THE ISSUE OF THE SON’S DISPENSING
Now that we have seen the issue of the Father’s dispensing, we want to go on to see the issue of the Son’s dispensing, which speaks forth the accomplishment of God’s eternal purpose. This is revealed to us in Ephesians 1:7-12. These verses say, "In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of offenses, according to the riches of His grace, which He caused to abound to us in all wisdom and prudence, making known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Himself, unto the economy of the fullness of the times, to head up all things in Christ, the things in the heavens and the things on the earth, in Him; in whom also we were designated as an inheritance, having been predestinated according to the purpose of the One who works all things according to the counsel of His will, that we would be to the praise of His glory who have first hoped in Christ."
Through God’s abounding grace, Christ accomplished redemption for us, and this redemption is for the forgiveness of our offenses. This is somewhat easy to understand. But the above verses are full of difficult expressions and words such as mystery, will, good pleasure, purposed, the economy of the fullness of the times, and to head up all things in Christ. We need to see the intrinsic revelation and significance of this difficult portion of Ephesians 1.
God, according to His desire with an intention, made an economy, and the center of the divine economy is God’s desire to have many sons. God created the universe for His many sons, but man became fallen. Now in this universe there are two ugly things: the rebellion of Satan with his angels and the fall of man. These two things brought the entire universe into a collapse. The universe was created by God in a very beautiful order. But due to Satan’s rebellion and man’s fall, this beautiful order was turned upside down. After man’s fall, in man’s second generation Cain murdered his younger brother Abel (Gen. 4:8). All the evil things, such as murder, fornication, stealing, cheating, and lying, show that today’s world is in an upside-down situation. Everything is upside down today. This upside-down situation has even invaded the church. Some who rebelled even tried to bring the upside-down situation of the human race into the recovery.
But God would never give up His eternal economy. He is very consistent and insistent. He first applied His anticipated salvation to mankind, so that mankind could continue on this earth. Then eventually, He Himself came to be a man. He did not only create man, but He also came to be a part of mankind, to be one with man. He lived a human life for thirty-three and a half years. Then He was qualified to go to the cross to die a marvelous death, an all-inclusive death. In that death He solved the problem of sin, the problem of the old man, the problem of the world, the problem of Satan, and even the problem of death. He solved every problem, and He ended and cleared up everything of the old creation. He rested for three days, and then He rose up.
In His resurrection, He became another kind of person. In incarnation as God He became man (John 1:14). Now in resurrection as man He became a life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b). God became a man to solve all the problems, to terminate all the negative things in the whole earth and even in the whole universe. Then as the last Adam, the last man, the end of mankind, He rose up to become a life-giving Spirit. God who is joined with man became a life-giving Spirit in His divinity and in His humanity.
(The Issue of the Dispensing of the Processed Trinity and the Transmitting of the Transcending Christ, Chapter 2, by Witness Lee)
