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Scripture Reading: Rom. 12:2a; Titus 3:5b; 2 Cor. 5:17; Eph. 4:22-24; 2 Cor. 3:18; Rom. 8:29; 1 John 3:2; 1 Cor. 3:12; Gen. 2:9, 16-17
I. The dispensing of God renews the believers; the renewing of God issues in transformation — Rom. 12:2a:
А. The dispensing for renewing continues the dispensing for regeneration — Titus 3:5b.
B. For the believers to shed their old creation and be transformed into God’s new creation — to put off the man of the old creation and to put on the man of the new creation — 2 Cor. 5:17; Eph. 4:22-24.
II. The transformation of God carries out a work in the believers to change their essence with the rich life element of Christ — 2 Cor. 3:18a:
А. From the believers’ spirit to every part of their inward being — Rom. 12:2a.
B. Until the believers are conformed to the glorious image of Christ — made exactly the same as the Triune God — 2 Cor. 3:18b; Rom. 8:29; 1 John 3:2.
C. For the believers to become the precious materials — gold, silver, and precious stones — for the building up of the church — 1 Cor. 3:12.
III. The principle of God in the transformation of the believers is not that they would forsake evil and follow good but that they would be delivered from good and evil and follow His divine life:
А. At the very outset, the divine revelation in the Bible presents the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, indicating these two principles — Gen. 2:9, 16-17.
B. Because they are blinded in darkness, the fallen people disregard the divine life and lean on the principle of forsaking evil and following good.
C. Most of the teachings in Christianity today are based on the principle of forsaking evil and following good and neglect the principle of the divine life.
D. The teachings on forsaking evil and following good can only teach and improve people; they cannot change people in their essence to make them the new creation of God’s desire according to His divine essence.
The general subject of this conference is “The Dispensing, Transformation, and Building of the Processed Divine Trinity in the Believers.” Simply speaking, the subject is “The Highest Purpose of God in the Creation of Man.” The processed Divine Trinity is not simply the Triune God but God who has been processed. He is no longer merely the God in Genesis. Rather, He is the God who went through incarnation, who went through a sinless human living on earth for thirty-three and a half years, who went through death and resurrection, and who became a life-giving Spirit in resurrection. Furthermore, He ascended to the height of the heavens not only with divinity but also with humanity. He is man exalted and glorified in God to be made both Lord and Christ in the universe.
Such a processed Triune God today comes into us to be with us by our believing in Him and receiving Him. The Triune God’s being with us is to dispense Himself wholly and completely into us to regenerate us.
Many Christians know that God has come into them, yet they do not know what God is doing in them. They think that since God has regenerated them, He is doing nothing now but waiting in them until they go to heaven. However, if we read the entire New Testament, we will discover that this God who is in us is busier today than when He was on the earth. When He was on the earth, He only preached the gospel, taught the truth, opened the eyes of the blind, raised the dead, and trained the disciples. But today this Lord enters into millions of people to transform and renew every one of them. This is much more difficult than His work on the earth. It is rather easy for a person to change his appearance. All he needs to do is change his clothing, get a haircut, adjust his behavior, and alter his accent. In this way he is altogether changed in appearance. However, transformation is not merely an outward change; it is a metabolic change in the inward essence and nature. Whereas the outward change can be accomplished by human work, the inward transformation must be a matter that is absolutely organic.
In general, people’s concept is to forsake evil and follow good. Because of the teachings of Confucius and the ancient sages, this concept is especially prevailing among the Chinese, who all aspire to be someone who is good, excellent, and even superior to others. But this is a natural human concept; this is not a biblical concept, nor is it God’s teaching to us. The Bible says that after God created man, He put man in the garden of Eden in front of the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen. 2:8-9). These two trees indicate two principles: one, the simple principle of life, and the other, the complicated principle of good and evil. Eventually, man took the tree of the knowledge of good and evil instead of the tree of life; thus, he fell. After the fall, man became blind concerning the matter of life. In his thinking, there is no longer any element of life; rather his thinking is full of the concept of the knowledge of good and evil. All day long human beings linger in the sphere, the realm, of the knowledge of good and evil, and all they care about is to forsake evil and follow good. We all know that even a robber has a heart to do good. For instance, in England there was a legendary robber named Robin Hood. He considered himself a good man because he robbed the rich to help the poor for the carrying out of heavenly justice. But this kind of person is altogether ignorant concerning life.
