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Week 8 — Day 1
Exo. 3:14 And God said to Moses, I AM WHO I AM. And He said, Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, I AM has sent me to you.
Heb. 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to be well pleasing to Him, for he who comes forward to God must believe that He is...
What the Bible reveals firstly and lastly is God. Nearly every page of the Bible reveals God. God is the main factor in the divine revelation. The Bible shows us the titles of God and the person of God. Then it goes on to show us His economy and His dispensing. These four things are the alpha of the divine revelation — God’s titles, God’s person, God’s economy, and the way to accomplish His economy, which is to dispense Himself into His chosen people.
Elohim, Jehovah, and Adonai are the three major, divine titles used for God in the Old Testament.
Elohim, a plural noun in Hebrew, implies the notions of the strong One and faithfulness, hence, the faithful, strong One. Our God is strong and faithful. He is strong in strength and faithful in word. Whatever He does shows forth His strength. Whatever He says, He will keep. He is the strong, faithful One. Elohim is a uni-plural noun. The plurality of the word Elohim implies the Divine Trinity (Gen. 1:2b; 3:22a; 11:7a; Isa. 6:8a; John 17:11b, 22b; Matt. 28:19; 2 Cor. 13:14). This title, denoting the unique yet triune God, is used more than two thousand five hundred times in the Old Testament.
Jehovah is another divine title of God (Gen. 2:4), literally meaning “He that is who He is, therefore the eternal I Am.” This title primarily denotes the “self-existent and ever-existent One” (Exo. 3:14-15; John 8:24b, 28a, 58; Rev. 1:4, 8).15 Self-existing and ever-existing means “I AM WHO I AM.”16 His being the I Am signifies that He is the One who exists from eternity to eternity. This title is composed basically of the verb “to be.” Apart from God, Jehovah, all else is nothing. He is the only One who is, the only One who has the reality of being. The verb “to be” should not be applied absolutely to anyone or anything except Him.
Hebrews 11:6 says that “he who comes forward to God must believe that He is.’’ According to this verse, God is, and we must believe that He is. God is, but we are not and all things are not either.
As the self-existing One and ever-existing One, God is the reality of every positive thing. The Gospel of John reveals that He is all we need: life, light, food, drink, the pasture, the way, and everything. Therefore, this title of God indicates not only that He exists eternally but also that, in a positive sense, He is everything. Do you need life? God is life. Do you want light? God is light....God exists from eternity to eternity, and He is everything. This is our God.
It is necessary that we know God as the One who is, who was, and who is coming....Are you discouraged by your weakness? One day your weakness will cease to exist, but God will still be. Do not believe in anything other than God. Do not believe either in your weakness or in your strength, for both your weakness and your strength will pass away. However, when they are gone, God will continue to be the One who is.17
Adonai, in Hebrew, denotes Master (Gen. 15:2, 8; Exo. 4:10; cf. Gen. 24:9, 10, 12) and Husband (cf. Gen. 18:12). In Genesis 24 Abraham’s old servant called Abraham his master. A slave has a lord, and that lord is his master, his owner, his possessor. In Genesis 18:12, Sarah referred to Abraham as her lord. The husband is the lord to the wife, and the lord is the master. On the one hand, our God is our Master. On the other hand, our God is our Husband. As our Master and our Husband, He is our Lord; He is our Adonai.18
Week 8 — Day 2
Isa. 9:6 ...A Son is given to us...and His name will be called...Eternal Father...
John 14:9 Jesus said to [Philip]...He who has seen Me has seen the Father...
2 Cor. 3:17 And the Lord is the Spirit...
Rom. 8:15 For you have...received a spirit of sonship in which we cry, Abba, Father!
In the New Testament, [two of] the main divine titles used are God [and] Father.
