Message Four

The Divine Trinity
in the Divine Move and in Our Experience
to Make Us the Kingdom People

Scripture Reading: Matt. 1:20-23; 3:16-17;
6:9-10, 13; 12:28; 28:19

1. In Matthew 1 the Holy Spirit (vv. 18, 20), Christ (the Son—v. 18), and God (the Father—v. 23) are present for the producing of the man Jesus (v. 21), who, as Jehovah the Savior and God with us, is the very embodiment of the Triune God:
   1. Matthew 1:20 and 21 reveal the divine conception of the Holy Spirit and the birth of Jesus (the Son); then verse 23 tells us that this One was called by men, Emmanuel, which means God (God the Father) with us.
   2. God the Father’s being with us was the issue of the divine conception of the Holy Spirit and the birth of Jesus, the Son—cf. Luke 1:35.
2. In Matthew 3 the Son was standing in the water of baptism under the open heavens, the Spirit like a dove descended upon the Son, and the Father spoke out of the heavens to the Son—vv. 16-17:
   1. The Lord Jesus was born of the Spirit (Luke 1:35), having the Spirit of God within Him essentially for His birth; then for His ministry, the Spirit of God descended upon Him economically to anoint Him as the new King and introduce Him to His people—Isa. 61:1; 42:1; Psa. 45:7.
   2. The Lord’s being baptized to fulfill God’s righteousness and to be put into death and resurrection brought Him three things: the open heavens, the descending Spirit of God, and the speaking of the Father; it is the same with us today.
   3. By the descending of the Spirit of God like a dove upon Him, the Lord Jesus ministered in gentleness and singleness, focusing solely on the will of God.
   4. The Spirit’s descending was the anointing of Christ, whereas the Father’s speaking was a testimony to Him as the beloved Son.
3. In Matthew 6 the prayer which the Lord teaches us to pray begins with the Triune God, in the sequence of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit (vv. 9-10), and also ends with the Triune God, but in the sequence of the Son, the Spirit, and the Father (v. 13); to pray in this way is to pray that the Triune God will be prevailing on the earth as He is prevailing in the heavens:
   1. In Matthew 6:9-10 the Lord teaches the believers to pray by expressing three petitions, which imply the Trinity of the Godhead: “Your name be sanctified” is related mainly to the Father; “Your kingdom come,” to the Son; and “Your will be done,” to the Spirit:
      1. For His name to be sanctified, we should express Him in our living with a daily life separated unto God and saturated with God—1 Pet. 1:15-17; 2 Pet. 1:4; cf. Isa. 11:2.
      2. For God’s kingdom to come, we must live a life of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit— Rom. 14:17.
      3. For the divine will to be done on earth is to bring the heavenly ruling, the kingdom of the heavens, to this earth—cf. Matt. 8:9a.
      4. This is being fulfilled in this age, and it will be ultimately fulfilled in the coming kingdom age, when the name of God will be excellent in all the earth (Psa. 8:1), the kingdom of the world will become the kingdom of Christ (Rev. 11:15), and the will of God will be accomplished.
   2. The Lord’s pattern of prayer concludes by saying, “For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen”—Matt. 6:13:
      1. The kingdom is of the Son and is the realm in which God exercises His power; the power is of the Spirit and carries out God’s intention so that the Father can express His glory.
      2. Thus, the prayer taught by the Lord in His supreme teaching begins with God the Father and ends also with God the Father, who is the beginning and the end, the Alpha and the Omega, that God the Father may be all in all—1 Cor. 15:28.
4. In Matthew 12 the Son, in the person of man, cast out demons by the Spirit to bring in the kingdom of God the Father—v. 28:
   1. The way He cast out demons, by another One and for another One, showed that He did not act individualistically but with humility and selflessness.
   2. The Son as the center of the Divine Trinity was altogether not by Himself, for Himself, or to Himself; whatever He did was by the Spirit of God and for the kingdom of God the Father.
   3. This shows us the harmony, beauty, and excellency in the Divine Trinity.
   4. The move of the Divine Trinity with the divine coordination in Matthew 12:28 is an excellent and beautiful example for us to follow; this is a good pattern our Head has set up for our coordination as members of His Body:
      1. Today in the church life, the Body of Christ has not been built up adequately because of the shortage of the proper coordination.
      2. We may do something according to the will of God, but what we do should not be by ourselves but by some others; furthermore, what we do should not be for ourselves but for the interest, the right, of God on this earth.
5. In Matthew 28 after Christ as the last Adam (1 Cor. 15:45b) had passed through the process of crucifixion, entered into the realm of resurrection, and become the life-giving Spirit, He came back to His disciples in the atmosphere and reality of His resurrection to charge them to make the nations the kingdom people by baptizing them into the name, the person, the reality, of the Divine Trinity—v. 19:
   1. Christ’s being the center of the processed Triune God is for the disciples to baptize people into the processed Triune God by baptizing them into Him—Acts 8:16; 19:5; Gal. 3:27; Rom. 6:3-4; 1 Cor. 12:13.
   2. To baptize people into the name of the Triune God is to bring them into an organic, spiritual, and mystical union with Him.
   3. The one name for the Divine Trinity is the sum total of the Divine Being, equivalent to His person; to baptize someone into the name of the Triune God is to immerse him into all that the Triune God is.