CHRIST AS THE CENTRALITY
AND UNIVERSALITY IN GOD’S ECONOMY
After Christ has married His bride, He will come as the stone cut out without hands and will crush the great human image from the toes to the head, destroying the human government which fights against God directly. Through this crushing the whole earth will be cleared up. The problem of the human government in the old creation will be solved. Then Christ will increase from a stone to a great mountain that fills the whole earth (Dan. 2:35). In this way Christ will be the centrality and the universality in God’s economy.
The stone refers to Christ as the centrality, and the mountain refers to Him as the universality. As the stone He is the center, the centrality; as the mountain He is the circumference, the universality. Today Christ must be the centrality and universality in our church life, family life, and daily life. If Christ is our centrality and universality in this way, He will also be the centrality and universality in God’s economy and in God’s move.
ALL KINGS AND KINGDOMS
BEING UNDER GOD’S ADMINISTRATION
The book of Daniel shows us that all the kings and kingdoms of the world are under God’s administration. Consider the situation of the Babylonian Empire under Nebuchadnezzar. First, he became a co-regent with his father and reigned with him. As such a co-regent he destroyed the city of Jerusalem in 606 B.C. Then about 604 B.C. he became king and reigned until 561 B.C. Eventually he was replaced by his son and then by his grandson, Belshazzar, whose debauchery in Daniel 5 was an insult to God and who was slain in 538 B.C. At that time the Babylonian Empire came to an end, and Darius the Mede received the kingdom at the age of sixty-two. Darius was a subordinate king to Cyrus (see Daniel 8). In 536 B.C. Cyrus issued the decree that released the captives of Israel to return to Judah, thus ending the seventy years which God had apportioned for the Israelites to remain in Babylon. Therefore, God used the Babylonian Empire for the purpose of carrying His corrupted and defeated elect into captivity. After the seventy years of their captivity, God caused the Medes and the Persians to become one for the purpose of ending the Babylonian Empire and of releasing His people from their captivity in Babylon. This is an illustration of how all kings and kingdoms are under God’s administration.
In the book of Isaiah, Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon are condemned, but Cyrus is highly regarded. Isaiah 14 reveals the oneness of Satan and Babylon. In the eyes of the prophet Isaiah, Nebuchadnezzar was one with Satan. Concerning Cyrus, on the contrary, Isaiah says that God delighted in him and even made him a shepherd to care for His people. In the first year of his reign, Cyrus proclaimed the return of God’s people to Judah (Ezra 1:1-4). He also arranged for the vessels of the house of God which Nebuchadnezzar had brought to Babylon to be returned to Jerusalem. Thus, Cyrus is presented in a very positive way. Nevertheless, he was still part of the great image, that is, a part of the human government which will consummate in Antichrist, who will fight against God directly. This exposes how evil the human government is.
CHRIST PREPARING EVERYTHING
FOR HIS COMING BACK
TO EXERCISE HIS DOMINION ON EARTH
In order to deal with this evil human government, Christ as the Son of Man must receive the kingdom (Dan. 7:13-14). On the one hand, Christ is in the heavens as the One who has received the kingdom. On the other hand, Christ is in us as the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b). As our Redeemer, He terminated the old creation by His crucifixion. As the One in resurrection, He has germinated the new creation, and today He is working within us as His new creation. He is also our Companion in the burning furnace (Dan. 3). As such a wonderful One, He is preparing everything for His coming back to exercise His dominion over the whole earth.
(Life-Study of Daniel, Chapter 13, by Witness Lee)
