In the Lord’s recovery we have received a particular vision which is absolutely based upon the divine revelation in God’s New Testament ministry. It is not so easy to tell you what this vision is in full. In these chapters we could only summarize the crucial points of the vision the Lord has given to us in a very brief and concise way.
In the first place, we need to see what our vision is concerning God. God is triune. He is one, yet three; and He is three, but still one. He is three-one, and this Triune God is the Father, the Son, and the Spirit (Matt. 28:19). The Three coexist and coinhere. They are three, yet still one. They are distinct, and They are one. Our human mentality is altogether unable to grasp the mystery of the distinction of the Trinity in the Godhead and the oneness of the Trinity.
Next we need to see what our vision is concerning the Father. The Father is the source. We need the realization of the Father as the source, though we do not need much explanation concerning this point. In addition, we need to see that even the Father Himself is triune, and He is triune not only in one way but in three ways. As to His person, the Father is triune, and He is also triune in relation to time and to space.
Revelation 1:4 speaks of the first of the Trinity as He who is, and who was, and who is coming, or who is to come, or who is to be. The first of the Trinity must refer to the Father, and here the Father is called by such a divine title. Undoubtedly, such an expression is based upon the revelation of the Old Testament where Jehovah is referred to. This matter is fully revealed in Exodus chapter three (vv. 6, 14-16). There Jehovah, the great I Am, the great Eternal One, is the very God who is triune, the God of the father, Abraham, the God of the son, Isaac, and the God of the grandson, Jacob. Based upon Revelation 1:4 and Exodus 3, we can see that the Father God, as to His person, is triune.
Second, the Father is triune in time because Revelation 1:4 says that He is the One who is, in the present, and who was, in the past, and who is coming, in the future. Therefore, we can see that the Father God is triune in relation to time.
Then the Father is also triune in space. You may have not considered this point before. Ephesians 4:6 tells us that God the Father is over all, through all, and in all. In relation to space, He is in three directions—above, through, and in. Therefore, we may say that the Father God is triune in relation to His person, in relation to time, and in relation to space. This point has been more than clearly revealed in the holy Word, and we have seen it. To us this matter is a vision, not a doctrine.
We have touched something of our vision concerning God and concerning the Father; now we come to our vision concerning the Son, Jesus Christ. Christ is the Triune God incarnated. We used to speak of the Son of God incarnated to be a man, but the Bible does not use such an expression.
Strictly speaking, the Bible says, “In the beginning was the Word,...and the Word was God” (John 1:1). Here we need to realize that this God, whom the Word was, is not a partial God, not only God the Son, but God the Son, and God the Father, and God the Spirit, the entire God. The New Testament does not say the Word was God the Son; in fact, it does not say God the Son, nor God the Father, nor God the Spirit. The New Testament says that in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was the entire God, the Triune God, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.
Furthermore, the Word became flesh (John 1:14). Therefore, Christ is the entire God, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, incarnated. Strictly speaking, the New Testament does not say that the Word became a man, but it says that the Word became flesh. According to the New Testament usage, the flesh refers to the fallen man (Rom. 3:20). Nevertheless, it is with much hesitation that I say that Christ became a fallen man, lest you misunderstand and think that I am saying that Christ became a man with sin in Him. Certainly Christ did not become a man with sin in Him, but He did become a man after mankind had fallen. He became flesh only in the likeness of the flesh of sin (Rom. 8:3).