God’s economy is an eternal plan made by God in Christ. Regarding this, Ephesians 3:11 says, “According to the purpose of the ages which He made in Christ Jesus our Lord.” The purpose of the ages is the purpose of eternity, the eternal purpose, the eternal plan of God made in eternity past.
God made His eternal economy in Christ. The Christ revealed in the Bible is the embodiment of the Triune God and all the processes through which He has passed, including incarnation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, ascension, and descension. In such a Christ God made His eternal economy. Christ, therefore, is the element, sphere, means, goal, and aim of God’s eternal economy. Christ is everything in God’s economy. In fact, all the contents of the eternal economy of God are simply Christ. Christ is the center, circumference, element, sphere, means, goal, and aim of this economy. According to Ephesians 3, this economy was made in Christ.
God’s New Testament economy is His plan to dispense Himself into His chosen people in His trinity. In what way does God dispense Himself into His people in His trinity? This dispensing has three steps. First, it is of God the Father. The Father is the source, the origin. Second, this dispensing is through God the Son, who is the course. Third, God’s dispensing is in God the Spirit, who is the instrument and sphere. Through these steps of God the Father, through God the Son, and in God the Spirit God dispenses Himself into His chosen people.
God’s New Testament economy to dispense Himself into His chosen people is for the producing of the church (Eph. 3:10). This dispensing brings forth the church for the manifestation of the multifarious wisdom of God according to His eternal purpose made in Christ (Eph. 3:9-11). This means that through the dispensing of God in His trinity the church is produced to exhibit God’s manifold wisdom.
We have pointed out that the church today is the kingdom of God. Therefore, the dispensing of God into us produces the church as the kingdom of God. 1 Corinthians 4:17 and 20 show that the kingdom is the church life today. In verse 17 Paul refers to his ways “which are in Christ, even as I teach everywhere in every church.” Then in verse 20 he says, “The kingdom of God is not in speech, but in power.” These verses show that the kingdom of God is the church everywhere, and the church everywhere is the kingdom. The kingdom is here because the church is here.
The church as the kingdom of God will have a consummation, and this consummation will be the New Jerusalem for the eternal expression of the Triune God. Revelation 21:2 says, “I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” The New Jerusalem is a living composition of all the saints redeemed by God throughout all generations. It is the bride of Christ as His counterpart (John 3:29) and the holy city of God as His habitation. As the bride of Christ, New Jerusalem comes out of Christ, “her husband,” and becomes His counterpart, just as Eve came out of Adam, her husband, and became his counterpart (Gen. 2:21-24). The New Jerusalem is prepared as a bride for her husband by participating in the riches of the life and nature of Christ. As the holy city of God, she is wholly sanctified unto God and fully saturated with God’s holy nature to be His habitation.
In both the Old and New Testaments, God likens His chosen people to a spouse (Isa. 54:6; Jer. 3:1; Ezek. 16:8; Hosea 2:19; 2 Cor. 11:2; Eph. 5:31-32) and a dwelling place for Himself (Exo. 29:45-46; Num. 5:3; Ezek. 43:7, 9; Psa. 68:18; 1 Cor. 3:16-17; 6:19; 2 Cor. 6:16; 1 Tim. 3:15). The spouse is for His satisfaction in love, and the dwelling place is for His rest in expression. Both of these aspects will be ultimately consummated in the New Jerusalem. In her God will have the fullest satisfaction in love and the utmost rest in expression for eternity.
Revelation 21:10 and 11 say, “He carried me away in spirit onto a great and high mountain and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God. Her light was like a most precious stone, as a jasper stone, clear as crystal.” The glory of God is the expression of God, God expressed. We have been ordained for this glory and called to it (1 Cor. 2:7; 1 Pet. 5:10; 1 Thes. 2:12). We are being transformed into this glory (2 Cor. 3:18) and shall be brought into it (Heb. 2:10). Eventually we shall be glorified with Christ (Rom. 8:17, 30) to bear the glory of God for God’s expression in the New Jerusalem. Therefore, God’s dispensing of Himself into His chosen people for the producing of the church as the kingdom of God will consummate in the New Jerusalem as His eternal expression.
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