Message Ten—The Ultimate Consummation of the Divine Dispensing

THE THIRD PART: 24 CRUCIAL LINES IN THE BIBLE

The Divine Dispensing

Message Ten
The Ultimate Consummation of the Divine Dispensing

Scripture Reading: 1 Pet. 1:2; Heb. 1:8; Acts 5:3-4; John 4:24; Rev. 1:4; 4:5; 5:6; 2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:6, 13, 22; 19:7-9; 21:2, 9, 11, 18-21; 22:1-2, 14, 17

I. The consummation of the divine dispensing is in John’s last book, the book of Revelation; in Revelation we can see the consummation, the issue, of the divine dispensing; this consummation is not only the consummation of the divine dispensing, but also the consummation of God’s entire plan and economy—Rev. 21:2, 10:

A. The consummation of the divine dispensing in the book of Revelation is mainly in the first three chapters and the last two.

B. In the first three chapters there are the seven churches signified by the seven lampstands; in the last two chapters there is the wife of the Lamb signified by the New Jerusalem.

C. Both the lampstands in this age and the New Jerusalem in eternity are the marvelous issue and consummation of the divine dispensing—Rev. 1:12; 21:2.

II. The Bible of sixty-six books is for only one thing: for God in Christ by the Spirit to dispense Himself into us to be our life, our nature, and our everything so that we may live and express Christ to become the New Jerusalem; this should be the principle that governs our life—Rev. 22:17a; Rom. 9:23; 2 Kings 4:1-6; Rom. 8:28-29; Prov. 20:24; Psa. 139:7-12; Gen. 45:4; 50:20; Phil. 1:19-21a; Gal. 2:20; 1 Cor. 15:10:

A. If we do not have a clear view of God’s eternal intention in His eternal economy, our interpretation of the New Jerusalem will not be accurate, and our life and work will be meaningless; the goal of our life and work is to become the New Jerusalem and to build the New Jerusalem—1 Tim. 1:3; Eph. 3:8-11; Rev. 21:2-3, 9-11, 22; 22:1-5:

1. The New Jerusalem is a sign (a symbol with spiritual significance) of the ultimate consummation of the Divine Trinity dispensing Himself into His chosen people—1:1; 22:1-2; cf. John 4:14b; 6:35, 57.

2. The New Jerusalem is a corporate person, a great God-man, the aggregate and totality of all of God’s chosen and redeemed people—Rev. 21:2a, 12b, 14.

3. The New Jerusalem is the bride, the wife of the Lamb, Christ’s eternal counterpart, so we have to love Him supremely and betroth others to Him—vv. 2, 9-10; 22:17a; 2 Cor. 11:2; cf. Eph. 5:25-27.

4. The New Jerusalem is the mutual abode of God and man, so we have to abide in Him that He may abide in us, and we have to minister Him as the building and builded God into others—Rev. 21:3, 22; John 14:23; 15:5, 7; 8:31; Eph. 3:16-19; 2 Cor. 3:3; 1 Cor. 3:12.

5. The New Jerusalem is the fullness of God, the corporate expression of God, the glory of God, so we need to be saved from our self-likeness to express God in the oneness of the divine glory while we preach not ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, considering ourselves as slaves to serve the believers and laying down our lives on behalf of the brothers—Eph. 3:19; Rev. 21:9-11; 4:3; Rom. 5:10; Heb. 2:9-10; John 17:22-23; Matt. 16:24-25; 2 Cor. 4:5; 1 John 3:16.

6. The New Jerusalem as God’s masterpiece is designed and constructed by God; He constructs the New Jerusalem by dispensing Himself as the Architect and Builder into our being—Heb. 11:10; Eph. 2:10; 3:10.

B. The mystery of the ages hidden in God’s heart is that God in His Divine Trinity desires to be dispensed and wrought into His created man to make man His duplication and His expression—10:13; Eph. 3:8-11.

