Scripture Reading: Num. 1:1; 6:13-16; 7:1, 11-17; 9:15-18, 21; 20:6-8

DAY 1 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 2 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 3 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 4 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 5 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 6 Outline　MorningRevival

«　WEEK 6　DAY 1　»

　　Rev. 1:4-5 John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is coming, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful Witness, the Firstborn of the dead, and the Ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and has released us from our sins by His blood.

　　The Divine Trinity is the top divine attribute of our God. In the theological study of the past concerning God's person, the word triune was invented. Triune is an adjective just as holy is an adjective. The Triune God bears an attribute, which is trinity....Holiness is an attribute of God, and trinity is also an attribute of God. In 2 Corinthians 13:14 grace, love, and fellowship are attributes of the Triune God, but the top attribute of our God is the trinity. To say that He is dispensing Himself into us is a general speaking. Specifically speaking, we must realize that He is dispensing His trinity because His trinity is the top and all-inclusive attribute including His love, His grace, His fellowship, His holiness, and His everything.

　　If God were not triune—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—He could not have a way to dispense Himself into us. (CWWL, 1984, vol. 2, "Elders' Training, Book 3: The Way to Carry Out the Vision," p. 304)

　　This fellowship may help you to realize how to use, understand, and apply many verses in the Bible, especially in the New Testament, concerning the Divine Trinity because as a whole the Bible is constructed with the Divine Trinity. This is a great subject. I believe that if we are faithful to Him in the coming years, more light will come concerning this matter. (CWWL, 1984, vol. 2, "Elders' Training, Book 3: The Way to Carry Out the Vision," p. 305)

　　In a precise and brief way we will see what the Bible actually says about the Trinity. For this kind of study we need to concentrate our entire being, exercising both our mind and our spirit. The conclusion of such a thorough and exhaustive study should be the standard by which we measure all other teachings, including those of the church fathers, councils, and creeds.

　　The Lord's recovery is a recovery of the truth. With Martin Luther the Lord recovered the truth concerning justification by faith. The crucial truth of the Divine Trinity has been debated for nineteen centuries. It is altogether worthwhile for us to spend our time and energy with a spirit of prayer to conduct a thorough and exhaustive study of the Divine Trinity as revealed in the holy Word. We intentionally use the phrase as revealed in the holy Word in a polemical spirit to imply that we care only for what the Bible says, and we recognize that what the Bible says may be different from traditional teachings. Nevertheless, our spirit is not to fight but to minister the truth to inoculate the saints against wrong teachings.

　　The Bible contains many explicit teachings, such as the apostle Paul's teaching concerning justification in Romans 3 through 5. However, the Scriptures do not contain any direct teaching or doctrine concerning the Divine Trinity. Instead, the Trinity is only indicated throughout the Scriptures in many narrations of the divine and spiritual facts. For instance, Genesis 1:1...indicates the Trinity. Although this verse does not contain any teaching or doctrine of the Trinity, we will see that the narration of God's creation definitely indicates that God is triune.

　　Through the past nineteen centuries many great scholars have primarily considered the Trinity as a teaching for us to know about God's person, His Godhead. However, the fact that the Bible contains no doctrines concerning the Trinity indicates strongly that the Trinity does not exist for teaching but for God to work Himself into us so that we may partake of, experience, and enjoy Him. This is fully proven by Matthew 28:19 and 2 Corinthians 13:14, which are the best verses concerning the Trinity in the Bible. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 3, "The Divine Trinity as Revealed in the Holy Word," pp. 207-209)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1984, vol. 2, "Elders' Training, Book 3: The Way to Carry Out the Vision," chs. 7-8

«　WEEK 6　DAY 2　»

　　Matt. 28:19 Go therefore and disciple all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

　　2 Cor. 13:14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

　　Although there is no teaching or doctrine concerning the Trinity here, there is a spiritual fact that those who preach the gospel should baptize the believing ones into the name of the Triune God—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit [Matt. 28:19]. We are baptized into the Triune God so that we may participate in and enjoy Him. In Word Studies in the New Testament M. R. Vincent says, "Baptizing into the name of the Holy Trinity implies a spiritual and mystical union with him." This shows that the Trinity is not for teaching. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 3, "The Divine Trinity as Revealed in the Holy Word," p. 209)

