Day: January 8, 2023

Loving the Lord and Loving One Another for the Organic Building Up of the Church as the Body of Christ – Week 1

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Morning Watch —  January 9, 2022 – January 15, 2023

Loving the Lord and Loving One Another—the Most Excellent Way for Us to Be Anything and Do Anything for the Organic Building Up of the Church as the Body of Christ

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Corporate Reading: The Economy of God and the Mystery of the Transmission of the Divine Trinity, Chapter 5, Section:
The Coinherence of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit
The Father Sending the Spirit in the Name of the Son…
 God Being the Father, the Son, and the Spirit…; the Divine Trinity Being for Us to Eat
The Significance of Breaking the Bread; The Believers Becoming One Bread; Christ as the Element of the Corporate Bread
The Elements of the All-inclusive Christ
Christ Becoming One with Us…; The Processed Triune God Becoming One with Us

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Economy of God and the Mystery of the Transmission of the Divine Trinity, Chap 5, Section 4 of 4

Posted on in Corporate Reading, The Economy of God and the Mystery of the Transmission of the Divine Trinity

From this we see that Christ Himself has the element of God, the element of man, the element of incarnation, the element of human living, the element of death, and the element of resurrection. Moreover, in His ascension He has obtained the element of ascension. [385] After His ascension He has obtained glory. In His ascension and glorification He has obtained the crown, the throne, and the kingship. All these elements have been added to the all-inclusive Christ of God. Hence, Christ is not merely the Triune God but the processed Triune God. Today the One in whom we believe is such a One, and the One whom we eat and enjoy is also such a One. He is not merely the Savior who gives us eternal life and the hope of eternal life, but He is also the processed Triune God. Jesus, in whom we believe, is such a One. He is too mysterious, too wonderful, too rich, and too all-inclusive!

CHRIST BECOMING ONE WITH US 
BY BECOMING THE SPIRIT

The Bible teaches us that when the Lord Jesus died, we died in Him; when He was buried, we were buried in Him; when He was resurrected, we were resurrected in Him; and when He ascended, we ascended in Him. These four great things—co-death, co-burial, co-resurrection, and co-ascension—are truly marvelous. But how do these four things become our reality? The only way is for this One—with whom we died and were buried, resurrected, and ascended—to become the Spirit to enter into us so that He and we, we and He, are united and joined together. Previously, His death, His burial, His resurrection, and His ascension were merely His own and had nothing to do with us. However, since He became the Spirit, once He enters into us, all that He passed through becomes ours, we become Him in life and in nature (but not in the Godhead), and all these items are related to us.

This is not just to be united but to become one. We are not just united with Christ; we are one with Christ. This is the oneness we have with Christ. Before He became the Spirit, He was He, and we were we, but after He entered into us as the Spirit, He and we have become one. Since He and we are one, His death is our death, His burial is our burial, His resurrection is our resurrection, and His ascension is our ascension. We truly died with Him, were buried with Him, were resurrected with Him, and were ascended with Him. On the day we believed in the Lord Jesus, at the very moment we called on Him, this pneumatic Christ entered into us, and He and we, we and He, became one. As a result, we died with Him, were buried with Him, were resurrected with Him, and were ascended with Him. [386]

In church history a group of saints involved with the inner-life school saw this matter clearly. However, the Lord has opened us further to see that not only have we died and been buried, resurrected, and ascended with Christ, but we even passed through all the processes with Him so that whatever He is and has passed through is ours. As the God in eternity, He passed through incarnation, human living, death, and resurrection. Moreover, He ascended, was enthroned, and obtained glory, kingship, and the kingdom. We are one with such a One. The inner-life people taught us co-death, co-burial, co-resurrection, and co-ascension. Today in the Lord’s recovery, however, we not only speak about co-death, co-burial, co-resurrection, and co-ascension, but we also teach that the One whom we have received, whom we have gained, and with whom we have become one is the processed Triune God.

