I. A SECRET REVELATION
CONCERNING THE ENJOYMENT
OF THE INCARNATED TRIUNE GOD
We have pointed out that in Psalm 84 there is a secret revelation concerning our enjoyment of the incarnated Triune God. Although many Christians talk about and even debate regarding the Trinity, not many enjoy the incarnated Triune God. We thank the Lord that in the recovery, in the church life, the Christ we enjoy is the incarnated Triune God.
We need to see that Christ is not only the embodiment of God but also that Christ is the incarnated Triune God. In this Christ we have God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit. The Father, the Son, and the Spirit coexist and also coinhere, that is, they dwell in one another. The Father is in the Son, and the Son is in the Father. The Father and the Son are in the Spirit, and the Spirit is in the Father and in the Son. In this way the three of the Triune God coinhere. Furthermore, in Christ the Triune God has passed through a long process to become the processed and consummated Triune God. This is Christ as our enjoyment and as our portion allotted to us by God (Col. 1:12).
A. The Center of This Secret Revelation—
the House of God
The center of this secret revelation is the house of God (Psa. 84:4, 10a), typified by the tabernacle (Exo. 40:2-8) and by the temple (1 Kings 6:1-3; 8:3-11). Both of these types have been fulfilled in Christ.
B. A Diagram of the Layout of the House of God
At this point, I would ask you to consider the diagram of the layout of the house of God printed on the next page. In this diagram we see the main items of our enjoyment of Christ as the incarnated Triune God.
The diagram shows us that in the outer court there are two items: the first altar, the bronze altar, for the offering of the sacrifices, and the laver, a large basin containing water for washing. At the first altar, all of our problems before God are solved through the sacrifices, and we are saved. Why, then, do we still need the laver? To answer this question we need to see that God’s goal is not to solve our problems; God’s goal is to make us, the old creation, the new creation. In order to become the new creation, we need to be washed. Our old creation was made of the dust of the earth, and this dust needs to be washed away in the laver. Thus, Titus 3:5 says that God has saved us "through the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit." After we have experienced the altar and the laver, we are qualified to enter into the incarnated God, signified by the tabernacle.
In the Old Testament no one could enter into God. But in His incarnation God has become enterable. However, many of today’s Christians, not realizing that God is enterable, do not proceed from the first altar to the laver, and they do not enter into God. They may speak of fearing God, of exalting God, and of loving God but not of entering into God. Have you entered into God? We all need to pass through the first altar, come to the laver, and then enter into God.
Do you know who the enterable God is? Our enterable God is Christ, the God-man, the incarnated Triune God and the embodiment of the Triune God. When we enter into Him, we have the showbread table for the life supply and the lampstand for the light of life. This enables us to live and walk in the incarnated Triune God. I can testify that in these days I have been living and walking in the incarnated Triune God.
In the incarnated Triune God we have not only the showbread table and the lampstand but also the second altar, the incense altar, for the offering of the incense. The incense signifies Christ as our acceptance. At the first altar our problems before God are solved through Christ as the sacrifices. At the second altar Christ is the incense for us to be accepted by God.
The diagram of the layout of the house of God indicates that, according to the Old Testament, the incense altar was in front of the ark of the testimony. But there was a veil separating the incense altar in the Holy Place from the ark of the testimony in the Holy of Holies (Exo. 26:31-35). However, through the death of Christ this veil has been rent (Matt. 27:51; Heb. 10:20). Now there is no longer a separation between the incense altar and the ark of the testimony. They are one. This indicates that when we are accepted by God in Christ as our acceptance, we become God’s testimony to express, to manifest, God.
(Life-Study of Psalms, Chapter 33, by Witness Lee)
