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The one thing that should be focused on, stressed, and ministered in the Lord’s recovery is the New Testament economy of God. God’s New Testament economy is “the thing.” The content of the New Testament economy of God is a person. In the chart on this page there are three sections concerning this wonderful person. First, this person is the Son with the Father by the Spirit in the first four books of the New Testament, the Gospels. In the second section of God’s New Testament economy is the Spirit as the Son with the Father. This section covers the twenty-two books from Acts through Jude. The last section of God’s New Testament economy is covered by the final book of the New Testament, Revelation. In Revelation there are the seven Spirits out from the eternal One of the Redeemer.
Over the last sixty years the Lord, by His mercy, has opened up His holy Word to us. We have studied the Bible thoroughly, and we have read the leading classical Christian writings, including the church fathers’ writings, church history, Christian biographies, and the central messages given by the spiritual giants. The first thing that we saw was the assurance of salvation. I consider the fifty-one messages I gave on God’s New Testament economy in 1984 as a consummation of what the Lord has shown us in His recovery. I would like to present a brief conclusion of all the things that the Lord has shown us through these past sixty years.
The first aspect of the vision of the Lord’s recovery is concerning the Triune God. The Triune God is embodied in the Son, Christ Jesus. Our Savior, Christ Jesus, is nothing less than the very embodiment not only of the Father but of the entire God — the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. Colossians 2:9 says, “In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.” The Godhead is the very Divine Trinity, comprising the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. Our Savior, Jesus Christ, is the very embodiment of the Triune God.
This wonderful Christ, who is the embodiment of the Divine Trinity, is realized by the Spirit. In John 14 the embodiment of God tells us that He would ask the Father to send another Comforter (v. 16). This “another Comforter” is the very realization of the embodiment of God, so He is called the Spirit of reality (v. 17). He is the realization of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the embodiment of the Triune God.
In John 16:13-15 the embodiment of the Triune God, Jesus, told us clearly that in the Divine Trinity whatever the Father is and has is embodied in the Son, whatever the Son is and has is received by the Spirit, and whatever the Spirit receives is declared to the believers. The Triune God is embodied in the Son, and this embodiment is realized by the Spirit who is the ultimate consummation of the processed Triune God. The processed Triune God is ultimately consummated in the all-inclusive Spirit.
The all-inclusive Spirit as the realization of Christ and as the ultimate consummation of the processed Triune God reaches us in two ways: in the essential way He comes into us, and in the economical way He comes upon us. This is the first aspect of the vision in the Lord’s recovery.
The Father is the source, the Son is the course, and the Spirit is the flow to reach us. Without a flow the river can never reach anything. With a flow there will surely be a reaching. When the Spirit reaches us, the entire God reaches us. This reaching is the ultimate consummation of the processed Triune God in our experience of His dispensing. The Triune God is dispensing Himself into us by the Father being embodied in the Son and the Son being realized by the Spirit. The Spirit becomes the very reaching to us of the Triune God as His consummation for our enjoyment.
According to the second point of the vision that we have received of the Lord, the Triune God has gone through seven major processes. The Son is the embodiment of God, the Spirit is the realization of the Son, and the Spirit is the ultimate consummation of the Divine Trinity by seven major steps taken by the processed Triune God: incarnation, human living, death, resurrection, the breathing of the life-giving Spirit into His chosen people, ascension, and the pouring out of Himself as the consummated Spirit upon His chosen people. By these seven steps the Triune God, being embodied, realized, and consummated, is dispensed into us for the producing of a unique thing in this universe — the Body of Christ.
With the eternal God there is no element of time and space. With Him the Body has already been produced. The Triune God consummated in the all-inclusive Spirit is in the Body, and as such a Spirit, He is upon the Body. We all need to see this great vision. By God being embodied, realized, and consummated through these seven steps, the Triune God has been dispensed into His chosen people, who have been regenerated and built up together to form the Body of Christ. This Body is carrying out one thing — the propagation of the processed and consummated Triune God through the gospel for the increase of the Body.
