The Economy of God is According to the Gospel of the Glory of the Blessed God

The glory of God is intrinsically related to the economy of God, for the Triune God is of glory and we have the gospel of the glory of the blessed God which shines forth Christ as the glory of God for us to believe into, be infused with, and be saved. Hallelujah!

This week we come to the topic of, The Gospel of the Glory of the Blessed God, which is a somewhat unusual or particular expression.

At the same time, the gospel of the glory of the blessed God is an excellent expression, for it refers to God’s economy.

May we be delivered from any traditional ideas and concepts concerning the gospel and be up-to-date with the Lord concerning the gospel.

Sometimes the concepts we hold concerning the gospel, even though they are according to the Scriptures, do not match up exactly with what the Bible really reveals.

We need to have the concept of the gospel uplifted to be on the level of God’s economy; the gospel of the glory of the blessed God refers to God’s economy.

The apostle Paul was entrusted with the gospel, and this gospel is not merely the gospel of grace, the gospel of forgiveness of sins, or the gospel of repentance, but the gospel that is the effulgence of the glory of the blessed God. Amen!

Yes, the gospel exposes sin and deals with sin, and the gospel brings in the forgiveness of sins, the grace of God, repentance, and the divine life, but the gospel is much more than this: it is the gospel of the glory of the blessed God.

Sin is a big topic in our gospel preaching, but God wants us not only to speak of sin when we preach the gospel but even more, radiate God, shine forth the glory of God, and express the blessed God.

The gospel is a kind of shining; the gospel is itself a shining forth, the shining forth of the God of glory.

The gospel is the shining forth of God in His glory, which is actually His dispensing.

When we heard the gospel for the first time, though we may not have been seeking after the Lord, we were impressed with this wonderful One, Jesus Christ, and we saw something of His glory.

The Lord’s glory attracted us and captivated us, and we could not escape Him: we had to believe into Him.

This was Paul’s experience and this is also our experience.

Paul used to persecute the church as the Body of Christ, but the Lord appeared to him and shone on him; instead of Paul being condemned or obliterated, he was attracted and captivated by God with His glory.

The gospel is a shining, the shining forth of God through the gospel. As the Lord shines through the gospel, He dispenses what He is into those who are listening, and this dispensing of God causes them to believe.

We did not believe into the Lord because we were more seeking or better than others; it is the rich infusion of Christ that caused us to just respond to Him and believe into Him. Hallelujah!

Through the Preaching of the Gospel, the God of Glory Appears to us and Infuses us with Himself to cause us to Believe into Him

In Acts 7 Stephen preached the gospel to those who were about to kill him, and he said, The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was in Mesopotamia (v. 2).

The gospel has something to do with the God of glory, with the appearing of the God of glory to His people.

In 2 Pet. 1:3 Peter tells us that God has called us by His glory and to His glory.

Through the preaching of the gospel, the God of glory appears to us and infuses us with Himself to cause us to believe into Him.

Because we were called by the glory of God our Savior (v. 1), we eventually received the Lord Jesus, being attracted and drawn to Him as the most wonderful One.

Glory is an attribute of God; glory is the expression of God, God expressed in splendour (Exo. 40:34; Acts 7:55; 2 Pet. 1:3; Rev. 21:11).

Our God is a God of glory, and when He appears to us, He appears as the God of glory.

He appeared to Abraham, and Abraham was attracted by God, being caught by the glory of God.

He could not resist God: when the God of glory appeared to him, he had to go where God told him, following God by faith.

Similarly, with us today, when we heard the gospel, the God of glory appeared to us.

We may have not sought after God, but one day we heard the gospel, and the God of glory appeared to us; we were attracted and convinced, and we believed into the Lord.

When the gospel is being preached, an element of the God of glory is being infused into those who are listening.

Faith is not something we come up with nor is it a virtue that we build up; faith is something that rises up in us when we see the God of glory.

We all can testify that we were attracted to the Lord Jesus as the most wonderful One through our hearing of the gospel.

Just as He had appeared to Abraham, so He has appeared to us through the preaching of the gospel, and something of Him was transfused into our being.

God attracts us and believe into the Lord Jesus Christ because God transfuses Himself into us, even without us realizing it, and we simply believe.

