When we live in the union of God with man, the history of God becomes our history.
The Bible presents the divine history within the human history, and the most amazing thing is that we as believers in Christ have God’s history as our history because we are in union with God; in God’s union with us, His history is our history. Wow!
This week we come to a new topic in the morning revival entitled, The Universal History according to God’s Economy — the Divine History within the Human History to Fulfill the Lord’s Heart’s Desire to Have the One New Man in Reality.
The general subject is Christ versus culture, Christ replacing our culture for the living of the one new man.
In the new man, there’s no possibility, no room, and no way for anything or anyone except Christ; in the new man Christ is all – He is all the members – and in all – He is in all the members.
In the new man, Christ must be everything and everyone, and He should be in everyone.
These days in the world there’s an identity crisis; many wonder who they are and what they are.
They need to identify themselves with this or that ethnical group, with this or that culture, and with this and that country.
We may have immigrated to the country where we live, but we may have never changed our culture to that country but rather kept and treasured our culture.
It may be confusing if we want to explain who we are, and what is our identity.
If we look at the Bible, especially in the book of Colossians, it is clear that in the new man there is no possibility for any other identity but Christ; there’s no other identity in the new man but Christ.
We all have a common identity, a shared identity, and this identity is a Person, our wonderful Lord Jesus Christ, who is all and in all.
If we see this, we have seen a lot, for all our problems are solved.
The problems that plague the earth today, such as the problem of racism, racial injustice, and class warfare, and all such things – they have no room in the new man.
In the new man, there’s no Jews or Gentiles, no male or female; this solves a lot of problems, for we are here in the new man to just enjoy Christ, be constituted with Christ, be Christ, and live Christ – and that’s good enough.
However, in our practical experience, we may still live partially in our old creation since we are not fully transformed yet; our mind is not yet fully renewed, so there’s still a fallen part of our being that would express and live out our culture.
Things such as racial superiority, ethnic pride, or cultural superiority, these can happen even in the church life in the Lord’s recovery, but they shouldn’t.
The first things is that we need to have a clear view, based on the word of God; this vision will control and govern us.
If we don’t see things the way God sees things, we will behave and live just like the worldly people do, who live according to their ancestry, lineage, race, ethnicity, tribe, nationality, culture, linguistics, beliefs, values, and ethics.
All these put together are the culture, which has torn the human race apart, and which is actually against what God wants to do.
God has created from one so many nations on the face of the earth so that people would seek God; we are not mankind but God-kind, the race of God, and through regeneration, we are the species of God.
May we realize that we are members of the new man, and Christ is all and in all in the new man!
The Divine History is the Kernel within the Shell of the Human History
In this universe, there are two histories: the history of man (the human history) and the history of God (the divine history).
The history of man is like an outward shell, and the history of God is like the kernel within the shell (see Joel 1:4).
The historians, the people in academia, they have hundreds and hundreds of books on history, and mostly it is all on the outward human history.
However, not many realize that there’s another history within the history of man, which is the history of God.
On this whole earth, there is only one Book that speaks of the history of God with man, the divine history; this book is the Bible.
The Bible doesn’t just speak of how God created the heavens and the earth, and how Jesus came to redeem us and save us to bring us to heaven; the Bible speaks of the history of God in man, the history of God in union with man – this is the divine history as the kernel within the shell of the human history.
What we see outwardly is the human history, but what God has been doing, what He is currently doing, and what He will be doing, this is the kernel within the shell of the human history – this is the divine history.
The Bible is the biography of God; it is the autobiography of God, for it was written by God through men moved by the Spirit of God.
The Bible records two histories: the history of man and the history of God. In the Minor Prophets, for example, the human history is clearly defined and signified by the four kinds of locusts mentioned in Joel 1:4.
Also, it is typified by the great human image in Daniel 2, which is a type of the four main empires that existed and exist throughout history.
Within this outward human history, there is the divine history; the Bible is the autobiography of God written by God Himself through many writers.
The Bible took approximately 1500 years to complete, and more than forty writers were involved; the first writer was Moses and the last was John.
God wrote a book about Himself, but He hid His history in union with man in the outward human history.
What is most striking and outward is the human history, but what is most intrinsic and hidden is the divine history.
The real history in this universe is not the history of man; the history of man is filled with consuming, cutting, destroying, and all kinds of horrible events and terrible people who did terrible things.
The real history in the universe is the history of God in union with man, that is, the divine history within the human history.
The real history in this universe is the story of God, the history of the Triune God Himself.
The human history is just something that surrounds and envelops the divine history; the real history today is not merely what’s happening in the human outward realm but what is going on in the divine history.
As believers in Christ, we are citizens of the kingdom of God, and we are part of the divine history, for we are joined to God, one with Christ, and His history is now our story, and our history is His story. Wow!
May we see the divine history within the human history, the kernel within the shell.