Actually, the principle of forsaking evil and following good is a fallen principle. Unfortunately, even today’s Christianity has taken in this principle and has thus fallen into the realm of the knowledge of good and evil. They speak only about how to forsake evil and follow good, as Confucianism teaches. Therefore, when the Western missionaries went to China with their Bible, they were looked down upon by the Chinese, who thought that the gospel simply taught people to love their wives and to love others as they love themselves, which is in no way superior to the principle of the great learning taught by Confucius and Mencius. Therefore, it was difficult for the Chinese to receive the gospel. Brothers and sisters, we need to be delivered out of this concept to reach God’s purpose. The principle of God is the principle of life, and the purpose of God is for man to have a change in life from within. Transformation is to change people in their essence to make them the new creation of God’s desire according to His divine essence. This is an inward, metabolic process. An outward change may make a person better or may make a person worse. But a person who undergoes a change in life cannot go back to his original form, just as a person who has been regenerated cannot become unregenerated. Perhaps after your regeneration you do not want the Lord anymore. But God, who has entered into you, will not leave you. God’s work in you can never be destroyed, and His dispensing can never be annulled. They will continue until you fully become God’s new creation.
The dispensing of the Triune God in us is the dispensing of the Divine Trinity. First, there are the Father’s dispensing through regeneration (1 Pet. 1:3) and His dispensing through the renewing by the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5). Then there is Christ the Son’s dispensing in His redemption (Eph. 1:7-12). Eventually, we have the Spirit’s dispensing through the sealing (v. 13). The issue of the dispensing of the Divine Trinity is transformation. What a miracle this is! The greatest miracle in the universe is not the healing of cancer. It is that we Christians, who were nothing but flesh in a great mess, full of filthiness, temper, and evil, after believing in the Lord, receiving the dispensing of the Triune God, and remaining in the church life, praying and calling on the name of the Lord day by day, after a period of time have a great change in our inner being, in our essence and in our constitution, so that we are no longer like what we were before. What a miracle this is in the universe! This kind of miracle takes place every day and every moment in the church of the Lord.
The divine dispensing issues in transformation. The more we receive the divine dispensing, the more we are being transformed. Hence, we all need to receive the Lord’s dispensing. This will bring us a rapid transformation. This is also why we need to have a daily morning revival. Morning revival brings us the divine dispensing of the Triune God so that we may be transformed. Do not endeavor to improve yourself. The more you try, the more you fail. You need to behold the glory of the Lord every day through morning revival so that you may be gradually transformed into the same glorious image of the Lord. It is not a matter of improving or of forsaking evil and following good. Rather, it is a matter of staying away from good and evil and following life, turning to the tree of life, enjoying the divine dispensing of the processed Triune God, and allowing Him to transform you from within. Thus, even if you are an incurable person, you can be transformed.
Transformation not only issues in the building but, actually, it is the building. How much we have been transformed determines how much building there is, because transformation itself equals building. The dispensing of the Divine Trinity first regenerates us and then renews us. Eventually, we have a metabolic transformation within us. This transformation is what we call building.
The dispensing of the processed Divine Trinity is of three aspects. The first aspect is the dispensing of the Father, who is the very source of the dispensing. God the Father dispenses His life and nature into us through regeneration and renewing. This is the foundation of the dispensing of the Divine Trinity. Without regeneration and renewing we cannot experience the dispensing of the Divine Trinity in redemption and through sealing. Therefore, the dispensing of the Divine Trinity through regeneration and renewing is the foundation of the dispensing of the Divine Trinity.