If we remain in the Lord’s presence for a while, He will transfuse Himself into us, and this will cause an infusion, saturation, and permeation in our being.

Our God is a God of glory, and glory is God expressed; when we touch God, when we come to Him, He simply shines on us and infuses us with what He is.

This infusion of His element in us becomes our faith.

Once God has transfused Himself into us, we cannot escape; we may reason with the Lord, we may try to argue with Him, and we may try to ignore that feeling deep within, but something of God has been infused into us. Hallelujah!

This is true not only of our initial experience of salvation but even more, of our daily and continual experience of salvation.

We need God’s appearing as the God of glory not only once, at the beginning of our Christian life, but also day by day.

We need to come to the Lord and remain in His presence, and He will infuse us with Himself to cause our faith to grow and develop.

We can all testify that, when we come to the Lord in His word and just spend some time to enjoy Him, we are infused with Him and our appreciation for Him increases.

What a wonderful God we have!

Hallelujah, the God of glory has appeared to us and infused us with Himself to become our faith, our ability to believe! Thank You, Lord, for appearing to us as the God of glory. Thank You for capturing us with Your glory. We just love You. We did not seek for You nor did we try to find You, but You appeared to us through the preaching of the gospel of the glory of the blessed God, and we were captured by You! We love You, Lord Jesus! We love to come to You and spend time with you. We love to remain in Your presence so that You may transfuse Yourself into us! Amen, Lord, may there be an infusion, saturation, and permeation going on in our being. Saturate us with Yourself. Keep drawing us. Our pursuing strength is Your drawing power. Infuse us with Yourself as the God of glory!

God’s Economy is According to the Gospel of the Glory of the Blessed God

Rom. 9:21 tells us that we are vessels made by God; He’s the potter, we’re the vessel.

He made known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy (that’s us!) which He had before prepared unto glory (v. 23).

God created us to be vessels to contain Him; all human beings are vessels to contain God.

Out of the millions and billions of human vessels, God chose us to contain Him, the God of honour, so that we may be vessels of honour.

He makes know His glory upon us, the vessels, so that we may become vessels of glory. What a mercy!

This is not by our efforts but by His mercy, and we worship Him for this.

God’s economy is according to the gospel of the glory of the blessed God (1 Tim. 1:11).

The glory of God is intrinsically related to the economy of God (Eph. 1:6, 10, 12, 14; 3:21; 5:27).

The Triune God is a God of glory (Acts 7:2; Eph. 1:17; 3:14, 16; 1 Cor. 2:8; 2 Cor. 4:6; 1 Pet. 4:14), and He wants to infuse us with what He is.

He created us in His image in order that we would express Him in glory (Gen. 1:26; Col. 1:15; 2 Cor. 4:4, 6).

We may not realize this, for we are so focused on our condition with all our mistakes and failures, but we are vessels of mercy upon which the God of glory shows the riches of His glory to make us vessels of honour unto glory.

We are vessels bound for glory; we have no other purpose on earth, no other destiny, except to express God together to the uttermost.

Through the gospel of the glory of Christ, God has called us unto His eternal glory (2 Cor. 4:4; 1 Tim. 1:11; 1 Thes. 2:12; 1 Pet. 5:10; 2 Pet. 1:3).

He didn’t call us to “go to heaven” or to “inherit a heavenly mansion”; He called us unto glory, to express the Triune God corporately for eternity! Hallelujah!

His economy is according to the gospel of the glory of the blessed God.

We may have not heard this expression before; we may have heard of the gospel of grace, the gospel of forgiveness, the gospel of justification, the gospel of regeneration, but not the gospel of glory.

The gospel is all-inclusive, and one of the most wonderful aspects of the gospel is that it is the gospel of the glory of the blessed God.

This gospel not only brings us good news concerning us being forgiven of our sins, justified by faith, repented, and becoming children of God; the gospel of glory is the gospel of God’s economy.

The gospel expresses the glory of God.

The gospel of the glory of the blessed God in 2 Tim. 1:11 refers to God’s economy mentioned in v. 4.

The gospel we have today is not a low gospel but a very high gospel, the gospel of the glory of the blessed God.

This gospel is the effulgence of the glory of the blessed God.

