God—His Work

In this message 
we shall begin to consider God’s work 
as revealed in the New Testament. 

Our God is a working God. 
The Lord’s word in John 5:17 
indicates this: 
“My Father is working until now.” 
In the New Testament 
we see God’s work in eternity past, in His old dispensation, 
in His new dispensation, and in eternity future, with many aspects.

In eternity past 
God made the divine economy, His eternal plan.
The Greek word translated “dispensation” in Ephesians 1:10; 3:9; and 1 Timothy 1:4 
is oikonomia, 
the anglicized form of which 
is “economy.” 
The Greek word 
means the law of a household or household administration. 
It denotes God’s household administration 
to dispense Himself in Christ into His chosen people 
so that He may have the church as His corporate expression. 
Economy equals dispensation, arrangement, plan. 
In simple words, 
we may say 
that in eternity past God made a plan, a divine, eternal plan.

After God made His eternal plan, 
He chose the believers: 
“According as He chose us in Him 
before the foundation of the world 
that we should be holy and without blemish before Him, in love” (Eph. 1:4). 
God’s choosing is His selection. 
From among numberless people He selected us, 
and this He did in Christ before the foundation of the world. 
Christ was the sphere 
in which we were selected by God. 
Outside of Christ 
we are not God’s choice.

The phrase “before the foundation of the world” 
means in eternity past. 
God chose us according to His infinite foresight 
before He created us. 
This implies that the world, 
which is the universe, 
was founded for man’s existence 
to fulfill God’s eternal purpose. 
God selected us 
not only before we were created, 
but even before the foundation of the world. 
Nothing of His creation 
had yet come into existence 
when He selected us.

God chose us in eternity past. 
The fact that we were chosen in eternity past 
means that our salvation began 
before the foundation of the world 
and before time. 
The word “chosen” 
implies that some were selected 
and that others were not selected. 
We praise the Lord 
that we are among the chosen ones. 
If we turn to our spirit 
and contact the Lord regarding this matter, 
we shall realize 
that just as God is eternal, 
so His choosing of us was also eternal.

God’s work in eternity past 
also included His predestinating—marking out— the believers 
before the foundation of the world. 
Concerning this, Ephesians 1:5 says, 
“Having predestinated us unto sonship 
through Jesus Christ to Himself, 
according to the good pleasure of His will.” 
The Greek word rendered “predestinated” 
may also be translated 
“marked out beforehand.” 
Marking out beforehand is the process, 
while predestination is the purpose 
to determine a destiny beforehand. 
God first selected us 
and then marked us out beforehand, 
that is, before the foundation of the world, 
unto a certain destiny. 
The destiny of God’s marking us out beforehand 
is sonship. 
We were predestinated to be sons of God 
even before we were created. 
Hence, as God’s creatures, 
we need to be regenerated by Him 
so that we may participate in His life 
to be His sons. 
Sonship implies not only the life of a son 
but also the position of a son. 
God’s marked-out ones 
have both the life to be His sons 
and also the position of sons.

God predestinated us according to His foresight (1 Pet. 1:2). 
This indicates 
that our relationship with God 
was initiated by Him 
according to His foreknowledge.

Furthermore, God predestinated us unto sonship through Jesus Christ. 
“Through Jesus Christ” 
means through the Redeemer, 
who is the Son of God. 
Through Him we have been redeemed 
to be the sons of God 
with the life and position of God’s sons.

Ephesians 1:5 says 
that God predestinated us unto sonship 
according to the good pleasure of His will, 
which is His purpose. 
God has a will 
in which is His good pleasure. 
God predestinated us 
to be His sons 
according to this pleasure, 
according to the desire of His heart.

Ephesians 1:4 says 
that God has chosen us to be holy, 
and verse 5 says 
that He has predestinated us unto sonship. 
“To be holy” is the procedure, 
and “unto sonship” is the goal. 
We have been predestinated unto sonship. 
In other words, 
God has chosen us to be holy 
so that we might be His sons. 
Thus, to be holy is the process, the procedure, 
whereas to be sons of God is the goal. 
God does not merely want a group of holy people; 
He desires many sons. 
It may seem to us 
that it is adequate for God to choose us to be holy. 
We may be fully satisfied with this. 
Nevertheless, God has chosen us to be holy 
for a purpose 
that we might be the sons of God.

When I was young, I loved Ephesians 1:4 and 5. 
However, at first I thought 
that God had predestinated me unto heaven. 
Then I thought 
that I was predestinated unto salvation. 
Many of us may have thought the same thing, 
reading into the Bible 
something of our own concept. 
But Ephesians 1:5 does not say 
that God has predestinated us unto heaven or unto salvation. 
It says 
that we have been predestinated unto sonship. 
God made a firm decision 
before the foundation of the world 
that we would be His sons. 
In eternity past, 
God, through His foresight, marked us out 
from among a vast number of people 
to be His sons. 
It was not initiated by us in time; 
it was initiated by God in eternity.

In eternity past 
God probably also made a counsel among the Trinity of the Godhead 
concerning the coming creation and redemption, 
as indicated, or implied, by Acts 2:23, 
which says, 
“This man [Jesus], delivered up 
by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God, 
you, through the hand of lawless men, 
nailed to the cross and killed.” 
A bracketed insertion in translation of Acts 2:23 
says that “the determined counsel…of God” was decided 
“in the council held by the Trinity.” 
In eternity past 
God should have made a plan 
according to His good pleasure. 
Then according to this plan, 
He selected us and marked us out. 
In His foreknowledge 
God knew that the creation would become fallen. 
Therefore, probably among the Trinity of the Godhead 
there was a conference 
concerning the coming creation and redemption. 
A decision was made 
regarding how to create the universe 
and how to redeem it after it had become fallen. 
This indicates 
that the Lord’s crucifixion was not an accident in human history, 
but a purposeful fulfillment of the divine counsel 
determined by the Triune God.

Christ’s death 
was also according to the foreknowledge of God. 
Christ was foreordained, prepared, by God 
to be His redeeming Lamb (John 1:29) for His elect 
according to His foreknowledge 
before the foundation of the world (1 Pet. 1:20). 
This was done according to God’s eternal purpose and plan, not accidentally. 
Hence, in the eternal view of God, 
from the foundation of the world, 
that is, since the fall of man as a part of the world, 
Christ was slain (Rev. 13:8).

According to the revelation 
we have collected from Acts 2:23, 1 Peter 1:20, and Revelation 13:8, 
the redemption accomplished by Christ through His crucifixion 
is a great thing 
in the heart of God 
for the carrying out of His eternal plan 
according to His good pleasure.

God’s work in the old dispensation 
was His work in the Old Testament. 
The old dispensation 
was God’s old administrative arrangement or economy. 
In the Old Testament as well as in the New, 
God had an economy, a dispensation, an administrative arrangement.

In Acts 17:24 
Paul speaks of God 
as “the God who made the world and all things in it.” 
This was a very strong inoculation 
against both the atheistic Epicureans, 
who did not acknowledge the Creator, 
and the pantheistic Stoics (v. 18). 
In his preaching in Acts 14:15 
Paul also spoke of the “living God, 
who made the heaven and the earth and the sea, 
and all the things in them.”

According to Ephesians 1:5 and 9, 
the motive of God’s creation 
was His desire and pleasure. 
God carried out the work of creation 
in order to fulfill His good desire 
and to satisfy His good pleasure.

God’s creation fulfills His desire 
and accomplishes His purpose; 
it also reveals His desire in the universe 
and manifests His purpose in eternity. 
Anything we make 
expresses our desire. 
Although we may not say very much, 
the thing we make manifests our purpose. 
When God created the heavens and the earth, 
He certainly had a purpose. 
By His creation 
we can see 
that God had a desire and a purpose. 
First, God’s purpose in His creation 
is to glorify the Son of God (Col. 1:15-19). 
Second, God’s creation 
manifests God. 
Although God’s divine power and His divine characteristics are invisible, 
man can have some understanding of them 
through the things made by God (Rom. 1:20).

Why did God create the heavens and the earth? 
According to the Bible, 
the heavens are for the earth, 
and the earth is for man. 
Zechariah 12:1 says 
that God stretched forth the heavens, 
laid the foundation of the earth, 
and formed the spirit of man. 
The heavens are for the earth, 
the earth is for man, 
and man with a spirit is for God.

The basis of God’s work in creation 
was God’s will and plan (Eph. 1:10). 
Revelation 4:11 says 
that all things were created according to God’s will. 
God is a God of purpose, 
having a will of His own pleasure. 
He created all things for His will 
that He might accomplish and fulfill His purpose. 
God has a will, 
and according to that will 
He conceived His plan. 
According to that will and plan, 
He created all things.

Although creation was God’s work, 
the means of His creation were 
the Son of God (Col. 1:15-16; Heb. 1:2b) and the Word of God (Heb. 11:3; John 1:1-3). 
The New Testament clearly tells us 
that God created the universe through Christ 
as the Son of God and the Word of God. 
Speaking of Christ as the means of creation, 
Colossians 1:16 says, 
“Because in Him were all things created in the heavens and on the earth, 
the visible and the invisible, 
whether thrones or lordships or rulers or authorities; 
all things have been created through Him and unto Him.” 
Regarding Christ as the Word, 
John 1:3 says, 
“All things came into being through Him, 
and apart from Him nothing came into being 
which has come into being.”

Only God can create. 
To create means 
to bring something into existence out of nothing. 
God is the unique Creator.

After creating the universe, 
God created man 
and determined mankind’s appointed seasons and the boundaries of dwelling. 
Concerning this, Acts 17:26 says, 
“And He made from one every nation of men to dwell 
on all the face of the earth, 
determining their appointed seasons and the boundaries of their dwelling.” 
The “one” here refers to Adam. 
God not only created mankind 
but determined mankind’s appointed seasons and boundaries of dwelling. 
The migrations to America in its times and boundaries 
is a strong proof of this word. 
After creating mankind, 
God preserved America. 
After it was discovered by the Europeans, 
a great many people migrated here. 
This was according to God’s sovereignty. 
God determined the seasons and boundaries of the United States 
for the sake of His purpose 
concerning the working out of His recovery.

As part of His work, 
God dealt with fallen mankind 
from Adam to Noah. 
The history of this is recorded in the Old Testament, 
but it is nevertheless referred to in the New Testament. 
In the New Testament 
we can see certain things 
God did in Old Testament times.

In His dealing with fallen mankind, 
God rejected Cain and justified Abel. 
“By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, 
through which he obtained testimony 
that he was righteous, 
God testifying to his gifts” (Heb. 11:4). 
According to typology, 
Abel’s more excellent sacrifice 
was a type of Christ, 
who is the real “better sacrifices” (Heb. 9:23).

Cain offered to God the fruit of his own labor. 
He brought the fruit of the ground 
with no blood for shedding. 
This means that he had rejected God’s way of redemption, 
which he must have heard from his parents. 
God’s way of redemption 
was that of a sacrifice 
in which blood was shed, 
for without the shedding of blood 
there is no forgiveness of sins (Heb. 9:22). 
Instead of caring for God’s way, 
Cain invented his own way of worshipping God 
according to his concept. 
God, however, did not accept Cain’s offering. 
Although Cain should have realized 
that what God wanted was a sacrifice with the shedding of blood, 
he did not offer such a sacrifice. 
Rather, Cain worshipped God according to his own concept, 
without the shedding of blood. 
His offering was an insult to God, an abomination in His sight, 
and He rejected it.

In contrast to Cain, 
Abel did not present his sacrifice according to his concept, 
but according to God’s way of salvation. 
He worshipped God according to His revelation. 
Abel realized 
that he needed an offering with the shedding of blood. 
Because Abel knew 
that he had been born of fallen parents 
and that he was sinful, 
he offered some firstlings of his flock 
with the shedding of blood for redemption. 
Therefore, Abel was justified by God.

Hebrews 11:5 says, 
“By faith 
Enoch was translated 
so that he should not see death, 
and was not found, 
because God had translated him. 
For before his translation 
he obtained the testimony 
that he was well-pleasing to God.” 
God’s work in the old dispensation 
included His translating Enoch from death. 
The reason God took Enoch away 
was that he should not see death. 
His being kept away from death 
was God’s ultimate salvation. 
Enoch enjoyed and partook of God’s salvation 
to the fullest.

Enoch was the first person to be raptured. 
Because the first mention of a thing in the Bible 
establishes the principle for that thing, 
the case of Enoch, the first mention of the rapture, 
establishes the principle of rapture. 
The principle of rapture 
is to be matured in life 
by walking with God. 
Enoch walked with God for three hundred years, 
and then God took him away (Gen. 5:22-24).

Before Enoch was translated by God, 
“he obtained the testimony 
that he was well-pleasing to God.” 
Hebrews 11:6 goes on to say, 
“Now without faith 
it is impossible to be well-pleasing to Him; 
for he who comes forward to God 
must believe that He is, 
and that He is a rewarder of those 
who seek Him out.” 
This verse, since it follows verse 5, 
indicates that Enoch not only walked with God 
but that he also believed. 
Enoch believed 
that there was a God, 
and he sought out God 
by believing 
that He is a Rewarder. 
It must have been his believing in God 
and his seeking God 
that motivated him 
to walk with God. 
Eventually, Enoch was rewarded by God. 
God gave him the reward of being translated 
so that he would not see death.

In His old administrative arrangement 
God judged the ungodly generation with the flood 
and delivered Noah and his family 
out of the corrupted generation. 
Second Peter 2:5 tells us 
that God “did not spare the ancient world, 
but guarded Noah, the eighth, a herald of righteousness, 
when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly.” 
To say that Noah was the eighth 
means that he was one of the eight (1 Pet. 3:20). 
Noah was a herald of righteousness. 
To be righteous and godly or unrighteous and ungodly 
is crucial with respect to God’s governmental judgment (2 Pet. 2:5-9). 
To be righteous 
is to be right with man before God, 
and to be godly 
is to express God before man. 
This was the manner of life Noah lived, 
which saved him from God’s governmental judgment 
according to His righteousness.

Noah did not preach the gospel; 
he preached God’s righteousness over against the corruption of his generation. 
Peter speaks of righteousness here 
because his emphasis is on God’s government. 
Noah’s preaching of righteousness 
was related to God’s government. 
God told Noah 
that He would wipe out the world 
and that Noah should preach righteousness to his generation. 
God exercised His judgment upon that corrupted generation 
by bringing a flood upon the world of the ungodly.

Concerning Noah, Hebrews 11:7 says, 
“By faith 
Noah, having been warned concerning things not yet seen, 
being devout, prepared an ark for the salvation of his house, 
through which he condemned the world 
and became heir of the righteousness 
which is according to faith.” 
While Noah was preaching righteousness to his generation, 
he was building the ark. 
Noah built the ark by faith 
according to God’s revelation, 
not according to his own concept. 
His building of the ark 
was absolutely against the tide of his generation. 
By preparing the ark 
“he condemned the world.” 
No one besides Noah’s family 
appreciated that work. 
After Noah entered into the ark, 
God shut him in (Gen. 7:16). 
When the flood came upon the ungodly generation, 
Noah and his family were in the ark, 
protected, preserved, and saved.