C. God’s purpose in dealing with His people is that He wants His people to gain Him, to partake of Him, to possess Him, and to enjoy Him, rather than all things, until their enjoyment reaches the fullest extent, that His people may ultimately become the New Jerusalem—Phil. 3:7-14; 2 Cor. 4:16-18; Rev. 21:2—22:5.

III. In the ultimate consummation of the dispensing of the Divine Trinity as the New Jerusalem, we will enjoy the Lamb-God, the Redeeming God, in His triune dispensing—Rev. 22:1, 3; 21:23; 7:17; Ezek. 1:26:

A. The entire New Jerusalem is saturated with God the Spirit as the river of living water which flows out of the throne of God the Father and of the Lamb, God the Son; in the river the tree of life grows; the life water, God the Spirit, quenches thirst, and the life tree, God the Son, nourishes—Rev. 22:1-2.

B. The entire city, which is a composition of the Trinity with His redeemed people, is watered, nourished, and saturated with the divine life; which is nothing less than the Triune God, dispensing Himself to saturate His redeemed people; this is a blending of the Triune God with His redeemed people—vv. 1-2, 14, 17.

C. The nature of the Father is the substance; the redemption of the Son, including His death and resurrection, is the entry; and the Spirit’s transformation is the work to make us divine and precious; such a composition is the New Jerusalem; this is the consummation of the divine dispensing—Rev. 21:11, 19-21.

D. What God is doing is dispensing Himself as the Father, the source, as the Son, the expression, and as the Spirit, the very entering in, into you and me; day and night He is working on this one thing; He is working toward this one goal, that we all would be a lampstand in this age to express the Triune God, and eventually that we would be that bride in eternity—1 Thes. 3:16; Rev. 1:12; 22:17.

IV. In the ultimate consummation of the dispensing of the Divine Trinity as the New Jerusalem, we will enjoy the eternal life to the fullest—Rev. 21:2—22:5:

A. We will enjoy the Father as the light of life in Christ, the Lamb, as the lamp; the shining of the divine light is the dispensing of the Triune God into the believers—21:23; 22:1, 5; cf. John 8:12; Luke 11:33-36.

B. We will enjoy the Son as the tree of life for our rich, fresh, and eternally refreshing supply, our eternal portion—Rev. 2:7; 22:2, 14; cf. Gen. 2:8-9; 3:24; Rom. 5:10, 17; 8:2.

C. We will enjoy the Spirit as the river of water of life, a symbol of the processed Triune God in Christ as the life-giving Spirit flowing out Himself to saturate His redeemed people, the constituents of the New Jerusalem, showing that even in eternity future we will still need the supply of the dispensing of the Divine Trinity—Rev. 22:1; cf. John 4:14b; 7:38-39; 1 Cor. 12:13.

V. In the ultimate consummation of the dispensing of the Divine Trinity as the New Jerusalem, we will be the union, mingling, and incorporation of the processed Triune God with His redeemed, regenerated, sanctified, renewed, transformed, conformed, and glorified tripartite people for His glorious and utmost expression and His consummated manifestation for eternity as the new creation of resurrection—Rev. 21:12-13, 21a, 14, 17a; 22:1-5.

Ministry Excerpts:

THE CONSUMMATION OF THE DIVINE DISPENSING

In this chapter we come to the consummation of the divine dispensing. The writings of the apostle John are the last books of the divine revelation. His Gospel, his Epistles, and his book of Revelation were written about A.D. 90. If we would get into his writings, we would surely realize that they are on the Triune God. In his Gospel we see the dispensing of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. The Son came in the name of the Father, and He did everything to work out the Father’s will. He worked in the Father’s name, and He worked with the Father. He also spoke the Father’s word and sought the Father’s glory. From these points it is clear that the Son does nothing by Himself, nor is He for Himself. He lives and works altogether with the Father and for the Father. This indicates that He is the embodiment of the Father.

After the death and resurrection of the Son, the Spirit came in the Son’s name to testify concerning the Son and to glorify the Son. The Spirit is not for Himself; He is altogether for the Son. The Son is for the Father, and the Spirit is for the Son. The three are really one. The Father is embodied in the Son, and the Son is transfigured into the Spirit. This is for God in His divine economy, the divine household management and administration, to dispense Himself into His redeemed people to make them one with Him. This is clearly revealed in the Gospel of John.

