We must see that the New Jerusalem has its initial coming and that it also has its consummate coming, its full coming. The initial coming of the New Jerusalem will be in the millennial kingdom for one thousand years on a small scale. At that time, not all the saved ones but only the overcomers, including the overcomers both in the [343] Old Testament and in the New Testament, will participate in it. The overcomers are a group of God’s people who are perfected, completed, and matured. They are the only people who are qualified to participate in the New Jerusalem in its initial stage. Although the majority of the saints are God’s chosen and saved ones, they have not allowed the grace of God to work in them thoroughly. Hence, most of them have not become mature. They are typified by the five foolish virgins (Matt. 25:1-13). Therefore, they will still have to buy oil. This means that they will still need to be matured.

God’s Matured People Constituting the New Jerusalem

At the Lord’s coming back, all believers will pass through His judgment seat to receive judgment from Him (2 Cor. 5:10). The matured overcomers will enter the kingdom to constitute the New Jerusalem in its initial stage. Hence, the New Jerusalem is not a physical city but a constitution of the matured people of God. Being constituted is different from being organized. Our body is constituted, not organized. A wooden table, however, is organized. Anything organized is inorganic and lifeless, and it can be taken apart and then put back together again. Government organizations and wooden tables are examples of this. However, anything constituted is organic and is constituted with life. It cannot be taken apart and then put back together. Our body is an example of this. In like manner, the New Jerusalem is an entity constituted with the chosen and matured people of God who have reached the maturity in life. It is a constitution in life of God’s matured people. Therefore, the New Jerusalem is not a physical city but an organic constitution.

The Coming of the New Jerusalem in Two Stages

The New Jerusalem is a particular, organic constitution. Its scale is still quite small in the millennial kingdom because it will be constituted only with the overcomers. The saints, including those in the Old Testament, who died without being matured are typified by the five foolish virgins. That they all died is signified by the virgins becoming drowsy and falling asleep (Matt. 25:5). In the millennial kingdom God will cast them out into the outer darkness to be dealt with and disciplined (8:12; 22:13; 25:30). Therefore, in the present age, the age of grace, God supplies man with grace. However, in the age of the millennial kingdom God will deal with man according [344] to righteousness. At that time there will be no more grace but only righteousness. God will deal with His people righteously. This dealing is to compel us to receive grace and be matured in this age.

All God’s immature people, whether in the Old Testament or the New Testament, will be cast out into the outer darkness during the millennial kingdom so that they may be dealt with and become matured. After they have become matured, the new heaven and new earth will come, and they will be incorporated with the New Jerusalem of the millennial kingdom to be constituted into a great New Jerusalem. Thus, the coming of the New Jerusalem has two stages: the initial stage as a miniature and the completing stage as the consummation. The initial coming is in the millennial kingdom, and the complete and full coming is in the new heaven and new earth. This is the main content of God’s economy.

THE WAY GOD CARRIES OUT HIS ECONOMY

What is the purpose of God in accomplishing His economy? What does He intend to do? In His economy God intends, arranges, and plans to dispense Himself into His chosen, created, called, redeemed, and regenerated people. Therefore, God first chose us before the foundation of the world and then created us in time. Afterward, He called us and then redeemed us. After He redeemed us, He dispensed Himself into us and regenerated us. Thus, we became those who were not only created by God but also born of Him. Once we have God in us, we become those who are born of Him. We have His life and nature and have become His children (John 1:12-13).

Hence, God’s economy is God’s intention, plan, and arrangement, which is also His purpose and His heart’s pleasure and delight. God’s heart’s desire and purpose is nothing other than to dispense Himself into His chosen, created, called, redeemed, and regenerated people. Moreover, He will also sanctify, renew, transform, and conform them. Eventually, He will glorify His people, bringing them into His glory.

THE DIVINE DISPENSING OF THE DIVINE TRINITY

How does God dispense Himself into us? In order to dispense Himself into us, God has to be triune. The Triune God dispenses Himself through His Divine Trinity—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. Ephesians is a book on the divine dispensing. From chapter 1 [345] Paul begins to speak about this dispensing: first is the Father’s selection, then the Son’s redemption, and then the Spirit’s application. The Father is the source, and all the riches are in Him. The Son is the embodiment of the Father, and all that the Father is, has, and can do are embodied in the Son. Furthermore, the Son is realized as the Spirit. Hence, the Son comes as the Father, and the Spirit comes into us as the Son. In this way, when we have the Spirit, we also have the Son and the Father. The Divine Trinity—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—is the means by which God dispenses Himself into us.

It is by the Divine Trinity that God is able to dispense Himself into all His chosen, created, called, redeemed, and regenerated people. Hence, if we want to understand God’s economy, we must know the Divine Trinity for the divine dispensing. We cannot know the divine dispensing without knowing the Divine Trinity. Therefore, at the end of 2 Corinthians Paul draws a conclusion, saying, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all” (13:14). This is God dispensing Himself into us through His Divine Trinity.

The Divine Trinity carries out His divine dispensing through the divine Spirit. Today we all must be filled with this Spirit. When we are filled with this Spirit, we are filled with the Triune God. There is a good portrait of this in the Old Testament: the totality of three generations of men—Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This is, in fact, the best illustration of this matter. In Exodus 3:15 God said, “Jehovah…the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob…This is My name.” This means that God is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit. As God the Father, He is the source—He is the One who plans, chooses, decides, and arranges. As God the Son, He is the course—He is the One who accomplishes the Father’s plan. Whatever we need, He has accomplished for us. We need to deal with sin, the world, the flesh, the corrupted self, Satan, and all our problems before God, yet He has already accomplished everything for us. God the Son went to the cross with seven statuses: the Lamb, a man in the flesh, the last Adam, the Firstborn of all creation, the bronze serpent, the Peacemaker, and a grain of wheat. In this way He accomplished an all-inclusive death and dealt with all our problems. Then, with the riches of all that He is and has, He has been realized as the Spirit and has come into us so that we may partake of all the fullness of the Triune God. [346]

The chorus of Hymns, #608 says, “The Triune God has now become our all!” This hymn clearly explains how the Triune God has become our blessed portion and how He is dispensing Himself into us. In Ephesians 3:8 the apostle Paul says, “To me…was this grace given to announce to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ as the gospel.” Here to announce means not only “to preach” but also “to transmit.” This means that Paul received a commission from God to transfuse the unsearchable riches of Christ into the Gentiles so that they all would have the Triune God in them. In this way they could become the members of Christ and, aggregately, the Body of Christ (v. 6). The revelation in Ephesians concerning the Body of Christ and the members of Christ is very complete and thorough.