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.
As we consider the various aspects of God’s person,
we shall see
what kind of God intends to dispense Himself into us.
You may realize
that God desires to dispense Himself into you.
But what kind of God
is being dispensed into you?
Actually it is very difficult
to answer this question.
We need to collect all the points
concerning God’s person
found in the New Testament
and put them together
in order to see
a picture of the kind of God
who is being dispensed into us.
In the New Testament
God’s person is revealed
both in plain words
and in parables and signs.
In plain words,
there are at least twenty-nine items as follows:
The God who is dispensing Himself into us
is the Triune God
—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
certainly are not three Gods.
God is one,
yet He is triune.
We see the Triune God in Matthew 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.”
In this verse
there is one name
for the divine Trinity
—the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
The name is the sum total
of the divine Being,
equivalent to His person.
To baptize anyone into the name of the Trinity
is to immerse him
into all that the Triune God is.
Matthew and John
are two books
in which the divine Trinity is more fully revealed,
for the participation and enjoyment of God’s chosen people,
than in all the other books of Scripture.
John unveils
the mystery of the Godhead in the Father, Son, and Spirit,
especially in chapters fourteen through sixteen,
for our experience of life.
Matthew discloses
the reality of the divine Trinity in the one name for all Three,
for the constitution of the kingdom.
Eventually, in the closing chapter,
after Christ, as the last Adam, had passed through the process of crucifixion,
entered into the realm of resurrection,
and become the life-giving Spirit,
He came back to His disciples,
in the atmosphere and reality of His resurrection,
to charge them
to make the heathen the kingdom people
by baptizing them into the name, the person, the reality, of the Trinity.
According to Matthew,
such a baptism into the reality of the Father, Son, and Spirit
is for the constitution of the kingdom of the heavens.
The heavenly kingdom cannot be organized
with human beings of flesh and blood (1 Cor. 15:50) as an earthly society;
it can be constituted only of people
who are immersed into union with the Triune God
and who are established and built up with the Triune God
who is wrought into them.
Another verse that reveals the Triune God
is 2 Corinthians 13:14:
“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,
and the love of God,
and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit
be with you all.”
The grace of the Lord
is the Lord Himself
as life to us for our enjoyment (John 1:17; 1 Cor. 15:10),
the love of God
is God Himself (1 John 4:8, 16)
as the source of the grace of the Lord,
and the fellowship of the Spirit
is the Spirit Himself
as the transmission of the grace of the Lord with the love of God
for our participation.
These are not three separate matters
but three aspects of one thing,
just as the Lord, God, and the Holy Spirit
are not three separate Gods
but three “hypostases…of the one same undivided and indivisible” God (Philip Schaff).
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 the doctrinal understanding of systematic theology,
but for the dispensing of God Himself in His Trinity
into His chosen and redeemed people.
In the Bible
the divine Trinity
is never revealed
merely as a doctrine.
Rather, it is always revealed or mentioned
in regard to the relationship of God with His creatures,
especially with men created by Him
and even the more with His chosen and redeemed people.
In order to redeem man
so that He might still have the position to be one with man,
God became incarnated in the Son and through the Spirit to be a man,
and He lived a human life on the earth,
also in the Son and by the Spirit.
At the beginning of the Lord’s ministry on earth,
the Father anointed the Son with the Spirit
for reaching men and bringing them back to Him.
Just before He was crucified in the flesh and resurrected
to become the life-giving Spirit,
the Lord unveiled His mysterious trinity to His disciples
in plain words (John 14—17),
stating that the Son is in the Father
and that the Father is in the Son,
that the Spirit is the transfiguration of the Son,
that the Three, coexisting and coinhering simultaneously,
are abiding with the believers for their enjoyment,
and that all the Father has is the Son’s,
and all the Son possesses is received by the Spirit
to be disclosed, revealed, to the believers.
Such a Trinity
is altogether related to the dispensing of the processed God into His believers,
so that they may be one in and with the Triune God.
After His resurrection,
the Lord charged His disciples
to disciple the nations,
baptizing them
into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
As we have pointed out,
this is to bring the believing ones
into the Triune God,
into an organic union with the processed God,
who has passed through incarnation, human living, and crucifixion
and has entered into resurrection.
It is based upon such an organic union
that at the conclusion of 2 Corinthians
Paul blesses the Corinthians with the blessed Trinity
in the participation of the Son’s grace with the Father’s love through the Spirit’s fellowship.
In this trinity
God the Father
operates all things in all the members in the church,
which is the Body of Christ,
through the ministries of the Lord, God the Son,
by the gifts of God the Spirit.
The entire divine revelation in the book of Ephesians
concerning the producing, existing, growing, building up, and fighting
of the church as the Body of Christ
is composed of the divine economy
—the dispensing of the Triune God
into the members of the Body of Christ.
Chapter two shows us
that in the divine Trinity all the believers, both Jewish and Gentile,
have access unto God the Father
through God the Son,
in God the Spirit.
This also indicates
that the Three coexist and coinhere simultaneously,
even after all the processes of
incarnation, human living, crucifixion, and resurrection.
In chapter three the apostle prays
that God the Father will grant the believers
to be strengthened through God the Spirit
into their inner man
so that Christ, God the Son,
may make His home in their hearts,
that is, to occupy their entire being,
that they might be filled
unto all the fullness of the processed Triune God.
This is the climax of God in His trinity
to be experienced and participated in
by the believers in Christ
for His full expression.
In his writings the apostle Peter confirms
this Trinity of God for the believers’ enjoyment
by referring them to
the election of God the Father,
the sanctification of God the Spirit,
and the redemption of Jesus Christ, God the Son, by His blood (1 Pet. 1:2).
John the apostle
also strengthens the revelation of the divine Trinity
for the believers’ participation in the processed Triune God.
In the book of Revelation
he blesses the churches in different localities
with grace and peace
from God the Father, Him who is, and who was, and who is coming,
and from God the Spirit, the seven Spirits who are before His throne,
and from God the Son, Jesus Christ, the faithful Witness, the Firstborn of the dead, and the Ruler of the kings of the earth.
This blessing of John to the churches
also indicates that the processed Triune God,
in all He is as the eternal Father,
in all He is able to do as the sevenfold intensified Spirit,
and in all He has attained and obtained as the anointed Son,
is for the believers’ enjoyment
so that they may be His corporate testimony
as the golden lampstands.
It is evident, therefore,
that the divine revelation of the Trinity of the Godhead in the holy Word,
from Genesis through Revelation,
is not for the study of theology,
but for the understanding
of how God in His mysterious and marvelous trinity
dispenses Himself into His chosen people
so that we, as His chosen and redeemed people,
may, as indicated in Paul’s blessing to the Corinthian believers in 2 Corinthians 13:14,
participate in, experience, enjoy, and possess
the processed Triune God
now and for eternity.
