THE FIRST PART: A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
From the Captivity to the Return
Message Twelve—The Minor Prophets (3)
Scripture Reading: Joel 1:4; 3:11; Dan. 2:31-45; Eph. 1:3-6; Micah 5:2; Rev. 19:7-9; 22:17a
I. In this universe there are two histories: the history of man, the human history, and the history of God, the divine history; the former is like an outward shell, and the latter, like the kernel within the shell—Joel 1:4; 3:11; Dan. 2:31-45:
A. In the Minor Prophets the human history is clearly defined and is signified by the four kinds of locusts in Joel 1:4, and the divine history is with Christ and His mighty ones, the overcomers, in 3:11.
B. The divine history within the human history is also revealed in the Bible in considerable detail; God’s history is our history because He is in union with us—Eph. 1:3-6:
1. The divine history began with the eternal God and His economy—Eph. 3:9-10; 1:10:
a. According to His economy, God wants to work Himself into man to be one with man, to be man’s life, life supply, and everything, and to have man as His expression—Gen. 1:26; 2:9.
b. God’s intention in His economy is thus to have a corporate entity, composed of God and man, to be His expression for eternity—v. 22.
2. God in His Divine Trinity held a council in eternity to make the determination concerning the crucial death of Christ for the carrying out of God’s eternal economy—Acts 2:23.
3. The second of the Divine Trinity was preparing to carry out His “goings forth” from eternity into time to be born in Bethlehem as a man—Micah 5:2.
C. God’s history is of two portions—the history of God with man, found in the Old Testament, and the history of God in man, found in the New Testament:
1. Before Christ’s incarnation God moved with men and among men; this was not His direct move to carry out His eternal economy for Christ and the church but His indirect move in His old creation for the preparation of His direct move in His new creation for His eternal economy.
2. God’s history in man began with the incarnation and continued with His processes of incarnation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension; Hosea 11:4 says that these are the cords of a man, the bands of love.
II. The divine history, God’s move in man, continued with the processed Christ, the God-man, as the prototype, unto the New Jerusalem, the great God-man, the ultimate fulfillment of God’s eternal economy—John 1:29; Heb. 2:9; Eph. 2:15; John 12:24; Acts 13:33; Rom. 1:4; 8:29; Joel 2:28-32; 3:11:
A. Through Christ’s incarnation and human living, He brought the infinite God into the finite man, He united and mingled the Triune God with the tripartite man, and He expressed in His humanity the bountiful God in His rich attributes through His aromatic virtues.
B. Christ’s crucifixion was a vicarious death, an all-inclusive death, an all-inclusive judicial redemption, which terminated the old creation and solved all problems (John 1:29); in His crucifixion He terminated all the things of the old creation, He redeemed all the things created by God and fallen in sin (Heb. 2:9; Col. 1:20), He created (conceived) the new man with His divine element (Eph. 2:15), and He released His divine life from within the shell of His humanity (John 12:24; 19:34; Luke 12:49-50).
C. In His resurrection He was begotten to be the firstborn Son of God (Acts 13:33; Rom. 1:4; 8:29), He became the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b), and He regenerated millions of people to be sons of God and members of the Body of Christ, the church (1 Pet. 1:3).
D. He ascended to the heavens and then descended as the Spirit to produce the church as the corporate expression of the Triune God—Joel 2:28-32; Acts 2:1-4, 16-21.
E. Thus, the church also is part of the divine history, the intrinsic history of the divine mystery within the outward, human history; this part of God’s history has lasted for more than nineteen hundred years and is still going on.
F. At the end of this part of the divine history, Christ will come back, descending with His overcomers as His army (Joel 3:11) to defeat Antichrist and his army:
1. There will be the meeting of two figures—Antichrist, a figure in the outward, human history, and Christ with His overcomers, the Figure in the intrinsic, divine history.
2. The Figure in the divine history will defeat the figure in the human history and then cast him into the lake of fire—Rev. 19:20.
G. Following this, the thousand-year kingdom will come; eventually, this kingdom will consummate in the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and new earth; the New Jerusalem will be the ultimate, the consummate, step of God’s history.
III. We need to have a clear view of these two histories—the physical, human history represented mainly by the four kinds of locusts (Joel 1:4), which are the four sections of the great human image in Daniel 2, and the mysterious, divine history represented mainly by the history of the great crushing stone (Christ with His overcomers), which will crush the great human image, the totality of human government, and become the eternal kingdom of God, which will fill the whole earth forever—vv. 31-45:
A. The corporate Christ, Christ with His overcoming bride, will come as a stone to crush the aggregate of human government to bring in God’s kingdom—vv. 34-35; Joel 3:11; Rev. 19:11-21; cf. Gen. 1:26.