THE PROCESSED TRIUNE GOD BECOMING ONE WITH US

We cannot overlook these eight verses: John 14:16-20, 23, 26, and 15:26. These eight verses speak of the Triune God who passed through all the processes and enters into us to be one with us. These verses are the basis of the divine revelation that He becomes us and we become Him in His life and in His nature but not in His Godhead. This revelation includes God’s economy, God’s dispensing, God’s union with us, and God’s corporate expression. Today if people ask who you are, you should say, “I am so much, I am so great, I am so mysterious and extensive; I do not know how much I am. I am part of the expression of the processed Triune God.” Even the word expression cannot fully describe who we are; in fact, we are becoming the very One who is true in His life and nature, but not in His Godhead.

The Economy of God and the Mystery of the Transmission of the Divine Trinity, Chap 5, Section 3 of 4

Posted on in Corporate Reading, The Economy of God and the Mystery of the Transmission of the Divine Trinity

GOD BEING THE FATHER, THE SON, AND THE SPIRIT 
FOR THE PURPOSE OF ENTERING 
INTO HIS CHOSEN PEOPLE

The Gospel of John is a book that we love very much, yet it is also a very mysterious book. In particular, the portion in John 14 concerning the truth of the mystery of the Divine Trinity is not easy to explain.

What is the purpose for God to be triune—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit? It is so that He can enter into us as the Spirit. If God were one and did not have the aspect of being three—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—He would have no way to reach us and dispense Himself into us. The story of the Trinity, God being triune, is altogether for God to enter into us, His chosen people. [382]

Many Christians have not seen the truth of the Divine Trinity in the Bible. Why does God have to be triune? God does not have to be triune to be worshipped by us. The reason He is triune is that He may work Himself into us. For example, if some wheat wants to enter into us, it must first pass through a process. Of course, we can be like the Lord’s disciples and eat raw ears of wheat from the grainfields (Matt. 12:1), but that is not the proper way of eating. It is not proper to eat the ears of wheat because they have not been processed. Instead, we should eat the wheat that has been processed. What is the process that the wheat has to go through? First, a grain of wheat has to be sown into the soil so that ears of wheat can be produced. Then the wheat has to be ground into flour and made into bread or noodles for us to receive. Originally it was wheat, but in order to become our food, it has to be ground into flour and then made into bread or noodles. Hence, both the bread and the noodles are made with flour, and the flour comes from the wheat. This does not mean that once you have the bread, the flour is gone, or that once you have the flour, the wheat is gone. What has happened is that after being processed, the wheat has become flour and has been made into noodles for the purpose of getting into us.

THE DIVINE TRINITY BEING FOR US TO EAT

The above illustration helps us to see that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are one God—the Triune God—to be our food. This is not man’s word but the word of the Bible. John 6 tells us about a little boy who had five barley loaves and who came to the place where Jesus and a great crowd gathered. Eventually, the five barley loaves went into the five thousand people who ate them. Later the Lord said, “I am the bread of life” (v. 35). This means that the barley loaves signify the Lord Himself. Then in chapter 12 the Lord said that He is the grain of wheat (v. 24). He is the wheat, and He is also the bread, for the wheat has to be ground into flour before it can be made into bread. He is the wheat, He is also the flour, and He is even more the bread for us to eat. Therefore, when He is the wheat, He is still the bread, and when He is the bread, He is still the wheat.

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF BREAKING THE BREAD

Eating, drinking, and enjoying the Lord are basic truths in the Bible. When the Lord Jesus established His supper, He took the [383] bread and said, “Take, eat; this is My body” (Matt. 26:26). He also said, “This is My body which is being given for you” (Luke 22:19). The Lord’s body, signified by the bread, is the Lord Himself. What the Lord meant was that He would go to the cross and give His body for us to eat. He had not yet gone, but in a short while, at dawn, He would go. Therefore, He gave the bread to the disciples, saying that it was His body and that they should take and eat it. This meant that He wanted them to eat Him.

