THE REALM OF THE OLD CREATION
AND THE REALM OF THE NEW CREATION
We all need to realize that today there are two different realms—the realm of the old creation and the realm of the new creation. The realm of the old creation is the realm of natural things, and the realm of the new creation is the realm of divine things. We were born into the old creation, into the natural sphere, yet God wants us to be divine. For this, we need a great transfer: We need to be transferred out of Adam into Christ. The first aspect of this transfer is regeneration. We need to be regenerated, and then we need to be renewed. As we are renewed, certain parts of our being will be "peeled off" and replaced by a new element that will cause us to be transformed and eventually conformed to the image of Christ, who is the firstborn Son of God (Rom. 8:29).
We also need to learn how to talk to others about the spiritual things in the new creation. For example, suppose that you speak to a believer about being transformed into the image of Christ as the firstborn Son of God. That believer might say, "I have heard about the only begotten Son of God but not about the firstborn Son. Who is the firstborn Son of God?" I am concerned that you may not be able to explain this.
If you would teach others concerning this, you need to tell them that when God was incarnated, He brought divinity into humanity and then was born in humanity to be the God-man. Whereas the only begotten Son of God had divinity but not humanity, the God-man Jesus had a part of His being—His humanity—which had not yet been made divine. In order for this to take place, He had to die on the cross and then be resurrected. In resurrection He was begotten, born, as the firstborn Son of God in His humanity (Acts 13:33; Rom. 1:3-4). In this way His humanity was deified. We may also say that His humanity was "sonized," meaning that He became the Son of God not only in His divinity but also in His humanity.
THE BELIEVERS TODAY LIVING IN A TIME
AFTER THE COMPLETION OF THE DIVINE REVELATION
According to time, we are much better off than Job. The later we are in time, the better off we are. If we had been there with Noah, we probably would have realized even less than Job. But after the deluge, God was still moving on. He moved on from Noah to Abraham. We believe that Job was at the time of Abraham, so Job’s blessing was on a level similar to that of Abraham’s.
Today we have received every blessing (Eph. 1:3). The progression of the divine revelation has been perfected and completed by Paul through his writing, especially the four books of Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians. In Colossians 1:25 Paul made it clear that he received a commission from God to complete God’s word of revelation, especially regarding the mystery in God’s economy. This mystery concerns both Christ and His Body, with the main point being that Christ is within His Body as the hope of glory (vv. 26-27). Now, the only thing that can be developed is our hope. The revelation has been completed and will have no more development. Today we have everything.
We need to value the Epistles. In Acts we can see God’s move as the consummated One in His transformed saints. However, it is not so clearly defined, explained, and developed as in the fourteen Epistles of Paul. Paul’s Epistles were arranged as the first among all the Epistles. Then the last part, the consummating part, was written by John. We need to study Paul’s fourteen Epistles and John’s three Epistles and Revelation. It was by these two apostles that the divine revelation has been fully completed.
Thank the Lord that we have His word, the completed word, in our hands! I am very grateful to Him that through so many years He has kept me from the world that I could spend all my time on the Word, but mostly on the fourteen Epistles of Paul, the three Epistles of John, and Revelation. What a blessing!
(Life-Study of Job, Chapter 31, by Witness Lee)
