Prayer: Lord, we trust in You for the study of such a deep word. Lord, open up Your secrets and show us the hidden mysteries. Lord, we like to know Your heart with Your desire. We like to open ourselves to You. Lord, do open Yourself to us that we may have a thorough fellowship with You. Lord, do cover us with Your precious blood and anoint us with the anointing ointment. We need this. Thank You, Lord. Amen.
In the foregoing messages we have covered four main things: God in His titles, God in His person, the divine economy, which is the eternal plan of God, and the divine dispensing. These four things serve as an introduction to the subject of this series of messages, which is "The Central Line of the Divine Revelation."
I have been in the Lord's ministry for over sixty-five years. Through all these years, by studying the word of God in the Bible and the writings of others, I have discovered that in the Bible there is a central line which has been missed by Christianity. In most of the Christian bookstores, it is difficult to find any publication concerning the dispensing of God or God's economy. According to my knowledge, those of the inner life spoke much about God's plan, and one of their writers, Mrs. Charles A. McDonough, published a book entitled God's Plan of Redemption. But the word economy was not used in regard to God's plan. This might be because in Ephesians 1:10, 3:9, and 1 Timothy 1:4, the main verses in which the Greek word oikonomia is used, some versions of the Bible rendered this word as dispensation. Dispensation is not a wrong translation, but its denotation has been spoiled. A better translation of the word oikonomia is administration or economy. In the denotation of the word oikonomia, there is the thought of a household administration. Hence, God's economy is God's household administration.
In God's economy the main item is to dispense God Himself into His chosen people. This thought is new. The word economy is in the Bible, but the word dispensing is not. Nevertheless, the fact of dispensing can be found in the Bible. The divine economy and the divine dispensing are the central line of the entire Bible.
During the past thirty years, I have nearly finished the life-study of the entire Bible. Today, I am beginning a new study of the Bible. The subject, points, and facts are the same, but the view is different. I call this study "The View of the Divine Dispensing according to the Divine Economy." The title of this message is "God's Creation of Man in the View of the Divine Dispensing according to the Divine Economy." The phrase in the view of in this title is used to show that God's creation of man was in the view of His dispensing. A view is different from a purpose. In doing anything, we must have a view. In setting up a school or a business, we should not do it without a view. In creating man, God had a definite view. God created man in the view of His dispensing.