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Scripture Reading: Gen. 1:1-2, 26-28; 2:7-9
The general subject of these messages is the satanic chaos in the old creation and the divine economy for the new creation. Such a subject may seem quite peculiar, strange, and extraordinary. The burden of these messages can be expressed in two sets of four statements. The first set concerns the divine economy and the satanic chaos:
(1) Christ is the centrality and universality of the divine economy.
(2) Satan, the devil, is the source and element of the evil chaos.
(3) The believers must condemn the earthly chaos and exalt the heavenly economy.
(4) The overcomers conquer all the destructive chaos and triumph in the unique constructive economy.
The second set of statements concerns the overcomer:
(1) To the overcomer, Christ will give to eat of the tree of life in the Paradise of God (Rev. 2:7).
(2) To the overcomer, Christ will give of the hidden manna with a white stone for God’s building (v. 17).
(3) The overcomer, Christ will make a pillar in God’s temple, the New Jerusalem (3:12).
(4) The overcomer will dine with Christ, and to him Christ will give to sit with Him on His throne (vv. 20-21).
In this chapter I would like first to give an introductory word and then consider the divine economy and the satanic chaos in the Old Testament. I hope that this opening word will give us a governing and controlling vision, a vision that will help us to understand all the matters that we will cover in these messages.
Before we were saved, we all, old and young, male and female, were in a condition of chaos. Every year, every day, and even every moment we were in a chaotic situation. But one day something else came into us, and this thing is the divine economy. We repented to God, confessed our sins, failures, mistakes, and wrongdoings, and received the Lord Jesus. Upon receiving the Lord Jesus, something wonderful, heavenly, and divine came into us. We may say that Christ came into us. We may also say that the Holy Spirit or the Divine Trinity came into us. Yes, the One who came into us is Christ, the Holy Spirit, and the Divine Trinity. Now we need to see that this One is the divine economy. This means that God is our economy. You have heard that Jesus Christ is our Savior, Lord, and Master and that He is our life, nature, and person, but probably you have never heard that Jesus Christ is also the divine economy. Thus, we need to realize that when we were saved, the divine economy came into us.
In the New Testament the word economy, an anglicized form of the Greek word oikonomia, is strongly used. For instance, this word is used in Ephesians 3, a chapter that reveals that the riches of Christ are preached to the nations so that the church can come into being. Verse 9 speaks of “the economy of the mystery.”
Oikonomia is composed of two Greek words: oikos, meaning “house,” and nomos, meaning “law.” Hence, an oikonomia is a house law, a family administration. Some versions translate oikonomia as “administration,” and others as “arrangement” or “plan.” God’s economy is His plan, His administration, His arrangement.
The situation into which we were born was altogether messy and chaotic. There was no administration or arrangement or plan. We did not know what to do, where to go, or what kind of person we should be. This was my situation before I was saved. But one day, while I was in such a chaotic condition, the gospel, the glad tidings, came to me. I attended a gospel meeting where I heard about God, the Lord Jesus, and Satan, who is typified by Pharaoh. I was caught by the Lord, and I prayed to Him. Immediately after I prayed, something bright and shining, something of splendor, came into me. As I was walking home after the meeting, I stopped on the street and said, “God, from today I would like to be Your preacher. I do not want to be anything else. I just want to preach Christ.” The Triune God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, and the divine life had come into me. Also, the divine economy had come into me as a kind of administration, arrangement, and plan that put everything in order. I was joyful, and I was in an orderly situation.
However, my initial feeling of joy did not last long. A few days later I became angry with my mother. My anger troubled me, and I had no peace. Instead of economy, I had chaos once again. Eventually, I prayed to the Lord about this and was forgiven. The peace returned, and I had the sense of something bright, pleasant, and lovely within. At that time I did not know about the divine economy, but I was experiencing it.
Do you know what the Christian life is? The Christian life is a life of economy mixed with chaos. The economy is divine, and the chaos is satanic. Hence, the Christian life involves both the divine economy and the satanic chaos. The Christian life is a history of economy and chaos, of chaos and economy. During our time with the Lord in the morning, we experience economy, but later in the day we may experience chaos.
This has been my experience during the nearly seventy years I have been a Christian. However, I am learning the secret, the strategy, of defeating chaos and of coming back to economy and order. I am learning how to be filled not with chaos but with economy. I have not only God’s economy within me—I have God as my economy within me. The very God who dwells in me is my economy.
