THE SECOND PART: A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE NEW TESTAMENT

The Full Ministry of Christ in the Stage of Inclusion
Message Three—Regenerating the Believers for His Body

Scripture Reading: Acts. 2:33, 36; 5:31; 10:36; Phil. 2:9-11; Heb. 12:2; John. 14:20

I. In His ascension Christ was inaugurated, exalted, and enthroned to execute God’s universal administration and to carry out God’s New Testament economy—Acts 2:33, 36; 5:31; Phil. 2:9; Rev. 5:6:

A. Christ’s ascension was His inauguration into His heavenly offices for His heavenly ministry; these offices include His being the Lord of all (Acts 10:36), the Christ (2:36), the Leader and Savior (5:31), the Ruler of the kings of the earth (Rev. 1:5), the Head of the church (Eph. 1:22-23), the Minister (Heb. 8:2), and the High Priest (4:14-15; 7:25-27).

B. Christ’s ascension was God’s exaltation of Him—2:33.

C. In His ascension Christ was enthroned to execute God’s universal administration and to carry out God’s New Testament economy—Rev. 5:6; Eph. 1:10.

II. Christ’s work of propagation is in His ascension—Matt. 28:19; Acts 1:8:

A. The subject of the book of Acts is the propagation of the resurrected Christ in His ascension, by the Spirit, through the disciples, for the producing of the churches—the kingdom of God—v. 3:

1. The propagation of the resurrected Christ in His ascension produces the churches—8:1; 13:1; 14:23.

2. The churches produced by the resurrected Christ in His ascension are the kingdom of God—19:8.

B. Propagation is carried out by the Lord on the throne in the heavens; this means that His work of propagation is in ascension—2:33, 36; Heb. 12:2; Rev. 5:6:

III. John 14:20 reveals that the consummated Triune God and the regenerated believers became an incorporation in the resurrection of Christ:

A. “In that day”—in the day of the Son’s resurrection.

B. “You will know that I am in My Father” (the Son and the Father are incorporated into one), “and you in Me” (the regenerated believers are incorporated into the Son and into the Father in the Son), “and I in you” (the Son in the Father is incorporated into the regenerated believers).

C. The in of the Spirit of reality in verse 17 (“the Spirit of reality…abides with you and shall be in you”) is the totality of the three ins in verse 20.

IV. This divine-human incorporation is the church as the house of the Father (vv. 2, 23), the vine tree of the Son (15:1-8, 16), and the new man of the Spirit (16:13-16, 19-22; Eph. 2:15; Col. 3:10-11):

A. The Father’s house is a matter of the Triune God—through incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection—working Himself into the believers in order to be fully mingled with them so that He may build them up as an organism for His dwelling and expression—14:2-3, 23:

1. In 2:16 “My Father’s house” refers to the dwelling place of God on earth, the temple; the temple is a type, or figure, of the body of Jesus, which in resurrection has been enlarged to be the Body of Christ—vv. 19-22.

2. The Father’s house is a divine and human incorporation of the processed and consummated God constituted with His redeemed, regenerated, and transformed elect—John 14:20.

3. The Father’s house is built up by the constant visitation to the redeemed elect of the Father and the Son with the Spirit—v. 23.

4. The Father’s house is in three stages: the stage of God incarnate, the stage of Christ resurrected with His believers to be built up as the church, and the consummate stage—the New Jerusalem—2:19-21; Rev. 21:2-3, 9-10.

B. The Son’s vine is the organism of the Triune God in the divine economy to grow with His riches and express His life through the bearing of fruit—1 Tim. 1:4; Eph. 3:9; John 15:1, 5a:

1. The function of the true vine as a sign of the Son is for the Triune God to have an organism in the Son for His multiplication, spreading, and glorification in His divine life—vv. 8, 16.

2. God the Father as the husbandman is the source and the founder; God the Son is the center, the embodiment, and the manifestation; God the Spirit is the reality and realization; and the branches are the Body, the corporate expression—vv. 1, 4-5, 26.

C. The third aspect of the incorporation of the consummated God with the regenerated believers is the Spirit’s child; the Father needs a house for His dwelling, the Son needs a vine for His spreading, and the Spirit needs a child for His moving—John 14:2; 15:1; 16:21:

1. “A woman, when she gives birth, has sorrow because her hour has come; but when she brings forth the little child, she no longer remembers the affliction because of the joy that a man has been born into the world”—v. 21.

