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Scripture Reading: Rev. 1:4-5a, Rev. 1:11-13, 20; 2:7, 11, 17, 26-28; 3:5-6, 12-13, 21-22; 4:5; 5:6; 14:13-16; 21:1-3a, Rev. 21:9-12, 14, 18-19a, Rev. 21:21; 22:1-2, 14, 17
In the foregoing messages of this Life-study of the Gospel of Mark, we have seen that the Lord’s disciples followed Him from the beginning of His ministry. The Lord brought them on step by step wherever He went. He even brought them with Him into His death and resurrection. This means that the disciples passed through the processes through which the Slave-Savior passed.
By passing through the Lord’s death and resurrection His disciples became His continuation. This continuation is unveiled in the book of Acts. We have pointed out that in chapter one of Acts the disciples are the Lord’s continuation, following Him to live a life according to God’s New Testament economy.
We have also seen that in the book of Acts there are two aspects of the Spirit — the essential aspect and the economical aspect. The Spirit of God, who is now the Spirit of Jesus and even the Spirit of Jesus Christ, is both essential and economical. The essential Spirit is for our spiritual being, and the economical Spirit is for our work. As believers, we have a spiritual being, a spiritual person, and this is of the essential Spirit. We also carry out a spiritual work, and this work is of the economical Spirit. Therefore, for our spiritual being we have the essential Spirit, and for our work to carry out God’s economy we have the economical Spirit.
In this message and in the following message we shall consider the consummation of a life that is fully according to and for God’s New Testament economy. This consummation is fully unveiled in the last book of the Bible, the book of Revelation.
Before we come to the consummation of God’s New Testament economy, I would like to present a brief view of the entire New Testament. For this, I would ask you to study the chart printed on pages 586-587 of this message. The chart is entitled “God’s New Testament Economy.” This chart actually presents a view of the contents of the New Testament.
Many Christians would arrange the twenty-seven books of the New Testament into three sections: the books of history — the four Gospels and the book of Acts; the Epistles, from Romans through Jude; and the book of Revelation. However, recently, through the Life-study of Mark, we saw that there is another way to divide the New Testament into sections. This way of dividing the books of the New Testament is related to the living Person of the Lord Jesus, because the entire New Testament is concerned with this living Person, who is the embodiment of the Triune God. According to this way of arranging the New Testament into sections, we also have three sections: the four Gospels, the book of Acts through the Epistle of Jude, and the book of Revelation.
What is revealed in the first section, the section that covers the four Gospels? The Gospels reveal the Son. When the Son came, He did not come alone; rather, He came with the Father. The Gospel of John in particular tells us that when the Son came to earth, He came with the Father (John 8:29). This was the reason that the Son said that He was not alone, for the Father was always with Him (John 16:32). The Son even said that He was in the Father and that the Father was in Him (John 14:10). This is a matter not only of the coexistence of the Father and the Son, but of the coinherence of the Father and the Son.
The four Gospels also reveal that the Son came by the Spirit. He was conceived and born of the Spirit essentially. Concerning this, Matthew 1:18 says that Mary was “with child of the Holy Spirit.” Matthew 1:20 goes on to record the word of the angel of the Lord to Joseph: “Fear not to take Mary your wife, for that which is begotten in her is of the Holy Spirit.” Furthermore, in Luke 1:35 the angel said to Mary, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; wherefore also the holy thing which is born will be called, Son of God.” At the age of thirty, the Spirit descended upon the Lord Jesus economically, and He was anointed with the Spirit for His ministry (Luke 3:21-23).
The Lord Jesus was conceived of the Spirit and born of the Spirit essentially. For this reason, He had the divine essence, which He received from the Holy Spirit, and the human essence, which He received from the virgin Mary. Hence, He was born the God-man, the One who was the complete God and a perfect man. When at the age of thirty He came forth to minister, the Spirit of God descended upon Him not essentially but economically. Therefore, as the Lord Jesus was ministering on earth, He lived by the essential Spirit and ministered by the economical Spirit. This is the reason we say that in the Gospels the Son came by the Spirit. He came by the Spirit who is both the essential Spirit and the economical Spirit.
According to the four Gospels, the Son came with the Father and by the Spirit. It is important for us to see this. We should give up the thought that when the Son came to earth, He left the Father in the heavens. No, the Son came with the Father, and He came by the Spirit. Actually, in Jesus Christ, the Son, we have the embodiment of the Triune God. The Son came with the Father and by the Spirit to be the embodiment of the Triune God in the Man Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ, the One who is the embodiment of the Triune God, is God’s tabernacle and God’s temple. John 1:1 and 14 say that the Word, who was God, became flesh and tabernacled among us. The word “tabernacled” in John 1:14 indicates that when He was in the flesh, Christ was the tabernacle of God. In Him God tabernacled among men. Then in chapter two of the Gospel of John we see that the Lord was the temple of God, the dwelling place of God (vv. 19, 21). As the embodiment of the Triune God, Jesus Christ was God’s dwelling place in order to express God among men.
As the One who was the embodiment of the Triune God as God’s tabernacle and God’s temple, the Lord Jesus lived the life of God. He lived a life on the highest plane, a life much higher than ethics or morality. The life He lived was actually God Himself. Furthermore, He lived such a life in order that this life might develop into the kingdom of God.
According to the revelation in the four Gospels, the issue of the living of this wonderful One is the kingdom of God. Because the kingdom of God is the development of the life of God, the Lord Jesus preached not only the gospel of God but also the gospel of the kingdom of God (Mark 1:14; Luke 4:43; 8:1).
I hope that we all shall be able to comprehend this brief outline of the four Gospels. In the Gospels we see that the Son came with the Father and by the Spirit to be the embodiment of the Triune God in Jesus Christ. This One, the embodiment of the Triune God, is God’s tabernacle and God’s temple as His dwelling place. This One lived a life of God, a life that developed into the kingdom of God.