The New Testament reveals
that our God is triune.
During the centuries
three main schools of teaching concerning the Trinity
have emerged:
modalism, tritheism, and the pure revelation according to the Bible.
Modalism teaches
that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are not all eternal
and do not all exist at the same time,
but are merely three temporary manifestations of the one God.
Tritheism teaches
that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are three Gods.
We should have nothing to do with modalism,
for that extreme view concerning the Trinity is a heresy.
It is also a great heresy
to teach that there are three Gods.
According to the natural law in God’s creation,
there is the law of balance.
Nothing can exist without having two sides.
For example, the earth exists because of two forces:
centrifugal force thrusts the earth away,
and centripetal force holds it back.
This is the balance of power.
All the truths in the Bible
also have two sides.
In order to hold a biblical truth properly,
we must hold both sides of it.
The pure revelation of the Triune God in the Bible
occupies a central position
between the extremes of modalism and tritheism.
Because the truths in the Bible have two sides,
there are two aspects to the Trinity:
the aspect of the one-in-three
and the aspect of the three-in-one.
Modalism is an extreme
on the side of the three-in-one.
There is, of course, ground in the Scriptures
for the side of the three-in-one,
but modalism, going to an extreme,
far beyond the confines of the Bible,
neglects and even annuls
the side of the one-in-three.
Because modalism goes beyond the confines of the Scriptures
concerning the aspect of the one,
it is a heresy on the extreme of the one.
Tritheism is the opposite extreme, the extreme of the three.
Tritheism emphasizes the side of the three,
going beyond the confines of the Scriptures
concerning the aspect of the three,
and neglects the side of the one.
It also has scriptural ground
because the Father, the Son, and the Spirit certainly are three.
But tritheism, like modalism,
also goes beyond the confines of the Bible
and becomes a heresy.
Therefore, both modalism and tritheism, being extremes,
are heresies.
The Bible is not at either of these extremes;
it stands in the center,
testifying the twofoldness of the truth of the Trinity.
In this matter,
the Scriptures are balanced.
The Bible,
true to the principle of balance in God’s creation,
is balanced and in the center;
it does not go to an extreme.
Regarding the truth of the Triune God,
we also should be balanced
and avoid the heretical extremes
of both modalism and tritheism.
Throughout the years
I have given many messages on the Triune God.
If certain sentences in those messages are taken out of context,
it may appear
that I teach modalism.
However, if certain other sentences are taken out of context,
it may appear
that I also teach tritheism.
Of course, I teach neither modalism nor tritheism.
When we point out the Scriptures
that reveal
that our God is absolutely one,
that the Son is even called the Father (Isa. 9:6),
and that the Son is the Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45; 2 Cor. 3:17),
we have been falsely accused of teaching modalism.
But when our writings are considered fairly and completely,
it will become evident
that we teach neither modalism nor tritheism
but the pure revelation of the Triune God
according to the Scriptures.
What is the error in modalism?
Modalism teaches
that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are not all eternal
and do not all exist at the same time.
Rather, modalism claims
that the Father ended with the Son’s coming
and that the Son ceased with the Spirit’s coming.
The modalists say
that the Three of the Godhead exist respectively in three consecutive stages.
They do not believe in
the coexistence and coinherence of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.
Unlike them,
we believe in the coexistence and coinherence of the Three of the Godhead;
that is, we believe
that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit all exist essentially
at the same time and under the same conditions.
However, in the divine economy,
the Three work and are manifested respectively in three consecutive stages.
Yet even in Their economical works and manifestations
the Three still remain essentially in Their coexistence and coinherence.
The Father chose us
in the Son and by the Spirit (Eph. 1:4; 1 Pet. 1:2a).
The Son accomplished redemption for us
with the Father and by the Spirit (John 8:29; Heb. 9:14).
The Spirit works in us
as the Son (John 14:26; 2 Cor. 3:17) with the Father (John 15:26).
Their works and manifestations are economical,
but their coexistence and coinherence are eternal.
All the Three are eternal essentially.
Isaiah 9:6 says
that the Father is eternal,
Hebrews 1:12 and 7:3 indicate
that the Son is eternal,
and Hebrews 9:14 speaks of the eternal Spirit.
Therefore, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit
are not consecutive but eternal
in Their existence, in Their being.
God is uniquely one but triune
—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit
(Matt. 3:16-17; 28:19; 2 Cor. 13:14; Eph. 2:18; 3:14-16; Rev. 1:4-5).
The Godhead is distinctively three,
but the Father, Son, and Spirit
certainly are not three Gods separately.
The New Testament tells us definitely
that God is one (1 Cor. 8:4; 1 Tim. 2:5).
Some Christians have believed
that the Father is one Person
and that the Son is another Person,
but the Spirit is merely a power.
Others believe
that the Three of the Godhead
—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—
are three separate Gods.
These concepts are heretical.
According to the divine revelation of the holy Word,
we believe
that our God is uniquely one.
We have only one God, who is triune.
Because our mentality is limited,
we are not able to explain the Triune God thoroughly.
Actually we cannot even define ourselves very well.
How, then, could we define the Triune God adequately and thoroughly?
This is impossible.
We can only believe
what is clearly revealed in the New Testament:
God is one but triune.
Certain of today’s fundamental Bible teachers
are actually tritheistic, perhaps unconsciously.
These teachers say not only
that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are distinct
but also that They are separate.
We can say
that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are distinct,
but not that They are separate.
We cannot separate the Son from the Father,
or the Father and the Son from the Spirit,
because all three coexist and coinhere.
In the Gospel of John
the Son said
that He is in the Father and the Father is in Him (10:38; 14:10-11).
Since the Son is in the Father and the Father is in the Son,
how can They be separated?
The Lord Jesus also said
that He and the Father are one (John 10:30).
This is further proof
that the Father and the Son, although distinct, cannot be separated.
The Father, the Son, and the Spirit are distinct
but not separate,
because they are three and yet one.
We need to see
that the God who is dispensing Himself into us
is triune.
Do you realize
that the Triune God
is in you?
According to the New Testament,
the Father, the Son, and the Spirit
are all in us (Eph. 4:6; Col. 1:27; John 14:17).
Although the Father, the Son, and the Spirit
are all in us,
in our experience
we sense
that there is just One in us.
This One who dwells in us
is the Triune God.
Martin Luther warns us
not to approach the matter of the divine Trinity
by reasoning:
We should live in this simplicity
and not venture forth
on this deep and tremendously vast sea of dispute about such questions.
For this article [the Trinity] is very slippery,
first because of its subtlety,
then also because of our weakness.
