Outline

«　WEEK 5　DAY 1　»

　　Job 10:13 But You have hidden these things in Your heart; I know that this is with You.

　　Eph. 3:9 And to enlighten all that they may see what the economy of the mystery is, which throughout the ages has been hidden in God, who created all things.

　　17 That Christ may make His home in your hearts through faith…

　　Job said to God, “Make known to me why You contend with me” (Job 10:2b). In verse 13 he went on to say, “You have hidden these things in Your heart; / I know that this is with You.” This indicates that Job could not find the reason for God’s treatment of him, but he believed that there had to be some reason hidden in God’s heart. Job was right; something was hidden in God’s heart. Ephesians 3:9 tells us of the mystery hidden in God. This is the mystery of the ages. (Life-study of Job, pp. 48-49)

　　According to Job 38:7, the angels of God (the sons of God) shouted for joy when God laid the foundations of the earth. The angels might have wondered what God’s purpose was in creating the earth and man. Adam himself did not know why God created him in His image, according to His likeness (Gen. 1:26)…The Creator did a lot in His creation, but before the New Testament time He did not unveil to anyone what His purpose was. The hidden mystery is that God in His Divine Trinity desires to be dispensed and wrought into His creation, man, to make man His duplication, to make man His expression. Not knowing this, Job misunderstood God and thought that God was angry with him and was judging him and punishing him. God’s intention was not to judge Job or to punish him but to tear him down and then rebuild him with Himself. God knew that after Job had passed through a time of suffering, he would be rebuilt and become another person—a new man in God’s new creation. This is the answer to Job, to the book of Job, and to Job’s vindication.

　　The Bible…is for only one thing: for God in Christ by the Spirit to dispense Himself into us to be our life, our nature, and our everything that we may live Christ and express Christ. This should be the principle that governs our life. In a practical way, it should be today’s tree of life for our enjoyment. The Bible is not mainly a book of prophecy, teaching, or types. The Bible is a book of God’s economy…The Bible is on Christ in God’s economy. God’s economy is to dispense Himself in His Divine Trinity in Christ by the Spirit into us that we may have Him as our life, nature, and everything. When we experience this, it is no longer we who live, but it is Christ who lives in us (Gal. 2:20). This is the tree of life.

　　Job was in the primitive stage of the divine revelation…God had many things within Himself, but He could not unveil them to Job. God could not speak to Job about these things. The word of the Lord Jesus to Nicodemus regarding regeneration can also be applied to Job’s situation: “If I told you of the things on earth and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you of the things in heaven?” (John 3:12). As John 16:12 and 13 reveal, the Lord Jesus was even limited in what He could say to His disciples: “I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. But when He, the Spirit of reality, comes, He will guide you into all the reality; for He will not speak from Himself, but what He hears He will speak; and He will declare to you the things that are coming.”…Today, following Paul, we speak of such matters as God’s economy, the divine dispensing, and the all-inclusive Spirit as the consummation of the processed and consummated Triune God.

　　God’s move from the incarnation to the consummation of the New Jerusalem involves many spiritual things, including regeneration, renewing, sanctification, transformation, glorification, and transfiguration. Because Job was in the primitive stage of the divine revelation, he could not understand any of these things. (Life-study of Job, pp. 49-50, 156)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Job, msg. 30