The New Testament
is related to the Old Testament.
This relationship
is indicated by a portion of Hebrews 10:7:
“In the roll of the book
it is written concerning Me.”
This refers to the Old Testament,
which gives us a full record of Christ,
either by plain words or by types.
The central line concerning Christ in the Old Testament
is that Christ is the eternal God
incarnated to be a man
who lived on earth,
died on the cross,
resurrected,
ascended,
and descended.
These seven major points
are the central line regarding Christ
as promised, prophesied, typified, and shadowed
in the Old Testament.
For what purpose
did Christ, the eternal God, become incarnate,
live on earth, die on the cross, resurrect from among the dead,
ascend to the heavens, and descend?
In the light of the New Testament,
we can strongly say
that Christ, the eternal God, was incarnated,
lived on earth, died on the cross, resurrected from among the dead,
ascended to the heavens, and descended
for the dispensing of the Triune God into His chosen people
for the producing of the church.
Although the word “church” cannot be found in the Old Testament,
certain persons typify the church.
For example,
both Eve and Rebekah
typify the church.
Hence, both Christ and the church
are contained in the Old Testament.
A glove is made in the image of a hand
for the purpose of containing the hand.
Likewise, God created man in His own image
so that man might contain God.
If we receive even a little wisdom from God,
we shall realize
that He created man in His own image
with the intention of
coming into man
and dwelling in him.
This understanding is confirmed by Romans 9:23,
which speaks of God
making “known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy,
which He had before prepared unto glory.”
Here we see
that man was made a vessel
to contain the glory of God.
Since man was created to contain the glory of God
and since the glory of God is actually God Himself expressed,
man was created in God’s image
for the purpose of containing God.
God’s intention in creating man in this way
was to enter into man.
The word “image” in Genesis 1:27
indicates that God’s intention is to come into the man
created by Him.
In order to answer the question
concerning how God comes into man,
we need to consider chapter two of Genesis.
According to this chapter,
after creating man
God placed him in front of the tree of life
with the intention
that man would eat of the fruit of this tree
and thereby take God into him.
As we shall see,
this involves the mingling of God with man.
In John 6
the Lord Jesus says
that He is the heavenly bread for us to eat.
In the same chapter
the Lord twice says,
“I am the bread of life” (vv. 35, 48).
The bread of life
is the life supply
in the form of food,
like the tree of life (Gen. 2:9),
which is also the life supply
“good for food.”
The food we eat
eventually is mingled with our being.
If the food taken in by us
does not mingle with us,
we must have poor digestion.
The food that we eat and digest
is assimilated into our being.
The food becomes
our tissue, bone, flesh, and skin.
This means
that the food eaten, digested, and assimilated by us
actually becomes us.
This surely is a matter of mingling.
Therefore, it would certainly be incorrect
to say that the food we eat
is not mingled with us.
The thought of mingling
is implied in Genesis 2.
God does not enter into a man in a way
that is like putting apples into a box.
On the contrary,
God comes into us in a way
that is like food entering into our being
to become one with us.
In Genesis 1
we see
that man was created by God in His image.
Then in Genesis 2
the man created by God
is placed in front of the tree of life.
This indicates
that God wants man to receive Him as food.
Here we have the dispensing of God into man.
Eating implies both dispensing and mingling.
After the food is dispensed,
it is mingled with those
who eat it.
Likewise, in Genesis 1 and 2
we have God’s dispensing of Himself into man
and His mingling of Himself with man.
How can God be dispensed into man
and mingled with man?
This can be accomplished
only by the Triune God
being incarnated, living on earth, dying on the cross, resurrecting,
ascending, and descending.
In this way
God dispenses Himself into us
and mingles Himself with us.
The Bible is profound.
Because the Bible is a profound book,
we should not stay on the surface of the Word.
Instead, we need to see
what is revealed in the depths of the Scriptures.
we need to see
what kind of Christ
is promised, prophesied, typified, and shadowed in the Old Testament.
As we have pointed out,
this Christ is the eternal God
who was incarnated, lived on earth, died, resurrected,
ascended, and descended.
We also need to see
God’s purpose
for Christ to be such a One.
The content of the New Testament
is God’s New Testament economy.
God’s New Testament economy
is the dispensing of God into His chosen people
for the producing of the church.
This eternal economy of God,
the content of the New Testament,
is contained in the Old Testament.
The New Testament
is the fulfillment of the Old Testament.