It is, therefore, complete folly and a most perilous undertaking
to wish to search into these things more subtly.
For if we could do this,
we would not need the Scriptures for a guide.
No, neither would this Teacher and King be necessary for us.
Moreover, those who neglect the Scriptures
and approach such questions with confidence in their own mental power
are the teachers of God, not His pupils.
…If reason disturbs you here and questions arise like
…Are there, then, two gods? answer:
There is only one God, and still there is the Father and the Son.
How is this possible?
Respond with humility:
I do not know.…
I surely cannot explain the divine Trinity adequately.
I only present the facts from the New Testament concerning this great truth
so that you all may be impressed with this divine fact
that the Triune God is dispensing Himself into our being in His trinity.
Do not exercise your mentality too much to explore it.
Rather, exercise your spirit to experience and enjoy
the marvelous dispensing of the Triune God
as the Father, Son, and Spirit.
In Ephesians 1:3
Paul speaks of God as “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Since Jesus Christ is God,
why does Paul speak of the God of Jesus Christ?
How can God
be His God?
Furthermore, Paul mentions
the Father of Jesus Christ.
How can Christ, being God,
have a Father?
God is the God of our Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of Man,
and God is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of God.
According to His humanity,
God is His God;
and according to His divinity,
God is His Father.
Paul’s praise to the God of the New Testament in Ephesians 1:3
is deep and profound.
It encompasses the entire New Testament economy.
Here we have not only creation,
indicated by the title “God,”
but also incarnation,
indicated by the title “the God of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
The first revelation of God in the Bible
is in creation,
for the Bible opens with the words,
“In the beginning God created.…”
Following creation
is the incarnation.
One day
God the Creator became incarnated.
The Word
that was with God
and was God
became flesh (John 1:1, 14)
to be a man.
When God Himself
became a man,
the God who created all things
became His God.
“The God of our Lord Jesus Christ”
indicates that the Lord Jesus was a man.
If He were only God,
God could never be His God.
In order for God to be His God,
He had to become a man.
For this,
incarnation was needed.
The God
whom the Jews worship
is only the God of creation,
not the God of incarnation.
We today worship
not only the God of creation
but also the God of incarnation.
In incarnation
the God of creation
became the very God of the Man Jesus.
At the same time,
God is also the Father of Christ as the Son of God.
In Christ’s humanity,
God is His God;
in His divinity
God is His Father.
Furthermore, as the title “God” refers to creation,
so the title “Father” should refer to the impartation of life.
This took place in the Lord’s resurrection.
On the day of His resurrection
His word to Mary in John 20:17
indicates that God is not only His Father,
but also His believers’ Father.
It is through His resurrection
that God the Father becomes His believers’ Father.
This is the Father’s impartation of life
to His many children.
In Ephesians 1:17
Paul goes on to speak of
“the God of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Father of glory.”
In verse 3
Paul speaks of
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
putting God and the Father together.
But here he mentions Them separately, saying,
“the God of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Father of glory.”
In incarnation
the Lord Jesus Christ, God Himself (Phil. 2:6), became a man.
As a man, He is related to God’s creation;
therefore, God the Creator is His God.
The incarnation brought God the Creator into man, God’s creature.
The title “the God of our Lord Jesus Christ”
implies that God the Creator has come into man.
Whenever we speak of God in this way,
we imply that God is no longer merely the Creator outside of His creature, man,
but that He has been brought into humanity.
We, the fallen creatures,
have been redeemed.
Incarnation indicates
that God is for our enjoyment.
We can enjoy God
because He has come into humanity for our redemption.
Divinity becomes our enjoyment in Jesus.
By His work of creation
God became the Creator.
After creation
He took the step of incarnation,
thereby coming into His creature, man.
By and in incarnation
the Creator and the creature
became one.
When the Lord Jesus was on earth,
He was the uniting of God and man.
Through crucifixion
the Lord accomplished redemption.
As a result,
we, the fallen creatures,
were redeemed.
The Jews, however,
have no concept of God’s incarnation and redemption.
But we Christians
have God in creation, incarnation, and redemption.
How much more we have than the Jews!
In John 20:17
the Lord told Mary
to say to His brothers,
“I ascend to My Father and your Father,
and My God and your God.”
This indicates
that the Lord as a resurrected man takes
God as His God and the Father as His Father.
Furthermore, this verse reveals
that His Father and God
has become His believers’ Father and God.
Why did the Lord tell Mary
that He was ascending to the Father and to God?
On the one hand,
the Lord is the Son of God;
therefore, He would see the Father in the person of the Son.
On the other hand,
He is still the Son of Man;
therefore, He would see God in the person of man.
We His believers, also
are men on the one hand
and sons of God on the other.
Because we are men,
God is God to us.
Because we are the sons of God,
God is also the Father to us.
Because we are now
both men and sons of God,
we have
both God and the Father.
All the believers as human beings
have become brothers to the Lord
and sons to the Father
through the Lord’s resurrection,
because they have received
the same life as He.
Through His life-imparting death and resurrection
the Lord has made His believers
one with Him.
Therefore,
His Father is also His believers’ Father,
and His God is also their God.
In His resurrection
they have
both the Father’s life and God’s nature,
just as He does.
In making them His brothers
He has imparted the Father’s life and God’s nature
into them.
In making His Father and His God theirs
He has brought them into His position
—the Son’s position—
before the Father and God.
Thus,
in life and in nature inwardly
and in position outwardly
they are
the same as He.
In the Bible
glory is God expressed.
Whenever God is expressed,
that is glory.
But whenever God is hidden, concealed,
there is no glory expressed.
When God is seen,
there is glory.
You can never see God
without seeing His glory.
While the unseen God is God,
the seen God is glory.
God’s glory was seen
as the children of Israel
journeyed from Egypt to the good land (Exo. 13:21).
During the day
God was seen as the cloud,
and during the night
He was seen as the pillar of fire
—that was glory.
In the Gospel of John
we read that the Word was God,
that the Word became flesh
and dwelt among us,
and that we all beheld His glory (John 1:1, 14).
John 1:18 says,
“No one has ever seen God;
the only begotten Son,
who is in the bosom of the Father,
He has declared Him.”
There is glory
in the declaration of God.
When we see God,
we see 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
and filled the tabernacle and temple.
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,
and it was
a great encouragement and strength
which enabled him
to follow God.
Stephen’s word about the God of glory
fits in with
God’s New Testament economy.
In his second Epistle
Peter tells us
that God has called us
by His glory
and to His glory.
Because we were called
by the glory of God our Savior,
we eventually received the Lord Jesus,
realizing that He
is better than anything and anyone else.