As a mixture of economy and chaos, the Christian life is a miniature of the entire universe. The history of the universe is a history of God’s economy and Satan’s chaos. Furthermore, the entire Bible, from the first chapter of Genesis to the last chapter of Revelation, is a record of the divine economy and the satanic chaos. In our married life we also have the economy of God and the chaos of Satan. The reason for this situation is that in the universe there are two sources—God and Satan.
Sometimes when we preach the gospel to thoughtful people, they ask us why there are these two sources. Such people may say, “Why is there Satan as well as God? God is good, but Satan is evil. If there were no Satan, everything would be fine.” Others may ask why there were two trees in the garden of Eden—the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, a tree that involves knowledge, good, evil, and death. To the ones who ask these questions I would say, “You should go to God and ask Him. I do not know the answer to your questions. However, I do know that the history of the universe is a history of God’s economy and Satan’s chaos.”
In order to understand the divine economy and the satanic chaos, we need to see the difference between the old creation and the new creation. God created the heavens and the earth, and this became His first creation. God’s first creation eventually became old and involved with death, for to become old is to become dead. In a sense, the words first, old, and dead are synonyms.
The first creation did not accomplish God’s purpose directly. Rather, it was God’s intention to gain the new creation through the first creation. This means that through the old creation God will have a new creation. Concerning this, in 2 Corinthians 5:17 Paul says, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.” Galatians 6:15 says, “Neither is circumcision anything nor uncircumcision, but a new creation is what matters.” We were the old man, but we have been regenerated to become the new man, and the new man is the new creation.
Although God created the heavens and the earth, He was not in the old creation. This means that the old creation does not have God as its life, nature, and person. But in the new creation we have God within us as our life, our nature, our person, and our everything. Do we need love? Our God within us is love. Do we need light? Our God within us is light. Do we need the divine attributes? Our God within us is the divine attributes, which will be expressed in our human virtues. Therefore, in the new creation God is everything.
God’s intention is to produce the new creation out of the old creation. The universe exists for this purpose, this goal. God created the first creation, which has become the old creation. Now out of the old creation He is producing the new creation. This new creation is something that is mingled with Him.
In order to produce the new creation out of the old creation, God first came into the old creation as a man. Then He lived in the old creation as a man for thirty-three and a half years. He died in the old creation and then was resurrected. In resurrection He became the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45) to enter into all His believers, who were the old creation, to make them something new. This means that all His believers have received Him as the divine economy for the new creation.
Our becoming a new creation in Christ began with our regeneration, and it continues with our being sanctified, renewed, and transformed. Eventually, we will be conformed to the image of Christ and glorified. That will be the consummation of the new creation.
According to the Bible, the old creation must pass through four ages: the age before the law, the age of the law, the age of grace, and the age of the kingdom. As believers in Christ, we are now in the third age, the age of grace, expecting to enter into the age of the kingdom. God uses these four ages to gain the new creation out of the old creation.
Today the earth is filled with chaos. Chaos is everywhere. Every part of society is chaotic. However, we should not be discouraged. In addition to the satanic chaos, there is the divine economy. Whereas the satanic chaos will come to an end, the divine economy will reach a consummation. The end of the satanic chaos will be the lake of fire, and the consummation of the divine economy will be the New Jerusalem.
We need to realize that, both in the Bible and in our experience, the satanic chaos always goes along with the divine economy. It seems that we alternate between economy and chaos, between chaos and economy. Where there is the divine economy, there is the satanic chaos. Where God is, Satan is also. Satan is not behind God, following Him; rather, Satan is at God’s side. We may say that God is in the “central lane” and that Satan is in the “side lane.”
Let us now go on to consider the record of the divine economy and the satanic chaos from Genesis to Malachi.
There was an age before Adam. In that age, the preadamic age, there were the divine economy and the satanic chaos.
In the preadamic age the creation of the heavens and the earth was a matter of the divine economy (Gen. 1:1; Job 38:4-6). Out of nothing God created the heavens and the earth.
God’s orderly creation stirred up the angels to sing and shout for joy. Job 38:7 indicates that the angels sang and rejoiced when they saw the beautiful universe that God had created.
In the preadamic age the divine economy in the creation of the universe was followed by the satanic chaos.