We need to go on
to see something deeper
concerning the New Testament
as the fulfillment of the Old Testament.
If we have a deeper understanding
of the fulfillment of the Old Testament in the New Testament,
we shall see
that Christ came not only to fulfill the prophecies
but also to fulfill God’s eternal dispensation,
which is God’s dispensing of Himself into His chosen people
for the producing of the church.
God’s dispensing of Himself into His chosen people
was promised, prophesied, typified, and shadowed in the Old Testament,
and it was fulfilled by Christ’s coming in the New Testament.
Therefore, Christ came not merely to fulfill the prophecies
concerning His birth, death, and resurrection;
He came, in particular, to fulfill the promises, prophecies, types, and shadows
concerning God’s dispensing of Himself into His chosen people
for the producing of the church.
The New Testament is the development and reaping of the seed
sown in the Old Testament.
The seeds of nearly all the truths
have been sown in Genesis
and then grow throughout the Scriptures.
Growth is a matter of development.
First, a seed is sown into the soil,
and then the seed grows.
While it grows,
it develops.
After a grain of wheat is sown into the ground,
it grows and develops
until it eventually brings forth many grains.
When the wheat is ripe,
that is the time
for the reaping of the harvest.
In like manner,
the divine truths in the Bible
are sown as seeds,
mainly in the book of Genesis.
These seeds develop through the Old Testament
and especially in the New Testament,
until reaching the time of “harvest”
in the book of Revelation.
In Revelation 14
we have a vision
concerning the reaping of the ripened harvest.
It is important for us to see
that whatever is sown as a seed
in the Old Testament
is developed
in the New Testament
and is eventually reaped as a harvest
in Revelation.
Now we need to ask a crucial question:
What was sown as a seed in the Old Testament?
Christ is the seed
that is sown in the Old Testament
and that develops throughout the Scriptures.
In Genesis 3:15
God promised fallen mankind
that as the seed of woman
Christ would come
to crush the head of the serpent.
The Bible goes on to reveal
that this seed is developed
into the seed of Abraham, the seed of Isaac, and the seed of Jacob.
In the book of Isaiah
we see the further development of this seed into the One
born of a virgin
and called Emmanuel, the mighty God, and even the everlasting Father (Isa. 7:14; 9:6).
Eventually, in the New Testament,
the seed sown in the Old Testament
will produce many grains,
and these grains
will become a harvest
reaped in the book of Revelation.
From this we see
that the New Testament
is the development and reaping of the very Christ
sown in the Old Testament,
developed throughout the books of the Bible,
and reaped as a harvest
in the last book of the New Testament.
The New Testament
is the completion
of the divine revelation.
In Colossians 1:25
Paul says,
“I became a minister
according to the stewardship of God,
which was given to me for you,
to complete the word of God.”
The word of God
is the divine revelation.
This was not completed
before the New Testament.
In the New Testament
the apostles, especially Paul,
completed the word of God
in the mystery of God,
which is Christ,
and in the mystery of Christ,
which is the church,
to give us
a full revelation of God’s economy.
At the time of Paul
the word of God
included
the Old Testament
and the word preached by the early apostles.
Although the word of God
preached by the early disciples
grew and multiplied (Acts 12:24),
it was not yet completed
according to God’s economy.
For this completion,
God’s revelation to Paul
was needed.
According to the stewardship of God,
Paul became a minister of the church
to complete the word of God.
Consider what a lack there would be
if we did not have
the Epistles of Paul.
Without them,
there would be
no completion of the word of God.
Paul received the revelation
of Christ as the mystery of God.
In Colossians 2:2
he speaks of
the “full knowledge
of the mystery of God, Christ.”
In Ephesians 3:4
Paul speaks of
the mystery of Christ.
The mystery of God in Colossians 2:2
is Christ,
whereas the mystery of Christ in Ephesians 3:4
is the church.
Paul was also given the revelation
concerning the dispensation of God.
Therefore,
the completion of the word of God
includes the great mystery of Christ and the church (Eph. 5:32),
the full revelation concerning Christ, the Head (Col. 1:26-27; 2:19; 3:11),
and the full revelation concerning the church, the Body (Eph. 3:3-6).
In Colossians 1:26 and 27
Paul speaks of “the mystery
which has been hidden
from the ages and from the generations,
but now has been manifested to His saints;
to whom God willed to make known
what are
the riches of the glory of this mystery among the nations,
which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
This mystery is Christ Himself within us
as our life today and our glory in the future.
