II. THE SECOND ASPECT OF THE INCORPORATION OF THE CONSUMMATED GOD WITH THE REGENERATED BELIEVERS BEING THE TRUE VINE
The Lord is not a tall pine tree but a spreading vine tree (John 15:1-8, 16). The fruit of a vine tree is easy to reach and eat. This is a picture of today’s Christ. Today’s Christ is spreading Himself everywhere throughout the globe. In 1958 I was invited to speak in London to a group of people who were considered the most spiritual people on this earth. I considered them the last group of saints in the line of the inner life. I stayed with them for four weeks. One day they took me to see a big vine tree, which is the vine of the queen. The British people are proud of this vine. When they asked me what I thought of it, I said that I had seen a vine tree which is much bigger. The vine tree I have seen is Christ as the true vine. This vine needs the entire globe for its spreading. In John 15 the Lord said, "I am the true vine" (v.1). This means that actually all of the other vine trees are false, including the queen’s vine. Only one vine is uniquely true. This is Christ spreading around the globe. Christ as the true vine has spread Himself from America to places such as Russia, Poland, Romania, South Africa, South America, New Zealand, and Australia.
A. A Sign of the All-inclusive Christ
The true vine is a sign of the all-inclusive Christ as the organism of the processed and consummated Triune God.
B. Its Branches Being the Believers of Christ
Its branches are the believers of Christ, who by nature were branches of the wild olive tree and have been grafted into the cultivated olive tree (Rom. 11:17, 24) through their believing into Christ (John 3:15). Both the cultivated olive tree and the true vine signify Christ. Hence, to be grafted into the cultivated olive tree is to be grafted into the true vine.
C. Regenerated with the Divine Life
Its grafted branches have been regenerated with the divine life, brought into the life-union with the crucified and resurrected Christ, and incorporated with the processed and consummated Triune God.
D. For His Universal Spreading
This is for the unlimited Triune God’s multiplication as the increase of the immeasurable Christ, the embodiment of the processed and consummated Triune God (John 3:29-30), for His universal spreading through the fruit-bearing of the believers of Christ as the branches by their faithful abiding in Christ (15:4-5, 16) for the glorification of the Father (v.8).
III. THE THIRD ASPECT OF THE INCORPORATION OF THE CONSUMMATED GOD WITH THE REGENERATED BELIEVERS BEING THE CHILD OF THE SPIRIT
A. A New Child, a New Man
A new child, a new man, was born by the consummated Spirit (John 16:21, 13-15). This new man was created by Christ on the cross by abolishing in His flesh the law of the commandments in ordinances (Eph. 2:15). While Christ was dying on the cross, He was creating this new man. Also this new man was regenerated by the Father with the resurrected Christ in His resurrection (1 Pet. 1:3; Rom. 1:4) and born by the Spirit in the believers’ spirit (John 3:6b). The first group of Christ’s believers who suffered Christ’s departure through His death was the delivering woman (John 16:20-21). The Christ who returned in His resurrection was the newborn child (v. 22) to be the new man (Col. 3:10-11). Now we believers have to put on this new man through the renewing in the spirit of our mind (Eph. 4:23-24).
B. To Consummate the Body of Christ
Our putting on the new man by being renewed in the spirit of our mind will eventually consummate the Body of Christ, and this Body of Christ which is the church will consummate the New Jerusalem.
(The Issue of Christ Being Glorified by the Father with the Divine Glory, Chapter 5, by Witness Lee)