Satan, the archangel, rebelled against God, and one-third of the angels joined him in his rebellion (Isa. 14:12-15; Ezek. 28:13-18; Rev. 12:4). Since the number of angels is countless, for one-third of the angels to join Satan in his rebellion means that a very large number of them followed him.
After Satan’s rebellion God came in to judge. The universe became a chaos under God’s judgment: the heavens became dark, and the earth became waste and emptiness (Job 9:5-7; Gen. 1:2a). Because Satan’s rebellion polluted not only the earth but also the heavens, both the earth and the heavens were judged by God. The heavens became dark, and the earth became waste and emptiness. That was chaos.
Genesis 1:1 says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Here we see God’s economy in His creation of the universe. According to the proper translation, verse 2a goes on to say, “But the earth became waste and emptiness.” This indicates that the earth had become formless, chaotic.
After the satanic chaos in the preadamic age, God came in to restore the universe. In the restored universe we also see the divine economy and the satanic chaos.
Genesis 1:2b speaks not of God’s creation but of His restoration of the chaotic universe.
First, God restored the heavens, particularly in its lights, and the earth, specifically in its land (vv. 2b-19). The light was for the producing of life and for the preservation and growth of life. The land was also for the producing of life.
In the restored universe, God then created man to express Him in His image and to represent Him in His dominion (vv. 26-28). God created man in His image so that man could express Him, and He gave man dominion so that man could represent Him.
God put man in front of the tree of life (2:8-17). The tree of life is a figure of Christ as the embodiment of the divine life. Thus, when God put man in front of the tree of life, He was indicating that man should take God in Christ as life for the carrying out of the divine economy.
After the divine economy in the restored universe, we again have the satanic chaos.
The satanic chaos in the old creation began with Satan as the serpent tempting man to take the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (3:1-5). Both good and evil belong to the same tree, and now with the same person we can see good and also evil.
Genesis 3:6 and 7 show us that man was deceived and became fallen. This was the chaos in the restored universe.
In the fall of man we see first the divine economy and then the issue of the satanic chaos.
It is a marvelous fact that even in the fall of man there was the divine economy.
In Genesis 3, after Adam and Eve became poisoned and fallen, they were afraid of God and hid from Him. But God came to seek the fallen and lost man, calling to him and saying, “Where are you?” (v. 9). After finding the lost and fallen man, God promised that Christ would come as the seed of woman to destroy the serpent, that is, to destroy Satan. Before God made this promise, Adam and Eve must have been trembling in fear. God had told them that if they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they would die, and they surely must have been expecting to die. But then they heard the good news, the glad tidings, that the seed of the woman—a type or prefigure of Christ—would come to destroy the evil serpent. That certainly was good news. Concerning this good news, Hebrews 2:14 says, “Since therefore the children have shared in blood and flesh, He also Himself in like manner partook of the same, that through death He might destroy him who has the might of death, that is, the devil.”
In the divine economy in the fall of man, God also promised to let man have life and provided man with covering (Gen. 3:20-21). The life here signifies God’s eternal life, and the covering typifies God’s coming redemption in Christ.
Realizing that they were sinful, Adam and Eve tried to cover their nakedness with loincloths made of fig leaves. But God made them coats of skin and clothed them. God killed an animal, probably a lamb, and used the skin to make a covering for them. That is a type of His coming redemption in Christ.
In the divine economy in Genesis 3, there were two promises and a provision. God promised that one would come to destroy the serpent, and He promised to give the divine life to fallen man. Then He provided a covering to indicate that Christ would come to accomplish redemption to cover the fallen people so that they might be justified before God. This is a complete gospel.
In Genesis 3:22-24 we see that there was an issue of the satanic chaos.
In His restoration of creation, God purposely created a garden of pleasure, which was called the garden of Eden. Due to the fall, man was driven out of that garden. This was the first aspect of the issue of the satanic chaos.
The second aspect of this issue was that the entrance to the tree of life was closed to the fallen man. The entrance would remain closed until Christ came to accomplish redemption and thus open again the way to the tree of life.
In the further steps and consummation of man’s fall, we see more aspects of the divine economy and the satanic chaos. The fall of man had at least four steps, and then it reached its consummation.
In the divine economy God was very kind and merciful.