When we preach the gospel, we shine God forth.

When we speak of the Lord to others, we dispense something of God with His life and nature into them.

Such gospel is preached not only to unbelievers but even more to the believers.

We need to hear the gospel of the glory of the blessed God again and again so that we may be infused with the God of glory and so that God would be blessed among His people.

This was Paul’s commission and it is also our commission.

We need to come to the Lord in all honesty and ask Him to show us what is the gospel of the glory of the blessed God.

We need to let Him shine on us and through us.

He is the King of ages, incorruptible, invisible, the only God; to Him be honour and glory forever and ever – amen (v. 17).

We may look at ourselves with our failures, and we may look at the degradation in the church today, and we may be discouraged.

Paul was not discouraged. Some of his co-workers left him when he was in prison, and some of the churches he established forsook his ministry.

But Paul was not discouraged: he had a strong faith with an absolute assurance that the very God into whom he believed was the King of the ages.

People may change, but God will never change.

He has entrusted us with the gospel of His glory, and though people change, situations change, and the environment changes, He never changes.

Praise the Lord for the gospel of the glory of the blessed God which has been entrusted to us!

We preach this gospel and serve the King of the ages.

The current president or world leaders may be so strong and powerful today but they will eventually perish; our God, however, is the King of eternity, and He never changes – He always remains the same. Praise the Lord!

Lord Jesus, we open our vessel to You to be infused with You and saturated with You as the God of glory. Hallelujah, we were created as vessels to contain God and express God! Thank You, Lord, for making known the riches of your glory upon us, the vessels of mercy, which You had before prepared unto glory. Praise You for the gospel of the glory of the blessed God which was preached to us and which brought us into the enjoyment of all that God is! Praise the Lord, the gospel shines forth God’s glory, and the blessed God is dispensed into us through the gospel! Amen, Lord, we want to know You, enjoy You, experience You, and be infused with You as the God of glory until we express what You are in glory! We serve You, oh God of glory, the King of the ages, and we do not look at the outward situation. Though man may change, the King of the ages will never change! Praise the Lord!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by the brothers in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of 1 Timothy, msg. 1, by Witness Lee, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Living and Serving According to God’s Economy Concerning the Church (2023 fall ITERO), week 2, entitled, The Gospel of the Glory of the Blessed God.
• Similar articles on this topic:
  – The glory of God and the economy of God, article by Ron Kangas in, Affirmation and Critique.
  – 2 Corinthians 3:18—Beholding and Reflecting the Lord with an Unveiled Face, article via, Bibles for America Blog.
  – What Is God’s Economy? Read more via, Amana Trust articles.
  – What is God’s Economy in the Bible? More via, Holding to Truth in Love.
  – God’s desire for a glorious church, a portion via, Life-Study of Ephesians, Chapter 59.
  – The Glory of God Becoming Our Experience, article via Living to Him.
  – The Gospel of Glory and New Jerusalem (2), article via, New Jerusalem blog.
  – Concerning the Person of Christ, via, Contending for the Faith.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – God made man a vessel he / With a spirit, soul, body. / God to man his content be / That through man His glory see. / Man does have God’s image true, / Noble in his status, too. / But God’s life man also needs / Divine nature to receive. (Hymns #1404 stanzas 1-2)
  – Myst’ry hid from ages now revealed to me, / ’Tis the Christ of God’s reality. / He embodies God, and He is life to me, / And the glory of my hope He’ll be. / Glory, glory, Christ is life in me! / Glory, glory, what a hope is He! / Now within my spirit He’s the mystery! / Then the glory He will be to me. (Hymns #948 stanza 1 and chorus)
  – An uplifted gospel have we, / One we’re not ashamed to proclaim. / Our gospel’s the highest of all, / For it is God’s goal and God’s aim. / No longer so lowly and poor, / We’ve found that we’re God’s holy sons. / No more will we preach as before; / Now each man on earth can be won. / Our Brother’s inherited all / God made Him to rule His affairs / Appointed—this office He fills / And shares it with us, His joint-heirs. / Elected before earth was formed, / We’ve found that we are qualified / To share all His glory and worth. / How could men but for Christ decide? (Hymns #1292 stanzas 1-2)