Read part 1 here. Read part 2 here. Read part 3 here.
Throughout the entire Bible until today, God is only after this one thing: gaining His people — His overcomers — unto the fulfillment of His economy. When we read the book of Samuel, we like to pay attention to Samuel’s service, Saul’s failure, and David’s enthronement. But we cannot forget that all these things foreground something more to come: the kingdom of God. Samuel, Saul, David are all leading us to see that God has His work and it is on us — which is a work carried out by a mighty — but tangible, real, and intimate — hand. Don’t dodge His dispensational work, for it is fulfilling His promise. God is working through the word to build His house and gain His kingdom people on the earth. He is bringing us into the kingship, which is true overcoming.
Dealing with the flesh to gain the kingship
Through Saul and Samuel, we see that God was seeking a vessel through whom He could execute His dispensational move and authority on the earth. Now, at the turning of the age, God is also seeking a vessel to administer His move and authority on the earth: the church of His firstborn sons, His overcomers, His kings. But the kingship requires a process, our Gilgal; to have the reigning, powerful church life requires each one of us to be judged. Yes, God’s administrative works come in to deal with and expose believers in a fundamental way; He deals with our murmuring, our reasoning, our opinions, and our self-righteousness. But for what? God’s hand on us is specific and intimate in order to deal with any part in us that is against this kingdom life by nature. More specifically, His hand deals with our flesh because flesh has no place in the kingdom of God (Rom. 8:1-9).
The Bible tells us that we should stand up to condemn the sin of this evil and adulterous generation (Matt. 12:39-42). We may think that the evil and adultery of this generation is outside of us — that it is among the worldly, openly sinful Gentiles. We may watch the world situation — nation against nation, people against people — and condemn the evil powers who are acting as enemies against God’s people and God’s interest. We may even see the great beast coming up out of the abyss to make war, and recognize it as the ultimate enemy of God. But this beast is not just something far away; it’s something living in our flesh today. Today, we need to see that this great war is happening in us, and especially in those of us in His household, the church.
Amalek — or the flesh — is the ultimate enemy of God’s economy; God said He will war with Amalek from generation to generation (Exo. 17:16). God will judge and discipline all that is against His economy, and He starts in His own house — we in the church life are not exempt from this process. In fact, we should be the first ones to condemn idolatry in the flesh and experience God’s judgment on us. Flesh is not just outward sin, but our inward condition, including our passiveness, our murmuring, and our complacency. When we preserve even one ounce of the flesh, we leave an open door to the enemy, and find ourselves not only bereft of the Spirit of God, but also utterly against His administration — an enemy of God, a host of evil spirits. This was Saul’s failure. We cannot be numb any longer, indulging our flesh and endorsing our good opinions, reasonings, and self-justification. Today, we are either for or against His economy. As believers, as those in the church life, we should welcome the Lord’s hand on us today as the judgment that will set us free.
God’s household administration for the kingship
Today, as the church, we uphold a household living. Our faith is not just about our individual salvation, but about fulfilling God’s plan according to His administration. It is not the popular understanding among Christianity that God has a need. But it is biblical. We are not only central to God’s plan, but the fulfillment of His plan. He is looking for a redeemed and sanctified people who can satisfy His heart’s desire, speaking the words of wisdom and building the temple — the New Jerusalem — as overcomers living unto the age to come. For this, God is the ultimate parent with His household administration. When it comes to this household, there is a specific household value and governance — an administration, a covenantal relationship, or, as we know in Greek, an oikonomia (economy). God parents us through His word, administering and upholding His household value. It is one thing to know that God has His household administration, but it is another for us to submit as His sons and to enter into this purpose.
Because we are under His household administration, God deals with us as with sons to bring us into His administrative purpose (Heb. 12:7). When we come to the Lord’s administration, no self or flesh can remain untouched. There is no way to enter into the church of the firstborn without the hewing of the flesh; fornication, profanity and defilement disqualify us from the birthright of the firstborn (vv. 15-16). Yet the church is for those who have been sanctified and made holy, righteous, and who are perfect through the Author of faith and Mediator of a new covenant, this Jesus Christ “whose voice at that time shook the earth but now has promised, saying, ‘Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also heaven’” (v. 26). At a time when His very voice shakes heaven and earth in the end times, His discipline is necessary in the present day, so that we may receive an “unshakeable kingdom” (v. 28). So God, by the ministry of the word, carries out the work of His hand in His administration by cutting, clarifying, and exposing His people for the gaining of His household. Therefore, do not remain in the dealing; that is not God’s purpose. Rather, as the author of Hebrews exhorts us, look away unto Jesus, struggle against the sin that holds us back, and do not regard lightly His discipline, nor become faint when reproved by Him (vv. 2-5). God has His hand on us so that we may be qualified to receive the sonship, or more precisely, to receive the birthright, for through the birthright, we receive a kingship — to reign with Him as co-kings.
