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We have covered the believers’ status, designations, symbols, life, nature, and past. Now we come to the most crucial section of these messages on the believers — their present. We shall begin with the initial stage of God’s full salvation, the stage of regeneration.
God’s full salvation is in three stages: the initial stage, the progressing stage, and the completing stage. The first aspect of the initial stage is that the believers experience God’s calling.
If we would understand what God’s calling is, we need to realize that it is included in the initial stage of God’s full salvation, that is, in the stage of regeneration. God begins to save us by calling us. In eternity God foreknew us, chose us, and predestinated us. Then in time He created us. In time we also became fallen. Then God came in to save us, and the first thing in His salvation is that He calls us. This means that the One who foreknew us, chose us, and predestinated us before the foundation of the world, one day came to visit us. In His visitation He may have caused us to think about salvation. Our thinking concerning salvation was not initiated by us but by the calling God. Our thinking about salvation is a sign of God’s calling.
The believers are called by God Himself. This means that God’s calling is not originated or initiated by the called ones. It is initiated by God, the One who calls. God is the Originator of His calling.
Romans 8:30a says, “Whom He predestinated, these He also called.” This indicates that we were called by God according to His predestination. God is eternal and purposeful, and no one can change Him. We cannot cause Him to change His mind concerning His purpose. According to His purpose, He predestinated us in eternity past, and eventually He will come to us and gain us. Because God’s calling is according to His predestination, we cannot escape His calling. God calls every one whom He has predestinated.
The believers are called by God according to His purpose. Romans 8:28b speaks of “those who are called according to the purpose.” Here the word “purpose” is equal to a plan. God’s purpose is His plan. The purpose of God’s calling is revealed in Romans 8:29: “Whom He foreknew. He also predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He should be the Firstborn among many brothers.” God’s firstborn Son is the prototype, and we are the mass production. Christ is the model, the mold, and the pattern. God has put us all into Him that we may be molded into the image of His firstborn Son. Eventually we all shall be conformed to the mold. We have been predestinated to be conformed to the image of God’s Son that He may be the Firstborn among many brothers. This is God’s purpose.
God’s purpose is to produce many brothers of His firstborn Son. When Christ was the only begotten Son, He was unique, but God desired to have many sons who will be the many brothers of His Son. In this way the only begotten Son of God becomes the Firstborn among many brothers. He is the firstborn Son, and we are the many sons. The purpose of this is that we express God in a corporate way. God’s house is built up with His many sons for His kingdom, and the Body of Christ is built up with His many brothers. Without the many sons God cannot have a house for His kingdom, and without the many brothers Christ cannot have a Body. Thus, the many sons of God are for the house of God and then for the kingdom of God, and the many brothers of Christ are for the Body of Christ. The kingdom of God is actually the Body life, and this Body life in the church is God’s kingdom where He is expressed and where His dominion is exercised on earth. This is the purpose according to which God has called us.
Another verse which reveals that we have been called by God according to His purpose is 2 Timothy 1:9: “Who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose....” God has called us with a holy calling, a calling for a particular cause, to fulfill His purpose. The purpose here is God’s plan according to His will to place us into Christ, making us one with Him to share His life and position that we may be His testimony.
Second Timothy 1:9 and 10 tell us that God called us also according to His grace, “which was given to us in Christ Jesus before times eternal, but now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who nullified death, and brought life and incorruption to light through the gospel.” God’s grace is a matter of tremendous significance. In 1:9 grace is God’s provision in life for us to live out His purpose. The New Testament reveals that grace is actually what God is to us for our enjoyment (John 1:16-17; 2 Cor. 12:9). Grace is God in Christ dispensed into our being for our enjoyment in our experience. Grace is not mainly the work God does for us; grace is the Triune God Himself dispensed into our being and experienced as our enjoyment. In brief, grace is the Triune God experienced and enjoyed by us.
According to the New Testament, grace is nothing less than God in Christ dispensed into our being for our enjoyment. When God becomes our portion for us to enjoy, that is grace. Do not consider grace as something less than God. Grace is nothing less than the Triune God enjoyed by us in a practical way as our portion.
In 2 Timothy 1:9 Paul says that the grace given to us in Christ was bestowed upon us before the world began. The phrase “before times eternal” means before the world began. This is a sure and unshakable foundation, standing firmly against the waves of the downward current and exposing the total powerlessness of the enemy’s efforts to counter the eternal purpose of God.