At present,
this glory is our hope.
From these verses
we see
that the completion of the divine revelation
concerns Christ
coming to dispense God into us
as a mystery and as a hope of glory.
The New Testament
is the revelation of God’s New Testament economy.
This revelation unveils
seven major items:
God, Christ, the Spirit,
the believers, the church, the kingdom, and the New Jerusalem.
These seven items
are seven persons.
God is a person,
and Christ and the Spirit
also are persons.
The believers
may be considered a corporate person;
likewise,
the church
is a corporate person.
Some, however, may have a problem
regarding the kingdom as a person.
Nevertheless,
we strongly say
that the kingdom
is a person.
If we see into the depths
of the teaching of the Bible concerning the kingdom,
we shall realize
that the kingdom of God
is actually Christ Himself
developed and enlarged into a kingdom.
The kingdom of God
is the Savior, the Lord Jesus,
as the seed of life
sown into His believers, God’s chosen people,
and developing into a realm
which God may rule as His kingdom
in the divine life.
Therefore,
the kingdom
truly is a person.
This is clearly proved
in Daniel 2:34-35
by the stone
cut out without hands,
signifying the God-prepared Christ,
which, after smiting the great image upon its feet
to break all the parts of the great image, all the worldly powers,
becomes a great mountain
and fills the whole earth,
signifying the coming kingdom of God (Rev. 11:15).
This indicates
that the Christ prepared by God, as a stone,
will develop, at His coming back,
into the kingdom of God, as a great mountain,
that fills the whole earth.
The kingdom is
actually another aspect of the church.
We should not think
that the church is one thing
and that the kingdom is another,
that the church is one person
and that the kingdom is another person.
Actually,
the church and the kingdom
are one person
in two aspects.
The church today
is the kingdom of God.
Since the church is a corporate person
and the church is the kingdom,
it would not be logical to say
that the kingdom is not a person.
The church is a corporate person,
and the kingdom is also a corporate person.
Like the church and the kingdom,
the New Jerusalem
is a person.
When some hear
that the New Jerusalem is a person,
they may say,
“The New Jerusalem is a city.
How can you say
that the city is a person?”
The Bible indicates
that the New Jerusalem
is a person in Revelation 21,
where we are told
that the New Jerusalem is “prepared
as a bride
adorned for her husband” (v. 2)
and that she is
“the bride, the wife of the Lamb” (v. 9).
Is not a wife a person?
Since the New Jerusalem is the wife of the Lamb
and the wife is a person,
then
the New Jerusalem is
a person, a corporate person.
The seven major items
unveiled in the revelation of God’s New Testament economy
are all persons.
God, Christ, and the Spirit
are individual persons,
whereas the believers, the church, the kingdom, and the New Jerusalem
are corporate persons.
What is
God’s New Testament economy?
God’s New Testament economy
is God’s household management,
God’s household administrative arrangement,
the divine dispensation (plan).
By dispensation
we mean here
an arrangement,
that is, a plan.
This economy, this dispensation,
is revealed in Ephesians 1:10 and 3:9.
Ephesians 1:10 says,
“Unto a dispensation of the fullness of the times,
to head up all things in Christ,
the things in the heavens
and the things on the earth,
in Him.”
The Greek word rendered “dispensation” here
is oikonomia,
from which we get the English word “economy.”
God has purposed to have an economy.
All the kingdoms in the universe,
the angelic kingdom, the human kingdom, the animal kingdom, and the plant kingdom,
are for this economy, this dispensation,
and are moving toward its completion.
The Greek word rendered “dispensation” in Ephesians 1:10
can also be translated “stewardship” or “household arrangement.”
The word “administration” may also be used
because eventually this dispensation, this stewardship and household arrangement,
will become an eternal administration.
The entire universe
will eventually be under one administration.
God’s mystery
is His hidden purpose.
His purpose
is to dispense Himself
into His chosen people.
Hence, there is
the dispensation of the mystery of God.
This mystery was hidden in God from the ages,
that is, from eternity and through all past ages,
but now it has been brought to light
to the New Testament believers.
In 1 Timothy 1:4
Paul speaks of
“God’s dispensation
which is in faith.”
Once again,
the Greek word rendered “dispensation”
is oikonomia.
In Greek
the words “God’s dispensation” here
also mean God’s household economy.
This is
God’s household administration
to dispense Himself in Christ
into His chosen people
so that He may have a house, a household,
to express Himself,
which household is
the church, the Body of Christ.