The God of glory called Abraham,
and Abraham was attracted and caught by that glory.
The principle
is the same with us today.
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.
To be attracted by the God of glory
means that God transfused Himself into His called ones
without their realizing it or being conscious of it.
This can be compared to radium treatment
practiced in modem 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.
This transfusion
will cause infusion, saturation, and permeation.
Once God has transfused Himself into us,
we cannot escape;
we must believe in Him.
In Ephesians 1:17
Paul uses
the term “the Father of glory.”
As we have pointed out,
glory is God expressed.
Hence, the Father of glory
is God expressed through His many sons.
The title “Father”
implies regeneration,
and the word “glory”
implies expression.
Therefore, the title “Father of glory”
implies regeneration and expression.
We have been regenerated by God,
and we are His expression.
We have already been regenerated,
but in the future
we shall be glorified
and express God’s glory (Rom. 8:30).
The regeneration of many sons
and the expression of God
are the consummation of the divine economy.
Through His crucifixion
the Lord Jesus accomplished redemption for us.
As a result,
we, the fallen creatures,
have been redeemed.
Then
we were regenerated
to become sons of God the Father
so that we may express Him.
On the day we are glorified,
God will be fully expressed from within us.
In this way
we shall become
His expression in full.
Hebrews 2:10 says
that God is leading many sons into glory.
The last step of God’s great salvation
is to bring His many sons into glory.
Romans 8 tells us
that God’s work of grace upon us
began with His foreknowing
through His predestination, calling, and justification
and will end with His glorification.
Romans 8 tells us
that the whole creation eagerly expects
the revelation, the glorification, of the sons of God,
hoping that the creation itself
will enter into the freedom
of the glory of the children of God.
This will be accomplished
by the Lord’s coming back (Phil. 3:21),
at which time we shall appear with Him in glory (Col. 3:4).
This is our hope (Col. 1:27).
This glorification of the sons of God,
as the goal of God’s salvation,
will last
through the millennial kingdom
and will be manifested in fullness
in the New Jerusalem for eternity (Rev. 21:11, 23).
Ephesians 3:14 and 15 say,
“For this cause
I bow my knees unto the Father,
of whom every family in the heavens and on the earth
is named.”
Here Paul does not refer to God
but to the Father.
The Father in verse 14
is used in a broad sense,
signifying not only the Father of the household of faith (Gal. 6:10),
but the Father of every family in the heavens and on the earth.
The Father is the source
not only of the regenerated believers,
but also of the God-created mankind (Luke 3:38),
of the God-created Israel (Isa. 63:16; 64:8),
and of the God-created angels (Job 1:6).
The Jews’ concept
was that God was Father only to them.
Hence, Paul prayed to the Father of all the families
in the heavens and on the earth
according to his revelation,
not as the Jews,
who prayed only to the Father of Israel
according to the Jewish concept.
In Acts 17:28
Paul says,
“For in Him
we live and move and are,
as even some poets among you
have said,
For we also are His offspring.”
The words “in Him we live and move and are”
denote that man’s life and existence and even his actions
are of God.
This does not mean
that man has God’s life and lives, exists, and acts in God
as do the believers in Christ,
who are born of God,
possess His life and nature,
and live, exist, and act
in God’s person.
All men are God’s offspring in the sense
that Adam was called a son of God.
Because God is the Creator, the source, of all men,
He is the Father of them all (Mal. 2:10) in a natural sense,
not in the spiritual sense,
as He is the Father of all the believers (Gal. 4:6),
who are regenerated by Him in their spirit (1 Pet. 1:3; John 3:5-6).
In Matthew 11:27c
the Lord Jesus says
that no one knows “the Father
except the Son and he
to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.”
The Greek word translated “know” here
indicates full knowledge,
not mere objective acquaintance.
Concerning the Son,
only the Father has such knowledge;
and concerning the Father,
only the Son has such knowledge.
Hence, to know the Father
requires the Son’s revelation (John 17:6, 26).
The Greek word rendered “wills” in Matthew 11:27
means to deliberately exercise the will through counsel.
In John 17:6
the Lord Jesus said to the Father,
“I have manifested Your name to the men
whom You gave Me out of the world.”
The name referred to here
is the very name Father.
The names God and Jehovah
were adequately revealed to man in the Old Testament,
but not the name Father,
though it is slightly mentioned in Isaiah 9:6; 63:16; and 64:8.
In Old Testament times
God’s people mainly knew
that God was Elohim,
that is, God, and Jehovah,
that is, the ever-existing One,
but they knew very little
about the title Father.
The Son came and worked in the Father’s name
to manifest the Father to the men
whom the Father gave Him
and to make the Father’s name known to them,
the name which reveals the Father as the source of life,
for the propagation and multiplication of life,
of whom many sons are born (John 1:12-13) for His expression.
Hence, the Father’s name, revealed by the Son,
is very much related to the divine life.
We can know the Father
in the way of the divine life
only through the Son’s unveiling of Him.
As the Father of all families both in the heavens and on earth,
God is the source of all.
All things are out of Him.
Romans 11:36 says,
“Out of Him and through Him and to Him
are all things.”
In the past,
all things were out of Him;
in the present,
all things are through Him;
and in the future,
all things will be to Him.
All things came into being out of God in the past,
all things exist through Him in the present,
and all things will be to Him in the future.
All things are
of Him, through Him, and for Him.
First Corinthians 8:6 says,
“There is one God, the Father,
of whom are all things.”
This verse tells us again
that God who is the Father
is the source of all things.
Here the Father
refers not to God as the Father of the regenerated believers
but to Him as the source of all things.
This is proved by
the words “of whom are all things.”
All things are out of God as the source;
hence, God is called the Father.
Not only is He the believers’ Father in regeneration,
but He is the Father of all created things in creation,
for all things have come out of Him.
Hebrews 2:10 tells us
that God, who is leading many sons into glory,
is the One
“for whom are all things and through whom are all things.”
In order to lead many sons into glory,
God needs
the heavens, the earth, and all things.
All things which God created for the accomplishment of His purpose
exist through Him in the present,
and will be for Him in the future.
It is God who maintains all things in the universe
so that they may serve His purpose.
In Hebrews 12:9
God is called
the Father of spirits:
“Furthermore,
we have had
the fathers of our flesh as discipliners
and we respected them;
shall we not much rather
be in subjection to the Father of spirits
and live?”
Here “the Father of spirits”
is contrasted with “the fathers of our flesh.”
In natural birth,
we were born of our father in our flesh.
Hence, they are the fathers of our flesh.
In regeneration
we are born of God (John 1:13) in our spirit (John 3:6).
Hence, He is
the Father of our spirits.
