GOD’S ECONOMY
SERIES THIRTEEN
GOD’S ECONOMY IN ALL THE BOOKS OF THE BIBLE
God’s Economy as Revealed in the Old Testament
Message Two
God’s Economy as Revealed in Genesis
Scripture Reading: Eph. 1:10, 3:9, Gen. 1:26, 32:28, 3:21, 9:3, 4:26, 5:22-24, Heb. 11:8-9
I. The Bible, composed of two testaments, the Old Testament and the New Testament, is the complete written divine revelation of God to man; the major revelation in the entire Bible is the unique divine economy of the unique Triune God—Eph. 1:10, 3:9, 1 Tim. 1:4b: (Holy Bible Recovery Version, Gen. 1:1 footnote 1)
A. The centrality and universality of this divine economy is the all-inclusive and unsearchably rich Christ as the embodiment and expression of the Triune God—Col. 2:9, 1:15-19, John 1:18. (Holy Bible Recovery Version, Gen. 1:1 footnote 1)
B. The goal of the divine economy is the church as the Body, the fullness, the expression, of Christ, which will consummate in the New Jerusalem as the union, mingling, and incorporation of the processed and consummated Triune God and His redeemed, regenerated, transformed, and glorified tripartite people—Eph. 1:22b-23, 3:8-11. (Holy Bible Recovery Version, Gen. 1:1 footnote 1)
C. The accomplishing of the divine economy is revealed in the Bible progressively in many steps, beginning with God’s creation in Gen. 1—2 and consummating with the New Jerusalem in Rev. 21—22. (Holy Bible Recovery Version, Gen. 1:1 footnote 1)
D. In the Old Testament the contents of god’s economy are revealed mainly in types, figures, and shadows, whereas in the New Testament all the types, figures, and shadows are fulfilled and realized; thus, the Old Testament is a figurative portrait of God’s eternal economy, and the New Testament is the practical fulfillment—Col. 2:17, John 14:6. (Holy Bible Recovery Version, Gen. 1:1 footnote 1)
II. As the first book in the Bible, Genesis gives birth to and is the origin of the divine truths in the holy Word; these seeds grow and develop in the succeeding books, especially in the New Testament, and are finally harvested in the last book, the book of Revelation—Mark 4:26, Luke 8:11: (Holy Bible Recovery Version, Gen. 1:1 footnote 1)
A. The book of Genesis is a miniature of the complete revelation of the entire Bible; it begins with a man created in god’s image and ends with a man called Israel, a transformed person, a man not only outwardly in the image of God but a man in whom god has wrought Himself, making him His expression—1:26, 32:28, 48:2: (Holy Bible Recovery Version, Gen. 1:1 footnote 1)
1. Apparently, chs. 1—2 of Genesis are merely a record of creation; actually, nearly every item in the record of these two chapters is a revelation of Christ, who is life to God’s people for the producing and building up of the church—John 1:1,4, 11:25, 14:6. (Holy Bible Recovery Version, Gen. 1:1 footnote 1)
2. Chapters 3—50 present biographies of eight great persons: (Holy Bible Recovery Version, Gen. 1:1 footnote 1)
a. These eight great persons are in two groups of four, representing two races of men: Adam, Abel, Enoch, and Noah, representing the created race, and Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph, representing the called race. (Holy Bible Recovery Version, Gen. 1:1 footnote 1)
b. What is recorded is not primarily the works of these men but mainly their life, their living, and their way with God; in Genesis God uses both the record of creation and the biographies of eight persons to reveal the life that fulfills His purpose. (Holy Bible Recovery Version, Gen. 1:1 footnote 1)
B. Genesis is divided into three sections, each beginning with a name; The first section (1:1-2:15), beginning with the name God, concerns God’s creation; the second (3:1-11:32), beginning with the serpent, covers the serpent’s corrupting of mankind; and the third (12:1-50:26), beginning with the name Jehovah, concerns Jehovah’s calling of fallen man. (Holy Bible Recovery Version, Gen. 1:1 footnote 1)
III. In the book of Genesis Christ is the following items—1:26-27, 2:9, 3:15, 12:2-3, 7: (2013 FTTA-Fall, msg. 1)
