God’s Triune Dispensing and the Transmitting of the Transcending Christ to the Church

Ephesians 1 unveils how the Father chose and predestinated us, God the Son redeemed us, and God the Spirit sealed us as a pledge; this is the triune dispensing of the Triune God issuing in the many sons of God, God’s possession and heritage, our inheritance, and eventually in the church as the Body of Christ. Hallelujah!

The Divine Trinity is the framework of every chapter in the book of Ephesians, a book on the church.

Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians is concerning the producing, existing, growing, building up, and fighting of the church as the Body of Christ.

This book is composed of the divine economy and the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity into the members of the Body of Christ.

What we see in Ephesians is not what we are doing to get closer to God or what we should do to please Him so that we may be His people.

Rather, in this book we see how the Triune God dispenses Himself in His Divine Trinity into us in many ways and in many aspects to produce, build up, and constitute the church as the Body of Christ.

In every chapter, we see not only what the church is and what God has done for us, but even more, the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity.

If we have the glasses of God’s economy on when we read the book of Ephesians we will realize that it is structured with the Divine Trinity, and everywhere we read we see the divine dispensing.

What causes the church to be produced, exist, grow, build up, and fight is the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity.

The more we as believers in Christ receive and enjoy the divine dispensing, the more we are formed as the church, we build up the church, we grow for the building, and we’re prepared to be the bride of Christ and the spiritual warrior fighting God’s battle.

The crucial focus of Ephesians is the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity into us, the believers in Christ, for the building up of the church.

This is the unique thing that the Triune God has been doing for the past two thousand years.

The Lord Jesus, after going through the processes of incarnation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension, is now in the third heavens, sitting at the right hand of God.

However, He is not idly sitting there; rather, He is busily dispensing Himself into His people.

He has many statuses and achievements, and He is the Leader, the Administrator, the Minister, the Advocate, the High Priest, the Shepherd, and so many other things.

Why is He so many things? It is to accomplish the divine dispensing in our life to make us the members of the Body of Christ who express Him corporately.

He doesn’t merely want members of so-called churches to warm the pews on Sunday at the service; He desires to gain true believers, real members of the Body of Christ.

May the Lord unveil us to see the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity in every chapter of Ephesians!

Today in particular we want to see the triune dispensing of the Triune God as the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, to produce and build up the church as the Body of Christ, as seen in Ephesians chapter 1.

The Triune Dispensing of the Triune God in Eph. 1 Issues in Many Sons, God’s Possession, and Our Inheritance

Ephesians chapter 1 shows the threefold dispensing of the Triune God; God has blessed the believers in Christ with the triune dispensing of the Triune God – first by the Father, then by the Son, and finally by the Spirit.

In this chapter we see how God the Father chose and predestinated the members of the Body of Christ in eternity, God the Son redeemed them, and God the Spirit sealed them as a pledge.

In this way, through the triune dispensing of the Triune God, God imparts Himself into His believers for the formation of the church, which is the Body of Christ, the fulness of the One who fills all in all.

The Father dispenses Himself into us by choosing us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and without blemish before Him in love, predestinating us unto sonship through Jesus Christ to Himself (Eph. 1:4-5).

The Father’s dispensing in His choosing and predestinating us issues in many sons who form God’s household in sanctification.

Even before time began, God the Father selected us; then, he predestinated us, determining a destiny for us – that we may be His many sons.

God the Father predestinated us unto sonship, destining beforehand that we would be His many sons. We have the divine sonship, which is a matter of life dispensing.

Our Father is rich in life, and He has much life to dispense. He selected us and predestinated us, and He begot us to be His many sons by dispensing His life into us.

Hallelujah, we are now the many sons of God under the triune dispensing of the Triune God!

Christ the Son redeemed us through His blood and gave us the forgiveness of offenses, according to the riches of His grace, and He made known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Himself (Eph. 1:7-9).

The issue of the Son’s dispensing in His redeeming and His saving is that we become a heritage to God, a treasure to God to be His private possession.

All the many sons who issue from the Father’s dispensing will become a treasure to God as His heritage.

Christ the Son came to redeem us for the accomplishment of God’s eternal purpose unto the economy of the fullness of the times, to head up all things in Christ (vv. 9-10).

As the Son dispenses Himself into us, we are being headed up in Christ and we’re knit and built up together, attached to Christ.

Many believers still live in the old creation, thus being detached and having no oneness or uniting; they are not headed up in Christ.