In verse 10 Paul goes on to say that the grace given to us before times eternal has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus. God’s grace was given to us in eternity but was manifested and applied to us through our Lord’s first coming to nullify death and bring life to us. Because this grace was manifested through the appearing of Christ, the Old Testament saints did not experience it. The grace destined to be given to us came with the appearing of the Lord Jesus. This grace is not merely a blessing; it is the Triune God Himself given to us to be our enjoyment. This grace came when the Lord Jesus appeared, and now it is with us today. We have been called by God according to such a marvelous grace.
Second Peter 1:3b says that the believers have been called by God “to His own glory and virtue.” The Greek word translated “to” may also be rendered “through” or “by.” God has called us to His glory and virtue through His glory and virtue. His disciples saw His glory and virtue (2 Pet. 1:16; John 1:14) and were attracted by them. Then through this glory and virtue they were called by Him to this very glory and virtue. It is the same with all believers in Christ.
Glory is the expression of God, God expressed in splendor. This glory, God’s expression, is the goal of the divine calling.
God has not called us without a goal. Whatever God does, He does with a definite goal. This is especially true in the matter of God’s calling. Because God is a purposeful God, He called us with a goal, and this goal is to bring us into His glory. Therefore, God’s glory is the goal of God’s calling.
Literally, the Greek word rendered “virtue” in 2 Peter 1:3 means excellency. Virtue denotes the energy of life to overcome all obstacles and to carry out all the excellent attributes listed in 2 Peter 1:5-7. Whereas glory is the divine goal, virtue is the energy and strength of life to reach the goal. Virtue is the excellent attributes of God becoming to us the energy of life. This means that we have the energy and strength to reach the goal of the divine glory. This virtue with all things relating to life has been given to us by the divine power (2 Pet. 1:3a), but it needs to be developed on the way to glory.
We need to be impressed with the fact that in 2 Peter 1:3b virtue denotes the energy and strength of life for reaching God’s goal. When God called us, He imparted His life into us, and this life is the highest virtue of God. God dispenses His life into us as a virtue. The divine life has the energy and the strength to enable us to reach the divine goal. Second Peter 1:3a says that God has given us all things pertaining to life. This involves God’s virtue, which is the energy and strength for reaching the goal of God’s calling. We cannot reach the goal of the divine glory by our own efforts. We can reach this goal only by the divine life and by all things pertaining to the divine life that have been given to us by God. Because we have such “capital” within us, we have the energy and strength to reach our goal of God’s glory. Here we see the goal and the virtue through which God has called us.
God’s calling includes His own glory and virtue. Virtue as the energy and strength of life comes from what God is. In the divine dispensing, what God is, is given to us by God to be our virtue. God has given the divine life, including all things pertaining to this life, to us as a virtue. Because this virtue energizes us and strengthens us, we have the ability to pass through the long process to reach God’s glory as the goal of His calling.
First Peter 5:10 tells us that God has called us in Christ. Apart from Christ, or outside of Christ, God will not do anything concerning us. Whatever God does with us, He does in Christ, that is, in Christ as the sphere and element. Christ is the sphere and element in which the believers have been called by God.
Second Thessalonians 2:14 tells us that God has called us through the gospel. No one is called without hearing the gospel. The preaching of the gospel is the sounding of God’s heavenly and eternal call. Whoever would listen to and believe in the gospel receives God’s calling, which is the initiation of God’s full salvation.
God’s calling is also in sanctification. First Thessalonians 4:7 says, “God has not called us for uncleanness but in sanctification.” The Greek preposition translated “for” here, epi, means upon, on condition of. God has not called us on condition of uncleanness, but He has called us in sanctification. This indicates that we must always remain in sanctification. God’s calling has nothing to do with uncleanness. His calling is in sanctification.
In 2 Timothy 1:9 Paul tells us that God has called us with a holy calling. God’s calling is to separate us and sanctify us unto Himself, making us holy unto God. Hence, it is a holy calling, a calling that separates us unto God.
Hebrews 3:1a indicates that, as believers in Christ, we have been called with a heavenly calling. The term “heavenly calling” stands in contrast with the earthly calling. In God’s economy, in His full salvation, we have been called by God from the heavens, and we have been called to everything that is heavenly: the heavenly Christ (Heb. 1:3, 13; 4:14; 6:20; 7:26), the heavenly enrollment (12:23), the heavenly gift (6:4), the heavenly worship (8:5; 9:23-24), the heavenly Jerusalem (12:22), and the heavenly country (11:16). Therefore, our calling is a heavenly calling. As believers, we are partakers of such a heavenly calling.
