The overcomer in the recovered church is constituted with God Himself and becomes the New Jerusalem, the bride, the wife of the Lamb; the goal of God’s economy is to constitute Himself into man and make man the same as He is to consummate the New Jerusalem.
This has been His desire from the creation of the universe and of man; His heart’s desire is to gain a counterpart, the bride of the Lamb, for Him and her to enjoy an eternal married life in the divine life.
For this, He created all things, including the universe, the earth, the plants, the animals, the fish, the birds, and all living things, and for this He created man in His image and according to His likeness.
However, the man created by God fell and left God’s presence, abandoning God’s original intention; so God Himself became a man to fulfill God’s purpose individually, set up a pattern of a God-man living, redeem man, and be reproduced in many who would receive Him as their life and everything.
It is amazing to realize that Christ as the first God-man is being reproduced in us, the many believers in Christ, to make us the many God-men who express God and represent God.
In Rev. 3:12 the Lord promises the overcomer in the church in Philadelphia that he would be made a pillar in the temple of God; later in Rev. 21:22 we see that in the New Jerusalem there’s no temple, for the Lord God and the Lamb are its temple.
Today in the church age the Lord wants to gain His overcomers, those who are one with Him to fulfill God’s purpose in the church and on behalf of the church; in particular, the Lord wants to gain many in the recovered church (typified by the church in Philadelphia) who would keep His word and not deny His name.
These overcomers will be made pillars in the temple of God, the church in this age; they are pillars in the temple of God in this age and, in the next age, they will be pillars in the Triune God.
Actually, even today those who overcome are pillars in the Triune God, being one with the Triune God for the carrying out of His economy and being constituted and mingled with the Triune God.
This is what God is after today; He doesn’t merely want some who do a great work for Him but rather, He’s after those who are open to His divine dispensing so that He would work Himself into their being and make them the same as Christ.
This is what is seen in Type in 2 Sam. 7 where God promised David that He will work Himself into David to produce a seed, who will be called the Son of God, and this One will build a house for God.
Hallelujah, God works Himself into us and we, as open vessels, cooperate with His inner working to be produced as His overcomers, the pillars in the Triune God, to consummate the New Jerusalem, the goal of God’s economy.
The Goal of God’s Economy is for God to Work Himself into us and Saturate us for the Building up of the Body Consummating in the New Jerusalem
God has an economy, and according to His eternal economy He created and made all things; for His economy, we all exist and are.
If we read the Bible with the glasses of God’s eternal economy we will see a governing vision, which is that the Triune God is working Himself into us to saturate our entire being with the Divine Trinity to produce and build up the church as the Body of Christ consummating in the New Jerusalem.
In His economy, God became a man to make man God in life and nature but not in the Godhead for the producing of the New Jerusalem as the increase and expression of the Triune God for eternity. This is His highest purpose and eternal economy.
The New Jerusalem is not a physical city or a concept; it is a holy city built by God’s constituting Himself into man to make man the same as God in life, nature, and constitution so that God and man may become a corporate entity.
The governing vision of the Bible is the Triune God working Himself into His chosen and redeemed people in order to saturate their entire being with the Divine Trinity for the producing and building up of the church as the Body of Christ, consummating in the New Jerusalem (Eph. 4:4-6; Rev. 21:2, 9-10).
If we realize that this is the central work of God, for Him to work Himself into us to saturate our entire being with Himself, we should pray for this and ask Him to do it in us.
The New Jerusalem is a composition of divinity and humanity mingled, blended, and built together as one entity; all the components of this holy city have the same life, nature, and constitution, and thus they are a corporate person (John 14:20, 23; Rev. 21:2-3, 9-23).
In John 14 the Lord said that if we love Him, He will come with the Father and make an abode with us; this means that He will come and make His home in our heart, making us His home and being our home for us to dwell in – a mutual dwelling place.
This is the reality of what is happening when we contact the Lord in His word, open to Him, pray over His word, and allow Him to operate in us as the living word; He is working Himself into us to build up the church as the Body of Christ consummating in the New Jerusalem.
This is not something shallow or superficial from the divine revelation in the Bible; this is a high peak, even the highest peak of the divine revelation.
The fact that God became a man so that man may become God in life and in nature but not in the Godhead is the highest peak of the divine revelation in the Bible.
The New Jerusalem being a composition of divinity and humanity being blended, mingled, and built up together in one entity to express the Triune God for eternity is a high peak of the divine revelation.
May we learn and pray over the highest peaks of the divine revelation and cooperate with God’s central work so that He may produce us as His overcomers, those who build up the Body to consummate the New Jerusalem.
What a great miracle and what a deep mystery is that God became man to make man God with the New Jerusalem as the ultimate consummation!
Hallelujah, we believers in Christ are becoming the bride of the Lamb, the New Jerusalem, the holy city, by experiencing the central work of God!
We are right now in the process of being prepared as the bride of Christ by cooperating with the Lord for the working out of the high peak of the divine revelation; we cooperate with Him for the producing and building up of the Body of Christ consummating in the New Jerusalem.