The second aspect is the dispensing of the Son. The dispensing of Christ the Son is in His redemption. It is in redemption, that is, in the Beloved, that we experience the dispensing of the Divine Trinity in our inward parts. We cannot enter into another human being, but we can enter into the Lord Jesus Christ. The Scriptures say that when we believe in the Lord Jesus, we believe into Him. Generally, the Chinese hold the concept of “believing by relying or leaning upon” Him. To their way of thinking, it is as if we were drifting here and there, but one day we heard the gospel and realized that the Lord Jesus is One who is strong, stable, and rich, so we rely and lean upon Him as our Savior. However, before long we become so tired that we have no more strength to lean upon Him. In the Old Testament, Noah’s ark is a very good picture. Through the ark, which typifies the saving Christ, the entire household of Noah and all living things were rescued out of the flood waters of God’s judgment. During that flood it rained continuously for forty days. If Noah had merely leaned upon or hung on to the ark, there would have been no way for him to be saved. However, Noah entered into the ark and thus was saved. Therefore, although it rained for only forty days, even if it had rained for forty years, Noah would still have been very safe. Likewise, Christ is not for us to lean upon but for us to believe into. When we believe into Him, His rich grace, the washing of His precious blood, and the forgiveness of sins and trespasses all become our enjoyment. In Christ’s redemption the Father as the source continually supplies us with the element of the Son. It is as we said previously: Christ as the oyster that produces a pearl was wounded by us, a grain of sand, and by our remaining in His wound, He secretes His life element around us, imparting and supplying it to us continually. Eventually, He makes us precious pearls to be constituted into God’s treasure as God’s inheritance.
The third aspect of the dispensing of the Divine Trinity is the dispensing of the Spirit through sealing. This sealing seals us with the essence of the Triune God in a gentle and fine way. Hence, the Father dispenses His life and nature, the Son dispenses His element, and the Spirit dispenses His essence, with which He seals us. The dispensing in its three aspects thus becomes richer and richer and more and more gentle. First Thessalonians 5:19 says, “Do not quench the Spirit.” This indicates that the work of the Holy Spirit within us is very gentle and fine. We all need to live and walk in the sealing of the Spirit. For example, when someone apologizes to another person, his tone may not be suitable. This shows that his apology is not in the sealing of the Holy Spirit. If you apologize in the sealing of the Holy Spirit, even the time, the tone, and the facial expression of your speaking need to be carefully considered. If there is something wrong, the Holy Spirit is grieved in you. When you remain in the sealing of the Holy Spirit, you take Christ as your person; then when you live, it is no longer you but Christ. Thus the Spirit gently carries out the sealing in you, enabling you to live and walk in a proper manner and to be full of the anointing ointment and a sense of sweetness and gladness. This is the sealing of the Holy Spirit. He works within us day by day until the day in which our body will be redeemed. The redemption of our body will be the result of the sealing of the Holy Spirit.
Some believers may think that eventually at the Lord’s coming they will be raptured, so they disregard the Holy Spirit and neglect the dispensing of the Divine Trinity and live their life as they please. If this is your concept, you are dreaming. We need to know that the Lord will come to take the treasures, those who are precious in His eyes. If we are not transformed into precious pearls, we will not be raptured by the Lord. Even concerning the rapture, there are different categories. Only the rapture of the overcomers is the best rapture. If you live in the present age in a careless and loose manner, you will not be able to participate in the best rapture. However, if you allow the Holy Spirit to carry out His sealing in you day by day, to the extent that inwardly you have the transformation by the essence of God and outwardly you are conformed to His image, you will be raptured victoriously.
Not only so, in the church life and for the building we need to remain continually in the sealing of the Holy Spirit. Sometimes friction exists among the brothers and sisters because there is not the willingness to apologize to others. Sometimes when others offend you, you are constantly bothered and are unwilling to forgive them. If so, even though you may be able to praise the Lord in the meetings, the building of the church is damaged. Therefore, in the church life it is very necessary for the brothers and sisters to love one another and to forgive one another. We cannot do this by ourselves. It is only by the sealing of the Holy Spirit that we can have the built-up church life.
By the dispensing of the processed Divine Trinity, God will be able to accomplish His purpose and work in us. Now we are waiting for the redemption of our body, that is, for the spreading of God’s essence into our body that our body of humiliation may be permeated with His element so that we will be exactly the same as God and will completely become God from the inside to the outside. Some people criticize us, saying, “How can we human beings be made God? This is heresy.” This is because they have not seen this vision. Ephesians 4:23-24 says, “That you be renewed in the spirit of your mind and put on the new man, which was created according to God in righteousness and holiness of the reality.” This indicates that this new man has not only the image of God outwardly but also the life and nature of God inwardly (Col. 3:10). Therefore, this new man is God. When we put on the new man, we put on God.
