In these messages we are burdened to see the central line of the divine revelation. If we were to ask a number of students and teachers of the Bible what the central line in the Bible is, they would have different opinions. Our feeling about what the central line is depends on our understanding of the Bible, and our understanding of the Bible depends on what we are. Many Christians in the Far East prefer the book of Proverbs, while those in the West prefer the Psalms. A New Testament in Chinese will frequently have Proverbs attached to it, while a New Testament in English will frequently have the Psalms accompanying it. What one sees in the Bible can be according to his preference and based upon his culture and his natural disposition. In order to see the central line of the divine revelation, we need to empty ourselves. We need to forget the things behind, even forgetting what we heard in the past in our church life. In this series of messages, we want to present the truth concerning the central line of the divine revelation in a new way.
The first thing mentioned in the Bible is a record of God's creation. Genesis 1:1 says, "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." In fact, however, the first thing was not God's creation. The beginning in Genesis is the beginning of time. Time has a beginning but eternity does not. Eternity is without beginning and without ending. Only God really knows what eternity is because He is the eternal God. The Gospel of John also uses the phrase "in the beginning." John 1:1 says, "In the beginning was the Word." In John 1:1 "in the beginning" refers to eternity past. In the beginning of time, God created, but in eternity past the Word was with God and was God.
We need to consider what God was doing in eternity past. Chapters one and three of Ephesians give us a glimpse of what He was doing before time began. I would like us to read Ephesians 1:9-11 and 3:11. Ephesians 1:9-11 says, "Making known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Himself, unto the economy of the fullness of the times, to head up all things in Christ, the things in the heavens and the things on the earth, in Him; in whom also we were designated as an inheritance, having been predestinated according to the purpose of the One who works all things according to the counsel of His will." Ephesians 3:9-11 says, "And to enlighten all that they may see what the economy of the mystery is, which throughout the ages has been hidden in God, who created all things, in order that now to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenlies the multifarious wisdom of God might be made known through the church, according to the eternal purpose which He made in Christ Jesus our Lord." A number of crucial terms are used by Paul in these verses—God's will, God's purpose, God's good pleasure, God's counsel, and God's economy.
We have seen that the central line of the divine revelation starts from God. Then the divine revelation shows us the divine economy and the divine dispensing. God Himself, God's economy, and God's dispensing can be seen throughout the entire Bible. These three items are the central line of the divine revelation. The divine revelation reveals to us three main entities: God Himself, God's economy, and God's dispensing.