Message One The Central View of the Divine Dispensing

THE THIRD PART: 24 CRUCIAL LINES IN THE BIBLE

The Divine Dispensing

Message One
The Central View of the Divine Dispensing

Scripture Reading: Eph. 1:10; 3:9; 1 Tim. 1:4; 1 Cor. 9:17; Eph. 3:2; Col. 1:25; 1 Cor. 4:1; 1 Pet. 4:10; Gen. 1:26-27; 2:9-12, 22; Rev. 21:1-3, 11, 18-22; 22:1-2

I. If we look into the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation, we could see God’s works and also the goal of God’s works; we must see not only God’s dispensation but also the goal of God’s dispensation; that is, God is working Himself into His chosen people—Gen. 1:26-27; Rev. 21:10; 22:17:

A. Genesis 1 tells us that God created man in His own image; this surely indicates that God wants man to express Himself—Gen. 1:26-27.

B. At the end of the Bible there is a city which bears the glory of God and which is the composition of many names; there are twelve names from Israel and twelve from the church; the city bears the glorious image of God, denoting that this composition of God’s redeemed ones is the expression of God—Rev. 21:11-12.

C. This makes it very clear that God’s goal is to work Himself into His redeemed people; God wants to work Himself into His chosen people that He may have a full expression in eternity; this is the goal of God’s full salvation; God’s dispensation is toward this goal—Gal. 2:20; 4:19; Col. 3:4.

II. Dispensation is a translation of the Greek word, oikonomia; the basic meaning of this word is a kind of arrangement, a kind of an arranged order; so it may be considered as a plan, as a management, or as an administration; God has a divine arrangement of His administration; the entire Bible tells us God has been working and is still working on this plan—1 Tim. 1:4; cf. Eph. 1:10, footnote 2; 3:9:

A. In Ephesians 1:10 we can see that there is a plan, an arrangement, or an administration for God to head up all things in Christ.

B. First God would collect His chosen people and put them into Christ, then He would work Christ into them so that they all might become the parts and members of Christ with Christ as their Head; all these dear Christians have been headed up into Christ—Eph. 1:4, 10, 22-23.

C. Although we may come from many different countries, we have been headed up into Christ; in the name of Christ and in His enlivening Spirit we have been headed up into Christ—Eph. 1:10; Col. 3:10-11.

D. In the fullness of the times God will head up the entire universe into Christ, by that time, God will be fully expressed—Eph. 1:10-12.

III. According to the context of Ephesians 3:9, God’s plan of His full salvation is to dispense the unsearchable riches of Christ into His chosen people to produce the church; the dispensing of Christ’s riches is for the producing of the church to fulfill God’s eternal purpose—3:20-21:

A. The church has been produced by the dispensing of the unsearchable riches of Christ—v. 8.

B. The church is not a religious organization, but the church is the Body of Christ produced by the dispensing of the riches of Christ into all the believers—v. 8.

C. Every time we are gathered into the name of the Lord Jesus, we enjoy the dispensing of the riches of Christ into our being. It is this dispensing of the Triune God into us that makes us members of the Body of Christ—Matt. 18:20.

D. In the church life the Lord has redeemed us from different peoples and from different races, yet we all are one. We are one because we have the same life. The same riches of Christ have been dispensed and are being dispensed into all of us—Col. 3:10-11.

IV. In 1 Timothy 1:4 we see God’s household administration, which is to dispense Himself into His children that He may have a household, the church, to express Himself:

A. Economy is God’s household administration to dispense the divine riches of the Triune God as life and life supply into His chosen and redeemed people—v. 4:

1. The root of the word economy refers to the parceling out of food, the distributing of food as in parcels; to distribute is to dispense—v. 4.

2. In God’s economy, God wants to dispense Himself as food to us; He dispenses Himself into His people as life, as life supply, and as everything to them—Gen. 2:8-9.

B. Our Father surely has a great house with a rich store of the unsearchable riches of Christ—Eph. 2:19; 3:8.

C. This great house needs some administration, some management, some system, some plan to dispense and distribute all the riches to God’s people—Eph. 3:8-9.

D. Paul was given the stewardship, the office, the duty, of God’s dispensation to distribute all the riches of Christ—Eph. 3:2, 8:

1. The biggest distributor in the New Testament was the Apostle Paul; the unsearchable riches of Christ were under his administration and distribution; even today we are still under the distribution of Paul—Eph. 3:2; Col. 1:25.