As indicated by the chart, the second section of the New Testament includes the twenty-two books from Acts through Jude. These books are also the revelation of a Person. Here we have the Spirit as the Son with the Father to be the consummation of the Triune God in the church.
In this section we do not see the Spirit alone; we see the Spirit as the Son. In 1 Corinthians 15:45 Paul says that the last Adam, Jesus Christ, became a life-giving Spirit. Here Paul says not only that Christ became the Spirit, but that He became a life-giving Spirit. This modifier indicates that the Spirit is the One who gives life. There is only one Spirit who gives life, and this is the divine Spirit. We should never think that in addition to the Holy Spirit there is another Spirit who gives life. No, the life-giving Spirit in 1 Corinthians 15:45 is the divine Spirit who gives life. Through resurrection Christ became the life-giving Spirit.
In 2 Corinthians 3:17 Paul says clearly, “The Lord is the Spirit.” As we have pointed out, the Lord here is Christ the Lord. Therefore, this verse clearly tells us that Christ is the Spirit. Concerning this, the note in the Ryrie Study Bible says that here we have “a strong statement that Christ and the Holy Spirit are one in essence.” In the second section of the New Testament, therefore, we have the Spirit as the Son.
When the Spirit came, He came as the Son with the Father. The Father is always with the Son. In John 14:23 the Lord Jesus said that if we love Him, the Father will love us and both the Father and the Son will come to us and make an abode with us. This proves that the Father comes with the Son. Since the Spirit comes as the Son, the Father is also present.
The Spirit coming as the Son with the Father is the consummation of the Triune God. In the Gospels the Son with the Father and by the Spirit is the embodiment of the Triune God. Now in Acts through Jude the Spirit as the Son with the Father is the consummation of the Triune God.
The Spirit as the consummation of the Triune God is in the church. In this section of the New Testament, we see the church as the Body of Christ (Eph. 1:22-23) and the temple of God (Eph. 2:21; 1 Cor. 3:16). The Body of Christ is the kingdom of God, and the temple of God is the house of God (1 Tim. 3:15). Thus, to say that the church is the Body of Christ and the temple of God is to say that the church is the kingdom of God and the house of God. Romans 14:17 says that the kingdom of God is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. According to the context of Romans 12 through 15, the kingdom of God must refer to today’s church life. The church is both the kingdom of God and the house of God.
As those in the church, we should live Christ unto the fullness of God. In the first section, we see the embodiment of the Triune God living the life of God to develop into the kingdom of God. Now we see the consummation of the Triune God in the church living Christ unto the fullness of God. This expression “the fullness of God” is revealed in Ephesians 3:19. What a marvelous picture we have in the twenty-two books of the second section of the New Testament!
In Acts through Jude what do we see? We see a wonderful, living Person — the Spirit as the Son with the Father to be the consummation of the Triune God realized in the church to live Christ unto the fullness of God.
Let us go on now to the third section of the New Testament. This section contains only one book, the book of Revelation. In the book of Revelation we see the seven Spirits out from the eternal One and of the Redeemer (Rev. 1:4-5). In the first section we have the Son; in the second section, the Spirit; and in the third section, the seven Spirits. In the book of Revelation the Spirit becomes the seven Spirits. The seven Spirits are from the eternal One, the One who is, who was, and who is coming. This eternal One is Jehovah God, who in Exodus 3 is revealed as the One who was, who is, and who is coming. Hence, Revelation 1:4 actually refers to Jehovah God in Exodus 3, the eternal One, the eternal I Am.
The sequence of the Trinity is different in Revelation 1:4 and 5 from that in Matthew 28:19. In Matthew 28:19 the Spirit is third, but in Revelation 1:4 and 5 the seven Spirits are second. The fact that the seven Spirits are mentioned second indicates that the seven Spirits are from the eternal One and are also of the Redeemer. Revelation 5:6 says that the seven Spirits are the seven eyes of the Lamb. Since the seven Spirits are the seven eyes of the Lamb, the seven Spirits surely are of the Lamb, the Redeemer.
In Revelation the seven Spirits are related to the Triune God. On the chart we point out that the seven Spirits out from the eternal One and of the Redeemer are the intensification of the Triune God. The Son is the embodiment of the Triune God, the Spirit is the consummation of the Triune God, and the seven Spirits are the intensification of the Triune God.
The seven Spirits as the intensification of the Triune God are in the overcoming church. In chapters two and three of Revelation we hear again and again concerning the overcomer. Also in these chapters the following word is repeated seven times: “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches” (2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:6,13, 22). The word concerning the overcomer and the sevenfold mention of the Spirit speaking to the churches indicates that what the Lord desires under the intensification of the Triune God is the overcoming church, the church that overcomes the degraded situation. In the overcoming church we have not only the embodiment of the Triune God and the consummation of the Triune God; in the overcoming church we have also the intensification of the Triune God, the Triune God intensified sevenfold.
According to the book of Revelation, the overcoming church consummates in the golden lampstands and, ultimately, the New Jerusalem. The seven lampstands are in this age, and the New Jerusalem will be in eternity. Therefore, the book of Revelation opens with the seven lampstands and closes with the New Jerusalem.
In the first section of the New Testament we have the initiation of God’s New Testament economy, in the second section we have its development, and in the third section we have its finalization. This means that the seven Spirits as the intensification of the Triune God in the overcoming church are the finalization of the New Testament economy. The intensified Spirit finalizes God’s New Testament economy in two stages: first, in this age, with the golden lampstands; finally, in eternity, in the New Jerusalem.
This is a brief outline of the entire New Testament concerning God’s New Testament economy.
[see God's New Testament Economy chart]