Abel accepted God’s promise in offering the firstlings of his flock to receive God’s regard (4:4). These firstlings typify Christ. Because God regarded Abel’s offering, Abel was justified and accepted by God. According to the divine economy, Abel was recovered and justified.
The name Enosh means “frail.” Enosh, a frail man, called on the name of Jehovah for His rich supply (v. 26). Enosh was weak, frail, and fragile. By calling on Jehovah’s rich name, this frail man received His rich supply. This certainly is something of the divine economy. Today we also practice calling on the name of the Lord. This practice began with the third generation of mankind.
Enoch walked with God and was taken away by God (5:21-24). Although man became fallen and was driven out of the garden of Eden, a fallen man could still walk with God and eventually could be taken away to God. This also is something of the divine economy.
Noah not only walked with God but also prepared an ark for the carrying out of the divine economy (6:8-22). The ark typifies Christ and was for the salvation of humankind. The human race was saved through the ark prepared by Noah according to God’s revelation and instruction.
According to Genesis 8:20-22, Noah built an altar and offered burnt offerings (typifying Christ) to God to please Him so that the earth could be kept in its systems. Today we also should build an altar and pray; that is, we should come to the cross and offer Christ to God. As we offer Christ to God, we should pray, “O God, forgive our country. The immorality and chaos are offenses to You, the righteous God. We ask You to remember the cross on which Your Son, our Lord Jesus, died.” To come to the cross and offer Christ to God is the divine economy. If we do this, we may help to save the country in which we live.
It is likely that Adam had many sons, but only two, Abel and Cain, are used in the Bible as models. Abel is a model of the divine economy, and Cain is a model of the satanic chaos.
Cain rejected God’s promise and killed his brother Abel, bringing in God’s judgment and curse (4:3-16). Instead of offering something of the flock, typifying Christ, he offered the result of his own labor, and that offended God. Nothing of a sinner’s own labor that is offered to the righteous God will be accepted by Him.
By offering the result of his labor to God, Cain was seemingly doing a good thing. But shortly after his offering was rejected by God, Cain did something evil—he killed his brother. With him there were both good and evil, indicating that he surely belonged to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The situation is the same in human society today. On the one hand, a gentleman does many good things; on the other hand, the same person does evil things.
In the further steps of the fall man became flesh, and man’s sin became great, so man was judged by God with the flood (6:3, 5-7, 13; 7:10-11, 17-23a).
In the consummation of man’s fall man rebelled against God, exalted himself, and worshipped the idols at Babel in union with Satan to frustrate the divine economy (11:1-9). Before this time a strong man rose up by the name of Nimrod (10:8-11). Nimrod, a type of Antichrist, built Babel and also Nineveh. Babel was a place of idols, and the names of idols were written on the bricks of the city. At Babel man rebelled against God, exalted himself, and worshipped idols.
Let us now go on to see the divine economy and the satanic chaos in the raising up of a new race of mankind. The old race had become chaotic, so out of chaotic mankind God raised up a new race with Abraham as the head.
Genesis 11:31 and 12:4 tell us that God called Abraham out of the land of idolatry and brought him into the land of His promise. The land of God’s promise is the good land.
God also promised Abraham His blessing of the gospel to the nations in the seed of Abraham—Christ as the centrality and universality of the divine economy (vv. 2-3; 18:18; 22:18). Just as the seed of woman is Christ, so the seed of Abraham also is Christ.
Christ is the threefold seed: the seed of woman, the seed of Abraham, and the seed of David (2 Sam. 7:12). As the seed of woman, the seed of Mary, Christ has accomplished redemption to defeat and destroy Satan and to deal with our sin and sins. As the seed of Abraham, Christ has brought God to us and has brought us to God. This is the blessing. As the seed of David, Christ has brought in the kingdom.
In this revelation concerning Christ as the threefold seed we have a full gospel. What is the gospel? The gospel is the good news that Christ has destroyed Satan, that He has redeemed us from our sins, that He has brought God to us and us to God for our enjoyment of God’s blessing, and that He has brought us into the kingdom, where God reigns through His redeemed as His organism. This is the gospel regarding Christ as the threefold seed.