The New Testament says that the Word who was God became flesh (John 1:1, 14). The entire God became flesh. The Triune God was in the womb of a human virgin. The Triune God was a babe born and put into a manger. No wonder Isaiah 9:6 tells us that a child is born to us whose name is Mighty God. The mighty God is the entire God. The Triune God was living in a carpenter’s home for thirty years. While Jesus, the embodiment of the Triune God, was being crucified on the cross, essentially speaking the Triune God was passing through death. There are some strong implications in the New Testament which show us that while Jesus was dying on the cross, the Triune God was going through death (Acts 20:28; 1 John 1:7).
What was accomplished by His wonderful death is all-inclusive. This wonderful One died on the cross with at least seven qualifications: as the Lamb of God (John 1:29), He died to deal with our sin and sins (1 Pet. 2:24; Heb. 9:26, 28; 1 Cor. 15:3); as a man in the flesh (John 1:14), He died in the form of fallen man, in the likeness of the flesh of sin (Rom. 8:3), to condemn sin in the flesh and deal with the flesh; as the bronze serpent (John 3:14; Num. 21:4-9), He died to bruise the serpent’s head (Gen. 3:15) and to destroy him (Heb. 2:14), along with his satanic world (John 12:31), that all His believers may have eternal life (3:15-16); as the last Adam (1 Cor. 15:45), the representative of the old man, He died to crucify our old man (Rom. 6:6); as the Firstborn of all creation (Col. 1:15), He died on the cross as part of the old creation to terminate the entire old creation; as the Peacemaker (Eph. 2:14-15), He died to abolish all the ordinances and differences in living, customs, and habits between all kinds of peoples for the creation of the new man; finally, as a grain of wheat, He died to release the divine life for His reproduction (John 12:24). All the negative things were crucified on the cross, through which God, the Triune God, went through death and did something to defeat His enemies. Colossians 2:14-15 indicates that while Jesus was dying on the cross, the evil angelic powers were struggling to frustrate that death. But the Triune God stripped them off and gained a victory over them.
This wonderful One then entered into resurrection, and by this one action He became the life-giving Spirit, which He breathed essentially into His chosen people on the evening of His resurrection (John 20:22). Then He ascended to the heavens to be inaugurated into His universal position as the Head of all things (Eph. 1:22-23). He was made both Lord and Christ (Acts 2:36), He was crowned with glory and honor (Heb. 2:9) and enthroned and given the kingship (1:3; 12:2). He received all the authority of the universe. Then He poured out the economical Spirit, which actually is just Himself as the ultimate consummation of the processed Triune God, upon His chosen ones who had already received Him essentially. This pouring out of Himself as the wonderful all-inclusive Spirit was the final step for the accomplishment of His work.
When we receive this wonderful One, we receive all the seven major processes He passed through. We receive His incarnation, His human living, His crucifixion, His resurrection, His breathing of Himself into us as the Spirit, His ascension, and His pouring out of Himself as the wonderful, all-inclusive Spirit upon us. Does He need to become a man for you again? Does He need to live on this earth for you again? Does He need to die for you again? Does He need to resurrect for you again? Does He need to breathe the Spirit for you again? Does He need to ascend for you again? Does He need to pour out the Spirit upon you again? The answer to these seven questions is all no. We all have to see this vision. Blessed are they who see such a vision! A person who has received such a vision has to be excited.
My Savior is the embodiment of the entire God. He became a man for me, He lived on this earth for me, He died on the cross for me, He resurrected for me, and He breathed the wonderful Spirit into me before I was born (John 20:22; 1 Pet. 1:3). He ascended into heaven for me, and I ascended with Him before I was born (Eph. 2:6). Then He poured Himself out upon me as the Spirit before I was born (Acts 2:17-18, 33; 1 Cor. 12:13). These seven wonderful processes are the bequests of the New Testament. He has bequeathed all these items as a great blessing of His divine New Testament. As believers, we have received all these bequests.