God in Greek is Theos. God, Theos, equals God, Elohim, in the Old Testament, denoting the unique yet triune God (1 Cor. 8:4, 6; 1 Tim. 2:5a) — the Father being God (1 Pet. 1:2-3), the Son being God (Heb. 1:8), and the Holy Spirit being God (Acts 5:3-4). Theologians have accurately pointed out that the Father, Son, and Spirit are not three separate gods, but three hypostases, or supporting substances, of the one God. Later, theologians began to use the word persons for the three of the Godhead. Person comes from the Latin word persona, which was an actor’s mask. One person can have three masks or appearances.
Some have said wrongly that the three of the Godhead, the Father, Son, and Spirit, are separate from one another. I published something pointing out that the three of the Godhead are distinct but not separate. They are always one. When we have the Father, we have the Son and the Spirit because the three are one. When the Son is here, the Spirit and the Father are with Him. The three are not separate. They are distinct, but one....They are one God with three aspects — the aspect as the Father, the aspect as the Son, and the aspect as the Spirit.19
God is three yet one. In essence God is one. In economy, in God’s move, God is three. This is why the best theology refers to the essential Trinity and the economical Trinity. Essentially God is one, but economically God is three. God the Father sent the Son in His economy, in His move. The Son did things by the Spirit in His move. The Father, Son, and Spirit are three economically in Their move and administration, but not in Their essence. Essentially God is one. This is why the Bible shows that the Son is the Father (Isa. 9:6; John 14:9). Furthermore, Paul said that the last Adam, who was the Son in the flesh, after His death and resurrection became a life-giving Spirit [1 Cor. 15:45]. He said in 2 Corinthians 3:17 that the Lord, the Son, is the Spirit....This means that the Spirit is the Lord and the Lord is the Spirit.
Another divine title used in the New Testament is Father. Father, in Greek Pater, denotes that God as the Father is the origin, the source, of all the families of God’s creatures (Eph. 3:15). In God’s creation there are many families, such as the family of the angels, the family of mankind, and the family of the animals. The source, the Father, of these families is God.
Eventually, there is a particular family, the highest family, which is the household of the faith (Gal. 6:10). God is the Father, especially of the household of the faith, which is begotten of Him. We believers are a particular family. Actually, we are the genuine family because we were not only created by God as the Creator, the origin, the source, but also regenerated, begotten by God....We have a Father in life who regenerated us, who imparted His very life essence into us.
The Father is also called Abba (Aramaic) Father (Greek). In the Gospels, the Lord Jesus addressed God as Abba Father (Mark 14:36). The apostle Paul also told us we cry Abba, Father in the spirit of sonship (Rom. 8:15; Gal. 4:6). Abba Father is an intensified expression of intimacy. When we say Father, this is sweet. When we say Abba, this is sweeter. But when we say Abba, Father, this is the sweetest.20
Week 8 — Day 3
Matt. 28:19 Go therefore and disciple all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Acts 7:2 ...The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham....
God’s person is simply God’s being. Many more particulars concerning God’s person are revealed in the New Testament than are unveiled in the Old Testament....God’s way of revealing this is to present a little in one place and a little more in another place....These points may be compared to the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle that need to be put together in order to form a complete picture.
In the New Testament God’s person is revealed both in plain words and in parables and signs. [For our purpose here we shall only be able to cover several aspects in each category.]
The God who is dispensing Himself into us is the Triune God — the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (Matt. 28:19). The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit certainly are not three Gods. God is one, yet He is triune.21 Matthew 28:19 says that we need to baptize the nations into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit....A person may have a first name, a middle name, and a last name, but these are all actually one name for one person. The Father, the Son, and the Spirit are not three names, but the name of the unique Triune God. Matthew speaks of a wonderful person with a compound name — Father, Son, and Spirit.22 The name is the sum total of the divine Being, equivalent to His person.23
Another verse that reveals the Triune God is 2 Corinthians 13:14....The love of God is the source, since God is the origin. The grace of the Lord is the course of the love of God, since the Lord is the expression of God. The fellowship of the Spirit is the impartation of the grace of the Lord with the love of God, since the Spirit is the transmission of the Lord with God for our experience and enjoyment of the Triune God with all His attributes.
