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Scripture Reading: Eph. 3:2-11; 1:9-11
VII. The ascended God-man as the Head in His ascension:
А. Pouring out the Holy Spirit as the ultimate consummation of the Triune God, the realization and reality of Him as the Head, upon all His believers throughout all the ages and among all the nations — Acts 2:1-4, 33.
B. Baptizing them into one Body, the church — 1 Cor. 12:13a.
VIII. The church being given to drink of Him as the Spirit and becoming one Spirit with Him — v. 13b; 6:17:
А. Enjoying His all-inclusive Spirit as the life supply — Phil. 1:19.
B. Receiving gifts from Him to function as members of His Body — Rom. 12:4-8.
IX. The church as the Body of Christ being expressed as the local churches in all the localities to be the golden lampstands shining forth Christ — Rev. 1:11-12, 20b:
А. In administrative affairs, being administered locally.
B. In life, nature, and testimony, being the unique Body of Christ in the whole universe — Eph. 4:3-6; 1 Cor. 12:12.
C. Having the sevenfold intensified Spirit of Christ for the strengthening of the shining of the golden lampstands — Rev. 1:4; 4:5; 5:6.
X. The failure of the church:
А. Becoming desolate and degraded — 2:14-15, 20.
B. Being carried away to the mysterious great Babylon — 17:5.
XI. The recovery of the church:
А. Leaving the great Babylon — 18:4.
B. Returning to the original ground of the church, recovering the normal church life — 3:1, 4, 7-12.
XII. The overcomers in the church and the overcomers among the Old Testament saints eventually constituting:
А. The bride of Christ — 19:7-9.
B. The army of Christ, with Christ defeating Antichrist and his army — 17:12-14; 19:19-20.
C. The New Jerusalem in the millennium, as the manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens, reigning with Christ to shepherd the nations — 3:12; 20:4, 6; 2:26-27.
XIII. All the saints in the church and in the Old Testament ultimately becoming the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and new earth — 21:1-2, 12, 14:
А. As the mutual dwelling place for God and His redeemed in eternity — vv. 3, 22.
B. As the full expression of God for eternity — vv. 10-11, 23-24.
We have seen the first part of God’s New Testament economy, which is mainly concerning the Lord Jesus. The economy of God is the Triune God working Himself into tripartite men that they may become the members of Christ to be constituted the Body of Christ. This economy of God is to be fulfilled not only in this age but also in eternity.
According to the revelation of the New Testament, the first step God took in order to accomplish His economy was that He Himself became the flesh. Through this He became a wonderful God-man, being at the same time God as well as man. In the universe God has two special kinds of creatures: angels and human beings. The angels belong to the heavens, and man belongs to the earth. If it were up to us, we would probably choose to be an angel. When I was young, I also would have chosen to be an angel. To be an angel is too good. He can live in heaven freely, having in addition the authority of God. But it is so troublesome to be a human being. There are many distractions and sufferings. But after being a Christian for sixty years, having gained a more thorough understanding of the Bible, having realized God’s economy, and having had some experience, I have to say that I do not want to be an angel. Rather, I like being a man. Only man is the object of God’s economy. The angels are but slaves who minister to man (Heb. 1:14). Even the God of creation one day became a man for the purpose of accomplishing His economy. This man was Jesus Christ. He lived on the earth for thirty-three and a half years. He was in the same manner as man, with the human life and human nature, having the need to eat, drink, and sleep, and even being able to shed tears.
When He was thirty years of age, He came out to fulfill His ministry. He came to the shore of the Sea of Galilee and called the two brothers, Peter and Andrew, saying, “Come after Me.” They immediately left their nets and followed Him (Matt. 4:18-20). At that time the Lord had not yet entered into them. During the three years or more when Peter was following the Lord, most of the time he spoke and acted by himself. One time he received the revelation from the Father and recognized Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God. But not long after that, when the Lord Jesus unveiled to His disciples His need to be crucified and resurrected, Peter, in minding the things of man instead of the things of God, became the mouthpiece of Satan and was a stumbling block to the Lord (16:16-23). On His last journey to Jerusalem, the Lord Jesus unveiled once more to His disciples His crucifixion and resurrection. Not only did they miss those words, but they were arguing among themselves concerning who should be the greatest (20:17-28). On the night that the Lord Jesus was betrayed, He said to them, “You will all be stumbled because of Me this night, for it is written, ‘I will smite the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’” But Peter answered and said to Him, “If all will be stumbled because of You, I will never be stumbled.” Jesus said to him, “Truly I say to you that in this night, before a rooster crows, you will deny Me three times” (26:31-34). Later, Peter did deny the Lord three times before men; then the rooster crowed. Peter remembered the Lord Jesus’ word and went out and wept (vv. 69-75).