First Corinthians 11:3 says,
“I want you to know
that the head of every man
is Christ,
and the head of the woman
is the man,
and the head of Christ
is God.”
Christ is God’s anointed One,
appointed by God.
Hence, He is under God,
and God as the Originator is His Head.
This refers to
the relationship between Christ and God
in the divine government.
In the universe,
especially in God’s governmental administration,
there is order.
God is the Head over Christ,
Christ is the Head over every man,
and man is the head over the woman.
In 1 Timothy 1:1
Paul says,
“Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus,
according to the command
of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope.”
God our Savior and our Savior God
are titles particularly ascribed to God
in the three books of 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus,
books that take God’s salvation as a strong base
for the teachings concerning God’s New Testament economy.
It was
according to the command
of such a saving God, a Savior God,
not according to the command
of the law-giving God, a demanding God,
that Paul became an apostle.
First Timothy 2:3 says,
“This is good and acceptable
in the sight of our Savior God.”
In 1 Timothy
Paul emphasizes the Savior God.
Hence, in this verse
he speaks not of the God of grace
nor of the God of mercy,
but of the Savior God,
the God who saves us.
In 1 Timothy 4:10
Paul goes on to speak of “the living God,
who is the Savior of all men,
especially of those who believe.”
In Titus 1:3
Paul again speaks of
“the command of our Savior God.”
Then in Titus 2:10
he speaks concerning
“the teachings of our Savior God.”
Our Savior is not only Christ,
but God Triune embodied in Christ,
as indicated in Titus 2:13.
Our Savior God
desires not only to save us,
but also to teach us
the full knowledge of the truth.
Hence, there is the teaching of our Savior God,
which may be adorned, beautified,
by the transformed character of the most vile persons
saved by His grace.
In His person
God is Abba Father of the believers.
“Abba” is an Aramaic word,
thus a Hebrew word,
and “Father” is the translation
of the Greek word pater.
Such a term was first used by the Lord Jesus in Gethsemane
while praying to the Father (Mark 14:36).
The combination of the Hebrew title with the Greek
expresses a stronger affection
in crying to the Father.
Such an affectionate cry
implies an intimate relationship in life
between a genuine son and a begetting father.
The Father is the source of life.
This is indicated by the Lord’s word in John 5:26:
“The Father has life in Himself.”
In the New Testament,
especially in the Gospel of John,
the Father denotes the source of life.
Even in a human family
the father is
the source of the life of that family.
As the father of a family
is the very source and origin of life,
so the name Father
reveals the Father as the source of life.
The Father, the source of life,
is for propagation and multiplication of life.
The Father’s life
is for propagation and multiplication.
Of the Father,
who is the source of life,
and who is for the propagation and multiplication of life,
many sons are born
for His expression.
The name Father
is very much related to the divine life.
Without having the divine life,
God could not be the Father.
How is it possible for a man to be a father?
It is possible only by life.
A father is a producer.
A father produces
not by manufacturing
but by begetting.
A father has a begetting life.
Likewise,
the Father has begotten us
through His life.
Whenever we call Him Father,
we need to understand
that this title is realized by the divine life.
Without His life,
the name Father is merely an empty term,
without content or reality.
What is the revelation
behind the name Father?
Father is the name
for the relationship of life.
When I say, “Abba Father,”
I indicate that I have His life
and that I was born of Him.
In the New Testament
God is revealed as the Father
who regenerates many sons.
He is
the source of life;
hence, He is the Father.
It is His intention
to bring forth many sons
by regenerating them with His life.
In the book of Matthew
the Lord taught His disciples
to call God Father,
saying,
“Our Father who is in the heavens” (6:9).
Whenever we call God our Father,
we should realize
that He is our genuine Father.
He is not our father-in-law,
and we are not His adopted children.
Our Father is
our Father in life,
our genuine Father.
We call Him Father
because we were born of Him
and have His life.
When the two terms “Abba” and “Father”
are put together,
the result is
a deep, sweet sense,
a sense that is exquisitely intimate.
“Abba, Father” is
sweetness intensified.
Therefore, the sense we have when calling in this way
is very sweet and intimate.
Although the Spirit of sonship has come into our spirit,
the Spirit cries in our hearts, “Abba, Father.”
This indicates that our relationship with our Father in the sonship
is sweet and intimate.
For example,
when a son calls his father “daddy,”
there may be a sweet and intimate sense
deep within him.
However, the sense is not the same
if he tries to say the same thing to his father-in-law.
The reason is
that with the father-in-law there is no relationship in life.
How sweet it is when little children,
enjoying a relationship in life with their fathers,
tenderly say, “daddy.”
In like manner,
how tender and sweet
it is to call God, “Abba, Father!”
Such an intimate calling
involves our heart as well as our spirit.
The Spirit of sonship in our spirit
cries, “Abba, Father,” from our heart.
This proves
that we have a genuine, bona fide relationship in life with our Father.
We are His real sons, His genuine sons,
and He is our genuine Father.
In the New Testament
God is clearly revealed as being the only God.
First Timothy 1:17 says,
“Now to the King of the ages, incorruptible, invisible, the only God,
be honor and glory
unto the ages of the ages, Amen!”
In Romans 16:27
Paul declares,
“To the only wise God
through Jesus Christ
be the glory
forever and ever! Amen.”
Jude 25 says
that God our Savior
is the only God.
Furthermore, in 1 Corinthians 8:4 and 6
Paul says
that “there is no God but one”
and that “to us there is one God, the Father.”
Our God is uniquely one;
He is utterly distinct from
the many false gods.
Colossians 1:15 speaks of
the invisible God.
Although God is invisible,
the Son of His love (Col. 1:13),
“the effulgence of His glory and the express image of His substance” (Heb. 1:3),
is His image,
expressing what He is.
John 1:18 says,
“No one has ever seen God;
the only begotten Son,
who is in the bosom of the Father,
He has declared Him.”
According to chapter one of the Gospel of John,
although God is invisible,
the Father’s only begotten Son
has declared God by the Word, life, light, grace, and reality.
The Word is God expressed,
life is God imparted,
light is God shining,
grace is God enjoyed,
and reality is God realized.
The invisible God
is fully declared in the Son
through these five things.
A number of verses in the New Testament
reveal that God is the living God.
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.
In speaking of the church as the house of God,
Paul specifically refers to God as 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.
Because God is living,
the church is also living in Him, by Him, and with Him.
A living God and a living church
live, move, and work together.
The living church
is the house and the household of the living God.
In 1 Timothy 3:15
Paul refers not merely to God
but to the living God.
God is living,
and now He lives, dwells, moves, and works
in the church.
Therefore, the church
is the church of the living God.
