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In the progressing stage of God’s full salvation, the stage of transformation, we corporately experience the dispensing of the Divine Trinity by entering into the kingdom of God, living in the church life, and living in the Body of Christ.
For the believers to corporately experience the dispensing of the Divine Trinity, three steps are needed. First, we need to enter into the kingdom of God and live the kingdom life. Second, we need to live in the church life by living the kingdom life. Third, we need to live in the Body of Christ by living in the church life. The sequence of these three steps is the kingdom, the church, and the Body of Christ. According to the order revealed in the New Testament, the kingdom comes first, then the church follows, and the result is the Body of Christ. This revelation indicates that one cannot live in the Body of Christ without first living in the kingdom and the church.
The kingdom, the church, and the Body of Christ are the framework and inward essence of our Christian living. Without the kingdom, the church, and the Body of Christ, God’s New Testament economy would not have a framework, an organic life essence, an essence that matches God’s being. Both the framework and organic life essence of God’s New Testament economy are closely related to the kingdom, the church, and the Body of Christ.
In the New Testament the first person to speak regarding the kingdom is John the Baptist. In Matthew 3:2 John said, “Repent, for the kingdom of the heavens has drawn near.” In 4:17 the Lord Jesus repeated his words. Then in 16:18 He spoke of the church: “I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church.” Following this, the Lord mentioned the kingdom again, saying to Peter, “I will give to you the keys of the kingdom of the heavens, and whatever you bind on the earth shall have been bound in the heavens, and whatever you loose on the earth shall have been loosed in the heavens” (v. 19). Here the Lord indicated that He would give the keys of the kingdom of the heavens to Peter; thus, Peter would be able to open the door for people to enter into the kingdom so that the Lord might build them into the church.
In Acts there are many portions that speak of the kingdom and the church. Acts 1:3 tells us that after the Lord passed through suffering, He presented Himself alive to the apostles by many irrefutable proofs, appearing to them through a period of forty days and speaking the things concerning the kingdom of God. This strongly proves that the kingdom of God was the main subject of the apostles’ preaching in carrying out their commission after Pentecost. Before the Lord Jesus ascended to the heavens and poured Himself out as the all-inclusive Spirit for the building up of the church, He taught His disciples regarding the kingdom. Without any knowledge or understanding concerning the kingdom, it would have been difficult for the Lord Jesus to bring them into the church. Therefore, in Acts 1 He thoroughly taught them regarding the kingdom. As a result, the church came into existence shortly thereafter.
In Acts the church is first spoken of in 5:11; then 8:1 speaks of the church in Jerusalem. In the subsequent chapters the church is repeatedly spoken of (v. 3; 9:31; 11:22, 26; 12:1, 5; 13:1; 14:23, 27; 15:3-4, 22, 41; 16:5; 18:22; 20:17, 28). However, even after the church was brought in, the kingdom continued to be preached. In 8:12 Philip announced the gospel of God’s kingdom to the people of Samaria. Then 14:22 says, “Through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of God.” According to 19:8, Paul spoke boldly concerning the kingdom of God. Acts 20:25 says that he went about among the people, proclaiming the kingdom. Finally in 28:23 Paul “expounded these matters, solemnly testifying of the kingdom of God” to those who came to him at his lodging. These verses clearly show that the book of Acts begins and ends with the kingdom of God. Moreover, Acts also reveals that the kingdom and the church are a pair. Without the kingdom, the church life would not have a beginning, nor would it have a conclusion. The church life is closely related to the kingdom; the kingdom is the life pulse of the church. Hence, the kingdom is vitally important to the church life.
God first works to gain the kingdom so that the church may be built up. In this way the church becomes the organism of Christ, the Body of Christ, to express the Triune God embodied in Christ. This is the revelation of the New Testament.
In the New Testament Paul was the only person who spoke of the Body of Christ. He mentioned the Body of Christ in Romans, 1 Corinthians, Ephesians, and Colossians. The thought, concept, and revelation of the Body of Christ were brought in through Paul.
If we do not experience the church in its proper relationship to the kingdom and the Body of Christ, we will not have the framework or the life pulse revealed in the New Testament. Hence, it is vitally important for us to see the New Testament revelation and comprehend the New Testament teaching concerning the kingdom, the church, and the Body of Christ.