When we contact the Lord and remain under the triune dispensing of the Triune God, we are headed up in Christ, we are united with Him and with the saints, and we live the church life under the divine dispensing.

The Spirit’s dispensing is His sealing unto the redemption of the acquired possession, to the praise of His glory (Eph. 1:13-14).

The Spirit of the promise seals us and is the pledge of our inheritance, that we may enjoy Him as a foretaste of the coming full taste.

This seal of the Holy Spirit is not static but living; it works within us to permeate us and saturate us with God’s element until we are matured in God’s life and eventually fully redeemed in our body to fully match Him in glory.

The issue of the Holy Spirit’s dispensing His sealing and pledging issues in God becoming our inheritance unto our perfection. Wow!

How rich, amazing, and wonderful is the triune dispensing of the Triune God seen in Eph. 1!

The issue of God’s triune dispensing is that we become the many sons of God, God has a heritage for His possession, and we enjoy God as our inheritance, culminating in the church as the Body of Christ, the fullness of the One who fills all and in all (vv. 22-23). Praise the Lord!

All this is for us to enjoy.

We don’t need only to know and understand this but even more, to enjoy and partake of this wonderful triune dispensing of the Triune God.

Day by day we can pray these facts to the Lord and apply them to our Christian life.

As we do this and that, we can thank the Father for His choosing and predestinating, praise the Son for His redeeming and saving, and open to God the Spirit’s sealing and pledging.

May we have an active response to the triune dispensing of the Triune God in prayer, telling Him,

Thank You, Father, for choosing us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and without blemish before You in love. Thank You for predestinating us unto sonship through Jesus Christ to Yourself, according to the good pleasure of Your will. Hallelujah, we are now the many sons of God born of God with His life and nature! Thank You, Lord Jesus, for accomplishing redemption for us and for saving us. Hallelujah, we are now a heritage to God for His private possession, His treasure! Amen, Lord, we open to You as the Spirit coming to seal us and be the pledge of our inheritance. Hallelujah, God is our inheritance for our enjoyment and possession, and we today can have a foretaste of the full taste of God! Lord, we open to the triune dispensing of the Triune God today; dispense Yourself as the Father, the Son, and the Spirit into us to make us the church, the Body of Christ, consummating in the New Jerusalem!

The Issue of the Dispensing of the Processed Trinity and the Transmitting of the Transcending Christ is the Church as the Body of Christ

In the first part of Ephesians 1, we see the wonderful and glorious triune dispensing of the Triune God – the Father, the Son, and the Spirit – with some wonderful results.

As the Father dispenses Himself into us, we are chosen and predestinated to be the many sons of God.

As the Son dispenses Himself into us, we are redeemed and saved to be God’s possession, His heritage.

As the Spirit dispenses Himself into us by sealing us and by being the pledge of our inheritance, we enjoy God as our inheritance.

In the first part of chapter one in Ephesians, we see the Triune God dispensing Himself in His Divine Trinity into us to produce many sons, gain a heritage for God, and become our inheritance for our enjoyment.

In the second part of this chapter, we see something even further: the issue of the dispensing of the processed Trinity and the transmitting of the transcending Christ – the church as the Body of Christ.

Christ did not only die for us to redeem us and save us; He also rose from the dead, ascended to the third heavens, and was seated far above all rulers and powers and authorities.

Christ now rules over everything in the universe, and He was given the highest place with the highest name.

Everything is subjected under His feet; the Christ who is the embodiment of the processed and consummated Triune God is now the Head over all things to the church (Eph. 1:20-23).

This means that it was in His ascension and enthronement that Christ produced the church and is building up the church as the Body of Christ, the fullness of the One who fills all and in all.

He is Head over all things to the church; this implies a continual transmission taking place from the ascended Christ to the church as the Body of Christ.

To the church – such a simple expression yet with so much meaning.

All that Christ is, has, has accomplished, and has attained and obtained is to the church by means of the transmitting of the transcending Christ into the church.

By His transmitting, we got regenerated, we are being sanctified, we are being transformed, we’re being renewed, and we will be conformed to His image.

By His transmitting, we will one day be glorified so that even our vile bodies will be redeemed!

The transmitting of the transcending Christ produces and builds up the church as the Body of Christ, and it is by this transmission that we become the fullness of the One who fills all and in all.