In Hebrews 3:12
there is a warning with respect to the living God:
“Beware, brothers,
lest there be in any one of you
an evil heart of unbelief
in withdrawing from the living God.”
Our God is the living God.
Unbelief is evil
because it insults Him
as the living One.
Regarding the living God,
Hebrews 9:14 says,
“How much more
shall the blood of Christ,
who through the eternal Spirit
offered Himself spotless to God,
purify our conscience from dead works
to serve the living God.”
Hebrews is
not a book which teaches religion,
but a book which reveals the living God.
If we would have contact with this living God,
we need to exercise our spirit (Heb. 4:12)
and have a blood-purified conscience.
The blood of Christ
purifies our conscience
to serve the living God.
Hebrews 9:14
speaks of dead works and of the living God.
Before we were regenerated
we were dead in trespasses and sins.
Therefore, whatever we did, bad or good,
was dead works
before the living God.
But now we may serve the living God
with a conscience
purified by the blood of Christ.
Hebrews 10:31 says,
“It is a fearful thing
to fall into the hands of the living God.”
Hebrews 10 charges the Hebrew believers
to come forward
according to God’s New Testament economy
and not to drift back
to the old Judaism.
Then it warns them
that if they would fall away
from God’s New Testament way,
they will be dealt with by God
who is living.
Since He is living
He will judge His people.
Hebrews 12:22 speaks of
the city of the living God.
As a book dealing with the dead Judaism,
Hebrews reveals God
as the living God
from different angles.
Here it tells us
that the New Testament believers
have come to the city of the living God,
which is the heavenly Jerusalem,
in contrast with the earthly Jerusalem,
which has been given up by God
in His New Testament economy.
Since God is living in every way,
the Hebrew believers should remain
only in the things
which fit in with the living God.
God is also the immortal One
dwelling in unapproachable light.
Concerning this,
1 Timothy 6:16 says,
“Who alone has immortality,
dwelling in unapproachable light,
whom no man has seen
nor can see,
to whom be honor and eternal might. Amen.”
Although the Father dwells in unapproachable light,
we not only can approach Him in Christ,
but we also can have fellowship with Him.
We can approach the Father
because we are no longer in darkness.
He is in the light,
and we are in the light also.
Furthermore, this immortal One
who dwells in unapproachable light
is being dispensed into us.
Hebrews 12:29 says,
“Our God is also a consuming fire.”
He is a consuming fire
in His holiness and severity.
God is holy;
holiness is His nature.
Whatever does not correspond to His holy nature
He, as the consuming fire, will consume.
Thus He is severe,
expressing His holiness in severity.
If the Hebrew believers,
to whom the Epistle of Hebrews was addressed,
would have turned aside to Judaism,
which was common, unholy, in the sight of God,
it would have made them unholy,
and the holy God as the consuming fire
would have consumed them.
God is not only righteous
but also holy.
To satisfy God’s righteousness
we need to be justified
through the redemption of Christ.
To meet the demands of His holiness
we need to be sanctified,
to be made holy,
by the heavenly, present, and living Christ.
Romans emphasizes
the matter of justification
for God’s righteousness,
whereas Hebrews emphasizes
the matter of sanctification
for God’s holiness.
For this
it was necessary
for the Hebrew believers
to separate themselves from unholy Judaism
unto the holy God
who has fully expressed Himself in the Son
under the New Testament.
Otherwise,
they would defile themselves
with their old profane religion
and suffer the holy God
as a consuming fire.
A number of verses
tell us
that God is the almighty One.
The book of Revelation
unveils God as the Almighty.
In the Hebrew language
the title “God”
means the mighty One,
the One who is mighty, powerful.
But in Revelation
we see that God is not only mighty
but also almighty.
As the almighty One,
He is powerful
in every way,
in every aspect,
in everything,
and with everyone.
In John 17:3
the Lord Jesus addresses the Father
as “the only true God.”
This indicates
that only God is the reality, the truth.
Anything that is without Him
is not true, not a reality.
The Lord came with God as the truth, the reality,
to make our life real.
In order that we may know this reality,
the true God, the Lord has given us the eternal life.
His word in John 17:2-3
implies that eternal life has the ability
to know the true God.
In order to know the true God,
we need His divine life, the eternal life.
Because as believers
we have been born of His divine life,
we are able to know Him
as the true God.
The life of the true God
certainly is able to know the true God.
Since we have the life of the true God,
we have the ability
to know the only true God.
First John 5:20 says,
“We know
that the Son of God has come,
and has given us an understanding
that we might know Him
who is true;
and we are in Him
who is true,
in His Son Jesus Christ.
This is
the true God and eternal life.”
In this verse
“Him who is true” denotes
the true God.
To know Him
who is true
actually means to experience, enjoy, and possess the true God.
We need the true God’s life, the eternal life,
in order to experience, enjoy, and possess Him
as the true One.
In 1 John 5:20
the expression “Him who is true”
is used twice.
A better translation
would be “the true One.”
To speak of God simply as God
may be to speak in a rather objective way.
However, the term “the true One”
is subjective;
it refers to God
becoming subjective to us.
The God who is objective
becomes the true One
in our life and experience
subjectively.
The true One
is the reality.
The Son of God
has, through His incarnation, death and resurrection, given us
an understanding
so that we may know,
that is, experience, enjoy, and possess,
this divine reality.
Now the God who was once merely objective to us
has become our subjective reality.
The last part of 1 John 5:20 says,
“This is the true God and eternal life.”
The word “this”
refers to the God
who has come through incarnation
and has given us the ability
to know Him subjectively
as the true One,
making us one with Him organically
in His Son Jesus Christ.
All this
is the true God and eternal life to us.
All that this true God is to us
is eternal life to us
so that we may partake of and enjoy Him
as everything to our regenerated being.
In 1 Timothy 6:15
Paul, when he was under Caesar’s rule,
tells us
that God is the only Sovereign,
indicating that God is the only Ruler, the only Potentate,
who has the most absolute and the highest authority and power.
Hence, He is the King of those
who reign as kings
and Lord of those
who rule as lords.
Caesar was under Him.
Undoubtedly
the apostle who was imprisoned under Caesar
was encouraged by knowing God
as such a Sovereign.
In Revelation 6:10
the martyred saints
called God the “sovereign Lord, holy and true.”
The Greek word for “sovereign Lord”
is despotes, denoting a slave’s master
who has absolute sovereign power
over the slave.
The saints who suffered martyrdom
for the word of God and the testimony of Jesus
recognized the very God,
whom they served and who allowed them to be martyred,
as such a sovereign Master,
who is holy (distinct from all things)
and true (truthful)
in His nature and character
and has made them holy (sanctified, separated)
and true (truthful, faithful) to Him.
