The highest peak of the divine revelation, the highest truth in the Bible, and the highest gospel in the entire universe is that in Christ God became a man so that He may make God in life and nature but not in the Godhead and to make Himself one with man and man one with Him, thus to be enlarged and expanded in His expression so that all His divine attributes may be expressed in human virtues.
This is God’s eternal economy, and this is the diamond in the Bible; when we see this highest peak in the Bible, the entire Bible makes perfect sense no matter whether it’s the Old or the New Testament. God became a man to make man God in life and nature but not in the Godhead – man is never to be an object of worship, but man is made in God’s image to be one with God, filled with God, and even become God in life, nature, expression, and function, but not in the Godhead.
When we see this diamond in the Bible, the Bible will be full of meaning like never before, and we will be infused with the high thought of God Himself for us to cooperate with Him and with one another for the fulfilment of His heart’s desire.
In order to accomplish His economy, first God Himself became a man and went through some processes so that in His resurrection He as the seed of David would be designated the Son of God (Rom. 1:3-4). This is the fulfilment of God’s promise to David in 2 Sam. 7:12-14 and it is the process in which we also are today.
God went through a process, putting on humanity – which is related to Satan, sin, and death – and through death and resurrection, He uplifted His humanity into His divinity, deifying His humanity and bringing man into God. Now we as believers in Christ are undergoing a similar process of first receiving the divine life and being designated as the many sons of God in full until we will be the same as He is in life, nature, expression, and function, but not in the Godhead.
By regeneration we have been joined to God; as we enjoy the Lord and experience Him daily we are being mingled with Him, and as we love the Lord and allow Him to make His home in our heart we are being incorporated with God to become the divine-human incorporation consummating in the New Jerusalem the consummation of God’s economy for eternity.
What a divine thought, what a high eternal economy, and what a multi-faceted awesome diamond in the Bible!
Having an Uplifted View of Christ’s Resurrection by “Looking”, “Staying”, and “Using”
The resurrection of Christ is the cornerstone and foundation of our Christian faith; if Christ did not rise from the dead, Christians believe a lie, and the Christian hope is futile. But Christ did rise from the dead, and His resurrection is a marvellous matter with a rich significance in the Bible.
We need to have an uplifted and proper view of Christ’s resurrection according to God’s economy: we need to have a view of resurrection according to the high peak of the divine revelation. Today I was impressed by brother Dick Taylor’s sharing that we can use three words to properly appreciate and experience Christ’s resurrection: looking, staying, and using.
We first need to be looking at resurrection through the telescope of the high peak of the divine revelation, and we will properly appreciate this Person who Himself is resurrection. Don’t use your natural human understanding or thought when looking at Christ’s resurrection; rather, use the telescope of God’s economy, the high peak of God’s revelation, to look at the resurrection.
Then, we need to be staying in the process of designation by constantly experiencing Christ in His resurrection. We need to look at resurrection through the telescope of the high peak of the divine revelation and stay in the process of being designated the son of God in power by allowing the Lord to dispense Himself into us to make us His enlargement so that He as the Firstborn Son of God may be reproduced in us as the many sons of God for His testimony.
Just as Christ stayed in the process of being designated the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness through the resurrection from the dead (Rom. 1:3-4), we need to stay constantly in this process by allowing the Lord to build Himself into us and build us into Him, designating us His sons and sonizing us. Stay under this governing and controlling vision of God’s economy!
Finally, we need to be using the key to this process; the process is resurrection, the rising up and designating us as sons of God, and the key is our spirit! Christ is the reality of resurrection – He is the sonizing Spirit, the Spirit that constantly operates in us to impart life to all our being and make us sons of God in full; we need to exercise our spirit to enjoy and experience Him as such a One to be sonized, deified, and designated sons of God!
Christ Himself is the prototype (see Rom. 1), and we are the mass reproduction, the duplication of this Firstborn Son of God (see Rom. 8). May we be those looking at resurrection through the divine telescope, staying in the process of designation, and using our spirit to enjoy and experience Christ in His resurrection to be designated sons of God, His duplication on earth today!
Lord Jesus, grant us an uplifted view of Your resurrection; we want to use the telescope of the high peak of the divine revelation to look at Your resurrection and have an uplifted view of Christ as the One who is resurrection! Lord, keep us in this process of being designated sons of God by constantly experiencing You in Your resurrection. Dispense Yourself into us, build Yourself into us, and build us into Yourself to make us Your enlargement, Your increase, and Your duplication. Lord, we exercise our spirit to enjoy and experience You as the Sonizing, Deifying, and Designating Spirit and thus be made the many sons of God!
