According to the revelation in the New Testament, the first matter in the progressing stage of God’s full salvation, the stage of transformation, is experiencing and enjoying the processed Triune God in His triune dispensing. We experience and enjoy God as the Father in His love, Christ as the Son in His grace, and the Spirit as the consummation of the divine Trinity in His fellowship (2 Cor. 13:14).
Matthew 28:19 strongly indicates that we may experience and enjoy the processed Triune God. In this verse the Lord Jesus says, “Go therefore and disciple all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” The name here is the sum total of the divine Being and is equivalent to His person. To baptize a believer into the name of the Triune God is to baptize him into all that the Triune God is. Furthermore, the word “into” indicates union, the union between the believers and the Triune God. To baptize people into the name of the Triune God is to bring them into a spiritual and mystical union with Him. This is an organic union between us, the children of God, and the Triune God. Such a union implies much experience and enjoyment. Therefore, with the truth of the divine revelation as our basis, we can say that the first item of the progressing stage of God’s salvation is that the believers experience and enjoy the processed Triune God in His triune dispensing.
This is confirmed by our actual Christian experience. Although we may not have used the words “experience” and “enjoy,” after we were baptized into the Triune God, we began to experience Him and enjoy Him. For example, we experienced the Father in prayer, enjoying His faithfulness, kindness, and love, which is the source of all the divine blessings. We also experienced and enjoyed Christ the Son as our portion and as the One living in us. Moreover, we experienced the Spirit as the reality of Christ for our enjoyment, and we experienced and enjoyed the Spirit’s work in us, upon us, and for us. Hence, from both the truth of the Word and our Christian experience we know that we may experience and enjoy the Triune God.
As we experience and enjoy the processed Triune God in His triune dispensing, we also experience God’s redemption continuously in being forgiven, washed, sanctified, justified, and reconciled. This is to apply God’s redemption not occasionally and not only continually-that is, frequently but with interruptions-but continuously-that is, constantly without any interruptions. As we contact God moment by moment, we apply His redemption continuously.
First John 1:1-9 indicates that the experience and enjoyment of the Triune God and the continuous application of God’s redemption is related to a cycle in our spiritual life. This cycle is formed of four crucial things-the eternal life, the fellowship of the eternal life, the divine light, and the blood of Jesus the Son of God. Eternal life issues in the fellowship of the divine life, the fellowship of eternal life brings in the divine light, and the divine light increases the need of the blood of Jesus the Son of God so that we may have more eternal life. The more we have of eternal life, the more of its fellowship it brings to us. The more fellowship of the divine life we enjoy, the more divine light we receive. The more divine light we receive, the more we participate in the cleansing of the blood of Jesus. Such a cycle brings us onward in the growth of the divine life until we reach its maturity.
The eternal life we have received brings us into the divine fellowship, and the divine fellowship brings us into the divine light. In the divine light we are exposed and see our defects, shortcomings, and sinfulness. Then, realizing that we need God’s forgiveness and the cleansing of the blood of Jesus, we make our confession to the Lord. In His faithfulness and righteousness, God forgives us our sins and cleanses us from all unrighteousness. Through this forgiveness and cleansing we are brought deeper into the divine life and into the fellowship of the divine life, and then into a deeper realization of our shortcomings, a deeper confession, and a deeper experience of forgiveness and cleansing. By this cycle, which continues in a deeper way day by day and even moment by moment, we grow in the divine life.
The believers’ experience in the progressing of God’s full salvation is according to this cycle. First, we experience and enjoy the processed Triune God in His triune dispensing. Second, we experience God’s redemption continuously. Third, we enjoy the dispensing of the divine Trinity in the divine transformation for the divine conformation. In this message we shall begin to consider this dispensing in the divine transformation for the divine conformation.
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