2. Many unsearchable riches are under Paul’s distribution; his distribution is just to distribute the unsearchable riches of Christ to all of us in order that we may be the expression of God—Eph. 3:8, 21.

E. All this indicates that the intention of God in His dispensation is to dispense all His riches in Christ through the Spirit into His chosen people that they may enjoy Him and become His expression—Eph. 3:16-21.

V. In the first two chapters of the Bible there is God’s intention, and in the last two chapters of the Bible there is the consummation of God’s intention; both sections show us the goal of God’s dispensation—a bride to be His counterpart, His expression—Rev. 21:2-3, 11:

A. God’s dispensation began from Adam and has been going on through all the generations; it will consummate in the New Jerusalem where we can see the goal of God’s dispensation—Eph. 1:10; 3:9; Rev. 21:2.

B. The New Jerusalem will be built up with God the Father’s divine nature, with God the Son’s death and resurrection, and with God the Spirit’s transformation; that will be the universal bride to satisfy God’s desire for His eternal expression; this is the consummation of God’s intention.

C. Today we need to contact the Triune God to be supplied and nourished with the divine life as the river of water of life and as the tree of life, that we might be transformed with the Father’s golden nature through the Son’s death and resurrection and by the work of God the Spirit; we need to cooperate with the Triune God—Gen. 1:26-27; Rev. 21:10; 22:1-2, 17.

Ministry Excerpts:

GOD WORKING HIMSELF INTO HIS CHOSEN PEOPLE

If we look into the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation, we could see God’s works and also the goal of God’s works. We can realize that God has been going on toward a goal. Some may say that this goal is simply God’s full salvation. But what then is the goal of God’s salvation? Not many Christians have seen the definite goal of God’s salvation. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 1)

The purpose of God in His economy is to work Himself, in His Divine Trinity, into His chosen ones. This God who has a plan, an economy, wants to do only one thing, that is, to work Himself into His chosen ones through all the processes and procedures that He went through in His Divine Trinity. The entire Bible reveals that God wants to work Himself into His chosen ones by passing through various processes in His Divine Trinity. Christians read Ephesians 1 and accept what it says. At the outset this chapter says that God chose us before the foundation of the world and then He predestinated us. When I was with the Brethren in my youth, I heard their proper teaching and obtained a clear knowledge as well concerning God’s selection and predestination. Yet I never heard them tell me what the purpose of God’s selection and predestination was. They said only that God chose us and predestinated us that we may receive an inheritance. And the inheritance that they spoke of, according to my understanding, is a heavenly blessing in the future, which may be a very pleasant dwelling place. This corresponds with the traditional concept of the Chinese, which is that the children will receive some material things from their father as an inheritance. Thus, the impression that I had from listening to the messages in the Brethren assembly was that God chose us and predestinated us so that we may enjoy the eternal blessing and receive an inheritance. However, they did not see that the same chapter clearly speaks of the purpose of God’s predestination, saying that it is “unto sonship” (v. 5). (CWWL, 1986, vol. 3, “The Revelation and Vision of God”, msg. 5)

God Creating Man in His Own Image

Genesis 1 tells us that God created man in His own image (vv. 26-27). This surely indicates that God wants man to express Himself. At the end of the Bible there is a city which bears the glory of God and which is the composition of many names. There are twelve names from Israel and twelve from the church. All twenty-four of these names denote the saved ones of God. The names of the twelve tribes of Israel denote all the redeemed saints of the Old Testament, and the names of the twelve Apostles denote all the saints of the New Testament. This tells us that the New Jerusalem is a composition of all God’s redeemed ones.

God Wanting to Work Himself into His Chosen People that He May Have a Full Expression in Eternity

The city bears the glorious image of God, denoting that this composition of God’s redeemed ones is the expression of God. This makes it very clear that God’s goal is to work Himself into His redeemed people. God wants to work Himself into His chosen people that He may have a full expression in eternity. This is the goal of God’s full salvation. God’s dispensation is toward this goal. We must see, not only God’s dispensation, but also the goal of God’s dispensation, that is, God is working Himself into His chosen people.