　　Second Corinthians 13:14...speaks of the Trinity—Jesus Christ the Son, God the Father, and the Holy Spirit—but it does not teach us a doctrine concerning the Trinity. Instead, the way the Triune God is mentioned indicates that we need to enjoy the Triune God as love, grace, and fellowship. Love as the source corresponds to God the Father. Grace as the expression and the course corresponds to God the Son. Grace and love are transmitted into us through the reaching, the fellowship, of God the Spirit. This is the enjoyment of the Triune God as love, grace, and fellowship. This indicates that the Triune God is for our enjoyment.

　　Every direct or indirect mention, indication, or implication of the Trinity in the Bible is not for teaching but for our participation in the Triune God....This needs to be deeply impressed into us. Whenever we study a verse in the Bible concerning the Trinity, we should not be content to look for doctrinal teaching but must realize that this verse is for us to know how to participate in, enjoy, and experience the Triune God. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 3, "The Divine Trinity as Revealed in the Holy Word," pp. 209-210)

　　According to the entire revelation of the sixty-six books of the Bible, the Trinity of the Godhead is for God's dispensing. God's desire with His strong intention is to dispense Himself into His chosen people as their life, as their life supply, and as their everything. To do this, or to carry out this dispensing, He needs to be triune. Without His Trinity He has no way to carry out His divine dispensing. Therefore, His Trinity is absolutely for the divine dispensing. The first verse that clearly bears the denotation of the Divine Trinity is Genesis 1:26. When God was going to create man, there must have been a council in the Godhead (as the one revealed in Acts 2:23—see footnote 1, Recovery Version). In that conference They conversed in this way: "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness." This sounds very much like a talk in a council. In the creation of the heavens and the earth there was not such a council, such a talk, that referred to "Us." The "Us" is the Divine Trinity—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. The first mentioning of the Divine Trinity refers to the divine dispensing. God made man in His own image and according to His own likeness for the coming work of dispensing Himself into man. (CWWL, 1984, vol. 2, "Elders' Training, Book 3: The Way to Carry Out the Vision," pp. 302-303)

　　The Son as the Father's embodiment was still outside of us. He needed to become the Spirit so that He could abide in the believers. Now that we have the Spirit as the realization of the Son abiding in us, we also have the Father's embodiment and the Father as our object. Actually, the Father as our object is within us, because the object is embodied in the Son and the Son is realized as the Spirit who indwells us. If we have the Spirit, we have the Son, and if we have the Son, we have the Father. Thus, the three of the Divine Trinity are in us. (CWWL, 1988, vol. 1, "Living in and with the Divine Trinity," p. 303)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1983, vol. 3, "The Divine Trinity as Revealed in the Holy Word," ch. 1

«　WEEK 6　DAY 3　»

　　1 Thes. 5:23 And the God of peace Himself sanctify you wholly, and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

　　John 14:23 Jesus answered and said to him, If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make an abode with him.

　　Because man is a tripartite being—having a body, a soul, and a spirit—he may be considered as a "human trinity." Unlike the Divine Trinity, within the "human trinity" there is always fighting. The Bible says that the flesh, our body, lusts or fights against our spirit, which is mingled with the divine Spirit (Gal. 5:17). Our flesh also fights with our mind (Rom. 7:23). The flesh fights against the logical soul, which desires to do the right thing....Whenever our soul desires to do good, the sin in our evil flesh rises up to fight against our soul (vv. 18-21). We also have the Lord Jesus within us, dwelling in our spirit (2 Tim. 4:22). This causes us further trouble because He says no to the flesh, and most of the time He says no to the soul.