In this message 
we shall consider further God’s work in the old dispensation,
in His old administrative arrangement.

In his testimony before the Jewish religionists,
Stephen spoke concerning God’s calling Abraham,
the father of the chosen race, out of the idolatrous generation:
“The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham
when he was in Mesopotamia,
before he dwelt in Haran,
and said to him,
Go out of your land and from your relatives,
and come into the land which I will show you” (Acts 7:2-3).
Abraham was called by God.
Adam was the father and head of the created race,
but Abraham was the father and head of the called race.
As recorded in Genesis,
the history of the created race
culminated in the building of the tower and city of Babel.
Names of idols were written on this tower,
indicating that the created race had given up God
and had turned to idolatry.
Then God came in
to call Abraham out of the idolatrous generation.
According to Acts 7:2-3,
God called Abraham out of his land and from his relatives.

By the time God called Abraham,
man had forsaken God.
Man’s forsaking of God
was signified by his building a city for protection.
Furthermore, man had built a tower
as a sign of self-exaltation.
Furthermore, mankind had turned from God to idols.
Abraham, therefore, was called
out of an idolatrous generation.

The calling of Abraham
was originated by God Himself.
It was not initiated by the called one.
Although Abraham was the father of the called race,
the calling did not originate with him.
One day, while he was in Mesopotamia
worshipping other gods (Josh. 24:2),
God appeared to him and called him.
God was the Originator of the calling of Abraham.

Although God’s calling of Abraham took place in time,
something prior to that—God’s selection—
took place in eternity past.
Before the foundation of the world,
God selected Abraham and also predestinated him.
Then, in time, while Abraham was worshipping other gods,
having no thought that he would be called by God,
God appeared to him as the God of glory
and called him.

It was the God of glory
that appeared to Abraham.
God’s glory was a great attraction to Abraham,
and it separated him from the idolatrous generation unto God.
This appearing strengthened Abraham
to accept God’s calling.
According to Abraham’s situation in Mesopotamia,
without the attraction and encouragement of God’s glory,
it would not have been possible for Abraham to accept God’s calling.
But the God of glory
appeared to him
and transfused Himself into him,
so that he answered God’s calling.

God did not appear to Abraham without speaking to him.
When He came to Abraham,
He called him.
Calling means speaking.
According to Acts 7:3,
the God of glory said to Abraham,
“Go out of your land and from your relatives,
and come into the land which I will show you.”
This was God’s speaking to Abraham.
Such a speaking
should have also enabled him
to accept God’s calling.

God’s calling signifies a new beginning.
When God created man,
there was a beginning.
But the man God created for Himself
became fallen and forsook God.
Therefore, God came in
to call out Abraham
so that He might have a new beginning.
At the time of His calling of Abraham,
God began to have a new beginning.

God’s calling also signifies a transfer of race.
God’s new beginning with man through His calling
is a transfer of race.
God’s calling of Abraham meant
that He had given up the race of Adam
and had chosen Abraham with his descendants
as the new race
to be His people
for the fulfilling of His eternal purpose.
This was a transfer
from the created Adamic race to the called Abrahamic race (Gal. 3:7-9, 14; Rom. 4:16-17).
When we say that God’s calling is a new beginning,
we need to understand
that this new beginning is a transfer of race.

God’s intention in calling Abraham
was to bring him back to Himself
as the tree of life.
According to Genesis 1,
man was not only created by God but also for God and to God
that man might express God’s image
and exercise His dominion.
In Genesis 2
God was represented by the tree of life.
The fact that the man created by God was placed in front of the tree of life
indicates that man should continually eat of this tree.
Man needed to come to God, contact God, and have God transfused into him.
However, man failed to do this
and instead went to the wrong source, the tree of knowledge.
As a result,
the man who was made to God
turned away from Him.
This is the meaning of man’s fall.

God appeared to call Abraham
out of such a fallen condition.
This means that God wanted to bring man back to Himself.
When God called Abraham out of Mesopotamia,
His intention was to bring him back to Himself.
In calling Abraham,
God was bringing him back to the tree of life.
When God appeared to him,
that was the appearing of the tree of life.
As Abraham spent time in the presence of God,
he enjoyed the tree of life.
Every time this happened
God’s essence was transfused into him.
In this way
God trained Abraham
to be totally transfused and permeated with God
and to no longer act by himself
that God may be everything to him.

As part of His work in the old dispensation,
God promised Abraham
that through his seed, Christ,
the blessing of the gospel would come to all the families of the earth.
Galatians 3:8 says,
“The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the nations by faith,
preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham:
In you all the nations shall be blessed.”
In Galatians 3:14
Paul goes on to say,
“In order that the blessing of Abraham might come to the nations in Jesus Christ,
that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.”
Then in verse 16
Paul continues,
“To Abraham were the promises spoken and to his seed.
He does not say, And to the seeds, as concerning many,
but as concerning one, And to your seed, who is Christ.”
Because verse 14 combines the promise of the Spirit with the blessing of Abraham,
this verse is extremely important.
The blessing of Abraham
is the blessing promised by God to Abraham (Gen. 12:3) for all the nations of the earth.
This promise was fulfilled,
and this promise has come to the nations in Christ through His redemption by the cross.
The context of verse 14
indicates that the Spirit is the blessing God promised to Abraham for all the nations
and which has been received by the believers through faith in Christ.
This Spirit is the compound Spirit and is actually God Himself
processed in His trinity through incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, ascension, and descension,
for us to receive as our life and our everything.

The physical aspect of the blessing God promised to Abraham
was the good land (Gen. 12:7; 13:15; 17:8; 26:3-4),
which was a type of the all-inclusive Christ (Col. 1:12).
Because Christ is eventually realized as the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45; 2 Cor. 3:17),
the blessing of the promised Spirit corresponds to the blessing of the promised land.
Actually, the Spirit as the realization of Christ in our experience
is the good land
as the source of God’s bountiful supply for us to enjoy.
What kind of Spirit could be the blessing God promised to Abraham?
What Spirit could be the all-inclusive blessing,
which is Christ as the land?
It must be the Spirit, the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit.

Paul’s word concerning the Spirit should remind us of John 7:39:
“The Spirit was not yet,
because Jesus was not yet glorified.”
The Spirit in Galatians 3:14 and John 7:39
is the ultimate expression of the Triune God.
The Spirit denotes the processed God.
The Father is the source.
The Son of God as the course
was incarnated, lived on earth, was crucified, and was resurrected.
Incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection
are all aspects of a process.
In resurrection, Christ, the last Adam, became the life-giving Spirit.
No doubt, the life-giving Spirit
is the very Holy Spirit who gives life.
This Spirit is the ultimate consummation of the processed God.
As the good land is an all-inclusive type of Christ,
and as Christ who is the embodiment of the Triune God (Col. 2:9) has become the Spirit,
so the Spirit, the all-inclusive Spirit as the processed God,
is eventually the good land
to us, the New Testament believers,
as the fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham
that all the nations of the earth would be blessed in him.

In Galatians 3:14,
the blessing of the promise
is the Spirit,
and in Galatians 3:16
the promises were made to Abraham’s seed, which is Christ.
On the one hand,
the Spirit is the all-inclusive Christ.
On the other hand,
the Spirit, as the blessing of the promise,
was given to Christ as the seed.
When we believed in the Lord Jesus,
we received Him as the seed, as life.
This seed is
the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit, the reality of the good land.
The Christ whom we received as the seed
is the Spirit typified by the good land.
Christ came into us as the seed,
but as we live by Him
He becomes the land (the all-inclusive Spirit)
which is our portion.
This is the fulfillment of God’s word
in promising Abraham
that through his seed the blessing of the gospel would come to all the families of the earth.

Second Peter 2:6 says,
“Having reduced to ashes the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah,
He condemned them to ruin,
having set an example to those
who intend to live an ungodly life.”
In the old dispensation,
God condemned Sodom and Gomorrah to ruin by fire.
This He did as an example to those
who would live an ungodly life.
To live an ungodly life
is to live in the flesh in the lusts of men,
not in the will of God (1 Pet. 4:2);
it is to work out the desire of the nations (1 Pet. 4:3)
and to live in a vain, ungodly manner of life (1 Pet. 1:18).
People who live such an ungodly life
should be warned by this example.

In His old administrative arrangement
God chose the children of Israel, the descendants of Abraham,
and made them His people as a type of the church (Rom. 9:11-13; Acts 7:38).
In the Old Testament
the church is not mentioned in plain words.
However, there are types
that portray the church.
The children of Israel, as the chosen people of God,
are the greatest, collective type of the church,
in which we can see
that the church is chosen and redeemed by God,
enjoys Christ and the Spirit as the life supply,
builds God’s habitation,
inherits Christ as its portion,
degrades and is captured,
is recovered,
and awaits Christ’s coming.
What a work
that in the old dispensation
God prepared such an all-inclusive type of the church!

Paul applies the history of the children of Israel
to the New Testament church life.
In Hebrews and 1 Corinthians
he points out clearly
that what happened to the children of Israel
is a type of us (1 Cor. 10:6).
The entire history of Israel
is a story of the church.
The Bible, then, contains two histories
—the history of Israel and the history of the church.
The history of the children of Israel is a type,
and the history of the church is the fulfillment of the type.
Thus, the entire Bible gives us
one revelation, the revelation of God’s economy concerning the church.
In the Old Testament
we have a type, a picture, of God’s economy concerning the church,
whereas in the New Testament
God’s economy concerning the church is fulfilled.

Part of God’s work in the old dispensation
was to give the law
and to make the old covenant.
John 1:17 says,
“The law was given through Moses.”

The law was also given to expose
what man is and where man is.
The best way for man to be exposed
is to cause his situation to be seen
in the light of God’s attributes.
The Ten Commandments
are composed mainly of four divine attributes:
holiness, righteousness, light, and love.
God is holy and righteous;
He is also light and love.
If you look into the Ten Commandments,
you will see
that they embody the divine holiness, righteousness, light, and love.
For this reason,
the law became God’s testimony.
In other words,
the Ten Commandments testify
that God is holy and righteous
and that God is light and love.
God used this testimony to expose man.
As man stands before this testimony,
his sinfulness is exposed.

When the law was given,
the children of Israel promised to obey God’s commandments (Exo. 19:8).
Before the children of Israel responded in this way,
the atmosphere around Mount Sinai was not threatening.
But when the people declared that they would keep God’s commandments,
the atmosphere changed and became terrifying.
God exercised His holiness,
and the people were not allowed to approach further.
Frightened by the manifestation of God’s holiness,
they asked Moses to go to God on their behalf.
This indicates
that the function of the law
is to expose fallen mankind.

When God gave the law,
He knew that the people would not be able to keep it.
But He still gave it
in order to expose the people.
As the law functions to expose people,
it keeps them.
The law was used by God as a custodian
to keep His people,
just as a fold keeps a flock of sheep
during the winter or during a storm.
The time before the coming of Christ
can be compared to a winter season.
God used the law as a fold
to guard the people.
Paul makes this basic principle clear in Galatians 3:23:
“Before faith came
we were guarded under law,
being shut up unto the faith
which was about to be revealed.”
In verse 24 he goes on to say,
“So the law has become our child-conductor unto Christ,
that we might be justified by faith.”
These verses reveal clearly
that the law functions as a custodian.
As it exposed man’s transgression,
it guarded God’s people
until Christ came.

In the old dispensation
God not only gave the law to His people;
He also made a covenant with them.
Concerning this,
Hebrews 9:18-20 says,
“Neither was the first covenant dedicated without blood.
For when every commandment according to the law had been spoken by Moses to all the people,
he took the blood of the calves and the goats,
with water and scarlet wool and hyssop,
and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people,
saying, This is the blood of the covenant which God has commanded to you.”
The sprinkling of the blood of the sacrifices
was the sealing of the covenant
and the completion of the official enactment of the covenant.

A covenant involves two or more parties.
Here the covenant was between God and His people.
This making of a covenant
was a tremendous matter.
Using today’s words,
this covenant was an agreement or a contract.
The proper way for a contract to be enacted today
is for the participating parties to sign it.
A time is set,
and an official document is prepared.
Then all the parties concerned
sign this document.
In some cases,
the parties make an oath or a pledge.
Without such an official enactment,
the contract would exist as a written statement,
but it would not be binding on either party.
Although the law had been given to the people through Moses,
there was still the need for the covenant to be enacted.
Therefore, after God gave the law,
He made a covenant between Him and His people.

God’s covenant in the old dispensation
was enacted upon His promise.
A promise is a common, ordinary word without confirmation.
After God made His promise,
He sealed it with an oath.
He swore by His Godhead
that His promise was confirmed.
Once His promise was confirmed by an oath,
it immediately became the covenant
sealed by God.
If you read the Old Testament carefully,
you will see
that God’s promises were all sealed by His oath.
That the promises have become a covenant
means that they cannot possibly be altered.
Once the promises were confirmed by God’s oath,
having been made unalterable,
there was no possibility of change.
The promise had been sealed;
it was no longer a promise
but a covenant
confirmed by God’s oath.

God promised David, the king of the chosen race, 
that the fruit of his loins would be the coming Messiah—Christ. 
Regarding this, 
Acts 2:30 and 31 say, 
“Being a prophet and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him 
that of the fruit of his loins he would seat One upon his throne, 
he, seeing this beforehand, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, 
that He was neither left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption.” 
The Greek word rendered “fruit” in verse 30 is karpos, 
used for Christ only in the sense of offspring here and in Luke 1:42. 
It is used for the fruit of the tree of life in Revelation 22:2. 
Christ is the branch of Jehovah (Isa. 4:2) and of David (Jer. 23:5), 
and the fruit of Mary and of David, 
that we may eat of Him as the tree of life. 
To promise that such a Christ would come 
was a great thing and was a glad tiding. 
God did this to King David in the old dispensation 
as a great blessing to His chosen people.

God’s work in His old administrative arrangement 
included promising the coming gospel of the new dispensation 
through the prophets among the chosen race. 
The word “gospel” means glad tidings, good news. 
The gospel is news 
that gladdens those who hear it. 
It is good news from God, from the heavens.

In Romans 1:1b-3a 
Paul speaks of the gospel 
which “He promised before through His prophets in the holy Scriptures, 
concerning His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” 
The gospel of God 
concerns a person, Christ. 
Of course, such matters as forgiveness and salvation are included in the gospel, 
but they are not the central point. 
The gospel of God 
concerns the Person of the Son of God, Jesus Christ our Lord. 
The gospel is not a doctrine nor a teaching nor a religion; 
it is a Person.

This gospel was promised by God 
through the prophets in the Scriptures. 
The gospel of God was not an accident; 
it was planned and prepared by God. 
The Bible shows us 
that this gospel was planned by God in eternity past. 
Before the foundation of the world, 
God planned to have this gospel. 
Therefore, numerous times in the Scriptures, from Genesis through Malachi, 
God spoke in promise through the prophets regarding the gospel. 
This indicates 
that if we would understand the content of the gospel as the good news, 
we need to know the Old Testament. 
The Old Testament is not merely a record of creation and history. 
In it are revealed 
crucial elements pertaining to the gospel.