However, today many Christians make the breaking of bread a religious ritual. The Catholic Church calls it a “mass,” whereas the Protestant churches call it “holy communion.” They do not understand that the real spiritual significance of bread-breaking is that Jesus as the embodiment of God is the bread. He was a grain of wheat that went through a process to become flour and a further process to be made into bread for us to eat. Today when we believe in the Lord Jesus, we eat Him. The One in whom we believe is the processed Triune God, and the One of whom we eat is the processed grain of wheat. The Lord as the processed grain of wheat is the bread, and the processed Triune God is the Spirit.

THE BELIEVERS BECOMING 
ONE BREAD, ONE BODY, THROUGH EATING

Today the truth of Christ being the Spirit is crystal clear, but I am afraid that you still do not have a complete comprehension of this matter. Please bear in mind that God’s economy, God’s dispensing, God’s union with us, and God’s corporate expression are all included in this truth. Regarding the bread in the Lord’s table meeting, we are all clear that the wheat has to be ground into flour, and the flour has to be made into bread before it is ready for us to eat. Christ, who is the Triune God, said that He Himself is the bread of life for us to eat. Our partaking of the bread indicates that we participate in Christ, and as a result, we are all made one to be His one Body. Therefore, the Bible tells us that although we are many, we are one bread, because we all eat Him (1 Cor. 10:17). This bread is the Body of Christ, which is the church, His one corporate expression.

Therefore, in the story of the Divine Trinity we see God’s economy, God’s dispensing, and God’s union with us. Ultimately, we see that we all become one bread, expressing Christ as the embodiment [384] of the Triune God. This bread, which was originally the individual Christ, has now become the corporate Christ. Christ is the embodiment of the Triune God, the fullness of God, and we all are the expression of the fullness of the Triune God. He is the embodiment and the fullness; we are the expression.

CHRIST AS THE ELEMENT OF THE CORPORATE BREAD

The wheat is ground into flour, the flour is made into bread, and this bread denotes Christ as the individual bread, which after being eaten by us, constitutes us a corporate bread. What we eat spontaneously becomes what we are. When we eat bread, we spontaneously become bread. Therefore, Paul said that although we are many, we are one Body, one bread. As the one large, corporate bread, we have exactly the same elements as Christ, the individual bread. As the corporate bread, we are just the enlargement of Christ as the individual bread. There is no change in element, and the element is nothing less than Christ Himself.

THE ELEMENTS OF THE ALL-INCLUSIVE CHRIST

Now we will see what the elements of Christ are. The elements of Christ comprise all that the Father is in His divine nature and all the elements that Christ obtained in passing through His process. In other words, Christ possesses both the divine element and the human element. He went through a process not only with the divine and human elements, but He also had many other elements added to Him. He was God incarnated. Thus, incarnation is an element. He passed through thirty-three and a half years of human living. Thus, human living is also an element. When He died on the cross, the elements of His death and the effectiveness of His death were added. When He was resurrected, the elements of His resurrection and the power of His resurrection were added. What He passed through was quite a process. This can be compared to a grain of wheat falling into the ground, dying, sprouting and growing, and finally bearing grains to be ground into powder and made into bread for our enjoyment.

 

The Economy of God and the Mystery of the Transmission of the Divine Trinity, Chap 5, Section 2 of 4

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The second day was the Sabbath (Luke 23:56), and the Lord rested. He stayed in the tomb for not more than two nights. On the third day, that is, in the early morning of the Lord’s Day when it was still dark, He had already resurrected (John 20:1). Therefore, “three days” is the Jewish way of counting. The proper way is to say that the Lord’s going was from the last three hours of the first day, the day of preparation for the Passover (Matt. 26:19; John 19:14), plus the second day, the Sabbath. Then on the third day, the Lord’s Day, when it was still dark, He was resurrected, and in the same evening He came. Thus, from His going to His coming, the time was very short. This is why He said that in a little while the world would behold Him no longer. The priests, the scribes, and the Pharisees would not behold Him, but the disciples would behold Him. This is because through His death and resurrection He became the life-giving Spirit, and as such He breathed Himself into the disciples (20:22).