DEFINITION OF THE WORD DISPENSATION

We will be on a basic item in the Bible, the divine dispensation. We will not try to cover the entire theme of God’s dispensation. Our burden is just to see the central view of the divine dispensation. Dispensation is a translation of the Greek word, oikonomia. This Greek word has been anglicized into the English word economy and is equal to the word dispensation. The basic meaning of this word is a kind of arrangement, a kind of an arranged order. So it may be considered as a plan, as a management, or as an administration. God has a divine arrangement of His administration. The entire Bible tells us God has been working and is still working on this plan.

In Ephesians 1:10 we can see that there is a plan, an arrangement, or an administration for God to head up all things in Christ. This is God’s dispensation, His universal administration, to head up all things in Christ. Presently we cannot see that all things are headed up in Christ, but God is working on this. First God would collect His chosen people and put them into Christ. Then He would work Christ into them so that they all might become the parts and members of Christ with Christ as their Head. All these dear Christians have been headed up into Christ. We know that Christ is our Head, and we all are members of His Body. This gives us a picture of the heading up of things in Christ. Although we may come from many different countries, we have been headed up into Christ. In the name of Christ and in His enlivening Spirit we have been headed up into Christ. Christ is the heading up. Verse 10 tells us that in the fullness of the times God will head up the entire universe into Christ. By that time God will be fully expressed. This is the goal of God’s dispensation.

GOD’S PLAN OF HIS FULL SALVATION BEING TO DISPENSE THE RICHES OF CHRIST INTO HIS CHOSEN PEOPLE
TO PRODUCE THE CHURCH

Ephesians 3:9 also speaks of God’s plan, the dispensation of God’s mystery. This is a kind of order, or system, or arrangement, or administration of God’s full salvation. According to the context of Ephesians 3:9, God’s plan of His full salvation is to dispense the unsearchable riches of Christ into His chosen people to produce the church. The dispensing of Christ’s riches is for the producing of the church to fulfill God’s eternal purpose. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 1)

The church is not a religious organization, but the church is the Body of Christ produced by the dispensing of the riches of Christ into all the believers. Every time we are gathered into the name of the Lord Jesus (Matt. 18:20), we enjoy the dispensing of the riches of Christ into our being. It is this dispensing of the Triune God into us that makes us members of the Body of Christ. In the church life the Lord has redeemed us from different peoples and from different races, yet we all are one. We are one because we have the same life. The same riches of Christ have been dispensed and are being dispensed into all of us. (CWWL, 1984, vol. 3, “The Divine Economy”, ch. 1)

GOD’S HOUSEHOLD ADMINISTRATION BEING TO DISPENSE HIMSELF INTO HIS CHILDREN TO EXPRESS HIMSELF

In 1 Timothy 1:4 we see God’s household administration, which is to dispense Himself into His children that He may have a household, the church, to express Himself. From these three portions of the Word, we can have the general view of the meaning of God’s dispensation. The Greek word, oikonomia, is composed of two words: oikos, meaning house and nomos, meaning law. Hence, it refers to the house arrangement, household management or administration. The word denotes the management and distribution of the wealth of a rich household. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 1)

If you trace the root of the word economy, it goes back to a word that refers to the parceling out of food, the distributing of food as in parcels. Joseph is a good illustration of this. His job was to distribute all the food supply of Pharaoh to feed all the hungry people. This root word also means to distribute food to the cattle for grazing. To distribute is to dispense. In God’s economy He dispenses Himself into His people as life, as life supply, and as everything to them. God wants to dispense Himself as food to us. (CWWL, 1984, vol. 3, “The Divine Economy”, ch. 1)

Joseph in the Old Testament was an example. Joseph was the administrator of Pharaoh’s house, which was so rich that it could even supply other nations. There was a need of some management and administration and order and system to distribute the riches of Pharaoh’s house. Otherwise, the riches would lie there undistributed.

By this you can see what is the oikonomia. That is the household management to distribute and dispense the riches of the house. Our Father surely has a great house with a rich store of the unsearchable riches of Christ. This great house needs some administration, some management, some system, some plan to dispense and distribute all the riches to God’s people.

The biggest distributor in the New Testament was the Apostle Paul. By reading Paul’s writings, you see that Paul in the New Testament was like Joseph in the Old Testament. The unsearchable riches of Christ were under his administration and distribution.

