THE THIRD PART: 24 CRUCIAL LINES IN THE BIBLE
The Divine Dispensing
Message Three—God’s Dispensing Revealed in the Experiences of the Children of Israel
Scripture Reading: Exo. 12:3, 7-8; 13:6-7; 16:14-15; 17:6; 40:34-38; John 6:51; Deut. 7:13; 8:7-10; Psa. 84:4, 10; 92:13-14
I. God desired a corporate person, a house; so after Genesis there is Exodus; in Exodus God gained a house, a tabernacle representing a corporate people expressing God; this tabernacle was Bethel, the house of God; by that time God had infused Himself into His people to make them His dwelling—Exo. 40:17, 34:
A. the people of Israel got saved by the Lamb of God who typified the redeeming Christ; through their eating the redeeming Lamb got into them, and eventually the redeeming Lamb became them; this is why they were so strong and vigorous and bold to walk out of Egypt—Exo. 12:3.
B. At the Passover the Israelites also ate unleavened bread made of barley or wheat; barley or wheat bread is produced from grains which have passed through death and entered into resurrection; the unleavened bread typifies the resurrected Christ—Exo. 12:8b; 13:6-7.
C. After the children of Israel got into the wilderness, they ate manna; manna was a kind of heavenly food which rained from heaven; manna did not come from this earth; manna was a type of the ascended Christ—Exo. 16:14-15; John 6:51:
1. The Christ in the heavens comes to us all the day long as the heavenly food.
2. Every morning when we spend a few minutes with the Lord, we do have the sensation that Christ in the heavens is raining upon us.
3. We pick up the manna to eat; manna is the ascended Christ in the heavens raining to us for our daily supply.
D. In the wilderness the children of Israel needed manna for food, but they also needed something to drink, so there was living water flowing out of the cleft rock; this signifies the pneumatic Christ—Exo. 17:6; John 7:38-39; 1 Cor. 15:45b.
E. Eventually those people who were redeemed, who partook of the lamb and the unleavened bread, the manna and the living water also partook of the riches of the tabernacle with the offerings, which typified the corporate Christ, that is, Christ and the church—Exo. 40:34-38; John 1:14; 1 Cor. 12:12:
1. Outside of the tabernacle on the altar there was the burnt offering, the meal offering, the peace offering, the sin offering, the trespass offering, the free will offering, the wave offering, and the heave offering; all these are different aspects of the riches of Christ.
2. Within the tabernacle there was the showbread table, the lampstand, the incense altar, and the ark; within the ark there were further riches; within the ark there was the law as the testimony of God, there was the hidden manna within the golden pot, and there was the budding rod of Aaron; all these items are the riches which God is dispensing into us in His dispensation—Heb. 9:3-4.
II. At the end of Exodus there was a glorious situation; there was a corporate people who were God’s dwelling place; they were overshadowed and filled up with God’s glory; there were a lot of riches in the tabernacle for them to enjoy; but this enjoyment was not in the fullest way, so after Exodus the children of Israel were brought into the good land—Exo. 40:17, 34:
A. The produce of the good land was a type of the unsearchable riches of Christ—Deut. 8:7-10; 11:11-12; Eph. 3:8:
1. In the good land there was a lot of rain and dew; there was the early rain in the fall and the latter rain in the spring, every day there was the dew; in typology, rain signifies God’s strong and rich grace, and dew signifies God’s soft mercy—Deut. 11:11, 14; 33:28.
2. In the good land there are a lot of hills and valleys; every hill is the Lord Christ; Christ is our high hill, and Christ is also our deep valley—Deut. 8:7b; cf. 2 Cor. 6:8-10.
3. After the hills and valleys we have brooks of water, springs, and deep waters; these are symbols of the life-giving Spirit—Deut. 8:7a; John 4:14; 7:37-39.
