In this chapter we must first see more concerning the economical and essential aspects of the Trinity. The beginning of Matthew tells us how Christ was conceived of the Holy Spirit in the womb of a virgin (1:18, 20). At the end of Matthew we see the Trinity described in a simple way as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Trinity in Matthew refers to the essence, the existence of the Trinity; the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are one in essence for their existence. People need to be baptized into the divine essence of the divine Trinity. We do not need to be baptized into God’s economy, His administration, His move, or His acts, but into His essence. We have been baptized “into the name.” A name does not refer to a person’s activity but to the very being of that person. When I call a person’s name, this indicates that I desire that person. To be baptized into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit is to be baptized into the person of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. This is a matter of the very being, the very essence, of the Triune Godhead.
In the book of Revelation, the last book of the Bible, the Trinity is mentioned not at the end but at the beginning. The Trinity in Matthew 28 is essential and the Trinity in Revelation 1 is economical. Revelation is a book on God’s administration because the center of this book is God’s throne. God’s throne is not related to His Person but to His administration, which is altogether a matter of God’s economy. Therefore, the Trinity is mentioned in Revelation 1 not in the way of God’s essence in a simple way, but in the way of God’s economy in a very complicated way.
As we have seen, the first of the Trinity in Revelation 1 is Him who is, and who was, and who is coming. According to Exodus 3 this One, the great I Am, is Jehovah and also the Angel of Jehovah (v. 2). The Angel of Jehovah in the Old Testament was Christ, the One sent by God. Furthermore, in John 8:58 the Lord Jesus indicated that He was the great I Am. Therefore, Christ is also the I Am in Exodus 3, and the One who is, and who was, and who is coming refers to Christ. In Revelation 1, however, the One who is, and who was, and who is coming refers to the first of the Trinity, the Father. This shows us another divine complication in the economical Trinity.
In the previous chapter we saw the Father as Him who is, and who was, and who is coming-Jehovah, God the Triune (Exo. 3:14-15). God the Triune refers to God the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. The Father is not only God the Father, but also God the Triune, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. The Father as the One who is, and who was, and who is coming is also Jehovah, and Jehovah is God the Triune. Jehovah is not only God the Father, but also God the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, the Triune. This is another divine complication.
In order to understand the Trinity in Revelation we must again see that the mentioning of the Trinity is not concerning the essence of the Trinity, but the economy of the Trinity. In Revelation we see the administration, the government, the activity, the motion, the move, the act, and the work of the Trinity. The Father as the One who is, and who was, and who is coming is not referred to in an essential way. Revelation 1:8, where the Father declares that He is the Alpha and the Omega, proves this. Alpha and omega are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. Letters are for composing words, sentences, paragraphs, and compositions. God is the divine alphabet, not for existence but for writing. God compared Himself to the alpha and omega which indicates His moving, His working, His “writing.” Verse 8 continues to tell us that the Alpha and the Omega is the One who is, and who was, and who is coming. This means that He was “writing” in eternity past in choosing and predestinating us unto sonship. He is still “writing” in the present in regenerating people and in working in the believers. His coming in the future means that He is “writing” in the future. Him who is, and who was, and who is coming indicates God’s moving, not God’s existence.
In eternity past the Father was moving in choosing and predestinating us. The One who came to redeem us was God the Son, but the Lord Jesus told us that as He was working the Father was also working (John 5:17). This shows that the redeeming work was also the Father’s work. Now the Spirit is applying to us all that God is and has done. We must realize that the applying One is also the Father because God the Father is God the Triune. God the Father is God the Triune, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. In eternity past He was working in choosing and predestinating us, and then He came to redeem us. Do not forget that the Son is included in God the Triune, so when the Son came to redeem us that was the Father’s coming and the Father’s doing. Also, the Spirit does not apply Himself into us merely as the Spirit by Himself. The Spirit’s application is the Father’s because the Father is God the Triune. Whatever the Father does, whatever the Son does, and whatever the Spirit does is also what the Father does. The Father was doing something in the past, He is doing something now, and He will do something further in the future. All this is the Father’s doing in His economy.
When the Father chose us in eternity past He was doing this with the Son. The Father chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4). This shows us that the Father chose us in the Son. Also, 1 Peter 1:1-2 indicates that we were chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. This shows us that God’s choosing was something done by the Triune God and not by the Father alone. This choosing was done in the sanctification of the Spirit. God chose us in eternity past in Christ, the Son, and also in the sanctification of the Spirit. The divine choosing in eternity past was not a matter of the Father only. Our being chosen was by the Father, in the Son, and in the sanctification of the Spirit.