“In That Day”

On the evening of the day of resurrection, the Lord Jesus came to His disciples and breathed into them the promised Spirit, His very reality. In John 14:20 the Lord said, “In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.” In that day refers to the day of the Lord’s resurrection, and to know is to apprehend, experience, and appreciate. When the Lord was speaking to the disciples, they did not know that they would be in Him because He had not yet dispensed Himself into them. At that time the Lord [379] could at most let them know that He was in the Father and the Father was in Him. However, “in that day,” that is, about thirty hours later, in the day of the Lord’s resurrection, the disciples knew that the Lord was not only in the Father but also in them, because the Lord breathed Himself into them (20:22). As a result, they were also in Him. “In that day” all these things were accomplished facts, and they “knew,” that is, they apprehended, experienced, and appreciated that the Lord was in the Father, they were in the Lord, and the Lord was in them.

The Son and the Spirit Being One

At the end of John 14:17 the Lord said that the Spirit of reality would come to abide with the disciples and be in the disciples. Then in verse 20 He said that the disciples would be in Him and He in them. After saying in verse 17 that the Spirit of reality would be in the disciples, the Lord went on to say in verse 20 that He would be in the disciples. Then, are “the Spirit of reality” and “the Lord” two? Is it possible that two are living in us? We can all testify in our experience that there is only one who lives in us. If so, then which One is living in us?

The more we speak about whether it is the Father, the Son, or the Spirit who lives in us, the more puzzled we are according to our limited human mentality. We can only say that we know that these verses tell us about the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, but what we know, we still do not know. Yet if we say that we do not know, it seems also that we do know. It is really hard to say how many persons are the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. If we say They are three, it is hard to explain these few verses. If we say They are not three, it is equally hard to understand. Because the mystery concerning the Divine Trinity is so difficult to understand, the theological way of explaining this is to say that the unique God who is the Father, the Son, and the Spirit is the Triune God. He is three yet one; He is triune.

The Father and the Son Being One

In John 14:23a the Lord said, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him.” Why did the Lord not say that if anyone would love Him, He would love that one, but instead He said that if anyone would love Him, His Father would love that one? Why is it that when someone loves the Son, the Father gets [380] involved? What kind of a love relationship is this? Moreover, the Lord continued in verse 23b: “And We will come to him and make an abode with him.” Here We appears, indicating that the Father and the Son are together. What does this mean? This means that the Son—who is loved—is in the Father, and the Father is also in the Son. Hence, if the Lord had said, “If anyone loves Me, I will love Him,” He would not have revealed the fact that the Son and the Father are one. Therefore, the Lord said, “If anyone loves Me,…My Father will love him.” This proves that when you love the Son, you love the Father also, because the Father is in the Son. At the same time, because the Son is in the Father, the result is that the Father as well as the Son respond to your love by loving you. When the Father loves you, it is the Son loving you in the Father and the Father loving you in the Son. Therefore, you cannot love the Son without involving the Father; when you love the Son, the Father appears. The Father responds by loving you, and when the Father loves you, the Son is brought with Him. Hence, the Lord said “We,” indicating that both the Father and the Son come. They come to make an abode with you.

THE FATHER SENDING THE SPIRIT 
IN THE NAME OF THE SON, 
AND THE SPIRIT COMING 
WITH THE FATHER AND THE SON

In John 14:26, a verse that is even harder to understand than the previous verses we have covered, the Lord said, “The Comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things.” This verse tells us that the Father sends the Spirit in the Son’s name; thus, the Spirit is also in the Son’s name. Moreover, when the Father sends in the Son’s name, is it the Father who sends or the Son who sends? Suppose you go to the bank to withdraw money in Brother Chang’s name. When the teller calls Brother Chang’s name, you answer and go forward. At this moment the teller does not care whether you are Brother Lin or Brother Wang but only cares for that “name”—Brother Chang. So you just need to give Brother Chang’s seal and passbook to the teller; then you can withdraw money in Brother Chang’s name. In this respect, at this time you and Brother Chang are one. Similarly, the Father’s sending the Spirit in the Son’s name means that the Father and the Son are one; the two are inseparable. [381]