Seeing the Consummation, the Issue,
of the Divine Dispensing in Revelation

The consummation of the divine dispensing is in John’s last book, the book of Revelation, which is also the last book of the New Testament and even of the entire Bible. In Revelation we can see the consummation, the issue, of the divine dispensing. This consummation is not only the consummation of the divine dispensing, but also the consummation of God’s entire plan and economy.

Between the Gospel of John and the book of Revelation are John’s Epistles, which cover the fellowship of the divine life. This fellowship is nothing less than the experience and enjoyment of the Triune God. In the Gospel of John we can see how the Triune God has been dispensed into us. In the Epistles of John we enjoy the Triune God by the fellowship of the divine life, which is the real experience and enjoyment of the Triune God who has been dispensed into us in the Gospel of John.

This dispensing will issue in the book of Revelation. The consummation of the divine dispensing in the book of Revelation is mainly in the first three chapters and the last two. In the first three chapters there are the seven churches signified by the seven lampstands. In the last two chapters there is the wife of the Lamb signified by the New Jerusalem. Both the lampstands in this age and the New Jerusalem in eternity are the marvelous issue and consummation of the divine dispensing.

God Doing the Divine Dispensing,
Dispensing Himself into All of Us Day and Night

Dear saints, we all need a clear view to see what the Triune God is doing today. He is doing the divine dispensing, dispensing Himself into all of us day and night. You may say that you do not see such a dispensing, but God sees it. To you it may not seem so prevailing, powerful, or evident, but to God and His enemy Satan, it is very evident. This dispensing began when Jesus came to earth, and it has been going on for nearly twenty centuries. We like to see things that are evident on the surface, but God does not care so much for things which are superficially evident. He cares for the reality and its result. Today on this earth underneath so many currents, there is a real current. What is the current? It is the Triune God dispensing Himself into all of His redeemed ones. How foolish it is if we are busy doing other works and do not care for this current, the Triune God dispensing Himself into us!

You may say that you do not feel much of God’s dispensing, or that you have only a little of God’s dispensing. As long as you have a little, that is good. For example, with a large amount of sand, there may be only a few grains of gold. God’s dispensing is like this: a little bit in you and a little bit in me, on and on. To Him there is no time element. With the Lord a thousand years are as one day (2 Pet. 3:8). To us this dispensing has been going on over nineteen hundred years, but to Him it is less than two days. Many Christians like to say that the Lord Jesus will come soon. Some in the past even predicted when the Lord would come. But His delay has disappointed those who predicted. Didn’t the Lord Jesus say that He was coming quickly (Rev. 22:12)? Yes, He did. But to us it is two thousand years; to Him it is just two days. His coming may be delayed for quite a period of time because He wants His dispensing to be fully completed. This dispensing is still going on and on. One day it will have a consummation. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity,” ch. 14)

THE ENTIRE REVELATION OF THE BIBLE
BEING THAT GOD WANTS TO DISPENSE HIMSELF INTO MAN

In eternity the believers will participate in the ultimate consummation of the dispensing of the divine Trinity. This consummation is altogether related to the New Jerusalem.

The New Jerusalem Being a Sign,
Signifying the Ultimate Consummation of the Divine Trinity
Dispensing Himself into His Chosen People

The New Jerusalem is not a physical city, as commonly believed by Christians. Rather, the book of Revelation indicates that the New Jerusalem is a divine and spiritual sign. The revelation of the entire book of Revelation is mainly made known to us by signs (Rev. 1:1) symbolizing important persons and things, such as the golden lampstands in 1:12, signifying the churches bearing the shining testimony of Jesus Christ; the stars in 1:16, signifying the bright and shining messengers of the churches; the mysterious Babylon the Great in 17:5, signifying religious Rome; and the bride in 19:7, signifying the overcoming saints as the spouse of Christ. Hence, the New Jerusalem also should be a sign, signifying the ultimate consummation of the divine Trinity dispensing Himself into His chosen people.

