It is enlightening and amazing to realize that the Old Testament is a figurative portrait of God’s eternal economy and the New Testament is the practical fulfilment of God’s eternal economy. Wow!
The entire Bible speaks of one thing, the very thing that was hidden in the heart of God for generations but was revealed to His apostles and prophets in spirit: the economy of God.
The Bible is not aimless; it does not merely speak about the history of the universe, the history of the people of Israel, some poetry, some prophecy, and the history of Christ and His followers.
The Bible is the word of God, inspired by God, written under the leading of the Spirit in those who wrote it.
And from the beginning to the end of the Bible, even from the very first verse to the very last verse, the Bible speaks of God’s eternal economy.
The Old Testament, the first thirty-nine books of the Bible, are the first section of the Bible.
In the Old Testament what we see is a picture, a photo, a portrait; in this section, we see a figurative portrait in the dispensation of the fathers and of the law, before Christ.
In the New Testament, however, we see the real thing, the practical fulfilment of all the pictures and types in the Old Testament.
The Old Testament is like a video, and the New Testament is like the real person.
When we see a video of someone, we see his features, his expression, and the way he behaves himself, but we don’t have the real person.
When we meet a person, however, we have a real impression of that person.
The Old Testament is like a video with many images and types and figures; the New Testament is the real person, the practical fulfilment of what we see in the Old Testament.
The Lord Jesus said in Luke 24:44 that everything that was written in the law and in the prophets was concerning Him and was fulfilled in Him.
Christ is the center of God’s economy, and the Body of Christ is the circumference of God’s economy.
Hallelujah, by believing into Christ we have become members of the Body of Christ, the church, to be the enlargement of Christ, the corporate Christ, to be His continuation and corporate expression on earth.
Now we are part of the fulfilment of God’s economy, for He is expressed and manifested through us on the earth. Hallelujah!
In this article, we want to see how the New Testament is the practical fulfilment of God’s eternal economy.
The New Testament is composed of twenty-seven books in three sections: the Gospels, Acts, and the Epistles. There are four books in the gospels, Acts is one book, and the Epistles with Revelation are twenty-two books.
We need to dig into the riches in these books and have a crystallized, intrinsic view of these books to see how the entire New Testament is the practical fulfilment of God’s eternal economy.
The Gospels unveil that the Triune God has been Processed and Consummated to be the All-inclusive Life-giving Spirit
![But this He said concerning the Spirit, whom those who believed into Him were about to receive; for [the] Spirit was not yet, because Jesus had not yet been glorified. John 7:39 And when He had said this, He breathed into [them] and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit. John 20:22](https://i0.wp.com/www.agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/But-this-He-said-concerning-the-Spirit-whom-those-who-believed-into-Him-were-about-to-receive-1-683x1024.jpg?resize=450%2C675&ssl=1 "But this He said concerning the Spirit, whom those who believed into Him were about to receive; for [the] Spirit was not yet, because Jesus had not yet been glorified. John 7:39 And when He had said this, He breathed into [them] and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit. John 20:22")
The four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) unveil that the Triune God has been processed and consummated to be the all-inclusive, life-giving Spirit (John 1:14; 7:39; 20:22).
The Gospels are not merely four biographies of Jesus Christ as seen through the lens of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John; they depict the processes that the Triune God went through in order to become the Spirit.
In the Gospels, we see that the Triune God went through the processes of incarnation, human living, death, and resurrection.
Through incarnation, God became a man, that is, a God-man (John 1:1, 14); the Word Himself who is god became flesh and tabernacled among us.
Through His human living, the Triune God lived the God-man life and expressed God in man.
Through His all-inclusive death, Christ redeemed the lost creation of God and released the divine life.
Through His resurrection, Christ dispensed Himself into His redeemed people to be their life and everything.
At the end of the four Gospels, John 20:22 says that the Lord Jesus came to His disciples in the evening of the day of His resurrection and breathed into them, saying, Receive the Holy Spirit.
First, God became man; this is mind-blowing, for the infinite God became a finite man, and in this one man the entire fullness of the Godhead was pleased to dwell.