Furthermore, when the Spirit comes, He comes with the Father (cf. 15:26, footnote 1, Recovery Version). In other words, the Spirit comes with the One who sends Him. The One who sends the Spirit is the Father, and the Father is in the Son. Hence, when the Spirit, who is sent, comes with the Father, the Father, being in the Son, comes with the Son. As a result, when the Spirit comes, He comes with the Father and the Son. All three—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—come.

In order to help us understand this verse, we need to read 14:26 and 15:26 again. In 15:26 the Lord said, “When the Comforter comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of reality.” John 14:26 clearly says that the Father will send the Spirit, yet 15:26 says that the Son will send the Comforter from the Father. This means that both the Son and the Father are the Senders, and the sent One is the Spirit, who is from the Father. Here the word from has the sense of “from with” in Greek (see 1:14, footnote 5, Recovery Version). The Spirit of reality, who is sent by the Son from the Father, comes not only from the Father but also with the Father. The Father is the source. When this Spirit comes from the source, He does not leave the source but comes with the source. This Spirit, sent by the Son and coming with the Father, testifies concerning the Son. Therefore, His testimony concerning the Son is a matter of the Triune God. Thus, when the Spirit comes, He comes with the Father and also with the Son; therefore, the One who comes is the Triune God.

The Economy of God and the Mystery of the Transmission of the Divine Trinity, Chap 5, Section 1 of 4

Posted on in Corporate Reading, The Economy of God and the Mystery of the Transmission of the Divine Trinity

CHAPTER FIVE

THE TRUTH OF THE MYSTERY 
IN THE GOSPEL OF JOHN
(2)

THE COINHERENCE OF 
THE FATHER, THE SON, AND THE SPIRIT

On the surface John 14:16-20, 23, and 26 seem to be easy to understand, but actually these verses contain a very critical truth. These few verses give us a clear revelation concerning the three of the Divine Trinity—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, showing that the three coinhere and are inseparable.

In John 14:10 the Lord said, “I am in the Father and the Father is in Me,” indicating that He and the Father coinhere. However, in verse 16a He said, “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter,” seeming to imply that He was one person and the Father was another person. This is difficult to understand. First He said that He was in the Father and the Father was in Him, and then He said that He would “ask the Father.” What did He mean? How would He ask the Father? Is it that He as the Son who is in the Father would ask the Father? Or is it that He as the Son would ask the Father who is in the Son? This is really difficult to explain and not so easy to understand. How can the Son ask someone a question if that One is in Him and He is in that One? Since the two—the Son and the Father—were already mingled as one, how could the Son ask the Father a question? From this we see that the Son and the Father are two yet one, one yet two.

“Another Comforter”

In verse 16b the Lord went on to say, “And He will give you another Comforter.” Since there would be another Comforter, this means that the Lord Himself, who was with the disciples at that time, was the first Comforter. Are there then two Comforters? Verse 17 says that the other Comforter is “the Spirit of reality, whom the [376] world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him or know Him; but you know Him, because He abides with you and shall be in you.” The “Him” referred to in this verse was “another Comforter,” while the Lord who spoke this word was the first Comforter, and the One who would abide with the disciples and would be in them was referred to as “Him”—another Comforter. But verse 18 then says, “I will not leave you as orphans; I am coming to you.” Here I would ask, When the Lord said that He was coming to His disciples, what did He mean by “coming”? Was He referring to His second coming? If this was the case, then He would be leaving them as orphans. But if so, how could He say that He would not leave them as orphans and that He was coming to them? What does this “coming” refer to?