Paul’s ministry
was centered on
this economy of God.
God’s New Testament economy
is a plan
made by God
according to His good pleasure.
Concerning this,
Ephesians 1:9 says,
“Having made known to us
the mystery of His will,
according to His good pleasure
which He purposed in Himself.”
God’s good pleasure
is the desire of His heart.
This good pleasure
was what God purposed in Himself
for a dispensation, for a plan.
This plan made by God
was according to
His good pleasure, the desire of His heart.
God’s good pleasure
has been purposed by God in Himself.
This means
that God Himself
is the initiation, origination, and sphere
of His eternal purpose.
God has a plan, a desire,
and according to His plan,
He has a purpose.
Hence,
in the universe
there is
a desire, God’s desire.
Because this desire
has been purposed by God,
no one and nothing
can overthrow it.
God purposed this desire in Himself;
He did not take counsel with anyone else
regarding it.
We have seen
that Ephesians 1:9
speaks of God’s good pleasure.
Everyone desires pleasure.
If we desire pleasure,
then
certainly God does also.
Every living thing
desires pleasure.
In fact,
the more living you are,
the more pleasure you need.
Because God is the most living One,
He surely needs the most pleasure.
If we, as fallen sinners,
require pleasure,
then how much more
does God, the living One,
have a deep need for it?
Unlike the book of Romans,
which begins from
the perspective of the condition of fallen man,
the book of Ephesians
was written from
the perspective of God’s good pleasure, the desire of His heart.
What, then, is God’s good pleasure?
God’s good pleasure
is to dispense Himself into us.
This is
the unique desire of God.
We may say
that God is “dreaming” of
dispensing Himself into us.
His longing, His aspiration,
is to dispense Himself
into His chosen people.
Many Christians neglect God’s desire
to dispense Himself into us.
Instead of caring for this matter,
they may pay attention to teachings
concerning how to be holy, spiritual, and victorious.
Many have never heard
that God wants to do one thing
—to dispense Himself into us.
In a sense,
a believer may be “holy”
without having much of God
dispensed into him.
However,
that kind of holiness
is not genuine,
thus not stable.
But if God is dispensed into our being,
we shall be genuinely holy.
Actually,
holiness is nothing other than God
dispensed into us subjectively.
The objective God is holy
only to Himself and by Himself.
But the subjective God
—the God dispensed into us—
becomes our subjective holiness.
Therefore,
to us,
the real holiness
is God
dispensed into our being.
It is
God’s good pleasure, the desire of His heart,
to dispense Himself into us
for our everything.
God’s economy is an eternal plan
made by God in Christ.
Regarding this,
Ephesians 3:11 says,
“According to the purpose of the ages
which He made in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
The purpose of the ages
is the purpose of eternity, the eternal purpose, the eternal plan of God
made in eternity past.
God made His eternal economy
in Christ.
The Christ revealed in the Bible
is the embodiment of
the Triune God
and all the processes
through which He has passed,
including incarnation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, ascension, and descension.
In such a Christ
God made His eternal economy.
Christ, therefore, is
the element, sphere, means, goal, and aim
of God’s eternal economy.
Christ is everything
in God’s economy.
In fact,
all the contents of the eternal economy of God
are simply Christ.
Christ is
the center, circumference, element, sphere, means, goal, and aim
of this economy.
According to Ephesians 3,
this economy was made
in Christ.
God’s New Testament economy
is His plan
to dispense Himself
into His chosen people
in His trinity.
In what way
does God dispense Himself
into His people
in His trinity?
This dispensing
has three steps.
First,
it is
of God the Father.
The Father is
the source, the origin.
Second,
this dispensing is
through God the Son,
who is the course.
Third,
God’s dispensing is
in God the Spirit,
who is the instrument and sphere.
Through these steps
of God the Father,
through God the Son,
and in God the Spirit
God dispenses Himself
into His chosen people.
God’s New Testament economy
to dispense Himself into His chosen people
is for the producing of the church (Eph. 3:10).
This dispensing brings forth the church
for the manifestation of the multifarious wisdom of God
according to His eternal purpose
made in Christ.
This means
that through the dispensing of God in His trinity
the church is produced
to exhibit God’s manifold wisdom.
We have pointed out
that the church today
is the kingdom of God.
Therefore,
the dispensing of God into us
produces the church
as the kingdom of God.
1 Corinthians 4:17 and 20
show that the kingdom
is the church life today.
