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In this message we shall cover several more items of God’s work in His new dispensation, and then we shall go on to consider God’s work in eternity future.
God cares for the believers and guards them; He also makes a way out of trials for them. Concerning God’s caring for the believers, 1 Peter 5:7 says, “Casting all your anxiety on Him, because it matters to Him concerning you.” The word “casting” here means throwing upon, that is, committing to, giving up to. The verb denotes a once-for-all act. The words “all your anxiety” indicate that the whole lot of our anxiety throughout our entire life, our whole life with all its anxiety, should be cast on God. We need to learn how to throw the burden of our anxiety upon God. Although the verb “casting” indicates a once-for-all act, because we are weak, we may need to cast our anxieties upon God again and again.
The reason we may cast all our anxiety on God is that “it matters to Him” concerning us. The words “it matters to Him concerning you” may also be rendered, “He cares for you.” God has a loving concern for the believers, especially the persecuted ones. Because He cares for them faithfully, they can cast their care upon Him, especially in their persecution.
In Philippians 4:7 Paul says, “The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus.” The Greek word translated “guard” here may also be rendered “mount guard over.” The God of peace patrols, or stands guard, before our hearts and thoughts in Christ. The heart is the source, and the thoughts are the issue. The peace of God guards both our hearts and our thoughts. This means that in Christ Jesus the peace of God patrols as a guard who goes back and forth before our hearts and thoughts. The peace of God which patrols within our inner being in such a way keeps us calm and tranquil. Even though we may have many troubles and much anxiety, nothing will disturb us. The peace of God infused into us keeps us calm even as it guards us.
Jude 24 speaks of God as the One “who is able to guard you from stumbling, and to set you before His glory without blemish in exultation.” Here the writer indicates clearly that although he has charged the believers to endeavor in the things mentioned in verses 20 through 23, yet only God our Savior is able to guard them from stumbling and to set them before His glory without blemish in exultation.
First Corinthians 10:13 tells us that God provides a way out of temptation for the believers: “No temptation has taken you except that which is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not let you be tempted beyond what you are able, but will with the temptation make also the way out, that you may be able to endure it.” God in His faithfulness will not allow any temptation to befall us beyond what we are able to endure, but will always make a way out for us. Paul’s word is both a comfort and a correction. We may think that temptations are too strong to be resisted. But Paul says that no temptation has taken us except that which is common to man. He also assures us that God is faithful and will not allow us to be tempted beyond what we are able to bear, but with the temptation will provide a way out so that we may be able to endure it. This is a word of promise and encouragement.
In 2 Corinthians 1:3-4, the Apostle Paul blessed God as the God of all encouragement, who encourages him and his co-workers in all their afflictions, that they may be able to encourage the afflicted ones through the encouragement with which they are encouraged by Him. Further, in 2 Corinthians 7:6, he considered God as the One who encourages those who are cast down, and this God has encouraged him and his co-workers, even by the coming of Titus. Encouragement is slightly different from comfort and consolation, with the sense of cheering. It indicates that God not only comforts and consoles us, but also cheers us, making us happy with His goodness. This is also one of God’s kind works in us.
First Peter 5:10 says, “The God of all grace, who called you into His eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will Himself perfect, establish, strengthen, and ground you.” According to what Peter says here, our sufferings are only for a little while, but God’s glory is eternal. After we have suffered a little while, the God of all grace will personally perfect, establish, strengthen, and ground us.
The word “Himself” in this verse indicates God’s personal activity in the work of grace. The Greek word rendered “perfect” literally means restore. It implies repairing, adjusting, putting in order again, mending, perfectly joining together, thoroughly equipping, well furnishing, and thus, perfecting, completing, educating. In Greek the word “establish” literally means to set fast, to confirm. The same word was used by the Lord in His charge to Peter in Luke 22:32. The meaning of “strengthen” is very close to that of establish. Literally, the Greek word rendered “ground” means to lay a basis for. It is a derivation of the word that means foundation. Hence, it is to ground solidly, as in Matthew 7:25, Ephesians 3:17, and Hebrews 1:10.