We have seen God’s work in eternity past. 
God made the divine economy, 
chose the believers before the foundation of the world, 
predestinated the believers unto sonship, 
and probably made a counsel among the Trinity of the Godhead 
concerning creation and redemption. 
We have also seen God’s work in the old dispensation: 
the work of creating the universe, 
creating man and determining mankind’s seasons and boundaries, 
dealing with fallen mankind from Adam to Noah, 
calling Abraham, 
promising Abraham 
that through his seed the blessing of the gospel would come 
to all the families of the earth, 
condemning Sodom and Gomorrah to ruin by fire, 
choosing the children of Israel and making them His people, 
giving the law and making the old covenant, 
promising David 
that the fruit of his loins would be the coming Messiah, 
and promising the coming gospel of the new dispensation 
through the prophets among the chosen race.

Now we need to ask 
why God did all this work in eternity past and in the old dispensation. 
For what purpose 
did He work in this way? 
The answer is 
that God did all this 
for the purpose of dispensing Himself into His chosen people. 
This is the underlying thought in the Bible. 
The central subject, the underlying thought, in the Scriptures 
is that God wants to dispense Himself into His chosen people 
so that He may have a corporate expression 
that consummates in the New Jerusalem. 
This was God’s purpose 
for making the divine economy, His eternal plan. 
This was God’s purpose 
in choosing the believers, predestinating them, 
and making a counsel among the Trinity of the Godhead. 
This was God’s purpose 
in creating the universe, 
in creating man and determining man’s seasons and boundaries, 
and in doing so many other things in His old administrative arrangement. 
The purpose of God’s work in eternity past and in the old dispensation 
was the dispensing of Himself into His chosen people 
for the producing of the church 
as His corporate expression 
consummating in the New Jerusalem 
as the eternal expression of the Triune God.

These messages on the conclusion of the New Testament 
are not concerned with mere doctrine, theology, or teaching. 
The focus of these messages 
is the vision of the divine dispensing of the Triune God into us. 
It is not my intention 
that you simply know 
all the items of God’s person or all the aspects of His attributes. 
Rather, my intention is 
that we would see the rich ingredients of the divine food 
that we are taking in day by day 
so that we may participate in the dispensing of the Triune God into us.

The record of the New Testament 
reveals God’s New Testament economy, 
which is God’s dispensing of Himself into His chosen people 
for the producing of a corporate Body 
to express Him. 
In Ephesians 
Paul gives us a very high word 
concerning God’s eternal economy. 
In Ephesians 1 and 3 
we see that the economy of God 
was made for the purpose of producing a church in Christ. 
If you read Ephesians 1:9-11 and 3:9-11, 
you will see 
not only the economy 
made by God in Himself according to His good pleasure, 
but also the goal of God’s economy. 
The goal of God’s economy 
is to have the church, 
which is the corporate expression of God. 
The church as God’s corporate expression 
is the consummation of God’s economy.

We have pointed out 
that according to the principle 
revealed throughout the Bible, 
the means of God’s dispensing Himself into us 
is the divine life, 
and the way 
is our eating of Him. 
Ephesians 1 and 3 
show us the economy of God, 
but in these chapters 
we do not see 
either the means or the way for God’s dispensing. 
But if we read the other books 
written by Paul, 
we shall see 
that the means of God’s dispensing Himself 
is life 
and the way for God to dispense Himself 
is our eating of Him 
as our food.

After God made His economy, 
He did 
the work of selection and predestination. 
Concerning this, 
Ephesians 1:4 and 5 say, 
“According as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world 
that we should be holy and without blemish before Him, in love, 
having predestinated us unto sonship through Jesus Christ to Himself, 
according to the good pleasure of His will.” 
Here 
we see 
that both God’s choosing and His predestinating 
are for sonship.

The only way to produce sons 
is begetting, 
and begetting 
is a matter of dispensing. 
How can the Father beget children? 
The Father begets children 
by dispensing Himself in His life into those 
who are to become His children. 
Perhaps you have never realized 
that begetting, or propagating, 
involves the dispensing of life. 
When Adam begot children, 
he dispensed his life into them. 
Through such a dispensing 
the earth is filled with Adam’s descendants. 
Just as Adam’s descendants are produced 
by the dispensing of human life, 
so God’s sons are produced 
by the dispensing of the divine life.

If the Father’s life had not come into us, 
how could we be His sons? 
This would be impossible. 
Sonship requires the Father’s life. 
We are 
neither God’s sons-in-law 
nor His adopted sons; 
we are 
sons in God’s life and nature. 
Because we have been born of God 
and because God has been born into us, 
we now have God in us. 
The only way we can be God’s sons 
is for Him to dispense Himself into us.

For the carrying out of His dispensing, 
God in eternity past 
made a counsel with Himself 
to make certain decisions. 
First, 
God decided to create man. 
Without creating man 
God would not be able to select certain ones 
to be His sons. 
After deciding to create man, 
God also decided 
how mankind would be distributed on earth. 
He made a decision concerning seasons and boundaries 
so that it would be possible 
for the chosen ones 
to be ready and available 
to receive God’s dispensing.

After God created man and man became fallen, 
God did not give up on man. 
Instead, 
He came in 
to deal with fallen mankind 
from Adam to Noah. 
If we had the record concerning only Adam, Abel, Enoch, and Noah, 
we would not know 
what God’s goal is. 
But as we go on to the record concerning Abraham, 
we can see God’s goal. 
God told Abraham 
that through his seed 
all the families of the earth 
would be blessed. 
Who is the seed of Abraham? 
Abraham’s seed 
is Christ, 
the incarnated God. 
God’s promise to Abraham, therefore, 
points toward His dispensing.

After giving further promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, 
God eventually chose 
the children of Israel, the descendants of Abraham, 
and made them His people 
as a type of the church. 
They were a people 
separated for a particular purpose, 
and that purpose 
was God’s dispensing of Himself into His chosen people 
to make them His expression on earth. 
This expression 
is the church, 
of which Israel was a type.

After giving the law 
and making the old covenant, 
God promised David, the king of the chosen race, 
that the fruit of his loins 
would be the coming Messiah, the Christ. 
This promise 
is also related to God’s dispensing. 
As we consider God’s work 
in the old dispensation, in His old administrative arrangement, 
we need to have a clear understanding 
that this work 
is with a view to God’s dispensing. 
The “arrow” of God’s work in the Old Testament 
always moves toward the goal of God’s dispensing of Himself into His people 
to produce a corporate expression of Himself.

Finally, in His work in the old dispensation 
God promised the coming gospel of the new dispensation 
through the prophets among the chosen race. 
Prophecies were given 
concerning the propagation of the gospel. 
If we read the Old Testament carefully, 
we shall see this matter.

Having considered God’s work in eternity past and in the old dispensation, 
let us now go on 
to view His work 
in the new dispensation, in His new administrative arrangement—economy.

First, 
in His work in the new dispensation 
God sent John the Baptist 
to prepare the way for Christ. 
The New Testament opens with the record of John the Baptist, 
who was sent by God 
to prepare the way 
so that Christ, the Dispenser, might come. 
When John was asked who he was, 
he answered, 
“I am not the Christ” (John 1:19-20). 
Concerning himself, 
John the Baptist said, 
“I am a voice of one 
crying in the wilderness, 
Make straight the way of the Lord, 
as Isaiah the prophet said” (John 1:23). 
The One whose way John was preparing 
was the very Christ 
who would carry out God’s dispensing.

Luke 3:2 says, 
“In the high priesthood 
of Annas and Caiaphas, 
the word of God 
came to John, the son of Zachariah, in the wilderness.” 
It was according to prophecy 
that John the Baptist began his ministry in the wilderness. 
This indicates 
that the introduction of God’s New Testament economy by John 
was not accidental, 
but was planned and foretold by God 
through Isaiah the prophet. 
This implied 
that God intended His New Testament economy to begin 
in an absolutely new way. 
John the Baptist did his preaching 
not in the holy temple within the holy city, 
where the religious and cultured people worshipped God 
according to their scriptural ordinances, 
but in the wilderness, 
not keeping any regulation of the old way. 
This indicates 
that the old way of the worship of God 
according to the Old Testament 
was repudiated 
and that a new way 
was about to be brought in.

Luke 3:3 goes on to say, 
“And he came into all the country around the Jordan, 
preaching a baptism of repentance 
for forgiveness of sins.” 
John the Baptist’s work 
was mainly to preach the baptism of repentance. 
To baptize someone 
is to immerse, to bury, him in water. 
Hence, baptism signifies death. 
John came to baptize the people 
in order to indicate 
that the repentant ones 
were good only for burial. 
This baptism also signifies 
the termination of the old person 
and that a new beginning may be realized in resurrection 
through Christ as the Dispenser. 
Therefore, following John’s ministry 
Christ came. 
John’s baptism 
not only terminated those who repented 
but also ushered them to Christ 
for His dispensing.

John’s preaching the baptism of repentance 
was for the forgiveness of sins. 
The Greek word translated “for” 
also means unto. 
Repentance with baptism 
is for, and results in, forgiveness of sins, 
so that the obstacle of man’s fall 
may be removed 
and man may be reconciled to God.

Luke 3:4 through 6 say, 
“As it is written 
in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, 
A voice of one 
crying in the wilderness, 
Prepare the way of the Lord; 
make His paths straight. 
Every ravine 
shall be filled up, 
and every mountain and hill 
shall be brought low; 
and the crooked places 
shall become straight, 
and the rough places 
smooth roads; 
and all flesh 
shall see the salvation of God.” 
To prepare the way of the Lord 
and to make His paths straight 
means to change people’s minds, 
turning their minds toward the coming Savior. 
It also means 
to make their hearts right, 
to straighten every part of their hearts through repentance, 
so that Christ may enter into them 
to be their life.

Ravine, mountain, crooked places, and rough places 
are figures of speech 
describing the condition of men’s hearts toward God and toward each other 
and the relationships among men (Luke 1:16-17). 
Both the condition of men’s hearts 
and their relationships 
need to be dealt with 
for the way 
to be prepared 
for the Savior’s coming 
to dispense Himself into God’s chosen people.

“Flesh” in the word “all flesh will see the salvation of God” 
refers to fallen men, 
and “salvation” 
denotes the Savior as the salvation of God. 
John’s ministry 
was to prepare the way 
that all men might see Christ the Savior 
as the salvation of God.

God sent His Son 
in the likeness of the flesh of sin 
that He might redeem those under law 
so that we might receive the sonship. 
Romans 8:3 speaks of 
“God sending His own Son 
in the likeness of the flesh of sin 
and concerning sin, condemned sin in the flesh.” 
The flesh is of sin, 
and the Son of God did indeed become flesh (John 1:14; Heb. 2:14). 
However, He was only in the likeness of the flesh of sin, 
but had no participation in the sin of the flesh (2 Cor. 5:21; Heb. 4:15). 
This was typified by the brass serpent 
lifted up by Moses for sinful Israelites (Num. 21:9; John 3:14). 
The brass serpent 
was in the form, the likeness, of an actual serpent, 
but it did not have the poison of a serpent. 
In like manner, 
Christ had 
the likeness of the flesh of sin, 
but He did not have 
the sinful nature of the flesh of sin.

The subject of Romans 8:3 
is God. 
God sent His own Son 
in the likeness of the flesh of sin. 
God was wise. 
He knew 
that He could not send His Son 
to be the flesh of sin, 
for, if He did that, 
His Son would have been involved with sin. 
Therefore, He sent His Son 
in the likeness of the flesh of sin, 
as typified by the brass serpent 
lifted up by Moses in the wilderness. 
Christ does not have the nature of sin. 
God sent Him 
only in the likeness of the flesh of sin.

God sent His Son 
in the likeness of the flesh of sin 
in order to redeem us 
from under the law 
so that we might receive the sonship. 
Galatians 4:4 and 5 say, 
“When the fullness of the time came, 
God sent forth His Son, 
come of a woman, 
come under law, 
that He might redeem those under law, 
that we might receive the sonship.” 
The fullness of time in verse 4 
denotes the completion of the Old Testament time, 
which occurred at the time 
appointed of the Father. 
In this verse 
Paul describes the Son 
as “come of a woman, 
come under law.” 
The woman is, of course, 
the virgin Mary (Luke 1:27-35). 
The Son of God 
came of her 
to be the seed of woman, 
as promised in Genesis 3:15. 
Furthermore, Christ was born under law, 
as revealed in Luke 2:21-24, 27, 
and He kept the law, 
as the four Gospels reveal.

God’s chosen people 
were shut up by the law 
under its custody (Gal. 3:23). 
Christ was born 
under the law 
in order to redeem them 
from its custody 
so that they might receive the sonship 
and become sons of God.
According to the entire revelation of the New Testament, 
God’s economy 
is to produce sons. 
Sonship is the focal point 
of God’s New Testament economy. 
God’s New Testament economy 
is the dispensing of Himself 
into His chosen people 
to make them His sons. 
Christ’s redemption 
is to bring us 
into the sonship of God 
so that we may enjoy the divine life. 
God’s New Testament economy 
is not to make us 
keepers of the law, 
which was given only for a temporary purpose. 
God’s New Testament economy 
is to make us sons of God, 
inheriting the blessing of God’s promise, 
which was given for His eternal purpose. 
God’s eternal purpose 
is to have many sons 
for His corporate expression (Rom. 8:29; Heb. 2:10). 
Hence, He predestinated us unto sonship (Eph. 1:5) 
and regenerated us to be His sons (John 1:12-13).

Galatians 4:4 says 
that God sent forth His Son 
when the fullness of the time 
had come. 
God sent Christ 
at exactly the right time. 
Earlier would have been too soon, 
and later would have been too late. 
Christ came 
when the time was right. 
It was 
at the appointed time, 
at the fullness of time. 
For this reason, 
the Son’s coming 
was full of meaning.

First, God sent John the Baptist 
to prepare the way for Christ, 
and then He sent His Son. 
God sent His Son 
that we might receive the sonship. 
To receive the sonship 
is to receive the dispensing of the divine life. 
Therefore, the sending of both John the Baptist and of Christ 
were for the dispensing of the divine life 
into God’s chosen people.

By sending His Son 
God Himself was incarnated. 
Actually, God sent His Son 
through the incarnation. 
The New Testament way of speaking about the incarnation 
is to say that the Word, which is God, became flesh (John 1:1, 14) 
and that God was manifested in the flesh (1 Tim. 3:16).

It was surely a marvelous thing 
for God 
to come into man 
and to be born of mankind through a virgin. 
Our God 
became a man! 
In creation 
He was the Creator. 
But though He created all things, 
He did not enter into any of the things 
He created. 
Even in creating man 
He only breathed the breath of life into him (Gen. 2:7). 
He was still outside man. 
His breath, according to Job 33:4, 
gave man life; 
however, He Himself did not come into man. 
Until the incarnation 
He was separate from man. 
But with the incarnation 
He personally entered into man. 
He was first conceived 
and then remained in the virgin’s womb for nine months, 
after which He was born.