Every moment, every hour, and every day this transmission is going on continually; we can simply open to Him, switch Him on, and let Him flow.

As long as we turn to our spirit and contact the Lord, we will receive the triune dispensing of the Triune God and the transmission of the ascended Christ.

The more this flow comes in, the more we will be saved, renewed, transformed, and conformed to His image, and we will be living and vital members of the Body of Christ.

The issue of the transmission of the transcendent Christ is that we grow up into Him in all things and operate out of Him, and the Body builds itself up in love.

The issue of God the Father’s dispensing speaks forth God’s eternal purpose (Eph. 1:3-6), the issue of God the Son’s dispensing speaks forth the accomplishment of God’s eternal purpose (vv. 7-12), and the issue of God the Spirit’s dispensing speaks forth the application of God’s accomplished purpose (vv. 13-14).

Since the transcending Christ is the embodiment of the Triune God, His transcending transmission includes all the rich dispensing of the Triune God.

The triune dispensing of the Triune God is included in the transmission of the transcending Christ and is completed and consummated in the all-inclusive transmission of the transcending Christ (vv. 15-23).

May we be open vessels to the triune dispensing of the Triune God and may we simply receive and enjoy the transmission of the transcending Christ to be organically saved and built up in the church as the Body of Christ today!

Praise You, Lord, for being enthroned far above all in Your ascension! Hallelujah, there is a God-man in glory, for the ascended Christ has the highest name and most exalted position in the universe! Praise the Lord, this transcending Christ is transmitting Himself constantly into us, the church, to make us the Body of Christ, the fullness of the One who fills all and in all! Amen, Lord, we open to Your transmission today. Even in our situation, Lord, we want to receive the transmission of the transcending Christ so that we may be saved in Your life, renewed, transformed, and conformed to Your image. We open to You, Lord, and we want to live in spirit to be under the continual transmission of the transcending Christ! Hallelujah for the triune dispensing of the Triune God and for the transmission of the transcending Christ into us for the church!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Minoru Chen in the message, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1993, vol. 2, “The Issue of the Dispensing of the Processed Trinity and the Transmitting of the Transcending Christ,” chs. 1-4, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity for the Divine Economy (2022 Thanksgiving Weekend Conference), week 5, entitled, The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity Revealed in the Book of Ephesians, and Eating the Bread of God.
• Further reading on this topic:
  – The transmitting of the transcending Christ to bring forth the Body of Christ and the fine dispensing of Christ to constitute the Body of Christ, portion from, The Issue of the Dispensing of the Processed Trinity and the Transmitting of the Transcending Christ, Chapter 4, by Witness Lee.
  – Video of, Message 1: The Issue of God the Father’s Dispensing, Speaking Forth God’s Eternal Purpose, via LSM youtube channel.
  – The threefold dispensing of the Divine Trinity, portion from, The Issue of the Dispensing of the Processed Trinity and the Transmitting of the Transcending Christ, Chapter 1, by Witness Lee.
  – What is the Dispensing of the Triune God? Portion via, LSM Radio Newsletters.
  – The economy of God to produce the church as the Body of Christ in Ephesians, article by Ed Marks via, Affirmation and Critique.
  – The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity for the Divine Economy, English – Prophesying Outline TGC Week 5, via, The Church in Chennai, India.
  – The Intrinsic Building Up of the Organic Body of Christ (2) – The Revelation and Building Up of the Body of Christ in Ephesians, truth pursuit via, The Church in Regina.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Chosen in Him Thy well-beloved Son, / We have our part in joy before Thy face; / Predestined, ere this world had yet begun, / For that blest world, where all bespeaks Thy grace. / Sons loved and loving, whom Thy Spirit fills, / Our endless portion Christ in us to be; / Each with some trait of Him whose love us thrills, / For Thy delight and joy eternally. (Hymns #53 stanzas 3-4)
  – Christ has a full redemption made: / What a wonderful Savior! / We are redeemed! the price is paid: / What a wonderful Savior! / What a wonderful Savior is Jesus, / my Savior; / What a wonderful Savior is Jesus, / my Lord! (Hymns #986 stanza 1 and chorus)
  – The Holy Spirit is the seal, / The foretaste, earnest, and the pledge. / He designates us as God’s own / And guarantees our heritage. / ’Twas after we believed in Christ, / The word of truth, the gospel, heard, / The Holy Spirit us did seal / To show that we belong to God. (Hymns #1120 stanzas 1-2)