If we are serious in following the Lord Jesus in this age for the sake of His interests on earth, we will enter into the kingdom of God. We not only need to know the truth and doctrine concerning the kingdom but also the reality and practice of the kingdom. In other words, we need to live in the kingdom. In addition, we need to live in the church in reality and in practicality. This means that we need to practice the church life. We need to be a church person, living in the reality and practicality of the church according to the truth. No matter where we are, we must practice the church life. If we live in the kingdom and in the church, we will spontaneously live in the Body. If we as believers live in the kingdom, in the church, and in the Body to corporately experience the dispensing of the Divine Trinity, the Lord will have a way to accomplish His eternal purpose; moreover, we will receive a reward from Him at His coming back.
God planned to have the church for the expression of Christ. The only way for the church to be the expression of Christ is for her to be the Body of Christ. If we look at ourselves, we will realize that our body is simply our expression. Without a body, we would not be able to express ourselves. Likewise, apart from the church as His Body, Christ has no way to express Himself.
The church as the Body of Christ is not an organization; it is organic. The church is an organic Body composed of all the believers who have been regenerated and have the life of Christ to be the expression of Christ the Head. The Body is the fullness of the Head, and the fullness is the expression of the Head. Christ, the One who fills all in all (Eph. 1:22-23), needs a large Body to be His fullness. This Body is the church as His expression.
The church is the Body of Christ, and Christ is the Head of the Body (Col. 1:18). Therefore, the church and Christ are one Body, a mystical and universally great man, who has the same life and nature and enjoys the same position and authority.
The first step of our living in the Body of Christ is that we are baptized in one Spirit into one Body. First Corinthians 12:13 says, “In one Spirit we were all baptized into one Body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and were all given to drink one Spirit.” The Spirit is the sphere and element of our spiritual baptism, and in such a Spirit we were all baptized into one organic entity, the Body of Christ, so we should all, regardless of our race, nationality, or social rank, be this one Body. Christ is the life and constituent of this Body, and the Spirit is the reality of Christ. It is in this one Spirit that we were all baptized into one living Body to express Christ.
The baptism of the Spirit is not for individuals but for the Body. In 1 Corinthians 12:13 Paul clearly says, “In one Spirit we were all baptized into one Body.” This Body is an organic entity. We know from Matthew 28:19 and Galatians 3:27 that we have been baptized into the Triune God and into Christ. The Triune God and Christ are organic—They are living. Romans 6:3 reveals that we have not only been baptized into Christ, but we have been baptized into His death. On the positive side, we have been baptized into the Triune God and into Christ; on the negative side, we have been baptized into Christ’s death, having a clearance of all the negative things, such as sins, the flesh, the self, and the old creation. Therefore, the believers in Christ are baptized through water and in the Spirit into Christ, the death of Christ, the name (the person) of the Triune God, and the Body of Christ. Baptism ushers believers into an organic union with Christ and the Triune God, making them living members of the Body of Christ. The ultimate result of baptism is to put the believers into the Body.
We have been baptized into the Triune God, into Christ, into the death of Christ, and into the Body of Christ, but the destination of this baptism is not the Triune God, Christ, or the death of Christ; our destination is the Body of Christ. Our baptism begins with our being brought into the Triune God, but it eventually leads us to the Body of Christ. Since the Body of Christ is the destination of baptism, we need to remain in this destination. Today we are not only in the Triune God, in Christ, and in the death of Christ, but we are in the Body of Christ—the church. The Body of Christ is our destination, and we should live, move, serve, worship, grow, act, work, and have our being in the Body.
In 1 Corinthians 12:13 Paul tells us that we were not only baptized in one Spirit into one Body, but we were also given to drink one Spirit. To be baptized in one Spirit is to get into the Spirit and to be lost in Him; to drink the Spirit is to take the Spirit in and to have our being saturated with Him. By these two procedures we are mingled with the Spirit. To be baptized in the Spirit is the initiation of the mingling and is once for all. To drink the Spirit is the continuation and accomplishment of the mingling and is perpetual, forever.