Second Corinthians 13:14 is strong proof that the Trinity of the Godhead is not for doctrinal understanding of systematic theology, but for the dispensing of God Himself in His Trinity into His chosen and redeemed people.24
In the Bible glory is God expressed....When God is seen, there is glory....In Acts 7:2, as Stephen was testifying before the Sanhedrin, he said, “The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham....” The glory here might have been visible glory, as when the cloud and the fire appeared to Israel (Exo. 16:10; 24:16-17; Lev. 9:23; Num. 14:10; 16:19; 20:6; Deut. 5:24) and filled the tabernacle and temple (Exo. 40:35; 1 Kings 8:11). It was the God of such glory who appeared to Abraham and called him. His glory was a great attraction to Abraham. It separated, sanctified, him from the world unto God (Exo. 29:43), and it was a great encouragement and strength which enabled him to follow God (Gen. 12:1, 4).
We all have been caught by the Lord in His glory. We have been captured by His glory. One day the God of glory came to us through the preaching of the gospel, and we were attracted and convinced and began to appreciate Him. During that time, the God of glory transfused some element of His being into us, and we believed in Him spontaneously....This can be compared to radium treatment practiced in modern medicine. The patient is placed under the X ray, unconscious of the beams that are penetrating him. We may say that God is the strongest “radium.” If we stay with Him for a period of time, He will transfuse Himself into us....Once God has transfused Himself into us, we cannot escape; we must believe in Him.25
Week 8 — Day 4
Matt. 16:16 And Simon Peter answered and said, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.
Rev. 21:22 And I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.
A number of verses in the New Testament reveal that God is the living God [Matt. 16:16; 1 Tim. 3:15; Heb. 3:12; 9:14; 10:31; 12:22]. In Matthew 16:16 the Lord Jesus is called the Son of the living God. In this verse the living God is in contrast to dead religion. The living God, who is embodied in Christ, has nothing to do with dead religion.
In 1 Timothy 3:15 we see that the church, the house of God, is the church of the living God....The living God who lives in the church must be subjective to the church rather than merely objective. An idol in a heathen temple is lifeless. The God who not only lives but also acts, moves, and works in His living temple, the church, is living.26
Luke 11:5-8 speaks of a parable illustrating the persisting prayer. In this parable God to whom we pray is likened to our friend, and we are likened to His friend, indicating that in prayer God is intimate to us and we are intimate to Him in a mutual love. This picture of intimacy between friends annuls the religious concept of “reverence” in our prayer to God.27
In the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32) God is revealed as the loving and receiving Father (vv. 20-24). The prodigal son gathered everything he received from his father and traveled into a distant country where he squandered his estate, living dissolutely (v. 13). After he had spent all of what he took from the father and had fallen into a severe famine (v. 14), he became aware of his condition and made a resolution to go back to his father (vv. 17-18). “While he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was moved with compassion, and he ran and fell on his neck and kissed him affectionately” (v. 20). The father’s seeing the son did not happen by chance. Rather, the father went out of the house to look for his prodigal’s return. When the father saw his son, he ran to him and fell on his neck and kissed him affectionately. This indicates that God the Father runs to receive a returning sinner. What eagerness this shows! The father’s falling on his son’s neck and kissing him affectionately shows a warm and loving reception. The father then said to his slaves, “Bring out quickly the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. And bring the fattened calf; slaughter it, and let us eat and be merry, because this son of mine was dead and lives again; he was lost and has been found” (vv. 22-24a).28
Revelation 21:22 indicates that God is the temple in the New Jerusalem: “And I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.” The Greek word for temple in this verse, naos, does not denote the whole temple in a common way....It denotes the inner temple, the Holy of Holies. This inner temple is the Lord God, signifying that God will be the place in which we, His redeemed, dwell and serve Him. In the New Jerusalem we shall dwell in God. God Himself will be the dwelling place of all His serving ones.29 In Psalm 90:1 Moses said, “O Lord, You have been our dwelling place / In all generations.” Moses knew that God Himself is our eternal dwelling place, our eternal habitation. Psalm 90 is a prophecy of this....Our natural mind would never think that we could dwell in God. Nevertheless, the entire city of New Jerusalem will be God Himself as our habitation. The expansion and the enlargement of God will be our eternal city in which we shall dwell for eternity.30
Week 8 — Day 5
1 John 5:12 He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.
1:5, 7 ...God is light....Walk in the light...
