The Answer is God’s Eternal Economy: God Works Himself into us even through Sufferings

The great answer to all the questions, especially to the questions related to why God created man and why do we as God’s people suffer, is the mystery hidden in God, God’s eternal economy.

Everything happens for a reason; the reason for which all things happen is not merely so that we may learn and better ourselves or gain something but rather, it is all for God’s economy.

The book of Job leaves us with a great question of two parts: what is God’s purpose in His creation of man, and, What is His purpose in His dealings with His people, especially in the matter of suffering?

Job was a perfect specimen of a human being, fearing God and staying away from evil; when all these sufferings and losses happened to him, he questioned God, tried to take God to court, and asked again and again why such things would happen to him.

God’s purpose with Job was not that Job would be a perfect, upright, and righteous man in himself and by himself; rather, He wants to work Himself into His people to make them God-men to be part of His corporate expression on earth.

And the way He is accomplishing His purpose to dispense Himself is by stripping us and consuming us, tearing down our natural man and everything that we have gained in ourselves, so that He may have a way to work Himself into us and make us a constitution of Himself for His expression.

In ourselves and by ourselves we think we are OK, we are quite righteous and upright, and we are doing alright; when the Lord allows some sufferings and difficulties to come, however, our natural goodness, righteousness, uprightness, and morality are all exposed and torn down, and if we open to the Lord, He has a way to work Himself into us for His purpose.

God uses Satan as an ugly tool to do the dirty work of tearing His people down and strip them so that He would dispense Himself int us and change us metabolically from being a good man to being a God-man.

In Job’s case, Satan came in and destroyed his possessions and even his children, and he also attacked his health, and Job had severe boils from feet to the head, causing him so much physical pain.

On top of this, his wife – who was supposed to support him and be with him – had a mocking reaction, and she told him to curse God and die.

And even more, his friends came and started telling him off, trying to convince him that he must have done something wrong, he must have sinned, for otherwise, God would not bring all these things upon him.

Their thought was that, for all these things to happen to him and for this suffering to come upon him, there must have been something wrong that he did, for it must be God’s judgment on him in all this.

So Job defended himself, again and again, dwelling on his excellent past and sighing over his miserable present.

Eventually, God came in and appeared to Job in Job 38:1, and He showed Job how insignificant he was compared to God, and how God was everything; at the end of God’s conversation with Job, he admitted that he saw God and now he knows God not by hearing of the ear but by seeing Him, so repented in dust and ashes.

According to God’s eternal economy, this is the great answer to the great question of two parts: we need to see God, gain God, be infused with God, and be transformed with God, so that we may become part of His corporate expression in this universe.

Our Sufferings are God’s Consuming and Stripping for us to Gain God and for Him to Work Himself into us

The book of Job is fascinating, and it is easy to get lost in the details of the rounds of debates between Job and his friends; however, we need to see the great question of two parts that this book poses, and we need to find out what is the great answer to this question.

The great question is of two parts – why did God create us, and, why do we suffer as God’s people – why does God deal with us in such a way?

In particular, why do we have to suffer as God’s people? It seems that we go through difficulties, we don’t prosper, and we don’t enjoy life as much as the other people, yet we are the people of God – why?

Job and his friends thought that he was suffering as a result of God’s judgment; however, Job’s sufferings were not God’s judgment but God’s stripping and consuming so that God might gain Job so that he may gain God more.

God deals with us in the way He deals with us not because He hates us or because He wants to judge us; rather, He loves us and He wants us to gain Him and for Him to gain us, so that He may work Himself into us a little more every day.

Paul speaks about this in the New Testament saying that Christ laid hold of us so that we may lay hold of Him.

Christ seized us, grasped us, and laid hold of us, so that we may seize Him, grasp Him, and lay hold of Him.

Although God was stripping Job, He surely was not angry with him; God didn’t hate Job neither did He consider him to be His adversary but His intimate friend (John 19:11; cf. 10:13).

In Ezek. 14:14, 20 we see that Noah, Daniel, and Job are mentioned in the same category; Noah and Daniel lived a life and did a work that changed the age, but what did Job do?

Daniel and Noah were patterns of living an overcoming life on the line of life; in Noah, we can find clear indicators and markers that his life and work alluded to God the Father, and in Daniel (especially in ch. 9) points to God the Son.

Job points to God the Spirit who transforms us; in Noah, Daniel, and Job we see the work of the Triune God in and on man.

On one hand, we as believers were regenerated by the Lord and we have His divine life; this took place once for all, and we are qualified to be sons of God (John 1:12-13).

On the other hand, we are undergoing a process of being washed by the renewing and transforming of the Spirit (Titus 3:5); this is the process of God’s new creation to make us a new man.

We thank and praise the Lord that He has imparted His divine life in us; however, we need to realize that we are daily undergoing a process of being renewed, remade, remodelled, and reconditioned with God Himself.

God knows that, after we pass through a tie of suffering, we would be more open to Him to be rebuilt with the Divine Trinity so that God would work Himself into us a little more and we would gain God.

The more we go through situations of suffering, trials, and difficulties, the more our inner being is open to the Lord for Him to work Himself into us and for us to gain God, so that we would become another person – a new man, a new creation (Gal. 5:16).