Not only so, 2 Corinthians 3:18 says that when we behold and reflect the glory of the Lord, we are being transformed into the same image. This image is not the image of God with which man was created; it is the image of the resurrected, glorified, pneumatic Christ, to which the believers are being conformed by being transformed in their inward essence. Today this Christ is the processed Triune God. In other words, we are being conformed to God. Romans 8:29 says that God predestinated us to be conformed to the image of His Son. One day we will all have the image of God’s Son; we will all fully become the sons of God. Surely the sons of God are God. Hence, 1 John 3:2 says, “Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not yet been manifested what we will be. We know that if He is manifested, we will be like Him because we will see Him even as He is.”
If you read these few verses, you will prostrate yourself and bow your head to worship the Lord, saying, “O God, yes, we can never share in Your Godhead to become an object for people to worship; but we thank You that in Your highest purpose, by the dispensing in regeneration, renewing, redemption, and sealing, You are transforming us to build Yourself into us so that we may become exactly the same as You are, within and without, that we may become God. We worship You for this highest purpose of Yours.” If you have this kind of realization, your entire living will have a great change. You will no longer be going up and down continually in the realm of the knowledge of good and evil. You will jump out of that realm and no longer try to be one who is good or one who is superior to all others. You will just be like God, express God, and have God’s image. This is the church, the Body of Christ.
The issue of the divine dispensing is transformation, which is the building. God’s building is to take Himself as the material and build Himself into His chosen and redeemed people. Some brothers and sisters have an incorrect concept, thinking that if they have compatible interests and the same opinion and serve together in coordination, they are built up together. That is not building. The genuine building is the Triune God building Himself into the believers through the transformation of the believers. Ephesians 3 presents us a picture of the apostle praying to God the Father that He would grant us, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened through the Holy Spirit that Christ may make His home in us. This is a picture of the dispensing of the Triune God. In John 14:23 the Lord Jesus said, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make an abode with him.” An abode is something that is built up. Hence, for the Triune God to make an abode in us is for Him to build Himself into us, that is, to build Himself with us together as a mutual dwelling place for Him and us.
Brothers and sisters, how much has God been built into you today? We might have believed in the Lord for a long time, yet we still might not have allowed the Triune God to dispense Himself sufficiently in us. As a result, many years have gone by, but we are still materials scattered in different places, and even the foundation has not been properly laid. If we are willing to receive more of the dispensing of the Divine Trinity, the element of God will increase in us day by day, and there will be the building day by day. As a result, very soon God will have a dwelling place in us, a place where He can rest. God will be comfortable and restful in us because He will have obtained a dwelling place, and He Himself will also have become our dwelling place.
This is not a doctrine; this should be our daily experience. This is the growth of life, and this is also the genuine spiritual growth, the real overcoming life. The Lord’s recovery, beginning with Brother Nee, has always been concerned with this building. What we need is not the outward material blessings or the so-called spirituality or victory. What we need is Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 3, that is, that the Father would grant us, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit into the inner man, that Christ may make His home in our hearts. We need to pray for one another and the church. We all need to be strengthened into our inner man so that we may be joined to the Spirit, to the Triune God, to experience the continual dispensing of the Divine Trinity, with the Father as the source, the Son as the element, and the Spirit as the essence (4:4-6). This dispensing issues in the building of God in us. Thus, we and God, God and we, become a mutual dwelling place. First, we dwell in Him, and then He dwells in us. Eventually, by our dwelling in Him and His dwelling in us, He and we become one; that is, God becomes man and man becomes God. This is the ultimate issue of the making of the abode in John 14—the New Jerusalem. In other words, this mutual dwelling of us in Him and Him in us issues in the New Jerusalem. Thank the Lord that today we are living in the reality of the New Jerusalem to build the Body of Christ for the New Jerusalem.
