I was impressed to see that God’s intention in decreeing the law is not the same intention in the people of Israel in receiving the law. Three times the people of Israel responded to God with, All that God has said, we will do! – but God did not appreciate it, but rather He was offended by such a response.
God’s intention in giving the law to His people was NOT that His people would keep it but that He would reveal Himself to them (the law is a picture, a portrait of God) and to show them that they cannot fulfill the law but need God’s redemption, termination, and replacement.
When I read the account in Exo. 19-24 I was surprised to see that Moses enacted the law as a covenant, and he did this not according to our human concept of causing the people of Israel to promise that they would keep it, but according to the divine principle. Moses knew God’s heart and His intention, and so he was one with God to enact the law according to God’s intention.
God’s intention is the same with us today; the basic principle in God’s economy is not that we would do our best to keep and obey what God has said but that we would see who God is, we would be exposed of our sinfulness and utter helplessness in obeying God’s law, and we would realize our need for redemption so that, through the blood of the covenant, we would enter into God Himself to be infused with God and become His testimony, His living portrait on earth.
God’s intention has been the same toward man since the beginning; He doesn’t want man to perform certain things and do certain works so that man would be pleasing to God, rather, God wants man to see who God is and realize how sinful and corrupt man is, so that man would freely take God’s redemption, apply the precious blood of Christ, and come into the full enjoyment of God so that man would corporately be God’s expression, His living testimony on the earth. Hallelujah!
Seeing how Moses Enacted the Law according to God’s Intention and Heart
According to our natural concept, after God gave the law what Moses should have done is to get the people of Israel together and help them “promise” that they will keep God’s law so that they would be pleasing to God. But Moses did not act according to our natural concept; he knew God’s heart and intention, and so he enacted the law not according to our intention and concept but according to God’s intention.
Even though the children of Israel promised to do all that God told them to do, Moses built an altar and twelve pillars, brought forth some burnt offerings and peace offerings, and sprinkled the blood of the covenant.
God’s way is to show us, on the one hand, what He is; the law is a portrait of God, a testimony of who God is; on the other hand, God wants to show us that, in His sight, we are all fallen, sinful, and corrupted, and we desperately need God’s redemption and forgiveness.
God is willing to redeem us and forgive us, but we need to realize our need for redemption; when we come to God as we are, realizing we can’t fulfill His law but are rather corrupt, sinful, and fallen, we will receive His redemption, and the blood covers us; then, we can enter into God’s presence to contact Him, receive Him, and be constituted into “pillars” – a living testimony of God, a reflection of what God is.
The people of Israel did not realize what was God’s intention, and this is the main reason they failed God again and again; we in the New Testament need to realize that the law was enacted as a covenant according to God’s intention and desire, which is that we would see who He is, who we are, our need for redemption, and how the blood of the covenant is available, ready, and effective to bring us into God’s presence – even into God Himself – so that we may enjoy Him, be infused with Him, and become His living testimony.
After we receive God’s redemption and forgiveness, the redeeming blood of Christ brings us into God’s presence where we can contact Him, receive Him into us, and be constituted into pillars as a living testimony of God, a reflection of what He is. What a deeper meaning of Moses’ enacting the law as a covenant according to God’s intention and His heart!
May we be those who have any veils of natural opinions, desires, and intentions removed from us so that we may see God’s intention and His desire, and may we be those who come to Him through His redeeming blood so that we may enjoy Him to become His testimony!
Lord Jesus, we want to know Your heart and Your intention so that we may come to You through Your precious blood to enjoy You and become Your living testimony. Lord, reveal to us Your ways, Your heart, and Your economy. May we see who You are in Your word, realize our sinfulness and corruption, and our desperate need for Your redemption and forgiveness. Lord apply Your precious blood to our being and bring us further into You to enjoy You, receive You into us, and be constituted into Your living testimony on the earth!
A Basic Principle in God’s Economy: See God, See Ourselves, Repent, Apply the Blood, and Enjoy God to become His Testimony
The Bible is consistent from the beginning to the end concerning what God’s economy and His intention is, and when we come to the enacting of the law as the old covenant we can see this basic principle in the divine economy.
