In this message we come to the consummation of the divine dispensing. The writings of the Apostle John are the last books of the divine revelation. His Gospel, his Epistles, and his book of Revelation were written about A.D. 90. If we would get into his writings, we would surely realize that they are on the Triune God. In his Gospel we see the dispensing of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. The Son came in the name of the Father, and He did everything to work out the Father’s will. He worked in the Father’s name, and He worked with the Father. He also spoke the Father’s word and sought the Father’s glory. From these points it is clear that the Son does nothing by Himself nor is He for Himself. He lives and works altogether with the Father, and for the Father. This indicates that He is the embodiment of the Father.
After the death and resurrection of the Son, the Spirit came in the Son’s name to testify concerning the Son and to glorify the Son. The Spirit is not for Himself; He is altogether for the Son. The Son is for the Father, and the Spirit is for the Son. They Three are really one. The Father is embodied in the Son, and the Son is transfigured into the Spirit. This is for God in His divine economy, the divine household management and administration, to dispense Himself into His redeemed people to make them one with Him. This is clearly revealed in the Gospel of John.
The consummation of the divine dispensing is in John’s last book, the book of Revelation, which is also the last book of the New Testament and even of the entire Bible. In Revelation we can see the consummation, the issue, of the divine dispensing. This consummation is not only the consummation of the divine dispensing, but also the consummation of God’s entire plan and economy.
Between the Gospel of John and the book of Revelation are John’s Epistles, which cover the fellowship of the divine life. This fellowship is nothing less than the experience and enjoyment of the Triune God. In the Gospel of John we can see how the Triune God has been dispensed into us. In the Epistles of John we enjoy the Triune God by the fellowship of the divine life, which is the real experience and enjoyment of the Triune God who has been dispensed into us in the Gospel of John.
This dispensing will issue in the book of Revelation. The consummation of the divine dispensing in the book of Revelation is mainly in the first three chapters and the last two. In the first three chapters there are the seven churches signified by the seven lampstands. In the last two chapters there is the wife of the Lamb signified by the New Jerusalem. Both the lampstands in this age and the New Jerusalem in eternity are the marvelous issue and consummation of the divine dispensing.
Dear saints, we all need a clear view to see what the Triune God is doing today. He is doing the divine dispensing, dispensing Himself into all of us day and night. You may say that you do not see such a dispensing, but God sees it. To you it may not seem so prevailing, powerful, or evident, but to God and His enemy Satan, it is very evident. This dispensing began when Jesus came to earth, and it has been going on for nearly twenty centuries. We like to see things that are evident on the surface, but God does not care so much for things which are superficially evident. He cares for the reality and its result. Today on this earth underneath so many currents, there is a real current. What is the current? It is the Triune God dispensing Himself into all of His redeemed ones. How foolish it is if we are busy doing other works and do not care for this current, the Triune God dispensing Himself into us!
You may say that you do not feel much of God’s dispensing, or that you have only a little of God’s dispensing. As long as you have a little, that is good. For example, with a large amount of sand, there may be only a few grains of gold. God’s dispensing is like this: a little bit in you and a little bit in me, on and on. To Him there is no time element. With the Lord a thousand years are as one day (2 Pet. 3:8). To us this dispensing has been going on over nineteen hundred years, but to Him it is less than two days. Many Christians like to say that the Lord Jesus will come soon. Some in the past even predicted when the Lord would come. But His delay has disappointed those who predicted. Didn’t the Lord Jesus say that He was coming quickly (Rev. 22:12)? Yes, He did. But to us it is two thousand years; to Him it is just two days. His coming may be delayed for quite a period of time because He wants His dispensing to be fully completed. This dispensing is still going on and on. One day it will have a consummation.