Lord Jesus, may we see and realize that there is a divine history within the human history – there is a kernel within the shell of the outward human history. Thank You, Lord, for coming into us to regenerate us and make us part of the divine history within the human history. We want to live one spirit with You today, living in the union of God with man, so that we may live not merely in the human history but even more in the history of God in man. Amen, Lord, Your story is our story, and our history is Your history. Hallelujah, what a privilege it is to be part of the intrinsic divine history within the human history!
When we live in the Union of God with Man, in Spirit, God’s History becomes our History
The Bible reveals the divine history within the human history in considerable detail; God’s history is not mainly the history of what He does and what He is, but it refers to the history of God in the union of God with man.
God’s history is becoming our history because He is in union with us.
The divine history – the divine mystery of the Triune God in humanity – began in eternity past with the eternal God and His eternal economy (see Micah 5:2; 1 Tim. 1:4; Eph. 1:4-5, 9-11).
This history continues with Christ’s incarnation, His death, burial, and resurrection for the spreading of God’s redemption and salvation to all the nations of the earth (Jonah 1:17; 2:10).
His history continues with His pouring out of the consummated Spirit to produce the church as the corporate expression of the Triune God (Joel 2:28-32), His second coming as the Desire of nations (Hag. 2:7) and as the Sun of righteousness (Mal. 4:2), His coming with His overcomers as His army to deal with and defeat Antichrist and his army (Joel 3:1-15), and His reigning in Zion in the thousand-year kingdom (3:16-21; Micah 4:7).
Eventually, the history of God in the union of God with man will consummate in the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and the new earth for eternity, which will be the consummate step of God’s history.
Throughout the Bible, we see that God’s history is intertwined with man’s history, for even in eternity past He prepared for His move to be in union with man.
God’s history is related to His move to be joined to man, to have an organic union with man, and to bring man into an organic union with God.
The Bible is God’s history in union with us; when we live in the union of God with man, we live in the intrinsic divine history within the outward human history.
Our Christian life is a life in union with God. If we carefully read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation we see that God’s desire is to become man, be one with man, be in man, and make man the same as He is by bringing man into an organic union with God, so that in this organic union God lives in man and man lives in God, God is expressed through man and man represents God.
God’s history in eternity past was a preparation for His move to be in union with man.
The divine history began with the eternal God and His economy; according to His economy, God wants to work Himself into man to be one with man, to be man’s life, life supply, and everything, and to have man as His expression (Eph. 3:9-10; 1:10; Gen. 1:26; 2:9).
With the Triune God, there’s no beginning and no end, for He is eternal; within Himself, He made an economy to work Himself into us and be our life, our everything, and to bring us into an organic union with Himself.
God’s intention in His economy is to obtain a corporate entity composed of God and man, to be His expression for eternity. Hallelujah!
Our God has a history, and the most wonderful part of His history is His history in His union with man!
Both in the Old and in the New Testament God refers to His people as His wife and to Himself as their Husband (see Isa. 54:5; 62:5; Jer. 2:2; 3:1, 14; 31:32; Ezek. 16:8; 23:5; Hosea 2:7, 19).
Throughout the Bible we see how God cares for us, arranges all things for good for those who love Him, and how He Himself became a man to bring God into man, died and was resurrected to bring man into God, and He came into us as the Spirit to regenerate us and bring us into the organic union of God and man.
When we live in the union of God and man, we live in the intrinsic divine history within the human history.
When we touch God’s history, we touch our Christian life; in our Christian life we live in the union of God and man, and we live the life of a wife married to the Triune God, a life in the organic union with God.
Thank You, Lord, for bringing us into the divine history within the human history through regeneration. Hallelujah, we have been brought into an organic union with God, and God’s history is now our history. Amen, Lord, work Yourself into us to be one with us and be our life, our life supply, and our everything, so that we may be part of Your corporate expression on the earth. May our living today be not only in the outward human history but in God’s history in humanity by our living in the organic union of God and man. Amen, Lord, it is Your heart’s desire and Your economy to be one with man and make man one with You for Your corporate expression: do this in us, and keep us in this organic union today!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Minoru Chen for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Joel, msgs. 5-6 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The All-Inclusive, Extensive Christ Replacing Culture for the One New Man (2020 Thanksgiving Conference), week 6, The Universal History according to God’s Economy — the Divine History within the Human History to Fulfill the Lord’s Heart’s Desire to Have the One New Man in Reality.
- Hymns on this topic:
– I was in a world of misery / In this crooked and perverted generation; / But the Lord has call me there one day / And now I’m living in this new generation. / Oh, what a wonderful story / Of me and my glorious Lord. / Together we make our history; / A mingling of God and of man— / Becoming the New Jerusalem, / Full of God’s glory. Hallelujah! (Song on, Our history)
– Christ is the hope of glory, He is my history: / His life is my experience, for He is one with me; / He comes to bring me into His glorious liberty, / That one with Him completely I’ll ever be. (Hymns #949)
– Oh, what a fact! Oh, what a bliss! / That I of Christ a member am. / With all the saints I blend as one / And share the life of the new man. / Joined to our great ascended Head, / We’ll be the Church of His own plan. (Hymns #500)
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