God has come to work Himself into man, not into man as originally created by Him, but into the man whom Satan has injected with himself. Because both Satan and God are in man, man has become a battlefield between God and Satan. Originally, God and Satan were fighting in the universe, but now they are fighting within man. Do you realize that you are a battlefield and that a war is raging within between God and Satan? As Christians, we have a war raging within us. The factor of death is fighting against the factor of life, and the factor of life is conquering, subduing, and swallowing up the factor of death.
The use of antibiotics illustrates this. When an antibiotic gets into our bodies, it fights against the germs. Jesus Christ is the best antibiotic. From the day we received Him, a war has been raging within us. Day after day Christ, the heavenly antibiotic, kills the germs. Because the poison of death had been injected into us, we collapsed into a heap. But when Christ came in, the factor of life came in with Him, and gradually we began to rise up, not by being taught, but by taking the factor of life into our being. The more life we receive, the more we rise up. However, even after we have received Christ, the enemy may inject still more of the factor of death into us and cause us to collapse once again. At such a time, we need a further injection of the heavenly antibiotic.
The collapse comes from the factor of death, and the rising up comes from the factor of life. When the factor of death causes a collapse, all the parts of our being become detached from one another. This is illustrated by the dry bones in Ezekiel 37. When those bones were dead and dry, they were detached. But when the breath entered into them, they became living, they rose up, and they were attached (Ezek. 37:4-10). This rising up and attaching is actually the heading up. Formerly, the bones were piled in a heap, each of them detached from the body. But when the breath of life entered into these dead bones, they firstly rose up and then became attached to one another. After this they became a body, and even an army. This is what it means to be headed up.
We should not take this merely as a doctrine, but consider it in the light of our experience. Many of us can testify that we used to be detached and in the heap caused by the universal collapse. But one day the factor of life came into us, and we rose up and became attached. After coming into the church life, we had the deep sense that we were more and more upright and that we were becoming more attached. This is the heading up in Christ. A number of times, however, the power of death has worked even in the church to inject the factor of death into the members of the church. When the factor of death gets into certain members, they are poisoned and spread the poison of death to others. Once again these dear ones collapse into a heap and are thus far removed from being headed up. But, praise the Lord, the factor of life eventually reaches them again! When the breath of life is breathed into them and the factor of life enters into them, they rise up once more, become reattached, and experience being headed up.
With Satan’s injection there is no administration because his injection is illegal. Nothing that is illegal or rebellious has an administration. However, a legally constituted government has an administration. Although Satan’s injection has no administration, God’s working of Himself into us does have an administration. But this administration is not according to our natural concept. The Greek word which can be rendered “administration” in 1:10, oikonomia,is difficult to translate. It can also be rendered “stewardship” or “household arrangement.” The anglicized form of this word is economy. I like dispensation, stewardship, and household arrangement better than administration, although administration can be used in 1:10 because eventually the dispensation, the stewardship, the household arrangement will become an eternal administration.
The government in Washington, D. C., is an administration, but it is not a dispensation, a stewardship, or a household arrangement. A household arrangement is sweet, and a stewardship is intimate. According to ancient custom, there was a steward in the royal family, and his ministry was called a stewardship. Hence, the stewardship is simply the service of a steward. A steward was not a mere slave, but a person intimately related to the family, one who took care of the household arrangement. Such a stewardship, such a household arrangement, was the best administration. But today’s concept of administration does not have this thought of intimacy or sweetness. Nevertheless, God’s administration as a household arrangement is sweet and as a stewardship is intimate.