2. The accomplished fact of the birth of Christ and His believers as the corporate child, the new man, is applied to us in our experience by the work of the Spirit of reality so that we may become the many brothers of Christ, the members of Christ—John 16:8-11, 13-16; Rom. 8:29; Eph. 5:30.

3. Now whatever the processed Triune God is and has may become our element, our essence, our being, making the processed Triune God the essence of our being—Eph. 3:16-17a.

4. In this way we become God-men, the many brothers of Christ, living a life of truthfulness in the divine reality that has been revealed to us and constituted into us and putting on the new man, “which was created according to God in righteousness and holiness of the reality”—Eph. 4:24; Rom. 8:29; John 4:23-24; 2 John 1; 3 John 1.

D. When we eat Christ, enjoy Christ by loving Him, we live by Him in this great incorporation, which today is the Body of Christ and which eventually consummates the New Jerusalem—John 6:48, 57; 14:23; Rev. 2:4, 7, 17.

F. Through His incarnation, death, and resurrection, Christ as the one grain of wheat became the many grains to be ground and blended together into one bread, which is the church as the Body of Christ consummating in the New Jerusalem—John 12:24; 1 Cor. 10:17.

 

Ministry Excerpts：

TO REGENERATE THE BELIEVERS FOR HIS BODY

The third great thing accomplished by Christ in the stage of His inclusion was that He regenerated the believers for His Body (1 Pet. 1:3).

To Regenerate the Believers, Making Them the Many Sons of God

The purpose of Christ’s being begotten to be the firstborn Son of God and becoming the life-giving Spirit was to regenerate the believers that they may become the many sons of God, born of God with Him in the one universally big delivery. Therefore, the birth of Christ in resurrection was indeed a big delivery, one delivery giving birth to millions of sons of God. The first One was the firstborn Son, Christ, and the rest were the many sons, all the believers belonging to Christ. This is for the composition of the house of God, even the household of God. This is also for the constitution of the Body of Christ to be His fullness, His expression and expansion, to consummate the eternal expression and expansion of the processed and consummated Triune God.

Concerning the constitution of the Body of Christ, 1Corinthians 12:13 says that in one Spirit all the believers have been baptized into the one Body of Christ. This one Spirit is Christ Himself. In Him as the one Spirit we all have been baptized into one Body. At the same time, all the believers who were baptized in the one Spirit have been given to drink this Spirit.

To be baptized is to enter into the one Spirit, whereas to drink is to receive the one Spirit into us. The people in the region of the lower course of the Yangtze River in China had the habit of going in the morning to drink tea at the tea house and going at night to bathe by soaking in the pool. In the morning they drank to their full, and at night they soaked in the pool. They said that to soak in the pool was to have “the water enveloping the skin” and to drink to one’s full was to have “the skin enveloping the water”; that is, there was water both inside and outside. This should be our condition today since we have been baptized into the Spirit and have been given to drink one Spirit. We have been baptized into Christ as the life-giving Spirit—this is “the Spirit enveloping us.” Furthermore, we have been given to drink the Spirit—this is “us enveloping the Spirit.” Consequently, we have the Spirit within and without. Thus, in this Spirit, we all become one organic entity—the Body of Christ.

Giving the Spirit without Measure

In His resurrection Christ gave Himself as the all-inclusive, life-giving Spirit without measure through His speaking of the words of God (John 3:34). Today people in the Pentecostal movement claim that if you have received the baptism of the Spirit, you must speak in tongues. However, the Bible says that when you receive the words of God and the words of God enter into you, you have the Spirit. In John 6:63 the Lord told us, “The words which I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.” Once we receive the words of God into us, these words that are in us become spirit and life. Therefore, when the Lord speaks to us, He gives us life and the Spirit without measure. I truly can testify that the more I receive the Lord’s words, the more I am filled with the Spirit, even without measure.

All the Believers in Christ Are Built Up into a Dwelling Place of God in Their Spirit Indwelt by Him as the Spirit

Christ regenerated the believers for His Body that all the believers in Christ may be built up into a dwelling place of God in their spirit indwelt by Him as the Spirit (Eph. 2:22). Here, to be built up is to be constituted together. We are being built up into a dwelling place of God in our spirit indwelt by Him as the Spirit. Ultimately, this dwelling place is the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:3). The New Jerusalem is a city, a large, corporate dwelling place. The dwelling place of a single person is a house; the dwelling place of a multitude is a city. All the believers in Christ will be built up, constituted, that they may be filled with the Spirit, within and without, to become the dwelling place of God. The consummation of such a dwelling place is a large city—the New Jerusalem.

