In Ephesians 3:10-11 we read of the eternal purpose of God. The words eternal purpose are a biblical term. According to modern English it should be eternal plan. In eternity past God made a plan for eternity future. Hence, this plan is an eternal plan. This plan is to have a large number of human beings regenerated with the divine life, become the Body of Christ, and express all the fullness of the Godhead embodied in Christ. This is the eternal plan, the plan that God made in eternity past for eternity future. We need to know 1 Timothy 1:4 and Ephesians 3:10-11 very well. We need to become more familiar with these verses.
This organism of the vine and the branches is the expression of God the Father in the Son through His Body, the church. In this regard we need to consider Genesis 1:26. Have you ever thought that the church is found in Genesis 1:26? The church is there. The expression of the Father is also there. If you were to ask how this can be so, I would reply that the expression is the image. God created man in His own image. Eventually, man became the expression of God. Then how about the church? Please notice that the man mentioned in Genesis 1:26 is not an individual man but a corporate man. God did not create millions of men; He created a corporate man who includes millions of persons. Properly speaking, the man mentioned in Genesis 1:26 is mankind, and mankind is not individual but corporate. What is the church? The church is a selected part of mankind. We may take as an illustration of this definition of the church the example of the wood used in making furniture. Although I may collect much material for the purpose of making a table, eventually I shall select only the best part of this material to use in making the table. After the table is made, I will cast the leftovers aside. I will keep and treasure only the table that I have made. Mankind is the material that God is using to make the church. We do not know how much of this material has been sacrificed. God has selected only a part of mankind to be regenerated and become the church.
The church is a corporate entity. This corporate entity was sown as a seed in Genesis 1:26 and will be reaped as a harvest in Revelation 21 where we see the New Jerusalem as the ultimate consummation of the organism that expresses the divine image. In Genesis 1:26 we see a corporate man made in God’s image; in Revelation 21 we see the New Jerusalem, the corporate expression of the image of God. The seed is sown in Genesis, the harvest is reaped in Revelation 21, and the crop is here on earth today.
As the vine, the Son is the center of God’s economy. God the Son is the center of God’s business, of God’s operation, of God’s enterprise. God has an operation in the universe. This operation is His divine business. The Son as the vine is the very center of this enterprise.
This vine is the embodiment and manifestation of the Godhead. Colossians 2:9 says that in the Son the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily. John 1:18 says, “No one has ever seen God; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.” In Colossians 2:9 we see the Son as the embodiment of the Godhead, and in John 1:18 we see Him as the declaration, the manifestation, of God. So the very Son of God, who is God’s universal vine, is God’s embodiment and manifestation.
This vine is an organism full of life, like the tree of life (Gen. 2:9). It is not an organization without life, like the tower of Babel (Gen. 11:4, 9). The tree of life is an organism, and the tower of Babel is an organization. Which do you prefer to have—the tree of life or the tower of Babel? The tower of Babel was great and high, but the tree of life was probably the same height as we are. If the tree of life had been too high, it would have been awkward for people to reach it. According to John 6 the people tried to force Christ to be a king. This means that they wanted to make Him a tower. But He preferred to be the bread of life. This means that He wanted to be the tree of life.