If we do not have a clear vision of God’s eternal intention in His eternal economy, our interpretation of the New Jerusalem will not be accurate. The interpretation of the New Jerusalem as a literal, physical city does not fit in with the entire revelation of the Bible. The entire revelation of the Bible is that God wants to dispense Himself into man and to be mingled with man to produce a marvelous entity with Himself as the content and man as the expression. This marvelous entity is the New Jerusalem, the ultimate consummation of the dispensing of the processed Triune God into His chosen, redeemed, regenerated, and transformed people.

As the Bride, the Wife of the Lamb—
Christ’s Eternal Counterpart

Revelation 21:2 and 9 clearly tell us that the New Jerusalem is the bride, the wife of the Lamb. According to the entire Bible, there is a divine romance between God the Creator, the Redeemer, who is the male, and His redeemed people, who are the female. For this reason, God repeatedly likens His chosen people to a spouse (Isa. 54:6; Jer. 3:1; Ezek. 16:8; Hosea 2:19; 2 Cor. 11:2; Eph. 5:31-32) for His satisfaction in love. As the wife of Christ, the New Jerusalem comes out of Christ to be His spouse, just as Eve came out of Adam and became his counterpart (Gen. 2:21-24). The bride is mainly for the wedding day, whereas the wife is for the entire married life. The New Jerusalem will first be the bride of Christ in the millennium for one thousand years as one day (2 Pet. 3:8) and then His wife in the new heaven and new earth for eternity. The bride in the millennium will include only the overcoming saints (Rev. 3:12; 19:7-9), but the wife in the new heaven and new earth will include all the redeemed and regenerated sons of God (Rev. 21:7).

The fact that the New Jerusalem is the bride, the wife of the Lamb, Christ’s eternal counterpart, is a further proof that the New Jerusalem cannot be a physical city. It would be ridiculous to say that Christ will marry a physical city as His wife. A wife is a person, and the New Jerusalem, as the wife, the bride of the Lamb, Christ, will be a corporate person, the aggregate of God’s redeemed, regenerated, and transformed people.

As the Tabernacle of God—
God’s Eternal Habitation among Men (the Nations)

As the components of the holy city, New Jerusalem, the believers will be the tabernacle of God—God’s eternal habitation among men. Revelation 21:3 says, “I heard a loud voice out of the throne, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He shall tabernacle with them, and they shall be His peoples, and God Himself shall be with them.” The New Jerusalem as the tabernacle of God indicates that in eternity the believers, together with the Old Testament saints, will be God’s eternal dwelling place. In both the Old and New Testaments God likens His chosen people to a dwelling place (Exo. 29:45-46; Num. 5:3; Ezek. 43:7, 9; Psa. 68:18; 1 Cor. 3:16-17; 6:19; 2 Cor. 6:16; 1 Tim. 3:15). The spouse is for God’s satisfaction in love, and the dwelling place is for God’s rest in expression. The New Jerusalem will be God’s dwelling place among men for Him to be expressed for eternity.

As God’s habitation, the New Jerusalem will be “the tabernacle of God with men” for eternity. The tabernacle made by Moses was a type of this tabernacle (Exo. 25:8-9; Lev. 26:11). That type was first fulfilled in Christ as God’s tabernacle among men (John 1:14), and will eventually be fulfilled in the fullest way in the New Jerusalem, which will be the enlargement of Christ as God’s dwelling place. This tabernacle will also be the eternal dwelling place of God’s redeemed people. God will overshadow us with Christ (Rev. 7:15). Hence, the New Jerusalem will be a mutual habitation for both God and us.