　　Due to the warfare within us, we must learn to cooperate with the Divine Trinity. (CWWL, 1990, vol. 2, "Messages to the Trainees in Fall 1990," p. 478)

　　The Divine Trinity is the model of our Christian life. Among the Divine Trinity there is no warfare. The Father is happy to exalt the Son, the Son is very willing to subject Himself to the Father, and the Spirit is willing to testify concerning the Son. Our "human trinity" is not like this. Therefore, we need a Savior. This Savior is the Divine Trinity, who has come into our spirit. After we are saved, our "human trinity" needs to follow the indwelling Divine Trinity....Eventually, our entire being—spirit, soul, and body—will glorify the Divine Trinity. This cooperation with the indwelling Trinity will result in His glorification, His expression, and His manifestation.

　　Even though we make choices and decisions with our soul, we still cannot act with our soul alone. When the Son did things, He did not do them according to His own will but according to the Father's will. In the same way, our soul should do things not according to its own will but according to the spirit's will. This is our life after we are saved. After we were saved, the Divine Trinity was added to our tripartite being. Instead of exchanging lives with the Divine Trinity, we have been and are being mingled together with Him....The Christian life is the "human trinity"—the body, the soul, and the spirit—mingled together with the Divine Trinity. These two "trinities" are mingled together as one.

　　In our Christian life, God uses four instruments to mingle us with the Divine Trinity: the divine life, the cross, the Spirit, and the Word. These are the Lord's divine provisions....Therefore, we must always have fellowship with the Spirit in the divine life through the cross and through the Word. For this reason we must join ourselves to the holy Word every day, accept the dealing of the cross, and be one with the Spirit so that we may participate in the divine life. (CWWL, 1990, vol. 2, "Messages to the Trainees in Fall 1990," pp. 478-480)

　　Apparently, the book of Numbers is a record of the numbering of God's people and their journey in the wilderness. Actually, such a record is structured with the Divine Trinity....The intrinsic reality of the record in Numbers is the Divine Trinity, as revealed in the separation of the Nazarite, Jehovah's threefold blessing to His people, the function of the tabernacle and the altar, God's continual presence with His people in their journey, and the thirst-quenching rock that followed them as they followed God. This reveals how crucial the Trinity is. The Divine Trinity is our way to follow the Lord, our way to serve Him, and our way to be supplied with life. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 3, "The Divine Trinity as Revealed in the Holy Word," pp. 274-275)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1990, vol. 2, "Messages to the Trainees in Fall 1990," ch. 6

«　WEEK 6　DAY 4　»

　　John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

　　14 And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us (and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only Begotten from the Father), full of grace and reality.

　　The picture portrayed in Numbers chapter 1 shows us the entire New Testament, from the incarnation of the Triune God to be a man, living and dwelling among men, to the consummation of the incarnation, the New Jerusalem.

　　To see the incarnation of the Triune God in Numbers 1 is difficult, because we do not have such a concept. If we would see the incarnation of the Triune God in this chapter, we need to consider the matter of the tabernacle with the Ark. Within the tabernacle was the Ark, and within the Ark was the law. The law is called "the Testimony" (17:4, 10). The law is a testimony of God because it testifies, shows us, God. Thus, it is actually God who is the center. However, here we do not have God merely in Himself but God in an Ark made of acacia wood overlaid with gold. This Ark, being one entity of two elements, wood and gold, typifies Christ in His humanity with His divinity. (Life-study of Numbers, p. 9)

　　The word incarnation is not in Numbers chapter 1, but the picture is here. In this picture of the tabernacle with the Ark, we see the Triune God incarnated to be a man living among men. The tabernacle was built with forty-eight boards. First, the number forty-eight is composed of six multiplied by eight, which signifies man (six) in resurrection (eight). Second, forty-eight is composed of twelve multiplied by four, which signifies the Triune God (contained in the number twelve, composed of three multiplied by four) in His creature (four). Therefore, this picture shows the Triune God incarnated to be a man living among men. Here we see the Triune God, we see man, and we see the Triune God dwelling among men.

　　Numbers 1 affords us a picture of the New Testament from the incarnation to the New Jerusalem. This is actually a summary of the history of the church, which began with the incarnation and will consummate with the New Jerusalem. In type, the history of Israel from Numbers through Malachi, which includes things that are both very good and encouraging and very poor and discouraging, portrays the history of the church.