Then, this man passed through all kinds of experiences in His human living, and then He died on the cross to redeem us back to Himself and to release His divine life.
Finally, the Gospels show us that Christ in His resurrection became a Spirit that can enter into us as the holy breath, and He can be our life and everything to be with us all the time. Hallelujah!
The subject of Matthew is, The Gospel of the Kingdom — Proving That Jesus Christ Is the King-Savior.
The subject of Mark is The Gospel of God — Proving That Jesus Christ Is the Slave-Savior.
The subject of Luke is, The Gospel of the Forgiveness of Sins — Proving That Jesus Christ Is the Man-Savior.
The subject of John is, The Gospel of Life — Proving That Jesus Christ Is God the Savior Coming as Life to Propagate Himself.
Now we can not only know who God is by looking at Jesus, and know God’s love by seeing His incarnation and death, but also receive God in Christ as the Spirit to be our life and everything, and He can be with us until the consummation of the age.
What a glorious view of the Gospels and how they show us the practical fulfilment of God’s eternal economy!
Lord, unveil us to see the intrinsic revelation of the four Gospels. May we realize that the Triune God has been processed and consummated to be the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit! Hallelujah, God went through the processes of incarnation, human living, crucifixion, and resurrection to become a Spirit that can give life! Amen, Lord, we want to enjoy and experience You as the Spirit who gives life, the Spirit who is bountiful and who imparts all that He is into us!
Acts unveils the All-inclusive Life-giving Spirit Spreading Himself as the Reality of Christ for the Producing of the Churches of God
The book of Acts is quite unique in the New Testament, for it speaks not of doctrines and teachings nor of the history of Jesus but of the history of the beginning of the church life.
In particular, Acts unveils to us the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit spreading Himself as the reality of Christ, who is the embodiment of God, for the producing of the churches of God (Acts 1:3, 8; 2:22-36; 4:23-31).
What we see in Acts is not merely the disciples of Jesus trying to spread His teachings and enlarge His following.
Rather, we see that Christ Himself as the Spirit is spreading Himself through His disciples, the many members of His Body, to reach the uttermost parts of the earth and establish churches as the testimony of God.
One particular word mentioned in Acts repeatedly is church or churches; in the Gospels, the word church is used twice (Matt. 16:18; 18:17) but in Acts, it is repeated again and again.
The subject of Acts is The Propagation of the Resurrected Christ in His Ascension, by the Spirit, through the Disciples, for the Producing of the Churches—The Kingdom of God.
After the believers in Christ have been regenerated by Him and empowered with the Holy Spirit, they witnessed the resurrected Christ to the uttermost parts of the earth.
They started in Jerusalem, then in all Judea, then Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth, even to the Gentile nations.
In this book, we see how God is moving in His economy not by Himself but through man in order to spread the kingdom of God everywhere.
He started to flow and move through Peter and the disciples, and then He moved through Paul with his co-workers.
This book shows us the practical fulfilment of God’s eternal economy, and there are many portions in this book that are directly quoted from the Old Testament as being their fulfilment.
And praise the Lord, we today are still in the book of Acts: we’re in Acts chapter 29, a chapter that is still being written!
Hallelujah, the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit is spreading Himself as the reality of Christ for the producing of the churches of God! We praise You, Lord, for being the Spirit that spreads God and the kingdom of God through us, the believers in Christ, for the bringing in of the kingdom of God on earth! Yes, Lord, we want to cooperate with You for Your spreading. We open to You, we want to be filled with You, and we ask You to clothe us with power so that You may move and spread in our moving and spreading. Amen, may Your kingdom come on earth in the place where You have put us!
Romans to Revelation: The Spirit building up the Churches through Transformation into an Organism of the Triune God as the Body of Christ consummating in the New Jerusalem
The books from Romans to Revelation unveil the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit building up the churches through transformation into the organism of the Triune God as the Body of Christ, which will consummate in the New Jerusalem (Rom. 1:3-4; 12:4-5; 16:20; Rev. 21:2, 9-11). Wow!
The subject of Romans is The Gospel of God — To Make Sinners Sons of God to Constitute the Body of Christ, Which Is Expressed as the Local Churches.
