THE THIRD PART: 24 CRUCIAL LINES IN THE BIBLE
The Divine Dispensing
Message Five
The Dispensing of the Son
Scripture Reading: John 1:14, 18; Heb. 1:3; John 5:43; 1 Cor. 15:45b; 2 Cor. 3:17; John 14:10-11a, 16-20, 23; 17:21, 23, 26
I. The Lord disclosed in the Gospel of John that the Trinity of the Godhead wants to dispense Himself into our being; on the positive side, this book shows the divine revelation concerning the Triune God being dispensed into our being; on the negative side, it shows the veils—religion, human thought, natural concepts, and even concepts concerning the worship of God—1:14; 5:39-40; 3:2-3; 11:21, 24: (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 12)
A. According to the Gospel of John, at least three things frustrate the dispensing of the Son; first, there is religion; the second frustration is ethics; third, we cannot stay away from our natural thinking—5:39-40; 3:2-3; 11:21, 24. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 12)
B. The story of the Samaritan woman in chapter 4 shows that even our worship to God may veil us from knowing and seeing the real God: (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 12)
1. The Lord showed her that the genuine worship is in our spirit and in truthfulness, or reality; reality is just Christ Himself as the very means by which we worship God—v. 24. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 12)
2. If in our worship to God, there is no element of Christ, that worship is vanity and even becomes a veil—v. 24. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 12)
C. The revelation of God’s divine economy is this: the Divine Trinity wants to work Himself into your being; for this reason, God created us as vessels—Rom. 9:21, 23: (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 12)
1. We were made in the image of God so that we might contain God—Gen. 1:26. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 12)
2. God’s image is the expression of what He is; God gave the Ten Commandments according to what He is; He is love, He is light, He is holy, and He is righteous—Exo. 20:1-17. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 12)
3. Man was made according to God, in the image of God, so in man’s created nature there are the elements of love, light, holiness, and righteousness; even after we fell, these elements are still within us as the very constituent of our ethical thinking—Gen. 1:26. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 12)
4. In the past few years, though, my confession to the Lord has not been concerning the matter of ethics; my confession was because I did not live Christ—Phil. 1:21. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 12)
D. We must pray, “Lord, have mercy on me; take away my religious concepts, my ethical concepts, and my natural thinking; remove all the coverings”; then we will be ready to see something; now let us come to the dispensing of the Son—2 Cor. 3:18; Ezek. 1:1. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 12)
II. The Son is the expression, the Accomplisher; the Father as the source is the Initiator; He initiated all things, including the planning; the Son, as the expression, is the Accomplisher—John 1:18; Heb. 1:3: (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 12)
A. The Son was sent by the Father, and He came in the Father’s name—John 5:43; 10:25: (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 12)
1. Paul says, “I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me”—Gal. 2:20. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 12)
2. Christian simply means a Christ-man, a man who lives Christ—Phil. 1:21. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 12)
3. When the Son came, He did not simply represent the Father; when He came, the Father came; the Son came in the Father’s name; He lived the Father; this was for the Father’s dispensing in the Son and through the Son—John 6:46. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 12)
B. This wonderful One came to tabernacle among men—1:14; 16:4b: (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 12)
1. In Exodus there was a tabernacle, which typified God incarnated in humanity—Exo. 25:9 with footnote 1: (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 12)
a. The building elements in the tabernacle—acacia wood overlaid with gold—show humanity and divinity—vv. 10-11. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 12)
b. In the tabernacle divinity is joined to humanity, and humanity is overlaid with divinity; the tabernacle signifies God in humanity—John 1:14. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 12)
2. This very God as the tabernacle is enterable; when God remains in His divinity, He is not approachable—Heb. 10:19: (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 12)
a. In His divinity He dwells in unapproachable light—1 Tim. 6:16. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 12)
b. But He became incarnated in the flesh, and this incarnate God in the flesh became the enterable tabernacle—John 1:14. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 12)
C. “The Word became flesh and tabernacled among us”; here is one entity, the tabernacle, that signifies the Word, the Triune God, and the Triune God in the flesh—vv. 1, 14. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 12)
D. Christ the Son not only coexists but also coinheres with the Father—8:16, 29; 14:9-11: (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 12)
1. In eternity past the Son and the Father coexisted, because the Word was with God; when the Son came, He said that He was not alone, that the Father was with Him; so while He was on earth, He and the Father were existing together—1:1; 8:16, 29. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 12)
2. But on the other hand, the Lord said that He was in the Father, and the Father was in Him; the Lord said, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father”; this is not a matter of representation; this is a matter of embodiment—14:10a, 11a; 17:21; 14:9. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 12)
