Outline
ｊ
To be Godkind—God's species—John 1:12; Rom. 8:14, 16.
２
This divine-human romance is the subject of the entire Bible, the content of God's economy, and the secret of the entire universe—S. S. 1:1; 6:13.
Ⅱ
The high peak of the divine revelation—the "diamond" in the "box" of the Bible—is the revelation that in Christ God has become man in order that man might become God in life and nature but not in the Godhead—2 Sam. 7:12-14a; Rom. 1:3-4; Eph. 3:17a:
A
"God becoming man and man becoming God" is the economy of God—1 Tim. 1:4.
B
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—Eph. 3:9; 1:10:
１
God's good pleasure is to be one with man and to make man the same as He is in life and nature but not in the Godhead—vv. 5, 9.
２
God became man in order to have a mass reproduction of Himself and thereby to produce a new kind—God-man kind—John 1:1, 14; 12:24.
C
For the fulfillment of God's economy, we need God to build Himself in Christ into us as our life, our nature, and our constitution to make us God in life and nature but not in the Godhead—Eph. 3:17a; Col. 3:4, 10-11.
D
God became man through incarnation; man becomes God through regeneration, sanctification, renewing, transformation, conformation, and glorification—John 3:5-6; 1:12-13; Rom. 6:19, 22; 12:2; 8:29-30.
Morning Nourishment
Eph. 1:5 Predestinating us unto sonship through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will.John 12:24 Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless the grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it abides alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.
The eternal God in His eternity had a “dream” according to His heart’s desire, and He made a plan, which in the New Testament is called God’s economy (1 Tim. 1:4; Eph. 1:10; 3:9). Then God created the universe, making His heart’s desire (Adam) the center. This heart’s desire is nothing less than one who is the same kind as God is (Gen. 1:26), one who would reproduce and fill the whole earth (v. 28).
Two thousand years after Abraham, the choosing God became a man. This God-man, through His death and resurrection, has made a mass reproduction of Himself. He as the one grain became many grains (John 12:24). The many grains are ground into fine flour and blended together to become one loaf (1 Cor. 10:17). The Lord Jesus as the only begotten Son of God was the one grain, and He made us the many grains, His many “twins,” His many brothers (Rom. 8:29), to be blended into one loaf, one Body. Among us there is no difference in nationality, race, or social rank (Col. 3:11). We are a new kind, “God-man kind.” (Life-study of 1 & 2 Chronicles, pp. 23-24)
Today’s Reading
In Christ God and man have become one entity, the God-man. In God’s creation there was no mankind; there was only man as God’s kind. It was through man’s fall that mankind came into existence. Eventually, God became a man to have a mass reproduction of Himself and thereby to produce a new kind. This new kind is neither God’s kind nor mankind—it is God-man kind.When we think of ourselves as God-men, this thinking, this realization, revolutionizes us in our daily experience. For example, a brother may be unhappy with his wife. But he remembers that he is a God-man, and immediately his attitude is changed. Then he will desire to be a God-man husband.
As believers in Christ and children of God, we are not mankind—we are God-man kind. To realize this is to be changed, even revolutionized. When we realize that we are God-men, we will say, “Lord, You are the first God-man, and we are the many God-men following You. You lived a human life not by Your human life but by God’s divine life to express Him. His attributes became Your virtues. You were here on this earth dying every day. You were crucified to live. Lord, You are my life today and You are my person. You are just me. I therefore must die. I need to be conformed to Your death. I have to be crucified to die every day to live a God-man’s life, a human life yet not by my human life but by the divine life, with Your life and Your nature as my constitution to express You in Your divine attributes, which become my human virtues.” This makes us not just a Christian or a believer in Christ but a God-man, one kind with God. This is the highest point of God’s gospel.
According to this gospel, we were fallen, yet Christ died for us. If we believe in Him and receive Him, we will have the eternal life to be the sons of God. Christians today admit that all the believers in Christ are the sons of God or the children of God, but they do not dare admit that the believers in Christ are God. At the end of this age, we are teaching and preaching the truth that God became a man in order to make man God, the same as He is in life and in nature but not in the Godhead. It is a great blessing to hear this truth.
After hearing that God wants a group of God-men, how can you be content to be anything else?…We should all declare that we want to live the life of a God-man. Eventually, the God-men will be the victors, the overcomers, the Zion within Jerusalem. This will bring in a new revival that has never been seen in history, and this will end this age. (Life-study of 1 & 2 Chronicles, pp. 24, 27-28)
Further Reading: Life-study of 1 & 2 Chronicles, msg. 4