There is a progress in these four divine acts of grace. Perfecting leads to establishing, establishing to strengthening, and strengthening to grounding in the God of all grace — the Triune God in His dispensing as the solid foundation. First God perfects us. Through the suffering of persecution we are perfected. Then after perfecting us, God establishes us. When we are established, we no longer wander, and we are no longer changeable. After God establishes us, He strengthens us, empowers us, and, eventually, grounds us in Himself as the Triune God.
Romans 16:25 tells us that it is according to the gospel and the preaching of the Lord Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which has been kept in silence in times eternal, that the God who is of power establishes us. This indicates that God’s establishing of us is a great matter. It is according to the preaching of Christ according to the revelation of the mystery hidden in times eternal.
Ephesians 3:16 is another verse that speaks of God’s strengthening the believers: “That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit into the inner man.”
The word “strengthened” is modified by four phrases: “According to the riches of His glory,” “with power,” “through His Spirit,” and “into the inner man.” First, we are strengthened according to the riches of the Father’s glory, and then we are strengthened with power, the resurrection power referred to in Ephesians 1:19-20. Furthermore, the Father strengthens us by the indwelling Spirit. This does not mean that the Spirit is not with us, or that the Spirit will come down from the heavens to strengthen us. The strengthening Spirit has been with us since God regenerated us. He is still within us now. Through this indwelling Spirit the Father strengthens us from within. According to verse 16, we are strengthened into the inner man. The inner man is our regenerated spirit with God’s life as its life. It is our spirit regenerated by the Spirit of God (John 3:6), indwelt by the Spirit of God (Rom. 8:11, 16), and mingled with the Spirit of God (1 Cor. 6:17). In order to experience Christ unto all the fullness of God, we need to be strengthened by God into the inner man.
Referring to the Hebrew believers’ suffering of persecution, Hebrews 12:5-11 considers the persecution as God the Father’s discipline of the believers who are God’s genuine sons (v. 7). It says, “Whom the Lord loves He disciplines and scourges every son whom He receives” (v. 6), and all the believers as God’s sons have become partakers of the Father’s discipline (v. 8). It charges that we as sons of God do not make light of God’s discipline (v. 5), but rather respect the Father as a discipliner and be much in subjection to Him who is the Father of our spirits, that we may live (v. 9). The Father disciplines us for our profit that we might partake of His holiness (v. 10) which is the very characteristic of His holy nature. This is God our Father’s finer work in dealing with us as His sons. His work of making us holy is related to the Spirit’s transformation work (2 Cor. 3:18), which is carried out through the divine dispensing inwardly and the environmental dealings outwardly.
Hebrews 12 goes on to tell us that “indeed all discipline for the present does not seem to be a matter of joy but of grief; but afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been exercised by it.” (v. 11). God’s discipline not only makes us to partake of His holiness but also yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness. Peace is the fruit of righteousness (Isa. 32:17). Holiness refers to the inward nature, whereas righteousness refers to the outward behavior, that is, to make us right outwardly both with God and man, that in such a situation of righteousness, we may enjoy peace as a sweet fruit, a peaceable fruit of righteousness.
Romans 8:28 says, “We know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to the purpose.” In Greek the word translated “all things” refers to all matters, all persons, and all things. God the Father is sovereign and He arranges everything. He knows what we need. In His sovereignty, He causes all things, all matters, and all persons to work together for good to those who love Him and who have been called by Him to the end that He may fulfill His purpose.
God has determined our destiny beforehand, and this destiny cannot be fulfilled without the divine arrangement that causes all things to work together for us. Our destiny is to be conformed to the image of the firstborn Son of God (Rom. 8:29). We are not yet fully in the image of the firstborn Son of God, but God the Father is causing all things to work together for good so that His purpose of having many sons conformed to the image of the firstborn Son may be fulfilled.
God’s intention is to bring us into full sonship, so we need to grow. No doubt growth comes from inward nourishment, but this nourishment needs the coordination of the outward environment. Here is the need of God’s sovereignty to arrange our environment that all things may work together for our good according to His purpose.