According to this basic principle of the divine economy, the Bible first reveals to us what God is. Second, the Bible enables us to realize that we are fallen, sinful, corrupted, altogether hopeless and helpless. However, the Lord has accomplished redemption for us, and His blood is available to cleanse us and bring us into His presence. Now He is waiting for us to repent, turn to Him, and receive His redemption and forgiveness. According to the revelation in the New Testament, we are not only brought into God’s presence—we are brought into God Himself. Oh, the redeeming and cleansing blood brings us into God! This gives us the ground and the standing to receive God, to enjoy God, and to eat and drink of God. Eventually, by partaking of God in this way, we shall become pillars, His living testimony. (Witness Lee, Life-Study of Exodus, p. 920)
God desires to obtain a corporate testimony and expression through man in the universe, and the way He does it is by first revealing Himself to man through His word (which, in the case of Moses and the people of Israel, was the law of God). When we see who God is and what He is, we will want to be like Him and we will desire to be His expression.
However, many believers and seekers of God do this in themselves; they take such commandments as “Husbands, love your wives” and “wives, be subject to your own husbands” and try to fulfill them, and they fail again and again.
No husband is able to love his wife all the time, and no wife can submit to her husband all the time; the husband may love his wife from time to time, but he’s still full of love for himself first, and the wife may submit to her husband for a while but she’s still full of rebelliousness and stubbornness.
In ourselves it is impossible to keep God’s word and fulfill it. This is why we need to see who God is, what He requires of us, and then confess, in the light of the revelation in the Bible, that we are fallen, sinful, and corrupt, and thus we need God’s redemption and salvation.
When we realize how unable we are to fulfill God’s word and how fallen we are, we will be convinced, convicted, and subdued, and we will repent to receive God’s salvation. When we open in such a way, the redeeming blood of Christ brings us into God’s presence, into God Himself, so that we may receive Him and be infused with Him to become His living testimony.
The Lord Jesus has already accomplished redemption for us, and His blood is available to cleanse us and bring us into His presence; He’s now waiting for us to repent, turn to Him, and receive His repentance and forgiveness. When we repent and receive God’s forgiveness, the blood of the covenant sprinkles us and brings us into God’s presence, even into God Himself, so that we may eat God, drink God, and be infused with God.
Under the covering of the blood of Christ we can enjoy God and partake of God, and we spontaneously become His living testimony on the earth. The way to become God’s testimony is the way of enjoy God by eating Him as our life supply (John 6:57; Rev. 22:14) and drinking of Him as our living water (John 7:39; 4:10, 14; 1 Cor. 12:13); by eating and drinking Him, we enjoy Him and are constituted with Him. This is a basic principle in God’s economy that operates in the universe unto this day!
The basic concept in God’s economy is not that God’s people should keep the law; the law was decreed by God not that His people might observe it but that through it they might come to know God in a positive way and know themselves in a negative way.
Having a proper knowledge of God and of themselves, they would then repent and receive God’s redemption through the redeeming blood, and they would be brought into the presence of God to receive the infusion of God to become pillars as a living testimony and reflection of what God is (cf. Rom. 8:4). Amen!
Lord Jesus, may we see the basic concept of God’s economy which is that we may see who God is, see how sinful we are, repent, receive God’s redemption, apply the redeeming blood, and be brought into the presence of God to receive the infusion of God to become God’s living testimony. Lord, we come to You as we are; You know how sinful and corrupt our being is – apply the blood of the covenant to us and bring us into God to enjoy God, be infused with God, and be made into God’s living testimony on the earth!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, brother Ed Marks’ sharing in the message for this week, and Life-study of Exodus, pp. 920-922 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Exodus (2), week 8 / msg 8, The Blood of the Covenant.
- All Bible verses are taken from, Holy Bible Recovery Version.
- Hymns on this topic to strengthen this burden:
# O God our Father, we would come to Thee / In virtue of our Savior’s precious blood; / All distance gone, our souls by grace set free, / We worship Thee, our Father and our God. (Hymns #55)
# Lord, by Thy blood, God is obliged / His very Self to give; / He must receive us to Himself, / An He in us must live. / Dear Lord, how precious is Thy blood / Of the New Testament! / By it God’s blessings we receive, / And we with Him are blent. (Hymns #1090)
# Here in this fellowship Thy light doth shine, / Thy precious blood doth cleanse and make me clean; / May I not only, Lord, Thy light enshrine, / But may Thou be expressed and clearly seen. (Hymns #764)
About aGodMan
The basic concept of God’s economy…is not that God’s people should keep the law. The law was decreed by God not that His people might observe it, but that through it they might come to know God in a positive way and know themselves in a negative way. Having a proper knowledge of God and of themselves, they would then repent and receive God’s redemption. Through the redeeming blood, they would be brought into the presence of God to receive the infusion of God to become pillars as a living testimony and reflection of what God is. (Witness Lee, Life-study of Exodus, pp. 920-922)