In the beginning of chapter 14 the Lord Jesus told the disciples, “I go to prepare a place for you” (v. 2b). This going refers to the Lord’s going through death. This is why the disciples were sorrowful when they heard this. Due to their sorrow, the Lord spoke a word to comfort them. In verse 18 the Lord seemed to be saying, “Do not be sorrowful, because soon after I go, I will come back. If I went and did not come back, I would be leaving you as orphans. However, I will not leave you as orphans; I am coming to you.” Many teachers in Christianity think that the “coming” in verse 18 refers to the second coming of the Lord. This would mean that at least two thousand years after His going away, He has still not come back, and we are still waiting. According to this interpretation, the Lord Jesus has in fact left those who have believed into Him as orphans. This understanding does not match what the Lord meant in these verses.

The World Beholding Him No Longer, 
but Those Who Believe into Him Beholding Him

In verse 19a the Lord explained, saying, “Yet a little while and the world beholds Me no longer.” A little while indicates that the Lord’s coming mentioned in verse 18 could not be two thousand years later and therefore does not refer to His second coming. The world beholds Me no longer implies that He would become invisible, that He would be transfigured. When He was on earth, He was visible to people; regardless of whether they believed in Him or not, whether they approved of Him or opposed Him, all could behold Him. Yet in a little while He would be transfigured and would become invisible to the world. However, verse 19b says, “But you behold Me; because [377] I live, you also shall live.” This is very wonderful. Why is it that the world could behold Him no longer, but those who believe into Him could behold Him? It is because He lives, and therefore all those who believe into Him also will live.

The phrase because I live, you also shall live means that the Lord lives with us and we with Him. We can see from the New Testament revelation that I live refers to the Lord’s living in us, and you also shall live refers to our living in the Lord. This matches what Paul said: “It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me” (Gal. 2:20). Today Christ is living in us, and we are living in Him. The world beholds Him no longer, but we behold Him, because He lives with us; not only so, He lives in us, and we live in Him. Although people cannot see Him without, we can see Him within.

His Coming in Resurrection

John 14:19 implies that the Lord’s coming would be in resurrection. If He did not come in resurrection, how could He live in us? Moreover, the Lord’s going was His going through death. Since He had gone and had died, how could He still live? This proves that verse 19 implies resurrection. It is true that He went and died, but He was resurrected and could therefore come and live. For that reason we know that His “coming” refers to His coming in resurrection.

According to this, “a little while” was actually less than three days. After He spoke this word, He was betrayed, arrested, and judged. On the same day He was crucified, and six hours later He expired. That was almost the end of the day, so it is also counted as one day. He stayed in the tomb for a little over twenty-four hours and was resurrected early in the morning of the third day. So if we add the few hours before and after, He went away for probably only a little over thirty hours. Then in the evening of the day of resurrection He came back. This may be likened to a mother who is about to leave home; in order to make her children feel at peace, she tells them that she will not leave them as orphans but will only be gone for a little while and will come back right away. In the same way the Lord came back after being gone for only “a little while,” for only around thirty hours.

According to the calendar of the Jews, a day began at six o’clock in the evening and lasted until six o’clock in the evening of the next day. The Lord spoke the words in John 14 through 16 to His disciples [378] during the evening of the Feast of the Passover. Afterward, deep in the night He went to the Garden of Gethsemane. There He was betrayed, arrested, and brought to be judged by the high priest through the night. After being judged, He was sent to Pilate; at that time it was already early morning (18:28). When Pilate heard that the Lord Jesus was a Galilean and was under Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent Him to Herod, who was in Jerusalem at that time. However, because the Lord would not answer anything under Herod’s questioning, He was sent back to Pilate (Luke 23:6-12). Pilate questioned the Lord Jesus; then he sent Him to be crucified starting at nine o’clock in the morning (Mark 15:25). The Lord suffered on the cross for six hours and expired at three o’clock in the afternoon. When evening fell, Joseph, who was from Arimathea, came to bury Him. It was then nightfall, and this was the first day.