Such a constitution, such a building, is consummated through dispositional sanctification (Rom. 15:16), renewing (Titus 3:5), transformation (2 Cor. 3:18), and conformation (Rom. 8:29). After regenerating us, God sanctifies us in our disposition, renews us in our old creation, and transforms us in our entire being. Not only so, He conforms us to the image of His firstborn Son that all of us may be God’s sons in life and nature and, with His firstborn Son, become God’s corporate son as God’s expression, God’s expansion. The New Jerusalem is such a corporate expression, expansion, and enlargement of God. The Bible begins with “In the beginning God…” (Gen. 1:1). At that time, the unique God was “alone.” However, at the end, the Bible mentions a city, the New Jerusalem. This city is not simple, requiring the explanation of the Bible with sixty-six books. This is because this city, the New Jerusalem, is the enlarged God. All the sixty-six books of the Bible explain the enlarged God, the New Jerusalem. (How to Be a Co-worker and an Elder and How to Fulfill Their Obligations, msg. 2)

THE PROPAGATION OF THE RESURRECTED CHRIST

Having seen the position of the book of Acts, let us now go on to see the subject of this book. The subject of Acts is the propagation of the resurrected Christ in His ascension, by the Spirit, through the disciples, for the producing of the churches—the kingdom of God. Acts is concerned with the propagation of the resurrected Christ. Christ is carrying out this propagation in His ascension, by the Spirit, and through the disciples. The purpose of Christ’s propagation is the producing of the churches—the kingdom of God.

In Acts there is not a single verse that can be taken as a summary of the entire book. The best way to present a summary, or extract, of Acts is to describe its subject. Therefore, once again I would point out that the subject of the book of Acts concerns the propagation of the resurrected Christ. It is of great value for us to have such a phrase as “the propagation of the resurrected Christ.” I do not know of any book on Acts that uses the word “propagation.” Nevertheless, the subject of Acts is the propagation of the resurrected Christ in His ascension, by the Spirit, through the disciples, for the producing of the churches—the kingdom of God.

The propagation in Acts is not the propagation of Jesus. In Acts we do not have the propagation merely of the One who lived in the home of a carpenter in Nazareth. Rather, in Acts we see the propagation of the resurrected One, the propagation of the resurrected Christ.

CHRIST’S ACTIVITY IN HIS ASCENSION

The propagation of the resurrected Christ is carried out by Christ in His ascension. The Lord Jesus lived on earth for thirty-three and a half years, but now He is in ascension. In His ascension the Lord is very active. We should never think that the ascended Christ is sitting passively on the throne, observing the pitiful situation on earth and feeling disappointed about it. No, in His ascension Christ is active in a very positive way. As the ascended One, He is now doing many things.

The fact that Christ is now in ascension means not only that He is in the heavens; it also means that He has power and authority. In His ascension Christ has all the power and all the authority in the universe. According to Matthew 28:18, the resurrected Christ said to His disciples, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.” Therefore, with such authority and power in His ascension the Lord is very active. What is He doing? The Lord, as the ascended One, is carrying out His universal and eternal propagation.

Who can explain why the earth today is filled with Christians? Why are there so many believers in the world? Great men have tried to gain control of the earth, but they have failed. Hitler, for example, tried to do this, but eventually he lost everything. Napoleon, after he had been defeated, reportedly looked up to the heavens and confessed that Jesus had beaten him. Napoleon admitted that even though the Lord Jesus did not fight, He gained everything. The point here is that the whole earth is in the hands of the undefeatable One, and this One is carrying out His propagation.

As the ascended Christ is carrying out His propagation, His main work is not fighting. Instead of fighting, the ascended Lord’s work is mainly propagating Himself throughout the earth. In the Lord’s recovery we have people of different colors: black, white, brown, yellow, and red. We all are part of Christ’s propagation. We have been produced by the resurrected Christ in His ascension. (Life-Study of Acts, msg. 2)

God in His Divine Trinity Being an Incorporation

God in His Divine Trinity is an incorporation (John 14:10-11). The three of the Divine Trinity are an incorporation both in what They are and in what They do.

By Coinhering Mutually

The three of the Divine Trinity are incorporated by coinhering mutually. Concerning this, the Lord Jesus said, “Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me?” (v. 10a). In verse 11a He went on to say, “Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me.” The Son is in the Father and the Father is in the Son by a mutual coinhering.

