The Triune God with His Embodiment and Redemption is Involved with bringing in the Kingdom

We need to see, at least as a glimpse, the Divine Trinity and the sovereign hand of the Lord in 1 and 2 Samuel, and how the Triune God with His embodiment and redemption was fully involved with bringing forth Samuel and David so that the kingdom of God may be brought in.

The bringing in of the kingdom of God on earth is not initiated or done by man; rather, the Divine Trinity is fully involved with this matter, and we as His people cooperate with Him.

He operates, we cooperate. This is seen in type in 1 and 2 Samuel and in reality in the New Testament and in our experience today.

God is the One who operates, for the Triune God in His Divine Trinity wants to be fully involved with man.

We cooperate, opening to Him and saying Amen to His operation; He is involved with us, and we realize His involvement with man and just cooperate with His operation.

In the Old Testament, the operation of the Divine Trinity is not clearly seen because God is a God who hides Himself.

He hides behind the scenes, seeking to gain the cooperation of His people.

There are some people that are on the line of life, seeking God and desiring to live a life for God’s purpose, and some of these are Elkanah and Hannah.

Outwardly they were not outstanding, but their cooperation with God issued in the producing of Samuel and later David.

If God gains our cooperation today, though we may think we are “small potatoes” with no outstanding feature, God will have a way to bring in what He is after, that is, His kingdom with Christ the King.

The Divine Trinity is working behind the scene to arrange all things and bring us to a point where our need matches God’s need, and when we pray for our need, we pray for God’s need; this was the case with Hannah.

Hannah had a need: she needed a son, but she was brought to the point where she realized that God’s need was for a Nazarite, so she put the two together and prayed for a son whom she will lend to God for His service.

It wasn’t Hannah herself who initiated this prayer; it was the Divine Trinity operating behind the scenes to make her desperate and utter the prayer of consecration.

Once she prayed in this way, God had a free way to come in, open her womb, and she had Samuel, whom she lent to Jehovah all the days of his life for service to God. Hallelujah!

We may not be that desperate right now, but we may have a need; God is operating behind the scenes to cause us to pray not only for our need but for His need which is also our need.

When he gains such a prayer, He has a free way to move.

Today we want to see how the Triune God with His embodiment and redemption was fully involved in producing Samuel and David to bring in the kingdom of God.

The Triune God with His Embodiment and Redemption was fully Involved with Bringing forth Samuel and David

Every year Elkanah and his family went to the house of God, the tabernacle, which was in Shiloh at that time, to worship and make offerings to Jehovah.

In 1 Sam. 1:3-7, 10-11, 20, and 24 the sacrifices typify Christ as all the offerings; the bulls, flour, and wine signify the Christ whom we experience and bring to the house of God to offer to Him.

Jehovah is the great I am, and the house of Jehovah is Christ as the embodiment of God to be God’s dwelling place among His people (vv. 10-11).

In this portion of the Word, we see mainly the house of God as the embodiment of the Triune God and the offerings as the means for us to enter into the embodiment of God, that is, redemption.

In other words, what we see here is the Triune God with His embodiment and full redemption (see John 1:14, 29; Luke 1:68; 2:38; Eph. 1:7) in typology.

For us to see the deeper significance of this portion we need the Lord to appear to us as He did to the disciples going down to Emmaus, to open our mind and our heart so that we may understand the Scriptures.

What the Old Testament reveals is not merely history and poetry and prophecy but Christ Himself; all the typologies, all the prophecies, and everything indicate Christ.

We need Him to open the Scriptures, open our eyes, and open our minds; what a blessing it is to be under the ministry that properly interprets the word of God to bring us to Christ for us not only to understand or know Him but even more, to enjoy and experience Him for the building up of the church.

Christ typifies all the offerings; He is the embodiment of God to be God’s dwelling place among His people.

We may think that it was Hannah’s desperation and good heart that produced Samuel, but what we see in 1 Sam. 1 is the embodiment of the Triune God with His redemption to produce one like Samuel.

Outwardly it was Hannah and Elkanah who had a child called Samuel; intrinsically and inwardly, the Divine Trinity operated in the environment to cause Hannah to conceive, and the Triune God with His embodiment and redemption is fully involved in the producing of Samuel.

May we have our minds and eyes opened up by God, and may we see that the Divine Trinity with His embodiment and redemption is fully involved with bringing in of the kingdom of God with Christ the king.

In 1 and 2 Samuel we can see that the Triune God with His embodiment and redemption was fully involved with bringing forth Samuel and David so that the kingdom of God might be brought in.

The Divine Trinity is revealed in the anointing of David to be king (1 Sam. 16:1-3, 13).

In these verses, we see the Triune God as Jehovah and the Spirit of the Triune God as the Spirit of Jehovah (v. 13).

The oil typifies the Spirit of God, and the sacrificed heifer typifies Christ as the offering; thus, the Divine Trinity was involved in the anointing of David, making him the king over Israel (Psa. 89:20).

The words of David’s song to Jehovah in 2 Sam. 22:1-3 mention Jehovah as his crag, fortress, Deliverer, rock, shield and horn of salvation; in verse 47 David declares, “Jehovah lives, and blessed be my rock, / And exalted be God, the rock of my salvation.”

Furthermore, in 2 Samuel 23:1-3 — a portion which records David’s last words — the Spirit of Jehovah spoke through him, and the Rock of Israel spoke to him.

In these verses, the Rock is Christ as the ground for God to grace His people. The Spirit of Jehovah is the Spirit of the Triune God (1 Sam. 10:6; 16:13).

