Thank the Lord that we can have this conference. In this conference the Lord has given me a burden to consider with you the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity and its result. First, we will consider the accomplishment of the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity.
The divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity is a great matter. It is something that God has planned, purposed, and arranged. In eternity past, God had a divine economy. Based on this economy, He had a move to accomplish His divine dispensing. The first thing that God accomplished is the creation of all things. In His creation, there are the heavens, the earth, and the myriads of created things. But among all these things man is the center. In Genesis 1, we see that God spent only a few days to create all things. After all things were ready, on the last day He created man. When man came out of God’s creating hands, he had no lack. He had everything he needed for his eating, dwelling, working, and living. At that time, God did not reveal to any of His creatures, not even to the angels, the purpose of His creating all things, including the heavens, the earth, and man. This mystery of the creation was hidden in Himself.
After God created all the other things, He created man. He created man with a distinctive feature: man was created according to His own image. In other words, He created man according to what He is. God’s image, that is, what He is, is that which is in God, which is love, light, holiness, and righteousness. He is love, He is light, He is holiness, and He is righteousness. God created man according to this love, light, holiness, and righteousness. For this reason, there are these four virtues within man. Although we have become fallen because of our ancestor Adam, and have been damaged and have become corrupted, within every one of us there is still love and light. We still prefer holiness to being common, and we all want to be righteous and do not want to make mistakes or to wrong others. The reason for this is that we are all created according to the image of God. Man is like God.
Moreover, God created man after His outward likeness. Although, on the one hand, the Bible says that God is invisible, yet, on the other hand, God created man according to His image and after His likeness. Hence, man is the most comely object among all of God’s creatures. I believe every one of us appreciates himself when he looks in the mirror. The more we look at ourselves the more we like ourselves, because we are made according to God. Genesis 1 says that God created all things after their kind. Man was created according to God. Hence, man is of God’s kind. We are of God’s kind, because we are created according to God. This is like your picture being made according to you. Although it does not have your life and nature, it is truly your portrait. Of course, it is equally right to say that this picture is not you, because you have a life, nature, and thoughts; you can breathe and speak, whereas the picture cannot do any of these things. From this we can see the relationship between God and us. God is the source of man, and man is the expression of God.
In eternity past, God had an eternal plan, which is to work Himself into a group of chosen people. For this reason, He created man, not only according to His image, but with a spirit, so that man can receive Him and express Him. The man that God created has a spirit, a soul, and a body. We need not probe into the spirit and the soul. The outward body alone is wonderful enough to confound the mind of the best doctors. In addition to this body, there is also the soul, with its thoughts, loves, and concepts. How wonderful it is! Only after we have understood the Bible a little will we understand ourselves, for it is the Bible that has unveiled to us God’s revelation. It tells us that God created man according to His image with the purpose that He would enter into the created man. Since we are created according to Him, it becomes comfortable and good for Him to enter into us. If we live in a rented house, we will not feel entirely comfortable while living in it, because the house was not built according to our intention. My house in Anaheim was built for me by the brothers. I am not a civil engineer, nor do I know anything about architecture. But I did know how the house was to be built. I drew up a plan according to my own intention. After the brothers finished building it, I moved in and indeed felt comfortable in it. This is because it was built according to my intention and my plan. The same is true with God. He had a desire, which is that one day He would move in and dwell in the man He created.
However, the man God created fell. But God would not give up. He came personally to accomplish redemption and to fulfill His purpose. We who are created by God are God’s vessels, and we are made to contain God. If there are still friends among us tonight who have not believed in the Lord, I would tell you respectfully that belief in God is the greatest truth. Because we are vessels created by God, we will feel empty if we do not have God within. Whenever God comes in, we feel that we are on solid ground. Every one among us, whether old or young, can testify of this. Before we believed in the Lord, we were empty within. There was no content, and our feet were not on solid ground. One day, we heard the gospel and called on the name of the Lord Jesus. He entered into us to be our life, and He has become our content.
God’s goal is not merely to have many individual believers. He wants to have a corporate man, who is the church, as His counterpart, His Body, for His corporate expression. This is God’s eternal economy, His plan, His purpose, and His arrangement. It is also the desire of God’s heart. This matter is clearly revealed in the Bible.
After I was saved I began to love the Bible very much. This book has been in my hands for sixty-five years. I read it nearly every day. The way it is written is very wonderful. Concerning any subject, the way it is revealed to us is a little here and a little there. When I read it, I was like a child playing with a jigsaw puzzle. I have been playing with this puzzle for many years. Now the Bible has become a clear picture within me. It shows us that in eternity past, God had a desire, which is to gain a group of people the same as He is, so that He can enter into them to be their life, their nature and everything to them. In the end, He is not only joined to these people, but is mingled with them as one. These people become His believers, and He gathers them together in His life in various localities to be the churches in those places. These churches constitute the Body of Christ, which is His corporate expression. We are now in such a process.
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