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob built an altar for the offerings (typifying Christ) to Jehovah and lived in a tent as pilgrims, looking forward to the consummation of the divine economy (Gen. 12:7-8; 26:25; 33:18-20; Heb. 11:9). They built an altar to offer what God wanted—the offerings as types of Christ. Their erecting a tent indicates that they never became settled on earth but instead were a traveling people, strangers to the earth. They looked forward to the New Jerusalem, a city with foundations, the consummation of God’s economy.
Abraham married Hagar (Gen. 16:1-5). This issued in the negative story of Hagar and her son Ishmael (21:8-10). Ishmael was cast out by God, and Hagar was set aside, for she was a concubine and not a proper wife.
Jacob with his entire family went down to Egypt. This resulted in the enslavement and tyranny of Egypt over the race of Israel (Exo. 1:8-14). The blessing is not with going down to Egypt (the world) but with going out of Egypt and going on and on until we reach the consummation of God’s economy—the New Jerusalem.
With the people of Israel—a new race of mankind raised up by God—we once again see the divine economy.
In the divine economy the people of Israel passed through God’s judgment and made an exodus from Egypt (12:1-14; 13:1—14:31). First, God rendered them His redemption. By means of the passover with the killing of the lamb and the striking of the blood, they passed through God’s judgment. That was God’s redemption. However, because they were still in Egypt, God exercised His salvation to deliver them out of the tyranny of Egypt. Thus, the children of Israel enjoyed two things—God’s redemption and God’s salvation.
After the people of Israel passed through God’s judgment and made their exodus from Egypt, they became a people traveling in the wilderness. As Exodus 16:1—17:7 and 1 Corinthians 10:3 and 4 reveal, there in the wilderness God provided the people of Israel with manna from heaven (typifying Christ) and water (typifying the Spirit) out of the moving rock (typifying Christ). Only when they were outside of Egypt could they enjoy such provisions. This indicates that if we today are those who migrate, those who travel with the Lord, we will enjoy the blessing of His provision.
With the people of Israel in the wilderness, we see not only the divine economy but also the satanic chaos.
The people of Israel had become blessed travelers with God, but they were overconfident in themselves for the keeping of God’s commandments (Exo. 19:7-8). God brought them to Mount Sinai, where He came in to meet with them and to speak to them. Being overconfident in themselves and not knowing themselves, they said, “All that Jehovah has spoken we will do” (v. 8a). God was offended by this, for it indicated that they did not know themselves. They should have said, “O Lord, You know that we are a fallen people. We cannot keep Your word. We need Your mercy, grace, redemption, and salvation.” God is pleased to hear such a word. However, what the people of Israel spoke was entirely different and was offensive to God, who then proceeded to decree the law. The people, who were so confident in themselves, broke the law even before it was given to them.
In the wilderness the people of Israel sidetracked themselves from the central line of the divine economy to the sideline of the law (20:1-21).
Finally, let us consider the remaining aspects of the divine economy and the satanic chaos in the Old Testament.
In Exodus 25 through Leviticus 27 God charged the people of Israel to build the tabernacle for His dwelling and to serve Him by the priests through the offerings. The tabernacle, the priests, and the offerings all typify Christ. Even in the Old Testament God’s people did not live only by the law but also through the tabernacle, the priests, and the offerings. If they had lived only by the law, all of them would have been condemned.
Consider the example of David. Although David was victorious and was a good king, he was not perfect according to the law. He committed fornication, conspired to kill one of his soldiers, and robbed that soldier of his wife. The genealogy of Christ in Matthew 1 says, “David begot Solomon of her who had been the wife of Uriah” (v. 6). The expression her who had been the wife of Uriah is not pleasant, for it emphasizes David’s great sin and shows that there is this black spot in the genealogy of Christ. David surely was not perfect according to the law, but he was perfect according to the tabernacle, the priesthood, and the offerings. After he confessed his sins of murder and fornication, he applied the offering (Psa. 51:19), and through the offering he was forgiven. Actually, David was forgiven through Christ as the tabernacle, the priest, and the offerings.
The tabernacle signifies Christ as the embodiment of the merciful and gracious God. John 1:14 says, “The Word became flesh and tabernacled among us...full of grace and reality.” This verse does not say that the Word, which is Christ, became flesh, full of righteousness and justice. If Christ had been full only of righteousness and justice, we all would be condemned by God. But Christ as the tabernacle was full of grace, and as such a tabernacle, He brought God to us. Then He died for our sins. In His death on the cross, He was the Priest and also the offerings. Therefore, through Christ as the tabernacle, the Priest, and the offerings, we sinners have been redeemed, saved, and regenerated. Furthermore, according to God’s economy, we will also be renewed, sanctified, transformed, conformed to Christ’s image, and glorified with Him in His glory.
