Search
In the Lord’s recovery we have received a particular vision, which is absolutely based upon the divine revelation in God’s New Testament ministry. It is not so easy to tell you what this vision is in full. In these chapters we can only summarize the crucial points of the vision that the Lord has given to us in a very brief and concise way.
In the first place, we need to see what our vision is concerning God. God is triune. He is one yet three, and He is three but still one. He is three-one, and this Triune God is the Father, the Son, and the Spirit (Matt. 28:19). The three coexist and coinhere. They are three yet still one. They are distinct, and They are one. Our human mentality is altogether unable to grasp the mystery of the distinction of the Trinity in the Godhead and the oneness of the Trinity.
Next we need to see what our vision is concerning the Father. The Father is the source. We need the realization of the Father as the source, though we do not need much explanation concerning this point. In addition, we need to see that even the Father Himself is triune, and He is triune not only in one way but in three ways. As to His person, the Father is triune, and He is also triune in relation to time and to space.
Revelation 1:4 speaks of the first of the Trinity as He who is and who was and who is coming, or who is to come, or who is to be. The first of the Trinity must refer to the Father, and here the Father is called by such a divine title. Undoubtedly, such an expression is based upon the revelation of the Old Testament where Jehovah is referred to. This matter is fully revealed in Exodus 3 (vv. 6, 14-16). There Jehovah, the great I Am, the great eternal One, is the very God who is triune, the God of the father, Abraham, the God of the son, Isaac, and the God of the grandson, Jacob. Based upon Revelation 1:4 and Exodus 3, we can see that the Father God, as to His person, is triune.
Second, the Father is triune in time because Revelation 1:4 says that He is the One who is, in the present, and who was, in the past, and who is coming, in the future. Therefore, we can see that the Father God is triune in relation to time.
Then the Father is also triune in space. You may have not considered this point before. Ephesians 4:6 tells us that God the Father is over all and through all and in all. In relation to space, He is in three directions — above, through, and in. Therefore, we may say that the Father God is triune in relation to His person, in relation to time, and in relation to space. This point has been more than clearly revealed in the holy Word, and we have seen it. To us this matter is a vision, not a doctrine.
We have touched something of our vision concerning God and concerning the Father; now we come to our vision concerning the Son, Jesus Christ. Christ is the Triune God incarnated. We used to speak of the Son of God incarnated to be a man, but the Bible does not use such an expression.
Strictly speaking, the Bible says, “In the beginning was the Word,...and the Word was God” (John 1:1). Here we need to realize that this God, whom the Word was, is not a partial God; not only is He God the Son, but He is the entire God — God the Son, God the Father, and God the Spirit. The New Testament does not say that the Word was God the Son; in fact, it does not say God the Son, God the Father, or God the Spirit. John 1:1 says that in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God, the entire Triune God, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.
Furthermore, the Word became flesh (v. 14). Therefore, Christ is the entire God — the Father, the Son, and the Spirit — incarnated. Strictly speaking, the New Testament does not say that the Word became a man, but it says that the Word became flesh. According to the New Testament usage, flesh refers to the fallen man (Rom. 3:20). Nevertheless, it is with much hesitation that I say that Christ became a fallen man, lest you misunderstand and think that I am saying that Christ became a man with sin in Him. Certainly, Christ did not become a man with sin in Him, but He did become a man after mankind had fallen. He became flesh only in the likeness of the flesh of sin (8:3).
There is a very strong footnote on John 1:14 in the Ryrie Study Bible (Moody Press, 1978, p. 1494) that boldly declares that Christ has joined Himself to sinful humanity: “Jesus Christ was unique, for He was God from all eternity and yet joined Himself to sinful humanity in the incarnation. The God-man possessed all the attributes of deity (Phil. 2:6) and the attributes common to humanity (apart from sin), and He will exist forever as the God-man in His resurrected body (Acts 1:11; Rev. 5:6). Only the God-man could be an adequate Savior; for He must be human in order to be able to suffer and die, and He must be God to make that death effective as a payment for sin.” I have not found such a strong word on this matter in anyone else’s notes, expositions, or commentaries. After his statement that Christ joined Himself to sinful humanity, Ryrie added the phrase apart from sin.
