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Scripture Reading: John 1:1, 18, 29, 34, 51; 3:15-16, 29, 34, 36; 11:25; 14:6; 20:31; 1 John 1:1-7; 2:1-2, 6, 20, 27, 29; 3:9; 4:7; 5:1, 4, 12-13, 16-21; Rev. 1:9-13, 18, 20; 2:8; 3:7, 14; 5:6; 13:8; 14:1-5, 15-16; 19:7-9, 13; 21:2-3, 9, 11, 18-21; 22:1-2, 13-14, 17
In this chapter we come to the last ministry in the New Testament, the ministry of John. All his writings are so divine and so mysterious. They begin from God in eternity past and consummate in the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and the new earth in eternity future. So, his writings cover a long span — from eternity past to eternity future.
The subject of John’s writings is the Triune God dispensing Himself into His chosen people as the life and life supply to make them all divine to express Him in full for eternity. This is the central message of all the writings of John. The divine reality in the whole universe is revealed in John’s writings. The reality, the center, and the content of the entire universe is that the Triune God — the Father, the Son, and the Spirit — wants to dispense Himself into His chosen people as their life and life supply to make them divine to express Him in full and for eternity. This should also be our center, our reality, and our content.
First, Christ was ministered by John as God in the beginning (John 1:1). Both Paul and Peter also ministered in this way, pointing out that Christ, the Son of God, is God Himself (Rom. 9:5; Heb. 1:8; 2 Pet. 1:1). At the beginning of John’s writings, in chapter 1 of his Gospel, he says that Christ is God in the beginning. The beginning means the source. This God is the very source of life. He is also the eternal life (3:36). This eternal life is for dispensing. Then at the end of John’s writings, in chapter 22 of Revelation, you can see that eternal life is flowing as the river of water of life (v. 1). That flowing of life is the dispensing of life.
According to John, Christ is the eternal Logos (John 1:1; 1 John 1:1; Rev. 19:13). This is a wonderful term. It means “the Word.” The Word defines, explains, and expresses God. Who is this One who is the eternal Logos? This is the wonderful Christ, the second of the Trinity.
Christ is the only begotten Son of God (John 1:18, 1:34; 3:16; 20:31). God in eternity is for dispensing life; the eternal Logos is for dispensing life; and the only begotten Son of God, who declared God, is also for dispensing life.
In John’s writings Christ is the eternal life (1 John 1:2; John 11:25; 14:6). This is the divine life, the uncreated life of God, which is not only everlasting timewise but eternal and divine in nature. Eternal life is for life dispensing. Life flows, and life dispenses itself. This is the eternal life, which is an eternal dispensing.
Christ is also the Giver of the Spirit (3:34). The Spirit is the Triune God reaching us. When the Triune God stays in unapproachable light, He is the Father (1 Tim. 6:16). When He reaches us, He is the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:17). The Spirit is the Triune God reaching us, and Christ is the Giver of such a reaching Spirit. The reaching is the dispensing. When the Triune God reaches us, God dispenses Himself into us. The reaching and dispensing is by the Spirit given to us by Christ the Son.
Our Christ is the Son of Man (John 1:51; Rev. 1:13). Christ is not only the Son of God with the divine nature but also the Son of Man with the human nature. He is the Son of Man for redemption, to take away our sin and solve the problems between us and God, that God might be dispensed into us.
John ministered Christ as the Lamb of God (John 1:29; Rev. 5:6; 13:8; 22:1). The Lamb of God was not the Son of God but the Son of Man. God does not have blood to shed for our redemption, nor does the Son of God have blood, but the Lamb, the Son of Man, has blood. This is not the blood of goats or oxen but the genuine blood of a genuine man, which is able to redeem us. Men need a man’s blood to redeem them. This redeeming is for the dispensing of God as life.