It is important 
for us to realize 
that it was the entire God 
and not only the Son of God 
who was incarnated. 
The Word, which was God, 
became flesh. 
We need to realize 
that this God, 
who the Word was, 
is not only a partial God, 
that is, 
not only God the Son 
but God the Son, God the Father, and God the Spirit, the entire God. 
The New Testament 
does not say 
that the Word, who became flesh, 
was God the Son. 
Rather, the New Testament says 
that in the beginning 
was the Word, 
and this Word 
was the entire Triune God, 
the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. 
It was the entire God, the complete God, 
that became flesh. 
The whole God 
was manifested in the flesh.

When God the Father sent the Son, 
He came with Him 
and worked within Him. 
The Gospel of John 
reveals that the Father, who is the source and the Initiator, 
sent the Son (John 5:24, 30, 36-38; 13:20; 14:24). 
There are two Greek words 
used for the English word “sent,” 
one of which means 
to be sent with a special commission. 
This indicates 
that the Father sent the Son 
as an envoy 
with a special commission.

The New Testament reveals 
that the Father sent the Son 
and that He came with the Son (John 17:8). 
As a rule, 
if someone sends you to a certain place, 
that person will remain where he is, 
and you will go to the designated place. 
But when the Father sent the Son, 
it was not like this. 
When He sent the Son, 
He came with the Son.

John 6:46 says, 
“Not that anyone has seen the Father, 
except Him who is from God, 
He has seen the Father.” 
In his note on this verse 
J. N. Darby says 
that the Greek preposition translated “from” here 
has the sense of “from with.” 
The Lord was not only from God 
but also with God. 
This means 
that while He was from God, 
God was still with Him. 
When the Son came, 
the Father came with Him. 
John 8:16 also indicates 
that God came with the Son: 
“I am not alone, 
but I and the Father 
who sent Me.” 
In verse 29 of the same chapter 
the Lord clearly said, 
“He who sent Me 
is with Me.” 
Furthermore, in John 16:32 
the Lord said, 
“I am not alone, 
because the Father is with Me.” 
All these verses 
indicate that, in His work in the new dispensation, 
God came with the Son.

Other verses reveal 
that God worked within the Son. 
John 14:10 and 11 say, 
“Do you not believe 
that I am in the Father, 
and the Father is in Me? 
The words which I speak to you, 
I do not speak from Myself; 
but the Father who abides in Me, 
He does His works. 
Believe Me 
that I am in the Father 
and the Father in Me; 
but if not, 
believe Me 
because of the works themselves.” 
The Father remained and worked in the Son. 
The Father not only came with the Son, 
but He remained and worked with Him. 
John 14:10 and 11 tell us clearly 
that when the Son spoke, 
the Father worked in Him.

The Father sent the Son, 
and the Father was with the Son; 
that is, 
the Father came with the Son. 
In the divine economy 
the Father sent the Son, 
and when the Son came, 
the Father came with the Son. 
Therefore, Acts 10:38 says, 
“God was with Him.”

When the Son became thirty years of age, 
God anointed Him 
for the carrying out of His commission. 
Matthew 3:16 and 17 speak of this: 
“Having been baptized, 
Jesus went up immediately from the water, 
and behold, 
the heavens were opened to Him, 
and He saw the Spirit of God 
descending as a dove 
and coming upon Him; 
and behold, 
a voice out of the heavens, saying, 
This is My beloved Son, 
in whom I delight.” 
Because the Lord Jesus was baptized, 
fulfilling God’s righteousness, 
the heavens were opened to Him, 
the Holy Spirit descended upon Him, 
and the Father spoke concerning Him. 
Before the Spirit of God 
descended and came upon Him, 
the Lord Jesus had been born of the Spirit (Luke 1:35; Matt. 1:18, 20), 
which proved that He already had the Spirit of God within Him. 
That was for His birth. 
Now, for His ministry, 
the Spirit of God 
descended upon Him. 
That was for the fulfillment of Isaiah 61:1; 42:1; and Psalm 45:7 
to anoint Him 
to carry out His God-given commission.

The Lord Jesus was inaugurated into His ministry 
by two steps: 
baptism in water 
and the anointing of the Holy Spirit. 
After the Lord Jesus was baptized, 
God the Father sent the Holy Spirit upon Him economically, 
anointing Him for His ministry.

In Luke 4:18 and 19 
we have a further word 
regarding God’s anointing the Son 
for the carrying out of His ministry: 
“The Spirit of the Lord 
is upon Me, 
because He has anointed Me 
to bring good news to the poor. 
He has sent Me to proclaim 
release to the captives, 
and recovery of sight to the blind, 
to send away in release those 
who are oppressed, 
to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” 
Here we see 
that the Spirit of the Lord 
was upon the Son 
because God had anointed Him 
to bring good news to the poor. 
The Greek word rendered “bring good news” 
is euaggelizo, 
which means to evangelize, 
to announce good news. 
To preach the gospel 
was the first commission of the Savior 
as God’s anointed One, the Messiah. 
Furthermore, God had sent Him 
to proclaim 
release to the captives 
and recovery of sight to the blind, 
to send away in release those 
who are oppressed, 
and to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, 
which is the New Testament age 
typified by the year of jubilee (Lev. 25:8-17), 
a time when God accepts the returned captives of sin 
and when the oppressed under the bondage of sin 
may enjoy the release of God’s salvation. 
The point we are emphasizing here, however, 
is that part of God’s work was to anoint the Son.

Another verse 
that speaks of God’s work in anointing Christ 
is Acts 10:38: 
“Jesus, the One from Nazareth, 
how God anointed Him 
with the Holy Spirit and power, 
who went about doing good and healing all those 
who were oppressed by the Devil, 
for God was with Him.” 
God anointed Christ also to do good and to heal all the sick 
who were oppressed by the Devil. 
This proves 
that God was with Him.

Acts 2:22 says, 
“Jesus the Nazarene, a man demonstrated by God to you 
by works of power and wonders and signs, 
which God did through Him in your midst.” 
The Greek word translated “demonstrated” here 
literally means to point out, to exhibit, to show forth, 
in the sense of proving by demonstrating, 
thus bringing about an approval. 
This indicates 
that the Lord’s work 
was God’s demonstration of Him, His exhibition of Him. 
While Christ was ministering, 
whatever He did 
was an exhibition of the work 
done by God through Him. 
In the four Gospels 
we have the exhibition of a wonderful person, the God-man, 
who was fully tested, proved, and approved by God.

In this message 
we shall consider further God’s work 
in the new dispensation, in His new administrative arrangement.

God’s work in the new dispensation 
includes His passing through death 
in the Son. 
The phrase “the blood of Jesus His Son” in 1 John 1:7 
indicates this. 
The blood shed on the cross for our redemption 
was not only the blood of Jesus, 
but also the blood of the Son of God. 
This implies 
that while Jesus was dying on the cross, 
God went through death in Him.
It is significant 
that 1 John 1:7 speaks of 
“the blood of Jesus His Son.” 
The name “Jesus” denotes 
the Lord’s humanity, 
which was needed 
for the shedding of the redeeming blood for men, 
and the title “His Son” denotes 
the Lord’s divinity, 
which is needed for 
the eternal efficacy of the redeeming blood. 
Thus, the blood of Jesus His Son 
indicates that this blood 
is the proper blood of a genuine man 
for redeeming the fallen men 
with the divine surety 
for its eternal efficacy, 
an efficacy 
that is all-prevailing in space 
and everlasting in time. 
Thus, the redemption accomplished by the God-man 
is eternal (Heb. 9:12).
Another verse 
which indicates that God passed through death in the Son 
is Acts 20:28: 
“Shepherd the church of God, 
which He obtained 
through His own blood.” 
God obtained the church 
by paying the price of “His own blood.” 
“His own blood,” as the blood of God, 
proves the fact 
that God died on the cross.
More than two centuries ago, 
Charles Wesley wrote a hymn 
that speaks of God 
dying for us. 
In this hymn 
Wesley says:
Amazing love! 
How can it be
That thou, my God, 
shouldst die for me?
In this hymn 
Wesley goes on to say, 
“’Tis mystery all! 
The Immortal dies!” 
Here Wesley declares 
that God died for us. 
Charles Wesley saw the vision 
concerning this 
and declared in his hymn 
that God died for us.
The God who died for us 
is not the God before incarnation. 
Prior to incarnation, 
God certainly did not have blood, 
and He could not have died for us. 
It was after the incarnation, 
in which God was mingled with humanity, 
that He died for us. 
Through incarnation, 
our God, the Creator, the eternal One, Jehovah, 
became mingled with man. 
As a result, 
He was no longer only God
—He became a God-man. 
As the God-man, 
He surely had blood 
and was able to die for us.

When God was judging Christ 
as our Substitute 
made sin for us and bearing our sins, 
God forsook Christ economically. 
Regarding this, 
Matthew 27:45 and 46 say, 
“Now from the sixth hour 
darkness came over all the land 
until the ninth hour. 
And about the ninth hour 
Jesus cried out with a loud voice, 
saying, ”Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? 
that is, My God, My God, 
why have You forsaken Me?” 
The sixth hour 
is our twelve o’clock noon, 
and the ninth 
is our three o’clock in the afternoon. 
The Lord Jesus was crucified at the third hour, 
at our nine o’clock in the morning (Mark 15:25), 
and He suffered on the cross for six hours. 
In the first three hours 
He was persecuted by men 
for doing God’s will; 
in the last three hours 
He was judged by God 
for the accomplishment of our redemption. 
During that time 
God counted Him 
as our suffering Substitute for sin (Isa. 53:10). 
Hence, darkness came over all the land 
because our sin and sins and all negative things 
were dealt with there, 
and God forsook Him 
because of our sin. 
God forsook Christ on the cross 
because He took the place of sinners (1 Pet. 3:18), 
bearing our sins (1 Pet. 2:24; Isa. 53:6) 
and being made sin for us (2 Cor. 5:21). 
This means that God judged Him 
as our Substitute for our sins. 
In the sight of God 
Christ became a great sinner. 
Because Christ was our Substitute 
and was even sin in the sight of God, 
God judged Him 
and even forsook Him.
According to the four Gospels, 
the Lord Jesus was on the cross 
for six hours. 
During the first three hours, 
men did many unrighteous things to Him. 
They persecuted and mocked Him. 
Thus, in the first three hours 
the Lord suffered man’s unrighteous treatment. 
But at the sixth hour, twelve noon, 
God came in, 
and there was darkness over all the land 
until the ninth hour, 
until three o’clock in the afternoon. 
The coming of darkness 
was God’s doing, 
and in the midst of it 
the Lord cried out the words 
quoted in Matthew 27:46. 
When the Lord was suffering 
the persecution of man, 
God was with Him, 
and He enjoyed the presence of God. 
But at the end of the first three hours, 
God forsook Him, 
and darkness came. 
Unable to tolerate this, 
the Lord shouted loudly, 
“My God, My God, 
why have You forsaken Me?” 
As we have pointed out, 
God forsook Him 
because He was our Substitute 
bearing our sins. 
Isaiah 53 reveals 
that this was the time 
God put our sins on Him. 
In the three hours 
from twelve noon to three o’clock in the afternoon, 
the righteous God 
put all our sins upon this Substitute 
and judged Him righteously 
for our sins. 
God forsook Him 
because during these hours 
He was a sinner 
there on the cross; 
He was even made sin. 
On the one hand, 
the Lord bore our sins; 
on the other hand, 
He was made sin for us. 
Therefore, according to His righteousness, 
God judged Him 
and forsook Him economically.
The Lord was born of the begetting Spirit, 
who is God reaching man, 
as the divine essence, 
who never left Him essentially. 
Even when He was on the cross crying out, 
“My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” 
He still had the begetting Spirit 
(God in the essential sense) 
as the divine essence. 
Then 
who left Him? 
It was the anointing Spirit 
(God in the economical sense), 
through whom He presented Himself as the God-man 
to be the all-inclusive sacrifice to God (Heb. 9:14), 
who left Him economically. 
After God accepted Christ 
as the all-inclusive offering, 
the anointing Spirit left Him. 
But although the anointing Spirit left Him economically, 
the Lord still had the begetting Spirit essentially.
When the Lord Jesus, the God-man, 
died on the cross under God’s judgment, 
He had God within Him essentially 
as His divine being. 
Nevertheless, 
He was forsaken 
by the righteous and judging God economically.

As part of His work 
in His new administrative arrangement, or economy, 
God condemned sin in the flesh 
through the death of Christ in the flesh. 
Concerning this, 
Romans 8:3 says, 
“For, the law being impossible in that 
it was weak through the flesh, 
God sending His own Son 
in the likeness of the flesh of sin 
and concerning sin, 
condemned sin in the flesh.” 
Here we see 
that God sent His own Son 
in the likeness of the flesh of sin 
and concerning sin 
and condemned sin in the flesh. 
God solved the problem of sin 
by sending His own Son 
“in the likeness of the flesh of sin.” 
Christ became flesh, 
but He was 
only in the likeness of the flesh of sin. 
There was 
no sin in His flesh. 
He had 
only the likeness of the flesh of sin, 
not the sinful nature 
of the flesh of sin.
The phrase “the likeness of the flesh of sin” 
contains three important words: 
likeness, flesh, and sin. 
To say only “the flesh of sin” 
would indicate sinful flesh. 
Paul, however, 
adds “in the likeness,” 
indicating that in Christ’s human nature 
there was no sin, 
even though that nature did bear 
the likeness, the appearance, of the flesh of sin. 
Furthermore, 
Paul does not say 
that God sent His Son 
in the likeness of the flesh 
and stop there. 
He adds “of sin.” 
The word “likeness” 
denotes strongly 
that Christ’s humanity 
does not have sin, 
but still that His humanity 
was in some way 
related to sin.
In doing the work of condemning sin in the flesh 
through the death of Christ in the flesh, 
God was wise. 
He knew 
that He should not send His Son 
to be the flesh of sin, 
for if He had done that, 
His Son would have been involved with sin. 
Therefore, 
God sent His Son 
in the likeness of the flesh of sin, 
as typified by the brass serpent 
lifted up by Moses 
in the wilderness (Num. 21:9), 
as mentioned by the Lord Himself 
in John 3:14. 
The Lord’s word in John 3:14 
indicates that the brass serpent 
was a type of Himself 
on the cross in our stead. 
When Jesus was on the cross, 
in the sight of God 
He was in the form of the serpent. 
Satan is the serpent, 
and the sin that was injected into man’s body, 
transmuting it 
into the flesh of sin, 
is the nature of Satan. 
Hence, 
the flesh of sin 
actually means 
the flesh with the nature of Satan. 
The Bible says 
that Jesus, the Son of God, 
became flesh. 
However, 
this absolutely does not mean 
that Christ became the flesh 
with the nature of Satan, 
because Romans 8:3 says 
that God sent Him 
in the likeness of the flesh of sin, 
thereby indicating 
that Christ assumed 
only the likeness 
of the flesh of sin, 
not the sinful nature 
of the flesh of sin.
In another verse, 
2 Corinthians 5:21, 
Paul says 
that Christ “did not know sin.” 
This means 
that He had no sin 
and that He did not know sin 
in an experiential way 
by contact or personal experience. 
Yet 2 Corinthians 5:21 
also says 
that this One 
who had no sin 
was made sin 
for us 
by God. 
Although this verse says 
that Christ was made sin, 
it does not mean 
that He was sinful in nature, 
for He was sent 
only in the likeness 
of the flesh of sin. 
The brass serpent 
had the form of the serpent, 
but it did not have 
the poison of the serpent. 
Christ was made sin 
in form. 
Within Him 
there was no sin; 
He had nothing to do with 
the nature of sin. 
He was made 
only in the likeness 
of the flesh of sin 
for us.
Romans 8:3 says 
not only that God 
sent His Son 
in the likeness 
of the flesh of sin, 
but also that God 
sent Him “concerning sin.” 
Some versions 
render the Greek here 
as “an offering for sin.” 
Paul’s thought 
is that sin 
is a problem to us 
and makes our flesh 
weak before the law (Rom. 8:3a). 
Not only our flesh 
but also sin 
needs to be dealt with. 
So God sent His Son 
not only in the likeness 
of the flesh of sin 
but also concerning sin, 
that is, for sin, 
for the problem of sin. 
In this way, 
God condemned sin 
and dealt with our flesh 
to resolve the problem.
Sin was condemned 
in the flesh of Christ 
on the cross. 
Sin is 
the nature of Satan. 
Satan’s nature, 
that is, sin, 
was in the flesh, 
and Christ put on 
the likeness of this flesh of sin, 
the likeness of the flesh 
in which sin, the nature of Satan, dwelt. 
Then 
Christ took this flesh to the cross 
and crucified it. 
In this way 
God condemned 
sin in the flesh 
through the death of Christ in the flesh.
The sin in the flesh 
condemned by God 
may be called 
personified sin. 
This personified sin 
is described in Romans 5 through 7, 
where we are told 
that sin reigns, 
that it can lord it over us, 
that it deceives us, 
and that it dwells in us. 
This personified sin in the flesh, 
which can force us 
to do things 
against our will, 
is actually Satan 
moving in our sinful flesh. 
Therefore, 
when God condemned 
sin in the flesh, 
He also destroyed 
Satan, the Devil (Heb. 2:14).