The revelation that we have received as a heavenly vision also comprises a third item. This item can be seen in the book of Revelation. The Triune God embodied, realized, and consummated through seven major steps is now within us and upon us. We are wrapped up with Him, within and without. We are full of the divine water. Inside us is the Spirit as the drinking water, and outside us is the Spirit as the baptizing water. Although this is altogether wonderful, the church became degraded. This is why the book of Revelation is needed.
Christ as the embodiment of God in the four Gospels was gentle, mild, meek, and loving. John, the writer of Revelation, could recline on the bosom of that loving One (John 13:23). In Revelation, though, this Christ is altogether different. He has seven eyes (5:6) that are like a flame of fire (1:14). This One is worthy to open the universal secret of God’s economy (5:2, 5). He is the One taking care of the churches as the High Priest trimming the lamps and filling the lamps with oil (1:13). He is also the One who administrates this universe and is going to inherit, to take possession of, both the sea and the land (10:2). He is the One who is coming back to establish God’s government on this earth (11:15).
The seven Spirits, as the intensification of the Triune God, are the seven eyes of the Lion-Lamb to carry out God’s New Testament economy. The Triune God was embodied in the Son, realized and consummated in the all-inclusive Spirit, and as the seven Spirits, the intensification of the Triune God in the book of Revelation, He finalizes His New Testament economy. The finalization of God’s New Testament economy is by the consummated Spirit as the sevenfold intensified Spirit, the intensification of the Triune God.
It is not adequate for us to see merely the first two points of the vision in the Lord’s recovery. We must go further to see the third point of our vision, which involves our facing and overcoming the situation of degradation in the church. In the seven epistles to the seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3, the Lord points out many ugly mixtures. While the church was progressing throughout history, many mixtures came in to corrupt the church. As the High Priest, Christ is trimming the burned out wicks of the lampstands. In another sense, He is purifying the degraded church from all of the different kinds of mixtures.
By His trimming, by His purifying, He graciously brings the degraded church back to the enjoyment of Himself, to eating of the tree of life (2:7), to eating of the hidden manna (v. 17), and to feasting with Him (3:20). The result of the seven epistles to the churches in Revelation 2 and 3 is to bring back the degraded churches to the very enjoyment of this wonderful One. God’s desire for man to eat the tree of life in Genesis 2 is fulfilled in the Lord’s promise to the overcomer to eat of the tree of life. The tree of life today is in the church as God’s garden, paradise. We are here eating the tree of life; however, we have not reached God’s goal yet. We are traveling in the wilderness, and as we are traveling, He is our daily manna. In the degradation of the churches He is no longer the open manna but the hidden manna. He is not the manna in the wilderness but the manna within the Holy of Holies. We have to be brought back to the enjoyment of such an item — the hidden manna. Eventually, we will be brought back to the Lord as a feast. In the epistle to the church in Laodicea the Lord promises to dine with the one who opens the door to Him. To dine is not merely to eat one food but the riches of a meal. This may refer to the eating of the rich produce of the good land of Canaan by the children of Israel (Josh. 5:10-12). We will enjoy all the rich produce of the good land, which is the all-inclusive Christ. This is marvelous! What else can compare with this?
The finalization of God’s economy will be the New Jerusalem with the tree of life in its center (Rev. 22:1-2). The tree of life has fruit and leaves. The leaves of the tree of life are for the healing of the nations, who are not regenerated but restored. The regenerated believers eat the fruit of the tree of life, receiving Christ as their life and life supply inwardly so that they may enjoy the divine life for eternity, whereas the restored nations are healed by the leaves of the tree of life. The nations are restored miraculously, but we believers are sustained by life. We are not the nations, but we are the sons produced by regeneration and sustained by the enjoyment of the fruit of the tree of life, that is, by the very essence of the tree of life. We are now enjoying the New Jerusalem as the finalization of God’s New Testament economy. For eternity we will enjoy life and life alone. Leave the leaves to the nations. We will enjoy nothing else but life. This is our vision.