According to our thinking the Son became flesh and the Son was the One who was manifested in the flesh. The Bible, however, tells us that the Word became flesh and that the Word was God. John 1:1 does not say that the Word was the Son, but that the Word was God. Do you believe that only one-third of God became flesh, one-third remained on the throne, and one-third was as a dove soaring in the heavens? The Bible does not divide God, the entire God, into thirds. Paul also tells us in 1 Timothy 3:16 that God was manifested in the flesh. This again shows us that the entire Godhead, the Triune God, became flesh. Economically speaking, God became flesh in the Son. This One who was conceived of the Holy Spirit was born to be a God-man. We cannot say that this God-man is the Son-man. This God-man is the Triune God-man. We believe that Jesus was the complete God and the perfect man. He was the Father, the Son, and the Spirit-man. He lived on this earth as the Triune God for thirty years before the beginning of His earthly ministry. In those thirty years, He was mainly a carpenter in Nazareth. While He was doing His carpentry, the Father was there with Him (John 16:32). Also, while the Father was with Him He did everything by the Spirit (Matt. 12:28). He is a wonderful Person.
When He was thirty years old, He came to be baptized. The One who was baptized in the Jordan was the Triune God-man. When He rose up out of the water the Spirit descended upon Him as a dove. The Father also spoke concerning the Son saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I delight.” Even though the Lord Jesus was conceived of the Spirit and did things by the Spirit and even though He was with the Father, the Spirit still descended upon Him and the Father spoke well concerning Him from the heavens. We must realize that essentially, He was conceived, born, and living as the Triune God-man. Economically speaking, however, the Spirit descended upon Him as a dove, and the Father spoke well concerning Him.
The Lord Jesus carried out His earthly ministry for three and a half years both essentially and economically. For the first thirty years of His human life the Triune God was His intrinsic essence for His being and existence. In the last three and a half years of His life while He was carrying out His ministry, He needed the economical aspect of the Trinity. He needed the anointing Spirit to be poured out upon Him, and He needed to be filled with the Spirit to carry out His ministry. The Gospels tell us that He cast out the demons by the Spirit of God (Matt. 12:28). This is all economical.
Also, Christ was crucified on the cross for us, and He was on the cross for six hours. In the first three hours, Christ was persecuted by men for doing God’s will; in the last three hours, He was judged by God for the accomplishment of our redemption. It was during this time that God counted Him as our suffering substitute for sin (Isa. 53:10). Hence, darkness came over all the land (Matt. 27:45), because our sin and sins and all negative things were dealt with there. Near the end of these six hours Jesus cried out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matt. 27:46). God forsook Him because of our sin. Economically, God was judging Him as a sinner and the judging God left Him economically. Essentially, however, He was dying on the cross as the Triune God-man. This is why Charles Wesley in one of his hymns (Hymns, #296) says, “Amazing love! how can it be that Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?” Economically, God cannot die for us, but essentially, God within Jesus died for us. Actually, however, that was not God dying, but God passing through death.
God’s sending of the Son and the Son being given to us is economical. Isaiah 9:6 tells us that a Son is given to us. This is economical. This same verse goes on to tell us that this Son is called the eternal Father. This is essential. In the economical Trinity God gives the Son and the Son is given to us. In the essential Trinity the Son is called the Father because in essence the Son and the Father are one. The Son went to the cross and was crucified and buried. After three days He resurrected and in His resurrection He became a life-giving Spirit. This is economical.
In Revelation we have seen that the first of the Trinity was moving in the past, is moving in the present, and is going to move in the future. This is economical. The second of the Trinity is the seven Spirits before the administrative throne of God. This is also economical. Finally, all the points concerning the Son as Jesus Christ, the Witness, the Firstborn of the dead, and the Ruler of the kings of the earth, do not refer to His essence but to His move and His activity. The Triune God became Jesus, and Jesus was anointed to be the Christ. Jesus Christ was the faithful Witness on this earth who died and was resurrected to be the Firstborn of God to produce many brothers that the church might be brought forth. Now He is the Ruler of the kings of the earth, He has accomplished redemption for us, and He has made us a kingdom, even the priesthood to His God and Father. Also, He will come again. All these points indicate His move and His economy. When Jesus comes again do you believe that the Father will be left in the heavens and the Spirit will be standing by in the air? Actually, when Jesus Christ comes back, the Son will come with the Father by the Spirit. The Triune God will come in the Person of the Son in His economy.
I hope that we all realize that whatever the Father did, He did in the Son by the Spirit; whatever the Son did, He did with the Father by the Spirit; and whatever the Spirit does, he does as the Son with the Father. The three in the Godhead are not separate, but they are essentially one. Economically the three in the Godhead are consecutive, yet the essential aspect still remains in the economical aspect. The Father’s choosing, the Son’s redeeming, and the Spirit’s applying are all economical, yet in these economical aspects, the essential aspect of the Trinity is still here. When the Father was choosing, the essential Trinity was there also. When the Son came to redeem and when the Spirit comes to apply, the essential Trinity is there. As the conclusion of the sixty-six books of the Bible, Revelation is an all-inclusive revelation comprising all the essential and economical aspects of the Trinity. We have seen a wonderful Person who is both essential and economical.