In 1 Timothy 1:17
Paul speaks of God
as the King of the ages.
Here “ages” actually means eternity.
This word needs to be understood
in relation to the decline of the church.
When Paul was in prison,
the churches began to decline,
and the situation was very disappointing.
Many were discouraged.
Even some of Paul’s co-workers
left him.
But he had a strong faith
with an absolute assurance
that the very God
in whom he believed,
the One who had entrusted him
with the gospel of glory,
is the King of the ages,
the One with the absolute authority for eternity,
who never changes.
No earthly king
can be called
the King of the ages.
Caesar was a temporary ruler,
but how different is our God!
The God whom Paul served
truly is the King of the ages,
the King of eternity.
The One whom we serve
and who is being dispensed into us
is the King of the ages.
In 1 Timothy 6:15
Paul also tells us
that God is
“the King of those
who reign as kings
and Lord of those
who rule as lords,”
indicating
that God is
the highest Authority
in the entire universe.
Hence, He is the only Sovereign
in whom the apostle trusted.
In 1 Timothy 1:17
we see
that as the King of the ages,
God is the incorruptible.
He never changes
in His nature, power, and any kind of His attributes;
He always remains the same.
Everything except Him
is corruptible.
The church may decline, deteriorate, and become degraded,
but God is incorruptible.
Romans 16:25 to 26
tells us
that God, who has given the command
to make the hidden mystery known to all the nations,
is eternal.
This indicates
that God remains immutable,
not subject to any change
due to any kind of environments and circumstances.
Since the God who gives this command is eternal,
remaining unchangeable forever,
so is this command.
Twice in the book of Revelation
we are told
that God is the One
who is, who was, and who is coming.
This is
the meaning of the name Jehovah.
In Hebrew
Jehovah means
“I am that I am.”
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.
He is
the only self-existent and ever-existent being.
In the universe
all things are nothing.
Only God is the One
who is, who was, and who is coming.
In the past He was,
in the present He is,
and in the future He will be.
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 One
who is, who was, and who is coming,
God is
the self-existing One
and the ever-existing One,
the One whose being depends on nothing apart from Himself
and the One who exists eternally,
having neither beginning nor ending.
Before anything else came into existence,
God was.
After so many things have passed out of existence,
God will still be.
God was,
God is,
and God will be.
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.
Do you desire holiness?
God is holiness.
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.
Heaven and earth
may pass away,
but God is.
Are you discouraged by your weakness?
One day
your weaknesses 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.
Oh, we must believe in Him
as the ever-existing One!
If we know God as the One
who is, who was, and who will be,
we shall be greatly encouraged,
especially during difficult times.
God is
also the Alpha and the Omega (Rev. 1:8; 21:6).
The eternal and almighty God
is the Alpha, the beginning for the origination,
and the Omega, the ending for the completion of His eternal purpose.
In the book of Genesis
He was the Alpha,
and in the book of Revelation
He is the Omega.
Whatever He has originated
He will complete.
Governmentally
He continues His universal operation,
which He originated from eternity
and will bring to completion.
Alpha and Omega
are the first and last letters
of the Greek alphabet.
The fact that God is the Alpha and the Omega
indicates that He is the entire “alphabet”
needed for composing the story of the universe.
He is also the “letters”
used in writing the history of our personal lives.
How meaningful it is
that our God is the Alpha and the Omega!
According to Hebrews 12:23,
God is the Judge of all.
In Hebrews 12:22-24
is a list of the eight positive items
to which the New Testament believers have come.
The fifth of the eight items
is God the Judge of all.
God is
the Creator and the Lord, the Owner, of all things,
and He is just
in all things and with all things.
As such a God
He must keep all things right in His eyes.
He must justify the right
and condemn the wrong.
Hence, He is the Judge of all.
In the list of the eight positive items,
the item next to God the Judge of all
is the spirits of just men
who had been made perfect.
These just men
were the Old Testament saints
who had been made perfect,
that is, rectified, by God as the Judge of all
who rectifies the wrongdoings of His chosen people
to make them perfect.
Hebrews is a book
dealing with the Hebrew believers
who were wrong
both in their concept concerning God’s New Testament economy
and in their act to drift back to the old Judaism.
For this,
God will judge them (Heb. 10:26-31),
to rectify their error
that eventually they might be made perfect by God as the Judge of all.
Thus they were told in chapter twelve
that the very God
to whom they had come
is the Judge of all.
This should have warned them
to rectify themselves of their error
that they would not need God
as the Judge of all
to judge them
that they might fit in with His justice.
A number of verses in the New Testament
indicate that God is the Lord
(Matt. 1:20, 22; Acts 3:19-20; Rev. 1:8).
God, the almighty One,
is the Lord.
His being the Lord
means that He is the Owner of the universe.
We may say
that He is
the “Landlord” of the whole universe.
He is
the Ruler, the Authority.
What we or others say
means nothing,
but what God says
means everything
because He is the Lord.
When He says, “Yes,”
it means yes,
and when He says, “No,”
it means no.
God is
the Lord, the Owner, the Authority.
Hebrews 11:10 indicates
that God is
the Architect and the Maker of the New Jerusalem.
Referring to Abraham,
this verse tells us,
“He waited for the city
which has the foundations,
whose Architect and Maker is God.”
This is
“the city of the living God,
heavenly Jerusalem” (Heb. 12:22),
“the Jerusalem above” (Gal. 4:26),
“the holy city, New Jerusalem” (Rev. 21:2; 3:12),
which God has prepared for His people (Heb. 11:16),
and the tabernacle of God
in which God will dwell with men for eternity (Rev. 21:3).
As the patriarchs waited for this city,
so we also seek it (Heb. 13:14).
Some translations of Hebrews 11:10
obscure the fact
that God is
an Architect, the Architect of the New Jerusalem.
Consider the New Jerusalem
as it is revealed in the New Testament.
Who other than God
is capable of designing such a city?
Only God as the supreme Architect
is able to design it.
The New Jerusalem
was designed by the eternal, divine Architect.
The person of God
is also revealed in the parables
of the New Testament.
In the parable of the evil husbandman (Matt. 21:33-46)
God is the Householder.
Concerning this,
Matthew 21:33 says,
“There was a man, a householder,
who planted a vineyard
and put a hedge around it,
and dug a winepress in it,
and built a tower,
and leased it out to husbandmen,
and went into another country.”
The householder is God,
the vineyard is the city of Jerusalem (Isa. 5:1),
and the husbandmen are the leaders of the Israelites (Matt. 21:34).
In this parable
we see
that as the Householder
God sent His slaves, the prophets.
Later,
the Householder sent His Son, the Lord Jesus.