My concern is that many of you have never gotten into these things and that you do not have any interest or any burden to teach people these things. Instead, you may pick up one small item of the recovery and make it a big item. We must realize again that “the thing” in the Lord’s recovery is the content of God’s New Testament economy — the Triune God embodied, realized, and consummated and taking the seven steps of incarnation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, breathing Himself into His believers, ascension, and pouring Himself out to dispense Himself entirely into His people as a Body. In the finalization of His New Testament economy in the book of Revelation, He is the seven Spirits, out from the eternal One of the Redeemer, the intensification of the Triune God in the overcoming church, consummating in the golden lampstands and the New Jerusalem. We have to see this, and we have to learn how to minister these things.
Justification by faith is not “the thing,” but it is one item in the Lord’s progressive recovery of the basic truths. The matters related to the inner life are wonderful, but even the inner life is not “the thing.” Sanctification, the brotherhood, and the presbytery are not “the thing.” Because some lovers of the Lord saw the light concerning the presbytery, they gave up the episcopal system and set up the presbytery to administrate the church. This is why we have elders in the church and not bishops. Even though the truth concerning the presbytery is wonderful, this is not “the thing.” I am for baptism by immersion, but immersion is not “the thing.” Even the church practice is not “the thing.”
I do not oppose the gifts, including speaking in tongues. What I am against is the overemphasis of the so-called miraculous gifts. To overemphasize is wrong. This overemphasis can become a cancer in the Body. If the cells in a human body are balanced and dispensed properly, this is altogether healthy. But when the cells are “overemphasized” in a certain spot of the body, that spot becomes a cancer and kills the body. The overemphasis of the so-called miraculous gifts becomes a cancer to the Body of Christ. A cancer is not a sickness of any germs. It is not a sickness of wrong things. Cancer is a sickness of “right things.” John 2:23-24 tells us that the Lord would not trust in the seekers of miracles. To exalt the miraculous gifts to the uttermost and to overemphasize them in the way of Pentecostalism is wrong and is a cancer to the Body, which we cannot take.
The second thing that I am against is the falsehood of today’s tongue-speaking. Most of today’s speaking in tongues is not a genuine dialect. As one who ministers the Word and who speaks for God, I feel burdened about this matter. I have been studying this matter for over fifty years. Most of today’s tongue-speaking is humanly manufactured because many people were taught to speak in tongues. I am not opposed to the genuine tongues, but I am against the speaking in tongues that is humanly manufactured. Many of the tongue-speakers reconcile themselves by saying that there is no need to speak a genuine dialect when one speaks in tongues. Acts 2:4 and 8 tell us, however, that the disciples who were Galileans spoke the different foreign dialects of the attendants who came from various parts of the world. This is strong proof that tongue-speaking must be an understandable language, not merely a voice or sound uttered by the tongue.
One writer of a certain Christian publication said that he had contacted two hundred tongue-speakers. After checking with all of them, they all said that they doubted as to whether or not the tongue they were speaking was genuine. There was not one exception to this among these two hundred. The writer of this article, who was a promoter of tongue-speaking, then indicated that you should not doubt but believe that whatever you say is a genuine tongue. Surely the ones who spoke in tongues on the day of Pentecost did not have any doubt that what they were speaking was a genuine dialect, an understandable language. Can we preach, teach, or minister something false? Surely we cannot!
Although I do not agree with the falsity of many of the miraculous things in the Pentecostal movement, we must be clear that the Lord’s recovery is all-inclusive. It includes tongue-speaking. Do not make an issue of it. If you say we would not take tongue-speaking, this is wrong. If you do this, you make an issue of tongue-speaking, and you are sectarian. Neither should the brothers who are for tongue-speaking make an issue of it. Even the proper, most genuine tongue-speaking is just one little item in the Lord’s recovery. It is not “the thing.” If you make any one item, such as the presbytery, so big and overemphasize it, I am against this. But I am not against the presbytery.
