THE GIVING OF GOD’S
ONLY BEGOTTEN SON TO THE WORLD,
DISPENSING THE DIVINE LIFE TO MEN
John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that everyone who believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life." The giving of God’s only begotten Son to the world dispensed the divine life to men. God gave His Son to us not only that we may be saved through the Son, but even the more that He could dispense Himself into us. According to the Gospel of John, when the Son comes, He comes with the Father (8:29). Therefore, when the Father gave the Son to us, He gave Himself with the Son. When we receive the Son, we receive the Father. The giving of the Son of God to us is a matter of the divine dispensing.
THE DEATH OF THE INCARNATED SON,
RELEASING THE DIVINE LIFE WITHIN HIM
FOR THE DIVINE DISPENSING
The death of Christ on the cross was also a part of the divine dispensing. The death of the incarnated Son released the divine life within Him for the divine dispensing (John 12:24; 19:34). John 12:24 says, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it abides alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit." Within the shell of a grain of wheat is the life of the wheat. For the grain of wheat to die is to release the life within its shell. The life within the shell cannot be released until the shell is broken, and when it is broken, the life within is released to produce many grains. First, it is one grain alone; then it becomes many grains. This is the dispensing of the inner life of the one grain into the many grains. Jesus as the grain of wheat was the divine seed. The divine life was concealed in His "shell." When Jesus went to the cross and was put to death, He broke through the shell to release His inner life, the divine life, into His many believers, the many grains.
THE RESURRECTION OF THE CRUCIFIED SON,
IMPARTING THE DIVINE LIFE
INTO THE REGENERATED BELIEVERS
FOR THE DIVINE DISPENSING
First, God was incarnated to be a man, and God gave Himself in the Son to man that man may receive Him. Then, in order to be man’s life, He went through death to release the divine life within Him. After His crucifixion, Christ resurrected from the dead. The resurrection of the crucified Son imparted the divine life into the regenerated believers for the divine dispensing (John 3:5; 1 Pet. 1:3b). Christ’s death released His divine life from within His human shell, and the resurrection imparted and applied the divine life to us. This application took place at the time we were regenerated. We were all born of the flesh, needing to be reborn of the Spirit. John 3:6 says, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." In our second birth, our spirit was regenerated by the Spirit, who is Christ in resurrection. First Peter 1:3 says, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has regenerated us unto a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from among the dead." According to our view, we were regenerated after we were born. However, according to God’s view, we were regenerated when Christ was resurrected nearly two thousand years ago.
(The Divine Dispensing for the Divine Economy, Chapter 4, by Witness Lee)