In these verses God in Hebrew is Elohim, indicating the Triune God.

Finally, in 2 Samuel 24:25, the burnt offerings typify Christ for God’s satisfaction, and the peace offerings typify Christ for the peace between God and His people.

All these portions offer us a glimpse of how the Divine Trinity is revealed and is active throughout 1 and 2 Samuel.

And we can cooperate with the operation of the Divine Trinity in us to enjoy the Triune God in His embodiment and redemption for the bringing in of the kingdom of God on earth.

Lord Jesus, open our mind and our eyes to see that the whole Bible speaks concerning Christ, the embodiment of the Triune God. May we see Christ, enjoy Christ, experience Christ, and live Christ for the corporate expression of God on earth. Enlighten us to see how the Divine Trinity operates behind the scenes to prepare us and cause us to be desperate to pray for God’s need which becomes our need. Amen, Lord, may we be those who experience the Triune God in His embodiment and redemption for the bringing in of the kingdom of God with Christ, the King. Keep us enjoying You today for the enlarging of the kingdom of God in us!

Seeing how the Triune God is Fully Involved with Bringing in of the Kingdom of God

If we see how the Triune God operates behind the scenes in the situation of Hannah, we will realize that the Divine Trinity enabled her to pray and enabled her husband to eventually cooperate with her, thus enabling Samuel to be brought forth and raised up.

Because Jehovah had shut up Hannah’s womb, she was forced to pray a desperate, consecrated, and consecrating prayer; in this prayer, she was motivated by God sovereignly and secretly, and she prayed for a male child who would be absolute for the Lord (1 Sam. 1:5, 10-12, 15).

The Lord was waiting for this prayer; when she was motivated by the Triune God to pray in this way, Samuel could be produced.

She wanted to be a mother and have a child, yet the Lord didn’t answer her ordinary, human prayer; He waited until something happened in her, and she connected her prayer with God’s need and His intention.

We cannot stir up this desperation and prayer; the Lord will arrange certain things to happen and His arrangement will affect our being, and at first, we will not understand, but then we are forced to utter a desperate prayer.

The Triune God is fully involved with bringing in of the kingdom of God, and He motivates us to pray a desperate prayer, a consecrated prayer, and a consecrating prayer.

We will then match our need with God’s need, and our prayer will not be merely for God to meet our need but for Him to meet our need to meet His need.

Many Christians today speak of the Lord’s coming, but they don’t realize that, in order for Him to come with His kingdom, someone like Samuel needs to come in to bring in Christ the king (typified by David.

The Lord’s prophecy of His return can be fulfilled only through some like Hannah and Samuel; we need to be the Hannah and Samuel of today to cooperate with the Triune God for the bringing in of His kingdom on earth.

On His side, the Triune God went through a process to become a man, live a perfect human life on earth to establish the pattern of a God-man living, died an all-inclusive and all-terminating death on the cross, was raised to become a life-giving Spirit, and was ascended above all to be Lord and King.

Furthermore, He descended as the Holy Spirit upon the Body and He came into us as the life-giving Spirit to fill us both inwardly and outwardly.

Even more, the Triune God operates in our environment to cause all things to work together for good, for us to be transformed and conformed to His image.

This is all so that the kingdom of God would come in and Christ would be brought in as the king.

The Triune God is fully involved with the bringing in of the kingdom of God, and on our side we just need to cooperate.

Our need is not only to be redeemed, reconciled to God, saved from sin, and transformed and conformed to the image of Christ; all these are needed, but they are on our side, on the side of our need.

We are here not just for our need but for God’s need – we are here to fulfill His purpose, for only when His purpose is fulfilled are we satisfied and content.

May we see that the Triune God is fully involved with bringing in of the kingdom of God, and may we simply say Amen to His inner operation and outward arrangement, so that we may be those who cooperate with Him for His kingdom to come in.

Lord Jesus, cause us to realize that the Triune God is fully involved with bringing in of the kingdom of God with Christ the King. We open to You Lord, and we want to cooperate with You for the fulfillment of Your purpose. We open to Your inner operation and the outward arrangement in our environment. Have a way in us and through us. Make us the ones who desperately pray for Your need by being inwardly motivated by the Triune God, even as Hannah was. Make us those who are according to Your heart and cooperate with You to bring in the kingdom of God with Christ the King, even as Samuel did. Amen, Lord, make us those whom You can use to bring in Your kingdom on earth!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Ron Kangas, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1983, vol. 3, “The Divine Trinity as Revealed in the Holy Word,” pp. 293-295, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization Study of 1 and 2 Samuel (2021 winter training), week 1, entitled, The Central Thought of and the Divine Trinity as Revealed in 1 and 2 Samuel.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Samuel ministered to be a God-pleasing priest, / He was absolute for Him; / Samuel gave himself to be a Nazarite, / Saved from death, the world, and sin. / Would you choose to be a living overcomer, / Be a person not ashamed to be a Jesus lover, / One who eats the tree of life, / And drinks the living water? / Would you choose to be a living overcomer, / To leave the world and consecrate / To be today’s age-turner? / I give myself to You for Your return. (Song on, Choose to Be an Overcomer)
  – I love Thy kingdom, Lord, / The house of Thine abode, / The Church our blest Redeemer bought / With His own precious blood. / For her my tears shall fall, / For her my prayers ascend; / To her my cares and toils be given / Till toils and cares shall end. (Hymns #853)
  – Pray with one accord in spirit, / Pray and watch persistently; / For God’s kingdom and His glory, / Pray and watch in harmony. (Hymns #779)