Eventually,
the Householder destroyed the evil husbandmen
and leased the vineyard to other husbandmen.
This was fulfilled
when Titus and his army destroyed Jerusalem in A.D. 70.
The “other husbandmen” in this parable
were the apostles,
who took care of the church, the kingdom of God (Matt. 21:41)
in the New Testament.
God is
the King in the parable of the marriage feast (Matt. 22:1-14).
Concerning this,
Matthew 22:2 says,
“The kingdom of the heavens
was likened to a man, a king,
who made a marriage feast for his son.”
The “king” here
is God,
and the “son”
is Christ. First,
according to this parable,
God sent
“his slaves,” the first group of the New Testament apostles,
to call those
who were invited to the marriage feast (v. 3).
Later He sent
“other slaves,” the apostles sent later by the Lord (v. 4).
In verses 6 and 7
we see
that the King,
angry with those
who mistreated His slaves and killed them,
“sent his troops
and destroyed those murderers
and burned their city.”
These were the Roman troops under Titus
which destroyed Jerusalem in A.D. 70.
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.
In Luke 13:6-9
we have the parable
of the unfruitful fig tree.
In this parable
God is the Lord.
This parable
indicates that God
as the owner of
the fig tree planted in His vineyard
came in the Son
to the Jewish people as a fig tree
planted in God’s promised land as the vineyard
to seek fruit from them.
He had been seeking for three years,
and He did not find any.
He wanted to cut them down,
but the Son as the vinedresser
prayed for them
that God the Father would tolerate them
until He died for them (dug the ground around the fig tree)
and gave them fertilizer (threw on manure),
hoping that they would then repent and produce fruit.
Otherwise,
they would be cut down.
The passages in Luke 11:29-32 and 42-52,
unveiling the Jewish people
as an evil generation,
confirm this interpretation.
In this parable
the Jewish people are regarded by God as a fig tree.
When God did not find fruit on this tree,
He was thinking to cut it down.
But the vinedresser, the Lord Jesus,
begged the Father not to do this
until, by means of His death and resurrection,
He dug around the tree and threw on manure.
Then if the tree still did not bring forth fruit,
it could be cut down.
This is actually what took place.
Because the Jews did not repent,
even after the Lord Jesus died and resurrected and the Spirit came,
the “fig tree” was “cut down.”
This happened in A.D. 70
when Titus brought his Roman army to Jerusalem
and destroyed it.
That destruction of Jerusalem
was the cutting down of the fig tree.
In the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32)
God is revealed as the loving and receiving father.
The prodigal son gathered everything
he received from his father
and traveled into a distant country
where he squandered his estate,
living dissolutely.
After he had spent all of what he took from the father
and had fallen into a severe famine,
he became aware of his condition
and made a resolution
to go back to his father.
“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”.
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,
“Quickly bring out 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,
was lost and was found!”.
In the parable concerning persisting prayer in Luke 18:1-8
the unrighteous judge
refers to the righteous God.
The “widow” in verse 3
signifies the believers.
In a sense,
the believers in Christ
are a widow in the present age
because their husband Christ (2 Cor. 11:2) is absent from them.
The believers in Christ
also have an opponent, Satan the Devil,
concerning whom we need God’s avenging.
We ought to pray persistently for this avenging
and not lose heart.
Verse 8 indicates
that God’s avenging of our enemy
will be at the Savior’s coming back (2 Thes. 2:6-9).
This parable indicates the suffering
we have from our opponent
during the Lord’s apparent absence.
During His apparent absence,
we are a widow
and our opposer is troubling us all the time.
While our opposer is persecuting us,
it seems that our God is not righteous,
for He allows His children
to be unrighteously persecuted.
For example,
John the Baptist was beheaded,
Peter was martyred,
Paul was imprisoned,
and John was exiled.
Throughout the centuries
thousands upon thousands of faithful followers of the Lord Jesus
have suffered unrighteous persecution.
Even today
we are still undergoing unrighteous mistreatment.
Our God seems to be unrighteous,
since He does not come in
to judge and vindicate.
When our Husband is apparently absent
and we are left on earth as a widow,
temporarily our God seems to be an unrighteous judge.
Although He appears to be unrighteous,
we still must appeal to Him,
pray persistently,
and bother Him again and again.
On the one hand,
this parable indicates
that the Judge is sovereign.
This means
that whether or not He judges
is up to Him.
Seemingly without reason,
He may either listen to the widow
or not listen to her.
This parable reveals
that God is the sovereign Lord
and that He judges whenever He chooses.
On the other hand,
this parable indicates
that we need to bother the Lord
by praying persistently.
The significance of this parable
is profound.
We all need to know God
as He is revealed here.
A Jasper Stone and a Sardius:
This item and the next two
are all figures in the book of Revelation
to portray what God is.
In the book of Revelation
God makes His revelation known to us
“by signs” (Rev. 1:1),
that is, by symbols with spiritual significance.
John received a revelation
so divine, mysterious, and profound in many respects
that no human words can explain them adequately.
Thus they are made known by signs.
Revelation 4:2 and 3 say,
“There was a throne set in heaven,
and One sitting upon the throne,
and He who was sitting
was like in appearance to a jasper stone and a sardius.”
According to Revelation 21:11,
jasper is
“a most precious stone
…clear as crystal.”
Its color must be dark green,
which signifies
life in its richness.
Jasper here, as Revelation 21:11 indicates,
signifies God’s communicable glory in His rich life (John 17:22, 2).
It is
the appearance of God,
which will also be
the appearance of the holy city, New Jerusalem.
The city’s wall and its first foundation
are built with it (Rev. 21:18-19).
Sardius is
a most precious stone in the color of red,
which signifies redemption.
Whereas jasper indicates God
as the God of glory in His rich life,
sardius signifies God
as the God of redemption.
On the breastplate of the high priest in the Old Testament,
the first stone was sardius
and the last jasper (Exo. 28:17, 20).
This signifies that God’s redeemed people
have their beginning in God’s redemption
and their consummation in God’s glorious appearance in life.
In Revelation 21:23
we see
that God is the light in the New Jerusalem:
“And the city has no need of the sun nor of the moon
that they should shine in it,
for the glory of God illumined it,
and its lamp is the Lamb.”
The temple of the city
is God Himself,
and the light
is also God Himself.
The Lamb as the lamp
shines with God
as the light to illumine the city
with the glory of God,
the expression of the divine light.
Because this divine light will illumine the holy city,
there will not be the need
of natural light or man-made light.
God Himself will be
the light in the holy city.
In these messages
we have considered many aspects of God’s person.
We may have exhausted the New Testament in this matter.
As we consider all the aspects of God’s person,
we can see
what kind of God
is dispensing Himself into us.
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