A. Christ is the image of God—1:26-27, Col. 1:15, 2 Cor. 4:4. (2013 FTTA-Fall, msg. 1)
B. Christ is our inward life, signified by the tree of life—Gen. 2:9, John 14:6, 10:10, 1 Cor. 15:45b, Col. 3:4, Rom. 8:6, John 6:57, 2 Cor. 3:6. (2013 FTTA-Fall, msg. 1)
C. Christ as the seed of the woman refers to the incarnated Christ, the complete God becoming a perfect man through the dispensing of Himself into humanity in order to destroy Satan and to save the believers in Christ from sin and death—Gen. 3:15, Isa. 7:14, Matt. 1:16, 20-21, 23, Gal. 4:4, John 1:1, 14, 8:24, 28, 58, Heb. 2:14, 1 Cor. 15:53-57. (2013 FTTA-Fall, msg. 1)
D. Christ as the seed of Abraham is for the blessing to all the families of the earth; the unique seed of Abraham as the last Adam became the life-giving Spirit—Gen. 12:2-3, 7, 17:7-8, Gal. 3:14, 16, 29, 1 Cor. 15:45b. (2013 FTTA-Fall, msg. 1)
IV. In the book of Genesis the constituents of the church are typified by Adam, Abel, Enosh, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob with Joseph—3:21, 1:29, 4:26, 5:22, 6:8, 12:1-3, 24:36, 28:10-22: (2013 FTTA-Fall, msg. 1)
A. “Jehovah God made coats of skin for Adam and for his wife and clothed them” —3:21: (2013 FTTA-Fall, msg. 1)
1. The coats of skin were probably the skins of lambs sacrificed as substitutes for the sinful Adam and Eve, with the shedding of blood for the forgiveness of sins; the killing of the lambs by God foreshadowed the substitutionary death of Christ as the Lamb of God, with the shedding of His precious blood for the accomplishing of redemption, based on which God justifies the believing sinners—John 1:29, Rev. 13:8b, 1 Pet. 1:18-20, 3:18a, Eph. 1:7. (2013 FTTA-Fall, msg. 1)
2. God’s clothing Adam and his wife with the coats of skins means that God justified them through their faith; the coats are a type of Christ as God’s righteousness to cover us so that we might be justified by God—Ezek. 18:4, 20, Rom. 6:23, Jer. 23:6, 1 Co. 1:30. (2013 FTTA-Fall, msg. 1)
B. Abel was an overcoming martyr who cared only for God’s purpose, not for his own existence—Gen. 1:29, 9:3, 4:1-2, Heb. 10:5-10: (2013 FTTA-Fall, msg. 1)
1. Abel not only knew God but also took God’s way of worshipping God according to God’s divine revelation, not according to his concept; Abel’s faith came from hearing the word of the gospel from his parents; therefore, what Abel did came out of revelation—11:4, Rom. 10:14, 17. (2013 FTTA-Fall, msg. 1)
2. According to God’s foreordained redemption, Abel offered to God the firstlings of his flock, with the shedding of blood for his redemption, the burning of the fat for God’s satisfaction, and the covering of the coats of skin for him to be justified by God—Gen. 4:4, Heb. 9:22, 11:4. (2013 FTTA-Fall, msg. 1)
C. In human history Enosh was the landmark of one who called upon the name of Jehovah—Gen. 4:26, 1 Cor. 1:2: (2013 FTTA-Fall, msg. 1)
1. The name Enosh means “frail, mortal man”; Enosh realized that he was weak, frail, and mortal, so he had no trust in himself; if we realize both the vanity of human life and the frailty of man, we will have no trust in ourselves—Eccl. 1:2, 2:14, 17, 2 Cor. 1:9, Phil. 3:3. (2013 FTTA-Fall, msg. 1)
2. The Hebrew word for call means to “call out to,” to “cry unto,” that is, to cry out audibly; because men realized that their life was vanity and that they were frail and mortal, they spontaneously began to call upon the name of Jehovah, the eternal One—Gen. 4:26 note 2. (2013 FTTA-Fall, msg. 1)
3. Although they were vain and weak, by calling on the name of the Lord, they were made rich and strong, for they entered into the riches and strength of the One on whom they called—Acts 9:14, 21, 22:16, 1 Cor. 1:2. (2013 FTTA-Fall, msg. 1)
D. Enoch walked with God by faith to escape death and to obtain the testimony that he was well pleasing to God—Gen. 5:22-24, Heb. 11:5-6: (2013 FTTA-Fall, msg. 2)
1. To walk with god is to walk by faith; faith means that we believe that God is and we are not—v. 7, Heb. 11:5-6, 1-2, 2 Cor. 4:13, 18, Josh. 9:14b. (2013 FTTA-Fall, msg. 2)
