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Scripture Reading: Eph. 3:8-11; Gen. 2:7; Psa. 8:3-4; Ezek. 1:5; Rom. 9:21, 23; 2 Cor. 4:6-7; 2 Kings 4:1-6
The entire economy of God, and especially that in the New Testament age, is a matter of dispensing...Many matters are covered in the New Testament, but if we dive into the depth of the New Testament as the divine revelation, we will see that God surely has an economy, a household administration, to carry out His eternal purpose. This economy is just God’s universal operation. If you would ask me what God is doing today, I would answer that God is operating in one thing and for one thing: He is spending much time to patiently dispense Himself into all His chosen people. Everything that is mentioned in the New Testament concerning God has to do with His dispensing for His economy. (The Economy and Dispensing of God, p. 70)
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What we have presented in this message concerning God’s creation of man in the view of His divine dispensing according to His divine economy is what God desires. This is God’s good pleasure, and this is our ministry, burden, and commission. We do not have any other burden besides this ministry of God’s economy with His divine dispensing into humanity. We must learn to receive God’s dispensing every day. He is dispensing Himself to us every moment and in every situation, even in the small things, for our renewal, transformation, and conformation. Eventually, we will be glorified. Then we will enjoy the consummation of His divine dispensing according to His divine economy. (The Central Line of the Divine Revelation, p. 76)
God’s New Testament economy is a plan made by God according to His good pleasure. Concerning this, Ephesians 1:9 says, “Making known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Himself.” God’s good pleasure is the desire of His heart. This good pleasure was what God purposed in Himself for a dispensation, for a plan (v. 10). This plan made by God was according to His good pleasure, the desire of His heart.
We have seen that Ephesians 1:9 speaks of God’s good pleasure. Everyone desires pleasure. If we desire pleasure, then certainly God does also. Every living thing desires pleasure. In fact, the more living you are, the more pleasure you need. Because God is the most living One, He surely needs the most pleasure. If we, as fallen sinners, require pleasure, then how much more does God, the living One, have a deep need for it?
Unlike the book of Romans, which begins from the perspective of the condition of fallen man, the book of Ephesians was written from the perspective of God’s good pleasure, the desire of His heart. What, then, is God’s good pleasure? God’s good pleasure is to dispense Himself into us. This is the unique desire of God. We may say that God is “dreaming” of dispensing Himself into us. His longing, His aspiration, is to dispense Himself into His chosen people. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 15, 16)
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Romans 9:21 discloses God’s purpose in creating man. This verse is unique in its revelation of God’s purpose in the creation of man. Without this verse it would be difficult for us to realize that God’s purpose in creating man was to make him His vessel to contain Him. We need to be deeply impressed with the fact that we are God’s containers and that He is our content.
God’s selection in His sovereign mercy has a goal, and this goal is to have many vessels to contain God and express Him eternally. God created us in such a way that we are able to take Him into us and contain Him as our life and life supply, to the end that we may be one with Him to express what He is and that He may be glorified in us and with us. This is God’s goal in His selection and in His creation of man. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, p. 1187)
Our God, who is full of wisdom, has a plan, and the entire universe was created according to His purpose, His will, His plan. We must know what God’s eternal plan is...Man’s position, man’s place, in God’s plan is very central. It is absolutely right to say that the Bible is a book full of Christ, yet we can also say that the Bible is a book full of men. Even God Himself became a man (John 1:1, 14). Jesus is the complete God and the perfect man. Even after His resurrection and ascension, He is still a man. Before Stephen was stoned, he said that he saw “the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God” (Acts 7:56). Stephen saw the Lord Jesus as the Son of Man in the heavens. Man is the center of God’s plan. A bicycle wheel may have a hub with many spokes. The hub and the spokes subsist in the wheel. If the hub, the center, is taken away, the spokes will collapse. In like manner, without man as the center, God’s plan would collapse. (A Young Man in God’s Plan, p. 7)
The main point of Ezekiel 1:5 is that the four living creatures bear the appearance of a man. Verse 26 says that “upon the likeness of the throne was One in appearance like a man, above it.” Man is a great word in the Bible. God’s intention is with man, God’s thought is focused on man, and God’s heart is set upon man. God’s desire is to gain man. The fact that four living creatures bear the appearance of a man and that God on the throne also bears the appearance of a man indicates that God’s central thought and His arrangement are related to man.
Many Christians have been influenced by the concept that it is better to be an angel than to be a man. If you had a choice, which would you prefer to be—an angel or a man? Perhaps many of us would prefer to be an angel. However, God has enough angels, but He is short of men. God does not appreciate angels so much. The angels are His servants. God tells them to go, and they go; He tells them to come, and they come. The angels are also our servants (Heb. 1:13-14). As believers we all have our own angel (Acts 12:12-15). We need to drop the concept that it is better to be an angel than a man. We need to see how glorious and how marvelous it is that we are men. (Life-study of Ezekiel, pp. 47, 48)
The believers in Christ are vessels of mercy unto honor and glory. Romans 9:21 says, “Does not the potter have authority over the clay to make out of the same lump one vessel unto honor and another unto dishonor?” Verse 23 goes on to speak of God’s making known “the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He had before prepared unto glory.” As vessels, we are not instruments or weapons—we are containers. According to Romans 9, we contain mercy, honor, and glory. This mercy, honor, and glory are actually the Triune God. In the initial stage of our experience the Triune God is our mercy, in the progressing stage He is our honor, and in the completing stage He is our glory. At present we are enjoying our God as mercy and somewhat as honor. When the Lord Jesus comes back, we shall be fully brought into honor and also into glory. Then we shall be filled with the Triune God not only as our mercy but also as our honor and glory.