It is crucial for us to see why the Bible does not say that Christ as the Triune God became a man. To say only that Christ became a man does not definitely denote that man was in a fallen condition at the time of the incarnation. However, according to the New Testament usage, to say that the Word became flesh definitely indicates that flesh refers to the fallen man. Romans 3:20 confirms this: “Because out of the works of the law no flesh shall be justified before Him.” At the time the Lord Jesus as the Triune God was incarnated to be a man, man had fallen already. Christ did not become a man before the fall, but He did so after the fall, while man was absolutely living in the fall. Therefore, as Ryrie says, He actually joined Himself to sinful humanity.
Nevertheless, we need to be very clear that there was no sin in the Lord’s humanity. The fact that the Lord joined Himself to sinful humanity does not mean that there was sin in His humanity. There is no sin in Him, although He became flesh, which refers to the fallen man in whom is sin.
In the same Gospel where it is recorded that the Triune God became the flesh (John 1:14), this man Jesus, the Son of Man, told us, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,” that is, lifted up on the cross (3:14). This word indicates definitely that the incarnated Christ was portrayed in typology as a serpent, by the bronze serpent in Numbers 21, a serpent in form but not in nature.
The bronze serpent lifted up on the pole in Numbers 21 was a representative of the people bitten by the serpents (vv. 4-9). All the people who had been bitten by the serpents became serpents in the eyes of God. For God to forgive them, to save them, and to recover them, they needed to be judged by God. Nevertheless, they themselves were not judged, but they were judged in and through their representative, which was the serpent made of bronze. In the eyes of God, that serpent lifted up on the pole and judged there was the representative of all those who had become serpents, but the bronze serpent possessed only the form of the serpent and not the nature. Therefore, from the Gospel of John we can see that the incarnated One was in the form of a fallen man, but He did not have the fallen nature.
In Romans 8:3 Paul tells us clearly that God sent His Son in the likeness of the flesh of sin. The major point in this verse is the flesh, but the flesh is limited by the word likeness, and the flesh is modified by the phrase of sin. In the likeness of the flesh of sin is a wonderful phrase, a wonderful expression. On one hand, there is the flesh of sin, but on the other hand, there is only the likeness of the flesh of sin. These two modifiers indicate that the Triune God became the flesh as a fallen man only in the likeness of the flesh of sin but not in the sinful nature. We need to be clear concerning this distinction.
Moreover, our Christ in incarnation was made sin, although He knew no sin. Paul gives us an even stronger verse that corresponds to Romans 8:3 in 2 Corinthians 5:21: “Him who did not know sin He made sin on our behalf.” Christ knew no sin, yet God made Him sin. To say that Christ was made sin is a much stronger expression than to say that He became flesh. Nevertheless, the Word clearly says that God made Him sin, and we need to be bold to declare what the Word declares. While Christ was being judged on the cross, in the eyes of God He was sin there. When we say that God made Christ sin, we have Paul’s word in 2 Corinthians 5:21 as the Word of God to support us. Paul, however, adds a modifying phrase: Him who did not know sin. To say that God made One sin who knew no sin is to speak a heavenly language. How much we all need to learn to speak the heavenly language of the Bible!
Such a Christ who knew no sin, yet was made sin, was the very embodiment of the fullness of the Godhead of the Triune God when He lived on this earth in His incarnation. We may make such a statement based upon Colossians 2:9: “In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.” Such a One was conceived and born of God with the divine essence mingled with the human essence. He was born of these two essences through the Holy Spirit and through the chaste virgin (Matt. 1:18-25; Luke 1:26-35; 2:1-7). Through the Holy Spirit He received the divine essence, and through the human virgin He received the human essence. The divine conception was a mingling. These two essences, the divine and the human, became mingled together in His divine conception.
Mingling means that two elements are joined and mingled together, but the two elements do not lose their particular natures. Their two natures retain their distinction, and they are not joined together to produce a third nature. Therefore, such a One was born to be a God-man who is both the complete God and the perfect man, possessing two natures and two lives, the divine nature and the divine life, and the human nature and the human life, mingled together as one but without any confusion, without any loss of their distinctive natures, and without anything produced to be a third nature or a third element. Such a short definition helps us to be clear about the incarnation of Christ and His person in two natures with two kinds of life.
After He passed through conception and birth, such a wonderful Christ lived on this earth for more than thirty-three years. After fully tasting the human life, He entered into and passed through an all-inclusive death with a number of aspects.
First, Christ died as the Lamb of God to take away the sin (the totality of sin, including sins) of the world, that is, of mankind (John 1:29).