　　In the picture in Numbers, God is in the center; that is, God is in the Ark, in Christ. God is no longer just in the heavens; He is also on the earth, in a man who is His embodiment. This man who is the embodiment of God is Jesus Christ (Col. 2:9). Such a man is constituted with two elements, a golden element and a wooden element. He is a "gold-wood" man, a God-man.

　　Now this wonderful One, the Triune God incarnated to be embodied as a man, has been expanded, increased, and enlarged. In His expansion and enlargement, Christ has become the tabernacle, God's dwelling place. As such a tabernacle, He is enterable.

　　When God was in Christ only, no one could enter into Him. Without Christ's expansion, no one could enter into God. But now, in His expansion into a tabernacle, Christ is not only God's dwelling place but also the place where we can enter into God. Today we can enter into God, taking Christ as our life that He may be the meaning of our life. As He is our life to be the meaning of life to us, He is our testimony. We live Him, express Him, and show Him in every aspect and in every direction. Then He spontaneously becomes our center. Therefore, Christ today is our meaning of life, our testimony, and our center.

　　Christ, the embodiment of God, has been enlarged into a habitation in which God dwells and into which we enter. In this enlarged Body of Christ, God has a dwelling place, and we have a place where we can enter into God, meet with God, and even be mingled with God. (Life-study of Numbers, pp. 9-11)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Numbers, msgs. 2, 14

«　WEEK 6　DAY 5　»

　　Num. 6:13 Now this is the law of the Nazarite when the days of his separation are fulfilled: He shall be brought to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting.

　　17 And he shall offer the ram for a sacrifice of peace offerings to Jehovah, with the basket of unleavened bread. The priest shall also offer its meal offering and its drink offering.

　　In the Old Testament God ordained that the descendants of Aaron would be the priests. Thus, some were born into the priesthood according to God's selection. However, the door was not closed for others who desired to serve God, for God also established the principle of the Nazarite. If those who were not born into the priesthood had a heart to serve God, they could volunteer as Nazarites. Samuel was a Nazarite. He was not born a priest, but by becoming a Nazarite, he eventually acted and served as a priest (1 Sam. 1—3). The Aaronic priests were chosen by God, but the Nazarites volunteered themselves. These two principles still exist in the church life today. On the one hand, we are chosen by God (Eph. 1:4); on the other hand, we need to volunteer as Nazarites in order to serve as priests. Although we know that we are chosen by God, in our actual service we do not have much consciousness of being chosen. Instead, when we serve in the church life, we are mainly conscious of the need to volunteer. The Lord Jesus was the real Nazarite. As His followers, we need to volunteer to serve God. Romans 12:1-2 speaks about voluntarily offering ourselves and being separated from the world unto God. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 3, "The Divine Trinity as Revealed in the Holy Word," pp. 267-268)

　　To be a Nazarite means to volunteer oneself, yet only recently did I see that the Trinity is altogether involved with the separation of the Nazarite. In the separation of the Nazarite there was the need of several offerings—the burnt offering, the sin offering, the peace offering, and the meal offering of different kinds of cakes anointed and mingled with oil. These four kinds of offerings were basic to the separation of the Nazarite.

　　[In Numbers 6:13] the Tent of Meeting refers to Christ as the dwelling place of God and the meeting place of His people. Every instance of enjoying the Trinity that we have seen throughout Exodus and Leviticus is at the Tent of Meeting. We must never leave Christ as the Tent of Meeting, because He is the ground and sphere for our enjoyment of the Divine Trinity.

　　The Old Testament almost always uses the expression offering to Jehovah [v. 14]; very rarely does it use the expression offering to God. The divine title Jehovah bears two primary characteristics in the Old Testament. It denotes God's relationship with man, and it denotes the Trinity. We have seen that in Exodus 3:6 Jehovah said, "I am...the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." Jehovah identified Himself as the God of three generations, a threefold God, implying the Divine Trinity. Thus, in the separation of the Nazarite in Numbers 6, Jehovah is the Triune God.

　　With the consecration of the priests in Leviticus 1—7 there was the burnt offering, the sin offering, the peace offering, and the meal offering but no drink offering, but with the separation of the Nazarite the drink offering was included. This indicates that if we serve God based only on His selection, we may satisfy God, but we must volunteer to serve God to give Him pleasure.

