John (Program #39) – The Organism of the Triune God in the Divine Dispensation (3)

Those who refuse Christ and who stay in Adam by so doing will remain one with Satan, and as a result will participate in the judgment reserved for God’s enemy.

In this chapter (John 15), the Lord speaks plainly, directly, and profoundly concerning the divine organism. And, He says, “I am the true vine, you are the branches.” So, here we have a corporate entity. The vine with its branches composed of Christ as the embodiment and manifestation of the triune God. And, all those who have believed into Christ by receiving Him into them. The Lord calls this the true vine, the real vine. What we have in this marvelous picture is God the Father embodied in Christ who is the stock of the vine. And, all the believers who have been added to Christ, to become parts of Christ, just as the branches of the vine are parts of the vine to be an organism. So, now we have on this earth the living, divine organism of Christ and His believers, the vine and the branches.

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John (Program #38) – The Organism of the Triune God in the Divine Dispensation (2)

When He speaks to us, we have to keep it. When His word abides in us, then right away, we are abiding in His love. So, just by saying Amen to His speaking, love will fill us, and we will find the prevailing way to love the Lord Jesus and abide in His love.

The very striking point in John 15 to me is the illustration of the vine and the branches. There’s no other plant that could adequately illustrate the life flow that exists between the Lord and His believers. The Lord said, “I am the vine, and you are the branches.” Could any other illustration make it more clear? Then, what God is producing is an organism, not an organization. The “I am” here is Christ when He said, “I am the vine.” And, the “you are” is that part of the vine known as branches. Christ, the Son, is the very center of God’s economy, and He’s also the embodiment of all the riches of the Father.

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1 Thessalonians (Program #8) -The Church Becoming the Embodiment of the Triune God (2)

One of the essentials for being a Christian is to appreciate the Bible as the word of God. But for most of us our reading and our understanding of the Holy Word fall far short of what it should be.

For instance, take a passage like 1 Thessalonians Chapter 2:12 where Paul tells us that we have been called into God’s own kingdom and glory. Do we really have an adequate appreciation of all that these implies or do we even have a proper understanding of things like God’s kingdom and God’s glory?  Probably we just skim along taking such marvelous word for granted.  But one of the benefits we have in this program each day is that the Lord richly unveils and brings us into deeper realities of His word.

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1 Thessalonians (Program #7) – The Church Becoming the Embodiment of the Triune God (2)

In both of his epistles to the Thessalonians Paul stresses at the beginning that the Church is in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. There is a strong confirmation to this in another passage of the Scripture in the gospel of John. However in order to see the parallel we must first be willing to reconsider the traditional and commonly held understanding of the gospel of John Chapter 14, “In My Father’s house are many abodes; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I am coming again and will receive you to Myself, so that where I am you also may be.”

You see, probably before I was even finish reading these verse, many of you were already thinking, “Oh, yes, that is talking about the Lord preparing our heavenly mansion.”  But is that really what these verses present to us or are there a strong confirming word that the Lord Jesus has prepared a place for us today in God Himself, a place for all the believers to stay?

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1 Thessalonians (Program #6) – The Church Becoming the Embodiment of the Triune God (1)

The way in which Paul, the apostle opens his letter to the Thessalonians is very interesting, “to the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Well, you may wonder what’s so significant about such a greeting. First, notice that Paul didn’t just say that the Thessalonians believers were in God, in a general way or even in God and in Jesus. But he inspired by the Holy Spirit chose these words specifically, in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ.

We considered in recent programs, what it is to be in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus.  Today, we will see more about what it is to be in Christ?

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