Ⅰ
We need to see that the central matter in the Bible is the divine economy with the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity into the believers in Christ for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ, which will consummate in the New Jerusalem as the eternal, corporate expression of the Triune God—1 Tim. 1:3-5; Eph. 3:14-21; 4:16; Rev. 21:2, 10-11:
A
The divine economy is God’s household administration to dispense Himself in His Divine Trinity into His chosen people so that they may be transformed for the producing of the church, which is the Body of Christ, the house of God, the kingdom of God, and the counterpart of Christ, the ultimate aggregate of which is the New Jerusalem—1 Tim. 1:3-4; John 1:14, 29; Acts 2:24; 1 Cor. 12:12-13; 15:45b; 1 Tim. 3:15; Rev. 5:10; 21:2.
B
Everything that is mentioned in the New Testament concerning God is related to the divine dispensing for the divine economy; the accomplishment of the divine economy is by the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity—Rom. 8:3, 11; Eph. 1:3-23; 2 Cor. 13:14; Eph. 3:14-21.
C
The entire Bible was written according to the controlling vision that the Triune God is working Himself into His chosen and redeemed people to be their life and life supply in order to saturate their entire being with the Divine Trinity, that is, with the Father as the fountain, the Son as the fatness, and the Spirit as the river—Psa. 36:8-9.
Morning Nourishment
Psa. 36:8-9 They are saturated with the fatness of Your house, and You cause them to drink of the river of Your pleasures. For with You is the fountain of life; in Your light we see light.1 Tim. 1:4 …Give heed to…God’s economy, which is in faith.
[Psalm 36:8a] is a figurative speaking of Christ being the rich sacrifices through His death, and this is the fatness of God’s house. Verse 8 also tells us that the Lord causes us to drink of the river of His pleasures. The fatness refers to Christ, and the river refers to the Spirit. Then verse 9… refers to God the Father as the source, as the fountain, not the spring. The fountain is the real source, whereas the spring is the springing up, the bubbling up, of the fountain. The fountain of life refers to the Father as the very source of life. Verse 9 continues to say, “In Your light we see light.” Light also refers to the Father. The Father is not only the source of life but also the source of light. Life comes first and then light. This corresponds with John 1:4: “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.” Even in such a short portion of the Word, in the poetry of the ancient psalmist, we can see the Divine Trinity. We can see Christ as the fatness, the Spirit as the river, and the Father as the source of life and light. This is marvelous! (CWWL, 1984, vol. 2, “Elders’ Training, Book 2: The Vision of the Lord’s Recovery,” p. 227)
Today’s Reading
The only way we could interpret Psalm 36:8-9… is by the governing vision—the Triune God is working Himself into His chosen and redeemed people to be their life and life supply, to saturate their entire being with the Divine Trinity, that is, with the Father as the fountain, the Son as the fatness, and the Spirit as the river. This is the vision that should govern and direct how you interpret any portion of the Bible….Without such a vision you may present a good message based on Psalm 36:8-9, yet it will be so shallow, touching nothing of the Divine Trinity. Even if you were to go to Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible and discover that the fatness refers to the fatty ashes of the sacrifices, without such a vision you would never think that this refers to Christ. You must have the governing principle. Then when you see the word sacrifices, you would be so clear that this refers to the second of the Divine Trinity, Christ. Then it would also be easy for you to understand the river of God’s pleasures. Without such a vision it is not so easy to understand what this river is. Romans 14:17 refers back to this river when it tells us that the kingdom of God is “righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” The joy in the Holy Spirit is the river of pleasures, or we could say the river of pleasures is the Spirit of joy….When we pick up this key, we can open up every part of the Bible.Every book of the Bible confirms our understanding of this Scripture passage because the entire Bible was written according to the principle of the Triune God wrought into His redeemed people as their enjoyment, their drink, and their fountain of life and light. The application of this principle in interpreting any portion of the New Testament is endless. Then our message, using any portion, will be greatly enriched. It will be full of the fatness, full of the flowing of the river of pleasures, and full of the fountain of life and of light. Our message and our ministry will be different. There will be an intrinsic principle within and governing whatever we speak, teach, and preach. This is my burden. Merely to read the lines of a Life-study to pick up some points and titles from a message will not work. We have not been constituted with such a principle, and this principle has not become a vision to us. We may have eyes to read the Bible and a mind to understand it, but we do not have the key to open it. We need the key. (CWWL, 1984, vol. 2, “Elders’ Training, Book 2: The Vision of the Lord’s Recovery,” pp. 229-230)
Further Reading: CWWL, 1988, vol. 1, “Living in and with the Divine Trinity,” chs. 2-4, 7; CWWL, 1991-1992, vol. 1, “The Central Line of the Divine Revelation,” chs. 3-4