The heavenly calling is a calling of the divine hope to possess, partake of, and enjoy the all-inclusive Christ, the embodiment of the processed Triune God, as the believers’ life and inheritance. The heavenly calling is of the divine hope, and the divine hope is to possess the all-inclusive Christ. Today the processed Triune God embodied in Christ is our life and inheritance. The heavenly calling is a calling to possess the all-inclusive Christ, the embodiment of the processed Triune God, as our life and inheritance.
Ephesians 1:18 speaks of the hope of God’s calling. Before we were saved, we had no hope (Eph. 2:12). Now, as God’s called people, we are full of hope. Our hope is actually Christ Himself. Colossians 1:27 says that Christ in us is the hope of glory, and 1 Timothy 1:1 speaks of Jesus Christ being our hope. Our hope is singly and uniquely Christ. Every aspect of our hope is related to Him. The all-inclusive Christ is the hope of our calling. Furthermore, we have the “one hope” (Eph. 4:4), the hope that one day the Lord Jesus will come as our hope of glory and that through Him our body will be transfigured (Phil. 3:21).
Christ can be our hope of glory because He dwells in our spirit to be our life. According to Colossians 3:4, when Christ our life is manifested, we also shall be manifested with Him in glory. He will appear to be glorified in our redeemed and transfigured body (Rom. 8:23; 2 Thes. 1:10). When Christ comes, we shall be glorified in Him, and He will be glorified in us. This indicates that the indwelling Christ will saturate our entire being, including our physical body. This will cause our body to be transfigured and to become like His glorious body. At that time Christ will be glorified in us. This is Christ in us as the hope of glory.
First Peter 1:3b-4 reveals that, in God’s calling, which is a heavenly calling, the Triune God is our inheritance. In verse 4 three words are used to describe our inheritance: incorruptible, undefiled, and unfading. “Incorruptible” refers to the substance, which is indestructible, not decaying; “undefiled,” to its purity, to its being unstained; “unfading,” to its beauty and glory, to its not withering. Our inheritance is divine and spiritual, altogether incorruptible. Furthermore, this inheritance cannot be defiled; nothing can make it unclean. Finally, it is unfading; its beauty and glory cannot wither. These are the excellent qualities of our eternal inheritance in life.
Peter’s threefold description of our inheritance is actually a description of the Triune God. The word incorruptible refers to the nature of this inheritance. This is God’s nature, signified by gold. The word undefiled describes the condition of the inheritance. This condition is related to the sanctifying Spirit. The word unfading refers to the expression of this inheritance, which has unfading glory. The everlasting expression indicated by the word unfading is the Son as the expression of the Father’s glory. Therefore, here we have the Father’s incorruptible nature, the Spirit’s sanctifying power to maintain the inheritance in an undefiled condition, to keep it holy, clean, and pure, and also the Son as the expression of the unfading glory. This reveals that our inheritance is the Triune God. We have been called with the hope of enjoying Him eternally as our inheritance.
The heavenly calling is also a calling worthy of the walk in the church, the Body of Christ, with the Triune God’s reality, which is the unsearchable riches and the immeasurable dimensions of Christ unto all the fullness of God for God’s expression (Eph. 4:1; 8, 3:21b, 18, 19b; 4:2-6). The heavenly calling is a calling that is worthy of the walk in the church. To walk in the church we need such a calling. This means that the heavenly calling qualifies us to walk in the church, which is the Body of Christ. Such a walk is in the sphere of the Triune God’s reality. We do not walk in the church life by our energy, holiness, or godliness. On the contrary, we walk in the church, in the Body, with the Triune God’s reality. The Triune God’s reality is what the Triune God is, that is, the unsearchable riches and immeasurable dimensions of Christ. We walk in the church with the unsearchable riches and immeasurable dimensions of Christ with the result of being the fullness of God for God’s expression.
Ephesians 4:1 speaks of a walk worthy of God’s calling, a walk in the church, the Body of Christ. God’s glory is wrought into the church and He is expressed through the church. This means that God is glorified in the church (3:21), Ephesians 3:8 speaks of the unsearchable riches of Christ, which include all that Christ is to us. The universal dimensions of Christ are described in 3:18: the breadth, the length, the height, and the depth. These dimensions are immeasurable. The unsearchable riches of Christ and the immeasurable dimensions of Christ constitute the Triune God’s reality with which the believers are filled for God’s expression.
The fullness of God in 3:19 denotes the expression of God. The church is the fullness, the expression, of God in a corporate way. In the church God is expressed corporately through the Body, through the believers who have been filled with the Triune God’s reality. The calling with which God has called us is worthy of the walk in the Body of Christ, the corporate expression of the Triune God.