John 16:23b; Matthew 6:6; Luke 18:7-8; James 5:14-16 Philippians 4:6-7; and Revelation 6:10-11 and 8:3-5, indicate strongly that God answers the believers’ prayers. Answering our prayers involves a lot of doings in God’s work for our good. Hence it is also an item of God’s work in His New Testament economy.
Romans 16:20 says, “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.” This promise indicates that God is working to crush our enemy Satan under our feet. Though this is something negative, it is still an item of God’s work for us in His new dispensation for the accomplishment of His eternal plan that He may have a complete manifestation for His eternal expression.
Hebrews 11:10 tells us that God is the Architect and Maker of the holy city, the New Jerusalem (Heb. 12:22a; Rev. 21:2). This indicates that God is the Builder of the New Jerusalem. This building work of God began in perfecting the Old Testament saints, beginning with the patriarchs in the old dispensation. It continues more intensively in producing the matured believers in the new dispensation. Actually the entire Bible is a full record of God’s work in building the New Jerusalem as His complete manifestation for His full expression in eternity, throughout all the dispensations in the old creation: the dispensation of the patriarchs, the dispensation of law, the dispensation of grace, and the dispensation of the kingdom. The New Jerusalem is a composition of all the perfected saints of the Old Testament and all the matured believers of the New Testament. This is the greatest among the works of God for the accomplishment of His eternal economy, the great part of which is being carried out in the New Testament dispensation.
Revelation 1:1 speaks of the “revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave to Him to show to His slaves what must swiftly take place.” As a conclusion of the divine revelation in the Holy Scripture, God gave Christ this last revelation concerning the three categories of people in the universe: the church, Israel, and the world. The church is under the heavenly Christ’s discipline and perfection that it may usher in the kingdom of God and of Christ and be consummated in the New Jerusalem for God’s expression in eternity. Israel is under God’s sovereign care that it may also be consummated in the New Jerusalem for God’s eternal manifestation. The world is absolutely under God’s judgment that it may be brought to its ultimate destiny — the eternal perdition in the lake of fire.
Hebrews 2:10 says that God is “leading many sons into glory.” These many sons are the many brothers in Romans 8:29 and the many grains in John 12:24. The last step of God’s great salvation is to bring His many sons into glory, into the expression of God. Romans 8:29-30 tell us that God’s work of grace upon us began with His foreknowing, continued through His predestination, calling, and justification, and it will end with His glorification. This will be accomplished by the Lord’s coming back (Phil. 3:21), at which time we shall appear with Him in glory (Col. 3:4). This glorification of the sons of God, as the goal of God’s salvation, will be manifested in fullness in the New Jerusalem for eternity (Rev. 21:11, 23).
In His prayer to the Father the Lord Jesus said, “The glory which You have given Me I have given to them” (John 17:22). The glory into which God is leading us is the glory which He has already given us. Although glory has been given to us already, we still need to enter into it.
We have been called into glory and this glory was designed according to God’s wisdom in eternity past (1 Thes. 2:12; 1 Pet. 5:10; 1 Cor. 2:7). When Christ appears, we shall appear with Him in His glory (Col. 3:4). The glory in which we shall appear with Christ is not merely some objective shining or brightness; it is the subjective radiation of the divine life from within us, like the blossom of certain flowers.
Through regeneration the life of glory has come into us, and now we have a seed of glory within us. The life that we have within us as a seed is the life of glory. This is Christ in us, the hope of glory (Col. 1:27). Eventually this seed will blossom, and thereby we shall be brought into glory. It will be like the transfiguration of the Lord Jesus (Matt. 17:1-2). When the Lord was transfigured on the mountaintop, it was not that the shekinah glory suddenly came upon Him from the heavens; it was that the divine glory shone from within Him. Likewise, the glory into which we shall be brought is the out-shining of the very glory that is within us right now.
