam. There's no sin and no any negative elements found in her, since her was originally from God and is one with God.

However, even though God's plan is a straight line from eternity to eternity, we, in time, fell and was in a desperate need of redemption. Humans are always selfish and self-centered. Even for things as wonderful as redemption, we think that ourselves being saved is the center and goal of it. However, praise the Lord that redemption is not just to deal with sin for us, but to bring us back to God's original intention and sanctify us wholly unto Him.

With veils in front of many believers, most of us failed to see it and go astray from God's heart, but it cannot change God's plan. Nothing can stop Him. Believers who overcome by the blood of the Lamb, the word of their testimony, and forsaking of their soul-life, will accomplish God's heart on behalf of the whole church and usher in the age of the kingdom. Lord, make me an overcomer for Your purpose!

Eventually, this counterpart, composed of all the believers, will become the New Jerusalem and God will fully mingle with men, accomplishing His desire in eternity.

[Samuel Xiong · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Glorious Church expounds the significance and meaning of four women in the bible from Genesis to Revelation and shows how they are really one woman who represents the Church. I found this book really helpful to see the Church in a new light from different angles in terms of her nature and her function/purpose. I would highly recommend this to anyone who wants to see a full panorama of what the Church is as revealed in the bible.

[Selomane Molebogeng]

Watchman nee is a true man of God

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book I will recommend for every child of God searching for deeper realities about the kingdom. So much insight especially on the revelation of the man-child in the book of Rev. 12

[Bob Flores · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty amazing little book! My view of the bride will never be the same again.