In 1 Corinthians 9:17 Paul used the word oikonomia to denote the stewardship, that is, the responsibility of such an administration, entrusted to him for preaching the gospel. In Ephesians 3 he used this word again to denote the office, the duty, of a steward in God’s house, which he called “the stewardship of the grace of God,” committed to him to dispense the grace of God to His children in the church. And in Colossians 1:25 he used the same word again to denote the stewardship given to him by God to complete His word, that is, the divine revelation concerning Christ for the producing of the church as His Body.

Paul was given the stewardship, the office, the duty, of God’s dispensation to distribute all the riches of Christ. Even today we are still under the distribution of Paul. Paul is still doing a dispensing work even as Joseph did. In Joseph’s time all the people had to go to Joseph for the rich supply. If you take away Paul’s fourteen Epistles from the New Testament, so much of the riches are gone. Many unsearchable riches are under Paul’s distribution. His distribution is just to distribute the unsearchable riches of Christ to all of us in order that we may be the expression of God.

In 1 Corinthians 4:1 Paul called himself and his co-workers “stewards (oikonomos) of the mysteries of God,” denoting that they were God’s servants, entrusted with the responsibility to carry out the divine dispensing according to God’s dispensation. And in 1 Peter 4:10, Peter told us that all the believers are the stewards of God’s dispensation, dispensing the varied grace of God to supply the house of God (1 Pet. 4:17). All this indicates that the intention of God in His dispensation is to dispense all His riches in Christ through the Spirit into His chosen people that they may enjoy Him and become His expression. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 1)

THE GOAL OF GOD’S DISPENSATION—A BRIDE TO BE HIS COUNTERPART, HIS EXPRESSION

God’s Original Intention

Our burden is to see God’s original intention. According to the record of Genesis 1 and 2 God’s original intention was to have a Bride. After God created man, Adam was single. He was a bachelor. But then God said it was not good for man to be alone. This was a type. According to the revelation of the Bible, God is the unique husband in the entire universe. In Jeremiah 31:32 the Lord considered that He was a husband to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. Isaiah told the children of Israel that their maker was their husband (Isa. 54:5).

God Needing a Counterpart, a Wife

In the New Testament we find the same thing. In John 3:29 John the Baptist indicated that Christ was the Bridegroom. Paul continued this thought in 2 Corinthians 11:2 where he said that he had betrothed the Corinthian believers to one husband, to present them a pure virgin to Christ. And in Ephesians 5 he likened Christ as the husband and the church as the wife. Finally, at the end of the Bible in Revelation 19:7 there is the marriage of the Lamb whose wife has made herself ready. The church as the Bride will be married to Christ as the Bridegroom. This tells us that unless man becomes God’s wife, God is alone. For the Bible to say that it was not good for man to be alone implies also that it was not good for God to remain alone. God needed a counterpart, a wife.

The first two chapters of the Bible reveal that God was planning to have a Bride which would bear His image. After God created Adam, He brought all the animals to him and Adam named them, but he did not find among them a counterpart. So God caused him to sleep and took a piece of rib from his side. Genesis 2:22 tells us that God builded a woman from that piece of bone. When he looked at the woman he saw that she resembled him and bore his image, so he said, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man” (Gen. 2:23). Adam then took her to be his counterpart. This is a picture of what God wants for Himself. It was for this purpose that God created man: to bear His image, to resemble Him in order to be His counterpart.

Having a Bride Bearing His Image, Possessing His Life

For such a one to be produced, there was a need to have God’s divine life. This is why in Genesis 1 and 2, after God had created man in His image, He brought him to the tree of life. This indicated that although man had God’s image, man did not have God’s life. Man was like a photograph. A photograph may bear an image of a person, but it has no life. Adam was created like a photograph of God. He did not have the eternal, uncreated life, the life of God. This life was indicated by the tree of life. So God brought the man who did not yet have God’s divine life to the tree of life so that he might eat of the tree of life. If Adam had eaten of the tree of life, he would have received God’s life. Of course, we know that Adam did not eat of the tree of life at that time. Nevertheless, God’s original intention was that the man who was created in His image should have God’s divine life.

The picture in Genesis 2 is very wonderful! There is the tree of life, and near the tree of life there is a river flowing in four directions. With the flow of the river there is gold, bdellium, and onyx stone. Eventually, in this picture there is also a bride. This picture, with the tree of life growing, with the river flowing, with the gold, the bdellium, the precious stones, and the bride, shows us that God’s original intention was to have a bride bearing His image, possessing His life, and transformed by the flow of life into precious materials to be built up as a bride.

