A TIMELY WORD CONCERNING THE WORLD SITUATION AND THE LORD'S RECOVERY
Message Three
T.e Universal History according to God's Economy— the Divine History within the Human History
Scripture Reading: Joel 1:4; 2:28-32; 3:11-21; Eph. 3:16-21; 4:15-16; 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:
A. We need to have a clear view of the divine history within the human history—Joel 1:4; 2:28-32; 3:11-21:
1. The history of man, the history of the world, the physical, human history, is out-ward; the divine history, the history of God with man and in man, is inward; it is a matter of the mystery of the Triune God in humanity—1 Tim. 3:15-16:
a. 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.
b. 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.
c. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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— 22:17a.
4. At the time of the Lord's coming back, there will be a meeting of two figures— Antichrist, a figure in the outward, human history, and Christ, the Figure in the intrinsic, divine history—2 Thes. 2:2-8:
a. Christ will come back, descending with His overcomers as His army (Joel 3:11), to defeat Antichrist and his army (Rev. 19:11-21).
b. After the Figure in the divine history defeats the figure in the human history, the thousand-year kingdom will come, and this kingdom will consummate in the New Jerusalem—the ultimate and consummate step of the divine history— 20:4, 6; 21:10.
B. We need to consider whether we are living merely in the human history or living also in the divine history—1:11, 20; 12:11; 14:4b; 19:7:
1. We all were born in the human history, but we have been reborn, regenerated, in the divine history—John 3:6.
2. If our living is in the world, we are living merely in the outward, human history— Rom. 12:1-2; 1 John 2:15-17.
3. If our living is in the church, we are living in the inward, divine history—1 Cor. 1:2.
4. As the enlargement of the manifestation of Christ, the church is part of the divine history within the outward, human history—1 Tim. 3:15-16:
a. In the church life God's history is our history; God and we have one history, the divine history; our God has a marvelous history that includes us; God's history has become our history because He is in union with us—1 Cor. 6:17.
b. Whatever God has done, whatever He is doing, and whatever He will do in His history are all for our Christian life and church life.
C. "Our living, our daily walk, our schooling, our job, and our business must be a part of God's history in His marvelous and excellent move on the earth today…We need to be one with God in His history, moving and energizing in His loving overcomers; that is, we need to be one with God in life, in living, and in our entire doing today on this earth! We need to write God's today's history!" (Life-study of Joshua, p. 3).
II. In the divine history what is being recovered today is God's economy, which is focused on the central work of God—to work Himself in Christ into His chosen and redeemed people, making Himself one with them for His expression—Eph. 3:16-17a; 4:4-6:
A. God's ultimate move in His recovery to carry out His economy is to work Himself— the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—into us and to become our life so that we may live Him out and express Him as His Body, the church—3:16-21; 4:4-6, 15-16.
B. God's economy is to make Christ everything, to make Christ the centrality and the universality, for the producing of God's increase, His enlargement, which is the church; the increase, the enlargement, of God is the fullness of God for His expres-sion—Col. 1:18; 2:19; 3:10-11; Eph. 3:19.
C. In His economy God wants to work Himself into man to be one with us, to be our life, life supply, and everything, and to have us as His expression; thus, God's intention in His economy is to have a corporate entity, composed of God and man, to be His expression for eternity—4:4-6.
D. According to His economy, God will rule over the world, produce a situation for Israel to be His elect, gain the church as His mysterious people, and have the nations to be the peoples in the eternal kingdom of God; if we see this, we will know where we are, and we will know the meaning of our human life—2 Tim. 1:9; Rom. 8:28-30.
E. We need to have a clear vision of God's economy and be governed, controlled, directed, preserved, and protected by this vision; today in the Lord's recovery we must be strong and unshakable in the vision of God's economy—Acts 26:19; Prov. 29:18a.
F. God's ultimate move is to have Christ, the mystery of God, enter into us as our life so that we may become His living members and form His Body, which is the fullness of the One who fills all in all—Col. 2:2; 1:27; 3:4; 2:19; Eph. 1:22-23:
1. Those who live Christ, who live in the spirit, are the actual Body of Christ corporately; they are also the one new man in actuality, a new creation with a new living to express the Triune God—4:16, 24.
2. Eventually, the Body life will reach the reality of Romans 12, and this will be the preparation of the bride for the Lord's coming back—Rev. 19:7.
3. "Be burdened with God's ultimate move. Then you will see God's oneness with you, and there will be no problem with your living" (The World Situation and God's Move, p. 43).
4. "Rise up and stand for the Lord's recovery. This is the ultimate time for God to accomplish His purpose to bring the Lord back" (p. 58).