Even by that time Peter still did not have the Lord Jesus within him. This did not occur until the Lord Jesus was crucified and resurrected and became a life-giving Spirit. On the evening of the day of His resurrection, He came into the midst of the disciples and said to them, “Peace be to you” (John 20:21). Then He breathed into them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (v. 22). The Spirit whom they received was the resurrected Lord Himself. From that day on, the Lord Jesus entered into Peter as well as all those who believed in Him. After the Lord ascended to heaven, the disciples went back to Jerusalem. There about a hundred and twenty of them gathered together in an upper room and persevered in prayer with one accord. After ten days, when Pentecost arrived, the Holy Spirit was poured out. Peter stood up with the eleven apostles and preached the gospel to all those dwelling in Jerusalem. Peter was no longer the Peter of the past. He was changed. This is because the Lord who had died and resurrected had entered into him to be his life and everything (Acts 1:12-15; 2:1-14).
This shows us clearly that when God became flesh, He lived the human life for thirty-three and a half years, experiencing all the human sufferings and trials. In His human life He lived out God and expressed God among men. He passed through everything of the human life and was qualified to be man’s Savior. But He still could not enter into man. Hence, He had to go to the cross to accomplish the all-inclusive death so that He could solve all the negative problems in the universe and could release the divine life. After this, He rose from the dead to become the life-giving Spirit and breathed Himself into the disciples to become their life and content. In ascension He gave them as gifts to the church for the building up of the Body of Christ. These six items — God’s becoming flesh, His human living, His crucifixion, His resurrection, His breathing into the disciples, and His ascension — constitute the major steps that God took for the fulfillment of His New Testament economy.
In this chapter we will go on from the foregoing six major items to see God’s economy from the New Testament revelation. The first six items concern the Lord’s work on earth. Starting from the seventh point, all the items concern the Lord’s work in heaven.
In His ascension the Lord Jesus as the ascended God-man, as the Head, poured out the Holy Spirit as the ultimate consummation of the Triune God, the realization and reality of Him as the Head, upon all His believers throughout all the ages and among all the nations (Acts 2:1-4, 33) and baptized them once for all into one Body, the church (1 Cor. 12:13a). Hence, on the day of Pentecost, the Body of Christ, the church, was brought into being through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
When the church, which is composed of all the saved ones throughout all the ages and among all the nations, was baptized in this one Spirit into one Body, she was at the same time given to drink of this one Spirit (v. 13b). Whenever we call “O Lord Jesus,” we are drinking of this Holy Spirit. If we call daily and hourly, we will drink of this Spirit daily and hourly. We call on the Lord, but we receive the Holy Spirit. Jesus is the name, and the Holy Spirit is the person. When we call on the Lord, the Holy Spirit comes, and we drink of this Spirit. This is not all. We also become one spirit with Him (6:17). In this way we can enjoy this all-inclusive Spirit as the life supply (Phil. 1:19). When we rise up in the morning, if we do not call on the Lord and drink of the Holy Spirit to the full, we will be empty, weak, and impotent throughout the day. But if we call on the Lord and drink of the Holy Spirit as soon as we rise up, we will surely be full of the Spirit and supplied with life to be full of strength the whole day long. Furthermore, we will receive the gifts from Him to function as the members of His Body (Rom. 12:4-8). All the members of the Body of Christ will receive gifts through the supply of life and will manifest their functions. This is the church.
Hebrews 8:1-2 and 9:11-12 tell us that after Christ ascended, He passed through the greater and more perfect tabernacle and became a Minister of the holy places. First, He poured out the all-inclusive Spirit to produce the church. Second, in His position of ascension He gave gifts to the church. Third, He ministers the life supply from heaven into the believers that they may receive the enjoyment to function as members. Fourth, as our High Priest, He cares for us, takes care of our needs, and makes supplication for us that we may experience Him and receive the heavenly supply to live the heavenly life.
