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According to the desire of His heart, God's eternal economy is to make man the same as He is in life and nature but not in the Godhead and to make Himself one with man and man one with Him, thus to be enlarged and expanded in His expression, that all His divine attributes may be expressed in human virtues—John 1:12-14; 1 John 3:1a, 2; 2 Pet. 1:4.
H
The divine economy is to produce the new creation out of the chaotic old creation—Gal. 6:15; 2 Cor. 5:17:
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The history of the universe is a history of God's economy and Satan's chaos—Gen. 1:1-2, 26; Rev. 20:10—21:4.
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Both in the Bible and in our experience, the satanic chaos always goes along with the divine economy—Eph. 3:8-10; 4:14-16; 6:24.
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The Lord needs the overcomers, who will be one with Him to conquer the destructive satanic chaos and to triumph in the constructive divine economy—Rev. 2:7b, 11b, 17b, 26-28; 3:5, 12, 21.
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The Lord's recovery is for the carrying out of God's economy—Eph. 3:2.
Morning Nourishment
Rev. 2:17 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, to him I will give of the hidden manna…3:21 He who overcomes, to him I will give to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat with My Father on His throne.
The divine economy is to produce the new creation out of the chaotic old creation. This producing of the new creation will continue until the end of the millennium (Rev. 20). That will be the time for the new heaven and the new earth to appear with the New Jerusalem. The New Jerusalem, the holy city, will be the consummation of the divine economy. The New Jerusalem will be the enlargement and consummation of today’s church life… In the church life we experience the divine economy with the help of the satanic chaos. The satanic chaos helps our Christian life and also our church life.
Christ’s first coming, or the first part of Christ’s coming, initiated the New Testament economy. His second coming, or the second part of His coming, will consummate the New Testament economy. Between the initiation and the consummation, there is the long period of the church life. The church life is also a part of Christ’s coming. Christ has come, yet His coming is still taking place in the church life. The process of the church life is the process of Christ’s coming.
Today we are experiencing the church life, which is the process of Christ’s coming. Every time a sinner is baptized, that is a further step of Christ’s coming. Likewise, our growth in life is the advancement, the furthering, of His coming. (CWWL, 1991-1992, vol. 3, “The Satanic Chaos in the Old Creation and the Divine Economy for the New Creation,” pp. 241-242)
Today’s Reading
We have to enjoy Christ as the hidden manna, a special portion of the nourishing supply, to overcome the worldliness of the degraded church with the idolatrous teaching of Balaam and the hierarchical teaching of the Nicolaitans (Rev. 2:12-17a). The Lord gave manna to the children of Israel openly. Every morning around their camp the manna was there in an open way for them to eat (Exo. 16:14-18). But a small portion of this manna was preserved in a golden pot within the Ark in the tabernacle (v. 33; Heb. 9:4). That is the hidden manna. The open manna is Christ as the common portion to all of God’s people for them to enjoy in a public way. The hidden manna, signifying the hidden Christ, is a special portion reserved for His overcoming seekers, who overcome the degradation of the worldly church.We must have some deeper experience of Christ. Our experience of Christ should not merely be openly in the meetings but hiddenly in the Holy of Holies, even in Christ Himself as the Ark, the testimony of God.
In the Lord’s recovery we have to overcome the clergy-laity system. All of us have the position as members of the Body of Christ to speak for the Lord. If someone asks us who our pastor is, we should say that everyone among us is a “pastor.” All of us can speak for the Lord and teach the truth. Our speaking for the Lord in the meetings is the annulling of the hierarchy.
We need to be hot, even burning, instead of being lukewarm, to buy gold refined by fire, white garments, and eyesalve, that we may not be spewed out of the Lord’s mouth but may be invited to dine with the Lord and to sit with Him on His throne (Rev. 3:15-21). We need to be those who dine, who feast, with the Lord in this age so that we can sit on the throne with the Lord in the kingdom age. To sit with the Lord on His throne will be a prize to the overcomer so that he may participate in the Lord’s authority and be a co-king with Him to rule over the whole earth in the coming millennial kingdom. (CWWL, 1991-1992, vol. 3, “The Satanic Chaos in the Old Creation and the Divine Economy for the New Creation,” pp. 258-259, 261)
Further Reading: CWWL, 1984, vol. 3, “The Divine Economy,” ch. 1; CWWL, 1990, vol. 3, “The Economy and Dispensing of God,” ch. 1