Revelation 21:3 tells us that the New Jerusalem is the tabernacle of God “with men.” Here “men” refers not to the believers but to the nations (Rev. 21:24a, 26), the people living on the new earth outside the New Jerusalem. However, many Bible readers think that “with men” in 21:3 refers to the believers. This is wrong. Even today our God is not merely among us—He is within us. In eternity, in the New Jerusalem, God will not be among the believers but will be in the believers. Actually the believers will be the New Jerusalem, and the New Jerusalem will be the tabernacle of God among men, that is, among the nations. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 187)

ENJOYING THE LAMB-GOD, THE REDEEMING GOD,
IN HIS TRIUNE DISPENSING

In the ultimate consummation of the dispensing of the divine Trinity, that is, in the New Jerusalem, the believers will enjoy the Lamb-God, the redeeming God, in His Triune dispensing. 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 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.

According to Revelation 22, both God and the Lamb are sitting on the throne. They are not sitting side by side. Rather, God is in the Lamb. This is indicated by the fact that 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. On the contrary, the light is in the lamp, and 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 enjoy the redeeming God, God in the Lamb, in His triune dispensing.

The Lamb-God will also be the light of life in the lamp shining through the holy city. Revelation 22:5a says, “Night shall be no more; and they have no need of the light of a lamp and the light of the sun, for the Lord God shall illumine them.” Revelation 21:23 says, “The city has no need of the sun nor of the moon that they should shine in it, for the glory of God illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb.” Revelation 21:11 tells us that the New Jerusalem has the glory of God and her light is like a most precious stone, as a jasper stone, clear as crystal. In the millennium the light of the sun and the moon will be intensified (Isa. 30:26). But in the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and the new earth there will be no need of the sun nor of the moon, for there God, the divine light, will shine much more brightly. The Lamb as the lamp will shine with God as the light to illumine the city with the glory of God, the expression of the divine light. Because such a divine light will illumine the holy city, it will have no need of any other light, whether created by God or made by man.

In Revelation 21:23 we see that God is the light and Christ is the lamp. This indicates that God and the Lamb are one light. God is the content, and the Lamb, Christ, is the light-bearer, the expression. The glory of God, with God as its substance, essence, and element, will be the light of the New Jerusalem shining in the Lamb as its lamp. This means that God who is the light will shine in Christ as the lamp throughout the city. This also is a matter of the divine dispensing, for shining is a kind of dispensing. The shining of the divine light is actually the dispensing of the processed Triune God into the believers. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 188)

The Mingling of the Trinity with His Redeemed

The New Jerusalem is a composition of the Divine Trinity with God’s redeemed people. First of all it is composed of God the Father’s nature, signified by the gold. The city and its street are made of pure gold (21:18, 21b), denoting God the Father in His nature. The twelve gates of the New Jerusalem, which are twelve pearls (21:21a), signify God the Son’s overcoming death and His life-imparting resurrection. An oyster is a small animal which lives in the death waters. It has a life which overcomes the death waters, and by secreting a life element, it produces pearls. Christ’s overcoming death plus His life-imparting resurrection secretes the “juice” of the divine life to form us into pearls. So in the pearl we can see the Son in His death and resurrection. The pearl signifies God’s redeemed and regenerated people. According to John 3, regeneration is the entry into the kingdom. You cannot enter into the kingdom of God unless you are born of the Spirit (John 3:5). Regeneration is the entry, the gate, into the New Jerusalem.

The precious stones signify the transforming work of God the Spirit (Rev. 21:11, 18-20). After regeneration, the Spirit continues to transform the regenerated people of God to make every one of them a precious stone. By this you can see that the New Jerusalem is a composition of the Father as the substance, of the Son as the entry, and of the Spirit as the transformation. It is a building of the Trinity with redeemed, regenerated, and transformed humanity.

The Entire New Jerusalem Being Saturated
with God the Spirit as the River of Living Water
Which Flows Out of the Throne

The entire New Jerusalem is saturated with God the Spirit as the river of living water which flows out of the throne of God the Father and of the Lamb, God the Son. In the river the tree of life grows (Rev. 22:1-2). The life water, God the Spirit, quenches thirst, and the life tree, God the Son, nourishes. The entire city, which is a composition of the Trinity with His redeemed people, is watered, nourished, and saturated with the divine life, which is nothing less than the Triune God (Rev. 22:1-2, 14, 17), dispensing Himself to saturate His redeemed people. What a picture this is! This is a blending of the Triune God with His redeemed people. The nature of the Father is the substance. The redemption of the Son, including His death and resurrection, is the entry. And the Spirit’s transformation is the work to make us divine and precious. Such a composition is the New Jerusalem. It is saturated by the eternal life, which is the Triune God Himself. This is the consummation of the divine dispensing.

