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Scripture Reading: 1 Tim. 1:3-4; Gen. 1:26-27; 2:8-9; 3:6-7; Rom. 5:12; 8:20-22; John 15:1, 4; 11:25; 14:6; 2 Cor. 5:17; Eph. 2:5; Col. 2:13; 1 Pet. 1:3; Rom. 8:29; Acts 13:33; 1 Cor. 15:45b; Col. 1:22; 1 Thes. 5:23; Rom. 12:2; Titus 3:5; 2 Cor. 3:18; Heb. 2:10; Col. 3:4; Phil. 3:21
Prayer: Lord, pour down Your Holy Spirit generously that we all may be filled with the Spirit outwardly and meet in the Spirit; may we have not only the Word but also the Spirit. Grant us Your mercy. We trust only in Your mercy and Your blessing. Amen.
The Bible is a mysterious book to us. Tens of thousands of people read the Bible, yet each one has his own opinion. In my studying of the Word, I went through several stages of progression. Eventually, according to my study, I saw that the entire Bible is a book that deals exclusively with the economy of God, and in particular the New Testament is focused on the consummation of the economy of God. Hence, the New Testament is especially thorough in dealing with the economy of God. Paul wrote to Timothy, asking him to charge and exhort certain dissenting ones not to teach different things any longer. What are the “different things”? They are things that have nothing to do with the economy of God (1 Tim. 1:3-4). With this as the guideline of observation, today, needless to say in the past generations, very few things taught by Bible teachers can be linked to the economy of God. Although what they teach is both scriptural and fundamental and concerns Christ and His salvation, in their presentation to people, they do not link these things to the economy of God. Hence, the economy of God has become a phrase not used in Christianity.
Now we want to see how the Bible refers to God’s economy. The Bible first shows that God has two creations: one is the old creation, and the other is the new creation. The old creation was a twofold creation. In the first section of God’s old creation, which was His original creation, He created the heavens and the earth, including the angels. Among them, an archangel, who was a cherub, led a group of them to rebel against God and thus became God’s adversary. Hence, his name is Satan, which means “adversary” (Ezek. 28:14-17). Due to his rebellion, the original creation of God became waste and empty (Gen. 1:2; Jer. 4:23). Therefore, God came to carry out the work of restoration. In His work of restoration God recovered the wasted heavens and earth. He first created the different kinds of plants and animals, and then He created man.
Man was created by God according to Himself in image and likeness (Gen. 1:26-27). What God created was a man, yet the man whom He created looked like God. How marvelous it is that God created man according to Himself! He created man, yet what came out was Himself. Very few readers of the Bible pay attention to this matter. This man who was created by God was the center of His restoration in the old creation. Then God presented Himself to this man in the form of the tree of life (2:8-9). This means that He wanted this man to take Him in. Although this man was created by God with His image, he did not yet have the life of God. Hence, God placed him in front of the tree of life, which signified Himself. God wanted man to receive the tree of life, to receive God, as his life. Thus, man would be like God both in his inward nature and life and in his outward appearance.
Satan came in, however, to seduce man to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (3:6-7). Thus, man sinned and became fallen, and the entire restored old creation, which he represented as the head, was corrupted (Rom. 5:12) and became vanity of vanities (8:20), groaning together in travail under the slavery of corruption (vv. 21-22). Because of this, God’s economy also suffered a setback.
In order to carry out His economy, at a certain time God Himself became a man. In so doing, He brought God into man. God is the tree of life; when He came, He brought the tree of life into man (John 15:1, 4). Thus, God, the tree of life, and man were united into one. This One is Jesus Christ. I do not believe that anyone has ever told you that the tree of life was brought into man when God became flesh. We dare to say this because when He was on the earth, He said, “I am...the life” (11:25; 14:6), and He also said, “I am the true vine” (15:1). When you put these two statements together, you can see that this Jesus as the God-man was a union of man with the life of God.
This incarnated God-man lived on the earth for over thirty years expressing God fully. Then He died on the cross and was resurrected. In His death He completely terminated the degraded, deteriorated, corrupted, and rotten old creation (Rom. 6:6). In His resurrection He generated God’s new creation. Through His death He put an end to God’s old creation, and through His resurrection He brought forth God’s new creation (2 Cor. 5:17). The new creation is not shared by all the people in the world; it is centered on the people chosen by God. The archangel was the center of the original creation, and then Adam was the center of the restored creation. Now in the new creation the men chosen by God are the center. In His new creation God has resurrected, that is, has regenerated, all His chosen ones together with Christ (Eph. 2:5; Col. 2:13) through the resurrection of Christ.