The subject of 1 Corinthians is, Christ and His Cross as the Solution to All Problems in the Church. The subject of The New Covenant Ministry and Its Ministers.
The subject of Galatians is, Christ Replacing the Law and Being versus Religion and Tradition.
The subject of Ephesians is The Church — The Mystery of Christ, the Body of Christ as the Fullness of Christ, Becoming the Fullness of God.
The subject of Philippians is, Experiencing Christ — Taking Christ as Our Living, Pattern, Goal, Power, and Secret.
The subject of Colossians is, Christ — The All-inclusive One, Having the First Place in All Things as the Mystery and Embodiment of God, as the Head and Constituent of the Church, as the Allotted Portion, Life, Constituent, and Hope of the Saints, and as the Body of All Positive Things.
The subject of 1 Thessalonians is, A Holy Life for the Church Life — Serving the Living God, Conducting Ourselves in a Holy Manner, and Waiting for the Lord’s Coming.
The subject of 2 Thessalonians is, Encouragement and Correction concerning the Holy Life for the Church Life.
The subject of 1 Timothy is, God’s Economy concerning the Church.
The subject of 2 Timothy is, Inoculation against the Decline of the Church.
The subject of Titus is, The Maintenance of Order in the Church.
The subject of Philemon is, An Illustration of the Believers’ Equal Status in the New Man.
The subject of Hebrews is, Christ Being Superior to Judaism and Everything Related to It, and the New Covenant Which He Consummated Being Better than the Old Covenant.
The subject of, Practical Christian Perfection.
The subject of 1 Peter is, The Christian Life under the Government of God.
The subject of 2 Peter is, The Divine Provision and the Divine Government.
The subject of 1 John is, The Fellowship of the Divine Life.
The subject of 2 John is, Prohibition against Participation in Heresy.
The subject of 3 John is, Encouragement to the Fellow Workers in the Truth.
The subject of Jude is, Contending for the Faith.
The subject of Revelation is, Christ as the Center of God’s Administration according to God’s Eternal Economy.
![Because those whom He foreknew, He also predestinated [to be] conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the Firstborn among many brothers. Rom. 8:29 But we all with unveiled face, beholding and reflecting like a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit. 2 Cor. 3:18 And he carried me away in spirit onto a great and high mountain and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, Having the glory of God. Her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, as clear as crystal. Rev. 21:10-11](https://i0.wp.com/www.agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Because-those-whom-He-foreknew-He-also-predestinated-to-be-conformed-to-the-image-of-His-Son-1-683x1024.jpg?resize=450%2C675&ssl=1 "Because those whom He foreknew, He also predestinated [to be] conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the Firstborn among many brothers. Rom. 8:29 But we all with unveiled face, beholding and reflecting like a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit. 2 Cor. 3:18 And he carried me away in spirit onto a great and high mountain and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, Having the glory of God. Her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, as clear as crystal. Rev. 21:10-11")
These twenty-two books give us the practical fulfilment of God’s eternal economy, and many portions in the Epistles mention the New Testament and apply it to the believers’ experience.
One phrase repeatedly used in Romans, 1 Corinthians, Ephesians, and Colossians is “the Body of Christ”.
What God is after is not just many churches but the organism of the Triune God, the Body of Christ.
Today He is working to build up the Body of Christ so that He may obtain a corporate expression of Himself on earth.
This expression consummates in the New Jerusalem as the eternal enlargement and expression of the consummated Triune God!
May the Lord unveil us to see the practical fulfilment of God’s eternal economy as revealed in the twenty-seven books of the New Testament!
And may we be those who not only say Amen to all these wonderful points of truth but also pray over them, even commit them to our memory, so that we may have a bird’s eye view of what God is doing on the earth today and what is His eternal economy.
May we be those who stand firm in the truth in the Word of God, not being easily shaken or moved by any winds of teaching.