In verse 17
Paul refers to his ways
“which are in Christ,
even as I teach everywhere in every church.”
Then in verse 20
he says,
“The kingdom of God
is not in speech,
but in power.”
These verses show
that the kingdom of God
is the church everywhere,
and the church everywhere
is the kingdom.
The kingdom is here
because the church is here.
The church as the kingdom of God
will have a consummation,
and this consummation
will be the New Jerusalem
for the eternal expression
of the Triune God.
The New Jerusalem
is a living composition of all the saints
redeemed by God
throughout all generations.
It is
the bride of Christ as His counterpart
and the holy city of God
as His habitation.
As the bride of Christ,
New Jerusalem comes out of Christ, “her husband,”
and becomes His counterpart,
just as Eve came out of Adam, her husband,
and became his counterpart.
The New Jerusalem
is prepared as a bride for her husband
by participating in the riches of the life and nature of Christ.
As the holy city of God,
she is wholly sanctified unto God
and fully saturated with God’s holy nature
to be His habitation.
In both the Old and New Testaments,
God likens His chosen people
to a spouse and a dwelling place for Himself.
The spouse
is for His satisfaction in love,
and the dwelling place
is for His rest in expression.
Both of these aspects
will be ultimately consummated
in the New Jerusalem.
In her
God will have the fullest satisfaction in love
and the utmost rest in expression for eternity.
The glory of God
is the expression of God, God expressed.
We have been ordained for this glory
and called to it.
We are being transformed into this glory (2 Cor. 3:18)
and shall be brought into it (Heb. 2:10).
Eventually
we shall be glorified with Christ (Rom. 8:17, 30)
to bear the glory of God
for God’s expression in the New Jerusalem.
Therefore,
God’s dispensing of Himself into His chosen people
for the producing of the church
as the kingdom of God
will consummate in the New Jerusalem
as His eternal expression.
We need a vision
of the central matter in the Bible
—the desire of God’s heart
to dispense Himself
into His chosen people
in His trinity
for the producing of the church,
which is the kingdom of God
that will consummate in the New Jerusalem
as the eternal expression of the Triune God.
We need a vision
of God’s New Testament economy.
It is not adequate
merely to know about it.
You may know about a certain person
without ever having seen him.
To see a person
is very different
from merely knowing about him.
Likewise,
seeing the vision
of God’s New Testament economy
is different from
simply hearing about it.
I hope
that all the saints
will spend much time
to pray, both individually and corporately,
regarding this.
We need to say,
“Lord,
I cry out to You
concerning God’s economy.
I need a vision
of the New Testament economy.
Lord,
I have been saved
for a long time,
but I have not yet seen the vision
that the New Testament reveals
God’s New Testament economy.
Lord,
cause me to see
that the Triune God
wants to dispense Himself into our being
so that the church
may be produced
as the kingdom of God
in order that God
may have an eternal consummation
to express Himself
in a corporate way
eternally.”
It is important
that we make a distinction
between the words “dispensation” and “dispensing.”
According to the dictionary,
dispensation is a noun form
of the verb “dispense.”
But according to New Testament usage,
the word dispensation
refers to God’s arrangement, God’s plan.
We have seen
that dispensation is the translation
of the Greek word oikonomia,
which is composed of two words:
oikos, which means house,
and nomos, which means law.
Oikonomia denotes
household regulations or household management.
Because this word refers to
a household administration and management,
it implies a plan.
In Ephesians 3
the word dispensation
means a plan, an arrangement.
Therefore,
when we use the word dispensation,
we mean
God’s household management, God’s arrangement, God’s plan.
When we use the word dispensation,
we do not mean dispensing,
which is
the act of God’s dispensing Himself into us.
Nevertheless,
in God’s dispensation
the crucial matter
is the dispensing of the Triune God into us.
If we are clear
concerning the difference between dispensation and dispensing,
we shall not say
that we are under God’s dispensation
but rather are under His dispensing.
To be under God’s dispensation
is to be under His administrative government.
To be under God’s dispensing
is to be under His dispensing action,
His act of dispensing Himself into us.
If we use the word dispensation
to refer to God’s dispensing,
others may misunderstand us
and think that we are speaking of the plan
made by God.
Therefore,
let us use
the words dispensation and dispensing
according to biblical usage,
making it clear
that dispensation denotes
God’s administrative arrangement and dispensing,
His act of dispensing Himself into us.
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