We all are Adam. As men, we bear the image of God. As believers, we also have the life of God. Furthermore, we have a river flowing within us. In John 7:37-38 the Lord indicated that whoever drinks of Him will have rivers of living water flowing out of his being. This means that we bear the image of God, we have the divine life, and we have the flowing river within us. But are we gold, bdellium, and onyx, or are we still muddy? If we say that we are now gold, bdellium, and onyx, our wife or those who serve with us may say that they have never seen them. They may say that they have seen mostly mud. This is our problem, but God has such an intention. God will work this out by the way of His dispensation. God has an administration to distribute Himself into all of us.

Being Fully Transformed into Gold, Bdellium, and Precious Stones

In Genesis 2 there are three categories of precious things. Why are there exactly three and not two or four? It is because God is triune—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. In typology, gold always signifies the nature of God the Father, bdellium signifies the produce of the overcoming death and life-secreting resurrection of God the Son, and the precious stones signify the issue of the transforming work of God the Spirit. How could we who are muddy human beings be transformed? It is by God the Father’s golden nature, by God the Son’s death and resurrection, and by God the Spirit’s transforming work. If I ask whether we are gold, bdellium, and onyx stone or mud, it would be hard for us to answer because we are in between. We are the mud with a little gold. We are the mud with some amount of bdellium. We are the mud with some amount of precious stone. But let me ask: Do we not have God the Father’s nature? Are we not in the death and resurrection of God the Son? Are we not under the transforming work of God the Spirit? To these questions we can boldly answer yes. We can even boast that although we are muddy, we have God the Father’s nature in us. We are in the death and resurrection of God the Son. We are under the transforming work of God the Spirit. We are all under the transformation today. Hallelujah, we are the people under God’s transformation! One day we will be fully transformed into the gold, bdellium, and precious stones. One day we will be the bride constituted with these three precious elements to be ready (Rev. 19:7). This was God’s original intention revealed in the first two chapters of the Bible. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 1)

Precious Materials Being for God’s Building

Genesis 2 records that God placed man in front of the tree of life and that this man was a vessel of clay (vv. 8-9). A river went out of Eden to water the garden, and this river was divided into four heads (v. 10). The issue of the flow of this river was gold, bdellium (a kind of pearl), and onyx stone (v. 12). We need to look to the Lord that He would give us a heavenly, spiritual view of this picture presented to us in Genesis 2. We all need to be transformed from men of clay, vessels of clay, into precious materials for God’s building—gold, bdellium, and precious stones. If we are going to be transformed from clay into precious material for God’s building, we have to eat the fruit of the tree of life. If we eat the fruit of the tree of life, this life becomes the pure, heavenly, living, and spiritual water flowing within us. This flow of life will transform the clay into gold, pearl, and precious stones. All these precious materials are for God’s building. The conclusion of the divine revelation shows us a city built of gold, pearls, and precious stones (Rev. 21:19-21). When we enjoy the Lord as the tree of life, this life flows within us and transforms us into the image of Christ.

When he was brought to the Lord for the first time, the Lord changed his name to Peter, which means “a stone” (John 1:42). Genesis 2 indicates that man was made from the dust of the ground, but the Lord called Simon a stone. The Lord changed Simon’s name to Peter because when Peter began to know the Lord as the Son of God, as the living Christ, Peter had received the Lord into him. At that time a metabolic change took place within Peter. When Christ as the divine life is added into us, some spiritual chemistry takes place, and there is a metabolic change in our being. The clay is changed into a stone. Eventually, this stone will be transformed into precious stone, transparent and shining.

