Prayer: Lord, we worship You for this gathering. We praise You. Only You can arrange such a gathering. Lord, for this gathering we need You in a sevenfold intensified way. Lord, come in and open Yourself to us, and may we also open ourselves to You. We ask that there will be a transaction, a traffic, between You and us. Lord, deliver us from the oldness. Deliver us from the old knowledge and from traditional things, things that we have been keeping for years. Lord, forgive us and cleanse us and cover us with Your prevailing blood against the enemy in every way. Releasing Your word is a battle, so, Lord, we hide ourselves in You. We hide ourselves under the blood of the Lamb. Lord, strengthen us and pour out Yourself upon us in a sevenfold intensified way. Lord, touch us and speak to us, making us one spirit with You. Thank You. Amen.
The title of this message is “To Know This Age.” Here we are using the word age to refer not to the age of the world in a general way but to the age of today’s Christianity in a particular way, especially in relation to the revelation of the Scriptures, the divine truths, and the genuine and proper theology.
The first matter covered in the Scriptures is God Himself. The revelation concerning God involves God’s person, and God’s person is very mysterious. He is one, yet three; hence, He is triune. The different understandings of the Divine Trinity have been a major factor, a hidden element, of all the problems in today’s Christianity. Christianity has been divided by the different concepts of the Divine Trinity.
Understanding the second (Christ) and the third (the Spirit) of the Divine Trinity has been most bothersome and troublesome. Who is Christ? In answer to this question, most Christians would say that Christ is the Son of God. However, many believers do not realize that Christ is not merely the only begotten Son of God (John 3:16) but also the firstborn Son of God (Rom. 8:29; Col. 1:18; Heb. 1:6; Rev. 1:5). How could the only begotten Son become the firstborn Son? As the only begotten Son He must be the only Son and cannot be the first, and as the firstborn Son He is the first Son and thus cannot be the only Son. How should we explain this?
Theologians claim that the persons of the Trinity should not be confused. Nevertheless, we need to ask certain questions. Is Christ only the Son and not also the Spirit? Is the Spirit only the Spirit? Is the Spirit not also related to Christ and involved with the Son? Another question concerns the seven Spirits (Rev. 1:4; 3:1; 4:5; 5:6). According to Revelation 5:6 the seven Spirits are the seven eyes of the Lamb. Are the seven Spirits and the Lamb one person or two persons? Surely They are two, yet the seven Spirits are the seven eyes of the Lamb. Are They one or two? If we say that the Lamb and the seven Spirits as the seven eyes of the Lamb are one, others, insisting that the Spirit is the Spirit and the Son is the Son, will accuse us of confusing the persons of the Divine Trinity. But in Revelation 5:6 the third of the Divine Trinity is the eyes of the second. How, then, can the Spirit be separate from the Son? Are your eyes separate from you yourself? While your eyes are looking at someone, you are looking at that person. No one would say, “Only my eyes are looking at you; I myself am not looking at you.” Your eyes are you. For your eyes to look at something means that you yourself are looking. These are brief illustrations of the shortages of the theology in today’s Christianity.
Because the matters of the Son and the Spirit in the Divine Trinity are very difficult and complicated, we have been compelled to give Christ a particular title-the all-inclusive Christ. Christ is all-inclusive because He is everything. He is God, He is the Father (Isa. 9:6), He is the Son, and He is the Spirit. According to the revelation in the New Testament, the Father is embodied in the Son (Col. 2:9), and the Son is realized by the Spirit (John 14:17, 20). Thus, the Son is the embodiment of the Father, and the Spirit is the realization of the Son. This surely is a divine and heavenly language.
John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Since the Word was God what need was there for Him to be with God? No one can explain this adequately, for we do not have the language to express this kind of “culture.”
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