At the times of restoration God will send the appointed Christ to His chosen people, to Israel. Concerning this Acts 3:20 and 21 say, “He may send Him who has been appointed for you, Christ Jesus, whom heaven must indeed receive until the times of restoration of all things, of which God spoke through the mouth of His holy prophets from of old.” The times of restoration of all things are the times of restoration in the millennium, as prophesied in Isaiah 11:1-10 and 65:18-25 and referred to by Christ in Matthew 17:11 and 19:28. The times of restoration of all things will be brought in by Christ’s coming back, when God sends Him to Israel in order to restore His chosen people.
Acts 15:16 says, “After these things I will return, and I will rebuild the tabernacle of David which has fallen; and I will rebuild its ruins, and I will erect it again.” The tabernacle of David is the kingdom of Israel and to rebuild the tabernacle of David is to restore the nation of Israel (Acts 1:6). In the Old Testament the Lord promised the Jewish people that the Messiah, the anointed One, would come to inherit the throne of David and restore the Jewish nation, the nation of Israel (Gen. 49:10; 2 Sam. 7:13, 16; Psa. 2:8-9; 72:1-20; 89:4; 110:2-3; Isa. 9:6-7; 11:1-5, 10; Jer. 23:5-6; 30:9; 33:14-17; Ezek. 21:27; 34:23-24; 37:24, 28; Dan. 2:35, 44; 7:14; Hosea 3:5; Amos 9:11-12; Zech. 3:8; 6:12-13; 9:9-10). When the Lord Jesus came the first time, the Jewish people were expecting the Messiah to restore His kingdom (Luke 2:25; 3:15; 7:19; John 1:41; 7:27, 41). However, it will not be until the Lord’s second coming that He will restore the Messianic kingdom (Matt. 23:39). The kingdom which the Messiah will restore — the kingdom of the Messiah or the kingdom of Israel to be restored in the future — will be the earthly part of the millennium, the tabernacle of David which God will rebuild, and which will be the kingdom of the Son of Man (Matt. 13:41; Rev. 11:15). Then Christ as the Son of Man, David’s royal descendant, will sit on the throne of David and reign as the King over the house of Jacob, the Jewish people (Luke 1:32-33), ruling over the nations on the earth during the millennium (Psa. 2:8; 72:8; Dan. 7:14; 2:35, 44).
God will set up His kingdom in the millennium. Matthew 13:43 refers to this: “Then the righteous shall shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” The kingdom of the Father is the heavenly part of the millennium, the manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens as a reward to the overcomers. The “righteous” in this verse are the overcomers, who will be the light shining in the kingdom of their Father. In the heavenly part of the millennium, which will be the manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens and the kingdom of the Father, the overcoming saints will reign with Christ as co-kings.
Revelation 20:6 indicates that the overcomers “shall be priests of God and of Christ and shall reign with Him a thousand years.” This thousand-year reign refers to the kingdom of the Father, which God will set up in the millennium. In this part of the millennium Christ and the overcomers will reign for the Father’s expression and satisfaction.
At the end of the millennium God will put all the enemies under the feet of Christ. First Corinthians 15:25 says, “For He must reign until He puts all His enemies under His feet.” The longer Christ reigns, the more enemies are put under His feet. Eventually, at the end of the millennium, the last age of the old creation, every enemy will have been put under the feet of Christ. The word “until” indicates this and points to the end of the thousand years. That will be the time when God has put every enemy under Christ’s feet.
The last aspect of God’s work in the new dispensation will be the abolishing of the last enemy, death. First Corinthians 15:26 says, “The last enemy that is being abolished is death.” Immediately after the fall of man, God began His work to abolish sin and death. This work has been progressing through the Old and New Testament ages and is still in process today. When sin is done away with at the end of the old creation and when its source, Satan, is cast into the lake of fire (Rev. 20:7-10), death will be abolished. It also will be cast into the lake of fire with Hades, its power, after the last and final judgment at the white throne (Rev. 20:11-15). The lake of fire is the “trash can” for the entire universe, into which all negative things, including death and Hades (Rev. 20:14), will be cast. Death will be the last enemy destroyed by God.