The dispensational sign for the kingdom
God’s economy involves His kingly family, with His authority and administrative work. He manages His household dispensation to dispensation, each one with a dispensational purpose and, with it, a dispensational sign. That sign is a sign of His authority — His determination and discipline for His own household. At the turning of each dispensation, there needs to be a group of people who receive the word and recognize the dispensational works being done in this era.
In Matthew 12, Jesus told the scribes and Pharisees that there would be only one sign given to an evil and adulterous generation. This one sign of Jonah is really Christ and all His accomplishments on the cross to fulfill His own plan. In this chapter, we see that both the Ninevites and the queen of Sheba will condemn this unrepentant generation because even the Gentile Ninevites “repented at the preaching of Jonah” and the queen of Sheba paid the price to “hear the wisdom of Solomon” in their time (vv. 41-42). Moreover, something more than either Jonah or Solomon is here; Christ and His death and resurrection are a sharp rebuke to the religious and natural people. But to the repentant Gentile people, they receive Christ’s resurrection life as the true Jonah, and experience Christ as the true King Solomon, whose wisdom, or word, is living and tabernacling to produce His Body on the earth, the church. Are we those who understand God’s word and recognize the King’s building work today?
The sign to us today is a blessing and a warning. In this confusing age, we must be those with urgency, with open ears and a clear vision, to live out Christ among us — to have His words reign powerfully on the earth today. Instead of wallowing in our failures, we should function. Our functioning is to allow the Word to become flesh in us — for the ministry to go out. Thus, our church life has a very specific nature; our being here must be absolutely for the ministry of the word — carrying out the Lord’s administration of His kingdom life on the earth. He needs those who are speaking out His word and building the temple of God in the ultimate stage of the building of the New Jerusalem. Such ones are not stagnant, thinking the building is already done; they recognize the preciousness of this birthright and pursue the Lord with endurance. They’ve paid a price to travel far to come to say, “Lord, You are the worthy One. You are the One building the temple of God. Let me be part of it.”
If we see the Lord Himself today, His hand on us and on the world situation, we will be those who speak for and forth the true sign given to this generation. The living Word saturates us with His life and person. It causes us to go out as the ministry of God to others. We are seeking for the ones who recognize and respond, who have open ears and worthy eyes. We are joyfully testifying and utterly wasted on Jesus Christ, who saved us out of this evil generation. Among us, we are privileged to be able to speak something not from our own wisdom. That speaking is our continuation of this precious genealogy of Christ, the firstborn Son, which will lead us into the kingdom life.
Claiming the birthright as our inheritance to reign
The birthright is given to those through whom God can move the dispensation. It was given to Samuel to bring in the kingdom age, and it was withdrawn from Saul when he was no longer for God’s dispensational move. Today, the birthright given to us is for the same purpose — to move the dispensation forward in this age. First Samuel is not about Saul or David; it’s not even about Samuel! This book is all about God, who wants to promise to us and ordain us with something He wants us to have: the inheritance. Today, we are fighting to have the legitimate, firstborn sonship. As the sons of God, our inheritance is this kingdom life. Living a reigning church life on the earth today is all about claiming the birthright. The reality of this sonship gives us the legitimate position to take and own this inheritance, the reality of the reigning power to be His co-kings (2 Tim. 2:12). What a portion we have! And today we should serve with this portion. If the Lord’s hand is that real and personal to us, then our relationships with one another should be the same way. This is the true living out of the kingdom life.
And He who sits on the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And He said, Write, for these words are faithful and true. / And He said to me, They have come to pass. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give to him who thirsts from the spring of the water of life freely. / He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be God to him, and he will be a son to Me. (Rev. 21:5-7)
As the creator of the heavens and the earth, He is the source, purpose, meaning, and ultimate authority of the universe — the source, purpose, meaning, and ultimate authority of our life. From the very beginning, the nature of this work is and has been reigning, noble, kingly. Isn’t this a good time to come back to where we are supposed to be? Is it not true that God created us in His image and likeness? We were born into this reigning, kingly life and nature! We don’t need to try or struggle to be a king. We just need to be awakened — to understand that this portion is rightfully ours as His sons! And it is the Lord’s mighty but subjective, tangible, and intimate hand that leads us into that promise.