Second, Christ died as a man in the flesh, causing sin to be condemned in the flesh by God (Rom. 8:3).
Third, Christ died as the last Adam (1 Cor. 15:45b). Adam, the head of all mankind, made himself with all his descendants a fallen man in God’s old creation through his fall. Christ, as the last Adam, as the conclusion of the old man, brought the old man to the cross to be crucified. When He was crucified, our old man was crucified with Him (Rom. 6:6).
Fourth, Christ died as a creature. Christ was the Firstborn, the first item, of all the old creation (Col. 1:15b). Christ as the first item of the old creation also brought the entire old creation to the cross to be terminated. This is based upon Colossians 1:20, where it says that all things were reconciled to God through Christ.
Fifth, Christ died as a serpent in form (John 3:14), as typified by the bronze serpent in Numbers 21:9. In this aspect Christ died not only to be a substitute of the fallen men who had been bitten by the old serpent (Rev. 12:9) but also to destroy the old serpent, the devil, who has the might of death (Heb. 2:14).
Sixth, Christ died on the cross also as the Peacemaker (Eph. 2:14-16). Due to man’s fall, among mankind there are many ordinances, many customs, many habits, many different ways to live, and many different ways to worship. All these are the differences among peoples that have divided, scattered, and confused mankind. Therefore, among the human race there is no peace. Christ died on the cross as the Peacemaker to abolish all the ordinances to make God’s chosen people and redeemed ones one new man.
In addition, Christ died on the cross as a grain of wheat, sown into man’s heart. This is the seventh aspect. As a grain of wheat, He died to release the divine life and to enliven God’s redeemed ones, to produce many grains that can be blended together into a loaf to be offered to God. This loaf is the very church, the Body of Christ (1 Cor. 10:17).
All of us need to see such a vision. Christ died on the cross as at least seven items: as the Lamb of God, as a man in the flesh, as the last Adam, as a creature, as a serpent in form, as the Peacemaker, and as a grain of wheat. On the negative side, He died to terminate all the negative things, and on the positive side, He died to release the divine life to produce the church. This is our vision.
After such an all-inclusive death Christ entered into resurrection. In His resurrection He became a life-giving Spirit, who is the very consummation of the Triune God. The life-giving Spirit is the germinating Spirit because to give life is to germinate. Not only did Christ become the life-giving Spirit to impart life to all His believers, but also in resurrection He became the firstborn Son of God to bring forth many sons of God to be His many brothers (Rom. 8:29). This is a crucial point in our vision concerning Christ.
Concerning the Spirit, we have seen that He is the Spirit of God in God’s creation (Gen. 1:2) and that He is also the Spirit of Jehovah in God’s relationship with man (Judg. 3:10). In God’s creation He is the Spirit of God, and in God’s relationship with man He is the Spirit of Jehovah.
In the initiation of God’s New Testament economy, the Spirit is the Holy Spirit. The birth of John the Baptist and the birth of Jesus Christ are the initiation of God’s New Testament economy. In this initiation the Spirit is the Holy Spirit with whom the forerunner of God’s New Testament economy, John the Baptist, was filled (Luke 1:15) and of whom the Savior, Jesus Christ, was conceived and born (v. 35; Matt. 1:18, 20). Jesus was also anointed with this Holy Spirit to live and to carry out a part of the New Testament ministry (Luke 3:22).
In the glorification (i.e., resurrection, 24:26) of Jesus, the Spirit is “the Spirit” (John 7:39). We have seen that in God’s creation, He is the Spirit of God; in God’s relationship with man, He is the Spirit of Jehovah; in the initiation of the New Testament economy, He is the Holy Spirit; and in the glorification of Jesus, He is the Spirit. Here the Spirit is the consummation of the processed Triune God who has passed through incarnation, human living, death, and resurrection. From this point onward, He is called the Spirit of Jesus in Acts 16:7, the Spirit of Christ in Romans 8:9, the Spirit of Jesus Christ in Philippians 1:19, the Spirit of the Lord in 2 Corinthians 3:17, the Spirit of God in Romans 8:9, and the Spirit of life in Romans 8:2. The Spirit, after Jesus’ glorification, became a compound Spirit as indicated by all these titles: the Spirit of God, the Spirit of the Lord, the Spirit of Jesus, the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of Jesus Christ, and the Spirit of life. This all-inclusive compound Spirit is compounded with Christ’s deity, His humanity, His human life, His all-inclusive death and its effectiveness, His resurrection and its power, and His ascension and its exaltation, including the enthronement, the crowning with honor and glory, the headship, the lordship, and the kingship. Therefore, in this compound Spirit there are all the elements of Christ’s divinity, humanity, human life, death with its effectiveness, resurrection with its power, and ascension with its exaltation. All these are the ingredients of this compound Spirit.
