There are many different ways of understanding the Bible. Brother Nee said that the kind of Bible you have is according to the kind of person you are. Every denomination and group has its own way of understanding the Bible. The Pentecostals know the Bible in their way, interpreting it without any governing principles. Roman Catholics know the Bible according to the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. The inner-life people understand the Bible in their particular way. Fifty years ago Brother Nee and I considered the Brethren teachings to be the best, and during the years I have often consulted John Nelson Darby's Synopsis of the Books of the Bible. But in the past few years, in preparing for the life-studies on Job and the books of history, I did not consult the Brethren teachings. In these years the Lord has shown us something higher and more profound—God's eternal economy, the center and reality of which are Christ as the embodiment of the processed Triune God and the church as the organic Body of Christ. For the carrying out of His economy, God is dispensing Himself into us.
The divine dispensing is revealed in the book of Ephesians. The Brethren stress God's choosing and predestinating us in Ephesians 1, yet they do not point out that God's selection and predestination are organic matters. Verse 4 says that God has chosen us in Christ to be holy. To be holy means to be God in life and in nature but not in the Godhead. In the entire universe, only God is holy. God can make us holy only by dispensing His holy nature—that is, His holy element—into our being. When God regenerated us, He dispensed Himself into us as the holy element. Verse 5 says that God predestinated us unto sonship. This means that God has predestinated us to be His sons by dispensing. According to Ephesians 1 the church is the issue of the Triune God's dispensing and the ascended Christ's transfusing. In the last ten years the Lord has brought me to understand the Bible in this way.
Nearly all fundamental teachings are good. We appreciate these teachings and have built upon them. However, they have also delayed us and veiled us. Many fundamental teachers have become contented with the fundamental teachings, and we also have become somewhat contented with our understanding of the Bible. If fundamental teachings become a tradition to us, we will not seek to improve our knowing of the Bible. Brother Nee was never content with these teachings. He always pioneered to see something further.
Our vision concerning the revelation of the Bible is that God wants to re-create man. Created man was not the goal of God's purpose but only a step. God created man with His hand; He will re-create man with His life. He put created man in front of the tree of life, indicating that He wanted to re-create man by regenerating man. Eventually, the regenerated man becomes Christ's bride and increase (John 3:29-30). Some Christians see regeneration in John 3, but they do not realize that in John 3 regeneration is for the producing of Christ's bride and increase. This shows that there are different levels in understanding the Bible.
With this in mind, let us now go on to consider the division of the kingdom of Israel and the reigns of Rehoboam over Judah and of Jeroboam over Israel.