It is only this new man, this new creation, that can fulfil God’s eternal economy for His expression (2 Cor. 5:17).

Thank You, Lord, for loving us and caring for us in all things. We open to You, dear Lord, to gain You more and to allow You to work Yourself into us to remake us, rebuild us, and remodel us with Yourself until we become a new man, a new creation, with God as our very constituent! Amen, Lord Jesus, keep us open to You even as we pass through sufferings and difficulties; may our being remain open to Your divine dispensing in all the things we go through so that we may gain God and God would work Himself into our being more! Have a way in us, Lord, to rebuild us with the Divine Trinity so that we may become a new person – a new man, a new creation, to fulfill God’s eternal economy for God’s expression!

The Great Answer is the Economy of God, the Mystery Hidden throughout the Ages, for His People to Enjoy God and become the New Jerusalem as His Enlargement

What is the purpose of God in His creation of the universe and of man?

Job 38:7 says that the angels of God (the sons of God) shouted for joy when God laid the foundations of the earth, but do the angels what is God’s purpose in His creating of man and of the earth?

Throughout the Old Testament, we see that this mystery was hidden deep in God; God kept His intention hidden from His chosen ones, and people such as Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, Solomon, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and the other prophets did not know what His purpose was.

But praise the Lord, in Eph. 3:9 Paul says that he was commissioned by God to enlighten all that they may see what the economy of the mystery is, which throughout the ages has been hidden in God, who created all things.

This mystery is nothing else but the eternal economy of God (1 Tim. 1:3-4).

Job and his friends had round after round of debates to find out what is God up to in Job’s situation, and they all missed the mark.

Job was right in saying that his sufferings were not a matter of God’s judgment; however, why did he suffer, and why did God allow all these things to happen to him, such a seemingly upright and righteous man?

Job felt that, according to his conscience, he didn’t do anything that required God to come in to judge him or punish him, so he was puzzled and perplexed as to what do all these things mean, and why does God do this to him.

Job’s friends, however, insisted that he must have done something wrong and so God judged him; they tried to investigate and enquire of him what did he do wrong so that God was doing all this to him.

Job’s three friends were not right concerning God’s purpose in dealing with His people; their concept was based on the principle of good and evil – if you do good, God will reward you, but if you do evil, He will judge you.

Job was groping in relation to the purpose for which God deals with His people; on the negative side, he was right, but on the positive side, he didn’t see God’s revelation concerning His purpose.

Why do God’s people suffer, and why does God deal with His people in the way that He does? It is because of His purpose, God’s eternal economy.

Everything happens for a reason; the reason is the eternal economy of God, which is for Him to work Himself into His people so that they would gain Him, partake of Him, possess Him, and enjoy Him more and more until their enjoyment reaches the fullest extent and they become the Body of Christ consummating in the New Jerusalem for His corporate expression.

God’s desire is for His people to enjoy Him, experience Him, and possess Him until they become the New Jerusalem as the enlargement of God.

However, Job didn’t see this; at his time the divine revelation was in its primitive stages, and God didn’t make His purpose known to His people.

Throughout the Old Testament, God’s eternal economy was hidden from His people, and only in the New Testament did He reveal what is in His heart.

The great answer to the great question in the universe is the mystery hidden in God throughout the ages; it is God’s eternal economy.

The eternal economy of God is His eternal intention with His heart’s desire to dispense Himself in His Divine Trinity as the Father in the Son by the Spirit into His chosen people to be their life and nature so that they may become an organism, the Body of Christ as the new man, for God’s fullness, His expression, which will consummate in the New Jerusalem (see 1 Tim. 1:3-4; Eph. 1:22-23; 3:9, 19; Gen. 1:26; Isa. 43:7; Rom. 8:29; 1 John 3:2). Wow!

Lord Jesus, grant us to see what the economy of the mystery is, which throughout the ages has been hidden in God, who created all things. May we have a clear vision of the eternal economy of God, the great answer to all the questions we have concerning why God created us and what is His purpose in dealing with us. Amen, Lord Jesus, may You have a way to dispense Yourself into us more and more each day to be our life and nature so that we may become an organism, the Body of Christ as the new man, for God’s fullness, God’s expression. We want to gain You, partake of you, possess You, and enjoy You more and more until we ultimately become the New Jerusalem, the enlargement of God!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Ed Marks for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Job, msg. 30 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-study of Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes (2020 winter training), week 1, The Great Question in the Book of Job and the Great Answer.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – So shall we not delight to give / Ourselves in every way, / And let the Lord dispense Himself / Into us more each day; / The grace that we receive each day, / Though hidden oft, and small, / Is God Himself wrought into us, / That day to shine o’er all. (Hymns #1231)
  – If I’d have Christ formed within me, / I must breathe my final breath, / Live within the Cross’s shadow, / Put my soul-life e’er to death. (Hymns #631)
  – As the product, the fulfillment, / Will the church in glory stand, / Consummation of the purpose / In eternal ages planned. / God will have His corporate vessel, / All His glory to contain; / Lord, we’re wholly for Thy purpose / All Thy goal in us attain. (Hymns #1325)