When the Lord Jesus was crucified, God tore the veil to open the way to the Holy of Holies. Matthew 27:51 says, “Behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from the top to the bottom.” This signifies that the separation between God and man was abolished, because the flesh (signified by the veil) of sin taken by Christ in its likeness (Rom. 8:3) had been crucified (Heb. 10:20). The words “from the top to the bottom” indicate that the tearing of the veil was God’s doing from above. Because sin had been judged and the flesh of sin had been crucified, the separation between God and man was taken away. Now the way to enter into the presence of God is open for us.
Hebrews 10:19 and 20 also speak of God’s tearing the veil to open the way for us to enter into the Holy of Holies: “Having therefore, brothers, boldness for entering the Holy of Holies by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which He dedicated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh.” The Holy of Holies today is in heaven, where the Lord Jesus is (Heb. 9:12, 24). How, then, can we enter it while we are still on earth? The secret is our spirit (Heb. 4:12). The Christ who is in heaven is also now in our spirit (2 Tim. 4:22). He, as the heavenly ladder (Gen. 28:12; John 1:51), joins our spirit to heaven and brings heaven into our spirit. Whenever we turn to our spirit, we enter into the Holy of Holies, and here we meet with God who is on the throne of grace.
According to Hebrews 10:20, we enter the Holy of Holies by a new and living way, which Christ dedicated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh. The way into the Holy of Holies has been cut. The Greek word translated “new” in this verse means freshly slain. Through Christ’s death on the cross, the way has been freshly slain for us. What was slain? Not only the flesh but the entire old creation. In this verse, the veil, which is Christ’s flesh, signifies the old creation, including us. On the veil were cherubim (Exo. 26:31), which signify the creatures (Ezek. 10:15). When the veil was torn, the cherubim were also torn, signifying that when the flesh of Christ, which is typified by the veil, was crucified, all the creatures also were crucified with His flesh. We have seen that when the Lord Jesus died, the veil in the temple was torn from the top to the bottom, meaning that it was torn by God in the heavens. The old creation has been slain, and a new and living way to enter into the Holy of Holies has been opened by God. Now through the riven veil of the flesh and by the blood of Jesus we can enter into the Holy of Holies.
The veil in Hebrews 10:20 is the second veil (Heb. 9:3) within the tabernacle which, as we have seen, typifies the flesh of Christ. When Christ’s flesh was crucified, this veil was torn, thus opening the way for us, who were excluded from God signified by the tree of life (Gen. 3:22-24), to enter into the Holy of Holies to contact Him and take Him as the tree of life for our enjoyment.

When Christ was crucified, God wiped out the handwriting in ordinances, nailing it to the cross. Speaking of God, Colossians 2:14 says, “Wiping out the handwriting in ordinances which was against us, which was contrary to us; and He has taken it out of the way, nailing it to the cross.” The Greek word rendered “wiping out” can also be translated blotting out, obliterating, erasing, or annulling (a decree of law). The Greek word for “handwriting” denotes a legal document, a bond. Here it refers to the written law. The ordinances, or decrees, refer to the ceremonial law with its rituals, the forms or ways of living and worship. These ordinances God has taken out of the way by nailing them to the cross. This is to abolish the law of the commandments in ordinances (Eph. 2:15).
Ordinances, rituals, and ceremonies of the law have been crucified in Christ’s death. Not only were sin, the natural man, the world, and Satan crucified; the law was also crucified. As evil men were putting Christ on the cross, God was nailing the law to the cross. Although the law had been given by God through angels, God Himself nailed it to the cross of Christ. Just as sin has been condemned (Rom. 8:3), so the law has been crucified. God does not want the law to remain in between Christ and us. What He desires is for us to live together with the risen Christ without any interruption.

Colossians 2:15 says, “Stripping off the rulers and the authorities, He made a display of them openly, triumphing over them in it.” The pronoun “He” refers to God. When Christ was on the cross, God not only wiped out the ordinances of the law, but also stripped off the rulers and the authorities and made a display of them openly, triumphing over them. The rulers and the authorities are evil angels, fallen angels that are subordinates of Satan working for him. While the Lord Jesus was dying on the cross, these rulers and authorities, these fallen angels, were very busy. Actually, during the time of Christ’s crucifixion; there was an invisible spiritual conflict between God and these evil rulers and authorities. God won the victory, stripped off the rulers and authorities, and made a display of them openly, triumphing over them in the cross.
After God created the heavens, the earth, and other items in the universe, an archangel rebelled, and many angels followed him. This archangel became Satan, and his followers became the evil rulers, powers, and authorities in the heavenlies. And after man was created, Satan induced man to fall and man became sinful. The rebellion of the angels and the fall of man put God into a difficult situation. God’s way to deal with this difficulty was the cross. First, God became a man, thereby putting humanity on Himself. Then Christ, God incarnate, went to the cross and was crucified. While He was dying on the cross, many things took place. God judged sin and the sinful old man. At the same time, He nailed the law to the cross. When God was nailing the law to the cross, the evil angels were present and very active. But God stripped them off through the cross.
While Christ was laboring on the cross to accomplish redemption, God was working. At the time of the Lord’s crucifixion, the cross was the center of the universe. The Savior, sin, Satan, we, and God were all there. God was judging sin and nailing the law to the cross. As He was doing this, the rulers and authorities gathered around God and Christ. Both God and Christ were working. Christ’s work was His crucifixion, whereas God’s work was to judge sin and all the negative things and to nail the law with its ordinances to the cross. The rulers and authorities who had gathered around God and Christ were also working, busy in the attempt to frustrate the work of God and Christ, pressing in closely around God and Christ. If they had not pressed in closely, how could God have stripped them off? The words “stripping off indicate that they were very close, as close as our garments are to our body. By stripping off the rulers and authorities God made a display of them openly. He openly put them to shame and triumphed over them. What a great matter this is!
The word “triumph” implies fighting. It indicates that a war was raging. While Christ was accomplishing redemption and God was dealing with the law and with negative things, the rulers and authorities came to interfere, pressing in close to God and Christ. At that very juncture God stripped them off, triumphed over them, and made a display of them openly, putting them to shame.
Now that the law and the evil angels have been set aside, God has a clear ground and a peaceful environment to enliven His chosen ones. He has a proper atmosphere to carry out the pleasant task of dispensing Himself into the very ones He chose in eternity past. As the life-giving Spirit, the Triune God, having stripped off the rulers and authorities, is giving life to us by dispensing Himself into our being.

In His work God also raised up Christ from the dead. Acts 2:24 says, “Whom God raised up, having loosed the pangs of death, since it was not possible for Him to be held by it.” Here and in verse 32 Peter says that God raised up the Lord Jesus. Considering Christ as God, the New Testament tells us that He Himself rose from the dead (Rom. 14:9). But regarding the Lord as a man, the New Testament says that God raised Him from the dead (Rom. 8:11). God’s raising up Christ from the dead was His approval of Christ to be the Messiah. Through the resurrection of Christ God was declaring that the resurrected Christ was the real Messiah, the One anointed and appointed by God to carry out His eternal commission.
In Acts 3:15 Peter again speaks about Christ’s being raised up by God from the dead: “The Author of life you killed, whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses.” Although the Author of life, Christ, as the Originator of life, had been killed, God raised Him from the dead. Considering the Lord Jesus as a man, Acts 3:15 again tells us that He was raised up from the dead by God.

In John 14:26 the Lord told the disciples that the Father will send the Holy Spirit as the Comforter in His name. This took place in Christ’s resurrection. Through Christ’s resurrection God sent His Spirit essentially in the Son’s name. The Son came in the Father’s name (John 5:43), because the Son and the Father are one (10:30). The Spirit is sent in the Son’s name, because the Spirit and the Son are also one (2 Cor. 3:17). John 14:16-20 proves that the Spirit, who is the Spirit of reality, sent by the Father, is the reality, the realization, of the Son. John 15:26 says that the Son will send the Spirit from with the Father, and the Spirit comes from with the Father. This, compared with John 14:26, which says that the Father will send the Spirit, indicates that the Son and the Father are one in sending the Spirit, and the Spirit, in His coming, is not only one with the Son, as indicated by His coming in the Son’s name in John 14:26, but also one with the Father, as indicated by His coming with the Father in John 15:26. This is the Triune God—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—reaching man eventually as the Spirit.

In this message we shall continue to see God’s work in His new administrative arrangement, particularly in Christ’s ascension.

Ephesians 1:20-22 says, “Raising Him [Christ] from among the dead, and seating Him at His right hand in the heavenlies, far above all rule and authority and power and lordship, and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in that which is coming.” God has not only raised Christ from among the dead but also has seated Christ “at His right hand in the heavenlies, far above all rule and authority and power and lordship, and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in that which is coming” (Eph. 1:20b-21). God’s right hand, where Christ has been seated by the great power of God, is the most honorable place, the place with supreme authority. The “heavenlies” refers not only to the third heaven, the highest place in the universe, where God dwells, but also to the state and atmosphere of the heavens in which Christ was seated by God’s power. “Rule” refers to the highest office; “authority,” to every kind of official power; “power,” to the might of authority; and “lordship,” to the preeminence which power establishes. The authorities include not only the angelic, heavenly authorities, good or evil, but also the human, earthly ones.
Ephesians 1:22 goes on to say that God has subjected all things under Christ’s feet. To seat Christ far above all is one thing; to subject all things under Christ’s feet is another. The former is a matter of transcendency; the latter is a matter of the subjection of all things to Christ.
The last part of Ephesians 1:22 says, “And gave Him to be Head over all things to the church.” The headship of Christ over all things is a gift from God to Him. Through God’s great power Christ has received the headship in the universe. It does not mean that God gave Christ to the church as a gift; it means that God gave Christ a gift—the headship over all things. A great gift was given to Christ by God, and this gift is the headship over all things.
God’s giving Christ to be the Head over all things is to the church. The phrase “to the church” implies a transmission. What God gave Christ to be is to the church; it is transmitted to the church. The church shares it. Through the transmission that is to the church, the church shares with Christ in all His attainments and obtainments.
The word “to” in Ephesians 1:22 indicates God’s dispensing. In His work in the new dispensation God passed through death in the Son, condemned sin in the flesh, tore the veil, wiped out the handwriting in ordinances, stripped off the principalities and powers, raised up Christ from the dead, seated Christ in the heavens, subjected all things under His feet, and gave Him to be Head over all things to the church. Because the church is the issue of the ascended Christ, the church is free from sin, from the ordinances of the law, and from the rulers and authorities in the air. The church is organically united to the Head over all things. The church is now the place where God can dispense Himself into His people. The church is the organ that receives directly all of God’s dispensing.

Acts 2:36 speaks of God’s work in making Jesus both Lord and Christ: “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made Him both Lord and Christ— this Jesus whom you crucified.” As God, the Lord was the Lord all the time (Luke 1:43; John 11:21; 20:28). But as man, He was made the Lord in His ascension after He brought His humanity into God in His resurrection.
God made Jesus the Lord, as the Lord of all (Acts 10:36), to possess all. God made Him the Lord to possess the whole universe, God’s chosen people, and all positive things, matters, and persons. God has made Christ the Lord not only of God’s chosen people but also of the angels and of all those who will be in the millennium and in the new heaven and new earth. This means that Christ has been made the Lord of the heavens, the earth, and of everything and everyone He has redeemed.
Acts 2:36 tells us that God has also made Jesus to be Christ. As God’s sent One and anointed One, Jesus was Christ from the time He was born (Luke 2:11; Matt. 1:16; John 1:41; Matt. 16:16). But as such a One He was also officially made the Christ of God in His ascension. God made Him to be the Christ to carry out His commission.

Acts 5:31 says, “This One God has exalted to His right hand as a Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.” God exalted the Man Jesus, rejected and killed by the Jewish leaders, as the highest leader, the Prince, the Ruler of the kings to rule over the world (Rev. 1:5; 19:16), and the Savior to save God’s chosen people. “Leader” is related to His authority, and “Savior” to His salvation. Because He has been exalted by God, Christ rules sovereignly over the earth with His authority so that the environment may be fit for God’s chosen people to receive His salvation (Acts 17:26-27; John 17:2). “To give repentance…and forgiveness of sins” to God’s chosen people requires Christ to be exalted as a ruling Leader and Savior. His sovereign ruling causes and leads God’s chosen people to repent, and His salvation based upon His redemption affords them forgiveness of sins.
Repentance is for forgiveness of sins (Mark 1:4). On God’s side, forgiveness of sins is based upon His redemption (Eph. 1:7). On man’s side, forgiveness of sins is through repentance. Now we need to repent and receive forgiveness. Repentance and forgiveness are two steps by which we are made ready to receive the dispensing of the Triune God so that we may be the church.
The goal of God’s work in the new dispensation is for His dispensing of Himself into us. God did all the things we have covered in this message for the goal of making everything ready and having His chosen people available for His dispensing. Dispensing is God’s unique goal. We all need to pray. “Lord, dispense Yourself into me. O Lord, infuse me with Yourself.” Our need today is to receive more and more of God’s dispensing.

