Now we would like to see the economy of God revealed in the New Testament. The first chapter of the New Testament shows God’s incarnation, God becoming a man, and the last chapter shows the New Jerusalem. From God’s incarnation to the New Jerusalem is the New Testament as well as the economy of God.
The economy of God is of two sections: The first section begins with God becoming flesh, and the second section begins with this flesh, the last Adam, becoming the life-giving Spirit. The first section is God becoming flesh, and the second section is the flesh becoming the Spirit. Both sections were accomplished in Christ. It took thirty-three and a half years to accomplish the section of God becoming flesh, which includes Christ’s work and ministry on the earth. This section of His work and ministry was completed in His resurrection. In His resurrection His flesh was transfigured into the Spirit. When He entered into resurrection, immediately He began a new stage of His ministry. He accomplished His ministry in the new stage not in the flesh but as the Spirit. The stage in His flesh was from His incarnation to His resurrection only, because in His resurrection His flesh was transfigured into the Spirit.
God became flesh and lived for thirty-three and a half years. Then He died on the cross and was buried in the tomb. This flesh was resurrected after dying and being buried in the tomb; this flesh did not remain in the earth. When the Lord was to be buried, two disciples of renown, Nicodemus and Joseph from Arimathea, came and took His body, bound it in linen cloths with the spices, and laid it in the tomb (John 19:38-42). After His resurrection, before He left the tomb, He arranged the linen cloths there in good order and folded up the handkerchief neatly. On the morning of His resurrection, when the disciples came to the tomb, they knew that He had not been stolen by someone or encountered some trouble, since the linen cloths with which He was wrapped were lying there in good order (20:5-7). What Nicodemus and Joseph from Arimathea did to Him was a great thing in proving that He had resurrected with a body.
A former co-worker personally told me that he did not believe that the Lord Jesus was still a man after His resurrection. He said that the Lord Jesus became a man and was a man only until His resurrection, that at His resurrection He put off the “man” which He had put on in His incarnation, and that today in heaven He is not man but God only. This is utterly wrong. The Lord Jesus Himself spoke clearly concerning this. When the high priest interrogated Him, asking Him whether or not He was the Son of God, He replied, “You will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power” (Matt. 26:64). This indicates that the ascended Christ is still the Son of Man. After the Lord’s ascension, Stephen saw the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God (Acts 7:56). On another occasion the Lord Jesus said that the Son of Man would come on the clouds of heaven (Matt. 24:30).
Hebrews 1 says that Christ in His second coming is the firstborn Son of God (v. 6). For a long time I wondered why this verse refers to Christ in His second coming as “the Firstborn.” Christ as the only begotten Son of God has only divinity but no human element; however, in His second coming Christ is the firstborn Son of God who possesses both divinity and humanity as a God-man and who still has a human body. How do we know that Christ still has a human body after His resurrection? Because on the morning of the Lord’s resurrection the disciples saw that His tomb was empty and His body was gone. Then in the evening of that day, while the doors were shut where the disciples were, Jesus suddenly came and stood in the midst and showed them His hands and His side (John 20:19-20). Therefore, after His resurrection He still definitely possessed a human body, but in resurrection that human body was transfigured into a spiritual body. Since it is spiritual, it is no longer fleshly; it is not a body of the fallen flesh but a body that is spiritual and glorious. Philippians 3:21 says that our body will be transfigured to be conformed to the body of His glory. Today He is still in His glorious body waiting for us, the believers, to be raptured and our bodies transfigured to be the same as His glorious body.
We see clearly that the economy of God is of two sections. The first section is God’s incarnation, which includes four steps: incarnation, human living, death, and resurrection. It was in resurrection that He ended the stage of incarnation by His being transfigured from the flesh into the Spirit. Today our Christ is the pneumatic Christ.
Christ’s transfiguration from the flesh into the Spirit began the second section of ’s economy. In His resurrection Christ was transfigured into the Spirit. Consequently, beginning from Acts, this Christ is no longer the Christ in the flesh but the pneumatic Christ; He is the very Spirit. Therefore, Romans 8:9-11 shows us that the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ, Christ, and the indwelling Spirit—all four—are one. The Spirit of God is the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of Christ is the very Christ, and this Christ is the indwelling Spirit. Paul concludes his second Epistle to Timothy by saying, “The Lord be with your spirit” (4:22). If the Lord was only a fleshly body and not the Spirit, how could He be with Timothy’s spirit? Because the Lord is the Spirit, He can be with our spirit. Hence, the second section of God’s economy is carried out through Christ’s becoming the Spirit.
The ministry of Christ consists of His earthly ministry and His heavenly ministry. He carried out the earthly ministry in His flesh for the accomplishment of redemption. Once He accomplished redemption He entered into the tomb for rest. Then in resurrection He became the Spirit and thus began His heavenly ministry. He became the Spirit in order to dispense God Himself into people. This dispensing is He Himself coming into us. This matter is initially dealt with in Acts but not in a clear way. In his fourteen Epistles Paul portrays this matter thoroughly, showing us that God became the Spirit to enter into us and dispense God into us. The issue of this dispensing is the church, which is the Body of Christ, the house of God, the kingdom of God, and the counterpart of Christ as His bride, the ultimate consummation of which is the New Jerusalem.
This is the economy of God, the New Testament revelation, the teaching of the apostles. This is the result of our study of the Word for over seventy years. This is the extract, the crystallization. The twenty-seven books of the New Testament mention many matters, but in summary they concern the economy of God. God’s economy is that God became flesh, passed through human living, died, and resurrected; then He became the Spirit and entered into men to dispense God into them for their regeneration, issuing in the church. The church as the Body of Christ is His continuation, enlargement, and multiplication; it is also the kingdom of God, the house of God, and at the same time the counterpart of Christ as His bride. The ultimate consummation of the totality of all these items is the New Jerusalem.
Some may ask, “Brother Lee, I have been an elder for fifteen years, but I still don’t know how to be an elder. What shall I do?” Let me tell you this: You do not know how to be an elder because you have not seen the economy of God. Once you see the economy of God, you will know how to be an elder, and all your troubles will be gone. Do not blame me; I am just like you. You have the flesh; I also have the flesh. You are weak; I am weaker. You have troubles; I have more troubles, and my troubles are more complicated. How can you be an elder? You have to see that God became flesh, passed through human living, died daily, eventually died on the cross, and then resurrected and became the Spirit. This Spirit enters into us to dispense God into us. If you see these things, you will know how to be an elder. If you pray over these words and let them get into you, you will spontaneously realize how to be an elder. Hence, this is a governing vision and a controlling vision. As the leading apostle, Paul was governed and controlled by this vision in all his work and actions. We should be governed and controlled also.
Perhaps others may ask, “What is the Bible all about?” Hu Shih, a renowned Chinese educator and philosopher, appraised the Chinese Union Version of the Bible as a great stride in the Chinese vernacular language. This shows that he also read the Bible, yet what he saw was the superior vernacular language. So, what is the Bible? How will you speak to others about the Bible? You need to learn to say that the Bible has two sections: The first section is the types and prophecies, and the second section is the fulfillment and accomplishment. All the things referred to in the Bible are for the fulfillment and accomplishment of the economy of God. The economy of God is that God became flesh, passed through human living, died, resurrected, and became the Spirit to enter into us as life and dispense God into us that we may be transformed for the producing of the church, which is the Body of Christ, the house of God, the kingdom of God, and the counterpart of Christ, the ultimate aggregate of which is the New Jerusalem. This is the Bible, and this is the vision that governs and controls us.