4. There is the wheat and barley, the plentitude of food, without scarceness, not lacking anything—Deut. 8:8-9.
5. There are also trees—the vine trees for producing wine, the olive trees for producing oil, the fig trees for feeding people, and the pomegranates signifying all the riches of life—v. 8b.
6. Then there is grass forming the pastures where the cattle live and produce milk and meat; even the bees live on blossoms that produce honey.
7. Deuteronomy 8:9 says that the land is a land “whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass;” both the iron and the brass are for building and for fighting.
8. In the church life we have not only the enjoyment of the wheat and barley, of the olive tree, the vine tree, the fig tree and the pomegranate tree, of the milk and honey, of the oil and wine for our living, but also of stones, iron, and brass for building and fighting; from the enjoyment of such a rich land an issue comes out; it issues in the building of the temple—1 King 8:10-11.
B. The focus of God’s dispensation is just to dispense Himself into His chosen people so that He Himself becomes His chosen people’s life and nature; this is to mingle His people’s being with the divine being; this is humanity saturated with divinity; this is the universal Bethel, a house of God, built up with humanity on this earth—John 1:12; 2 Pet. 1:4, 1 Tim. 3:15-16.
III. The book of Psalms is mainly a book of the enjoyment of the temple; today the temple is the church life, a building of humanity with divinity; this is why the church life is so lovable, so sweet, so beautiful, so wonderful, so marvelous, so glorious!—Eph. 2:21-22:
A. The temple is a dwelling of blessing; surely when we dwell in the church life we get the blessing; there is no curse and no loss in the church life—Psa. 84:4, 10.
B. The temple is also God’s rest that satisfies Him forever; it is a place for God to rest—Psa. 132:14-16.
C. The church is also a place of rich provision for God’s people; in the church there is the rich supply of spiritual food and spiritual clothing; nothing is short in the church—Psa. 132:14-16.
D. With the temple there is also the satisfying of God’s people abundantly with its fatness and with the river of God’s pleasures, the fountain of life, and the divine light; all these are the enjoyment of the rich Christ in God’s house—Psa. 36:8-9.
E. We could be planted in the temple and that we could grow as a green olive tree in God’s house, full of sap and fruit—Psa. 52:8; 92:13-14.
F. All this portrays the enjoyment of Christ in the church life, and this is the result of God’s dispensing Himself in Christ into our being; by such a dispensing even in our old age we can bring forth fruit, and we can be full of sap and green—Rom. 8:10, 6, 11; Psa. 92:13-14.
Ministry Excerpts:
GOD DESIRED A CORPORATE PERSON—A HOUSE
God desired a corporate person, a house. So after Genesis there is Exodus. In Exodus God gained a house. At the end of Genesis God gained a complete person expressing Himself, but at the end of Exodus God gained a tabernacle representing a corporate people expressing God. At the end of Genesis is an individual Israel, but at the end of Exodus is a corporate Israel. There is a collective people of Israel to be God’s tabernacle. This tabernacle was Bethel, the house of God. By that time God had infused Himself into His people to make them His dwelling. Up to that point God was in the tabernacle because He had infused Himself into His people in a more complete way.
SAVED BY THE LAMB—THE REDEEMING CHRIST
In this message we need to see how God could reach such a point in His dispensing. First of all the people of Israel got saved by the Lamb of God who typified the redeeming Christ (Exo. 12:3). Don’t forget that the Lord Jesus Christ is the very embodiment of God. The Lamb of God is the embodiment of the Triune God. John 1 says that in the beginning was the Word and the Word was God. This Word became flesh and tabernacled among us (vv. 1, 14). This very One is the Lamb of God (John 1:29). How wonderful! We have the Word, God, the flesh, the tabernacle, and the Lamb. The Lamb is the totality of the eternal Word of God in the beginning, of the flesh, and of the tabernacle. We all have been saved by such a Lamb who is the embodiment of the Triune God.