All that God has done and all that He will do is for the purpose of dispensing Himself into His chosen people. God is working to remove all the obstacles and to prepare the way to dispense Himself into all of His chosen people to accomplish His eternal economy. It is not sufficient for us merely to know about this — we need to see it. If we see what God is doing and the purpose for it, then we shall know where we need to be — continually under His dispensing. Therefore, let us remain in God’s presence so that He may have the opportunity to infuse into us all He is and all He has. This is our burden in these messages.
In eternity future, after the millennium, God as the redeeming God will administrate within the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and the new earth. Revelation 22:1 speaks of the throne of God and of the Lamb. The one throne for both God and the Lamb signifies that God and the Lamb are one — the Lamb-God, the redeeming God, God the Redeemer. In eternity the very God who sits on the throne will be our redeeming God, from whose throne proceeds the river of water of life for our supply and satisfaction. This depicts how the Triune God — God, the Lamb, and the Spirit (symbolized by the water of life) — dispenses Himself into His redeemed people under His headship (implied in the authority of the throne) for eternity. Therefore, in Revelation 22:1 is the redeeming God administrating within the New Jerusalem. This administrating will be for the carrying out in full of God’s dispensing.
Both God and the Lamb are sitting on the throne. They are not sitting side by side. Rather, God is in the Lamb. God is the light and the Lamb is the lamp (Rev. 21:23). The glory of the light and the lamp are not side by side. The light is in the lamp. The Lamb as the lamp shines with God as the light. This indicates that God is in the Lamb sitting on the throne. They two are actually one, just as the light and the lamp are one unit, one entity. God in the Lamb is the redeeming God. For eternity in the New Jerusalem we shall see the redeeming God, God in the Lamb.
The river of water of life proceeds out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. For the water of life to flow out of the throne means that it flows out of God Himself. In the New Jerusalem, we have God in the Lamb, and out of the redeeming God flows the river of life, the life-giving Spirit. This is the dispensing of the Triune God. Before God could dispense Himself into us, He had to redeem us. Thus, the picture in Revelation 22 reveals that the redeeming God is the life-dispensing God. The Lamb signifies redemption, and the river of life signifies the dispensing of life. For eternity, our God will be the redeeming and life-dispensing God. In the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and the new earth, our God will be in the redeeming Lamb, flowing out as the river of life (the life-giving Spirit) to dispense His life into every part of the city.
The tree of life grows in the river of life, and the river of life that flows out of the throne reaches every part of the city. This indicates that the flow of the Triune God waters the whole city. Every part of the city receives the life supply because the tree of life grows in the river and the river reaches every part of the city. The tree of life, as a vine, grows on both sides of the river, following the flow of the river. Wherever the river flows, the tree of life grows. The supply of life is in the flow of life. This is a picture of God’s dispensing. Christ as the tree of life is the life supply available along the flow of the Spirit as the water of life. Where the Spirit flows, there the life supply of Christ is found. The entire city of New Jerusalem, which will be constituted of all the redeemed people of God, will be watered by the river of the water of life and nourished by the tree of life. This is the dispensing of the Triune God in full for eternity.
In these messages we have considered the many aspects of God’s work in eternity past, in the old dispensation, and in the new dispensation. Eventually, God will put all the enemies under the feet of Christ, and He will abolish death, the last enemy. Then everything will be new. There will be the new heaven and the new earth with the New Jerusalem as the center. For eternity the redeeming God will sit on the throne in the center of the New Jerusalem, and out of the throne, that is, out of God Himself, will flow the water of life to saturate the city. Furthermore, the tree of life will grow in the water of life to nourish the city. This saturating and nourishing is the divine dispensing in full. We shall be there eating of the tree of life and drinking of the water of life. For eternity, we shall be eating, drinking, and worshipping God. This is the eternal enjoyment of God’s dispensing. While we are enjoying the dispensing of the Triune God by eating and drinking, we shall worship Him.
To express Himself through the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and the new earth will also be God’s work in eternity future. Revelation 21:11 says that the New Jerusalem has the glory of God. This indicates that the New Jerusalem bears the expression of God. The Triune God expresses Himself through the New Jerusalem in the triune way: in the tree of life, in the river of life, and in the light of life. This triune expression of the processed God is His full expression in His eternal manifestation according to His eternal economy for His divine dispensing.
