The Goal of God’s Eternal Economy is the Reality of the Organic Body of Christ

In the church life today we must walk in the truth of the heavenly vision of God’s economy, aim at the mark of God’s economy, and do everything for the goal of God’s eternal economy; the vision of God’s economy needs to be renewed in us day by day to be a controlling vision of everything we are and do.

The central thought of the entire Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, is God’s economy; in His economy, God plans to dispense Himself into His chosen, predestinated, and redeemed people to be their life, their life supply, and their everything so that the Body of Christ may be produced, constituted, and built up to be God’s corporate expression on the earth.

God’s economy is God’s thought and purpose from eternity past to eternity future, and in time He works in many ways to accomplish His economy.

The mark of God’s economy, as we saw previously, is the Spirit with our spirit, the mingled spirit. The strategic and central point of God’s economy is the indwelling, subjective Christ as the Spirit in our spirit. How can we experience God’s economy and cooperate with the Lord for the fulfilment of His economy? Only by knowing our spirit, living in the spirit, exercising the spirit, and walking according to the mingled spirit.

Today we want to see the goal of God’s economy. Many Christians think that the goal of God’s plan is “to bring them into glory” where they get “the crown of glory” from the Lord….and this is not wrong – there are verses in the Bible that indicate this. But in His economy, God has a mark (the mingled spirit) and a definite goal – the reality of the Body of Christ, consummating in the New Jerusalem.

Many times people ask us, How do you “organize” yourselves? Is there a headquarters? Who is the supreme leader? How can you visit other countries, meet new people, and yet be one and enjoy the Lord together? Who organizes and plans all these? There is only ONE answer to such questions: in the church life in the Lord’s recovery we are learning to live in the reality of the Body of Christ, and we all enjoy the divine dispensing; as we enjoy God’s dispensing daily and we meet with one another, we are spontaneously ONE, because the Triune God in us makes us one!

Furthermore, the reason we “blend” by visiting other localities, countries, and continents for conferences, blending trips, and trainings, is because the Lord as the Head of the Body wants to blend His Body together, and we are one with the Lord to be blended with the other saints, churches, and countries!

The Goal of God’s Eternal Economy is the Reality of the Organic Body of Christ

The goal of God’s eternal economy is the reality of the organic Body of Christ, consummating in the New Jerusalem; in this age God wants to gain the built-up Body of Christ which will consummate in the next age in the New Jerusalem (see Eph. 1:22-23; Rev. 21:2-3, 9-10).

We can see this in the book of Romans, which speaks of the consummate issue of God’s salvation; in Rom. 5:10 we see that we’re not only being reconciled to God but we are even more saved in His life, and in the following chapters we see how we are saved in His life.

The last thing Paul spoke of in Romans is the blending of all the churches together; in Rom. 16 there are many mentions of saints, localities, and visitations – Paul was blending the saints together, bringing the saints in the blending life of the entire Body of Christ. We need to follow in the footsteps of the Apostle Paul and be brought into and bring all the saints into the blending life of the entire Body of Christ (see 1 Cor. 12:24; Rom. 16:1-20).

On the one hand, without the local churches there’s no practical expression of the Body of Christ – and therefore there can be no reality of the Body of Christ (Rev. 1:10-13; 2:7). We need the local churches so that the universal Body of Christ may be realised locally and for there to be a tangible reality of the Body of Christ.

On the other hand, we need to be brought into the blending life of the entire Body of Christ, caring not only for our own local church but for the entire Body so that Christ may gain the reality of the Body of Christ in all the local churches.

God’s economy is to obtain the Body of Christ, and any work that we do or others do “in the name of God” is NOT in the central lane of God’s economy (see Eph. 4:1-6, 11-16). Many Christians do all kinds of works for God, strongly believing that God has given them a commission to do this and that; there are many works done in God’s name, but not all works are in the line of God’s economy to build up the Body of Christ.

We need to do a work that is in the central line of God’s economy, realizing that God’s purpose is not only to save us from sin, hell, the world, the flesh, or the self, but to save us to the point that we enter into the universal blending of all God’s children in His one Body.

The goal of God’s eternal economy is the reality of the organic Body of Christ, and today God is doing a recovery work to lead many of His people back to the oneness of the Body of Christ so that the Body may have a testimony on the earth.

The Lord’s recovery is the recovery of the oneness of the Body of Christ; in the Lord’s recovery we must see the universal Body and do everything in the limitation and regulation of the Body. We all need to learn how to practice the Lord’s recovery of the one Body, and we need to live and work within the Body and for the Body, because the Body of Christ is the goal of God’s eternal economy.