Sin frustrates people from enjoying God’s dispensing. When God condemned sin in the flesh through the death of Christ in the flesh (Rom. 8:3), He dealt with this hindrance to His dispensing. When Christ was crucified, God also wiped out the handwriting in ordinances (Col. 2:14) and stripped off the rulers and authorities, making a display of them openly and triumphing over them in the cross (Col. 2:15). After this, God raised up Christ from the dead, seated Him in the heavens, subjected all things under His feet, and gave Him to be Head over all things to the church (Eph. 1:20-22). God has also made Jesus both Lord and Christ (Acts 2:36). Furthermore, He has exalted Jesus to be a Leader and Savior so that He may give His chosen people repentance and forgiveness of sins (Acts 5:31). Now we need to see that, in His work, God has made Christ the High Priest.
Hebrews 5:5 and 6 say, “Christ did not glorify Himself to become a High Priest, but He who said to Him, You are My Son, this day I have begotten You; as also in another place He says, You are a Priest forever according to the order of Melchisedec.” Verse 5 contains a quote from Psalm 2:7: “You are My Son, this day I have begotten You.” This refers to Christ’s resurrection (Acts 13:33), which qualified Him to be our High Priest. For Christ to be our High Priest, He had to partake of our humanity and enter with this humanity into resurrection. With His humanity He can sympathize with us and be merciful to us (Heb. 4:15; 2:17). In resurrection, with His divinity, He can do everything for us and be faithful to us (Heb. 7:24-25; 2:17).
The context of the quotation of Hebrews 5:6, from Psalm 110, refers to Christ in His ascension and enthronement (Psa. 110:1-4). Ascension and enthronement are further qualifications for Christ to be our High Priest (Heb. 7:26). Christ was not only raised up from the dead by God, but He also ascended to the height of the universe.
God has made Christ our High Priest according to the order of Melchisedec. The order of Melchisedec is higher than the order of Aaron. The order of Aaron was for the priesthood only in humanity, whereas the order of Melchisedec is for the priesthood in both humanity and divinity.
Melchisedec came forth to minister bread and wine to Abraham after Abraham had fought to rescue Lot. He is a type of Christ as God’s High Priest. Christ is now a priest according to the order of Melchisedec, and His work is to come to us, today’s Abrahams, with bread and wine. When we come to the table, we enjoy the bread and wine supplied by our High Priest, our Melchisedec. The bread and wine on the table signify the body and blood of Christ who, as the embodiment of God, has been processed so that He may be ministered into us. The bread and wine contain the elements of Christ in His death and resurrection, that are being dispensed into us. As today’s Abrahams, we enjoy the supply of our Melchisedec, a supply of the riches of Christ, that is for God’s dispensing of Himself into us.
According to the Bible, there are two orders of the priesthood—the order of Aaron and the order of Melchisedec. The order of Melchisedec came before that of Aaron. The Aaronic priesthood deals with sin on the negative side. The ministry of Melchisedec, on the contrary, is positive. Melchisedec did not appear to Abraham with an offering to take away sin; he came with bread and wine to nourish Abraham. As such a High Priest, Christ ministers to us Himself in the bread and wine, as the embodiment of the processed God for our nourishment.
The book of Hebrews reveals that although Christ has completed His redemptive work, He is very active as our High Priest, ministering Himself into us in the processed bread and wine for our daily supply. This is why God made Christ a High Priest not according to the order of Aaron but according to the order of Melchisedec. Today Christ is not the sacrifice-offering High Priest; He is the bread-and-wine-ministering High Priest. He has redeemed us with Himself in His humanity as the sacrifice on the earth, and now He feeds us with Himself in His divinity as the supply of life in the heavens. His priesthood according to the order of Melchisedec is for God’s original purpose of dispensing Himself into us to produce a corporate expression for Himself.

Acts 10:42 says, “He charged us to proclaim to the people and solemnly testify that this is the One who was designated by God to be the Judge of the living and the dead.” Christ has been designated, by God, the Judge of all mankind. He will judge both the living and the dead. At His coming back the resurrected Christ will be the Judge of the living before the millennium on His throne of glory (Matt. 25:31-46). This is related to His second coming (2 Tim. 4:1). Christ will also be the Judge of the dead after the millennium on the great white throne (Rev. 20:11-15). Thus, Romans 2:16 says, “God shall judge the secrets of men…by Jesus Christ.”
Acts 17:31 says, “Because He has set a day in which He is about to judge the inhabited earth in righteousness by a Man whom He has designated, having furnished proof to all by raising Him from among the dead.” God has designated Christ to judge the inhabited earth at a day set by Him. This refers to the day when Christ will judge the living on the throne of His glory before the millennium. Because on that day He will judge the inhabited earth, it should refer only to His judgment on the living. God has designated Him to execute this judgment because He is a Man (John 5:27), and God’s raising Him from among the dead is a strong proof of this.
God has given the authority of all judgment to Christ that all men may honor Him as they honor God (John 5:22-23), and He will judge according to the will of God (John 5:30). As the Son of God (John 5:25), He can give life (John 5:21), and as the Son of Man, He can execute judgment (John 5:27). He is one with the Father in the matter of enlivening, and He is also one with Him in the matter of judgment.

After God seated Christ in the heavens, made Him both Lord and Christ, exalted Him to be a Leader and a Savior, made Him the High Priest, and designated Him to be the Judge of the living and the dead, He poured out His Spirit upon His slaves. Concerning this, Acts 2:17 and 18 say, “It shall be in the last days, says God, that I will pour out of My Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; and upon My slaves, both men and women, I will pour out of My Spirit in those days, and they shall prophesy.” The pouring out of the Spirit here differs from the breathing of the Spirit into the disciples out of the mouth of Christ on the day of His resurrection (John 20:22). The pouring out of God’s Spirit was from the heavens after Christ’s ascension. The former is the essential aspect of the Spirit breathed into the disciples as life for their living; the latter is the economical aspect of the Spirit poured out upon them as power for their work. The same Spirit is both within the believers essentially and upon them economically.
The poured-out Spirit is the consummation of the processed Triune God. The Triune God became incarnate, and then He lived on earth for thirty-three and a half years, after which He went to the cross and died an all-inclusive death to solve all problems. Then He was buried and raised up from the dead, entering into resurrection and becoming a life-giving Spirit. After His resurrection, He ascended to the heavens to be made Lord, Christ, Savior, Leader, High Priest, and Head of all things. After passing through such a process, He became the Spirit, and the Spirit is the consummation of the Triune God.
The Spirit poured out on the day of Pentecost was not merely the so-called Holy Spirit, as is commonly taught. Rather, according to the entire revelation of the Bible, this Spirit was the Triune God consummated, through the process of incarnation unto ascension, as the Spirit. Therefore, the Spirit poured out on the day of Pentecost was the consummation of the Triune God. When this Spirit was poured out, the processed Triune God was poured out, and this outpouring included the elements of incarnation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, ascension, and descension.
The outpouring of the all-inclusive Spirit as the consummation of the processed Triune God is a great blessing to God’s chosen people. Now God’s people can receive in full the dispensing of this consummated God. From the day of Pentecost until now, God’s chosen people have been under this dispensing. We may be under such a divine dispensing day by day and even moment by moment. It is a great thing to be under this dispensing, which is the issue of God’s marvelous work in the New Testament.
This dispensing could not take place at the time of John the Baptist, or when Peter was traveling with the Lord Jesus. The reason the divine dispensing could not be experienced then was that the Triune God had not yet been consummated. But by the time Christ came to His disciples after His resurrection and told them to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit (Matt. 28:19), the Triune God had been consummated. It certainly is good news, glad tidings, to hear that the Triune God has been consummated as the all-inclusive Spirit to dispense Himself into us.
God has poured out the all-inclusive Spirit as His consummation upon the whole Body of Christ including all of us. This outpouring is God dispensing Himself into His chosen people in a full way. Today we are under this outpouring, this dispensing. May we all see this vision that God has poured out the all-inclusive consummated Spirit and that we all are under this marvelous dispensing.

After God poured out the consummated Spirit upon the Body of Christ, He sent the resurrected Christ back to His chosen people. Acts 3:26 speaks of this: “To you first, God, having raised up His Servant, has sent Him to bless you in turning away each one of you from your wickedness.” God has sent back the resurrected and ascended Christ to the Jews first by pouring out His Spirit on the day of Pentecost. Hence, the very consummated Spirit God poured out is the Christ God raised and exalted to the heavens. When the apostles preached and ministered this Christ, the consummated Spirit was ministered to people.
At the time Peter spoke the word recorded in Acts 3:26, Christ as God’s Servant had ascended to the heavens and was still there. Nevertheless, Peter told the people that God had sent Christ to bless them. Actually, God has received Christ into the heavens. But here Peter says that God has sent this ascended One to the people. In what way did God send the ascended Christ to the Jews? God sent Him by pouring out the consummated Spirit. That was God’s way of sending the ascended Christ to the people. This implies that the outpoured Spirit is actually the ascended Christ Himself. When the outpoured Spirit came to the people, that was Christ, the ascended One, sent by God to them. From this we see that the poured-out Spirit is identical to the ascended Christ. In God’s economy for the experience of His people, the ascended Christ and the poured-out Spirit are one. In God’s economy Christ and the Spirit are one for the dispensing of the processed Triune God into us and for our enjoyment of this dispensing.
We have heard much that God will send Christ back in the future, at the time of the second advent. But according to Acts 3:26, God has already sent back the ascended Christ. First He was sent to the Jews and then to Gentiles throughout the world.
The first time Christ was sent by God He was sent in the flesh. After His ascension He was sent back by God as the Spirit. Christ today is the Spirit. When the all-inclusive Spirit was poured out on the day of Pentecost, that was God’s sending of Christ. The outpouring of the Spirit was the descension of Christ. In chapter two of Acts the Spirit was poured out, and Peter received this outpouring of the Spirit. Then in chapter three Peter says that God has sent Christ back to His people. God honored Christ, glorified Christ, and sent Him back. Even while Peter was speaking to the people, Christ was there. He was present not as the Christ in the flesh but as the pneumatic Christ, who is the Spirit. Therefore, as part of His work, God has sent the resurrected Christ to His chosen people as the Spirit.

In this message we shall consider more aspects of God’s work in the new dispensation.

God’s work includes His calling, forgiving, justifying, reconciling, receiving, regenerating, washing, sanctifying, and glorifying the believers. Let us briefly consider these matters one by one.

Romans 8:30, speaking of God, says, “Whom He predestinated, these He also called; and whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.” Here we see that we have been called by God. According to 1 Corinthians 1:9, God has called us “into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” To be called into the fellowship of God’s Son is to be called into the partaking of, the participating in, His Son. This is to be called to partake of and to participate in the all-inclusive Christ. God has called us into such a fellowship so that we may partake of and participate in Christ and enjoy Him as our God-given portion.
First Thessalonians 2:12 says that God has called us “into His own kingdom and glory.” The kingdom here is the sphere in which the believers worship and enjoy God under the divine ruling with the view of entering into His glory.
Paul speaks of God’s calling in 2 Thessalonians 2:13 and 14. “God chose you from the beginning unto salvation in sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth, to which also He called you through our gospel unto the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.” The pronoun “which” in verse 14 refers to salvation and belief in the preceding verse. God chose us unto salvation and belief in eternity, and then in time He called us to salvation and belief unto the obtaining of the glory of our Lord. Salvation in sanctification of the Spirit and the belief of the truth are the procedures; obtaining the glory of our Lord is the goal.
In 2 Timothy 1:9 Paul says that God “has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose.” God has not only saved us to enjoy His blessing, but also called us with a holy calling, a calling for a particular cause, to fulfill His purpose. The purpose here is God’s plan according to His will to place us into Christ, making us one with Him to share His life and position so that we may be His testimony.
In his second Epistle Peter gives us a word regarding God’s calling, saying that God “has called us to His own glory and virtue” (2 Pet. 1:3). Glory is the expression of God, God expressed in splendor. Literally, the Greek word rendered “virtue” means excellency. Virtue denotes the energy of life to overcome all obstacles and to carry out all excellent attributes. Glory is the divine goal, and virtue is the energy and strength of life to reach the goal.
In 1 Peter 2:9 we are told that God has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. Darkness is the expression and sphere of Satan in death; light is the expression and sphere of God in life. God has called us, delivered us, out of Satan’s death-realm of darkness into His life-realm of light (Acts 26:18; Col. 1:13).

In addition to calling us, God has forgiven us. Ephesians 4:32 tells us that God in Christ forgave us, and Colossians 2:13 says that God has forgiven us all offenses. According to Hebrews 8:12, God will by no means remember our sins. This means God will forget our sins. To forgive means to forget, for the forgetting of sins is the real forgiveness of sins. Without forgetting, forgiveness is not real. Hence, God not only forgives our sins but also forgets them.
First John 1:9 tells us that God is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins. To forgive us is to release us from the offense of our sins. The forgiveness of sins is the basic element of God’s gospel (Luke 24:47; Acts 5:31; 10:43; 13:38). Through this, the believers who receive Christ become the children of God (1 John 2:12; John 1:12-13).

A number of verses in Romans speak of God justifying the believers. Romans 8:30 says that those “whom He called, these He also justified.” Then 8:33b declares, “It is God who justifies.” According to Romans 3:24, we are “justified freely by His grace through the redemption in Christ Jesus,” for God is just and justifies the one who is of the faith of Jesus (v. 26). Justification is God’s action in approving people according to His standard of righteousness. God’s righteousness is the standard, not ours. No matter how righteous we are, we cannot be approved by God according to our righteousness. Although we may be right with everyone—our parents, our children, our neighbors and friends—our righteousness will never justify us before God. We may justify ourselves according to our standard of righteousness, but this does not enable us to be justified by God according to His standard. But when God justifies us, we are approved by Him according to the standard of His righteousness.
How can God justify us, approving us according to His standard of righteousness? He can do this because the work of justification is based on the redemption of Christ. When the redemption of Christ is applied to us, we are justified. If there were no such redemption, it would be impossible for us to be justified by God. Christ’s redemption is the basis of God’s justification.
In Romans 3:30 Paul says, “It is one God who shall justify the circumcision out of faith and uncircumcision through faith.” God is one. This one God justifies both the Jews and the Gentiles. Whether we are Jews or Gentiles, it is the one God who has justified all of us so that we may be one as the Body of Christ.

God has also reconciled us to Himself. Romans 5:10 says, “While we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son.” Colossians 1:21 and 22 also indicate that as enemies we have been reconciled to God. Originally, we were not only sinners but also enemies of God. Through the redeeming death of Christ, God has justified us, the sinners, and has reconciled us, His enemies, to Himself. Because we were sinners, we needed redemption. Because we were also enemies of God, we needed reconciliation to Him. This took place when we believed in the Lord Jesus. We have received God’s justification and reconciliation by faith.
Colossians 1:20 and 22 tell us that it was through Christ as the active instrument that God’s work of reconciliation was processed, that to reconcile us to God is to make peace with God for us, and that this was accomplished through the blood of Christ. Through the death of Christ God has reconciled us to Himself in order that we may be presented holy, blameless, and without reproach before Him.

Romans 14:3 indicates that God receives the believers. God receives us according to His Son. As long as a person receives His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, as his Savior, God receives him immediately. God’s receiving is based on Christ’s receiving, and Christ’s receiving is in accordance with our faith in Him. Once we have believed in Christ, we are received by God. God’s receiving ushers us into the enjoyment of the Triune God and all that He has prepared and accomplished in Christ for us as our eternal portion.