When we speak of God’s attributes, we refer to all that belongs to God.31 God’s attributes refer to His characteristics. God has many attributes, and God’s inward being is the totality of His attributes.32 An attribute denotes the very element or essence of something that has not yet been expressed. When an attribute is expressed, it becomes a virtue. Strictly speaking, as men, we do not have the attributes of love, light, holiness, and righteousness. The true attributes of love, light, holiness, and righteousness are of God and belong to God. But when God became a man to live on this earth, the attributes of God were expressed in human virtues. The attributes are of divinity, but the expressed virtues are through humanity. Thus, the expressed attributes are virtues, and the hidden essence and element of the virtues are the attributes.33
The divine life may be considered as the first and the basic attribute of God....Actually in the whole universe only the life of God can be counted as life. First John 5:12...indicates that unless we have the life of God, we do not have life. In the sight of God only His life is life.
The life of God is divine and eternal. The word “divine” means being of God, having the nature of God. The word “eternal” means being uncreated, without beginning or ending, existing by itself, and ever, unchangeably existing....[Therefore,] the life of God, being divine and eternal, is immortal and unchangeable; it remains the same and continues living even after passing through any kind of blow or destruction.34
The divine love...is the nature of God’s essence. Thus, it is an essential attribute of God. John 3:16 tells us that “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son,’’ and 1 John 4:9 says, “In this the love of God was manifested among us, that God sent His only begotten Son into the world that we might have life and live through Him.” As in 1 Timothy 1:15, the “world’’ refers to fallen mankind, whom God so loved that, by making them alive through His Son with His own life, they might become His children. In this the love of God has been manifested.
Ephesians 2:4 says, “God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us.” The object of love should be in a lovable condition, but the object of mercy is always in a pitiful situation. Hence, God’s mercy reaches further than His love. God loves us because we are the object of His selection. But we became pitiful by our fall, even dead in our offenses and sins; therefore, we need God’s mercy. Because of His great love, God is rich in mercy to save us from our wretched position to a condition that is suitable for His love. The nobler love of God as His essential attribute needs His attribute of mercy to reach us in the deep pit of our fallen life.
The divine light...is the nature of God’s expression.... [According to Revelation 22:5,] being illumined by the Lord God will be one of the blessings to God’s redeemed in eternity. We shall have no need of a lamp, the light made by man, nor of the sun, the light created by God. God Himself will shine upon us, and we shall live under His illumination. God Himself will be the light, and Christ will be the lamp, shining out God to enlighten the entire city [21:23].
Today the divine light as God’s expressive attribute is applied to us in our Christian life. First John 1:5-7 tells us that God is light and that if we fellowship with Him we should walk in the divine light. This indicates that we can enjoy this expressive attribute of God even in this age before the New Jerusalem will come in the new heaven and the new earth.35
Week 8 — Day 6
Heb. 12:10 ...That we might partake of His holiness.
Phil. 2:13 For it is God who operates in you both the willing and the working for His good pleasure.
Holiness is one of the main attributes of our God....The mentioning of “holy” three times, as in Isaiah 6:3, implies the thought of God being triune....The emphasis here is that the Triune God is holy and is triply holy, referring to the quality of God’s nature — God’s being. What God is, is holy. To partake of God’s holiness (Heb. 12:10) is to partake of the quality of His nature, of what He is.
Holiness is neither sinlessness nor perfection. Holy not only means sanctified, separated unto God, but also different, distinct, from everything that is common....For us, God’s chosen ones, to be holy is to partake of His nature (2 Pet. 1:4) and to have our whole being permeated [and saturated] with God Himself.36
Another attribute of God is righteousness....Whereas holiness is related to God’s inward nature, righteousness is related to God’s outward acts, ways, actions, and activities. Everything God does is righteous.