Therefore, the Spirit is the consummation of the processed Triune God, and He is all-inclusive. He is a compound of God; of man; of human living; of the all-inclusive, redeeming, terminating, and life-releasing death with its effectiveness; of the germinating resurrection with its power; and of the ascension with its exaltation. He is not only the consummation of the processed Triune God but also the consummation of whatever the processed Triune God has achieved, attained, and obtained.
In the book of Revelation, the Spirit becomes the seven Spirits (1:4; 3:1; 4:5; 5:6). The Spirit is not essentially seven. Essentially, He is only one, but economically, He is seven. Eventually, in God’s economy and in His function, He becomes the sevenfold intensified Spirit. In essence the Spirit is uniquely one, but in function, in economy, He is seven. In Revelation it is not a matter of the essence, but it is a matter of the function, of the economy. Economically speaking, the Spirit is intensified sevenfold. Without such a vision we cannot reconcile the two aspects of the Spirit being one and the Spirit being seven. However, with a clear vision concerning the difference between the Spirit essentially and the Spirit economically, the Lord has given us the way to reconcile the two sides of the truth.
We have covered the first four basic visions that we have received of the Lord through these past sixty years — our vision concerning God, concerning the Father, concerning the Son, and concerning the Spirit. Now we come to our vision concerning God’s economy.
In God’s economy we have seen God’s desire, which was in God’s heart even before the foundation of the world. Second, we have also seen God’s good pleasure. God has a desire, and He has a good pleasure. Based on His pleasure He made a plan; He formed a purpose with His plan and chose a number of people and predestinated them unto sonship. These are five crucial items: God’s desire, His pleasure, His choice, His predestination, and His plan (Eph. 1:4-5, 9, 11; 3:11). For these five things God surely needs an economy, an arrangement, an administration, on a large scale. He needs a schedule to carry out His plan, which is for His predestination, according to His choice, according to His pleasure, and according to His desire.
The economy of God is to dispense Himself into His chosen, predestinated, and redeemed people as their life, their life supply, and their everything. We have spent much time to study the Greek word for economy or dispensation used in Ephesians 1:10; 3:9; and 1 Timothy 1:4 — oikonomia. This Greek word is a compound word made up of oikos, meaning “house,” and nomos, meaning “law.” If you trace the root of this word, it goes back to a word that refers to the parceling out of food, the distributing of food as in parcels. This root word also means “to distribute food to the cattle for grazing.” It is God’s economy to parcel Himself out to us as our life and as our life supply.
In God’s economy He dispenses Himself into His people as life, as the life supply, and as everything to them. He dispenses Himself as their strength, their power, their wisdom, their righteousness, their holiness, their love, their kindness, and even as their attributes and virtues. This is God’s economy. Out of this economy many believers are being produced to be the components of the Body of God’s Son for a full expression of the Triune God. This is our vision concerning God’s economy.
Brothers, I surely hope you all could spend time to get into these five matters concerning our vision of God, of the Father, of Christ, of the Spirit, and of God’s economy. Every point is fully and properly grounded in particular verses of the Bible, which you can find with the help of the Life-studies.
If I can speak concerning all these things without any notes and pass on all these points to you, surely all of you who are younger than I am can get into these matters until you can speak spontaneously of our vision concerning God, the Father, the Son, the Spirit, and God’s economy. I would strongly encourage all of you to get into these matters. If you do, wherever you go, you will speak concerning these things in a way that will stir up the interest of everyone you meet. There is no need to make your topic interesting. Your speaking along these lines will stir up the interest of others, and there will be no end to their interest. These points are exhaustless, and every one of them needs a lot of definition. The more you speak along these lines, the more you increase the interest of others, and the more you increase their appetite, their thirst, and their hunger. What we need is for all of us to see God’s New Testament ministry and to see the vision in the Lord’s recovery today. Surely we would not go back to pick up all the old things that cannot meet today’s need. The Lord’s recovery has received a particular vision that is based upon the divine revelation concerning His New Testament ministry. I would encourage you all to spend adequate time to get into this vision in a full way.
