THE DIVINE DISPENSING OF THE DIVINE TRINITY FOR THE DIVINE ECONOMY
Message One
The Eternal Blessing of the Triune God through the Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity into Us for the Accomplishing of His Divine Economy
Scripture Reading: Num. 6:22-27; 2 Cor. 13:14; Rev. 22:1-2
I. In the entire universe the unique blessing is the Triune God, and this blessing comes to us through the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity into us for our enjoyment to accomplish His divine economy:
A. God's eternal economy is His household administration to dispense Himself in Christ into His chosen people that He may have a house to express Himself, which house is the church, the Body of Christ; God's eternal economy is His eternal plan, and His divine dispensing is the means by which He accomplishes His plan—1 Tim. 1:3-4; 3:15; Rom. 12:5; Eph. 1:10; 3:8-9; 2:10.
B. God's divine dispensing deifies the believers, making them God in life and nature but not in the Godhead, for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ and for the preparation of the bride of Christ to usher in the kingdom of Christ; for this purpose God became a man to "man-ize" Himself; then He dispenses Himself as life into us to "God-ize" us.
C. God's intention in His economy is to dispense Himself in His Divine Trinity—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—into His chosen people; God's only goal in time is to dispense Himself into us day by day.
II. In Numbers 6:22-27 we see a pattern of blessing by the priests; this blessing is neither an Old Testament blessing nor a New Testament blessing; rather, it is the eternal blessing of the Triune God, which is the Triune God dispensing Himself in His Divine Trinity into us for our enjoyment:
A. "Jehovah bless you and keep you" can be ascribed to the Father—v. 24:
1. The Father blesses us in every way and in every aspect in His love (cf. Eph. 1:3), and He keeps us in every way and in every aspect in His power (cf. John 17:11, 15).
2. The Lord prayed that the Father would keep us in His name (v. 11); this is to keep us in the dispensing Triune God; the Lord Jesus went on to pray that the Father would keep us from the evil one (v. 15).
3. We should pray for the blessing of being kept absolutely in the dispensing of the Triune God and altogether outside of the evil one; what a blessing this is!
B. "Jehovah make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you" can be ascribed to the Son—Num. 6:25:
1. In Luke 1:78, when the Lord Jesus was about to be born, Zachariah prophesied, "The rising sun will visit us from on high"; the rising sun is the Son in the Divine Trinity; this implies God's incarnation to show Himself to us in a shining way—Matt. 4:16; John 8:12.
2. The word face in Numbers 6:25 signifies presence; as the One whose face shines upon us, Christ the Son is the visible presence of the invisible God—2 Pet. 1:16-18; Matt. 17:1-2.
3. Numbers 6:25 speaks not only of Jehovah making His face shine upon us but also of Jehovah being gracious to us; these two points added together equal John 1:14, 16-17.
4. God's incarnation was the shining of His presence, and along with this shining, there was grace; this grace is the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, which is actually Christ Himself—2 Cor. 13:14.
C. "Jehovah lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace" can be ascribed to the Spirit—Num. 6:26:
1. The face denotes the presence of the person, and the countenance denotes the expression of the person; to lift up one's countenance upon a person means to confirm, assure, promise, and give everything to that person.
2. Jesus came as the face of God, and the Holy Spirit comes as the countenance of God; if we grieve Him, His countenance will drop (Eph. 4:30), but if we obey Him, He will be happy with us, and He will lift up His countenance to confirm us, assure us, guarantee us, promise us, and give us everything.
III. The blessing in 2 Corinthians 13:14 is the same as that in Numbers 6:22-27; this is the eternal blessing of the Triune God, which is the Triune God dispensing Himself in His Divine Trinity into us for our enjoyment—"the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all":
A. "Jehovah bless you and keep you" is the love of God the Father as the fountain of life and light—v. 24; Psa. 36:8-9.
B. "Jehovah make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you" is the grace of Christ as the fatness of God's house—Num. 6:25.
C. "Jehovah lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace" is the fellowship of the Holy Spirit as the river of God's pleasures—v. 26.
