CHAPTER TEN

GOD’S DISPENSING
IN THE MINISTRY OF JOHN

Scripture Reading: John 1:1; 1 John 1:1; Rev. 19:13; John 1:18; 3:15-16; 1:34; 20:31; 1 John 1:2; John 11:25; 14:6; 3:34; 1:51; Rev. 1:13; John 1:29; Rev. 5:6; 13:8; 22:1-2; 1 John 2:1-2; Rev. 2:8; 22:13; 3:14; 1:18; 3:7; John 3:36; 1 John 5:12-13, 20; 1:3-7; 2:6, 20, 27; 3:9; 2:29; 4:7; 5:1, 4, 16-21; Rev. 1:9-12, 20; 14:1-5, 15-16; John 3:29; Rev. 19:7-9; 21:2-3, 9, 11, 18-21; 22:14, 17

In this message we come to the last ministry in the New Testament, the ministry of John. All his writings are so divine and so mysterious. They begin from God in eternity past, and consummate in the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and the new earth in eternity future. So, his writings cover a long span, from eternity past to eternity future.

The subject of John’s writings is the Triune God dispensing Himself into His chosen people as the life and life supply to make them all divine to express Him in full for eternity. This is the central message of all the writings of John. The divine reality in the whole universe is revealed in John’s writings. The reality, the center, and the content of the entire universe is just that the Triune God—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—wants to dispense Himself into His chosen people as their life and life supply to make them divine to express Him in full and for eternity. This should also be our center, our reality, and our content.

CHRIST MINISTERED BY JOHN

As God in the Beginning

First of all Christ was ministered by John as God in the beginning (John 1:1). Both Paul and Peter also ministered in this way, pointing out that Christ, the Son of God, is God Himself (Rom. 9:5; Heb. 1:8; 2 Pet. 1:1). At the beginning of John’s writings, in chapter one of his Gospel he says that Christ is God in the beginning. The beginning means the source. This God is the very source of life. He is also the eternal life (John 3:36). This eternal life is for dispensing. Then, at the end of John’s writings, in chapter twenty-two of Revelation, you can see that eternal life is flowing as the river of water of life (22:1). That flowing of life is just the dispensing of life.

As the Eternal Logos

According to John, Christ is the eternal Logos (John 1:1; 1 John 1:1; Rev. 19:13). This is a wonderful term! It means the Word. The Word defines, explains, and expresses God. Who is this One who is the eternal Logos? This is the wonderful Christ, the Second of the Trinity.

As the Only Begotten Son of God

Christ is the only begotten Son of God (John 1:18; 3:16; 1:34; 20:31). God in eternity is for dispensing life; the eternal Logos is for dispensing life, and the only begotten Son of God, who declared God, is also for dispensing life.

As the Eternal Life

In John’s writings Christ is the eternal life (1 John 1:2; John 11:25; 14:6). This is the divine life, the uncreated life of God, which is not only timewise everlasting, but eternal and divine in nature. Eternal life is just for life dispensing. Life flows, and life dispenses itself. This is the eternal life, so it means an eternal dispensing.

As the Giver of the Spirit

Christ is also the Giver of the Spirit (John 3:34). The Spirit is the Triune God reaching us. When the Triune God stays in the unapproachable light, He is the Father (1 Tim. 6:16). When He reaches us, He is the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:17). The Spirit is just the Triune God reaching us, and Christ is the Giver of such a reaching Spirit. The reaching is the dispensing. When the Triune God reaches us, God dispenses Himself into us. The reaching and dispensing is by the Spirit given to us by Christ the Son.