If there is a group of believers in a place who have the life of God, always call on the Lord, drink of the Holy Spirit, and enjoy the heavenly supply, and who subsequently receive gifts to function, they are the church as a golden lampstand shining forth Christ. The golden lampstands are the churches in the various localities showing forth the testimony of Christ. On the one hand, these churches in the various localities are administered locally in their administrative affairs. For example, it is up to the church in Seoul to decide where and how they should meet as the church in Seoul. In the same way it is up to the church in Inchon to decide where and how the church in Inchon should meet. Every church has its particular condition and needs; no two places are the same. Concerning these administrative matters, there is no uniformity; every place is administered locally. On the other hand, in life, nature, and testimony, there is the unique Body in the universe (Eph. 4:3-6; 1 Cor. 12:12). This is why the seven golden lampstands in Revelation 1:11-12, 20b are the same in nature and shape. They are all lampstands made of pure gold. Moreover, the testimony they bear and the light they shine forth are all the same. There is no distinction among them. Whether in nature, function, or testimony, all the churches on the whole earth should be the same. Furthermore, in this dark age the church has the sevenfold intensified Spirit of Christ for the intensification of the shining of the golden lampstands (v. 4; 4:5; 5:6). At the time when John was writing the book of Revelation, the churches had degraded, and the age had become dark. This is why God’s move and work on earth required the sevenfold intensified Spirit of God. The situation is the same today. Therefore, we all need to be filled with this sevenfold intensified Spirit, that the shining of the golden lampstands would become brighter and brighter.
From the Bible we see that soon after the age of the apostles, the local churches as the golden lampstands became desolate, degraded, and fallen (Rev. 2:14-15, 20) and were carried away to the mysterious great Babylon (17:5); this is similar to the Israelites in the Old Testament, who were taken captive into Babylon through their degradation and failure. This mysterious great Babylon is the apostate Roman Catholic Church. According to church history, this period lasted for at least ten centuries, from about A.D. 570 to about A.D. 1500 at the time of Luther’s Reformation. This is the period known in world history as the Dark Ages.
At the time of the Reformation, the church had a recovery. She left the apostate Roman Catholic Church (18:4) and gradually returned to the original ground of oneness to have the proper church life (3:1, 4, 7-12). This is the Lord’s call for the overcomers in the degraded and desolate church, as recorded in Revelation 2—3. Today we are in the church of the Lord’s recovery. Whether we are in Korea, China, or the West, we have returned to the local ground of oneness and expect to be recovered continuously back to the normal church life, which is a life of inwardly being filled by the Spirit and outwardly living Christ, loving one another, fellowshipping one with another, and fellowshipping with the Triune God.
First, the overcomers in the church and the overcomers among the Old Testament saints are constituted the bride of Christ (19:7-9). This bride is the spouse of Christ, sharing with Christ His kingly rule in the coming millennium. Second, these overcomers throughout the ages will constitute the army of Christ at His return, who with Christ will defeat Antichrist and his army (17:12-14; 19:19-20). Third, they will constitute the New Jerusalem in the millennium. The New Jerusalem will appear in two stages. The first stage will appear in the millennium; the second stage will appear in the new heaven and new earth in eternity. The New Jerusalem in the millennium includes only the overcoming saints throughout the ages; it does not include the saints who fail and must therefore pass through God’s dealing to be further perfected. This is like going to school. Those who fail in the final examination cannot graduate; they must have makeup lessons. Only after they pass through those lessons can they graduate. Therefore, if you are lazy and loose as a Christian today and do not grow in life, you will be considered a failing one when Jesus comes back again. The overcoming saints will reign and rejoice with the Lord in the millennium while you will be there “making up your lessons,” being dealt with and chastised by God until you mature. The New Jerusalem in the millennium, which is constituted of the overcoming saints throughout the ages, will be the manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens. There the overcoming ones will reign with Christ to shepherd the nations (3:12; 20:4, 6; 2:26-27).
After the millennium there will be a new heaven and new earth. By that time it will not just be the overcomers who will be there. The church and the Old Testament saints, including all the ones who will have been perfected and matured, will become the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and new earth. Those saints who fail now will also be mature at that time after God’s dealing and perfecting for a thousand years. They will also have a part in the New Jerusalem. This expanded New Jerusalem will be the mutual dwelling place for God and His redeemed people in eternity (21:3, 22). On the one hand, she will be God’s tabernacle, His dwelling place. On the other hand, she will be the temple of God, the dwelling place for all those who serve Him. At the same time, this New Jerusalem is the corporate, expanded Christ as the eternal, full expression of God. John 1:14 says, “The Word became flesh [who is Jesus Christ] and tabernacled among us.” In this miniature tabernacle God lived within and was expressed without. In the new heaven and new earth in eternity, all the saved saints throughout the ages will have been perfected by God. They will be fully mingled with the Triune God to become an expanded tabernacle. This expanded tabernacle will be the mutual dwelling place for God and His redeemed people and will become the full, complete, and ultimate expression of God unto eternity. This is the ultimate completion of God’s economy.
In between the miniature tabernacle of Jesus and the expanded tabernacle of the New Jerusalem is God’s church on earth today. Every local church should be such a tabernacle, filled with God within and expressing God without. Every one of us in the local church should live this life of the tabernacle so that God would have a dwelling place on earth and we would also dwell within it. In this way God will be expressed in every place. Hallelujah! This is God’s economy.