Therefore, in His resurrection Christ did such a great thing — He regenerated all of God’s chosen ones (1 Pet. 1:3). At the same time, in His resurrection Christ also uplifted the humanity that He had put on and brought it into divinity. Thus, He was begotten to be the firstborn Son of God in His resurrection (Rom. 8:29; Acts 13:33). The God-chosen ones whom He regenerated as His many brothers became the many sons of God. According to the teachings of the New Testament, the many sons of God and the firstborn Son of God are inseparable. The New Testament teachings are altogether on the matters concerning the firstborn Son of God and the many sons of God.
Furthermore, the old creation was dealt with by the firstborn Son of God in His death. When He died on the cross, He brought the old creation with Him and dealt with it there. Thus, He redeemed the God-created man, the man whom God desired to save. In His resurrection and through His resurrection He brought forth, regenerated, all the ones in the new creation. Then in time God calls them out and saves them out of every nation and from every place. They have all been set apart by the Holy Spirit and redeemed by God, and they have received Christ and have thereby become regenerated. These sanctified, redeemed, and regenerated ones are the believers in Christ.
After the regeneration of these believers, there is the need for Christ to carry out His heavenly ministry in ascension through His resurrection. Simply speaking, in His resurrection He became the life-giving Spirit to enter into His heavenly ministry (1 Cor. 15:45b). In His resurrection He brought His humanity into divinity to become the firstborn Son of God and regenerated God’s chosen people to become the sons of God. At the same time He Himself also became the life-giving Spirit. In His resurrection, with the ascended position and environment, He as the life-giving Spirit works in the redeemed and regenerated people in many ways. The work that He is carrying out includes: first, the work of sanctification (Col. 1:22; 1 Thes. 5:23); second, the work of renewing (Rom. 12:2; Titus 3:5); third, the work of transformation (2 Cor. 3:18); and fourth, the work of conformation (Rom. 8:29a). Finally, He as the life-giving Spirit will bring His people into glory (Heb. 2:10; Col. 3:4) so that their body will be redeemed and their entire being will be glorified (Phil. 3:21). At such a time they will be exactly the same as the firstborn Son of God within and without — in life, in nature, in disposition, and in bodily form.
Here we need to see that the firstborn Son of God is the embodiment of the Triune God. First, God became flesh; second, this One in the flesh became the life-giving Spirit. Now this Spirit is the compound Spirit, the aggregate Spirit, and the consummation of the processed Triune God. Such a Spirit as the consummation of the Triune God works the Triune God into the entire being of the believers.
Hence, the processed Triune God is embodied in the all-inclusive Christ, and this Christ, who is the embodiment of the Triune God, has become the all-inclusive Spirit of the Triune God. Today the all-inclusive Christ as the embodiment of the Triune God has become the all-inclusive Spirit. This Triune God has been working in us since our regeneration and will continue until we are exactly the same as the firstborn Son of God. All of us as God’s chosen ones need to pass through the processes of sanctification, renewing, transformation, and conformation unto the glorification of our entire being. We are in the processed Triune God for Him to work in us to the extent that we are exactly the same as the embodiment of God, the firstborn Son of God, so that we all may become the embodiment of God. The firstborn Son of God is the individual embodiment of God; we as the many sons of God are the corporate embodiment of God. The reality of this embodiment is the all-inclusive Spirit. When this embodiment is expressed, it is the Body of Christ.
You can see the church on this earth, but it is not easy for you to see the Body. What people call the church refers mostly to the gathering together of a group of believers of Christ to form an assembly. This is the ekklesia, the church, which is something visible. It is not easy, however, for people to see that the church is a matter of life. The consummation of this life aspect is the Body of Christ. How is this consummation carried out? It is carried out through regeneration, sanctification, renewing, transformation, conformation, and eventually, glorification.
The Body of Christ consummates in the New Jerusalem. In other words, eventually, the Body of Christ becomes the New Jerusalem. The New Jerusalem is the conclusion of all these matters. Therefore, in the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, the last thing that is produced is the New Jerusalem. We see that all the visions and all the revelations are consummated and manifested in the New Jerusalem. This New Jerusalem is the union and mingling of the processed Triune God with the transformed tripartite man to form one entity as the expression of God in eternity.
I hope that from now on, every one of you will be able to speak the same thing. This message is a general outline. Regardless of what subject you cover or what message you speak, never depart from this outline. This is the general subject that must govern your speaking. From now on, this is what we must preach in our gospel preaching, this is what we must teach in our edification of new believers, and this is what we must speak in conferences and trainings. This is the highest gospel, this is what the world needs, and this is what the Lord desires to recover today.