First Peter 1:3 says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has regenerated us unto a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from among the dead.” Regeneration, like redemption and justification, is an aspect of God’s full salvation. Redemption and justification solve our problem with God and reconcile us to God. Regeneration enlivens us with God’s life and brings us into a relationship of life, an organic union, with God. Hence, regeneration issues and results in a living hope. Such regeneration takes place through the resurrection of Christ from among the dead. When Christ was resurrected, we, His believers, were all included in Him. Thus, we were resurrected with Him (Eph. 2:6). In His resurrection the divine life was imparted to us and made us the same as Christ in life and nature. This is the basic factor of our regeneration.
To be regenerated is to receive another life, God’s divine life, in addition to our human life. Through regeneration God imparts His divine life into us. We all have been born of His divine life. This is to be regenerated by God.
James 1:18 also speaks of God’s work in regenerating the believers: “Having purposed, He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a certain firstfruit of His creatures.” God brought us forth, regenerated us, of His own will, by His intention, to carry out His purpose, so that we might be the firstfruit of His creatures. To be the firstfruit of God’s creatures is to be the vigorous life that matures first. This is by the divine birth, our regeneration (John 3:5-6), which is carried out according to God’s eternal purpose.
God brought us forth, regenerated us, by the word of truth. The word of truth is the word of the divine reality, the word of what the Triune God is (John 1:14, 17). This word is the seed of life by which we have been regenerated (1 Pet. 1:23).

First John 1:9 speaks of God’s cleansing, or washing, the believers: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous that He may forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Whereas to be forgiven is to be released from the offense of our sins, to be cleansed is to be washed from the stain of unrighteousness. In this verse “unrighteousness” and “sins” are synonyms. All unrighteousness is sin (1 John 5:17). Both refer to our wrongdoings. “Sins” indicates the offense of our wrongdoings against God and man; “unrighteousness” indicates the stain of our wrongdoings, that we are not right either with God or with men. The offense needs God’s forgiveness, and the stain requires His cleansing. Both God’s forgiveness and God’s cleansing are needed for the restoration of our broken fellowship with Him so that we may enjoy Him in uninterrupted fellowship with a good conscience void of offense (1 Tim. 1:5; Acts 24:16).

In his work in the new dispensation God also sanctifies the believers: “The God of peace Himself sanctify you wholly, and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thes. 5:23). The God of peace is the Sanctifier. His sanctification brings in peace. When we are wholly sanctified by Him from within, we have peace with Him in every way.
The Greek word for “sanctified” means set apart, separated unto God, from things common or profane. However, to be sanctified involves more than being separated from a common, worldly position to a position that is for God, as illustrated in Matthew 23:17 and 19, where the gold is sanctified by the temple and the gift by the altar in changing their position, and in 1 Timothy 4:3-5, where food is sanctified by the saints’ prayer. To be sanctified is also a matter of disposition, that is, a matter of being transformed from the natural disposition to a spiritual one, as indicated in Romans 12:2 and 2 Corinthians 3:18. This involves a long process, beginning from regeneration, passing the whole Christian life (1 Thes. 4:3; Heb. 12:14; Eph. 5:26), and being completed at the time of rapture, at the maturity of life.
According to 1 Thessalonians 5:23, God is sanctifying the believers wholly. This means that He is sanctifying us entirely, thoroughly, to the consummation. God sanctifies us wholly so that no part of our being, either of our spirit or soul or body, will be left common or profane.

In His work in the new dispensation God also glorifies the believers. Romans 8:30 says, “Whom He predestinated, these He also called; and whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.” Since glorification will occur in the future, why does Paul use the past tense and say “glorified”? Have you been glorified? Although in our experience we have not been glorified, the Bible says that we have been glorified already. Everything mentioned in verse 30 is an accomplished fact—predestinated, called, justified, and glorified. The reason Paul speaks this way here is that although we are subject to time, God is not. He is the God of eternity. With Him, as the eternal God, there is no time. Therefore, in the sight of God, we have already been glorified. According to His concept, this has already been accomplished. Our glorification is secured and ensured in the eternal God Himself. According to our experience, glorification will take place in the future. But according to God’s view, it has already occurred. With God everything is timeless. In His sight, our predestination, calling, justification, and glorification are eternal matters.
According to Romans 5:2, we “boast in hope of the glory of God.” Romans 9:23 says that we are “vessels of mercy, which He had before prepared unto glory.” This glory will be in the revelation of the coming kingdom in which we, as sons of God, shall participate (Rom. 8:21). God has called us into this glory (1 Thes. 2:12; 2 Thes. 2:14; 1 Pet. 5:10), and Christ Himself is the hope of this glory (Col. 1:27) which we are expecting and for which we are waiting. We shall share this glory at the day of our glorification.
Romans 8:30 does not say that we shall be put into glory; rather, this verse indicates that we shall be glorified. As we have pointed out, glory is the expression of God. Christ, the hope of glory, has been sown into us as the seed of glory, and this seed will grow until it reaches the stage of blossoming, at which time the glory will come out. For God to glorify us means that the glory that has been sown into us, saturates our whole being, and is expressed through us. When our whole being has been permeated and saturated with the element of glory, that glory will come out of us. This is what it means for God to glorify us. When we experience this glorification, we shall be in the expression of God.
We have considered nine aspects of God’s work in relation to the believers: calling, forgiving, justifying, reconciling, receiving, regenerating, washing, sanctifying, and glorifying. We have been called, forgiven, justified, reconciled, received, regenerated, and washed. We are being sanctified, and we shall be glorified. All these matters are related to God’s dispensing. God’s calling, forgiveness, justification, reconciliation, receiving, regeneration, washing, and sanctifying are for His dispensing of Himself into us. The final step—glorification—is for the dispensing of God in full. We need to see that all these aspects of God’s work with respect to the believers are for the goal of His dispensing of Himself into us.

Galatians 4:6 says, “Because you are sons, God sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father!” God’s Son is the embodiment of the divine life (1 John 5:12). Hence, the Spirit of God’s Son is the Spirit of life (Rom. 8:2). God gives us His Spirit of life not because we are lawkeepers but because we are His sons. As law-keepers we have no right to enjoy God’s Spirit of life. As sons of God we have the position with the full right to participate in the Spirit of God, who has the bountiful supply of life. Such a Spirit, the Spirit of the Son of God, is the focus of the blessing of God’s promise to Abraham (Gal. 3:14).
In verses 4 through 6 of Galatians 4 the Triune God is producing many sons for the fulfillment of His eternal purpose. God the Father sent forth God the Son to redeem us from the law so that we might receive the sonship. He also sent forth God the Spirit to impart His life into us so that we might become His sons in reality.
Galatians 4:4 and 6 speak of two kinds of sending. Verse 4 says that God sent forth His Son, and verse 6, that God sent forth the Spirit of His Son. According to the promise in Genesis 3:15, Christ came under law as the seed of the woman in order to redeem those who were under law, that they might receive the sonship. The goal of Christ’s redemption, therefore, is sonship. Through His redemption Christ has opened the way for us to possess God’s sonship. However, if God had not sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, our sonship would be empty. It would be a sonship in position or form, not a sonship with reality. The reality of sonship, which depends on life and maturity, comes only by the Spirit of God’s Son. Thus, Galatians 4:6 declares that God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts.
We should not think that the Spirit of the Son is a person separate from the Son. Actually, the Spirit of the Son is another form of the Son. The One who was crucified was Christ, but the One who enters into the believers is the Spirit. In crucifixion for our redemption this One was Christ, but in the indwelling to be our life He is the Spirit. When the Son died on the cross, He was Christ, but when He enters into us, He is the Spirit. First He came as the Son under the law to qualify us for sonship and to open the way for us to share in this sonship. After He had finished this work, He became, in resurrection, the life-giving Spirit and comes to us as the Spirit of the Son. Thus, first God the Father sent the Son to accomplish redemption and to qualify us for sonship. Then He sent the Spirit of the Son to vitalize the sonship and to make it real in our experience. Today sonship actually depends upon the Spirit of God’s Son.
Galatians 4:6 says that God sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts. Actually the Spirit of God came into our spirit at our regeneration (John 3:6; Rom. 8:16). Because our spirit is hidden in our hearts (1 Pet. 3:4) and because the word in Galatians 4:6 refers to a matter that is related to our feeling and understanding, both of which belong to our heart, this verse says that the Spirit of God’s Son was sent into our hearts.

Romans 8:11 says “If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from among the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from among the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who indwells you.” The God of resurrection who raised Christ from among the dead gives life, the divine life, to the believers’ mortal bodies to strengthen their bodies and even make their dying bodies alive through His Spirit who indwells our spirit. It is by this that a believer can give life to a sinning brother as mentioned in 1 John 5:16. This brother does not give life to others by himself; he gives life to others by being one spirit with the Lord (1 Cor. 6:17), thus he can impart, through the life-giving Spirit, the Lord’s life to others in the fellowship of the Lord’s divine life.

In 1 Corinthians 3:6-7 the Apostle Paul, the master planter in God’s farm, tells us that only God gives the growth to the believers, the spiritual plants on God’s farm. Regardless of how much Paul can plant and Apollos can water, they cannot give growth to the plants. God is the only One who makes us to grow, because He is the unique source of life with the unique life-supply. The growth God gives to us is the growth in life, which is crucially needed for us to be transformed into precious materials, the precious stones, for God’s building (1 Cor. 3:9-12a).

Philippians 2:13 says, “It is God who operates in you both the willing and the working for His good pleasure.” Philippians is a book showing us the way to experience Christ. In this verse it tells us that for us to experience Christ, God operates in us both the willing inwardly and working outwardly, that we may live Christ as our life for God’s good pleasure, as Christ did in His humanity while He was on the earth. God’s operating in us is to carry out our salvation in our daily life as indicated by the proceeding verse, even in murmurings and reasonings as pointed out in the following verse.

In speaking about spiritual gifts, concerning the distributions of operations, the Apostle Paul says, in 1 Corinthians 12:6, that God operates “all things in all.” In God’s new dispensational work, He also operates all things, especially, according to the context of 1 Corinthians 12:6, the things related to the exercise of the Spirit’s gifts for the Lord’s ministries. To carry out His New Testament economy in and through all the believers God operates all things in the believers according to His desire. This is mainly done in the church meetings through the believers’ functions in the exercise of the Spirit’s gifts for the Lord’s ministries under God’s diverse operations. This is the way that God in His divine Trinity works in the believers, according to His New Testament economy, to accomplish His eternal purpose for the expression of Himself in His manifestation.

In this message we shall cover several more items of God’s work in His new dispensation, and then we shall go on to consider God’s work in eternity future.

God cares for the believers and guards them; He also makes a way out of trials for them. Concerning God’s caring for the believers, 1 Peter 5:7 says, “Casting all your anxiety on Him, because it matters to Him concerning you.” The word “casting” here means throwing upon, that is, committing to, giving up to. The verb denotes a once-for-all act. The words “all your anxiety” indicate that the whole lot of our anxiety throughout our entire life, our whole life with all its anxiety, should be cast on God. We need to learn how to throw the burden of our anxiety upon God. Although the verb “casting” indicates a once-for-all act, because we are weak, we may need to cast our anxieties upon God again and again.
The reason we may cast all our anxiety on God is that “it matters to Him” concerning us. The words “it matters to Him concerning you” may also be rendered, “He cares for you.” God has a loving concern for the believers, especially the persecuted ones. Because He cares for them faithfully, they can cast their care upon Him, especially in their persecution.
In Philippians 4:7 Paul says, “The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus.” The Greek word translated “guard” here may also be rendered “mount guard over.” The God of peace patrols, or stands guard, before our hearts and thoughts in Christ. The heart is the source, and the thoughts are the issue. The peace of God guards both our hearts and our thoughts. This means that in Christ Jesus the peace of God patrols as a guard who goes back and forth before our hearts and thoughts. The peace of God which patrols within our inner being in such a way keeps us calm and tranquil. Even though we may have many troubles and much anxiety, nothing will disturb us. The peace of God infused into us keeps us calm even as it guards us.
Jude 24 speaks of God as the One “who is able to guard you from stumbling, and to set you before His glory without blemish in exultation.” Here the writer indicates clearly that although he has charged the believers to endeavor in the things mentioned in verses 20 through 23, yet only God our Savior is able to guard them from stumbling and to set them before His glory without blemish in exultation.
First Corinthians 10:13 tells us that God provides a way out of temptation for the believers: “No temptation has taken you except that which is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not let you be tempted beyond what you are able, but will with the temptation make also the way out, that you may be able to endure it.” God in His faithfulness will not allow any temptation to befall us beyond what we are able to endure, but will always make a way out for us. Paul’s word is both a comfort and a correction. We may think that temptations are too strong to be resisted. But Paul says that no temptation has taken us except that which is common to man. He also assures us that God is faithful and will not allow us to be tempted beyond what we are able to bear, but with the temptation will provide a way out so that we may be able to endure it. This is a word of promise and encouragement.

In 2 Corinthians 1:3-4, the Apostle Paul blessed God as the God of all encouragement, who encourages him and his co-workers in all their afflictions, that they may be able to encourage the afflicted ones through the encouragement with which they are encouraged by Him. Further, in 2 Corinthians 7:6, he considered God as the One who encourages those who are cast down, and this God has encouraged him and his co-workers, even by the coming of Titus. Encouragement is slightly different from comfort and consolation, with the sense of cheering. It indicates that God not only comforts and consoles us, but also cheers us, making us happy with His goodness. This is also one of God’s kind works in us.

First Peter 5:10 says, “The God of all grace, who called you into His eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will Himself perfect, establish, strengthen, and ground you.” According to what Peter says here, our sufferings are only for a little while, but God’s glory is eternal. After we have suffered a little while, the God of all grace will personally perfect, establish, strengthen, and ground us.
The word “Himself” in this verse indicates God’s personal activity in the work of grace. The Greek word rendered “perfect” literally means restore. It implies repairing, adjusting, putting in order again, mending, perfectly joining together, thoroughly equipping, well furnishing, and thus, perfecting, completing, educating. In Greek the word “establish” literally means to set fast, to confirm. The same word was used by the Lord in His charge to Peter in Luke 22:32. The meaning of “strengthen” is very close to that of establish. Literally, the Greek word rendered “ground” means to lay a basis for. It is a derivation of the word that means foundation. Hence, it is to ground solidly, as in Matthew 7:25, Ephesians 3:17, and Hebrews 1:10.
There is a progress in these four divine acts of grace. Perfecting leads to establishing, establishing to strengthening, and strengthening to grounding in the God of all grace—the Triune God in His dispensing as the solid foundation. First God perfects us. Through the suffering of persecution we are perfected. Then after perfecting us, God establishes us. When we are established, we no longer wander, and we are no longer changeable. After God establishes us, He strengthens us, empowers us, and, eventually, grounds us in Himself as the Triune God.
Romans 16:25 tells us that it is according to the gospel and the preaching of the Lord Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which has been kept in silence in times eternal, that the God who is of power establishes us. This indicates that God’s establishing of us is a great matter. It is according to the preaching of Christ according to the revelation of the mystery hidden in times eternal.
Ephesians 3:16 is another verse that speaks of God’s strengthening the believers: “That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit into the inner man.”
The word “strengthened” is modified by four phrases: “According to the riches of His glory,” “with power,” “through His Spirit,” and “into the inner man.” First, we are strengthened according to the riches of the Father’s glory, and then we are strengthened with power, the resurrection power referred to in Ephesians 1:19-20. Furthermore, the Father strengthens us by the indwelling Spirit. This does not mean that the Spirit is not with us, or that the Spirit will come down from the heavens to strengthen us. The strengthening Spirit has been with us since God regenerated us. He is still within us now. Through this indwelling Spirit the Father strengthens us from within. According to verse 16, we are strengthened into the inner man. The inner man is our regenerated spirit with God’s life as its life. It is our spirit regenerated by the Spirit of God (John 3:6), indwelt by the Spirit of God (Rom. 8:11, 16), and mingled with the Spirit of God (1 Cor. 6:17). In order to experience Christ unto all the fullness of God, we need to be strengthened by God into the inner man.

