Scripture Reading: Ezek. 14:14, 20; Gen. 6:8; Matt. 24:37-39; Dan. 2:34-35; Job 42:5-6
Ⅰ
Noah, Daniel, and Job are patterns revealing how we can live an overcoming life on the line of life to fulfill the economy of God; this is to live and work according to the vision of the age to change the age—Ezek. 14:14, 20; Gen. 2:9; Rev. 2:7; 22:1-2; Matt. 24:37-39, 45-51; Dan. 2:34-35; Acts 26:19; 2 Tim. 4:8.
Ⅱ
The lives of Noah, Daniel, and Job reveal the Triune God dispensing Himself, working Himself, into His chosen and redeemed people to fulfill His eternal economy; the entire Bible was written according to the governing principle of the Triune God dispensing Himself into us for us to experience Him, enjoy Him, and express Him for the fulfillment of His divine economy—cf. 1 Tim. 1:3-4; Eph. 3:2; 1 Pet. 4:10; Psa. 36:8-9; 2 Cor. 13:14; Eph. 3:16-19:
A
With Noah we see God the Father in His faithfulness to keep His eternal covenant (signified by the rainbow), which is His eternal economy to dispense the all-inclusive Christ into His chosen people as righteousness, holiness, and glory to make them the wise exhibition of all that Christ is—Gen. 3:24; 9:8-17; Ezek. 1:26-28; 36:22-38; Matt. 26:28; Heb. 8:8-12; 1 Cor. 1:9, 24-30; 2:9-10; Eph. 2:10; 5:25-27; Rev. 4:3; 21:18-20.
B
With Daniel we see that Christ the Son is the centrality and universality of God’s move and that the goal of God’s eternal economy is to have the corporate Christ, Christ with His overcomers, as the crushing stone to be His dispensational instrument to end this age and become a great mountain to fill the whole earth, making the whole earth God’s kingdom—Dan. 2:31-45; 7:13-14; 10:4-9; Joel 3:11; Rev. 12:1-2, 5, 11; 19:7-21.
C
With Job we see God the Spirit bringing His lovers through the process of transformation by the renewing of the Holy Spirit in their seeing God to gain God and be transformed by God to carry out what is in the heart of God by becoming God in life, in nature, and in appearance but not in the Godhead for the corporate expression of God, the glory of God—Job 10:13; 42:5-6; Eph. 3:9; Matt. 5:8; 2 Cor. 3:16-18; Titus 3:5; 1 Cor. 10:31; Eph. 3:20-21; Rev. 21:10-11.
Ⅲ
“But Noah found grace in the sight of Jehovah”—Gen. 6:8:
A
Noah’s life and work reveal how much grace can do for fallen people; grace is the wonderful Christ as our burden bearer, doing everything in us on our behalf for our enjoyment—vv. 1-14; Matt. 24:37-39; 2 Cor. 12:7-9:
１
The flesh is the presence of the devil, and grace is the presence of God; in order for us to face the presence of Satan, we need the presence of God—Gen. 6:3, 8; Rom. 7:17-21; Heb. 4:16; 1 Cor. 15:10.
２
The issue of grace is righteousness; by the power of grace, the strength of grace, and the life of grace, we can be right with God, with one another, and even with ourselves—Rom. 5:17, 21; 2 Pet. 2:5.
B
Noah walked with God and built the ark for the carrying out of the divine economy—Gen.6:8-22; Heb. 11:7; 1 Pet. 3:20-21; Matt. 16:18:
１
The first building of God in the Scriptures is Noah’s ark, signifying Christ as the building of God and man; God’s building is a God-man—John 1:14; 2:19; 1 Cor. 3:9, 16-17; Rev. 21:2, 22; Eph. 2:22; Psa. 27:4.
２
The building of the ark typifies the building of the corporate Christ, the church as the Body of Christ, with the element of Christ’s riches as the building material—Matt. 16:18; 1 Cor. 3:9-12a; Eph. 3:8-10; 4:12.
