In the Old Testament God moved with men and among men to prepare His direct move in man in His new creation for His economy; today God is moving in man in a direct way to fulfil His economy.
This week in our morning revival we come to a further and most wonderful crystal in the book of Job, which the whole Bible expounds on and reveals; the title is, The Intrinsic Divine Revelation concerning the Move of God with and among Men in the Old Testament and concerning the Move of God in Man in the New Testament to Accomplish God’s Heart’s Desire and to Meet Man’s Need before God. Wow!
If we read the Bible, we will realize that it is a wonderful book; it contains many interesting stories and many wonderful teachings concerning God, man, and even Satan.
However, hidden behind all these things presented in the Bible there is a deep, mysterious, and even crucial thought concerning God’s relationship with man.
The Bible doesn’t merely tell us random stories written by random people and then collected and put together in an interesting way.
The Bible is not a religious book telling us, men, how God is almighty, how He sits up high in heavens waiting for us to fear Him, bow down before Him, and obey Him.
The Bible is not about how God is waiting for man to do things for Him to please Him; the Bible doesn’t teach that God is watching over all men to see who is doing the right things so that he may be rewarded, and who is doing bad things to be punished.
Religion teaches such things, but the Bible does not; unfortunately, such a concept about God is held by most men on earth.
In the Bible, we see that our God is a God of purpose, and for His purpose, He has a move to carry out and work out what He purposed; this move involves not only God Himself but also man, one of His creatures.
God’s purpose is related to man, for man was created in the image of God and according to His likeness.
This week we want to see God’s relationship with man revealed in the Old Testament as being God’s move with His people and among them, and in the New Testament it is revealed as God’s move in His people, that is, God’s move in man.
If we are made clear concerning the relationship God has with man both in the Old and in the New Testament, how He moved among and with man in the Old Testament and how He moves in man in the New Testament, we will be clear concerning the book of Job, and we will be clear concerning Job himself.
If we see the relationship God has with man and how He moved in the Old and New Testament, we will see what is God’s desire concerning man and what is man’s need before God.
May we see the serious and deep matter of God’s relationship with man in these two stages, and may we enter deeper in our relationship with God, realizing that God is in us and He is moving in us in the New Testament age today.
God’s Move among and with Man in the Old Testament was to Prepare His Direct Move in Man in the New Testament
In the Old Testament, God’s relationship with man was His move among men and with men; this was not the direct move of God to carry out His economy but His indirect move.
The term “the move of God” s not explicitly mentioned in the Bible, but the fact of it is there.
In Micah 5:2 we see how Christ’s goings forth are from ancient times, from the days of eternity; this is a prophetic word concerning Christ’s incarnation.
Christ’s incarnation is His goings forth; it seems that God is on a journey, He is moving, and He has a certain destination.
The destination of God’s move in His journey is His eternal economy, with the goal of obtaining a new creation composed of Christ and His believers, His Body, the church, which together form the new creation.
God’s move with men and among men in the Old Testament was not the direct move to carry out His eternal economy for Christ and the church but the indirect move in His old creation for the preparation of His direct move in His new creation for His eternal economy (2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 6:15).
We could say that there are two parts to God’s move, one being the indirect move and the other being the direct move; in the Old Testament God’s move is indirect, being only among God’s people, but in the New Testament, His move became a direct move, for God was moving within man.
We can liken these two aspects of God’s move, the indirect and the indirect aspect, to a journey to climb Mount Everest.
Before one can climb this mountain, there is an indirect move to the base of the mountain; he has to get there by plane or car or bus, all the way to the foothill, and then he can start climbing.
His riding on the plane, on the car, on the bus, etc was his indirect move to get there, but when he starts climbing, that is his direct move to do the climbing.
The Old Testament is a preparation, showing us the indirect move of God among His people and with them; this is in preparation for God to move in man.
In the New Testament, we see God’s direct move in man – not just with or among His people but even in His people, being one with His people.
This is the goal to arrive at the destination, for God to gain His heart’s desire, His new creation.
When the New Testament age came, God’s way of moving on earth changed completely: He no longer moved among men or with men but in man, inside man, for He Himself was begotten in the womb of a virgin to become a God-man.
One day God came out of eternity with His divinity and stepped into time to enter into a human virgin’s womb to be born there. Wow!
This simple preposition “in” is very important, giving us the essence of the entire New Testament – God is IN man, we as believers are IN Christ, Christ lives IN me, and the Body of Christ is IN Christ.
This is a crucial preposition that shows us God’s move in the New Testament in a direct way, which is IN man.
So many seekers of God in the Old Testament tried to understand what does God want, what was His heart’s desire, but only we in the New Testament can see that God’s move is IN man in a direct way to carry out His eternal economy for Christ and the church.
The church itself is not mentioned in the Old Testament, for the economy of God was a hidden mystery in that age; however, in the New Testament age God moves in a direct way in man, and we realize that God is in us, we are in God, and God is moving in us to accomplish His eternal economy. Hallelujah!
As believers in Christ, we are in Christ and Christ is in us; if we don’t see this, we still live in the Old Testament age doing things to please God without realizing that God in Christ as the Spirit is in us and we are in Christ.