Christ was Designated the Son of God in His Humanity by Resurrection
In 2 Sam. 7:12-14a, we see that God promised David that He will work Himself into him and out of him will come one who will be the Son of God, and this One will build the house of God, God’s temple.
Literally, this seed of David was Solomon, who built the temple of God. However, this seed of David refers to Christ Himself; the seed of David becoming the Son of God speaks of the process of Christ’s being designated the firstborn Son of God by resurrection (see Rom. 1:3-4; Matt. 22:45; Rev. 22:16).
In his book to the Romans, Paul focuses not mainly on sinners saved by God, justification, or even sanctification or glorification; the book of Romans focuses on the Son of God – first as the One who was designated the Son of God in power in His resurrection (Rom. 1), and then who was reproduced and multiplied in the many sons of God (Rom. 8).
According to His divinity, Christ was God – He was the root of David, the source; but according to His humanity, Christ was a man, the shoot of David, the seed of David.
Rom. 1:3-4 is the fulfillment of the prophecy in typology in 2 Sam. 7:12-14, unveiling the mystery of God becoming man to make man God in life and in nature but not in the Godhead. First, through incarnation God became a man; the only begotten Son of God with divinity entered into humanity, and God put on and was involved with humanity. This humanity that Christ put on had nothing to do with divinity but was rather involved with Satan, sin, and death.
In His humanity Christ was not the Son of God before His resurrection; in His divinity, He was the Son of God – the only begotten Son of God, but in His humanity, He was not. Through His death and resurrection, Christ brought His humanity into His divinity, divinizing His humanity and designating it to be a Son of God; He was begotten by God in His resurrection to be the Firstborn Son of God possessing both divinity and humanity.
This process is so amazing: man was brought into God, and human flesh was made a Son of God! Through His resurrection Christ uplifted His humanity into His divinity; this is a very deep thought in the Bible, and it requires our prayerful consideration.
Today we are going through the same process of having our humanity being brought into divinity; through regeneration, we received the divine life and nature, and daily we’re in the process of being designated sons of God in power by allowing Christ to work Himself into us to become our very inner constitution, making us God-men just like Him!
The goal of the gospel of God concerning His Son (Rom. 1:1) is to make sinners into sons of God for the formation and building up of the Body of Christ. Hallelujah!
Lord Jesus, thank You for becoming a man in the flesh whose humanity was involved with Satan, sin, and the world. Lord, how we praise You for staying in the process of being designated the Son of God in power in Your humanity! Hallelujah, the seed of David was designated to become the Son of God – humanity was brought into divinity, and a man is now in God! Wow, Lord, keep us in a prayerful consideration and appreciation of the process of Your resurrection, and keep us in the process of being designated sons of God in power day by day by Your Spirit with our spirit!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. Dick Taylor’s sharing in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of 1 & 2 Samuel, msgs. 24-25, 27-31 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on The Vision and Experience of Christ in His Resurrection and Ascension, week 2 / msg 2, The Vision and Experience of Christ in His Resurrection (2) – The Seed of David Becoming the Son of God by Resurrection.
- All verses are taken from, Recovery Version Bible.
- Hymns to strengthen the burden in this article:
# God’s eternal economy / Is to make man the same as He is / In life and nature, / But not in the Godhead / And to make Himself one with man / And man one with Him / Thus to be enlarged and expanded in His expression / That all His divine, that all His divine / Attributes may be expressed in human virtues. (Song on God’s eternal Economy)
# God’s economy and goal / According to His heart’s desire / Are to build Himself into our being / And to build us into His being / In order to mingle His divinity with our humanity / Into one entity (one entity)— / The Body of Christ, / Which consummates the New Jerusalem. (Song on God’s economy and goal)
# Victory through Christ’s resurrection / The victory is won! / Praise Him for what He has done / The victory is won! / Designated as the Son / Bringing man into God / He uplifted humanity / Displayed His glory / Oh, what a victory! (Song on Christ being Designated the Son of God)
About aGodMan
What David needed is what we need today. We need God to build Himself in Christ into our humanity. This means that we need God to work Himself in Christ into us as our life, our nature, and our constitution. As a result, we are not simply a man according to God’s heart—we are God in life and in nature but not in the Godhead.
In order to accomplish this, God in Christ became a man and went through some processes that this man could be designated something divine. In resurrection He was designated the firstborn Son of God. In and through resurrection Christ, the firstborn Son of God, became the life-giving Spirit, who now enters into us to impart, to dispense, Himself as life into our being to be our inner constitution, to make us a God-man just like Him. He was God becoming man, and we are man becoming God in life and in nature but not in the Godhead. (Witness Lee, Life-study of 1 & 2 Samuel, pp. 167-168)