IV. The grace of the Lord is the Lord Himself as life to us for our enjoyment (John 1:17; 1 Cor. 15:10), the love of God is God Himself (1 John 4:8, 16) as the source of the grace of the Lord, and the fellowship of the Spirit is the Spirit Himself as the transmission of the grace of the Lord with the love of God for our participation—2 Cor. 13:14:
A. The grace of the Lord is mentioned first in 2 Corinthians 13:14 because this book is on the grace of Christ—1:12; 4:15; 6:1; 8:1, 9; 9:8, 14; 12:9.
B. The Holy Spirit as the circulation, the transmission, of the grace of Christ with the love of the Father is the supply in our Christian life and church life:
1. The entire church life depends upon 2 Corinthians 13:14.
2. The current of the Divine Trinity within us as revealed in 2 Corinthians 13:14 is our spiritual pulse.
C. In the blessing of the apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 13:14, the Triune God comes to people for their enjoyment; Paul not only brought people into the presence of God but also brought God into them:
1. On the one hand, to bless others is to bring them into the presence of God; on the other hand, it is to bring God into them as love, grace, and fellowship that they may enjoy the Triune God—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.
2. Love, grace, and fellowship are three stages of God for our enjoyment—love is within, grace is love expressed, and fellowship is the transmission of grace into us.
3. The love of God is the source, since God is the origin; the grace of the Lord is the course of the love of God, since the Lord is the expression of God; and the fellowship of the Spirit is the impartation of the grace of the Lord with the love of God for our experience and enjoyment of the Triune God—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, with Their divine virtues.
4. The divine revelation of the Divine Trinity in the holy Word is not for theological study but for the apprehending of how God in His mysterious and marvelous Divine Trinity dispenses Himself into His chosen people, that we as His chosen and redeemed people may, as indicated by the apostle's blessing to the Corinthian believers, participate in, experience, enjoy, and possess the processed Triune God now and for eternity; we must enjoy and be blessed with the processed and inner circulating Triune God day by day so that we may dispense Him as the unique blessing of the universe into others for the accomplishment of God's heart's desire to have the testimony of Jesus, the corporate expression of Jesus—v. 14; Gal. 3:14; Gen. 12:2; Phil. 1:25; Rev. 1:2, 9-12.
V. In the New Jerusalem there is "a river of water of life, bright as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb…And on this side and on that side of the river was the tree of life"—22:1-2a:
A. In eternity the very God who sits on the throne is the Lamb-God, our redeeming God, from whose throne proceeds the river of water of life along with the tree of life for our supply and satisfaction.
B. The Lamb as the lamp will shine with God as the light to illumine the city with the glory of God, the expression of the divine light—21:23; 22:5.
C. The Triune God—God, the Lamb, and the Spirit, who is symbolized by the water of life—dispenses Himself into His redeemed under His headship (implied in the authority of the throne) for eternity.
D. The street of the New Jerusalem is pure gold (21:21), and the river of water of life flows in the middle of its street (22:1); because gold symbolizes the divine nature of God, we can see that the divine life flows in the divine nature as the unique way for the daily life of God's redeemed people.
E. As the consummation of the entire record of the Bible, the New Jerusalem is the very God in His Divine Trinity—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—united, mingled, and incorporated with His chosen, redeemed, regenerated, transformed, and glorified people as their eternal blessing; such a blessing is the ultimate fulfillment of God's blessing to Israel in Numbers 6—cf. Rev. 21:3, 12, 14, 22; 22:1-2.
VI. "Sometimes when we consider our situation, we may be disappointed and feel that we do not have anything. It may seem to us that everything under the sun and even everything in the spiritual field is vanity of vanities. We may feel that nothing is real, not even in the church life. What should we do when we feel this way? We should turn to the Triune God. He is our real blessing and portion. What a blessing it is to have Him as the blessing! What a blessing it is to have His face, His presence, and to enjoy Him daily as grace! The more we suffer, the more we enjoy Him as grace. What a blessing it is to have His countenance smiling upon us, assuring us, and confirming us! And what a blessing it is to have peace in Him, by Him, and with Him! This is the Triune God as our blessing. Oh, may the grace of Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all!"—Life-study of Numbers, p. 83.