This verse also shows us where we can drink this Spirit. We drink this Spirit in the Body. If we were not in the Body, there would not be the flow, and there would be nothing to drink; the flow is in the Body. According to Revelation, in eternity the flow will be in the New Jerusalem (22:1-2); today the flow is in the Body. We were all baptized in one Spirit into one Body, and we were all given to drink one Spirit. The Spirit is in the Body of Christ. As long as we remain in the Body, in the destination of our baptism, we can drink the Spirit. Those who seek to be filled with the Holy Spirit should enter into the Body of Christ, because in the Body we were all given to drink the Spirit, who is in the Body. To be baptized into the Body is once for all, but to drink the one Spirit is perpetual. As along as we are in the Body, we are given to drink this Spirit. We have been baptized in one Spirit, and now we drink this one Spirit in the Body.
The believers in Christ are being constituted with Christ into His one Body. Not only were we baptized into one Body; we are being constituted with Christ to become His Body. First Corinthians 12:12 says, “Even as the body is one and has many members, yet all the members of the body, being many, are one body, so also is the Christ.” In Greek Christ in this verse is “the Christ,” referring to the corporate Christ, composed of Christ Himself as the Head and the church as His Body, of which all the believers are members. All the believers in Christ have an organic union with Him and are constituted with His life and element to be His Body, an organism to express Him. Hence, He is not only the Head but also the Body. As our physical body is one yet composed of many members, so is the Christ.
Only when all the members are constituted with Christ, having His life and nature, can the church become the Body of Christ. If we look at our physical body, we will realize that anything that does not have our life and nature is not and cannot be a part of our body. Just as our body is part of us, the Body of Christ, the church, is part of Christ. As members of the Body, we are part of Christ, being constituted with Christ.
Since the reality of Christ is the Spirit, the way for us to be constituted as His Body is to drink the Spirit. The Body has been formed through baptism in one Spirit. We have been baptized in one Spirit into one Body. Having been baptized into one Body, we have been placed in a position to drink so that we may be constituted as the Body by drinking the Spirit. By drinking the Spirit, we experience the dispensing of the Divine Trinity into our being, and by drinking the Spirit, we are constituted the Body. Therefore, what the Body of Christ needs is not organization but a unique constitution composed of the divine element wrought into our inward being through our drinking of the one Spirit. The more we drink of this one Spirit, the more the divine element becomes our constituent to make us the one Body.
Just as the vine in John 15 is an organism, the church as the Body of Christ is the organism of the Triune God. No man, matter, thing, or even the devil can damage the Body because it is an organism constituted with Christ; the Body is the constitution of God, the organism of God. In Revelation the church, the Body of Christ, as the embodiment of the Triune God is depicted by the golden lampstand; the golden lampstand typifies the embodied Triune God. The Body of Christ is a divine constitution; it is an organism constituted with the person of the Triune God. We need to see that we are constituted with Christ to be the Body of Christ.
For the believers to corporately experience the dispensing of the Divine Trinity, three steps are needed: to enter into the kingdom and live the kingdom life, to live in the church through living the kingdom life, and to live in the Body of Christ through living in the church life. The New Testament reveals that God works to gain the kingdom so that the church can be built up to be the Body of Christ as the organism of the Triune God, expressing the Triune God embodied in Christ. Therefore, the believers need to live in the kingdom, in the church, and in the Body of Christ in order to corporately experience the dispensing of the Divine Trinity so that the Lord may have a way to accomplish His eternal purpose and so that they may receive a reward.
The first step for the believers to live in the Body of Christ is to be baptized in one Spirit into one Body, and the second step is to drink this one Spirit. The Spirit is the sphere and element of the spiritual baptism of the believers, in whom the believers are baptized into an organic entity, the Body of Christ, to express Christ. The Body of Christ is the destination of the believers; therefore, the believers should live, move, serve, and worship in the Body. In this way the believers can drink the Spirit. To be baptized in the Spirit is to get into the Spirit and be lost in Him; to drink the Spirit is for the believers to take the Spirit in and have their whole being saturated with Him. By these two procedures, the believers are mingled with the Spirit.
The believers in Christ are not only baptized into one Body; they are being constituted with Christ to become His one Body, which is the third step. This requires that the believers as members of Christ be constituted with Christ and have His life and nature so that the church can become the Body of Christ. The reality of Christ is the Spirit; hence, the way to be constituted with Christ to be His Body is to drink the Spirit. The more the believers drink this one Spirit, the more the divine element will become their constituent and make them the one Body. This Body is the organism of the Triune God that no man, matter, or thing can damage.