And it is very simple to cooperate with Him: we can simply pray back to Him what He desires to do in us. We can tell Him,
Lord Jesus, saturate us with Yourself today. Saturate every fiber of our being with Yourself for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ consummating in the New Jerusalem. We don’t want to build up the old man or the mortal body – we want to build up the Body of Christ. Mingle Yourself more with us today. Blend us together with the Triune God and with the saints in the Body. We want to cooperate with God’s central work by being open vessels for Your divine dispensing. Amen, Lord, work Yourself more into us. Constitute us with Yourself more today for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ consummating in the New Jerusalem!
We Cooperate with God’s Economy by doing Everything in Spirit to be made the Same as Christ to Consummate the New Jerusalem
The high peak of the divine revelation – God becoming man for man to become God in life and nature but not in the Godhead to consummate the New Jerusalem – is seen both in the Old and in the New Testament.
For example, in Isaiah we have two portions that both link the Old Testament with the New Testament and show us that God intends to become a man so that man would become God in life and nature but not in the Godhead.
In Isa. 7:14 it says that the virgin will bring forth a son whose name would be called Immanuel, God with us; the son of the virgin is God with man.
Isaiah 9:6 says that a son is given to us and his name would be called the mighty God and the eternal Father; a human son is born and his name is the eternal Father (who is God) and the mighty God.
These are prophecies concerning the conception of Christ, the Son of God and the Son of Man; when He was born, He was God with us (Immanuel), and He was the mighty God and the eternal Father.
But these refer not only to Christ but also to the believers in Christ who are becoming God in life and nature but not in the Godhead.
First, there’s the need for redemption, for man is fallen; Isa. 53 speaks concerning the redemption of Christ – God became man to be man’s Redeemer, and He was slain for man’s sin.
The purpose of man being redeemed by Christ is that the redeemed man would be made God in life and nature but not in the Godhead; this is God’s economy.
The mighty God, the eternal Father, became a man in order to make man God in life, in nature, in constitution, and in expression, but not in the Godhead. What an amazing fact!
Why did God become a man? Was it only to redeem us and “bring us all to heaven”? This is too low and shallow.
God became man to live the pattern of a God-man life, died to redeem man, and in resurrection, He became a life-giving Spirit to dispense Himself into man so that many believers would be produced to be the many God-men.
The believers in Christ are persons in God’s economy, those who are redeemed by God for God to work Himself into them for Him to gain a universal, corporate expression of Himself; this is what He desires to do in His economy.
The goal of God’s economy is that He would work on His redeemed people to make them God in life and nature but not in the Godhead for the building up of the Body consummating in the New Jerusalem.
For us to cooperate with God’s economy, we need to exercise our spirit, live in spirit, and do all things in the mingled spirit.
Christ today is the life-giving Spirit in our spirit, and when we do all things in spirit, He is continually dispensing Himself into us to transform us, conform us, and eventually glorify us that we may be made God in life and in nature.
The New Jerusalem is the consummation of the process through which God is taking us, the believers in Christ, to fulfill the goal of His economy.
The New Jerusalem is a composition of God’s chosen, redeemed, regenerated, sanctified, renewed, transformed, conformed, and glorified people who have been deified (see John 3:6; Heb. 2:11; Rom. 12:2; 8:29-30).
When many believers hear of the matter of deification, they think it is “too high” and “not practical”; some even think that it is too much for man to become the same as God.
But for us to be deified means that we’re being constituted with the Spirit so that we may become the same as Christ for His corporate expression for eternity.
The deification of the believers is a process that will consummate in the New Jerusalem; this is the highest truth and the highest gospel (see Rom. 1:1, 3-4; 5:10; Rev. 21:2; 3:12) – for us to become the bride of Christ for eternity.
Thank You, Lord Jesus, for coming into us as the life-giving Spirit to regenerate us in our spirit, transform us in our soul, and even glorify us in our body for Your corporate expression! Thank You for Your eternal economy that we, sinners and enemies of God, would be redeemed, regenerated, sanctified, transformed, conformed, and glorified to become the same as Christ for eternity. Hallelujah for God’s economy – God became man to make man God in life and nature but not in the Godhead. Fill us today, Lord. Saturate us more with Yourself. Constitute Yourself into us. Make us the same as You are for the Body of Christ. We want to do all things in spirit so that the life-giving Spirit in our spirit may transform us, conform us, and glorify us for the consummation of the New Jerusalem!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Ron Kangas for this week, and portions from, Life-study of 1 & 2 Kings, msgs. 4, 7-9, 18-22 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Vital Factors for the Lord’s Recovery of the Church Life (2021 ITERO), week 8, The Factor of Living an Overcoming Life in the Recovered Church to Consummate the Divine Economy and Become the New Jerusalem.
- Hymns on this topic:
– Hallelujah, out of heaven, / Comes the New Jerusalem: / Gates of pearl and walls of jasper, / Mingled with each precious gem. / Philadelphia, Philadelphia, / Has become His Bride so dear. / Now the Spirit in the churches / Speaks to all who have an ear. (Hymns #1275)
– ’Tis the holy city, / New Jerusalem; / With His saints God mingles, / Makes His home with them. / He becomes their content, / His expression they; / They shall share His glory, / One with Him for aye. (Hymns #971)
– From the fruit of daily living, New Jerusalem we’ll see, / It’s the ultimate in mingling—it’s divine humanity. / And what joy that we can share it all, and share it corporately. / Yes, mingling is the way. (Hymns #1199)
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