The genealogy of Christ in Matthew 1 is an extract of the entire Old Testament. This genealogy is an extract of the Old Testament not on the side of the law but on the side of the tabernacle, the priesthood, and the offerings. According to God’s economy, it is thus the genealogy of the One who is the threefold seed, the One who is the seed of the woman, the seed of Abraham, and the seed of David. Christ was born of Mary, a descendant of David through his son Nathan. Mary’s husband Joseph was a descendant of David through his son Solomon. Hence, they were both descendants of David, and through them Christ came.
In Joshua 3 and 4 Israel entered into the good land. That was something of God’s economy.
Another aspect of the divine economy was Israel’s setting up the tabernacle of the Ark in Shiloh (18:1).
Again the satanic chaos followed the divine economy.
The priests among Israel became degraded and corrupt (1 Sam. 2:12-17, 22-34).
In this chaotic situation the Ark, which was used in a superstitious way, was captured by Israel’s enemy (4:1—5:2). The priests were killed, and the Ark was captured.
In the divine economy God raised up David as a man according to His own heart to do His will (13:14).
David brought back the Ark of God (2 Sam. 6:1-19).
David desired to build the temple for God, and he prepared the material and the site for the building of God’s temple (7:2; 1 Chron. 22:1-19; 29:1-19; 2 Chron. 3:1).
Solomon built the temple for God and brought the Ark into the temple (1 Kings 5:4-5; 6:2; 7:51—8:11).
The positive prophets ministered faithfully, especially concerning Christ in the divine economy. They prophesied a great deal concerning Christ in the divine economy.
David fell into sin, and his family became a mess (2 Sam. 11—18). This was an issue of David’s sins of murder and fornication. As a result of David’s sins, his family did not have peace. Absalom, one of his sons, killed another of the sons and then rebelled against David and even sought to kill him.
Solomon fell into sin, and his kingdom was divided into two (1 Kings 11:1-40).
The decline of the kings, the corruption of the priests, the falsehood of the prophets, and the evils of the people of Israel were intolerable. This chaotic situation is recorded in 1 and 2 Kings and in the books of the prophets.
Eventually, Jerusalem was destroyed, the temple was burned, and the people of Israel were captured by the Babylonians (2 Chron. 36:17-20). What chaos! This chaotic situation still continues with Israel today.
After seventy years of captivity, the captives were released and returned to their fathers’ land (Ezra 1).
The temple of God with the altar for the offerings (typifying Christ) was rebuilt (ch. 3).
The returned remnant of David brought forth Christ as their Messiah in His first coming (Matt. 1:1, 6b-16; Luke 3:22-31). Through Joseph and Mary, descendants of the returned captives, Christ was born.
The returned captives were idle in building the temple of God (Hag. 1). They should have been excited and diligent to build the temple, but instead they became idle, forgetting the rebuilding of the temple.
The returned captives were in a messy situation. This situation was dealt with in the books of Nehemiah, Haggai, and Malachi.
The Old Testament ends with chaos but not with disappointment. On the contrary, there was much expectation. The godly Jews were expecting to see the Messiah and looked forward to Messiah’s coming. Thus, the Old Testament ends not only with chaos but with expectation—the expectation of Christ’s coming.
The coming of Christ is of two parts: the first coming and the second coming. Christ’s first coming was the initiation of the New Testament economy, and Christ’s second coming will be the consummation of the New Testament economy. The first coming is in the beginning of Matthew, and the second coming is in the end of Revelation. The church age, the time between these two comings, is actually the coming of Christ. The church is the process of Christ’s coming. Christ is in the process of coming through all the church members, through the proper church life.
The entire New Testament is a matter of the coming of Christ, the wonderful One. In between the initiation of the New Testament economy and its consummation there is the process of the church, and the church life is the process of Christ’s coming. Christ is on the way of His coming, and the church life is the way on which Christ is coming. Christ has come to initiate the New Testament economy, and He is coming to consummate the New Testament economy. Now He is on the way of His coming, and this way is the church. Therefore, if we are in the church, we are in His coming.