3. The Father is totally embodied in the Son; when you see the Son, you see the Father because the Son is the embodiment of the Father; so the second is in the first, and the first is in the second; the two are one—Col. 2:9. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 12)
4. This is not for doctrine but for experience on our side and for dispensing on His side—John 16:15. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 12)
5. As long as we have the Spirit, we also have the Son and the Father; when we have one, we have three, because the three are one; this is the dispensing of the Triune God, and this is for our experience—vv. 13-15. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 12)
6. This is living the Triune God; “To me, to live is Christ”, not religion, not ethics, and not even the so-called Pentecostal power—Phil. 1:21. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 12)
E. In the Gospel of John, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are distinct, but They are not separate—John 6:46; 14:10-11: (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 12)
1. It is because the Son, when He was sent by the Father, came with the Father—6:46. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 12)
2. He not only came with the Father, but He also said that He was in the Father, and the Father was in Him—14:10-11. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 12)
3. By tabernacling among us, our God became enterable—1:14. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 12)
III. As the Son and the Father are coinhering, They are one; the Son is one with the Father; this is a mystery that we cannot explain—10:30; 17:22: (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 12)
A. Living because of the Father—6:57: (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 12)
1. The Son lived on earth not just by the Father or through the Father but because of the Father; His living had a cause; that cause was the Father—v. 57. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 12)
2. Today this very Son should be the cause of our daily living; He should be the cause of our living on earth; otherwise, our living would be meaningless—v. 57; 14:19; Gal. 2:20. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 12)
B. The Son was working in the Father’s name and with the Father—John 10:25; 5:17, 19: (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 12)
1. When the Son was working, He was working with the Father as one; He and the Father were not working separately—John 14:10. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 12)
2. When the Son spoke the word, the Father was doing the work; the Son’s speaking was the Father’s working—v. 10. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 12)
C. The Lord as the Son did not carry out His own will but the Father’s—6:38; 5:30: (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 12)
1. The Lord told us in John 6:38 that He came down from heaven not to do His own will but the will of the Father who sent Him. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 12)
2. In John 5:30 He said that He did not seek His own will but the will of the Father who sent Him. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 12)
D. When the Lord, as the Son, came, He did not speak His own word but the word of the Father—3:34a; 14:24; 7:16-17; 12:49-50. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 12)
E. The Son was also seeking the Father’s glory—7:18; 8:50. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 12)
F. The Son who came in the Father’s name, who did the Father’s will, who spoke the Father’s word, and who sought the Father’s glory also expressed the Father; He did not express Himself; He only expressed the Father—14:7-9. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 12)
IV. As the expression of the Father, the Son sent the Spirit from with the Father—15:26 with footnote 1; 16:7: (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 12)
A. John 3:34 tells us that the Son gives the Spirit to us; after sending the Spirit, the Son gives the Spirit to us not by measure. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 12)
B. Becoming the Spirit through death and resurrection—1 Cor. 15:45b; John 20:19-23: (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 12)
1. First, the Son sent the Spirit; then He gave the Spirit; and eventually, He became the Spirit; as the last Adam, He became a life-giving Spirit; hence, the Lord is the Spirit—1 Cor. 15:45b; 2 Cor. 3:17. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 12)
2. Eventually, through death and resurrection, the Son became the Spirit—20:19-23.
C. Finally, the Son is abiding in us as the Spirit with the Father—14:20, 23: (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 12)
1. In John 14:23 the Lord Jesus said that the Father and He would come to the lover of Him and make Their abode with him; this means that the Father and the Son come together to abide in the believers. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 12)
2. He said in verse 20, in that day, the day of resurrection, they would know that He was in the Father, and they were in Him, and He was in them; not only would the Spirit of reality be in them, but even He would be in them; this indicates that He and the Spirit are actually one: (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 12)
a. All this is God the Father dispensing Himself into us through God the Son and in God the Son and by God the Spirit—17:23, 26. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 12)
b. So the entire Godhead—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—is now abiding in us to be one with us—vv. 23, 26. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 12)
3. As genuine Christians, we should live a life that lives the Triune God; this is not a life that has anything to do with religion or that expresses ethics; it is a life that purely lives the Triune God and expresses Him; it is altogether the dispensing of the Triune God into us for His expression—6:57; Gal. 2:20; Phil. 1:21. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 12)