I look to the Lord that through these messages you may see a vision of God’s economy, God’s goal, and what God is doing to reach His goal. What God is doing is dispensing Himself as the Father, the source, as the Son, the expression, and as the Spirit, the very entering in, into you and me. Day and night He is working on this one thing. He is working toward this one goal, that we all would be a lampstand in this age to express the Triune God, and eventually that we would be that bride in eternity, a composition of redeemed and regenerated humanity saturated with the Triune God as life. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity,” ch. 14)

ENJOYING THE DIVINE LIFE, THE ETERNAL LIFE,
TO THE FULLEST EXTENT IN THE NEW JERUSALEM

In the ultimate consummation of the dispensing of the divine Trinity in the New Jerusalem the believers are destined to enjoy the eternal life to the fullest. Today in the church life we have the enjoyment of the eternal life. In the coming age, the manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens in the millennium, the overcoming believers will enjoy the eternal life in a fuller way. Eventually, in the New Jerusalem in eternity we shall enjoy the eternal life to the fullest. From this we see that the enjoyment of the eternal life is of three stages: the full enjoyment in the church age, the fuller enjoyment in the kingdom age, and the fullest enjoyment in eternity. In the New Jerusalem, which will be the ultimate consummation of the dispensing of the divine Trinity, we shall enjoy the divine life, the eternal life, to the fullest extent. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 187)

Enjoying God as the Divine Light
in the Redeeming Christ

Light refers to God the Father. First John 1:5 tells us that God is light, and according to the context of this verse, God mainly refers to God the Father. While love is the nature of God’s intrinsic essence, light is the nature of God’s outward expression. In the New Jerusalem light refers to God Himself to illuminate the entire city for His expression. Revelation 21:23 tells us that the city has no need of the sun or of the moon. This indicates that in the new heaven and the new earth the sun and moon will still be there. The fact that the tree of life in the New Jerusalem yields its fruit each month also indicates that in the new heaven and new earth the moon will still be there to divide the twelve months.…In the New Jerusalem, however, there will be no need of the sun or of the moon. The light in the city will be God Himself as the light of life (John 1:4; 8:12).

God as the divine light, the light of life, is contained in the Lamb as the lamp (21:23b). An electrical light always needs a bulb or a lamp to contain it; otherwise, there is the possibility of a person being electrocuted. In the New Jerusalem the redeeming Lamb is the lamp, and God is within Him as the light. This indicates that without the redeeming Christ to contain the divine light, the divine light would “kill” us. With the redeeming Christ as the lamp, however, the divine light does not kill us; it illumines us. The killing becomes a kind of enlightening through the redemption of Christ. First Timothy 6:16 tells us that God dwells in unapproachable light. In Christ, though, God becomes approachable. Outside of Christ, God’s shining is a kind of killing, but inside of Christ, God’s shining is a kind of illumination. Since the day we were saved, we began to enjoy God as the divine light in the redeeming Christ illumining us all the time. Even today we should enjoy God in this way. (CWWL, 1984, vol. 3, “God’s New Testament Economy,” ch. 43)

Those Who Enter into the New Jerusalem
Being Given to Drink of the Spring of the Water of Life

Those who enter into the New Jerusalem will be given to drink of the spring of the water of life. Revelation 21:6b says, “I will give to him who thirsts from the spring of the water of life freely,” and 22:1 says, “He showed me a river of water of life, bright as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb in the middle of its street.” The water of life is the life-giving Spirit as our eternal drink. The life-giving Spirit is actually the Triune God Himself flowing Himself out to be our drink. This eternal drink is bright as crystal. In the life-giving Spirit there is nothing opaque. As we drink this eternal Spirit, everything becomes crystal clear.