As the Lamb, Christ is the propitiation concerning our sins (1 John 2:2). A propitiation is a kind of appeasing. Because of our sins there was a turmoil, a storm, a problem between God and us. There was no peace. Christ as the Son of Man who was the Lamb of God died on the cross to be our propitiation. He calmed down the storm and the turmoil. He solved the problem. So He is our propitiation. He calmed the turmoil, and He appeased God. So now there is a kind of peaceful condition between God and us. This is for life dispensing. If there is not such a peaceful condition, there is no way to dispense life. When we are going to eat, we must stop any fighting. We cannot eat well if we are quarreling with our wife or with the brothers. If we are quarreling and fighting, there is no life dispensing. Eating and life dispensing need a peaceful situation. The Lord Jesus became the propitiation concerning our sins between us and God to create a peaceful situation for life dispensing.
Christ is our Advocate with the Father (v. 1). This means that He is our Attorney. He takes our case legally. Satan, the enemy of God and our subtle enemy, is subtly legal. The Bible tells us that he accuses us before our God day and night (Rev. 12:10). His accusation is somewhat subtly legal. He would say, “God, You are righteous. Look at all the children whom You love. Not one of them is righteous. And You are so holy. But look at Your children; every one is dirty.” This kind of accusation is somewhat legal. But God the Father would say, “Satan, look at Jesus Christ the righteous One. My children have a good Attorney.” Then our Attorney, Jesus Christ, would turn to Satan and say, “Satan, don’t you see My blood? Satan, shut up! Don’t say anything!”
This is not just my teaching. This is the word in Revelation 12. According to Revelation 12:10-11, Satan is accusing God’s children day and night. But they can overcome him by the blood of the Lamb. Once we realize that we are unclean, unholy, and unrighteous, we are defeated and the life dispensing stops. But we have the blood of Jesus. He is our Advocate, our Attorney. We have to tell Satan, “Shut up! Don’t say anything!” Then we need to praise the Lamb! Hallelujah to the Lamb! Hallelujah for the blood! When we shout Hallelujah, life is dispensed into us once more. Christ, our Advocate, is taking care of our case so that life dispensing can keep going on all the time.
Our Christ is the Alpha and the Omega (22:13a). In the Greek alphabet Christ is the first letter, Alpha, the last letter, Omega, and all the letters in between. He is every letter. In ourselves we are no letter, but we are in Christ. As He is an Alpha, so we are an alpha. As He is an Omega, so we are an omega. He is every letter of the alphabet for the dispensing of life. He is inexhaustible, and His dispensing of life is inexhaustible. He is the Alpha, the Omega, and all the alphabet.
John’s writings touch the divine things. With the divine things there is no beginning and no ending, because whatever is divine is eternal, having no beginning and no ending. I believe that John purposely wrote his books using these kinds of expressions. He had an intention to show us that whatever he ministered to us is eternal, with no beginning and no ending. So he told us that Christ is the eternal One. He is the First, and He is the Last (Rev. 2:8; 22:13b). Because He is the First, no one and nothing is before Him. Because He is the Last, no one and nothing is after Him. This indicates that He is everything. Christ as the eternal One may be illustrated by a circle, which has no beginning and no ending. Christ occupies everything and every place. He does not give us any position. We are nothing, and He is everything. Hallelujah! He is the First and the Last. This is also for life dispensing.
Christ is not only the First and the Last but also the Beginning and the End (v. 13c). You may be the first and yet not be the origination. You may be the last and yet not be the completion. The Lord Jesus is not only the First but also the Beginning, the Origination. He is not only the Last but also the End, the Completion, leaving nothing to anyone. He occupies the entire universe. In time, in space, and in all things He is everything. Hallelujah! He is the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End, the Origination and the Completion.
Christ is also the beginning of God’s creation (3:14). You have to realize that God’s dispensing is to dispense His life into His creature. Who originated the creature? He did. This indicates that the entire creation is under His control, His headship. He is the Beginning, the Origination, of God’s entire creation, so the entire creation is under His direction for the purpose of dispensing God into His chosen creatures. When you get into the Bible and see all the items of Christ’s being, you can see that they are for the divine dispensing.
In Revelation 1:17-18 Christ said, “I am...the living One; and I became dead, and behold, I am living forever and ever; and I have the keys of death and of Hades.” For Christ to dispense life, He must be the living One. A dead person can never dispense life to others.
In Revelation 3:7 Christ is revealed as the Holy One and the true One. In order to dispense life to others, He must be holy, and He must be true. If you are not holy and not true, you can never dispense life to others.