Lord, unveil us to see the practical fulfilment of God’s eternal economy as revealed in the twenty-seven books of the New Testament. May we be unveiled to see the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit building up the churches into the organism of the Triune God, the Body of Christ, consummating in the New Jerusalem! Hallelujah, God is now taking us through a process of transformation into the image of Christ as the firstborn Son of God until we’re fully conformed to His image. We open to You, dear Lord, and we want to remain in the process of being transformed and conformed to the image of Christ to be part of His corporate expression! Go on in us, Lord, and build us up with the saints into the organism of the Triune God, the Body of Christ, consummating in the New Jerusalem!
Note: all the subjects of the books in the New Testament are taken from the Recovery Version Bible.
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother James Lee in the message, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1994-1997, vol. 3, “The Triune God’s Revelation and His Move,” pp. 78-80, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-study of 1 and 2 Kings (2022 summer training), week 1, entitled, The Intrinsic Revelation in 1 and 2 Kings concerning the Economy of God Unveiled and Conveyed through Typology.
- Hymns on this topic:
– How wonderful, the Son is God’s expression / Come in the flesh to dwell with all mankind! / Redemption’s work, how perfectly effective, / That sinners we with God might oneness find. / The Spirit is the Son’s transfiguration / Come into us as life the full supply. / Amazing fact, our spirit with the Spirit / Now mingles and in oneness joins thereby! (Hymns #608, stanzas 3 and 4)
– God’s intention is to have us / All conformed to His dear Son; / Thus a work of transformation / By the Spirit must be done…He transforms, all sanctifying, / Till like Him we are matured; / He transforms, our soul possessing, / Till His stature is secured. (Hymns #750, stanzas 1 and 5)
– The Church is thus the Bride of Christ, / In whom His full delight doth rest; / It is a dwelling place to God / Where He may live and be expressed. / The new Jerusalem will be / The full perfection ultimate / Of all the types of house and bride, / Th’ eternal plan to consummate. (Hymns #980, stanzas 6 and 7)
About aGodMan
The Triune God has been processed through His incarnation to become the God-man, through His human living to live the God-man’s life, through His all-inclusive death to redeem His lost creation and to release His divine life, and through His resurrection to dispense Himself into His redeemed chosen people as their life and everything. Thus, the processed, consummated Triune God as the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit is dispensed into His chosen, redeemed people to be their life and everything. Acts unveils the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit spreading Himself as the reality of Christ, who is the embodiment of God, for the producing of the churches of God. When we believed in the Lord Jesus, we received Him into us as the Spirit. Actually, that Spirit is Christ, the reality of Christ. Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1994-1997, vol. 3, “The Triune God’s Revelation and His Move,” pp. 78-80
It is so amazing to see that the New Testament is the practical fulfillment of God’s eternal economy.
We today live in and are part of the practical fulfilment of God’s economy as we cooperate with the Lord to be transformed into the image of Christ and be built up in the Body.
Amen. Lord keep us open to the process of transformation for the building up of the Church as the Body of Christ.
amen Brother we see that in the New testament that we the fulfillment of the picture in the old testament.
We see the in the gospels that Christ became the all inclusive Spirit and in acts we see the spirits being in the believers in the propagating of the church and the epistles and revelation we see the body of christ and the new Jerusalem
It is a marvelous thing to be in the fulfilment of God’s new testament economy!
He Spoke of the Spirit who those who believed in him were about to receive!
We have the processed Triune God as our all!
Amen Lord keep us in the process today.
Amen brother. I particularly benefited this morning from seeing the three sections of the New Testament:
How marvellous is God’s New Testament economy!
Yes! brother, His incarnation, being God-man & lived with men, His crucifixion, resurrection, and Ascension (passing through all these processes) was to build His house up, the church, His body, for the consummation of the new Jerusalem!
Aaaaameeen! Yes Lord, thank You for being the all-inclusive life giving Spirit as the reality, build us up with the saints to be the Body of Christ in this age consummating the New Jerusalem in eternity!!! Praise the Lord!!
Amen Lord! Thank You for the new testament fulfilling eternal economy! Keep us in the Body and the principle of the Body to enjoy You organically for the consummation of God’s eternal economy!
Amen, He predestined, choose and called us. He breathed His Spirit on and empowered us. He put us in His body. He is transforming us. We are becoming the New Jerusalem full of glory to express Him. Hallelujah!