The river of water of life in 22:1 is a symbol of the processed Triune God in Christ as the life-giving Spirit (John 7:38-39; 1 Cor. 15:45) flowing out Himself to saturate His redeemed people, the constituents of the New Jerusalem. In eternity all the redeemed people will drink the water of life as their eternal portion. This indicates that even in eternity future we shall still need the supply of the divine dispensing of the divine Trinity. That dispensing will be the spring of the water of life. The spring is God Himself, and the water of life is the flow of this God. In the New Jerusalem the Triune God Himself will be flowing out as the water of life for our supply eternally.

Having the Right to Eat of the Tree of Life

Revelation 22:14 says, “Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city.” This verse may be considered a promise of the enjoyment of the tree of life, which is Christ with all the riches of life. The tree of life is nothing less than Christ, the Son of God, the redeeming Lamb, as our life supply. This tree is rich, fresh, and refreshing. We have been redeemed so that we may have the right to come to the tree of life.

After his creation, man was put before the tree of life (Gen. 2:8-9), indicating that he was privileged to partake of that tree. But due to the fall of man, the tree of life was closed to man by God’s glory, holiness, and righteousness (Gen. 3:24). Through Christ’s redemption, which has fulfilled all the requirements of God’s glory, holiness, and righteousness, the way to the tree of life is opened again to the believers (Heb. 10:19-20). Hence, the believers who wash their robes in the redeeming blood of Christ, that is, keep their conduct clean through the washing of the blood of the Lamb, have the right to enjoy the tree of life as their eternal portion.

Revelation 22:2 says that the tree of life grows on the two sides of the river. This indicates that the tree of life is a vine, spreading and proceeding along the flow of the water of life. In the millennial kingdom the overcoming believers will enjoy Christ as the tree of life as their reward (Rev. 2:7). In the New Jerusalem all the believers will enjoy Christ as the tree of life as their eternal portion.

The water of life and the tree of life both signify that the Triune God will be dispensed into us continuously as our life supply for eternity. The water of life signifies the Spirit who is the ultimate consummation of the Triune God, and the tree of life signifies Christ as the embodiment of the Triune God. The fact that the tree of life grows on the two sides of the river of the water of life indicates that the embodiment of the Triune God, who is Christ, is always along with the all-inclusive Spirit, who is the consummation of the Triune God, to be our life supply dispensed into us. In this way the believers will enjoy the eternal life to the fullest extent. The flowing of the water of life with the tree of life is the dispensing of the Triune God into His chosen people as their life and life supply in fullness for eternity. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 187)

EXPRESSING GOD FULLY FOR ETERNITY

Such a composition of the Triune God with His redeemed people will express God fully for eternity (Rev. 21:11a). So at the end of the sixty-six books of the Bible, the Spirit is the ultimate consummation of the Triune God.

Now we can see why John says that the Son comes in the Father’s name, and the Spirit comes in the Son’s name. In his Gospel John prepares the way to show us that these three—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—are not separate. These Three actually are one. The source, the expression, and the entering in become the consummation. The Spirit is not separated from the Son nor from the Father. The Spirit is the consummation of the entire Triune God. The Spirit as the Bridegroom is the totality and consummation of the Triune God. He is qualified to be such a husband to marry the wife, who is the consummation of all the redeemed and regenerated people of God. This is a universal couple with divinity marrying humanity.

Here are two consummations. Divinity has gone through a process—through incarnation, through crucifixion, through resurrection, and through ascension—to become the Spirit, the totality, the consummation, of the Triune God to be the Bridegroom. Humanity also has gone through a process—through redemption, through regeneration, and through transformation—to become the consummation of God’s chosen, redeemed, regenerated, and transformed people. The consummation of the Triune God and the consummation of God’s chosen, redeemed, regenerated, and transformed people become one in a universal marriage. The processed man will match the processed God forever for His full expression and satisfaction. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity,” ch. 14)