Christ is the faithful and true Witness (v. 14b). He is the true Witness, and He is faithful and true in testifying. He never tells a lie in His testimony. This also is for dispensing. A liar, a false witness, can never give life to others. If you are going to give life to others, you must be faithful, and you must be true. You must have no falsehood. Then you will be qualified to give life to others. Because He is living and holy and faithful and true, He is qualified to impart life into us.
Revelation 3:14a says that Christ is the Amen. What does Amen mean? This is the unique, heavenly, and divine language. I believe that when we get into the New Jerusalem, we will still speak this kind of language. These two words, Hallelujah and Amen, are universal. The confusion at Babel destroyed the universal language, but two words were not destroyed, Hallelujah and Amen. Amen simply means “that’s it.” When you say Amen, you mean “that’s it.” Oh, the divine dispensation is so wonderful! That’s it! Oh, the Triune God dispenses Himself into me! That’s it! I am so happy that I am in the church life. Amen! That’s it! The glorious church life! That’s it! It is real; it is yes forever. Amen is a kind of eternal yes. “That’s it” is just Christ Himself. Christ has a name, and His name is called Amen — That’s it! This is also for life dispensing.
Out of Christ being ministered, the children of God have been brought forth. The issue of Christ being ministered is that many have been born of God.
These children first of all have the eternal life (John 3:15-16, 36; 1 John 1:2; 5:12-13, 20). To have the eternal life simply means to have some living dispensing. Because you have the eternal life, it flows within you. This flowing within you is the dispensing of life.
We are partakers of the fellowship of the eternal life by abiding in the Lord and walking in the light (1:3-7; 2:6). The fellowship is the flowing. There is a life that flows between God and us. Even between the members of His Body there is such a flow. This flow reaches all of us and even God Himself. So this is a kind of fellowship. Electricity is a good illustration. Within the lamps in a house and within the power plant itself there is the flow of electricity. That flow is the fellowship between all the lamps. The current brings every lamp into the fellowship with the plant. The power plant may be far away from the lamps in the house, but in the current of the electricity, the power plant and the lamps are in one fellowship.
Within us there is a flow. That flow is the eternal life, and that is the fellowship. We all are partaking of such a fellowship. To partake of such a fellowship may not be so substantial as partaking of the divine nature, which Peter mentions (2 Pet. 1:4). But this fellowship is more enjoyable. For example, there are two ways to eat chicken: one is to eat the solid chicken, and the other is to eat soup made of chicken. When you are weak or sick, chicken soup is better than chicken. We may use the chicken to illustrate the divine nature, and chicken soup to illustrate the fellowship of the divine life. Which do you prefer? If you are a strong person, you may like solid chicken. This is good, but it is more tasteful to eat the chicken soup. Remember, the chicken soup comes from chicken. Without a solid chicken, you could not have chicken soup. Likewise, without the divine nature you could not have the fellowship of the eternal life. The divine nature is the solid thing, the substance, and the fellowship of the divine life is the fellowship of this substance. This is for the life dispensing. The way to partake of the fellowship of the eternal life is to abide in the Lord and walk in the light.
When we enjoy the fellowship of the eternal life by abiding in the Lord and walking in the light, we are under the teaching of the divine anointing (1 John 2:20, 27). The children of God are also brought forth to be taught by the divine anointing. The anointing may be considered as a kind of oiling. Many machines need to be oiled. If they are not oiled, they do not run smoothly. Instead, they make a lot of noise. Sometimes we Christians make a lot of noise, either to our wife or to our husband or to the elders or to the brothers. This means that we are short of anointing. We need to get oiled. Hallelujah! We have a source of oil because the anointing is within us. All the time it anoints us. This again is life dispensing. This anointing teaches us, oils us, and regulates us all the time. If we are not regulated by the teaching of the anointing, we are not smooth. The holy anointing oils us, teaches us, and makes us so smooth. This is life dispensing.