Lord Jesus, bring us all into the blending life of the entire Body of Christ so that we may be one with You for the goal of God’s eternal economy! Lord, save us much more in Your life and keep us under Your divine dispensing until we are involved and actively participate in the building up and the blending of the universal Body of Christ! Strengthen the local churches, and gain the reality of the Body of Christ all over the earth in Your recovery. Lord, we are here for the building up of the Body of Christ in all the local churches all over the earth.

Cooperating with the Lord to be Today’s Overcomers in the Church Life for the Building up of the Body

In reading the Old Testament one striking fact comes up again and again: God has a purpose which is related to His people, but His people fail God and His purpose; therefore, God comes in and has a work of recovery not with all of His people but with some who see God’s purpose and are willing to cooperate with Him.

The people Israel was taken into captivity in Babylon, but only some of them returned to Jerusalem when the prophecy was fulfilled to build up the temple of God and the city of God. In this age God is doing a work of recovery, and we need to cooperate with the Lord to be today’s overcomers in the church life.

For the Lord’s recovery in this age, we must cooperate with the Lord to be the overcomers as today’s Zion in today’s Jerusalem (the church life) for the building up of the Body of Christ to consummate the New Jerusalem (Rev. 3:21-22; 14:1-5; Judg. 5:15-16, 31).

In the church life today in the Lord’s recovery God is calling some people who would be the peak, the overcomers, a minority of people who would pay the price to be one with the Lord for the building up of the Body of Christ.

We should not be satisfied merely to be in the local churches but we should be those who fulfill the Lord’s requirement to be in the up-to-date speaking in His recovery in the local churches and live the life of a God-man for the reality of the Body of Christ. In the age of degradation today God is calling those who have a pure heart to be the overcomers of today.

Today we can be in one accord because we have only one vision and one view. We are all in this up-to-date, all-inheriting vision. We have only one viewpoint. We speak the same thing with one heart, one mouth, one voice, and one tone, serving the Lord together. The result is a power that will become our strong morale and our impact. This is our strength. Once the Lord’s recovery possesses this power, there will be the glory of increase and multiplication. (Witness Lee, The Vision of the Age, p. 54)

The way for us to be in the one accord and in harmony is to remain the teaching and fellowship of the apostles, which is the divine revelation in the New Testament, God’s economy.

We should reject any teachings that differ from the unique and healthy teaching of God’s economy; such different teachings from the teaching of the apostles separate us from the genuine appreciation, love, and enjoyment of the precious person of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself as our life and our everything (see 1 Tim. 1:3-4; Acts 2:42; 2 Cor. 11:2-3).

There are many minor teachings and doctrines in the Bible, but we need to stay on the central line of God’s economy to build up the Body of Christ; any stronger emphasis placed on the minor teachings in the Bible divide the Body and separate us from the pure enjoyment of Christ.

In the first church in the days of the apostles, everyone was continuing steadfastly in the teaching and fellowship of the apostles, in the breaking of bread (eating together and having the Lord’s table together), and in prayers (Acts 2:42).

Today we can be in one accord for the building up of the Body of Christ by having one vision, the vision of the eternal economy of God; this vision will keep us in harmony with one another, attuned to each other, and will cause us to be built up with the other saints in the Body of Christ for God to gain the reality of the Body on the earth.

May we be the overcomers today who cooperate with the Lord in such a way for the building up of His Body!

Lord Jesus, we want to cooperate with You today to be the overcomers in the church life for the building up of the Body of Christ, the goal of God’s eternal economy. Lord, we want to continue steadfastly in the teaching and fellowship of the apostles by being in the healthy teaching of God’s economy and paying the price to fellowship and blend with the saints both in our locality and in other localities and countries. Lord, gain the one accord among us so that You may gain the reality of the Body of Christ!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, brother Andrew Yu’s sharing in the message for this week, and Messages Given During the Resumption of Watchman Nee’s Ministry, vol. 2, chs. 50, 64, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Crucial Points of the Major Items of the Lord’s Recovery Today (ITERO 2015 fall), week 1 / msg 1, The Recovery of the Economy of God.
• All Bible verses are taken from, Holy Bible Recovery Version.
• Hymns on this topic to strengthen this burden:
  # Burning, burning, we are burning, / Ever to our spirits turning, / One for Thine eternal purpose, / in spirit one; / On the ground of locality, / We express our unity— / Many members, but one Body, / Christ as our Head. (Hymns #1266)
  # We see what God is recovering / What a sight it is to see! / What a treasure He is building, / It’s His Body corporately: / Hallelujah for the blending! / It’s the way to live today. / So we’re standing and proclaiming, / “In the church is where we’ll stay.” (Song on God recovering the blending)
  # Blend us, Lord, blend us, Lord, ’til we are in one accord. / Hallelujah—the saints going on! / Blend us, Lord, blend us, Lord, open hearts we can afford. / Hallelujah—the churches go on! / As the members of / His organic Body, / We need the others to go on. / As local churches, / We do also need / One another for our going on. (Song on Blending)