３
The three stories of the ark signify the Triune God according to our experience of Him; the Spirit, signified by the lower story, brings us to the Son (1 Pet. 1:2; John 16:8, 13-15), and the Son brings us higher in our experience to the Father (14:6; Eph. 2:18; 1 John 1:5; 4:8).
４
On the third story of the ark there was only one window, toward the heavens, signifying that in the church, God’s building, there is only one revelation and one vision through the one New Testament ministry—Gen. 6:16; Acts 26:19; Prov. 29:18a; 1 Tim. 1:3-4; 2 Cor. 3:6-9; 4:1.
Ⅳ
Daniel shows us that we must redeem the time to enjoy Christ as the supreme preciousness of God for us to be constituted with Him to be men of preciousness, even preciousness itself, as His personal treasure—Dan. 9:23; 10:11, 19; 1 Pet. 2:7; Exo. 19:4-6:
A
The excellent Christ appeared to Daniel in His supreme preciousness as a man for his appreciation, consolation, encouragement, expectation, and stabilization—Dan. 10:4-9:
１
Christ appeared as a Priest in His humanity, signified by the linen robe, to care for His chosen people in their captivity—v. 5a; Exo. 28:31-35.
２
Christ appeared in His kingship in His divinity, signified by the girdle of gold, for ruling over all the peoples—Dan. 10:5b.
３
For His people’s appreciation, Christ appeared in His preciousness and dignity, as signified by His body being like beryl; the Hebrew word for beryl could refer to a bluish-green or yellow precious stone, signifying that Christ in His embodiment is divine (yellow), full of life (green), and heavenly (blue)—v. 6a.
４
Christ also appeared in His brightness for shining over the people, as signified by His face being like the appearance of lightning (v. 6b), and in His enlightening sight for searching and judging, as signified by His eyes being like torches of fire (v. 6c).
５
Christ appeared in the gleam of His work and move, as signified by His arms and His feet being like the gleam of polished bronze—v. 6d.
６
Christ appeared in His strong speaking for judging people, as signified by the sound of His words being like the sound of a multitude—v. 6e.
B
Daniel received the revelation that the entire world situation is under the rule of the heavens by the God of the heavens in order to give Christ the preeminence, the first place, in everything—2:34-35, 44-45; 7:9-10; 4:34-35; Col. 1:15, 17-18; Rev. 2:4-5.
Ⅴ
“Then Jehovah answered Job” (Job 38:1a); “then Job answered Jehovah” (42:1a); “and Jehovah turned the captivity of Job” (v. 10a):
A
The logic of Job’s friends was according to the line of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in their thinking that Job’s sufferings were a matter of God’s judgment; however, Job’s sufferings were God’s consuming that God might gain Job so that he might gain God more—9:15; 11:12; 13:4; Phil. 3:8, 12-13:
１
God’s intention with Job was to tear down the natural Job in his perfection and uprightness that He might build up a renewed Job in God’s nature and attributes—Job 1:1; Titus 3:5.
２
God’s intention was to usher Job into a deeper seeking after God that Job might realize that what he was short of in his human life was God Himself and that he might pursue God, gain God, and express God—Col. 2:19.
３
God’s intention was to have a Job in the line of the tree of life and to make Job a man of God— Gen. 2:9; 1 Tim. 6:11; 2 Tim. 3:17; Eph. 3:14-21.
B
Job reveals that the Bible of sixty-six books 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—Job 10:13; Eph. 3:9; Phil. 3:8-9; Eph. 1:22-23; 2:15; Rev. 21:2.
C
The way to live and work in this principle is to be and do everything by the Spirit, with the Spirit, in the Spirit, and through the Spirit by exercising our spirit—Gal. 5:25; Rom. 8:4; Phil. 3:3; Rev. 2:7; 22:17a.