Hallelujah for God’s eternal economy for Christ and the church!
Thank You, Lord, for revealing to us that God moves in man in a direct way for the fulfilment of His eternal economy concerning Christ and the church! Hallelujah, God today moves not merely among men and with men but in man, even in us! Thank You, Lord, for stepping out of eternity and into time to be conceived in the womb of a virgin and become a God-man for the move of God in man. Thank You for becoming a life-giving Spirit to be dispensed into us and bring God in us! Hallelujah, today God is moving in us for the fulfilment of His economy! Praise the Lord, Christ is in us and we are in Christ – God is in man and man is in God – for the move of God in man to fulfill His economy! Amen, Lord, keep us in our spirit today so that You may move in us and through us for Christ and the church!
Man needs to take God as his Life to Live God, be Transformed into Precious Materials, Receive Christ for his Redemption, and Receive Christ as the Seed of the Woman
The Old Testament shows us God’s indirect move – His move among man and in man; this move involves many steps and many aspects, which are revealed in the Old Testament in types and figures.
God created man in His image and according to His likeness, and He put man in front of the tree of life for man to take God in as life.
As part of God’s move among man and with man, man needs to take God (symbolized by the tree of life) as his life so that he might live God, express God, and represent God (Gen. 1:26-27; 2:9-12, 18-24).
The first step of God’s move was His creation; God created many things in the first five days, causing many things to come into being.
Then, on the sixth day, He said, Let us make man. When it came to the creation of man, God didn’t speak and man came into being; rather, He Himself was directly involved with the creation of man, making man in His own image and according to His own likeness.
This was the first step of God’s move – the bringing forth of a man created by the Triune God directly, a man made in the image of God and according to His likeness.
And God put man in Eden, in a garden, in front of the tree of life, indicating that God wants man to receive and take Him in as life in the form of food for man to be supplied, live, and express God.
In the garden of Eden there was a river flowing in four heads, and in the river was gold and precious stones, indicating that, as man takes in God as life, he is transformed to become gold and precious stones, as materials for God’s building.
Right there, in the first step of God’s indirect move with and among men in the Old Testament, we see God’s desire for man to gain God and be filled with God, so that man would be transformed by God to be precious materials built together to be God’s counterpart (typified by Eve).
God took a rib out of Adam and built it into a woman to match him and be his counterpart; this is a type showing how God in Christ is our Husband, and we are His match, His counterpart.
God desires to gain not just a man expressing Him and representing Him but also a wife, a counterpart, to match Him in His divine life for their marriage in satisfaction; this is seen in type in Gen. 1-2 with Adam and Eve.
After the fall of man, God made skins to cover man, and man had to bring offerings for his sins to be justified; as fallen man, man needs to receive Christ for his redemption so that he might be justified by God in Christ (Gen. 3:8-9; Heb. 2:14).
As typified by the sacrifice with its shed blood, man needs redemption (the reality of which is Christ) so that he may be justified by God (typified by the coats of the sacrifice’s skins).
Because man became fallen, he needs to receive Christ for his redemption; so God prepared a sacrifice, some animal was slain, and blood was shed to redeem fallen man, while the skin of that animal was used to cover the nakedness of that fallen man.
This was God’s provision in His redemption, to redeem the fallen man and justify them by covering them with the skin, which typifies Christ as our covering, Christ as our righteousness.
The fallen man needs to receive Christ as the seed of the woman; He was promised to be the seed which will come to bruise the head of the serpent (Gen. 3:15, 21).
The gospel was preached to the fallen man, and God promised that Satan, the serpent, will be crushed, and man will be delivered from Satan’s death-power.
All this we see in the first three chapters of Genesis in type, in God’s indirect move with and among man.
Thank You Lord for creating us in Your image and according to Your likeness for us to take God in as life and express Him, be transformed into precious materials for God’s building, and be built up to be His counterpart to match Him! Hallelujah, we are created in the image of God to take God in as life so that we may live God, express God, and represent God! Thank You, Lord, for coming to die for us and bring us redemption for us to be justified by God in Christ. Thank You for coming as the seed of the woman for us to be delivered from Satan and his death-power. Amen, Lord, we believe into You, we love You, we receive You, and we are joined to You so that, in our organic union with You, we may enjoy all that You are and have done for us!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by James Lee for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1993, Vol. 1, “The Move of God in Man“, ch. 1, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-study of Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes (2020 winter training), week 7, The Intrinsic Divine Revelation concerning the Move of God with and among Men in the Old Testament and concerning the Move of God in Man in the New Testament to Accomplish God’s Heart’s Desire and to Meet Man’s Need before God.
- Hymns on this topic:
– Yes, in my spirit now He is moving! / Yes, I have the anointing! / God in me is flowing! / Thank God, I see it! / His Word revealed it! / I will apply it ever! (Hymns #1119)
– Dear Lord, Thou art the Tree of Life, / The very life supply; / Thy fruits, replete with life divine, / Our hunger satisfy. (Hymns #198)
– Lord, Thou art the “Seed of woman,” / Born to bruise the enemy; / Thou didst take the human nature, / Die to win the victory. (Hymns #191)
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