By Working Together as One

The three of the Divine Trinity are an incorporation also by working together as one. In verses 10b and 11b the Lord said, “The words that I say to you I do not speak from Myself, but the Father who abides in Me does His works….Believe…because of the works themselves.” Here the Lord seemed to be saying, “You have seen all the works which I have done. These works were not done by Me, for I never did anything of Myself. Whatever I did was the Father’s work. The Father and I work together mutually.” This working together as one reveals that the Divine Trinity is an incorporation.

The Consummated Triune God and the Regenerated Believers Being an Incorporation

The consummated Triune God and the regenerated believers are an incorporation (John 14:16-19).

The Spirit Dwelling in the Regenerated Believers

The Spirit, the third of the Divine Trinity as another Comforter, being the reality of the Son, the second of the Divine Trinity as the first Comforter and the embodiment of the Triune God, does not only abide with the regenerated believers but also dwells in them (vv. 16-17).

The Son Coming Back to Be Another Comforter to Make the Believers Live with Him

The Son as the first Comforter left His believers through His death and came back to be another Comforter to them through His resurrection to make them live with Him (vv.18-19). This is why He said, “Because I live, you also shall live” (v. 19b).

THE CONSUMMATED TRIUNE GOD AND THE REGENERATED BELIEVERS BECOMING AN INCORPORATION IN THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST

The consummated Triune God and the regenerated believers became an incorporation in the resurrection of Christ. John 14:20 says, “In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.” “In that day”: This is in the day of the Son’s resurrection. “You will know that I am in My Father”: The Son and the Father are incorporated into one. “And you in Me”: The regenerated believers are incorporated into the Son and into the Father in the Son. “And I in you”: The Son in the Father is incorporated into the regenerated believers. Here we have three ins. In verse17 we have a fourth in: “The Spirit of reality…abides with you and shall be in you.” The in of the Spirit of reality in verse17 is the totality of the three ins in verse 20. The in in verse17 is a general statement, and the three ins in verse 20 are the detailed statement.

In this message we have been burdened to point out that Christ’s glorification produced an issue—an incorporation. According to the divine revelation in the Scriptures God’s work in the universe is to complete His economy, and God’s desire in His economy is to have a unique incorporation. This is His universal concern. Millions of Adam’s descendants have become believers in Christ. God’s intention is to incorporate Himself with all the believers of Christ into one incorporation. The three of the Divine Trinity are an incorporation by coinhering mutually and by working together as one. This means that the three of the Divine Trinity are an incorporation by what They are and by what They do. This is the beginning of the universal incorporation, an incorporation which started with God Himself. God’s intention is that all the believers of Christ would be incorporated into His incorporation to be an enlarged incorporation. This enlarged incorporation is unveiled in John 14:16-20. May the Lord open our eyes to see that the Triune God, who is Himself an incorporation, has incorporated all the believers of Christ into His unique, universal incorporation. This incorporation is the issue of Christ’s glorification. (The Issue of Christ Being Glorified by the Father with the Divine Glory, msg. 3)

A DIVINE AND HUMAN CONSTITUTION

The issue of Christ’s glorification is a divine and human constitution of the processed and consummated Triune God with His regenerated, transformed, conformed, and glorified elect as an organism of the processed and consummated Triune God (John 14:7-20). ……In this constitution God the Father is the source, God the Son is the element, and God the Spirit is the essence, constituted with the believers as the constituents (Eph. 4:4-6). Every substance has a source and an element, and every element has its essence. The essence is the intrinsic part of the element, the element is the reality of the substance, and the substance has a source. God is the source, the Son is the element, and the Spirit is the essence. We the believers are just the constituents containing the source, the element, and the essence to be a divine and human constitution. This divine and human constitution is expressed as the Father’s house in John 14, the Son’s vine in John 15, and the Spirit’s child in John 16.

THE MAIN REVELATION

The main revelation of all these indicates that God’s desire and intention was to be united, mingled, and incorporated into one corporate New Jerusalem (Rev. 21). The New Jerusalem is the conclusion of the entire sixty-six books of the Bible. All the revelations and visions of the Scriptures consummate in the holy city. The New Jerusalem is the processed and consummated Triune God incorporated into one with His regenerated, transformed, and glorified elect. It is also a couple with the Husband and the bride, the wife. The Husband is the wife, and the wife is the Husband because they coinhere. This is God’s eternal economy to incorporate Himself with His elect, to be one universal, divine, mystical incorporation, which is the New Jerusalem. (The Crystallization of Gospel of John, msg. 11)