The saints in one certain locality did not practice taking the Lord’s table. However, we did not reject them because they would not take the Lord’s table in our way. We still loved them and recognized them as a local church. Even the way of the Lord’s table according to the Bible was a small discovery. But we should not uplift the Lord’s table as “the thing.” In spite of our way of having the Lord’s table, this certain locality still recognized us as local churches, and we recognized them as a local church. Recently, this particular locality began to practice the Lord’s table according to what the Bible reveals. We rejoice in this, but we would never make this practice an issue. If you exclude those who speak in tongues or if you make an issue of speaking in tongues, you are sectarian. For some saints or even some churches to speak in tongues is not sinful. Even if what they speak is not the genuine tongue, it should be only considered as wrong but not sinful. Whether you speak in tongues or whether you do not speak in tongues, you should not make an issue. Romans 14 teaches us that we should receive one another according to God’s receiving and not according to doctrinal concepts. Whatever we do, we should do it unto the Lord. We have to receive each other, and we have to respect and regard each other. What I am against is the overemphasis of minor points and the neglecting of God’s New Testament economy.
Throughout church history many missionaries were sent out by the Lord, and some of them did much wonderful work. These particular missionaries preached the gospel and taught the Bible. One of them, Hudson Taylor, the founder of the China Inland Mission, was not related to the Pentecostal movement, but he did a marvelous work in China to bring the gospel and the Lord’s name there. Some among the Pentecostals say that if you do not speak in tongues, you have never been baptized in the Holy Ghost. I do not believe this, according to the pure word of the Bible and according to my experience. Although Hudson Taylor and many others were quite powerful in the Lord’s work, they never spoke in tongues. I also am not an advocate of the so-called baptism in the Holy Spirit according to the Pentecostal understanding, but in the past sixty years, by the Lord’s mercy, the Lord has raised up approximately six hundred churches through the ministry that the Lord has committed me with. This is why I am strong against any overemphasis of minor doctrines and practices. Cells are good and necessary. Our body needs the cells, but if a certain cell becomes exalted and enlarged, it becomes a cancer. We should not have any exaltation of small items in the Lord’s recovery. The only exaltation should be given to the New Testament economy of God. We can never overly exalt or overemphasize God’s New Testament economy, because His economy is all-inclusive. I do have a heart for all the saints, so I must be frank and faithful to them. I do not like to see any of you led astray. As one who ministers the Lord’s Word in His recovery, I have to take care of the saints and bear the burden for them. This is why I want you to “regulate your driving.” If you “go across the white line,” you will either kill yourself or kill others. You need the vision to control you and restrain you.
I would encourage all the saints, especially the young ones among us, to spend time to get into the contents of the vision of the Lord’s recovery, which is the New Testament economy of God. You need to get into how the Triune God is embodied, realized, consummated, intensified, and finalized. You need to study all the seven major steps of the divine move: incarnation, human living, death, resurrection, breathing, ascension, and pouring out. You need to study the intensification of the Triune God in the book of Revelation finalizing His New Testament economy by bringing the degraded church back to the enjoyment of Himself. You need to get all these things into your being thoroughly. Then you need to labor on them to help all the saints. This is my burden. From now on I hope that in all the church meetings nothing is talked about but the content of the New Testament economy of God. The leading ones need to teach God’s economy to all the members in their locality. Even the young ones among us can speak these things concerning God’s New Testament economy. Then the Lord will have a way to really carry out His all-inclusive recovery for the building up of His church. If you stay merely in one of the items you have experienced, even in a genuine way, you miss the mark. You should not stay with any item. You should only stay with this central thing, “the thing” — the content of the New Testament economy of God. I hope this is clear to all of us.
Before the Lord I can say honestly that I love each one of you brothers. You do not know how much I pray for you when I am concerned for you. I have no intention of condemning or offending any one of you. I really love all of you because you have left so many things for the Lord’s recovery, and you have even designated yourself for the Lord’s move in this country. Although I treasure this, I cannot be silent when I see the things you are getting involved in leading you astray from God’s New Testament economy. I must sound the trumpet. You have to take care of the “white line” while you are driving. Without the vision we may run wild. We may unconsciously cast off the restraints. Thank the Lord, though, that His Word is with us. If there were no Bible, no holy Word, on this earth, where would we be? We have to come back to His holy Word. The controlling, restraining, vision is conveyed to us through the holy Word.
