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: (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 3)
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. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 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. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 3)
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: (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 3)
1. We pick up the manna to eat; manna is the ascended Christ in the heavens raining to us for our daily supply. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 3)
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. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 3)
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. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 3)
II. 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: (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 3)
A. 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. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 3)
B. 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. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 3)
III. 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: (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 4)
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: (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 4)
B. 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. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 4)
C. 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. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 4)
D. 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. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 4)
E. There is the wheat and barley, the plentitude of food, without scarceness, not lacking anything—Deut. 8:8-9. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 4)
F. 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. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 4)
G. 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. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 4)
H. 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. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 4)
IV. 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: (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 4)
A. By enjoying the riches of the good land, the people of Israel conquered the tribes in the land, established the kingdom of God, and built up the temple as God’s dwelling place on earth—Josh. 5:11-12. (2013 FTTA-Fall, msg. 3)
B. As we eat Christ as the produce of the good land, we are constituted with Him and are made the same as Christ in life, nature, and expression for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ—Eph. 4:16. (2013 FTTA-Fall, msg. 3)
C. Christ is rich beyond measure, but the church today is groveling in poverty because the Lord’s children are indolent—Prov. 6:6-11; 24:30-34; 26:14; Matt. 25:26, 30; cf. 1 Cor. 15:58. (2019 WT, msg. 9)
D. We need to live a life of laboring upon Christ, a life of enjoying Christ personally so that we may enjoy Him together collectively for the building up of the Body of Christ as the house of God for God’s expression and as the kingdom of God for God’s dominion—Deut. 8:7-10. (2019 WT, msg. 9)
V. 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: (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 4)
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. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 4)
B. The temple is also God’s rest that satisfies Him forever; it is a place for God to rest—Psa. 132:14-16. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 4)
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. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 4)
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. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 4)
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. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 4)
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. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity”, ch. 4)