Romans 9 reveals that the climax of our usefulness to God is that we are vessels to contain Him and express Him. We are His container and His expression, and He is our content and our life. He lives in us that we may live Him. Eventually, He and we, we and He, will be wholly one in life and nature. This is our destiny as vessels of mercy.
The believers are vessels unto honor with Christ as their treasure through regeneration. Romans 9:21 speaks of vessels of honor. Second Corinthians 4:6 and 7 say, “The God who said, Out of darkness light shall shine, is the One who shined in our hearts to illuminate the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and not out of us.” This treasure is the Christ who dwells within us. We are containers of honor because Christ Himself is honor. He is the treasure within us. Although we have this treasure in earthen vessels, this treasure has not yet been manifested. When the Lord Jesus comes back, Christ as our treasure will be manifested. Then others will be able to see that we, as vessels unto honor, are containers of such a treasure. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 1183, 1187)
In ascension Christ is the One who has been crowned with glory and honor. Hebrews 2:9 says, “We see Jesus, who was made a little inferior to the angels because of the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor.” Here glory and honor are considered a crown. Glory is the splendor related to Jesus’ person; honor is the preciousness related to Jesus’ worth (1 Pet. 2:7). As the ascended One crowned with glory and honor, Christ is in a state of glory and has a rank of honor. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 336-337)
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Second Timothy 2:21 says, “If therefore anyone cleanses himself from these, he will be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, useful to the master, prepared unto every good work.” A vessel unto honor has to meet a certain standard that it may contain a specific object of honor. Here the word honor is related to our nature, the word sanctified indicates our position, the word useful implies the matter of function, and the word prepared reveals the matter of training. Paul exhorted Timothy to cleanse himself from the vessels of dishonor that he could be trained in these four matters. These four items together would make Timothy a vessel unto honor according to a certain standard. This also involves our character. (Vessels Useful to the Lord, p. 149)
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Honorable vessels are of both the divine nature (gold) and the redeemed and regenerated human nature (silver). These, like Timothy and other genuine believers, constitute the firm foundation (2 Tim. 2:19) to hold the truth. Dishonorable vessels are of the fallen human nature (wood and earth). Hymenaeus, Philetus (v. 17), and other false believers are of these.
In 2 Timothy 2:21 Paul goes on to say, “If therefore anyone cleanses himself from these, he will be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, useful to the master, prepared unto every good work.” To cleanse ourselves is to “depart from unrighteousness” (v. 19), as an outward evidence of the inward divine nature. The word these in verse 21 denotes the vessels unto dishonor, including those mentioned in verses 16 through 18. We should not only cleanse ourselves from anything unrighteous but also from the dishonorable vessels. This means that we must stay away from them. Hence, we must cleanse ourselves from the unrighteous things and from the dishonorable vessels of wood and earth. If we cleanse ourselves from these negative things and negative persons, we shall be vessels unto honor, sanctified, useful to the Master, and prepared unto every good work. Unto honor is a matter of nature, sanctified is a matter of position, useful is a matter of practice, and prepared is a matter of training. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 1188-1189)
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Brothers and sisters, it takes ten or twenty years of training in God’s hand before a man can become somewhat useful to Him. If we want to run a good race and be somewhat mature in the Lord, we need at least ten or twenty years of training. Yet some who do not take proper care of their own health may die before they reach that point. This is most unfortunate. Some do not start running until they have been in the Lord for twenty or thirty years. Then they touch the right way, and their usefulness begins to blossom. The church should not only have children and young men, but fathers as well. All those who desire to serve the Lord should consider it to be a great waste for a brother or a sister to die prematurely after spending many years and much effort to learn his or her lessons! We know that some vessels are broken and damaged halfway through the process. This is a pity. This is like Jeremiah’s speaking concerning the vessels in the hand of the potter being spoiled (Jer. 18:4). When a potter turns his wheel and molds his vessels, some become damaged before they even reach the fire. They do not even pass the formative stage. This is a loss. (The Character of the Lord’s Worker, pp. 159-160)
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I believe if the Lord is gracious to us, we will gain half of our increase from among our own children and the other half from the “sea” (i.e., the world). If all the increase is from the sea and none is from among our own children, we will not have a strong church. Paul’s generation could be saved directly from the world, but the generation after Paul, men like Timothy, came in through their families. We cannot expect our increase to always come from the world. We have to expect the second generation, men like Timothy, to come from our own families. God’s gospel does save men from the world, but we also need to bring in men like Timothy. Before the church will be rich, there must be grandmothers like Lois and mothers like Eunice who raise, edify, and nurture their children in the discipline of the Lord. If there are no such people, the church will never be rich.
When God bestows grace on the church, He needs vessels. There is the need for more Timothys to be raised up. It is true that we can save men from the world, but there is a greater need for raising up people from among Christian families. (Messages for Building Up New Believers, vol. 2, pp. 540-541, 549)