B. Whereas Daniel 2 speaks of Christ coming as a stone cut out without hands, Revelation 19 speaks of Christ coming as the One who has His bride as His army.
C. In Ephesians 5 and 6 we see the church as the bride and the warrior; in Revelation 19 we also have these two aspects of the church—Eph. 5:25-27; 6:10-20:
1. On the day of His wedding, Christ will marry His bride, the overcomers, who have been fighting the battle against God’s enemy for years—cf. Dan. 7:25; 6:10; Eph. 6:12.
2. Before Christ descends to earth to deal with Antichrist and the totality of human government, He will have a wedding, uniting His overcomers to Himself as one entity—Rev. 19:7-9.
3. After His wedding He will come with His newly married bride to destroy Antichrist, who with his army will fight against God directly—vv. 11, 14:
a. The Lord Jesus, the Word of God, will slay Antichrist, the man of lawlessness, by the breath of His mouth—vv. 13-15; 2 Thes. 2:2-8.
b. Out of Christ’s mouth proceeds a sharp sword, that with it He might smite the nations—Rev. 19:15a; cf. 1:16; 2:12.
4. After crushing the human government, God will have cleared up the entire universe; then the corporate Christ, Christ with His overcomers, will become a great mountain to f ill the whole earth, making the whole earth God’s kingdom—Dan. 2:35, 44; 7:22, 27; Rev. 11:15.
5. To be the bride in the divine history, we need the beautifying word of God, and to be the warrior in the divine history, we need the slaying word of God—Eph. 5:26; 6:17-18; cf. 2 Tim. 3:16.
IV. We all were born in the human history, but we have been reborn, regenerated, in the divine history—Rom. 5:10; Eph. 5:27; Rev. 22:17a:
A. The divine history, the history of God in man, was from Christ’s incarnation through His ascension to become the life-giving Spirit and then continues with His indwelling us through God’s organic salvation of regeneration, sanctification, renewing, transformation, conformation, and glorification to make us the glorious bride of Christ—Rom. 5:10; Eph. 5:27; Rev. 19:7-9.
B. This culminates in Christ as the Spirit, the processed and consummated Triune God, marrying the church as the bride, the processed and transformed tripartite man—Rev. 22:17a.
Ministry Excerpts:
THE MINOR PROPHETS—A KEY TO UNDERSTANDING THE BIBLE
The Minor Prophets are a key to understanding the Bible. In our study of the Minor Prophets, we have emphasized four points: God’s chastisement of Israel, God’s punishment upon the nations, the manifestation of Christ, and the restoration of all things. Through God’s chastisement of Israel and His punishment upon the nations, the manifestation of Christ is brought forth, and the manifestation of Christ will bring in the restoration. This restoration will include not only Israel but the whole human race, the earth, and the entire universe. The new heaven and new earth with the New Jerusalem will be the eternal restoration of all things. These four matters are revealed in the Bible, in particular in the Minor Prophets.
THE BIBLE BEING THE HISTORY OF GOD IN TWO PORTIONS
The Bible may be considered the history of God. If we human beings have a history, not only as a race but even as individuals, then surely the unique, universal, and wonderful person of God must also have a history. Where do we find the history of God? God’s history, the divine history, is recorded in the Bible.
God’s history is of two portions—the history of God with man, found in the Old Testament, and the history of God in man, found in the New Testament. In the Old Testament God’s history was a history with man. In the New Testament God’s history is a history in man, for this history involves God’s being one with man. Therefore, the history of God in the New Testament is a divine history in humanity.
The History of God with Man
God created man according to Himself, that is, in His image and according to His likeness (Gen. 1:26-27). We may say that the man created in God’s image was a “photograph” of God. As a photograph of a person shows us something concerning that person himself to a certain degree, so the man created by God as a photograph of God can show forth God only to a limited extent. After God created man, He was with man, but He was still outside of man. Hence, in the Old Testament we see God not in man or one with man but simply with man. In Genesis, Exodus, the Psalms, and the entire Old Testament, God was with man but not yet in man and not yet one with man.
The Old Testament does not speak mainly concerning man; rather, it speaks mainly concerning God. God has the primary role, and man has the subordinate role. The history in the Old Testament, therefore, is God’s history, God’s history with man.
The History of God in Man
God’s history in the New Testament is very different. Beginning with the first chapter of Matthew and continuing to the last chapter of Revelation, we have God coming into man and being one with man. The New Testament reveals that God is now in man and one with man. Thus, God’s history in the New Testament is the history of God in man.