PARTAKING OF THE LAMB—THE CRUCIFIED CHRIST
When the children of Israel received the passover they struck the blood of the lamb and were saved (Exo. 12:7). Following that they ate the meat of the lamb (Exo. 12:7b-8a). Through their eating the redeeming Lamb got into them, and eventually the redeeming Lamb became them. This is why they were so strong and vigorous and bold to walk out of Egypt. They were full of energy. To be full of energy means to be full of the Lamb. Today many Christians have been saved by Christ, but they have remained so weak and not vigorous. Why? Because they have not partaken of Christ. They have not eaten Christ. How about you? You must be vigorous! How can you be vigorous? By partaking of Christ. By partaking of the Lamb. You have to eat the Lamb. The Lamb whom we can eat is the crucified Christ. Through His crucifixion Christ was “cooked” so that we may eat Him.
PARTAKING OF THE UNLEAVENED BREAD—
THE RESURRECTED CHRIST
At the Passover the Israelites also ate unleavened bread made of barley or wheat (Exo. 12:8b; 13:6-7). Barley or wheat bread is produced from grains which have passed through death and entered into resurrection. The unleavened bread typifies the resurrected Christ. Christ was not only crucified, but also resurrected. He was crucified to be our Lamb, and He was resurrected to be the unleavened bread. We have to enjoy the resurrected Christ.
Eating the Lamb enables you to walk out of Egypt, but it is unleavened bread that enables you to live a life without leaven. To get out of the world you need the crucified Christ. This is why Paul could say that to him the world was crucified, and to the world he was crucified (Gal. 6:14). This is the experience of the crucified Christ. But for us to live in newness of life without any leaven, we need the resurrected Christ. We need the unleavened bread.
PARTAKING OF MANNA—THE HEAVENLY CHRIST
After the children of Israel got into the wilderness, they ate manna (Exo. 16:14-15; John 6:51). Manna was a kind of heavenly food which rained from heaven. It did not come from this earth. That was a type of the ascended Christ. The Christ in the heavens comes to us all the day long as the heavenly food. First you enjoy the redeeming Christ, and then the crucified Christ. Afterwards you enjoy the resurrected Christ and eventually the ascended Christ. The redeeming Christ redeems you. The crucified Christ energizes you to get out of Egypt. The resurrected Christ enables you to live a life without sin. And the ascended Christ becomes your daily supply to keep you living every day. This is the Christ who is in the heavens, and yet who also comes into you every day. We all have this kind of experience. Every morning when we spend a few minutes with the Lord, we do have the sensation that Christ in the heavens is raining upon us. We pick up the manna to eat. Manna is the ascended Christ in the heavens raining to us for our daily supply.
PARTAKING OF THE LIVING WATER
FLOWING OUT OF THE CLEFT ROCK—
THE PNEUMATIC CHRIST
In the wilderness the children of Israel needed manna for food, but they also needed something to drink. So there was living water flowing out of the cleft rock (Exo. 17:6; John 7:38-39; 1 Cor. 15:45b). This signifies the pneumatic Christ, the very Christ who is the Spirit. So you have the redeeming Christ, the crucified Christ, the resurrected Christ, and the Christ in ascension. Such a Christ became a life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b). This is the pneumatic Christ. This pneumatic Christ becomes our drink, our living water, which quenches our thirst. In Exodus we have to see the redeeming Christ, the crucified Christ, the resurrected Christ, the Christ of ascension, and the pneumatic Christ. Hallelujah, this is our Christ! Such a Christ is for the building up of the tabernacle.
PARTAKING OF THE TABERNACLE (WITH THE OFFERINGS)—
THE CORPORATE CHRIST—CHRIST AND THE CHURCH
After experiencing the Passover, eating of the heavenly manna, and drinking of the living water, the children of Israel arrived at Mount Sinai. Today due to the background, many Christians don’t like the word Sinai because that was where the law was given. The law was given on Mount Sinai, but the law was only a part of what was given. There the design of God’s dwelling place was also given. The children of Israel built up a tabernacle. The law as God’s testimony was just a little part within the tabernacle. Eventually those people who were redeemed, who partook of the lamb and the unleavened bread, the manna and the living water also partook of the riches of the tabernacle with the offerings, which typified the corporate Christ, that is, Christ and the church (Exo. 40:34-38; John 1:14; 1 Cor. 12:12). The tabernacle is too rich.