What is the righteousness of God? The righteousness of God is what God is in His action with respect to justice and righteousness. God is just and right. Whatever God is in His justice and righteousness constitutes His righteousness.
Whenever our conscience condemns us because of our failures, we need to remember to stand upon the foundation of God’s righteousness. You may be fervent for the Lord today. But in the future you may fail Him and become very disappointed with yourself, unable to believe that God could ever forgive you. At such a time you need to praise God for His righteousness. Tell Him that no matter how much you have failed, Christ is still at His right hand as the receipt for payment for all your debts (Heb. 1:3). Our experience may fluctuate, but God remains righteous forever. Whenever we confess our sins, claim the blood of Jesus, and appeal to God’s righteousness, God has no choice except to forgive us [1 John 1:9].
Our experience of Christ rests on the foundation of God’s righteousness. The foundation is not our fervency or victory; it is God’s righteousness, the unshakable foundation of God’s throne (Psa. 89:14). God has shown forth His righteousness by forgiving us of our sins. In this way God has proved that He is righteous. Now such righteousness of God is our solid foundation.37
The Triune God refers to God the person, while the Divine Trinity refers to the main attribute of the Godhead. For example, saying that someone is a faithful person is different from saying that he is faithfulness. A faithful person refers to the man. His faithfulness refers to his being faithful, his virtue. In a general way God is dispensing Himself into us, but in a particular, actual, and practical way God is dispensing His Trinity into us.
We should never forget Philippians 2:13. God is not only in us, but He is also operating, or working, in us. God is in us as the Triune God, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit....We are not only experiencing God, but we are also experiencing God as the Triune. We are experiencing the Trinity of the Godhead. The Father is in us [Eph. 4:6], the Son is in us [2 Cor. 13:5], and the Spirit is in us [Rom. 8:9]. These are not three persons, but these are the Trinity of the one God. In other words, this Divine Trinity is the strongest attribute of the Godhead. His faithfulness, His love, His kindness, and other attributes are not above this attribute. The top attribute of the divine person is His Trinity. His Trinity is constituted solely with His person, and His person is in the Trinity — the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.38
1. O God, Thou art the source of life,
Divine, and rich and free!
As living water flowing out
Unto eternity!
2. In love Thou in the Son didst flow
Among the human race;
Thou dost as Spirit also flow
Within us thru Thy grace.
3. Though we in sin and wickedness
Went far from Thee apace,
Yet in the Son Thou didst redeem,
Bestowing life and grace.
4. Though we have often slighted Thee,
Thy Spirit often grieved,
Yet Thou dost still as Spirit come
As life to be received.
5. Thou as the Spirit in the Son
Hast mingled heretofore;
Thou wilt thru fellowship anoint
And increase more and more.
6. The love of God, the grace of Christ,
The Spirit’s flowing free,
Enable us God’s wealth to share
Thru all eternity.
7. The Father, Son, and Spirit — one,
So richly care for us;
Thy love with one accord we sing
And e’er would praise Thee thus.
1. Holy Father, we adore Thee,
Rev’rent song to Thee we raise;
Thou are holy, Thou art lofty,
“Holy is Thy Name,” we praise.
2. Loving is Thy heart, dear Father,
Righteous ever are Thy ways;
But how holy is Thy nature,
Yet, to us Christ it conveys.
3. Thou hast ever sanctified us
With the blood of Christ our Lord;
Thou hast separated sinners
Thru the truth which is Thy Word.
4. Thou hast, by Thy Holy Spirit,
Made us holy unto Thee;
And our spirit, soul, and body
Wholly sanctified will be.
5. Oh! The holy life of Jesus
Thru Thy grace we now possess;
Thou wilt make us e’en partakers
Of Thy very holiness.
6. When within that holy city,
Thy full holiness we’ll share,
To the uttermost forever,
“Thou art holy,” we’ll declare.