The church life today is continuing the work of the Lord’s hand. If the Lord’s hand is tangible to each one of us — personal and intimate, leading us in every step of our life — we immediately recognize His work in and among us. Our church life is not common. To be saved is not enough for the ultimate “deliverable” of the New Testament church life, or the New Testament ministry. The church life today is the work of His hands (Isa. 45:11). It’s the work of Christ in the church. The church has always been called unto the corporate sonship. In the book of Hebrews, the church is called the church of the firstborn (Heb. 12:23). Christ is the Firstborn among many brothers (Rom. 8:29), He is at the right hand of God (Matt 26:64; Heb. 1:3; Rom. 8:34), and He is the anointed One (Psa. 2:2; Matt. 3:16-17). This anointing means the authority — the kingship — is given to Christ, and it is for Christ to be able to execute God’s eternal economy. That eternal plan is for us to be kings, to become His kingdom, to become this very enlarged Christ — the last Adam, a corporate man.
Let us reflect. Although we are saved, how many among us have the direct and present word of the Lord? Or are we instead satisfied with always being fed by others? Is God’s hand on us presently? Or are we those settled and satisfied in religion? Yes, the church life — the kingdom life — is reigning. It is victorious. But have we ourselves entered into this victory, exercising the authority of this kingship in the reality of the kingdom as His overcomers (Rev. 2:26, 3:21)? How do we enter into the kingship and the effectiveness of salvation?
Reigning is not claimed by our effort. The way to overcome, to reign, is by giving everything, and submitting to this true King and His work on and in us. Being submissive grants us access, and the right to the kingship. This should change everything about our church life — it should change our concept about our submission and our offering. Submission to the King is not just a duty anymore. It cannot be a performance. Look at Samuel; to establish kings, he himself had to have the reality of submission to the word of God. The power and the reality of the kingship comes from the Nazarites’ life — a life of submitting and giving ourselves completely to Him. Only then will we have the power to speak and live out this kingly life. Wherever we go, we will be a living judgment to people, hewing the flesh and ministering the word. We can execute according to the standards of this kingly life. In this way, we also become a lifeline to the people, a true minister of God’s house. That kind of service is true and powerful according to the kingdom administration. To us, those serving ones are not just Samuels or anyone called “apostles;” we should see and submit to the true serving One, who is simply Christ. Through this submission and power of the kingdom life in the church, God’s work on us and in us is fulfilling His own promise. That promise is nothing but to bring us into that kingship, which is true overcoming. Today, we all need to start to serve. We cannot deny the nature and life of Christ in us, and we should use that part to serve one another.
If we are truthful with ourselves, even longtime believers need to come back to this dispensational question. We should earnestly ask, why, today, are we not ministering this kingship in the church life? What keeps us from entering into the reality of the kingship, and from living out this victorious and reigning kingdom life among us today? Are we acting or performing before man? Are we hiding or pretending? Are we murmuring, complaining, or reasoning? Stop! If in the midst of our struggling with the flesh, we find ourselves in the Lord’s hand, we should be released, relieved, to say, “Lord, Your work of Your hand is to anoint me; it’s for fulfilling the promise, making sure that promise will not be in vain.” That promise is nothing but the kingship. Today, we should save our energy. We need God’s living judgment — His speaking in our own life. We need the kingship and the demeanor of a king through Christ as our everything, to go from dealing to reigning. This is what our church life is for, and this is what this dealing process is for. In this way, we not only receive the promise of God, but fulfill it!
If we still give ourselves an excuse not to submit to the Lord’s administration, not to receive His word, and not to function as overcomers — as His sons and co-kings — then it will be too late when the beast is at the door (Rev. 11:7). If we do not recognize who we are meant to be in God’s plan, we will regret it. There is no turning back. The time of His return is near; it is here. But the challenge today is, are we equipped to carry out the Lord’s words — His work? Does His speaking have a landing ground in us? Do we allow His word to clarify our being? Are we being molded by it for the fulfillment of God’s economy — God’s ministry, God’s administration, God’s authority? Is the Word able to become living in our everyday thinking, eating, speaking, and working? Our submission is no more just a term. It is all about who we are. We are the ministry of God’s word. We are His many sons who are serving and enjoying the kingdom life as our inheritance today! We should be proud. Grab hold of and participate in this kingdom life. This is our church life — this kingly, reigning demeanor and power is in our blood, in our veins, in our genealogy.
(Above is part 4 of a series compiled from notes of fellowship taken from gatherings on 1/14/2022, 1/16/2022, 1/28/2022, and 3/11/2022.)