2. Faith means that we believe that God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him—Heb. 11:6, Gen. 15:1, Phil. 3:8, 14, Psa. 27:4, 8, 42:1-2, 43:4, 73:25, 119:2, 10. (2013 FTTA-Fall, msg. 2)
E. Noah’s life was a life that changed the age—Phil. 1:19-21a: (2013 FTTA-Fall, msg. 2)
1. God showed Noah the true situation of the corrupt age in which he lived; “but Noah found favor [grace] in the sight of Jehovah”; grace is God coming to us to be our life supply, our strength, and our everything; such grace enabled Noah to overcome the flesh and to live a righteous life—Gen. 6:8, 3, 5, 11, 13, Matt. 24:37-39, 2 Pet. 2:5. (2013 FTTA-Fall, msg. 2)
2. The ark that Noah built is a type of the practical and present Christ as God’s salvation, and to build the ark is to build up the practical and present Christ as God’s salvation in our experience for the building up of the Body of Christ as the corporate Christ; this is to work out our own salvation—Phil. 2:12-13: (2013 FTTA-Fall, msg. 2)
F. Abraham obeyed God’s calling by faith and lived a life of the altar and the tent—Heb. 11:8-9, Rom. 4:1, 12, Gal. 3:7, Gen. 12:1-3, 7-8, 13:3-4, 18: (2013 FTTA-Fall, msg. 2)
1. God called Abraham by appearing to him as the God of glory, the One who transfused His essence into him; God’s glory was a great attraction to him; it separated him from the world unto God, and it was a great encouragement and strength that enabled him to follow God; in the same principle, God called the New Testament believers by His invisible glory—Acts 7:2, Exo. 29:43, Gen. 12:1, 4, 2 Pet. 1:3, Gen. 15:1. (2013 FTTA-Fall, msg. 2)
2. Abraham’s faith did not originate with himself; rather, his believing in God was a reaction to the transfusion of God’s element into his being—Acts 7:2, Heb. 12:1-2. (2013 FTTA-Fall, msg. 2)
3. To live by faith, as Abraham did, is to cooperate with Christ in His heavenly ministry, not only by living a life of the altar and the tent but also by fighting for the brother—Gen. 12:7-8, 14:1-24: (2013 FTTA-Fall, msg. 2)
G. Isaac was a model, a pattern, of the enjoyment of God’s grace for God’s good pleasure—Gen. 24:36, 25:5, 26:3-4, 12-13, Rom. 5:1-2, Acts 4:33, 11:23: (2013 FTTA-Fall, msg. 2)
1. After Abraham’s natural strength and self-effort were dealt with by God, Isaac was born; this implies that Isaac was born of grace, which is represented by Sarah—Gal. 4:23-28, 31, 1 Pet. 3:7. (2013 FTTA-Fall, msg. 2)
2. Isaac was grown up in grace; to grow in grace is to grow in the enjoyment of all that Christ is to us as our spiritual food and living water—Gen. 21:8, 17:1, 26:3, 1 Pet. 2:2, 1 Cor. 3:2, 6, Eph. 3:8, 4:15. (2013 FTTA-Fall, msg. 2)
3. The Spirit of grace is the grace of life, the varied grace of God, the God of all grace, and the all-sufficient grace; this grace is now with our spirit—Heb. 10:29, 1 Pet. 3:7, 4:10, 5:10, 2 Cor. 12:9, Gal. 6:18. (2013 FTTA-Fall, msg. 2)
H. The experience of Jacob was governed by his dream of Bethel, the house of God—Gen. 28:10-22: (2013 FTTA-Fall, msg. 2)
1. Jacob’s dream was a dream of God’s goal, a dream of Bethel, a dream of the house of God, which is the church today and which will consummate in the New Jerusalem as the eternal dwelling place of God and His redeemed elect—Rev. 21:3, 22. (2013 FTTA-Fall, msg. 2)
2. In His humanity Christ became a joining ladder to join heaven (God) and earth (man) into one—Gen. 28:12-17, John 1:1, 51. (2013 FTTA-Fall, msg. 2)
3. Through the process of transformation, Jacob became mature in the divine life to reign in life, his supplanting hands became blessing hands, and his speaking became God’s speaking—v. 28-29, Luke 18:19, Psa. 68:19, cf. Rom. 5:17. (2013 FTTA-Fall, msg. 2)
4. Joseph overcame his sufferings because he was strengthened by God, the Mighty One of Jacob and the All-sufficient One, and because he saw that everything was arranged by God to be a blessing to him—Gen. 49:24-25, 45:5, 50:20, 1 Co. 3:21-22, Rom. 8:28, Eph. 5:20, 1 Thes. 5:18. (2013 FTTA-Fall, msg. 2)