As we realize that there’s a divine history within the human history, we need to consider whether we live only in the human history or also in the divine history; we live in the divine history by living in the church to be the enlargement of the manifestation of Christ.
The divine history within human history – the history of God in man – started with the Lord Jesus, the incarnated God-man; when God became man, God started to have a history not only with man or among man but in man.
This is something quite amazing, for God today is not only in the heavens but also on earth, and not merely on earth moving in a general way among people but IN MAN – God lives in man, God is manifested in man, and God is expressed through man.
Jesus Christ, the first God-man, is God’s goings forth from the days of eternity; God has been going forth to enter into man and bring man into the divine history within the human history, and through Jesus He had a beginning.
Jesus Christ came as God incarnated, lived a perfect human life, died an all-inclusive and all-terminating death on the cross, resurrected, ascended, and descended to be the Spirit entering into all those who believe into Him.
All those who believe into the Lord receive the Spirit and become sons of God, part of the divine history within the human history; whenever we live in the mingled spirit and live in the church, we live not only in the outward human history but even more in the divine history within the human history.
A man can become part of God’s history in man through regeneration, and he continues to live in God’s history in man through renewing, transformation, conformation, and glorification.
As we daily abide in the Lord and are in this process of God’s organic salvation, we live in the divine history within the human history, and we continue the history of God in man.
The culmination of God’s history in man is the Spirit and the Bride – the Spirit is the processed and consummated Triune God, and the bride is the processed and transformed tripartite man. Hallelujah!
A very practical and enjoyable way for us to live in the divine history within the human history is for us to enjoy the Lord in His word; His name is the Word of God, He is the embodied word of God, and in the Bible we have the very embodiment of God.
When we abide in the Lord’s word, when we exercise our spirit and our whole being to read, pray, muse on, and meditate on God’s word, the word of God will slay the enemy within us and will prepare us, mature us, and beautify us to make us the bride of Christ.
May we remain under the hearing of faith, the speaking of the word of God, so that the word would operate in us to wash away anything of the old element and infuse us with the element of God!
Being Renewed in our Mind and Living in the Church to live in the Divine History and be the Manifestation of Christ
Do we only live in the human history or also in the divine history?
We were all born in the human history, but as believers in Christ we have been reborn, regenerated, in the divine history (John 3:6), the kingdom of God within humanity. However, if our living is in the world, we are merely living in the outward, human history.
May we not be fashioned according to this age but be transformed by the renewing of the mind, so that we may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and well pleasing and perfect (Rom. 12:1-2).
Our mind is the leading part of our soul; what is our mind occupied with? What are we thinking about? When we lay on our bed at night and are about to sleep, what do we consider?
Is our mind renewed? What are our priorities, what do we think, what do we plan, what do we long for?
If our mind is renewed by the word of God, we live not only in the outward human history but even more in the divine, inward history of God in man.
We need our mind renewed by the Lord’s word, by the Spirit.
We may be concerned about our future; we may be worried about our job and the future of our career, and we may be anxious concerning the job market, our marriage, our future…we need to be renewed in our mind and let the Lord have the preeminence!
In the midst of our situations we have all experienced a certain amount of consuming and wearing down; the wearing out tactics of the enemy has affected all of us.
But may we be strengthened into the inner man and allow the word of God to dwell in us richly; may we remain in the fellowship of the Body and cooperate with the Lord to be renewed in our mind, so that today we may be those who write the history of God!
1 John 2:15-17 tells us not to love the world or the things in the world; the enemy is trying to wear down our love for the Lord and our consecration, and he puts the world before us to enjoy.
The world will rob us of our love for the Lord; all that is in the world – the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the vainglory of life, these are not of the Father but of the world, and the world and its lust is passing away, but he who does the will of God abides forever.
One day this world will be over with all its lust, and the only thing that is valuable left is how much Christ we have gained. If our living is in the church, we are living in the inward, divine history (1 Cor. 1:2).
Our living must be by being renewed in our mind in the word of God and by living in the church.
Even though the pandemic has affected the whole world and we are not allowed to meet physically, we have many online meetings, “zoom meetings”, in which we enjoy the Lord together.
And now we literally have no reason not to attend the meeting, for many of us work from home or are “furloughed”, and we have more time than ever. We need to pay the price to live in the church to live in the inward, divine history.
It is so encouraging to see that there’s an increase in the participation in the meetings of the church (even though they are online) and many more saints are prophesying and functioning!
It is so encouraging to see that many more saints are participating at the online conferences and trainings, and the attendance in the prayer meeting has increased.
Even though outwardly we see chaos, confusion, and rebellion in the human history, we know that God is doing something – He wants us to live a vital church life and be part of the enlargement of the manifestation of Christ.
As the enlargement of the manifestation of Christ, the church is part of the divine history within the outward, human history (1 Cor. 3:15-16).