Referring to the Hebrew believers’ suffering of persecution, Hebrews 12:5-11 considers the persecution as God the Father’s discipline of the believers who are God’s genuine sons (v. 7). It says, “Whom the Lord loves He disciplines and scourges every son whom He receives” (v. 6), and all the believers as God’s sons have become partakers of the Father’s discipline (v. 8). It charges that we as sons of God do not make light of God’s discipline (v. 5), but rather respect the Father as a discipliner and be much in subjection to Him who is the Father of our spirits, that we may live (v. 9). The Father disciplines us for our profit that we might partake of His holiness (v. 10) which is the very characteristic of His holy nature. This is God our Father’s finer work in dealing with us as His sons. His work of making us holy is related to the Spirit’s transformation work (2 Cor. 3:18), which is carried out through the divine dispensing inwardly and the environmental dealings outwardly.
Hebrews 12 goes on to tell us that “indeed all discipline for the present does not seem to be a matter of joy but of grief; but afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been exercised by it.” (v. 11). God’s discipline not only makes us to partake of His holiness but also yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness. Peace is the fruit of righteousness (Isa. 32:17). Holiness refers to the inward nature, whereas righteousness refers to the outward behavior, that is, to make us right outwardly both with God and man, that in such a situation of righteousness, we may enjoy peace as a sweet fruit, a peaceable fruit of righteousness.

Romans 8:28 says, “We know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to the purpose.” In Greek the word translated “all things” refers to all matters, all persons, and all things. God the Father is sovereign and He arranges everything. He knows what we need. In His sovereignty, He causes all things, all matters, and all persons to work together for good to those who love Him and who have been called by Him to the end that He may fulfill His purpose.
God has determined our destiny beforehand, and this destiny cannot be fulfilled without the divine arrangement that causes all things to work together for us. Our destiny is to be conformed to the image of the firstborn Son of God (Rom. 8:29). We are not yet fully in the image of the firstborn Son of God, but God the Father is causing all things to work together for good so that His purpose of having many sons conformed to the image of the firstborn Son may be fulfilled.
God’s intention is to bring us into full sonship, so we need to grow. No doubt growth comes from inward nourishment, but this nourishment needs the coordination of the outward environment. Here is the need of God’s sovereignty to arrange our environment that all things may work together for our good according to His purpose.

John 16:23b; Matthew 6:6; Luke 18:7-8; James 5:14-16; Philippians 4:6-7; and Revelation 6:10-11 and 8:3-5, indicate strongly that God answers the believers’ prayers. Answering our prayers involves a lot of doings in God’s work for our good. Hence it is also an item of God’s work in His New Testament economy.

Romans 16:20 says, “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.” This promise indicates that God is working to crush our enemy Satan under our feet. Though this is something negative, it is still an item of God’s work for us in His new dispensation for the accomplishment of His eternal plan that He may have a complete manifestation for His eternal expression.

Hebrews 11:10 tells us that God is the Architect and Maker of the holy city, the New Jerusalem (Heb. 12:22a; Rev. 21:2). This indicates that God is the Builder of the New Jerusalem. This building work of God began in perfecting the Old Testament saints, beginning with the patriarchs in the old dispensation. It continues more intensively in producing the matured believers in the new dispensation. Actually the entire Bible is a full record of God’s work in building the New Jerusalem as His complete manifestation for His full expression in eternity, throughout all the dispensations in the old creation: the dispensation of the patriarchs, the dispensation of law, the dispensation of grace, and the dispensation of the kingdom. The New Jerusalem is a composition of all the perfected saints of the Old Testament and all the matured believers of the New Testament. This is the greatest among the works of God for the accomplishment of His eternal economy, the great part of which is being carried out in the New Testament dispensation.

Revelation 1:1 speaks of the “revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave to Him to show to His slaves what must swiftly take place.” As a conclusion of the divine revelation in the Holy Scripture, God gave Christ this last revelation concerning the three categories of people in the universe: the church, Israel, and the world. The church is under the heavenly Christ’s discipline and perfection that it may usher in the kingdom of God and of Christ and be consummated in the New Jerusalem for God’s expression in eternity. Israel is under God’s sovereign care that it may also be consummated in the New Jerusalem for God’s eternal manifestation. The world is absolutely under God’s judgment that it may be brought to its ultimate destiny— the eternal perdition in the lake of fire.

Hebrews 2:10 says that God is “leading many sons into glory.” These many sons are the many brothers in Romans 8:29 and the many grains in John 12:24. The last step of God’s great salvation is to bring His many sons into glory, into the expression of God. Romans 8:29-30 tell us that God’s work of grace upon us began with His foreknowing, continued through His predestination, calling, and justification, and it will end with His glorification. 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 glorification of the sons of God, as the goal of God’s salvation, will be manifested in fullness in the New Jerusalem for eternity (Rev. 21:11, 23).
In His prayer to the Father the Lord Jesus said, “The glory which You have given Me I have given to them” (John 17:22). The glory into which God is leading us is the glory which He has already given us. Although glory has been given to us already, we still need to enter into it.
We have been called into glory and this glory was designed according to God’s wisdom in eternity past (1 Thes. 2:12; 1 Pet. 5:10; 1 Cor. 2:7). When Christ appears, we shall appear with Him in His glory (Col. 3:4). The glory in which we shall appear with Christ is not merely some objective shining or brightness; it is the subjective radiation of the divine life from within us, like the blossom of certain flowers.
Through regeneration the life of glory has come into us, and now we have a seed of glory within us. The life that we have within us as a seed is the life of glory. This is Christ in us, the hope of glory (Col. 1:27). Eventually this seed will blossom, and thereby we shall be brought into glory. It will be like the transfiguration of the Lord Jesus (Matt. 17:1-2). When the Lord was transfigured on the mountaintop, it was not that the shekinah glory suddenly came upon Him from the heavens; it was that the divine glory shone from within Him. Likewise, the glory into which we shall be brought is the out-shining of the very glory that is within us right now.

At the times of restoration God will send the appointed Christ to His chosen people, to Israel. Concerning this Acts 3:20 and 21 say, “He may send Him who has been appointed for you, Christ Jesus, whom heaven must indeed receive until the times of restoration of all things, of which God spoke through the mouth of His holy prophets from of old.” The times of restoration of all things are the times of restoration in the millennium, as prophesied in Isaiah 11:1-10 and 65:18-25 and referred to by Christ in Matthew 17:11 and 19:28. The times of restoration of all things will be brought in by Christ’s coming back, when God sends Him to Israel in order to restore His chosen people.

Acts 15:16 says, “After these things I will return, and I will rebuild the tabernacle of David which has fallen; and I will rebuild its ruins, and I will erect it again.” The tabernacle of David is the kingdom of Israel and to rebuild the tabernacle of David is to restore the nation of Israel (Acts 1:6). In the Old Testament the Lord promised the Jewish people that the Messiah, the anointed One, would come to inherit the throne of David and restore the Jewish nation, the nation of Israel (Gen. 49:10; 2 Sam. 7:13, 16; Psa. 2:8-9; 72:1-20; 89:4; 110:2-3; Isa. 9:6-7; 11:1-5, 10; Jer. 23:5-6; 30:9; 33:14-17; Ezek. 21:27; 34:23-24; 37:24, 28; Dan. 2:35, 44; 7:14; Hosea 3:5; Amos 9:11-12; Zech. 3:8; 6:12-13; 9:9-10). When the Lord Jesus came the first time, the Jewish people were expecting the Messiah to restore His kingdom (Luke 2:25; 3:15; 7:19; John 1:41; 7:27, 41). However, it will not be until the Lord’s second coming that He will restore the Messianic kingdom (Matt. 23:39). The kingdom which the Messiah will restore—the kingdom of the Messiah or the kingdom of Israel to be restored in the future—will be the earthly part of the millennium, the tabernacle of David which God will rebuild, and which will be the kingdom of the Son of Man (Matt. 13:41; Rev. 11:15). Then Christ as the Son of Man, David’s royal descendant, will sit on the throne of David and reign as the King over the house of Jacob, the Jewish people (Luke 1:32-33), ruling over the nations on the earth during the millennium (Psa. 2:8; 72:8; Dan. 7:14; 2:35, 44).

God will set up His kingdom in the millennium. Matthew 13:43 refers to this: “Then the righteous shall shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” The kingdom of the Father is the heavenly part of the millennium, the manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens as a reward to the overcomers. The “righteous” in this verse are the overcomers, who will be the light shining in the kingdom of their Father. In the heavenly part of the millennium, which will be the manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens and the kingdom of the Father, the overcoming saints will reign with Christ as co-kings.
Revelation 20:6 indicates that the overcomers “shall be priests of God and of Christ and shall reign with Him a thousand years.” This thousand-year reign refers to the kingdom of the Father, which God will set up in the millennium. In this part of the millennium Christ and the overcomers will reign for the Father’s expression and satisfaction.

At the end of the millennium God will put all the enemies under the feet of Christ. First Corinthians 15:25 says, “For He must reign until He puts all His enemies under His feet.” The longer Christ reigns, the more enemies are put under His feet. Eventually, at the end of the millennium, the last age of the old creation, every enemy will have been put under the feet of Christ. The word “until” indicates this and points to the end of the thousand years. That will be the time when God has put every enemy under Christ’s feet.

The last aspect of God’s work in the new dispensation will be the abolishing of the last enemy, death. First Corinthians 15:26 says, “The last enemy that is being abolished is death.” Immediately after the fall of man, God began His work to abolish sin and death. This work has been progressing through the Old and New Testament ages and is still in process today. When sin is done away with at the end of the old creation and when its source, Satan, is cast into the lake of fire (Rev. 20:7-10), death will be abolished. It also will be cast into the lake of fire with Hades, its power, after the last and final judgment at the white throne (Rev. 20:11-15). The lake of fire is the “trash can” for the entire universe, into which all negative things, including death and Hades (Rev. 20:14), will be cast. Death will be the last enemy destroyed by God.
All that God has done and all that He will do is for the purpose of dispensing Himself into His chosen people. God is working to remove all the obstacles and to prepare the way to dispense Himself into all of His chosen people to accomplish His eternal economy. It is not sufficient for us merely to know about this—we need to see it. If we see what God is doing and the purpose for it, then we shall know where we need to be—continually under His dispensing. Therefore, let us remain in God’s presence so that He may have the opportunity to infuse into us all He is and all He has. This is our burden in these messages.

In eternity future, after the millennium, God as the redeeming God will administrate within the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and the new earth. Revelation 22:1 speaks of the throne of God and of the Lamb. The one throne for both God and the Lamb signifies that God and the Lamb are one—the Lamb-God, the redeeming God, God the Redeemer. In eternity the very God who sits on the throne will be our redeeming God, from whose throne proceeds the river of water of life for our supply and satisfaction. This depicts how the Triune God—God, the Lamb, and the Spirit (symbolized by the water of life)—dispenses Himself into His redeemed people under His headship (implied in the authority of the throne) for eternity. Therefore, in Revelation 22:1 is the redeeming God administrating within the New Jerusalem. This administrating will be for the carrying out in full of God’s dispensing.
Both God and the Lamb are sitting on the throne. They are not sitting side by side. Rather, God is in the Lamb. God is the light and the Lamb is the lamp (Rev. 21:23). The glory of the light and the lamp are not side by side. The light is in the lamp. The Lamb as the lamp shines with God as the light. This indicates that God is in the Lamb sitting on the throne. They two are actually one, just as the light and the lamp are one unit, one entity. God in the Lamb is the redeeming God. For eternity in the New Jerusalem we shall see the redeeming God, God in the Lamb.
The river of water of life proceeds out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. For the water of life to flow out of the throne means that it flows out of God Himself. In the New Jerusalem, we have God in the Lamb, and out of the redeeming God flows the river of life, the life-giving Spirit. This is the dispensing of the Triune God. Before God could dispense Himself into us, He had to redeem us. Thus, the picture in Revelation 22 reveals that the redeeming God is the life-dispensing God. The Lamb signifies redemption, and the river of life signifies the dispensing of life. For eternity, our God will be the redeeming and life-dispensing God. In the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and the new earth, our God will be in the redeeming Lamb, flowing out as the river of life (the life-giving Spirit) to dispense His life into every part of the city.
The tree of life grows in the river of life, and the river of life that flows out of the throne reaches every part of the city. This indicates that the flow of the Triune God waters the whole city. Every part of the city receives the life supply because the tree of life grows in the river and the river reaches every part of the city. The tree of life, as a vine, grows on both sides of the river, following the flow of the river. Wherever the river flows, the tree of life grows. The supply of life is in the flow of life. This is a picture of God’s dispensing. Christ as the tree of life is the life supply available along the flow of the Spirit as the water of life. Where the Spirit flows, there the life supply of Christ is found. The entire city of New Jerusalem, which will be constituted of all the redeemed people of God, will be watered by the river of the water of life and nourished by the tree of life. This is the dispensing of the Triune God in full for eternity.
In these messages we have considered the many aspects of God’s work in eternity past, in the old dispensation, and in the new dispensation. Eventually, God will put all the enemies under the feet of Christ, and He will abolish death, the last enemy. Then everything will be new. There will be the new heaven and the new earth with the New Jerusalem as the center. For eternity the redeeming God will sit on the throne in the center of the New Jerusalem, and out of the throne, that is, out of God Himself, will flow the water of life to saturate the city. Furthermore, the tree of life will grow in the water of life to nourish the city. This saturating and nourishing is the divine dispensing in full. We shall be there eating of the tree of life and drinking of the water of life. For eternity, we shall be eating, drinking, and worshipping God. This is the eternal enjoyment of God’s dispensing. While we are enjoying the dispensing of the Triune God by eating and drinking, we shall worship Him.

To express Himself through the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and the new earth will also be God’s work in eternity future. Revelation 21:11 says that the New Jerusalem has the glory of God. This indicates that the New Jerusalem bears the expression of God. The Triune God expresses Himself through the New Jerusalem in the triune way: in the tree of life, in the river of life, and in the light of life. This triune expression of the processed God is His full expression in His eternal manifestation according to His eternal economy for His divine dispensing.

 

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