The Incarnation Accomplishing Two Things
Bringing God into Man
Regarding the history of God in man, the incarnation of Christ accomplished two things. First, the incarnation brought God into man. Before the incarnation, as the Old Testament reveals, God was merely with man; He was outside of man. But by incarnation God entered into man, and from that time onward the history of God was different. Whereas in the past God was with man, and His history was a history with man, now God was in man, and His history began to be a history in man.
Making God One with Man
Second, the incarnation made God one with man. As a result of the incarnation, there was a wonderful person—a person who is the mingling of God with man. This person, Jesus, is not only God, and He is not merely a man. He is the complete God and the perfect man. Further, He is not only God in man—He is God mingled with man.
OUR INVOLVEMENT WITH THE GOD-MAN
As believers, we all have become involved with this wonderful person, this One who is both God and man. A verse which speaks of this involvement is Revelation 22:17a, which says, “The Spirit and the bride say, Come!” The Spirit is the consummated Triune God, and the bride is the transformed tripartite man. As this verse reveals, these two, the Spirit and the bride, will be married, joined to become one entity, one corporate person. This is a strong indication that, in the New Testament, God is in man and is one with man. The New Jerusalem is a marvelous sign demonstrating how God is in man and is one with man.
MAN NOT TAKING GOD’S WAY
The history of God with man and of God in man is not a simple matter. God was with man with the intention of coming into man and being one with man. Man was created by God for this purpose. But although God had such a purpose in creating man, man has another, subtle, purpose, and these two purposes do not agree. God has His way, and man has his way. Because of this, even when man cooperates with God, he does this not by God’s way but by his own way. Thus, there are two lines—God’s line and man’s line. God wants to come into man and to be one with man. Man, however, does not take God’s way but insists on his own way. This insistence has caused, and continues to cause, great failure. As a result, in the sight of God man has become sinful, corrupt, and abominable.
GOD COMING IN TO CHASTISE HIS CHOSEN PEOPLE AND TO PUNISH THE NATIONS
Because man, including Israel, has taken his own way and has become sinful and corrupt, God comes in to chastise Israel, His chosen people, and to punish the nations. When God chastises His people Israel, He has no intention of utterly destroying them. On the one hand, God chastises Israel; on the other hand, He has promised not to destroy them completely.
In order to chastise Israel God needs a “rod,” a means of discipline, and this rod is the nations. In Joel 1:4 the nations are likened to locusts in four stages: the cutting locust (the Babylonian Empire), the swarming locust (the Medo-Persian Empire), the licking locust (the Macedonian-Grecian Empire), and the consuming locust (the Roman Empire). Of these four kinds of locusts—Babylonian, Persian, Greek, and Roman—the Roman locusts are still with us today.
Although God allows the locusts to cut, swarm, lick, and consume, He does not permit them to destroy His people utterly. Whenever the locusts have gone too far, acting without regard for justice, God has come in to punish them. Whereas God uses the nations to chastise Israel, He also punishes the nations for going too far.
GOD’S CHASTISEMENT OF ISRAEL AND HIS PUNISHMENT OF THE NATIONS
AFFORDING A WAY FOR CHRIST TO BE MANIFESTED FOR THE RESTORATION OF THE FALLEN UNIVERSE
God’s chastisement of Israel and His punishment of the nations affords a way for Christ to be manifested. Thus, the Minor Prophets speak not only of the chastisement of Israel and the punishment of the nations but also of the issue of this chastisement and punishment—the manifestation of Christ.
The manifestation of Christ has a goal, and this goal is to restore the fallen universe. The fall of the universe was caused by two rebellions. The first rebellion was the rebellion of Satan and the angels who followed him; the second was the rebellion of man. These two rebellions—the angelic and the human—defiled and polluted the universe, so the God-created universe needs a restoration.
THE LESSON FOR US TODAY
Our Failure
The history of God in the Bible provides a lesson for us today. God created us with the intention to gain us so that He could come into us and be one with us. However, either we do not care for God or we care for God according to our own way. The result is always total failure. Paul confessed his failure when he said, “Wretched man that I am!” (Rom. 7:24a).
Our Need for God’s Chastisement
Because we are a failure and because our situation is wretched, terrible, and miserable, we need God’s chastisement. For this reason, our human life as Christians is a life of chastisement through the sufferings caused by different kinds of “locusts.” Our husband or wife, our children, our job, our desire for higher education, our attempts to make more money—all these are locusts that cut us, swarm over us, lick us, and consume us. These “locusts” make our life a life of suffering and our days, days of God’s chastisement. The goal, the purpose, of this chastisement is that Christ would be manifested in us for the restoration of the universe. Eventually, the manifestation of Christ that is the issue of suffering and chastisement will consummate in the restoration of the entire universe. (Life-Study of Joel, msg. 7)