We have fellowshipped about two major points relating to the revelation and the vision of God: concerning the Divine Trinity and the economy of God. In the previous chapter we saw four points concerning the economy of God. In this chapter I will speak particularly about our need for the subjective realization and experience of the Divine Trinity and of the church. After seeing the preceding four points, we will sense a need-that we should not only study the so-called truths and visions, but we should also pay attention to the realization, knowledge, and experience of these matters. In other words, we should not just see the facts recorded in the Bible, but we should also realize and experience them.
If we really see the vision, we will certainly respond with an inner desire to realize, know, and experience God’s economy. We can see from the very beginning of the New Testament, in Matthew chapter one, that the Triune God desires to dispense Himself into man.
In Matthew 1, we can see at least four facts: the genealogy of Jesus, the conception of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, and the name of Jesus. However, the most important thing concerning Matthew 1 is not just to see these facts but to see a precious vision in these facts and to make that vision our experience. We must realize and experience these facts. Take for example these three words: the Lord Jesus. If you read them one by one separately, it is difficult to understand what they mean. But if you put them together and read them, then you can discover their meaning. By the same principle, in Matthew 1 several facts are presented here to speak forth a reality, and this reality is that the Triune God wants to work Himself into man.
First, we must see that Matthew 1 mentions God (v. 23); it mentions the Son (v. 21), Jesus, who was God incarnated and born to be a man; it also mentions the Spirit (v. 18) as the basic essence and element of the virgin Mary’s pregnancy. Moreover, this chapter refers to Jehovah because Je in Jesus is a shortened form of Jehovah, and sus means Savior or salvation; furthermore, Jesus is the One who is called the Christ (v. 18). Thus, this one chapter mentions God, the Son, the Spirit, Jehovah, the Savior or salvation, and Christ. Anyone who studies the Bible can see these divine titles. But we still need to see a vision here.
Originally, God was outside of man. He created man in His image and according to His likeness, and then He breathed into man the breath of life, giving man life and breath. God did not do these two things when He created the animals, or even when He created the angels. He created man in His own image and breathed His own breath, the breath of life, into man. It was truly special that He did this. However, God was still outside of man; He was He, and man was man. Despite this, these two were of the same kind. In Genesis 1 when God created all the living things, everything was “according to their kind.” Today those who graft trees know that trees of different species cannot be grafted together; only trees of the same species can be grafted. In His creation, God did a work of preparation beforehand; that is, He created man to be of His kind with the view of having man enter into a relationship with Him just like the relationship of grafting.
Later in the Bible the Lord Jesus Himself definitely told us that He is the true vine and we are the branches (John 15:1, 5). But we must realize that we were not born as branches of the vine. Rather, we were wild branches (Rom. 11:17, 24), and it is by faith that we have been grafted into Him as the vine (v. 20, cf. v. 23). This means that although we and the Lord Jesus are different “trees,” we are of the same species. At the very least, we have the same image as God and bear His likeness. But despite the fact that we are of the same species with God, He is still He, and we are still we. He is outside of us, and we are outside of Him. In life and nature, and especially in essence, we and He are completely unrelated.
Please forgive me for saying that this point is the greatest deficiency in Christianity’s theology. There is a school in Christianity called Reformed Theology. Those who belong to this school absolutely deny that we saved ones have the divine nature inwardly; they mainly acknowledge that we have been reformed. They say that originally we were very evil, but now we have been reformed; similarly, society was once evil, but now it has been reformed and improved. In the last century, this kind of teaching was very prevailing. This group of people advocated that this world, instead of getting worse and worse, would become better and better. Therefore, the world would become a utopia even before the return of the Lord Jesus. A utopia is an ideal kingdom in which everyone is happy and everything is good. Despite the fact that there is evil today, the day will come in which nothing is evil and everything becomes a utopia. How can this happen? First, it is by preaching the gospel to lead people to reform their errors and revert to good deeds through repentance; second, it is by teaching the biblical truths to exhort the believers to reform themselves. But since the biblical truths have not yet spread to the entire world, everyone must do their best to preach the gospel and bring people to repentance. However, this group of people pays no attention to regeneration; they only emphasize teaching the truth to change human society and turn it into a utopia, an ideal world.
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