The beginning of the Scriptures shows us the tree of life with a flowing river issuing in precious materials. At the end of the Scriptures there is a universal city built up with these precious materials with the tree of life growing in it and the river of life flowing in it. This shows that God’s eternal purpose, His ultimate intention, is to have a divine building built by the tree of life with the flow of the river of water of life to produce the precious materials. According to God’s ultimate and eternal intention we have to be transformed and built up. Transformation is for God’s building. How spiritual we are depends on how much we have been transformed and how much we have been built up. (CWWL, 1965, vol. 2, “The Tree of Life”, ch. 14)

The Ultimate Consummation of God’s Intention—the New Jerusalem

Now we come to the last two chapters of the Bible, where we find the ultimate consummation of God’s intention. God’s intention will have a consummation, which will be the New Jerusalem, the consummate tabernacle of God as His bride (21:2-3), bearing His glorious image to express Him (v. 11). In that consummation there is no more mud, no more dust. The New Jerusalem is built of gold, pearl, and precious stones (vv. 18-21). All the dust and mud have been transformed. In Revelation we can see the same things as in Genesis—gold, pearls, and precious stones. The only difference is this: the bdellium in Genesis 2 is a kind of resin, a gum congealed into a plant pearl. This means that it is a kind of pearl that comes from the produce of the plant. But the pearls in Revelation 21 are pearls from the animal oyster. In Genesis the bedellium came from the plant, and in Revelation the pearls will come from the produce of the animal. Plant life in the Bible signifies the producing life of Christ, and animal life signifies the redeeming life of Christ. In Genesis 2 there was no fall of man and no sin, so there was no need of redeeming. But in Revelation, after the fall and after sin had entered, there was the need of the redeeming life of the animal. That is the significance of the death and resurrection of God the Son. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 1)

The New Jerusalem Being Built with Gold, Pearls, and Precious Stones

The New Jerusalem will be built with gold, pearls, and precious stones. Gold signifies the nature of God the Father. Pearls signify God the Son’s overcoming death and life-imparting resurrection for regenerating God’s redeemed people. The precious stones signify God the Spirit’s work in transforming God’s regenerated people into materials for the building of God’s eternal habitation.

The New Jerusalem will be watered and nourished by the divine life (22:1-2, 14, 17). The water will come from the river of life, and nourishment from the tree of life. The river is for drinking, and the tree is for nourishment. Both the river and the tree are of the divine life, and this life is actually the Triune God Himself.

According to the picture in Revelation 22, we have God the Father as the source of the water, God the Spirit as the flow of the water, and God the Son as the tree of life growing in the water. This is the Triune God as eternal life flowing to water His redeemed people and nourish them so that they may be absolutely one with Him and so that they may dwell in Him and He in them for eternity.

The New Jerusalem will express God fully for eternity. This expression will be God’s glory. Revelation 21:11 says that the New Jerusalem has the glory of God. The glory of God is the expression of God, God expressed. For eternity we will bear the glory of God for His expression in the New Jerusalem.

This heavenly-mansion concept that has been injected into the believers distracts their attention away from certain vital matters. First, this concept turns the believers’ attention away from the dispensing of the Triune God into us. A heavenly mansion does not require the dispensing of the Triune God into the believers. Those who believe in a heavenly mansion do not sense the need for the dispensing of the Triune God into them.

The thought of a heavenly mansion also distracts believers from the genuine building up in the church life. The building up of the church requires the Father’s nature, signified by gold; the Son’s overcoming death and life-imparting resurrection, signified by pearls; and the transforming work of the Holy Spirit, signified by precious stones. But the building of a heavenly mansion does not require any of these things. If we are to have the building up of the genuine church life, we need gold, pearls, and precious stones; that is, we need the Father’s nature, the Son’s death and resurrection, and the Spirit’s transforming work. (CWWL, 1982, vol. 2, “The Fulfillment of the Tabernacle and the Offerings in the Writings of John”, msg. 38)

God’s Dispensation Beginning from Adam, Going on through All Generations and Consummating in the New Jerusalem

The New Jerusalem will be built up with God the Father’s divine nature, with God the Son’s death and resurrection, and with God the Spirit’s transformation. That will be the universal bride to satisfy God’s desire for His eternal expression. This is the consummation of God’s intention. In the first two chapters of the Bible there is God’s intention, and in the last two chapters of the Bible there is the consummation of God’s intention. Both sections show us the goal of God’s dispensation—a bride to be His counterpart, His expression. God’s dispensation began from Adam and has been going on through all the generations. It will consummate in the New Jerusalem, where we can see the goal of God’s dispensation.

Today we need to contact the Triune God to be supplied and nourished with the divine life as the river of water of life and as the tree of life (22:1-2), that we may be transformed with the Father’s golden nature, through the Son’s death and resurrection, and by the work of God the Spirit. We need to cooperate with the Triune God. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 1)