Not only did they take part of the tabernacle itself, but the tabernacle with all the offerings. Look at the riches of all the offerings, and look at the riches within the tabernacle. Both inside and outside of the tabernacle were many riches. Outside of the tabernacle on the altar there was the burnt offering, the meal offering, the peace offering, the sin offering, the trespass offering, the free will offering, the wave offering, and the heave offering. All these are different aspects of the riches of Christ.
Yet all these riches are outside of the tabernacle. After enjoying all these riches outside on the altar, we need to enter into the tabernacle to enjoy the riches within the tabernacle. Within the tabernacle there was the showbread table, the lampstand, the incense altar, and the ark. Within the ark there were further riches. Within the ark there was the law as the testimony of God, there was the hidden manna within the golden pot, and there was the budding rod of Aaron. My, what riches! All these items are the riches which God is dispensing into us in His dispensation.
At the end of the book of Exodus there is the tabernacle as a corporate expression. When the tabernacle was completed, the glory of the Lord descended, overshadowed the tabernacle, and filled it up (40:34-35). That was a corporate people mingled with the glorious God. The tabernacle was a symbol of the people of Israel. Actually it was not the tabernacle made of wood and other materials that was God’s dwelling place. That tabernacle was only a symbol that the children of Israel were God’s dwelling place. (The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity, ch. 3)
PARTAKING OF THE PRODUCE OF THE GOOD LAND—
THE UNSEARCHABLE RICHES OF CHRIST
The produce of the good land was a type of the unsearchable riches of Christ (Deut. 8:7-10; 11:11-12; Eph. 3:8). First of all, in the good land there was a lot of rain and dew (Deut. 11:11, 14; 33:28). There was the early rain in the fall and the latter rain in the spring. Every day there was the dew. The rain is something strong, but the dew is very soft. Sometimes we cannot stand the strong rain. In typology, rain signifies God’s strong and rich grace, and dew signifies God’s soft mercy.
In the good land there are a lot of hills and valleys (Deut. 8:7b; cf. 2 Cor. 6:8-10). Some of the older generation might prefer a plain rather than hills and valleys. The hills are hard to climb, and the valleys are dangerous to descend, but we need the hills and the valleys. All the time we have to go up, and we have to come down. We shouldn’t live on the plain. Every hill is the Lord Christ. Christ is our high hill, and Christ is also our deep valley. Sometimes we are on the high hill with Christ, and sometimes we are down in the deep valley with Christ. The church life should be full of hills and valleys. We don’t like to go through the valleys, but if there are no valleys, there are no hills. The hills take away the earth from the valleys. If you don’t have the hills, you don’t have the valleys. If you don’t have the valleys there is no place to keep the water. In the valleys there is plenty of water.
After the hills and valleys we have brooks of water, springs, and deep waters (Deut. 8:7a; John 4:14; 7:37-39). These are symbols of the life-giving Spirit. The life-giving Spirit is the spring. When it flows it is a brook; when it stays in a certain place it becomes the deep water. The spring is the source, the brook is the course, and the deep water is like a big lake. These are different aspects of the life-giving Spirit. All these items—rain and dew, hills and valleys, springs, brooks, and deep waters—bring forth the riches of all kinds of produce.
There is the wheat and barley, the plentitude of food, without scarceness, not lacking anything (Deut. 8:8-9). There are also trees—the vine trees for producing wine, the olive trees for producing oil, the fig trees for feeding people, and the pomegranates signifying all the riches of life (Deut. 8:8b). Then there is grass forming the pastures where the cattle live and produce milk and meat. Even the bees live on blossoms that produce honey. The good land is a land flowing with milk and honey (Deut. 11:9; 32:13-14).