We all have been begotten of God. We were begotten not just of our parents but also of God with a divine seed (3:9). This divine seed is God’s eternal life. There are virtues coming out of this birth and out of this seed. By the virtues of this birth and seed we can practice the divine righteousness (2:29), we can practice the divine love (4:7; 5:1), and we can overcome the world, death, sin, the devil, and idols (vv. 4, 16-21). We can overcome everything because we have the virtues of the divine birth with the divine seed. In the spiritual language virtue means life energy and even life energizing. Within us there is a kind of energy that energizes. This energizing is of the divine life, and the divine life comes from the divine birth. So the life energy, the life energizing, is a virtue. We can overcome the negative things because we have the energizing life. This energizing is the dispensing of life.
Then we become the testimony of Jesus. The lampstands are the expression of the Triune God (Rev. 1:9-12, 20). The lampstand is the embodiment of the Triune God. It is made of pure gold, signifying the nature of God the Father. Its shape, or form, signifies God the Son as the very embodiment of God the Father. It is not a formless piece of gold, but it is gold in a certain shape, or form. The seven lamps shining signify the seven Spirits of God for expression. So the lampstand is the embodiment of the Triune God, with God the Father’s nature, God the Son’s form, and God the Spirit’s expression.
Every proper local church is composed with God the Father’s nature, God the Son’s form, and God the Spirit’s expression. This is the golden lampstand, God’s embodiment, for God’s expression. What a marvelous word concerning the church! Paul’s words concerning the church are not this high. Paul tells us that the church is the Body of Christ (Eph. 1:22-23). The highest expression Paul uses concerning the church is that the church is the fullness of Christ (4:13) and the fullness of God (1:23). But John tells us that the church is a golden lampstand as the embodiment and expression of the Triune God. How we need to see that the church is the embodiment of the Triune God with the Father’s nature, with the Son’s form, and the Spirit’s expression. If we could see such a vision, it would solve many problems.
The church is also the harvest with the firstfruits as the expression of life (Rev. 14:1-5, 15-16). A harvest is a gathering of all the living produce of the farm. This signifies the maturity of life and the riches of life by life’s dispensing. As the church, we should be the golden lampstand, and we should also be the harvest with the firstfruits as the expression of life.
As a golden lampstand and as the harvest with the firstfruits, we also become the bride of the Lamb as His increase and satisfaction (John 3:29; Rev. 19:7-9). In John 3 Christ is the Bridegroom, and the church is the bride as His increase. In Revelation 19 the church as the wife has made herself ready for the marriage of the Lamb for His satisfaction.
Eventually, there will be the ultimate consummation of the dispensing of the Triune God into man. This will be the New Jerusalem, the holy city, the tabernacle of God, the bride, and the wife of the Lamb as the consummate expression of the Triune God (21:2-3, 9). When I come to these points, I cannot avoid being excited. Hallelujah! Oh, the New Jerusalem! The holy city! The tabernacle! The bride! The wife!
Such a corporate entity is built with God the Father’s nature, signified by the gold, God the Son’s overcoming death and life-imparting resurrection, signified by the pearls, and God the Spirit’s work of transformation, signified by the precious stones (vv. 11, 18-21).
The New Jerusalem, as a consummate expression of the Triune God, is supplied and nourished by the Triune God (22:1-2, 14, 17). God as the Father is the source, the Spirit as the water of life is the flow, and the Son as the tree of life is the life supply. In Revelation 22 a river of living water flows from the throne of God. Within this river grows the tree of life. This is a clear view of the Triune God in His dispensing. The Father as the source is on the throne with the Lamb because He is the redeeming God, the Lamb-God. There is only one throne, but two are sitting on the one throne. How can two sit on one throne? God the Father as the light is within the Son as the lamp (21:23; 22:5). The Father is in the Son, so God is in the Lamb. And the Lamb is the lamp containing God as the light. This is the Lamb-God, the redeeming God. Out of this redeeming God flows the river, signifying the Spirit. In the flow of the river of water of life, the Lamb becomes the tree of life. The Lamb is for redeeming, and the tree is for nourishing. The life-dispensing river circles the entire city as it flows downward from the throne of the Lamb-God in a spiral flowing. This flowing is the dispensing of the Triune God into His chosen people as life and the life supply in fullness for eternity. This city is built with the Triune God as the materials, and it is supplied and nourished by the Triune God as the life supply.