In the church life God’s history is our history; God and we have one history – the divine history.
Praise the Lord, our God has a marvelous history that includes us, and God’s history has become our history because He is in union with us!
May we live not only in the outward, messy, chaotic, confusing human history, but may we live in the church and in the renewing of our mind for us to live in the inward, divine history, to be part of the enlargement of the manifestation of Christ!
Thank You Lord Jesus for coming into us to bring us in the divine history; You are one with us and we are one with You, and Your history is our history! Wow, God’s history has become our history because He is one spirit with us and we are in an organic union with Him. Amen, Lord, we choose to live in the divine history within the human history by being in the word of God to be renewed in our mind and transformed in our soul. We do not want to be fashioned according to this age but be transformed by the renewing of the mind! We choose to live in the church today so that we may be part of the enlargement of the manifestation of Christ, living in the intrinsic, inward, divine history within the human history!
As Members of the Body we seek to Enlarge the Manifestation of Christ, the History of God in man
According to Eph. 1:5-6, God blessed us in eternity past with the spiritual blessings in the heavenlies according to the good pleasure of His will to the praise of the glory of His grace, with which He graced us in Christ, His beloved.
This means that even in eternity past God’s history involved us, for God made an economy to produce the church for His manifestation and to head up all things – including us – in Christ.
In eternity past God held a council that the second of the Divine Trinity should come to die for us to carry out His economy; He chose us to have His nature and His life so that we can be as holy as He is and be His sons as His children to express Him.
This is what happened in eternity past, and this history of God includes us; this is also our history.
We may think that our Christian life began when we received the Lord Jesus, but it actually began from God’s choosing us and predestinating us in eternity past before the foundation of the world.
May we know God in such a way from a deeper angle, realizing that God’s marvelous history – which includes us – started from eternity past, and that He has done so many things for our Christian life.
Now we live not only in the human history but also in the divine history, for we are a new creation – we are a new man with a new heart, a new spirit, a new life, a new history, and a new consummation.
Praise the Lord, we are in the divine history, experiencing and enjoying the mysterious, divine things.
We need to realize who we are and where we are, and what is our goal today.
We are children of God and members of the Body of Christ; we live in an age in which our God is still moving and working both among the Jews and among the nations to perform His economy in the building up of the organism of the Body of Christ.
Who are we today? We are members of the Body of Christ, which is the organism of the Triune God; our aspiration should be to be overcomers, the mighty ones (Joel 3:11), those who will return with Christ to deal with Antichrist at the battle of Armageddon and be co-kings with Christ in the millennium.
As members of the Body of Christ, our goal is to enlarge the manifestation of Christ intrinsically; we desire to see the enlargement of the manifestation of Christ on earth.
We enjoy Christ, we live Christ, and we seek to enlarge the manifestation of Christ in the Spirit of the processed Triune God and by the life of our Father!
As we enjoy Christ, live Christ, are renewed in our mind, live in the church, and function as members of the Body, we are being perfected and matured; Christ is on the throne waiting for us to be matured and be His bride to bring Him back.
Eventually, when He gains a mature bride, the time will be ripe for Him to come back to deal with the nations, to save the remnant of Israel, and to complete God’s economy with us; then the age of restoration will be ushered in.
That age will consummate in the New Jerusalem as the ultimate consummation of God’s expression in Christ, the full manifestation of Christ.
Thank You Father for choosing us to have God’s life and nature and to be holy even as God is holy, being God’s sons as His children to express Him! Hallelujah, God’s history has become our history, and our Christian life began from God’s choosing and predestinating us in eternity past before the foundation of the world! May we realize that we are members of the Body of Christ – members of the organism of the Triune God for the enlargement of the manifestation of Christ on earth! Amen, Lord, our aspiration is to be overcomers, the mighty ones who will return with Christ to deal with Antichrist and be Christ’s co-kings in the millennium!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Ricky Acosta for this week, and portions from, CWWL, 1991-1992, vol. 4, “The History of God in His Union with Man,” ch. 1, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, A Timely Word Concerning the World Situation and the Lord’s Recovery (2020 Memorial Day Conference), week 3, The Universal History according to God’s Economy — the Divine History within the Human History.
- Hymns on this topic:
– As the center, as the kernel, / Of God’s plan our spirit is; / Calling on the name of Jesus / Makes our spirit one with His. / From the center to circumference / God would saturate each part; / Feeling, mind, and will renewing, / Making home in all our heart. (Hymns #1325)
– God’s Kingdom today is a real exercise, / But when Christ comes to reign it will be a great prize; / It is wisdom divine that we now may be trained / That His plan be fulfilled and His justice maintained. (Hymns #947)
– Chosen by God in ages past, / Our God will never let us go; / Salvation is assured fore’er; / ’Tis such security we know. (Hymns #1298)
About aGodMan