Deuteronomy 8:9 says that the land is a land “whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass.” The stone and the iron are mixed up together. It is a piece of stone, but it is full of iron. Both the iron and the brass are for building and for fighting. David killed a giant just with a small piece of stone. In the ancient times nearly all the weapons were made either of iron or brass. In the church life we have not only the enjoyment of the wheat and barley, of the olive tree, the vine tree, the fig tree and the pomegranate tree, of the milk and honey, of the oil and wine for our living, but also of stones, iron, and brass for building and fighting. In the church life we need the stones full of iron and the brass for building and fighting. While we are enjoying we are building. While we are building we are fighting. In the book of Nehemiah the children of Israel were building with one hand and holding a weapon for fighting against the enemy with the other (Neh. 4:17). The good land is good for us to enjoy, for us to build, and for us to fight.
The focus of God’s dispensation is just to dispense Himself into His chosen people so that He Himself becomes His chosen people’s life and nature. This is to mingle His people’s being with the divine being. This is humanity saturated with divinity. This is the universal Bethel, a house of God, built up with humanity on this earth.
PARTAKING OF THE TEMPLE—THE FULLNESS OF CHRIST
The book of Psalms is mainly a book of the enjoyment of the temple. When you read many of the Psalms you can realize that when the Psalmists talked about the temple they became very excited. To them the temple was so lovely. It was better to stay one day in the temple than a thousand days at other places (Psa. 84:10). What is the temple? Today the temple is the church life (Eph. 2:21-22), a building of humanity with divinity. This is why the church life is so lovable, so sweet, so beautiful, so wonderful, so marvelous, so glorious! When we come into the church life we have the sensation that it is better to be here for one day than to be some other place for a thousand days. Sometimes our relatives may condemn us, saying that we only care for the church life. We don’t care for anything else. How marvelous! Eventually, though, some of the relatives also have come into the church life. The church life prevails! The church life convinces and subdues and wins. Nothing can stand against the church life.
A DWELLING OF BLESSING
First of all the temple is a dwelling of blessing (Psa. 84:4, 10). Surely when we dwell in the church life we get the blessing. There is no curse and no loss in the church life.
GOD’S REST
The temple is also God’s rest that satisfies Him forever (Psa. 132:14-16). It is a place for God to rest. According to the Old Testament without the temple God had no place to rest. In the Old Testament His temple was on the earth. Today the church is His temple. God loves the church, the house of the living God (1 Tim. 3:15). The church is God’s home. If you want to find God, come to the church. Although I may visit a foreign country, if the church is there, I am home, because the church is God’s home and my home. The church is the resting place of God.
A PLACE OF RICH PROVISION
The church is also a place of rich provision for God’s people (Psa. 132:14-16). In the church there is the rich supply of spiritual food and spiritual clothing. Nothing is short in the church. When you come to the church life and stay in the church life you get the supply. You get the rich provision.
SATISFYING GOD’S PEOPLE ABUNDANTLY
With the temple there is also the satisfying of God’s people abundantly with its fatness and with the river of God’s pleasures, the fountain of life, and the divine light (Psa. 36:8-9). The church life has its fatness. It is so rich! Here in the temple, the church life, we drink of the river of God’s pleasures. Pleasures in Hebrew is the plural form of the word Eden. This implies when you drink of the river of God’s pleasures in the temple, your drinking brings you into Eden. When we are in the church life we are in Eden, the garden of pleasures.
WHERE GOD’S PEOPLE BEING PLANTED AND GROW
Psalm 92:12-14 says that the people who are planted in God’s house shall flourish like the palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon, and shall still bring forth fruit in old age. All this portrays the enjoyment of Christ in the church life, and this is the result of God’s dispensing Himself in Christ into our being. By such a dispensing even in our old age we can bring forth fruit, and we can be full of sap and green. (The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity, ch. 4)