Prayer: Lord, we worship You again. Under Your sovereignty, You have arranged all the circumstances so that we can sanctify this precious time to gather together before You and even to enter into You through, by, and around Your word. Lord, we still feel that we are defiled and unclean. In many areas we are still in the old creation and the natural realm. We need the cleansing of Your redeeming blood once again. Lord Jesus, grant us the rich anointing, and anoint us in every way so that we would truly have Your presence within. Lord, at this time, while You speak, be one spirit with us. Lord, speak through our speaking. Grant us the utterance and the words of life, the words with Your riches, so that what we speak becomes the release of Yourself and Your dispensing. Lord, cover our whole being and anoint our whole being, that everyone would be blessed, receive grace, and receive the heavenly riches from Your hands. Lord, vindicate Your way once more. Release Your word, and open up Yourself in a rich way before us, so that we would enjoy Your rich supply. Amen.
The main subject of our meetings this time is the mysteries in God's New Testament economy. Here we have three very crucial terms. The first is the one that we are most familiar with—the new testament. Unfortunately, many crucial terms in the Bible have been made common by Christians through their usage. As a result, they have lost their true meaning. When we mention the new testament, many do not have too much feeling for it and do not pay much attention to it. In 1931 Brother Watchman Nee called together a special conference and talked specifically about the matter of the new testament. Most of those messages were printed in his magazine The Present Testimony. They were very valuable messages. Later the Gospel Bookroom published a book called The New Covenant. The first half of that book contains messages by Brother Nee on the principles of the new testament. The second half of that book contains messages that I released in 1948 in Shanghai concerning the practice. From that time until now, in our literature and messages we have not touched the matter of the new testament again. But whether or not we understand it, and no matter how much or how little we comprehend it, in the universe and also in human culture there is such a noble thing as the new testament.
Another crucial term is economy. The term in Greek is oikonomia. Oikos means house, and nomos means the law. The word means house law, household management and household administration, and is extended in meaning to denote an administrative arrangement, plan, and economy. In one conference in Los Angeles in 1964, I first began using the word economy. First Timothy 1:4 and Ephesians 3:9 both use this word. The third term is mystery. In Ephesians 3:9 Paul spoke of "the dispensation of the mystery, which from the ages has been hidden in God, who created all things." God had an Old Testament economy in the Old Testament. He also has a New Testament economy in the New Testament. The Old Testament economy was based on the law of God. There was not that much mystery in it. But the New Testament economy is different; it is based completely on the mystery of God. Every point in God's New Testament economy is a mystery.
We can say that the whole New Testament economy is a story of mystery. This mystery is based on God, or on the Triune God. The Triune God is a mystery. There is no way for us to exhaust Him. I have been speaking on the truth concerning the Triune God for a few decades. I consider that I have spoken much. But in the end, I have to say that I still do not understand that much. The reason for this is that it is a mystery. It is not so accurate to say the Trinity or the Three-in-One. The direct expression should be triune. This is not found in any earthly mathematics. We think that we know the doctrine of the Triune God. But actually we still do not know that much. I feel that the more we work in the Lord's work, the more we feel that we cannot work. The more messages we give, the more we feel that we do not understand. We all have to admit that we are nothing, and we can do nothing. Only God is the One who is. As for us, we are not. If we want to know about God, we first have to know about ourselves. We are nothing, and the Lord is everything. All we can do is to put ourselves in His hands. As long as He blesses, others will be fed and will have an overabundance.