　　The separation of the Nazarite was so that he might participate in the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity in type. Even before a Nazarite began serving, he participated in the riches of the Trinity when he separated himself from the world unto God. According to the charge in Romans 12:1, we need to voluntarily consecrate ourselves to God, and the types in the separation of the Nazarite in Numbers 6 show that the Divine Trinity is fully involved in our consecration. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 3, "The Divine Trinity as Revealed in the Holy Word," pp. 268, 270)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Numbers, msgs. 49-50

«　WEEK 6　DAY 6　»

　　Num. 9:15-17 ...The cloud covered the tabernacle, the Tent of the Testimony;...so it was always; the cloud covered it by day, and the appearance of fire by night. And whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tent, then after that the children of Israel set out; and in the place where the cloud settled, there the children of Israel encamped.

　　Three books [Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers] are one record. The first part of this record, Exodus, stresses the tabernacle; the second part, Leviticus, stresses the priesthood; and the third part, Numbers, stresses the function of the tabernacle and the altar and the service of the priesthood. The tabernacle and the altar were set up in the last chapter of Exodus, but their function began in Numbers 7 with the offerings for the dedication of the altar. This dedication was for the tabernacle with all its furnishings and the altar with all its utensils to be put into function through the dispensing of the Divine Trinity so that God's redeemed people could enjoy the riches of the Divine Trinity all the time through all their generations. The beginning of the function of the tabernacle and the altar altogether involved the Divine Trinity. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 3, "The Divine Trinity as Revealed in the Holy Word," pp. 272-273)

　　The cloud typifies the Spirit in the day, and the fire typifies the Spirit in the night. The tabernacle typifies Christ as God's dwelling among His people. Jehovah is the Triune God.

　　The cloud and the fire covering the tabernacle indicate that the Divine Trinity is for God's people to stay or to journey so that they may enjoy the riches of the Divine Trinity all the time and all the way. When they remained and when they journeyed, God's presence was with them as the Trinity. God is sometimes objective to us, but the Trinity is always subjective. In other words, when we experience God, He is the Trinity. The Trinity is not for doctrinal knowledge of the Godhead but for the experience and enjoyment of God by His people.

　　Numbers 20:6-8 says, "The glory of Jehovah appeared to them. Then Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, Take the rod...and speak to the rock before their eyes, so that it yields its water."...In these verses glory is God expressed, and Jehovah is the Triune God. The rock typifies the crucified Christ following God's people [1 Cor. 10:4b]....Christ today as the Spirit follows us everywhere. The water typifies the Spirit of life (v. 4a; John 7:38-39). This water began to flow out of the smitten rock in Exodus 17 and continued in Numbers 20. According to Paul's word in 1 Corinthians 10:4, the rock must have followed the children of Israel and flowed out water to quench their thirst throughout their journey in the wilderness for forty years. The Spirit as the living water flowing out of Christ as the smitten rock is the flowing out of the Triune God, and the issue of this flow is the conclusion of the entire Bible. The river of water of life that proceeds out of the throne of God with the tree of life growing alongside in Revelation 22:1-2 is the flowing out of the Triune God. This is a great matter. The smitten rock in Numbers 20 shows that the Divine Trinity follows God's people on their journey to quench their thirst so that they may enjoy the riches of the divine life.

　　The five cases we have considered in Numbers—the separation of the Nazarite, the threefold blessing of Jehovah to His people, the function of the tabernacle and the offerings, the cloud and the fire covering the tabernacle, and the smitten rock—all involve the Triune God. We need the Divine Trinity for our consecration as Nazarites. The Trinity is the structure and content of the divine blessing to us. We need the Trinity for the function of the tabernacle and the altar. We need the Trinity as God's presence to stay with us, journey with us, and guide us. We need the Trinity to be the source of living water that always follows us to quench our thirst. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 3, "The Divine Trinity as Revealed in the Holy Word," pp. 273-274)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1983, vol. 3, "The Divine Trinity as Revealed in the Holy Word," ch. 8